Summary: Team SYBR helps plan the dance in hopes that it will be enough to get the heat off of them.

Adam sets a trap for Penny, hoping to eliminate a potential threat to the Fang.

Pyrrha has something to tell Ren.

Sun and Neptune encounter a White Fang member, what does she want with them?

"I would really love for someone to explain why we're doing this," Weiss said, checking off another item for the party planner list, a small smile plastered to her face.

"You're the one who said we needed to go out and investigate as soon as possible," Yang responded as she moved some boxes, "Hopefully, helping out with the dance will earn us enough good points and we can set out for that mission."

"That is if your sister and Blake don't ruin the entire thing with their lack of knowledge on the matter," she said, placing her fists on her waist and beginning a mock rant, "Who puts a weapon display and a book longue in the event planner for a dance?"

"At least they're good gophers," Yang remarked, basically grinning that line out.

"At least," Weiss responded with a smile of her own.

She was really enjoying herself; she wasn't sure she had ever been alone with Yang for this long, but she was really enjoying the blonde brute's company. Although she did see her trying to add fog machines to the list, so they weren't going to get along for much longer; she wasn't going to allow those abominations at a respectable dance.

xXx

"Pyrrha," Ren asked, when the two were walking back from another session of training, "I have a question for you, assuming you don't mind that is."

"What is it, Ren?"

"Who're you taking with you to the dance?" Ren asked as he stretched, still trying to regain feeling in the parts she had struck him on.

"No one unfortunately," she basically sighed out, "Guys I go with often end up getting beat up or something. At least if I turn all of them down, I'm just the snooty girl who thinks she's all that."

"Here's a plan then," Ren said, stopping for a moment and looking at her, "Why don't we go together, as teammates? We'll arrive separately and maybe find a corner with our punch and talk."

"I know what you want to say," he declared putting his hands as to motioning her to slow down,

"But it's much less drama, it'll be you turning everyone down as you always do and you're simply talking to your teammate to be polite and pass the time."

"That sounds great Ren," she said enthusiastically before letting a small frown show, "It's too bad though."

"What is?"

"I was going to have you help me pick out a dress," she said with a twinge of regret, "Your fashion sense is really good."

"I can still help you pick it out, can't I?"

"It's bad luck to see the lady in her dress before the dance isn't it?"

"I think you're mixing up traditions there."

"It's a fictional world, who's to say it isn't the tradition?"

"Fair enough," he said with a smile, "Either way, let's head out for lunch; being tossed around by Milo works up an appetite."

At the corner of the hall, Dove, who had watched the entire scene, started walking away crestfallen.

"What happened?" Russell asked his partner as he walked back.

"She's taken," he said gloomily, "How did it go with Yang though?"

"I got burned… badly," he said, matching his partner's gloomy tone.

"Dang it!" he said, "The lie that the hot girls never got asked out was all we had. Are we going to have to go stag?"

"Hey guys," Nora called out as she walked towards them with Sky next to her.

"What's up?"

"Nothing much," she responded with a grin, "Sky and I are going to the dance together."

"How did that happen?" Russell asked, "Forget the fact that he's mute, he couldn't ask the lunch lady for seconds if she had the ladle out."

"That's why he didn't," she said, her grin widening, "It was easy, I just walked up to him and said: 'Today's your lucky day; you get to ask me out to the dance.'"

"You forgot to mention the part where you whispered it with a blush redder than your hair," Dove, who had been watching Sky sign above Nora's head, said with a laugh.

Nora turned back to her date and stared at him angrily before running through the halls, attempting to hide her blush and nearly running into Adam and Ruby who were moving towards the group.

"Wait," Ruby whispered, "Does that actually work?"

"Does wh-" the brunette walked towards Russell and Dove before Adam could finish his question.

"This is your lucky day," she started, "One of you boys gets to ask me out to the dance."

This declaration shocked everyone in the surroundings for a second, the shock of the silence was, however broken by the sudden burst of laughter from the pair of boys.

The two continued cackling as they left her behind; they were desperate, but not desperate enough to be the guys who could only get a fifteen-year-old date.

"Wait," Adam said as he walked towards her, chuckling slightly, "I thought you said you didn't want to go to the dance. You said and I quote, 'I'm still waiting for someone to explain the difference between getting asked to a dance and getting mugged.'"

"Yes, I still believe that," she asserted with a pout, "But imagine a mugger's in front of you and he only asks your friend, who's right next to you, to empty their pockets. It's like: 'Does he think that I don't have any money? Am I not worth getting robbed?'"

"I guess that makes sense," he commented, "It's like boycotting a party you aren't invited to. It'd be much better if you could snub their invitation."

"Exactly," she said, before her eyes lit up suddenly in realization, "Say…"

"Nope sorry," he responded, catching her drift, "Already taking someone."

"Who?"

"That redhead, from Atlas, Penny."

"Polendina?"

"That's the one," he said with a nod.

"How? When? She hits you with a laser and your first reaction is to ask her out? Is that why she ran away from me in the street? Because she wanted to rendezvous with you gasp, my two friends meeting behind my back and not telling me, for shame."

"She's cute, I guess," he shrugged, not sure how to respond to her exactly, "Either way, I can save a dance for you?"

"I don't want your pity dance," she said in indignation as she flew away with her Semblance.

"Would you have taken her if you weren't going with Penny?" Emerald asked, appearing suddenly behind her team leader and shocking him.

"Not a chance," he responded with a smile, "Is everything ready?"

"Yes sir," she said with a mock salute.

The redhead simply nodded sombrely; he was quite worried; Emerald shouldn't have been able to catch him by surprise the way she did.

He had had to make do with mainstream apathy, not the custom doses that he had run out of, that was probably part of the reason that he was losing his edge. He didn't have an option but to continue taking them, the risk of him losing control completely was too much.

"Where's Mercury?" he asked, after calming himself down a little, "We're supposed to pick up our outfits later on."

xXx

"You'll come with me, won't you?" Sun said as he jumped in front of Blake, stopping her from moving forward, "To the dance, you'll come with me, won't you?"

"Of course," she said with a smile after recovering from her surprise, "It's the least I can do after all you helped me with."

"No," Sun said, grabbing her hand and causing the ribbons in her arms to fall, "You're not repaying a favour; you aren't showing your gratitude. Would you go to the dance with me? Imagine that you didn't owe me anything; would dancing the whole night with an open shirted ruffian be something you could see yourself doing and enjoying?"

"…It certainly would," she said, trying to hide her blush behind a book and hoping the few people who were watching would stop.

"Great!" he shouted as he started running away excitedly.

"Ribbons," he said when he was a few feet away, just remembering, "I made you drop your ribbons. I should probably help you carry them too."

"Just go Sun," she called, still embarrassed, "Make sure you wear something nice."

xXx

"I have nothing to wear," Sun said with a sad smile as a tear streaked down his face, his barren wardrobe strongly backing up his statement, "I'll miss my chance because I have nothing to wear."

"I told you that this day would come," Neptune said as he flashed a wicked grin at his partner.

"Y-you have to help me out man," Sun begged as he grabbed unto Neptune's collar, tears rolling down, "Please."

"I've got us covered," he declared triumphantly as he pushed Sun off him, "I already had our tuxes made, all we have to do is pick them up."

"You're a lifesaver," Sun shouted as he jumped unto his partner, "I could just kiss you."

"And I could just tase you with my weapon. Come on, let's go get them."

"Aye, boss!"

xXx

"How do I look, General?" Penny said as she strutted in the dress that she'd be wearing to the dance.

It was a black number; lined at the sides with green and so corporate it'd pass for a military uniform if not for its length and the pleats that gave it a fuller look.

"You look great, Penny," the Ironwood responded with a smile, "Who did you say that you're going with again?"

"Adam Vulpes, the class rep of Beacon's new first-years."

"Yeah, yeah. How many times have I asked?"

"Only three times… this morning, sir."

"Was that sarcasm?"

"A little sir. Thank you for looking at the dress, I need to go and practice for the actual dancing part."

"Of course," the General responded with a salute, "Godspeed, soldier."

xXx

"You said all we had to do was pick them up," Sun chided as they walked out the store, "We need those tuxes."

"I don't understand, I was here a few days ago, I made the deposit and everything."

"This is why I never pay for stuff," the monkey Faunus said with a shrug and a grin, "I'm just saying."

"I remember talking to a clerk," Neptune said, "Brown hair, glasses, dog ears. She was really hot I remember."

"Why thank you," a girl matching the description Neptune had just given cooed from the corner of the shop.

"You're the White Fang girl," Sun declared as his hand grabbed Jingu, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm just here to talk," she placated as she stole a glance at Neptune, "And to check out cutie here."

Neptune was utterly confused, he had wanted to shout at the clerk, then he found out the clerk was actually a terrorist and now she was throwing compliments his way. Usually, compliments from a terrorist wouldn't do anything for him, but seeing as this was the cute kind, not the dirty, bearded kind, he was defenceless.

"I'm not going to try to convince you to join, or try to hurt you. I just want to show you something and I'll give you both your suits when we're done. And of course, you can just get another pair, but now, you're a little bit curious, aren't you?"

"A little," Neptune said from behind his partner.

"You can't expect us to follow you into an obvious trap."

"I wouldn't need to trick you if I wanted to do you harm," she responded with a coy smile before whistling a frequency that Neptune couldn't hear. In response in the whistle, several dozen responded back, all clearly very close.

"Fine then," Sun said, understanding the threat and finally relaxing his grip on his staff and following after her sultry gait.

"So," Neptune began as he walked up next to her, "What do you want to show us?"

xXx

"What's wrong?" Yang asked her event planner partner, who was staring at her scroll.

"I-it's nothing much, but Cardin and the rest won't be coming till a few days after the dance."

"And you're relieved."

"A little, yeah," the heiress said as she sat on a pile of ribbons that Blake had brought in, "It's not that I don't want to see him, I actually really miss him. But… I need to do something first."

"Weiss, yo-"

"Don't tell me that I don't need to do this, don't tell me he'd want me to let go, don't tell me I'm in over my head. Just… don't."

"I'm not," the fiery blonde said as she sat down next to her, "I understand a little of what you're feeling, that's exactly why I know that you have to do this. Who cares if it isn't what he'd have wanted? Who cares if you're in over your head? You can't give up either way."

"You sound like you really understand what I'm feeling," Weiss responded without lifting her head from her lap, "Thank you."

"What're you talking about? We're teammates; we don't need to thank each other for this kinda stuff. Not to mention, this will look great on my assistant leader application won't it?"

"You bet," she joked as she rose to her feet and wiped at the corner of her eyes, "Although a sundae would guarantee it."

"I forgot to ask," Yang said as the two went back to work, "Who's your date?"

This question sent the Schnee heiress back onto the floor in melancholy.

"What's wrong?" Yang asked as she went over to her.

"I asked someone out, but he turned me down," she said with tears streaming down her eyes, "But it's okay, it's not like that was the first time I asked someone out or anything."

"That's too bad, if it makes you feel any better, I don't have a date either."

"I saw, imagine guys walking up to you and you being able to take your pick. Couldn't be me."

"Come on," the blonde chided, getting desperate, "How about this? Both of us can go together."

"Exactly what I need, a pity date," she said grumpily as she rose to her feet, "Half a loaf is better than none."

"Hey," Yang clapped back teasingly, "I'll have you know that I'm the whole cake."

xXx

"Sun's really taking his time," Blake said annoyedly as she waited outside the hall.

It was dance night, and the excitement was tangible, couples rushed into the hall, fully prepared to enjoy a carefree night before their missions started.

"At least you have someone to wait for," Ruby sighed next to her teammate.

"If you don't have a date, why wait here?"

"Rumour has it that Mr. Port often dances with the students who don't have dates to make them feel better, I'm here avoiding that."

The sentence sent an almost visible chill down Ruby's spine as she uttered it.

"At this point, it'd be an improvement," the cat-girl teased, "Ms. Couldn't get asked out if there was a prize attached to it."

"You're mean," Ruby said as she ran towards the dance.

"I'm sorry," Blake called after her, although her apology sounded insincere with all the laughing she was doing in between her words.

"Hey," Sun called as he ran towards her, "Sorry I'm late, how d'you like my tux?"

"It looks great," she responded, stifling a laugh, "But where's the rest of it?" She was commenting on the fact that he only had his dress shirt and jeans on.

"That's… a long story," he said as he scratched his head embarrassedly.

"Forget about it," the gap between her sentence and her pulling him along with her was nonexistent; she was clearly excited, "Let's dance."

"Yes ma'am!" he responded enthusiastically as he followed behind her.

xXx

"Penny!" Adam shouted towards his date as he ran towards her, "You came, I'm glad."

"Thank you," she responded abashedly, "I wouldn't miss it."

"I got you flowers," he said as he pulled a bouquet from behind him, "I hope you like them."

"Red spider lilies," she smiled as she looked at the burning red bouquet, "Some believe that they symbolize death."

"Knew I should have gone with the roses," he said as he recoiled his hand embarrassedly, "Just didn't want to be plain, plus you've probably gotten more roses than you know what to do with."

"It's no problem," she said, "I think they're rather beautiful. And I've actually never gotten flowers before."

"I'll make sure to get roses next time then," he promised as he offered his hand to her.

"There'll be a next time?"

"Depends on how this time goes, I suppose."

"Yes, I have heard of many an instance that the first time was so bad that neither party ever talked again, so I hope this will be a pleasant enough night for this interaction to be continued fairly regularly."

"Took the words right out of my mouth," he joked as he led her in.

xXx

"At least we're not the only ones who came without dates," Russell pointed out, referring to Yang and Weiss, along with Ren and Pyrrha.

"Pyrrha turned everyone down, and Yang and Weiss could just blame it on feminism," Dove grumbled as he annoyedly poured out punch for him and his partner.

"Hey there," Yang said as she walked up to the pair, before turning back to her date, "Told you that we wouldn't be the only ones who'd come like this."

"We'd have come with dates," Russell dove in, "But we realised the tradition of taking a girl out is so outdated and clearly patriarchal in nature."

"It seems we can blame it on feminism," Dove whispered as he walked up to his partner, "It's clearly a machination of the patriarchy to control and oppress women as they have been doing."

"That's too bad," Weiss teased, "We were hoping you boys would share a dance or two with us."

"Well," Dove spat out, seeing that Russell had run out of things to say, "When a girl does the asking it's clearly empowering and therefore, for the sake of toppling the patriarchy, we will accept your invitation."

xXx

Amidst the revelry in the hall, Neo slinked out towards the CCTS; she had spent the night moving from partner to partner constantly, so her absence wouldn't be noticed, they'd simply assume she migrated to another part of the dance floor if she was missed at all.

Shortly after, she arrived at the building, the guards and alarms were done with quickly. Uploading the virus was a piece of cake, all she had to do was connect it and Watts' malware would take care of everything. The trap was a little more difficult, because of how sensitive she was told it'd be. It was made with Smoke even with the secure fastenings, she could almost feel the toxic substance.

Still, she set it up quickly, already used to being on a hair trigger.

The hardest part was all that was left, she stared at the scroll she had swiped from one of the guards, or tried to because her hands were shaking so much, she couldn't keep it in place. She could do this much couldn't she?

She looked to the person she'd grabbed it from, she had a better idea.

xXx

"I'm sorry if I find the fact that you can't dance to be hilarious," Adam said as he walked outside the halls, beside Penny, holding both of their cups.

"Sorry," Penny apologised shyly, her gaze fixed on the ground below her, "It must ruin the mood, having a date step on your toes that much."

"Not really," he said as he handed her a cup, which made her look up, "The important thing is that you're here. This night, for me is all about you being here."

He wasn't lying; any moment from now, Neo would make the call, Penny would go to do her job and that would be the end, another threat to the White Fang would have been eliminated.

As though signalled by his thoughts, Penny's scroll rang and she answered it, not hesitating despite the fact that she didn't recognise the number.

"P-please, h-help me," came a weak, raspy from the other end of the line, "I'm in the CCTS, you have to come alone, plea-"

The call was cut short, but Penny didn't notice, she had lifted off from the moment she heard the caller's location, although not forgetting to drop her punch properly first. Adam smirked up at the green streak in the sky, he wondered if he should follow after to make sure that everything would go according to plan. It was a little risky, but no one would exactly suspect a guy who ran after his date when she flew off.

Just as he thought that however, his vision turned black, before he could adjust to the sudden sensory disruption, he was struck from behind and collapsed to his knees, the binds he felt wrap about his person not allowing him to fight back.

xXx

Penny crashed into the CCTS tower, seeing evidence of a break-in and following it to the room

Neo had entered. She walked into the room to see several guards who no longer had pulses strewn about, the scene made her feel a disgust she wasn't aware that she could experience. As she scanned about, she noticed that there was a person who was still moving.

"You came," the guard whispered, clutching her side, "I'm sorry."

"There's no need for that," Penny said as she inspected her patient, her first-aid programme coming into effect once she spotted the injured.

In response to her assurances and efforts, the guard simply smiled sadly and pressed down on a button she had concealed in her hand. Penny couldn't react in time.

xXx

BOOM!

"You can't be serious," Pyrrha virtually giggled out as she listened to Ren recollect one of the many adventures he had had with Nora, although with the booming of the speakers, it wasn't always easy.

"But I am," Ren said, "We decided that one of us needed to pass off as a lady to get into their base and agreed I'd be the more convincing choice."

"Well? How did it go?"

"Worked like a charm, snagged back our provisions and then some," her black-haired teammate gloated as he took a sip of his punch.

"You guys lived the most amazing life."

"This is only the sixth time you're telling me this," he responded with a small chuckle.

"That's because it's true," she insisted.

"Well, who knows? Maybe you'll join us on our next one," he commented casually, "You're always talking about how you want to travel, maybe you'll follow Nora and me when we leave."

"I… don't think it'll work out that way," she said sadly in response, her smile receding, "Things are a little more complicated than that."

"I understand then," he said, taking another sip as he watched his peers gyrate on the dance floor.

"I wasn't entirely honest with you earlier," Pyrrha declared a few seconds later, breaking the 'silence' between the two.

"What do you mean?"

"Let's go out," she urged him towards the balcony.

"Is there a problem?" he asked as the pair situated themselves on the balcony, away from other students.

"How do I say this?" she asked, clearly embarrassed.

"In English I hope," Ren joked in an attempt to set her at ease.

BOOM!

This time, the sound was a little louder than a speaker, and it was accompanied by a flash from the CCTS tower which made the pair forget about the conversation they were having.

xXx

Ten minutes later, all the students had been sent back to their dorms, they weren't allowed out of the buildings for the time being. The professors were investigating what happened in the CCTS and the Atlesian Knights patrolled the grounds and would alert them should there be any threat to the students' wellbeing.

"Seems I got you to allow the AK's guard the bathroom after all, Oz."

The quip came from Ironwood who was attempting to hide his dissatisfaction at his dance with Glynda being interrupted and the worry he felt on finding out that Penny was in that explosion.

"You always win out eventually," he answered with a mirthless smile as he took a sip from his mug, "What do we know so far?"

"Penny came here because she got a call from someone who seemed to be in distress," he responded tensely, "The caller was named Silvia Jackar, part of CCTS security for 8 years, married, mother to two sons. She's also the person responsible for the explosion."

"There's clearly much more here, but I've opted to wait for Russo, my eyes are good, but if it's the both of us, nothing's likely to slip past."

"You've done well, as always," Ozpin remarked as he looked into the distance, clearly disturbed, "How is she doing?"

"She's okay," James responded, "The bomber planned for the toxicity of the explosive's components would do the target in. Although it impacted her Aura, the Smoke was useless against her so she'll be right as rain in a few hours."

"That's good to hear," Ozpin said, "You've confirmed that there are no outsiders on Beacon grounds?"

"I have sir," the answer came from Oobleck, "And all the students are accounted for."

"I've never understood having such a Semblance," Mr. Port jabbed at his friend, "But it seems to be of use now. Enjoy the feeling, Barry it probably won't happen again."

"I'd rather have a useless Semblance than a dead rodent playing facial hair across my lip."

"Touché," Port responded, "But you'd be surprised how famous this 'dead rodent' is with the ladies."

"Yes, it matches your mother's, so of course her friends find it interesting."

"You couldn't grow facial hair if there was a written instruction, even the patch on your head isn't going to last for very much longer."

"We'll set out and see if we can find anyone who stands out," Ozpin cut in, although he did find their exchange amusing as always.

xXx

"Is this thing on?" came a voice from the PA system, "If you can hear me, just tune your Scrolls to Dare, Dare, Die's Switch livestream. The students, who were confused but still awfully curious, did as he said. The image that jumped unto their screens was that of the first year's class rep, Adam Vulpes. The faunus was tied up, and seemingly unable to move.

"Here we have Mr. Adam Vulpes, the first-year class rep," he's been quite the pain in the butt, hasn't he? One of our faithful patrons has requested that we invite Mr. Pain in the Butt on an episode, and well, he's invited.

As he said this, he struck Adam across the face with a smug look. "Ladies and gentlemen, for your evening's entertainment, you in the comment section can tell us what you'd like to see, real time. Remember, comments are easier to see with a donation attached."

While this was ongoing, team WRBY, NVL and DLR (at the impetus of Nora) were already on the move, looking for where Adam would be. They split up into different groups and spanned out, determined to find him before something terrible happened.

xXx

The stream had only been ongoing for a few minutes, but it was already dying out. People could only comment "Kick him" and "punch him" so many times before it got boring. The fire came back for a few seconds when someone commented "Kiss him" although his request was not humoured in the least.

"Unmask him" this comment made everything stop for a moment, before there was an explosion of comments.

"Yes! Unmask him!" "Take it off! Take it off!" and each one was accompanied by plenty donations. Suddenly though, a red light covered the camera.

xXx

Adam had been aware of what was going on, but only subliminally, it was as though his mind was surrounded in a mist, every word and action simply passed by blurrily, although he was aware of all of them, there was something familiar about the effect.

However, on hearing one of his captors saying "Yeah, we should totally unmask him," his mind emerged from the haze that it was in, and he sent his aura at the camera, planning on knocking it down.

After the attack though, the camera was still standing, apparently protected by one of the captors' Semblances. Still, Adam rose from his chair and started fighting back, despite his restraints.

The bull was formidable, but he had too many disadvantages for a victory to be conceivable. He was driven to his knees once more.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the leader declared to his audience, who were now glued to their screens by the fight they had just seen and the tantalizing reveal to come, "As promised, we will now unmask him."

Adam tried to resist, but he was unable to, there was nothing he could do. He closed his eyes in resignation but resolved that he would end the people responsible. His entire body quivered in the rage that fueled this oath, he couldn't experience anything anymore; the world around him was mute, non-existent, all that was left was his rage, and whatever would be caught up in it.

There was a collective gasp from the people watching, the image they were seeing was truly surprising.

"It's okay Adam," came Blake's voice, whispering into his ear, and dragging him out from his temporary madness, "They can't see it." She was right, the image on their screens was an Adam with his eyes revealed, two clear blue orbs that stared out confusedly, but his eyes, as pretty as they were, weren't what held the audience's attention, it was the fact that Blake Dellarobia had cat ears.

"It's my bow," she whispered to him once more, drawing Adam's attention to the fact that her bow was now wrapped around his waist, "As long as it's on you they can't see it. I'll explain later."

"Thank you," Adam whispered back, his voice cracking, "Please, could you leave for a moment? I know it's abrupt."

Despite her confusion, she nodded and retreated from the room.

Adam rose from his knees, flexing his arms as they were now free from their restraints thanks to Blake. He walked towards them, and they made ready for his advance, putting their guards up and raising their weapons.

This was going to be bloody; he was going to put these people in the hospital.

He shouldn't lose control, he shouldn't draw attention to himself by doing this. These were all things he told himself as he pummeled them, as he felt their Auras shatter against the force of his blows, as he made them howl in the pain of being dominated completely by a manic opponent. This was a Frenzy, the same thing he had been trying to stave off with the apathy doses, he had now succumbed to it and there would be hell to pay.

AHH!

He shouted, his roar tearing throughout the compound.

Chapter End Notes

Hope you enjoyed it, as always, please give me your opinions on how I can improve.