A/N: Disclaimer that I do not own Toaru or RWBY. Special thanks to furaiz for beta-ing the chapter.


Motoharu placed two shot glasses on the table, humming to himself as he poured a small liquor bottle, filling the glasses with a golden brown liquid. At the other side of the table, a bloodied Faunus simply stared at the huntsman, mouth ajar at what he was witnessing. Once the glasses were filled, Motoharu sat on the other side with a large sigh, snuggling into his chair. This scene would've been a fairly peaceful one, except that the shouts, roars and gunfire outside had proven to indicate otherwise.

"Please, take one! Might as well get relaxed, eh?" Motoharu offered, indicating the glasses with the liquor inside, he took one and held it up to the Faunus as if to convince him. The Faunus's eyes darted from the glass to him a few times, his hand raised to make a point before shrugging and grabbing the shot glass, "My man! Cheers!"

The two of them downed the shots, the bloodied Faunus started coughing while his face scrunched up, but Motoharu wasn't done. He filled the glasses again and said with a chuckle, "These Atlesian soldiers right? All business, no pleasure." Motoharu flicked a glance at the prisoner, "I mean you would know because you are probably a former Atlas-"

"I AM an Atlas soldier, and will always be an Atlas soldier," the man retorted as he snatched the glass and downed another shot, making the same scrunched up face again. He was captured, bloodied and probably going to get killed, taking a few shots wasn't going to matter and he might as well make the best of it. As he set the glass down, hard, he continued, "We may be part of the White Fang, but my brothers and sisters of the Howling Battalion have always fought for the Atlas kingdom."

"Huh… interesting," Motoharu muttered to himself as he took his shot, "Okay, I won't question your loyalties, Mr soldier, but I do have an interest in you and your… currently dead friends' activities."

"Hmph, you're wastin' your breath then, I'm ready to die for the cause," scoffed the Faunus as he folded his arms, and he flashed his teeth, stained in red while tilting his head in an attempt to jeer, "By the way? Thanks for the drink."

"Hahhh… I was hoping that we could remain civil about this," Motoharu lamented before his lips stretched into a grin. For someone like a Howling Battalion soldier like him, death threats would do little to persuade him. However, he wasn't fazed by this situation, he had dealt with more devoted individuals when interrogating them, "Don't talk like you're going to die, I may be from Mistral, but I'm not that kind of person. Don't worry about the Atlesian huntsmen outside, I'll get you all patched up and back into society again!"

The Faunus blankly stared at Motoharu, his mouth ajar at what he just heard. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish before the words spilt out of his mouth, "You're fucking with me!"

"I'm not, I don't like to do all these… violent things, I'm certainly not someone who likes to beat up prisoners either," Motoharu countered evenly as he raised his hands. "I like to think… that I'm a nice guy, you know? All cool and badass on the outside, a gentleman on the inside."

The Faunus let out a short chuckle, shaking his head, "Okay, so you are gonna patch me and then let me go so I can tell you what we were doing?" the Faunus asked as he leaned forward and whispered with a humourless smile, "Nice try, but I'll pass."

"I think… we aren't on the same page here. I never said you had a choice," Motoharu replied as his grin grew wider, he matched the Faunus's posture and whispered, "Between you and me, I have a feeling that the Howling Battalion doesn't take kindly to traitors and deserters."

The Faunus blinked as his grin vanished into a frown, at the same time, he realised that outside the tent was a lack of gunfire and Grimm roaring. He knew he wasn't the smartest person, he was just a grunt, but the way Motoharu had told him that was enough to intensify the sting from his wounds, he muttered bitterly with his teeth bared, "I'm no traitor."

"I dunno, that's what my associates told me about you guys, traitors. But, it doesn't matter what they think. What matters is what the Howling Battalion thinks, don't you agree?" Motoharu asked airily and the man's face darkened at his insinuation, "Now, I'll just have you patched up, probably release you in a couple of days, in Atlas at the Central Plaza." Motoharu's brow scrunched up in concentration but the mocking smile never disappeared, "Now, correct me if I'm wrong on this one, but... the Howling Battalion would not risk having a traitor in their ranks, especially a mole like you."

The Faunus bit his lips, frustrated more than ever now that he was faced with an ultimatum. On one hand, he tells them everything, he'd betray everything the Howling Battalion stood for, on the other hand, he tells them nothing, the Howling Battalion would think he was a spy and brand him a traitor.

"How about this, you tell me everything, I'll get you a way out. I'll free you immediately from your predicament, no treatment, no bullshit," Motoharu offered gently as he leaned back, "And if I were in your position, I'd take that offer."

The man stewed on his words for a few more seconds, murmuring to himself on the hypotheticals but Motoharu forced himself to grin, "You know, we all are… very busy people, so this offer is of limited time-"

"Okay! Okay! I'll talk!" The Faunus grunted as he flailed his arms with his eyes wide.

Motoharu clapped his hands and exclaimed, "Perfect! Now then, Why is the Howling Battalion operating against a bunker nearby? You haven't looted anything, according to the people there, so that implies that you are either looking for something or you've already confirmed it."

The man glared at Motoharu, his lips pursed together in disgust before he closed his eyes as if he had to resolve himself, "...We did. Command had received intelligence that Echo-Nineteen had resurrected a dead Atlesian development, Project Revolution," the Faunus recounted, "But… I didn't see it with my own eyes, the ones that did, well… you killed them all."

"Hey!" Motoharu held his hands up in defence, "That was all Atlas, they just brought me here."

"Huh… right… The thing is, whatever Project Revolution is, Command wants it, but we just didn't expect resistance," the Faunus continued.

"What do you mean by, resistance? They've told me that you came and gone-"

"Pfft, you know nothing, do you?" the man snorted but Motoharu gestured at him to continue and he leaned in, "Look, when we breached that bunker, we had some of the best out there in this operation. Demolition experts, infiltrators, hackers, you name it. But when the first team entered one of the inner labs, they came out with only two of them, the rest of their team were dead or missing."

Motoharu narrowed his eyes, Gin had failed to mention that the inner labs were breached as well and he inquired, "Okay… what kind of resistance are we talking about?"

The man shrugged and the blonde huntsman sighed at the lack of information he was getting. Grunts rarely had any 'valuable' information and the moment he saw the Faunus, he knew that there wasn't going to be a lot of prospects, but it was enough.

He stood up and as he was about to leave, the Faunus called out, his hand reached out, "Oi, where are you going?"

"Ah… don't worry, you'll be released as promised… to the Atlesian soldiers, have fun," Motoharu replied with a mock salute and the Faunus could only splutter in anger as he attempted to stand up, only to gasp in pain.

As Motoharu left the tent, he was greeted with more destruction, Saiai and Frenda stood ready, idly chatting and he could only shake his head at how easily they subjugated the Grimm that had attempted to attack. Neither of them looked like they were tired, had a single scratch or even a patch of dirt on their uniforms and he suspected that their teammates were in the very same condition.

"Geeze, you guys already took'em out that easily? Anyways, he's all yours," Motoharu announced and Saiai nodded with a small smirk, and marched into the tent with a hum.

"Well…?" Frenda asked as she followed Motoharu as she holstered her rifle, "Are we going in or not?"

"Yep, Project Revolution is active in the bunker, if we go now, that bunker wall should still be exposed," Motoharu answered.

Frenda scoffed as the two stopped and faced each other, "Doesn't matter what they have, I can get through anything, easy enough."

"Yes, yes, I get it Ms I-can-explode-everything," Motoharu muttered while waving his hand dismissively, "Either way, there's a chance they got some heavy-hitters inside."

"Well… that's ominous. Might as well pick up our gear and abandon Specialist Schnee inside," Frenda remarked, sarcasm dripping from her jaw, "Basically, doesn't matter what they have, FRST and SCLN will deal with it. Besides, we are the best of the best," she declared flicking her chin upwards with a smirk.

"Yeah, yeah… I heard ya, 'best of the best' blah blah blah," Motoharu replied with a teasing grin only for Frenda to scoff at him. The blonde huntsman's grin dropped as he continued, "The big problem is that Gin managed to take out a team of the Howling Battalion. Say what you will about them, they are still capable soldiers and huntsmen that trained under Atlas."

Frenda was about to interrupt Motoharu, but she backed down from his point. As much as she'd spit on the Howling Battalion's name, many of them were trained soldiers from Atlas and other military organisations. With a twitch, she called into her radio, "Tyrant, this is FRST-One, we have a situation."

"Go for it FRST-One," Ironwood's voice called out.

"According to Tsuchimikado, Gin's been operating on Project Revolution and that there's a likelihood that there may be heavily armed forces within Echo-Nineteen. How do we proceed?" Frenda reported coldly, no longer holding any jest in her voice. She was confident that her team and SCLN should be able to handle anything, and if Winter was inside, they would be nigh unstoppable.

"Mission still stands FRST-One, you are to apprehend former Lieutenant Colonel Gin and confiscate all Project Revolution materials. Teams FRST and SCLN are to breach the facility immediately," Ironwood ordered and both huntsmen glanced at each other, Frenda was indifferent but Motoharu's drew a long sigh as he took off his shades and rubbed at the bridge of his nose, "Be advised, there are a large number of civilians in the AO and you will be in the dark as comms won't reach inside."

"Before we do that, Ironman, there's a couple of things I need to discuss," Motoharu said as he put back on his shades, "According to Winter, Project Revolution detailed only one subject that didn't even reach completion, I think we should dispose of her, no sense in risking her to be kept alive."

"No, while I agree that the subject is risky, killing an innocent is not what Atlas stands for just because they exist. Project Revolution is in all technicality, our mess and we need to clean it up," Ironman replied with a bit of a steel edge in his voice.

Motoharu clicked his tongue and argued, "It's been a few years since he left the Atlas Military, there's a possibility he might've expanded on the project, It would be bett-"

"Even so, the mission stands, Tsuchimikado. You let us worry about what to do with Project Revolution, remember, this is Atlas's mess, Tyrant out." Motoharu's fist tightened at the order, reminding him of the last few times he had worked with the Atlesian General.

"...Well, look at the bright side, at least it won't be boring," Frenda muttered and Motoharu silently glared at the blonde soldier, earning him a nonchalant shrug. With a click of his tongue, Motoharu took out his scroll and gave it to Frenda who lowly whistled at the display, "That's… a pretty big bunker."

"Yeah, mostly civilians, but they have a couple of AK-130s and automated weapons in there," Motoharu replied with a bit of hardiness to it, "Shouldn't be too difficult for your 'best of the best' team to handle, even if we have unknowns."

Frenda rolled her eyes at Motoharu's mockery, despite the disgust she had for Project Revolution and the fact she shared the same opinion as him, she still would rather follow General Ironwood's order, "Hey, I didn't make the call, basically, General Ironwood called the final shots."

As Frenda barked for the teams to round up on her and Motoharu following the blonde leader, a small floating machine in white silently observed every action on the campgrounds. It slowly left the scene, not a single sound emitted out of it as it headed towards Echo-Nineteen.


The past few hours had been very uneventful for Touma, all he did was watch a blackened hole getting repaired while on the lookout for Grimm. He had expected that the mission wouldn't be the most exciting in the world, but at the same time, he still couldn't help but feel a little disappointed in the whole experience.

Now, he sat at the cafeteria, randomly poking his noodles for lunch as he looked around, only vacant seats surrounding him; no Ruby who would constantly jabber at his ears about how the newest weapon module being released, no Jaune who would often tell tales that Touma could personally relate to, no Blake who simply sat in silence next to him while reading a novel. It killed his appetite in a sense, his mind wondering how his friends are doing and at the same time, regretting that he never got to tell them about what he was doing.

"Yooo, what's with the long face, bro!" a jovial voice announced and Touma felt the table shake. He looked up to see the grinning face of Lych, leaning on the table with a plate of pasta in front of him, "Looked like someone killed your cat or something!"

"Lych? No, it's… nothing," Touma replied as his lips stretched into a fixed grin, he scratched his head, "Just missing some friends back at home."

Lych let out a silent 'oh' and nodded sagely, "Yeah I get that too man, not all of us here gets to bring their family along and all. Back at home, everyone is practically family and here is just not the same."

Touma raised his eyebrow, a little intrigued on where Lych was going as he did mention about his home before, "Where are you from?"

"A coastal town from the west of Mistral," Lych answered proudly with a grin, his chest puffed out before he started to stare up above Touma, "I miss the waves, the beach," he then waggled his eyebrows with a cheeky grin as he glanced at Touma, "all the hot ladies. But… can't stay there if I wanna get somewhere."

"What do you mean?" Touma asked.

"Well… I mean… I don't look the part, but I've always had a lot of interest in engineering, but from where I live, the schools there can't teach it," Lych sighed and rested his head on his palm, his eyes were distant and unfocused, "Had to go to Mistral if I want to get any kind of education in this field," he then chuckled and started to stir his pasta, "Well, my friends and family had to kick me out to go there, didn't want to go at first, but I'm glad I did. Anyways, enough about me, how did you get into all the huntsmen business?"

Touma blinked in surprise as the engineer in front of him started to consume his pasta. He had no problem telling a relative stranger about himself, though admittedly Lych was pretty friendly and easy enough to talk to, "Well, I'm with the Beacon Academy right now."

"Beacon, Bro? Wait… you're not a licensed yet?" Lych asked.

"Nah, but my team is, they're just teaching me," Touma answered, he felt like there wasn't a reason to lie to Lych anyways.

The engineer stared at him, before shrugging, nonplussed, "Well you know what they say, better to get practical experience."

"Yeah… it's my first mission so, but I've learned a few things," Touma answered as his lips twitched upwards at the brief times he spent with Winter and Motoharu.

"Huh… okay then, so why would you get into the whole 'huntsman' thing though?" Lych asked as he leaned in, "Last time I heard, huntsmen got some of the highest death rates of every career right now."

"Well… I wanted to help people, I have the power to take out Grimm so I should use it to do whatever I can," Touma replied as looking down at his plate of noodles, his lips twitched again as memories started to surface for him, "My dad doesn't have any powers or anything, but he always tried to help people around Remnant, so…"

Lych slowly nodded as a smile widened on his face, "Fair enough, Bro! My parents wanted the best for me when I went to the whole engineering shtick, so... what about your parents? Bet they were a little antsy about letting you go."

Touma laughed awkwardly at the mention of his parents, it wasn't like he had a bad relationship with them or anything, "Well, my dad was worried about my semblance and wanted me to stay at Vale because it's safe… and… well… they don't… actually know I'm attending Beacon," he explained sheepishly and heaved a long sigh, "They... never exactly wanted me to be a huntsman in the first place."

"Ah… Yeah… I get it, worry-warts huh?" Lych nodded, his smile dropped as he stroked his non-existent beard, "Well, lemme give you a piece of advice, bro. When it comes down to it, your friends, your family, they are the pillars that hold you up. They might not agree with everything you do, but they'll do what they can to help. So… you might as well tell 'em."

Touma pondered on the idea, he's fine with telling his father about the whole 'being a huntsman' thing but the moment his thoughts crossed his mother, his spine shivered in horror and he choked out, "Y-yeah… I'll keep that in mind."

Lych's face faulted at the strange response, but then flashed his teeth, "My man!" he exclaimed, he thumped the table twice and then snatched his empty tray up, "Well, I gotta hit the labs, those walls don't build themselves ya'know? I'll see ya around," with that, he headed off, leaving Touma staring at him with a raised eyebrow.

The unfortunate boy was left to poke at his soggy noodles, pondering on Lych's advice. It wasn't like his mom was going to kill him for pursuing a career as being a huntsman, especially since he can't have an unlocked aura. His gut squirmed as he imagined his mother's reaction and he gulped, hoping that when the time came, he'd come out unscathed.

"Would the huntsmen of Motoharu Tsuchimikado's team please report to Dr Gin's Office? Would the huntsmen of Motoharu Tsuchimikado's team please report to Dr Gin's Office? Thank you," A cool voice from the intercom echoed throughout the cafeteria.

Touma frowned and just as he was about to pick up his tray, his scroll vibrated. When he opened his scroll, his eyes widened at the message from Winter displayed, 'Do not go to his office, wait for me at the entrance lobby.'

"...Huh?" Touma had no idea why Winter would send such a message. Why can't he go to Dr Gin's office? He furrowed his brow and tapped at the scroll, 'Why not?' but seconds turned to minutes and Winter had yet to reply. Uncertainty started to dwell in his stomach, unable to decipher Winter's intention, but he trusted her. He closed his scroll and began his journey to the lobby, eager to find out some answers.


Winter exhaled in annoyance as she closed the scroll after sending that message to Touma. The mission was supposed to be a relatively simple investigation and if need be, capture mission, now it got more complicated than it should be. She glared at the note she carried with a couple of words scrawled onto it before scrunching it into her fist.

She had been hiding in the storage facility for the past hour, the note had directed her team to meet at this area, but both Motoharu and her agreed that she should check it out. Touma, on the other hand, had no idea of this note.

She waited silently, every few minutes, a couple of drones would buzz inside and pick up or drop off some crates. However, this time, footsteps tapped on the floor, and the shadows revealed a huddled figure carrying something bulky underneath their arms. Winter pressed herself in her hiding spot as she silently felt her aura spike and unsheathed her weapon.

The moment the figure stepped in close enough to Winter, she pounced, her sabre flashing in the dim lighting and the intruder gasped in shock, the bags flew out of their arms, flopping harmlessly onto the crates. Winter tripped the person and pointed her sabre right at the throat while conjuring a glyph right underneath them.

"Who are you?" Winter hissed, her victim groaned revealing a feminine voice that she found very familiar. However, she couldn't afford to second guess herself now as she maintained her stance.

"Arghh… I'm on your side," the woman replied with her hands raised in surrender, "I know who you are and I can help you."

"I won't ask again, identify yourself," Winter ordered as she leaned forward, the glyph underneath the woman started to hum.

"... First Lieutenant Harumi Kiyama of the Research and Development Division," Harumi answered, "I can't verify it, but you have to trust me or you guys will be in trouble."

Winter narrowed her eyes at the claim, she knew who 'Harumi' was but the dim lighting made it difficult to determine if her appearances match the person she knew years ago. "You mentioned that you know who I am?" She asked evenly.

"Specialist Winter Schnee of the Special Operations Division, but… I don't know why you're here," Harumi answered, Winter remained silent for several seconds before the glyph below them died down.

She backed up but her sabre remained drawn, Harumi slowly sat up as she unconsciously rubbed at her throat, her eyes darting around before asking, "Where's your team? I recall slipping your team a note to meet me here."

"Get up," Winter commanded her eyes trained on Harumi steadily standing up but she kept her hands raised, "I'm asking the questions here."

"I see…" Harumi muttered flatly, her eyes gazed back at Winter, seemingly unconcerned with the fact that Winter had every means to eliminate her.

"... What are you doing here? I was not aware that Atlas had any assets on this site," Winter knew she wasn't a skilled interrogator, but this was the only path she could take.

"... I've been working here to rescue the subjects of Project Revolution," Harumi answered like she was stating the weather.

Winter nodded, but her face remained stony, "Subjects? As far as I'm aware, Dr Gin had only one subject."

"Five… He has five," Harumi quietly said and Winter froze, stepping back ever so slightly as she digested what the woman said.

"Five?" Winter whispered more to herself than Harumi.

The huntsman headed for the entrance only for Harumi to call out, "Wait! You know they're looking for you," She picked up one of the bags and pulled out a white lab coat, red checkered shirt and a blonde wig, "This can buy you some time."

Winter scowled at her and ignored the woman, turning on her heel and sprinting towards the exit, Harumi called out to Winter and chased after her. The two of them made their way to the entrance lobby, weaving through scientists, engineers and drones. However, Winter eventually left Harumi behind who could not keep up with an aura-empowered huntsman.

As Winter approached the lobby, she immediately ducked behind a machine as she saw something that caught her eye. Touma Kamijou was handing his bracelet to a group of four AK-130s with a confused frown graced on his face as he followed the robots away.

Winter was about to charge in, until she heard a hiss, "Wait!" Harumi had caught up with her, her hands on her knees as she panted heavily from the sprint. The woman then continued on after she knelt next to the huntsman, "Project Revolution is active, that means at least one or two of them are awake, you can't save him like this."

Winter scowled as she glanced back to see Touma and the AK-130's disappear into a hallway. As much as she hated to admit, Harumi was right, there was no way to rescue Touma without drawing attention to herself or dragging bystanders into this mess. To top that off, the fact that Project Revolution was active gave her a dull headache as she couldn't be certain what would happen if she intervened.

"... I can't leave him here, I have to get to him," Winter muttered to herself, sheathing her sabre, but her grip tightened at the hilt.

"No… I can move freely in Echo-Nineteen, I'm in a much better position to get him out," Harumi replied, "You should find your other teammate and get out of here."

Winter's gaze held onto the door her teammate had passed through, she wasn't sure she could trust Harumi, but five active subjects of Project Revolution was something she couldn't handle at all, "...Very well, I'll hold you to that Lieutenant," she said, a little more steely than she intended and left Harumi without another word or look towards the breach point of the Bunker.

She once again weaved through numerous men, women and drones, her mind racing just as fast she was through the hallways. She had hoped that Project Revolution wasn't progressing at any rate, but Harumi's testimony hinted otherwise and she couldn't afford to risk being reckless in this situation. Winter's jaws tightened, as anxiety, a feeling she hadn't experienced in several years, encroached in her chest, hoping that Touma can hold on until Motoharu and herself returned.


Touma sighed as he wondered what the hell was going on. He was absolutely sure he had done nothing wrong and simply did what he was asked to do. It had already been confusing when the AK-130's came out of nowhere and escorted him to who knows where. What had been most confusing was when they confiscated his weapons and scroll, all he could guess was that there had to be some kind of mistake.

"Hahh… such misfortune" Touma muttered glumly, as he marched through the hallways, flanked by the robots. Unlike the other areas, there wasn't a single soul, just a couple of random drones buzzing around carrying equipment or cleaning the floors and walls.

Eventually, the group arrived at a fairly large chamber with several strange tubes that could fit a large wheel with blue glass on it and a number of steel workbenches. Touma warily scanned the room, to find a single female standing at the centre of the room and the appearance of her was quite intriguing. At first, he almost mistook the girl for Yang in a white form fitting bodysuit, only to realise upon closer look, that she was shorter and her eyes had the strangest iris he'd ever seen, it was star-shaped, if Touma had to guess, it must be some kind of semblance. Touma unconsciously gulped, realising that the girl couldn't be any older than he was and at the same time, noticed how lifeless she seemed to be.

"Umm… hello? This has to be some kind of mistake," Touma called out as he weakly waved at the girl.

The blonde girl's eyes suddenly snapped to him, lighting up with a golden glow and Touma shifted back with his hands ready to block anything. However, the girl didn't do anything else and Touma slowly lowered his hands, warily staring at the girl. The girl was just as animated as the robots, as they stood stock still, watching Touma.

Touma cautiously waved his hand in front of the girl who seemed to not even notice him and with a gulp, he asked, "So… am I in-"

"Touma Kamijou," the girl's soft voice suddenly pierced through Touma's as he jumped a little startled, "We have reasons to believe that you and your team are actively working against us."

"...Come again?" Touma asked, unsure what the girl was talking about.

"Who are you working for?" the girl asked flatly, completely ignoring Touma's remark.

"Beacon… Academy?" the boy answered with uncertainty. He wasn't unsure of his answer, but he knew that something was completely off, especially that this blonde girl seemed more like a robot than a person.

"We have recently obtained evidence that one of your team members have been working with the Atlas Military," the girl continued and a small drone hovered beside her with a screen lighting up and revealing what looked like an action movie to him. Touma's eyes widened as the screen suddenly zoomed in on the scene, revealing Motoharu and a young woman holding a rifle, "Explain, why are you working for the Atlas Military."

"W-wait!" Touma spluttered, "There has to be some kind of mistake, I-"

"Subject is refusing to answer, shifting to alternate means of intelligence extraction," the girl announced and her eyes began to glow again. Touma stepped back, his right hand started to rise as his mind screamed at him to prepare himself for whatever happens. He waited as he braced himself, and waited for several more seconds before lowering his hand and peeked in slight confusion, as the girl suddenly declared, "Alternate approach… failed, AK-130's apprehend Touma Kamijou."

The robots lurched at her command, immediately they began to approach Touma and not wanting any trouble, he simply held his hands up. As they approached, he heard a strange clicking sound underneath him and saw a black high-tech looking ball that flashed blue several times. Touma closed his eyes and a resounding clap filled the room, his ears were filled with clacking, static and crashing until he heard, "Quick! Over here!"

Touma didn't question it and opened his eyes, sprinting towards the shout and when he dove under behind the large workbench for cover he saw a familiar face, "You!" The woman with the baggy eyes didn't entertain him and shoved a similar high-tech ball into his hands.

"Quick, those are low-range anti-drone grenades, we can take out the AK-130's here," Harumi ordered as she twisted another ball. Touma peeked over the bench and there were more AK-130's marched into the room from the other doors, at the same time, the Yang-lookalike turned on her heel and stalked to the nearest door without another glance.

Suddenly a small group of robots seized up, swaying slightly before collapsing like puppets cut from a string. Harumi grunted as she hurled another ball straight at the advancing and Touma seeing that he shouldn't just be watching, twisted the ball and threw it. However, unlike Harumi's grenade, it just sat there, dormant.

"It's not working!" Touma called out before ducking as the AK-130's started to fire at their position, a hail of dust rounds drummed the workbench they hid behind.

"You twisted the grenade right!?" Harumi yelled over the firing as she attempting to peek before ducking down as dust rounds whizzed over their heads.

"Yeah! I followed what you did!" Touma yelled, realising his voice echoed in the room. The AK-130's had stopped firing, but he was curious to see what was happening and peeked up from the bench only to immediately duck as the robots began their volley of dust fire again.

"Then it shouldn't be a dud! They are some of the latest anti-drone defences using dust technology!" Harumi yelled, flinching a bit as they felt the dust round ricochet of the bench they hid against.

Touma barely heard what she said, but the moment she said 'dust technology' he could only conclude one thing and glared at his right hand for another misfortune. With one tired sigh, his mind started to click as he tried to figure out a way to get out of this predicament.

He grimaced at the fact that while he was technically supposed to be able to handle almost any threat as a huntsman, he wasn't as durable as a typical huntsman due to his lack of an active aura. Touma suddenly perked up, remembering that his weapon should be among one of the robots that confiscated it. With a signal to Harumi who only face faulted at what he was trying to say, he dashed from cover to cover, noticing that there were only three more AK-130's left.

Eventually, after many close calls, he approached the area where he was with the four robots that escorted him. Dust rounds still continued whizz past him, but he didn't stop there, he scoured through the broken robots and eventually found his bracelet. With a huff, he equipped the bracelet, transforming it to his gauntlet and in one smooth motion dove out of his cover and fired off a concussive round, knocking one of the AK-130's down as it collided into another bench.

The remaining AK-130's immediately turned the barrels of their weapons towards him, firing relentlessly but Touma ducked into another bench and loaded a smoke bomb. After the robots exhausted their rifles, Touma popped out and fired his smoke bomb at their feet and then quickly used the momentary blindness to approach them quickly but cautiously as he loaded another concussive round to his gauntlet. The moment the smoke dissipated, he fired his concussive round at the second AK-130, rocketing the robot hard into a bench before it laid motionless and he immediately charged into the last robot, tackling it down to the ground. With a struggle, he sat up on its torso and slammed his gauntlet down at the helm, completely caving in the head.

Touma steadied himself on his knees, gasping for breath as he looked around the destruction. Upon closer look, most of the robots seemed relatively unscathed and he couldn't believe he survived the shootout. While his Imagine Breaker can negate dust rounds, he doubt his hand would be fast enough to fend it off, he mentally made a small note to ask Ruby to figure out a way to deal with it.

"Not bad… unrefined… but not bad," Harumi commented, Touma could hear her footsteps closing in on him.

"Yeah…" Touma stood up and his gauntlet receded to its dormant state and as he turned, he did not expect Harumi to be in her black bra and underwear. His cheeks heated up as he stepped back in shock, not that he was complaining, "Wh-what are you doing?"

Harumi shrugged, nonplussed and answered dully, "It was hot, so I took off my clothes and-"

"Right just… put on your clothes," Touma muttered as he shook his head as he remembered the very same quirk when he first met her. The woman shrugged and stalked off to grab her garments, while Touma sighed and started to look for his scroll, close to where his weapon was found.

Much to his horror, the small device was snapped in two and Touma cursed his luck once again as he gingerly picked up the pieces and hanged his head, defeated. First, he was brought here and almost died fighting against robots and secondly, he found his scroll had been snapped in two. Today was certainly not his day, he had no way to contact Winter and now he was stuck in this bunker.

"You seem down… but you need to get out of here, now," Harumi's voice pierced his muddled thoughts and he saw the now-clothed woman striding up to him.

"Wait… what's going on around here!?" Touma asked as he stood up, "First, I'm accused for working with the Atlesian Military and now you… I don't know what you are!"

Harumi raised an eyebrow and answered with a question of her own, "You have no idea what's going on?"

"No!" Touma's exasperated response only had Harumi blinking a few times.

"We're wasting time, get out of the bunker, it's not safe here," Harumi then sprinted off to the hallway the girl disappeared to. Touma stood in silence shaking his head in frustration before pursuing Harumi.

"Wait!" Harumi turned to Touma with the same deadpan expression, "Look, I have no idea what's going on around here but I can't leave you here. They know that you've helped me," Touma reasoned.

Harumi sighed and asked, "Are you not aware of Project Revolution?"

"Project what now?" Touma asked as he tilted his head and Harumi just closed her eyes at the sudden realisation of a clueless boy she was stuck with.

"... I have no time to explain," she muttered and as Harumi turned Touma gripped on to her with his gauntlet.

"I can help you," Touma declared firmly, he saw those robots and he had a bad feeling about the girl that he was confronted by. He just couldn't let Harumi go on her own, especially since she saved him.

Harumi slowly faced him, scepticism dancing in her eyes, "You don't even know what Project Revolution is, how could you help me?"

"I'm a huntsman, I'm sure I can help you somehow," Touma replied.

The scientist just stared at him blankly and shrugged, "Fine, follow me." The two sprinted through the hallways and Touma just knew that something was going to happen, but he couldn't falter here, not after he had been saved.


Blake liked to consider that she was a solid reader of both the written word and people, give her several minutes of interacting with anyone and she'd be pretty confident in getting a good understanding of a person. Today had been an eventful day, to say the least, but what she didn't expect was this 'gathering' of sorts between RWBY and JNPR in the former's room as they sat in a circle.

"Alrighty!" Yang proclaimed as she set down an empty glass bowl, "Today, we are here to determine what mystery mission Touma is going through right now."

Blake rolled her eyes at the event she was witnessing, not only this was pure gambling, but the fact that some of them were even partaking in it was a little over the top for her tastes. With Ruby whining about how Touma was on a mission since Ozpin's meeting with them, the RWBY leader had been speculating hours in and out about what Touma was doing.

"Everyone is allowed to bet what kind of mission Touma is going to do and place their Lien in the pot," Yang explained the rules and everyone seemed to hold some sort of interest, surprisingly to Blake, Weiss and Pyrrha were hanging to the blonde girl's words despite their feigned disinterest, "...Except for Rubes, sorry, I'm not letting you bet."

Ruby's jaw, spirit and arms all fell before she immediately whined, "What!? Yaaang, why does everyone get to do it but me?"

"Because you aren't old enough," Yang's jovial mode quickly swung to the 'big-sister' mode as she put a slight frown on her face which only made Ruby slump even further.

Ruby didn't give up yet, she immediately turned to Weiss in a silent beg as she widened her eyes with small teardrops, but the Schnee heir simply said, "No." Ruby's head bowed down like a sad puppy as she started slouch away.

"Hey… Ruby, you can bet with me, okay?" Jaune offered and Ruby's atmosphere pulled a one-eighty immediately brightening up as she launched herself at Jaune, barraging him in hail of thanks.

"Jaune! You know Rubes isn't old enough for this," Yang reprimanded.

"But… I…" Jaune struggled to find the words to defend his position.

Ruby on the other hand immediately went for her puppy eyes against her sister, "Please, Yang?"

Yang shook her head, "No, sorry Rubes, but I can't let you do these kinds of things until you're older… 'kay?"

"I-I'm sure she doesn't want to be left out. Jaune did say he'll take up Ruby's burden," Pyrrha replied with a small smile. Blake had to admit when it comes to mediating, the red-headed powerhouse of JNPR was second to none as Yang stared at Pyrrha for several seconds.

"Hahh… fine, fine… but Ruby isn't allowed to put a single Lien in, okay?" Yang warned to which Ruby saluted and Jaune nodded fervently. With a satisfied nod, Yang's face brightened as she glanced at each person in the room, "Now… here are the rules, each of us bets what Touma's mission is going to be. When he comes back, he'll tell us what he did and the person closest to it wins the pot, okay?"

Almost everyone cheered, except for Weiss and Blake, the former who simply stood up and muttered, "This is stupid."

As Weiss was about to reach for the door, Yang's voice stopped her in a sing-song tone, "Aww c'mon Weiss, don't feel so… a Lien with us!" The room immediately dropped to silence as Yang grinned eagerly at everyone, nodding her head at the joke only for everyone else to just stare at her blankly, "Oh c'mon! That was a good one!"

"Well, either way, I'm not participating in this… barbaric thing," Weiss then flicked her chin up and began to march for the door.

"Pfft, really? C'mon Weissmaster, can't use your 'big brain' of yours to deduce what Touma might be doing?" Yang replied as she waggled her eyebrows. It was an obvious provocation, but it wasn't hard to figure out that the moment you insulted Weiss's intelligence was the moment she becomes driven to prove otherwise.

Indeed, Weiss froze and she slowly faced Yang with a rather terrifying look in her eyes, something even Blake swallowed nervously at. Blake noticed that everyone else except Yang were a little apprehensive on what the Schnee heir would do as she slowly walked towards the blonde as they felt the room dip a few degrees colder. Yang on the other hand, still maintained a confident grin, as if she knew that she got what she wanted.

"Very well…" Weiss said and she flicked her hand, revealing a Lien card and dropped it into the bowl, "Fifty Lien says that he is doing a simple investigation and surveillance mission. I'll be off..." she declared icily, she turned on her heel and left the room while Yang lazily flicked open a notebook and recorded Weiss's bet.

"Hah! That was easy," Yang muttered before turning to the rest of them as if it never had happened, "Shall we continue?"

Everyone looked at each other before another surprising participant stood up and added another Lien card to the bowl, "Twenty Lien, same as Weiss," Ren declared and Yang pointed at him with a wink before recording it down.

"I agree with Weiss, twenty Lien as well," Pyrrha contributed to the pot. Blake nodded, it was a safe bet as according to the curriculum, most students would have a very low-risk mission to slowly ease them into the world of huntsmen. Missions like surveillance, investigations and low-level Grimm hunting were the most common missions for first-year students like them. For someone like Weiss, Ren and Pyrrha, the bet most likely to win would be something like what they chose.

"Ren! That's so boring!" Nora remarked with a slight disappointment.

"Yeah! I bet he has to save a village from a horde of Grimm!" Ruby declared as she punched her fist up.

Jaune chuckled lightly as he fished out a Lien card from his pocket, "I guess we're betting on that one, twenty Lien!"

"Okay! Twenty Lien from Jaune and Rubes saying that Touma fights a horde of Grimm to protect a village!" Yang reiterated and scrawled on her notebook, she then turned to Blake, "What about you, partner?"

Blake didn't exactly intend to join the whole gambling thing but she didn't mind participating if it meant for a bit of fun. Besides, Ruby's suggestion wasn't exactly too far-fetched and was pretty much what she'd expect from her leader. A typical heroic mission that a huntsman would do and Touma did declare something similar to that, "I'll stick to Ruby's bet, twenty Lien," Blake stated as she flicked out another Lien card into the bowl.

"Okay! Okay, well… as I'm the one responsible for the whole thing, I'll have to back off from the bet… so… Nora, you're the last one!" Yang declared.

Nora grinned as she stood up and puffed her chest out as she pulled out a very different Lien card, "One hundred Lien! I bet Touma… is going to infiltrate a shady criminal organisation, beat out the bad guys and save a whole bunch of people while going at it."

Of course, there was always Nora, perhaps the one person Blake was bewildered by the most. She was as strong as Yang and energetic as Ruby, a combination that Blake would not want to deal with for the next four years. In some ways, she pitied Ren, but he seemed content with Nora, even if they were as similar as night and day.

"That's… specific," Blake remarked flatly and murmurs of agreement.

"Puh-lease! I'm pretty sure Touma's doing it right now," Nora replied with a smirk and everyone inwardly questioned where she got that confidence from.

"Are you absolutely sure?" Yang asked Nora while pointing her pen at the girl.

"Pfft! Of course, I'm sure, I wouldn't be betting if I weren't!" Nora declared and she slapped her Lien card into the bowl.

Yang nodded, impressed and intrigued as she wrote down the oddly specific bet that Nora had put forth. She then snapped her book shut, "Well, that's it, everyone! Got all the bets here, and winner takes the winnings when Touma comes back."

"Aww yeah! Ren, if I win, let's head to that new pancake cafe they opened!" Nora chattered excitedly, her partner only nodded with a small smile.

"We should head back, it's getting late," Pyrrha stated closing her scroll with a nod to Jaune.

"Well, guess we'll call it a night then, see ya guys tomorrow," Jaune announced as he and the rest of his team stood up said their goodbyes as they left the room.

With most of RWBY left in the room, Ruby exclaimed, "I can't wait till Touma comes back, I bet his mission is going to be awesome!" She flopped to the bed, while Yang placed the bowl away and Blake grabbed a book for her nightly reading.

Blake silently agreed with Ruby, she was anxious to know how Touma was doing and she was confident that he could handle whatever the mission or that Motoharu guy would throw at him. As she opened the novel she heard a sharp clink and her ears twitched at the noise, Blake looked up to see neither Ruby or Yang had noticed anything as they were both getting ready for bed. She glanced towards the source of the sound and noticed that the bowl that held the Lien has a large crack running from the top. She wasn't someone who believed in superstition, but deep down, her scar ached as something was trying to tell her that not everything was going well.