Busy week is finally over. Flew up to Boston Monday morning and thought I'd have a lot of free time for writing and such. Forgot to check the agenda and see that the first day ran from 9am to 8pm. Oh, and testing for that day was outside right after a snowstorm. Good times.

Got back after midnight yesterday morning. So glad to be home. I am not cut out for city life. Much prefer the quiet and calm in my middle of nowhere home.

Whack!

"Watch your left."

Whack!

"Your other left!"

Whack!

If Sienna had been hoping to find a diamond in the rough hidden among the farmers, she'd be sorely disappointed. Unsurprisingly, tilling a field didn't translate to combat prowess very well. The new recruits Adam had come to Reyno to train weren't weak, but physical strength only got you so far in a fight. A faster, smarter opponent would always win. Or, in this case, Jakob.

"That's enough," Adam announced, ending the farcical fight before their latest trainee could embarrass himself any further. The worst part was, Jakob was holding back. He might not have been the strongest fighter back in Menagerie, but he knew enough that he could've run circles around any of the new recruits. It was nice to see him showing a little restraint for once.

"How'd I do?"

Adam wanted to say something nice, but lying would get him nowhere. Better to be bluntly honest and make sure this guy never made the mistake of challenging someone to a fight. "Report to the range tomorrow. We'll stick to gun training." Because any idiot could point and shoot. Even inaccurate shots could pin an enemy down and allow the real fighters to do their job.

Sometimes, quantity had a quality all its own.

"Another grunt?"

"Seems like we've got a lot of those," Adam agreed as their last victim headed off. He'd expected as much. Still, they needed the numbers more than anything. As nice as it would've been to find someone even remotely close to Blake's skill level, many hands made light work. He'd have to find his new melee fighter elsewhere.

Right now, all they had was Adam for anything even approaching Huntsman skill. Sienna was a good second, but she spent most of her time tied up back at base and rarely saw combat now. Maybe once Blake was old enough, she'd become their second heavy hitter. And from what Adam heard, Ilia showed a lot of potential, not to mention Yuma and Trifa. Even Bane could hold his own, though he preferred wielding his massive chainsaw against trees and the occasional Grimm.

"Well, not everyone can be as promising as me." Promising? Jakob did okay, but he wouldn't be a front line fighter anytime soon. Even his aim wasn't that good. A support role suited him far better. "Guess the White Fang really lucked out when the two of us joined."

"The two of us?"

Jakob somehow missed the obvious sarcasm in Adam's voice. "Yeah! You and me, the dynamic duo. Two of the best fighters in the whole White Fang. But don't worry, Adam," Jakob grinned impishly, "there's no shame being second best."

Adam slid his sword loose. "Care to back those words up with a spar?"

Jakob managed to hide the terror in his eyes behind a smirk. "I would, but it wouldn't be fair." He yawned far too loudly. "Long day training the new recruits. You know how it is. Well, you would, if you actually trained them yourself instead of just sitting around and watching." As if fighting Adam would prove anything. He could've torn through the entire lot at once without breaking a sweat. "Don't worry. Us real warriors will handle everything."

"Maybe you can show me what a real warrior fights like tomorrow, then."

"I would, but I'm far too busy." Sure. Adam had a feeling he'd be looking for the first chance to dodge work. "Perhaps another time."

"I'll hold you to that." And he'd make Jakob eat those words when the time came. Or maybe he'd let Blake do his dirty work. She could be exceptionally vicious when she wanted. Or whenever Jakob was involved.

While the newest additions to Reyno weren't anything to write home about, most of the others in the camp were reliable. The White Fang back in Menagerie was a mixed bag, mostly consisting of those that merely supported the cause but weren't willing to fight for it. They had their uses, of course, but Adam would've traded a dozen of them for a capable fighter in a heartbeat. Like Ghira, they wanted change but weren't willing to truly work for it.

Not in Reyno, though. Everyone in Reyno was there for one reason and one reason only - to fight. Adam had been there numerous times, both to help with training and as a staging ground for some of his operations, and they never failed to impress. Combat drills. Strict schedules. Discipline for anyone slacking. Anyone not cut out for what they were building were on the first ride back to Menagerie. No one was forced to be here, but those that chose to stay had to prove themselves worthy.

Most of Adam's operations were built around Reyno nowadays. Not only could they be counted on to follow orders, but each of them knew how to fight. Not in melee, necessarily, but gun handling was pretty much a requirement at Reyno. With their base hidden far away from civilization, not fighting wasn't even an option. The Grimm were plentiful out here, even with Adam's regular visits and cullings. Every man and woman in Reyno had fought and killed Grimm at some point. Adam and Sienna demanded it. Some had even fought against human opponents, though only at range while on missions with Adam. Their job was to keep the enemy suppressed until Adam could handle things. Even their limited combat experience made them a hundred times more valuable than the casual trainees back in Menagerie.

Now if only he could get them to stop wearing his mask.

A handful of people back on Menagerie wore a mask similar to his, but here, it was rare to find someone without the mask. Well, other than the newbies. Apparently, the mask had become a bit of a symbol in Reyno. One you had to earn. Only those with a confirmed kill were deemed worthy. Usually, that just meant helping fell a Grimm in defense of Reyno. Those who hadn't earned their first kill got extra guard duty to increase their chances. It also helped motivate them, since getting a kill meant less rotations on guard duty. As annoying as all the masks were, it was a little encouraging seeing so many had earned theirs already.

"Adam, you got a minute?"

One of the only people he knew by name in Reyno was Cerco, and only because he acted as one of the leaders of Reyno. He'd helped on the Novus mission and a few others, earning him both the respect of his fellow members and a nice promotion. Beyond that, he had a pretty level head and never wasted Adam's time, so Adam was more than happy to listen. "What've you got?"

"A mission."

Already? "Did Sienna call something in?" Weird. She tended to run those by him directly. Maybe she didn't want to disturb the training.

"Actually, it's an idea I've been toying around with. Figured I'd run it by you first." Cerco's? Now this Adam had to hear. "Concordia Day is coming up soon."

Concordia Day. Adam could remember celebrating it back in Shizukana, but from what he heard, it was quite the event in the cities. Concordia Day marked the day that the gods set aside their feuding and came together to create mankind. A unity of two opposites. Back home, Father Bernard would have them read the creation passages and then prepare a traditional stew with both light and dark meat. It wasn't much, but Adam always looked forward to it simply for the day off.

"And you want to have a party for the men?" Not a terrible idea. Morale wasn't hurting, but best not to wait until it was. While they couldn't do something as fancy as the big parties and parade in Mistral, they could still celebrate. A day off, at the very least. "That shouldn't be a problem."

"Not a party. A mission." Cerco looked nervous, but with a deep breath, he pushed on. "Something a little different than our usual approach." So not a raid or even hitting a camp. Diversifying would be good. Otherwise, they'd start to get too predictable. The SDC had already beefed up security across Anima, making their lives much more difficult.

Maybe he and Sienna needed some fresh ideas. "What do you have in mind?"

"Well, it's a little more…aggressive." More aggressive than a hostile takeover of an SDC camp? Cerco definitely had his attention now. "We've got contacts throughout Mistral keeping tabs on some of the bigger companies. Ones that tend to discriminate." That would be a long list, with the SDC sitting right on top. "Thought it might be good to make them pay."

Like they did to the SDC and even Matsu Farms. A sort of punishment for their oppression. "So who's the target?"

"Targets." A multi-pronged effort? That would take some work, but they had the manpower now. With a little training, he could have strike teams assembled easily enough. A quick smash and grab would send the right message. "On Concordia Day, when everyone's distracted by the celebrations."

Distracted? Why would they need a distraction unless… "You mean?"

"Mistral. I think we should hit Mistral."

The capital city. The same capital housing the Council that had put a price on his head. Probably the second most dangerous place for them outside of Atlas itself. And if that wasn't enough, Haven Academy sat right up the hill, watching over the city itself. One whiff of them attacking the city would have Huntsmen pouring down on them in a flash. A single student would be more than enough to handle most of his men, but Haven also employed a good number of experienced Huntsmen as teachers. They were considered some of the best fighters of their generations.

"Are you insane?"

"Hear me out!" Adam bit back on his immediate dismissal, but only for a moment. He'd give Cerco one chance to convince him this wasn't suicide. "The city will be distracted with all the celebrations. We slip in at night during the parade, trash a few closed buildings, then sneak out before they even know we were there. With any luck, they won't even know what happened until the next morning." At which point, they'd better be long gone.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" When Cerco didn't answer, Adam pointed at his face. "In case you've forgotten, Mistral wants me dead." Or alive, but the reward was the same. "Every Huntsman, police officer, and security camera will be watching for me." Or even just faunus in general. A bull faunus with his hair, not to mention a very obvious face, would have every alarm in the city going off.

"They won't know it's you," Cerco promised. Unless Mistral had suffered a widespread case of amnesia, Adam didn't see how that could be true. "In fact, they won't even know we're faunus."

Some of them could pass as human, but most couldn't. Antlers. Tails. Extra ears. The kind of things most humans would notice rather easily. "How?"

"Because of these." Cerco pulled out his scroll, tapping the screen until he pulled up a webpage. Some sort of online store, by the looks of it, but he had a feeling the items they were selling were the actual interest. Adam took his scroll and began swiping through the images. "Concordia Day masks. A lot of people in the city like to wear them. Doubt anyone will recognize us in those."

They'd be hard pressed to. Some were simple designs that mostly covered the eyes, but others would obscure an entire face. A few even had horns. The site had a special on one in particular featuring a split face between light and dark with a deer and ram horn signifying both of the gods at once. "You want us to walk into Mistral wearing these things?"

"Why not? We already wear masks." Much to Adam's chagrin. That was never meant to be a group thing. "We can hide our faces and even any faunus traits on our heads." Like his horns. Some of the designs wrapped around the top of the head, which would also obscure his hair. He'd look like any other person wearing something like that. "Even if they realize we're faunus, unless they actually catch us doing something, they'll have to let us go." Unless they caught one of those idiots with a White Fang tattoo. Then again, if they got busted because of some stupid idea to show off, it'd serve them right.

"Just to make sure I understand," Adam began, "you want us to infiltrate Mistral on a night when everyone will be out partying and lighting off fireworks," thus negating any night vision advantage, "to attack a bunch of stores that don't like faunus, all while wearing a bunch of cheap festival masks?"

Cerco thought for a second. "Yeah. Pretty much."

It sounded stupid beyond all reason. Hitting SDC camps was dangerous, but in a manageable way. Unless the SDC had actual Huntsmen guarding a camp - they did at a couple, but Adam knew to avoid those targets - then the worst they'd face is a few aura-enhanced idiots with minimal training. Adam could handle those easily enough. But risking the ire of Haven and their limitless supply of young Huntsmen? That sounded like the worst idea ever. Plus, he hadn't forgotten his last adventure in a capital city. Mantle had nearly been the death of him thanks to Atlas.

Still, no one would expect them to attack a city like that, and without knowing they were coming, security would be too busy keeping an eye on a city full of drunken revelers to notice a handful of faunus sneaking into a few empty buildings. It would put Mistral and her allies on the back foot, too. If the White Fang could reach beyond the walls of a capital city, then where couldn't they pop up? They'd done it once before. Twice became a pattern. It might even force Mistral and Atlas to pull back some of its Huntsmen to guard against similar attacks for a while, giving them a little more freedom in the outskirts. The SDC would have a hard time explaining why they deserved more protection than the citizens of Mistral, especially with elections around the corner. No one on the Council would dare to go on record against increased security at that point.

It was risky. There was no getting around that. But if they could pull this off? The long term benefits would be huge. Not to mention it would get Sienna off his back for a bit. She wanted something more visible. An SDC camp getting hit didn't stir up the public much. To the random civilian sitting in their comfy houses in the capital, the fall of some remote outpost meant little. Villages disappeared to the Grimm all the time, so why not a mining camp? Other than a slight increase in dust prices, no one seemed bothered.

Not like when they'd openly fought off Atlas in the heart of Mantle itself. Atlas had gone on high alert for months, cracking down on even the tiniest hint of White Fang activity. If a group of faunus so much as loitered near an SDC building, soldiers would be rounding up everyone in sight within minutes for interrogation. Given most of the city was owned by the SDC, and most of their workers were faunus, it kept them chasing false alarms almost constantly. Meanwhile, the actual White Fang had laid low, doing nothing but some quiet recruitment to avoid getting swept up along the way.

And recruitment had been good. As much as he hated to admit it, the crackdown on faunus across the city saw their ranks swell. Atlas and the SDC had angered many of them enough to want to fight back, even in some small way. In a way, the more oppressive the humans became, the better the White Fang fared. If they'd focused on making any real reforms or punishing the SDC for their actions, the White Fang would've struggled. Instead, the kneejerk racism only empowered the White Fang.

"I say we go for it." If Sienna wanted something people couldn't ignore, then hitting a capital in the midst of an international holiday would certainly do the trick. They'd dominate the headlines for weeks. Of course, something this big would need Sienna's approval. He'd be asking her to take a big risk. As much attention as the attack might generate, stopping it and catching Adam would be a huge win for Mistral. Even if he managed to escape, they'd tout their win as proof of their resilience and rally the public in a heartbeat. He couldn't afford to let that happen. "C'mon. Let's go tell Sienna."

"Me?"

"Yes, you." Cerco might as well help brief Sienna. An extra set of eyes would help ensure they didn't miss anything. "It's your plan. You deserve the credit." And this way, he didn't have to do much talking.

It took a few minutes to get a hold of Sienna. A regular scroll call would bounce off the CCT, risking someone listening in and ruining the whole plan. Instead, they had to use a strange mishmash of equipment to send a signal through a more secure frequency. Adam didn't understand most of it, but the short version was that they could encrypt their radio signal to make it nearly impossible for someone to hack into their discussion. Even if they did, whatever controlled it all changed variables sporadically, meaning they'd only get a few seconds at best. Only someone with a matching encryption would be able to maintain a connection.

At least, that's how Jakob explained it, though in way more detail than Adam could hope to understand. As long as it worked, Adam didn't really care about the details.

They didn't bother with video, but eventually, Sienna's voice came through. A little tuning helped clear up the signal. Adam let Cerco present his idea, then let Sienna know he supported the plan and thought they could pull it off.

Predictably, Sienna loved the idea. "An attack on Mistral would force the Kingdoms to take us seriously." Which would be both a good and a bad thing. They'd get a lot more visibility and be able to recruit more faunus to join the fight, but the Kingdoms would also be forced to focus more attention on the growing threat. Hopefully, Vale and Vacuo would stay out of it for now. They hadn't done anything too serious in those Kingdoms, so that half of Remnant seemed content to let Atlas and Mistral handle the problem for now. "You say your men have already identified potential targets?"

"They have," Cerco confirmed. "Six buildings in total. Two stores that refuse to serve faunus and three businesses that work closely with the SDC."

Adam wasn't the best at math, but even he knew that didn't add up. "What about the sixth?"

"The SDC office." Adam should've known, though hearing it had his fists tightening. He recognized the two stores. They'd pretty much laughed him off back when he was begging for a job. The businesses were less familiar, but he didn't usually keep tabs on which corporations threw their lot in with the SDC.

The SDC office, though? He knew that one well. After all, they'd been the ones to ship him off to Orostachys so long ago. "I want to lead the SDC group," Adam said, making it clear he wouldn't take no for an answer.

"You will," Sienna promised. It made sense. The SDC office would be their primary target, and who better to entrust something like that to? "But I want you to do more than just making a mess. The world needs to know the danger of opposing the White Fang."

"How?"

"Dust," Sienna said. "Let the SDC witness the fruits of their labor. I want those offices destroyed."

"Bombs?" That seemed a little extreme. Then again, what had Adam expected. Just to run in, throw some papers around, and leave? They needed to do something a little more forceful than an organization headache. "Isn't that dangerous?"

"Cerco said the buildings should be empty, and my men know how to handle such things." Of course they did. Why didn't it surprise Adam that she'd been training people to build and handle explosives? "Don't worry. We're not leveling the city. They'll be small enough that the neighboring buildings shouldn't suffer much damage."

Admittedly, seeing the SDC office burn would bring him a little pleasure. They could rig them all to go off remotely, giving them time to slip away before the fireworks.

"So sneak in, plant the bombs, and get out. Easy enough."

It was never that easy. "Actually, I had something else in mind for the SDC office."

"We're not blowing it up?" Adam couldn't help but snarl the words. If any office deserved to burn, it was that one.

"We will, but I want you to do something first." Okay. That sounded better, though Adam didn't know what else they could do. It wasn't like they'd store a bunch of lien or dust in an office focused on admin and recruitment. "I want you to tap into their network. Download everything you can. Personnel. Payments. Camp sites. Future expansion plans. Anything that we can use against them."

Intel first. This was why Sienna was in charge. "I'm not very good with computers." Hacking was something he did to limbs, not systems.

"I'll have our boys whip something up for you," Sienna assured him. Hopefully, something simple to use. The easier, the better.

"What about the masks?" For six targets, they'd need around twenty at a minimum. Maybe closer to thirty. While not a huge number, they couldn't exactly have it delivered to Reyno. Even a shipment to Menagerie might raise questions. "We can't just go and steal a shipment of them." Even something like that would draw attention. What use would the White Fang have for a bunch of Concordia Day masks? Any detective worth their salt would be able to connect the dots easily enough. They wouldn't just assume the White Fang wanted to hold their own parade.

"Leave that to me." Apparently, Sienna had a plan. "The only problem is, I want to make sure everyone knows it was us."

"Won't they assume it?" Attacking the SDC was sort of their bread and butter, and who else would bomb an office building? THey'd be eager to blame it on the White Fang, wouldn't they?

"Oh, they'll know, but they might try to spin it as some sort of accident or something." An accidental explosion in six different buildings? One could be covered up and called a dust leak or something, but six at once? Still, if anyone could spin it, the Atlas and Mistral media could. "We just need to make sure they can't cover it up as easily." Because the rest of the world needed to know. Doing something this big and public would be kind of pointless if the media swept it under the rug.

"Maybe we could leave a mask or something?"

Sienna shot the idea down immediately. "Not enough. It might not survive the explosion. And everyone will be wearing masks. They'll just claim it's a broken Concordia Day mask or something."

True, but if that was the case, then anything they left behind would be either destroyed or covered up. They needed something more visible. Something the public would recognize almost instantly. Something that screamed White Fang.

Like their emblem.

"What if we tagged the buildings?"

"Tagged them?"

"Spray paint," Adam specified. "We could paint our symbol on the walls." No, those might be ruined or burnt, and the public wouldn't get to see inside a crime scene. "Or outside. Like in an alley or something. Somewhere people would see."

Sienna hummed at the idea. "It would have to be quick. Someone's bound to report seeing something like that."

Good. If word got out, which it inevitably would, there'd be no way to deny the White Fang's involvement. "Maybe a stencil or something?" Blake had shown him a few back when he was first learning to draw. A quick guide he could trace to make an image. If they just slapped that on a wall and spray painted the whole thing, they could mark a place in seconds.

"I like it." Blake would be thrilled to hear she'd contributed, even indirectly. "And not just for this mission. I'll have some created and sent to our operatives in Mantle, too. A little reminder that we are everywhere."

"You could have Blake make them," Adam offered.

"Blake?"

"She's a good artist. She could probably whip some up without much trouble." He'd seen her sketches of their emblem. "She's been pestering me about getting more involved."

"Again?" Sienna knew the complaint well. He'd brought it up before leaving for Reyno, as promised, but Sienna had shot it down as always. "She knows Ghira would never allow her to go on a mission." Even more so if he knew about their new plan. "But maybe you're right. It'd be

Good to throw her a bone, and drawing our symbol would hardly put her in danger." He'd also be able to get credit for getting her involved. He'd gladly take the brownie points. "Very well. I'll talk to her this afternoon and have her get started. We'll send the first batch to Reyno as soon as they're ready."

"Sounds good."

"For now, I want you to focus on getting teams together for this mission. We've still got a few weeks, so make sure they're ready. In the meantime, I'll work things on my end and see about getting those masks." Sienna didn't bother specifying how. He just hoped she'd keep it quiet. "Good work, you two."

"It was all Cerco's idea," Adam insisted. The man stood a little taller at the extra recognition.

"Then excellent work, Cerco." Credit where credit was due. "It seems I was right to promote you before. Perhaps we should discuss giving you more responsibilities if these are the sort of results we can expect."

"Th-thank you, ma'am," Cerco stuttered out, reddening at the praise.

"I'll contact you once I have everything arranged. Until then, if you need anything, let me know." And with that, the call ended.

That went better than expected. The bombs would certainly escalate things, but Adam couldn't say he opposed the idea. Ghira certainly would. The man would have a conniption when he found out. It looked like Sienna was done playing nice with him. If he wanted to raise a stink, then let him. Sienna had proven more than effective since taking over, delivering them win after win in a series of brazen actions. This would be a new crowning achievement if everything worked out.

It had to work out, which meant the men of Reyno were about to start training like their lives depended on it. "Assemble the men," Adam ordered. He needed to get things moving sooner rather than later. "I need five team leaders by tomorrow. Work with them to choose four more men per team. Oh, and Cerco?" Cerco waited for the final detail, eager to get started. "None of the farmers." They weren't ready for something like this.

"Right." No complaint there. Cerco must've been just as unimpressed by their recent additions. Adam had a feeling many of them would be heading back to Menagerie in the near future.

In the meantime, Adam had work to do. He hated that he couldn't directly oversee the entire operation, but they needed to hit all six targets at once. Adam couldn't be in six places at once, and hitting them one at a time would be too risky. Luckily, the other five targets should be quick jobs. Get in, plant the device, and get out. He'd personally lead the more important one.

And when all was said and done, he'd watch that office burn.

/- - - - - - - - -/

Time flies when you're having fun. At least, that's what they claimed. Adam still didn't know who they were, but training hadn't exactly been fun. Still, the weeks flew by in no time at all, bringing them to the cusp of Concordia Day much sooner than he liked.

His teams were ready - as ready as they were going to get. He'd put all of Reyno through some intense exercises without giving them any specifics. Only once they'd narrowed down the list to their six teams did he reveal what they'd be doing. After that, it was non-stop training. His team endured the worst of it, but at the end of it all, he felt a lot more confident that they could make this work.

Sienna came through on her promises. Fifty masks, in an assortment of styles, showed up well before their deadline. All legitimately obtained, too. It seemed the White Fang had a shell company with more being set up. As far as anyone outside the White Fang knew, an order of masks had been ordered through a specialized shipping company for Concordia Day. Another satisfied customer of an up and coming company, A Few Things. Adam had a feeling they'd be getting more orders in the future from this promising new enterprise.

In the same order had been a large stack of stencils for the White Fang emblem, along with a note from Blake. They were bigger than Adam expected, but they'd suit his purposes just fine. He also found an external hard drive with instructions on how to use it. Thankfully, the instructions were pretty straightforward. Basically, all he had to do was find a terminal and plug it in. Automated programs would do the rest, downloading every scrap of data it could find in the system following some complex algorithm to prioritize what they grabbed first, just in case they ran out of space or something severed the connection.

All in all, they had everything they needed to make this work. They couldn't risk flying directly to Mistral, instead dropping everyone off near a decent-sized village a few days outside of Mistral. The teams left at different times to stagger their arrivals, with Adam's group leaving last. They needed to arrive as close to the celebrations as possible, since Adam would be the easiest to recognize. The less time spent in the city, the better their odds of escaping unnoticed.

Getting into Mistral proved a lot easier than expected. With so many people coming for the parade and celebrations, they simply couldn't check everyone at once. Instead, the gates stood open, allowing them through without so much as an ID check.

Every square inch of the city seemed to be decorated with bright designs and lights. Hordes of people pushed along the streets, awaiting the coming of night when the festivities would really kick off. Bars were packed to capacity. Restaurants rushed to keep up with the demand. The main street had already been blocked off in preparation for the parade that evening.

Hidden behind a God of Darkness mask, Adam watched it all in disgust. Let them have their fun. It won't last. In a few hours, the lively night would be torn apart by Adam and his teams. They wanted to celebrate the unity of light and dark? Well, he'd remind them of the second half of that pair tonight.

New mission type unlocked!

Funnily enough, I actually wanted to have this be around Halloween, only to realize I'd mentioned Blake's bday recently...which is in January. Figures that the one time I actually specify a date, it comes back to bite me. Rather than replan, I just figured I'd make up my own holiday. Much less work.

For anyone who's read In RWBY's Shadow, you might recognize the company name A Few Things. For those that don't know, the name is an anagram For White Fangs (sounded weird without the s). As always, half of what I write is just me amusing myself.

Next chapter: Adam carries out his plan at the Mistral SDC office.