Bleiss Schnee stared down Ciel Soleil like she was the stupidest person on Remnant. This should have been quite difficult, given that Ciel had at least six inches of height on her teammate. Bleiss's elaborately woven hair barely reached Ciel's chin. This did not change the fact that anyone seeing them at this moment would describe it as that. Bleiss was staring down her teammate, red eyes full of molten fury.

Of course Bleiss was undoubtedly aided by the fact that she did in fact believe Ciel should be crowned stupidest person on Remnant. Technically Ciel was her team leader. CLPS, or Calypso as they were known in the Academy, was inequivably the strongest team in their year. Strong enough that none of the other years dared cross any of them. Technically, one would think Ciel as Team leader, would get at least some credit for that achievement. She never got any though. Ciel had three veritable monsters of combat on her team, only one of which showed any respect to her. Bleiss was not that one. She never had been, and never would be. In point of fact, seldom was the time either of them ever even remembered the fact that Ciel was team leader.

"What the fuck do you mean you lost her?"

Ciel stared at the floor, her stupid fucking watch, and back at the floor, "I had to use the latrine, I only intended to break contact with the target for a maximum of four minutes thirty seconds."

Bleiss pinched the bridge of her nose, everything about Soleil annoyed her. The fact that she was dressed in the Academy's uniform during their first weekend in Vale was just the beginning. Her clipped monotone voice was grating. The fact that Landon, Penny, and Bleiss had to carry her by the book and worthless ass in every fight was galling. Admittedly she was kind of hot, but that only annoyed Bleiss even more because fucking her would be about as joyful as fucking a mannequin. Still, of all her innumerable faults, her obsession with timing shit down to the second had to be the worst. Well, excepting that she had just managed to crown herself stupidest fuck on Remnant. "Ciel. I am pretty sure you've met Penny before correct?" Bleiss's voice was cold enough for one to seek shelter from it in an Atlasian blizzard.

Ciel's dark skin noticeably paled. Calypso had just completed their first term together. Bleiss asking rhetorical questions was not boding well. "Yes…" Ciel's normal monotone voice picked up a slight quiver.

Bleiss continued as if Ciel hadn't spoken, "In fact I think you've lived with her for three months." Bleiss's gaze was crueler than her father's during a labor dispute. "Feel free to correct me if I am misinformed."

Ciel could only nod.

Bleiss's smile was all hard edges and uncomfortable angles. "Have you ever known her to sit still for four minutes thirty seconds?" Ciel perked up ever so slightly. Bleiss put up one warding hand, "Bup-up-up-up not counting recharge times or that fucking guest lecture by… ah shit what was his name again?"

"Port ma'am," Ciel muttered glumly.

"Yes Port. Thank you Ciel," Bleiss briefly wondered how the guest speaker had managed to bore an android into semi-consciousness, but quickly redirected her attention to her moronic teammate. "Well, have you?"

Ciel closed her eyes, Penny was insatiably curious. Everything from a mountain to a dust bunny could suddenly become the most amazing thing ever. It was exhausting. An almost completely buried part of her soul, the part that hated the Academy in general and Schnees in particular, conceded she had gotten desperate enough to do almost anything for quiet. Almost anything had been worth four minutes and thirty seconds of not answering inane questions about everything in Penny's sight-line. Even leaving her teammate alone. In retrospect, it was a very poor decision.

"No I haven't." It was all Ciel could really say.

Bleiss nodded once, "We find her. Before our escorts know she's gone. Certainly before she gets into trouble. 'Cause, if anyone finds out about her, I will fucking torch you, your fucking family, your fucking house, your fucking dog, and all your fucking dreams." Bleiss's smile was well beyond vicious, "Then I'll post a selfie of me pissing on the ashes with a smile. Get me?"

Ciel nodded.

"Now fuck off."

Ciel fled. She knew it wasn't a tactical retreat. Being around an angry Bleiss was just about the worst, and that buried part of her soul slowly inched towards daylight and freedom.

For Bleiss? Well she dug out her scroll, thumbed one of just three listed contacts. He picked up on the second ring, "Landon? Give the ice cream lady my apologies… my honest apologies, sweeten the pot if you have to, but I have an emergency…"

/\

Nora was having the best day. Too bad it was almost over. Maybe it hadn't been the best day ever, that still went to when she had walked in on Ren in the bathroom relieving some stress, but it was still one those days she firmly classified in best category. She had started by waking up just as Ren had finished making pancakes. It was the weekend, so no classes, always a big plus. Her team had unanimously supported her suggestion to go into the city. Jaune had managed to not vomit on the Bullhead. The arcade they had stopped in had one of those hammer-bell-ringing-pole-thingies. The hole in the roof had been awesome. So had been the hole in the floor. The place they stopped for lunch in had an all-day breakfast menu, so Nora ate even more pancakes, though they weren't nearly as good as Ren's. Only like a dozen people asked Pyrrha for an autograph. Jaune had been able to buy the Pumpkin Pete's cereal box with Pyrrha's picture on it. When Nora had told Ren she was getting tired, he had given her a piggy-back ride. When he had gotten tired, he had almost, ALMOST, consented into her giving him a piggy-back. Almost, she was sure of it. You could tell by how he didn't roll his eyes when saying, "No." Mostly though, Jaune and Pyrrha had completely and officially made up, and now seemed together. Maybe they were even together-together. Oh wow wouldn't that be even awesomer… more awesome? More awesomer! Nora decided as she turned and eyed Pyrrha up and down closely.

Pyrrha startled when she suddenly noticed Nora's nose barely an inch from her shoulder, "Um, can I help you with something Nora?" Pyrrha flushed, and Nora silently squealed. Evidence!

"Just checking you for hickies!" Nora explained promptly. She then proceeded to walk around her Spartan teammate quickly, making sure to pay extra close attention to Pyrrha's neck, which was getting suspiciously redder all of a sudden. She didn't see any more evidence per se, though Pyrrha's flush was definitely incriminating. Maybe they just sucked face and hadn't graduated to hickies yet. Still, an expert investigator owed it to herself to be thorough… "You wouldn't have them hidden where I can't see them right?"

Pyrrha glanced down at her armor subconsciously, armor that protected vital areas but little else. Pyrrha's face was suddenly redder… more red… more redder than even her hair! Nora literally started to vibrate as the evidence supported her most awesomest hypothesis!

"Where!? You got to tell me where!" she shouted loud enough to drag Jaune and Rennie from what had to have been the more boring conversation.

"Where what?" Pyrrha's co-conspirator asked as he amicably stepped on the metaphorical landmine.

Nora turned to Jaune, suddenly realizing that her team leader was an equally viable source of information. A very noodle-ly source of information. One she could easily force to tell her. Her smile turned predatory. "Oh, just where you marked her."

Jaune looked at the furiously blushing Pyrrha then to the suddenly very scary Nora, and of course he misunderstood the question. "Um well, it's no big deal…." Behind him Ren was already face-palming. Ren liked Jaune, but JNPR's leader was an idiot sometimes. "After all she normally tosses me around and does whatever she feels like to me. I am strictly a beginner, especially compared to her. I mean her experience is easily world famous at this point…" Jaune wondered what Pyrrha found so interesting in the sky, but kept focus on Nora whose eyes were now as big as saucers, "Anyway she had forced me down on my knees, and I'll admit I was bruised and exhausted, but I managed to get my weapon firmly back in hand, then drive hard and straight for her face."

"Oh I like where this going," an amused voice remarked from behind them.

Jaune spun around, his sparring story, the one where he finally landed a glancing hit on his partner forgotten. A short woman that was both familiar, and definitely unfamiliar, stood before him. Her jet colored hair was woven into a short but almost impossibly elaborate ponytail, one made of hundreds of smaller braids. How did she maintain such an elaborate hairstyle? Then he noticed her attire, and his eyes nearly came free from their sockets. While her outfit technically covered enough to be fairly modest, it was skin tight. Her thin pants may as well have been black skin, Jaune noticed all kinds of interesting muscles quiver and flex as she shifted in her stance. The sleeveless white top wasn't any looser, though at least it was a bit thicker. Still it was stretched very tightly over her modest bust. It highlighted the suddenly important fact that not all women were inclined to wear bras. It also highlighted that is was a fairly chilly evening in Vale. The top was perhaps even more erotic because it was close enough to her skin tone to cause Jaune to do a mental double take to see where it ended and where her skin began. Though on the second take, the subtle black edge of the top should have been a dead give-away. His third take again focused that it was indeed chilly this evening.

A heavy gunmetal belt rode perfectly coquetted hips. He almost didn't even notice the glossy black whip on her right hip, nor the world's largest dust revolver on her left. Heavy black boots that rode half-way up her calf's completed a look of actively aggressive sensuality. Oh shit, she also has knives in those boots… Then his eyes wandered back up. His mind thought, yep it sure is chilly this evening, but his mouth said, "Umm, Weiss?"

Bleiss's good mood vanished. She had been relishing those blue eyes roving over her. The fact he had been in the middle of telling of some modest, but still interesting, BDSM sexcapades made it so much the better. Not that she really thought Blondie could keep up, he was an admitted novice, but it was nice to see Vale's youth were a bit more open minded than those of Atlas. Also, she wasn't completely sure if he and Big Red were open like that. Actually Red looked a bit possessive… and vaguely familiar. Not that Bleiss was worried, she never stepped into someone else's relationship unless all parties invited her. It was just simpler that way. If Red was someone's spurned ex, Bleiss wasn't the cause. Thus, if Red wanted to start some shit, Bleiss could kick her teeth down her throat and sleep like a drunken baby.

Bleiss shrugged off Big Red, she was jumping to conclusions. Focus. He called you… she that shall not be named. The unabashed comparing of sex notes on a crowded street in Vale had spoken so well of the group too. How fucking disappointing. Especially Blondie, who could blatantly check her out while speaking of sex with someone else. With that someone else being present, no less. Do it without even batting an eye! There really wasn't any harm in making subtle inquiries; Red might not be the possessive type. And if not? Well the more the merrier. Focus, he called you WEISS!

Yes, he had gone and ruined it. Blondie had officially gone from definitely doable, to not with her father's shriveled little cock with one word. "Apologize, and now." She relished how Blondie shivered at her tone. Yeah, a true masochist. Too bad, she hadn't had one of those for a while.

She stiffened though when his team moved. Big Red dropped into a stance by Blondie's side, and took a quick step to her right. Carrot-Top moved as well, placing herself between Bleiss and the armored idiot in the hoodie. Both women's eyes had sharpened to points. Pinky seamlessly glided to her left, though Bleiss's eyes didn't bother tracking him, opting instead to put the wall of the building at her back.

Bleiss's beamed a radiant smile. She had been pissed off for hours now. Penny had deliberately blocked both her homing beacon and her scroll signal, and Bleiss had been reduced to pounding the pavement for hours looking for Ironwood's favorite new toy. Beating the fuck out of a few scrubs in front of a crowd of civilians felt like just what the doctor had ordered. Adrenaline and endorphins flooded her system, fighting and fucking were her favorite things in this life, and her body relished both so very much. Stepping back into a fighting stance, a subtle flick loosening Fuckstick in its holster, she was unable to repress her shivers of anticipation.

"Um. Sorry?" Blondie said looking confused, but calm. Bleiss's eyes flicked to him, suddenly a bit of doubt entering her mind. Sure enough, his stance was as flatfooted as his voice.

Bleiss realized, with sudden disappointment, he wasn't going to make a move. More so, he had never intended to make a move. After initial disappointment, she silently agreed with him that this was probably a bad time and place. Obviously for different reasons, he was probably worried about the normies already starting to gather around them. For Bleiss, she didn't really relish the thought of explaining herself to her escorts or the local authorities. Especially her escorts, whose first question would be where her teammates were. The black on white huntress eyed him with a bit of grudging appreciation though. She appreciated the subtle show of force. Blondie was either strong enough to not fear her or wise enough to not want to cross her. Probably both. He was remaining calm, subtly trying to keep his teammates from escalating the situation. They were undoubtedly imbeciles, but Blondie wasn't so foolish. She relaxed her stance, following the guy's lead.

"You must be from Beacon," Bleiss stated more than asked. The last red tinges at the edge of her vision fading. Pieces had started to click into place.

"Yeah," he said more than questioned. Carrot-Top relaxed. Big Red didn't, and neither did Pinky for that matter, but they backed off a bit. So the pink and white puffball was the second smartest, that information could be useful.

"So you've met the Princess," Bleiss pinched the bridge of her nose, it was gesture all of Willow's children had garnered from their mother, before Mother Schnee had crawled into a bottle. Not that Bleiss was all that fond of her other siblings, in their own way they had all abandoned their mother to her fate. Not Bleiss, when she left Atlas for good, Willow would be coming with her. Shuddering to keep melancholy from settling in, she brought her full attention on the here and now. There was something disarming about Blondie. Like he somehow kept her from her edge.

"So you know, Princess and I don't much care for each other. Actually, it wouldn't be unfair to say we hate each other."

Carrot-Top blinked slowly at her then pointed right at her nose in a move so sudden it made Bleiss blink without flinching, "You look like Weiss! I knew you looked kind of familiar! Only you've got black hair and aren't nearly as cranky! Are you taller?" Puffball looked her up and down, not moving her finger while she did so, "I think you are, a bit at least!"

Bleiss blinked again, if this girl was the second smartest on the team, well just how stupid were the others. Maybe Soleil wasn't the dumbest person on Remnant after all. Bleiss figured the others would need some subtitles, if they could even read. "Yeah, Princess is my twin," a pause to glance at Pinky whose face was blank and serene, then decided to add, "Twin sister in case it wasn't obvious. She's a first year at Beacon." Even he had to be able to piece that together.

Carrot-Top nodded happily, "I couldn't tell at first, but since you both treat Jaune the same it totally clicked! Weiss and team Ruby are right across the hallway, and like I said she really doesn't like Jaune." The finger still hadn't moved from right before Bleiss's nose, and that fact started to make Bleiss feel like the foolish one.

Bleiss slowly pushed away the finger. She tried digesting what the pink and white puffball in front of her had said. If they lived across from each other, Blondie and the Scrubs were also first years then. Also, 'r' wasn't even Princess's middle name, so unless they were using a silent 'w' Princess hadn't been named team leader. Oh Princess must have loved that! Technically Bleiss wasn't leader of Team Calypso either. Oh Ironwood had threatened her with it, he was still pissed she hadn't gone to Beacon and opted to stay in Atlas. But he could no more make her team leader than he could keep her and Landon out of the Academy. He did manage to stick her with an idiot and an android, but few victories were total.

Bleiss focused her mind back on Blondie. So Weiss hated him. That was a most definitive mark in his favor. She blinked up at him. He was tall, and she liked that. His build was long and lean, she liked that as well. He wasn't easily intimidated. He stayed calm in crisis. She started a smile that could only be described as hungry, not thirsty, thirsty was for amateurs. Add his masochistic tendencies, and well it was too bad he was taken. It was impressive how quickly he dug his way out of hell and (if Red so allowed) towards heaven in her eyes.

Bleiss turned to the tall Amazonian dominatrix, "So Red how open is your arrangement with Blondie?" Big Red blinked slowly at Bleiss, and Bleiss briefly concluded that Red was indeed dim. And probably also the possessive type. More's the pity.

Fortunately, Doable quickly taught her to not jump to conclusions on the later. "Well I'm not very good, but Pyrrha tells me I am getting better every day. Especially with endurance. I know I can at least take one hell of a pounding." His smile was bit sheepish, but there was definite pride there. "I am sure we'd love to see what you can bring to the table to make me a better partner. I mean if you're seriously interested."

Bleiss's smile became transcendent, she stuck out her hand. "I'm Bleiss, Bleiss Schnee, and I am indeed interested."

"Jaune Arc." He smiled and took a step forward. His grip was firm, but polite.

Short, sweet, and rolls off the tongue, Bleiss thought to herself. I kinda love it! Then she blinked in surprise, "Wait Arc? Like in Alabastos Arc?"

Jaune's cheeks flushed slightly at the little huntress in front of him. "Yeah, he was my great-grandfather."

A brief shiver of fear danced down her spine as Bleiss realized she had likely dodged one hell of a bullet. It was one thing to answer uncomfortable questions about missing androids to her escorts. She shuddered to think what her team, mostly Landon, would have thought if an Arc had plastered her beautiful ass up and down the block. Gods, is that why Princess hated him? He's probably king of the mountain among first years. To control such a powerful hunter, to make him kneel before her. Dim or not, Red had some serious skills. She was also pretty hot, if Bleiss did say so herself. Of course she'd have to be to hold someone like Jaune's attention. It was a pretty big shame she wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. She was more a spoon come to think of it. Still, dull or not, skills and hotness could gloss over a lot and Big Red had to have some serious skills. Maybe Bleiss could get a few pointers herself. Hopefully tonight. Her eyes lingered over his crotch, after all there really wasn't any reason to be coy at this juncture. She became distracted at what was on his hip. Really looking at it for the first time, her eyes narrowed. No. Fucking. Way.

"Is that actually Crocea Mors?" Bleiss couldn't contain her trembling excitement at the thought, going so far as to lick her lips.

Red frowned at her, "Obviously not Bleiss. It's a replica, Jaune's family obviously wouldn't…." it was the first words Red had spoken since Bleiss had stumbled on Blon…. Jaune in mid-story. Her voice was a bit condescending, but Bleiss just chalked that up to her inner sadism so let it slide. They'd figure out who was top bitch soon enough.

Jaune suddenly looked really uncomfortable. For the first time his cool nonchalance completely cracked. He looked sheepishly at Red. Pinky sucked in a deep breath, and from the sound of it, Pinky did so through his teeth. Carrot-Top didn't even blink, proving again she was three steps ahead of her teammates in the conversation. Not that being ahead of the other two was difficult.

Bleiss smirked as Red's face became a perfect "O" of surprise. Weirdly though, for some unfathomable reason Red looked suddenly angry. Like really angry. Bleiss's smirk widened as she realized Red was just now grasping who and what Jaune had to be. A true scion of the Arc family, so much so he was even allowed to wield mother-fucking Crocea Mors!

Bleiss's thoughts of showing Red who was indeed top bitch died a sudden death of bright green fire. A flash, no a beam, no Penny's fucking beam tore through the early evening skies followed several seconds later by the distinct sounds of explosions.

Fucking Penny! What has she done!

/\

Landon leaned quietly against a shadowed wall. If you ignored his eyes, and strange lack of lips, he was one of the more human looking faunus. He was just tall and thin. Just a skosh too little mass stretched over a skosh too much height. Still, no one looked into his flat gray and amber eyes and thought anything less than faunus. They were reptilian, almost alien, and marked him as completely inhuman. It irritated him that inhuman was meant as an insult. Doubly so, that until a year ago, inhuman had actually felt insulting. Bleiss had dealt with that. The same way she dealt with most things, brutally.

His lipless mouth twitched in a smile, now he was a student of the Academy. He hadn't attended Charter, he hadn't attended any training school. All he did was successfully bounce a drunken black haired bitch from a club one night. He smiled at the memory. Bleiss had been very unhappy about that. Upset enough to kick his ass the next day. Then they had spent the rest of the week closing the local bars down.

With effort, Landon killed the memory of meeting his friend. Landon brought himself back to the here and now. Here and now was very important.

Fucking Penny had just exploded the main shipping docks in the port district of Vale. How she got here? He had no idea. Why she had gotten involved? He had no idea. He did know that for a whole host of reasons, Bleiss was going to be pissed. Not as pissed as Neo and Torchwick, but pretty fucking pissed all the same.

Penny glanced at him nervously. She had seen him the moment he took up residence in the alcove. Landon wasn't completely sure how her eyes worked, the two faunus she was with sure hadn't seen him, but Penny did. Stop looking at me damn it! You will give away my position!

Landon was dressed in dark jeans and a shirt of very dark gray, with subtle vertical lines. The dark colors accentuated his height and he had wanted to be as intimidating as possible when dealing with Torchwick's little sociopath. Now those color choices made him difficult to see in the low light. His short draping cape and cowl hid his lack of bulk and blurred his humanoid outline, making him even harder to notice. The only thing that would be popping or distinct was the light colored bandolier full of various dust knives that crossed his chest. Normally they served to draw attention from the light semi-automatic pistols on his hips, but now the contrast was too revealing, and he kept himself wrapped in his cloak.

Penny! Stop looking this way!

His meeting with Neo had been as unnerving as ever, but at least the tiny criminal had been in a reasonable mood earlier. Not that she would be now. Flaming wreckage littered the docks, flaming wreckage that had belonged to Torchwick. The remains of three Bullheads bobbed in the water or smoldered on the concrete. Neo was going to be furious at Bleiss. After all, Bleiss had set up the details of this very shipment. Normally, information was just information, and if it went south that wasn't Bleiss's problem. That didn't fly here though. Penny had done this and she was Bleiss's teammate. Yeah, Neo was not going to be happy.

Fucking Soleil. One thing, she had one thing to do, and this was the result. And fucking stop looking over here damn it!

Standing in the shadows, Landon watched his wayward teammate chat awkwardly with a cat and monkey faunus. The three sat warily on a mostly unscorched pile of crates while a fourth member skipped around them animatedly. Skippy, had the coolest mech-shift weapon he had ever seen, some sort of scythe/rifle that folded up small enough to fit easily under her hooded cloak. Landon also respected those that could pull off capes, cloaks, cowls and hoods, and Red could.

Gods bless that little Red child. She was too wrapped up in her story to notice Penny and too loud for her fellows to notice anything but Red-Skippy Hood. Landon also liked the red on black, made her look like a fairy tale hero. Even if it was a bit spoiled by poses that could only vaguely, and with great kindness, be described as martial arts.

Of course, even though they were laughing at Red-Hood, the faunus would normally be able to see him. Thing is though, they were stupid enough to sit in a bright ring of light and their night vision would be comparative crap right now. Still didn't seem to work on Penny.

"Please, for the love of whatever android deities exist somewhere, stop looking over here!" Landon whispered angrily.

At that moment, Bleiss showed up silently at his elbow. He had seen her coming, after all he wasn't pissing away his night vision, plus he could taste her perfume on the wind. She snorted at his remark, before responding with something equally obvious. "Well this is a fucking mess."

Landon looked at her, the dust woven into her clothing was all muted grays at the moment, but her skin was still shockingly pale. Pissed away night vision or not, if monkey or cat looked this way they'd see her in a heartbeat. This conversation was going to have to be quick. "Neo is going to flip her shit."

Bleiss nodded, "Yeah I'll talk to Ice Cream, probably to Torchwick too. You mind getting in touch with Junior? See if he can set up a face to face. Make sure Junior knows Penny is on my team and that he passes that information along to Torchwick. We don't hide this from Roman, we don't want one night's anger becoming a years long feud."

"Do we inform Torchwick of Penny's nature?"

Bleiss thought for a second, "No. Torchwick will ask though, at least when I see him he will. I'll figure out my play then."

Landon nodded. "I really don't want you to go solo when you meet him."

Bleiss smiled in the dark, knowing he could see it. "Thank you for that, but Torchwick's about the Lien. I can always buy my life from him. If Neo had been here, things might be different, but we can be thankful she wasn't"

Landon laughed a bit, "I thought she was a bit intimidated by you."

Bleiss laughed silently in the dark, "Well she's just not sure she can win. It's more like she's a bit afraid of the possible consequences if she loses."

Landon had remembered how last year Neo had gone from terrifying to terrified in the span of five seconds. You shouldn't laugh at someone who could kill you a dozen ways before you noticed they were there, but Landon had. He did so now, his one regret was that neither he nor Torchwick had managed to capture the moment with their Scroll.

Bleiss continued, "However, if she had been publicly humiliated by some students? Well I doubt she would swallow her pride willingly. Torchwick will though. Whatever is driving him isn't letting up. I might have to sacrifice a source on this and just ship a container of dust to him directly."

"Who do you think is yanking his chain?"

Bleiss shrugged, but he could tell she was irritated. "Whoever is buying the dust. I'm looking into it, but considering tonight I'm going to guess the White Fang. Sienna Khan has some very pointed questions to answer."

Landon shivered, he had met Sienna in person only once. It wasn't something he wanted to repeat. "She hates you."

"She's hateful like that." Bleiss shrugged, "She also owes me a bucket of blood and a mountain of Lien and knows it. Her pride won't let her renege on that. She'll bluster and threaten, but in the end she knows she'll answer my questions or she won't be able to hit the SDC in any meaningful way." Bleiss thought a moment, "Since I have to sacrifice a source, I might as well feed her someone."

"Please let it be Oin." Councilor Oin was one of the most ardent political supporters of the SDC under Jacques Schnee. He had killed no less than seven mine investigations and had been the deciding council vote to deny faunus equal protection under the law. He was also much less clever than he thought, was fairly bribable, and had been shipping dust to all of Jacques's less savory customers sight unseen. This left him so open to data manipulation that he was dead the moment Bleiss pulled the trigger. Even from Vale.

"Oh it will definitely be Oin. Fuck that shithead."

"So is losing him going to hurt us at all?"

"Not nearly as much as making a formal enemy of Torchwick or whoever's pulling his chain. Please gods, let it just be Sienna and not some new splinter group," Bleiss whispered the last comment fervently. "Business will slow down, nothing can help that. Listen, Oin probably thinks he has iron clad evidence and definitely will be stupid enough to try and bring down Jacques with him. He won't be able to, but he'll try. This will cause Ironwood to investigate, doubtlessly taking forever and finding nothing. Once Jacques starts back up, so will we. Nothing really changes in Atlas. It's why mom drinks."

And there it was, Willow would eventually find out the new business arrangements. Then Bleiss would know, and since Jacques didn't enter these kind of deals with someone smarter than the Councilor Oins of the world, the whole process would begin again.

"And for slowing down business…"

"Sienna will get the location of whatever resort cell they throw Oin in. His screaming death will help keep the White Fang staring lovingly at her. That will tide her over until shit dies back down. As for Roman, I'll pack extra crystals in the container. Won't make him happy, but he'll be look to it as a firm down payment on what he's owed." Bleiss sighed, "We just need to tighten our belts for a bit. On a side note: over and under on how long Oin makes it once Sienna knows where he's sleeping?"

Landon thought a few seconds, "Seven days."

Bleiss's eyes rose a bit, but it would be cheating to ask his reasoning, "I'll take the over. Usual wager?"

Landon's smile turned vicious, "Agreed."

Bleiss turned back to Penny, who had just kicked over the domino that would lead to Oin dying most unpleasantly. She closed her eyes and grabbed the bridge of her nose. "We need a distraction to get her out of there."

"You're not going to like it, but I think we have one."

Somehow Bleiss knew who had just entered the picture before she even opened her eyes.

So kind of a massive exposition dump. Sorry. RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth, please support them. Bleiss is a concept I became aware of through the works of Aetheling, Abel Sephaos, Mallobaude, and the fine folks at the Works in Progress discord server. Landon is based on mythology. So in actuality I came up with nothing new! Go Me! Even for my level of mediocre Fanfiction that is a fairly impressive low bar!

Yes Bleiss's revolver is named Fuckstick. What else would she possibly name it? No I didn't reveal the name of her whip. Yes she has named it. Also, yes Bleiss is much smarter than her initial meeting with JNPR would suggest, she's just not at her brightest around Jaune's junk. Jaune is terminally stupid with women, so he's pretty canon. Calypso isn't a color, but neither is Funky. So in my tiny-mindspace-type-head canon, Atlas also names their teams after music. So no whining about that.

Support the site, support Rooster Teeth, support those writers you think are capable (1, 2, 3, Not IT! Ha! Beat ya to it!) and support each other. Because fandom really should be about building community, not tearing it down.

Also read Aethling, Abel Sephaos, Mallobaude, and the other fine works by the wonderful people at Works in Progress. (1, 2, 3, Not It! HA! Beat Ya Again!)