Note: Alright, we've got another chapter! As always, please feel free to review, favorite, or follow if you have anything to say!

Excerpt from "The Age of Heroes", by Weiss Schnee

If you're reading this book, then you're already aware of the Justice League. However, the idea for such a group wasn't born in the Age of Heroes. The precursor for this lied in the organization of what Ruby affectionately refers to as the "Ozluminati", nicknamed after Headmaster Ozpin. As far as we have ever learned, it consisted of the Headmasters of the Huntsman Academies as well as prominent Huntsmen within each Kingdom. While we never learned the Huntsmen involved in any other Kingdom, we know that Vale was represented by Glynda Goodwitch and Qrow Branwen; additionally, Taiyang Xiao Long, Summer Rose, and Raven Branwen were previously involved, but had either left the group or died years before.

As previously mentioned, the group was primarily focused on protecting the world from Salem and guarding the secrets of magic, knowing that if the information became public that it would put countless people in danger. Though magic itself has since become public knowledge, there are many facets of it I am not willing to share, as I and the rest of the Justice League happen to agree with that mission.

This is all besides the main point, but it's impossible to understand why the events unfolded as they did without the proper context.

From what we have been able to gather, Qrow was dispatched to Gotham Village to examine Team CRDL's murder, and from the evidence he collected, he was able to determine that the person who committed the murders worked for Salem. This meant that investigating the murders fell entirely under Ozpin's "jurisdiction" and that anything related to the actual killer needed to be hidden from the public; therefore, though we knew CRDL had been murdered, we didn't know why or how. The investigation went on entirely behind the scenes.

Unfortunately for us, at the same time, we were undergoing an investigation of our own. The same week we heard CRDL had died, my teammate, Blake, was spearheading an operation against the White Fang consisting of the rest of my Team and Sun Wukong. The hope was our forces combined would finally be enough to stop Roman Torchwick, who we had repeatedly engaged throughout our first years at Beacon, and finally figure out why he and the White Fang had mysteriously aligned.

Everything was going according to plan until he showed up.

Qrow knew the group would need some time to absorb his findings, so the silence after his speech was over was anticipated. What he did not expect was for Ozpin of all people to take off his glasses so he could put his head in his hands, sigh, and then fix himself back up.

"So, let me get this straight", he began. "Not only do you think this killer works for Salem, but he has the capability to bypass Aura, to the point that Aura is physically fought back and left behind after death."

Qrow nodded.

"And you found this out because Mr. Thrush's Aura was… floating in the air outside of the building?"

Qrow nodded again.

Ozpin was silent for a moment, staring into his mug with little expression on his face. Then, as casually as ever, he merely stated "You do realize that I have never once seen anything like this in my entire life, correct?"

From anyone else, it would be hyperbolic. From Ozpin, it was a simple statement of fact.

For everyone in the room, one carried infinitely more weight than the other.

The room was full, and beyond that several individuals were present on their scrolls. In the room, Headmaster Ozpin sat at his desk with his loyal right-hand woman Glynda Goodwitch standing behind him. On one scroll was James Ironwood, on the other was Leonardo Lionheart. Theodore would have joined them had the Vacuo Council not demanded his attention at the last minute, leaving only the five of them to confer amongst themselves.

It was little surprise that James was the next one to speak. "Tell us more about this man. You said he hid from the cameras until it was time to strike, but how did he act during the crime? Could you discern anything about his personality or his methodology?"

Qrow shook his head. "Not much, to be honest. Most of the time he was 'working' was quick and efficient. He did look into the camera I was at before he left, though, like he was challenging me or something. Could be a bit of cockiness or just making sure I saw that message he left in the grass."

Glynda spoke up next. "That message itself is quite revealing. Either he's stating that he intends to continue what he's done here, or Salem is telling us she intends to go on the offensive. Either one is alarming."

"We can't predict his actions until we know why he attacked in the first place", Ozpin interrupted, taking control of the room once more. "Was there any indication at the scene of why he chose to attack?"

Qrow shook his head. "Nothing solid, but what he did to the Winchester kid was really over-the-top. You don't gut someone in a warehouse for no reason, that was personal. I'd bet the team was just collateral damage."

James could tell where he was taking the conversation and followed up. "What reasons would there be for such a lethal grudge against him? Surely a second-year student couldn't manage to gain that many enemies."

Glynda noticeably coughed into her elbow while glancing at Ozpin out of the corner of her eyes, which was a clear message in and of itself: "You can explain yourself this time".

Ozpin sighed. "The entirety of Team CRDL were rather infamous on campus for their behavior. They were overtly racist bullies with a well-documented history of trying to harass other students in one way or another. Frankly, the student response to their deaths was so minor we didn't even need to cancel classes."

This made James sigh right after him. "So the better question would be who would actually have the means to undergo such a vicious plan. Your choices for admissions never cease to amaze me, Oz."

Of all the people to speak up next, Qrow was shocked to hear it was Leonardo. "In Ozpin's defense", he said, meekly as ever, "the boy's father is on the Vale Council, and Wardes Winchester isn't exactly known for being reasonable. There comes a time when any Headmaster has to make a bad decision for the sake of the bigger picture, and appeasing a powerful, arrogant, and racist council member is one of those times."

As Leo's eyes unconsciously trailed towards his own tail, Qrow realized why he was taking such an uncharacteristic stand.

Glynda finally chose this moment to interject with her own observation. "That symbol on his chest looks familiar", she said. "I don't know where I've seen it before but I know I have. James, can you look through your database while we look through ours?"

James nodded and, business-first as always, went straight to work; Ozpin did as well on his own computer. Qrow wanted to interject by continuing his analysis of the situation, but considering it never took long for their databases to find results (even if it was no result), it made sense to wait a moment.

James eventually came back to his scroll. "There's nothing on the symbol in the Atlas databases. Anything on yours?"

The question made all eyes turn back to Ozpin, and what they saw caught them all off-guard. Ozpin had taken his glasses off again to put his forehead in his hand, leaning against the desk. Whatever was on the screen, it was clearly bringing up bad memories, and given Ozpin's unparalleled ability to put off all but the worst traumas of his life, this had to have been both particularly bad and particularly recent.

Glynda leaned over to see what the screen said and gasped. "No wonder I recognized it."

Qrow finally had enough of the inside conversation happening in front of him, so he asked "Care to share with the class, Oz?"

Ozpin let out another small sigh before putting his glasses back on to recompose himself. "The symbol on that man's chest is the symbol that was primarily used in the village known as Arkham, the village outside of the Kingdom that fell nine months ago. Just so we're all on the same page, the reason for my… reaction is that one of my first-year teams was present when the Grimm attacked. One of them died during the incident."

"It was the Arc kid, right?"

Glynda looked at Qrow mildly confused for his knowledge, but Ozpin seemed to understand. Qrow still explained, "Ruby was the kid's best friend. She was a mess when it happened, Tai almost pulled her out of Beacon."

Ozpin stared at him for a brief moment before nodding. "Yes, it was Jaune Arc, him and around 900 other people. The only worse tragedy in recent memory is the Mountain Glenn disaster. If the man is donning that symbol for some kind of statement, there's no shortage of suspects".

James continued the line of thinking. "Perhaps this is why the young Winchester was targeted. Leo said himself, Wardes is not exactly popular even among his constituents, could it be a way to target him by proxy?"

Ozpin shook his head. "Ironically enough, Wardes' solutions for the Arkham Incident were some of the most universally popular political decisions I've ever seen. You would've expected him to use the opportunity to enflame racial tensions, but I suppose even a man as selfish as he knows when to set aside his biases - if it weren't for him, the refugee crisis would have been far worse than it was."

Glynda finished the thought. "Wardes opened the borders to the Kingdom for the refugees and coordinated many of the efforts to house them in the following months. There are a lot of reasons why someone might take the symbol of Arkham and seek revenge, but going after Wardes specifically is a rather unlikely solution."

Qrow, realizing the idea had been struck down, proposed a new one. "Look, what if we're looking at this the wrong way? We're focusing on the motive, but we know jack about him right now. Can we talk about his combat abilities for a minute? Cause I doubt a Semblance this powerful isn't on our records. Might narrow down the suspect pool."

Leo, once more, took the forefront. "I've seen a Semblance like this before, a long time ago. But it can't be the person I'm thinking of."

James, never one to let an issue go, pressed on. "Who are you thinking of, Leo?"

Leo seemed to take a moment to ponder his words before continuing. Given that he usually stuttered his way through an explanation just to avoid silence, the sudden carefulness caught Qrow off guard. "His name was Tyrian Callows." Leo had to take another moment to swallow, continuing to ponder his exact words. "Many years ago, Callows was a member of Mistral's Guard. He was always rather bloodthirsty toward Grimm, but his Semblance was oriented towards combat with humans - it allowed him to attack through Aura in a concentrated area. It made him perfect for dealing with criminals with Aura unlocked, especially with bandit tribes that would try to make moves against the Kingdom's border villages.

"Then, one day, he simply walked out of the Kingdom and disappeared. A few people saw him leave, but he refused to say anything and when a search party was formed, no trace of him was found. He didn't reappear for another three years. In those three years, he wandered the continent and murdered at least 78 people. I say 'at least' because those are just the ones we know about."

James suddenly gained a more contemplative expression. "Wait, I remember this. It was slightly before my time but it was a joint Atlas/Mistral effort that led to his capture, correct?"

Leo nodded. "Yes, it was. Unfortunately, the Atlas soldiers taking him to their Kingdom didn't think he was as much of a security risk as he was and the transport was destroyed by Grimm." Qrow noticed James flinch at the news of his own army's failure, but for once he figured it was best to stay silent. "The wreckage was recovered, but Callows' body was never found. The Huntsman who helped capture him was found dead a few weeks later, so he was declared missing instead of dead."

Qrow figured the story was over and jumped in. "Why can't it be him? Guy sounds like enough of a lunatic to pull this off and if his transport was attacked by Grimm, Salem probably recruited him."

Shockingly, Leo shook his head. "Callows was a Faunus with a large scorpion tail and stinger. There's no way he'd be able to hide it under that skintight body armor. Plus, the way this man acts… it's not how Callows would have done it."

Glynda asked the million lien question this time. "What do you mean by that?"

Once more, Leo hesitated. This time, Qrow could see in his eyes that he was recalling something from his past - something that, from the looks of it, Leo didn't want to remember. "I wasn't part of the group that captured him", he began, "but I oversaw the transfer into Atlas custody. The handoff took a total of five and a half minutes. For the entire transfer, he was laughing. Not the laugh of someone with a plan, not the laugh of someone being obnoxious, not even the laugh of a psychotic break or a sadist, the laugh of someone who just heard something funny and is repeating it in his head. Callows genuinely thought the things he did to so many innocent people were hilarious."

With this declaration, the room was briefly silent. They did not need to search for statistics to know that 78 victims made him the most prolific serial killer in Anima, and the knowledge that he had spent his time in the transfer laughing like everything was all a joke filled them with dread. This was someone that Atlas hadn't thought was a security risk? This was someone who had almost certainly now fallen into Salem's hands?

Leo finally broke the silence. "So yes, this man is nothing like Callows", he said. "Though they share the same sadism if the young Winchester is any indication, he is far too calm and methodical in his killing. Their Semblances are similar, but it's not him."

The room took a moment to consider that there was not just one whack job with an incredibly dangerous Semblance running around somewhere working for their most dangerous enemy, there were actually two, and they hadn't even realized one of them might still be alive until this moment.

How many people had been killed without them noticing any connection to Salem?

Ozpin, naturally, was the first to regain composure and continue the discussion. "James, Leonardo, search your Kingdom's databases for any Semblance connected to piercing Aura in a combat scenario. I'll do the same here and ensure Theodore does as well. Send me a compiled list as soon as you can regardless of how likely it is that the candidates match the killer - right now, identifying him is our biggest priority, and we simply cannot rule anyone out, seemingly impossible or not."

As the other Headmasters nodded, he continued. "However, the next priority is identifying any next steps. Unfortunately, considering we don't know his identity, his reasoning, his intentions, or his location, I struggle with where we should even begin."

James, ever the General, voiced his opinion. "The fact that he specifically targeted Beacon students makes me assume that if he has any larger plans, they're based in Vale. I think you should lock down the campus and prevent students from leaving; there's nothing saying he won't go after any other students if he believes they're an easy target."

"What are you, nuts?", Qrow asked incredulously. "The entire point of this little group is to keep things on the down low. If we tell the students they have to stay on campus because a serial killer is after them, they're gonna panic and assume their lives are in danger."

"Their lives are in danger, Qrow!", James yelled. "A team was wiped out for no discernible reason in a torturous fashion, I think that's more than enough evidence that students are being targeted."

Glynda, as always, was the voice of reason. "James, we don't know why he attacked Team CRDL. As much as I agree other students might be targets, we don't know that, and until we do we can't take any extreme measures and tip our hand. Now, if I start suddenly cracking down on misbehavior and give the students extra weekend punishments, I highly doubt the students would notice anything amiss. They think I don't know about their little nicknames for me, but let's just say they know who the disciplinarian is in Beacon."

Qrow chuckled, keeping up his joking facade. "You're one to talk. You still haven't told me that nickname you had for me back in the day."

Playing along with his jokes for once, Glynda humphed and looked away, but her eyes were smiling. "I wouldn't know anything about that."

Ozpin's small smile returned to his face before he regained control of the room. "Students' love for giving us nicknames aside, Glynda is correct, James. While we do need to protect the students, we have to be subtle about it. We can find ways to keep the students on campus over weekends without causing a campus-wide disturbance, but we will do that on our own."

Qrow could see how strongly James disagreed with that decision, but given that Vale was Ozpin's domain, he had no choice but to nod.

Ozpin continued. "If this is all we currently have on this suspect, then I suppose this is as good a time as any to conclude this meeting." Ozpin paused for a brief moment, looking for anyone to respond. Qrow could see James and Leo struggling to come up with anything they might have to add, so Ozpin moved on. "I appreciate you all attending on such short notice. Leo, if you could please inform Theodore of everything we discussed when you two have a moment, I would also greatly appreciate it. Until then, send me the suspect lists you're able to create, and contact me if you encounter any leads on this man."

Leo nodded and, with nothing more to add, concluded the call. James, however, stuck around for a moment. "Oz, I know how much you prefer subtlety and I understand why, but please, if your students are targets, you need to be willing to make bold moves to protect them. Panic or no, the most important thing is keeping them safe."

Ozpin nodded. "I will take your advice under consideration, James, but until it becomes necessary, we will keep this as quiet as we can."

With nothing else he could add, James ended his call as well.

As James hung up the call, he couldn't help but give a sigh. He trusted Ozpin, he trusted Ozpin more than he trusted anyone other than himself, but his insistence on remaining as subtle as possible was something he could never agree with. He knew that was why Ozpin had brought him into the group in the first place, to serve as a conflicting voice and an advocate for other methods - but it was hard to feel like it mattered when Ozpin never listened to that conflicting voice.

But, in the end, it wasn't his Kingdom. For all his faults, Ozpin had led Vale in increasingly positive directions since he took power in Beacon, and as much as he disagreed with his methods, there was no possible way to deny that he had infinitely more experience combatting Salem than James did.

It was a cognitive dissonance he struggled with daily: his inherent trust in his own abilities and strategy, versus knowing that this was a very specialized situation that someone else had handled successfully for longer than he'd been alive.

Ozpin had made his stance clear and given James an objective, so James entered Atlas's database to search for any Semblances that might match the killer. It took a few minutes of navigating the server to finally get the results he was looking for - and of course, Tyrian Callows was the first result.

James shook his head in dismay. It would have been so much simpler if he could just blame it on Callows and react accordingly, but Leo made good points; his file included a picture, and there was simply no way Callows could hide his large tail if the armor was that skintight. It couldn't be him, and even a cursory glance through the other top results suggested that it wasn't any of them - anyone who had a Semblance that worked through Aura either wasn't applicable to combat, they were deceased (with corpses accounted for, unlike Callows), or they were either imprisoned or a member of the armed forces, meaning they were accounted for at the time of the attack.

In short, while he had a list of suspects to give Ozpin, his list would provide no help whatsoever. Just like the rest of the advice he had provided as one of Ozpin's advisers, he had done his best yet contributed absolutely nothing to the cause, and to say that James was frustrated would be a large understatement.

James Ironwood was the General of the largest military Remnant had ever seen. He had overseen operations that had led to reclaiming land previously lost to time, the restorations of cultures once thought extinguished, and the protection of a people he had sworn long ago to protect with his life. On both the front lines and from behind a screen, James had protected his people, destroyed countless enemies, and made a tangible difference to his Kingdom and the world at large. The fate of the world often rested in his hands.

And right now, all he could do was sit in his office, give Ozpin a list he knew would provide no help, and then sit back and do nothing.

To the General, this was unacceptable.

If Ozpin wanted to act with subtlety, then James could be subtle in his own fashion. After all, the Vytal Festival was coming up shortly, and James had already been tasked with providing the security for the event by the Vale Council. Did they think he would be shipping over an entire army of drones on the day of his arrival?

No, James was nothing if not thorough, which was why he planned ahead and set up a drone production facility just outside of the Kingdom. It was just large enough to provide a steady stream of Atlesian Knights before they were funneled into the Atlas storehouses within Vale, meaning that by the time he arrived, he wouldn't be bringing an army, the army would already be there waiting for him. He was expected in seven days, but with some assistance from the Ace-Ops, he would be able to leave a day early, inspect his forces in Vale, and then make his public appearance in Beacon when expected. No one would ever know that he had left Atlas early or that he was ever in Vale before he walked out onto Beacon's grounds.

Though he would have no way of knowing it, James Ironwood was about to make the biggest mistake of his entire military career.

As Leonardo hung up the call, he couldn't help but give a sigh. The meeting just had to happen in such a way that it couldn't be delayed, didn't it? He had to sit in front of the other Headmasters receiving such horrible news, as if Leo hadn't already been aware of everything that had happened to Team CRDL before Qrow investigated the scene.

After all, the perpetrator had stayed in the Vault underneath his campus the night after he had committed that horrible crime.

The arrangement was sprung on him at the last moment and he had no choice but to agree. While Cinder and her team pretending to be from Haven had been part of the plan from the beginning, the masked man entering the office alongside her and asking to use the Seer in his secret room was an unexpected complication. Cinder had quickly explained the situation and that he needed to lay low outside of Vale, and Leo had meekly nodded his head to give them permission.

Then he had actually seen the crime scene evidence Qrow had collected and he wanted to throw up.

What else could he do? Salem was unstoppable, that was a simple fact, and if he couldn't stop her, then at least he could try to spare himself from her wrath so he could try to mitigate the damage she caused once it was all over. It didn't make his guilt any more bearable, but at least he knew that he would do his best to fix the damage as best he could.

Assuming he survived to that point, of course, and he couldn't do that by staying loyal to Ozpin.

Still, even Leo had his limits. He could stomach a lot of what he had caused by allying with Salem, but harboring someone who had killed four students in such a brutal fashion… it was almost enough to finally make him quit, go to Ozpin, and try to figure a way out of the situation he was in.

Almost… but not quite.

Instead, the best he could do was finally tip them off to Tyrian Callows' survival. After all, more suspicion would be cast upon him if he didn't inform them of Callows - he was truthful in his statement that he hadn't been part of the group that captured him, but he oversaw the transfer, and not mentioning him with that backstory would have come off as more suspicious to them than anything else. James in particular would have taken that small omission and pulled the entire rug out from underneath Leo's treachery, and then he would have either been imprisoned for the rest of his life or killed the second Salem discovered his failure.

Instead, he'd given them just enough information to use without giving away Salem's hand. It helped that he had actually told the truth, even before he had met the man in the mask and armor himself; Callows hid his tail under a trench coat, not what was effectively the military equivalent of a skin suit. On top of that, having now met them both, he could confirm just how different they were - Callows was loud and chaotic, and the man in the mask was neither. Callows was a true sadist, but the man, despite his bloodthirsty murder of the Winchester boy, was calm and methodical, like he viewed what he had done as just another day on the job.

Leo almost didn't know which one was worse.

In any case, Leo didn't get to have much time to himself before his dutiful deception was required once more; Theodore was calling him, no doubt needing an update on the meeting he had missed, and Leo couldn't put that off without looking suspicious.

With a shake of the head to dispel all of his thoughts, Leo answered the call.

As Ozpin hung up the call, he couldn't help but give a sigh. While the meeting was necessary in order to fill in James, Leo, and eventually Theo about the ongoing situation, he had hoped he would learn something useful along the way. Alas, while the knowledge of Tyrian Callows' existence was a good thing to consider, it didn't answer any of the many questions they had about Team CRDL's death.

For now, however, he had given the other headmasters a task, and all he could do was wait for them to provide him with their lists. On his end, he had his own students to worry about.

Glynda raised a very good point about how to manage the situation - they couldn't mandate the students remain on campus 24/7 without raising alarm bells in the students and eventually causing a panic, but they couldn't just let the students run amok either. Her plan to find ways to keep as many students as possible on campus over weekends through legitimate reasons was a good compromise, allowing them to protect the students and keep them on campus without raising suspicions among the student body.

Especially since, as Glynda also stated, it wouldn't be out of character for her to get extra strict and start assigning weekend detentions. She knew about some of the nicknames her students had for her, but Brothers help the students the day she found out they called her the "Disciplinatrix".

Shoving away his terror of the horrors she would unleash, Ozpin voiced his thoughts. "Glynda, I believe your strategy was the most sound. We need to find ways to, shall we say, "encourage" the students to stay on campus over the weekends without outright mandating it. It's the best way to protect them while avoiding a panic. Glynda, Qrow, do you have any other ideas beyond detentions?"

Surprisingly, Qrow was the first person to respond. "I have some contacts at the clubs downtown, both above and under the board. I'll see if I can call in some favors to crack down on disallowing students entry unless they're above the drinking age. It won't stop everyone but it might make them not want to go out partying for a while."

Glynda nodded. "And like I said, I'll crack down on punishments as per usual and place special focus on weekend detentions. I obviously won't punish someone for something they didn't do, but I'll just shift the punishment instead."

"Both are great suggestions", Ozpin added. "I will do my best to figure out more suggestions in my own time, but for now, I do not know if there is anything more to add. Qrow, thank you very much for all of your efforts. I understand this isn't exactly your area of expertise, but you've proven more than up to the job."

Qrow nodded, regaining his signature smirk before looking back to Glynda. "I'm not gonna stop until you finally tell me the nickname."

As Qrow transformed into his bird form, Glynda opened a window with a rare smirk and replied "I'll never admit there ever was one". The bird in the office let out one loud squawk before flying out the window, which Glynda closed behind him.

Ozpin had one final order to give. "Your suggestion was excellent, Glynda, and now I will take it under advisement while I decide my own way to contribute. For now, return to normal duties. Do anything you can to discourage students from leaving campus without making it obvious, and try your best to monitor the students for any sign that they realize the true gravity of the situation."

Glynda, still staring out the window where Qrow had gone, responded without looking. "You knew that Tyrian Callows is still alive."

Ozpin, trying not to give away his thoughts, grabbed his mug of hot chocolate to take a sip. "What would make you believe that?"

Glynda continued, never looking away from the window. "Leonardo was resigned, Qrow was shocked, and James was already thinking of strategies to combat the new threat. I could see it all on their faces. You not only didn't react but you didn't perform any of your usual tells to hide your omissions, such as drinking from your mug."

Ozpin paused his sip, both amused and dismayed that his tell had been called out as he was in the middle of performing it.

"All of these signs point towards an obvious idea, Ozpin", she continued. "You already knew he was still alive. How did you know?"

Ozpin lowered his mug back to his desk, cupping his hands together in thought. Glynda waited patiently as he considered his words carefully, pondering through the multitudes of ideas ranging from telling her the full truth as she was hoping he would to covering his lie of omission with another lie of omission.

Soon enough, Ozpin finally responded. "A few months after the Arkham Incident", he began, "I received a package in the mail. It had no return address, no note, nothing but a piece of paper with a code to scan. I thoroughly debated whether or not I should scan it, but with some extra protection provided by Atlas-grade materials, I decided to see what it was. When I scanned the code, it unlocked a video." Ozpin paused once more, staring down at his hands to avoid making eye contact. Normally, such a gesture implied Ozpin was about to lie to her, but she could still see what feelings his eyes truly held - he was telling her the truth, but it was a truth he had hoped not to tell. "The video featured a man. I did not know who he was at the time and he was not registered in Vale's facial recognition system, but once Leo filled in the blanks, I realized that it was likely this Tyrian character on the video."

Glynda asked the obvious question: "What was on the video?"

This time, Ozpin finally looked at her, and immediately she knew he was not going to tell her. His eyes were full not just of regret, but of grief. Whatever was on that video, it hurt his spirit to even think about it, much less discuss it.

"I know this isn't what you want to hear, but trust me when I say you do not want to know".

Everything was business as usual on the other side of town. The dock workers were going about their business for the night, shuffling around the seemingly endless piles of boxes and crates scattered around the area. The most recent shipment had been unloaded about thirty minutes ago, so most of the actual work was done for the night; now it was just the busy work they used to show they were still working and collect a bit of overtime pay.

Still, Blake watched over them like a gargoyle on the roof of the nearby warehouse.

If she had to blame anyone for her current situation, it would obviously be Sun, but this time around it felt like a cop-out. It was hard to ignore any of Sun's leads when all of them had proven fruitful in tracking down the White Fang in the past. How he continually knew exactly where they would be at any given moment was always a mystery, but any time she asked he would always get that same dopey smile she had unfortunately grown to love and say "A magician never reveals his secrets".

To say nothing about the fact that Sun was not a "magician" and that the "secrets" involved actual terrorism, she had learned long ago that he would never tell.

But, as per usual, he had gotten some tips through wherever he usually did that there would be a large Schnee shipment to the docks tonight, and an SDC target that large was simply too good for the Fang to pass up. Blake knew from the way they had started operating more openly that the Vale branch was starting to get desperate for resources, to say nothing of Torchwick continuing to steal every speck of Dust he could get his hands on. No matter how many heists Team RWBY had interfered in, Torchwick always slithered away like a snake, and until they were able to finally stop him, the Fang would be under his control and would continue to steal Dust.

The problem was never finding him - he tended to be personally involved in all of the heists he planned, so his location was generally easy to predict - the issue was that he had Huntsman-level training, and that damn partner of his always came out of nowhere to get him out of trouble. It was a deadly and annoying combination.

Blake hoped that tonight would finally change their luck, but she wasn't holding out high hopes for such a scenario. At a minimum, Team RWBY took pride in the amount of stolen goods they had recovered from Torchwick and the Fang, as it meant that whatever they were trying to plan, it kept getting pushed back until they could recover their losses. In another world, such a plan might have gone off in their first year, but they had continually delayed them as much as they could.

Blake supposed a part of that was because of Jaune's death. It had traumatized all of them, even Blake. Though she would never pretend to have been his friend, he was still a constant presence in her life ever since she had started attending Beacon. Even if they had barely interacted, losing such a constant so suddenly and in so horrifying a fashion had shaken up the entirety of Team RWBY, but no one had taken it worse than Ruby herself.

Ruby, who had previously been somewhat tentative about going out of their way to fight the White Fang, threw herself into Blake's investigation, likely trying to stifle her grief and guilt over her best friend's demise. The Team went from making subtle moves that often led to skirmishes to deliberately seeking out open combat against them, leading to countless battles against the Fang all over the Kingdom in their first year. The results were a bit of a mixed bag; they always led to victories, with Fang members being arrested, recruitment drives being stalled, and stolen goods being recovered, but the Team had all but been labeled vigilantes, and Ruby's grief and rage kept getting worse with every minor setback until they were having to hold her back from using her combat scythe for far more damage it was ever intended to cause against humans or Faunus.

It got to the point that even Blake had to call it off at the end of their first year. This had been her crusade and she still believed that she owed it to the world to do everything she could against the Fang, but it couldn't come at the cost of her leader's innocence and livelihood. In her attempt to heal the damage she caused to the world, she was causing further damage to the people she considered her world, and she couldn't let that go any further.

Not having such a violent outlet finally let Ruby vent her grief and trauma in a healthy fashion, and now the Team was starting to heal from the damage Jaune's death and her crusade had caused to it.

But if the Fang couldn't ignore such an easy target, then neither could she. The opportunity to combat and arrest more members of the Fang in a fairly isolated area was simply perfect. Combine that with a team that was willing to hang back until the proper moment, including Ruby finally willing to serve as a sniper instead of a ground unit, and Team RWBY was finally back in action.

Torchwick would obviously prove more of a problem than his goons, but he tended to cut his losses and retreat once the tide turned against him, so the goal wasn't to take him down, it was to take down as many of his men as she could before he fled the scene. It may have been a death by a thousand cuts, but any damage they could cause to his mysterious plans pushed them back that much further, and that's all that mattered.

As the dockworkers continued their monotony, Blake was interrupted in her musings by her partner in vigilantism, Sun, dropping right next to her. Looking at him, she noticed that while he was quieter than usual, the same carefree smile he seemed to live in was still on his face. He wordlessly handed her an apple before pulling out another for himself; Blake, more than used to his tricks, took the apple with a wordless smile, not questioning how he got it.

"So, any sign of them?", Sun asked as he chewed. "We've been sitting here for a while. I know the Schnee like to bring their stuff in really late at night but we're pushing the boundary here."

Blake shook her head. "Nothing yet. I give them another half an hour or so before we head out. The dock hasn't been closed for long but I know my Team will get bored if something doesn't happen soon. All the ways they've grown over the past year, their attention spans didn't grow with them."

Sun took another bite and, for once in his life, swallowed before speaking. "Ah come on, Blake, they're getting better at the whole 'covert' thing. I mean, they haven't called you to complain yet, right?"

Blake narrowed her eyes. "How would you know that?"

Sun merely grinned again. "Because they haven't called me yet to make you pick up your scroll like they usually do when they can't wait anymore".

Blake shoved his shoulder, wordlessly conceding his point. It's not like her Team was very subtle when they started getting cabin fever.

Unfortunately, before she could respond, the workers below started changing their patterns. What was once busywork suddenly became organized, as the workers came from all directions all over the dock to consolidate by the port. After only a moment, Blake could see why: a ship with no lights and making no noise had snuck up to the harbor, with the only indication of its business being a barely visible snowflake on the side of the ship.

Once again, Sun's sources had checked out - the shipment was here. Now it was time to wait for the Fang to attack.

And, befitting a White Fang that was getting more and more impatient with each passing failure, she did not have to wait long, as the moment the ship was officially docked, bullheads began approaching from the same direction.

Already, she could hear chatter over their commlink. "Come on, Rubes", Yang was saying. "The Fang are coming already, if we go now we can get the workers out of the way and catch them off guard!"

Ruby, however, wasn't agreeing. "If we show ourselves now, they'll retreat and we won't get any of their members. Plus, we know Torchwick will probably be here, but we don't know where Neo is yet, and until we do we can't risk an open fight."

Blake could feel Yang's frustration over the call, but internally she was smiling proudly. In their first year, all of them would have jumped into the fray immediately, but Ruby was thinking like the leader she was. It was best for the Fang to show up, get the workers out of the way (hostages had to be consolidated, after all, and when they were they were easier to protect), and get an assessment of the enemy force before they jumped in. The Fang were nothing if not predictable, and if their attack pattern followed the same routine as before, they could get some more arrests without any innocent casualties caught in the crossfire.

Nevertheless, while they were waiting for the order to jump into the fray, Blake stood up and readied her weapon, with Sun doing the same beside her. Though she couldn't hear them, she had no doubt the rest of Team RWBY was doing the same from within the warehouse she was standing on, having stationed themselves there as the night shift was first beginning.

While Blake stood on the roof focusing on not being seen, she could see how the Fang went through a routine that had tragically become engrained in their MO:

First, they landed the bullheads completely surrounding the poor dock workers, storming out en masse and incapacitating the security on the Schnee ship.

Second, once the threats were down, they began funneling the workers to a secluded corner of the docks. They might not have cared for their lives, but a wholesale massacre would attract far more attention than an ordinary robbery, even for a terrorist group. It worked in Team RWBY's favor more than theirs, since it gave them a centralized area to defend, and attacks couldn't come from every direction.

Third, once the workers were subdued, they began raiding the ship for any supplies they could take and consolidating them on the docks to divide on to the transports.

And fourth, once the grunt work was finishing up, Roman Torchwick finally strolled out from his bullhead.

It was typical of the "Gentleman Thief" - all of the credit with none of the actual work. There was no doubt as to his tactical brilliance, but it was always clear that Roman also enjoyed watching the "animals", as he always called them, running around doing all of the work.

More than anything else, the debasement the Fang had suffered since their partnership started infuriated Blake to no end.

"Hey!", Roman's voice echoed through the darkness. "What's the holdup!? We're not exactly the most inconspicuous bunch of thieves at the moment, so why don't you animals try to pick up the pace?"

Blake spoke into her commlink, serving as her team's eyes. "Torchwick's revealed himself. So far everything's going exactly how it usually does. If we employ our usual attack formations, we should be able to take down the grunts and force Torchwick to retreat."

Though she couldn't see it, she could perfectly imagine Ruby's nod. "Got it. Get ready to attack, Blake, we're going in."

Blake nodded, looking over at Sun to look into his eyes. Though she didn't say anything, Sun got the message loud and clear: they were getting ready to attack. Sun pulled out his staff, gripping it with both hands and getting ready to jump down.

But before they could, another voice rang out through the darkness, one that stopped both of them in their tracks.

"Roman!", the voice shouted. It was deep and male-sounding, but it was clearly electronically distorted. "Stick to the plan. The men will stay in formation unless you give them a reason not to."

Blake watched as Roman stopped dead in his tracks, a look of fear flashing across his eyes that he did his best to hide. He put his signature smile back on his face before turning back to the bullhead he had just left. "Our timeline is going slow. We need them to speed up!" He shouted those last two words, directing them both back into the bullhead and to the White Fang soldiers scurrying in every direction. Notably, unlike all the other times he would give such an order, the Fang didn't respond at all; no groan, no effort, no speeding up, no nothing. Blake watched in confusion as the previous top dog of these heists was simply ignored.

What on Remnant is going on here?

As she began to ponder what had changed in the Fang, another man began stepping out of the bullhead. From a distance, it was hard to discern many details of him, but Blake could see that he was tall, built like a strength-based combatant, and was clad head to toe in body armor.

She could also see that Roman was terrified.

Whoever this new person was, Blake could already tell several things. First, he had clearly taken control of the Fang's heists away from Roman, which already raised several huge questions about where he came from and when. Second, Roman was terrified of him, and considering his own Huntsman-level training, that spoke to the level this person's skills must have been at. Third, the Fang soldiers did not skip a beat and continued their work, meaning this person had been around for a while and was not a surprising presence.

Yang asked the question they were all thinking into their commlink, "Who the hell is this guy?"

Blake didn't know, but she did know that this simple heist had just gotten infinitely more complicated.

To most of the world, the Arkham Knight simply came into existence on the night that Scarecrow attacked. There was no record of his existence before the two of them led their assault on Vale thanks to Ozpin and his group's efforts to keep any trace of him hidden for as long as possible. For us, the Arkham Knight appeared that night at the Vale docks, but the effect was still the same - he appeared out of absolute nowhere, having taken control of the White Fang from Torchwick and forcing the latter under his thumb in the process. What had become a reliable routine had instantly become a far more complex situation.

We could never have been prepared for everything he threw at us, but even by that standard, our first encounter with him was… abysmal, to say the least. The only reason any of us walked away alive was because he didn't want to kill us; this was only the beginning of his crusade, and he wasn't going to let us die so soon before he could have his fun.

To think, the world's first superheroes suffering a horrific beatdown on the edge of the pier at the Vale docks in the middle of the night on a weekday. It wasn't exactly a great start for our future careers.