Disclaimer:RWBY belongs to Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth and Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo. I own nothing of either of them and make no profit from them. I am only playing in the worlds they gave us.

The experiment continues. The 'flow' of the writer can be a wonderful thing and I owe any success this story has to it. I am just letting this story go wherever the flow takes it. With that said, I have several ideas leaping through my head as to what direction I should go with this as we eventually get to the Fall of Beacon segment. I'm pretty sure that I'll end up letting the flow decide it and I'll just have to follow. Heck, it could end up going anywhere. Or, it could go nowhere. Who knows.

07/04/20: Made an adjustment to the scene in RWBY's dorm room, thanks to another catch by Soulfire47. (I only ever seem to here from you though when I need to fix something) I really need to stop missing things that should be obvious to me.

The reviews have been numerous thus far but nearly everyone is commenting on the story idea in my AN and not on the chapter itself.

A Chance Encounter

Chapter 14:

The anger and the sheer malice radiating off of Adam Taurus was so great that it was a wonder it wasn't actually visible to the two fear filled grunts, one a rat Faunus and the other a rather beefy bear Faunus, that were standing behind him. They were in the middle of a run down warehouse that was supposed to be the site of a recruitment rally, but instead it was the site of another humiliation by the unknown vigilantes that had been messing with the White Fang for months.

Normally, recruitment rallies were held on a Friday night but they had started moving the days around and this one was on a Sunday night. At these rallies there would be as many standing members of the organization present as they could gather to show their strength to potential new recruits, to show them that there were many who answered the call to the cause. But with the setbacks they had suffered and with the persistent vigilante attacks they had needed to change how things were done.

Largely because of the Mountain Glenn operation there were fewer members now to attend the meetings and because of their tormentors they didn't dare risk having that many people moving towards the location and making themselves an obvious target. They needed to lay as low as possible while still trying to keep their eyes and ears tuned to the streets for signs of trouble. They had to be even more careful about getting the word out about meetings and not letting the location be known until as late as possible. Apparently those measure hadn't worked.

All seemed to be going as hoped and his people had managed to quietly get twenty two potential new recruits to the warehouse, but it had all gone down hill from there. When they all entered they found what he was looking at right now. Four members that had been tasked with securing the building before the meeting were all tied to a central support pillar in the middle of the warehouse. They were bruised up and unconscious, their masks lay shattered on the floor and their pants were down around their ankles...the unmistakable trademark of their vigilante tormentors. This time, instead of one simple sign leaving an anti White Fang message, there were dozens.

The warehouse had once belonged to a packaging company and there were still a few pallets of flattened out cardboard boxes present. A bunch of that cardboard had been used to make numerous signs that were plastered all over the walls, support beams, and propped up in various places on the floor. Many had messages deriding the White Fang's violent methods and how they were only making the situation worse for those who just wanted true equality and peace. There were even quotes from some of Ghira Belladonna's speeches.

There were signs with blown up copies of news articles detailing White Fang atrocities, many of which he recognized immediately because they were his handiwork. There were articles about Faunus who shunned the Fang being killed by its agents and then used as martyrs when the group blamed their deaths on humans. There were investigative pieces about Faunus merchants being strong armed into hiding illicit goods or fugitives for the movement.

Of course there was also articles naming the White Fang as the perpetrators behind the breach from the old Mountain Glenn train line into downtown Vale, vividly highlighting how they had been willing to unleash the Grimm into the city and as everyone knows, the Grimm don't discriminate in their killing. Human or Faunus, it makes no difference to them.

The propped up signs were all arranged in a way that always brought your attention back to those beaten and humiliated members tied to the pillar. There was also a sign above their heads that read, 'If this is your worst outcome by joining the White Fang, you will be extraordinarily fortunate.' Next to it was the mocking little cartoon symbols he had grown to hate like nothing else. A smiling cat face and a scowling strawberry.

"Guess the rally was a bust huh?" a female voice mocked him from somewhere up in the shadowed rafters. "That must suck."

His hand was on the hilt of his sword Wilt in an instant and the other two had pulled their guns and were frantically looking around. "Who the hell are you?!" he roared.

"I can't just tell you," she answered. "What fun would that be?"

"You think this is funny?!"

"No, it's actually freaking hilarious. In a kind of 'you're just so pathetic' sort of way." She laughed. "You should see the look on your face right now."

One of the grunts, the rat Faunus, jerked his rifle up and fired off a burst up to his left. "I think you missed," she called, her voice now coming from the right.

There was a sound of something cutting through the air, then a metal on metal 'thunk' and one of the circuit breaker boxes near the doors exploded in a shower of sparks. Half of the lights in the building went out.

"You think you can hide from me in the dark?" he questioned with a sneer.

"Of course not," came the answer. "But my night vision is just as good as yours, if not better. Besides, it's not like I'm actually hiding."

"You're a Faunus?!" he roared. If it was another Faunus doing this to the White Fang he was going to make an example out of them. A very messy one and he wouldn't be quick about it.

"No I'm not, but wouldn't that be the best thing ever." She laughed. "That would do more for the Faunus than anything you've accomplished. The only thing you've done is gain short term progress through fear."

"Filthy humans like you should fear us," he snarled. "What we've managed to gain came from that fear."

There was a slight whooshing sound and a strangled grunt as the rat Faunus was suddenly driven to the floor by a black blur. Before he could even react he was slapped hard in the back of the head, nearly losing his balance and ending up on the floor himself. In an instant the black blur was gone.

"Filthy human...geeze who writes your material. You've been watching too many bad movies," the voice mocked. "And by the way I never said I was human either. Answer me this though, when your victims get tired of living in fear of you, what do you think will happen then?"

"We'll put them in their place," he growled.

There was another slight whooshing sound and he turned to see a small figure dressed head to toe in black, just the area around their eyes being visible, backhand the bear Faunus behind him across the chest and send him flying. The warehouse was about three hundred feet long half that wide. The bear Faunus was easily twice her size if not more, yet her harmless looking swat shattered his Aura and sent him flying half the length of the building until he came to a sudden, crashing halt against the corrugated metal wall, leaving a sizable dent as he crumpled to the floor.

He drew Wilt but the figure seemingly blurred out of existence before his swing could ever connect. A second later he was once again slapped across the back of the head. He roared and swung again, hitting nothing.

"You'll put them in their place huh?" she said with disdain. "And just exactly who is going to do that?"

A whoosh of air and another slap in the back of the head.

"Your little band of terrorists is poorly trained, most of them little more than raw and impressionable youth that you've pumped full of propaganda until they can't think for themselves anymore."

Another slap. A roar and a sweep of his blade. Swing and miss.

"You turn them into murderers and thieves which only ensures that they can't ever have a peaceful life again."

Slap. Swing and miss.

"And if their conscience rears its head and they try to get out, you make a gory example out of them."

Slap. Swing and miss.

"You'll kill anyone, guilty or innocent, Human or Faunus, it doesn't matter to you so long as you can feed that hatred that's burning in your guts."

With a roar of pure hatred he sent whatever energy was held within Wilt towards the rafters, towards the sound of that damned voice, cutting through rafter beams and the roof. Chunks of debris crashed to the floor around him.

"I'll kill anyone or anything I have to!" he bellowed. "I don't care who it is! I'll do whatever it takes to make the human race bleed until it's dry! I will stand on their throats and choke the life out of them!"

Suddenly, the small, black clad woman was standing right in front of him, her hands on her hips. "Pathetic ass, you can't even kill me."

With another scream of rage he drove his sword through her. A savage and triumphant grin began to spread across his face until the woman's body wavered and seemed to dissolve. He was slapped in the back of the head again, hard enough this time to make him see stars and go tumbling and sprawling face first across the floor. Before he could move he found himself flipped over and the woman's foot was pressing down on his throat, making it difficult to breath.

"You are nothing but a pathetic little bully." The look in her eyes was hard and her voice icily calm yet filled with intense anger. "An unstable man child and a rabid dog. I could have killed you like the nothing that you are at any time and with no effort or remorse. But, I want you to live long enough to see everything in your world crumble away to nothing, for you to realize that you are nothing."

She took her foot off his throat and began to walk away. "No wonder that girl left you on that train once she got a glimpse of the real you."

He screamed in rage and grabbed Blush and fired a shot at her. An instant later the gun/sheath was ripped from his hands and he was struck hard across the face with it then smashed in the balls.

"By the way Taurus," she spoke as he curled into a groaning ball and she dropped Blush on top of him. "In about ten minutes from now footage of this little party will be hitting the net. I can just see the comments that will be flying on the blogs and forums about how the mighty Adam Taurus got his ass handed to him by a hot little ninja chick. Don't let it get you down though, it's not like you ever had a chance to begin with."

As he screamed hatefully and clutched his wounded balls, she just chuckled before disappearing in a quick blur.

Half an hour later she was sitting outside a little cafe not far from their apartment, dressed in jeans and a light jacket and sipping a nice cup of tea. Ichigo, dressed much the same, joined her a few minutes later and ordered a coffee. He'd just come from a net cafe several blocks away where he had uploaded the footage from the high end camera he had used at the warehouse. Better to upload it from a public terminal than the one in their apartment.

"Hot little ninja chick huh?" he asked in amusement.

"You disagree?" she challenged with a smirk.

"Not at all," he smiled. "That outfit clings to you just enough in all the right places to fuel the imagination about what's under there. More than sufficiently hot I'd say."

"I don't think he noticed though," she said thoughtfully. "He was suffering from impotent rage at the time."

He snorted at the pun, glad he hadn't taken a sip of coffee yet or else it might have come out of his nose. "Bet Yang would appreciate that one. Even if he had noticed that shot to the junk would have discouraged him quick enough."

"At least all of the intelligence we had gathered about him was accurate," she said. "He's on more of a personal crusade for vengeance than a mission to gain true equality for the Faunus. I have to wonder if Sienna Khan is really aware of just exactly what he's been doing without her looking over his shoulder."

"If she isn't then she's not keeping a very close eye on things," he said. "She's the one that took them down a more violent path but I have to wonder how much is too much in her mind."

"Maybe that's a question we should put to her directly one of these days," she suggested.

"I'd like to see her reaction to the video from tonight," he smirked. "Of course, I think we're going to have to keep an eye out in case Taurus goes completely off the rails and does something psychotic."

"If he reigns it in I bet he and the local chapter goes completely silent and out of sight until the festival," she mused. "He can't afford to lose anymore people or have any more sites attacked. No matter what happens he's not likely to avoid fallout from tonight."

"It' possible that some of the members that aren't hard core supporters of his might even try to leave," he supposed.

She grinned widely. "Well after all, he did get beaten up by a girl."

Next Morning, Beacon Dorms:

The events of Saturday had given the students a lot to talk about, both the stories they had been told and the insights they had gained into their teachers themselves. Even a day and a half or more later it was still on their minds and Blake found herself wondering once again about her own heritage. While she still saw no way that Yoruichi and Ichigo could have had a Faunus child when neither of them were Faunus themselves, she also wasn't inclined to think they were lying and she had said so when they were all discussing what they had learned as they spent a lazy Sunday under a tree on the campus grounds. If there had been a surrogate involved or if they had adopted the child, she saw no reason why they wouldn't have said so rather than continuing to be mysterious about it.

She had even revealed the fact that she herself had purple hairs in her cat ears, just as the child in question was supposed to have had. She also told them that of all of the other cat Faunus she had met, and there had been several, the only other one to have that trait besides herself that she knew of, was her mother. Despite the seemingly impossibility of it all, there was a part of her that couldn't help but wonder that, if it was true, if it the possibility existed that she might be related to them in some way.

This single issue was turning into just as much of a conundrum as how their teachers figured into the historical accounts had been. They had promised answers and sooner rather than later but they had also warned that there was a great many things to be explained first so that others would make any sense to them.

Considering the revelations of their immortality and the scope of their power, she wasn't entirely sure if that boded well or not. Although, to be fair, the rest of what they had been told hadn't approached that level. There had been the sad tales of how it had been necessary to eventually distance themselves from family and others who knew them due to the fact that they no longer visibly aged. There had also been stories about some of their encounters with Grimm and with both Human and Faunus criminals.

The day of stories had finished up with them coming to Vale to try and make a fresh start and how they had taken to harassing the White Fang and disrupting their less than agreeable activities. She had known about it already since Ruby had shared the video Ichigo had shown her the day she'd met him and she had found a few more on the net.

She didn't have a problem with that as such, they were stopping crimes in progress and preventing others, and aside from wounding their pride they did no serious damage to any one they fought. They were also leaving behind pro Faunus rights messages and pointing out the wrong headed nature of the White Fang's tactics. A part of her that had yet to entirely fade despite what she knew and had personally witnessed, cringed a little at their actions and she realized that the problem she had with it was entirely her own.

She had believed so much in what the White Fang was doing, or more accurately, what they were supposed to be doing. Believed in it to the point that she had been unable to see what was really going on around her for far too long. When doubts did finally begin to creep in, doubts about him, she hadn't wanted to believe it. But the day they attacked the Schnee train and his indifference to the lives of the human crew brought it to an all too clear focus.

She had allowed herself to be pulled into his cult of personality, to do things that she otherwise never should have even contemplated doing. She was blinded by her naive belief that a more...proactive way of getting their message across was the right way and she had been blinded by her growing attachment to Adam. More naivete on her part but somehow that didn't seem like a strong enough word to describe her foolishness. He was a monster and it had taken her too long to see it and that day on the train had finalized that for her. She ran and ever since he had been the boogeyman she feared would suddenly appear, howling for her blood.

The attacks that 'Cat-Berry' had been launching against the Fang must have him ready to explode. Adam was volatile at the best of times and did not take set backs of any kind well. Not knowing who was disrupting their ability to operate must have him absolutely livid.

Speaking of which...

"Hey!" Ruby exclaimed. "There's a new Cat-Berry video!"

"Let's see it," Yang responded. They still had time before they left for breakfast.

The three of them gathered around their leader as she expanded her scroll and started the video. It showed the interior of a shabby old warehouse and four armed Faunus decked out in the signature vests and masks of the White Fang stood looking at an array of cardboard signs set up all around the place.

"What the hell is this?" one of the exclaimed.

"Thought the place could use redecorating," a female voice called out. They knew it was their teacher but her voice sounded different enough that if you didn't already know it was her, you wouldn't be able to tell. It was a different tone and had an accent that they hadn't heard before. Maybe she was using something in her mask to alter her voice?

As the four looked around trying to find her a black blur shot into their midst and they were quickly disarmed. With the weapons taken care of she stood before them, dressed in a ninja suit like she had been in all the rest of the videos, only her eyes being visible. She held her arms out wide, leaving herself open.

"Come and get me boys!"

They tried, and in the end failed miserably, although she did give them the illusion of hope by letting the fight drag on for a few minutes before finally knocking them out. The scene switched to a different angle and the downed Faunus were now tied to a support pillar in the usual Cat-Berry fashion. A few seconds later a door was heard opening and groups of Faunus entered. A few wore the uniforms, but the bulk of the group didn't, marking them as potential recruits.

They all stopped when they saw the scene before them. The uniformed members tried to usher them out but the recruits had already noticed the ones that were tied up and the numerous signs plastered all over the building and began reading them. It took several minutes for the panicked guides to get the recruits to leave and they didn't even take the time to release their tied up comrades. None of them wanted to get caught and meet the same fate.

The angle switched again and Blake gasped when she saw who stepped into the picture. A tremor of fear went down her spine and her hands clenched. It had been months since she had last seen him but he seemed to instill more fear in her than he did even then.

"Blake?" Yang asked, concern evident in her voice.

"T-that's Adam," she answered, a tremor in her voice. "Adam Taurus, head of the Vale branch of the White Fang."

"Your old partner?" Weiss asked softly, noting the distressed look on her friend's face. Blake just nodded.

They watched transfixed as Yoruichi began taunting him, her voice showing a distinct lack of concern for who and what he was and the reputation that he carried. They all winced when the rat Faunus got flattened and they all jerked back in surprise at the hard slap Adam took in the back of the head.

None of them, especially Blake, had been expecting something like that. She was utterly shocked and her eyes nearly popped out of her head. Adam was probably the most powerful fighter and most feared member of the White Fang and he had just been swatted like some insignificant punk. Then she did it again, and again, taunting him all the while.

"Pathetic ass, you can't even kill me."

"No!" Ruby shrieked.

They all gasped and she nearly stopped breathing when they saw Adam's sword spear right through Yoruichi's guts. The look on his face...it was one of cruel joy and all too familiar to her and it chilled her to the bone. Did Yoruichi underestimate him? She found that it physically hurt to see her teacher impaled on his blade and judging by the looks on her friend's faces they felt the same way.

And then the Yoruichi's body wavered and seemed to evaporate away to nothing.

She was utterly transfixed and almost disbelieving when she saw him get sent rolling and suddenly Yoruichi was standing on his throat. Then to top it off he tried to shoot her with Blush. She snatched it away from him, cracked him across the head with it...then smashed him between the legs. Hard.

"Holy crap!" Yang exclaimed. "One of our combat teachers just made the baddest dude in the White Fang her bitch!"

"Crude," Weiss said distastefully. "But essentially correct and that is going to play havoc with their recruiting and possibly drain any borderline support that hasn't already committed to them."

They all knew what their teachers were trying to accomplish with their harassment of the White Fang, it had been explained by Ruby the day they all met them and explained in more detail on Saturday. Make it difficult for them to operate and recruit, sow seeds of doubt among supporters who were already uncomfortable with their methods and let established, hard core members know that they weren't untouchable or nearly as tough and strong as they thought they were. Show a strong pro Faunus belief to make sure their intentions weren't mistaken. They wholeheartedly believed in freedom and fair treatment for the Faunus.

The videos served to stoke debate and discussion, mind you some of it fell into the usual garbage and sewer talk that the net was unfortunately known for. It was amazing and truly disgusting some of the crap that people would spout off as they hid behind their anonymity and when they knew they didn't have to look someone in the eye when they said it.

But the White Fang wasn't their only target. They had also begun to harass and humiliate Human supremacist groups, treating them even more harshly than the White Fang. They left messages behind at those attacks too, slamming their idiot beliefs and sickening methods and prompting people to ask just exactly why they were so prone to hatred. If they wanted to hate something, hate the Grimm because they didn't care if you were Human or Faunus, they'd eat you either way and they were the real threat that everyone should be concerning themselves with.

"Are you okay Blake?" Ruby asked.

Her legs had felt weak and she had dropped heavily to sit on her bed.

"Whoa, you're shaking!" Yang exclaimed worriedly as she plopped down next to her. She put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Does this guy really scare you that much?"

"Yes," she replied shakily. "It's at least half the reason why I left. Ever since then I've thought back to everything that was happening around me and I realized how blind I was to what had been going on. Worse, I had been blind to Adam's true nature all along. I'm probably more scared of him now than I was when I left. His anger, his spite, the hatred he has for anyone he see's as his enemy...it's so potent that it's almost a living thing"

"And being humiliated like this and so publicly is only going to make it worse, isn't it?" Weiss concluded.

Blake nodded. "He'll be in such a rage that he's likely to do anything and take it out on anyone. He'll stop at nothing to find out who's been hounding them."

"If he does find out he'll wish he didn't," Yang said. "You saw it, Yoruichi was playing with him and he didn't have a chance. He'd have even less than that if she or Ichigo got serious."

"We haven't even really seen them get serious," Weiss reminded them.

"That's why they keep hitting them and leaving a calling card," Ruby explained. "So that they concentrate on them and if they keep reminding them that someone is after them they have to keep out of sight even more."

"After this that might not matter to Adam anymore," Blake responded. "You heard him admit that he'd kill anyone no matter who it was to get what he wants."

"What about his support among the rank and file?" Weiss asked. "Won't he lose support and lose members because of the way he got so easily handled? There have to be others who aren't comfortable with what's going on just like you were. Even if they were too afraid to leave this might be the last straw for them right?"

"There might not be as many of those as you think," Blake said. "And what few there might be would be newer members. It probably will shake even some of his hard core support, but they all know it would be foolish to try and challenge him. There isn't anyone in the entire organization who could defeat him, not even the current High Leader. At most they'd go join a different branch and even then they'd have to make sure he didn't know until they were long gone."

"Well you could always talk to Yoruichi and Ichigo about your concerns," Yang offered. "It's not like they'd turn you away. And you could ask her about that thing she did when he stabbed her. That's the same thing you do isn't? That clone thing?"

"That was scary," Ruby said, visibly shuddering. "I really thought he killed her for a second there, then 'poof', she just disappeared." Even Weiss nodded in agreement with her sentiments.

She nodded her agreement. "It looks like it could be the same thing," she answered, he her thoughts going back to her earlier musings. "But doesn't she already have a speed Semblance?"

"Thanks to them I'm just about ready to throw everything I thought I knew about Semblance and Aura right out the window," Weiss said with some exasperation. "They completely turn convention right on its head."

"First that Getsuga thingy now this," Yang said. "Plus what you told us yesterday. I don't know Blake, you just might be related to them. The similarities seem to be stacking up."

"I still don't see how it could ever be possible. As for my concerns, that would mean telling them that I'm a Faunus and that I was in the White Fang," she said sullenly. "I'm not sure I really want to tell them that."

"I'd be willing to bet money that they already know," Yang countered. "Besides, if they know why you left I don't think there's a chance they'd ever hold that past against you."

She sighed. "I'm sorry that I'm being such a downer but knowing him like I do that video just kind of freaked me out."

"Sorry," Ruby apologized. "I shouldn't have shown it or made such a big deal over it."

Blake shook her head. "It's not your fault, I would have seen it anyway. If my scroll had been turned on I would have gotten the alert for it too. Since I had been in the White Fang I've been following them since you first told us about them."

"Try not to worry Kitty-cat," Yang said brightly. "He's not here but your friends that love you are. You just wait, I'll have you laughing and forgetting all about this by the time breakfast is over."

Right on cue the grumbling of an empty stomach made itself known, much to the red faced embarrassment of a certain heiress. The other three all laughed.

"I guess we better go then before Snowflake eats one of us," Yang cracked.

"Hmmph. As if, you'd all probably taste terrible!" said heiress countered, tuning up her nose and trying to hide her embarrassment.

"I don't know," Yang drawled. "Ruby'd probably taste like strawberries and chocolate chip cookies. Better watch out Rubes."

"Noooo, don't eat me Weiss!" Ruby mock pleaded.

She rolled her eyes and turned for the door. "If I did I'd end up diabetic."

A small giggle escaped Blake's lips at the antics of her team. "See, better already!" Yang declared. The blonde offered her hand and she took it, letting herself be pulled to her feet. "Let's hit the chow line before her hunger gets the better of her and she eats her anyway."

"I'm too young to be eaten!" Ruby wailed.

"I'm surrounded by lunatics," Weiss groused through a small grin that no one saw. Really, she wouldn't have it any other way. None of them would.

Elsewhere on Campus

"Her soul seems to be finally beginning to regenerate its energy on its own," Yoruichi said as they rode the elevator up from the vault. "It's a trickle right now but stable. They should think about upping her caloric intake a little and begin a therapy program of manually manipulating her joints and making the associated muscles move, even if it's not under her own power."

He nodded in agreement. "She's going to need more energy to keep that recovery going and she's starting to look way too thin. I know there's only so much that can be done in that regard. I just wish that there was more that we could do."

"Now that she's finally starting to really heal on her own if we try giving her too much outside energy we could end up doing harm or impeding that progress," she said. "I should have hung around Retsu more, I might have learned a few things but even then I don't think there's too much more we can really do. Even if we could speed things up she'll need a lot of physio to get up and moving properly again."

Neither of them needed to voice how welcome the help of a certain orange haired healer would have been.

"The good thing is that she's out of danger now," he said. "I wish we could just give back to her what's been taken but even that right now might be too much of a shock to her system until she get a lot stronger."

"Because that power and energy is hers it might work but I agree that it might be too much all at once," she said. "If the tear in her soul were to reopen it wouldn't matter where that power came from. Better to be safe than sorry."

The elevator dinged as it stopped at the top floor. "So, ready to hear whatever it is that Ozpin hasn't told us?"

"How much do you want to bet that whatever it is will have Ironwood freaking out?" she asked cheekily.

"That's a bet I'm not willing to take the odds on," he smirked.

She laughed. "Yeah, some things are just inevitable."

When the doors opened and they stepped out the sensation she was hit with was so unexpected that she nearly stumbled, and may well have if their hands weren't linked.

"Yori?" he asked. Her eyes were wide and she was starting to shake. He followed her gaze to see she was staring straight at Ozpin, seemingly not even noticing Glynda or the General. He opened up his senses to the man and found himself in shock as well. All of the layers that had made up the man's soul, making it a murky and near impossible thing to read and make sense of, were gone. In it's place was...

"K-Kisuke?" Yoruichi gasped, her grip on his hand tightening. Tears began running down her face. "How...?"

Ozpin gave her a soft smile. "The layers you felt in my soul were Aura barriers left behind by all of the other souls that became a part of me after my reincarnations," he explained. "It would seem that my original soul was indeed the reincarnation of your friend but it became cloaked over time by those layers."

"So what happened to those layers?" Ichigo asked.

"Even though he reincarnated as my soul, he eventually regained the memories of who he was," Ozpin explained. "After our meeting a few weeks ago he set to work taking down the barriers."

"He's self aware and remembers his past life?" Yoruichi gasped as Ichigo led her to a chair. Glynda brought her a cup of tea which she gratefully accepted.

"It didn't start out that way," Ozpin continued. "He realized what he was but not who he was. That came back when I was given my ability to reincarnate. He regained his sense of identity but it took a considerable amount of time to regain his memories. With the return of his memories came the ability to read and feel souls the same as you two. He tried to communicate with me but the barriers that were building up prevented it. He decided that he needed to learn more of the world around him and how its spiritual energies worked before he could figure out how to change that."

"Let me guess," she said with a certain nostalgia to her tone. "He got lost in his observations and forgot his original purpose."

"So it would seem," Ozpin answered with an amused look. "It was when we originally met a few years ago that he got himself back on track and took to studying the barriers much more closely. Meeting the two of you again a couple of weeks ago prompted him to rethink his strategy and he found the way to break the barriers down. For the last few days my Aura and my magic have begun to replenish themselves from the drain the barriers placed on them to maintain themselves."

"Told ya we'd find a soul one day that was someone close to you," Ichigo said softly.

"Kisuke and I grew up together on my clan's estate in the Seireitei," she said, mostly for Glynda and Ironwood's benefit as she wiped the moisture from her eyes. "We trained together, became Shinigami together and even went into exile together. I'm glad to know that he's still around even after what happened to our worlds."

Ozpin seemed to been listening to something for a moment. "He says that he never thought he'd see the day when the Shihoin Princess would shed tears over a humble shopkeeper such as himself...and he wonders what it was that you did to make Ichigo finally notice the opposite sex."

Ichigo snorted. "That sounds like Geta Boshi alright. I almost feel sorry for you Ozpin."

"Believe me," Yoruichi smirked. "Kisuke is not at all acquainted with the concept of humility."

"It has been my conversations with him that has led me to call for this meeting," Ozpin said as he gestured for everyone to take their seats. "Your stipulation for joining with us was full disclosure and that is why we are here, and I appreciate your patience as I am sure that you knew that I hadn't given you that yet."

"We were willing to take it on faith," Ichigo said. "We saw no reason to not give you some time to get there, though we weren't going to wait too long."

"Am I to infer that there is more information that you haven't already given to the rest of our group?" Ironwood asked warily.

Ozpin sighed and glanced at Glynda. She gave him a subtle nod. "Yes and it is quite likely that you will not like what you hear. Most of it is a story of origins, which in itself has little real bearing on the task we have always faced."

"I hear a 'but' coming," Ironwood commented.

"Indeed," Ozpin agreed. "And you most certainly won't like it but recent events have caused me to look at the problem a little differently."

"We've already stated that we're in on this so nothing short of you turning out to be the big bad here is going to put us off," Yoruichi said. She turned and looked at the General. "We're dealing with an 'attempt to end the world' type of scenario here. We should all be in no matter what."

Ozpin seemed relieved at her words though he could feel it in his bones that James was still going to be the biggest obstacle here. "Well then, let me begin this with another of Remnant's fairy tales, The Girl in the Tower to be exact."

Nearly an hour and several outbursts later...

"You can't sit there and tell me that you are alright with any of this!" Ironwood thundered.

"What do you want us to do, cry about it and throw a tantrum?" Ichigo responded.

"He kept from us the fact that he had a relationship with that woman," the General ground out. "And that she can't be destroyed...and he had no plan to deal with it, but let us believe that he did!"

"Big deal, he had a relationship with her," Yoruichi drawled, rolling her eyes. "That means little to the whole issue other than the fact that he knows how she thinks, which is valuable insight to have. You also missed the point of the question and answer session he had with the Relic of Knowledge. As for a plan, what do you want? This isn't a set piece battle with armies holding static positions and where their purpose and potential moves are easy to determine."

"Those of us that have been following Ozpin for years were led to believe that he had a coherent plan to deal with Salem," Ironwood countered. "As recent additions to this group I don't think you appreciate the gravity of this or the threat that she truly presents."

"Hello, been there, done that," Yoruichi reminded him.

"And how did that turn out!" he shot back.

The General suddenly found himself flattened into his chair, the poor piece of furniture creaking and groaning like the weight within it had quadrupled and was still getting heavier. He was having trouble breathing and found himself further paralyzed by the piercing and murderous stare Ichigo's now black and yellow eyes.

"Don't you dare!" Ichigo hissed, his voice double layered and watery. "Don't you ever speak to us of something you know nothing about!"

Yoruichi pinned him further with her own furious glare, but also laid a comforting hand on her love's arm to reign him in. "You react before you think General and that's a dangerous trait for a military commander to have."

"You are an academy Headmaster, hold two seats on the Atlas council, and command the entire Atlas military," Glynda said sharply. "So James, I strongly suggest that you start conducting yourself like someone who holds and is worthy of those accomplishments. Quite frankly, you're being an ass." The way he flinched, what little he could, told how much her rebuke stung him.

Yoruichi continued as Ichigo let up the pressure and the General sagged in his seat. "The question Ozpin asked of the relic was specific to him and so was the answer. Just because he can't destroy Salem that doesn't mean that someone else won't be able to. In our world Aizen essentially became immortal when he absorbed the Hogyoku, but he was defeated, weakened sufficiently that he could be sealed away. Yhwach was a veritable god but he had an Achilles heel, a single vulnerability that we were able to exploit to kill him. Yes, defeating him ultimately destroyed our worlds, but the linchpin that held it together was already gone and letting him have his way was not a workable or acceptable outcome."

"We've been living with that outcome ever since," Ichigo said coldly. "But we're still here and those bastards didn't get their way and we aren't about to let Salem have hers."

"Immortal or not, anyone can be defeated," Yoruichi said. "Immortal is not the same as invincible or unconquerable. It just means that she can't die or won't stay dead if you do kill her."

"In my despair I may not have had a plan for her demise," Ozpin spoke up, looking rather drained. "But that does not suggest by any means that I was just going to roll over and let her do as she wished. Perhaps watching and gathering information and taking care of whatever issues that we could has only bought us a measure of time, but time can be invaluable and that time has brought us possibilities."

The General straightened in his seat and took a deep, sighing breath, attempting to recompose himself. He was beginning to look like the embarrassment of his behaviour was catching up with him. "What possibilities are those?" he asked.

"According to Kisuke, Ichigo's Zanpakuto could be an important factor in dealing with Salem," Ozpin responded. "As he explained it to me, the Zanpakuto is a weapon created of the soul to deal with other souls. Without more knowledge about Salem herself and the magic the God's used to make her immortal, he can't say exactly how a blow from Zangetsu would affect her. Even if it doesn't end her it very well could do damage to her in a way that nothing else does. He said as a last resort Ichigo's smaller blade may well be the most effective."

"Even if it is Salem, I'd rather not resort to that if I don't have to," Ichigo said. "Remember, the Quincy power destroys a soul completely, there is no purification or possibility of reincarnation."

"So if that's a last resort option not likely to be used," Ironwood spoke up, earning a dirty look in the process. He raised his hands as if in surrender. "I'm playing devil's advocate. If that is not used or if neither blade can take her out, what else do we have?"

"We can do the same thing we did to Aizen," Yoruichi answered. "Weaken her and seal her, though I have to admit the sealing spells that I know aren't as permanent or as strong the one Kisuke used on Aizen, and we don't know just how strong she is in comparison to those spells. We might not even need one quite that potent."

"Kisuke says that through me he can give you all of the particulars of the spell he created for Aizen," Ozpin answered. "But without extensive study he won't guarantee how well it will work in this world. How many different Kido have you used since the two of you awoke?"

"Not a great deal," she answered. "We haven't run across anything that required more than a mid level spell and that was overkill even then. Used it mainly on large groups." She smirked. "Although, Ichigo has used Kurohitsugi a couple of times just because he thinks its cool...mostly I think because he tanked it when Aizen used it on him."

"Kuro...hitsugi?" Glynda said, fumbling over the unfamiliar word.

"Also known as Black Coffin. The spell traps its target in a rectangular box of dark spirit energy then impales them with numerous blades," Yoruichi explained. Everyone's eyes bugged out and they all looked at Ichigo.

"I was stronger than Aizen until the end of that fight so it didn't do any damage," he said with a shrug.

"Not only didn't it do any damage, you just coolly shattered it with a casual sweep of your arm," she added. "I get horny just thinking about it."

"I don't think we needed to know that," Glynda sighed. Yoruichi just smirked and winked at her.

Ozpin just shook his head, a small smile gracing his lips. "He says that it might work then but it was tailored to Aizen so, again, there is no guarantee. There is something else that could be effective as well but at the moment it isn't really an option."

"And that is?" Ironwood asked.

"The silver eyes," he answered.

"Is she even aware of their significance?" the General asked.

"No," Ozpin replied. "And quite frankly I'd rather that she didn't have to worry about that yet."

"When we met a couple of weeks ago you mentioned the silver eyes but didn't elaborate," Yoruichi said.

"They are a rare occurrence and even those who had them knew little about it," Ozpin began. "Just scraps of lore about those with silver eyes being great warriors that were feared by the Grimm. In a simplistic manner that is indeed true. Those with the eyes have tended to be highly skilled warriors and the eyes have the effect of petrifying if not outright destroying Grimm."

"They have also very nearly been hunted to extinction by Salem and her minions," James added. He was finally calming down and was actually looking a bit contrite.

"Is Ruby the only one left?" Ichigo asked.

"I believe so," Ozpin said gravely. "Her mother also had them but as you know from the records she departed for a mission when Miss Rose was just a small child and never returned. No body was ever found but the presumption is that she was killed. Most likely it was Salem or one of her people. Besides her obvious skill and desire to be a Huntress, it was the potential of Miss Rose's eyes and the desire to give her a measure of protection from being hunted that led me to allow her into Beacon two years early."

"Do you know what the origin of the silver eyes is?" Yoruichi asked.

"I believe it's a trait that comes directly from the God of Light himself," he answered. "His eyes were silver also. It's also possible that it's a trait the God of Light intentionally left behind when he and his brother left in order to help even the odds a bit as it were in the task I accepted. Because she has become the avatar of destruction, I believe that is why Salem desires to see that trait eliminated. They would indeed be harmful to her, though they would have to be quite powerful."

"Do you know what someone with the silver eyes needs to do to make them work?" Ichigo asked. "I'm not suggesting that we push Ruby to learn how to use them, but if she somehow utilizes them at some point I'd like to know how to coach her with it."

"I'm afraid I don't really know," he answered. "But I speculate that it could have something to do with wanting to protect. The God of Darkness represents destruction and the God of Light represents creation. It could be as simple as wanting to protect something from that darkness."

"Or just simply protecting what you love and care about," Yoruichi said. "If it's anything like it was in our worlds, gaining access to such a power could require a great deal of stress or a matter of life and death. There were many among the Shinigami who didn't discover their power or its nature until they found themselves on that critical knife edge. I'd rather not see her have to go through something like that. She's too young." She gave Ichigo a meaningful look. "Hell they're all too young for that."

"If the God's hadn't been such dicks in the way they dealt with Salem, none of this would be happening," Ichigo snarked.

"True," Ozpin agreed. "Their methods were exceedingly petty, short sighted, and vindictive."

"An emotionally damaged mortal offends them with a grief fuelled tantrum and they respond by setting the wheels in motion to make her an existential threat," Yoruichi said, shaking her head in disgust. "Not to mention they wipe out all of humanity when she bites back at them with the immortality they gave her."

"How did we get so lucky to keep running into these stupidly powerful, ego driven assholes?" Ichigo asked.

She smirked. "Bad luck? Maybe you had a black cat walk across your path."

"Oh, so it's your fault then," he grinned. She stuck her tongue out at him.

"At the risk of being offensive again," Ironwood began. "Is this really a time for jokes?"

"Remember what Ichigo asked you earlier?" Yoruichi reminded him. "There's no point in being in a panic or being angry about information you didn't have. The relationship part is all but irrelevant and and the rest was a matter of misinterpretation. Even if it wasn't, what difference does it make? Whether one specific person is unable to destroy her or if no one is able to, the situation remains the same. She has to be stopped. What you did or didn't know doesn't change that."

"From what Ozpin did tell you, you know that she's been around for an extremely long time," Ichigo said. "That alone should have given you an idea of what you might be up against. Just because something seems like it might be unlikely, that doesn't mean that it isn't possible."

"Your experiences make immortality a distinct factor to consider," he countered. "Mine, despite what I did know, does not."

"I can concede half a point there," she responded. "But Shinigami weren't immortal, they just aged very slowly and a lot of it depended on how powerful you were. Even our worst enemies weren't immortal. Aizen comes close because he had the Hogyoku to regenerate any damage he took. But, I suppose the definition of immortal can be variable. Between Ozpin and Salem alone those are to different variations and both of those were bestowed upon them by someone else."

"What about your immortality?" Glynda asked.

"We just stopped aging, period," Yoruichi answered. "Not sure why. The process could have begun during the cataclysm, or something during our hibernation could have kicked in. Maybe it's the nature of the energies of this world and how it has affected us. That's something that would be up Kisuke's alley but he can't very well build himself a new lab and study it when he's now someone's soul. Realistically though, we're not all that concerned about it. No matter what form it takes it doesn't mean invulnerable."

"So what exactly can we do?" Ironwood asked. "What kind of planning can we come up with now?"

"Overall we must continue to keep the Maiden's out of Salem's hands. That's a given." Ozpin answered. "Without them, she cannot obtain the relics. We must also continue to disrupt operations she has put in place where we find them. Most immediately, we have the Vytal Festival and Cinder's plans for it to worry about. We've previously discussed why an open confrontation is not advisable, the potential for loss of life among the student and general population is simply too great. So long as she is unaware that we know about her we can exercise a certain amount of control over events and continue to gather information."

"And if she discovers that we're on to her?" Ironwood asked.

"Then we'll do what's necessary to stop her," Ichigo vowed with conviction. "Permanently."

Guest Dorms, Later:

Emerald, Mercury, and Neo made sure to stay quiet and well out of Cinder's way as she paced back and forth across the dorm room, her scroll held up to her ear. All of them had seen the video showing the mighty Adam Taurus getting slapped around like a training dummy, Neo had actually spent half the time she should have been doing her punishment schoolwork watching it. They we're quite amused by it but they didn't dare let Cinder see that.

Oh, she had garnered a certain amount of amusement from it herself on a certain level, but she also knew that it was going to be a problem. So much so that she had turned her scroll off before they left for classes that morning. Classes that they now had no choice but to show up for, their 'house arrest' period as it were now at an end. Except for Neo. When they returned at the end of the day and she turned the scroll back on to face the inevitable, the history showed numerous attempted calls by Taurus. Before Cinder could even call him back it rang again and the enraged Faunus was currently in the middle of a diatribe.

Cinder had been holding the scroll away from her ear so as not to be deafened, content to allow him to get some of it out of his system but she was running out of patience. Not that she ever had a lot of it to start with.

"Enough!" she finally thundered, cutting him off when he stopped to take a breath. "I am well aware that there has been some vigilante nipping at your heels, but that sounds very much like a you problem."

"...of course my scroll was off all day, we are posing as students here and I can't exactly be taking calls during a class. You already know that contact should be at a minimum."

"...no, it's only a crisis for you since it doesn't impact on my operation in the least...and it had better not start doing so."

"...yes I know how many have been arrested. It is not my problem that your people can't catch your tormentor nor is it my problem that they cannot avoid becoming targets."

"...yes I did see the video. What it does to your ability to recruit new members to your cause, or hang onto the members you have is not my concern."

"...nor is your wounded pride or your ego."

"...yes I'm sure that when you catch them you will skin them alive but given your performance on that video I don't like your chances."

"...yes, at this juncture I am doubting your abilities. You want that to change, fix the problem."

"...no, I will not send someone to help you find this vigilante. We cannot just leave the campus whenever we please, and as I have already said, this is your problem."

"...it had better not affect how many people you have on hand to fulfill your obligations to me! I don't care if you and everyone you have has to go hide in a hole somewhere until it's time, you had better not drop the ball here. If you do the vigilante will be the least of your problems."

"...I have already supplied you with a great deal of monetary and material support and quite frankly the return I've gotten on that investment has been mediocre at best."

"...do not take that tone with me! It was your people that couldn't even keep a group of first year Huntress trainees from discovering what was going on at Mountain Glenn."

"...no, Torchwick did what he should have done. It's not his fault that your people, who heavily outnumbered them by the way, couldn't kick a bunch of teenagers off the train, or even keep them out of the caverns int eh first place."

"...no I am not going to arrange for them to have an accident. What part of 'undercover infiltration' do you not understand?"

"...Enough! Not another word! Let me make this very clear to you Adam. You agreed to to work for me and have been highly compensated to do so. Overcompensated it seems. I don't care if you and every White Fang soldier you can get your hands on has to flee the city and go to ground. You will hold up your end and be prepared and ready when the time comes. When it does, you can kill and maim to your heart's content. As a matter of fact, I encourage it. You can take Team RWBY and your vigilante and anyone else you have a hate on for into the town square and butcher them like hogs or torture them for days. Do whatever you want to them, I don't care, it all serves the same purpose. Just remember where your priorities lie."

She hung up the call and closed her eyes for a moment to collect herself. She wanted to crush her scroll or melt it to slag but she actually needed the device. Instead, she dropped her usual facade for once and just sagged and plopped down on her bed, surprising the others more than just a little.

"That man is exhausting," she sighed. "And a lunatic."

"Worse than Tyrian?" Mercury dared to snark.

"No one is worse than Tyrian," she said, rolling her eyes. "Adam is obsessive and fixated. Tyrian is..." she sighed. "Tyrian is just bat shit crazy."

No one dared to laugh but it was the funniest thing they could never have imagined her saying. And it was true.

She got up and retrieved her bathing supplies. "I'm going to have a shower before dinner."

It galled her that she had let herself slip like she just had, but there had been too many things go a little off centre with this job and she couldn't afford to let her anger run away with her. She needed to keep a clear head and not be like Adam and let anger cloud her judgment.

She looked at Emerald and Mercury. "Try not to kill each other in the meantime children." Honestly, their near constant bickering and sniping at each other drove her up the wall. At times, she wished they really would kill each other. She looked to Neo. "And if one does kill the other, you can take out the survivor."

Neo grinned widely. First the video and now this? Must be her lucky day.

AN:Another one in the books and remarkably little mental breakage on my part for once. It's refreshing.

I hope you enjoyed this and I how to see lots of reviews. And as always, trolls and idiots need not bother.

On a side note, I have an idea in mind for another potential Encounter AU story. From the time of her birth, Ruby has a guardian spirit that at first only she (and maybe Summer) can see.

Vasto Lorde Ichigo.

No one sees him or hears him unless he lets them. For sake of ease, Yang, her dad, and Qrow will end up being able to see him after a short while. Later, more people might be able to as well. I've had a number of little visuals going through my head of rather innocent things happening with a little girl and her monster.

Imagine her walking across Beacon's courtyard for the first time with the hulking form of Hollowfied Ichigo trailing behind her.

Weiss might want to be careful with that luggage cart.

It's just in the basic idea stage right now, I haven't actually started to write anything for it yet and probably won't for a while.