Chapter 16: Playing the Game

Chapter 16: Playing the Game

Taylor

"Soooooo, how did Taylor find out you're a Faunus?" Jaune blurted out before immediately clapping his hand over his mouth. The tense silence must have gotten to him.

The day was on its last breaths, and the streetlights had already begun to illuminate the sidewalks.

"She figured it out on her own. Apparently, she knew since the first day of classes, though she didn't tell me she knew until just a little while ago," Blake stated stoically.

"How did you find out?"

"Blake's ears move with her reactions sometimes," I said. Also, I'd had a bug crawl into her bow while she was asleep for confirmation.

All eyes went to the bow on her head, which proceeded to scrunch up with her ears. "Stop staring!" Blake snapped.

"How much fuuuuurrrther?" Nora's shoulders slumped, feet dragging along the sidewalk.

"Just a little bit, and then we'll be watching to see if they even show up tonight," Pyrrha said, having remembered what I had already told them, or at least actually listened beyond 'beat up the bad guys'.

"So, we might not even get to fight tonight?" Nora groused.

"They'll either be there tonight or tomorrow, so you won't have to wait long," Ren said.

Blake took some strides to walk ahead of the group with a sullen look. I frowned and set my bug-filled crate in a side alley before I moved to catch up with her.

"Ummm, Taylor? You're just leaving your trunk there?" Jaune asked.

"Yes," I stated, not taking the time to explain further.

Blake's eyes flickered to mine as I matched her pace. She'd talk when she was ready.

I focused on my swarm moving from their container, letting the silence stretch. I blinked at the irritation in my eyes. The combat goggles pinched the sides of my head a bit. I would have used contact lenses if they didn't always feel like something pressing at the edges of my eyelids. A mask would have solved the issue, but the idea of wearing one was as unsettling as it was familiar. I'll look into an alternative later.

Blake broke after a couple more minutes. "I wanted to argue with Weiss, back at the dorm. She didn't know if that Faunus they saw was actually in the White Fang or if he was just some random person... But then I thought of everything that the White Fang has been doing. How most Faunus have either been forced into the White Fang or have been ostracised for not joining. The crimes, the attacks, the deaths… I couldn't… I couldn't make myself argue against her, even though her views were discriminatory. What person wouldn't see the White Fang that way? Especially in Vale?" she blurted out, all her turmoil from the dorm coming out at once.

"The Schnees have bad blood with the Faunus. And Weiss has mostly been growing up with the White Fang after Sienna Khan came into power. So, she's been living with her family and members of her company getting attacked." Blake grimaced and nodded solemnly.

"You weren't there for it," I continued, "but she did condemn Cardin's actions and those like it. She doesn't hate Faunus, just the White Fang. I think the line blurs for her and sometimes she says more than she means. It's not a reason to absolve her, but it is to understand her mindset. She wants to be a Huntress and a good teammate. She didn't say those things to upset you, and she wouldn't have if she had known… or at least, she would have put it more tactfully and thought it through more."

"So what? I'm 'one of the good ones' to Weiss?" She scowled and rolled her eyes.

"I'm not saying her casual racism was okay. I'm saying that it's okay to confront her on her bullshit and work through it. Same with you explaining to everyone what you've done." Even if it is hypocritical for me to say it.

"Like she'll listen to me. Especially when she finds out—"

"You aren't part of the White Fang anymore, Blake. You left, because you didn't approve of what they were doing. Then, you decided to become a Huntress, partly so that you could make up for what you did. Weiss isn't going to hold what you've done against you. You've changed, moved on, worked to do better."

"How do you know that?" Blake shot back, eyes narrowed. "While I wasn't involved directly in any of the attacks on the SDC board members, I was still part of the organization that orchestrated those attacks!" she shouted in fearful exasperation.

Team JNPR had absolutely been in earshot most of the conversation with how loud Blake was being, but they were walking a bit further back and pretending not to have heard. They probably had enough context to understand the situation now though.

"Did you know that Weiss complained to the teachers when she wasn't made team leader?" I asked, shifting gears in the conversation and lowering my volume so that only Blake would hear.

"I—what? She did that?"

"Yes. It was after she snapped at Ruby on the first day of classes. Thanks to Professor Port, she realized how she was being unfair by not giving Ruby a chance. She realized she was wrong and moved on. Now, though getting her to admit it would be... a challenge, Weiss has acknowledged Ruby."

"I see, I didn't know—"

"Then, she forgave you for your falling grades and absences after you apologized and said you would do better," I continued. "She even offered to help you with catching up on your schoolwork, didn't she?"

"Yes, she did."

"Weiss can be… Weiss, but she won't hold your past against you. She's had the Schnee name held against her since she was born. You know how people see her—the spoiled princess or the Schnee tyrant. She understands wanting to move on. I think that's why she became a Huntress in the first place, to make up for everything her family has done and leave a legacy she can be proud of. That's why if you point out a problem you have with her, she'll address it and work to fix whatever it is."

It dawned on me that I'd profiled the people I was closest with almost to the degree I had for the Slaughterhouse Nine members. That… probably wasn't healthy.

"I think I can agree with you. When I found out that the Schnee heiress was going to Beacon, I thought she would be some haughty, pompous brat who would expect everything to be hers just because of her name. While Weiss is conceited and snooty, she's also skilled. She must have worked hard to get into Beacon and didn't just flash her name to be accepted," Blake recounted with an air of admiration.

"So?"

"Thank you, Taylor. I don't feel as nervous about talking to them anymore, and talking to Weiss about how she says things would probably go a long way," Blake conceded. "Even if Weiss does say something like that again, I won't back out of telling them."

"I… I'm with you, regardless of what happens." I knew how important it was to have support in times like this.

She smiled, but both of our Scrolls suddenly beeped before she could respond. Team JNPR froze, keeping their distance and shuffling awkwardly about.

Ruby had sent us messages in a group chat.

Ruby: HEYYYYY what r everyone's plans 4 winter break

I hate text-speech.

Ruby: yang and I wanted to invite everyone over to our house in patch!

Ruby: wait

Ruby: weis says she's going back to atlas soon cause she's boring

Ruby: but what bout you both

Yang: PARTY PARTY!

Weiss: I am not boring!

I turned to Blake. "Thoughts?"

"I did just say I wanted to tell them. This seems like a good opportunity," she said, looking up from her own Scroll.

Taylor: I'm free.

Blake: Me too.

Ruby: YAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYY!

Yang: Party confirmed

Ruby: this will be awesome! everyone will get to meet our dad and ZWEI!

Who is Zwei?

Yang: well, everyone minus weiss-cream

Weiss: If everyone is going, then I guess I could come as well.

Weiss: Also, don't call me that.

Yang: awwwww, she doesn't want 2 be left out

Weiss: That is not the reason. I just think that if the rest of my team is there then I should make the effort to go as well.

Yang: you guys can't see, but weiss is totally blushing right now

Weiss: I AM NOT.

Ruby: it's okay there's nothing wrong with wanting to hang out!

Yang: lololol, weiss is yelling at rubes irl now.

Yang: we're thinking of heading home the day after tomorrow so how does the day after that sound?

Taylor: That would be fine for me.

Blake: Same.

Weiss: It would be unbecoming of me to decline when everyone else has accepted.

Weiss: Surely that isn't so unexpected.

Weiss: You all understand, right?

I closed my Scroll and motioned for Team JNPR to join us.

"Roman will either be there tonight or tomorrow night, so as long as nothing goes wrong, we should be fine," Blake said to me.

"Why does it feel like you just jinxed us?" Jaune joked nervously.

Blake's face was stiff as Team JNPR tried to act casually, but the tension was obvious.

"It's fine… I'm sure you guys heard about… what I used to do, but could you please keep it to yourselves? There are… others I need to tell personally," Blake asked, struggling between stoicism and distress.

"Also, telling people about her past could make someone try to take revenge for something Blake didn't do," I said

"Oh, of course! I mean—s-sorry for eavesdropping!" Pyrrha said with a small bow, cheeks flushed. "We didn't mean to—"

"It's not your fault," Blake cut in.

"You don't have to worry, Blake," Jaune stated. "We know you've been working to try and fix some of the things the White Fang have been doing lately. And you're trying to be a Huntress."

"From that, we know you're a good person," Ren said softly, continuing Jaune's speech. Nora beamed a friendly smile.

"Thank you," Blake said shyly.

Lookouts were stationed on the surrounding rooftops, Scrolls in hand as they idly looked around for anyone approaching. I pointed them out from around the corner of an alley down the street.

"Looks like they're there tonight," Blake stated with a mix of determination and anticipation.

My bugs had already marked the people inside and were scouting the area. Forty-three people were in and around the warehouse. Forty-one of them were White Fang members who were moving crates into the three Bullheads they had parked outside the warehouse.

Roman Torchwick stood idly with a look of exasperation as he shouted orders to the White Fang grunts around him.

The last person was a very short woman, a little less than five feet tall. She was lying on a crate, next to a lacey parasol, and reading a magazine.

She didn't seem like hired muscle, but with Aura, anything was possible. No mask or obvious Faunus trait, so probably Roman's partner or minion. No obvious weapon, so either a hand-to-hand specialist, a Semblance focused fighter, or she wasn't carrying her usual arsenal.

"What's the plan?" Nora asked, her muscles tensed with excitement, ready to spring at any moment.

"Pyrrha, can you take away their Scrolls?" Jaune asked.

"If we get close enough, yes. But they're too spread out for me to get more than one of them right now," Pyrrha stated.

"That'll be fine. We're planning on making a commotion anyway. If we take out the guard that's watching the wall behind the warehouse, then we should be able to get in before the others notice anything's up," I said.

"Then Ren and I will take out the guard right as Pyrrha gets his Scroll," Blake suggested, receiving an agreeing nod from Ren.

"What about when we're inside? What do you want us to do?" Jaune asked.

"Blake and I will go for Roman if he's there. If not, we'll head for whoever's in charge. You guys will need to deal with the grunts, so we don't get swarmed. If you can, take out any vehicles they have first, so they can't escape," I said. "Jaune, we've gone over situations like this, so you should know what to do."

"Right. Don't get surrounded. Don't get cornered. Don't let them use their numbers effectively," Jaune listed robotically, a haunted look passing over his eyes from recollecting how many times I had him repeat those tips. Good, it meant he knew them by heart.

"You discussed a plan with your team?"

"Uh, yeah. I think we know how we're going to do this. We're, uh, gonna go around, jump onto the ships for cover, uh, smash them up, then, see how they're grouping and go from there?" He had started fine, but sounded like he was looking for my approval by the end.

I glanced at the rest of his team. "Any of you have any objections with that?" They all shook their heads. "Neither do I." I met Jaune's eyes. "You can do this, Jaune. There was a reason you were put in charge of your team. I've seen it." I meant it too, he had a knack for bringing out and using his team's strengths.

"Oh... huh. Thanks, Taylor!" He looked a little flustered, and Pyrrha was beaming.

"Most importantly, if things get bad, get out. You're more of a liability if you're in over your head. There will be a lot of them, but I don't think they'll be particularly tough," I said. "Also, we'll be surrounded by crates of Dust, so be careful with your aim and where you're hitting people toward." I gave Nora a pointed look, and she saluted in return. "I'll be messaging the authorities as soon as we start, so if it goes bad, we just have to hold out until they arrive." Which meant we only had so much time to find out what was really going on.

I nodded to Jaune, who waved his hand for the start signal. Blake went first, and Ren followed, both moving swiftly and silently toward their prey. Then, the guard's Scroll flew toward Pyrrha with a subtle yank of her Semblance, and a blur of green and black descended on the unsuspecting lookout.

Pyrrha handed me the Scroll as we rushed to join the others.

No password. Amateur.

Still, we only had so much time before the other lookouts noticed one of them was missing.

I quickly sent everything I could find on the White Fang member's Scroll to my own before sending my prewritten message to Ozpin.

Two of the lookouts were observing our intended landing spot, but a couple of bugs assailed them just in time for us to leap down behind the warehouse.

A few moments of silence went by before we sighed in relief. No eyes on us yet.

"I can't believe I made that jump," Jaune whispered in amazement.

"It's because of all your hard work," Pyrrha stated encouragingly.

"Three Bullheads in front. You guys head straight for those while Blake and I slip in," I directed.

A collective nod was our signal to move.

"Pyrrha, take one. Nora, another. Ren and I will hit the other one," Jaune stated as we jumped to the top of the warehouse and dashed across it.

The roofs were tiered to allow for windows along the catwalks of the warehouses. They provided a good amount of cover from the opposite side, but we were clearly visible to anyone looking our way.

Then again, it didn't matter if the lookouts spotted us now; they wouldn't be able to give any warnings fast enough to stop us.

"Come on, you mutts. We're getting a big shipment in tomorrow, so we need to make some room. Hey, you! Bring me the shipping manifest, and for god's sake, grab the right one this time. I know you lot love playing fetch, but we're on the clock here," Roman demanded, and the White Fang members begrudgingly got to work.

Blake and I stopped in front of a window that led onto the catwalk of the warehouse as the others continued across the roof. Her brow furrowed, and her ears twitched whenever Roman made a racist remark.

"Blake, I might say some… questionable things to Roman to try to get him to talk. Just play along," I said.

Blake raised a brow quizzically but nodded.

Nora's gleeful laughter and the crunch of metal was our sign to break through the window. Two more explosions followed by angry shouts resonated throughout the area.

"What the hell is going on?!" Roman yelled as he looked out the main door of the building to see Team JNPR standing on top of the now-broken Bullheads.

Roman sighed, taking the time to tap loose ash from his lit cigar. "You know, I'm getting real tired of eventful evenings," Roman said sardonically.

"And I expected you to be less messy than you've been. I guess we're both disappointed," I shot back from atop the catwalk. For types like Roman, you had to play their game to get them to talk, because criminals like Roman loved the sound of their own voice.

Roman turned toward me and glared. His short partner set her magazine down with a look of annoyance and sat up.

I hadn't heard of anyone that matched her description. Pink with white streaks for the right side of her hair, brown on the left. Heterochromatic eyes; the same shades of brown and pink as her hair.

The strange girl blinked, and both her eyes were now brown.

Did that have something to do with her Semblance? Like how Yang's eyes change—wait, now one of her eyes is white! Is she actively using her Semblance right now?

The grunts in the warehouse froze as they watched the exchange.

"I've got this whole kingdom running scared, lefty. Gotten away clean with every job. So, don't go off spouting things that are obviously too complicated for you to figure out," he replied smoothly.

If only he knew. "I would actually call myself rather knowledgeable about all this, enough to know when someone's being undervalued." He paused a drag of his cigar while Blake looked confused. "I want to offer you a deal, Roman."

"Oh? Think you're ready to talk at the big kid's table?"

Outside, swarms of the White Fang members were being steamrolled by Team JNPR. I knew that people who trained their Aura instead of just having it unlocked were stronger, but the difference, even for just first-year students, was absurd.

Jaune advanced on a squad firing at him, blocking their shots with his shield, while Ren followed behind, firing at anyone trying to flank them.

"Nora, Pyrrha!" Jaune called out, and Pyrrha leapt into the air toward Nora.

Pyrrha crouched on her shield as she slowly dropped toward her teammate while Nora spun around with her hammer, building momentum with every rotation.

"Fastball!" Nora yelled out. Did they have to yell it out every time?

"Special!" Pyrrha finished, just before Nora struck Pyrrha's shield with all her strength, sending Pyrrha rocketing towards the cluster of White Fang members. She brought her shield back up just in time to slam into them.

To liken what happened next to a bowling ball barrelling over a set of pins would be an understatement. A better comparison would be a cannonball crashing through a series of walls as Pyrrha annihilated the group of criminals. Their bodies ricocheted off the missile that was Pyrrha while their bodies left cracks and imprints from their points of impact.

They were not getting back up.

Pyrrha landed in a roll within view from the warehouse's main doors.

"How are things going?" I shouted casually to her.

Pyrrha took a moment to glower at Roman before turning to me. "Things are going well," she called out before she spun around, knocking a scimitar away with her shield and riposting with a straight jab that sent the White Fang grunt flying into another member behind him.

"Useless mutts," Roman murmured. "Though, it is the oh-so-special Mistral Champion. Honestly, not impressed. Neo."

The short girl behind him rolled her eyes then put on a confident smirk. She grabbed her parasol and strutted outside straight toward Pyrrha.

"Now, as I was saying, I would like to hire you," I stated passively to Roman. My bugs caught Blake stiffen beside me.

"I—you want to what?"

"Thirty million Lien upfront, plus a monthly retainer, then we'll negotiate pay for each job."

Of course, I didn't have any intention of actually paying for his services. That much money for one person was absurd, not that I had even close to that amount anyway. His reaction was what I wanted.

"Thirty. Million. Just as a start?" he asked, obviously intrigued. Then he shook his head, and I caught a look of disappointment being replaced by his usual sly smirk. "I'm flattered; at least someone understands my worth, but I'm already on the winning team, and I don't plan to get off of it."

"More like you can't get off it. Who's holding your leash, Roman?" I asked with a slight edge of condescension. "There has to be someone who's got you and the White Fang in their pocket for the two of you to be working together."

"If you haven't noticed, I'm the one holding the leash, thank you very much," Roman sneered and waved a hand at the White Fang grunts.

"Of course. I'm sure your master enjoys letting you out for these walks too," I stated derisively. Roman twitched scornfully, and I knew my suspicions were right. "We both know only an idiot would turn down that kind of money. Not to mention how much attention you're drumming up."

"To be fair, I do deserve everyone's attention," he said with a smirk, every bit the diva his reputation made him out to be.

"You're not stupid, Roman. All I want to know is who I'm actually playing against."

"You're out of your league here, kid. And I've run out of patience," he snapped. "Kill—"

"Brothers and sisters of the White Fang! Why are you doing this?!" Blake demanded, almost desperately. She stepped forward and undid the ribbon hiding her cat ears. "You're working with this scum"—she drew her sword and pointed it at Roman—"attacking Faunus-run businesses, murdering those that get in your way. How is this supposed to benefit the Faunus?!"

The White Fang members shuffled slightly but didn't answer.

"The White Fang and I are in a mutually beneficial arrangement here, kitten. Fighting against a common enemy. Right now, that just happens to be you," Roman snarked. "Enough of this, get them!" The White Fang members glanced at each other, then drew their weapons.

They moved into firing positions and aimed rifles at us. Roman raised his cane, and a small iron sight popped out of the end. Of course the cane was also a gun.

I guess we'll have to find out more of what's happening after we capture them.

Blake used her Semblance and pushed herself left, shooting Gambol Shroud to implant it in the roof. She jumped and swung down like a pendulum to kick one of the grunts into the others.

I dove off the catwalk, gunfire and a single fiery explosion blasting apart the catwalk behind me, and landed in an aisle between shelves.

The shelves were just metal frames that held small kegs, and I wasn't particularly hidden in them, so the White Fang members had no trouble targeting me.

"What are you animals doing?!" Roman shouted. "If you hit the Dust you'll blow us all to hell!"

The grunts holstered their guns and drew scimitars. They came charging at me from each side of the aisle while Blake made sure the ones she had kicked stayed down.

Four months ago, I would have been hard-pressed to defeat more than one at a time. Now, they seemed to move so slowly.

A downward chop to my right shoulder from the first grunt never connected as I stabbed him in the gut, his Aura catching the blow but failing to prevent him flying into the others behind him.

At the same time, I extended Starfall into its polearm form, the hilt smashing into the stomach of the grunt attempting to skewer me from behind, which in turn pushed him into the others behind him.

I jumped over the sprawled gang members in front of me so that I was out of the confined space of the aisles. Now, I wasn't restricted in my movement, but they would all be funneled toward me.

The first lunged desperately forward with a jab meant to disembowel me.

The butt of my weapon slapped it aside with a backhanded swing, and I followed through to slash him, slamming the blade against his exposed side and knocking him away.

The next grunt charged with a ferocious battle cry, but I had kept whirling after my previous strike and a revolving kick to the temple sent them away.

I leapt with my kicking leg still in the air as a harsh horizontal slash cut through the space I had just been in, then I shoved the blade end of my polearm into the ground and swung around it to deliver a kick to my attacker.

A spider crawled out of my sleeve and deftly scurried down to wait by the trigger mechanism of Starfall as I landed back on the ground.

Instead of pulling Starfall out of the ground, I kicked the back of the blade as hard as I could, sending a shower of concrete at my attackers as it dislodged from the floor.

Then, I tossed it high into the air before grabbing it right above the butt of the polearm and had my spider pull the trigger.

The flat of the blade came down on the four gang members in front of me, the enhanced weight and force of the blow crushing them into the ground. Had I not turned the blade to the side, I would most likely have cleaved one or two of them in half.

After a few seconds, Starfall lightened as the Gravity Dust wore off. I stood and retracted it back into a regular sword.

One Huntsman was easily worth a hundred of these untrained grunts. I was starting to understand how high-level Brutes felt when they plowed into a group of unpowered mooks.

The groans of the White Fang members were overtaken by the constant ring of steel against steel as Blake and Roman traded blows.

Roman spun with the force of Blake's diagonal chop, letting him flow and weave about in tight, controlled circles as he consistently knocked Blake's rapid slashes aside, before he suddenly stepped forward and punched her hard in the stomach.

The bugs I had on Blake heard her wheeze before Roman followed the blow up with a two-handed baseball swing of his cane.

The brutal attack phased through the image of Blake as the clone flashed out of existence. Blake's Semblance had pushed her down into a crouch in front of Roman, ready to stab at his exposed belly.

Roman pressed a button on his cane and the curved handle rocketed downward, smashing into Blake's hand as she attacked before a front kick sent her rolling back with a grunt of pain.

Damn, Roman's a much better fighter than I expected him to be. Too much for me to handle head-on.

I grabbed one of the Dust kegs and ripped the top of it off, before dumping the contents onto the floor. I pressed the lid back on before charging toward Roman.

"Hey, Roman!" I called out.

"Ugh! How can it be so difficult to kill two—" Roman began but was cut short as he noticed the keg under my arm.

"Catch!" I threw the small barrel as hard as I could at him.

"You idiot! Are you trying to get us all killed?!"

Roman cradled the keg to lightly catch it, right before I cut straight through it and across his chest.

Roman hissed in pain as he caught my follow-up slash with his cane, and with a quick twirl of his wrist, brushed it aside, only to be hit by a glancing shot from Blake.

"Now, you've gone from annoyances to pests."

Blake moved up to flank Roman. There was nowhere for him to escape now.

Pyrrha

I rolled to a stop and spotted Taylor and Blake through the warehouse doors standing on a catwalk over Roman Torchwick.

The man even looked oily.

"How are things going?" Taylor called down to me, seemingly not worried for us. Not in an uncaring way, but in a way that felt like she didn't need to be concerned. She had confidence in us. It was nice.

I saw Roman glance at all his fallen men around the area behind me, then scoff. He didn't care about them at all. I didn't understand how someone could be so callous.

"Things are going well," I assured Taylor before spinning to knock away an attack from another White Fang member. I followed up with a light jab, but it was still enough to send him into another of the brutes behind him.

Roman murmured something that I was too far away to hear. "Though, it is the oh-so-special Mistral Champion. Honestly, not impressed. Neo."

Neo?

A moment later, a short woman holding an umbrella walked into view and slowly sauntered toward me. An accomplice then. She was in no hurry, the subtle clicks of her heels making it easy to mark her position.

This 'Neo' was either very arrogant, or confident in her abilities. Roman thought she could fight me, even after recognizing who I was.

With what time I had before Neo finally crossed the distance to me, I quickly looked over to see how the others were doing.

Jaune had just flung Ren off his shield to accelerate Ren's whirling dervish. Ren was a bladed tornado as he sent three gang members flying back.

Jaune is doing well. I'm glad. This is his chance to see how much he's improv—Jaune!

My heart almost stopped as another gang member dived into Jaune's blind spot right after his throw. Before I could even warn him, Jaune took two slashes across his back, and he gasped in pain.

I had never been so thankful for Jaune having so much Aura as he took the blows and kept moving.

Jaune twisted around, just in time to block a crossing slash from the dual-wielding White Fang member that had attacked him.

I fired a few rounds to divert a rifle pointed at Nora, but kept an eye on Jaune in case anything else might happen.

The dual wielder followed up with a brutal double chop, with enough strength that it brought Jaune to his knees from the effort of blocking.

The gang member growled in victory as his blades pressed harder against Jaune's shield.

Then, Jaune repositioned his weight and arm. I had seen him practicing the move, and when he wasn't with one of the others that Taylor had recommended he work with, I had helped him go through the maneuver.

He shifted sideways and retracted his shield into the shape of a sheath.

The White Fang member stumbled forward with the sudden lack of resistance as his blades passed on either side of his foe.

Jaune sprung up, hitting the grunt right in the middle of his face with his sheath. I fought the urge not to clap or cheer. I was so proud, but didn't want to distract him.

The grunt staggered, raising his swords clumsily for another attack, before he toppled over.

Jaune looked down at his knocked-out opponent. Even without seeing him, I could practically feel his disbelief of his own ability. Soon, he'd see what the rest of us did: potential.

Unfortunately, I had to fire a few rounds to stop another grunt from taking advantage of Jaune's pause, but he was still making progress!

A series of pink explosions rained down on another group of gang members.

Nora was too strong for them to block the swings of her hammer, so they decided to keep their distance and fire at her.

This only made Nora switch her weapon into its grenade launcher form and devastate them from afar, smiling the entire time. I didn't think I would ever know how she had so much fun in everything she did.

Neo stopped ten feet away. A ring of defeated White Fang members I had bowled over before formed an impromptu arena around us.

I got into a ready stance as the short woman sized me up, not worried at all. She threw her hip out and smirked, her parasol resting comfortably on her shoulder. A taunt.

She hadn't said anything… Didn't bad guys always start with mocking or revealing their grand plan? The opponents I'd faced in tournaments and exhibition matches who played pretend 'villains' as a gimmick always did that. Heels? I had never understood the appeal. The criminals on TV also did it, though I hadn't ever really had the time to watch many programs.

"Sorry, you aren't going to yell or monologue at me?" I asked curiously.

Neo gave me a very obvious look up and down before motioning to my outfit, then she made a 'so-so' gesture with her hand while making a face of disapproval.

"Uh—I—you—" This was the one outfit I had picked that my tournament manager's image team had approved. I was rather proud of it! It looked nice, didn't it?

I glared and Neo's smirk returned in full force. I had been somewhat excited to fight someone that might be a challenge, but of course that person had to be rude enough to sour any anticipation I had.

I fired a shot and shifted into a spear, accelerating the change in the weapon's form as well as adding power to her thrust.

Neo moved with a surprising amount of speed and jabbed her parasol forward, opening it so the canopy pushed Miló's stab to the ground.

Then, Neo nimbly stepped onto the tip of the spear and held it under her heeled boot. She closed the parasol and had the nerve to mime a yawn.

If she wasn't so apparently rude and cocky, I might be enjoying a fight against someone so skilled.

I didn't pull my weapon away. Instead, I pivoted to face away from Neo, and dipped my right shoulder under my weapon. Using Miló as a fulcrum, I pulled down on the end of my spear, launching Neo up into the air.

The small criminal used the momentum and backflipped, then opened her parasol to slow her fall. An impressive recovery.

I threw Akoúo̱ with a twirl, then continued my rotation while taking another step toward my opponent.

Neo was forced to retract her parasol to knock the flying shield aside, causing her to descend normally again.

Neo's eyes widened as she fell into the perfect range for my spinning two-handed spear strike to crash against her blocking parasol.

I could feel how light she was with my attack, and she went flying backward to slam into one of the wrecked Bullheads.

I was slightly worried I had hurt her—though, since she was a criminal, maybe not that worried.

Neo got up and patted off some dirt scuffs, and her expression morphed into one of contempt.

Now, I knew the fight was on. I took a few steps forward and stomped down on the side of Akoúo̱ to send it flipping up into the air before it latched onto my arm with a subtle use of my Semblance—I had spent a long time getting that down.

I gave Neo a smirk of her own, then immediately regretted it. It was rather petty to be smug about getting a hit on her… Then again, it was okay to be a little petty to the bad guys, right?

I waited for the Neo to approach, baiting her with an opening in my stance that exposed my left hip.

Suddenly, Neo seemed to fade away, like water washing away ink.

Before I could even look around, I felt a heavy blow to my hip that sent me sprawling, but a quick swipe at the ground with Akoúo̱ corrected my momentum so that I could land on my feet.

Aura hummed over the dull pain echoing through my side.

Neo kept her foot out, as if to show off what she had hit me with, before settling back into another relaxed stance.

A teleporting Semblance?

I changed Miló into its rifle form and aimed, though Neo didn't seem concerned in the slightest as she looked down the barrel of my gun.

This might be more difficult than I had thought.

Taylor

Even with Blake with me, Roman was proving a difficult opponent. He made minimal movements while dodging and attacking. Quick and precise strikes that wore at the opponent. If it was just me fighting him, I doubted I could have hit him with my sword at all.

Roman's cane danced around him like lightning in a storm, spinning and battering away our strikes, but there were simply too many attacks for him to deflect. Most were only glancing blows, but they were adding up. He couldn't counter without leaving himself open for one of us.

He was constantly trying to slip away so that the two of us weren't on either side of him, but the moment I felt his muscles shift, I moved to block his path. Blake used her Semblance to do the same.

Despite his quick and seemingly light attacks, my arm and shins were completely numb from blocking. We were chipping at his Aura, but he was cutting into ours too.

The amount of Aura I was using to keep up with him and Blake was adding up. We needed to do something before I was taken out of the fight.

His cane went down and smacked Blake's cleaver aside, then he spun it from the handle with enough force that it deflected my sword along with Blake's other blade with its spin.

Roman took the chance to pivot forward and sucker-punch Blake in the face, causing her to stagger back.

I extended Starfall and brought it down on his head.

He caught the swing with his cane and was about to deflect it before I pulled the trigger.

Starfall lived up to its name as the Gravity Dust activated, slamming the blade down and forcing Roman to use both hands to brace against the sheer weight of the blow.

Roman's arms trembled against the weight while I placed my foot on the butt of Starfall to brace it against the floor. Next, I let go of my sword, letting its weight and my foot keep it locked with Roman.

Roman's eyes widened in surprise as I punched him across the jaw.

Now, I was weaponless, an easy target.

Thankfully, Blake's spinning roundhouse sent his bowler hat flying and removed any chance for him to capitalize on the opportunity.

I punched at Roman's stomach, which he easily swatted away despite his lack of balance, and even with his compromised stance, he countered with a sharp kick that felt like a sledgehammer to my side.

The pain was worth it, as my attack prevented him from getting a grip on his cane.

Gambol Shroud wrapped around Roman's weapon, and with a sharp tug from Blake, it fired a gunshot that ripped the cane from his grasp.

Roman stared at his now empty hand. "Well, I don't suppose it's too late to talk about that de—" My knee to his gut cut him off before Blake followed up with a kick across his face. Roman pirouetted before falling ungracefully onto his face, out cold.

Through my bugs, I could tell JNPR was still taking care of the White Fang grunts. The only ones left were noticeably better fighters than the others had been, but that wasn't saying much. They shouldn't have any troubles.

Pyrrha had been in constant motion since Neo had reached her…

I glanced out the door and saw—

Was Pyrrha… losing?

Pyrrha had just fired a barrage of bullets that battered against Neo's open parasol to no avail. Who charged forward, but... didn't?

The bugs I had on Neo and what I saw through the door gave me two different scenes of what was happening.

Pyrrha did a sideways swipe of her shield on the image of Neo that I was seeing, while my bugs had Neo swerving in a slight arc to arrive where her image had been after Pyrrha's attack.

The image of Neo shattered like glass, revealing the real Neo as she slapped her parasol against Pyrrha's face, then elbowed her in the gut, before spinning under Pyrrha's retaliatory sword swing and attempting to sweep Pyrrha's legs.

Fuck. Some kind of illusion. Not a Master… Probably a Shaker who can create an image over an area if the illusions can be physically broken.

Pyrrha hopped over the kick and spun her blade around her neck as it shifted into its spear form. She caught its hilt as it rotated around her neck and cleaved at the shorter girl.

Neo promptly backflipped, showing great flexibility by kicking toward her shoulder and doing the splits upright to build momentum for the maneuver, before landing gracefully while posing confidently with her umbrella.

Damn, Neo only has a metal belt buckle on. Pyrrha can't use her Semblance to dodge Neo's attacks or shift their course. It's one of the worst match-ups for Pyrrha, but not for me.

"Tie them up, quick. I'm going to help the others," I quickly said, tossing a handful of zip ties from my pouch to Blake, before running toward the fight without waiting for a response.

Ren fired a barrage which was blocked by the parasol. Ren frowned, but moved in to help Pyrrha.

Pyrrha shattered another image of Neo only to reveal the actual Neo pummeling Ren a short distance away.

Ren tried an open palm thrust that Neo snaked around, her left shoulder braced against his outer elbow while her right arm kept Ren's arm straight. Neo held her parasol in the middle as she struck Ren in the face with it, then rotated her wrist to strike him in the stomach.

Neo's leg then shot straight up into a standing split kick at Ren's head. She let go of Ren's arm to allow him to reel back, pivoted with her standing leg, and brought her heel down on his shoulder in an axe kick.

My bugs heard a sickening crunch as Ren's shoulder caved under the force of the blow and sent him to the ground. Neo grinned maliciously in satisfaction.

"Ren!" Pyrrha yelled in alarm as she rushed forward.

"Pyrrha, to the right!" I warned as I drew my gun and fired.

My shot broke apart Neo's illusion, and she stumbled back as the bullet whizzed past her face.

She looked toward me in shock before she spun around at the last moment to block Pyrrha's harsh slash, making her jump back and away from Ren to avoid Pyrrha's next swing.

"GET AWAY FROM HIM!"

Neo turned abruptly and dived to the side as a raging Nora careened into the space she was just in, annihilating the concrete with a mighty swing from her giant hammer.

I fired again and another illusion broke. She stared murderously at me.

A haggard Jaune was now also approaching after having beaten down the last of the White Fang members, cutting off her last avenue of escape.

Neo was visibly distressed now, her eyes glancing about until they rested on the fallen form of Roman as Blake made a point tightening the zip ties probably farther than she needed to. Her eyes blinked to white and she frantically looked between all of us and Roman.

For a moment, she held her gaze on Roman with a guilty expression before sprinting at Jaune.

Jaune yelped and wildly hacked at her with his sword.

Neo easily sidestepped the slash and jumped onto his shoulder before kicking off him, sending him stumbling into a charging Pyrrha.

She opened her parasol underneath her, just in time for Nora's hammer to slam into it.

Just like Team JNPR's 'Fastball Special', Neo flew into the sky before she bled the momentum with her parasol.

"Crap…" Nora griped bitterly.

Blake and I fired at her, but she had already flown outside the warehouse perimeter and quickly disappeared into the alleyways.

I moved to try and pursue, but she was outside my bug's range moments later, her Aura-enhanced speed letting her move faster than a car.

"Ren!" Nora cried as she hurried to his side, worry and fear marring her usual energy and pep.

"Jaune, help Blake tie the rest of them up. She has my zip ties," I said.

I moved toward Ren and grimaced. My hips and ribs would have a nasty bruise.

Ren's collarbone and right shoulder were broken. Nothing life-threatening. I ripped off a strip of cloth from an unconscious gang member's uniform and wrapped his arm in a sling. There wasn't much else we could do for him here.

The sounds of sirens and the spotlights of VPD ships approached, breaking my train of thought.

"Of course, they show up now," Blake said, though there was a hint of relief and cheer in her voice.

Despite Ren's injury, we had caught Roman Torchwick, possibly recovered most of the stolen Dust, dealt a crippling blow against the White Fang, and interrupted whatever plan their secretive master was preparing.

I turned towards the advancing Bullheads and sheltered my eyes from the spotlights.

Now, to deal with this.

My fingers droned against the metal table of the interrogation room where I had been left to wait after giving my statement. At least I wasn't in handcuffs this time.

We had all been brought into the VPD headquarters to go over what had happened, and despite the hours passing, we were still there.

I didn't miss the bureaucracy of all this.

Ozpin was finishing up speaking with Blake. Their back and forth had been interesting, Blake had admitted her history with the White Fang after some prompting from Ozpin.

I had suspected he already knew about Blake's past, but their talk confirmed it.

Ozpin had also officially stated that Blake wouldn't have to worry about any legal problems in regards to her past actions, which left Blake with a relieved expression as Ozpin headed toward me.

"Good evening," I stated as Ozpin opened the door.

"A good evening to you as well, and if I may say, a nostalgic sight." His hand gestured across the interrogation room.

"How are things looking?"

"The forty-three White Fang members have been detained, Roman Torchwick as well. The VPD are currently doing inventory on the containers, but I've been told that almost all of the stolen Dust is accounted for."

"Good."

"How, may I ask, is it that you, Miss Belladonna, and Team JNPR came across the whereabouts of Roman's base of operations?"

"A lucky accident, as I said to the VPD."

"Of course. No connection to your nightly jaunts into Vale then."

I waited for him to continue, but he seemed content to sip at his cocoa instead.

Well, if you aren't going to press then I'll leave things there.

"So, you have my statement as well as everyone else's."

"Yes, how fortunate that you 'spontaneously remembered a location from your past'. I'm sorry that it turned out to be a misunderstanding," he said bemusedly.

We had gone over what we were going to say to the police on the airship ride from Beacon.

"Indeed. Was there anything else the VPD or you needed?"

"Just one thing that I wanted to inform you of. The rest of Team RWBY hasn't been told of what happened"—he didn't question why we hadn't brought the rest of Team RWBY along, but I felt the slight disapproval nonetheless—"but the city council has already expressed interest in giving you, Blake, and Team JNPR commendations for your actions. It won't be a secret for long," Ozpin stated.

Damn politics.

"Thank you for the warning," I said.

He nodded and stood up, and I followed him out the door.

Now what?

The question shot through my head with a disharmonious ring.

I had gotten the bad guy and retrieved the stolen goods. The authorities would question him to try and figure out who they were working for. I had no information to go on, not unless Roman's mysterious backer made a move.

Once again, I felt the familiar sensation of aimlessness.

What was there for me to do now?

Chapter 16 End

Author Notes:

Praise be to garneredAcrimony, Juff, Breakingamber, ccstat, Sigravig, Majigah, and The Sleeping Knight for channeling their dark magic to empower this fic with words and wisdom.

Also, an additional shoutout to TheSleepingKnight who slid into my DM's, and whipped out his hard, girthy, writing advice that I hope to work at and improve upon.

So yeah, Cinder doesn't tell Roman to move everything to Mountain Glenn till Volume 2, so literally all the Dust they stole is still in that warehouse (Maybe a little bit is offsite but most of it is there). Which means that Mountain Glenn can't happen anymore. They don't have the Dust for the explosives.

So, while it's taken a while, this chapter probably marks the moment that canon is completely dead. LONG LIVE THE NEW GUARD.

Some things won't go completely differently. Cinder is still gonna try to kill Amber for the rest of the Maiden powers, kill Ozpin, hijack the Atlas soldiers, plant the virus into the CCT, etc. She just can't go about doing those things the same way. Though, that's not to say things might continue to change.

Neo's umbrella and necklaces might be made of metal, but I'm going to say they're not. The umbrella will be carbon fiber or somethin. Except for the giant needle inside it, but I think Pyrrha needs line of sight or knowledge of the metal for her Semblance. Otherwise, she would have known about Mercury's legs and been able to say something after Yang 'cripples' him.

Blake and Ozpin's chat is different from canon, kinda. Blake's less focused on hiding who she is, and Ozpin/Blake know that Taylor is the reason they had the info on the White Fang's activities etc. But the convo followed the same beats as in canon (Volume 2 Episode 2) and I didn't want to rehash the scene with only minor differences.

I'm gonna say that in canon, everyone's winter break plans are pushed back a little after Blake runs away.