Been a rough year, can't believe I only managed to crank out two chapters in that time.

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The wind rushed around Kaiser, senses flaring, he was on high alert. His opponent geared his fist back, too telegraphed, yet too wild to be allowed to hit.

The fist made an impact with Kaiser's weapon, a piece of melee gear that Kaiser would use in tandem with his knowledge of bladed weapons.

The fist geared back nestling right next to the opposition's cheek, leaving the side of face widely exposed.

Kaiser tensed and his eyes widened, his good arm whipping his weapon back and right into the gap of his opponent's defense. Colliding with skin and bone with devastating power!

Thwack

"Hey, not so rough next time." Jaune flinched away from the pool noodle that Kaiser had just smacked him with.

"Perhaps you should keep your guard up." Kaiser offered a minuscule smile, sliding back. "Maybe then, I wouldn't need to keep hitting you with this." For emphasis, Kaiser swung the pool noodle again, noting that Jaune did keep his guard up this time.

It was an early morning in Beacon academy's gym, something that Kaiser had felt he hadn't done in a decade.

It was only a couple days ago that he'd been allowed to leave the infirmary with a cast on his arm, and a couple more days since he had woken up in the hospital bed.

Hours wasted of staring at the wall numbed his mind, only ever made bearable by a revolving door of friends coming to wish him well.

Surprisingly, even Cardin had shown up, they had awkwardly stared at each other before Cardin left with a simple and hesitant 'get well soon'.

While his friends made his stay in medical care bearable there was only one person he really looked forward to seeing towards the end of the day.

Kaiser caught sight of her out of the corner of his eye, she was busy training in the free weight section with Pyrrha.

Yang Xiao Long, his very recently declared girlfriend, was busy shoulder pressing hundred-pound dumbbells. The impressive weight rising easily, clear muscle definition moving in time with the movement.

The simple sight of this, unexpectedly and momentarily, caught Kaiser off guard. A fist came flying at his face, crashing into the side of his face.

Kaiser's face whipped to the side, the only reason he wasn't more hurt was because of the gloves that Jaune was wearing.

"Holy shit!" Jaune rushed forward, catching Kaiser before he could stumble. "I didn't mean- I thought you were going to dodge!"

"I'm alright." Kaiser turned back, wary that the crick in his neck didn't snap back into place too painfully.

"I'm far from delicate, Jaune."

Jaune let out a nervous laugh to lighten the mood, his fingers fiddling with the grappling gloves that he wore. "I guess that means I scored a point on you, right?"

Kaiser faltered for a bit, shaking his head briefly. "This isn't a game, Jaune, you're not fighting for points. You have to take this seriously." A questioning look as Kaiser sensed a very small, yet noticeable hint of humor in Jaune's demeanor.

"Sorry, it's just…" Jaune reigned in a chuckle as he spoke. "I don't know how to take you seriously with a pool noodle."

The foam rod was bright pink, perhaps that offset Kaiser's usual air of seriousness. Its purpose was to avoid the amount of impact from Jaune's practice drills, less strain on Kaiser's injured body and no use of his casted arm. But if this wasn't enough for Jaune…

Kaiser let the pool noodle fall from his hand.

"You want serious?" Kaiser let himself slide into a combat position, planting his feet apart. "Let's spar for real then."

Jaune gulped, suddenly feeling like a fly trapped in a spider's web, he nodded nervously.

Both stood inches apart, the air tense, Kaiser ready to initiate the first strike.

A hand landed on his shoulder, the intensity dissipated as Kaiser's stance loosened up. Kaiser turned his head to see Yang standing behind him.

"Doc said no strenuous movement for two weeks, Kai." Yang pinched Kaiser's cheek, pulling it hard to admonish the boy. "You're lucky I even let you come into the gym today."

To Jaune's surprise, Kaiser's demeanor changed, he had to refrain from gawking at how Kaiser turned from focused killer to a gentle teen.

"I wasn't actually going to fight him." Kaiser mumbled, moving his face to the side to escape Yang's grasp. "In fact, Jaune was just about to back off."

Jaune shuddered at that, somehow, impossibly, Kaiser had guessed right about Jaune's hesitance. A knowing look was shot at Jaune, and Kaiser slipped on an easy smile.

"It was a psyche-out technique, combat isn't just about the moves." Kaiser walked towards a duffle bag, retrieving a hand towel. "Most fighters stick with either a philosophy of offense or defense."

"Which one's yours?" Yang asked, casually draping an arm around Kaiser's shoulder.

"Deception." Kaiser simply stated, shifting as to not aggravate his injured shoulder. A smirk graced him, his voice smooth. "I'm sure you've noticed by now, but I don't quite adhere to the rules of combat."

"You beat up some guys at a garage with a crowbar!" Jaune pointed out.

"I also kicked Yang during a boxing match." Kaiser held a hand up in apology. "Sorry about that, by the way."

"All good." Yang offered a thumbs up, more amused than anything seeing Kaiser geek out over something so niche.

"It was something that was ingrained into me, everything I do. The way I move, the way I talk, the way I fight." Kaiser faltered a bit, as much as this was interesting, his practice of deception was born out of a sense of duty at first, but evolved later into a need to survive. Kaiser's slightly excited smile returned. "I was fooling you into thinking that I was capable of beating you, I wasn't. A week ago, you wouldn't have a chance at landing a hit on me, but now, I'd guess that even a civilian could get the drop on me."

An awkward beat of silence passed, before Kaiser slipped a smile to face Jaune. "But that's why you can't treat this as a game, one slip-up, and you could lose… badly. I'd have to say I'm living proof." Kaiser slightly lifted his casted arm, trying to prove a point.

It was an external factor that had rendered Kaiser injured, not his own carelessness. But he made up the reason to further encourage Jaune, Kaiser was definitely NOT losing his edge.

They practiced for 20 more minutes before Kaiser decided to call it for the day, he remained in the gym as Jaune and Pyrrha left to study.

Kaiser looked around, it was a Saturday, most people didn't show up in the morning since they didn't have classes on weekends, they took advantage and slept in. The gym was practically empty, giving Kaiser the freedom to stalk towards the free weight section.

Having his arm in a cast was quite cumbersome, instead of being able to adjust the bench's incline only needing to bend forward and keeping himself up with one arm, instead he had to get on both his knees. If that weren't inconvenient enough, he had to pull the adjustment peg, then using his shoulder to raise the bench's incline.

Finally satisfied with that, Kaiser crossed the few steps to the weight rack, grabbing one 45 pound dumbbell. He dragged the weight with him to his seat, and as soon as he sat down on the bench facing the mirror wall, a figure had practically materialized behind him. Kaiser looked up, seeing Yang standing over him, her domineering position filling the top of Kaiser's vision.

Yang looked quite nice upside-down, but then again, Kaiser appreciated Yang from any angle.

What he didn't appreciate was the stern look and her hands clamped down on his shoulder.

"Kai, you know the rules, no strenuous movements for a couple weeks."

"I know that." Kaiser tried to find a good reason, there were none, so he'd have to settle on a reason. "That movie that we watched together had me thinking…"

A low blow, but Kaiser wasn't past using slight manipulation to get what he wanted.

Yang crossed her arms. "You gotta be more specific, Kai, we watched almost everything made in the past decade."

Indeed, the last couple of days in Kaiser's infirmary were spent with Yang curled up against him watching any and every film she could think of. As she put it, he had to "catch up on the culture" to make up for his childhood in service to the IPS.

"The one with the boxer who ran up those stairs, the one where he beat up the guy who gave his trainer a heart attack." Kaiser gave a hopeful look, one that paid off as Yang rolled her eyes with a smile.

"Fine, go the distance if you think you can." Yang leaned down, placing a kiss on Kaiser's cheek. "Just make sure you eat breakfast today, I'm heading out later to go grab some parts for my bike."

"Yeah." Kaiser nodded, hiding how flustered he'd become, he waved goodbye to Yang as she left the gym. Now that he was alone, he could focus on the weight in front of him.

Kaiser gripped the dumbbell with his good hand, dragging the damn thing onto his leg from his seated position. He took a deep breath, getting the dumbbell into starting position, then pushed upwards.

It was like an engine starting, his strength pouring into the movement. Struggling to get it up, Kaiser's arm shook violently. Finally, after a single guttural push, Kaiser managed to lift the weight over his head and fully extend it out.

Now, he had to repeat this shoulder press a couple more times. As he lowered the weight, more strain tightened around his arm. A breathless grunt escaped him, and finally, Kaiser knew he couldn't do much more than this.

With his last bit of strength, Kaiser pushed the dumbbell forward before unwillingly letting it go. The heavy weight clattered to the floor nowhere near the boy, the last thing he needed was an injured leg in case the dumbbell fell on him.

Kaiser let out a disappointed sigh, that had been his warm up weight, and he had failed it. It was his body's break down from his confrontation with a Gemini and Roman Torchwick, restricting him from his fullest capabilities.

Restrictions, Kaiser almost snarled at that. His whole life he'd lived under restrictions. From his time in the IPS, serving under their orders. To the restrictions of his emancipation from them, and the resulting undocumentation, belonging to nowhere no matter where he was. Now his own body had become his restriction, too injured to do the basic tasks that he could normally easily do.

Kaiser gripped at his temples, eventually deciding to put everything away. There was no use in wallowing in his own misery, he might as well take the time to reintroduce himself to the schoolwork he had been assigned.

The walk back to Kaiser's dorm was spent stewing in his own frustration, most of his fellow classmates decided to avoid him when he was in one of his moods. Kaiser felt the isolation, like he always had since starting his little after-class activities with the IPS. It somehow started to bother him a little more as time went on, but the people expected a stoic and reserved spy, so he'd maintained that facade.

"Finish up early?" Yang had just stepped out from her dorm, spotting Kaiser trudging towards his own dorm. She was in her huntress outfit, a duffle bag strapped around her shoulder.

Kaiser turned to her, one of the very few people who hadn't expected the same things as the others had, he offered her a sheepish grin. "I think the weights were finished with me."

Yang caught on to his wording, crossing the hallway and laying a comforting hand on his shoulder. "You'll get it next time, you just gotta give yourself time to recover."

Kaiser disagreed with that, he had to be improving all the time, or else a day might come where he wasn't prepared or strong enough to deal with a new enemy. "Perhaps you're right. I'll take a rest after I'm done having breakfast."

"Alright, call me if you want to hang out." Yang turned around, lugging her duffle bag with her, something seemed off.

Kaiser gripped a piece of black loose woven fabric sticking out of her bag, the zipper holding the fabric inside came undone. Leaving Kaiser with a familiar piece of clothing, he held it up.

It was his coat, the previous version he had come to beacon with.

"Where are you taking this?" Kaiser held up the coat by its collar, it lacked both the hoodie and length that were the main features of the newer model he had been given all those months ago.

"Oh, you know, just taking it in case I get a cold." Yang shrugged, an almost guilty smile on her face.

"I don't think it'd be a good idea to take this out." Kaise grimaced, attempting to fold up the coat, eventually failing and slinging it over his shoulder. "You may have convinced me to let you keep it in your closet for now, but there's no way you're taking that out to Vale."

Yang giggled at the stone-faced boy, she playfully took back the coat. "You practically gave this to me when we started dating, you know, as a part of my girlfriend privileges."

"Girlfriend privileges?" Kaiser recoiled, both flustered and frustrated with Yang's stubbornness. "That is a highly classified military-grade piece of gear, which is one of a kind. If you go out with that, I'll probably get targeted fo-"

Team RWBY's heavy wooden door swished open, causing both Yang and Kaiser to look towards opening.

"Can you two keep it down, I'm trying to get Ruby to study!" Weiss came out of the room in her sleepwear, a hard reminder that it was nine in the morning. A pained groan was faintly heard through the door, Ruby seemed to be the one who was having the toughest morning.

"It's Saturday." Yang deadpanned, she absentmindedly stuffed the coat back in the duffle. "Why are you studying in the morning during the weekend?"

"We have to get a jump on the curriculum, if we're not ahead, then we are behind." Weiss turned to Kaiser, eyes narrowing. "So either keep it down, or get a room!"

Kaiser decided it was time for diplomacy, he could calm the situation to take control. "Listen, I just want to recover a piece of equipment."

"It's just a coat!" Weiss had been aware of the coat that Yang had pilfered.

"It's worth a couple million lien-"

"Is that it?" Weiss crossed her arms, she looked quite ridiculous pouting in a loose sleeping gown. "I can wire the money into your account so you don't have to keep arguing about it!"

That wasn't an option, even for the fact that Kaiser didn't have a bank account. He couldn't have the coat go missing, especially with the IPS keeping tabs on him.

"Actually," a new voice joined in, older, snarkier, and it came from Kaiser's dorm. "The research for the material was what cost millions, the coat itself is around sixty-thousand, give or take."

Kaiser recognized that voice, it was one of the last he heard before passing out during the breach.

Martin Kane

Surely enough, the wily assassin had poked his head out of the door, looking to the world as if he belonged.

Kaiser, caught off guard, could only mutter under his breath. "Son of a-"

"Who are you?" Yang was the first to recover, suspicion creeping into her as she turned towards Kaiser. "Friend of yours, Kai?"

Kaiser had to come up with a cover story, something believable. He threw his arms up in fake surprise. "Uncle Marty! It's so nice to see you." He began stalking towards the door, pushing Kane into his dorm. "We've got a lot to catch up on, how's Sebastian?"

The door clicked shut as Kaiser crossed his doorway, leaving Yang and Weiss in the hallway.

"I thought he didn't have any family?" Weiss questioned, Yang only shrugged in response.

"I'm not gonna question it." Yang slung her duffle bag around her shoulder, leaving Kaiser to deal with "Uncle Marty."

/-/

"What the hell are you doing here?" Kaiser shoved Kane into the room, the assassin barely even stumbling backwards.

"I can't visit my friends?" Kane asked, he wore work jeans, with a jacket that fit tightly.

"You would've called first, you wouldn't know which dorm I live in." Kaiser quickly glanced at his scroll left on the desk. "Somebody gave you intel on me, you're here on orders."

"You catch on quick." Kane smirked, he lowered himself down on one of the four beds in the dorm. "Lucky you, no roommates. I just need to take care of a couple things today, one of them I have to do here. I figured that I might as well swing by and see how you're doing."

"So what does Ross want?" Kaiser crossed his arm, fingers thrummed onto his cast. He glared at the assassin sitting on his bed, bouncing in place to test the mattress springs.

"Ross wants me to serve a couple confidential disclosure agreements to some students that saw a couple things they weren't supposed to see." Kane bounced up harder this time, the bed launching him into a standing position. "Two guys, from Vacuo, one of them is the team leader."

Kaiser didn't have to think long, as he only really knew two people from Vacuo. "Sun and Neptune."

"Oh, so that's their names." Kane began pacing around the room, Kaiser eyeing him suspiciously.

"Why don't you give me the forms, I'll find them and give the papers back to you when they're filled out." Kaiser backed away slowly, ready for whatever bombshell that Kane seemed to always drop on Kaiser when they met up. "I'll just need to tell them the importance of the agreement."

"That won't be necessary." Kane slowed his pace down, matching Kaiser in every step. "I'm taking care of that right now."

A thump caught the ear of Kaiser, he looked around, the sound of struggling and muffled grunts came from around the room. Focusing a little more, he realized that the noise was coming from behind the door of the closet.

"Don't you have classes or something?" Kane masked the panic with amusement as Kaiser stepped towards his closet.

"It's Saturday." Kaiser shot back as his good hand shot forward, latching onto the handle for his closet door. Swinging the door open, Kaiser was actually surprised at what he saw.

Two guys tied up on chairs, one with a shock of blond spiky hair, another with perfectly combed blue hair.

Sun Wukong and Neptune Vasilias, they were tied up in chairs, with tape over their mouths.

Sun's eyes widened at seeing Kaiser, almost hopeful, they were roommates at one point afterall. Neptune's were a different story, they hadn't quite got to know each other. He'd only ever heard the rumors, which terrified him.

"This has to be, by far, the worst thing you've ever done!" Kaiser was just a bit of volume under shouting, his anger still quelled by his professionalism.

"Look, if I knew you were going to be like this, I would've-"

"And you've tried to kill me before, and actually killed others." Kaiser dragged one of the chairs into the middle of his dorm, then went back in the closet to drag Neptune and leave him placed next to Sun.

"I tried asking at first, but they wouldn't trust me enough to look at the forms." Kane shrugged, he gestured toward the bed, two stapled stacks of paper lay on Kaiser's pillow.

"Yeah, because who wouldn't trust a stranger walking up and asking them to fill out random papers." Kaiser rubbed his eyes, a sigh escaping him.

"The blond one said something about not telling your secrets. Honestly, respect." Kane made a move to fist bump Sun, but chuckled as he saw that his arms were tied behind his back. "Still, this needs to be done, and we'll be on our way." Kane brandished a blade, he walked up behind Kaiser, slipping the combat knife into his hand. "We might need to give them a little scare, just so they know I'm serious."

Kaiser looked at both Sun and Neptune, one afraid, the other defiant. Sun had been his temporary roommate, that meant something. Despite Sun's constant stories about his childhood in Vacuo, a kingdom that Kaiser vehemently opposed, it had been nice. Neptune was another story, he avoided the spy, which couldn't be blamed as he first met Kaiser during the brutal impalement of a contract killer. Kaiser had left him alone, he probably couldn't undo that first impression.

And now he was tasked with leveraging his own power into getting them to sign a document that forbade them to even talk about Kaiser's status as a formerly adjacent to a government asset.

Kaiser was sure if he asked Sun and Neptune nicely, they'd sign the forms with few questions asked.

But Kane was expecting him to do something different, something violent.

Kaiser could do violence, he leaned towards Sun. The spy's face was empty, devoid of life, a vague portrait of what was human. "In times like these, you really have to ask yourself…" even Kaiser's words were empty, lacking in the life that should be in the voice of a teenage boy.

Kaiser, whipping around with wide eyes, bellowed as loud as he could while pointing behind Kane. "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?"

Martin Kane, off of pure instinct, had turned around for a split second.

It was a split second too long as Kaiser geared his fist back, letting it fly. Between their short distances in each other, and Kane's trust in Kaiser, the older assassin never saw Kaiser's betrayal coming. He sure did sense it coming, as his body reacted instinctively to block. He started too late, the last thought he had before Kaiser's right fist smashed into Kane's jaw.

The quick pop of muscle and tissue colliding with each other rang in all the occupant's ears. Well… except for Martin Kane, who had been swiftly put to sleep, stumbling backwards onto one of Kaiser's beds.

"Holy shit." Kaiser mumbled under his breath.

"Hmmph?" A muffled question was asked by Sun.

"HOLY SHIT!" Kaiser may have been in shock, it was too hard to tell what Sun had asked as Kaiser was engrossed in his own thoughts. Several repercussions both physical and abstract were forming pros and cons lost in his head, with one thought to all of this.

Kaiser had knocked out Martin Kane.

Never in his life had he been able to lay a hand on the man, he only survived his encounter with Kane in the past using a combination of tricks and traps to slow the man down. Even then, he couldn't take Kane one on one, he had to cheat for that win. Which ended with the both of them having a harpoon shot right through their abdomens.

What worried Kaiser the most was that he had no way of knowing the consequences of his actions here. But then again, when had the consequences ever stopped him?

Kaiser picked up the knife, quickly getting to work to free Sun and Neptune.

"Ow!" Sun yelped as Kaiser tore the duct tape off of his mouth, a red rectangle glowing around Sun's lips. "Gods, I thought we were done for this time."

"I wouldn't let that happen." Kaiser offered, he relaxed a little seeing Sun's easy grin, even Neptune looked a little relieved.

"I wasn't gonna let him shut me up, somebody needs to tell your story." Sun flexed his hand which had been freed from the rope it had been tied in. "Or else you'll get screwed over while the rest of the school's hushed!"

Kaiser's face tensed, his voice remained soft. "It's safer to just play along with the NDA's, not worth the trouble to fight it." Kaiser gestured to Kane, still knocked out on his bed. "Believe it or not, but Ponytail over there was looking out for me, in his own twisted way."

Martin Kane didn't know Sun and Neptune, he didn't know if they would keep Kaiser's secrets, or post the entire story to social media. He pushed the papers on Kaiser's old roommate to prevent the boy from being burned.

"Why would he be helping you?" Sun was fully free now, he took the chance to sneak a glance at Kane.

"Sadly, he's the closest thing I have to a brother." Kaiser offered an unsure smile as he started to cut Neptune loose. "Take Neptune, and sign the papers, pass them back to me so I can take care of the rest." Kaiser paused for a second, his face relaxed, he faced Sun once more. "Thank you though, It means a lot that you would try to help me with my problems."

"It's cool, Kai." Sun slapped Kaiser in the arm, playfulness apparent as they both ripped the tape off of Neptune's mouth. "What are friends for, you know?"

Kaiser paused momentarily, before nodding briefly, his head hung low due to his discomfort. "Yeah."

The knife slid through the last binding, Neptune sprung up from his chair, quickly putting distance between him and the assassin. "Thank god, where'd you even meet this psycho?"

"He tried to kill me once." Kaiser pushed the chairs to the nearest wall, letting them rest there before facing Neptune. "We've had each other's backs ever since. How did he kidnap you guys?"

"He just came up to us and asked Sun and me to sign some papers while we were eating breakfast, told us it was to keep quiet about you." Neptune explained, he gestured as well to the unconscious assassin. "After we told him no, he managed to sneak up on us in the training facilities in the transfer dorms."

"You guys couldn't fight back?" Kaiser turned to both boys looking quite awkward, they were both huntsmen in training, and Kane had no aura.

"We didn't see him coming, he just sort of hit us hard and fast, then we ended up in your closet." Sun finished explaining, both boys already walking towards the door.

Kaiser was surprised, and even a little unnerved by Kane. To somehow get the drop on two aura empowered individuals, and take them out quickly and efficiently was no easy feat. "And then, this all happened. Listen, I know you weren't going to, but to make it easier on all of us, just sign the papers."

Neptune had taken the papers, handing one of the packets to Sun. "Thanks man, you're-" Neptune stuttered a bit, before flashing a reassuring smile. "You're a good friend."

While not outward, Kaiser did lighten up at that. For the majority of the semester, Kaiser had trouble making friends due to the revelations made in the cafeteria of his former employment. Neptune's first impression of Kaiser hadn't been the best, which was an understatement given all the gory details. But now, Kaiser felt like he was finally taking a step in the right direction.

Kaiser only nodded at Neptune, before rushing his friends out the door. "Go, I'll hold him off until you get the forms signed."

"You got it!"

With that, Kaiser shut the door, he closed his eyes.

He had to deal with Kane now, he'd certainly be pissed about the dirty trick that had been played on him. Kaiser's head began to throb, he'd only seen the man once since his stay in the infirmary room, that was a mess of even bigger proportions.

Maybe he was starting to regret making contact with the IPS again…

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Thursday 5:00 pm. Sabre tooth academy.

The gray gi slipped on Kaiser's shoulders, it smelled unpleasant, probably hadn't been washed since the last applicant quit.

The dim yellow lighting was slightly off putting, combined with the eerie quiet of the changing room put Kaiser on edge. That didn't matter though, not when he was getting paid to be here.

Kaiser had been out of the infirmary the day before, after which, he had attended classes, and decided that he should pick up a job. A decision fueled by his IPS stipend ending, and losing out on Beacon's work study program to a couple fellow classmates. The cost of dust only kept rising, and Kaiser needed a steady supply for his weapon.

He hit the streets just after class, walking past and inquiring about multiple "help wanted" signs. Unfortunately, those places required a resume, something that Kaiser found difficult to write. It wasn't as if he could put down Albert Ross as his reference.

Kaiser briefly contemplated being a street performer, his sleight of hand skills would make him a great street magician. Picking up a deck of cards from a local shop, he had managed to attract a crowd before being strong armed off the street by a group of much more experienced street magicians. Apparently there was a huge network of these guys, and he had infringed on claimed territory.

Finally, he had found a place, the Sabre tooth academy, a run down dojo at the edge of downtown Vale. It had multiple things going for it, the bus would get Kaiser here on time, and the job involved doing something that Kaiser was already experienced with. Most importantly, this place didn't care much for background checks, or even ask for any sort of certification.

That should have been a red flag, Kaiser couldn't exactly complain, he came with his own set of alarming traits.

Some time was spent changing in the locker room, Kaiser was unsure how to wear the gi with his cast in the way. He eventually settled with concealing his broken arm within the confines of his gi, it took longer to tie the belt around his waist with one hand.

Kaiser stepped out of the changing room, ready to face his biggest challenge yet.

"Get on the line, white belt!" The petulant voice of someone who quite hadn't yet hit puberty barked the order at Kaiser.

Kyle

Kaiser had only met the brown haired boy when he first entered the dojo, just a day over 13 years old, the kid had sneered at Kaiser when he asked about the help wanted sign. The owner of the place, Red Lawson, had inquired about Kaiser's experience. Kaiser had to be sparing with the details, letting enough information to let on that he would be the equivalent to a black belt.

Lawson disregarded this, however. He believed that anyone starting in his dojo, whether it be as a student, or an instructor, had to start as a white belt.

"Class hasn't started yet, Kyle." Kaiser deadpanned, he stepped up on the mat beside Kyle.

"I'm sorry." Kyle said in a mock apology, his snark could've given Kaiser's a run for his money. "But, do you see a white belt on me?"

"No." Kaiser stared straight ahead, not willing to give this child any reaction.

"Then I won't take any disrespect from a white belt." Kyle pulled on the orange belt wrapped around his waist.

"What's going on here?" A balding head popped out of the back office, a smear of mustard on his cheek.

"Forgive me, Sensei Lawson, we're just waiting for the first class of today." Kaiser explained, just wanting to mentally prepare for the class to start.

"Will you be joining us today, sensei?" Kyle asked hopefully, yet still maintaining a serious attitude.

"No, I think I have to nourish my fighting spirit. Don't worry about it, you can lead the class today." Lawson went back to his office, presumably to finish his lunch.

Kyle and Kaiser stood there for a couple seconds longer, before Kyle spoke up. "I lead classes everyday, which is why I make the big bucks."

Eight whole lien per hour compared to Kaiser's five, the gap in wages scaled probably due to their experience in Lawson's eyes.

Both boys were unaware that the minimum wage in Vale was fourteen lien per hour…

"Class." Kyle greeted as a stream of eight year olds came in each one wearing their own custom white gi, some of them with their belts loosely tied around their waists. "We have a new Sensei joining us today, half of the class will be joining him for today."

"Yes sir!" Most of the children excitedly yelled.

"All the white belts, go to the end of the mat, everybody else, with me." Kyle commanded, sending a group of eight year olds Kaiser's way.

Kaiser was unsure what to do, but he tried to act like he had, especially with five kids looking at him expectantly. "I guess we'll start with what to do when someone has you in a hold, can I have a volunteer?"

All of them raised their hands, Kaiser chose the least fragile looking one. Rowan was at least half a foot taller than his peers, stepped up excitedly.

"I have a question." One of the children raised their hand, catching Kaiser's attention.

"Shoot." A small splash of confusion ran across the student's faces, Kaiser had to elaborate. "Go ahead."

"Are you a ninja like Kyle?" The children huddled together in anticipation, their eyes shining with wonder.

"Not exactly…" Kaiser looked over at Kyle, the kid was doing an odd stance, nothing Kaiser had seen before.

Kyle encouraged one of his group to try to strike at him, to which one of his eight year olds obliged. Kyle grabbed at the kid's wrist, jerked it to the side, and watched as the student fell to the ground without resistance.

This whole place was a sham, which was why Kaiser had been hired with no real background check. Still, he needed the money, but he could at the very least show these kids a different way to defend themselves. He cast another glance to Kyle where he was seemingly teaching pressure point technique, something that wasn't actually viable in real combat.

They had a lot to unlearn.

Three hours had gone by, and Kaiser had found himself pleasantly surprised by how easily the next few classes picked up his teachings. Maybe it was their eagerness, or his own knowledge on combat, but Kaiser could see himself being here for a while if he couldn't find another job.

"So now that I blocked the strike to my side, what should I do?" Kaiser had been in charge of some thirteen year olds now, the younger students having already left after their classes were done. This was beneficial, Kaiser could afford to be a little rougher with the demonstrations.

"Counter to his chin, he left it exposed." One of the students offered.

"You got it." Kaiser mimed a punch on the student in front of him, going for the side of his torso. "You have to keep yourself guarded, even when throwing a punch. If you don't, you might get hit… with…" Kaiser trailed off, something had caught his attention.

Outside of the storefront window, someone had taped a flier to the glass. It was hot pink, to grab everyone's attention. If that didn't catch the students attention, then the second plastering of another flier surely did.

"Uhh, Sensei Lawson?" Kyle called out, causing a crash in the back room.

"Yes!" Sensei Lawson jogged into the training area, a little frazzled, evident by the sleeping mask barely hanging by his ears.

"We got a code red!" Kyle shouted, causing Lawson to jog out the door, flagging down the man who had stuck the fliers.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Lawson shoved the man into his building, the man putting his hands up.

"I was just doing a bit of advertising." That impish grin, that laid back voice, the mock ignorance. All these traits belonging to one Martin Kane, who decided to crash in on Kaiser's job.

"Kane…" Kaiser questioned under his breath, to which Kyle had turned to him.

"You know this guy, White Belt?" Kyle loudly exclaimed, as if trying to garner everyone's attention.

The only person who had paid attention was Martin Kane, who's eyes zeroed in on Kaiser's midsection.

His gaze quickly switching to the higher ranked belt on Kyle's midsection, eyes flitting between the two before letting out a rambunctious laugh. "Oh shit, Kai, you train here?!"

"I work here!" Kaiser defended.

"Somehow that's even worse!" Kane started snickering, this went on for a good 15 seconds. It would have lasted longer, but Lawson had enough.

"You can't go around poaching students!" Lawson shouted, which caught Kaiser's interest.

"You're starting a dojo?" Kaiser questioned, confused on how Kane would throw away a promising career in a mercenary group disguised as a private security firm. Giving it a second thought, Kaiser realized this would be exactly what Kane would do, the older assassin prone to follow his own every whim.

"Not exactly, just helping an old friend." Kane took out a flier different from the stack he had been posting up earlier. "Got one for you."

Kaiser looked at the flier, it had a picture of an even older man. One that, not too long ago, Kaiser had stopped from killing Kane.

Defend yourself, learn discipline, apply today!

"Evon Argent should be rotting in a black site." Kaiser stared at the paper, the schedule for the afternoon classes crossed out, instead a different time and messaged straight at the boy.

For the imbroglione, 9:30-11:00pm

Kaiser didn't bother trying to translate the likely insult that Argent had written down. "There's no way he'd be free to buy groceries, let alone lease out a place for his own dojo." Kaiser showed the paper to Kane, pointing to the grandmaster assassin posing in a fighting stance on the paper. "Also, how the hell is he out of a cast? I broke his arm."

"This is Vale, Kaiser, anyone can cut a deal. He just traded some info, and ol' Ross hooked him up with a new name and documentation." Kane shuffled closer to Kaiser, blatantly ignoring Lawson who was impatiently waiting as the spy and assassin talked discreetly. "Argent had a couple Go-bags stuffed with cash and other supplies stashed around Vale, he used those funds to set up his own place. And the arm, well, he's a tough bastard, took off the cast as soon as his arm started to set in."

"Ross couldn't afford to do that for me?" Kaiser rolled his eyes.

"Argent had something to leverage, you just up and left before even considering that there might be a severance package." Kane, pointed at the pen writing on the paper. "Argent told me to give you this one, says your skill is lacking and needs remedial training."

"So is that the guy who's trying to poach my students?" Lawson finally butt into the conversation, pushing himself between both spy and assassin.

Kane lightly shoved Lawson back, using light force with one arm. "Chill man, I'm just the marketing department. So I have a right to keep posting these fliers, unless…"

"Unless what?"

"You know… you somehow prove that your dojo is worth going to." Kane mumbled under his breath, baiting Lawson into listening more intently.

"Are you issuing a challenge?" Lawson questioned with suspicion, his eyebrow raised at the assassin.

"I'm not the one saying it, but if you insist." Kane draped his arm around Lawson's shoulder, swinging him around to face his class. "I mean, who would want to deprive these young warriors of seeing your teachings in action?"

A beat passed, then two.

"Kyle?"

"Yes, sensei?"

"Get the waivers."

"Yes, sensei!" Kyle went off to the office in the back.

"Students, stand at the back wall." Lawson instructed his students to stand around the mats, each one following orders.

"Kai, I'll take the teacher, you take the kid." Kane gestured towards Kyle, papers in hand. He took the papers and began scribbling on them with a pen.

"I'm not going to fight a child!" Kaiser was starting to regret applying here.

"Why?" Kyle handed the waiver off to Lawson. "Scared you'll lose, white boy?"

"We're both white!" Kaiser was dumbfounded by the kid's brazenness, despite this, he wasn't going to beat a tween.

"If we're all done here, I'd like to get started so I can get back to my class." Lawson stated, leaving just about everyone in the building confused, he hadn't actually taught anything for the last couple of hours.

"Bet I can teach you a thing or two." Kane stepped onto the mat, something which caused the class as well as Kyle to gasp. Kane was unphased, only looking at Lawson.

"Shoes off the mat." Lawson pointed towards a paper sign at the entrance that dictated the same thing, word for word.

"I'm good, I'll only be a few seconds." Kane nonchalantly started to stretch, lean muscle rippling under his shirt.

Kaiser recognized this immediately, admittedly, Kane had used weaponized incompetence to aggravate Kaiser. But unlike Kaiser, Lawson didn't know that he'd be more likely to make a mistake in combat.

The two settled across from each other, Lawson raising his hands up in an inaccurate imitation of a fight stance. Kane didn't bother taking one at all, Kaiser would've called it arrogant if he didn't know that Kane had the skills to back it up.

"I'll let you make the first move." Kane stretched one more time before keeping his hands low. "Your house, your rules."

As Kane had said, he waited for Lawson to make the first move. It was a simple straight punch, one that Kane had easily swatted away with his left hand.

"You got to do better than that." Kane smirked at the instructor, watching for the next move.

Lawson tried for a grab, only for Kane to punch at Lawson's arm, heavily discouraging the grab. He added a quick punch to Lawson's chest, pushing the teacher back a couple feet and further frustrating him."

"You're starting to bore me, it's like you don't even want to try." Kane used one gesture to the students. "They're all staring at you, why not give them a show? Come at me with everything, like you want to kill me!"

The bait had been more than enough, causing Lawson to charge forth. All this had been to set up Kane's victory, the assassin grabbing at the lapels of Lawson's gi.

In a movement so swift that even Kaiser had trouble nailing down the exact move performed, Lawson had been thrown out of bounds of the mat. The absent instructor crashing against the plaster wall, cracks starting to line up around the pressured drywall.

"Well, I'm fairly sure ring-out counts as a win." Kane looked to Kaiser for confirmation, to which the boy only shrugged.

Kyle rushed to Lawson's side, his loyalty to the man who had mentored him never wavering.

Kaiser also rushed to his side, he was the only guy who would hire the boy.

"Are you alright, sensei?" Kyle helped Lawson sit upright, nudging him to side to prevent more drywall breakage.

Lawson looked straight ahead, watching as a good majority of the kids from his class rushed to the stranger in the room. Each one picking up a flier for the up and coming dojo that had just proven itself.

"Need help getting up?" Kaiser offered a hand, to which Lawson ignored.

"Get out." It was said under Lawson's breath.

"What's up?" Kaiser didn't quite hear him.

"GET OUT!" Dots connected to each other quickly, synapses in Lawson's brain firing. This kid showed up to apply, then the day after, the stranger stormed his dojo. There was also the fact that they both knew each other, they were in cahoots.

Kaiser blanked, his first real job outside of school and espionage, and he'd been fired. He steeled himself, he should maintain his dignity, it was one of the only things he had left.

"Hey!" Lawson called out to him, his hand digging into his pocket.

Kaiser tensed up, resisting the urge to run or fight, in the unlikely chance that he was bringing out a weapon. Instead, Kaiser watched as Lawson brought a fistful of lien, and proceeded to throw the lien chips on the floor.

"There's your pay, now get out of my dojo!" Lawson commanded.

Kaiser remained silent, he felt the humiliation as he went to pick up lien chips. Aside from school supplies, he needed to build up a fund for after he graduated, his lack of a support system leading him to swallow his pride and pick up the money.

"Let's go." Kaiser walked past Kane, who was almost out of fliers at this point.

Kaiser stepped out onto the street, the cool night air much more refreshing than the stale air conditioning of the dojo, he sighed and began the trek back to Beacon.

"Wait up!" Kane came running after him, he slowed down to a crawl when he caught up to Kaiser. "Don't disappear on me like that, I wanted to catch up, when did you get out of the infirmary?"

"Two days ago, I went looking for a job after that." Kaiser stopped at an intersection, pressing the button to urge the cross light to indicate safe passage. "You already saw how that turned out."

"Where are you going now?" Kane gently redirected Kaiser down the sidewalk, the spy allowing this just because it seemed the light wouldn't change.

"Back to my dorm, I'm going to go job searching again tomorrow." He felt a hand placed on his shoulder.

"No you're not." Kane simply replied.

"I'm not?" Kane questioned in an empty way, the same way he did to people he was trying to threaten.

"You see we've been given the rare opportunity, we're going to bust some heads." Kane dug into his pockets, fetching yet another piece of paper, this one blank, except for the names listed down on it. "Well, I am, at least."

"I'm not gonna do wet work for you." Kaiser said sternly, crossing his arms as he did so.

"These aren't names of people, see?" Kane shoved the paper closer.

Dip-mank dojo

Monkey style martial arts

Sabre tooth academy

Lightning legs dojo

They were names of other dojos here in Vale, some of them had rejected Kaiser as well. A multitude of other names were also on the paper, some of them crossed out.

"So what are you planning to do?" Kaiser asked.

"I reckon there's like 30 minutes until the last class for most dojos to end." Kane fished car keys out of his pocket, unlocking his car at a paid meter spot. "What we're going to do is drive to as many as we can and post up fliers."

"Is it going to end the same way as with Lawson?"

Kaiser took the passenger seat, watching as Kane ran around the red sports car to his driver's seat.

"Probably." Kane inserted the key, the engine roaring to life. The assassin turned to the boy with a smile. "So, you want to see how many fights I can instigate, or would you rather I dropped you off at the bullhead station?"

Kaiser thought about this for a second, it was nearing nine pm, most people would be already preparing to go to sleep. He couldn't even spend time with Yang either because she was probably too busy blitzing through homework assignments that were assigned at the start of the week. And Martin Kane was right here, offering to just hang out together, he wasn't getting sleep tonight so he might as well.

"Alright." Kaiser nodded, he settled his head on the headrest, closing his eyes as Kane pulled out of the parking spot.

/-/

Kane had ended up fighting a couple more instructors that day, some who actually knew what they were doing. In some instances, Kaiser even ended up taking a few shots when Kane dodged the wrong way. He still didn't know how they did so much damage to local businesses in half an hour, but it was a lot more unpaid work that Kaiser hadn't really liked.

All in all, not a good day.

"What happened to your window?" Kane murmured.

The assassin's voice snapped Kaiser out of his thoughts, rearing back to look at Kane, who was still laid out on Kaiser's bed, his head angled towards the curtains billowing into the room. A strong gust of wind must have blown it, revealing the jagged edges of his broken window frame.

Kaiser didn't miss a beat, he locked the door behind him. "Your sniper from the Phantom unit, he took a shot at me while I was doing maintenance on my gear."

Kane sat up, a shit-eating grin on his face. "That's not what he told me during the debriefing." With a quick bounce, he was on his feet again. "He told me he had a clean view since the window was already broken, which means that you must've broken your own window before then."

Kaiser stayed silent.

"You must've thrown a rager here." Kane's lip quirked upwards for an instant, an accusatory glare at the boy. "If you were the type to do that, we both know that you're not. So what happened, Kaiser?"

It was weird and unnerving how on some level, beneath his cocksure attitude, Kane really did try to make an effort to connect with Kaiser. They had been through much of the same experiences, death seemed to loom over them more than the average person. They'd even been on numerous assignments together, it was hard not to bond. Which was why despite all of the assassin's antics, Kaiser would not hesitate in calling Kane his brother-in-arms.

"One of Capricorn's, I heard noises outside my window the day after, thought it was the rest of the guy's team coming in to finish me off." Kaiser ambled over to the window, sliding the curtains to cover the window frame. "It was paranoia, I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions." Kaiser left out the part where he had also jumped out the window, best it was left unsaid.

"It's not really paranoia if people are actually trying to put you six feet under." Kane immediately pulled the curtains open, much to the detriment of the boy. "When I got like that, I just dove head first into some work. I don't really think you have the same option."

"You'd be surprised." A humorless chuckle left the boy, a sigh betrayed his good humor. "The moment I step out to Vale, trouble seems to always find me."

"The smartest thing you could do would be to hole yourself up in your dorm until graduation then." Kane took pictures of the shattered window, lining up a full shot on his scroll. "But, when have you ever done the smart thing?"

"Clearly not ever, seeing as I'm going to be spending the day doing more of Ross' dirty work with you." Kaiser tilted his head, watching as Kane recorded the damage. "What are you doing?"

"Just taking measurements, we can stop by the hardware store on the way back after this job. You know, kill two birds with one stone." Kane grabbed a pencil, made a couple marks to keep track. "I worked a couple odd jobs in mantle before getting scouted by Zodiac, I fixed a lot of windows before Scorpio had me taking shots through them."

"Thanks, I was starting to get tired of the breeze." Kaiser grabbed his coat from the closet, sliding his hands through the sleeves.

"Don't worry about it, I'll send a claim to Ross saying that the sniper I sent was responsible for damages. There's no way the old man wants beef with a huntsman academy, so he'll probably pay for it." Kane covered the window with the curtain once more. "I'll pocket the labor cost and anything that's left."

Kaiser rolled his eyes, "Here I thought you were doing this out of the kindness of your heart."

Kane grinned in response, he pushed the door open and led the way as Kaiser followed into the hallway. "Hey, the fact that I haven't tried to kill you again is out of the kindness of my heart."

"Sure, just let me know when you're not feeling so charitable." Kaiser took a deep breath, steeling himself for what he needed to ask. "What does Ross need us to do?"

"Nothing much, some of Ross' guys just got done with an op down in Vale, we have to clear some evidence they left behind." Kane put up finger quotations when he said the word "clear", it could've meant a number of things.

"So where are we headed?"

"You know about Part Picker auto salvage?" Kane waited for Kaiser to confirm whether he knew about the junkyard or not.

"The one by the docks?" Kaiser asked.

"Yeah, we gotta find some of the cars tied to the covers of Ross' agents." Kane pulled up a couple pictures on his scroll, and a list of three beat up looking cars was shown. "Once we find them, we wipe any DNA and any personal items, then we can just take a crowbar or something and wreck it. Think of it as stress relief, to help you unwind after all the school work."

"Sure, because what I want is to do after a pile of homework is crush cars." Kaiser rolled his eyes, crossing his arms as the two approached the staircase at the end of the hallway.

"I'm free if he doesn't want to!" A voice cut through their conversation.

Both assassin and spy turned around, facing the new voice, only to see nobody.

Kaiser and Kane shared a look, their eyes scanning opposite sides of the hallway.

"You should watch your back!" The voice teased, this time, it was pinpointed easily.

Kaiser moved to charge at the eavesdropper, only to stop when he recognized the person.

"Who are you, exactly?" Kane asked, taking in the orange hair, small stature, and pastel outfit.

"I'm-"

"NORA!" Ren exclaimed as he came jogging up the stairs, he slowed to a stop as he caught sight of Kaiser and an older man he didn't recognize. "Sorry, I'm trying to get her to do her homework."

"But that chapter isn't due until next Friday! Plus, Kaiser's going to smash some cars…" At this, Nora looked a little bashful. "I thought maybe I could come with?"

Kaiser didn't even think of this, there was nothing to contemplate. Still, Nora was a friend, so he'd have to let her down gently. "I don't know, Nora, I think it might be best if-"

"Sure, as long as you bring some of that huntsman grade dust." Kane clapped a hand on Kaiser's shoulder, signaling his intrusion in the conversation. "I've always wanted to see it up close, you know, civvies aren't allowed to use dust."

Nora brightened, and pumped her fists. "Yeah, you got it!" She then turned to Ren, a pleading look in her eyes. "Can I, Ren?"

Ren gave up with a sigh. "I suppose it's ok, I'd like to join to keep an eye on her, if that's alright?"

Kane only smiled, moving Kaiser to the side to let Nora and Ren pass by them. "Sure, the more the merrier!"

Nora led the way to the bullhead station, soon enough, the four were walking into one of the airships.

Kaiser lagged a couple steps behind, forcing Kane to match his pace. He lowered his voice when he spoke to the assassin, only they could hear each other. "Is this really a good idea? We can't exactly have witnesses to us destroying evidence."

Kane waved him off. "I'm sure it's fine, we'll just remove the license plates before we start. Plus, I want to learn about the friends you made here."

"You mean besides the one you kidnapped and threatened?"

"Exactly." Kane shrugged, he checked to see that Bora and Ren were still chatting a couple feet in front of them. "I have to make a good impression with these two."

"So, you must've known Kaiser for a really long time." Ren turned to the two operatives whispering amongst themselves.

"Yeah." Kane smiled warmly, no attitude, he gestured to Kaiser. "I've known Kai since he was thirteen."

"Fifteen." Kaiser corrected.

"Twelve." Kane countered, only to annoy Kaiser. He watched as Nora began to get excited.

"Anything embarrassing you can tell us about Kaiser?" Nora ignored the raised eyebrow that said boy had aimed at her. "He always acts moody and tough, Yang says it makes him look hot, but I think he's just copying my Ren and trying too hard."

Kane shot a glance at Kaiser, a knowing look in his eye. "Is Yang the girl from the infirmary?"

Kaiser didn't respond, he wouldn't give Kane the satisfaction, he didn't need to. Involuntarily, his face reddened slightly, and he turned his head to look out the airship window.

Kane clapped both hands together, getting Ren and Nora's attention.

"I can't exactly give you details, but looking after Kaiser was a huge pain." He pointed to Kaiser, who continued to ignore him. "It was like trying to keep an eye on a kid who kept swallowing batteries as soon as you turned around…"

Kaiser closed his eyes as Kane continued to step around specifics of how Kaiser had grown from a dysfunctionally moody teen to a slightly older dysfunctionally moody teen.

He wouldn't admit that the novelty of having friends around had made him forget for even just a moment, the pain he'd been feeling all day from his broken arm.

/-/

Bit of a lighthearted chapter this time around, good to have a nice time before we start getting serious. I really hope to get the next chapter out as soon as possible.

Reviews are always welcome, and appreciated.