Blake entered the CCT tower, Perceval at her side, and entered a private room. Sitting on the couch in front of the wide angle CCT screen, Blake typed in a number she had memorized but not used in years. Her discussion with Nia burned in her brain. Could she have been less… Drastic? Worked with the local White Fang branch instead of running away from home to Vale. At the time, it had seemed like a perfect storybook story, the two lovers running away to make the world right.

Stupid.

Finally, the terminal connected, and Kali Belladonna appeared on screen, apparently still getting ready for the day, going by the bathrobe wrapped around her.

"Hello, it's a bit early, can you-" Kali's voice died in her throat as she stared at Blake, who shifted uncomfortably. Then, she called, as loud as she could, "Ghira! Ghira! Come down here, now, it's Blake!"

Her father didn't even bother with the stairs, leaping from the second floor to rush over and join Kali at the terminal. His voice, deep and soft at the same time said, "Blake?"

"Uh, hi…" Blake said, beginning to drum her fingers on the couch, before a deluge of questions came flying at her, faster than she could answer.

"Where are you? How have you been? Do you need a pick up? We're a bit low on supplies but nobody would begrudge us for bringing you home. Why haven't you called? We were worried sick about you! It's good to see you! Who's that man- oh, he has a Core Crystal, you awakened a Blade? Congratulations, I'm just glad you didn't get hurt doing so! What's your name?"

"Ah," Perceval said with a bow, "I am Perceval, Lord and Lady Belladonna. Please, ignore my presence as much as possible. We are here for Blake, and I don't wish for my unexpected presence to take away from that. I can even step out, if necessary."

"No, no, it's fine!" Kali said, "have you been taking care of Blake since you awakened?"

"To the best of my ability," Perceval said, "Now please, let the topic return to Blake."

"So, where are you?" Ghira asked.

"Beacon, I'm taking the Entrance Exam tomorrow."

Confusion appeared in Ghira's eyes, before changing to relief, "You aren't with the Fang anymore? Please tell me this isn't some sort of deep cover operation Adam came up with."

"No, I'm not with the Fang anymore. Adam… Turned out a lot worse than I expected.

"I wish I could say that surprised me," Ghira said, "but I knew that he was slipping from before you met. You were just too young and had your crush on him, so I knew you wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"I was an idiot," Blake said bitterly.

"You were barely more than a child, being taken advantage of by someone several years older than you," Ghira snapped, though clearly not angry at Blake, "Adam manipulated you, Blake. He took advantage of your still childlike belief that the world worked like a storybook where you would win in the end. I'm just glad you realized that before you were too far gone and are trying to change your life around. And I'm glad you'll have a Team, and Perceval, you can lean on for support."

—

It frustrated Adam to replace Blake with a Blade, but he knew it was only temporary, he would have Blake back soon. And, in the long-term, they would need to level the playing field against Huntsmen that also got Blades.

"Are you in yet?"

"I was in five minutes ago, after using that password we got last week," Silvers drawled, "it's installing the hack through their firewalls that's the problem, and even that should be done… Now."

"Cut the alarms and lock the door to holding," Adam said, wasting no time in drawing Wilt, slashing through one side of the wall, then the other, the top and the bottom, "Kass, you're up."

"Alright, Adam!" The young looking Blade with a fox mask over her face lifted her giant hammer with one hand, grabbing it with the other, and knocked in the section Adam had cut. It went flying across the room like a shotgun blast, smashing the guard on duty in the side of his head, causing him to drop like a sack of rocks.

Adam stepped up to the nearest holding cell, growling as he saw one Faunus lying on the bed, bandages wrapped around their midsection and another approaching him with a burn on his neck. Slashing through the hinges, Adam tore the door down, letting the Faunus out and walking in to help the other one stand and get out of the building. All across the holding cells, White Fang members were doing the same for their brothers and sisters.

"What happened? Where's Verden?"

"They sent some team we'd never heard of before. It was… brutal , they took us down in less than ten minutes. Then they shipped us here, instead of the nearby precinct. You know this one's rep, lost some police during rallies, so they did the bare minimum to patch us up and left us to rot until our court date. As for Verden, his injuries were severe enough that they had to send him to Vale General. He would have died otherwise."

"Damnnit," Adam swore, "Come on, let's get you out of here-"

Suddenly the bars locking down holding opened and an alarm began to ring through the building.

"Silvers!" Adam called angrly, even as he passed the Faunus he was helping up to Kassandra. Drawing Wilt, he pointed Blush at the door.

"It says we should have another three minutes!" Silvers said.

The moment the door opened, Adam fired even as he stepped backwards, hitting the first officer with a shotgun loaded for Ursa, keeping the suppressing fire down until they were all in the back of the unmarked delivery van they arrived in, pulling the door shut as they pulled away.

—-

Mythra woke with a groan, lifting the arm wrapping around Nia and Ruby and grabbing the blasted Scroll. Lifting it to her ear, she snapped, "What?"

"I'm sorry for waking you this late, Mythra, but we just got an alert we figured Ruby would like to know about. Can you have her come to my office? You're all invited too, of course, I don't doubt there is little to nothing I could do to convince her to keep secrets from you."

"Fine," Mythra hung up, shaking Ruby and Nia on top of her, Everyone, get up, Ozpin wants us for some reason."

They all got up, used to being woken at odd hours by jobs and Mio, Glimmer and Milton's crying. Ruby glanced down at her night gown and muttered, "screw it, if Ozpin wanted us in day clothes, he could have said so."

She led the three out of her bedroom, not a single one of them happy to be woken at two in the morning. The elevator ride was silent as Nia's head dipped several times, Ruby carefully wrapping an arm around her just in case.

They stepped out of the elevator to Glynda and Qrow already there, talking with Ozpin, "-No, it wasn't my decision, and when I find out who decided to send them to a precinct across town, already under investigation for faunus abuse I am going to be very, very cross at them."

"What happened," Ruby asked, as they approached, Nia snuggling into her side.

"Ruby," Ozpin said, apparently having accepted that "Mrs. Rose" was a problem when there were four of them, "the precinct where we holding the people you captured on that mission was attacked an hour ago, allowing everyone to be freed."

"You better not be asking us to track them down, st this hour," Ruby said.

"No, but there was a Blade with them. If you could keep a look out for her, it would be appreciat- Mrs. Rose?"

This time it was appropriate, as even the half asleep Nia snapped to attention at the picture shown to them. A familiar white and red fox mask, black hair down to her waist, a white dress.

"Oh, Kass," Ruby sighed sadly

"You know this Blade?"

"I was her Driver at one point, I was a lot of Blade's Driver at one point. But I decided to release them before the start of Adonis so they could start new lives. I knew some of them could end up in wrong hands, but… Still, depending on how you look at it, this is an advantage to us."

"How do you assume that, Ruby?" Glynda asked.

"Kass has an… Unfortunate tendency to cause bad luck. She can't control it, but things go wrong around Kass, mercenary missions fail, people trip while attacking. It's not something that can be weaponized, it's just something she does without control."

"So the fact that our enemy has her is a strong point in our favor," Ozpin said, "any disadvantages?"

"Yeah, two. Kass isn't aware she causes bad luck. Even if you try to tell her, she won't believe you. And two, she believes in the best in her Driver, meaning-"

"-there's no way we can convince her she's on the wrong side. So we'll have to kill her Driver to neutralize her."

"Do we know their name?"

"Not officially, but we have a suspension. Adam Taurus, leader of the Vale White Fang branch."

Nia let out a small "oh", before shaking her head when they looked at her, mouthing "I'll tell you later."

—

Glimmer sat up with a yawn, climbing out of the sleeping bag Pyra, Mom, had packed for her the night before Beacon. Truth be told, it was still one of the better nights in her life. Life in the barracks had been rough, the beds hard as stone and threadbared blankets only handed out on the coldest of nights. No point in putting too much effort into the luxury of those destined to die. The Liberators tried, but the most they could supply were blankets every night, people got used to sleeping on the ground. And then the City had beds, blankets and pajamas, but all in linen.

Since arriving on Remnant, she had begun to enjoy the luxury of sleeping in a warm, soft bed, with as many blankets as she liked and red cotton pajamas her grandmother had bought her.

So yes, sleeping in a sleeping bag was far from the worst thing in the world. Reaching over, she shook Yang, "Wake up, unless you don't want breakfast this morning."

Yang immediately sprang up, "C'mon, Glim, lets get change!"

Food wasn't the first thing on her aunt's mind, but she was loath to miss a meal. That was another thing, meals had changed. Even in the City, they had eaten what was mass producible in Swordfall's hilt, couldn't afford drawing more attention from Z and the rest of Mobius by having farmland outside the City limits.

Now, basically every meal had been different, her Moms and Tai working together to create delicious dishes from foods Glimmer had never even thought of before, or in ways she had never imagined.

Slipping into the girl's bathroom, Glimmer quickly changed to her combat uniform, Yang doing the same in the stall next to her. Once they were done, they reached the dining hall, where dozens of breakfast dishes were laid out for people to take from to their heart's content.

Glimmer could get used to that, when she wasn't taking up the invitation to meals that would inevitably come from her parents.

Walking over to sit across from Blake, Yang immediately asked in concern, "Are you alright?"

It was a good question, Blake's eyes and nose were red. She looked up and gave a beaming smile that seemed out of place on the black haired girl's face but also completely genuine.

"Yeah, I just… Reuniting with your parents and having them accept you and your life decisions when you weren't sure they would is a… Really emotional moment."

"I bet," Yang said.

"They're planning on taking a trip here in time for the Vytal Festival. So we can see each other in person, you know?

"That's great," Glimmer said, smiling at Blake, "Ready for the Entrance Exam? Blake? Perceval?"

"The two of us together should be more than enough," Perceval rumbled, "in fact, I have no doubt Blake would pass even without my assistance. Are you ready, Lady Glimmer?"

"Should be," Glimmer said, mind drifting back to Alpha, "I've fought harder things than whatever they throw at us.