Epilogue

"It was at that time I decided to call for an airlift for the remaining White Fang prisoners and remain behind with Will while Dom flew back with the Argos and Team RWBY. I believe you are all aware of the pertinent events after that point." Sanguin finished his recitation and resumed standing at attention.

He was in an office Ozpin had commandeered after the damage his and Mortis' battle had done to Beacon's main tower. It was considerably cozier than Ozpin's original one, but there was still enough room for his desk and a view screen mounted on the wall behind it. On the divided screen were General Ironwood from his command center in one section and Headmistress Woden from Umbra in the other. Ozpin stood off to the side of his desk, so he could look between the screen and Sanguin easily.

Sanguin's words were greeted with a lengthy pause as each listener tried to corral their thoughts. Unsurprisingly, the general was the first to speak up.

"I'll be the first to say that I think your team performed admirably given the circumstances and your lack of manpower on the scene." Sanguin accepted the words with a nod, waiting. "But…" There it is. "I think the question on all our minds is why there was that lack of manpower to begin with. Why exactly did you choose to intentionally keep the information you had regarding Theron's location to yourself instead of informing us and getting much needed backup?"

"I question whether additional assets were truly needed." Sanguin replied. He maintained the practiced talking-to-authority tone that betrayed no hints of what he was thinking.

Ironwood was not amused. "Considering three of your four targets escaped, I would say they were. And you didn't answer my question."

Sanguin straightened up the millimeter he had to his full height, hands clasped even tighter behind his back. "It occurred to me that if there was one subversive element within Beacon Academy, there could be more. Theron was a well-respected Huntsman; it was highly likely he could have persuaded others to join him. If I were in his shoes, I would have had plants in both Beacon and your forces to alert me if any deployments were to occur near my position. The risk to operational security was too high to risk bringing in other people."

Sanguin had very carefully worded that statement. By necessity, he had long ago made a point of never lying to his superiors. But that didn't mean he was above being misleading. The risk of Theron having other agents had occurred to him, just not before they had left on the mission without telling anyone.

"You seemed to not have the same reservations when it came to the team of freshmen who accompanied you." Woden said. Her eyes probed him as if she knew he wasn't being entirely truthful, but wasn't willing to press the issue.

"Considering their previous involvement in the earlier stages of the mission, it was safe to say that Team RWBY was not a part of Theron's plot."

"Regardless," Ironwood interjected. "Given the extensive injuries they sustained during the course of this mission, I find your willingness to throw students into that caliber of combat reckless."

Sanguin's face might have been made of glass for all it moved. "The only member of the team to be significantly injured was Ruby Rose." There was a flicker there in Ironwood's expression; the name was familiar to him. "Because she undertook great personal risk to resolve the conflict with no further damage done to the prisoner, Frank. Otherwise, the mission ended without serious injury to any of our operatives."

Sanguin had been rather surprised when a look through civil records turned up Subject Alpha's real name and address. Frank Kafka, aged 19, had been on missing person lists for months. In the two days since the mission he had been transferred to where he was currently residing, a psychiatric hospital that was equipped to handle powerful individuals on the outskirts of the city. He had a long road ahead of him to restoring the damage the Icarus machines had done to his mind, but apparently a visit from his family members had already done wonders for his mental stability.

"You're indicating that your mission is over," Woden was saying. "but the assignment I gave you was to hunt down and eliminate the rogue members of Phantom Squad."

Sanguin drew upon a rehearsed argument. "The exact parameters of our mission were 'to eliminate all threats related to Phantom Squad in the kingdom of Vale.'"

"And you feel that since they are no longer within the kingdom you're off the hook?" Woden finished for him.

Not really, though I'd hoped you might think so. "Our targets departed into the wilds with an unknown destination or heading. My squad lacks even a portion of the resources to effectively search for them. Even if we turned out Umbra and made full use of the general's armies it likely would not be enough."

"He's right." Ironwood chimed in. "This mission is over, regardless of our opinions of its outcome." Woden glared at the screen for a second then silently conceded the point.

"You mentioned that the Icarus machine had been destroyed during the fighting." Ozpin said in the lull. "Are we to assume that no additional models can or have been built?"

Sanguin kept his face neutral. That wasn't entirely true. What he had said was the machine had been destroyed during the course of the mission while he was occupied elsewhere. And it had, he had been taking the wounded back to the airship when Will and Xiao Long took a bag of Dom's explosives below. "I believe so, yes. Theron clearly intended to control the device's usage; he would not have condoned another one set up where he could not oversee it. As for the White Fang, the members that had worked on the project were with two exceptions used as its fuel."

"And those two exceptions?" Ironwood asked.

"I killed them." He could have softened that statement, Sanguin knew. He could have said he 'removed the threat' or 'eliminated' them, but it would have been a lie. He murdered them for the sake of the mission. And in a conversation where he was already bending the truth as much as he could, he felt no reason to sugarcoat his actions. Ironwood was nodding grimly, Woden was nodding not so grimly, and Ozpin's expression was unreadable. "And besides, according to Team RWBY's report, the machine they had created didn't work. The possibility of other members of the White Fang having been passed the device's designs can't be ignored, but it seems that poses little threat."

"Which leaves Dr. Daedalus as the only source for any future Icarus machines." Woden concluded. "And where is the good doctor now?"

"Currently he's been returned to his cell in Vale's prison." Ozpin said. "While this new information could potentially exonerate him, he's been rather insistent the whole affair stay buried."

Perhaps unconsciously, Ironwood began to roll his bad shoulder. His arm tended to hurt when he was feeling conflicted, Sanguin remembered the general telling him once. "Perhaps that's for the best. We can keep an eye of him there and ensure that he never tells anyone about Project Icarus, willingly or not."

Sanguin caught Woden's expression. It seemed to reflect his own thoughts. If you don't want him to tell anyone, just kill him. If she wasn't going to suggest it, he felt no need to. To be sure, he had mulled over the idea of finishing off Subject Alpha after Ruby had calmed him down, but dismissed the idea as unwise. Daedalus had mentioned the possibility of someone with a similar Semblance being usable in Alpha's place, better to leave Frank as a lure for people trying to make another Icarus than forcing them to get creative.

"I believe an eye should be kept on him, and Subject Alpha, for safety's sake." Was what Woden said instead.

"That's already being taken care of." Ozpin said.

"And I will be doing my own observation." Woden said sharply. "For reasons that should be obvious."

The tension in the room rose a bit. Sanguin was uncomfortably aware that he had left his sword behind before coming to this debriefing. His hand itched for its grip.

"The exact details can be hashed out later." Ironwood moved to disarm the argument before it happened. Seeing Atlas' infamous war-hawk general playing peacemaker was a novelty Sanguin hadn't quite gotten used to yet, although if he got a few more missions in Vale that was likely to change. "I think we can all agree that keeping both Mr. Kafka and Dr. Daedalus under close supervision will be necessary to prevent any further abuses of their respective circumstances. Beyond that, however, I believe this mission has been satisfactorily completed. Theron's defection is an unfortunate turn of events, but nothing can be done about him at the moment, agreed?"

The other two headmasters nodded their agreement. Ironwood's eyes met Sanguin's. "Well then, Mr. Manus, once again you have our gratitude for a job well done. Make sure your team gets some well-earned rest, from your report it sounded like they need it." His image flickered and faded and Woden's expanded to fill the empty space.

He's probably the only person in the world to call me Manus without using it like a slur. Even his teammates didn't have that level of disregard for his relationship with Mortis. Former relationship, that is.

Sanguin still felt almost numb. He had built his life around defying Mortis' influence and his dream had always been to kill the old bastard with his own two hands. With Mortis a corpse, he found himself bereft of that motivation and drive. Without that hate to nourish him, would his Semblance still be as powerful? What was he going to do with his life now anyway? Roam from battlefield to battlefield until one day he was unlucky or out matched? These were the sort of questions he really should have been asking himself before he was two months away from turning twenty-one.

Though, Mortis' death didn't really change anything. He'd still go around receiving glares and scorn from anyone who knew his last name or saw him use his Semblance. If he wanted to live anywhere other than Nox he'd have to change his name or get used to being spat on. It wouldn't surprise him in the slightest if it became widely assumed he had been the one to free Mortis. He'd been at the prison at the same time as the escape and monsters stuck together, didn't they?

And yet, Ironwood called him 'Manus' like it was an ordinary last name. Sanguin couldn't say he disliked the general. He was a bit too fond of solving problems with a hammer, but then Sanguin himself was something of a blunt instrument. He'd always wonder how things would have gone if he had taken up that offer to study at Atlas rather than Umbra.

Woden's hard expression had softened. "Speaking of your team, how is Dominic?"

Is that motherly concern I hear? If so, that would be a first. "He's recovering quickly, fast enough that keeping him in bed is proving its usual trial. Still, I intend to delay our departure by another day to give him a little more time to rest before we make the flight back to Nox and strongly advise he be placed on inactive duties for at least a week upon our return."

"Noted." Woden turned to face Ozpin. "Ozpin. I trust my son will not need to fly himself home?"

"I'll arrange transport." Ozpin replied evenly.

"Good." Woden turned back to Sanguin; her earlier softness gone like it had never been there. "I'll expect a more detailed briefing from you when we can speak in person." She cut the call and the screen went black.

A debriefing where she'll want to know the exact details of how Phantom and Theron escaped and how the Icarus machine was destroyed, Sanguin knew. Oh well. He'd cross that bridge when he came to it, at least now he had a little time to prepare.

"I think that conversation went fairly well." Ozpin sat behind his desk again and took a sip of his coffee. "Though it did reveal one piece of interesting information."

"And that is?" Sanguin thought he could guess. Ozpin confirmed his suspicions.

"That you were ordered to 'eliminate all threats related to Phantom' rather than just Phantom itself. That's an unusual wording, almost intentionally so." Ozpin leveled his accusation conversationally. Sanguin couldn't really deny it, though thankfully he didn't have to.

"Yes, our orders were structured that way on purpose to give us authorization to deal with anyone from here that might be collaborating with Phantom." Sanguin resisted the urge to smirk. "A sensible precaution, given what happened."

"So it would seem." Just a hint of hardness had leaked into Ozpin's voice. He had trusted Theron above anyone else; the betrayal must have hit him the hardest. And Theron had always seemed so loyal…

Sanguin's thoughts coiled around themselves, twisting and rolling. This was almost certainly a bad idea, but he'd never be satisfied if he didn't pursue this. "You are, after all directly responsible for this incident."

"I beg your pardon?" Ozpin's voice sounded more angry than surprised. The tension in the room sharpened into a distinct sense of danger.

Sanguin plunged ahead, heedless. "Theron's plan is the logical conclusion of Beacon's, and by extension your, philosophy. Quality over quantity. Keeping the people in the dark about what is done to protect them. Doing what you believe to be right, regardless of what the rules or law is."

"Perhaps." Ozpin conceded with the expression of a man preparing a trap. "But Phantom squad defected from Nox all on their own. Umbra's philosophy has its own flaws."

"Well, everyone has their own problems. Even we can't be perfect." Sanguin said cheerily. Even ignoring how it had blown away the tension, faking this was worth it just for the look on Ozpin's face. Sanguin let the smile fade from his face. "There is still something that confuses me though. What was Theron's plan anyway?"

"You had told us he wanted to enhance Huntsmen and Huntresses to ensure they could better survive missions." Ozpin reminded him.

Sanguin finally let his arms come around from behind his back and folded them across his chest. "But then what? What was his endgame there?"

"I'm not sure I'm following you."

"Theron's plan was never actually viable from a long term viewpoint." Sanguin explained. "Even if he had enhanced all of Phantom without us ever catching on, the process would still be illegal, meaning he couldn't just go public with it. The idea of killing other people for power has enough stigma attached to it that he also couldn't quietly approach Hunters at random due to the risk of one of them outing him. No matter how I look at it, there's only one logical conclusion."

Ozpin said nothing, staring at him over steepled fingers. He appeared content to let Sanguin finish his thoughts. "Theron had another, unknown accomplice. One with the political or social clout to make the Icarus accepted by the public at large. Though, accomplice might be the wrong word."

"Then what would be?" Ozpin asked, his face unreadable. Sanguin stared straight into his eyes.

"Superior."

There was a long, heavy silence. Sanguin's senses sharpened, his alertness at maximum. He was watching carefully for any hints of movement that might herald an attack. If one came he was reasonably sure he could dodge it and counter with his Semblance. But Ozpin didn't so much as twitch. "That's an unusual choice. What is your reasoning for that?"

"It's something that occurred to me when I thought about Daedalus. How far he went to try to keep Project Icarus buried. From what I heard, the only information he left behind were a few fragmentary scraps buried deep in a corporate database. How could a man who was famous for constantly being on missions, in the wilds and on battlefields, even know to look for something like that? That it was the unknown party that brought it to him is the only sensible answer. And that indicates that they were in a position above him, being able to either order or persuade him to follow their lead."

"A logical analysis." Ozpin commented. "Now, who do you suppose this superior might be?"

Sanguin considered his position, the morality of the situation, and the potential fallout. He wondered what Dominic would do.

"Who knows?" He shrugged. "Whoever it was hid their tracks well, without Theron to identify them for us there's really no way to tell unless they reveal themselves. That's why I didn't mention it to the Headmistress and General Ironwood, they'd both insist on spending a lot of time and effort on a futile search. The only way to catch someone like this is to wait for them to make a move then crush them in the act."

He half turned to leave. "If there's nothing else, I'd like to check up on my squad."

"Of course. You're free to go." Ozpin said, but didn't otherwise move. Sanguin could feel his eyes on him as he walked to the door. As he left, he couldn't resist one last, probably unwise, jab.

"I enjoyed my time at Beacon. Perhaps I'll find a reason to return someday." The door closed behind him before he saw Ozpin's reaction.

Sanguin didn't stop walking, not running, not fleeing, just walking, until he had reached the outside and there were other people about. He breathed out deeply. He had handled that poorly, it would probably come back to bite him one of these days. Nothing he could do about that now, though. He regarded the infirmary building in the distance. He had mainly used checking in on Dom as an excuse to escape that situation, but it wasn't a bad idea. Thinking that, he turned away from the infirmary and set off.

Just once he'd like his squad to be a little less predictable, he mused when he found them in Beacon's weapon room. It'd be a nice change of pace. They were with Team RWBY, the team's battered leader sitting with Dom and the two of them chatting and gesturing to something on the table in front of them. Will was sitting aside with Blake, talking in low voices while Yang looked on. Argos, despite being reading something on his scroll, spotted Sanguin's approach. "So how'd it go?"

"As expected." Sanguin said as he pulled up a chair and sat down.

"That bad, huh?" Argos had already fully recovered from the exertions of the mission. If they were playing it safe, he'd be forbidden to use his Semblance for another day, but Sanguin wasn't going to give that order. If Argos wanted to blind himself, that was his call. Sanguin regarded Dominic. He, on the other hand, was supposed to be on bed rest. It hadn't been an order, but only in the sense Sanguin hadn't used the words 'I order you to…'.

"And what are you doing up and about instead of in bed were you are supposed to be?"

Dom looked up from his work. "Reworking the gearage to improve the scythe's transformation speed and reduce…" He trailed off at the look on Sanguin's face. "Helping."

"Helping Ruby Rose, who should also be in bed recovering." Sanguin commented drily.

"That's what I said." Weiss muttered. Dom had the decency to look abashed. Ruby did not.

"If I had to sit still any longer, I'd have gone crazy. Besides, my baby needs some serious attention." She gestured at the pile of metal and machinery with her good arm. She had a broken wrist, two broken ribs, and her eye was still so swollen that the bandage covering it wasn't blocking her vision anyway. The cuts and bruises around her body had mostly healed, at least, with the gash on her head being the last one that still needed bandages. And yet, she felt the need to disregard the instructions of the medical staff and be out and about trying to do things. She was also willing take a brutal beating just to save someone else.

Sanguin glanced at Dom, wondering how many other similarities he and Ruby had. It looked as though Beacon has its own burgeoning hero(ine) on the way. Sanguin just hoped she had someone a little more ruthless to balance out her idealism. Perhaps that Weiss could fill the role someday.

She was already providing a moderating voice. "I'm just glad this whole miss is finished and we can finally go back to school like normal. It would be nice if we could go a week without some insane conspiracy or shadowy plot we have to deal with."

"Good luck with that." Argos said. "Now that you've got experience, your name will be first on the list when the brass need people to handle the next shadowy plot."

"Oh, good." Weiss said in a tone that dripped sarcasm.

Sanguin knew his squad needed to get their things together and ready to leave and that he needed to send Dom back to rest properly. He also needed to prepare for his next session with Woden and have a good spin on his actions waiting. He watched Ruby and Dom chatter away both smiling broadly waiting for a lull he could interject in. After a few minutes with no success, Sanguin leaned his head back against the wall behind him and closed his eyes. He'd just rest his eyes for a few minutes, then yank them away. He could afford a few minutes, he thought as he drifted off to sleep.

AN: Whew, finally finished. This is the end, boys and girls. I hope you enjoyed the ride. Not particularly satisfied with the way the ending turned out, it feels a little…inconclusive, I don't know. Not really good at coming up with endings, I guess. Well, today's episode shows I was right about sucking Aura out being a. possible but not well known, b. seen as sketchy as hell, and c. Ozpin and co. would do it if push came to shove, so I can take some consolation in that.

I've been debating doing a little prequel story about Shadow Squad when they were RWBY's age, but after finally finishing this monster I'm balking a little at the idea of starting another lengthy story. Let me know what you guys think.

Finally, I want to give a big thank you to my reviewers, particularly Lord Jaric. The constant feedback has been a major source of motivation and encouragement.