Fine fine... let the plot continue.

What followed was a mess of preparation and "damage" control. With Penny now permanently a real girl and soon to be carrying your child, your top priority was covering your tracks before you officially spirited her away from the watchful eyes of Atlas. The first protective measure was a simple concealment charm that would still show Penny as an active synthetic on her home kingdom's surveillance and computer programs. Second was a little Godly power courtesy of the Aura Link to ensure her combat performance matched that of her old, artificial body, plus a few enhancements to boost her already considerable physical prowess. Lastly was some memory rearrangement for her assigned guards. Should they ever have need to recall tonight, they would always be met with mundane thoughts of babysitting a teenager during her high school prom.

With your work completed for the time being, you escort Penny back to her dorm room for the night. Despite her understandable protests of being separated from you, she eventually complies as you point out it would be suspicious if her teammates, including the military disciplined Ciel Soleil, were to wake up the next morning and find her missing. With a parting kiss, you bid her goodnight and warp back to your own bed, into which you promptly collapse as your physical exertion finally catches up with you. You don't even notice Emerald stirring from her own slumber to cuddle into your side.

The next morning finds you patiently rocking back and forth on your feet as you ride the elevator to Ozpin's office. To be fair, this meeting had been a long time coming and you had little hope of avoiding it forever. Your scuffle with Cinder at the CCT was too great for the multi-generational Headmaster to ignore, but even then you'd hoped to stay low-key until the Vytal Festival. The price for being reckless, you supposed. Within moments, the elevator doors chime open to reveal the spacious interior of Ozpin's office. Said headmaster immediately notices your arrival, as do Glynda and Ironwood who patiently await you with him.

"Ahh, Mr. Hazelton. We've been expecting you. Please, have a seat," Ozpin greets you with a small gesture to the chair positioned in front of his desk.

You silently follow his direction. You were **** to admit that the atmosphere had you a bit on edge despite knowing your reason for being there, but even still, there was always the possibility Ozpin knew more than he let on. You didn't dare risk tampering with his mind this early in your Godhood either. The Lord's warning still rang clear in your subconscious.

"I apologize for calling you here so early in the morning but we have much to discuss," Ozpin continued. "For starters, lets begin with your personal account of the fight that broke out last night."

"Well, Ruby and I were taking a walk through the gardens to help her deal with her anxiety around crowds when she noticed the infiltrator running along the roofs," you begin. "Not wanting to loose sight of her, we decided to investigate on our own. It was when we confronted her in the tower that I realized she was far more skilled than anyone we've fought up to this point, and I saw fit to send Ruby back to alert you."

"You knowingly chose to fight whom you recognized to be a superior opponent on your own?" questioned Glynda with a pointed stare. "Skilled as you can be, I thought I taught you better than to be that reckless."

"It was a fair decision given the circumstances," defended Ironwood. "It's reasonable to say Mr. Hazelton's interference prevented our attacker from carrying out her mission fully. That being said, were you able to catch her in the act? Any clues as to what exactly she was doing?"

"Unfortunately no," you say with a shake of your head. "She was waiting to ambush us when we arrived. Either she had already taken care of what she needed and moved on to deal with us or she didn't have a chance to get started. At any rate, we exchanged a few blows when I sent Ruby away. We fought properly after that. She's highly skilled in bladework and fought using a pair of glass broadswords. She also made frequent use of fire through runes and projectile / energy-based attacks, though whether this was because of Dust or her semblance, I couldn't tell. I just know that her clothes would light up each time she used it."

"Interesting," commented Glynda. "Aside from the glass, this woman sounds like the same person Miss Rose and I fought a few nights before start of term."

"Weaving Dust into clothing is an age-old practice. It could've been anyone," Ironwood rebuffs with a shake of his head. "It doesn't help that the battle short-circuited the security footage."

"If I may offer a suggestion, she doesn't resemble a Beacon student from what I could tell," you supply.

You figured that small hint would be reasonable enough given how much you've already interfered with Cinder's manipulations. Earning some brownie points with these men of power certainly wouldn't hurt either.

"That's a sound suggestion," Ozpin agrees with a nod. "I've wondered that myself and have begun searching through the profiles of not only Beacon's student body but our visiting students as well. At any rate, your input has been most valuable today. Now, onto our second order of business. Glynda?"

Your teacher and secret lover steps forward with a clearing of her throat.

"Given your advanced combat skill and exceptional marks with field survival and Grimm anatomy, Professor Ozpin has suggested that you work in conjunction with me to design a training regime to better prepare our student body as a whole. Aside from a select few teams, we've noticed a decline in overall physical conditioning. Additionally... he has also authorized you to supervise a team of your choice during the field assignments we will be conducting next week."

You notice a marked tone of disapproval in your lover's voice when she mentioned the field work. Opting not to comment, you instead give Ozpin a questioning glance, to which he readily explains.

"It's come to my attention that you've chosen an... interesting hobby with your downtime. Particularly involving working against a noteworthy group of individuals known for conducting illicit activities against the Kingdom of Vale."

He lets his tone hang in the air as he gauges your reaction, but you had a feeling your vigilante work would get noticed sooner or later. Thus you carefully school your features to feign innocence and curiosity, if only for appearances sake.

"Now, I'm not entirely sure how you've done it but evidently it's worked. Roman Torchwick has disappeared entirely and the string of Dust robberies has almost completely stopped. Interestingly enough, the White Fang have also gone underground following the exposure of a stolen Atlesian Paladin at one of their rallies, as well as thousands of various small arms. Following investigations conducted by the Vale Police Department and General Ironwood's personal inquires, we've concluded that Torchwick wasn't the one responsible for their theft. He was simply the recipient."

"A mole has been planted in the Atlesian Military, compromising a vast majority of our network," added Ironwood. "While I've been conducting my investigation on our end, we still need somebody with boots on the ground to find the remaining mechs. That's where you come in. I'm giving you authorization to work in conjunction with the Kingdom of Atlas investigating the nearby ruins of Mountain Glenn. Its vast subterranean network is the ideal location for a large criminal organization to operate without exposure."

"I assume you want me to bring Team RWBY along?" you suggest.

Ozpin gives you a wry smile.

"I wasn't going to outright say their name, but you seem insightful enough."

"Those girls have had a knack for getting into trouble ever since term began," Glynda sighs with a shake of her head. "Even if we forbade them from interfering, they'd end up taking matters into their own hands anyway. At least this way they'll have some notion of supervision."

"They can take care of themselves... sort of," you add with a chuckle. "Can't deny they have spirit."

"Which at the end of the day is all we can ask of our students," concludes Ozpin. "I'll have Miss Goodwitch debrief you on your full responsibilities after we've had a moment to speak with Miss Rose. Thank you for your time and cooperation, Mr. Hazelton."

"It was a pleasure, sir," you reply courteously.

As you rise from your seat, you flash Glynda a small but suggestive smile, one that brings the faint rushing of blood to her face and prompts her to busy herself with her scroll. It was a silent exchange belying your intentions to do more than just speak business that thankfully goes unnoticed by either headmaster. All in all, you were quite pleased with the exchange despite the brief exposure of your activities. To have Ozpin giving you official missions meant you could move about more freely without being overly absent from your classes. As the elevator door shuts behind you, you feel a faint buzzing and itching sensation on the back of your hand. The faint outline of a tattoo had appeared, specifically a vine with blooming flowers, and it was blood red in color.