Hey, its Flawed again. Sorry that i haven't been active. I've been having issues, not to mention how busy college has been for me. I haven't really had much time. I've been sitting on this chapter for a good while, only ever able to add small segments considering the time i had. I also have around 3000+ words for the next chapter of Dusts of Time written but I haven't completed it and unlike this one, i haven't found a good spot to cut it short and at least update SOMETHING. I'll try to get DoT's next chapter out during the holiday break, but since I'll also be pressed to study for the upcoming exams at the end of January, i can't promise anything. i should have much more time after my exams because i'll have my internship then and should be free from atleast having to constantly think about my subjects and grades and whatnot.

Also, if you have time, please check out my attempt at something new in "A War Worth Fighting". I haven't seen anything similarly done. its more of a concept to see if it's interesting. it has a single 'prologue' chapter as of now and a bit over 5000 words. I think it paints a rather interesting world and i would like some feedback just for the concept and how the universe is built. thanks guys.

anyway, done ranting. here's a rather short chapter but still practically an intro into the world im trying to craft. i present, Power and Influence - Chapter 1. (maybe prologue 2 would be a better fit.)

Chapter Start.

"As you can see behind me," the man on the screen turned slightly to the side to give the camera a clearer view of the scene. "the damage done to the Maximilian Company was extensive."

The fire's on the rubble were still burning and the structure which was once the blocky development laboratory for the explosives manufacturers was left as an unrecognizable mass of twisted metal and charred concrete.

"There has been conclusive evidence that this act was done by the faunus extremist group known as the White Fang. Reports also indicate that the renowned criminal Roman Torchwick was involved the incident. The Winchester family, who own the company, are taking personal strides into dealing with the situation and have taken over the case from the local authorities." the reported once again fully faced the camera before continuing.

"Despite the evidence, The White Fang has not personally come forward to take responsibility for the attack, and as such, have not brought their direct intentions to light. We are certain, however, that this was a direct response to the scandal a few weeks back pertaining to the less than idea working conditions within the company. As is common knowledge, the Maximilian Company is one of Remnant's leading explosives and weapons manufacturer, and the revelation of several incidents that occurred during testing that severely injured, and in some cases killed, the faunus workers has resulted in backlash from several pro-faunus groups, the White Fang most prominent of all." the camera panned in slightly to focus on the reported, but the rising smoke just over his shoulder was still caught on the footage.

"This is the second attack against one of the Prime Families in the past month within Valean borders, following the raid on the Schnee cargo train traveling through the northern edge of the Emerald Forest just south of the city of Vale. The White Fang's rising activity within and around the Kingdom is concerning and the citizens are advised to be careful and avoid heavily populated areas."

"What are you going to do about this? And I don't mean just the attack on Maximilian, but the train incident as well." Glynda Goodwitch asked the Beacon headmaster who was watching the news reports with a steaming mug of coffee in his hands, the delicious aroma invading his nostrils and giving him slight reprieve from the headache that was starting to form.

"That area is under the protection of the Winchester Family, and you know how territorial they are." he replied as he took a sip.

"I am aware that they have major influence over the council, but Beacon Academy is, and always was, an independent party with significant influence as well." she argued.

"Not enough to match the Primes." The headmaster placed his mug down and leaned back into his chair. "Believe me, I've tried to convince Brand that this is not a matter he can handle alone."

"But both of the attacks happened on land under his protection. The other Primes cant be happy with that, especially the Schnees."

"Yet they have little power over Vale, especially if its his word against theirs." Ozpin released a sigh at the thought of the stubborn Winchester Leader.

"His son is attending Beacon next term, that has to count for something."

"Do you honestly believe he will allow us to get involved with the matter just because his son is one of my students?" He regarded the blonde with raised eyebrows, his brown irises peaking over his dark glasses. "You've met the man, he's as stubborn as it gets."

"He seems awfully protective of his son though."

He paused. "Glynda, are you suggesting we use this boy as some sort of leverage?" he asked with slight amusement in his tone.

"Don't be absurd! I'm merely saying that if he is willing to send his son to our school then it must mean that he trusts us at least to some degree." she said sharply.

"He did not have much of a choice. The other Academies are far away, too far for him to keep a watchful eye on." the Beacon headmaster turned his chair to face the large windows that made up the back wall of his office. The scene was beautiful, the spires of the different buildings as well as the far off city was visible from their spot, perched atop Beacon Tower.

There was a rather heavy silence. Glynda adjusted her own glasses while trying to glare a hole in the large scroll in her hand. Unlike the headmaster who just finished watching the video broadcast of the news, she was looking through written articles on both attacks.

The Primes we're much too powerful if she were to be asked. Yes, their genetic buildup, generations of 'selective breeding' and ancestors with unnatural and powerful traits and abilities, led to them being the most prominent families in the world of huntsmen, but to grant them this much political power was unacceptable to her. Especially that Brand Winchester, all she sees in him is a much too stubborn brute, inept at handling matters outside of the battlefield.

Her grip on her scroll tightened slightly as she tried to suppress the next few words from tumbling out of her mouth.

"What about the Arcs, sir? You have connections to them, one of the few people that do."

The headmaster once again faced her at this.

"You've always been wary of them. Now, you want me to contact them?" he said slowly.

"Well." she hesitated slightly. "These are desperate times."

Ozpin continued to stare at her for a few more seconds. "Indeed" he finally spoke. "I've already called Lady Amethyst."

"You have?" she was surprised.

"She has promised to attend the Prime meeting this coming Saturday."

Glynda was rather speechless at this.

"That's..."

"Surprised?" the headmaster asked his deputy. And when she didn't respond, he merely chuckled. "It might not seem so obvious, but the Arcs are upholding their responsibilities as a Prime Family quite well. The number of attacks in Vale wasn't just limited to two, there have been five. two on the southern sector, the ones you saw on the news, and three on the northern half of the area, ones within Arc territory."

Jaune leaned back as he drove along the highway just south of Vale. The port district was originally a separate town known as Saands and was situated approximately half an hour by car just south of the city center. It was later made part of Vale after the city grew and expanded further out. With is large ports, it quickly became the central hub between the fishing towns further south as well as the main trading point of goods coming from and going to the other kingdoms. Many smaller ships from larger companies sail directly into the smaller Valean ports, but most large cargo boats and freighters prefer to dock in Saands.

It is because of this that the district survived for so long even though it was technically outside of Vale's physical walls. It was precious, and therefore, well protected. At least this is what most people believe.

The truth behind Saands' protection was that it was the closest access point the Arcs had into the city. A few more kilometers past Vale's territorial border, in an area that was by all means part of the grimmlands, was a small area hidden from view. In fact, it was so well camouflaged into the dense forest as well as the cliff towering beside it that even if viewed from a bullhead flying directly over, no one would be able to spot the 'village'. The vast expanse of the emerald forest covered almost the entire southern continent, and this area was no exception. The tall trees, extending absurdly high into the sky was perfect for hiding the village of such a secretive family.

The Arc mansion was at the western most edge, a large and elegant structure, three stories high, with large windows and dark brown roof tiles. It was built with its back to the cliff, the rocks extending higher up and curving slightly inward, hiding the structure even further from view. It was as grand as it was imposing.

It was on one of the mansion's balconies that Lux Arc sat, a cup of coffee on the table in front of her, lazily stirring the dark liquid with the teaspoon lightly held in her right hand.

She already completed the preparations for their little trip to Vytal, the meeting place of the Primes. Lux had wondered when Lady Amethyst would finally attend a meeting in person, given that she had acted as her stand in in the ones that happened in the past few years. The Primes did not meet often, and most of the time it was over matters that did not really involved their family. She supposed this time it was different. There have been attacks on Vale, five from what she gathered. Two within the Winchester's territory and three within their own. Let it be known that young Lux was not pleased with the incompetence the Winchesters have shown. She could not care less for the damage to both the Schnee cargo as well as the Winchester's own facilities, but their failure in preventing the attacks have brought panic onto the populous, not to mention how Lux despised incompetence. Civilian casualties we're thankfully left to a minimum but that did not help paint the Winchesters in a better light in her eyes.

She pulled the teaspoon out of her cup and placed it on the edge of the saucer before she lifted the piece of porcelain to her lips. The coffee was strong yet sweet, just how she liked it.

"Lux, are you ready?" a voice called out from behind the balcony door prompting her to return her cup to the table.

"Yes, father, all the preparations have been made." Cyan Arc, her father, was one of Lady Amethyst's older brothers and that made the Arc leader her aunt. She was among eight of her generation that lived within the walls of the Arc mansion with Lady Amethyst's own son Jaune being the only male.

She was quite fond of him. Being the eldest among her cousins and siblings meant that she watched all of them grow into the people they are today, and young Jaune, seven years her junior, specifically attracted a lot of attention from the other members of their family. Not only for being the current leader's only child but the promise he has shown as well as the 'companion' that is with him wherever he goes.

"Everything is ready on our end as well." Her father sat down beside her, looking rather spiffy in his black suit. "Looking good." she smirked at him over the top of her cup.

"You're are looking quite beautiful as well." came his response. The 24 year old woman was also wearing a formal attire, one she wore far too often in her opinion. Black slacks and a black blazer over a white blouse. Her long blonde hair was pinned up by a hair clip, with a few strands braided around her head to look like a crown of laurel wreaths.

"I would have been flattered if this weren't the same clothes I wear to every Prime meeting I attend." she said in a flat tone accompanied by a flat look.

"You have new earrings." he added and her eyebrows rose at this.

"You noticed?" she was genuinely surprised, she didn't think her father would notice such small details.

"Of course I noticed, you're my daughter."

She only hummed in response.

And the father daughter pair descended into a comfortable silence.

A few minutes later and a pair of footsteps came from behind them.

"Lux, are you out he- oh, hey dad!" a peppy voice came from behind them "Lux, Auntie Am said she needed you." Joanne said with her head sticking out of the doorway. Her younger sister was around Jaune's age and used to be his playmate when they were smaller. As such, she was closest to him and grew up calling the family head in such a familiar manner, not that Lady Amethyst minded. She was soon to leave for Mistral to attend Haven, a year under her older sister Luna. The older students have already returned to the Academy last week and the first of the freshmen should arrive today. That being said, classes don't start till next week.

"Alright." she replied as she stood up. She looked at the small watch she had strapped to the inside of her wrist. "I'll see you in a bit then, father, we are scheduled to leave in just under an hour anyway. Joanne, have fun at Haven. I've been told your flight leaves tonight."

"Oh yeah. Thanks." her little sister said as she stepped into the balcony to both give Lux space to move through. "She's in her study, I assume?"

"Ah, yep."

"Thanks."

Cinder was observing the fight with little interest. She was watching merely to pass the time as she waited for Mercury to come back from his little errand. Emerald beside her seemed to be enjoying herself with the spar going on down below, in the desert simulated environment of the arena. Sun Wukong against Luna Fornix, both second years of Haven Academy.

She had seen Wukong fight from recaps of last year's Vytal Festival Tournament, though unfortunately, Luna was apparently injured right before the event and had to back out of the tournament. She overheard people say that she was one of Haven's brightest. So there was some reason for her slight intrigue.

The monkey faunus was wielding a pair of nunchucks that doubled as either a pair of pistols, or when aligned, a staff while the blonde Luna was wielding a pair of oddly shaped… 'daggers?' she guessed one could call them. Sharp edges on the inside and outside of the blade curvied outward at the base before making a sharp turn and curving inward again, a khopesh would be the closest things she could compare it to. The oddity however was that there was another blade attached to the base curving out on the opposite side of the first, mirroring it, having much the same shape but roughly around half of its size. Its pommel was shaped like a crescent moon and although it was probably meant as more of a decorative addition, it still sported a sharp point and would have no problem inflicting some damage. It was also rather interesting how they mechashifted seamlessly into pistols. She couldn't understand the point of the weapon's shape but she had to admit the efficiency and speed at which it changed forms.

Sun swung his staff overhead and Luna caught the attack with the junction of her weapon's blades. She twisted her wrist to lock the staff in place as she jumped into the air and attempted a roundhouse kick onto her fellow blonde. Sun tried to pull the staff out but it got stuck by its trigger forcing him to raise his hand and block the kick with his forearm or forced or be disarmed.

His red gauntlets did well to stop the attack and the force of the kick effectively dislodged the staff and pushed both combatants away. The sand shifted as both landed a good ways from each other.

The fight had been going on for a few minutes now and the artificial sun' rays were starting to hurt her eyes.

Luna was leading in aura levels. Sun's just dropped into the orange with that last hit.

The faunus released a chain of bullets, all the while twisting his now in nunchuck form weapon while Luna dashed toward him weaving left and right to avoid the shots. He stopped shooting as she got too close and struck his hands together calling out two translucent clones which jumped forward to intercept the oncoming threat. It did little to slow the girl down as she quickly and efficiently twisted over the first, stabbed her blade into its skull and shot the second all while still airborne. Sun did not waste time, however, as he ran forward to try and knock his opponent out of the air.

Cinder's brow rose as Luna seemed to maneuver mid air to avoid the attack, her long blonde hair flowing after her. She wasted no time, landing in a crouch and sweeping her body in a circle, kicking up sand and clouding the area.

Sun reacted quickly enough, reattaching his weapons into a staff and spinning it quickly to blow the grains of sand away. He trained his eyes on the spot his sparring partner was just occupying to see the space empty. He frantically glanced around to catch a glimpse of where she had disappeared to.

He tilted his head back to look straight up. The faunus was blinded by the artificial sun's rays but he did not fail to notice the small shadow that approached him from above. He attempted to intercept her attack by shooting up yet the girl continued to weave in the air, avoiding the shots. Cinder was paying full attention now, the way she moved while in the air was not normal. She seemed quick, but the way she moved while airborne shouldn't be possible without purchase or an outside force like a gun's recoil. Yet as she got closer, extending her arms outward and legs lucked in, Cinder was struck by an odd thought. The movement, it was familiar somehow, it reminded her of something yet she couldn't fully put her finger to it. Sun once again transformed his weapon into a staff, trying to counter her in a melee as she got a mere meter away from him. She did not let him. She twisted away from the staff's oncoming point, raised both her arms up before slamming them down, catching both of Sun's shoulders with the junction of her blades and knocking them both onto the ground.

Cinder jumped to her feet. She now realized what this reminded her of. And she did not miss the slight glow of Luna's gray eyes. Cinder knew exactly what that meant.

Sun let out a grunt as her knees landed on his chest. He wasn't out of it yet, his aura at 16%. At a range too close to effectively use his gunchucks, he dropped the red and gold weapons and attempted to swing his arm at Luna, at which she merely pulled on her blade's hilts, using his shoulders as leverage and digging the longer blade into the front of his abdomen and at the same time the shorter side into his shoulder blade. Like talons tightening, digging its sharp points into its prey.

The blonde faunus' fist was a mere centimeter from her face when the speakers blared signifying his loss, his aura had dropped to the red but the black haired woman did not register this, she did not even notice how Emerald was on her feet beside her as well.

"Like an eagle catching its prey." she breathed out.

"That's..." the green haired girl could only mimic her leader's shock.

"There's no doubt about it." Cinder's face darkened. "This girl is an Arc."

Chapter End.

let me know your thoughts. and once again, please check out "A War Worth Fighting" it would mean a lot to me.