Disclaimer: Still doesn't own RWBY, does still have computer issues, but everyone has been patient so I'll go ahead and post

Classroom
Beacon Academy
Vale

"…and extracted by bullhead," you finish your recitation of the sequence of events at Northridge Plaza and look around the classroom at the two first year, and one second year, teams. "Coco, you're the senior team-leader. Why don't you start?"

"My position gave me no ability to control the situation," Coco said. "That said, Jaune did about as good a job as could be asked for considering what went down. SDC goons—retired SDC goons," she interjects before Weiss can, "—trying to kidnap Khan and Belladonna was never a contingency we considered."

"I became too involved in my cover," Velvet added. "I'd stopped paying attention to my surroundings. At the very least I should have had my aura up but…it's tiring. More so than I remembered it being when I first got it unlocked."

You nod. "Good point. It's not the first time one of you has commented on it, and most are having issues with instinctively protecting yourself—we'll get to your actions later, Xiao-Long. Did any of you consider the possible ramifications if it was an ambush aimed at Blake?"

Uneasy looks are traded and you nod again. "About what I expected. Moving on, Yatsuhashi?"

"I need to spend further time considering how to make use of improvised weapons," the giant of a second-year says. "Two faunus were killed in part because of the delay in my engaging them. Or, barring that, perhaps a secondary weapon, one more concealable, or perhaps I should say more appropriate in public settings, than Masamune. Coco has instructed me to take additional firearm familiarization courses."

"I suppose that's one option," you allow.

He shook his head. "I do not wish to use such weapons generally, but I took several from the foes I defeated. I should have made good use of them and I did not; owing to insufficiency of skill."

"Fox?"

"I'm in the same boat as Yatsu," Fox said. "My weapons aren't exactly easy to hide, even in plain sight. My disguise worked well enough, but it was the kind of disguise that works well for observation. Intervening…I need to be able to intervene effectively."

"Talk with Yatsuhashi. Both of you have three options. Yatsuhashi identified one. Can anyone pick out the others?"

"Oooh, me," Ruby says.

You roll your eyes. "Ruby."

"Modify your weapons, adding functionality to make them more concealable and, in Yatsuhashi's case, handy in a close fight; or acquiring new primary weapons that are specialized for such a fight and can be stored in between."

You hum softly. "It can be a pain to sort between specialized and more generic gear. There's always the risk of being caught with the wrong equipment, or more often having a new contract come up with no time to change out. But having the essential tools for a job is vital. The difference in capability will be not just a matter of success or failure, but life or death. Under those circumstances specialization must be of a secondary concern. At best."

You wait long enough to make sure they've all caught the critical points, and move on. "Whose idea was it to break up partners?"

"Uh…Mine," Jaune admits.

"Why?"

"I thought having two sniper teams on overwatch made sense," Jaune says. "Ren has some spotting experience, Nora and Weiss don't."

"And yourself?"

"Not really, but the only one who did is Yang, and she insisted on covering Blake. It made sense. Pyrrha's the only other person who is fast enough and good enough close-in to credibly assist Blake if it was necessary. She's too well-known. She's been mobbed by civilians before. On top of that, her presence would have been making a statement to the White Fang. If Khan's presence were known, it'd be a statement to all of her fans as well. With Yang, if it all went off well Khan would have left thinking Yang was Blake's only backup. Besides, Pyrrha had our only other precision long-range weapon."

"Did you think all that out?" you ask.

"We all did," Pyrrha replies. "Jaune pointed out that I had the only other suitable weapon, Blake the White Fang's reaction to my presence, Weiss the public's reaction."

"Well, it's nice to know you thought it out, at least."

"I didn't really need a spotter," Ruby says. "I mean, it would have been nice, but I…dealt. And sticking with me gave Jaune the ability to see everything and coordinate."

"Not the point I was making, though your observation about distancing him to enable coordination is well-made. The problem with it is that Weiss and Nora were delayed by the civilians who wanted to talk to 'Weiss Schnee' and—" you gesture to the holographic reconstruction that had just played out, "Pyrrha, care to explain your shooting?"

Pyrrha hangs her head dejectedly. "I'm sorry," she says.

"I didn't ask for an apology. I asked for an explanation."

"I don't… I haven't… I'm sorry?"

"Distance or the angle?" Ruby asks.

"Both?" Pyrrha replies helplessly. "I mean, snap-shots in a fight is one thing but—"

"You haven't had much need to shoot at something that wasn't right in your face," you finish. "Hmm… I want you to qualify for at least two of the shooting competitions in the Vytal tournament. At least one must have a substantial range or elevation component."

"Yes, Professor," Pyrrha says woodenly.

The side tournaments were nowhere near as heavily advertised or followed as the general combat tournament. The participation of Pyrrha Nikos was almost certain to draw additional attention. If she lost, would it finally prick the inflated hyperbole of the 'Invincible Girl?' Probably. How would her sponsors and public react?

Hmmm….

"Ruby. Tutor her. Her success, or failure, will be reflected in your grades."

Ruby gulps.

"Coco, take Weiss and Pyrrha and teach them how to be surreptitious. You managed to avoid hordes of civilians."

"You aren't giving me much to work with."

"Your point?" you ask bluntly.

Coco shrugs slightly.

"Weiss, Nora, good job once you finally did get into things. Xiao-Long—"

"Not another lecture, Professor. Please?"

You almost smile at her. But only almost. "You almost got yourself killed. Again."

"Again?" she protests. "Name one other time that I—"

"Initiation. You had the bright idea to jump into the mouth of a giant nevermore."

"I—"

"Ursa chew-toy," Ruby adds.

"But—"

"When did that happen?" Jaune asks.

"Just before I stopped Torchwick. She wanted to practice my hand-to-hand and insisted I leave Crescent Rose inside."

"Ruby," you say, pulling things back onto track. "Adequate shooting over all.

"Moving on…"

Office of the Headmaster, Commanding General, and Councilman James Ironwood
Atlas Academy
Atlas

"Specialist Schnee, reporting as ordered, Sir."

"Winter!" James Ironwood said, turning from a smartwall configured into a dozen displays across which information crawled. His voice was warm, almost friendly, and he gestured towards a small sitting area comprised of two chairs (one obviously reinforced), a small couch, and a low table between them. "Sit."

"Sir?"

"Sit," he repeated. He ran two mugs under a dispenser before crossing to the same nook. He extended one of the mugs to Winter and waited for him to take it before sitting down in his chair.

"General?" Winter tried again.

"There's been an incident in Vale," Ironwood said. "Your sister is unharmed, but three of her classmates, two of them members of her team, are not, and over twenty civilians are dead. With the exception of one of her teammates, all of them are faunus."

"I see," Winter said tightly. "White Fang false-flag operation? We know they've been disrupting peaceful protests in Vale even if—"

"No," Ironwood said. "And given those involved I gave the it serious consideration before dismissing it."

"Then what's the problem?"

"The perpetrators are all human."

"Mercenaries? They've used humans as catspaws, cutouts, and to do other dirty work before."

"Perhaps." Ironwood consulted his mug briefly. "The perpetrators were taken alive, Winter. They are former employees of the Schnee Dust Company. Former, I say, because Jaques has splendidly official records that conclusively 'prove' that their employment with the SDC was terminated almost a month ago."

Winter's lips tightened and what little color she had bleed out of her cheeks. "An SDC strike team? That makes no sense, Sir."

"One of your sister's teammates is Blake Belladonna. Her file is…sparse on details, probably intentionally, but there is a possibility that her father is Ghira Belladonna."

"The Menagerie Chieftan?"

"Correct," Ironwood said. "We know he has a daughter about the right age."

"Does that mean Kali is the presumed mother?"

Ironwood pursed his lips. "We had no indications that Ghira or Kali had any personal or family relationships until their marriage was announced shortly before Ghira was elected to the Chieftanship."

Winter's eyes flickered, "I knew their marriage came as a surprise…"

"And now you know just how big of a surprise," Ironwood said. "The White Fang group Ghira moved with had a number of orphans and offspring of members that it watched out for. When Kali didn't become pregnant after the marriage, it was assumed he adopted, or had one by a previous relationship."

"Then it's confirmed that this Blake is not Kali's daughter? The version of Kali's file I have access to is redacted enough that—"

"Those aren't redactions or excisions, Winter," Ironwood sighed. "The gaps in where we have positive knowledge of Kali's whereabouts and doings are sufficient to conceal multiple pregnancies, not just one. We don't even have a family name, or confirmation that she wasn't using one, prior to her marriage. The possibility that Kali is Blake's mother, whether natural or adoptive, is entirely speculative, but it's one we have to take seriously."

"I see."

"I am personally of the suspicion that Blake was, or perhaps is, a highly-ranked White Fang operative under the direct command of Adam Taurus. Our current intelligence assessment is that he is the White Fang's regional leader for Vale."

"And Ozpin enrolled her?" Winter asked sharply.

"Given Ozpin's proximity it is probable that he has better, or at least more complete, information that I do," Ironwood said mildly. "That said, it is not a suspicion I have shared until now…with anyone."

Winter's eyes tightened. "Has anyone suggested such a connection to you, Sir?"

"No."

Her head inclined fractionally.

Ironwood smothered a smile as Winter drew the connections. He hadn't been the one to tip off Jacques, but neither had Jacques warned him.

"The incident that took place saw three teams, two first-year and one second-year, providing cover for a meeting between Blake Belladonna, and a tiger-form faunus who meets the physical description of Sienna Khan."

"Gods of light and darkness," Winter breathed. "The High Leader of the White Fang was in downtown Vale, Father tried to stage an assassination that was broken up by teenage huntresses, and Ozpin did nothing?"

"Suspected High Leader," Ironwood said. "Even if she is, Sienna's identity at the meeting remains unconfirmed. The attempt was apparently to kidnap both Blake and Sienna, not a simple assassination. The strike team terminated every faunus in the immediate area with the exception of two huntresses-in-training and the tiger-form, though all three were injured, one of the trainees severely. More tellingly, no human civilian was injured despite being present in considerable numbers."

"That suggests remarkable restraint, or precision, on the part of the trainees," Winter said.

"Doesn't it just?" Ironwood asked.

"Response?"

"The SDC response has been negligible except to assert that the strike team was composed of people no longer employed by the Schnee Dust Company. Ozpin has said nothing, and the Vale Council has limited itself to 'punishing those responsible.'"

"And the White Fang?"

"The White Fang hasn't so much as released a statement, instead letting Ozpin and the Vale Council carry the weight. The perpetrators have already been charged with hate crimes."

Winter's jaw tensed. "That is a degree of restraint that Adam Taurus is unknown for, and shows an uncanny subtlety on Sienna's part."

"Isn't it just?"

"I appreciate you keep me informed, Sir," Winter said. "Is there anything else?"

"I'm relocating to Vale for the semester as a prelude to the Vytal Festival," Ironwood said.

"I'm aware."

"My advance team will be on-station in the coming weeks. While they're drawing attention to themselves I want you to insert more covertly. Get a ground-eye view of things. I'll let Ozpin know you'll be in the area, but for now I want you to be subtle."

"Yes, Sir. And Weiss?"

Ironwood hummed softly. "Jacques is undoubtedly keeping an eye on Weiss and her team. I would prefer he not have a reason to question your presence."

Winter nodded. "If he detected my presence now he'd wonder what I was doing in Vale. If I appear as part of your entourage he would have no reason to dig deeper."

"Exactly," Ironwood said.

"Do you have reason to distrust Ozpin?"

"No," Ironwood said flatly. "If everything goes to hell and I'm unavailable, I need you to know you can trust Ozpin, Winter."

"Yes, Sir."

"However…Ozpin probably has more reason than most not to fully trust anyone. He can be cautious towards people. Not without reason, but it can be…limiting."

Ironwood nodded. "Turn your current assignments over to your deputy, Winter. If he isn't prepared this is a better time to find out than most. Get on the ground. Look around, keep your eyes open, don't be seen, and don't get engaged unless you need to. But if you need to, kick ass."

"Yes, Sir."

"Dismissed."

Winter rose and saluted. "Sir."

Ironwood stood and returned it, watching his subordinate about-face and stride towards his door. "Oh, and Winter?"

Pause. Turn. "Sir?"

"Keep your temper around Qrow Branwen."

Vala bar Adama's quarters
Beacon Academy
Vale

"Hey, that was damn good shooting," I object later as you sit in your quarters.

"For our first semester. Before the Fall. Yes. But for what's coming?"

"Harsh, Bla—"

"Vala," you snarl. You take a deep breath. "Sorry."

"No you aren't," I reply. "That was my bad. Ozpin…hit a little close to home."

You nod in agreement. "Ruby's shooting isn't good enough. Pyrrha's shooting isn't good enough. They aren't good enough, and we are rapidly running out of time. You know as well as I that there is zero chance of keeping them out of it. Not unless we box the whole lot of them up and ship them to Vacuo, or possibly Menagerie."

My turn to sigh. "That will only delay things a bit."

"Exactly. I sympathize. She was looking right at someone when he was killed. But she froze. Not for very long. Not long enough to matter—this time! But in the future? You remember what happened when she realized what happened to all those people she knocked off the train?"

"And what happened the first time she deliberately killed a person," I said. "What do you think is going to happen to mini-me?"

"Gods but I wish I knew," you reply. The kettle whistles and you get up.

I watch as you go through the ritual of heating the pot, then adding water and leaves.

"Well, if she's anything like us—"

"She isn't," you say.

"Uh, they are us," I reply. "Just, you know, newer models."

You snort harshly.

"They aren't, actually," you say. "You're inside—mostly inside—my augmentation package. Our auras overlap, but we are both distinct entities unless we deliberately share. Yang's connection is soul-deep. That…isn't unheard of. But there are three connections and they are all one-way only. I've never heard of that happening before. What about you? Find anything on the 'net?"

"Oh, lots of stuff," I say. "Stuff that'll make your fur curl. Unfortunately it's all speculative fiction. By the way, faunus are just as perverse as humans. It's a bit higher-quality, probably because there are fewer of you."

"I'm sure I didn't need to know that."

CEO's Office
SDC Global Headquarters
Downtown Atlas
Atlas

Jacques slowly lowered the slate so that it made a soft, but crisp, tink as he set it on his desk. He stared at it a moment longer, then looked up at the only other person in his downtown Atlas top-floor office.

"All of them?" Jacques demanded.

"Not all. The support team left before the operation launched, and the exfiltration team departed when the strike team missed both of its rendezvous."

"You know what I meant."

Augustus Black nodded silently. "Vale has released a full list of people arrested. Two people, the team's sniper and her spotter, aren't on it. Presumably they are still free."

"How long until we have their report of what happened?"

"Assuming they remain free? If they make for the tertiary egress route we can conceive a medical emergency and have them airlifted to Atlas from the boat tomorrow, so perhaps the day after. If they choose to retreat into their covers, then approximately ten days when their 'vacation' ends. Any of the other extraction plans are somewhere between those two dates and increase the likelihood of their being compromised. Another alternative is they make use of a presupply cache and go native, possibly into the Vale countryside, possibly over the Wall, after which they try to evade back to Atlas on their own, or just stay down until the attention has died down. In that case we may be looking at several weeks to several months, if ever."

"And if any of those captured talk—"

"Each squad had knowledge of only its own covers. Likewise, the support units only knew which squad they were supporting, and the exfiltration teams knew none of those. Their covers are secure."

"We think."

Augustus nodded equanimously. "We think."

A percussive thud echoed in the room as Jacques' fist bounced off his desk. "Damn it all to hell. What was Weiss thinking?"

"About which part?"

"Any of it! One of her teammates is the daughter of Ghira Belladonna, and she doesn't inform me. For that matter, she was meeting with the leader of the White Fang! And despite that, Weiss intervened to help the animals!"

Augustus considered how to reply for a moment. For all Jacques' rampant speciesism he usually took some effort to keep his tone and words to those that were…socially acceptable. And even when he didn't, he rarely dismissed them as mere animals. A dog, after all, couldn't talk.

"It is likely that she was unaware," Augustus replied. "About the familial connection, at least. I've pulled Weiss' security briefings, they rarely had any information on the political situation in Menagerie. What information they did contain was mostly of a tertiary nature. How events in Atlas were playing out on the world stage.

"And Sienna's position, even her last name, was unconfirmed until now. We knew she was a high-ranking operative, of course. For that matter, we still don't know she is their top-level leader."

"She must be. Otherwise the official statement would have come from Taurus or one of his mouthpieces."

"She could be a new mouthpiece, or Taurus' replacement. For that matter, she could be an operative with sufficient rank to pull her own press release; a troubleshooter, or a diplomatic agent, perhaps. Two guards would make sense for a high-level courier. For their 'high leader' I would have expected…more. If only from local resources."

"Maybe the strike team put down additional guards and Vale isn't reporting it, or has them mixed in with the 'faunus civilians.' The White Fang would love that!"

"Perhaps. And that might be something to ask Weiss about…eventually. The two confirmed guards are both known to us. Both known to work as enforcers for high rank agents. None of the other faunus we were able to ID, other than Belladonna and Sienna, are in our records as agents or collaborators. Several are listed as sympathizers, but that would be true of most faunus in our records."

The SDC faunus database was one that Black frequently found cumbersome and unwieldy. It was adept at drawing out complicated relationships, finding patterns, and tracing connections. In some ways the data it generated was very useful, or would have been if one Augustus Black was running the spy agency that had originally developed the program. Unfortunately, while it found connections it was prone to type I errors, and he didn't have the spies—and, more importantly, the analysts—to tell him which connections and patterns were important and which ones were so much chaff.

The SDC was a business, and its business was extracting, refining, processing, transporting, and selling Dust. Its business was not—White Fang propaganda, and Jacques Schnee's occasional rants, to the contrary—oppressing the faunus, waging a covert war against the White Fang, or trying to destroy Menagerie.

"Weiss' security briefs do not include a complete breakdown of White Fang's command and organizational structure. It is unlikely that she would have realized who Sienna was unless Belladonna told her outright."

"Just what do those security briefings contain, I wonder?"

"Local threats. How to get word to us. Allies, escape routes locations of prepared safehouses, stashes of weapons, money, food, clothes, and Dust; various code phrases, and distress and duress words. They're intended to keep her safe, not give her operational knowledge."

"And three teams of huntsmen from Beacon just happened to be there?"

"Belladonna's team obviously went with her. The others, it's a popular shopping mall on a weekend. They're huntresses in training, of course they ran to a fight. And, seeing one of their own being kidnapped, of course they intervened. Weiss had no knowledge of the operation. That was both a safety measure for her and a security measure for us. You said it was important that we be able to deny involvement if things went sour."

"One that blew up in our face."

"The fact that Weiss is on the same team as Belladonna meant this was always going to be a sticky operation. Especially if it had succeeded."

"You'll forgive me for saying that sounds and awful lot like you trying to find a silver lining."

"That is because I am," Augustus replied. He folded his hands in front of him.

"Fine," Jacques said. "What happens now? Can we make another try for Sienna—for Khan?"

"Unlikely. What assets we still have in the area are primarily informational, not actionable. I suppose we could ad lib something, but that would be messy, dangerous, and have a high risk of exposure. Additionally, Sie—Khan—was last seen being taken to Beacon's medical facility. Ozpin will no doubt arrange a surreptitious exit for her. And if we attempt to retrieve her during the Trial—and if a third party does so it will almost certainly be linked to us in the public's mind—people will assume we have something to hide."

"What of our men?"

"Terrorism charges," Augustus shrugged.

"But—"

"Oh, if it had been a general massacre, thugs waving around automatic weapons like hoses and such, it would undoubtably be called terrorism as well. The selective targeting of faunus makes this a 'hate crime' and Vale treats that as de facto terrorism."

"And if they only killed humans?" Jacques asked acidly.

"Mass murder," Augustus replied, "which is also one of the charges, yes."

"Options?"

"Terminate them before they link back to us. Leave them alone. Discredit them. Or retrieve them."

"Retrieve them," Jacques said. "One way or another I always pay my debts. Vale still uses exile somewhere infested with grimm to execute terrorists?"

"Yes. You want to pick them up then?"

"Might as well. Outside the Wall it outside the law, so we wouldn't be breaking any laws to do so. As a matter of fact, I want you to draft up an extradition request. Put their attack on my daughter as a reason to move this to Atlas."

"It won't be granted," Augustus said.

"Of course it won't. But it'll make the retrieval look expected."