It's been three weeks since the incident that the media dubbed "The Fall of Beacon". It was one of the greatest mass casualty events in Remnant history. After spending days searching every inch of Vale they were able to determine a near exact number of over five thousand civilian casualties. Of course those were just the civilians. Adding to those losses were fifty hunters-in-training, eighty Atlas military personnel, four Dreadnaught warships, four Atlesian Paladins, one hundred Atlesian Knights, and a one-of-a-kind experimental combat android.

At this moment the woman wanted nothing more than to be with her superior. She wanted to support him in his time of need. Unfortunately the chance never presented itself. He had spent every waking moment since his return to Atlas giving testimony before the council and trying to convince them that he didn't declare war on Vale. It wasn't a matter of whether or not he would be able to keep his job, but whether or not he'd be spending the rest of his life in prison or end up facing a firing squad.

The woman sighed. In any case, it would be far too improper to try and meet with him now. Doing so would send the wrong message. The last thing she needed was for people to think that she was still the lovesick girl she was when she enrolled in the academy. Besides she had far more pressing things to attend to at the moment.

She had been sitting in her office when she got a message on her scroll. That was the first problem. Only other members of the military have her number, and the general was the only person who would even call. She opened the message and found a letter. She read the letter and wasn't quite sure what to make of it. At first she was going to write it off as a hoax, but there was something in addition to the letter. There were photos, news articles, police reports. The content of the letter was genuine, and knowing that, there was only one thing for the woman to do.

She found the office of the person she was looking for. It was now or never.

Her companion tugged on her arm. "Is this really the right thing to do?"

The woman frowned. "What is right and what is just are not always the same." She knocked on the door and let herself in.

Officially the woman was a captain. However her role as a specialist meant that there were very few people in the military who could give her a command. The person the specialist came to see was not one of those people.

"Sergeant Blueblood. I was wondering if I could have a word."

The sergeant saluted. "Captain Schnee. What brings you here?"

Winter placed her hands behind her back. "I just had a very illuminating conversation with Sergeant Redbone. Something about the two of you taking a group of men from a prison, having them infiltrate Beacon academy, and commit a series of murders throughout Vale over the course of the year. One of the men in question was Reid Wenland, who if you recall was serving a life sentence for burning children to death in their beds."

The woman paled. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Winter couldn't allow herself to get angry. To do so would blow the entire operation. "You can drop the act. He's already on a one-way ship to Vacuo. He was quite willing to give you up to get a better deal for himself. He said the entire thing was your idea and that he tried to talk you out of it. So I have you for unlawful release, espionage, committing an act of war against a neighboring kingdom, treason, and over one thousand murders. Am I leaving anything out?"

Sergeant Blueblood broke into a visible sweat. "That son of a bitch."

Winter was grinning on the inside. She had told a small lie. Sergeant Redbone was already dead. He had been shot six times in the back outside his home in robbery gone wrong. At least that's what the official report would read.

Winter cleared her throat. "What I want to know is what was in it for you? The home invasion, the office murders, those ten men in an abandoned building, Lakeview village, what purpose did any of it serve?"

Blueblood was confused. She didn't know anything about a village. It didn't matter either way, she was done and she knew it. "It doesn't matter. So now what?"

Winter's gaze was as cold and hard as her namesake. "Under normal circumstances I'd have you brought before the council and they'd hang you from the tallest building in Atlas, but in light of recent events I must make certain accommodations. The two of you were General Ironwood's responsibility, and if I were to have you arrested then he would be held accountable as well. I cannot allow that man's career to die because of you."

"So what then?"

Winter reached into her coat and pulled out an envelope.

"What is that?" Blueblood asked.

Winter placed the envelope on the desk. "Your confession. You've been embezzling money from the military. At first it was small, negligible amounts, but soon it spiraled out of control and you were facing decades in prison." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a silver revolver. "Rather than face punishment for your crime you decide to end your own life, but not before writing down a detailed letter describing your wrongdoings. Your file will be buried in a storage locker, and your death will be just another footnote to the tragedy of the past month."

Blueblood's eyes widened. "Is this some kind of joke?"

Winter scowled. "Do I look like someone with a sense of humor? You have two choices. The first is the one I just presented you. The other is you refuse and I take this directly to General Ironwood. And after he shoots you through the head for what you've done he'll turn himself in to the council to face execution for his negligence. After that they'll investigate the Beacon staff and possibly charge them as accessories. I hope you have the sense to choose the correct option."

Blueblood's eyes went to the girl standing next to winter. She had orange hair with rainbow streaks that was tied back in a ponytail, and her tail was curled around her waist.

"What does she have to do with this?"

Winter looked to her companion. "Well, after your tragic suicide Private Katt here will discover your body. She will be quite distraught, seeing your work is what inspired her to join the military after all."

Blueblood was horrified. "She's just a child."

"And we both know what children are capable of."

Blueblood picked up the revolver and cocked back the hammer. She held it in her hand for a few seconds before pointing it at Winter. Her face was twisted with rage as she pulled the trigger. But when she did nothing happened. No matter how hard she squeezed the gun wouldn't fire.

Winter sighed. "I figured you would try that."

There was a small black glyph around the gun's hammer, locking it in place. The gun had been rendered inoperable.

There were few people unaware of the Schnee family's genetic semblance, but there were even fewer who had experienced Winter's total mastery of it and lived to tell the tale. She had spent countless hours using and refining the various forms until she could call upon glyphs of any size with minimal effort. Ones like the miniscule one that jammed the gun she could create without lifting a finger.

Several more black glyphs appeared up Blueblood's arm and around her fingers. They began to move her arm into a different position. She tried to resist them, but they put out much greater force than their size would suggest. They forced the gun against her temple. Tears started to stream down her face.

"Please, don't do this."

Winter glared at her. "You deserve the same mercy you granted those innocent people." She tapped Neon on the shoulder and they turned to leave the room. As soon as Winter shut the door they heard the sound of a gunshot.

"Wait ten minutes then go back inside" Winter said.

Neon nodded. "This feels, wrong."

"You wanted to know what being a specialist is like. It means that sometimes you have to do things that seem immoral. Even if it serves a greater purpose the things you have to do may weigh on you. Not everyone can bear the weight." She turned to look at her. "I don't suppose I have to tell you what will happen if you tell anyone about this?"

"I understand."

"Good. I have some other matters to attend to." Winter saluted the young girl and walked away. She pulled out her scroll and read the letter again.

"Hello. My name is Noah Pyrite. If you're reading this, then I'm already dead. Myself and three others were taken from Whitestone Prison and sent to Vale to act as mercenaries. We maintained our cover by infiltrating Beacon Academy. Over the past year we have been responsible for several murders throughout Vale. I understand if this sounds difficult to believe, but I am telling the truth. I've prepared several documents that will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am being truthful. At this point in time I and my companions are dead, but the two responsible for our release are still at large. They must be brought to justice by any means necessary. We were horrible people, monsters even, but they are worse. We would have been content to serve our sentences in peace, but they saw fit to order us to kill under pain of death.

The two individuals I am referring to are Sergeants Redbone and Blueblood of the Atlas Military.

If I may make one last request, please do not blame the staff at Beacon. They had no idea what we were doing. They are innocent in all of this.

Regards, Noah Pyrite"

She deleted the letter and all of the attachments.

OoOoOoOoO

Oriana was surprised at how easy it all was. Typing the letter took mere seconds. Hacking Winter's scroll to get her contact information was as simple as getting a good look at it, and using it to monitor her conversation with Sergeant Blueblood was as simple as waiting for her to get in range. It was all so easy it was almost insulting.

As soon as Oriana heard the gunshot she knew Winter had done exactly what she had expected. Winter wasn't the kind of person who would let something like that go, and neither was Oriana in a way. The boys were mad dogs who needed to be put down, but you couldn't get mad at a dog when it bites someone. You have to go after whoever set the dog loose in the first place.

But Oriana wasn't thinking about that at the moment. She was in the Military's robotics lab listening to her father provide details of what had happened at Beacon after she left. She couldn't stop laughing once she heard one fact in particular.

"So Model 16 gets destroyed by her own weapon and then the person who did it gets killed an hour later? You have got to be kidding me."

Her father joined in her amusement. "No, it's true. Too bad no one knows exactly what happened up in Beacon Tower. Whoever she mixed it up with they ended up blowing the whole top off."

Oriana sighed. "I am almost disappointed that I missed it. It must have been quite a battle."

To say that the military was in disarray after the events at Beacon would be a grave understatement. All of the personnel were so busy with various tasks that none of them gave a blood spattered young girl with no arms and half a face a second glance. Even the guard robots that should have fired on her as soon as they detected her were nowhere to be found.

Oriana suddenly looked more serious. "What will happen to Ironwood?"

Her father sighed. "I don't know. It all depends on whether or not he can convince them that what happened wasn't his fault. I hope he pulls through, I've always liked him."

Oriana smiled. "I do as well." She turned towards one of the monitors in the lab. "Are we finished yet?"

"Almost, just a few more minutes."

She was laying back in a chair with several wires inserted into her head. The data she had compiled over the past year was being copied to her father's computer. There was quite a bit of it.

"So did you have fun?" her father asked.

Oriana didn't answer for a while. She didn't really care for the boys at all, and she initially wanted no part of what the other scientists had planned. But she did get to go outside and see the world. She got to experience things she never would have otherwise. And in a strange way she had even made friends.

"I didn't dislike it" she said.

A pinging noise came from the computer.

Oriana's father clapped. "Good, everything's copied. Congratulations on completing your mission."

"Thank you. Now then, on to the next matter."

Oriana's father navigated to a file deep in Oriana's memory. It was her core file. It contained her personality, her memories, and the files that allowed her to function at all. Everything that made her who she is was contained within.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked.

"This is what we agreed upon. I have completed my mission, so there is no further purpose for me."

"I never thought you'd be in such a hurry to die."

Oriana laughed. "I am not dying. I was never truly alive. Now get on with it."

The scientist sighed. "Alright. I love you, my little weapon"

Oriana smiled at him. "I love you too daddy."

Her father pressed a key and deleted the file and all of its backups.

"Ah."

Oriana instantly felt her mind empty. She had experienced something similar before, but the sheer finality of this experience was like nothing else. The slowly encroaching darkness, the thoughts and feelings slowly fading. This was death. This is what she had brought to so many others.

"How sublime."

The lights in her eye faded, and all function ceased. The last surviving member of Team NGRO was no more.

Her father rose from his chair and left the lab. As he left he shut off the lights, bathing his daughter in darkness.

And so ends the story of Team NGRO, four individuals brought together to do unspeakable evil. No record existed of their crimes, no songs are sung of their deeds. Their names only exist as whispers among a select few. Their journey, their trials, and their sins would soon fade from memory, and it would be like they never existed at all.

All four would agree that that would be the best outcome.