The night before...

"I need you to come with me. We'll be there to supervise the students as well as keep them alive in case things go awry. The Forever Fall forest is densely packed with Grimm. And having you around would make it easier for me to guard them and will serve to get you well acquainted with Grimm."

"So it's basically just bodyguard work? Should be easy enough."

"Don't let your guard down. I know you specialize against people, so keep this in mind, be careful."

"Always am."

"Oh and before I forget, here is your scroll. Every staff's contacts are saved in there already."

"Finally!"

"So get started on learning how to use it as soon as you can, the box contains a manual."

"Gotcha."


The present day, 1:15 pm...

Tiella was in one of the airships going for The Forever Fall forest. She sat by one of the chairs checking on her weapons, double checking to make sure nothing was amiss.

"Full mags? Check."

She eyed each and every single one of her magazines, taking them out and checking them carefully.

"Right bullets, and I still have a few extra mags. Good thing I didn't play along with the kids and their trigger-happy sparring sessions. I doubt they sell these babies here."

She took one bullet out of one magazine and carefully scrutinized it, not noticing the looks of interest and curiosity going her way from the other students aboard.

"Well, they probably do but with Dust... though I still don't wanna waste them. Shit's expensive after all."

She put the bullet back in its mag and the mag into its gun. She took one of her knives and eyed each one carefully, checking for dullness or any sort of possible loosening by the handle.

"Still good, just needs a tiny bit of polishing but I should be fine if the Grimm don't even bleed."

After checking on everything and making sure that she's all good and combat ready, she placed everything back in their rightful holsters and sheathes.

She wore her full combat gear over her red sweater, though instead of the leggings that Coco got her, she wore her military pants and forewent the stylish belt for her utility belt. She left her earrings back at home but still kept the moon necklace.

"I still have 5 grenades, too. Looks like I'm all good."

She stretched her arms and back out, making a few popping sounds with her fingers and back, then relaxed into her chair. That was when she noticed that Ruby was already in front of her, watching her with childlike curiosity ever since she started.

"Your weapons look so niiiice!" Ruby said in that oh so excited pose of hers. "They're simple designs but the destructive power on your 2 pistols is really high, but then you also have another 2 pistols with really high penetrating power andohIjustcan'twaittoseeyouinactionwiththemhowdoyouusetheminconjunctionwithyourknives!?"

Tiella could only stare blankly at Ruby during her speech, slowly believing Glynda when she said that Oobleck really wasn't a robot like she believed.

"Easy there baby sister. You're freaking Star out." Yang chimed in, grabbing Ruby by the collar of her cloak and pulling her up.

"Please, you make me sound like a celebrity." Tiella groaned.

"Well too bad, it's your nickname now," she said in a cheeky grin.

"Thanks a lot, you freakin' minefield."

"That's a compliment and you know it."

"It wasn't supposed to be, but okay."

"What about Stella?"

"Now that just makes me sound like a stripper at a nightclub."

"So how about-"

"You know what? Star's fine."

"I knew you liked the name." Yang did a little fist pump and grinned at the scowling Tiella.

"Has she always been this annoying?" Tiella asked the rest of Team RWBY.

"Yes."

"Yes."

"Only when we're with you guys, to be honest," Ruby said softly, however it was still audible to everyone nearby. "She usually coddles me when we're alone..."

"Ruby!" Yang said, covering Ruby's mouth. She chuckled dryly—face faintly blushing with an embarrassed smile.

They all laughed at Yang's uncharacteristic shyness.

After a few more minutes of banter, they finally reached their landing point in the forest. Glynda and Tiella jumped down first to secure the perimeter. Once confirmed that the area was clear, the students jumped down in pairs.

When everyone has gone down, the airship flew off to a safe zone where they waited for the remainder of the excursion.

Glynda led the students to a nearby clearing with Tiella guarding their tail.

"Wow, it's so beautiful!" Ruby said in awe of the breathtaking wonder of the forest.

A perpetually red forest, colored by the endless rain of the autumn leaves. It's certainly a great mystery to everyone how the forest hasn't died when it's constantly dropping leaves by the second.

"Holy crap, I'm not really one for the whole Wonders of the World thing but even this is impressive to me." Tiella thought, constantly observing their surroundings for any possible threats.

While leading the way, Glynda explained to the students once more what their excursion was about.

"Yes, students. The Forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful. But we are not here to sight-see. Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest. And we're here to make sure that none of you die while doing so."

She stopped at the clearing and waited for everybody to catch up and stand to attention.

"Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap," she said while holding an empty jar to show the students. "However, the forest is full of creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates."

Glynda glanced at everyone, giving each other a stern look. "We will rendezvous back here at 4 o'clock, have fun!"

Most of the students dispersed together with their teams and split with their partners to cover more ground.

One particular group rejoined as soon as they could and hid behind trees to observe a certain tall redhead.

"That's the bitch."

"Tall fucking know-it-all that thinks she owns the place."

"She's the reason Cardin's turned into a fucking pussy."

"Bitch needs to learn her place."

The boy with the slick black hair took out a few jars filled with sap and continued speaking. "Port said that some Ursi like to snack on these every once in a while. So why don't we see if they like it more if it's served on a bitch?"

He gave one jar each to his buddies, "Throw it on my signal." he said, stretching his arm for a windup.

The other two simply nodded, though they didn't share the same looks. The boy with the Mohawk was eager to throw, apparent due to his wide grin. His throwing arm already aiming for the girl who's been patrolling the area.

The boy with the brown hair, on the other hand, wore an anxious look on his face. He hesitated for a moment but readied his slightly shaky arms to aim for the girl as well.

The slick-haired boy looked at each of his friends and gave them a smirk. He nodded his head and aimed at the girl once more, then he threw.

The other boys saw the action, which caused them to throw theirs as well.

The next thing they knew was there were two loud gunshots quickly followed by shattered glass, and that the girl was already walking towards them with one jar in hand.

They quickly tried scampering away in fear of their identities being found out but they were stopped by another shot that was just centimeters off the slick-haired boy's head.

"Let's not try to get out of the fun just yet."

When the girl was near enough, the boys saw the casual smile of the girl and the slits that were her eyes. She squatted down in front of the terrified boys who were on their asses on the ground.

"Oh man, kids these days! When I was your age I was outside! Murdering people in the fresh air!" she chuckled to herself, happy at the tasteless joke she made. "Just like you guys tried. Except, I actually succeeded whenever I did it."

The trio's eyes were wide at her blunt words, wondering whether she was indeed joking or not.

"H-How di-"

"I'm a professional, sweetie. Your actions were so suspicious since landing that it was so obvious and would have been no different if you just announced to everyone that you were up to no fucking good like I thought you'd be."

The tone of her voice was oddly sweet and alluring like she was trying to speak children who got caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

"Now then," she said, placing the jar in front of the boys. "Two things." holding two fingers up.

"One, I will forget that you just attempted murder on a staff member of Beacon Academy itself, though I wouldn't doubt that Ozpin would find out sooner or later even without my help." she put her index finger down and kindly faced the back of her hand toward the boy who she believed was the perpetrator. "So, good luck to you guys when that happens."

The boys swallowed thickly, extremely anxious after hearing what they believed was her threat at such a casual tone. It was then they realized that they were in the presence of a psychopath.

She leaned in close, her expression then was not the usual casual face she wore. Her eyes were dead and dull—as if she was looking at trash—and her face was nearly a scowl. Her voice was cold and unamused. The monotony of it sent great shivers down their spine as if she was used to making and following up on the words that followed.

"Two, the next time you step even a tiny bit out of line from being the good students I expect you to be?" Her voice was low and soft, barely audible to anyone just a few feet away from them.

"I will make sure you wish you were behind bars—tucked safely away from me—instead."

She stood up, her casual smile returning, then aimed her gun at the boy with the Mohawk.

"Am I clear? It's not a threat, okay? It's a promise, you hear me?"

The boys saw her finger slowly squeezing the trigger. The brown haired boy shut his eyes and turned his face away, the slick-haired boy tried to push her hand away, and the boy with the Mohawk cried weakly while still on his ass on the ground.

The gunshot was heard loud and clear, and after a few seconds, the brown-haired boy opened his eyes to look at his dead teammate—or so he believed.

They were confused. The Mohawk boy was still alive and nearly pissing himself crying where he laid. They looked at her gun and found that it was pointed elsewhere.

They followed where it was aimed.

There was a Beowolf just a couple meters behind them, disintegrating where it laid dead.

"Run to Professor Goodwitch, I'll handle this," she said coolly, already aiming for her the second Beowolf that was now running at them like mad.

The boys didn't need any convincing. They were happy to leave the presence of the crazy bitch as soon as they could.


"I guess the pussies getting scared attracted them? Whatever, more for me."

She saw a large number of glowing red eyes pinned at her. They came in droves, all wanting nothing more than to behead and eat her where she stood. It was a fairly large pack, with more than a dozen Beowolves that just kept on coming and coming.

"Sure are a lot of em. A couple years ago, I probably would've shit my pants running from these things. Now I just don't even fucking care anymore. Weird how time does that to you."

She dispatched every single one that tried to come near. At first, she stayed where she stood, shooting down one Beowolf after the other with ease. She tested how their alabaster armor worked against her high penetration bullets and was quite surprised by the thickness of them.

The FN Five-Seven that she used boasts a fairly high penetrating power with each of its rounds. It has a fairly mild recoil as well which made it so easy to shoot with consecutively, too. So when she aimed specifically for the thick part of the Beowolf's armor, she was surprised to note that it barely made a dent or even left a scratch.

Their skin, on the other hand, was a different story.

"It takes 3 shots on the same unarmored spot to kill them. God, what a waste of bullets."

She picked up the jar of sap from before and retreated, shooting every once in a while.

"They're a little easier to kill than I expected but damn it these bullets aren't exactly cheap, gotta use em wisely."

She then remembered that the first Beowolf she killed died in one shot. So she tried recalling where exactly she took aim.

"Let's see..."

She slowed down to a jog, jar still in hand, and aimed for the eye of the nearest charging Beowolf while sticking her tongue out in concentration. After a second of careful aiming, she pulled the trigger and made a direct hit. The Beowolf died instantly, vanishing into thin air where it once was.

"Bullseye." she grinned.

She tossed the jar into the air and took out a mag to reload, never stopping, and steadily aimed for another while catching the jar with her then free hand.

"Or is it a Wolfseye in this case? Wait, fuck- Lilly, honestly. Just. Please. Fuckin'- stop invading my sense of humor, fuck's sake. You're making me miss you less and less."

Cursing her old teammate in her mind, she offhandedly shot three more Beowolves coming from her from different sides. She ran from tree to tree, calmly taking in the number of pursuers she had left. At some point, she realized that there was the sound of trees being toppled and loud roars echoing from the distance.

"Sounds big."

She ran into another clearing where a little under a dozen Beowolves were waiting for her, as well as a bigger, hornier—heh—Beowolf who she believed was the Alpha.

"Is that the big bad boy coming after me? No, the sound was coming from behind."

She didn't want to get any more cornered than she already was so she began shooting the smaller ones first dead in their eyes. The Beowolves rushed in, mindlessly charging as their Alpha growled them to action.

One Beowolf crept up from behind her and did a swipe, to which she easily ducked under, threw the jar in her hand in the air and grabbed its jaw to bring it closer to her so she could finish it off point blank on its eye.

She did the same with another one that lunged at her, sidestepping with minimal movement and shooting down its eye mid-lunge. A third 'wolf came from above. She met the 'wolf with a gun in its mouth easily and switched to the rest of the pack that kept swarming her since the first one that came from behind.

She caught the jar again and held it close to her. She then hopped from place to place, never stopping from shooting multiple Beowolves dead in their eyes before landing—only to repeat it again and again.

From far behind the trees hid a small group of people, all watching the scene in mild astonishment.

"She's so badass," Yang said in an excited whisper. "just dodging everything without doing a lot of movement."

"Yeah, she doesn't like to dash around like we do, huh?" Ruby chimed, giving her own two cents.

"It's probably to conserve energy." Blake guessed.

"As well as to keep an eye on everything easily, I suppose." Weiss speculated.

"She's juggling the jar with her feet now!" Nora excitedly noted.

"That's probably so she could shoot with both hands." Ren guessed.

"It's also probable that she knows we're watching so she's giving us a show." Pyrrha guessed with a wry smile on her face.

"I guess she could have just easily put it down somewhere and just came back for it after," Jaune said.

"Sheesh, what a showoff," Yang commented sarcastically.

"You're one to talk." was nearly everyone's collective thought.

"Oh, now there's only the Alpha!" Nora almost shouted.

The Alpha angrily charged at Tiella who put more fuel into the fire by taunting it with a lazy smile on her face and a beckoning wave of her hand.

"Come here, boy! Come get it! Come on!"

Tiella slightly bent forward, further taunting the charging Alpha by beckoning it to her like it was some sort of puppy.

"Who's a good boy? WHO'ZAGOO'BOY!?"

The Alpha lunged, aiming to swipe at her with its large claws as well as maul her to death with its giant fangs. She waited for it to get closer—switching to her more destructive pistols, namely the Desert Eagle .50AE—before she jumped and landed on the Alpha's neck, straddling it with her legs tightly.

"You are!"

Shoot.

"You are!"

Shoot, shoot.

"You. Fucking. Are!"

Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot.

Loud explosions could be heard even for the students hiding behind trees, coming from the hand cannons she brought out to shoot the Alpha's head with.

"Here's your treat, for being SUCH a good boy!"

She grabbed one grenade from her belt, unpinned it quickly, and shoved it deep inside the Alpha's throat before she stood on its neck and kicked off to jump far back. It thrashed hard during Tiella's straddling and shooting, both its eyes were heavily damaged and its snout missing a few of its fangs. When she got off, she kicked it down to the ground hard, nearly skidding to a nearby tree.

The sound of falling trees finally got close to where they were as it became visible in the nearby darkness of the forest. An Ursa Major, as she recalled, came charging in for her—toppling down trees as if they were nothing but flimsy sticks that were stuck on the ground.

Tiella turned her back on the Alpha, closed her eyes, and blocked her ears with her palms. Not a second later, the grenade exploded inside the Alpha's mouth, effectively blowing its head off and killing it—sending it back where it came from as it vanished.

She felt a wall of force reverberate inside her which she took as her cue to search for the incoming Major's exact location.

"Looks like this one's gonna be a little different from the big bad wolf."

The Ursa Major finally revealed itself to her in all its big, furry, horny—heh—glory with a mighty roar, standing on its stubby legs that were nearly the size of tree trunks.

"This should be fun." she thought in her wide-eyed, battle-mad grin, her own fangs flashing at her new prey.

She reloaded her pistols as it roared and steadily aimed one at its eye. Not a second later, she pulled the trigger and made a direct hit. The Major backed a step from the impact of the blow on its eye, to which it blocked with its bone-white armor by a tilt of its head.

"Huh, either that thing got lucky or I suck at aiming." she thought, raising her eyebrow in confusion.

She aimed for its eyes again as it charged at her, anger renewed for stunning it with the first shot. She made two direct hits again, slowing the charge ever so slightly—hitting the bone armor just near its eyes again.

"Yeah, I still suck at aiming. What a waste... these bullets aren't exactly cheap." She holstered both pistols while sighing, then took out one of her knives. "I still don't know how Karen does it."

She took a low stance, holding the knife in reverse grip on her left hand, and lazily waited for the Ursa to get close.

"I mean, who fuckin' snipes a guy from 800-something meters away with a sniper rifle dead in the god damn head who was going 200-something km/h while she fuckin' slid down a god damn hillside herself, all at the first attempt?"

She spun to her right, sidestepping the Ursa's mad lunge at her and buried the knife deep inside its eye, using the momentum of her spin to stab it in hilt-deep. The Ursa skid to a halt, barely alive as it couldn't even register the pain in its eye.

"And those kids think I'm impressive."

Tiella sighed while sauntering over to where the Ursa was, it still trying to get up. She caressed the Ursa's furry neck as she walked over to her knife. She grabbed it tightly by its handle and then twisted it a few times while pushing it even deeper.

A few twists later and it disappears, leaving Tiella alone by the clearing. "I still can't get over how amazing Aura is. I just love this."

"I should probably give Glynda a call," she said while taking out her scroll and sauntering over to the jar of sap that she kicked into a nearby mound of leaves.


"It's official, she's my favorite person in Beacon's staff," Yang said after giving Tiella an impressed whistle.

"She lives up to the Professional Bully nickname so much that I almost felt bad for the Grimm," Blake commented.

"Guy's she's coming!" Ruby whisper-yelled in a small panic.

"I'm not really sure why we're even hiding in the first place," Weiss said.

"Oh, you're right," Ruby said, just realizing the klutzy move.

"And it looks like she did know we were watching," Jaune said as she made eye contact with Tiella who was giving them a casual wave.

"Yeah, don't worry. Everything's taken care of." Tiella said while on the phone with Glynda as she walked within speaking distance to the two teams.

Suddenly, there was the sound of another gunshot. She took a shot just a few centimeters above Weiss' head and casually holstered her pistol while still talking on the scroll. "Yep. I'll be there with RWBY and JNPR. Yeah. Later."

Everyone was surprised by the sudden move—most especially Weiss who looked incredibly furious. But before she tried to question Tiella's actions, she turned around to see the vaporizing form of a stray Beowolf that likely got separated from the pack earlier.

"You could have shot me!" Weiss yelled, looking up at the tall girl angrily—infuriated by the lack of even a single warning from the tall girl.

"You're welcome," she replied, giving her a cheeky smile and a wink.

Weiss didn't know whether to simply thank the girl or not, so she crossed her arms in front of her and turned her face away with an indignant "Hmph!"

"When did you find out we were here?" Ruby asked while gently holding on to Weiss' arm to cool her down.

"When I was trimming down the number of 'Wolves trying to eat me," Tiella stated matter-of-factly. "Now come on, we can talk on the way. Let's get you all back to Glynda."

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement before they began their short walk back to the rendezvous point.


Glynda was keeping count on her scroll the number of students present and the ones that had finished collecting sap.

"Oh wow, I thought you were fucking with me but these are good." Tiella's voice could be heard from a short ways off behind her.

"See? I told you!" followed by Nora.

Glynda turned to the sound of laughter and caught the sight of Tiella licking her fingers after putting it in the jar of sap, along with the rest of her students that were closely following beside and behind her. She put her hands on her hips and addressed Tiella,

"Tiella."

"Glynda," Tiella answered with an acknowledging nod of her head, making a popping sound with her finger as she licked it clean.

"I want to hear your full report as soon as we get back to my office."

"Gotcha."

"Good. Now, our job's not done until we get all our students back to the academy safe and sound. Guard the rear just as before, I'll call everyone to attention."

"Yes, sir." she saluted.

Glynda gave her a small scowl, she then turned and walked to where there were more students. "Students, anyone who's finished collecting the red sap may head over to the rendezvous point and wait for the airships for our pick up. And remember, stay vigilant! The mission isn't over until everyone gets home safely!"

"How come it looks like you're so close with Professor Goodwitch? Do you know her from before you got into Beacon or something?" Yang asked curiously, hands on the back of her head—remembering the time she overheard their talk in her room.

"We had a pretty rough start actually."

"Yeah? Sounds like a story." Yang commented, very interested in Tiella and her professor's shared past.

"It is. But I'll tell you about it when we're not surrounded by Grimm. Now go with Glynda, I'll guard your asses."

"You'd love that wouldn't you?" she said teasingly, wearing her salacious grin while sauntering off as she shook her hips seductively at Tiella.

"Honey, I've seen asses better than yours," she commented dryly, tone clearly unimpressed.

"Wha-" she made an abrupt turn, her face was the very picture of incredulity with her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water—not knowing which words to say in response.

"Pfft..." Ruby stifled her laughter.

"Oh my god," Blake said before she, too, tried to stifle her laughter as well.

"I don't know what I did wrong to be put in a team with you and have staff like you protecting me," Weiss said with a disbelieving shake of her head.

"Ooooohh!" Nora all but cheered.

While sharing in more banter along the way, Tiella saw Team CRDL as they were walking towards the rendezvous point as well.

The three boys behind Cardin—all pissed as hell—were walking in front of him. He was likely keeping an eye on them for the rest of the excursion. Cardin's hard look met with Tiella's eyes sharp eyes and they both nodded in acknowledgment after she gave him a knowing look.


"So, Little Rose..." Tiella started.

They were on the airship heading back for the academy and it was 4:17 pm already. They were all sitting back in their own seats, taking a break after the trip.

"Yes?" Ruby asked with a tilt of her head.

"What do you think of my babies?" she said, twirling her pistol up to show.

"I've seen better." Yang chimed in, eyes on Tiella's Tiellas.

"Hey, my eyes are up here," she said, giving Yang a raised eyebrow.

"I know," Yang replied nonplussed.

Ruby grabbed Yang's head for a hug and pat her head gently. Yang's unamused expression didn't change, but it did lift her mood.

"Well, they really are simple like you said," she said, trying to contain herself from rambling on. "And, well... I can't really say you need upgrades with it."

Tiella gave Ruby a questioning look, urging her to continue. "Your fighting style looked like it's already something you've become so used to that a sudden weapon change might make it harder for you to fight in the future, even if it gave you better options."

"I guess so," Tiella said, a little disappointed. She was eager to get some help for weapon upgrade ideas and was admittedly a little excited that Ruby proposed that she would help with it, too.

"Though, I can still help you make minor significant changes to your kit! We can start as soon as we get back to Beacon!" Ruby said, noting the slightly disappointed look on Tiella's face.

"Thanks, Little Rose," she said with a warm smile while ruffling Ruby's hair.


AN: Hello again!

Short chapter today, I felt like I overdid it with the last chapter's length.

Then again... it did feel right. Whatever.

And you know... if banter was a genre, that'd be this story's main genre, I'd suppose.

Whatever!

Reviews, please!