Happy New Year!

Had a nice break, even if I slept through most of it. The week off from everything was definitely needed. A lot of family got sick, though, so we're still waiting on our Christmas get-together for everyone. Thankfully, MrsTheGoose and I escaped unscathed.

Hard to believe this fic is already two years old now. Harder to believe it's still got a long way to go. Doing a little bit of a time skip this chapter rather than bog everything down with uneventful missions and training. Spent the break coming up with more ideas, but all of them are further in the story, so figured I'd start pushing in that direction. The real struggle of writing is always thinking ahead a dozen chapters, then struggling to remember what the heck is going on now.

Shorter chapter to serve more as a status update and welcome us back to the story. Also, I'm happy to see FFN finally fixed the view tracker. Now I can obsess over numbers again! Yay!

It had been a while since anyone had given Adam a real challenge. Not since his mission in Atlas had someone proven so formidable an opponent. The struggle had already gone on far longer than he liked, and while he'd scored his small victories along the way, the girl across from him never stayed down. Little by little, she'd worn Adam down to the point he found himself on the verge of defeat. He wasn't sure he could take much more of this punishment. He'd need some serious luck to turn things around at this point.

And then he spotted it - the godsend he'd been hoping for. It would be a gamble, but if he could pull this off, he might just seize the momentum back and claw his way to victory after all. She saw it too, of course. How could she not? They'd been locked in combat long enough to pick up on the subtlest signals. A simple shift of his eyes betrayed his thoughts, but there was little she could do at this point. He saw the moment realization dawned on her and prepared to capitalize. It wouldn't be enough to end this, but he'd get the upper hand and make her pay. All he had to do was-

Blake's left ear twitched the tiniest bit. Not her faunus one, but the regular kind. It was almost imperceptible, but Adam hadn't trained all this time to not notice a tiny detail like that. Especially sat only a few feet away.

Adam hated admitting defeat, but better to live and fight another day.

"I fold."

Adam pushed his two cards forward, wincing at the amount of chips he'd forfeited on that hunch. That pair of eights looked awfully tempting alongside the third in his hand, but he'd lost on stronger hands than that already. He'd played poker a little back in Orostachys and usually did okay, but Blake seemed to have an uncanny talent for the game. Jakob had taught him hand values, bluffing, and a bunch of other theories and techniques, but none of it mattered against the smug cat girl.

That left poor Jakob as Blake's only competitor for the pot - a tempting sum that would've looked really nice next to Adam's dwindling pile. Bane sat silently to Adam's right, having been the first to fall only a few hands ago. Underestimating Blake had cost him everything. Adam wouldn't make the same mistake.

Jakob looked like he might, though. "Call." Smiling confidently, he added to the pile in the middle of the table, matching Blake's last bet. He'd done better than Adam so far, but even combined their totals were nowhere near the small fortune Blake had claimed from them. Jakob flipped his cards and pushed them toward the center for everyone to see. When Blake scrunched her eyes shut in defeat, he reached for his winnings. "Straight. Queen high. Read 'em and weep, boys."

The tiny quirk to Blake's lips told Adam he'd made the right call, even before Blake's cards landed right in front of Jakob.

"Full House." So that's where the fourth eight had been hiding. The queen Jakob had been so proud of turned traitor, joining with her twin in Blake's hand to seal his fate. "Looks like I win again."

"She's a card shark!" Jakob complained as his hopes crashed and burned. Adam couldn't really disagree. When Jakob had pestered him and Bane into playing after lunch, Blake's nervous offer of joining had Jakob smelling blood in the water. She'd sat through him explaining how everything worked, asking questions and even messing up the first hand or two. Jakob had never been one to go easy on someone new, and as Blake's chips vanished, his bets grew bolder.

Until something changed.

A lucky hand, Jakob called it. One that saw Blake recover most of her losses when the three of them were busy fighting amongst themselves. Then a second lucky hand. And a third. By the time they realized what she was doing, her so-called luck had claimed half the chips. Suddenly, she was the one raising early and winning big. She knew when to back out, too, avoiding costly mistakes before they happened. She could've ended their suffering already. Blake had more than enough chips to force them to bet everything on a bum hand, but it looked like she wanted to make them suffer first. Probably payback for Jakob's condescending tutorial at the start. Too bad Adam and Bane had gotten caught in the crossfire.

Adam didn't have much of a chance, but if he could just hold out for a good hand, maybe he could recover a little of his dignity and at least go down fighting.

"Ante up, Adam."

And with those words, Blake ended his last hope. He'd forgotten about the blind. With a sigh, he pushed the last of his chips in, fully aware that she'd set him up last hand with her oddly specific bet. He nearly folded when he looked at his cards - and offsuit three and five. Rather than toy with them any longer, Blake raised the opening ante just enough to match Jakob's remaining chips. Jakob took the tempting opportunity and called, only to let out a whine when Blake revealed her pocket nines.

In no time, Blake was leaning forward to scoop up the last of her winnings. "That was fun. We should play again sometime."

Jakob didn't enjoy it as much as Blake had. "How about never?"

"Scared you'll lose again?"

""I'm not scared of some kid."

Uh oh. Adam knew his friend had struck a nerve even before Blake's ears flattened. "I'm not a kid! I'm a teenager!"

Whining about it didn't really help, even if she was right. She'd turned thirteen only a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, Adam hadn't gotten back from his mission in time. He'd never hear the end of that one. Even the dust ammunition he'd brought back for her - part of his cut from the raid - hadn't been enough to absolve him. Giving weaponized dust to a pre-teen - sorry, teenager - didn't sound like the best plan, but Adam knew she'd prefer that over some random trinket and had long outgrown toys.

"Barely. Besides, teenagers are basically just bigger kids."

"Adam's a teenager," Blake pointed out.

"Don't drag me into this." It wasn't worth it to get involved. Better to let the two of them duke it out on their own.

"He's on the other side of being a teen," Jakob said smugly. "He's old enough to drink in most places. That's basically an adult."

Another lovely afternoon spoiled by the two hotheads. To be fair, they'd gotten better lately. Their fights lacked any real heat…most of the time. He'd nearly had to drag Blake off Jakob in one of their spars. The idiot really needed to learn not to antagonize her when she had a weapon in her hand.

Looking for any chance to change the subject, Adam decided to wade into the conversation. "So how are things with you and…"

"Saph?" Adam had known the name, but playing dumb sure beat letting Jakob know she'd gone after him first. Jakob's fragile ego wouldn't be able to take a blow like that. "They're great. She's great! I stayed at her place last night."

"Poor Saph. Stuck on babysitting duty."

"More like facesitting." Blake wasn't the only one to cringe at Jakob's needlessly vulgar comeback. Then again, if he'd been looking to shut Blake up, that certainly did the trick. How had they even gotten on this topic? Oh yeah, he'd started it. Well crap. "I'm telling you, man. She might be the one."

Figures he'd hear wedding bells the moment he found someone willing to put up with him. Being introduced to Jakob's girlfriend a while back had been…interesting. Awkward didn't even begin to describe it when she recognized him. Worse was when she not-so-subtly hinted that they sneak out back for some playtime. Adam doubted she wanted to play crazy eights, though she certainly had the crazy part down.

How did Jakob find the only girl thirstier than him on the whole island? Well, who was he to judge? "Good luck. Just…don't go doing anything stupid." Like proposing to someone he barely knew outside the bedroom.

Or getting her pregnant, as Jakob seemed to assume he meant. "I dunno, man. Maybe starting a family wouldn't be such a bad idea."

Blake looked like she'd just seen the end of the world. "Miniature Jakobs? Gods save us."

"Nah, they'd take after their mother." Somehow that didn't sound much better. "But I'm serious. All these missions - going out and facing death every few weeks - it really makes a guy think."

"Jakob, you've never even been close to the fighting." At least, not when Adam could help it. There'd been that bandit attack a couple months ago, but Adam cut them down before anyone got hurt too bad. The problem with hunting dust and weapons was that it made them competitors with every crook and bandit on Remnant. So far, they'd mostly run into small time groups that got in way over their heads. Adam dreaded to imagine what would happen if they crossed her.

"I've been close enough," Jakob complained. "Speaking of, when's the next deployment? Anything exciting?"

"Just another visit to the base," Adam answered. No surprise there. They spent most of their time anymore traveling between Menagerie and Reyno - the newly named base Sienna had set up in Anima. Tucked away in the southeast where the thick forests ran all the way to the base of the mountains, it would take a lot of effort to find them. An expanded cave allowed them to hide their airships when needed, while the thick canopy of trees nearby completely covered the growing number of buildings. They mostly used the gap in between the two for training, which Adam often found himself in charge of. Every single faunus that called Reyno home was required to fight. There was no mistaking the ultimate purpose of Reyno.

Sienna was preparing for a fight.

Whether she intended to start it or just wanted to be prepared was anyone's guess. The SDC had become unusually active in Anima lately. While Adam appreciated all the convoys and new camps to raid, they'd started tightening defenses ever since the fall of Shobu. The last transports they'd hit had clearly been a trap, though they should've hidden something better than a bunch of old Atlas androids in the trucks. They hadn't deployed any of the newer units yet, and while Jakob's theory of atlas not wanting to scare Mistral too much with their newest military tech sounded nice, Adam had a feeling there was more to it. Especially since the convoys always took different paths, swinging further and further south each time.

Atlas was looking for them. Who cared if they lost some out-of-date robots along the way? They were just going to phase them out anyways. Instead, they were being sent out to their doom, marching blindly into the wildernesses of Anima in the hopes of finding the White Fang. Or maybe they hoped to glean data from each attack to help narrow down the search area. If so, they'd be sorely disappointed, as Sienna always had him attack from different directions and times to keep them off the trail. Whatever they hoped to learn, Adam would make them work for it.

In the meantime, they'd keep taking the free trickle of supplies. They'd tried sending empty trucks a few times, but Sienna's spies had gotten good at spotting those traps. Adam rarely went in without knowing exactly what each vehicle held, meaning they mostly avoided the worthless ambush patrols and focused on ones that had enough dust and equipment to at least break even. If Atlas wanted them to play, they had to ante up.

"Any chance of action?"

"There's always a chance," Adam reminded him. Only a fool let his guard down out there. "But probably not. I think she wants to do some more training while we're there. Maybe see if we can spot any promising recruits in the latest batch."

"You really think a bunch of farmers are up for a fight?" Probably not, but that's what Sienna wanted him to find out. They'd be idiots not to at least check. After all, their best fighter came from a mining camp. Who knew what other gems they might find if they looked hard enough.

"In other news," a new voice intoned as Blake turned up the small television set across the room, clearly bored with listening to Jakob, "Matsu Farms has been reclaimed from the Grimm following the recent attack from the terrorist organization known as the White Fang."

"Turn that crap off," Adam growled, not in any mood to hear the latest propaganda against him.

"Turn it up," Jakob said, ignoring Adam's complaint. Blake went with the second idea, ticking the volume a little higher as she claimed a seat.

"Authorities say a group of armed faunus, led by the wanted terrorist Adam Taurus," his picture flashed up in the corner - one with his mask on rather than show the SDC's handiwork, of course, "attacked Mistral's largest farmland, assaulting several employees before making off with much of this season's harvest and most of the laborers who lived and worked there. The safety and whereabouts of these kidnapped civilians is still unknown at this time."

"Kidnapped? What a load of crap!" No one disagreed with Jakob's sentiment, especially since the report seemed to leave out the part about Matsu Farms forcing poor faunus to work for them fr barely any money. They were just as bad as the SDC. Maybe even worse, which was really saying something. Then again, the SDC usually didn't hold entire families hostage in their pathetic excuse for housing.

Blake shushed him as the report continued, showing an aerial shot of the farmland with authorities combing the area. It wasn't hard to spot the Atlesian white uniforms mixed in with the local investigators. The Council of Mistral ought to thank the White Fang for strengthening their ties with Atlas.

"The owner of Matsu Farms, Mason Dante, told authorities that over a dozen members of the White Fang attacked his homestead under cover of darkness, setting fire to his fields in order to draw out their security forces, ambushing them in the dark as they rushed to extinguish the flames. While the farm's automated systems were able to limit the damage, Dante says dozens of acres were lost and may impact production in the near future."

"Can you believe this garbage?" He could. Not their reporting, but the fact that they'd so blatantly lie about anything involving him and the White Fang. "Why would we set a fire to attack at night? Anyone with two working brain cells knows we can see just fine in the dark."

"You're giving them way too much credit." The average idiot in Mistral didn't bother thinking. They let the Council and the news do their thinking for them.

"It just doesn't make any sense!" It rarely did. Jakob would get used to that in time. "I mean, if we wanted to ambush them, why not just pick them off in the dark? Or sneak in and hold this Dante guy hostage? Burning the place down behind us would just box us in and cut off our escape."

"We know." After all, Adam had been there, as the reporter so eagerly pointed out. The rest of his crew had been from the Anima base - sort of a training op against a soft target. They were to sneak in, capture the owner and his family, then take the farm's airships to leave with the faunus workers and a sizable amount of food for the base. Someone must've tripped an alarm on the perimeter, though, as the security forces were ready for them. They even set fire to one of their own fields in an effort to catch them in the blaze.

"Yesterday, in a unanimous vote, the Council approved relief funds for the rebuilding of Matsu Farms in an effort to avoid shortages. The Kingdom of Atlas has also promised to send food supplies within the month." Which explained why they were so willing to burn the place down just to catch Adam. Why worry about loss when you knew the government would step in to save you? "While no deaths have been reported, several people were injured in the attack, including Dante's son, who was rushed to Mistral General and is still in serious condition."

They made it sound like Adam had injured some kid, but Dante's son was probably twice Adam's age and had his aura unlocked. Not a Huntsman, though. He knew how to handle a blade, but years of guarding a farm couldn't compare to what Adam had been through. Whatever training he had paled in comparison to actual experience. The guy had been persistent, taking Adam on directly and refusing to stay down. Adam tried his best to avoid killing him, but he couldn't afford to keep getting bogged down by a guy with more aura than brains. He'd recover in time, though he might hold a grudge for the missing finger and scar across his chest.

"Authorities were unable to track the White Fang due to the heavy interference from Lake Matsu's floating islands, but the Council promises they are doing everything possible to locate these rogue elements and bring them to justice."

Blake turned the set off as the story ended. Flying through the floating islands had been a calculated risk. Sure, it masked the ships' signatures long enough for them to scramble the IDs, but it also meant a chance of running into the Grimm there. Thankfully, they'd snuck past without being noticed, but having a militarized craft with them helped. All in all, the mission had been another success, adding to Adam's growing list of victories. On top of that, outside of the fight with the farmer's son, he'd let Sienna's men do all the work. It was nice to know their training was paying off.

Now if only he could get some time for his own training. Kaito helped when he could, but Adam's schedule didn't allow much time for it lately. Sienna had them firing on all cylinders recently, which meant a ton of meetings for Adam. If he wasn't planning his own missions, he and Sienna were coordinating with their contacts in the Kingdoms, allocating resources and giving orders. Scouting SDC camps in Anima. Infiltrating protests in Atlas. Delivering supplies to faunus in Vale. Sienna's reach kept expanding, and as her second-in-command, Adam got a front row seat to all of it. Most of the time, that just meant standing around and listening to reports, but every now and then he got to weigh in. Usually, he just agreed with Sienna. She had a mind for strategy and hadn't steered them wrong yet. Part of him hoped she'd realize that and include him less. While he was grateful to be kept in the loop, he would've killed for more time to train and relax.

Not to say he'd slacked off on training. He still squeezed in as much as he could, along with the apparently mandatory sessions for Blake. Even if Kaito couldn't always help, thanks in large part to his own increased workload with Sienna's push for more combat training, he still found time and would give Adam detailed plans to train on his own. They'd finally gotten to the point where he could regulate his Semblance and limit the output for direct strikes, but he struggled to save more than half his energy each time. At best, he could do a second, weaker attack immediately after the first one. He still couldn't split his ranged version, though. That was all or nothing right now, but with his breakthrough on the melee form, Kaito assured him it would only be a matter of time.

Blake, on the other hand, was starting to feel her own frustration. She seemed hellbent on catching up to Adam, but she hadn't even unlocked her Semblance yet. He never used his on her, of course. His aura could take a much bigger beating than hers as well. No matter how many times he assured her she was already well above average for her age, she refused to compare herself to anyone but Adam. As flattering as it was to be her gold standard, training on dummies and targets at home didn't stack up to field experience.

Which is why he wasn't even the tiniest bit surprised at her request. "So, now that I'm thirteen…"

"No."

"But Adam!"

"No," he repeated. "You're not coming with us."

"Why not?" Here she went again. Every time he had a mission coming up, Blake asked to tag along. It was practically a ritual at this point. "I've been training a lot, and you always say I need experience. And you promised!"

He had, but he'd never said when. Honestly, he thought she was ready. Not for combat missions or anything. You needed experience in the field before purposely targeting actual people like that. As dangerous as Grimm could be, they were actually the better option most of the time. Human opponents were a lot less predictable. Blake needed to get used to real fights against living opponents rather than regulated spars with rules and stopping points.

Sadly, the choice wasn't his to make. "You can't come."

"Jakob gets to!"

"That's because I'm older," Jakob insisted. The truth was far less flattering. His role carried a lot less risk, but more than that, he was expendable to someone like Sienna. Blake, though? The daughter of the previous leader and current chieftain of Menagerie? Even if Sienna had replaced Ghira as leader, he still carried a lot of sway, especially among the older members.

"And weaker." Ouch. She wasn't wrong, though. "If he gets to go, then why can't I?"

"Because Sienna said no." Finally, blessed silence. He hated throwing people under the bus like that, but with how ragged Sienna had run him lately, he felt she deserved it a little. "You can't come because Sienna can't afford to send you."

"Why not?"

"Because of who you are." He knew she wouldn't want to hear it, but she deserved to know the truth. "Things between Sienna and Ghira are still a little tense." How could they not be? Sienna had turned the White Fang against him and unceremoniously booted him from his role as leader. "They're getting better, but only because she's doing her best to show him they can work together. What do you think he'd do if he found out we sent you on a mission without his approval?"

"It's not up to him. Sienna's in charge."

"And Ghira's still your father." A good one, too. A little overbearing at times, but no one could deny that he and Kali loved Blake. "Like it or not, until we convince him to let you go, our hands are tied." Hopefully, that would calm Blake down a bit. At the very least, it might shift her ire to her father. He could endure Blake's whining better than Adam could. He could already see the wheels turning in Blake's head. It looked like his plan was working.

And then Jakob had to go and open his big mouth. "Sorry, squirt. Gotta get daddy to sign your permission slip first."

"Was that really necessary?" Adam questioned as Blake looked ready to explode again. Judging by his laughter, Jakob certainly thought so. "Look, I'll talk to Sienna and see if she can figure something out with Ghira, but until she gives the go ahead, you have to stay here."

"Fine." It wasn't. Blake's pout made that abundantly clear. "But you owe me."

How was that fair? He hadn't done anything to her. In fact, he'd been advocating for her involvement for a while now. None of that mattered, though. Somehow, it was his fault. "Sure. Aura training tomorrow."

"And agility." Her favorite, mostly because it meant he had to run the same course. He was faster than her, but not by much. If she ever had a hope of edging him out, it would be in the obstacle courses.

"Fine." He could already feel his back regretting the agreement. "But no promises on the Sienna thing. And no whining if she says no."

"I won't." No one in the room believed that, but it would at least buy him some time. "Anyone wanna play some more?"

"Nope."

"Never."

"I think I hear Ilia calling."

"Nice try, Bane," Jakob said, cutting Bane off before he could escape. "How is your little rugrat, anyway?"

"She's not mine," Bane answered. 'Adam adopted her. Remember?"

"Not this again." For whatever stupid reason, Bane loved bringing that up. Probably because it annoyed him so much.

With a slight chuckle, Bane mercifully moved on. "She's good. Says you and Sienna have been training her." Sienna? That was new. She didn't train anyone.

Until now, apparently. "She's a natural," Blake insisted. "Sienna says her chameleon trait would make her a perfect spy."

"Or an assassin," Jakob added.

Blake ignored him as always. "She hasn't settled on a weapon, yet. She says swords still feel a little clunky to her."

Clunky? "She just needs more training with it."

"Well maybe if her father spent more time with her…"

"I'm not her father!" Did he need to go on one of those trashy shows Jakob liked to watch and prove it? "But I get it. I'll see about training her with a blade. Maybe something a little lighter than the usual swords." The training swords were as basic as they came. If she thought they were too heavy or unwieldy, then maybe they needed to try a thinner blade. She could try his sword - his old one. No need to start her on a dust blade. If that failed, they could see about getting her something shorter. Maybe an oversized dagger or something. She might not end up sticking with a sword, but it was always good to have a solid foundation in something more fundamental.

Plus, even if she wasn't his daughter, he couldn't stand the idea of her ending up with some weird whip or some other twirly abomination. Blake and Sienna could not be allowed to corrupt her.

The four of them lazed about for the next hour, snacking and chatting about everything and nothing at once until Jakob said he had to go. Apparently he had another date with Saph that night. One that would end at her place again. Adam knew better than to point out that that made it more of a booty call than a date as he wished his friend well and ushered him out the door before Jakob could go into any more detail. Bane followed shortly thereafter, leaving him and Blake alone.

Just the two of you, alone in your apartment with nothing to do. People might start to talk.

Adam ignored the mocking voice as easily as he did Jakob's stupid jokes. Blake spent the next half hour complaining about things at home, all while Adam nodded along and agreed with her. Better to let her vent than start an argument. Most of it centered around Ghira and his unsubtle discussions about violence not accomplishing anything. Adam would beg to differ, given their recent successes under Sienna's leadership. Their numbers were growing while the SDC was too busy focusing on them to really do anything else. They'd lost three more mining camps since Shobu, not to mention the handful of Atlas outposts they'd tried to set up in Anima. Adam and Sienna did their best to avoid provoking Mistral more than needed. Taking on the most powerful Kingdom and the biggest corporation on Remnant at the same time was already more than enough. The longer they kept the other Kingdoms on the sideline, the better.

It couldn't last forever, and everyone knew it. Atlas was already leaning on Mistral to do more about the White Fang. Vale and Vacuo remained largely uninvolved despite Atlas calling for a unified front against terrorism, promising it would only be a matter of time until they were dragged into it. Better to nip it in the bud early than risk another Faunus War down the road. With the way they talked, Atlas was more eager for open warfare than anyone else. As the largest military in the world, that came as no surprise. Those with the biggest sabers tended to rattle them the most.

Eventually, Blake ran out of steam and grabbed the small bag she'd brought with her. Rather than leave, she pulled a book out and sprawled out on his couch. It was hardly the first time she'd done that. At this point, the couch pretty much belonged to her. Without a word, Adam slipped into his small kitchen and put a pot on to boil. Blake never even looked up from her book as he deposited her customary cup of tea on the end table. Adam settled into the chair on the other side, fetching his own book along the way. The two of them sat there for the rest of the night with only the sound of turning pages and sips of tea passing between them.

First of all, credit where credit is due. MrsTheGoose suggested making Blake a card shark. Always love when she contributes ideas.

Not a huge amount of stuff happening here, but I figured a quick breather as we come back from break would be good. Missions are happening with more regularity, especially now that they have more mobility from their new airships. Sienna's expanding her reach and setting up things for later. Blake continues to pester Adam to let her do more. Basically, we're just gearing up for the new White Fang to start doing their thing.

Was really annoyed when I realized we know basically nothing about the White Fang throne room in canon other than it being somewhere in Anima. Likely somewhere in the south, since Hazel is presumably heading there when he encounters Oscar the first time. No specific location. No view outside the one building. Not even a name. Which means I get to name a new place. So behold, I give you Reyno! Follows the Mistral naming with Japanese flowers (from the scientific name for Japanese knotwood, Reynoutria japonica, an invasive plant that tends to grow through aggressively and even break through pavement). Also relates to the Spanish word reino for "kingdom" since it has a throne room and everything. Couldn't just leave it unnamed, since I plan to use this location a bit moving forward.

Speaking of names, the mention of the farmer's son possibly holding a grudge definitely doesn't reference a main character from a classic book. Might bring him back later, just to complete the allusion for fun. Meanwhile, between him and Reyno, my capacity for creative naming ran out, so decided to just name the farm after the large lake in Anima and slap it somewhere near that. Not everything has to be super creative.

Next chapter: Adam gets back in the field.