A/N: What? What long hiatus are you talking about? I…. I….. *sigh,* well, you've heard all the things I say when something takes long, and this is the longest time a new chapter took, so let's not waste time. In fact, I'm going to have a 'Previously On:' thing, so there's that. I'm sorry that it took a while, but I hope you enjoy this next chapter.

I don't own RWBY. That goes to Rooster Teeth, with its conception to the late Monty Oum.

Previously On: Zwei Handlers.

Jaune and Pyrrha meet up with Sun and Neptune and head out to get tuxes for the upcoming dance. However, the White Fang, hoping to capture Jaune for Cinder, have decided to attack! Jaune is wanted alive… his company, not so much.

Nora is having pancakes with Ren and Penny, who is following Cinder who is having pancakes with Hazel. Neo was having pancakes alone and decided to have a chat with Nora, and gave her a signal ring to contact Neo at any time Nora needs her. What could possibly go wrong there?

Dr. Pluto Glass is still NOT a fan favorite, and Kirjoitabls needs to learn how to write better characters.

Neo left the pancake place after having her brief conversation with Nora. She gave that crazy girl a call-ring, and the pun was not lost on her, as well as the consequences of giving her such a device. Nora could now summon her at any time. Indeed, she could choose to ignore it, but a buzzing pager is an obnoxious thing regardless.

She's killed some of Torchwick's minions who didn't have their phone on silent. In a movie theater. The popcorn would be salted by their blood! She tolerated Nora to the point that she could let her have contact with the one and only Neo.

Anyway, she…. Trusted? Nora. Maybe trust was a strong word. Tolerated. Yes, that. It was to help her mission to avoid Cinder involving Jaune in this mess, which he would should Cinder sleep with him. He was like that, once you were close to him he would somehow end up in all of your business even if he didn't actively try to.

She was at school, being bullied by people who made fun of her ugly voice. Damn required choir classes at public school. She wasn't tough back then, and she was about to cry. And Jaune just so happened to walk in because his mandatory choir class was about to start and his class ended early, so for some reason he went to choir early.

And he stood up for her. And got teased for wetting his pants when those kids older than him threated to clobber him to dust.

It was the first time Neo ever wanted to murder someone, and Neo now knew it wouldn't be the last.

Neo sighed as he thought of her dear brother. If Cinder got to him, the poor boy could be manipulated into this scheme of hers, to be a pawn in her game once… whatever Cinder was feeling waned. It wasn't love, of course, Cinder only loved herself. However lust seemed to be an understatement. It was an obsession, and obsessions came and went like people's lives.

And if dealing with Nora helped keep Jaune away from Cinder's obsession, more power to her. Who knows, she might be able to help. She did mention she was looking for an affordable dress. It wouldn't be too difficult to take Nora's form, go into a tailor shop, have something fitted, murder the tailor, use the measurements to go to another tailor with much better quality to make a dress, murder that tailor after that was done, and then ask someone to deliver the dress to Nora.

And then kill the delivery person.

It was by no means the most efficient way to do it, but it had wiggle room for the occasional spout of murder.

She looked at the beeper that is tied to the buzzer she gave the pancake loving freak. She hoped Nora wouldn't abuse it. She was the type to abuse such a device, but she also wasn't stupid enough to piss her off, so… It should be fine.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Neo looked down in annoyance charged by the irony of her recent thoughts. Seriously? She was just with her no more than ten minutes, what could possibly warrant Nora calling her all of a sudden. She turned around.

A column of smoke rose a couple of blocks away, and Neo, acute to such sounds, heard screams of horror about a fire starting at specific pancake emporium.

Oum dammit.

Ten minutes earlier.

Nora returned to her table where Ren and Penny were engaging in conversation, which consisted of Penny talking and Ren nodding. She sat there looking at the ring Neo gave her, claiming that all she had to do was press that pink button and Neo would be on her way to assist her.

For what assistance she would require a Neo wasn't something Nora really wanted to think about. She didn't want anyone dead. She didn't want to steal anything. And she had no intention of purchasing an umbrella….. wait, maybe she DID want an umbrella. There was that hit song about being under someone's umbrella being romantic or…. Sexual or something?

Whatever, Nora could get her own umbrella, one that was not also a gun, which she assumed Neo's weapon was. She only saw Neo fight once, and it was against her, while she was accidentally drunk at Yang's birthday.

Heh, good times.

"So, is it true that people can sense their internal emotions by looking upwards?" Penny inquired Ren as he stared at her with a stare Nora knew too well, the "humor her," stare.

"And what do you mean by that?"

"People always say 'What's Up,' to mean, 'how's it going?' I assume the term evolved by asking people what was above them, or, what has 'moved up' in a way to their main mental state, and hence something is above them, and to know themselves and the world around them, they must decipher what is indeed 'up?' I find colloquialisms really interesting, and I like the history of…."

Ren shifted his glance to notice Nora sidle back into the booth, and with a brief raise of both of his eyebrows, he hurriedly asked, "Hey! How was the trip to the bathroom? It was fairly long."

"Oh yes Nora!" Penny jerked her head towards Nora. "What's above you right now?"

"Ren!" Nora asked, pretending to look offended, "how dare you ask me about the secrets in the lady's bathroom! Some things are better left to the imagination." Nora then winced at herself, "and some things shouldn't be imagined at all."

"Didn't plan on it," Ren sighed, "anyway, I'm going to hail down the waiter to bring our checks. I'll be right back."

"Can't you do that sitting down?" Nora asked, and Penny nodded in curious agreement.

Ren sighed, "I need to use the bathroom," he said hurriedly as he dashed away from the table, zooming in a direction that, as Nora understood, wasn't the bathroom.

"Wow, he waited for you to come back before he desperately went to the bathroom? Ren is so patient!" Penny perked up and smiled.

Nora knowingly looked as Ren continued to walk out the door for some fresh air. "He has his limits, but he's normally incredibly patient." Geez, he deals with me all the time, how bad can Penny possibly be? So she asks the difference between Valean and Atlesian culture all the time…

"Soo… since it's just us girls, who are friends, I was wondering…. How do close do you need to get to a girl before you can make out with her in parties?" After Penny said that, Nora's morbid curiosity was replaced with… Nora couldn't describe what emotion it was: humored revulsion? Disgusted hilarity?...

Aghast curiosity.

"…what?"

"Well, I am unable to sleep…. I mean, I COULDN'T sleep…. Of course I can sleep! I don't just shut off and charge, I lay in a bed and…." as Nora felt her face contort in her confusion, she noticed Penny's eyes take notice of that, "…anyway, pay that tangent no mind. So, after not being able to sleep, I decided to sneak out to Vale, and discovered something called 'club culture,' and apparently, if two girls are good friends, they make out in front of boys to help attract them. And since the dance is coming up…."

"I have an idea where this is going, and Penny, I'm going to have to stop-" Nora was interrupted by Penny leaning over the table and getting dangerously close to Nora's face. Nora felt the desire to get out of the way, but her literal shock (and yes, the shock was literal, conductive muscles do weird things) stilled her action, as well as some calming force: like nutty, autumn winds cooling and caressing her, stilling her tense form.

"….will you help me attract boys?" She then stopped, their noses touching, their eyes practically in the same physical space, and their lips both dangerously close. Yet, for some reason, Nora couldn't feel Penny's breath like all those things she read about in Blake's books (in passing). She gathered it was melodramatic flair, but…. It was like Penny wasn't breathing…

Maybe that weird wind that she felt surrounding her was it, but…. Breath didn't work like that. At least Nora's didn't. Oh no! What if Penny's semblance was that she breathed out in cyclones, that would be so….

Wait, why were they still like this.

"Uh…"

"I'm waiting for your consent."

Nora still felt pretty confused. She knew what was going on, it was just her brain had problems believing it. "….uh…..

"I've been informed that getting consent is important in matters such as these…."

"Well…." Nora suddenly found the words, "….I'm flattered, really, that you would trust me so much after only meeting like…. Twice…. But….

"….and Ren only once, but I already know I want to take him to the dance."

"…yeah, and I…. wait what?"

"….and you should always get consent from family members. And from what I understand you are basically Ren's sister."

"….." Nora lost the words again.

"….and I would like you to help me attract him."

"What is my life right now?" Nora thought she was the crazy one, that life would never be crazier than her, that nothing would catch her by surprise. First a super powered dog, now…. Whatever the hell THIS was, Nora felt everything was collapsing around her. Reason was to be abandoned, entropy is the only true Oum, Monty is de-….

Nora, for some reason, felt like she was about to make a joke too dark for the tone of the story of her life, or this portion of her life.

"He's just so…. Nice! I could tell that I annoyed him, yet….. like you, like Ruby, he was willing to talk with me anyway."

"He is awesome like that." Though, considering that Ren couldn't picture anything romantic about Nora, she couldn't imagine Penny would have much luck. "Look, I'll see what I can do."

"So I have your consent?"

Nora smiled, "of course!" Who knows, it might be fun…..

She felt footsteps come to the table, "well, I'm back, sorry for running off, anyway….." there was a pause in Ren's voice, "…why are your faces that close?"

Oh yeah, they hadn't moved during the whole conversation. Nora chalked it up to Penny being strange and that was her attempt to be 'secretive.' Heh, she herself wasn't much better. She was about to withdraw her face and make some excuse about 'girl talk' until she felt some deceptively strong and surprisingly cold hands cup her face.

"Oh, we were just doing this!" And Penny kissed Nora firmly on the lips, crashing right into the Valkyrie's face. Nora made to jump back, but those cold hands were just so strong. Stronger than her! How the heck was Penny stronger than her, she looked like a twig compared to her! Why were her lips so cold as well…. but they are smooth…. And now getting warm…. So….. warm…. Would kissing Jaune be like this?… If so it would be kinda nice. Very nice even. She ignored the reality and just relished in the feeling…. Warmth on her face…. It was getting warmer. Very warm…

Then a sudden increase in temperature as well as a coming realization of what was happening caused Nora to create a jolt that rocketed her away from her seducer. She brought a hand to her lips which she could feel partially burned, though thankfully her aura was making work of it. "Ow! Hot! Hot!"

"…..I have to agree." A random person sitting across the restaurant stated, his eyes wide.

"No!" Nora objected, turning towards the stranger, "literally hot! Like….ow! That burned! What did you do?"

"I was told kissing was supposed to be hot! So I warmed my face up!" Penny responded hurriedly, her eyes wide, "did I do something wrong?"

"You took the word 'hot' too literally!... Also, how do you heat your face? Ren, is it possible to heat…. With dust…." Nora looked at her best friend, "….Ren?"

Ren's face was so red it could've been considered a racist stereotype to a Native Vytalian. His eyes was also the size this very restaurant's Mega-Saucer Pancake o' Doom.

"I mean…. My face feels pretty heated right now, and I didn't use dust."

"Here," Penny hurriedly got out of her seat and moved to Nora's side, "let me help…" Penny leaned in, but Nora swatted her hand away.

"No more kissing! I didn't agree to that! I only agreed to help in any way I can to help in any way I can to convince Ren to take you to the dance!"

"Any way you could?"

"….let me rephrase that."

Penny didn't lean in, but she felt that weird wind feeling again, except much more cold, yet…. Bizarrely soothing.

Nora looked up to see a small whirlwind envelop the girl, small patches of ice growing on the surfaces surrounding her. There was even a leaf or two in the self-contained gust. Where did those leaves come from? Was their greenery littering the ground of an inner-city pancake emporium?

The gusts stopped. "Feel better?" Penny asked, concern still plastered on her face.

"…..yeah. Just…. Don't kiss me again, please? I get it was a misunderstanding, just…"

"Sure… sorry for…. Pushing your boundaries."

They smiled at each other. A man screamed, "hey you guys should kiss and make up!"

"SHUT UP!" Both Penny, Nora, and even Ren shouted across the restaurant.

The restaurant fell into silence, though there was one stray whistle. And then, there were footsteps: Massive, clunking footsteps providing a bass rhythm to the more stark and tepid steps of high heels.

"Penny," Cinder asked, "what did you just do?"

"Oh, I kissed Nora and learned an important lesson on boundaries!" Penny responded happily.

"….that whirlwind, it looked, like….. Fall."

"What do you mean by…." Penny then paused, and once more her eyeballs widened, "crap."

"….you….. You have the maiden powers!" Cinder's eyes grew three sizes as she pointed a wavering finger at the girl.

Penny stood up, "YOU have the maiden powers? You're the…. Oh no wonder the good Doctor wanted me to keep an eye on you!"

Nora and Ren looked at each other, "the what now?" Nora tried to discern what 'maiden powers' would even mean…. She then got an idea.

"MAIDEN powers! Oum my Monty Cinder you're a VIRGIN! HAH!" Nora did a small dance while pointing aggressively at the woman who paid the excitable electric girl no mind. "All bust and no THRUST! HAH! You're JUST LIKE ME!"

The big guy standing behind Cinder grunted towards Nora with a humorless expression, before turning to the target of Nora's ridicule.. "You sure?"

"I am sure Hazel, I saw Amber use that same move…. Also….." Cinder put a finger on her chin, "searing kisses. That seems like a move missing from my arsenal."

"Wait." Ren, acting as composed as someone could in such a situation, "what's going on?"

"I'm going to claim what is rightfully mine…"

"Can we…." The man Cinder called 'Hazel,' sighed, "…never-mind, subtlety is lost as of this point."

"And that's basically what happened," Nora screamed as once more she used the mallet of her hammer to block the big guy's fist. His fist! How is this guy so strong?

Neo, standing in the carnage, the emporium on fire, Cinder flying around throwing flames at some girl who was also flying around throwing swords that whirled like a psychotic cyclone. Ren was plastered on a wall, recently punched into that wall by the big guy.

After a blink, Neo responded with a "what the actual fuck?"

Hazel grunted as threw another fist which had to be blocked by a grenade, but the searing fire above them stopped for a second.

"You can talk?" Cinder exclaimed, and while she was probably going to do a long speech about how 'of course she knew Neo could talk,' to save herself, Cinder was mercifully pierced by one of those cyclone swords while she was distracted.

The umbrella came out: it was apparently now or never, a bit sooner than she anticipated. She also pulled out her scroll to summon Torchwick. Hopefully he wasn't too busy with whatever he does whenever Neo was on her own.

Torchwick stood upright as the tailor measured his arms and his chest, weaving to and fro with that simple tape ruler so that he could once more get another fantastic white suit in case another one got dirty. Some people told him it was dumb to were such easily sullied clothes when he was a crimelord unafraid of the occasional dip into the actual dirty work. Some people didn't understand that dry cleaning and an unyielding supply of identical suits were the signs of a truly successful mob boss.

"Yup, the measurements are the same as last time." The tailor stopped his work and started jotting down notes.

"Are you sure?" Torchwick asked, "I could've sworn I felt a bump on my arm that wasn't there last time. I actually decided to start working out. Not that I'm not in perfect shape but it's always good to bulk up. But yeah… no… bump."

"No change I can see." The tailor mentioned. Torchwick sighed, maybe he was just so fabulous that any attempt to become even more so would be proven vain. There was a glass ceiling, and he himself forged that glass.

A jingle was heard from the front of the store. Naturally Torchwick was concealed in a specially designated corner for known mobsters, so that if cops showed up, or people who would call the cops, or huntsmen, or cops who would call huntsmen. Or huntsmen so unsure of themselves they called the cops.

"I'll attend to the new guests, you're free to go through the criminal exit." The tailor gestured to the door that was covered by the most atrocious suit conceivable, tye-dye with random logos associated with every holiday known to Remnant: the shamrock for Sir Drinkalot day, the manger for Shawcrossmas, the egg from Mileaster, the cartoon heart for Sir Hallmark's Love Day, and the menorah for Oumakkah. Really ugly stuff.

He pushed the insult to apparel aside pushed the door beyond open, and walked through the non-descript hallway out into an alleyway that led into a clean section of the sewers where a dignified man of crime can walk without risk of harassment from the cops.

He took one step outside to see three White Fang grunts.

"Uh…. I know we have a newfound partnership but you don't have to send bodyguards to protect me, I only need the one!" He then picked up his cane and confidently slammed it in front of him, leaning over the crook of it. "Or, the two if you count my own skill."

"We're not here to protect you." One of them sneered, "we are here to capture the one who insulted our leader's honor, and kill his human friends!"

"One of them was a faunus!" The second one mentioned.

"Well, we'll convert him! Painfully! With torture!" The third one yelled as the other two nodded in agreement.

"Well, don't let me stop you," Torchwick stood aside before he stopped, "wait…. Insulted leader's honor, like….."

"The one who defeated Adam on unfair terms!" The first one confirmed. "The one called…. Jaune Arc."

Shit! That was Neo's brother! Well, he couldn't let that happen, but….. well…..

"Is it just you three?"

"No, we have Adam and Sienna Kahn herself….. himself….. itself…." The second one seemed confused.

"Don't call our leader an 'it!' That's racist! It's what human scum call us!" The third one interjected.

"What about They?" Number two proposed.

"Sienna is not multiple, Sienna is ONE individual! There is no multiple facets to Sienna!" The first one preached.

"But Sienna does where a bunch of disguises, with a bunch of identities…" the second one argued.

"All a front, for Sienna's TRUE identity, which is SINGULAR." Number three and number one seemed to agree on this, while Number two was….. Torchwick stopped paying attention.

Torchwick saw Adam fight that time he fought Jaune. Adam was good, real good. He was only tripped up because that cat girl tired him out and weakened him, and then he was surprised by Jaune's reveal of his semblance, which trumped Adam gimmicky one-hit-kill blade. Adam even would've won if it wasn't for Torchwick's own interference.

Still, he didn't think Adam was incompetent enough to not learn from that experience.

Torchwick sighed, this could be more trouble than its worth, especially since interfering here would cause Cinder to turn her sights on him, and that's if he didn't get injured fighting Adam and his supposed non-pronounable boss. He sighed, sadly his life was more important than Jaune's: one must always look out for oneself over lackey's brothers.

He was about to get out of their way until his scroll buzzed.

Cinder's lost it. Has extra muscle. Could use help!

Nope. Can't do it. Defending your brother from White Fang terrorists. Torchwick never typed a message so fast, especially considering he simultaneously knocked those grunts out with Melodic Cudgel, as they were gratefully distracted amongst themselves. He groaned as he turned back into the store.

He hoped Neo would be okay, if something happened to her, Torchwick would admit it would crush him a little bit. A loyal and fun minion was always hard to come by. But when two roads diverge in a snowy wood, Torchwick will always take the path of least resistance.

Jaune blocked Wilt as it clashed with the blade of Crocea Mors, and he raised his shield to block the following fury of swipes and slashes. Adam dashed back and roared into a thrust that was interrupted when his blade was covered with a black hue…..

Adam careened into a rack of budget tuxedos and was tangled into a mass of fabric. Pyrrha Nikos leaped up to drive Milo into the attacker when she was knocked aside with a barrage of bullets. She was, however, quick enough to bring Akuou up to defend herself.

A figure dressed up in a black hood arrived, face covered with a full white fang mask. All that could be seen was a tiger tail that flicked outside of the robe.

"Hello." The voice said, distorted, "I couldn't think of a clever tool of deception, so I thought I'd show you my true self."

Jaune oriented himself towards the somehow even edgier presence, "you're Sienna Kahn?"

"Until further notice, of course, whether I need a new disguise, or canon provides me with something." Sienna nodded….. Sienna's head.

"Canon?"

"You know, like the brand of cameras, sometimes pictures of random people gives me inspiration."

"Why do I feel that was a bad joke?" Jaune mumbled. "Well, you're out of luck!" Jaune posed with his shield facing the leader of the White Fang. "It's four against two!"

"I wouldn't say that….." Sienna started to laugh the laugh only a Sienna Can.

Sun said, "what do you mean by THAAA-AAAAA-AAAAT!" Sun stuttered as a whip came from nowhere, electrified him, and then yanked him off behind racks of clothes.

"Sun!" Neptune screamed as he pulled out his trident, only to need to pivot to block a sudden case of the chainsaw.

"Meet Illia and….. Lieutenant." Sienna Kahn laughed, "or at least, your friends will. Adam, be a dear and handle Miss Perfect over here, I'll take care of our precious target."

Adam, having pulled off the clothing apparel that entwined him earlier, "but…"

"No butts! Don't make me lecture you while dressed up as Blake again!"

Adam gulped, shifted his concealed eyes onto Jaune's partner, and Pyrrha returned the glare. Jaune grabbed Pyrrha's arm.

"Be safe, please?"

Pyrrha smiled, "you too." She dashed off and the clashing of swords indicated an epic showdown that would be difficult to put into words.

Jaune returned his gaze to his target, and suddenly had to raise his shield to protect him from a hail of gunfire. Jaune took the opportunity to charge at his target, peeking his eyes over the upper crest of the shield to see where he was going.

Sienna jumped out of the way, and Jaune had to arc his shield around himself to prevent more bullets from whittling his aura down. He pivoted and once more faced Sienna's whose smoking suggested that there would be a break from shooting for a while.

Jaune dashed forward in a stab that was sadly countered by the blunt end of the gun, Sienna wound up for a kick, but it met with the shield instead of his flesh. Jaune was pushed back.

"Unlike you," the tiger's distorted voice taunted, "I wasn't trained in some prissy school. I was trained on the streets. And the dirt paths. And the club that I shall not talk about." Jaune took this time to notice that her rapid fire pistol was actually TWO pistols crudely duct taped together.

Jaune smirked, "really? You also obviously didn't take weapon crafting classes!"

"And you're fighting with a human hand-me-down." Sienna dashed forward and swiped with her gun-gun. Jaune activated his semblance and pushed through the blow, landing a stab at where Sienna's midriff should be.

Sienna grunted as she was pounded in the face with a shield bash, but before Jaune could connect with the follow-up strike from the sword, Sienna's empty hand glowed strangely and another gun-gun appeared, and showered Jaune with bullets.

Jaune wasn't fast enough to guard and was hit point blank with .5 caliber rainstorm to the face, and was knocked back. His aura protected him, but…. Oum, did that hurt!

"Nice semblance, child, care if I show you mine?" Sienna tossed away the gun-gun in the off hand, as the weapon disappeared into the ether. The terrorist than grabbed a rack of suits with the right, and suddenly, a second rack of equally unimportant suits appeared in the left. Sienna flung both the racks at Jaune.

Jaune raised his shield and glowed his trademark white as both racks stopped in their tracks. One of them disappeared as Sienna dived to the side, once again dual wielding gun-guns, that forced Jaune to retreat by the real clothes rack, sleeves and ties swinging like frail pendulums from all the duress under fire.

"So, you can duplicate anything in one hand into the other. That's…. odd, but I can see the use." Jaune then felt the bizarre need to ask, "what happens if you hold the same thing in both hands?"

"THIS!" Sienna roared as she ditched the fake gun-gun and put the real one in both hands. The weapon grew to what Jaune assumed was twice its size and….

Jaune took that time to retreat from his position and stay behind the main desk as massive bullets shredded through the clothes racks and the floor and even the ceiling.

"This isn't good…" Jaune was used to being outmatched, but usually he had something going for him. The person he was fighting was already tired. He had his team-mates to back him up. He had Nora and an OP Pooch of Doom.

However, as far as he knew, Pyrrha and those two Mistrali guys were currently occupied with their opponents, he couldn't really rely on them. And the scared tailor that was also cowering behind the same desk as him (Jaune just noticed) was probably of not much help either. Unless….

"Do you have any security measures in your store, sir?"

"No."

Well, there went that idea.

Wait, "why don't you have security measures in your store?"

"That's like me asking you 'why aren't you trained enough to deal with basic terrorists?'"

"These aren't basic terrorists, though!"

The tailor sighed, "I'd thought I'd be safe when I made deals with the criminal underworld, turns out there are different cadres of criminals! Who knew!?"

"Yeah, well… I….. wait, what?"

Jaune didn't get a response to his admittedly stupid and open-ended question when Sienna leaped atop the desk and pointed the massive gun at his skull.

"This shouldn't kill you, but a concussion is all I need!" Sienna then laughed an evil laugh, holding the gun still at Jaune's face, and he was considering what to do during such an obvious time to do something to stop it until a streaking red ball beat him to it.

Sienna exploded and was knocked back, Jaune peeked over the desk to see Sienna collide with the thick window, not breaking it, but cracking it beyond repair.

"Wow, Sienna, if you're a boy you're certainly compensating for something…." A new figure arrived, touting a cane and a beautiful white suit, which he promptly dusted.

"Sienna is a GIRL'S name!" The shrouded terrorist roared.

"So…. You're female."

"….Yes?"

"You inflected like you weren't sure," the tall, classy man retorted, before looking down and offering a hand to Jaune, "what? You're looking at me like you don't recognize good ol' Torchwick!"

….Jaune racked his brain, maybe he saw this man's face on the news? But…. He wasn't so sure.

"What, Neo never mentioned me?"

"Neo? Wait, you mean…. Poli?"

"Of course she didn't mention me, she never mentions anything." Torchwick sighed. "Look, I'd rather not have her murder me if I didn't help you so…. Would you like a hand?"

"Torchwick! You've come to save me!" The tailor hopped up and down, "Oh, I'd love to have a hand…"

"Not you! Were you even paying attention to who I was talking to old man?" Torchwick sneered at the aforementioned old man.

"I'm in my late forties!" Objected the maybe-not-that-old-man.

"Shut up!" Torchwick spat out as Jaune took Roman's hand and pulled himself up, they both faced their target.

The malicious, crazy, multi-personality, and most definitely not canon Sienna Kahn.

Ironwood landed on the Beacon grounds with a pudgy bearded man and a tall, elegant specialist. He marched in front of the pavilion, making sure that everyone looked at him while he walked, so that they understood his power. For every step is a measure of strength, and if one walked weakly for even mid-stride, a weakness could be detected.

A small form met them in the pavilion, accompanied by the ravishing Glynda Goodwitch and the subdued Ozpin.

Dr. Pluto Glass walked up to them, "what are you all doing here? Shouldn't you be back at Atlas running the school."

"Professor Cobalt is working there in my stead, awaiting your return." Ironwood nodded, "Your research has proved valuable," Ironwood didn't mention what the research was, they were still in public, and Winter was still around, "and now I've escorted Dr. Glister Polendina here to put that research into practical applications."

"Makes sense, why do you have to stay?" Dr. Glass asked.

"Because he's a canon character," Ozpin mumbled, and Ironwood had no idea what that meant. Because his characteristics were as solid, reliable, and at times destructive as a canon?

"Because I'm to help oversee Dr. Polendina's research. Also, considering recent events unfolding, I thought it prudent to discuss things with Vale's headmaster in person, no need for back channels and heavily encrypted data that Valean software can't handle."

"Fair," Dr. Glass mused, "but why is Winter here?"

"I'm here," Winter assured, "to be Ironwood's personal bodyguard and to maintain a good PR network from Vale to Atlas during the Vytal Festival. And it helps that I'm here to check up on my sister."

Dr. Glass looked at Ironwood, "you brought her here just to dismiss her during sensitive meetings just to express the amount of power you have, didn't you?"

Ironwood felt the metal part of his brain whirring in frustration. Yes, Dr. Glass was right, but he couldn't admit to it, "Winter's response is more accurate." The Schnee soldier nodded with pride.

"Well, I guess I'm going to pack my bags and….." Dr. Glass, Ozpin, and Goodwitch suddenly had their scrolls vibrate, and all checked at the same time.

"Oum my Monty….." Glynda muttered.

"It's happening…." Dr. Glass seemed overjoyed.

"What's happening?!" Winter shouted.

"Get your weapons, everyone!" Dr. Glass shouted, "We're going to Vale! Oooh how I missed this!"

"Jaune and Nora are in Vale, I believe, I'll go get the dog," Glynda said, without thinking too deeply about people listening, it's not like a passerby could wrap his or her head around the context.

"Dr. Glass," Ironwood leaned in and whispered fiercely in the short man's ear, "what is going on?"

"A big portion of Vale is on fire, and witnessed describe two people, one sexy lady, and one weird awkward student girl throwing fire at each other….."

"You mean….." Ironwood's eyes bugged out.

"What does he mean, sir?" Winter begged to be let in.

"Winter, you are dismissed from this conversation, get your weapon and head to Vale, there's a fight that threatens to get city wide…."

Ironwood looked out into the distance, seeing the great Mountain Glen shrouded by clouds that hid the horizon from everyone.

Lurking beneath it, was a beast of untold power. A Grimm Dragon. A Class M Grimm, in a major city center.

"Hopefully nothing too horrid happens during it…. And if it does, what will save us?"

"I got the dog!" Glynda hurriedly returned, with Team RWBY in pursuit behind her. In her arms laid a small corgi, unassuming and fragile looking.

Ironwood looked at the answer to his question, with a further questioning glance.

"Woof."

A/N: No promises on the next update. I'm sorry for the wait, but as you can see, I'm sort of setting things in motion because I ran into a pacing problems, and I had to wrap my head around this. It's a problem I imagine a lot of fanfiction writers have when learning to write. Growing pains, and I have to acknowledge I'm going to have them.

Anyway, have a great day, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Fave! Follow! Review! What's better than a Gun-Gun? A Gun-Gun-Gun-Gun! Go Get One, Today!... Actually, Don't.