"That goddamn IDIOT!"

Ruby sighed at Yang's outburst. Like they had planned the previous night the pair had gone into the Emerald Forest to train and keep their skills sharp. They found an area of the forest outside of the camera feeds and dropped their glamour so they could really cut loose with a Seer joining them when they got to the training area.

Blowing off some steam seemed to be necessary as Yang had exploded on the first Beowolf that emerged at their call, tearing it to pieces before it even realized what was happening, and gave Ruby barely enough time to lean against a tree.

"Just let it out of your system Yang," Ruby said as she looked over the claws of her Grimm arm, "We can't have you assault a student back at Beacon."

"How can you be calm about this!?" Yang shouted and turned to Ruby, her Grimm arm shrinking down to normal, "especially after Cinder went on that spiel about 'how we shouldn't worry,' and 'I can handle sneaking around.'" Ruby spotted a Beowolf in the trees and spurred it into attacking Yang with a thought, though when the beast ran and lunged at Yang she drove her elbow into its stomach, grabbed its head, and flipped it over her and grabbed its arm.

"And yet, what does she go and do? Not only get seen by Summer and Qrow, but General Ironwood too! Even ignoring him, how did a freaking teenager manage to match Cinder!?" With a twist of her own arm, Yang bent the Beowolf's arm backwards and rammed its claws into the back of its head. The Beowolf growled lowly as it died and disintegrated into smoke. Yang waved the smoke away and asked, "What are we going to do about this?"

"Nothing," Ruby answered pushing off the tree and crossed her arms as she started pacing, "the fact she was still in her room this morning for the update means they haven't connected her to what happened in the Tower yet. And she was nice enough to show me that Watts' little gift has started giving her information, so as much as I dislike it I have to admit her plan is slowly coming together."

"But won't they find a virus if they know it's there?" Yang asked and backhanded a Ursa that walked up to her.

"Please," Watts' voice echoed from the Seer getting Ruby's attention while Yang set about brutalizing the Ursa, "as if I would spend so much time working on just one virus. The package Cinder uploaded should have plenty of distractions for Ironwood's little toys to work with."

"You're sure about that?" Ruby asked, ignoring the venom in Watts' voice at the mention of the General, "Because we're the ones who'd have to reap the consequences if you're wrong."

"I'm certain."

"And even if he is wrong," Salem said as her face appeared on the Seer, "I would expect you all to adapt to the situation. Understood?" Ruby and Yang looked at each other, the latter with her arm wrapped around the squirming Ursa's neck, and nodded at each other as Yang squeezed until its neck cracked and collapsed into a cloud of black smoke.

"Of course Queen, we can handle it," Ruby said, turning back to the Seer.

"Like a few Huntsmen can stop us," Yang added and cracked her knuckles.

"Good. Now if only your fellow Generals were as focused." That caused Ruby to blink in confusion and glanced at Yang, the bigger General looking equally baffled.

"What do you mean Queen? Are Weiss and Blake acting weird?"

"General Weiss is currently away looking into some important issues. Last I spoke with her about that, she seemed distracted. As for Blake…" Salem waved a hand and the image on the Seer moved through the room until it showed Blake. Ruby raised an eyebrow at the sight of her sister General with her tentacles laid out in front of her on the table while she herself was staring angrily in front of her and almost completely still, save for a mild twitch in her eye. She didn't even really notice the Seer on the other end approaching her.

"That is weird," Ruby said and scratched her head while she turned to Yang, "I've never seen her act like that. Have you?"

"Nope," Yang answered and rubbed her chin, "and Weiss is acting the same way apparently? I can't imagine what would get to her like that, except if you take away her swee…" Yang trailed off and her eyes widened in realization. "Oooh."

"What is it?"

"They can see through their doll's eyes. That's the whole reason those two are here right?"

"Well yes, but I don't see why…" Ruby's eyes widened in understanding, "Wait, you don't think…?"

"We did avoid the dorm last night," Yang said with a shrug, "And you did say they were all over each other last night."

"But would that really affect Weiss and Blake like that?"

"One way to find out." Yang walked over to the Seer, leaned forward to get a better look at Blake, and tapped the Seer's body with a finger. "Hey Blake," she said and waited for Blake to glance at her before she grinned widely and asked, "Was it as good for you as it was for her?"

The effect was immediate as Blake leaped from the chair with a roar toward the Seer on her end, knocking the Grimm down and causing chaos in the meeting room. Yang started laughing maniacally and fell backward holding her stomach while Ruby watched the image in the Seer, which was mostly an enraged Blake and a brief shot of Watts wisely running from the room. Soon there was a small explosion and the sound of glass breaking with the Seer righting itself a second later and showing Salem with her eyes narrowed in displeasure.

"Explain," she said simply.

"Well…" Ruby started and scratched her cheek, "Weiss Schnee and Blake Belladonna became a couple last night. I only saw one kiss, more or less, but they are teenagers, so…"

"Say no more," Salem said with a sigh, "I'll have to remind Blake about the importance of professionalism when she gets back." Ruby resisted the urge to walk around the Seer to see the broken window Blake had no doubt taken a trip out of seconds ago and nodded. Salem and Ruby then looked down at Yang, who was kicking her feet in the air as her laughter petered out into breathless squeals. "Hopefully Weiss won't need the lecture. I'll leave Yang to you."

Ruby nodded and gave her normal salute as Salem's image disappeared. Ruby dropped the salute as the Seer drifted away and looked at Yang as she got back up on her feet.

"Ah… oh, that was too funny," Yang said and wiped a tear from her eye as she stood straight, "I love Blake so much. You think Weiss is freaking out like her?"

"If she is, I feel sorry for whoever is near her," Ruby said and shivered a little, "Well, unless something else comes up, we should be getting back to Beacon. We do have a mission to do."

"I always wondered what it was like on the other side of those things," Yang said as she rested her hands behind her head and walked in the direction of the academy. Ruby followed after her as flames enveloped Yang before disappearing and leaving her in her human glamour. Yang looked back at Ruby with a huge grin as she put her own glamour in place and asked, "Do you think the dolls will be awake when we get back, or will they be too tired?"

"We'll find out one way or the other," Ruby answered as the petals around her floated away and she looked up at the distant Beacon Tower, its green lights as bright as ever.


"They were here… Ozpin, they were here!" Ozpin didn't look up from his desk, his head in his hands as Ironwood pounded a fist on his desk. Last night's breaking and entering had caught him and his staff unawares, though unlike his Atlesian counterpart Ozpin was currently more concerned about the after effects of it than the fact that it happened.

"Yes James, we're well aware of that," Glynda said with no small amount of annoyance.

"Oh, fantastic. You're aware. So what's the plan now that you're 'aware', are we going to just keep sitting around waiting for them to make the first move, or are going to actually do something?"

"James…" Ozpin started only to stop when a hologram popped up on his desk showing an elevator was approaching. "Ah, they're here. Come in," he called out and stood up with Glynda and Ironwood turning to the elevators as one of them opened.

"Sorry it took us so long to get up here," Summer said, giving all the adults a wave while Qrow followed her with his hands in his pockets, "we got her as fast as we could."

"Don't worry about it," Ozpin said and clasped his hands behind his back, "and thank you for coming on such short notice."

"It's no trouble Professor. Uh, just so you know, the control panel in that elevator we took shorted out on our way up. So… that's out of order now." Qrow groaned in annoyance and shook his head, which got him a look from Summer.

"I'll be sure to put the order for that in later."

"Before we continue, I need to say something I may have neglected saying last night," Ironwood said and walked up to them. He looked at Summer and Qrow in turn as he said, "You both acted admirably as Huntsmen last night. You saw a threat, assessed the situation, and took action as best as you could."

"Thank you sir," Summer said while Qrow gave a lazy two fingered salute, "though I would really have preferred if she hadn't gotten away."

"We always wish we could do better Summer," Ozpin said and looked at Ironwood as he walked over to the desk, "but the best we can do is focus on the present. General Ironwood has told us what happened during the… incident last night, but we were hoping you two could give us your side of the story as the first ones there."

"Here's my takeaway: getting flashbanged sucks," Qrow said and started cleaning out an ear with his pinkie.

"That's… a bit of a given Qrow," Ozpin said while Glynda and Ironwood facepalmed.

"What about you Summer?" Glynda asked as she crossed her arms, "Did you recognize the woman? Did she say anything to you?"

"I never saw her face, she was wearing a mask the whole time," Summer said as she crossed her arms and closed her eyes, "but I don't need to see her face to know who she was."

"You know who she is? Who?"

"She fought with glass weaponry, her clothes glowed when we fought, and I recognized her eyes." Summer reopened her eyes and nodded to herself, "I don't have any doubt at all that it's the same Dust Weaver from the 'Dust til Dawn' robbery."

"The woman on the airship?" Glynda asked and held her chin in thought, "You're sure about that?"

"If there's another Dust Weaver that fights with glass and has yellow eyes, I certainly haven't met them."

"Assuming they are the same person," Ironwood interjected, "did you get a look at her face the first time?" Summer shook her head no and Ironwood couldn't hold back the sigh. "That's a problem, Dust weaving is an ancient technique. Everyone has Dust in their clothes to some extent, so this woman could be anyone."

"True enough I suppose," Summer shrugged and uncrossed her arms, moving one of her hands to her hip, "but the fact remains that she was working with Torchwick. He's a known associate of the White Fang, which is bad enough without their connections to Salem and her Generals." The adults straightened up at the mention of the Witch and looked at each other as Summer hummed to herself. "Or am I wrong thinking that?"

"No, you're not," Ozpin said and rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "but if there is a connection, no matter how small, then that leaves us with a bit of a problem. We can't really act based on something that, as far as the Council is concerned, doesn't exist. We'll need something a little more concrete." Ozpin didn't miss the look Ironwood gave him though it passed when Qrow cleared his throat rather loudly.

"And what if we said we do have something like that?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" Ironwood asked, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly at Qrow.

"Before you and Qrow showed up last night, our little intruder blabbed about some base in the South East of the Kingdom," Summer explained with a small smirk, "would that be concrete enough to act on?"

"Interesting," Ozpin whispered with his usual smile, which no doubt hid that he knew what Summer was trying to do.

"And she just… told you that?" Glynda asked skeptically, "that seems odd."

"Oh trust me, bad guys get real talky when they think they have the upper hand," Summer said with a tired sigh, "and as much as I hate to admit it, she did have the upper hand on me there."

"Still, that's-"

"Unusual, but something we can take advantage of," Ozpin interrupted and sat down at his desk, "thank you again for your cooperation. Unless there's something else you wish to discuss, you're dismissed."

"No, we're good," Summer said with a nod, "and anytime at all Professor. Come on Qrow, let's get back to the dorm before Raven traps the whole thing again."

"After you, boss," Qrow said with a nod and followed Summer to the elevators, thankful she was going to a different one than the one they had come up on.

"Oh, and Miss Rose-!"

"Be discrete, we know," Summer shouted back with a wave back at Ozpin. The elevator doors opened for them and shut as Qrow gave the adults another salute. As the elevator slowly descended Qrow stretched his arms over his head and Summer let out a small sigh. "Do you think he bought it?"

"There wasn't any good way to drop that on him, but knowing Oz he wouldn't look away from it. I'm sure we'll suddenly get a mission to the South East reserved for us soon."

"I hope so. You know, now that I'm thinking about it, I am a little worried about Raven. Maybe we should ask for a portal?"

"She wouldn't do it, you know that. And those soldiers down in the lobby would probably feel better knowing we left the normal way and I could use the walk."

"Yeah, and I could use a drink too."

Meanwhile, back up in Ozpin's office, the discussion was heating up again.

"It's clear what we need to do," Ironwood said having moved to the window and looked out to the general south east direction, "we need to mobilize our forces and move to the south east, find out exactly what's going on there, and eliminate everyone that stands in our way."

"If only it were that simple!" Glynda replied angrily, "the second you move any troops there, anyone there would run and we would find nothing! Why must you turn everything into a show of military bravado?"

"It's not about that," Ironwood said as he shook his head and put a hand on the window, "it's about keeping the people of this Kingdom safe from everything that could hurt them."

"The safety of the Kingdom is not a di-"

"Glynda…" Ozpin interrupted. The tone she was using wasn't the loud annoyance she usually had when arguing with Ironwood, but a quiet and very real anger. 'Best stop that before we lose the General to defenestration.'

"Well it's true," Glynda said and crossed her arms and looked at Ironwood as Ozpin spun around to face them both.

"She's right though," Ozpin said and watched Ironwood tense up a little at the window, "If it's true that what happened last night has any connection to Salem, then we need to consider that this could affect the world, not just Vale. And if this is just the first step of some grand scheme that we don't know the final move of, we can't afford to act rashly."

"Ozpin, I've served you faithfully for years," Ironwood said and turned away from the window and walked to Ozpin, "but if your response to this is to simply hold the line –"

"It is not!" Ozpin nearly shouted and stood up suddenly. Were it not for the military discipline drilled into him Ironwood probably would have flinched at the sudden show of anger. "I'm not saying we don't act, just that we act wisely. You're a general James, when you prepare for a battle who do you send in first: the flag bearers or the scouts?"

"The… you can't be serious? You're going to send them out?"

"I don't see why not. Team STRQ has already proven themselves effective in the past."

"I won't deny them that," Ironwood shook his head as Ozpin sat back down and clasped his hands together in front of him, "but to trust a mission as important as this to a team of second year students that have only been involved for a year is –"

"It's irresponsible," Glynda interrupted with a sigh, "but it doesn't matter. They'll go even if we try to stop them since they know where to go and have the motivation to see it through."

"You know that as well as we do James," Ozpin added while giving Ironwood a knowing look. Ironwood looked between the two of them momentarily until he sighed and rubbed his eyes.

"Fine. If you think your students can handle it, I'll just make sure my men are ready to move in after them." Ozpin simply nodded while Ironwood turned back to the window and looked at Glynda who already had her scroll out.

"Well, with that settled, I have to see to the first years," Ozpin said standing up again and grabbing his cane off his desk, "it's time for their first mission, after all." Ozpin started walking away even as Ironwood gave a hum of acknowledgement.


"Never miss a beat, never miss a beat, never miss a beat!" This was one of the first things to greet Ruby and Yang when they got back onto Beacon's pathways, coming from a cat Faunus that was roller skating down the sidewalks that Yang had to quickly dodge out of the way of.

"Whoa!" Yang screamed as she did so and shook a fist at the Faunus as she left a rainbow trail behind them. "Watch where you're going, you fool!" The only response Yang got from the girl was her to turn around and pull an eyelid down at Yang as she continued on her way.

"Ignore her Yang, we have more important things to be focusing on," Ruby said as she glanced back at the disappearing rainbow and shook her head.

"I guess," Yang said and shook her head with a growl, "There are so many freaks in this school."

"Well look at it this way: the faster we get done, the faster we can be rid of them."

"We can only hope." The two perked up when they turned a corner and saw Summer and Qrow walking ahead of them. "Oh look who it is, our 'favorite' upperclassmen."

"Yup, that's them," Ruby said and smiled as she gently nudged Yang with an elbow, "watch me smoothly interject myself into their conversation." Yang returned the smile and gestured for Ruby to go ahead, upon which Ruby rushed to the pair as fast as she could with petals trailing behind her and screamed "Summer!"

"What?" Summer asked and looked back in time to see the red blur coming at her. She only had time to scream, "Oh shit!" before the excitable girl slammed into her, which knocked her to the ground and sent her bottle of soda sailing into the air. Qrow held a hand out and caught the bottle before looking down at the two cloaked girls on the ground and then at Yang as she walked up to them.

"Hey kids, you guys are up early today," he said and gave Yang a wave with his own soda bottle and went back to watching Summer futilely try to pry Ruby off of her neck.

"'Kids' he says, you realize we're barely a year younger than you right?" Yang asked and crossed her arms.

"She isn't," Qrow said pointing at Ruby just as Summer managed to get her off of her, "And honestly I like the nickname."

"Whatever you say 'old man'," Yang replied with a smirk, which only widened at Qrow's glare, and held an arm out to catch Ruby as Summer kicked her off of her. "And to answer your question, we were training in the forest."

"So early?" Summer asked as she stood up and took her drink back from Qrow, "Did you not get any sleep last night?"

"We didn't even go back to our room last night," Ruby said as she shrugged off Yang's arm and both sisters adopted the same flat look.

"Three guesses why and the first two don't count," Yang added.

"Damn, Schnees work fast when they want to," Qrow said with a quiet chuckle.

"Shut up Qrow, there's no way something like that happened so fast," Summer said rolling her eyes, "It's literally been one night."

"You wanna bet?"

"…500 Lien. If they got to at least third base, you win. Deal?"

"Deal." Summer and Qrow fist bumped and Summer started finishing off her drink while Ruby and Yang shared a look. "Well it was nice talking to you two, but we have to get going."

"That's ok. Maybe we can hang out when our mission is done?" Ruby asked as Summer finished her drink with a large gasp.

"That sounds like a plan," Summer agreed with a nod, "and you still need to show me your scythe in detail sometime."

"Same with me," Qrow said with his own smirk, "I never did get a good look at it on our last spar."

"Sure thing! The input of another scythe user is always welcome. We'll see you around then!" Both pairs gave a wave to the other and went their separate ways, Ruby and Yang exchanging a quick look where their eyes flashed black before returning to normal.

As for Summer and Qrow, they continued on to their dorm room and stopped at the door. The two exchanged a look and Qrow let out a tired sigh. "I'll take the hit," he said and grabbed the doorknob.

Summer gave him a light bow and said, "I'll remember only the best at your funeral Qrow," before backing away from him. Qrow took a deep breath before he opened the door and rushed inside with his arms held open, his eyes closed, and his teeth grit for whatever would hit him.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Qrow opened an eye at Raven's question and saw her lying on her bed with her scroll open watching him. Surprisingly there was nothing else and the room seemed to be in good condition on a quick glance.

"It's clear!" Qrow called back and put his hands back in his pants pocket for as long as it took for him to reach his bed and fall face first onto it.

"No traps this time Rae?" Summer asked when she walked in and closed the door behind her.

"I'm too tired to trap anything today," Raven said and went back to working on her scroll, "how was the meeting with old Oz? Oh that's going to the top of the list."

"It went about as well as they always do. We may be getting a reserved mission soon, so we might need to be prepared for that."

"Fun, I better check my blades then. It'll give me something to do other than look at pictures." Raven hopped out of bed and stretched her arms over her head as she walked over to a desk that had her sword and mask on it.

"Oh that reminds me," Summer said and snapped her fingers as she took out her scroll and sent Raven a message, the girl raising an eyebrow at the rough drawing.

"The hell's this?"

"I had some free time before the meeting with Oz, so I sketched out a rough idea of that upgrade you told me about. Do you think you could work with that?" Summer put her scroll away as she moved next to her partner, who put a piece of sketch paper on the desk before she removed Omen's hilt from the scabbard to put on it.

"Maybe, I'll have to work on it a little more when I have the time," Raven said as she drew an outline of the hilt onto the paper before moving it away and started sketching her own interpretation of Summer's drawing. "Reinforced Dust blades that collapse on themselves and a trigger mechanism for it. If you were going to go that complex, why wouldn't I just make longer blades that go into the hilt?"

"I actually did think about that, but with the size of blade you were talking about it'd make the hilt too long. Unless you think you can handle the longer hilt, then go for it by all means."

"I'll think about it. Check my blades while I sketch this out." Summer nodded and moved around Raven to grab the scabbard, handling it as delicately as she would a live Fire Dust crystal, and opened the side to inspect the blades one by one while Raven went back to sketching. The minutes passed as such, the two girls working and Qrow getting a few minutes of napping in, which lasted until the door opened and Taiyang walked in with his arms full.

"Where have you been Tai?" Summer asked as she put the last blade back in the scabbard and closed it. "You're all good Rae," she added and got a nod from Raven.

"It's mail day," Taiyang said shifting the mail in his arms, "and speaking of, we have mail!"

"Anything good?" Qrow asked, his face still in his pillow.

"Hold on, let's see." Taiyang looked through the mail in his arms and held out a couple books. "Sum, you got some comics and a dog magazine."

"Nice," Summer said, taking her mail and Blinking up to her bed, "Ooh, new Gen:Lock!"

"And Qrow got a package. It's a little small," Taiyang said and threw said package at Qrow. It landed on his pillow and he looked up at it.

"Finally came in huh? It only took a month," he grumbled and sat up to open the package.

"Looks like Raven just has a bunch of coupons." Raven set down her pencil, held out her free hand, and threw the mail in the garbage once Taiyang handed them to her before returning to work. "As for me, I got a package from my folks!"

"Did you mom send cookies?" Summer asked and snapped her head at Taiyang along with the twins.

"Hold on a sec," Taiyang said as he opened the cylindrical package and peeked inside. "What the hell?"

"Well Tai…" Qrow said.

"Did she?" Raven finished.

"I don't know what they sent," Taiyang said and poked at the solid black mass in the package. He spun it around in his hand and gave it an Aura enhanced smack. Whatever was inside shot out like a bullet and bounced around the room until it hit Qrow on the back of the head and settled in the middle of the floor. Everyone, including a grumbling Qrow, watched as the black cylinder shook a little before popping up and into its normal shape: that of a black and white Corgi that barked twice at seeing Taiyang.

"Uh…" Raven started to say while staring wide eyed at the dog, but was interrupted by-

"ZWEI!" Summer cheered and Blinked down, her comics and magazines flying in the air along with a trail of rose petals, and scooped the dog into her arms before she started rolling on the ground. She couldn't help but laugh happily as Zwei started licking her face, something that only made the twins stare harder.

"They sent your dog in the mail?" Qrow asked as Summer started ruffling Zwei's face.

"And in a tiny ass tube too?" Raven added.

"Eh, this kind of thing happens all the time," Taiyang said with a shrug, "I'm not concerned, after everything else they've done."

"I bet this good boy would be able to figure out how to mail himself, wouldn't you?" Summer asked and ruffled Zwei's fur a little more and laughed when the dog barked in response.

"There's no way a dog is smart enough to do that," Raven said, shaking her head and, after a few seconds of silence, looked at Taiyang and raised an eyebrow. "This is the part where you agree with me Tai."

"…Yeah, I'll have to get back to you on that."

"Ah whatever," Qrow said and popped open his package, looked inside, and grinned as he dug through it. "Oh hell yeah, it finally came!" he said and reached in to pull out a rabbit's foot, which got a curious look from Summer.

"You ordered that?" Summer asked while holding her feet up for Zwei to stand proudly on, "why, it's not going to do anything for your Semblance will it?"

"Pfft, I don't care about this thing," Qrow said and tossed the foot out the window before he pulled a necklace out of the box, "it was just insurance to make sure this got here." Qrow started to fasten the necklace around his neck and looked at Taiyang to ask, "So are there really no cookies in there?"

"Hold on, let me check," Taiyang muttered as he dug through the package until he pulled out a note and opened it. "Alright, let's see. 'Dear Taiyang, we're leaving the house for a few weeks for a hunt. Since you should have plenty of free time now, it's…" Tai paused and shook his head with a sigh before continuing, "it's your turn to take care of your little brother…"

Naturally the team stifled a laugh with Summer adding, "Little brother! Heh." A few beeps and Summer looked at her pocket where her scroll was. "Down Zwei, I gotta take this," she said and lowered her feet for Zwei to hop down onto the floor before she sat up and took out her scroll while Zwei wandered over to Qrow.

"Hold on, there's more. Uh… 'The mission shouldn't take very long, so you'll have to watch him until we get back. We've included enough food to get Zwei by until then. Love, Qing Xiao Long." Zwei perked up at the mention of food and rushed to Taiyang's feet just as he upended the package and gave it a light shake, which released the numerous cans of dog food inside onto the corgi followed by a can opener. "Oh, 'PS, I'll send cookies when I get back. Your grades were good enough.' Well I'm glad for that, at least."

"I really would like to know how she does that," Raven said, gesturing to the cans while Taiyang tossed the package over his shoulder into a trash can, "but what are we supposed to do with him? We may have a mission coming up."

"We actually do," Summer interrupted and stood up to show Raven and Taiyang the message she got. "Quadrant five of Vale has a high concentration of Grimm and needs it cleared out."

"That's in the southeast right? That's as much of an endorsement as we're going to get," Qrow said as he finished with his necklace and gestured to it, "How does it look?" They looked at him, especially at the new necklace with a diagonal cross made of platinum, and Summer gave him a thumbs up.

"It looks fine Qrow," Raven said, waving a hand in the air and ignoring the smug look her brother gave her, "but what are we going to do about him?" She pointed down at the pile of cans just as Zwei dug his way out of the cans.

"We can just leave him here," Taiyang said as Zwei rolled onto his back and started shimmying, "he's smart enough to take care of himself, especially if we leave the bathroom door open for him."

"Are you kid- that's now how that works Tai!" Qrow said and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"We're not leaving him here, he'll just shit on my bed!" Raven added.

"How dare you!" Summer shouted and stomped her foot, "Zwei would never do such a thing! He's a good boy and absolutely can take care of himself!"

"Oh really, prove it then." Despite Raven's challenge, she couldn't help the confusion that came when Summer grinned widely and rubbed her chin.

"Oh I will Rae. I always wanted to pull out this trick once Tai showed me it. Zwei!" The dog stopped his scratching and looked up at Summer expectantly as she pointed at the cans of dog food. "Food preparation procedure 37, manual edition, go!"

Zwei barked, rolled onto his feet, and trotted over to a can of dog food that had landed upright. He nudged it with his nose slightly to push it away from the rest of the food before he walked to the can opener that had fallen out and picked it up with his mouth.

"No way…" Qrow said as Zwei walked back to the can and maneuvered the opener into a workable position. Once it was there he bit down on the handle and started turning the wheel of the opener with a little paw that, slowly but surely, started opening the can. Almost a minute later the top popped loose and Zwei flicked the opener a little, which sent the top flying, and let the opener go so he could start eating the can's contents.

"AAAAH, GOOD BOY!" Summer screeched and knelt down next to Zwei and started petting his back, "The best good boy ever!"

"How did he…?" Raven asked before trailing off and looking at Taiyang with a scowl, "This is your fault somehow, isn't it?"

"Yes it is," Taiyang answered proudly, "I taught him how to use a can opener so I wouldn't have to waste time feeding him all the time. My genius blinds even myself sometimes."

"But wouldn't that be more effort teaching him that than just feeding him?"

"That's exactly what Dad said when he found out. He was right then too, I just hadn't thought about that until after I had taught him." Taiyang then shrugged, and added, "But that's just how life goes sometimes." Raven pinched the bridge of her nose along with her brother and only stopped when the school's intercom turned on Glynda's voice filled the room.

"Will all first year students report to the amphitheater for mission selection. I repeat…"

"Speaking of,: Qrow said and dragged his hand down his face, "when does our mission start?"

"It said ASAP, but we still have to accept it at the board," Summer answered. She shook her head as she stood up and added, "And given what we're going to be doing, I don't think we'll have the time for a permanent camp either. So…"

"No stove," Taiyang answered dejectedly.

"No stove. Sorry." No amount of apologies could dampen the blow, as the groans from the rest of STRQ showed.

"Well, whatever. It's not like a few days of cup noodles will kill us," Qrow said as he moved to grab Harbinger from his bedside along with a backpack. "How long will we be out there?"

"A few days at most. Let's plan for four days, and hope that's too long."

"Well, you guys have fun with that," Raven said as she put Omen's handle back into the scabbard before picking it up. She looked down at Zwei, who looked up at her, and pointed at him. "And you don't shit on my bed while you're here. Got it?"

Zwei responded by lolling his tongue out panting.

"Good enough. Later." Raven hung her scabbard from her belt, grabbed her mask off the desk, and walked out the dorm.

"Raven," Taiyang growled while glaring after Raven.

"We'll find her later Tai, let her be moody for now," Summer said shaking her head at her partner's actions, "let's just get ready for our mission, ok?" Taiyang nodded after a second of staring and moved to a corner of the room to get his things together. Summer was about to get started on her own preparations when her eyes met Zwei's, who had looked up for a moment from his meal. He blinked up at her while panting happily and Summer felt a grin creep onto her face.


"We're going to be late!"

"I still don't get how this happened! You're always going on about being on time for things, so why didn't you get us up on time!?"

"Because I was comfortable and didn't want to leave!" Blake nearly tripped from the admission, but managed to keep her footing and continued her run. Her face heated up at Weiss' words along the memories from the previous night and this morning. She silently thanked Ruby and Yang for letting her and Weiss have the dorm to themselves and promised to make it up to them later.

Truthfully, waking up that morning with Weiss cuddled up in her arms and smiling happily was one the best things that had happened to Blake in a while. She spent a minute looking at Weiss, her snow white hair splayed over her shoulders and face, until she woke up and scootched closer to kiss Blake. They probably would have stayed in bed all day kissing and enjoying each other's company were it not for a text from Ruby reminding them about missions that day that was followed almost immediately by an announcement from Professor Goodwitch to go to the amphitheater.

With no choice but to rush through their morning routines, aside from showers which they skipped entirely, they threw together an outfit for the day and sprinted out of the dorms and through the Beacon pathways. They were almost to the amphitheater when Weiss looked back at Blake and stopped all of a sudden, forcing Blake to stop as well.

"Weiss, what are you-?" Blake started to ask only for Weiss to reach up to adjust the bow on top of her head.

"Your bow is askew. I can see a bit of your ears," she said and scrunched her face up slightly as she adjusted Blake's bow. It took a couple of seconds until the bow completely covered Blake's cat ears and nodded in satisfaction. Weiss looked down at Blake, saw her blushing at how close she was, and smiled as her hands dropped from the bow and wrapped her arms around Blake's neck. "How does it feel?"

Blake wiggled her ears a little under the bow and nodded and wrapped her arms around Weiss' waist. "It's fine. Thanks."

"It's no problem," Weiss replied and looked up at the bow, her smile faltering just a little before it came back. "You ever think about wearing that less, at least in the dorm?"

"I… don't know. Ruby and Yang are always in the room too, and I don't know how they'll react."

"They're our team and our friends. I'm sure they'll understand. You don't have to if you don't want to, I just think it'll be better in the long run." Weiss glanced away and a blush covered her cheeks as she whispered, "And I think your ears are cute."

"…I'll think about it then." Weiss looked back at Blake, blue meeting amber for a moment before they closed and leaned in for a kiss. They enjoyed the feeling of the other's lips for a few blissful moments before they pulled away and let each other go. "We should get going. I don't want to keep everyone waiting."

"Yes, fair point," Weiss said and brushed some of her hair out of her eyes, "We're pushing our luck as is, as much as I like it." Weiss started walking and looked back at Blake as she rolled her eyes before following her around the corner. "The announcement wasn't that long ago, so this meeting probably hasn't started yet. If we're quiet we can probably sneak in without-"

Weiss stopped when Blake stopped, frozen in place with a look of surprise on her face. Weiss looked ahead and immediately matched her partner's expression at just who was waiting for them: Team STRQ. They were hanging out next to the door to the amphitheater, Summer and Taiyang standing up and leaning against the wall while the twins were sitting and playing on their scrolls surrounded by backpacks. More concerningly though was that the former two were looking at Weiss and Blake with these knowing smirks that sent chills along their skin. Blake showed it more though as Weiss soon gathered herself and put on her usual façade of the unflappable heiress and marched up to them with Blake following soon after.

"And what are you two staring at?" Weiss asked.

"Only the two girls who've been the talk of the academy," Taiyang said and crossed his arms.

"Talk…?" Blake asked quietly as she started to raise her hood over her head.

"Ignore it Blake, it's just the gossip house turning around me again," Weiss said with an annoyed sigh and shake of her head, "it'll die down soon enough."

"You can't really blame them," Summer said with a shrug, "since you two seemed to really be enjoying yourselves last night. You two had a very good night last night, I take it?" Summer's rather blunt question left Weiss recoiling, blushing and sputtering for an answer while Blake simply froze up with her own blush coloring her face. It took a couple of seconds before Weiss managed to collect her thoughts and, naturally, got angry at the upperclassmen.

"I…you…!" she started and stomped her foot angrily, "As a matter of fact, yes we did! It was a fantastic night and also NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!"

"Sounds like an admission to me Sum," Qrow said without looking up from his scroll.

"Whatever Qrow," Summer replied and rolled her eyes as she took a Lien card out of her pocket and threw it over her shoulder with Qrow catching it out of the air. "And you're right Weiss, it is none of my business. It's just fun teasing first years, so don't think too hard about it." Weiss' angry pout, complete with puffed out cheeks, made Summer smirk more until Blake walked next to Weiss and put a hand on her shoulder. She glanced over at her partner, who seemed much calmer, and decided to follow her lead in taking a deep breath to calm herself.

"That aside," Blake said, "are we late for the meeting? We… kind of got a late start today."

"I'm sure you did, but you're fine," Qrow said and glanced up from his scroll as Weiss stiffened up from his comment before relaxing again.

"He's right," Summer added with a nod, "Professor Ozpin tends to start meetings a little late to help slow pokes like you two." Weiss took another breath at that and put her hand on top of Blake's to gently nudge it off with Weiss giving her partner a nod to show she was alright. They both looked back at Summer as she jerked a thumb to the door. "Ruby and Yang are already inside, so you don't have to worry about that. Have fun dying out in the wilds."

"I can take care of myself out there," Blake said and started walking with Weiss into the building, "but thanks for the concern."

"And try not to stare at each other's asses too long," Qrow added and caused Weiss to stumble and Blake to make a choking sound. Thankfully Blake didn't have to say anything since Weiss turned around, her eyes sharp and face red with anger and her hands balled up.

"FUCK YOU! Mind your own business and stay out of mine!" She shouted and stomped her foot again and got amused reactions from Summer and Taiyang and barely a glance from Raven. The object of her ire however only laughed loudly at her reaction.

"Oh, that made up my mind. I definitely like you now!" Qrow said and gave his sister a small slap on the arm, "She's just like Winter."

"Maybe, I don't know much about Winter's personal life though," Raven replied and looked back at her scroll, "Now can I get back to kicking your ass in this game?"

"…I'm not winning this," Weiss said shaking her head and turning away from STRQ, "and I have more important things to do. Let's go Blake." Blake silently followed after her leaving the upperclassmen at the door. Inside the two looked around at the assembled first years from every academy milled around inside before walking over to where the Haven students were. Weiss felt a pit of worry form in her stomach when she saw so many students in uniform while she and Blake had quickly thrown on their combat clothes, but it soon went away when she saw a good number in more casual clothing, especially at seeing the Shade students.

That was sealed even further when she walked by Sun, in all his open shirt and bare chested glory and he waved enthusiastically and grinned widely at the two of them.

"I should stop worrying about dress code," Weiss muttered while giving Sun a polite wave, "especially since he's able to walk around like that."

"I suppose," Blake said and gave Sun her own wave and smile, "but that's just him being himself. He's still a good guy once you get past all of that." Blake looked back at Sun and saw him giving her a thumbs up and an even bigger grin, causing her to roll her eyes. "Even if he is a massive dork."

"I'm well aware of how 'good' he is," Weiss said and crossed her arms. She then whispered, "I'll have to thank him and Neptune properly later," low enough that only Blake could hear it. Blake smiled at Weiss and quickened her pace to walk next to her and slip her hand into Weiss', their fingers interlocking when she did so.

"Hey love birds, over here!" Weiss and Blake perked at Yang's voice and soon found her and Ruby waving them over. The sisters moved over to make way for their teammates to stand between them. They took a moment to look down at their joined hands and gave them coy smiles. "So you two did have fun last night."

"We just got done with this exact conversation," Weiss said, not bothering to hide the annoyance in her voice, "so can you please not?"

"Hey, I don't care," Yang said with a shrug, "we are monster hunters after all, so you do what you have to do to blow off steam."

"We're just worried about having to clean the room later," Ruby added.

"The room's clean," Blake said and tightened her grip on Weiss' hand as she tried to focus on the stage and not the conversation or the blush forming on her face. Thankfully Professor Ozpin walked on stage then so the conversation was more or less killed then.

"I guess we'll see later," Ruby said and looked at the stage as Ozpin stopped in front of a microphone and tapped it lightly to get the room's attention.

"Thank you all for coming," Ozpin started his speech and slowly looked over the assembled students, "and it pleases me to see so many gathered from all over the world. From Mistral to Vacuo we've all gathered here to celebrate our strength of unity and the end of the Great War eighty years ago. A war that covered the entire world and was fought for many reasons, though the one many could not stand for was the suppression of the arts. And even though now that war is far behind us, we still feel it's effects on our world today.

"The Vytal Festival is one such thing, though you all probably know one of the more important ones: names. Those who experienced that war named their children after colors, one of the basic and most important parts of what was almost lost in that war, so that we may never forget why we fought. And today, all of you will set out on your first step in guarding the peace that was built that day so long ago."

With a hum several hologram stations lit up with a blue glow before they showed several missions that were available. The students glanced around at them until Ozpin started speaking again.

"The missions you'll be undertaking today will each be different, but all just as important. Some of you will be shadowing a trained Huntsman while some will take you outside of the kingdom for several weeks. But no matter what path you choose, remember why it is you're fighting and do your very best." With his speech over Ozpin took hold of his cane and walked off the stage, leaving the student teams to disperse through the amphitheater to look over the missions.

"He seemed distracted when he talked about the war. I wonder if he knew someone who fought in the war?" Weiss asked and looked at Blake, who shrugged lightly. How was she supposed to know, after all?

"A natural silver tongue," Yang commented and crossed her arms and when Weiss and Blake looked at her they were taken aback slightly when they saw the scowl on her face, "only the best leaders and liars are born with that."

"Um… are you ok Yang?" Blake asked carefully. Yang turned to her with her irises a bright red and, once she saw how unnerved her teammates were, closed her eyes and took a deep breath, her eyes returning to their normal violet when she opened them again.

"Sorry. People like Ozpin just rub me the wrong way."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No. Let's just get a mission and be done with this."

"I don't have any preference on what to do," Ruby said while looking around the area, "so why don't we just browse for a moment and see what there is."

"That sounds good," Weiss said, with her teammates nodding in agreement. Ruby led the way to some job boards with Yang right behind her and Weiss and Blake following after, their hands still intertwined. They drew a couple of gazes as they walked, but one group they certainly didn't was from a certain first year team in the Beacon group that they passed by.

"Are you ok Jaune?" Ren asked from behind Jaune, Nora tilting her head at the blonde as he looked around worriedly.

"Uh, yeah I'm fine. Just… thinking," Jaune answered and went back to looking around the room. 'If only I knew where to start with this!' He was knocked out of his thoughts again when Pyrrha leaned into his view with a worried look.

"Do you need help?" she asked.

"Uh…" Jaune trailed off as he glanced at Pyrrha before he saw his salvation in the form of a bright white cloak. "Hey look, it's Summer!" he shouted with a forced smile before running over to the upperclassman. Pyrrha looked at Ren and Nora for a moment, the latter shrugging lightly, and followed after Jaune who had soon caught up to Team STRQ. "Hey Summer, oh buddy of mine! How are you doing?"

"Hey Jaune," Summer said, giving the blonde a wave and slowed down while her team went ahead, "I'm fine I guess. A bit tired from last night, but what can you do?"

"Yeah, I agree with that…pal!" Jaune said and swung his arm enthusiastically and gave Summer a large grin which was returned by her own small smile.

"…You need help figuring out the mission boards, do you?"

"Yes absolutely, please help me!" Jaune whispered loudly while his pupils shrank dangerously. Thankfully the only reaction that got was knowing smiles from his teammates and a good natured laugh from Summer.

"As luck would have it, I have to accept a mission of my own, so you can just watch to get an idea of how it works." Summer started walking again with JNPR following behind looking at the boards as they passed them. "It's not that hard to figure out, just think of it as accepting a quest in an RPG."

"Oh, I can do that!" Jaune said happily with a nod, "And they seem easy enough to understand now that I look at them. Supply delivery, village protection, search and rescue."

"It's ultimately your decision what mission your team is going on Jaune, but I'd recommend listening to them and taking your team's whole skills into account when choosing jobs. Some teams are better suited for certain jobs than others."

"What's your team good at?" Nora asked.

"Oh, my team is good at everything. We're badass like that." Pyrrha and Ren shared a flat look, though their partners didn't recognize the boast for what it was and stared at the second year with stars in their eyes.

"Found it!" Raven shouted and waved Summer over to a mission board where she was waiting with Taiyang and Qrow. Summer jogged over to join her team with JNPR behind her and nodded when she looked over the board and found her team's mission.

"There we are. Search and destroy in Quadrant 5, and high concentration at that." Summer tapped the mission which brought up a keyboard that she used to type out her team name. The board gave a few affirmative beeps when she was done and the mission was highlighted before a new line saying 'accepted' appeared on it. A few seconds later all of STRQ's scrolls beeped and Summer opened hers to check what she got.

"And just like that, we have the details sent to us along with an estimated length and where we need to go to leave for it," Summer said as she snapped her scroll shut and shrugged at her underclassmen, "Really, the hard part of all this is choosing the right mission. Unless you're awesome like us, in which case you just get missions handed to you. Maybe one day you'll know what it feels like." Summer happily soaked up the admiration from Jaune and Nora while Raven and Pyrrha rolled their eyes while Taiyang and Qrow simply nodded.

"Oh, I can't wait!" Jaune said shaking with excitement and turned to his team, "so what should we- wait, where's Ren?" Pyrrha and Nora blinked and looked around to find Ren had silently walked away from the group and stopped at the Village Protection boards. With the excitement having passed the group walked over to him and looked up at the job that had caught his attention.

"Shadowing a local village's Huntsman?" Pyrrha asked after reading the mission summary, "that sounds like a good first mission."

"Village Protection usually is," Taiyang said and crossed his arms, "that's what we did for our first mission."

"Did it go well for you?" Jaune asked.

"Oh yeah, the mission went fine," Summer said and glanced away from Jaune, "but…"

"But?"

"Huh? Oh, there's no but. The mission went fine, you don't need to know what happened after." Jaune blinked as Summer stared at him until he decided to let that go and turned to Pyrrha and Nora.

"So, any objections on that one?" he asked.

"Nope. It sounds right up our alley," Nora said with a smile. Pyrrha simply nodded.

"Well, it's unanimous then. I like it." Jaune turned to the board and pressed the mission, missing Ren's eyes suddenly widening in surprise, and entered JNPR into the team entry. Like earlier the board beeped and the mission was marked as accepted with the team's scrolls beeping a few seconds later. "And done! Man, that was really easy. Why was I so worried about that?"

"Because you're stupid," Raven answered.

"Yeah, that's probably it." Jaune felt a weight on his shoulder and looked at Ren who had his hand on his shoulder.

"Thanks," he said with a small smile. Jaune returned it and threw an arm around Ren's shoulders.

"Hey, it's no problem. Really."

"It says the mission is tomorrow," Pyrrha said looking at the details on her scroll, "so we should get ready. Who knows what we might face out there?"

"A wise decision." JNPR jumped at the sound of Ozpin's voice and they watched him walk out from behind the mission board they were using with a scroll in one hand and his cane in the other.

"How does he do that!?" Jaune whispered as he took his arm off of Ren while Ozpin looked up from the scroll.

"After all, the areas outside the Kingdoms are teeming with Creatures of Grimm, the likes of which you've never experienced before. You'll have to be on your guard at all times out there."

"So… worse than Ursa Major?" Jaune asked.

"Far worse." Ozpin waited a moment as they looked at each other before giving them his usual smile, "But if you believe you can take care of yourselves out there, I see no issues."

"Maybe we shouldn't scare the first years before their first mission Professor?" Qrow asked while ruffling his hair.

"Of course. I hope you all understand I meant to do nothing like that." JNPR nodded, even if they still looked a little unnerved, and Ozpin turned to STRQ, "And it's good to see you taking your roles as upperclassmen seriously."

"It's nothing Professor," Summer said.

"For some of us at least," Raven muttered, which went ignored by Summer.

"So, did you need something from us?"

"Yes actually. There was a detail about your mission that I was unable to put in the official briefing." Ozpin briefly pushed his glasses up while STRQ looked at each other.

"And that is?"

"Given the importance and… delicate nature of your mission, I've decided it would be best to give it as much of a chance of success as possible. Therefore I've decided to assign a Huntsman as support."

"You're kidding me!" Raven said and crossed her arms, "Even though we can do this ourselves, we're still getting assigned a babysitter!? That's bullshit!"

"Now I didn't say that. I just said you'd have support, not accompaniment."

"You mean radio support then," Summer said, "to offer advice in case we run into something in the field they'd have expertise in."

"Precisely. The Huntsman assigned to your mission is waiting at your landing pad, no doubt making sure your ship is prepared to his liking." Ozpin gave a small smile and shake of his head, "so don't keep him waiting for too long."

"We won't. Is there anything else?"

"No, unless you have your own concerns." Summer shook her head and so did the rest of her team. "Then I'll leave you all to prepare. Good luck to all of you." With one last nod Ozpin left the teams to oversee another team that might need help.

"Support huh? Who do you think is going to help you?" Pyrrha asked.

"Oh, don't fucking let it be Peach," Raven groaned and pinched her nose.

"I don't think Peach would help us again even if she was paid double," Summer said while stretching her arms over her head. "Well, no use putting it off. Let's head out."

"Would you mind if we see you off?" Jaune asked.

"Sure, we don't mind the company," Taiyang said and led the way out of the amphitheater.


"So did you hear about the Schnee Heiress and her partner?"

The group was barely outside and along the path to the airships for a minute when they were set upon by a nosy Sheep Faunus. The sudden question caused Pyrrha to leap into Nora's arms with a small scream, which got a giggle out of Maribelle.

"Oh, I love being an upperclassman. It's fun, isn't it Sum?"

"Every now and then I suppose," Summer answered with a nod while Pyrrha was set down and looked at Maribelle as she skipped to her side, "I haven't seen you or your team around much."

"Nah, we've been around. You've just been too busy destroying downtown Vale or planning dances. Great dance by the way, Redd and I had a great time."

"You're welcome," Qrow said rolling his eyes, "and why are you so excited about Schnee?"

"Duh! She got together with her partner! That's major news and gossip potential!"

"They did have a really epic kiss," Nora said and looked at Ren raising her eyebrows with Ren only giving her a confused look in response.

"Forget the kiss, I'm more interested in the couple themselves!" Maribelle chuckled with a large grin as she spun in a circle. "I mean, it's just a blessing for everyone involved! And of course I'm happy they're together and all that, especially since they seem happy."

"I don't see the big deal, even with Weiss being involved," Summer said with a shrug. When Maribelle didn't immediately respond, Summer looked at her and quirked an eyebrow at the baffled look she was getting.

"What do you mean you don't…?" she started to say before she stopped and her eyes widened before she jumped in front of Summer to stop the group. "Wait, you mean you don't know about them?"

"Obviously not, or I wouldn't ask. What about them?"

"Well… wait, no no no," Maribelle said shaking a finger with a smug smirk, "this is rare for me to know something you don't. I'm going to lord this over you for a while, if you don't mind."

"Whatever Mari," Summer said and slapped down the Faunus' finger, "Look, we have a very important mission to get to. So if you want to waste our time, do it when we get back."

"That's fine. I'm just having fun after all."

"Team CFVY's back!" The group looked at a student as he ran to a nearby pathway that several others were gathering around. Maribelle and Summer shared a look and nodded before leading the group in a run to the crowd. It wasn't thick enough that they couldn't see Team CFVY walking through it.

"Hey, Coco!" Maribelle called out and waved at the fashionista. She and Summer pushed through the crowd while CFVY stopped with Coco herself gritting her teeth a little before Maribelle pulled her into a hug. "You're back! I thought something bad happened to you!"

"No, we were just held up," Coco said as she gave the girl a pat on the back before she let her go. She adjusted her beret a little and whispered "Dammit, why now?" and if anyone with better hearing had heard her they didn't say anything. Raven and Qrow did give each other a look and moved to disperse the crowd a little.

"Are you ok?" Jaune asked, "I mean, you were gone for a while."

"We're fine. I had Yatsuhashi with me," Velvet said gesturing to her partner behind her, "and our teamwork was top notch as always." Summer raised an eyebrow, but let the comment slide.

"Still, what happened? You were supposed to be back a week ago," Summer said crossing her arms.

"Yeah, thanks for dropping a whole dance on us by the way!" Raven said as she rejoined the group and glared at Coco.

"Well, Summer did offer to help with that," Coco said with a chuckle and her usual smile having returned, "It went well I take it?"

"Oh, it went fucking fantastic and you're lucky it did. I'll text you the highlight pictures so you can wallow in despair."

"Great."

"So what did happen?" Taiyang asked and looked to Velvet.

"Nothing happened," Velvet answered and grabbed her arm before quietly adding, "there were just… so many…"

"Shit really? It was that bad?" Qrow asked, rubbing his neck in worry.

"Kind of," Yatsuhashi answered soberly.

"Well, that doesn't bode well," Nora said looking down at her feet while Maribelle rubbed her chin.

"You were on evacuation duty right?" she asked, "which village did you go to?"

"Lower Cairn," Coco answered, "And… don't tell anyone we said this, but it was a lot worse than we all thought. The village was just… gone when we got there."

"That's barely 200 kilometers away. Crap, if it's that bad then maybe my team should take a mission today."

"And given our general luck, whatever was there is only going to get closer to here," Qrow added shaking his head, "what the fuck is going on out there?" The group looked round at each other until Velvet clapped her hands to get everyone's attention.

"Let's not worry about that," she said with a somewhat forced smile, "we're back and we're all alive. So why don't we all relax a little and maybe talk about how the dance went or something?"

"As much as I want to, we got a mission we have to head out on ASAP," Summer said, readjusting the strap on her backpack.

"Oh… that's bad timing," Velvet said, her ears drooping a little, while Coco was less subtle about her displeasure.

"Of course you're off doing something important again!" She said with harsh sigh, undoubtedly also rolling her eyes under her sunglasses. "Let me guess, another super-secret training mission that Ozpin selected for you?"

"Oz did pick us for it, but it's not secret or anything. Just Grimm Extermination in Quadrant 5."

"That's… in the southeast," Coco said, her posture straightening up along with her team.

"Yeah," Qrow said, putting his hands in his pockets, "imagine that."

"And isn't the southeast where-" Fox started to say telepathically to STRQ.

"Yes to that as well," Summer answered shaking her head, "and that'll be fun, I'm sure." Coco shared a look with her team, all of them nodding at her, and looked back at Summer.

"Well, that would explain a lot," she said lowering her sunglasses, "and even if we just got back, we'll have our scrolls on in case you need us."

"Thanks Coco, and hopefully we won't have to call you." Summer stepped toward Coco and pulled the taller girl into a hug, which was gladly returned. "Just make sure you all get some rest ok? You look like you need it."

"True enough. You stay safe too, ok?" Summer nodded against Coco and pulled away from her. She gave her a thumbs up as she started to walk to the airship pads. "And come find us when you get back ok?"

"Got it," Summer said and waved behind her as Taiyang and Qrow followed after her.

"And sent," Raven said, giving her scroll one last tap before putting it away, "I just sent you the highlights. Have fun with that."

"Gladly Rae. Don't keep your team waiting," Velvet said and waved the swordswoman off with her returning her own dismissive wave as she went after her team.

"What was that all about?" Nora asked, glancing at Ren as they watched STRQ walk away, "Should we be worried?" Her friend could only give a small shrug.

"Wait, Summer said the southeast, right?" Jaune asked and looked at Pyrrha.

"Yes, I believe so," Pyrrha answered.

"Oh crap, that's not good. That's where Mountain-"

"WHAT THE FUCK!?" Coco shouted suddenly. Everyone looked at her as she whipped her glasses off while staring down at her scroll. "What the fuck is this kiss!? I missed that!?"

"Oh, you didn't hear about that?" Maribelle asked and gave Coco a smug grin, "I can't wait to tell you all about that."

"Wait, who kissed?" Fox asked.

"Wow, this is some good dancing," Yatsuhashi said looking from his own scroll at JNPR, "You must have practiced a lot for that."

"Yeah… practiced," Pyrrha said with a nervous chuckle and took a step away from Ren.

"I'm sure I'd be impressed by how they looked too," Fox said, shaking his head a little.

"Oh my god!" Velvet shouted looking at her scroll too, covering her mouth to keep from laughing too loud, "this picture of Nora and the punch!"

"We gotta go, we gotta go now!" Nora shouted as she moved behind her team and started frantically pushing them all in the direction STRQ went. "It was nice seeing you all, but we gotta go now!"

She wished she could outrun CFVY's laughter, especially Fox's.


"You're worried about the Grimm, aren't you?" Taiyang asked as Summer walked with her arms crossed.

"Of course I am," Summer answered and shook her head, "if things are so bad out there that even Coco's team is having problems, that's bad news."

"Even they can get overrun," Qrow said slicking his hair back, "You think this is a 'General' problem or what?"

"I hope it isn't. That's the last thing we need."

"No use getting worked up over it," Raven said as she settled in next to her brother, "let's just focus on what we can do, starting with this job. We're getting paid for this right?"

"Yes, Raven. Like always."

"Nice," Raven chuckled and grinned as she tapped her fingers on the mask on her belt, "I can't wait."

"You're seriously taking that thing?" Qrow asked looking down at the mask.

"Course I am. I'll tell you all about it on the ride over. Which ship is our ride?"

"This one." Summer pointed at a Bullhead and led the way to it with her team behind her. "I have to say, it's nice knowing that we can do an actual mission without supervision, and officially recognized to boot! I wonder who our support is going to be though."

"It's not going to be Peach, and Port will probably want to boast to the first years," Qrow said as they stopped a ways away from the ship, "and I doubt Ozpin would trust many people with this. So that leaves…"

"Oh shit," Taiyang finished. The whole team looked warily at the Bullhead, now radiating with menace, until something ran outside toward them and stopped a few feet away in all of his green haired glory.

"Hello there students," Oobleck said excitedly, grinning at STRQ and swinging his arm, "I hope you're ready to fight for your lives!"

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-"