Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Each step was a jolt up Weiss’s spine as she sprinted across the rooftops, her lungs burning as she panted through her mask. She was really regretting a lot of things; having a recognizable semblance, wearing heels because she forgot to change into her sneakers, and the mask that she had to wear to avoid being recognized. If the Schnee family’s powers weren’t so well-known, she could skate around on her glyphs, but no , she had to run everywhere.

Okay, forgetting the sneakers was definitely on her, and there was no way she would be making that mistake again. She had assumed it would be fine, but her toes, the arches in her feet, and her ankles were all killing her. A couple of times, Weiss had slammed into the ground and had to roll, her ankles giving out upon trying to land jumps across rooftops in five-inch platforms.

Not fun.

Weiss cursed as she screwed up another landing and slammed to the rooftop, skidding on her face and thanking whatever was out there that her costume had been based on a knight’s armor and offered her some protection from her own stupidity. 

She grimaced as she sat there, massaging her ankle. That settled it, the shoes had to go.

Her feet would be beaten up after tonight, but hopefully no one would notice. Or, if they did, she could just say that she had wanted to practice ballet on pavement to test herself. That excuse would make her look like an idiot, but making people think she was a total ditz might prevent them from suspecting that she was a vigilante. 

Hopefully.

Sighing, Weiss unstrapped her terribly impractical heels and placed them in the middle of the roof. She was in a more residential area where there weren’t too many cameras, and no one in their right mind would climb onto this roof, so she was pretty sure no one would find her shoes.

Well. Bare feet it was, then. This was going to suck.

Weiss got to her feet and kept moving. It seemed pretty quiet here at the moment, so she didn’t think there was much she could do.

She kept running, heading towards her part of the city, making her way to the ground when the heights of the roofs in the area started to vary too much to jump back and forth between.

Her heart rate doubled when she heard a crash from down the block, not even in the shadier part of town.  

Weiss picked up her pace, grimacing as her feet protested the bumpy and unforgiving surface of the cobblestone. 

She skidded to a stop in front of the back entrance of the one business that had lights on, holding her sword in a ready position, and promptly did a double- take. 

Schnee Dust Company read the label above the store. Who the hell was breaking into an SDC store? The security in these places was insane!

Weiss scowled as her eyes alighted on a figure cloaked in red. Of course, they were involved.

“Red,” she huffed. “ What on Remnant do you think you’re doing ?”

The figure turned to her with a cheery wave. “I’m helping!”

“By stealing ?” Weiss asked, incredulous.

They seemed to think about that for a second. “Well, yeah! I did name myself after Robin Hood after all! I’m stealing from the rich to give to the poor! Did you know that the Schnee Dust Company has a near monopoly on dust production and sales? Oh, also, I  made some new friends!”

Weiss blinked. “I thought you were supposed to be Little Red Riding Hood? And more importantly, what friends?”

The Red Hood turned to wave to some people who were further inside the store, ransacking the dust shelves. “Guys! This is White, she’s cool.”

“Um, that’s White Knight to you, and you’re robbing a store! You should all be imprisoned!”

Weiss nearly screeched as five people approached the front of the store. Four of them were wearing matching cheap suits and sunglasses, like some sort of weirdly conspicuous security detail. The last person was wearing a white suit, carried a cane, and had a shock of red hair covering his eye.

“That-that’s Roman Torchwick! And again, you’re robbing a store. With a known criminal, apparently. How are you avoiding the cameras?”

Red hummed, running their hands over their weirdly complex scythe. “Well, originally they were planning on robbing a smaller business, but I convinced them to go after the SDC instead! And I was already kind of planning to rob this spot, so I hacked in and looped the security cameras in advance and I disabled the alarms! So no cops! And now I have new friends! I’ll take the cash and they’ll take the dust. It’s perfect, and we can help each other out on sticking it to the man in the future!”

Weiss had no idea how they had managed to hack into an SDC store, but she would have to ask them later. But she didn’t approve of the fact that Red was blatantly stealing now, or that they were associating with a wanted criminal. She had half a mind to call the police on them!

“Hey, Cinderella, since you’re here, want to do us a favor and look out for cops?” Roman asked her.

Weiss bristled. “Wha- excuse you , I go by White Knight! And I will not be helping with this, thank you very much! I’m not a criminal!”

Roman snorted, raising an eyebrow. “Well, it looks like you’ve lost your glass slippers. And sweetheart, you keep telling yourself that. Vigilantism is illegal, you know. And so are a lot of other things, like not being able to afford medical bills, or housing. This system hurts a lot more people than just stealing some dust. So, aren’t we all criminals, really?”

Weiss glared at him. “Well, maybe, but stealing hurts people, too. Besides, what are you even doing with all of that dust?”

Roman did not seem overly impressed, and she was sure that she heard Red snort in amusement. “Oh, you know,” he grinned. “Working on something. But you don’t seem like you’d be interested, so I guess you won’t be finding out. Now if you’re not going to help, you should get going. We don’t need bystanders.”

Weiss huffed, picking her way over the broken glass that littered the back entrance of the store. This was not her problem. If she called the cops then Red would be implicated, and if one vigilante was targeted for stealing from one of the most powerful companies in the world, then the authorities would come down on all of them, hard. And that was not something Weiss could afford.

She rolled her eyes, resolving to keep moving, her thoughts a tangled mess. Weiss found her way back to the rooftops a few blocks later, finally managing to make it to a seedier area, where all of the bars and nightclubs were located. There was sure to be something to do around here.

Weiss sighed, sitting on a rooftop across the street from a bar that was known to have a lot of… trouble.

A huge part of being a vigilante was helping people. Actually, that’s kind of all it was. But Weiss had assumed that all of the vigilantes in the city had been like her, and had copious amounts of pocket money to give away to the homeless and those who were going hungry. She had never thought that the others were stealing .

She should’ve, and it was probably pretty obvious, but she had convinced herself that all the reports of crimes being done by vigilantes were based on lies. She hadn’t wanted to think that they were criminals . 

Wasn’t stealing hurting people? Wasn’t breaking the law inherently bad? Did all of this make them just as bad as supervillains?

Weiss was removed from her moral dilemma as she glanced down below. Someone stumbled out of the bar, barely able to stand, surrounded by three other people, all of whom looked perfectly fine. It definitely didn’t seem right, and Weiss was worried that the person who was inebriated might be unsafe. 

So, like any good vigilante, she followed.

The rooftops suited Weiss just fine for the moment, the pavement down below far too rough for her bare feet. At least, until the three figures surrounding the inebriated person began to approach a car. She had to at least find out what was going on.

Skating down the side of the building that she was on on small, inconspicuous glyphs, Weiss dashed over to her new acquaintances. The girl in the middle was swaying, but seemed to be resisting being pushed into the car.

“What seems to be the problem here?” Weiss asked sweetly.

The three boys that surrounded her seemed remarkably alert and sober, considering the girl’s condition. 

“Uh,” said one, his voice going up half an octave as he saw Weiss standing in front of them, sword lazily held in her left hand. 

“We’re just helping her get home,” said one of the others.

“I can escort her. You’re no longer needed, gentlemen. Have a good night,” she said, checking the nails on her other hand. 

“Wait, but you don’t know where she lives, and she’s really drunk,” said the last boy.

“And you do?”

He hesitated far too long before nodding, blinking too much as he did so. Lie.

“Sure,” Weiss said sweetly. “And I’m the Red Hood. Hand her over, boys. I’ll get her home safe.”

Reluctantly, irritated looks on their faces, the three boys stepped back from their prey, leaving her to slump against the side of the car. 

Weiss tsk ed at them before grabbing the girl and slinging her over her shoulders. She would get her- well, if not home, then someplace safe.

Walking in the other direction of the car, she eventually put the girl down beneath a streetlight, before checking her pockets. Her license would have her address listed, and if she didn’t have one on her, Weiss knew of several hotels in the city where she could leave her.

She struggled for a minute or two before- aha! Her back left pocket yielded results. 132 Cherry Street. Weiss cursed. She didn’t know where that was.

But that was okay, because she had a GPS device on her, just in case she ever got lost while canvassing the city. She set it for the girl’s address, lifted her once more, and started walking.

It was a long walk, almost three miles, so she may have used her glyphs to zip around when it was particularly dead. It’s not like she had all night. And no, she shouldn’t have been using her glyphs at all, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

Eventually, she got the girl back to her apartment, picking the lock and depositing her onto the couch in the living room before heading back out the door. 

She still had a patrol to take care of.

Huffing, she climbed back onto the roofs, heading back to her section of the city. The four vigilantes of Vale, they had unofficially split the city into quarters, and they each ran patrols, taking care of the citizens in their respective areas.

Generally there wasn’t much reason for them to work together- they each worked independently, doing what they could to help the city in their own ways.

Usually, Weiss tried to leave the others alone, and they did the same for her, except for Red. The Red Hood was young, immature, and was always interfering with her work. It infuriated her, but they were technically colleagues, so she had to work with them.

Trying to get them off of her mind, she headed back to her route, switching it up a little bit, and heading back towards where she had left her shoes. She couldn’t just leave them on a random rooftop, after all.

And that was when Red appeared.

The dolt in the red cape was going to get them killed . Or worse, caught. They would be caught regardless, but at least if Weiss was dead, all of the controversy of her vigilantism would fall in her father’s lap, not hers. If Weiss was taken alive, though, then she would have to answer for all of her crimes. She would be disowned, disinherited, and shipped off to prison, which was not a prospect she was thrilled about, thank you very much.

Weiss grit her teeth and shook her head. She was monologuing to herself. Maybe if she cut back on her nighttime activities and actually got the amount of sleep she was supposed to, she would stop being distracted and narrating her own life. It’s not like anyone was going to be reading her story.

Jolting out of her thoughts, Weiss grabbed the back of the idiot’s cape and yanked , slamming them both to the cold, hard surface of the roof they were perched on, cursing as her arm landed in an icy puddle.

“ Hey ,” the Red Hood hissed, “I was checking that alley next to the building. I heard something down there, and someone might be in trouble.”

Weiss rolled her eyes under her mask. “And once again, the White Knight has to save you from your own sorry ass. I’m not sure if you noticed, but the construction site across the street has a swiveling camera right at eye level of the roof of this building! Any property owned by the SDC is bound to have cameras everywhere , and you have to pay attention, or else we’re all screwed,” she lectured.

Red winced. “Sorry,” they muttered, pressing themselves lower to the roof and further into the corner of the low wall that lined the top of the building.

“Yeah, whatever. Just be careful,” Weiss huffed. “Draw the attention of the authorities all you’d like, just don’t do it on my turf. Not all of us have super speed, you dolt.”

Red sighed. “I get it . Can you stop with the lecture now? I feel like I’m talking to my dad.”

Weiss brushed off the comment. “Hey, what are you even doing in my part of the city, anyway? Did you forget where you usually patrol?”

“No! I- I just. Look, I had a hunch. I’m trying to figure something out.”

“Uh-huh. And what is so important that you have to go and almost get me caught?” Weiss drawled.

The Red Hood glanced up, their gaze suddenly piercing. “Ever heard of the Salem Project?”

Chapter Text

Blake had been following the human supremacist group for weeks now, bow securely attached to her ears. She ducked into an alley as her prey turned to look back to make sure that they weren’t being followed.

They were finally having a meeting, and Blake was about to crash their party.

She followed the two men for three more blocks, before they headed into a building- a trap door into a basement. Slowly, making sure to make as little noise as possible, she followed. 

There were rows of chairs set up in front of a stage surrounded by human supremacist posters and memorabilia, so Blake settled into the back, no costume on, just herself and her bow. To anyone looking at her, she was just an ordinary human.

And then she waited.

Waited as more people trickled in, despair settling in her heart. She knew a lot of humans hated her kind, but she hadn’t realized that there would be this many.

Blake recognized some faces there- members of the police, members of the media. It was time to make her move.

As a speaker headed up to the stage, Blake put on her mask. No one had noticed her, not in the dark corner that she hid in, and no one there would remember her face, or know that she was a faunus. Her identity was safe enough.

She snuck to the trapdoor that led into the room and discreetly locked it while all eyes were on the stage and the hate speech that the man spewed. 

And then she sprung into action, incapacitating the people closest to her, breaking bones and knocking people unconscious. 

At the commotion, everyone turned to look at her, swearing and screaming at her presence. Even with just her mask and weapon, everyone recognized the Black Shadow. And they all knew that she was there to stop them.

One by one, she knocked down her opponents. They were all unarmed, none of them fighters, none of them knowing how to use their semblances- just people filled with hatred for those they deemed lesser than them. 

It was a one-sided fight, for the most part. Some people tried to run, but she stopped them, tripping them with her weapon, or just hitting them in the knees or ankles so that they couldn’t escape. 

Towards the front of the room, some people tried to fight back, attempting to hit her with metal chairs or their fists. None of the hits landed- she blocked, dodged, and parried them all. 

The man on the stage seemed to have a semblance, something to do with fire, but it was no problem for Blake. Fighting was what she did - it was her thing. A single semblance wasn’t going to stop her. A single shot from her gun and the man’s aura broke- he went down easily. They all did.

Blake looked around. She was surrounded by moaning and broken figures, the remnants of the hate group littering the ground.

And now for the most important part- the accountability portion.

For each and every person, Blake dragged them in front of one of the posters on the wall and took a picture, resigning herself to identify the people and post the images to social media. The police wouldn’t do anything, but the court of public opinion could be a powerful one, and she could at least make sure that these people faced consequences in their lives for their behaviors. 

It took hours to do, just because there were so many people, and for many of them she went into their wallets for identifying information, writing it down in her scroll. Later, she would post everything to the internet, but for now she would simply collect the information that she needed. 

Once she was done, she left, her heart feeling much lighter knowing that these people were both incapacitated and would be facing potential consequences for their hatred of her people.

She ran through the streets and across the rooftops, patrolling her part of the city. And then she stopped. There was something that had been bothering her about the hate group, something that was nagging at the corner of her brain.

There had been several posters labeled SALEM and Salem Project. What was that?

Blake screeched to a halt, turning around. She had to go back, she had to ask the ringleader about that. What was the Salem Project? 

When she returned, they were all still there, right where she had left them.

She walked over to the leader, her steps heavier than usual.

“What is the Salem Project?” she asked, grabbing him by the front of his shirt.

He groaned, still incapacitated from being shot. 

Blake rolled her eyes.

“What,” she repeated, “is SALEM?”

“Fuck off,” he muttered.

“I’ll ask you one more time, and you’d better answer. What is the Salem Project?” she said, this time grabbing his thumb and pushing it backwards, making his eyes widen.

“Okay, okay! They just told us that they would help rid the world of faunus, that’s all I know! I think Salem is the leader of the group, and they’re very powerful. But I swear, I don’t know anything else!” he said.

Blake growled, and knocked him out with the butt of her weapon. 

Whoever they were, she had to stop the people running this Salem Project, especially if they were looking to wipe out her people.

She had no other choice.

And she thought that she knew of some people who could help.

Blake cursed as blue and red lights flashed and sirens rang out. Fuck, someone must have called the cops.

She ran, bolting out of the trapdoor, narrowly avoiding running into some officers and dashing away. There was no use talking to them- she’d just be arrested for assault. The cops were never on the side of vigilantes, they just viewed people like Blake as problems.

Which was stupid, considering that they were the ones actually keeping the city safe.

Blake kept running, climbing a fire escape and bolting across rooftops until she was sure no one could have followed her. She was a wanted man, after all. 

She kept running, using her semblance to push her along and move faster. If anyone knew anything about the shady underbelly of Vale, it would be the Yellow Dragon.

And Blake was going to find her.

Chapter Text

Ruby spent most of their free time on her computer, hacking into databases and looking for ways to take down the Schnee Dust Company. The only problem was the sheer amount of firewalls and defenses that they had, which took forever and a day to figure out a way around.

Well, that was what they did when they weren't busy being a vigilante.

It’s not that they thought that the Schnee Dust Company was unethical, which they did, they also just had a burning hatred for rich people who gained their riches off the backs of others, particularly by oppressing minority groups like the faunus. And so they looked for ways to take them down.

And that was when they stumbled across the Salem Project.

At first, they didn’t think much of it- it was just another set of defenses for the SDC’s data. But then it popped up again. And again.

And then, just for fun, Ruby decided to hack into the police database of people they had arrested. No surprise, it was mostly faunus. But once again, the Salem Project popped up as the name of one of their defenses.

Curious.

In fact, there was a whole section of government data hidden behind the Salem firewalls, and no matter how hard they tried, Ruby just couldn’t crack them. 

And they tried. Hard.

It could’ve just been a cybersecurity company hired by both the government and the Schnee Dust Company. It could’ve.

But on the other hand, what were they hiding? 

Besides, researching the Salem Project yielded no results. None. Not even a whisper of a defense company, nothing detailing what they did, or who they were.

How odd.

If they didn’t know any better, they would’ve thought that they had stumbled across some sort of conspiracy.

“Hey, Dad,” Ruby asked one day at dinner. “Have you ever heard of the Salem Project?”

His face went carefully blank, all expression removed. He was hiding something.

Gotcha.

“No. And where did you hear about that?”

“Oh, you know, just on the computer,” said Ruby. “Something to do with the government.”

Their dad’s eye twitched. “Oh, that’s nice,” he said. 

Bullshit. He used to work for the government- he knew exactly what the Salem Project was, he just wasn’t telling.

“Excuse me, I have to go make a call,” he said.

How slick.

So, the Salem Project was some secretive defense company that connected both the most powerful provider of energy in the world with the government of Vale. How interesting. Or perhaps, they were like Ruby, and were trying to hack into it, too. 

They had to get to the bottom of this, whatever it was. If nothing else, it indicated some sort of connection between the government and the SDC- perhaps some sort of deal going on between them, or a flow of money from one to the other. They just had to crack those firewalls.

Or, they could ask the other vigilantes.

They weren’t supposed to know each other’s identities. However, Ruby was a hacker, and they knew how to get around defenses.

Yang was obviously the Yellow Dragon. Their sister thought that they didn’t know, but she had been their inspiration to become a fellow vigilante in the first place.

And it was obvious who the White Knight was. Weiss Schnee, daughter of the CEO of the Schnee Dust Company. That was certainly a curious one, but she must have been the rebellious type. 

The Black Shadow had been a little harder to figure out, but after careful observation, Ruby had figured out that she was the daughter of two high-profile faunus activists- Blake Belladonna. Not that they would ever tell. The secret of their identities would go to their grave.

All together, they made an interesting bunch, but Ruby had the feeling that Weiss might know something, considering her position. 

And then, they stumbled across something… else. Roman Torchwick, notorious dust thief, had logs of communication with Junior, the owner of a shady club in the, well, shadier part of town. 

He was requesting men for a job. And in their logs, he mentioned a mysterious ‘boss’, someone that Roman answered to- could it have something to do with the Salem Project?

Probably not, but Ruby wanted answers. 

They were hitting up a small dust shop, but what if Ruby convinced them to attack the Schnee Dust Company instead? What would happen then?

Despite all of their defenses, it wasn’t too hard to loop the security cameras for the SDC store. Ruby was a practiced hacker, thank you very much, and they knew how to get around the basic defenses that had been set up. Here, in a single store, the Salem Project wasn’t mentioned, but it wasn’t like they were looking for data this time, just looping some cameras.

The next step was finding Roman Torchwick.

Ruby dressed in their vigilante outfit, as the Red Hood, and set out. It wasn’t hard to find him- the logs had indicated exactly where he would be, when, and with whom.

Really, these people should protect their text messages, or at least use some type of code. They were so very easy to hack.

It was dark, and they didn’t notice Ruby until they were right behind them. Some useful bodyguards these people were. They were right outside the local dust shop when Ruby cleared their throat.

“You know, if you’re going to rob a dust shop, I have a better target in mind.”

Roman turned and pointed his weapon right at Ruby, but they didn’t flinch.

“I’ve looped the camera on the Schnee Dust Company store that’s two blocks down- they’ll never have any proof that you were even there.”

“Eh?” asked Torchwick. “Aren’t you that hero brat? What are you doing helping us?”

Ruby frowned under their mask. “I’m a vigilante, thank you very much. And let’s just say that I have a bit of a vendetta against the SDC.”

Torchwick and his buddies all looked at each other before shrugging and following Ruby.

It was a piece of cake to break into the store, which was already shut down for the night. Ruby had already disabled the alarms, too, so nothing went off when they broke the glass.

Ruby wasn’t interested in the dust, not like Torchwick, but they were very interested in the money that was secured in the safe. Their weapon easily cut through the hinges and opened it up, revealing an absurd amount of lien that could go to the poor and homeless people in the area. Jackpot.

“So, Torchwick,” they asked. “Who do you work for? Just curious.”

Torchwick spluttered. “What? No one. Who told you that? You have a lot of nerve, kid, asking me questions.”

Ruby shrugged. “Hey, I’m helping you out here. Maybe I’m looking for some more connections.”

Torchwick rolled his eyes. “Fine. Her name is Cinder. That’s all I’m telling you.”

Perfect. Was Cinder connected to the Salem Project somehow?

And that was when the White Knight appeared, just as they were leaving the store.

“Red! What on Remnant are you doing?” she asked, her feet bare for some reason.

“I’m helping!” Ruby said cheerfully, waving at her.

Eventually, after several retorts, White left to finish her rounds. 

Then, sirens sounded, headed straight for their location. Ruby ran, and so did Torchwick and his friends. At least now Ruby had a name, and she could go after the people in charge of the criminal underworld.

Ruby continued their rounds, too, sneaking into the homeless shelter and handing out stacks of lien to anyone who would accept them. Then, they went to the poorer part of town, where they handed out the rest. There wasn’t much crime occurring, well, not that Ruby wasn’t a part of, so they ended up running around town for the rest of the night. 

And then they saw White again.

“Hey,” they asked, “have you ever heard of the Salem Project?”

Chapter Text

Sometimes Yang felt that she was nothing more than an echo of a person, consisting of nothing but the pieces that everyone else had left behind. And so she burned as bright and as hot as she could, desperately chasing her own identity, chasing answers, chasing, chasing, chasing.

Yang was the first vigilante, dressing in a costume and disappearing into the night, looking for answers about her mother. And then the others had followed.

Copycats.

Except they weren’t because they were all about patrolling and protecting the people, while Yang was all about searching for answers to questions that no one else ever asked. 

And that was why she, of course, had been the first to find out about the Salem Project.

She hadn’t even meant to, really. She had gone to Junior’s club and beat up all of his men, leaving a flaming wreck behind her. And the clues had been everywhere. The S insignia on all of the weapons, the whispers, the look-alike henchmen who she was sure were being created in a lab somewhere. Someone was funding Junior’s club, and it sure as hell wasn’t the clubbers. If it was, the place would be long underwater.

Melanie and Miltia had just been the icing on the cake. He had rented them out from somewhere. They were fighters- unlike any that Yang had ever seen. And they had their semblances unlocked. They weren’t normal bodyguards, and Yang had barely gotten out of that fight unscathed. 

Both girls had spider-web tattoos on their arms- and okay, fine. Maybe they came from the Spiders gang. Maybe they were working together. But Melanie’s face had tightened at the picture of Yang’s mother. They knew something. Junior didn’t know a damn thing, because he was too busy keeping his head in the dirt to pay attention to what was really going on. But the twins knew better. And so did Yang.

“Melanie- you know something, don’t you,” Yang had crooned. “You know this woman. How?”

Miltia had growled. “All of the Spiders know to stay away from the leader of the most voracious tribe of bandits in all of Remnant. The Branwens are nothing to mess with, and if you were smart, you wouldn’t mess with them, either.”

That had told her everything that she needed. “Great. Then what’s with all of the S’s on your weapons?”

Both girls had shrugged at that. They didn’t know who was pulling their strings. That just meant that Yang would have to go to the top. Either the leader of the Spiders knew something, or her mother did.

Someone in the shadows was funding gangs, preying on the city of Vale, and Yang was going to find out who.

Of course, after that, she had beaten up the entire club, but she had gotten the lead that she was looking for.

It’s not that she looked for danger- danger looked for her! Okay, fine. Maybe she did seek it out, just a little. 

The cops hadn’t come. They didn’t mess with the gangs of the city, and the gangs didn’t mess with the cops. Junior would clean up her mess, and maybe send someone after her. But she wasn’t worried about them. She was more worried about whoever had facilitated cooperation between gangs on two different continents, whoever had supplied them with weapons.

Maybe it was her mother, but the letter S didn’t fit into that, unless she had some sort of alter ego.

Well, it looked like the Yellow Dragon would be headed to Mistral, to mess with the bandit tribes. Yippee. 

She had just landed on her usual rooftop, her typical starting point for her patrol, when the Black Shadow landed next to her, panting and out of breath.

She was only wearing her mask and normal clothes, and it almost felt like seeing her naked. Yang blushed.

“What,” she panted, “do you know about the Salem Project?”

Yang blinked. The Salem Project. Salem. S.

“Well, not much. But I’ll bet you twenty lien that whoever’s behind it is funding gangs in both Vale and Mistral,” she replied, cocking her head to the side.

The Black Shadow’s eyes widened behind her mask. “I’m pretty sure that they’re also funding hate groups, like the human supremacist group that I just infiltrated.”

Yang grinned. “Oh, nice work. But yeah. Something fishy’s going on here. Who are these people?”

“Thanks,” Black Shadow said, a small smile on her lips. “I figured you would know,” she said, frowning.

“Well, they’re related to the underground, hate groups, and I have reason to believe that they’re connected to bandits in Mistral. Actually, I was going to go interrogate a bandit in Mistral- want to come with?” Yang asked, cringing to herself as soon as she said it. ‘Hey, I’m going to go meet my mom for the first time on another continent, want to join me?’ Smooth, Xiao-Long. Smooth.

Black’s eyebrows shot up. “You want to go interrogate a bandit on the other side of the world? You are truly dedicated to this hobby.”

“What can I say? I’m curious about how all of this is connected- hey, what’s that down there?”

Not that she was trying to change the subject, but down below them was a glimmer of green, a shimmer against the night. And the sound of spray paint.

By the time they reached the ground, the figure was gone. And the graffiti on the wall proudly proclaimed ‘Oz was here’.

Yang looked at Black. “Oz was here? Have you ever seen this graffiti before?” 

Black shook her head. “No, it’s new.”

“You know,” said a new voice from the shadows. “You should really stop asking about Salem. You won’t like what you’re going to find.”

And then, once again, they disappeared into the night. 

“Huh? Where’d he go?” asked Yang.

“I-I don’t know,” said Black. “It’s like he just… disappeared, like the wind or something. Did we both just hallucinate, or did that really happen?”

Yang shrugged. “I don’t have a history of hallucinations, do you?”

Black hesitated a second before shaking her head. “Maybe that was Oz, the person who did the graffiti,” she said.

“So, find this Oz person, and we find Salem. That’s much easier than traveling to Mistral,” said Yang.

“I’m with you,” said Black, her voice steady. “Whatever the cost.”

“Deal,” said Yang, reaching out her hand.

They clasped hands and it was official- together, they would find Oz. Whatever it took.

Chapter Text

Weiss blinked at Red. She had never heard of the Salem Project in her life. She just shook her head at them, mystified. 

“Well whatever it is, it must be important, if you’re interrupting my patrols. Spill.”

Red cocked their head for a second, thinking. “They’re connected to the government and to the Schnee Dust Company.”

“So?” said Weiss. “That means nothing.”

“Okay, how’s this. In the firewalls and electronic defenses of both several governmental bodies and the SDC, the Salem Project is mentioned, or at least Salem, in the code.”

“Great. They’re a defense contractor. They do cybersecurity.”

Red shook their head, clearly frustrated. “But that’s the thing. I can’t find any record of them existing. Anywhere . Not on the internet, nowhere.”

Weiss narrowed her eyes at them. “Okay, so they’re just a really secure cybersecurity company that laypeople wouldn’t know about.”

Red huffed. “No. I know that they’re connected to the government, and I know that it’s something bad.”

“How do you know?”

“I have a contact who works in the government, but they’re tight-lipped about it,” said Red.

“You? Have a contact? Aren’t you like twelve?” asked Weiss.

“Ha-ha. Very funny. Just- keep your eyes and ears open. Something’s going on here, and I don’t like it.”

“Fine, I will,” said Weiss. “But I think you’re making a mountain out of a molehill.”

Red scoffed. “Am not,” they muttered. “But anyway. Just remember what I said,” they said, activating their semblance and dashing off into the night.

“Yeah, yeah,” Weiss muttered, turning and heading the other direction, making sure to keep out of sight of the cameras, something that they weren’t sure Red cared to do.

Shoes in hand, she carefully worked her way back towards the Schnee Manor. Nobody would notice her sneaking in late at night, not when she used the servant’s stairways.

Like always, no one stopped her, no one questioned her, and soon she was in her bedroom, exhausted, and hiding her armor deep in the closet.

She flopped onto her bed, ready to crawl under the covers, only to hear a strange crinkling noise underneath her.

She blinked, reaching under her stomach, to find a piece of paper.

Too tired to turn on the light, she stepped into the light of the moon. On the paper was writing in what could have been green or black marker- it was hard to tell in the darkness. And what it said made her blood run cold.

Stop asking questions, it read.

Weiss flipped over the piece of paper, looking to see if there was more. There wasn’t. There was no saying who it was from, or what questions they were talking about.

But Weiss had a sinking feeling that she knew.

The only questions she had been planning to ask were about the Salem Project. And she hadn’t even asked them yet.

But this note- somehow, someone had heard her and Red talking on that roof. And they had left this as a warning, a preemptive strike.

Well, fine. If they didn’t want Weiss asking questions, then she wouldn’t ask questions. The note hadn’t said anything about eavesdropping. 

A part of Weiss felt a grim satisfaction that she had found a way around the note’s instruction, but she still felt uneasy. Whoever had left this note knew who she was, had access to her home, had been in her bedroom, and they had gotten in and out without alerting security.

She wasn’t safe from whoever this was, even in her own home.

Not that home was ever a safe place for her, but this was taking it to another level entirely. 

Weiss didn’t sleep that night.

In fact, that next day, she barely left her room, unable to shake the feeling that she was being watched. 

She spent most of the day ignoring her lessons, focusing on what the note said. She was too tired to think straight, anyway.

All she knew was that the note was written in a dark green, and it was haunting her every waking moment. Weiss fully intended to take it with her on patrol that night. 

No, she wouldn’t even go on patrol. She would go straight to the other vigilantes. Red already knew something- maybe they would know something about this.

She was on her way out, her vigilante outfit carefully hidden in her gym bag when she heard something. She had to pass her father’s study to get to the servant’s stairwell, but usually no one was in there this late at night.

Pressing herself against the door, Weiss turned her ear to listen.

At first, it was hard to hear, the murmuring from the other side of the door almost indistinct. 

And then she heard, “Damnit, Watts, just do your job the way I tell you to!”

Watts, she suspected, responded with a similarly raised voice. “You know that I answer to someone a little higher up on the food chain than you.”

And her father, who she had never seen give way on anything, dropped the subject.

Who could this man possibly answer to that was that much more powerful than the head of the most powerful company on the planet?

Salem, a voice in her mind whispered.

Weiss had a feeling that if she stayed there any longer, her luck would run out. Silently, she stood and ran, careful to get as far away from her father’s office as possible.

She headed out, quickly changing into her knight’s outfit, her sword at her side.

She had to find Red, Black, and Yellow.

Weiss met Red at the usual start of their patrol. “We need to find Black and Yellow. Someone’s found me out,” she said.

“Yeah,” said Red, pulling out a note that looked very similar to Weiss’s. “Me, too.”

Weiss swore. 

They found both Black and Yellow at the start of Yellow’s patrol- and they both looked tense.

“You guys, too?” asked Red.

Both Yellow and Black nodded. They didn’t even need to ask.

“It’s Oz,” said Black. “I’m sure of it.”

“You’re right,” said Yellow.

“Who?” asked Weiss.

“Some kid, we think. He told us to stop asking about Salem, and then the next day, there’s this,” said Yellow.

“A kid?” asked Red.

Black shrugged. “His voice sounded young. But I think we also just assumed because he was putting up graffiti.”

“Now,” came a voice. “You may wonder why I’ve gathered you here today-”

The four of them pulled their weapons and pointed them at the figure.

Oz.

Chapter Text

The first thing Ruby noticed about Oz was that he was short.

The second, was that he clearly wasn’t comfortable being on the receiving end of four weapons, not that anyone would be.

“Wait, wait!” he said, putting his hands up in front of him, taking a step back towards the edge of the roof. 

“You- you’re Oz,” said Black.

“Yeah, that’s me,” said Oz.

His voice was really high-pitched, too, Ruby bet that it was a kid underneath the hood and mask. 

Ruby was the first to put away their weapon, convinced that Oz wasn’t a threat- just a kid.

“How did you get those notes into our rooms? How do you know who we are?” asked Yellow.

“You have your skills, I have mine,” said Oz. “Now do you want to know about Salem or not?”

The four of them shared a look with each other, before Ruby nodded. “I don’t know about the rest of them, but I want to know everything.”

White sighed. “Fine. But if you sneak into my room again, I will use this,” she said, gesturing with her weapon.

“Yikes, okay,” said Oz. “Now, follow me, I have somewhere private we can talk.”

He led them for several blocks across rooftops and through alleyways, to the back of a school, of all things.

Ruby looked around, confused. “Beacon Academy?”

“It’s safe from her reach.”

“Now,” he said, leading them in through a back door. “You wanted to know about Salem?”

“Yeah, like what is Salem, exactly-” Black began, before cutting herself off when Oz turned to them and removed his mask to reveal a kid who couldn’t have been older than fourteen.

They all looked at one another. Yellow choked on air. 

“You’re just a kid!” said White.

Oz grimaced. “I’m Oscar. And I already know who all of you are.”

“Why are you telling us who you are? Isn’t that dangerous?” asked Ruby.

Oscar chuckled. “I trust the four of you. Besides, I have a real enemy.”

“How could you possibly have an enemy? No offense, but you’re kind of… young,” said Black.

Oscar grinned. “None taken. Let’s just say that I… inherited the fight against Salem.”

“Okay,” said Yellow, and Ruby could hear the confusion in her voice. “So what exactly is Salem?”

“Well, you know your semblances and aura? Salem is- was a person, just like us. Except, she has something much older than dust or aura. She has magic, gifted to her by the gods. Once, all of humanity was given magic by the gods. But she and I are the last ones left.”

“Magic?” asked Ruby.

Oscar nodded. “Deep in the domain of the gods, somewhere very hard to reach, lies a race of monsters known as the Grimm, once created by the God of Darkness. Salem visited the gods, once, and was made immortal as a punishment by them. A second time, much later, she visited again, and descended into the leftover pools of Grimm, turning herself into a monster who desires nothing more than the destruction of the world, as far as I can tell.

“Because she’s immortal, she’s immensely powerful, even without her magic. She has nearly infinite resources, time, and patience. She has her hands in everything- government, corporations, the very systems that run our world. And she intends to bring them all down. She knows that there are four magical artifacts known as relics that are out there, hidden from her, that could bring about the true end of the world- if brought together, the gods will return, and judge humanity, possibly ending her suffering forever. But until then she lies in wait, using her power to attempt to discern the location of the relics, which she has failed at thus far.”

“Relics? Magic? Immortality? Gods? None of this makes sense,” said Yellow.

“I know, and I’m awful at explaining,” said Oscar, deadpan. “Luckily for all of us, past versions of me have hidden these relics well, and she’ll never find them. But I think I know what she plans to do next, and that’s going to be a huge problem for all of us.”

“And that is…?” asked White.

“The Grimm that I mentioned- the monsters that only exist in the domain of the gods? I believe she intends to bring them here, to Remnant. How she will do this I am not certain, but I think she believes that they can help her track down the relics. If she can’t do that, or maybe in conjunction with that course of action, she wants to bring down society. If the gods are brought back to Remnant, and they find humanity incapable of working together, then they will end us all. If humanity is in chaos if and when the gods arrive, then we’re all doomed.”

Ruby swallowed. “So why not tell everyone? We can all work together to stop her.”

Oscar leveled a glance at them. “ You barely believe me. Why would anyone else have reason to?”

White spoke up. “Well, surely those in power must know about her, especially if she’s involved in politics and corporations.”

Oscar nodded. “Oh yes, they do know about her. They know that she is a major campaign contributor, or provides cybersecurity for massive companies, or provides money for prisons. They know her only as some nebulous entity that helps them in some way, and they certainly wouldn’t want that to stop .

“So… why us?” asked Black.

“Simple. You went looking for Salem. You know about her, you care. Presumably, you want to fight back?”

“Of course we do!” said Yellow. “But also, how do we know that any of what you’re saying is true?”

Oscar shrugged. “You don’t. Here,” he said, and suddenly his eyes were glowing a shade of gold, and when he held out his hands, green light sparkled in them. “Magic,” he said.

“Okay, pretty semblance,” said White. “But we still have no proof of anything that you’re saying.

Oscar frowned. Then, suddenly, his eyes flashed gold again. His whole demeanor changed. When he spoke, his voice was different. 

“It’s nice to meet you, my hunters,” he said. “You can call me Professor Ozpin, or Oz, if you wish. I’m the reincarnation of Salem’s ex-husband.”

Ruby’s jaw landed somewhere on the floor.

Chapter Text

“So,” said Yang, “how do we actually stop Salem?”

Ozpin, or Oz, or Oscar, whoever was standing in front of them- let out a short laugh. “We don’t. No one does. There is no way to stop her.”

“Bullshit!” said Red. “There has to be a way. I heard about someone else, someone named Cinder, who works for her. Maybe she knows how to stop her.”

Oz’s eyebrows rose. “Cinder? I do believe that I know who you’re referring to. Whatever the case, I’m certain that she’s completely devoted to Salem, and will never turn on her.”

“Well, we have to try,” said Black. “We can’t just sit back and do nothing while Salem destroys the world!”

“Oh, you’re not going to. I need the four of you to fight the Grimm. And anyone else who you can help me gather. We need an army of fighters, and I’m starting with you.”

White made an affronted noise from behind her mask. “How dare you task us with fighting monsters that we know nothing about! How could you do this to us?”

Oz grimaced. “Well, I’ll join you. But someone has to take on this fight, and the four of you seem to have good hearts and fighting skills. Not many can say that.”

“Okay, so, how long do we have before she brings these monsters into the world?” asked Red.

Oz looked thoughtful. “I don’t know. I don’t suspect very long. She may start in small amounts, or she may bring down a whole tidal wave of Grimm. However, I have reason to believe that she’ll begin here, in Vale.”

“Well, then. We need to get more people to fight, and we need to do it fast. I think I know of some people in Mistral who can help,” said Yang.

Oz hummed. “I do believe I know who you’re referring to, and their leader already knows about Salem. They’ll want to stay as far away from this fight as physically possible.”

Yang deflated. “Fuck.” She had really been looking forward to 1. Meeting her mother, and 2. Gathering more fighters for the cause. 

“Meet back here at the same time next week, and instruct any others that you find to do the same,” said Oz. 

And then he disappeared. 

“Wha- where’d he go?!” asked Red.

Black shrugged. “I think that might be magic. Or his semblance.”

White hissed. “How are we supposed to find more people to help us without sounding like absolute lunatics?”

“Put up fliers, maybe?” said Red.

White scoffed. “The only people who will respond to those will be gamers. Everyone is going to think that we’re playing some twisted video game or something!”

Yang had an idea. Melanie and Miltia. They were fighters, and they might help. Even though they were technically on Salem’s side, they might not want the world to be destroyed by monsters.

That was two. Maybe. 

“I-I  know of this girl, she’s a great martial artist, and a world-class fighter, and I’ve heard that she’s coming to Vale for school,” said White. “Her name is Pyrrha Nikos. She might be willing to join us. But I’m not asking, because she’ll think I’m insane.”

“I’ll do it!” said Red.

Black hummed. “I know these other two, Ren and Nora. I don’t know about their fighting skills, but I know that Nora’s crazy strong. And they’re both crazy enough to join us. They might know some people, too.”

“Sounds like a plan,” said Yang. 

Junior’s club was still a mess when Yang went back to it. But people were there, anyway, partying the night away. Yang couldn’t imagine their dedication.

And luckily for her, Melanie and Miltia were there, sipping on drinks.

When Yang sidled up to them in all of her vigilante gear, they immediately stepped into combat stances.

Miltia growled. “You again.”

Yang grinned. “Yup, it’s me. So, I have a proposition for you ladies.”

“Whatever it is, the answer is no,” said Melanie.

Yang kept talking, anyway. “Do you want to fight monsters?”

“Huh?” said Miltia. 

“So, I know that you work for Salem. But did you know that she intends to bring a whole bunch of monsters to the city and completely destroy the world?”

Melanie scoffed. “You liar.”

Yang dropped the smile. “I promise you, I’m not lying. Come by Old Beacon Academy next Saturday night and you’ll see.”

The two sisters shot each other a look that Yang couldn’t read. 

“Fine, we’re in,” said Miltia. “But only because we want to know if these monsters that you’re talking about are real.”

Yang grinned as she headed out of the club. Score.

After her uneventful patrol, Yang headed back home, her vigilante gear in her gym bag. 

For once, her dad was actually home. Good.

Yang shoved her vigilante clothes in her room and rushed back downstairs.

“Hey, dad,” she said. “What do you know about the Salem Project?”

Chapter Text

That night, Ruby followed White, all dressed in vigilante gear. They had half-thought about just emailing Pyrrha, but she probably would’ve thought it was some kind of spam. 

Hey Pyrrha, it would have said, did you know that monsters are real? Want to help us fight them?

Yeah, nobody with half a brain would be able to look at that without laughing. So, the new plan was to go to her house, dressed as vigilantes, and invite her to the meeting the next week. 

When they arrived at her address (which Ruby had found- it really was easy to find information on people), they knocked on the door. White looked around furtively, almost like she was afraid that someone would catch them, that they would get in trouble.

Well, Ruby could always escape. White, maybe not. 

When they knocked, Pyrrha didn’t answer the door. Instead, it was a blond boy with a Pumpkin Pete’s rabbit sweater on. He must not have looked before he opened the door, because when he opened it, his eyes went wide, and his face paled.

“P-Pyrrha,” he squeaked.

Pyrrha, or the girl that must’ve been Pyrrha, came running, fists raised. She pushed the boy behind her, her eyes alight with fire. 

She was perfect.

“Pyrrha Nikos,” said White, and Ruby could hear an off-key note of strain in her voice- did she have a crush? “We have a proposition for you.”

Pyrrha dropped her hands from where they protected her face and cocked her head, a confused expression on her face. “Oh?” was all she said.

“Have you heard of the Salem Project?” asked Ruby

Pyrrha frowned. “I-I can’t say that I have. Why, should I be worried?” she asked, exchanging glances with the blond boy.

“Quite frankly? Yes,” said White.

“Monsters are real, and we need people to help us fight them,” said Ruby, because White was taking too long to spit it out.

“What?” asked Pyrrha, a confused expression crossing her face. “Monsters? What kind of monsters?”

White sighed. “They’re called Grimm, and there’s this woman by the name of Salem who intends to bring them here. We don’t know when, all we know is that it’s going to happen, and soon. All we have right now are us four vigilantes to fight them, and we’re going to need help.”

“Oh,” said Pyrrha. “And you want me to help you? To fight these monsters?”

“Yup!” said Ruby.

“Okay. How do I help?”

“Pyrrha,” said the boy. “You can’t be serious.”

“Of course I’m serious,” she replied. “Oh! We could fight the monsters together! It could be so romantic!”

The boy went white. “You want me to fight monsters with you? I’ve never fought anything before! And how is that romantic?”

“Haven’t you heard? The couple that fights together, stays together,” said Ruby. “Haven’t you ever wondered why me and White are so close?”

White spluttered, turning on them. “Did-did you just insinuate-that we are a couple ?!”

Ruby shot finger guns at her. “Sure did, ice queen.”

“Okay, that’s it. Pyrrha and random boy, we are meeting at the old Beacon Academy next Saturday night at eight, and you’d better be there.” And with that, White dashed off into the night.

Ruby grinned under their mask. “Well, you heard the White Knight. Next Saturday, we’ll see you then!”

Ruby turned and headed off in their own direction, feeling both hopeful and uneasy. They had never seen Pyrrha or her boyfriend fight, and had no idea if they even had semblances, or could hold their own in a fight, especially against monsters. And so far they only had the two of them…

They might be really and truly screwed.

And then, Ruby heard the screams.