Note:

I have my stupid awards ceremony and speech coming up again soon (3rd October) and need to take a week off around it to prepare. I really thought the business would be closed before getting to it, but it appears not ffs.

As such, there will be no updates from Monday 30th Sept to Sunday 6th October. Both to let me get some prep down before, and to have a chance to unwind after it's over. Thankfully this is the last time I'll ever have to do it.

Cover Art: Aristeo Storm

Chapter 49

Summer hated how embarrassed she felt come the morning. Arriving at breakfast to see the two actual members of her team having slept with another was a blow; it was doubly bad since she knew it was her and Willow who caused it. The blame was shared there but Willow was also younger than them, which ended up making Summer the immature one for arguing so much with her.

But at least there was some common cause had between this morning as she and Willow fixed Raven with deadly glares and poor Gretchen sat as far away from Taiyang as was humanly possible.

Raven could be such a bitch sometimes!

Case in point, failing to notice the mood in any way whatsoever. Raven kept eating and chatting about combat class without even noticing everyone waiting for her to apologise. And, of course, there was no way she would, if she even figured out what she was meant to be apologising for in the first place.

Naturally, it didn't happen.

Giving up on that with a quiet apology to Gretchen, Summer found her eyes straying to her own crush. Qrow was also annoyed with Raven; he was perceptive enough to know what was wrong with his partner, but not enough to notice Summer's feelings. That or he was blanking them as an unsubtle way of rejecting her.

Summer feared that more and more of late. He wasn't blind to Willow's attraction to him and regularly acted awkward and embarrassed when she flirted with him. The same from Summer, however, just got laughter and some teasing back, but only ever in a friendly manner. If it wasn't for Raven assuring her that Qrow had no idea she liked him, Summer would have thought he was friend zoning her. In fact, it was happening to such an incredible degree that it made her too afraid to come out and tell him her feelings.

If I confess now and he tells me he only wants to be friends, I have to spend the better part of four years putting up with that – and putting up with him dating Willow, too. I've got time. Maybe that's all it'll take. Time and effort. I wish grandma was still alive to give me some advice.

Or any female figure she could trust to actually have any, as opposed to her idiot friend. The only adult Summer had any real connection to was Ozpin, and he was… well… not someone she felt comfortable talking to about this.

At least Qrow wasn't encouraging Willow either, so it wasn't like she was losing.

And Willow. Ugh! Summer liked to think she could have put up with someone liking the same guy she did, but Willow was determined to push her buttons – every single one of them and all at once. The constant verbal spars, the constant sniping, the talking back orders. Life would have been so much easier if Qrow had been her partner as they'd planned it.

Stupid Beacon, stupid Willow, stupid Raven, stupid Qrow and stupid her!

"Apparently, we have a field trip coming up soon!" Qrow's team leader, Peter Port, spoke loudly, as he often did. "I, for one, am looking forward to a chance to show the Grimm what I am made of! Ha! Ha!"

A few tables around them glared his way but the boy didn't notice or did a great job pretending so. Summer wasn't sure what she thought of him. He'd never said or done anything bad to her, so that put him ahead of a lot of people. By all accounts, he was friendly and chatty. But the volume. Even she had to admit it was grating, though she put up with it for the sake of unity. Qrow had told her he wasn't like it in their dorm, and she believed him. Theirs was close enough that they would have heard if he was. Summer just wished he could be "not like it" in public as well.

"Where'd you hear it from?" asked his partner, Nessa Peach. "Someone from the upper years? Do you have friends there?"

"Not as such. I overheard it in the men's changing rooms. One of our classmates has an older brother in Beacon."

Summer wasn't sure what to think about Nessa. The girl had no designs on Qrow, which meant she would never be a rival, but that was only because she'd seen how much of a mess Qrow's love life could be and wisely stepped out of it. That, and she'd also had a pretty bad first impression of Qrow because of the team drama. That might have nixed any chance of romantic interest in the bud – first impressions were important, no matter how annoying that could be.

The girl was nice enough, but kind of distant. Oh, she talked, and she involved herself in the conversation, but it was always out of politeness. Nessa didn't seem to care much for the members of Team SWRT. It wasn't that she disliked them, but more an ambivalence – a group she put up with because one of her teammates forced her to. Summer got the impression she'd have been more than happy with just her team.

And given that their own had been a pain in the butt lately, Summer couldn't blame her. It probably wasn't fun to have two members of another team ask to crash at yours because their dorm had turned into a warzone.

Ugh. Damn it.

Summer touched Willow's knee under the table. "We need to talk," she whispered. "After breakfast."

Willow rolled her eyes but didn't say no.

There was a ten-minute interval between breakfast and class for students to reach it. Ten minutes may have felt like a lot but Beacon was a big place, and corridors could conceivably be closed off for repairs, not to mention some years would have combat class first thing and so need to get changed. Summer personally envied those who had it last in the day since they wouldn't have to change back into the school uniform while sweaty and wet from the showers.

"You guys go ahead," she told the others. "Willow and I forgot something in our dorm."

Raven eyed the two of them. "Gonna fight to the death already?"

Summer blushed bright red. "Go!" she hissed. "Let us talk!" Raven rolled her eyes and ushered the others out, leaving Summer to sigh. "Ugh. She can be such a bitch sometimes."

Willow crossed her arms. "She isn't the only one."

"Can we not start like this already? Look. We're causing our team problems. We need to stop arguing so much."

"You act like I'm the reason for them all."

"That's because—" Summer cut herself off from finishing that, "—because it takes two to tango," she amended, and going from Willow's raised eyebrow she knew exactly what Summer had wanted to say. "It's the both of us, but that doesn't mean you're not a part of the problem."

"Fine. Go on."

Summer sighed. "Look, we both know this is about Qrow—"

"Is it?" Willow sniped. Her eyes seemed even colder than before. "Because that's not how it feels from where I'm standing. We both like Qrow, but if you think that's the only reason we're fighting then you're an idiot."

"Does every other word out your mouth have to be an insult?"

"When the person standing across from me deserves it, yes. I like Qrow. You like Qrow. He isn't interested in either of us." It stung a little to have it laid out so flatly. "But then he isn't interested in romance at all as I see it. With that in mind, there's little reason for us to argue over him."

"Then why are we?"

"We're not!" Willow hissed, leaning in. "Or at least I'm not. Maybe you are, you jealous freak, but my issues are with you personally."

Summer felt blood boil under her skin, both in anger and embarrassment. "Why? What have I ever done to you?"

"Ignorant as well, is it? Fine. How about attacking me from day one because I ended up on your team, hm? You've made it clear at least a hundred times how it was supposed to be Qrow in my spot."

"It was!"

"That." Willow pointed at her and scowled. "How is that supposed to make me feel? Am I supposed to feel sorry? Am I supposed to apologise to you for being lumped with you when I didn't want you either?"

"I… I don't know…"

"Then maybe you know how it does make me feel. Tell me, oh glorious team leader, how would you feel if someone on a team you have to spend the next four years of your life with kept telling you that you weren't welcome."

"That's already how I feel! You already treat me like that!"

"As if." Willow rolled her eyes. "I talk back, and I tell you when you're being unreasonable, but I've never once said you don't deserve to be on the team. I haven't tried to push you out. You wanted me to trade places with Qrow."

Summer winced. Technically, she'd never come out and said that, but it wasn't hard for Willow to guess. It was obviously her dream, though it hadn't ever been her plan. "I… well… I never said that, though."

"Tch. As if you needed to. It's been obvious from the start that I'm the outsider in your eyes. You shouldn't be surprised when someone you treat like an unwelcome intruder starts to push back against you."

Had she really acted like this…? Summer wasn't sure. Surely, if she had, Raven would have said or done something… Except that Raven was an idiot at times, and probably wouldn't have even noticed. Or cared. And Taiyang, for all that he was a good guy, was always a little averse to sticking his neck out, or his head into Summer and Willow's arguments. He was a good guy, but he didn't like to rock the boat. Guilt welled up ugly and uncomfortable in Summer's gut.

"Well we need to stop fighting so much," she mumbled, not willing to address it yet. Not before she could decide if Willow was telling the truth or just trying to make her feel bad. "I can stop acting like that if you'll stop second-guessing every little thing I say."

Willow crossed her arms. "So, I'm to blindly accept your orders and in return I get the barest decency of you not trying to force me off a team I had no hand in forcing myself onto in the first place? Oh yes, that sounds fair."

Put like that, it really didn't.

"But fine," she continued. "I'll accept and keep my mouth shut around my glorious leader. Anything to keep the harmony of the team and prevent you from looking bad in front of your crush."

Her piece said, Willow walked away, leaving Summer less certain and even more unhappy than when they'd been fighting. Her earliest times in Signal had seen her as the victim of unreasonable bullies, back before Raven outright adopted her into their little crew.

Had she become like them…?

/-/

It was good to see Summer and Willow getting along.

Qrow had known they'd sort it out eventually, the two of them being more than mature enough to accomplish what their future daughters would. It didn't look like they were as close friends yet, but that'd come in time. He'd started to wonder if he should get involved but it looked like that wasn't necessary.

That was fortunate, too, because he had the mysterious training with his new friends tonight. Qrow had checked the coordinates ahead of time to get a feel for the area if it came to a fight. He doubted it would, but better safe than sorry. It was an area of the forest significantly closer to Vale than Beacon, barely a stone's throw from the city itself. If they tried anything, he'd have an easy escape route.

"They're angry at you, you know," he whispered to Raven. Taiyang was close enough to overhear but didn't intervene. He wasn't stupid.

Raven was. "Who is?"

"Summer, Willow, Gretchen."

Her eyes crossed. "About what…?"

Taiyang chose that moment to walk a little faster and escape them, the better to not hear Gretchen's feelings repeated. She was already at the back of the pack being kept distracted by Nessa and Peter.

"You can't just talk about someone's feelings, Ray. You really hurt Gretchen by having that said in front of her crush. It was embarrassing for her, especially since everyone knew Taiyang wouldn't return them."

"Yeah, but isn't it better to get them out?" Raven, his poor sister, looked more confused than guilty. And even a little upset to be called out. It was a reminder that she didn't do it maliciously. "Gretchen was never going to tell him, and if he didn't reject her then she'd be pining after him for years. Better to get it out and get rejected. Now, she can move on."

There was a certain brutalist simplicity to Raven's philosophy. A part of Qrow appreciated it, but he wasn't the victim of it in this case. "Gretchen didn't enjoy it. It really hurt her – and it's still hurting her."

Raven scowled angrily. "I didn't mean it to."

"I know." Qrow placed an arm around her shoulder. "I know you didn't. Still, you should apologise to her later. Do it in front of Summer and Willow and they'll get off your back."

"Tch. Fine. Maybe I should stop trying to help, then. All this romance stuff is bullshit anyway."

"It is," he agreed. "But it's part of growing up. You'll develop an interest in someone eventually. If you haven't already." Raven glared at him for that, knowing full well who he was referring to.

"Does that mean I shouldn't say who likes you, then?"

"You shouldn't," he said. "Even though I know Willow likes me, saying it out loud puts her on the spot. It all but forces her to confess and me to answer, and we both know that answer would hurt her. Better you ignore it and stay silent."

Raven considered it, her eyes sliding back to Summer and Willow as they caught up with the group. Even if she wasn't a friendly person, Raven didn't like hurting people – at least not when it wasn't a spar. She could be harsh, she could be cold, but she was always honest. Her problem was that she never realised the consequences of her words until they were said.

"Fine," she whispered. "I'll leave them to it."

Them…? Oh, she must have meant Gretchen as well as Willow. Qrow nodded, flashing her a smile. "That's probably for the best. I know you were just trying to help in your own way, but emotions can be delicate."

"Yeah. Fuck 'em. I'm sick of trying to sort that shit out." The walls came back up, not necessarily keeping him or others out, but to keep her from feeling she should poke around and help. "They can sort their own shit out. I'll just focus on getting stronger. Speaking of, what happened to our nightly spars?"

"Ah." Qrow winced. "I kind of have something on…"

"What? You've been going out a lot lately. Don't tell me you're drinking again."

"Not this time, no. And I don't have a secret girlfriend either." He couldn't think of a good excuse for what he was doing. "I've just been working on something," he fudged. Raven's eyes narrowed. "Nothing like that. Look, I'll tell you about it later."

"What are you getting up to?"

"Nothing much. And I invited you out to Mountain Glenn last weekend, didn't I?"

Raven rolled her eyes. "That's boring."

"This is boring as well," he lied. "But how about we have a good spar this afternoon after classes and before I have to go?"

"As long as you don't take it easy on me."

/-/

Three spars in one day was tough on the body.

First, there had been combat class where Ozpin had set him up against one of the lesser-performing students in their year and let him sandbag. While Oz wasn't happy with him sandbagging, it was at least useful for letting those struggling get a more even fight. It also forgave him in the eyes of his teammates and friends because Qrow could just say he didn't want to embarrass the guy.

Then, after, he sparred with Raven – a much heavier and more serious one that seemed to make her happy specifically because of how differently he fought against her compared to the one in class. It fed the notion in her mind that he didn't have to hold back with her.

Which wasn't true but wasn't too far off. If he went 50% against the guy in class, he went 90% against Raven – which was an accomplishment for her given she was twenty years younger than him.

Then there was Roman in the evening, before his scheduled meeting with the League of Extraordinary Vincents. Roman was a chance for him to let loose and give his all, not because Roman was that good (he clearly wasn't to be getting these sessions) but because he could take more of a beating. It was a chance for Qrow to push this young body to its limits and break past them.

Ozpin seemed pleased with the progress there, and Torchwick did as well. He hadn't beaten any of his classmates yet, but Ozpin mentioned that he'd started lasting just a little longer. It wasn't a lack of skill holding Roman back so much as a lack of opportunities to practice being on the offensive. Qrow gave him that.

Once that was all said and done, however, he felt more than a little exhausted, and still had to head out into the Emerald Forest for more training. Qrow groaned as he did, wondering if he wasn't pushing this body just a little too hard. He knew, as a teacher, the importance of getting proper rest between exercise. It was something he taught year after year, and year after year he'd have to deal with injured students who thought they knew better,

Broken bones, muscle strains, torn ligaments, he wasn't immune to any of those, and balancing too many plates like this was bound to cause problems sooner or later. The only issue was deciding which plates to put down.

Because Mountain Glenn was much too important an issue to set aside, and he also didn't want to push anything Ozpin-related aside, since the sooner he worked his way back into Oz's service, the better. If nothing else because Ozpin might give him back his bird powers.

Can't drop Mountain Glenn, can't drop Ozpin, definitely can't drop Raven… but damn it all if this pace isn't kicking my ass.

No one batted an eye out the lone student heading into the forest. Almost everyone did a little training on their own in the same way. Some even roamed as far as he did, though those ones were typically heading into Vale for some fun and didn't want to be seen taking the Bullheads. There were plenty of reasons for such ranging from avoiding scrutiny from teachers to meeting someone for an illicit hookup. Not every student dated within Beacon, and plenty had boyfriends or girlfriends within the city.

Qrow didn't fancy that himself and hadn't when he was older either. Call it cynical but he couldn't see a huntsman and a civilian working out so well. Some obviously made it work, but his work for Ozpin took him far and wide. He'd be a poor boyfriend, a worse husband and a failure of a father – but only because he had to help Ozpin save the world. If Salem were gone, well, maybe he could settle down then and take a leaf from Taiyang's book.

Wouldn't it be something if Ruby and Yang could grow up with some cousins? The thought alone had him chuckling. He let it die off as he reached the area he was meant to wait at. There was no one there, but then he expected these mysterious guys to make for a dramatic entrance so that wasn't a big surprise.

What he didn't expect was for a clearly ruffled and hurried man in black and grey with a black face-plate mask to come staggering into the clearing clutching his chest. "My apologies!" he gasped. "I was running late!"

Well, that was new.

"Are you my new teacher?" asked Qrow, cocking his head to the side. "I was expecting someone a little older."

"I can assure you I've been trained from a young age in subterfuge!"

Subterfuge, huh? Curious little slip. Qrow eyed the man as he caught his breath. The gangly build suggested someone close to his own age, as did the hurried entrance. Sure, the guy could have just been running late but there might also have been a reason for it. With the late hour, he could have just gotten off work but, tellingly, the man had come in from the east – roughly the same direction Qrow had come from. If he'd been running here from Vale, he should have come from that direction.

A student, perhaps? Huh. This is getting even more curious now. Some secret organisation operating right under Ozpin's nose and he didn't know about it. Or maybe he did and didn't see fit to tell me.

"So," Qrow said. "What should I call you? Not Vincent. I refuse."

"You may refer to me as Owl. It's a temporary name." Owl certainly looked his namesake with the big, oval face-covering helmet of his. "I've been assigned to teach you how to break into and scout a facility without being caught."

"For Mountain Glenn, right?"

Owl's head shot up. "Mountain Glenn?"

"You didn't know?"

"Uh. No. And you shouldn't have told me. I'm not authorised to know the details of your mission." There was a long pause. "But what's happening at Mountain Glenn?"

"Didn't you just say I'm not allowed to tell you?"

"Technically, I said I'm not to be told by my superiors. You're not a part of our organisation and are therefore not held to any of our rules."

"Cute," Qrow said, snorting. "How about a trade, then. You tell me the name of said org and I'll tell you what I'm doing in Mountain Glenn."

Owl shook his head. "That's too far. I couldn't do that. Let's ignore it and get onto training; I can make my own theories as to the mission. Our goal today is to teach you the basics of infiltrating a building and then see you outfitted and trained in how to use some of our equipment, which will be loaned to you for your mission."

Loaned. Sure. Good luck them getting it off him if it proved useful.

"Sounds good to me. How do we start?"

"We're going to be practicing on the job by breaking into a currently existing building in the city." That explained the meeting place being so close. "But to do that we'll need to break into the city itself by getting through the walls."

"And if we're caught?"

Owl shrugged. "We can run back into the Emerald Forest. No one will chase us and the only thing that will happen is a police report about some masked people trying to sneak in. Speaking of…"

Moving past Qrow, the man stooped and reached for the base of a tree. Qrow had scouted the area but couldn't quite hide his shock as the entire bottom of the tree opened up like a cabinet. Out of it came a pair of briefcases. Qrow was quick to hide his expression before the guy turned back.

"A spare uniform for you." He opened it up. "Grey and dark blue blends more into darkness than black does. It's designed to minimise hard edges with subtle blurring in the weave to make it hard to focus on."

"Stealth camo?"

Owl hissed. "Kind of. This won't protect you from anyone looking straight at you. At best, it'll make you slightly harder to see at a medium distance in the dark, assuming you're not backdropped against a different colour. You shouldn't expect it to cover for bad decisions on your part. The helmet, on the other hand—" He tossed it to Qrow, who caught it. "—will do a better job of that. Seen or not, no one will know it's you if you can escape in one piece."

"It looks like a black fishbowl."

"It's not so uncomfortable to wear. It'll filter out gas, comes with communication technology, and it's soundproofed so no one will hear what you say." He tapped his own helmet under the ear, showing a small button. "This is if you want to speak to someone and be heard like I am now. Press once to open communications and again to close."

Qrow couldn't say he liked the look of the thing. Helmets and armour had been out of fashion among huntsmen for a couple of centuries now, other than as fashion statements. Aura did a better job and even if someone didn't have aura, Grimm wouldn't care for armour. Steel plates were meant to turn away arrows and blades, but every claw a Grimm had was carried with incredible blunt force behind it. A helmet might stop the claws slicing your head open, but the paw they were attached to would crumple steel like an aluminium can.

And it could do that even if your aura held, leaving a perfectly healthy huntsman trapped in a helmet squashed flat over their head. It was a liability. But, in this case, it was meant to be used against people and to hide his identity. Qrow found the latch and opened it up like a clam, then sealed it over his head with a hiss and a click.

There was padding around the neck and shoulders so it weighed on him a little more comfortably, and the dark panels could be seen through. The hardest part was suddenly having the extra weight on his head, as it made him feel clumsy and unbalanced. Qrow reached for the button under the ear only to stop as Owl's voice was transmitted directly into his ear.

"We can also communicate like this. You can be as loud as you want. No one on the outside will hear a thing."

"I guess I can see how that would be convenient on my mission. And are there cameras in this thing?"

"Yes. What you are viewing can be remotely transmitted to a command centre or, in your case, to me. It's so I can guide you through our mission. Get changed into the rest while I discuss it. Your casual clothes are fine, but they're also distinctive. No need to risk anyone recognising you."

Qrow opened the other briefcase and began changing. Presumably, he'd be storing his clothes in the tree trunk while they were busy. This tech, combined with the interest in Mountain Glenn and the level of support behind all this, well and truly pushed away the idea of this group of Vincents being organised crime.

Because organised crime wasn't this organised no matter where it was. This had to be government, which meant he was being used by the City of Vale themselves. Not entirely a bad deal, especially if it meant they were taking the safety of Mountain Glenn seriously.

As he changed, Owl talked. "Our target is pharmaceutical laboratory within the city, close to the wall. It's owned and run privately by a pharma giant. Our target is the financial director's office, where we'll be using some tools to hack into his computer and locate information on their tax records."

Definitely government, then.

And damn, the tax office was scary in the past. He'd thought them draconian with their paperwork for serving huntsmen and their constant claims that gifts given by grateful people who had their lives saved should not be tax-deductible. Now, they were sending in the super spies to scout out your finances.

"I assume there's been some foul play," Qrow said.

"The mission would suggest as such but we're not to know – it stops us making assumptions that could get us killed. We have a floorplan of the building here. It's lightly guarded, only three security staff for as many floors, but the main problem will be reaching it undetected and avoiding cameras and alarms."

"Reaching it?"

"Our outfits are useful for if we're caught and need to escape but they're not exactly subtle outside of that. What would you think if you saw us walking down the street?"

Good point. It'd be one to keep in mind in Mountain Glenn as well, as he'd have to get from Vale to there first, then get to the research lab in the centre. It was obvious they'd chosen this pharma lab to coincide with Qrow's main task – the similarities would make it easier for him. I guess my best bet come Mountain Glenn will be to stash the uniform inside the city first. That way I can take the trains there normally.

Though doing so would legally put him in Mountain Glenn. His name would be on the list of visitors, and while he wouldn't instantly be the suspect of a break-in, if he showed off huntsman skills…? That'd narrow the suspects down, and one student coming in from Beacon would fit them.

Guess this is going to be more complicated than I expected.

"I'm done," Qrow said, stashing his clothes in the case and pushing it into the fake tree. "Let's see how much this training of yours can do for me, taxman."

"Taxman?"

Not the tax office, then. Bit by bit, he was narrowing it down.

Next Chapter: 28th September

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