"I'm sure you've heard this lecture many times before, but we'll be going through it one more time, just to make sure we're all on the same page." Professor Winchester tapped a button on his scroll and the screen on the board lit up. "Mountain Glenn."

Sapphire yawned. Weiss smacked her on the shoulder.

The professor tapped his scroll again, and it cycled to the next slide, a map of Remnant. "It all started around forty years ago, after the Faunus Civil War. The kingdoms were in a time of peace, the damages had been repaired, and populations were growing. The kingdoms needed to expand."

He highlighted Atlas. "In the north, Atlesian pioneers began to settle further into the north, settling glaciers and expanding Dust mining alongside the Schnee Dust Company.

"Meanwhile, Mistral built up." The slideshow transitioned into the capital of Mistral, with wooden buildings on top of one another along a mountainside. "It helped contribute to Mistral's rich culture and diversity, but has also allowed its underground to flourish even with modern law enforcement practices.

"Unfortunately, Vacuo took the brunt of a lot of the wars, and had few resources to expand." Professor Winchester explained. "Even today, Vacuo lags behind the progress made in Atlas and Mistral.

"Vale, however, had ambitions." Professor Winchester switched the slide again. The board displayed an aerial image of a lush valley. "Enter Mountain Glenn. The city was built in a valley nestled between several of the mountains that form Vale's outermost borders, and on the surrounding slopes. Underneath are a series of natural tunnels filled with fresh running water that made irrigation easy. The soil was fertile enough to be used for agriculture, and the mountains surrounding it served as natural defenses."

"And we all know how well that worked out," Mercury muttered, wincing as Yang then kicked him beneath the desks.

"Now, we all know the story of the siege of the city." Professor Winchester said, his eyes moving over the entire class. "We won't be going too in depth into the things we all know. Or rather, I won't. Instead, each of you is going to prepare a presentation on a facet of the siege, and send me a brief explanation of it is so that we have no repeats. The economics, foreign aid, military successes and failures, the logistics, whatever intrigues you."

Sapphire groaned.

"Forward your topic to me by the end of this week. I believe the rest of our time today can be used to start pinpointing it." Professor Winchester shut off the presentation and sat at his desk. "And considering you'll each be required to present your findings starting next week, I'd suggest not dilly-dallying."

Ruby rapped her pencil against her notebook. She stared at the blank page, the eraser leaving little marks on the paper while the tip left a series of light scratches on the surface.

"No ideas?"

Ruby glanced over at Sapphire and sighed. "No, none yet."

"Yeah, I'm in the same boat." Sapphire groaned. "I was gonna talk about the subway below the mountain, what that thing was for, but there's nothing on it!"

"Hey, cheer up. We still have a couple days to think of a subject."

"And some overachievers are already working on their presentation." Sapphire said with a growl.

"... initial push against the Grimm advance, it became obvious that Vale did not have the firepower to hold them back without taking heavy casualties." A voice drifted toward them in the lull of the library. "Then-Headmaster Ozpin, however, continued to commit more and more soldiers to the front..."

"Wow. Cardin is pretty far along."

"Probably got daddy's help with it." Sapphire scoffed.

"Youuuu really don't know how teacher parents work, do you?" Ruby asked with a sidelong glance.

"You can't tell me you and Xiao Long didn't get special treatment at Signal."

"Kinda?" Ruby scratched at her cheek. "I mean, in the sense that Dad and Uncle Qrow pushed us harder. Didn't really get any slack from them. There's a reason Yang was at the top of the class. Cardin is probably in the same boat, maybe worse because his dad is a professor at Beacon. It's probably a smart idea to be ahead as much as possible, just to be safe."

"Hmm." Sapphire crosses her arms. "He's still a prick... but sitting here talking about it ain't helping any."

"Nope." Ruby nodded. "Soooo... have you tried asking Weiss?"

"And speaking of overachievers." Sapphire groaned. "I'm not asking her. She'd just act all superior while griping that I'm not keeping up. Or drag me into another study session to 'help' me."

"Is she that bad?"

"Kinda. She's just got a stick up her ass that someone needs to knock loose."

"Ah." Ruby winced. "A stick... ooh!"

Sapphire shifted in her seat. "What is it?"

"Maybe I could do it on the weapons people used! The Huntsmen, Vale's soldiers, the reinforcements-"

"That's a lot of weapons, Ruby."

"That's okay, I know most of them already." Ruby's pencil scratched against the paper. "Alright, thanks Saph! Maybe if I start with-"

"Whoa, don't abandon me!" Sapphire groaned. "I need something too, or Weiss promised me another workshop slash lecture."

"Alright, alright." Ruby dropped her pencil. "Uh, Mountain Glenn. Talk about the mountains?"

"The mountains." Sapphire said blankly.

"Yeah!" Ruby nodded. "Talk about how they affected Grimm and Huntsman movements? Or how they affected the building of the city and relief efforts?"

"..." Sapphire raised a finger and lowered it. "No. No. You don't get to come up with an ideas like that off 'the mountains'. That's not how smart people are supposed to work."

"How are they supposed to work?" Ruby asked.

"I dunno, not like that!" Sapphire groaned. "Why ain't anybody else here with us?"

"Ummm. Mercury is getting training in with some different people. He was talking about liking the variety. Weiss said something about a call to her sister. And Yang got dragged into town by Cinder for some reason." Ruby picked up her pencil again and ripped a page out of her notebook. She jotted down a few words then passed it to her friend. "Here! Maybe this will help!"

"Ruby, why-" Sapphire stared at Ruby as the girl's pencil flew against the page. "Aaaand she's ignoring me. Great... Want something from the cafeteria?"

"Milk."

"Of course you'd hear that."

Isaac's Dust Shop was in shambles. The sign was face up on the ground, a deep tear in it obscuring the owner's name. One of the windows was smashed out into the street, and shards of broken glass lay scattered on the sidewalk.

Inside, cabinets were overturned and display cases broken. The register was on the floor. Several shotgun shells lay discarded on the ruined carpet.

The owner sat next to a White Fang van, gripping his side while a medic worked on him. Officers, White Fang and police, stood around the wreckage and directed passerbys around the scene.

Yang sagged. "Is it just me, or are these becoming a lot more common?"

Cinder shook her head. "There does seem to be a rise in destructive crime as of late. At least I can't recall hearing - or seeing - this much before we started attending Beacon."

"And it's always Dust, too!" Yang groaned. "You can't even walk to the diner without running into another scene."

One of the White Fang officers glanced their way and did a double take. She snorted and made her way towards the pair.

"Sergeant Belladonna." Cinder greeted.

"Miss Fall, it seems we keep running into each other."

"Small city, it seems?" Cinder jested.

Blake laughed. "Gods no. Though a part of me is wondering if you're just drawn to trouble."

"I should hope not. I merely asked Yang to accompany me as I picked up some accessories Beacon doesn't immediately have on hand. I'd rather not run into a crime scene every time I run errands."

"Any chance you can tell us what happened?" Yang asked.

"Same old song and dance it's been since these started." Belladonna scowled before letting out a sigh. "Isaac's a local owner, sells Dust. High quality. Robbers hit the place, and he isn't the type to surrender without a fight. So he broke out a gun, everything went nasty, and the bullet casings and slash gouges only matches up with stuff already in our evidence lockers and databases."

"So you know who did it?" Yang asked, shifting her weight from foot to foot. "Why don't you just track them and take them down?"

"I wish we could." The sergeant glanced at Cinder before continuing. "But while they're making a lot of noise and grandstanding during the robbery - or so witnesses say - that's about all we get. Brief, similar descriptions of generic features and obvious code names. At this point it's just frustrating."

Mercury bounced on the balls of his feet across the clearing, the soft dirt of the clearing sticking to the soles of his boots.

Ruby held Crescent Rose in its rifle form down and pointing at the ground.

"Ready, deadeye?" Mercury taunted.

Ruby grinned. "You can bet your boots on it."

On the sidelines, Yang blew an airhorn.

Ruby reacted first, hopping back and unfurling Crescent Rose into its scythe form. She plunged the blade of the scythe into the ground as a makeshift prop.

Mercury darted to the right to dodge the first shot, then weaved back and to the left as Ruby resighted. A third shot grazed his shoulder as he ducked low. The fourth sprayed dirt underneath his leg as he leapt forward, aiming the sole of his boot at his opponent.

Mercury kicked his leg out at Ruby, firing at center mass. She sidestepped, sighted, and fired. The bullet smashed into Mercury's elbow and he spun with the hit.

Ruby worked the breech on Crescent Rose and fired another three shots in quick succession. Mercury dodged to the right, and the moment his feet were off the ground she moved.

She ripped her scythe from the ground and lunged towards him. Eyes wide, he threw up a loose guard and ducked low. The blade cut just above his head as Ruby flew by him.

He twisted and threw a kick above him as Ruby passed, catching her along the side as she traveled. She rolled with the kick, her boots scrabbling at the ground and sliding. She directed her skid to the side as he fired off another shot, and buckshot tore through the air next to her.

Mercury went on the offensive. He lunged forward and led with a quick kick that sprayed metal through the air at her. Ruby twisted around the shot and he was on her.

Ruby intercepted a kick on Crescent Rose's shaft and pushed off hard. Mercury moved with the spin and swept around the weapon with his other foot.

Ruby ducked under the hit and swung Crescent Rose around his body. He jumped straight up and the curved blade cleaved through the air underneath him. Ruby squeezed the trigger and the recoil pulled her away from Mercury. She surged forward, dodging to the side of Mercury's retaliation.

As she ran she flipped a switch near Crescent Rose's trigger. The blade pulled itself parallel to the shaft with an outward curve like an inverted glaive.

Mercury noticed the shift and crouched low. Ruby crouched and sprang at him, Crescent Rose held before her like a spear. Mercury twisted his hips hard and her momentum carried her past him. He thrusted his foot at her back, but she was already gone.

The moment he set it back down she struck again, aiming for his legs. He hopped to the side, the blade missed him by inches as he lifted his leg high and swung it down in an axe kick. Ruby darted back and shot Mercury in the hip.

He jerked back and Ruby darted past him with Crescent Rose held behind her, slashing at his ribs. He flinched away, pivoting, and took another bullet to the face. He lashed out, but she'd already dodged out of the way.

She flickered behind him and set her stance. She swung Crescent Rose behind her and squeezed the trigger. With the shot of her gun she launched herself forward and swung.

Only to be caught in the chest by Mercury's plated foot. She launched back and hit the ground rolling, Crescent Rose flying from her hands. She rolled to a stop at Yang's feet, near the edge of the clearing, and groaned.

Yang tapped Ruby with her shoe. The girl curled up into a ball. Yang raised an eyebrow and stifled a laugh.

"Yo Mercury, I think you broke her!" She called.

"She did most of the work!" Mercury shook his head and walked over. "Hey, kid, you alright?"

"... I'm fine." Ruby coughed. She sat up and rubbed her ribs. "That hurt."

"You should've stuck to the thrusts." Mercury said. "The moment you held your scythe behind you, you were wide open."

"Yeah, but it looks so cool!"

"Maybe," Yang reached down to tousle her hair. "But it doesn't look cool when you clothesline yourself."

"Yang, stop!" Ruby smacked her sister's hand away. She winced at the motion. "Ow. Think you broke through on that last hit."

"Really?" Mercury blinked. He reached his hand out towards Ruby. "Shit, didn't mean to hit you that hard."

She took it with a strained smile and Mercury hauled her to her feet.. "Not the first time it's happened."

She glanced at Yang. Her sister rolled her eyes. "I've only knocked the wind out of you, what...three times?"

"Five!" Ruby exclaimed. "You suck at pulling punches!"

Yang shrugged. "Dad always said not to pull punches against anyone!"

"He didn't mean me!" Ruby huffed.

Mercury laughed. "Is that right, Xiao Long?"

"Hey, you know me." Yang flashed him a grin. "Only thing I half-ass is homework."

"And your jokes."

Yang slid Ember Celica over her forearms and gave Mercury a wolfish smile. "Do you want to die today?"

"Like you could kill me." He retorted. "I can take you with an arm tied behind my back."

"We'll see what you have to say when your mouth is filled with dirt." Yang quipped, raising her arms.

Mercury mirrored her stance with a grin.

Ruby groaned. "This is gonna take forever."

"Sorry, sis." Yang grinned. "We won't kill the clearing this time."

Ruby snorted.

Yang launched herself at Mercury with an explosion of dirt. He backpedaled and bobbed between punches with a grin.

"Well, this is gonna be a while." Ruby sat down on a rock and pulled out her scroll from her bag. Mercury shouted something she didn't quite catch before she heard their guns firing off.

"Three missed messages," She said, putting her headphones on to muffle the sounds of battle only feet away from where she sat. She swayed in her seat and swiped through the scroll's home page while Mercury and Yang "Cinder, studying… Weiss, studying… ooh, Nora?"

"So I stood there, on the edge of civilization, ready to stop all attacks into the world we cherish." Nora leaned over the table and looked Ruby in the eye. "There I stood, alone, with naught but a pistol and a toothpick to my name as the hordes of darkness and evil prepared evil doom."

"Fifteen Beowolves, and there was a wall."

"The edge of human civilization." Nora insisted. "I had few reinforcements. I knew Ren was on his way, but all he could bring was an agent of revival and a toothpick."

Ren shook his head with a smile. "Nora, I thought I had my knife."

"Yes, the toothpick." She ignored a protest and continued. "And then they rushed me! Across the fields they charged, their horns held low to the ground! Beowolves riding boarbatusks!"

Jaune cocked his head to the side. "I thought they were Ursae riding Griffins?"

"And I thought she said Ursa Major." Pyrrha laughed.

Nora groaned. "You guys weren't even there!"

"Nora, it's an arcade game, and I brought you a soda and some coins to continue after they overwhelmed you." Ren chuckled. "You're making it too easy for us when you get this strung out over the little things."

Nora sat back down. "But the little things are what make the story!"

"I liked the story, Nora." Ruby said with a smile. "How did you two beat off the Grimm?"

Nora grinned. "I was on the ropes for a while. My reinforcements ran late, and my ammo ran dry. But suddenly, the position next to me was filled by my trusty sidekick, and we pushed them back! The king rewarded us handsomely for our service."

"Yes, twenty tickets. Enough for a pencil." Ren deadpanned.

Nora put her hands up. "The country was in crisis! He offered what he could, and only what he could."

"It seems the king was unsatisfied with your work." Sapphire snarked. "Perhaps the noble life isn't for you." She took a sip of coffee.

"You wound me, Madam Sustrai." Nora clutched a hand over her chest. "To my core."

Sapphire shook her head. "How could I ever live with myself?"

"I'm not sure you can die from heartbreak, Nora." Ren smiled.

Nora threw her hands up and looked at Yang. "You see what I have to deal with?"

Yang blinked. "Oh, sorry? I wasn't paying attention."

"You alright, Yang?" Pyrrha asked. "You seem a little out of it."

She groaned. "Mercury was up till… what, one in the morning playing video games." She spared a glare towards the counter, where he was chatting with a waitress. "I'm pretty sure he doesn't know what a volume button is… or a headset."

Ren winced.

"Yeah." She grabbed her coffee mug and took a long sip. "Night before that was studying for Winchester's review tests, and the night before that I lost track of time in the training room. Nobody ever told me Beacon never sleeps."

"I've been getting plenty of sleep." Ruby confessed. "Cinder makes me get to bed around ten every day."

"Is she treating you like a kid?"

"Nah," Ruby sniffed. "She just doesn't want me waking her up when I come back to the dorm, so she's making sure I'm asleep before she is."

Sapphire nodded. "Weiss is on the same shit Cinder's on. Can't even have soda after eight, or she thinks I'm pulling an all nighter."

Ren nodded. "Sounds reasonable."

"It's annoying." Sapphire groaned. "She's so uptight!"

Pyrrha smiled. "Maybe she just wants to make sure you're not doing anything foolish. She comes off as the tough love type."

"Can't get much tougher than her." Sapphire snorted. "Get in the arena, we kick ass. Get out of the arena, she kicks my ass."

"Have you ever woken her up in the middle of the night?" Ruby asked.

Sapphire shrugged. "Once, maybe. I'm pretty sure she wasn't actually asleep anyways."

"Yeah, Pyrrha can get like that sometimes." Jaune bumped his shoulder into her. "She's worse than my mom."

"Jaune, nobody is worse than your mother." Pyrrha said. "And it's not my fault the three of you would put your hands into wood chippers if I wasn't there to stop you."

Ren frowned. "Me?"

"Nora's hand would get stuck, then Jaune's, then yours would get stuck trying to pull their hands out instead of just turning off the woodchipper." Pyrrha smiled. "You're not good enough at bailing people out to be a mom. "

Ren raised a finger, then lowered it. He took a sip of his tea. "Point."

Ruby looked down at her empty mug.

"Oh, Ruby, you need another drink?" Jaune asked. "I could hunt down the waitress if you want."

"Is that okay?" Ruby asked.

Jaune grinned. "Course it is! Anyone else need any last minute orders?"

"Another fifteen shots of espresso." Yang said.

"... Okay then, more coffee." He shook his head and climbed out of the booth. "Where is - ah!" He walked past Sapphire's seat.

Mercury walked back and sat next to Yang.

"You get any digits, ladykiller?" She teased.

"Meh." Mercury shrugged. "She wasn't interested, I didn't push too hard. Besides, I'm pretty sure Professor Rainart's about to kill me next week, so it's not like I'll be doing much dating."

"What'd you do this time?" Sapphire asked.

"You know that long-term project we've been working on for Tactics? I set up a theoretical armed forces made up of small, fast teams. Next week they're getting battle-tested on the hologram city, and, uh." He cringed. "One of the things is how they deal with being surrounded."

"Oof."

He sighed and leaned back. "Yeah, I'm gonna be making a loooot of last minute changes."

"I could give you a hand, if you want. So long as you learn how to mute the TV or buy some headphones."

"I'll do that as long as you don't bring the same shit up for a week straight again." Mercury grumbled.

"Is this how you respond to people offering to help you?" Yang sipped her coffee. "That's just terrible. Why would you do that?"

Ren raised an eyebrow.

"No, they don't know how to stop." Sapphire shrugged. "You learn to live with it."

"Who thought it would be a good idea to pair them together again?" Ruby asked.

Sapphire shrugged.

The waitress came back, refilled Yang's coffee, and placed another mug of hot chocolate in front of Ruby.

Jaune sat back down at the end of the booth. "Sorry 'bout that, needed to make a call."

"That group project?" Ren asked.

"Yeah, it hit a dead end." Jaune sighed. "Gonna have to start from scratch."

Pyrrha smiled. "You'll get there eventually."

"So we hope."

"Is anybody here actually on top of their schoolwork?" Ren asked. "Because this conversation has really given me the impression that nobody is on top of their schoolwork."

"Weiss is." Sapphire deadpanned.

Ruby shrugged. "So is Cinder, and she's making sure I am. It's actually why they're not here."

"I'm getting plenty of work done, with Mercury keeping me up all night."

Mercury punched Yang in the shoulder, and she stuck her tongue out at him.

"If you two are just gonna go at it again," Jaune cut in, "Then I'm gonna just pay the bill before we have to buy a table."

"We're not that bad!"

"Tell that to grass at the park." Jaune deadpanned. "Or the folding table you broke at that supermarket."

Nora laughed. "Folding tables really aren't that strong, you know? A little pressure and-"

"Excuse me, miss?" Jaune raised a hand. "Our check, please?"

"Now, that's just rude. To the waitress and to Nora." Yang shook her head.

"She'll live. Thanks, miss." Jaune glanced at the bio. "Lunch's on me tonight."

He reached a hand into his pocket, then froze. He patted his other pocket before reaching underneath him to the seat of his jeans.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha asked.

He groaned. "Wallet's gone. Shit, uh. May have dropped it outside when I grabbed my phone to talk to my partner." He stood up and half-jogged towards the door. "I swear…."

Ruby blinked.

"Oh this will be fun to tease him about, assuming he does find it." Pyrrha said with a smile.

Sapphire cocked her head to the side. "I take it this don't happen often?"

"No," Ren said. "He's usually the one triple checking everything to make sure we've got it all."

"And usually giving me grief about leaving things to last minute." Nora said, pouting.

"We'll try not to tease him too much. I mean, we all have our off days. Can't really be held accountable for mistakes, right?" Sapphire shrugged.

Mercury's eyes widened. "Gods dammit, Saph."

"What?" Yang asked.

Sapphire sighed. "You're ruining the joke!"

"Sapphire, theft isn't a joke!"

"Look, it was harmless." Sapphire retorted. "What's a little larceny between friends?"

"Larceny. Just larceny." Mercury massaged his forehead and stood up. "I'll get him."

Mercury followed Jaune's path out of the building with heavy footsteps. Ruby blinked.

"Wait, wait wait wait." Nora stood in her seat and leaned over the table. "You pickpocketed Jaune?"

"Yep."

"How?"

Sapphire grinned. "Trade secret."

"He walked by you on the way to get Ruby more hot chocolate, right?" Ren asked. "You probably nabbed it then, and he was too preoccupied to notice. Impressive."

"While I like the compliment, do you guys have to kill all my fun with the play-by-play?" Sapphire asked. "Are you all just secret Mercurys?"

Ruby raised her hand. "Isn't Jaune going to be upset?"

"Ruby, put down your hand, this isn't Winchester's class." Sapphire's grin softened. "He'll be fine, he's a big boy. Jaune can take a joke, right Pyr?"

"That nickname is terrible, I don't burn corpses." Pyrrha said with a smile. "And Jaune will be fine. He can use a little slap to the ego every once in a while."

"See? It's all fiiiiine!" Sapphire tousled Ruby's hair.

Yang raised an eyebrow. "Still kinda impressive that you were able to do it, though."

"Sensing a 'but' there."

"Something something, stealing is bad, something something, bad influence." Yang shrugged. "You do you, Saph, just don't get us in trouble or do something actually bad."

"I'm not dumb, Xiao Long." Sapphire reached into her pocket and passed the wallet across the table to Pyrrha. "Here's his wallet. Was gonna return it before we headed out anyway. Didn't even take anything."

"Well that's good to know, though I hope you realize this means I'm not covering you." Jaune said as he walked back to the table with Mercury behind him, taking his wallet from Pyrrha. "And I'm sorry to say we've gotta head out."

"Ohhh. Something come up?" Nora asked.

Jaune nodded as he left some lien on the table. "Sun gave me a quick call while I was looking for my 'lost' wallet and wants us all there to talk about whether to go with some small trees or flowers this go around."

"Seems an odd choice." Mercury said, taking his seat.

Ren nodded. "Sun is rather odd himself. Very much the outdoor type, so he tries to bring that inside. Unfortunately, the last time he made the decision himself, the trees ended in quite the bad position. I'd suggest we hurry, then. Have a pleasant evening, everyone."

Pyrrha and Nora nodded, Nora sucking the last of her drink up, before the quartet headed out with a wave.

"Sooooo." Sapphire said, eyeing the lien Jaune had left. "Anybody willing to cover-"

"Oh no. You dug this grave. Pay up."

Sapphire glared at the smirking Mercury. "Rude."