Author's note: How tf do you write for scenes when it's just dialogue and nothing is happening around the characters.

"Let's go over this one more time," Adam slowly paced around the interrogation room, Ren's hands cuffed to the table and his feet duct taped to his chair, "who exactly are you?"

"This is, what, the fourth or fifth time we've been over this?" Ren kept his expression as neutral as he could. Despite what he's heard about Adam's violent tendencies, the mission took priority over his safety, "I've already told you, I'm just a hired gun. Money speaks, and my employer is paying me a lot of money to help you out."

"Then why do you look like that Beacon student who's always hanging around Blake?" Adam demanded, stabbing his sword through the table between Ren's arms and legs.

Flinching, Ren took a moment to recompose himself. Taking a deep breath, he calmly answered, "It's merely a coincidence. After all, people of similar geographical and genetic origins tend to have similar physical traits, no?"

"He's right, you know," an observing White Fang guard interrupted, "For all we know they could be distant relatives that never met or something like that. Mystralians do have pretty large families."

"That's a pretty racist stereotype," Ren glared daggers at the guard, ice in his voice.

"No one asked you, Kevin!" Adam turned his head, the veins in his neck throbbing as his anger boiled.

The guard averted his eyes downward, uncomfortably shuffling his feet in place. Ren broke into a smile, chuckling at the how easily the guard was swayed, "Man, you really can't take a joke, can you? I couldn't care less about family or race. All I care about is completing my mission."

"And what exactly is your mission?" Adam turned his head back to his captor, his nose getting uncomfortably close to Ren's face, voice deepening to a low growl as he stared straight into his captor's eyes.

"Isn't it obvious by now?" Ren confidently smiled, staring back into the abyss that sat right behind a white mask, "You need my help because right now, you're just a fish out of water floundering about with no particular end-goal."

"I have a goal!" Adam argued, turning to pace the room again, "You humans look down on us like some second-rate citizens, but I'll show you. I'll show you all!"

"Show me what?" Ren asked, his hands now free, scratching his head in confusion. Turning his head back, Adam drew his katana pointing the tip of his blade at Ren. Holding his hands up, and reflexively jumping the chair back slightly, Ren gingerly moved the blade away from his chest ever so cautiously with his index finger, "Whoa now, no need for violence. Just put the weapon down and let's talk about this."

Adam paused, taken aback by Ren's bravado. Slowly reaching for his twin pistols and steadily pulling them up, Ren kept them cautiously pointed up. Seeing the weapons, Adam pointed his blade back towards Ren's chest, tensed and ready to strike. Ren retracted the blades and unloaded the clips, making a point to unchamber any loaded rounds, before setting Stormflower onto the table and off to the side, showing that he meant no harm. Appreciating the gesture, Adam sheathed his blade, setting it within arm's reach before taking a seat on the opposite side of the table.

.

.

.

"Pieces are in position," Blake whispered into her headset as she pressed her body as close to the rooftop as possible, "Black knight and Yellow Haven surveilling the docks."

"Copy that, any changes to the timeline in this era?" Ruby responded, watching Blake's surroundings from her vantage point.

"Just a few miscellaneous changes here and there," Blake answered, focusing her binoculars on an approaching airship in the distance before looking back to her present-day self, "Nothing too drastic."

"Can I get a status report on Ren?" Ruby asked.

"He's currently taking care of Adam," Blake responded, "He's getting suspicious though."

"Concurrent or otherwise?"

"Ren's about a month off."

"Gotcha."

"Griffin chow is approaching, should I intervene?"

"Negative, let the pieces play their part."

"But the dust."

"Your objective was to put the pieces into play. Do not, under any circumstances, interfere any further. Understood?"

"Got it."

"Good, I'm sending you space-time coordinates for the rendezvous point. Head to your next objective and pick up Ren when he's done. Stay hidden in the meantime."

.

.

.

Adam slammed his cup onto the table, his sword clattering to the ground, "She just left me there, man. I thought she was the love of my life."

Ren sipped on his water as he awkwardly pat Adam's back in an attempt to comfort him, "I get it, that really must have hurt. I, too, have lost someone dear to me."

"See? This guy gets me, Kevin," Adam turned his head, singling out the only guard in the room, "Get me another beer."

"So, tell me, what is it you're really fighting for?" Ren asked, signaling with his hands for the guard not to bring more alcohol.

"But my name's Andrew," the guard meekly replied before leaving the room.

"I thought," Adam sniffled between words, "I thought if I could prove myself as a capable leader, maybe, just maybe, she'd come back. Fight for Faunus domination together, you know?"

"Don't you think the stalking is just a little creepy?" Ren suggested, offering a cup of water to his apparently new friend.

"I know but I just can't help myself," Adam drunkenly whined, "Have you ever loved someone so much that you just can't bear to be separated from them?"

Ren paused as he thought for a moment, an annoying pink blur flashed across his wide-eyed vision. Endless memories of a grating voice asking for pancakes bombarded his psyche like the bombs that destroyed Beacon Academy. Snapping back to reality, he turned back to Adam and simply said, "Yes."

"It's all because she decided to side with the humans," Adam spat before bringing the cup of water to his mouth, slamming it back down empty, "After everything they've done to torment our kind, why would she do that?"

"The original goal of the White Fang was to get humans and Faunus to coexist peacefully, wasn't it?" Ren inquired, "What have you done to achieve this goal?"

"Don't get all high and mighty with that morality bullshit," Adam lashed out, swatting Ren's hand away, "We tried to do this peacefully. All the protests and boycotts didn't do a damn thing, they didn't start listening until we started getting violent. That proves that the ends justify the means."

"Alright, well look at it this way," Ren said, switching directions as he refilled Adam's cup, "say you achieve world domination, if that's what you're going for. Faunus take over the kingdoms or completely destroy them and rule over humans."

"I like where this is going," Adam rested his hand on his chin, envisioning Ren's words in his mind, "go on."

"What happens then?" Ren continued, "Would you treat them the same way they've treated you?"

"That sounds like a Faunus paradise," Adam wistfully answered, his upper body sinking further onto the table, "The humans would get what they deserve, and we finally get the retribution that we've been fighting for. Oh, but not you, you're pretty cool."

"Right, so you subject us to the same treatment and some humans a few decades down the line who were never part of this war that you're waging think it's unfair," Ren began to posit, "What do you think will happen when they do the exact same thing that you're doing?"

"We'll stomp them into the ground to protect what we've built," Adam slurred, raising a fist in victory.

"Ah, close but no dice," Ren answered.

"Aw," Adam flopped his head over in defeat.

"Alright, alright," Ren said, casually popping a pretzel into his mouth, "Let's say that you win that war and things don't change."

"I won?" Adam raised his head in glee, raising both arms, "I won!"

"Not quite," Ren corrected, amused with the unexpected turn of events, "Let's say that you keep winning, and a century down the line the roles are reversed. No one seems to know why Faunus and Humans hate each other, but this time it's humans in your exact predicament."

"That -hic- that means we won, right?" Adam asked, barely keeping himself upright in his chair.

"Well, at that moment, maybe," Ren agreed, "but think about it. The fighting continues, give it another few decades and we're back to where we started."

"I take it back, I don't like where this is going," Adam said, chugging down another cup of water, "Hey, this vodka tastes kinda weird."

"That's water," Ren smiled, feeling like he'd finally gotten through to Adam. Pulling one arm over his shoulders, Ren helped Adam to the door, "Come on, let's get you someplace where you can sober up."

"Ren, have you-," Blake started as she opened the door, "What the hell happened?"

"Blake? Is that you, my love?" Adam stared up at the operative in White Fang gear.

"N-no, I'm, uh, No-Nora," Blake recoiled, her hands instinctively reaching for her weapon, "Dude, you really need to let it go."

"Haha, okay," Adam giggled, his head slumping over, "I'm drunk."

"Seriously, Ren," Blake stared in confusion, her ears drooping slightly, "What. Happened."

Ren sheepishly smiled, shrugging in response, "I honestly couldn't tell you if I tried. But hey, mission accomplished. Right?"

"You were supposed to stop the meeting," Blake berated, taking Adam by the legs.

"There were some, uh, complications, I guess," Ren explained, "I dealt with it as best as I could."

"And where do you think you're going with tall, dark and brooding, Kevin?" Torchwick demanded, waltzing in, cutting the two off from their exit route.

"Oh, screw this," the guard at Torchwick's side threw his gun down before storming off, "If you guys aren't even going to treat me with respect, then I quit!"

"What's his deal?" Torchwick asked in confusion.

"I think his name is Andrew," Ren shrugged.

"Thank you!" the guard screamed as he slammed the warehouse door behind him.

"Adam here may have had a little too much during his pre-game," Blake improvised.

'What are you-,' Ren silently mouthed to Blake.

'What was I supposed to do?' Blake mouthed back, 'We need to get out of here right now.'

"Man, I've been trying to get him to grab a drink with me for weeks," Torchwick voiced his disappointment before looking around to point at the large lieutenant, "Hey, you, Tiny, come with me. We need an understudy, after all, the show must go on."

"Don't call me tiny," the lieutenant growled, reluctantly following Torchwick's instruction.

Watching the two walk off, a hint of familiarity began to creep up on her. As the realization settled onto Blake, her original memories came back to her, "Hey, Kevin, put Adam on a bench somewhere. Both of us are needed on stage."

Without any further questions the two nearest guards shrugged and proceeded to carry Adam off as he protested for more alcohol. Pulling Ren along, Blake grabbed a spare set of White Fang uniforms and headed for the nearest bathroom. Donning one of the masks, she placed the outfit in Ren's arms and shoved him into one of the stalls.

"Blake, what's going on?" Ren asked as he quickly changed.

"We had it all wrong," Blake explained while she anxiously walked along the stalls, "Our target should have been Torchwick all along. How could I have been so stupid?"

"Not that it's any of my business to remind you," Ren started as he opened the stall door, "What was our next objective?"

"Steal the Paladin prototype's black box," Blake answered, "which is why we needed to stop the meeting."

"If memory serves correctly, I distinctly remember Yang bragging about taking down Torchwick's mech with her bare hands," Ren thought back to their days at Beacon.

"You don't think….." Blake trailed off, lost in thought.

"We didn't need to stop the meeting, we just needed to target Adam," Ren suggested, "the meeting was going to happen no matter who we targeted."

"That means…" Blake tried her best to remember the events of that night, "That means I know where to go."

Bang

"Don't let them get away!" Torchwick's voice followed the sound of a few gunshots.

"Think that's our cue?" Ren smirked.

"Nope," Blake held up a finger. Crash. "That's our cue."