AN: Given some recent reviews I feel there are things that need to be addressed. No, I'm not being unfair to Weiss because this is well within character for her. Weiss started out as a vastly unlikable character to give room for character growth in the first few seasons. She was rude, entitled, and looked down on nearly everyone around her. Then, when we got to Atlas and well after said 'Character Growth' she was still treating her brother like shit. Her own mother even called her out in the show for never caring about him. So having Whitley be here before any potential character growth is why she's acting this way.

Also, we do know Jaune is skilled in tactics/strategy. That was his main skill in the first few seasons before he really learned how to fight. He was the one making the plans in the middle of the fight. And there's enough implied that we do know that his parents weren't the best. 'You'll be welcomed back when you fail', how he was a neurotic wreck, talking about always dreaming of being a Huntsman but somehow not knowing what Aura is, something openly talked about and even televised through the Vytal Festivals? Clearly there was some shit going on in the Arc Household.

AN2: Chapter 15 was posted when the site wasn't sending out notifications so if you haven't read that one, I'd suggest going back to do so.

With the Power of an Avalanche

Chapter 16

-Whitley-

Humming to himself, Whitley walked down the hallways of Beacon. Classes had been cancelled for the last couple days of the current week to let the exchange students settle in and find their way around campus. With their arrival, missions were set to start within the week, the first ones involving teams made of partnerships from different schools.

"Hey Whitley!" Ruby spotted him as she exited one of the Weapon Maintenance workshops, Sniper scythe freshly oiled and gleaming as she wore it like an accessory.

"Hey Ruby." He grinned, sharing a high five with the only other person at Beacon his age, "Getting ready for the first missions?" even if these missions were always minor things, most typically Grimm hunting in the Emerald forest for a grade rather than pay, it was best to be prepared. They were to prepare for the proper missions that would have them farther afield shadowing with proper huntsmen and huntresses later in the year.

"Yep!" Ruby grinned as she fell into step beside him, "Pyrrha and I got our mission details this morning. We'll be going to hunt a pack of Beowolves with Penny Polendina and Ciel Soleil from Atlas."

"Polendina?" Whitley mused as he tried to remember the name, "I'm pretty sure that's the name of one of Atlas' top scientists. Probably their kid then. I got mine too, Jaune and I will be working with Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black from Haven, going after a nest with a King Taijitu." As usual for 'assigned missions' without a licensed overseer, they'd all be wearing special body cams for the short mission to let the staff see their performance and grade appropriately. Those, along with the cameras in the forest of course.

"Niiiiice." Ruby grinned as they reached the cafeteria, deciding to grab a snack, "By the way, my Dad went to your café when he was in Vale the other day. He asked me to pass on word if you ever open up a branch on Patch."

"I'll be sure to let him know." Whitley laughed, "It'll probably be after the Argus branch though." He wanted to make sure someone he or Jaune knew personally and trusted was overseeing their second branch to ensure that franchising would work smoothly. Once a second location was up and running, then he'd see about expanding to the other kingdoms or smaller locations like Patch.

For now, he'd focus on relaxing before the upcoming 'weekend mission'.

-Weiss-

Frowning softly to herself, Weiss went through the SDC records she had access to. After the fiasco of the lawsuit, and the recorded conversation between herself and Winter, she'd been looking more and more into what Whitley had been doing with the company resources.

Along with whoever was making his gear that Whitley and the blond dunce Arc were using, Whitley had been placed in charge of the Dust Mine nearest to Vale. The gall of it all! She was the official heiress and even she hadn't been given autonomy over any location or aspect of the SDC, let alone a full mine.

She was sure that there were some among the sycophants and mouth breathing imbeciles that believed it was a sign that she going to be replaced as heiress. It was probably her father just trying to make her be afraid of such an outcome while also setting up Whitley to fail. The SDC had enough mines that a single one struggling for a time would be an outcome easily recovered from, and when Whitley failed it would give Jacques Schnee even more say over Whitley and more material to hold over the little sycophant's head.

Hearing her scroll buzz, Weiss pulled it up to see a message with the information on whom she and Ilia would be working with for the first assignments. It only included their names, faces, and what school they were from, but it would be enough to find and identify them when it was time to perform their assignment. A partnership from Haven consisting of a blond named Sun Wukong and a rather handsome bluenette named Neptune Vasilias.

"Finally." Weiss, with the comfort of being the only one in the room, allowed a smirk to cross her face "I can start fixing things. Ilia has been…acceptable, so far. But I can finally start proving why I'm the one to watch at Beacon." If she was lucky, Pyrrha might even put in a request for a partner transfer like she had. Surely the Mistral Champion would be eager to partner with someone of Weiss' capabilities over that child Rose once she saw what exactly she was missing.

She never saw the unnoticeable chameleon Faunus rolling their eyes in the corner.

-Cinder-

Sipping a glass of wine as she relaxed in the hideout that used to belong to Roman, Cinder glanced down at one of her Scrolls. It listed what plebian assignment that Beacon was giving herself and Neo, having them work with a pair of no name nobody girls from Vacuo.

"Roman." She glanced at the idiotic thief who she was sure was under the delusion that this building, much like his life, still belonged to him, "Where is Neo?"

"She had a personal vendetta she wanted to handle." Roman answered, rolling a cigar that thankfully, for his health, was unlit "She promised that she'd be back before the mission thing you've got to go with her on. I already forged a 'family emergency' note in case Beacon has any issues." He tossed her the letter as she tucked it away, trusting his ability to forge as one of his few talents where he wouldn't mess up. And his desire to remain unburnt would ensure he continued to provide quality results.

"What sort of Vendetta?" she pushed, not liking there being information she wasn't being provided in regard to her underlings.

"She found out that her favorite cook doesn't have the best relationship with his family from what I understand." Roman shrugged, thankfully looking down at his watch so he didn't see the grimace that flitted across her face at those words, the memories it drug up "Something about his dad thinking that cooking was Woman's work and looking down on his son because of it?" at least it was something asinine rather than a threat. She'd studied these two thoroughly before she 'hired' them and was aware of the vicious Neopolitan's propensity for latching onto things that caught her interest and being violent with 'defending' them. It was only her own significantly superior strength that kept Neo from attacking her over her threats to Roman, although she was sure if Roman were to actually die while Neo lived then the midget wouldn't rest until she got revenge.

"I see." She finished off her wine, "Very well. But know that should Neo be late then there will be…consequences." She noted that Roman barely flinched at her threat this time, he must be growing accustomed to them. She'd have to fix that.