"Now, if we could all have a moment of silence for the fallen Council members that were taken from us so abruptly…"

The crowd quieted down. A sea of heads bowing low, parents placing their hands on the shoulders of their children to stop their shuffling. Humans and faunus alike offering up a silent prayer to whatever gods they might believe in. Leo suffered through it, a complete and utter nervous wreck. Fortunately for him, those that knew him well were taking his demeanor as grief, and not guilt.

'It was lucky that Watts bugged the tower for all inbound and outbound communications as he did. 'Key words and phrases', he called them? If he had done it later, we would not have known the others caught on, and this would be my public execution instead of a public announcement.'

Still, he did have some small amount of grief for the other council members, even if they had not seen eye to eye. They had been on the Mistral council with him for well over two decades, and a few of them he regarded as friends. 'If only they had come to me first, instead of colluding behind my back. I may have been able to bring them into the fold…'

Leo grimaced at what he was about to do. The assassins he had hired had been sloppy, apparently. The young one, this 'Black Lotus', had been caught on camera. 'Hopefully Tyrian can protect me from them. I wouldn't want to become another target. This has to be done, though. I must keep my cover, or I risk losing my worth to her Grace.'

The moment of silence passed, and Leo resumed his place at the microphone, "We cannot allow this crime to go unanswered. I have spoken with the Chief of Police, and beginning tomorrow, they will be scouring the city for the one responsible. In the meantime, we ask that the citizens do their part as well, and keep an eye out for the assassin."

A large screen behind Leo lit up, the glow emanating out on to the crowd in front of him as it displayed the clearest image of the assassin that they could recover. Leo did not bother to turn around. He already knew the face well enough, "One million lien is the offer for any information that leads to her arrest. Please, do not confront her yourself. Along with the council members, this child was able to kill over thirty guards, and thirteen hunters that stood between her and the council members."

Leo waited patiently as the room erupted in shocked whispers. 'It was not all her doing, but admitting that would admit to there being more than one assassin. I would not want to anger all of them, instead of just the girl.'

The room began to quiet back down, so Leo continued, "On top of scouring the city. All routes outside will be heavily guarded and inspected. We ask that no one attempt to obscure their features while they use public transportation. All hoods and face covering will be forcibly removed, if necessary. Any person that does so will be considered a threat until proven otherwise. We will also have images posted at these areas, so that all may keep her face in mind and act as an added defense."

As the screen turned off and Leo stepped away from the podium, there was a surge of reporters that pressed towards the front. Leo raised a hand, muttering, "No interviews," and walked back stage. He didn't have the patience for questions right now, and worried that he might say the wrong thing in the moment. Such large scale lies required precise wording and planning to get by without suspicion.

"Your car is ready for you, sir."

Leo nodded to the group of four hunters that had recently graduated from Haven. Tyrian and Hazel had certainly been working overtime to snuff out all those that would have been more qualified. Leo kept his head down, a familiar wave of guilt washing over him. It was a feeling he was very used to.

The group led him outside to a waiting limousine. It was a long, unmarked black car with tinted windows. The body of it was almost entirely bulletproof. The sight of it made Leo feel safe, 'They can't get to me in there.' No sniper was going to take his head off from the safety of some far off rooftop. 'Poor Dijon. I liked him, too.'

One of the hunters, a young female whose name he had forgotten, opened the door for him. Leo no longer bothered familiarizing himself with the students that passed through his school. Their deaths were easier that way.

Leo climbed into the back and gave a nod to the young huntress. She flashed him a good natured smile and shut the door, following after the rest of her team to the vehicle that would follow them back to the academy. Leo watched her go, tracking her slowly along the glass windows, his shame building as he saw her laugh.

'She looks so happy…'

"Ahem."

Leo was too used to Tyrian's abrupt visits to scream. It had not been the man's voice, though. This was much more feminine. Leo's eyes darted to the other side of the limousine, at the front. A female with long red hair and a black leather outfit stared at him over steepled fingers, her presence masked in the shadowy corner. Leo's eyes glanced towards the ceiling of the vehicle, and saw now that the light on that end had been shattered, allowing her to remain obscured more easily. With his faunus eyes, though, he could still make out her face. The human students that guarded him would not have been able to see her at all.

Leo watched the mysterious woman in silence, waiting for her to make the first move. 'If I survive this, I shall have to remember to always bring my weapon with me, despite however many guards I have…'

"That was a nice speech," the woman said quietly, face unreadable as she continued to stare at him. Leo silently hoped that the driver would be able to hear her as well. She was situated closer to the front, and only a thin pane of glass separated her from the front compartment. The driver did not seem to notice, though. The limousine's engines came to life, and the vehicle began making its way to the academy.

"I did my best…" Leo said with uncertainty. His eyes scanned the interior, trying to spot anything that might help him if the woman suddenly decided to cross the distance and attack. His eyes retreated from their search as the woman drew a dagger from her belt and idly played with it in her hands.

"You know... my daughter isn't going to be happy now that she's stuck in Mistral for the foreseeable future," the woman's eyes never left his. His gaze was locked to them, "Tyrian's mistress won't be appreciative if she is caught, either."

Leo gasped, holding himself back against the seat behind him, putting as much distance between himself and the woman as he could, "H-How do you know about that!?"

She smirked, "Tyrian admitted that his Mistress was interested in my daughter. That they had 'been keeping an eye' on her progress."

Leo's first instinct was to do as he always did, make excuses.

"It was not my fault! You were all supposed to remain unknown! That would have driven more fear into the city! You should have been more careful when you disabled the cam-!"

His words died in his throat as the woman raised a finger to her lips, a slight smile behind it as she wordlessly commanded him to remain silent, "I left that camera running on purpose."

Leo sputtered, incapable of making heads or tails of that admission, 'Why on Remnant would she do such a thing!?'

"I can see you are confused. Do you have children, Leonardo?"

"N-No. I cannot say I have ever had the pleasure."

"Then let me clue you in on a little secret among parents. Among good parents. We will do anything to keep our children with us. To keep them safe," the woman stared at him intensely as she spoke, hand now gripping her dagger tightly, "My dear little Lotus wishes to leave. Wants to start a new life. I know where that road leads. She will find only heartbreak at the end of it."

Leo nodded cautiously. The woman sounded deranged. Even he understood that was not how to raise a child. If anything, her actions were only serving to put the child in even more danger. 'She wants to keep the child to herself, then… She doesn't care what the girl actually wants.'

"I-I think I understand, now," Leo replied, raising his hands up to show that he was willing to listen, "Where do I come in?"

The woman's smile grew, the dagger returning to its sheath, "Obviously you must keep up appearances, so I don't really mind the police doing their searches. I want them to end after three months, though." She crossed her legs and seemed to relax, leaning back in her seat, "No, I need you to continue your searches of the city's transportation indefinitely. I want her to never be able to leave this city."

"That… is possible," Leo replied slowly, thinking over the implications. 'It will take up resources and manpower, but it will also help with my cover if I appear zealous in my attempts to capture the young woman.'

"I accept."

The woman nodded, turning to look out the window, "Glad you could see reason. Now that's settled, I have a question of my own… Who is Tyrian's mistress?" She eyed him over, paying close attention to the controlled expression that had become of his face.

"You fear her, that much is obvious. You admitted to trying to induce fear into the population. Tyrian can control the Grimm. You are helping him kill huntsmen and huntresses," the woman ticked off a finger for each point as she made them. "All the signs are pointing to something very… ominous."

Anxiety clutched at Leo's chest, as he once again scanned the back of the vehicle for a way out. Giving away Salem's secrets would be outright betrayal in her eyes, and this woman was dangerously close to realizing the truth on her own. Leo could feel his scroll in his pocket, 'Should I try and dial Tyrian? Watts, perhaps? I don't know what to do!'

"Come on now, Leo. We're friends, aren't we?" the woman stood in a crouch and joined him at the back of the car, sitting down with her thigh firmly pressed against his. She put an arm around his shoulders, and Leo felt the point of her dagger graze the side of his cheek. 'I didn't even see her draw it again!'

The dagger was creating small sparks against his aura as she idly twisted it back and forth against the barrier that protected him, "You know, I was surprised when you first got in the car. I wasn't expecting the headmaster of an academy to have an aura that was so weak…"

Leo closed in on himself, shrinking away from both the woman and her dagger as they trapped him. She smirked and leaned in closer. Her breast pressed against his left arm, and the dagger resumed its scraping across his now reddened cheeks.

"My oh my, you weren't kidding about never having the… pleasure… of having children of your own," the woman raised herself up and planted a kiss on his cheek, voice turning to a dangerous whisper in his ear, "And you never will if you don't tell me what you know…"

Leo's resolve shattered. The fastest way to get him to speak would always be to threaten his life. Salem might kill him in the future for revealing this information, but this woman would kill him right now.

"T-The Grimm have a master! Her name is Salem! Tyrian worships her, and does whatever she bids!"

"Tyrian…" she replied, still only inches away from his face, "And you?"

"I-I have no choice! You don't understand… Salem cannot die. She is invincible!" Leo choked it out. It was still difficult to reveal these things about the Grimm Queen, "Please, you cannot tell anyone that I gave up this information to you, especially not Tyrian! They would kill me for it!"

The woman drew away, letting her dagger retract as well, "It's a good thing I need you then, Leonardo. Don't fail me, and I'll keep your… secrets… to myself." She quickly moved back into his personal space and breathed against the side of his face as she whispered flirtatiously, "It doesn't hurt that you're a faunus, either. I wouldn't have been so nice if you were a human."

'That's what she calls being nice!?'

Leo breathed out a sigh of relief as they made the final turn into the academy, "Perhaps you should return to your previous position, so as to not be caught?"

The woman let out a small giggle, and retracted her body from where it had once again been pressed up against his side. She walked back to the front, and surprised him by sliding the window to the front cabin open and winking back seductively. Leo averted his gaze as she climbed through the small window, intent on not staring at the much younger woman's tight, black leather clad posterior.

The limousine finally parked, his four hunter bodyguards stepped out at once. The same girl from before returned to open the door for him, her face frowning.

"Wow, Headmaster. You're looking a little red in the face. Are you sick?"

"No… Let's just go…" Leo refused to meet her gaze.

The girl stifled a giggle, deciding in the moment not to bring up the red lipstick on his cheek. If the headmaster was into some sort of weird solo thing… well, she'd never seen him with a woman. There certainly hadn't been anyone in the limousine with him.

'I'm not one to kink shame.'

'Two years. Two… fucking… years…'

Lotus silently fumed as she stood atop the rooftop, bathed in soft light from the shattered moon above, eyes tracking her intended target through the woman's window across the street.

Two years had gone by since their assault on the council member compound, and her face had been exposed for all to see. Widow had assured her that the street searches would stop, and after three months, they had.

No, Lotus wasn't upset over that. Her fury was from the fact that after two long years, the trains, bullheads, and roads leading out of Mistral all still displayed her face. They were all still keeping her trapped in this Oum-forsaken city! Lotus's seventeenth birthday was approaching, and with it, the end of the academies' hiatus. In only a month, classes would be starting back up, and Lotus had no strategy to get to Vale, to get to Beacon…

'And I still haven't gotten my own revenge!'

Nicholas Arc was still alive out there somewhere. Still breathing. The thought made her stomach twist into knots, and her fingernails dig into her palms. She couldn't rest until her revenge was sated.

The missions for Malachite had continued. Lotus only did them these days because they offered something to do, something to think about that kept her mind off her own frustrations. She was accepting more contracts than ever, and more often than not, did them without Widow's assistance. Lotus had more lien than she knew what to do with, and her 'friend' seemed totally uncaring of Lotus's plight.

Lotus sighed, remembering the fight that she had with Widow before leaving for her current mission. She had finally revealed to the older faunus that she still wanted to be a huntress, and Widow had scoffed at the idea, then echoed back all of Lotus's own fears. It had been frustrating beyond belief when the woman that was normally so supportive of her, had instead shattered her dreams. Even now, her heart ached.

Lotus had trouble admitting it, even to herself. It felt like a betrayal to her own parents, but after being with Widow for so long… she had started to think of her as a mother. After knowing the woman for six years, how could she not? Widow was always there for her, always ready with a kind word, a shoulder to cry on, an answer to any problem that Lotus had...

With a weary mind, Lotus shoved the thoughts that had been plaguing her from her mind, then checked the street below. It was well past midnight, and she still had her job to do. The streets were empty, aside from the occasional car that lazily passed by every few minutes or so. The street lights were spread too thin, allowing the space in between to create deep rims of shadow.

When Lotus dropped from the rooftop onto the street below, it was these shadows she aimed for. Her appendages eased her to the ground at the last moment, absorbing the impact. Lotus stretched, then drew them back in towards herself. Her physical body had not grown much over the last few years. She was barely over five feet tall, a fact that Widow would often tease her about.

The appendages that protruded from her back, though, had continued to increase in both size and strength. It was something that Lotus took some small comfort in. 'At least one part of me is growing…' The invisible spider legs were now just over fifteen feet long.

Unfortunately, the combination of her body no longer growing, and the appendages being longer and longer each day, had served to make her older style of fighting less practical. Because of this, Lotus had been forced to finally experiment with them in ways she had never done before.

Lotus had slammed her own head into the nearest wall when she finally realized after five years of using her semblance... that if she focused on where she wanted them to appear, she could encase her limbs with them instead. Doing so caused her arms and legs to be shrouded by the invisible exoskeleton.

The lack of any need to try before had kept her from discovering something so basic about her own semblance. 'All that time practicing to move them all in tandem… and I could have just been imbuing my own actual limbs with them in the first place…' Lotus hadn't stopped hitting her head against the wall until Widow had told her to knock it off.

In preparation for her goal of becoming a huntress, she also adopted Copper's sword as her own. It no longer felt awkward in her hands, and Lotus had long since made changes to it to fit her own specifications. The gaps in the gears had been reduced significantly, spreading to such a minuscule amount between forms now that blood could no longer seep into the interior. 'Even Grimm bleed,' she had told herself.

Widow had been more than willing to help her train with it. Her daggers were each only a few inches shorter than the shortsword, so Widow's style of fighting had been easily adopted over to Lotus's own.

Between the sword, her imbued fists, or the invisible appendages she could strike out with after a moment's notice… Lotus was even more of a force to be reckoned with than ever before.

Lotus took one last glance up and down the street after crossing it, making sure that no one would see what she was about to do next. When not a single soul appeared, she turned back to the wall in front of her. The appendages reared back, then in a well practiced sequence, struck the building hard enough to pierce into the brickwork and carried her upward, climbing up the surface with ease.

'Fifth floor, fifth floor,' Lotus counted the windows she passed, until she finally arrived at the one she sought. She peeked inside cautiously, and satisfied that there were no cameras, slid the point of one appendage into the crack of a window and gently pried it open. After some slight creaking, there was a final metallic 'pop!', and the window slid open.

Lotus could feel the presence of her target off to her left, in the bedroom, apparently asleep. It was a large apartment, spacious enough that her sixth sense couldn't quite cover the entire space. Lotus was confident that her target was the only occupant, though. She had been watching it for the last two hours just to be sure of that fact.

With only the smallest whisper of sound, her feet sunk down lightly into the plush carpet beneath them. Lotus closed the window with a nearly inaudible 'click', her faunus eyes were already scanning the room, able to distinguish everything in the dark. The only downside to a faunus's night vision was the lack of color that would have been present with true lighting. 'I guess in comparison, humans can't see at all, though…'

While the apartment was well furnished, there was an emptiness to it. Lotus didn't believe for a second that this was a place someone actually lived in. Malachite had confirmed as much when she warned her not to get complacent with this target. The female she had been hired to kill was no easy prey.

Lotus focused on her sixth sense one last time, then quietly approached the door that led into the bedroom. The bottom gap of the door allowed a tiny bit of light to spill through into the living room. 'Still not asleep, eh? I wonder if she's expecting an attack.'

Lotus could feel the position that the woman was in, though. Her back was turned from the door, face buried into her pillow and covers drawn up over her body. 'Maybe she was too tired to turn it off?' Lotus warily turned the knob, and inch by inch, opened the door. She remained in the shadows, backing away from the light that now flooded out into the living room.

Sensing no change in the figure's position, Lotus crossed the threshold.

The next moment, she was transforming her sword into its pistol form and firing into the supposedly empty back corner of the room. There was a startled cry as a brown skinned, green haired woman in revealing white clothing shimmered into existence.

Lotus only had a half second warning to revert her sword to its bladed form before the woman on the bed flipped back against the wall and used it to lunge straight at Lotus, both hands holding curved shortswords. Lotus blocked the pair in a single sweep of her own sword, knocking them to the side. It did very little to slow the woman's momentum, though. A knee crashed into her chest, knocking her in a roll back across the living room floor.

Lotus rose from the roll, appendages already poised to strike at the woman bearing down on her. The green haired girl popped into the door frame as well, each hand holding a bladed revolver. Two invisible limbs from Lotus's right side struck out together, catching the black haired woman in her side.

With a gasp of surprise, the woman was launched across the room towards the windows and slammed roughly into the base of the wall. Her aura remained resilient, though. It would take quite a few more strikes to deplete hers completely.

Suddenly, Lotus's vision swam as both black and green haired women disappeared from sight. They were replaced by a myriad of duplicates, each surrounding Lotus from all sides. A shot struck her from behind, a blade struck out at her from the side. Lotus shut her eyes, blocking out the fakes, and instead concentrated on her sixth sense.

There were still only two in the room, and they danced around her, striking in tandem with the illusions that had flooded the space. Now able to 'see' clearly, Lotus fought back. She countered blow after blow, following them up with strikes of her own, reducing the fight to a standstill for the moment as both women backed off to reevaluate their situation.

"Are you using your semblance, Emerald?" the black haired woman spoke, a slight tinge of anger in her voice.

"Yes! I don't know how she's doing this!" the girl, Emerald, shrieked back in shock.

The black haired woman seemed to ease up, not quite putting away her swords, but at least letting them drop to her sides, "Well, he certainly wasn't lying about your skills, Lotus."

The woman turned to a door across the room and shouted, "Get in here, Mercury!"

Lotus froze as the door opened, the familiar sense of Mercury entering the room. She frowned. Something was… off. Different. The spider faunus's eyes flew open as she turned to face him, "Do you have cybernetic legs!?"

Mercury smirked and pulled up a pant leg, "Yep. You have no idea how glad I am about that right now. Can you imagine how bad it would have sucked if I had to stand perfectly still in there for over two hours with regular legs? What took you so long?"

Lotus's eyes narrowed, as they flicked back and forth between Mercury and the other two occupants, "I had stuff on my mind," she replied defensively, then nodded her head over towards the black haired woman, "and this one kept pacing around the place."

Mercury rolled his eyes at the black haired woman, "Really, Cinder? I told you she wouldn't show if you didn't relax a bit."

"Can you blame me, Mercury? After you spoke so highly of this young woman, I was excited to meet her. You have no one to blame but yourself. Consider being stuck in a closet for two hours your punishment," Cinder laughed lightly, eyeing Lotus up and down.

"I'm assuming this was less a mission to assassinate, and more so a job interview?" Lotus sighed, visibly sheathing her sword, but keeping her appendages prepared. Mercury was an assassin, after all, and she still had a million lien bounty on her head.

"You would be correct in that assumption," Cinder smiled, sheathing her weapons as well and stepping closer to inspect Lotus, "I am putting together a small team, one made up of exceptional individuals to assist me in a rather difficult mission."

Lotus raised a hand up, "Let me just stop you there. To put it lightly, I've had, well, a bad year. I only really kill people to pass the time these days. I have more lien then I could ever spend. So, if this is some life threatening mission, then I'm sorry to say that I'm not interested."

Cinder opened her mouth to speak, but Mercury raised a hand. The woman's eyes flashed in annoyance, but she stepped back all the same as Mercury grabbed Lotus's attention, "I'm guessing you never managed to get out to Vale because your face is plastered across every entrance and exit out of the city, right?"

Lotus nodded, letting her anger seep into her voice, "That bastard Nicholas Arc is still alive."

Cinder smiled, "Well, we can help you with your little problem. The mission we need you for is just outside Vale. We can get you there, in exchange for your help."

'After all this time… Is it true? That would be right before initiation at Beacon…'

Lotus raised her eyes back to Cinder's and held her gaze, speaking firmly, "I'll do it."

Emerald chimed in from the side, "Don't you want to know what it is first?"

Lotus laughed as she glanced over to her, "I don't care what you need done, or who needs to die," Lotus returned her eyes to Cinder, this time adding in a confident nod, "I'll do it."

"Good. Bring whatever you need with you to this address," Cinder slipped a small business card into Lotus's hand, "Be there by noon tomorrow. With any luck, we'll be in Vale by the end of the day."

Lotus felt an overwhelming sense of joy infuse her entire being, 'Finally! YES!' She failed to hide her excitement, but quickly left the group, headed down the building's actual stairs. 'You had better be worth it, Nicholas Arc! I'm coming for you!'

In that moment, Lotus would have done anything Cinder asked. It was not a fleeting feeling, and hours later, when she had excused herself and went to pack... Lotus was still wondering how she could have gotten so lucky.