RWBY:Rascal

Four days later. One of the underground bases. 

"So, my not-so-loyal, but definitely violent and thirsty for innocent human blood," I walk in front of my subordinates, playing with my cane. Most of them were seeing me for the first time, but had already been instructed by their immediate commanders that I was the boss," "guess what we're doing tonight?"

" Uh... Stealing Ashes?" - One of the fauns in Mike's group, with miniature antlers, raised her hand. 

"Good girl, Deerpaw! But I must make a correction! You can't mix vulgar criminality with revolutionary struggle, so it's politically correct to call our actions not theft, but expropriation! It's essentially the same thing, but with noble goals."

"Uh... I see," the fauns nodded uncertainly.

I mentally sighed heavily. It's come to this... I'm giving speeches about revolutionary struggle to a crowd of terrorists, being the one whose race they're against. Honestly, such schizoid nonsense could be organic and appropriate only in the performance of Roman Torchwick. And the thing that sucks the most is that there's nothing to do! These freaks, Taurus and Cinder, openly dumped on me all the organizational activities, up to the placement of people and providing them with "tools of production", i.e. transport, weapons and other things, they said, they provided them to you, so you deal with these issues, and we - celestials, our role is to be a banner and give valuable instructions from the top of the flight, ugh! In such conditions it was possible to continue hiding from subordinates, but in fact, it gave nothing but unnecessary hemorrhoids and lack of real understanding of what was going on in the heads of the lower ranks. And when you're dealing with an armed mob of fanatics, the latter is a bit... fraught, to say the least.

Cinder was in a hurry and demanded results. Oh, she was pleased with the elimination of Tucson, which was "organized by racists", disguised as a robbery, and therefore I was provided with "replenishment" in record time, but this was the replenishment... "Pale young men with burning eyes" - fresh meat straight from Menagerie - that piously believe that they are fighting for equality, but none of them did not understand what this equality consists in, and many of them had never encountered ordinary people. In short, standard idealists with their brains polluted with the right (for White Fang) propaganda. But not fanatics, and that's bread. I had little idea how to propagandize these comrades into something digestible, except to use Blake's example of integrating into human society, but... Yeah, that would only cause cries of "traitor!".

The only good thing about it was the personality of the "commander" who'd brought in all these new recruits. The chameleon faun Ilia Amitola. A tanned cutie with gray eyes and brown hair tied back in a ponytail. Not exactly my type, and those scaly freckles on her skin... but cute. Including her personality. First of all, this girl didn't like humans, but not to the point of "kill all humans", and secondly, her loyalty was directed not so much at White Fang as at Taurus and... Blake. According to Taxon, Ilia considered Neku to be something between a teacher, an older sister, and a best friend, so the latter's escape from Adam not only hit the chameleoness hard, but also had to make her think: "Why all of a sudden?". On the one hand, it had a lot of advantages, a faun with brains and her skills would be useful in the household. But on the other hand, it's not easy to change a thinking person's mind, and it's not easy to change his loyalty... except from Taurus to Blake, and that's a bit of a stretch. In short, Cinder was in her repertoire, even if not on purpose, but it so happened that it was possible to use the shots she provided, but they were not much use, and at the same time it was not allowed by conscience to leak them or make them suicide bombers. Well, Roman, you yourself wanted "more adequate people", so get it. 

" Why am I emphasising the separation between the goals of your fight and mere criminality?" - I continued, looking into the faces of the uneven formation. - "It's simple, but that makes it no less important. Political struggle is a struggle of ideas! And if your idea can be tarnished, rest assured your enemies will tarnish it. Whether you steal a purse or kill a passer-by, they will use it to make you look like a common thug, just pretending to fight for the rights of the fauns. Civilian casualties are exactly what the likes of Jacques Schnee and his exploiters want you to do! What's the juice?" - I stop in front of the crowd and lean on my cane, looking directly at Elijah Amitola by happy 'coincidence'. - "If you steal a container of Prah from Jacques Schnee, the average working man will even applaud at that, because everyone knows how greedy and slippery a scum that looter is. But if you shoot an elderly watchman, who receives a pittance for his work and can barely feed his family, it will immediately cause fury and indignation among those very simple labourers and ordinary people. And do not doubt that it is this murder that will be covered by all the media, and not the theft of Ashes. It will be used to turn the public even more against the fauns, so that the moneybags will be able to exploit them even more," I tapped my cane, separating what was said. "That is why I insist that when you are faced with a choice, you think once again about how your choice will affect the reputation of your movement. And a lot of problems for you personally, but more on that later. Lieutenant!"

 - ... What?" - The big guy didn't answer right away. You really weren't

listen?

- Today we're going to operate under a new scheme. Divide the groups 

into those who, with minimal effort, can be disguised as humans, and those 

who have no chance. And let's move quickly. When you're done, the 

commanders come to me.

- Everything's ready," a crowd of fauns piled into my receptionist's room 

in the empty warehouse a dozen minutes later.

- Oh, good," I looked at the faces of the new arrivals, including Elijah's 

face. - Listen to my new Genius Plan," I leaned over the map of the city on 

the table. - So, since we've already robbed the wholesale warehouses twice, 

their security has been beefed up, as you'd expect. So we're not going to 

rob the warehouses this time!

 - We won't? - The lieutenant didn't understand.

 - No. No, we won't," I confirmed.

 - So we're back to shopping?

- And by and by again, my monumental friend.

- Stop looping around and talk normally! - Ms. Amitola hissed.

 - It's not nice to talk to the commander like that," I complained to the 

girl. - But so be it - I'll forgive you for the first time. But let's get back to our 

sheep....

 - Uh, what's this got to do with us? - Lorenzo asked both for himself and 

for his buddy standing next to him, who had led the distraction of breaking 

the street lights last time. Both boasted distinctive ram's horns.

 - Of course, because you are very valuable employees! - I assured him 

without blinking an eye. - But in general, I'm talking about the details of the 

operation, my cool-horned friend.

- Oh..." the boy looked embarrassed and fell silent.

- There's not much Prah in the stores," I flick my fingernail over the 

markings of the city's biggest outlets, "the wholesale warehouses are under 

the cops' scrutiny right now, but... there's still little control over the delivery 

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of Prah to the outlets, all we have to do is get the right bills of lading and 

machines.

- So what?! - The lieutenant hadn't caught on, but the chameleon girl 

had already realized, and there was even a flicker of something akin to 

involuntary respect in her gaze.

- You see, my little furry friend, I've already pulled some levers, as well 

as got the necessary stencils and paid a couple of lenes for the painting 

work, - Roman's connections are something, though the technique is 

nothing, with local technology you can build a robot from scratch in a week, 

and even the banal repainting and re-painting of license plates - pfft. I was 

much more interested in the possibility of forging documents and certain 

databases. - The waybills were also relatively simple, so now I need your 

boys and girls, who can be passed off as humans and put in cars, where they 

will pretend to be drivers and forwarders and in accordance with the 

waybills will be loaded with Ashes to the brim. That's one way of looking at 

it.

- On the other hand...you need to hold up the real trucks!

- You got it!

- But wouldn't it be easier to go straight for the loaded vans?

- That'll be the next time they tighten up the checks on drivers and 

trucks," I shrugged. - Besides, the idea of a bunch of bloodthirsty fauns 

attacking a truck carrying a hell of a lot of explosives makes me a little 

uneasy.

- Our brethren can hold back when they need to! - Iliya was indignant.

- You take my jokes too painfully," I look at Chameleon. - Think about it, 

what difference does it make if your guys hold back or not? The driver may 

be armed and shoot where he shouldn't, there may be a police patrol or a 

Hunter passing by. It's even worse if students from Bicon or even Signal are 

passing by - you wouldn't recognize them in their everyday clothes, and 

they'd have enough dope to blow up half the street. Finally, Fire Ashes 

could just burst from a careless sneeze. So preparing for an operation like 

this is a lot harder than what I'm sending you on right now. I'll test you in 

the field, train you on something simpler, then we'll talk about the romance 

of the gop-stop.

- Got it..." - Ilia looked over to the nameless lieutenant, and then she 

lowered her head.

 - Excellent! - I even clapped my hands. - Then here are the route sheets 

and waybills. The cars are already waiting at these coordinates, and you will 

need to take the cargo to these places, - I spread out the necessary papers 

and separate maps on the table, which have only one or two marks on them. - And don't forget: the executors must know the bare minimum! We 

wouldn't want to lose important bases, if some chicken of yours gets caught, 

and under threat of plucking she gives up everything and everyone.

 - Every one of us is ready to die for our struggle! - said the big man with 

contempt. - But a man like you wouldn't understand that.

- Believe me, if they start grinding your teeth with a file, you'll say 

anything in about thirty seconds," I squinted at the faun. - Any government 

has experts who can find a way to untie anyone's tongue, and the best way 

not to tempt them to work with your subordinates is not to give them 

information for the sake of which the use of such skills is justified," the 

listeners shivered. - But back to the issue of distraction. While one will pose 

as a driver and get Dust on the waybills, the other will have to eliminate the 

threat from the real trucks.

 - Blow it up?

 - No more noise, no more dead bodies! What did I just talk about in front 

of the ranks? Put hedgehogs on the routes, let them slash the tires, in 

extreme cases, simulate a raid with an attempted robbery, if it's too bad, 

you can even swing your fists a little.

 - But the best option would be one where we wouldn't even be seen, 

right? - Ilia clarified.

 - Chameleon, you shed balm on my wounds and almost restore my faith 

in humanity! Keep it up, and the post of faithful servant of the Great Me is 

yours.

- I'll manage somehow," the girl snorted.

 - Well, as you know, in any case, the main points of the plan can be 

considered agreed upon. Now let's get down to the details, who's driving, 

who's distracting, who's covering. I'm listening.

 The discussion took a few more hours, but now I was almost certain that 

my "helpers" would not blow themselves up and, more importantly, would 

not make extra corpses out of innocent people.

 But now the assignments were given, the fauns were sent out, and I was 

again huddled with Scroll, waiting for reports and nervously chewing the tip 

of my cigar - in front of the fauns I could pretend to be an impenetrable pro 

and make speeches honestly stolen from the memory of the last world, but 

here, left to myself... my nerves were a little shaky. And of course, 

everything could not go according to plan....

- "It's the Chameleon," my Scroll erupted, "car three didn't pass!

- Did you get the number of guards? - That's what it depended on, which 

option to pursue.

- Five humans and ten robots, but no police.

 - Tell them that the cover squad will be here soon, but don't let them 

reach for their weapons. And give the lieutenant the go-ahead to release the 

decoy group," - apparently, the disguise of one of the fauns was insufficient, 

or the warehouse suspected something, but instead of starting the loading, 

they asked to wait to check the documents, which was reported by the 

"forwarder", who "called the management to inform them about the 

problem, so that they could contact and confirm everything themselves. The 

"management" was Elijah, who immediately contacted me. Of course, such a 

case was also taken into account in the plan, after all, you can't be lucky all 

the time, and the "acting talents" of the local "zoo"... well, I was expecting 

something like this.

- Copy that," Scroll said, but I wasn't listening. Now one of the big 

lieutenant's groups was going to launch a "warehouse raid with the intent to 

loot"-each car was followed by a small force, and that would give me just 

the right amount of time to intervene.

 A few shouts and the engines roared to life, lifting into the air two 

bullheads loaded with suitably sized fauns dressed in fake police armor. 

Why fake? Because it was printed out on the same long-suffering 

workbench, and it was obviously made of components of a much lower 

grade than those that went into real police special forces kits.

While we were flying, the "decoy" group went to "rob" the warehouse, so 

we arrived at the place in good time - a nasty gang of evil fauns had 

clamped down on the warehouse defenders, along with robots and unhappy 

drivers, who were "scared" and locked themselves in their truck, so our 

appearance was accepted by the defenders as manna from heaven. A short 

burst into the ground from the built-in machine gun of the local analog of a 

helicopter showed the seriousness of our intentions.

- This is Detective Thor speaking! - my voice, amplified by the speakers 

and the spotlights on, hit the people gathered below... and the fauns, we 

mustn't forget the fauns, yes. - All hands where I can see them! Weapons on 

the ground! If you resist, we'll shoot to kill!

 The attackers, of course, were immediately frightened and dropped 

their guns, after which the cops jumped down on the ropes and began to tie 

them up, some of them even poked the gun almost in the face of the "vile 

bandit".

 - We are warehouse guards, don't shoot," the smart people cut off the 

robots, dropped their weapons and raised their hands, realizing perfectly 

well that in such a situation the police are very nervous and may first shoot 

and then already find out the relationship.

- We'll figure it out," I stepped forward. - Is anyone hurt? Does anyone 

need medical attention? And yes, you can put your hands down.

- No sir, it was fine, you arrived very quickly, we just sent the call.

- Good," I signaled, and the "cops" who had gone to "check the drivers" 

brought their rifles down on the backs of the guards' heads. One of them 

had Aura open, so it took three hits, but the faun managed it.

 - Ouch, what for? - One of the overzealous "cops" exclaimed, having 

been kicked by the "arrestee".

 - Don't point a gun in my face, Barry!

- I was just playing my part, Carl!

- I'm surrounded by idiots..." I rubbed the bridge of my nose. - Why are 

you standing there with your hands up to the sky and talking?! I'm your God 

today! Let's work! Break into pairs and get me everything out of this 

warehouse! We got eight minutes before the real cops get here. Which 

means in five, we should be out of here! - I clapped my hands. - Well, come 

on, let's go, let's go, sometimes you need speed for more than just catching 

fleas. - and the fauns finally remembered where they were and what they 

were doing, and moved. I remained majestically in charge and posed for the 

surveillance cameras - it was too late to break them anyway, so at least I 

would remain stylish on the pictures.

 Anyway, but the well-drunken rabbits and other animals managed in 

four minutes, in five minutes we were left with only knocked out guards and 

an empty warehouse - I also ordered the robots to be expropriated, and my 

furry friends knew as well as I did where to embed search beacons in them, 

so the machines would get rid of those souvenirs, if they were found, on the 

way. After watching the truck disappear around the corner, I climbed back 

into the bullhead and gave the order to leave. There was nothing else to 

keep us here.

 - Big Boss to "Chameleon", report the situation, - making sure that there 

are no fighters on the tail, I contacted the girl.

 - All according to plan, the first, fifth, sixth and twelfth cars have left for 

the base, the rest are being loaded.

 - Alright, let's continue the operation, just in case, pull up the cover 

groups to the remaining facilities, maybe the situation will be reported 

promptly and the rest may have problems.

 - Got it," Scroll disconnected again.

 Fortunately, there were no further problems. The others reached their 

targets safely, loaded up, and got away before anyone got suspicious, but 

once the people around them figured out what was what, they wouldn't be 

able to pull that stunt again. But I don't need any more - I'll think of 

something else.

 The rest of the night was spent covering my tracks, shuffling groups into 

safe houses, and disguising used equipment. I'm out of cigars... I also 

definitely need an adjutant to carry a thermos of coffee for me! Or carry it 

around in my space pocket? No, an adjutant is more solid. And no firing the 

Manifestation in front of White Fang, yes, that's very important too!

 - Hmm... - I look at Elijah, who's watching the departure of the last units 

on the Scroll with a tense face. - You say you're a tactical commander with 

experience in sabotage warfare?

 - А?.. - the girl didn't switch right away. - Yes!

 - Great, you can make my coffee.

 - What?!

- Be proud: until now there was only one person I could trust with this! 

But be warned, if you want to poison me, they'll find you, and the living will 

envy the dead, you can be sure of that.

 - I'm not making you coffee, I'm the tactical commander!

 - Eh..." I sighed, probably heard in Menagerie. - I was beginning to 

understand how White Fang had managed to achieve nothing with so many 

fighters with superhuman senses for so many years... No chain of 

command....

 - We've accomplished a lot! - The girl flared with true indignation and 

even changed her skin color to red. But her hair, freckles and eyes turned 

yellow, funny....

 - I don't want to upset you, Flower," I looked at the girl sympathetically, 

"but you're a faun who has to obey a human, even if you're a member of a 

terrorist group of fauns aimed at war with ordinary people. If anything, 

that's not an indicator of your movement's success.

 - We merely hired you to mine Ashes to arm the White Fang! - The 

outrage was growing.

 - I'm sorry, sweetheart, but your boss, Adam, is on another man's payroll," I 

said dismissively, "and the Ashes are being extracted not only and not so 

much to arm White Fang, but for some other purposes that you'd better not 

know about, unless you want to choke on a bone while eating.

 - No, we're using you! - she... pouted? And turned green? No, really? 

Although... what do I know about this girl, other than she's a little younger 

than Blake and can think... to the best of my knowledge?

- Mm-hmm," I look at her with ostentatious interest, "so you admit that 

your organization can't train and educate a saboteur of sufficient level to 

get the resources you need, so you have to turn to an outsider? What's 

more, you have to allocate your fighters under his leadership.

- I... No!" she faltered. - We... we... we... just... umm... Don't know the 

situation in Vale like a local does! - the excuse sounded pathetic.

 - Flower," I looked at her with my head slightly bowed, a kind of 

mockery from under my hat, "I could do such tricks in Mistral and Atlas, but 

in Vacuo... well, it's Vacuo, you can do more than that lying in a hammock 

and drinking tequila. So you got two choices!

 - Э? - wary.

 - You can continue to sulk like Mike on the grits, and make yourself a 

hussy and a "kr-r-r-root commander" who is ashamed to make a cup of 

coffee for his favorite boss during an operation, or you can be my trainee 

and learn a bit of wisdom from a specialist with a higher caliber and more 

experience. And, as a decent trainee, make coffee for the Great Me.

 - Just coffee? - chameleon-suspect.

- Flower, of course, you're cute and everything, but two things, even 

three: first, forcing a woman to do something racy against her will is for 

losers, second, I already have a girlfriend, and third, I'm a man of broad 

views, but when it comes to fauns ... - wow how we frowned at once! We're 

getting ready to fight the last battle against the vile chauvinist 

discriminator! How can you not screw that up? - I prefer girls with cat ears.

 - W-what? - When the meaning of my answer came to her, she changed 

her color to Ilia's, and opened her mouth in confusion.

 - No, don't think," I shake my head protectively, "I can appreciate the 

beauty of any girl, no matter if she's human or faun, but cat ears have a 

special place in my black villain heart. So I'm sorry, but I don't think we're 

going to get anywhere on this one," I pick up my cane and get up from the 

table. - And anyway, I'm a very shy and timid person, if you want to know. 

And you've never even made me coffee to melt the barrier of alienation.

 - (O_o)'...' - no, it wasn't Neo, but Elijah's facial expressions turned out 

to be quite lively and expressive as well.

 - Well, I think a week to think about it will be enough for you, and then 

we'll see what is more important for you - to get interesting knowledge, 

albeit from a nasty humans... ah, wrong universe, you know, or still to 

indulge your pride of an elf... I mean, a faun, and just to be a girl on the run. 

Well, that's it for today, you've got a lot of checking and reassuring to do. 

And I've got to get cigars, which isn't easy, you know. - Roman Torchwick 

left the girl, who was still a little perplexed, let's call it that, and left the 

building.

 This conversation I had for a reason, initially yes - a joke on the edge of 

foul, after all, such operations I'm not quite used to - I'm shaking, so I let 

the stress out, but then... I came up with the idea to test Ilia's character and 

see how willing she is to work even with unpleasant people and how much 

propaganda she has in her. Judging by what I've seen so far, there's a 

chance, but if not... well, I tried, and if anything, I won't hesitate to put her 

on the death row....

 ***

 The next morning, having done all the procedures that had become 

mandatory lately, including a little half-hour sparring, in which I had been 

dry-humping Neo for the second day, Neopolitan and I went shopping. I 

needed to replenish my supply of favorite cigars, which were sold in the city 

by only one store in the back of the shopping district, and Neopolitan 

wanted to take a walk along the park along the river with a stop at a local 

restaurant.

 And so, having bought a couple of boxes of cigars, at the same time 

admiring from afar how the main police station of the city was smoky after 

my yesterday's art, we went down to the river and began a rank walk along 

the empty, praise the working day, paths. We walked quietly, peacefully, 

without touching anyone, as suddenly....

 *BUH!!!* - to our right... landed the famous Beacon's Weapon Locker.

 My first thought was "Figured it out!" but as soon as I started to develop 

it, the concept stalled. They figured it out and tried to nail him with a closet, 

but missed? That, pardon me, is utter nonsense. And there was no student 

(exactly a student! Because such lockers are exclusively their prerogative), 

who could call this device to fight with a peacefully walking couple.

- Neo, we've reached a new level! Bikon's property is now flying into our 

hands!

 - (O_o)? - The girl didn't really appreciate the joke, and I was still a bit 

puzzled, too.

 - ... On the other hand, while I'm definitely good, I'm still not that good... 

It's all suspicious.

 - (o_O)'...

 - Yeah, it's kind of vague for a setup....

 As if in answer to our questions, a muffled sound came from inside the 

capsule. The girl and I looked at each other.

- Even if it's a setup, I won't forgive myself if I don't find out what's 

going on," I say to my faithful assistant as if justifying myself.

 - (-_-)... - Neo looked at the locker, at me, at the locker again and 

shrugged, grabbing her umbrella more comfortably.

 We approach... We go around the construction and look through the 

glass. From the glass we were stunned by the blue eyes of an obviously not 

yet fully awake wrinkled blond, who had thought to put on armor right on 

top of his sweatshirt. By the way, it looked familiar... and the outfit.

- Hey there in the Kinder Surprise," I tap on the glass with my cane, 

"aren't you Ozpin in disguise?

 - А? - The capsule was pretty good at getting sound through.

- Doesn't look like it...

 - I'm... kha... fine," the blond man was distinctly sideways, despite his 

semi-reclined state and the narrowness of the space. Or was his ears 

ringing with the standard "Are you okay?" and I was so original I couldn't 

guess at all?

- You can see it... - I press the conspicuous opening button on the 

control panel. Shh, shh, shh.

 - Ahem- kha-" A hapless balloonist immediately emerged from the 

bowels of the closet.

- Well, the Space Troopers have gotten a little thin. The droppods aren't 

the same, and the astartes have gotten worse..." His mind began to swarm 

with plans and options again.

 Do I need Jaune Arc? What do I know about him? On the one hand, he's not 

a total loser. Not that he's a total loser and a moron like Naruto, but he's a 

bit of an alternative in some places, like when he went to Beacon. But on 

the other hand, he had managed to get in touch with Roman, albeit through 

intermediaries, and to pay not the smallest money for forging documents for 

admission to the school of professional "heroes", a deed that required both 

cunning, courage... and a fair share of stupidity, but that was the details. 

The question remained - should I bother with Mr. Ark, or had I already 

exhausted the limit of noble deeds this year? Hmm... I don't really need him, 

but he and his team are an extra insurance policy for Hood and the girls. It 

may not be the best and it may not always work, but it's better to have a 

shitty option than not to have one. Besides, if it costs me the least amount of 

effort.....

 - А?.. - he looks like he's been badly concussed, although his Aura is 

open. - You..." the student focused his gaze on me. - I've heard you before.

 - Really?" I signaled Neo to fence off the area with an illusion, it was the 

middle of the day and the park was empty, but such a badaboom should 

have attracted the attention of passersby, now completely unnecessary.

 - Yeah, right... You're the guy who called Ruby and then led us out to the 

hall on the Scroll... I'm sorry, I... - Jaune made an attempt to get up. - I have 

to go..." he staggered back to the ground.

- Oh, it's a small world. - I pretend to recognize him just now. - I 

remember you, too, my eloquent friend-you're that funny farm boy I did the 

paperwork for at Beacon... I'm surprised you're still alive, old Oz is losing 

his touch.

 - What? I.D.? - the guy shook his head. - I'm sorry, you must have me 

confused with someone else.

- Not at all, Mr. Ark, it's just that you went to one of... my 

representatives for the documents, shall we say," the boy distinctly groaned 

in response.

- What do you want from me?

- Me? From you? By the gods, Mr. Ark, we had a deal with clear terms, 

and both parties honored them, so I don't need anything from you. Unless 

you'd like to satisfy my curiosity - what were you doing in the Rocket 

Locker?

 - Ahhhh... uhhhh, well, I got there by accident, just a little 

misunderstanding, hehehe.....

 - Do you believe him, Neo? - The girl, invisible to the others, shook her 

head. - I don't.

 - Uh, excuse me? - Uh, yeah. Sad.

 - Let me guess, Mr. Ark, there are some people at school who like to 

make you dirty and maybe borrow a linen or two from time to time? You 

don't have to answer, your face speaks better than words.

 - I can handle it," the boy snarled. Oh, is that something like a display of 

character? Except it's directed in the wrong way and in the wrong place.

 - Are you? Maybe... or maybe not, I don't really care. But I'm still a little 

curious, did you decide not only to kill yourself, but also to kill a couple 

more innocent people? I understand, dying alone is a very boring thing to 

do," I leaned on my cane and eyed the subject in my trademark Romanov 

way, like an interesting animal in a zoo. No, seriously, Torchwick could tell 

so much about the person he was talking to with a single look and pose that 

he could just... ugh. I love that kind of skill. And the fact that they come out 

of reflex.

 - W-what? - The blond was stunned.

 - Why? When a man without Aura or even a trace of any training gives a 

lot of money for the chance to be thrown off a cliff, you can't call him 

anything other than a very exotic suicide. That's why I was so surprised to 

see you alive. But, apparently, at the last moment you decided that dying 

alone was not interesting, and decided to take your whole team to the 

grave.

 - Did you know about the Beacon trial?

 - Boy, the whole of Vail knows about this! What do you think freshmen 

talk about on their first day out on the town? You know, besides gorgeous 

students, the beauty of Beacon and suspicions about Ms. Goodwitch and 

Principal Ozpin's romance? That's right! As the aforementioned Ozpin 

organizes an entertainment every year with the task of bringing him 

artifacts from the grimm-infested woods," I lit a cigar.

 - Uh, uh, uh.

 - The fact that you didn't even know that doesn't speak well for your 

cognitive functions, buddy! Come on, why are you so angry at your 

teammates that you want to kill them? Come on, tell me what brought you 

to this life.

 - I don't want to "smash" anyone! - the teenager got all hot and 

bothered.

 - Really? - adjusting my hat with the hook of my cane.

 - Yes! (Laughs)

 - Well, then you're even dumber than you look! - Ark was getting bullish 

again, anger is a good thing. - You see, my feeble-minded friend! Unless old 

Oz has completely lost his mind and changed all the rules, Beacon is a team, 

not a solitary school. And here's the rub... a ballast in a team on a mission 

can not only ruin himself, but the whole team. Your poor Leader, you can 

only sympathize with him.

 - The leader of our team... me," said Zhawn, who had apparently begun 

to realize such a simple truth.

 - Oh..." I'd known this before, but I had enough acting talent to pull it 

off. Which is not surprising, because if you just use common sense, it will 

come out.

 - (O_O)', - like Neo, for example.

 - It seems that this time Ozpin has brewed himself something very 

poisonous, specifically, so much in the brain... Or he didn't like the people in 

your team? All of them.

 - Stop messing around! I'm sick of it without you! - That sounds 

hysterical. No, it's definitely her.

 - To mock? - I raise an eyebrow. - Boy, you don't know what mockery is 

yet, believe me, it was just a kind mockery on my part... in the measure of 

personal kindness, of course. But back to your sorrowful business. Since you 

happen to be my client, and a friend of the Hood, I can give you advice on 

how to get out of this situation, even two! And for free. It's like a ride of 

unprecedented generosity. So, are you ready to listen?

- Yes," Mr. Ark was different from the other blond man in some ways. 

His brains worked, and they worked well, mostly in emergencies, but the 

further they went, the more they stayed "online," as I remembered. Right 

now, he had shoved his tantrums and resentments to the back of his mind 

and was ready to listen to the man who'd managed to get him into Beacon.

- You have two options. Take the documents and go home... - teeth 

grinding, - or... - now let's pause for a moment.

- Or what?

 - Or get your level up to the minimum required in Beacon. But then 

you'd have to work like a damned man, live on coffee, and train until you got 

bloody blisters... And you'd have to do something else much more difficult.

- What? - the boy's eyes burned with determination, and even the desire 

to Exertion.

 - You'll have to go to your team and ask them to pull you up. Or better 

yet, ask little Glinda to do the same.

 - N-but... then she'll realize I have no training and expel me! - Despair is 

Jeong, Jeong is Despair, meet Jeong.

- Oh, naive country boy," I took a puff of my cigar, shaking my head to 

the side. - Boy, the fact that you hold a sword worse than a club and have 

never practiced with it is obvious to anyone with any knowledge of martial 

arts, and the instructors at the best Hunter Academy in the world, believe 

me, do. And since Glinda hasn't expelled you yet, she won't expel you for 

asking me to tutor you. Not to mention the fact that your Aura is open now, 

which means you've had it opened. That, in turn, tells me that there's at 

least one person at the Academy who knows that you have no training 

whatsoever, since opening your Aura is part of any Hunter's initial training. 

You can turn to this good man, if you are so afraid of the young and lonely 

teacher with glasses, - still, to go to confess in the "terrible joint" to an 

adult, and not just a teacher, and the whole deputy headmaster - difficult, 

and may not decide, despite all the arguments, but to ask the same Ms. 

Nikos will be much easier for the guy. And there, maybe the redhead will 

take him in her clutches properly, and blondie will be happy... in all senses, 

hehehe.

 - Pyrrha..." Ark whispered, but I tactfully pretended not to hear.

 - And the cherry on the cake," I smirked. - Just so you know, admission is 

based on the results of the entrance exam, the cliff dive and the fun race 

with Grimm, the documents are needed only to be admitted to it, and since 

you passed it, you're a full-fledged student, even if any other freshman 

would spit on you.

 - Uh-huh... - J'onn was clearly loaded to the brim.

 - Great, that concludes the hour of education with Roman Torchwick, 

thank you for listening to our lecture, see you in the next episode.

 - А? Ahhhh..." - it was to these heartbreaking sounds that I shoved the 

poor guy back into the closet and pressed the return button.

 I waved at the furniture as it flew away. 

- (O_o)?

- Don't mind me, darling. Let's go get some dessert and ice cream.

 - (^_^)! - Nod.

That was the end of the surprises for the day, we had a nice lunch, and 

in addition to ice cream we also had some delicious and nutritious chicken 

and macaroni, and then we went home to prepare the next Insidious Evil 

Plans to infiltrate Beacon. No, why? We should give the book to the Hood. 

Get him out of school for a while and clear his head. Otherwise, with 

Snowflake's enthusiasm, she'll memorize them all. To death.

 Notes:

 *(1) Who doesn't know, Glinda is 49, two and a half years older than Crowe 

and the rest of STRQ. That moment when Aura helps a woman look 30 years 

old at most