Previously, on The Defenders of Remnant...

"I know your position, and I know that if I can make the right choice, you can too. You and Venom together have the potential to do so much,"

"So, what, am I supposed to forgive you for what you did?" He asked.

"If you can. I'm not asking you to forget what happened, I'm not asking you to just move on; I'm just asking you to be better. Then, and only then, can you change things. Maybe you'll even be better off than before we met."

Cardin looked up just before he was pushed to the pavement by the Lizard leaping from above.

"Yang, the way Cardin was talking; he and Venom aren't symbiotic. They won't stand a chance against the Lizard," Peter observed.

"So?" Yang questioned.

"What do you mean 'so'? Cardin could die!" Peter exclaimed.

Then Peter's foot connected with the reptilian's jaw, knocking out a few of the sharp teeth and sending him off of Cardin and into a wall.

"You… you saved me. After all I did. Why?"

"Because that's what the good guys do. And like I said, it's not too late for you to be one too. Either of you," Peter answered.

Perched on a nearby rooftop was Taskmaster, hunched over the edge.

"Peter… Parker…"

"Well, you know what they say: 'No good deed goes unpunished'," Peter said somewhat dejectedly. Even Weiss seemed concerned at his tone and words.

"Peter, are you okay?" Ruby asked.

"That's a bit of a loaded question right now. I've been thinking about a lot of things recently, most of them not so great."

"I… was once a member of the White Fang." She said it with hesitance, worried about Peter's reaction since he had seen firsthand their methods of violence, and apathy for human life. He looked up at her in almost confusion.

"You? You were a part of them?" He asked.

"Yeah, I know how terrible they are now. That's part of the reason why I left, actually."

"I guess we're both just a couple of broken people looking to fix ourselves, huh?"

"I-I guess so," Blake replied.

"I appreciate a refresher course on all your skills, Bullseye. I'll need it for my time here," Taskmaster said as his bow collapsed back down and he attached back to his back. "Unlike Fisk, I don't plan on leaving this place. A world without the Avengers breathing down my neck on every job? That's a life I can get behind.

"To shed some light on our situation, witch, Fisk doesn't want to play ball with you. He just wants to play along until he has Mason make us a way home so he can keep looking for a variant of his dead wife. That's all he cares about. He plans to leave you all hung out to dry."

"And you're telling me this, why?" Cinder asked.

Cinder didn't seem at all surprised at Taskmaster's words. "You already knew."

"I'm not one to be played, Taskmaster."

"You said you wanted your own piece of the world, correct?" Cinder asked. Taskmaster hesitantly nodded. "I can promise you that and more if you agree to work with me, with us. And in time, you will understand everything, and you will have everything you want. So, what will it be?" Cinder waited for his response. Taskmaster seemed to be thinking for a good few moments, before he looked Cinder in her bright amber eyes, and put his hand out.

"Deal," he said. Cinder's smirk only grew as she took his hand and shook it.

The Defenders of Remnant

Chapter 13: Tension

Doctor Strange sat cross-legged, floating above the ground with several interconnected red, glowing, transparent orbs surrounding him. Sitting on the floor before him was a spellbook that was damaged and torn, and bore an ominous design on the cover. The Darkhold, a dangerous book of infinite dark magic, that Strange himself couldn't believe he'd decided to rely on.

"So how is this working, Strange?" Tony asked. Both he and Reed Richards were present as Strange tried to focus on the spell.

"As dangerous as it is, I can use the Darkhold to reach into the multiverse and try to find them. If we find what universe they are in, we'll be one step closer to bringing them home," Strange answered.

"What, you can't just use a spell to bring them home after?" Tony questioned.

"Using the Darkhold for this is dangerous enough, and so is meddling with the Multiverse period. And the fact that Wilson Fisk was able to create a machine to blow a hole right into it puts us all at risk, both in this universe and wherever they were sent to."

"Before, you mentioned that the hole in reality created a 'multiversal wave'," Reed said. "Is there a possibility that the 'wave' affected more than just these two realities?"

"It's possible, and if it did, then both worlds and more are in even more danger."

"How much damage are we talking?" Tony asked.

"Universal destruction countless times over. For all we know, infinite worlds could have been affected, and if these tears continue to appear, the death toll could be astronomical."

"And how soon could you be done?" Reed asked.

"I don't know, but I'll let you know when I am. When I tell you so, you'll get Xavier. I may have a way for us to communicate with them directly, but I'll need his help."

"Right. Good luck, Doc." Tony said, then he and Reed left Strange, exiting the Sanctum Sanctorum out onto the sidewalk. Tony then paused for a second as a call came up on his suit's HUD. "Hello?" Reed looked at Tony. "Right, on my way. Assemble the others and I'll meet you there." He then hung up the call and turned to Reed. "T'Challa just called. The Wrecking Crew just broke out of Ryker's and are tearing up the docking yards. Sorry to leave you behind, but I'm sure you can get Sue to pick you up."

"It's fine, we all have jobs to do. I'll contact Professor Xavier and inform him of the situation," Reed replied. Tony nodded then stepped off the sidewalk and looked up to the sky.

"Man, I'm gonna have Damage Control up my ass for this one…" Tony said to himself before launching up into the sky and flying away.

"So, how is this supposed to work again?" Cardin asked.

"I wouldn't know how to fully explain it," Peter answered, "I was never with my Venom long enough to get that far. He was too… dark. But this one doesn't have any of that imprinting. He only has you. And if anything, that should make connecting easier." The two stood upon the same dorm roof that Cardin had been beaten on last time, where his first steps to joining with Venom were taken.

"Easier said than done," Cardin remarked.

What are you trying to say? Venom asked.

"That we have a long road ahead of us."

"Maybe, yeah. It could take a month, or it could take all of five minutes. You never know. It just depends on how long it takes you to connect," Peter said. "Which is why I have two of the most capable people I know to help you."

"Wait, what? I thought you were teaching us," Cardin said.

"Sorry, but I'm with Team RWBY today to go see the decorations for the Vytal Festival. Besides, I don't think I'm the best one to handle communication skills. So I brought some help." Peter pulled out his scroll and pressed something once, and after a few moments. Pyrrha and Jaune stepped through the door back into the building, joining Peter and Cardin on the roof.

"Wait, you're having them help me?"

"They've been made very aware of your and Venom's situation, and they could both help. Besides, if everything's going to move on, you need to put the past behind you. And these two are the ones you attacked the hardest. So you can make up with them, and next week during class, you can apologize to Velvet too."

"Ugh, fine…" Cardin groaned.

"Hey, it's not exactly fun and rainbows for us either," Jaune remarked.

"You didn't exactly leave us with a lot of pity, first by trying to get Jaune thrown out, then by attacking all of us," Pyrrha added. "But that just means we all have work to do."

"Well then, I'll leave you guys to it. I better catch up with the others before they get too far. Tell Nora and Ren I said hi." Peter then went back inside, closing the door behind him.

Team RWBY was walking down one of the main streets of the city of Vale, witnessing as countless bystanders were putting up decorations; balloons, lights, banners, all in preparation for the Vytal Festival. The team stopped as one long white banner was hung from one side of the street to the other, reading "Welcome to Vale!".

"The Vytal Festival! Oh, this is absolutely wonderful!" Weiss exclaimed in enthusiasm.

"I don't think I've ever seen you smile this much, Weiss," Ruby remarked with a hand on her hip. "It's kinda weirding me out."

Weiss turned to her leader. "How could you not smile? A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world! There will be dances! Parades! A tournament! Oh, the amount of planning and organization that goes into this event is simply breathtaking!" The team continued their stroll as Weiss kept praising the festival.

Yang sighed. "You really know how to take a good thing and make it sound boring."

"Quiet, you!" Weiss crossed her arms.

"Remind me again why we're spending our Friday afternoon visiting the stupid docks?" Yang asked as the team turned a corner and the sound of a ship's horn could be heard in the distance.

Ruby plugged her nose and furrowed her brow. "Ugh, they smell like fish…"

"I heard that students visiting from Vacuo will be arriving by ship today, and as a representative of Beacon, I feel as though it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom," Weiss answered with gusto and stature in her voice and a hand over her heart before the team continued on to the docks as a ship was pulling into port.

"She wants to spy on them so she'll have an upper hand in the tournament," Blake said to the other two with her arms crossed.

"Ugh, you can't prove that," Weiss said in a defensive tone.

Ruby looked down the street to her right and saw a Dust shop with its windows and a wall blown out, and police tape around the store keeping bystanders away as repairs were being done by both construction workers and another duo: Luke Cage and Iron Fist. "Woah…" Ruby simply said. Her team paused and also looked in their direction.

"Hey, it's that bulletproof guy!" Yang said.

"And Iron Fist. They both showed up around the same week," Blake added.

"What are they doing?" Yang asked.

"Looks like they're helping repair damages done to that Dust shop," Blake answered.

"This about the length you need to patch that hole back up?" Luke asked one of the construction workers as he set down a large flat of stone.

"It's about eleven inches too long. And we don't have the tools with us at the moment to cut it down to size," The worker replied.

"Don't worry about it," Danny said before approaching the flat, and put an open vertical hand out, and it slowly started to glow yellow. After the glow had reached its peak, Danny chopped downwards, cutting the stone perfectly. The smaller peace fell to the side. "How about now?"

The construction worker measured the slab again, and nodded before backing away. "We've filled in the rest of the hole already to fit the slab, so just slide it into place and we'll seal up the rest." Luke nodded and brought the massive slab of stone over to the hole in the wall.

Then Team RWBY approached standing at the edge of the tape. "What happened here?" Ruby asked. Danny, or Iron Fist, turned to face them.

"Another attempted robbery by the White Fang. Luckily we were there to stop them from getting away with the Dust. They seemed desperate this time, too. Even tried taking money instead of just the Dust this time. It means we've cracked down on them," he said.

"You guys have done a good job fighting them," Yang complimented. "It's weird to think it only took three of you guys to do it."

"Actually, there are more of us. They're just more night owls," Danny replied. "But yeah, it seems like they might be turning tail in some parts of the city."

"The White Fang," Weiss said. "What an awful bunch of degenerates." She crossed her arms and turned her nose up at the mere mention of the group.

"What's your problem?" Blake asked.

"My problem?" Weiss replied as she turned to her teammate. "I simply don't care for the criminally insane."

"The White Fang is hardly a bunch of psychopaths. They're a collection of misguided Faunus."

"'Misguided'? They want to wipe humanity off the face of the planet!"

"So then they're very misguided. Either way, it doesn't explain any of their attempted robberies of the Dust shops in downtown Vale."

"Blake's got a point," Ruby agreed. "Besides, that Torchwick guy I ran into a few months ago hasn't been caught yet. Maybe it was him?"

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but it was all White Fang here," Luke said as he approached. "But that Torchwick punk could be ordering them around. It's just half baked without evidence though."

"That still doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum," Weiss said. "Those faunus only know how to lie, cheat and steal." Danny looked over and saw Blake stare daggers into Weiss's skull.

"That's not necessarily true," Yang started to say, before a voice coming from back down at the docks carried up the street.

"Hey, stop that Faunus!" Team RWBY turned around and, curious, ran back down to the edge of the street at the docks. Luke and Danny looked at each other, and Luke gestured for Danny to follow them. So Danny leapt over the police tape and followed the huntresses down the way. They all stopped to see on the deck of the boat that had just pulled in, two of the sailors chasing a young man with short but spiky blond hair, a white unbuttoned collared shirt with nothing under, rolled up raggedy jeans, red bracers, and a golden furry tail across the deck. The Faunus leapt up onto the railing of the boat and turned to the two sailors.

"Thanks for the ride, guys!" The faunus chuckled before leaping off onto the dock and sprinting away.

"You no good stowaway!" One of the sailors cursed at him. Once the faunus was on the street, he hung himself upside down from a light post with his tail and started eating a banana.

"Hey, a no good stowaway would've been caught! I'm a great stowaway," The faunus replied. Danny sighed and calmly approached the faunus boy.

"If you don't mind, you clearly aren't meant to be here. If you'll kindly come down and come with me, I'm sure we can figure things out peacefully," Danny tried to negotiate with the Faunus. The young man's response was understood when he threw a banana peel onto Danny's face, then leapt off the post and kept on running. He ran by Team RWBY, and as Blake met eyes with the Faunus, he winked at her as he sprinted by with a smirk on his face, not breaking stride as he ran out of sight.

"Well Weiss, you wanted to see the competition, and there it goes," Yang remarked.

"Quick, we have to observe him!" Weiss exclaimed before leading the way to follow the stowaway faunus. Blake stood there for a second, slightly dumbfounded, before joining her teammates in their chase. The team followed the stowaway, still a good deal of distance between them, around a few corners, and watched him turn one at an otherwise dead end. Weiss sprinted even farther in front of her teammates to try and keep up, only to turn the corner and collide with someone else, tumbling and bringing them both to the ground. As Weiss recovered, she looked ahead to see the stowaway leap upwards between a few buildings, and out of sight. "No, he got away!"

"Uh… Weiss?" Yang said as she pointed to the ground next to Weiss. Weiss turned to look into the eyes of the person she tackled, a girl with short curly orange hair with a small cowlick up top, pale skin, freckles and green eyes, all dressed in an off-white off the shoulder blouse with frill trim and cuffs that covered half her hands. She also wore a short gray pinafore dress with golden trim on the hem and two black stockings with green stripes going up the sides, and black shoes.

Weiss quickly got to her feet, startled a bit. "Salutations!" The girl greeted from ground level with a wide smile.

"Um… hello," Ruby simply said.

"Are you… okay?" Yang asked in a concerned tone.

"I'm wonderful! Thank you for asking!" The girl replied in a chipper tone.

The team all traded glances simultaneously before looking back to the strange new girl. "Do you… wanna get up?' Yang asked, sounding more confused than concerned.

The girl seemed to think about it for a moment before nodding. "Yes!" She then flipped herself back to her feet in one movement. The team in unison took one large step away from her. "My name is Penny! It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"Hi, Penny. I'm Ruby," Their leader greeted.

"I'm Weiss."

"Blake."

"Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" Yang asked, which received her a hit in the arm by Blake. "Oh, I'm Yang."

"It's a pleasure to meet you!" Penny repeated.

"You already said that," Weiss said in a confused way.

Penny seemed to process this for a moment before replying, "So I did!"

"Well, sorry for running into you!" Weiss apologized as the team turned around and headed back around the corner.

"Take care, friend!" Ruby waved as they left.

"She was… weird," Yang commented after they had made it halfway back up the street.

"Who was weird?" Peter said as he approached them from a side street.

"Oh, heya Pete. Just some strange girl Weiss tackled to the ground by accident," Yang replied.

"What did you call me?" Penny asked, now suddenly in front of the team.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I definitely didn't think you heard me!" Yang defended.

"That is the worst defense ever. Of all time," Peter commented, all the while Weiss was visibly confused on how Penny was ahead of them, doing double takes from back to the other street corner to Penny in front of her.

"No, not you," Penny said to Yang before brushing past the entire team up to Ruby, getting right up in her face, which made Ruby lean back a little. "You."

"Me? I-I don't know what I… I um, uh…" Ruby uncomfortably stammered.

"You called me friend! Am I really your friend?" Penny asked, not backing away in the slightest.

"Um…" Ruby looked over Penny's shoulder to her team, who were all giving her signs of "No." She then looked to Peter, who simply gave her shrug. Ruby turned her attention back to Penny in front of her. "Yeah, sure! Why not?" Her entire team was in disbelief at her choice. Penny, however,shot her hands up in the air in excitement.

"Sensational! We can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys!"

Ruby quietly groaned and leaned to Weiss. "Is this what it was like when you met me?"

"No," The heiress replied. "She seems far more coordinated."

"So," Yang said, "What are you doing in Vale?"

"I'm here to fight in the tournament," Penny answered.

"Wait, you're fighting in the tournament?" Weiss asked.

"I'm combat ready!" Penny saluted.

"Forgive me, but you hardly look the part."

"Says the girl wearing a frilly dress," Peter said.

"It's a combat skirt," Weiss corrected.

"Yeah!" Ruby defended, giving her teammate a high-five, since she was wearing something similar.

"Wait a minute," Weiss continued, "If you're here for the tournament, does that mean you know that monkey tailed rapscallion?"

Peter turned to see Blake furrow her brow and grit her teeth in silent anger. He quietly spoke to her. "What's going on?"

"There was a faunus at the docks, causing trouble as a stowaway here for the tournament. Weiss has been generalizing all Faunus with the White Fang," Blake whispered a reply.

"So Weiss is being racist. That makes too much sense," Peter replied. He saw the fury behind Blake's eyes. "Look, just don't lose your cool. It's Weiss being Weiss. She doesn't know you're a faunus, remember?"

"That doesn't make it any better," Blake said.

"The who?" Penny asked Weiss.

"The filthy faunus from the boat!" Weiss exclaimed.

"Why do you keep saying that?!" Blake snapped at Weiss.

Weiss turned to her teammate. "Huh?"

"Stop calling him a rapscallion! Stop calling him a degenerate! He's a person!" Blake exclaimed.

"Oh, I'm sorry! Would you rather me stop calling the trash can a trash can?" Weiss gestured to a garbage bin to her right, before raising her hand towards a street light to her left. "Or this lamp post as a lamp post?"

"Stop it!"

"Stop what? He clearly broke the law! Give him time, he'll probably join up with those other faunus in the White Fang."

Blake clenched her fists tightly. Peter had never seen her more angry than right now. "Ugh, you ignorant little brat!" Blake then stormed off down the street.

"How dare you talk to me like that?! I am your teammate!" Weiss replied before rushing after and catching up with Blake.

"You are a judgmental little girl!" Blake insulted Weiss.

"What in the world makes you say that?!"

"Uh, I think we should probably go…" Yang said nervously.

"Where are we going?' Penny asked, not understanding Yang's meaning at all.

"No, we're settling this," Peter said. "We just went through this crap yesterday, and I'm tired of it."

"The mere fact that you would sort that Faunus boy with a terrorist group solely based on his species makes you just as much of a scoundrel as you believe him to be," Blake said.

"So you admit it! The White Fang is just a radical group of terrorists!" Weiss accused.

"That's not what I meant and you know it!"

"I don't understand why this is causing such a problem!"

"That is the problem!"

"You realize you're defending an organization that hates humanity, don't you? The faunus of the White Fang are pure evil!" Weiss said.

"There is no such thing as pure evil! Why do you think they hate humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin, and people like you that force the White Fang to take such drastic measures!"

"People like me?" Weiss asked defensively.

"You're being discriminatory!" Peter said as he took Blake's side. "You associate every Faunus you see with the White Fang! Label them as criminals or terrorists! You doing that makes you worse than Cardin was!"

"I'm a victim!" Weiss exclaimed.

"Victim?!" Peter replied. "How the hell are you a victim?"

"You want to know why I despise the White Fang? Why I don't particularly trust the faunus? It's because they've been at war with my family for years. War. As in actual bloodshed. My grandfather's company has had a target painted on its back for as long as I can remember. And ever since I was a child, I've seen family friends disappear, board members executed, and entire train cars full of Dust stolen." Weiss crossed her arms and kept looking both Blake and Peter in the eyes. "And every day, my father would come home furious. It made for a very difficult childhood."

Peter saw pain in her eyes. Sadness. Anger. Hurt. The same kind of emotions he's felt for almost five years any time a life was lost while he was Spider-Man. MJ, May, Harry, Gwen, Uncle Ben. The same amount of history, the same amount of weight on her conscience. "Weiss-" He started to say.

"No! You want to know why I despise the White Fang?!" Weiss turned on Blake and stomped up to her." It's because they're a bunch of liars, thieves and murderers!"

"Well maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!" Blake snapped violently, standing her ground.

The air fell silent. Even Weiss was shocked, as she slowly backed away from Blake. It took Blake the longest to realize the words that came from her mouth. Her hard expression turned to one of fear. "I-I… I…"

"Blake…" Peter said softly, trying to approach her. But she quickly ran off, down an alley out of sight.

"Blake!" Ruby exclaimed, starting to run after her. "Wait! Come back!" Her chase was fruitless however, and the team leader stopped barely halfway down the street.

"Blake, no…" Peter mumbled. Then a well of anger rose up on him, and he wheeled around to face Weiss. "What was that?!"

"Why are you angry at me?!"

"Oh, why don't you take a wild guess?!" Peter snapped at her. "First, you were generalizing and being discriminatory. Then you just kept pushing and pushing." Peter bore over her, so she started backing up, but Peter just followed, and jabbed her collarbone with his finger as he emphasized both times he said "pushing". "I know you were bad before, but this crosses the line!"

"I'm crossing a line?! Did you not hear her? She's with the White Fang!" Weiss defended.

"She was with the White Fang! She left long before she knew any of us! Because whether you decide to believe it or not, she hates what the White Fang are doing just as much as you do!" Peter defended Blake.

"Wait a second, you knew?! And you didn't tell us?

"That's not my secret to tell, Weiss! It was Blake's! She wanted to put her past behind her and be better. To make who she will be more important than who she was. But you just couldn't stop talking." Peter backed Weiss into the wall of a building. "If maybe for once you thought before you spoke, this wouldn't have happened."

"Why would we even want a former White Fang member with us anyway? For all we know, she's lying!"

"You guys are all she has!" Peter exclaimed. "She left everything behind to be a huntress! And now you made her run away. When she has nowhere left to run to." Weiss looked away from Peter, feeling uncomfortable and even a little afraid. Peter saw he made his point and backed away, before turning around and leaving.

"Where are you going?" Ruby asked as he passed her.

"To find Blake. I promise I'll bring her back, Ruby."

"We'll look for her too," Ruby said. Peter nodded before taking off in the direction Blake left.

"Anything yet?" Marc asked.

"No, and next time you ask, I'll throw a bottle at you. I'll tell you when I find something," Jessica replied.

"Well, we've been looking for hours. I didn't expect it to be easy, but considering we're sitting in his halls, you'd figure we'd find even a sliver of something that can prove Ozpin is hiding something." The two were sitting at two separate computers in Beacon's library, and were digging for any useful information that could uncover what Khonshu believed Ozpin was hiding. Marc thought to himself for a second, then a realization came to him. He then logged into Professor Port's personal account. "The information might not be hidden just anywhere. If I can scour Port's files, we might be able to find something."

"Really? You're hacking into the account of the teacher you're assigned to?" Jessica remarked.

"It's not hacking if I know his login information," Marc defended. "Besides, we're already going against the rules, why not push it further?"

Jessica sighed and rubbed her eyes. "What's his login?"

And so the two continued to scour through files, just about everything they now had access to with Professor Port's login. This continued until Jessica stopped at a particular document and started reading. "Hey, Spector?"

"Yeah?"

"What's the name of that little red girl Peter's buddy buddy with?" Jessica asked.

"I don't know. Something Rose. Why?"

"In Port's journal, it talks about someone named Summer Rose."

"And what does that have to do with what we're looking for?" Marc asked.

"Just listen," Jessica said before she began to read off the passage from the journal. "'Today, I've heard grave news, news of which I had hoped I wouldn't hear for another few decades; Summer Rose, my dear friend and leader of team STRQ, has died. It took me some time to process this, but I couldn't even imagine what it's doing to Taiyang or Qrow. I don't envy Tai, eventually having to tell both his daughters the reality of what happened to her. Summer's daughter isn't even a year old, and Raven's is barely more. And Raven… Raven was always complicated. But complicated or not, I've missed her these almost three years. It almost makes me wonder when she'll find out about Summer.'"

"Raven…" Marc said. "Raven… I've heard that name before. And how long ago was that?"

"Fifteen years, give or take," Jessica answered.

"Look further back in his journal, see if he records when Raven left." Marc stood up and then walked around to stand behind Jessica as she scrolled through. After a few more minutes, she came to another entry.

"Here we go, a little over seventeen years ago." Jessica started reading again, "'Today, Raven Branwen had an argument with Ozpin and her brother Qrow. I could hear the yelling from outside his office door as I was waiting to bring in my report, as I had just come back from a mission. It was too muffled for me to hear the words, but whatever their altercation was about, it seemed to unsettle Ozpin. When I questioned him about it afterwards, he didn't give a clear answer. Qrow, however, simply told me 'Some people can't handle the truth that well. I guess my sister is one of them', and then elaborated no further. It's not my business what happens behind closed doors, especially those of Professor Ozpin's office, but even though Raven is temperamental, this was something altogether different. I can only hope that this doesn't lead to the disbanding of team STRQ.'"

"So we have after she left, and maybe the reason why. Read forwards, see if he knows where she left to," Marc ordered.

"So you think the reason she left was because of what Ozpin might be hiding?" Jessica asked.

"You're the private eye, you tell me."

"Fine. Dick." Jessica skimmed the next few entries until she came to a stopping point. 'Here, less than a week later. 'I'm not sure why, but Raven Branwen has left her Huntress position and team STRQ. I haven't spoken to Taiyang or Summer yet, but when I spoke with Qrow, he said she was still upset with Professor Ozpin, and what they had argued about led her to leave her team and young daughter behind to rejoin the tribe both her and Qrow were raised in. This has only left me more confused, but unfortunately there's nothing I can do about it. Once I return from my next mission, I will stop by and talk with Taiyang about this.'"

"So Raven and Qrow Branwen know Ozpin's secrets." Marc then shut off his computer. "Thanks for the help, Jones."

"Wait, so you're gonna go out into the world and hunt down this Raven chick?" Jessica questioned.

"I don't know where her brother Qrow is. He's clearly not at the school, and Port's journal doesn't mention anything specific for him. And if Qrow's loyal to Ozpin, it wasn't going to. But Raven not only learned what Ozpin's hiding, but left because of it. If I find her tribe, I'll find her."

"Aren't you supposed to stay in Vale? We're here for Castle and Fisk, nothing else."

"I don't know about you, Jessica, but I'm done being lied to. I'm going to find out what I want to know, and Ozpin won't stop me," Marc said before leaving the library.

Cinder entered the Tinkerer's lab to see him hard at work at a monitor. "Any progress, Phineas?"

"Quite a bit, actually. That analysis from your 'Dr. Watts' helped," Mason replied.

"How soon can we begin work on more Faunus?" Cinder asked.

"I can't give a clear answer to that question. Could be days, could be weeks. I've said it a dozen times, you can't expect too much from me on this when my expertise is advanced armaments, not genetic alteration."

"Don't worry, I understand. I'm not one to punish those for not having a skill set. You gave us our Lizard, which was already what I had asked for," Cinder assured him. "Go ahead and call it a night. You've done well."

"If you don't mind, I'll work a bit longer. It'll keep Fisk off my back," Mason commented.

"You needn't worry about dear old Wilson Fisk for too much longer. Very well then, continue your work. Just not too hard." Cinder then exited Tinkerer's lab back into the main warehouse where Taskmaster and Prowler were sparring in the wide open, Kingpin and Torchwick were conversing on the side, and a dozen White Fang were working the supplies and Dust in the warehouse. As Cinder approached, Torchwick turned to face her.

"Oh Cinder dear, care to chat a second?" He asked sauvely.

Cinder raised an eyebrow. "What about, Roman?"

'Oh, you know, just what the hell we're exactly supposed to do!" Torchwick's tone changed from smooth to irritated instantly. "These 'superheroes' have thwarted every robbery for over two months now, and we don't have anything close to your quota for Dust! We've exhausted our opportunities. We've tried to hit every Dust shop in the kingdom, and we've come away with scraps. If we don't figure out something soon, this operation is over."

"Your concern is noted. Which is why I had already planned an operation to make up for our losses to these 'Defenders'. At the end of the weekend, a massive shipment of Dust and arms art is coming into Vale via bullheads at the docks. Coming away with that score will put us back on track," Cinder said.

"Quite a score indeed, Ms. Fall," Fisk remarked.

"I'll start gathering the men we'll need," Torchwick said.

Cinder put her hand up. "Not so fast, Roman. While I was going to give you lead of the operation as usual, I have since decided to let our new ally Mr. Fisk do so instead." Fisk raised an eyebrow at Cinder's statement. "He has yet to prove his word of dedication to our cause. And believe me, Wilson, when I say that spearheading this theft and returning in success will more than prove you are a man of your word."

"You doubt me?" Fisk questioned.

"To be bluntly honest with you, I've doubted you since you walked in my door. I don't trust easily, but people like Roman have proved their worth to me." Cinder gently brushed her hand across Torchwick's chest to highlight her point, which made Torchwick smirk a little. "Even dear Anthony has shown honesty in his service." She gestured to Taskmaster, who just flattened out Prowler, and started stretching while his sparring partner recovered. "So please, lead this operation, and you will not only prove your honesty, but be one step closer to being the true Kingpin once again."

Fisk narrowed his eyes at Cinder, but hid any clear emotion. When Taskmaster saw this, he stood still, and so did Prowler once he was on his feet again. The thought crossed their minds that Fisk could easily do to Cinder what he did to Electro. And no one could stop him from doing it, either. And although Cinder held a confident smirk and a steady gaze, she felt her heartbeat pick up the pace and her breath slightly catch in her throat. An afterthought is all it would take for Fisk to kill her right then, right there.

The strike never came, however. "Very well, Ms. Fall. I will lead this operation of yours. And when I return with the Dust and weapons, you will see that the Kingpin is a man of his word."

"Excellent. I entrust the operation to you then," Cinder replied.

"Then if you will excuse me, Ms. Fall," Kingpin said before walking away from her and to Taskmaster and Prowler.

"You know he's gonna kill you, right?" Torchwick asked Cinder.

"I'm aware he wants to. But Fisk has more enemies around him than he realizes."

Fisk came to his remaining two underlings, towering over them. "I assume you two were listening. So, Prowler, when we attack the shipment that night, I want you to hijack one of the bullheads before they can unload and immediately take it away, that way if things go wrong, we will still have a large sum of the supplies."

"Yes sir," Prowler nodded.

"And Mr. Masters, you and the faunus will take care of any security the shipment has before loading the rest up."

"You got it," Taskmaster replied.

"Both of you do your parts, and when this is over, I fear we will have to take Cinder Fall out of the equation."

"If we're gonna kill her, let's just do it now, where she least expects it," Taskmaster said.

"No. We need her support for their supplies. But once we return, we will make this operation ours."

"If we take control now, we'll have command of her pawns."

"Mr. Masters, there are two kinds of people: the good samaritan and the ill intent. I wish to locate my wife, and by helping them with this theft, I will have honored my word. I can then move on with making a way home for us, and once that is completed, we will leave these rodents to die, where they will cause no more trouble for anyone, let alone us. That is why I am the good samaritan." Kingpin then leaves them, and once he was gone, Prowler went his own way, and Cinder approached Taskmaster.

"You put on quite the performance," Cinder smirked.

"Who said it was a performance?' Taskmaster remarked before turning around and setting his weapons aside. "I'm gonna get some food. Want to come with?"

"A tempting offer, but I have some calls to make. Another time, perhaps. I'm flattered though."

"Don't read too hard into it." Taskmaster then started walking away. "And don't call me 'Anthony'."

"What? You don't like being called by your real name?"

"Not when you do it," Taskmaster replied. "It makes my skin crawl."

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Penny Polendina