A/N: Usual disclaimer of not owning anything but a few new concepts and whatnot.


Just when Yang thought today had been easily the worst day she had gone through, it had certainly been worse just now. Being taken out of her own will along with her friends and into a mission she had little to no idea about as well as cooperating with a very irritating person was just infuriating to her, especially since she had no say. She flopped onto her stretcher bed and immediately regretted as it was definitely not like the comfy beds she was accustomed back at the dorms.

It could have been worse, she would admit that much. They were stuck in the headquarters of Motoharu's team which turned out to be an abandoned building and had managed to get most of their effects back, with the exception being that their scrolls were taken away. That being said, Motoharu and his team had simply dropped them off in set-aside rooms and made some comment about them not trying to escape or suffer 'consequences', and that was more than enough to piss off the usually laid-back Yang. Sure they had a couple of necessities provided by their hosts, but with no extra change of clothes and only basic toiletries, it quickly dawned on Yang how much she missed the dorms.

"Ugh! Could you quiet down?" Weiss barked from her bed, in her hands was a newspaper she had been reading, "If you are seriously that bored, you could always go read a book or play with Ruby."

Yang turned on her belly as she stared straight at her teammate, "You can't be serious… I mean, you guys are taking this well, too well."

"It's not like we can do anything about it," Blake replied as she dug her nose into the book she had borrowed.

"Yes, we can!" Yang retorted and held up one of her hands, on the wrist was a yellow bracelet that is none other than her Ember Celica, "I say we break out of he-"

"Right, I don't even know why I bothered entertaining the idea of listening to you," Weiss cut in before she returned to her newspaper, "Need I remind you that there is no way for us to return to Vale or even notify the Headmaster of our 'kidnapping'?"

"Yeah, but we got our weapons back! We can just break out and grab a random guy's scroll-" Yang argued as she swung her legs off the bed and stood up.

"And then what? We are in a city, known for rampant criminal activity and undergoing a Grimm crisis. That's not even accounting for the fact that the Mistral Council probably sanctioned their activities against us," Weiss retorted calmly as she folded the newspaper onto her lap and mirrored Yang's glare, "For all we know, we would just end up as fugitives with no lifeline."

"Well, not to mention that when we landed, it was clear they were working with the government, I doubt they would help us anytime soon," Blake mildly commented as she casually flipped another page.

Yang growled as she sat back down and rubbed her forehead, "Geeze, why do you guys have to be right all the time?"

"...Because someone has to reign you in from doing something stupid," Weiss remarked haughtily as she straightened her newspaper, "And knowing Ruby, she wouldn't escape as long as she believes that she is helping people."

"...Touma's more or less the same and we can't just leave them to do this by themselves," Blake pointed out as she flipped a page, her golden eyes peeked over her book, "Besides, with this arrangement, we might actually learn about their motives and have a better plan of action."

"Argh! I get it, I'm wrong!" Yang replied exasperatedly as she slumped into her bed and muttered into her pillow, "Well, if nothing else, at least we get to fight some Grimm."

"Good, now please be quiet, unlike you, I'm trying to do something useful," Weiss sniffed as she straightened the newspaper as if it was of great importance, though Yang could see her partner rolling her eyes as well, at least Blake wasn't completely on Weiss's side.

Yang snorted as she peered at her haughty teammate and challenged mockingly, "Right, and what might that be? Who's next Mistral's Top Model?"

"I'm gathering information about what's happening in this city," Weiss replied, ignoring Blake's snort as she flipped another page, "From what I've read, it seems the council or the media is still selling this as an epidemic rather than a Grimm invasion."

"Makes sense, better to avoid mass panic, epidemics are easier to control," Blake commented as she folded her legs, as if her previous actions never happened, "If they announced that it was the Grimm, things would just get chaotic."

"Okay, I get that making quarantine zones or whatever is easier to conduct and all, but why? Wouldn't it be better to just find the Grimm and kill it?" Yang asked as she rolled to her side.

Weiss sighed as she folded the newspaper, she rubbed her chin as she carefully said, "If I had to guess, it would be that they know that the quarantine zones are where the Grimm is likely to be located, but they haven't made any reports of shrinking those zones."

"Then, they should just sweep the city and kill the thing, should be easy enough, right?" Yang pointed out.

"Agreed, except…" Weiss frowned and tapped her foot as if she was trying to recall a certain piece of information, "Some Grimm aren't exactly easy to find. Professor Port mentioned that some Grimm likes to hide their presence to maximise their chances to kill their prey."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Yang sat up as she waved her hand and asked, "So you're telling me that there are Grimm out there that doesn't just kill the nearest person as soon as possible?"

"Not exactly," Blake chimed in, "What she's saying is that not all Grimm are active in hunting people down. Some prefer trapping, others use poison and other methods."

Yang raised an eyebrow as she sat up and leaned forward, "Huh… Guess I don't pay enough attention to Grimm Studies then…"

"It's amazing how you can say that with a straight face, really, I'm impressed for all the wrong reasons," Weiss replied deadpanned and her blonde teammate shrugged nonchalantly, "Hahh, I can't blame you for that, Professor Port isn't exactly… the most well-versed in teaching."

Suddenly, the door to their room swung open, revealing a yawning Ruby who dragged her feet in while her hands reached for the ceiling. Yang hopped up with a grin as she nudged her sister and asked, "So, how's your date with Touma?"

Ruby froze and she rigidly turned to her sister as her cheeks started to heat up before she whined, "Yang! It wasn't a date! I was just helping Touma with his weapon and-"

"Right, his weapon," Yang nodded sagely as she sauntered up to her sister and slung her arm over Ruby who shrunk, "That sounded like fun, so… how bi-"

"Finish that sentence and I'll introduce my glyph to your mouth," Weiss threatened as she flashed a glare at Yang while Ruby exhaled in relief thanks to her partner.

"Ookay, I wasn't even going there!" She held up her hands in surrender before her grin twisted into a smirk, "Perhaps you're the on-" She quickly clammed her mouth shut when Weiss stood up with her eyes boring into Yang, she swore that her teammate seemed to have some sort of icy aura fluttering around her while Blake clicked her tongue as she shook her head.

"Guys, it's like eleven, let's just go to sleep, Motoharu said that he'll have someone wake us up early," Ruby announced as she rubbed her eyes, she then collapsed to one of the two unoccupied beds.

"... Sure, but… where's Touma?" Blake asked as she glanced at the empty bed.

Ruby's head bobbed upwards as she answered, "Hmmm… well… Motoharu was talking with him when I left so…" she shrugged before her head dropped onto the pillow.

"Huh… I wonder what they would be talking about," Weiss mused to herself.

"Pfft, who knows what that Motoharu guy would be talking about, seriously, that guys is just…" Yang shook her hands wildly in the air and while she didn't verbally say anything about it, her teammates nodded in understanding.

"To be honest, I'd rather not know what he might be talking about," Blake as she snapped her book shut.

"You know, ever since I saw him, you've always been… I dunno, prickly?" Yang said before she suddenly turned to Blake and asked with narrowed eyes, "Did he do something to you?"

"Yeah, come to think of it, you always seemed different around him," Weiss nodded with a pointed glance at the stoic girl.

"No, nothing like that!" the Faunus girl denied as she shook her head.

"You don't have to hide it, Blake," Yang gently said as she sat up, "You can talk to-"

"No, its-" Blake rubbed her forehead as she struggled to find the words to clear an impending misunderstanding without compromising herself, "You've got it all wrong, it's just… hahh… he just… knows something about me… a secret…"

"Oh…" Yang blinked, clearly not expecting something so simple.

"Look… I'm just not comfortable about telling anyone, he just… he just knows, alright?" Blake explained as she tried to keep her voice in check, but Weiss shook her head.

"So, he's blackmailing you!?" the Schnee inquired with disgust seeped into her voice, "That's cowardly, I-"

"No! Okay, maybe yes," Blake admitted before shaking her head once again, "... I don't even know if he is or not, it's just… I'm wary of him, that's it. He never forced me to do anything because of that secret, he didn't even bring it up when he forced us to join them on this mission."

Yang and Weiss glanced at each other before turning their attention to Ruby's bed which seemed to still have the young girl blissfully unaware of what was happening around her. The blonde girl turned to Blake and asked, "Are you sure?" the Faunus girl nodded, her golden eyes shining brightly and Yang sighed before conceding, "Fine, fine… to be honest, the guy looks seedy as hell. By the way… that secret? You don't have to tell us if you don't want, but if you wanna talk, we're here for you, right Weiss?"

"Need you ask?" Weiss huffed before she laid down and struggled a bit on her bed while grumbling. Yang and Blake chuckled in pity, it wasn't like they were provided with pyjamas and were forced to sleep with their usual clothes, not exactly the most comforting moment.

"...Thanks, guys," Blake said though Weiss grunted dismissively while Yang clicked her tongue with a cheeky wink and laid on her bed. While the blond girl was still curious what her partner was trying to hide, she can wait, after all, it couldn't be bad, could it?


Despite her very confident and independent look, Coco Adel was about as friendly as her more timid friend, Velvet. However, when given the lead and the resources, she has one rule, follow and respect her orders. She was well aware that she wasn't the most pristine leader, but she had always provided results, no matter the challenges that faced her or her team, CFVY.

Touma Kamijou, a person she had yet to be acquainted with, was supposed to meet her and her team for training one hour ago. She stalked through the halls of Beacon, her boots clacking against the floor as she couldn't help but feel a little pissed off that she ended up wasting her time. Granted she wasn't excited about training a guy one year her junior, but it was a request from Professor Goodwitch and if he didn't turn up, then he was effectively ditching a session set up by the professor.

It was strange too, Coco knew that Velvet was a solid judge of character despite her timid disposition, and her friend had made it clear that Touma was fairly polite and friendly despite the short time of acquainting with him, even through all the teasing herself and Fox had given her. If Velvet had made that assessment, then Coco was sure to trust her without question.

"Well, I'm going to head off, wasted enough of my time here," Coco declared as she stood up, jerking Yatsuhashi who was lazily sitting back.

"Huh? Is it time already?" he asked as he glanced at his leader, despite sitting down, he only had to look up slightly even when Coco was standing up.

Coco peeked over her sunglasses and asked, "We sat here waiting for him for one hour, I'm not wasting any more time here."

Yatsuhashi sighed and nodded in understanding, "Okay, I'll just stick around, just in case, where are you heading off to?"

"I'm going to have a chat with Professor Goodwitch, you know, just making sure our dear junior understands the importance of punctuality," Coco answered, earning her a chuckle from her teammate, "Anyways, I'll see ya later."

Without waiting for her teammate to say anything she snapped her scroll up to check on Touma, her last message had yet to be read and when she tapped to call him, the words 'OUT OF RANGE' blared on her screen, which raised her eyebrow, intrigued in what that actually meant. With a sharp breath, she made a beeline to the blonde professor's office, ignoring each and every student. With a brisk knock on the door and an answer to enter, she gently walked in to see Goodwitch focussed on the computer before her.

The blonde professor didn't even look up and merely greeted, "Ms Adel, I'll be with you in just a second, please take a seat."

"Yes Professor." Coco quickly took one of the two seats and sat down, watching the professor click away on the computer for a good minute before she turned to the student.

"Ms Adel, is there anything you need? I was under the assumption that you would be tutoring Mr Kamijou at this time," Goodwitch asked as she interlaced her fingers before her.

Coco nodded and replied succinctly, "He didn't show up, professor, even tried contacting him and getting Fox to find him, no luck. My scroll said that his was out of range, is he on a mission? Thought the first-years won't have any for another couple of months."

Goodwitch raised an eyebrow, a little surprised by the information. While Touma wasn't exactly the brightest student in academics, he was one of the more consistent and punctual ones out there. Always there on class, handing in homework whenever he could so long as a mission wasn't in the way and rarely disruptive. To hear that he was not in class within his will was out of character and as far as she knew, Touma wasn't contacted by Winter or Motoharu.

"Not that I know of, let me try to contact him first," Goodwitch said as she pulled out her scroll and began tapping on it. However, just as Coco claimed, she received a message that declared Touma or at least his scroll, was out of range. With a click of her tongue, she tapped on her scroll again and soon enough, someone answered.

"Ozpin, speaking," a mild voice answered.

"Ozpin, have you been made aware that Mr Kamijou has been assigned to a mission?" Goodwitch asked.

"...No…" Ozpin answered before a large sigh filled the call and Goodwitch couldn't blame him. She shot a glance at Coco who pursed her lips with a nod, "Motoharu or James would've notified me if there was such a mission that required Touma. Is there something wrong?"

"As you know, I've assigned Ms Adel and her team to help Mr Kamijou with both combat training and other extracurricular skills and she has reported to me that he was nowhere to be found, I already tried contacting him and it claims that his scroll was out of range," Goodwitch reported.

Ozpin didn't answer for some time but she could hear some computer beeping and ruffling through the scroll before he finally said, "Hmm… Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Give me a couple of hours, if you don't hear from me by the evening, contact Qrow and James… discretely if possible."

Goodwitch frowned at the idea of contacting Qrow, not that she doubted his abilities, but rather his conduct. Deciding to bite down her concerns, for now, she replied, "Of course, I will talk to you later."

"Mmm, likewise Glynda," and with that, the line was cut.

Goodwitch leaned back into her chair and sighed as she took off her glasses and massaged her temples. Coco blinked as she asked a little timidly, completely different from her usual self, "Uhm, Professor? Is everything alright?"

Glynda put on her glasses back and straightened herself, "Yes, for now, don't worry about Mr Kamijou. The Headmaster has put it upon himself to make sure he is okay. As of now, put all plans with Mr Kamijou on hold, that includes Ms Scarlatina's tutor lessons with him."

"Okay, got it," the student nodded, however she couldn't help but frown behind her shades as she wondered what the headmaster and his right-hand lady were talking about, "What about our usual schedule, should we go back to it?"

"No, there's no need, while I expect you and your team to maintain their grades, we'll have Mr Kamijou back soon enough and those extracurricular activities will continue," Glynda answered, "Is there anything else?"

"No… that's just it," Coco replied before she stood up and nodded to her teacher, "I'll go tell my team now, goodbye Professor."

"Goodbye," the older woman replied and as she watched Coco leave the room, she sank into her chair once more as she had a feeling who was behind all this. Granted she had no proof, of what was happening with Touma, she couldn't help but suspect that a certain blonde huntsman with a penchant for nasty practices had a hand in this. She checked the clock and noticed that both hands were pointed to the right, with a single look at her scroll, she gripped it tightly and hoped that her leader had good news to share.


"Alright, alright, let's get the briefing started!" Motoharu clapped to grab everyone's attention. Touma, team RWBY and Motoharu's team turned to him, each one of them seated around a large wooden oval table with the blonde huntsman standing at the head. However, unlike RWBY, Motoharu's team was far more relaxed; Awaki balancing on the two hind legs of her chair with her own legs resting on the table, Oriana tapping at her scroll and Etzali

"Great, it only took us, what? A day and a half?" Yang muttered while rolling her eyes with Etzali chuckling to the side. Motoharu grinned widely as he turned on the screen behind him.

"You'll find, Yang, that this will be commonplace in your future career, so just stick with it, yeah?" Motoharu then stepped aside as images began to fill the screen, with one large image at the centre. Touma squinted as he saw a large gate and several bodies littered in front of it, each body adorning grey uniforms but stained in dark red patches.

"What the...?" Touma quietly muttered, he even heard Yang quietly curse behind him. Nothing could have prepared him for this, even with the last mission, being confronted by this many corpses was shocking.

"Couple of weeks ago, at gate four, a squad of Mistral Guards have been found eliminated. Now, while they certainly aren't huntsmen, these guys are trained," Motoharu explained as his grin vanished, "They can handle bandits and Grimm, and while it is possible that one may sustain an injury during an encounter, a complete wipe of a squad is… well, unprecedented, let alone a single death.

"From what the investigations have reported, we have determined that there were a number of vehicles that had entered Mistral City, unauthorised, what they were carrying or whoever they are, we do not know as all traces of video footage has been erased, likely by an inside job," he explained.

"Wait!" Weiss exclaimed as she pointed at the screen, "You kidnapped-"

"Recruited," Motoharu butted in, but Weiss ignored him.

"-Touma to deal with a Grimm and no one here is dumb enough to believe that Grimm uses vehicles or any other machinery for their purposes let alone knowing how to use them. From what I can tell, this seems more in the realms of bandits or terrorists, not Grimm!" she concluded as she shook her he head, "I can understand why the huntsmen are in on this, but what about the police? That's supposed to be under their purview."

Everyone looked at her before Awaki airily commented, "She has a point, you know. Besides, you've never really told us why you even needed them in the first place, just some troublesome Grimm, and seriously, if it is actually a Grimm that can drive… one, two… three… trucks?" she pointed at the image on the sets of tracks near the bodies, "Well, if they can drive those trucks, we'd all be in trouble."

"Haha, must've slipped my mind!" Motoharu laughed with an exaggerated sheepish grin but no one went along with it at all before he sighed as he held out his hands with a shrug, "You guys are no fun."

"Well, there's a time for a joke and all, but I don't see how a bunch of dead people is a joke," Yang chimed in as her friends murmured in agreement, even Oriana and Etzali nodded to that statement.

"Okay, okay, fair point, but regarding the whole vehicles thing, it was determined that yes, the Grimm is actually the cause, and if it fulfils certain conditions, we are in a whole boatload of trouble," Motoharu said as more images popped up in front of the screen, revealing more corpses in a different environment, with stone pavings and walls along with a couple of trucks covered in faint trails of blood. "You see, it turns out that the people driving those trucks were more or less being controlled. We've found a couple of dead John and Jane Does near the abandoned vehicles, clearly not within the residential registry. We did manage to track those vehicles via cameras to Gate Four and as a result, well…"

He clicked a small device in his hand and a familiar image popped up on the screen, it was the very same image Touma had seen on the newspaper that Weiss had read. It displayed the Mistral guards lined up in front of steel barriers, each one of them with their hands clasped behind their backs and signs displaying 'QUARANTINE ZONE, DO NOT ENTER'. He muttered as if in realisation, "The Quarantine Zone? The council pretended the whole area is the Quarantine Zone?"

"...Makes sense, the Quarantine Zone was set up pretty quickly after the incident at Gate Four," Stiyl said with a nod as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Even without the cigarette in his mouth, Touma could still smell the nicotine off him.

"They're trying to avoid mass panic if news of Grimm that killed a bunch of guards had entered the city..." Touma deduced as he rubbed his chin.

"There'd be mass pandemonium and we'd have no idea how the Grimm would react from there! Now, I'm sure you all understand that by now, this Grimm problem is a pretty unusual case, and Index..." Motoharu gestured towards an unfamiliar girl to Touma. As she stood up, Touma was surprised that the girl was perhaps even shorter than Ruby by at least half a head and her face framed by flowing blue hair seemed to make her even younger than his scythe-wielding friend. Motoharu grinned as the girl stepped to his side, "... will tell you all about our target."

Index trotted up to the head of the table and took Motoharu's place as he stepped back next to the screen. Everyone on team RWBY raised an eyebrow at how young the girl looked even younger than Motoharu's team who were all fully-fledged huntsmen. The girl cleared her throat and began fiddling with the small device, her face tensed as she struggled with it.

"Uhh… isn't she too young to be a huntsman?" Yang whispered to Weiss who was closest to her besides Touma.

"Really, Yang? She's not a huntsman, but a professor, she has done a lot of research into Grimm. How do you not know her?" Weiss asked a little exasperated but her blonde teammate shrugged. She sighed in disbelief and muttered, "She's the one who authored our textbook for Grimm Studies… though... I did imagine her to be a bit older…"

Touma couldn't believe that the person was a professor herself, unless she was a walking fountain of youth or a super prodigy and as Yang whistled impressed behind him, he found himself nodding at the achievement, though the girl at the head of the table grunted as she attempted to wrestle with the device until Motoharu sighed and stepped up to help. Eventually, the screen displayed two images of the Grimm with Motoharu heading back to his previous position and Index clearing her throat as she stood ready.

"Your target, is the Covenant. Honestly, we have very limited data about them as we rarely had cases or encounters with that Grimm," Index said a little worried before she shook her head and straightened up as much as she could, "But I will tell you everything we have gathered.

"Unlike most Grimm, the Covenant is made up of two different Grimm. It is comprised of multiple Sentinels..." Index explained as she held up a laser pointer, targeting the first image. The Grimm depicted on it was a humanoid-like Grimm with relatively long arms and the signature bone-white plating covered it like armour with its mask having a single cross slit, revealing a single red eye. She then pointed at the second picture with a Grimm shaped like a cocoon, every part of its body covered in white plating with a few black cracks and at the top was a single mask shaped unnervingly like a human's, "...and a single Effigy."

"Okay, so you," Awaki pointed to Motoharu as she took her feet off the table, her chair landing on its four legs as she leaned forward, "Pulled us from all our current operations, got us all the way to Vale, kidnapped a bunch of kids, all for a goon squad of Grimm and one that is shaped like an oversized dildo? Are you serious!?"

Yang snickered while almost everyone else either shook their heads in amusement or wisely decided to maintain their silence even if offended by the somewhat crude language. The blonde girl followed up, "Yeah, I mean, I know that there might be more to it than it seems but, having like a dozen huntsmen take on a few Grimm is kind of overkill, don'cha think?"

"Well, you got me, normally it would be overkill," Motoharu said with a chuckle of his own as he gave a pointed look to the young girl, "But…"

Index nodded without a single indication of amusement and continued, "These Grimm possesses qualities that makes most conventional methods less than ideal, especially in a populated area. If we don't eliminate the Effigy, then the potential damage would be... catastrophic. The case of the very same Grimm headed by Acqua's team had taught us this much."

"Umm… I thought Acqua worked alone?" Ruby piped up, she had heard and read stories about him, perhaps the most famous huntsman to date.

"Yeah, I didn't know he had a team either," Touma concurred as everyone else murmured in agreement.

"Well, at one point he was with a team," Motoharu said and shook his head, "But that is irrelevant to the case at hand."

"Hmmm, still, it doesn't change the fact that what you have told us is basically what any Grimm would do if we left it alone," Oriana pointed out as she wagged a pen at them, "What makes them so dangerous?"

Index nodded and pointed the laser at the first image, "The Sentinels are more or less the muscle of the Covenant. From what we have gathered, they are perhaps one of the few Grimm that isn't as aggressive as say, a Beowulf or Ursa. They only seem to attack if the Effigy is in danger, on top of that, their limbs are known to extend up to several metres, something like the Imp. Finally, they can… umm… imitate voice, though how is still a mystery. According to the notes by Peter Port, he hypothesized that they are capable of learning… mannerisms and even imitate martial arts to a high proficiency.-"

"Hold on! Professor Port!?" Yang blurted out, with her team and Touma perking up at the mention of the name.

"Mhmm, though his teaching style leaves a lot to be desired," Etzali chuckled as he leaned forward to look at the bewildered team, "Peter… or Professor Port is genuinely a very competent huntsman. He's known to scout and study about new Grimm and is considered one of the best in terms of first encounters."

"Woah… I just…" Yang muttered.

"...can't believe it," Ruby finished as their friends nodded in agreement.

The young girl cleared her throat, quickly grabbing the attention of the room as she continued her lecture,"The Effigy is a little more of a mystery, but from the report we have, it is the centre of the Covenant. If you kill it, then it effectively dissolves the Sentinels as well, we theorise that they have some sort of symbiotic relationship, but we don't know the details of how it works either, neither Professor Port nor Acqua's report had definitively answered that. There are two things we do know, though; First, it is known for its extremely sturdy outer shell, so far only two cases of it being killed has been recorded. One by Acqua, known for his strength and the other by an Atlesian Thermo-dust bomb..." Index explained, some of the huntsmen and huntsmen trainees glanced at each other at the mention of extreme firepower needed to take it out, "... and Secondly, it is known to affect the mental state of both humans and Faunus with a variety of effects. We aren't able to verify how it does that, but we have confirmed cases where it led to drastic behavioural changes, suicidal tendencies and… cardiac arrests. That's all pertinent things we have on the Covenant."

"Uhh… So, why not just go full assault on the thing? I mean, don't get me wrong, just a few smacks should do it in, even if it is hardy and all. I could probably have it eat my knuckle sandwich and it'll cave," Yang proclaimed with a grin as she smacked her fist into her palm.

"Heh, not bad blondy, I agree with her, Etzali mentioned she's the CQB specialist, right?" Awaki asked with Etzali nodding in agreement, "Her and Stiyl alone should have the firepower to take'em down easy. Add Oriana's support and we're done."

"Uhh… wait, how'd you know I'm-" Yang asked a little confused.

"I've spied on all of you," Etzali supplied with a smile. Every Beacon student turned to him with widened eyes. Blake, Weiss and Touma's faces twitched as they remembered his semblance, almost flinching in disgust at Etzali's words. Yang and Ruby soon arrived to the same conclusion and mirrored their friends.

"Well, as much as I'd like to leave that to your capable hands," Motoharu butted in, "The risks of you getting overtaken the Covenant is unacceptable," He leaned forward as he peered at them, his finger tapping on the desk as he continued, "Hence, we will have Kami-yan deal with the Effigy with his Semblance. Should he turn, there won't be too much issue from them taking him over."

"Woah! I get that you need him, but it sounds like you're willing to throw him into a Grimm situation like he's expendable," Yang said, despite the pun, her voice held no cheekiness to it.

"Whether it is a viable move or not, you didn't mention how we're going to support him, if at all," Blake added as her eyes flashed at Motoharu.

"Well of course he isn't going to go alone, but that's the reality of the situation, chances are if he turns, he's out," Motoharu shrugged.

Touma scratched his head as he sighed at the attitude of the frivolous boy. The risk didn't bother him at all, especially when he considered his own capabilities and the risks Motoharu alluded to. "I don't mind dealing with the Effigy, but why me?"

"Touma…" Blake glanced at him, surprising him with how she was looking at him. Was she worried?

Someone whistled, catching everyone's attention as Etzali chuckled and asked, "It's like you expected this, Touma."

"He did, I gave him a brief rundown last night," Motoharu said nonchalantly.

"But, why him?" Ruby asked, curious to why they chose Touma specifically for this task.

"...Because unlike me or most other huntsmen, it seems that his ability is far more subtle in handling Grimm without the need of using large amounts of aura or powerful weaponry," Stiyl answered as he peered at Touma, he was about to fish into his pockets, he froze as Index next to him cleared her throat. Sheepishly, he sat back with an uncomfortable sigh as everyone around him amusedly shook their heads at him.

"Yep, if that doesn't work, well, we'll just bomb the suspected districts thoroughly," Motoharu said with a helpless shrug, "So, no pressure."

"You're going to bomb the city!?" Weiss asked as she stood up, her teammates all murmured disbelief.

"That seems a little extreme," Ruby agreed, nodding, "I mean, there are other ways right?"

"Probably, but the Council aren't taking any chances and we got lucky we were even given the green light for this operation," Motoharu answered, receiving a derisive snort from Awaki and Stiyl while Oriana and Etzali both shook their heads, "Remember, a lot of lives ride on this mission, and like the Council, we can't take chances as well. I guess you could say, we're the 'plan A' and the bomb is 'plan B'."

"B-besides, if we bring in more powerful huntsmen, it can end up backfiring with more lives lost, we just can't risk it," Index added as she wrung her hands and looked down, "The last two cases had ended up with that situation and the headmaster doesn't want to risk sending extremely powerful huntsmen after it."

"This… this is insane!" the Schnee heir exclaimed as she leaned forward, "You can't just bomb-"

"That's not my decision nor am I to reject it, if we don't want to turn half the city into a crater, then we're just going to have to succeed, right?" Motoharu asked as he gestured towards them, "Which leads to our objectives; First is to locate the Grimm, eliminate it and then limit the influences of the White Fang and the Kihara Clan."

"Hold on! You're jumping all over the place, what do you mean the White Fang and the Kihara Clan?" Weiss asked as she shook her head.

"Yeah, last time I checked, there were no White Fang flunkies in Mistral, thought they only have people in Vale," Yang mused.

Blake shifted in her seat as she focused on the presenting huntsman as he rubbed his chin. She had a good idea what he meant by 'the White Fang' and she swallowed a lump in her throat as she realised how intertwined they would be with that organisation and that grew an abyss like feeling in her stomach. Touma glanced worriedly at her who noticed her friend and shook her head silently, earning her a nod from him.

"The White Fang, or more specifically the Mistral Seeker's Church maintains a large portion of power here in the city, as does the Kihara Clan," Motoharu explained, "You may not like it, but we will be coordinating with them to locate the Grimm-"

"What! We're working with the White Fang? The Kihara Clan? Are you serious!?" Weiss shot a finger at Motoharu.

"I'm with her, those two groups have pulled in civilians against their will before," Oriana as she crossed her arms.

"Exactly! They're criminals, terrorists!" Weiss barked as placed her hands on the table.

Blake gritted her teeth at the labels being spewed out by her teammate. While she wasn't aware of who or what the Kihara Clan was, she knew that most of the White Fang wouldn't stoop to acts willingly that would label them as criminals or terrorists, especially the church. As she was about to stand up and refute her teammate, someone beat her to the punch.

"While I agree that the White Fang has made questionable decisions, and violent ones at that, most of them aren't terrorists or criminals, at least not willingly," Awaki pointed out lowly with an almost guttural undertone as she glanced to her side at Weiss, "Discrimination made by many, especially you and your kind have pushed them there in the first place."

Weiss recoiled at the remark and glowered at Awaki who turned her attention back to her leader. As she was about to make an answer, Motoharu cleared his throat and said, "Whether they are terrorists, criminals or whatever coloured-unicorn you want them to be, it is not our problem right now. We don't have the luxury to not work with them, especially with a far greater threat than the two combined. I'm not asking any of you to like them, but to work with them, at least temporarily."

Weiss closed her mouth, her face stony as if she swallowed a bitter pill and sat down with both Yang and Touma glancing worriedly at her. Blake herself flashed a scowl at her while flickering her eyes towards Awaki, she had almost forgotten that the pig-tailed girl was a Faunus herself.

"...There is one thing that… interests me, I initially thought that the Kihara Clan would not be interested in working with us, what changed?" Etzali asked, "It's a complete far cry from how they operate and I'd imagine, even with the Grimm threat, they wouldn't care."

Motoharu snapped his fingers and said, "Yep they wouldn't and they don't." Everyone shared a confused look as he snickered and continued, "You are exactly right! However, there is a small group of Kihara's that is willing to work with us, but not officially. The White Fang had already set up their own taskforce and are willing to join the party as well."

Weiss grumbled while her teammates and Touma tensed at the idea of working with a known violent group. Blake, in particular, wasn't eager to work with a group that had tried to kill her, yet at the same time, she saw an opportunity that the White Fang weren't killers but a group of Faunus trying to better the lives of their people, but something scratched at the back of her head. As if realising a significant point, she asked, "You mentioned this earlier, what do you mean by limiting their influence?"

"As I said before, the two of them holds a lot of control over this City, if you think about it, this city could be roughly split between us, the church and the Kihara's. However, even if their motives are aligned with ours, there's an opportunity we can come out on top and gain control over those two organisations after we deal with the Grimm," Motoharu answered and then he clicked on the remote, the images on the screen started to replace itself with new ones which displayed buildings and people dressed in white robes with gold trimmings or black robes with silver trimmings, "That's another reason why we are working with them, so we can have an idea what actions they will be taking. That being said, tonight there will be a meeting between them and us, but considering their track record…"

"Ahh… I see, it's going to be one of those," Awaki muttered as she rolled her eyes and jerked her thumb at her junior colleagues, "Fine, but we're not bringing them along, they'll just get in the way."

"Hold on a second, I'm pretty sure we can handle anything you throw at us," Yang declared as she tilted her chin upwards but the Faunus huntsman snorted and turned away.

"You know they'll just be a liability," Awaki pointed out, her eyes flashing in warning, "They might handle a few Sentinels or whatever, but they aren't ready for this."

"Actually, I'm already having them in this operation, besides," Motoharu's shades glinted from the lighting above as he smiled toothily, "It shouldn't be too hard, yeah? Heck if everything goes well, we'd all be walking out of this night, alive."


Ruby wasn't sure if she was excited, nervous or the combination of all three. She was on an actual mission, granted it wasn't sanctioned by the school or from Vale and it had nothing to do with hunting Grimm as of yet, it was still a feeling she couldn't get her nerves to settle down. However, there she stood on the flat rooftop of a three-storey building as she can hear the bustling sound of pedestrians below her with men and women shouting at them about their wares.

"Okay, you set up?" Ruby turned to her partner for the mission, Awaki. Her face was barely illuminated by the shattered moon above, but Ruby could still make out her cold eyes. She dug in her pocket and pulled out a red magazine of sniper rounds with a dark purple tinge on the bullets. Awaki raised an eyebrow and asked, "Huh, so you weren't lying when you said you'd only use non-lethal rounds."

"I'm not going to kill anyone, even Motoharu said we should avoid it if we can," Ruby pointed out as she pushed the magazine into her sniper.

"Right, what about that time you tried to shoot him with a flame dust round? Pretty sure you tried to kill him there," Awaki said casually as she knelt at the edge of the roof.

Ruby froze as she remembered the incident very clearly, but she also knew that when she pulled that trigger, she wasn't thinking, it was more instinctive or reflexive if anything. She pursed her lips and replied stonily, "That was… different."

"Ahuh… honestly, I don't blame you. Tsuchimikado has a special talent for pissing off people no matter who they are, hell, half of us tolerate him," Awaki informed with a half-hearted shrug, "The only reason we have the mind to keep him around is because he gets results… so eh… don't feel too bad or whatever, let's just keep our mind on this."

Ruby blinked before she nodded as she set her Crescent Rose down in sniper mode with a bipod and laid down as she tried to find the most comfortable position, once she was ready, she licked her lips as she peeked through the scope. Her vision flooded with orange lighting as men, women and children went about their business, whether it was buying food or trinkets from the stalls or meeting up with other people. She moved her scope as she took in every detail before landing on a pair of large wooden doors, above it was a stone plaque named 'The Blind Goat'.

"Alright, so 'The Blind Goat'... that's where they're gonna meet up?" Ruby asked as she moved her line of sight again towards each window. Her partner laid down beside her and began making clicking noises, which was probably a pair of binoculars if she had to guess.

"Yep, let's make sure we got our bearings. Check to the right of the building you should see some dude eating a toffee apple," Awaki instructed, Ruby affirmed it as she followed more instructions, moving her scope and sighting various landmarks before her experienced partner was satisfied. After a couple more minutes of getting the lay of the land, the older huntsman declared, "Good, now we just gotta wait an hour or so and it's showtime. I'll contact the rest of them, let them know we're ready."

Ruby grunted in the affirmative and the two laid down silently, she wasn't keen on making conversation with her partner and it would seem that the Faunus wasn't either. She was worried for most of her team, Yang and Touma especially as they were instructed to be with Motoharu inside the building. Blake and Weiss were somewhere outside, probably blending in with the environment or keeping watch like she is.

"Alright, Team two is ready, we're on the third floor, can you see us, Team four?" Etzali's voice suddenly pierced through her blank thoughts. That was Blake's assigned team, she hastily moved her scope up towards the third row of windows and as she scanned each window, she saw a blinking light flashing at her.

"Yeah, I see you, umm… Team two," Ruby spoke into her headpiece, her face reddened a bit as she heard Awaki snickered next to her.

"Excellent," Etzali replied brightly and the light at the window stopped blinking.

"Team three is in position as well," Stiyl's voice chimed in, Ruby noted that this was the team Weiss was assigned to, "Awaki, can you see us?"

"Yeah, yeah, can see you three, just make sure Oriana doesn't flirt with some guys and we're good," Awaki replied as she shifted beside Ruby, "Any word from Tsuchimikado?"

"No, the three of us haven't seen any signs of the White Fang or the Kihara, we'll be on standby and give you a heads up if we see anything, Team three, out," Stiyl reported.

"Good, we'll be on standby and do the same, Team two, out" Etzali replied and the line was cut. Once again, Ruby was left with her thoughts as she kept her eyes on the scope.

"Okay, if things go smoothly, you won't have to pull the trigger and things won't go to hell," Awaki muttered to her ear, "Keep an eye at the door, Stiyl and the others should have an eye at the back. If you need to pull the trigger, only do it when I say so, we don't need to have everyone screaming for their lives."

Ruby nodded and adjusted the scope to the wooden doors, flanked at the sides were two bouncers wearing sharp black suits. While the bouncers barely moved, only turning their heads or letting in guests every once in a while, Ruby let out a sigh, somewhat disappointed that nothing was going on.

"That bored huh?" Awaki asked suddenly, the young huntsman-in-training rigidly grinned as she realised how audible her boredom was.

"That obvious?" she asked in return with a rigid laugh.

"Mhmm, well I don't blame you, ops like these tends to be a lot of sitting around, doing nothing… sometimes ends up with nothing happening," the older huntsman replied casually.

"Oh…" Ruby had to admit, that was a lot less exciting than she initially thought.

"Oi, look alive, check to the right of the building, guy in white and black bowler hat, you see him?" Awaki pointed out.

Ruby grunted as she moved her sniper scope to and among the sea of random civilians, she spied someone she didn't expect to be in Mistral City. The man easily stood out with the white jacket with a cigar hanging from his lips and tufts of orange hair peeking from his hat. In his gloved hand was small paper carton with some kind of sauced meatballs in it.

"R-Roman Torchwick!?" Ruby breathed out, what was he doing here?

"Yeah… who woulda thought? Last time I heard, he was arrested in Vale or something... and look behind him," Awaki said grimly.

Ruby's eyes widened as she saw a small group of people marching behind Roman. Their outfits were certainly different compared to all the other people, it was somehow more conservative with the white or black robes, but what caught her attention was the mask. The mask reminded her of some of the television news reports she had seen, mostly associated with a well known Faunus exclusive group.

"Guys, you won't believe this, Roman Torchwick is here, at the north-east street. He's with the White Fang," Awaki reported into her radio, Ruby could pick up some sort of sardonic amusement and slight disbelief in her voice, yet at the same time, was completely calm about it.

"I've heard the rumours, didn't really take it seriously…" Etzali's voice said, "Huh… so he really is with the White Fang, that's definitely weird. Doesn't fit his or their M.O. Either the White Fang had an overhaul in leadership..."

"Or they are getting desperate…" Blake's voice suddenly finished Etzali's sentence, in a way that made Ruby frown, she had never heard her stoic teammate sound that despirited before.

"He's approaching the pub," Ruby reported as she pushed out the millions of questions that spun in her head, "You guys be careful, he's a criminal and-"

"Yeah, don't worry about him, he might be a surprise, but he's hardly the main concern, if anything, the White Fang will probably do the same as us and have backup teams around here," Awaki replied in a completely casual manner and Ruby took her eyes off the scope to stare at her partner who still had her eyes on the scope.

"Back up teams?" she asked, a little alarmed at the off-handed statement.

"Yeah, the Church might not be the most organised group of White Fang, but they're no slouches either," Awaki said.

"Indeed, and that leads to our other role. We're all here to intercept those teams should we need to," Etzali confirmed lightly.

"Mhmm, as long as we keep a cool head, we should be fine," Oriana added smoothly and though faint, Ruby could hear various background voices from her end.

"Okay… but what about Roman? He's a murderer!" Ruby pointed out as she turned to Awaki, who kept her eyes on her binoculars.

"Nah, like Tsuchimikado said, the Kihara is always the bigger concern… speaking of which, guys, I got eyes on the Kihara," Awaki reported as she tapped on Ruby's arm. The young girl hastily focused her attention through the scope once again as her partner said, "I see them, with two others left side by the noodle stand, Rose."

Through the scope, Ruby scanned through the crowd, but nothing stood out like Roman and the White Fang. From what Weiss had described to her, she expected lab coats and suits, and the only ones sporting the suits were the bouncers in front of the bar. With a grumble, she said, "Can't find them."

"Check the dog with the weird backpack," Awaki ordered. Ruby grunted as she scanned the crowd once more until she found a golden retriever with a weird mechanical contraption on its back. The dog was flanked by two girls; a blonde girl with pigtails in a school uniform holding a corn-dog while the other girl had a black woollen vest and business-like attire holding an assortment of festival food as well.

"Found'em."

"Good, those are the Kihara's, keep an eye on them," Awaki said. Ruby blinked once, and then twice, before her jaws dropped, two girls with a dog was not what she expected of a Kihara. "I thought you would be more surprised that this…" her partner commented, "I mean when I first saw them, yeah… definitely not what I expected."

"It is weird!" Ruby blurted out, "Those two girls are the Kihara's? Which one is Noukan?"

Awaki remained silent as the young girl tried to come to terms with the fact that two girls are literal evil scientists, according to Weiss. Maybe her teammate was mistaken, but then again, she was rarely wrong in anything.

"That would be the dog, don't let appearances fool you," Stiyl suddenly joined in the conversation and Ruby could've sworn that he was laughing inwardly, "Oh, and that dog, Noukan? He's smarter than all of us put together ten times over."

"You're kidding…" Ruby muttered as she focussed on the dog, it didn't look any different from any other golden retriever.

They had to be joking, but she couldn't hear a single snicker from the girl beside her and while there was amusement in Stiyl's voice, no one else was laughing. Sure there were smart dogs around, she'd like to think Zwei was an intelligent dog but this Noukan Kihara dog being smarter than everyone? Ruby pursed her lips as she shook her head and refocused on her role, suddenly feeling a little ridiculed.


Phew, had a tough month, but I pushed through, holidays are coming up so I'm hoping that all of you will have the greatest next few weeks! Until next time!