Morning. The girl opens her eyes to a face pressed so close to her own their noses are almost touching. She shrieks and fall out of her bed. "Do you have to do that? You could just gently shake me, you know." "But where's the fun in that?" The boy responds, offering her his hand and heaving her up. "Now come on, get ready or we're going to be late." "You do realize that we can't be late when we run our own training, right? It starts whenever we want it to." She sighs. "But hey, I'm up, so might as well get dressed." The girl turns around and begins to rummage through her trunk. When the boy continues to stand there, she turns to him. "What I mean is, get out of here!" Smirking, he strolls out of the tent, the girl rolling her eyes behind him. She can still hear him laughing as the tent flap closes.

Phoenix opened her Scroll. According to the map, the factory should be right about... here. As she crested the next hill, Phoenix saw it- a huge, hulking building ruining the otherwise serene peace in the forest. What was a factory even doing in a forest?

But no matter. That question didn't pertain to what she was currently doing. Phoenix walked down into the valley. Spotting a building labeled OF_I_E, which she assumed was supposed to read OFFICE if it weren't so faded, she pushed open the door and stepped inside.

"Hello? Anyone there?" Phoenix's voice echoed off the ceiling of the cavernous room.

"I'm coming! No need to be so loud!" A man stepped out from a door at the other end of the room. His back still toward Phoenix as he closed the door, he continued "Are you that new shipment of Dust?" He turned around and answered his own question. "Nope. So what are you here for? A girl like you doesn't seem very likely to come someplace like this for fun."

It was true that Phoenix didn't look like an average factory worker. A tall, slender girl of eighteen, auburn hair tied back in a neat bun with knitting needles stuck into it, her red tunic and shiny black leggings practically radiated light in the grimy factory.

"I'm looking for someone. My last source said he was sold here."

The man furrowed his brow. "Sold? We don't buy people. Never have, never will."

"Riiiight."

Phoenix stalked toward him, her red boots clicking against the floor with every step. "Then you must not count Faunus as people."

"W-what? We don't-"

She cut him off. "Don't play dumb. I have here-" pulling out her Scroll, she turned it toward the man- "records of every sale your company has ever made. Including at least twenty 'unnamed animals.' But we both know that those animals were Faunus you bought from slavers and used for free labor. So I'm going to ask you-" she swiped at her Scroll, pulling up a picture of a young boy- "Have. You. Seen. This. Boy? It would have been about three or four years ago."

Pushing himself against the wall, the man whimpered slightly. 'I-I don't know! I didn't meet all of the- erm- recruits personally."

Phoenix rolled her eyes.

"B-but our files have all our workers in them! Even the... different ones!"

"Now we're getting somewhere. Where are these files?"

"Right in there. Here-" Hurrying forward, he quickly unlocked a door on the opposite wall and stepped aside to let her pass.

Stepping in, Phoenix headed straight for the lone terminal standing in the middle of the room. On the screen was a list of names. Clicking a button, she went to alphabetical order and selected T. Azuline Tucker... Melora Tolwar... and there it was. The name she'd been looking for. Adam Taurus.

Clicking on his file, Phoenix scrolled down to the section which showed Reason For Leaving.

Why the factory needed to know his reason, she didn't know, but it was lucky for Phoenix. Scrolling more, she read: Escaped? According to another, this young faunus went to the White Fang. Should we be worried?

"White Fang, huh?"

Phoenix smiled.

"Bingo."