Hey guys, glad to see you're reading part 2, chapter 1! So, pretty much, this and the next chapter set up a lot of things, so I hope you guys enjoy! Also, this will be where I do the messages, because at the bottom will be a preview of the next chapter. As I said, I hope you guys enjoy and I'll see you next Monday for chapter 2!

Chapter 1

"Yeah, good times, especially that little apartment we called home," Aero Kalo said, breathing in the cool autumn air and smiling to himself as he looked at the gravestone. He had been sitting on the grass for what seemed like ages, but it didn't bother the 44-year old faunus one bit as he smiled and ran a hand through his salt and pepper hair, brushing past his similarly colored bat ears.

"I don't believe I ever gave you the finer details about how I met Ruby, Yang, Blake… and my wife… Well, it's kinda funny actually."

21 years ago

The figure, clad in black, looked down through a glass roof at the guards walking around the office space. Three floors, thirteen guards, all of them armed with a variety of swords, pistols and assault rifles. He opened the window, tied a rope to a pipe that was expelling smoke, tied the end of the rope around his waist and looked down one last time. His armament barely made any sound as he quietly clicked his tongue and closed his eyes. With his closed eyes, he saw the echo his tongue created, bouncing off soldiers and the inner environment. He mentally marked their positions and grinned to himself.

"Aero, you almost ready?" he heard in his ear via a receiver.

"Just about," he said into a small microphone in front of his lips in his usual calm and slightly deep tone as he closed his eyes and breathed in slowly.

"Good, lights will being going off in one minute. Your target is on the ground floor, in an office behind the guards and near a vault. You're gonna have to find the right hallway and move through to the target."

"What's the matter Seb, too lazy to tell me where to go?"

"No, more 'Why don't you go and discover this place for yourself,' dickhead."

"Ah yes, I've always wanted to discover an office space for myself, so fascinating," Aero said as he shook his head.

"10 seconds," Sebastian said as Aero opened his eyes in time to see the lights go out. A guard near the railing looked around and called down to his friends, questioning what was happening. Aero lowered himself down slowly, cut the rope with one of his throwing knives and crouched down. He approached the man from behind, taking out an eleven inch, slender blade that was sheathed on the small of his back where another, similar blade rested. He put his left hand around the man's mouth and dug the blade into the surprised guard's chest. His eyes widened as he looked down at the hilt of the blade, his life leaving his eyes as Aero helped lay his body down. He clicked his tongue again quietly and closed his eyes, revealing the locations of every other guard, including the target, via the echo.

"Jim, you there?" he heard to his right as he quickly turned, grabbed a throwing knife from his belt and threw it at the guard, the blade sliding into the man's skull cleanly. The guard fell back as Aero heard his radio come to life again.

"Staircase to your left, then four guards on the second floor."

"What happened to letting me discover it for myself?"

"Don't make me lead you to a bunch of heavily armed guards," Sebastian said, making Aero shake his head. He moved left and located the door to the staircase, sheathing his blood soaked short blade and drawing one of his two silenced pistols from his double shoulder holster and aiming it down the staircase. He clicked again, spotting a guard and instantly shot him in the head, dropping the guard before he could spot him. He moved down the staircase and opened the door to the second level, his eyes beginning to adjust to the darkness as he made out the shapes of two guards talking to one another near the railing. He formed two fists that triggered two blades, one on top of each arm, extending five inches past his knuckles. He approached the two guards and swiftly thrust the blades into the back of their necks, instantly killing them as he removed the blades, allowing them to slump to the floor.

He continued on, crouching and spotting another guard walking around until his radio came to life.

"Anyone find the damn breaker box?"

"Still looking for it sir."

"Well find it and hurry up, I can't do the rest of these calculations with the lights out."

"Could just use your scroll as a light."

"What was that?"

"Nothing sir."

"Focus soldier," the guard in front of Aero said into his radio before Aero grabbed the man's head and twisted it, cleanly breaking his neck in two.

"The hell was that?" Aero heard, causing him to run to an office and take cover behind a desk.

"Aero, I got one moving to you, get the jump on them," he heard as he leaned out, spotting the guard approaching the dead body.

"Dave, are you fucking napping?" Aero heard him ask aloud as he threw a knife into the man's throat, who clenched his throat and gurgled. Aero ran passed but quickly took cover as the dying man made to much noise, bring attention to his fellow guards.

"We got someone in here!" he heard a guard say from the ground floor as Aero cursed to himself, grabbed the stock of his sniper rifle, which was behind his right shoulder, and pulled it out. In the past month Aero had been training and using the sniper rifle to give himself more options during missions, something he greatly appreciated, especially now. He aimed down the sights and shot one in his chest, causing the guards to turn and open fire with their weapons. Aero moved back and took cover at another column, bullets chipping away at the one he was at.

"Aero, not trying to rush you, but the light will come back on in five minutes and they have a guy at the breaker box."

"Copy," Aero said as he inhaled slowly, turned and got another shot off, the bullet cleanly impacting a guard's forehead and spraying the wooden wall behind him in his blood and brains as they fired at Aero. He looked down and saw a guard preparing a grenade, causing Aero to holster his sniper rifle, take out his short blade and jump down, plunging the blade into the guard's neck. The guard yelled as his soul escaped his body while he let go of the grenade, allowing Aero to toss it to another and watch it explode, sending shrapnel into two more guards. Aero sheathed his short blade, crouched behind a wall with plants on top of it, gripped the smooth rod that was latched onto his right thigh and flicked it to the right, allowing a 27-inch steel blade to slide out.

He stood up slowly as he heard a guard panic loudly until the lights came back on. He moved down the wall and leaned slowly, spotting the guard and going back into cover. The guard looked around in panic, allowing Aero to run around the corner, catching the guard off guard as he slashed, delivering a deep gash to the guard as Aero plunged the sword into the man's chest, finishing him.

The last guard came out from a door to the right of Aero and immediately opened fire at him. Aero ran, slid to a bench, grabbed a throwing knife and quickly tossed it, striking the guards shoulder. He cried in pain as Aero ran to him, slashed vertically then horizontally, ending the man as he reclaimed his throwing knife and ran to the door the guard came out of after returning the rod to his thigh, hitting a button on the bottom of the rod to collapse the blade. He kicked it open and ran down the intricate hallway, adorned with a wooden finish, multiple paintings and vases as he came to a door and kicked it in to a man in a business suit. The man looked at Aero in terror, taking in the five foot ten assassin adorned in black, including a mask that covered his mouth and nose, leaving only his golden eyes and short, dark blue hair open for anyone to see.

"L-Look, I don't k-know who you are, but I can pay you good money," the man said as Aero walked over to him and slammed his forehead into the desk. The man groaned in pain as his eyes slowly moved up to the top of Aero's head, noticing the small bat ears that stood four inches tall on top of his head.

"You're a faunus…" he said as he looked with hatred at Aero, "How dare you!"

"How dare I? How dare you, Mr. I'm-going-to-suggest-legislation-to-certain-politicians-in-Mistral. Said legislation, which would lower the status of faunus kind in the kingdom. And you ask how dare I…"

"Yes I do! How dare you, you filthy bat, come in here, kill my guards and then think you are going to get away with this!"

"Do you even know why I came?" Aero asked the man, who immediately tensed up as he looked at Aero's armament.

"Okay, now hang on son, we can work out a deal."

"You really want to work a deal out with the filthy bat?" Aero asked as the man went pale. Aero kicked the man's seat, making him fall over to the ground and looked up at Aero.

"Okay, okay, hang on! What can I buy you for?!"

"I have no price Mr. Cheo. You wish for faunus' to be of a lower status here in Mistral and you have nine as your own personal slaves, hiding them from the public to keep your façade," Aero said as he placed the sword on the man's neck.

"How do you know all this?!"

"I have my resources."

"Please don't! I have a wife and a daughter!"

"And what about those faunus's that you want to hurt or have hurt? What about their families? Did you ever even consider that?"

"No, because your kind are bel-AHHH!" he yelled as Aero stabbed him in his left shoulder one of his short blades.

"We are not below any species. We are equal to humans in every way, hell, we are the better ones yet we let ourselves be pushed around.

"And what makes you say your kind is better?!"

"Jeez, I don't know, look at all the guys I killed then get back to me."

"I'm going to have you killed you monster! I have contacts! I know the guilds! They will help me take you down!"

"Funny, I'm a member of the assassin's guild," Aero said nonchalantly, causing the man to widen his eyes in further panic and reach for the hilt of the short blade as Aero drew one his light blue tinted pistols.

"Please! Don't do this!"

"But, if I don't, then you'll go ahead and pay off some politicians to get the bill passed."

"I won't, I swear!"

"See, you say that now, but I know how you lot are," Aero said as the man began to rebuttal again, but was silenced by a single bullet to his head from Aero. The assassin looked over the man in his late 40's and shook his head as he removed his short blade and slid it into its sheath.

"Sebastian, mission complete, send in the crew," he said into the headset as he turned to the desk and looked at photos of the man with his wife and daughter. Aero sighed and shook his head, ran a hand through his hair, lowered his mask and rubbed his clean shaven face while returning to the lobby, where a cleaning crew was already taking care of the bodies. Aero spotted his handler and walked over to him as he was telling a few people where to dispose of the bodies.

"There you are Sebastian."

"Sup Aero, great job," the young man said with his gruff tone along with a smile as he turned to Aero. Sebastian Damper stood an inch taller with dark blonde ruffled hair, a five o'clock shadow barely visible on his dark skin and brown eyes that contrasted his orange t-shirt and red jeans.

"Appreciate it, though I admit I didn't think the guards were gonna see me."

"Agreed, but it happens," Sebastian said, turning to his friend of nine years and looking him over, "You okay?"

"Just sucks for his wife and daughter, you know?"

"Yeah… then again, no, not really. He was a dirty bastard, so I'm sure she'll find someone else. Besides, the accounting firm is in her name in his will, she'll be fine as will the daughter."

"Yeah, financially."

"That's all you can do sometimes."

"Hm… Anyway, how are you guys going to clear it up?" Aero asked as he sat on a bench while a member of the cleaning crew handed him his missing throwing knives.

"We'll patch his body up and throw it in front of a car. It'll look like he didn't look both ways, which kills a lot nowadays."

"Oh I'm sure," Aero said as he cleaned his blades slowly, "What's my next assignment?"

"Shouldn't you take a day or two off for proper rest?" Sebastian said with concern at Aero, who looked at the man and shrugged.

"I could, but what's the point?"

"Oh I don't know, getting proper rest, which is what I just said?"

"Meh, don't need it," Aero said with a tired smile that Sebastian reciprocated.

"So, just one mission left now, right?" Sebastian asked as he sat next to Aero and pulled out his scroll, looking over a report from another assassin.

"Yeah, thank God," Aero said, patting his friends shoulder, a smile coming to Sebastian as he continued to read. The two of them had become fast friends when Aero joined the guild nine years ago, Sebastian himself born into it because both his parents were assassins. Since then, they had been on nearly every mission together, with Sebastian always being Aero's handler. Being five years older than Aero at 28 meant that he doubled as a big brother figure for Aero, which Aero didn't mind, especially when it came to certain decisions. Those decisions included helping the White Fang recently only kill those that were mercilessly hurting faunus kind in the kingdoms. Even after teams RWBY and JNPR from Beacon had taken down Roman, Cinder and her associates two years ago, people still had a hard time dealing with faunus', even if one helped end the criminals.

"Seriously though, let's get to the last guy," Aero said to his friend, who sighed and shook his head as he whistled, causing a cleaner to approach him with a suitcase. Sebastian took it and grabbed a manila folder from a back pocket, which he handed to Aero, who flipped through it.

"Alright Mr. Kalo, you're next target is in Vale. He's been selling faunus' around the four kingdoms and sells arms, including to those that are linked to homicides against your kind. Questions?"

"When and where."

"Two days and I have the perfect idea for where."

"Go on," Aero said, waiting to hear this grand plan from his friend.

"Well your target likes music and is attending a concert for the Vav's at a venue. Here's the thing: it's also open mic night and their allowing any and all indie bands to perform."

"Oh no Seb, don't tell me-"

"You, me and Lila pose as a band, we get in, you kill him and we slip away."

"You're fucking with me, right?"

"What is wrong with this plan? I've been playing guitar for a few years now, Lila and you have decent voices-"

"Geez thanks."

"Just saying. Besides, it'll be fun, the three of us on a mission," Sebastian said, closing his eyes and imagining the plan in his head.

"Uh huh. Lila cool with it?"

"She is."

"Alright, fine, we'll do it your way," Aero said, shaking his head as Sebastian celebrated, "If only so that I can be done with the White Fang, I don't want to work with Adam anymore."

"Don't blame you at all man. Come on, let's go catch our airship," Sebastian said, standing up and walking away with Aero hot on his heels. It was time for them to go back home, relax then make preparations for the next target.

Lila and Aero walked to his room, where Aero flipped a light switch near his bed. From underneath his bed slid out a chest, which opened up to reveal Aero's full arsenal: his sword, collapsible baton, two short blades, two hidden blades, his pistols, his sniper rifle and assault rifle.

"Damn Aero, I don't have nearly as much," Lila said as he walked up to the chest and looked over his weapons.

"Yeah, but you know me, being prepared for any and all," he said as he grabbed a pistol, his baton and the hidden blades.