The students waited, it had been twenty minutes since class started and their teacher was no where to be seen. Some of them passed the time by chatting others reviewed their notes from other classes and a few napped, but as the hour ticked their teacher still had not arrived. One of the students asked if they should go look for him or let another professor know that he was late, but who?

"I'll go" a male student with blonde hair said standing up.

"Don't take too long Jaune" a nearby student told him, "There's a chance he may show up before you get back."

Jaune let out a weak chuckle, "Knowing my luck that's exactly what would happen."

"Did something happen?" the boy asked himself walking out into the hall, "Professor Sin has always been punctual and if was ever unable to make it he arranged for a substitute."

Opening the door to the nearest classroom he entered, "Uh. Excuse me" he hesitated.

"Mr. Arc!" a voice quickly exclaimed before a slender green haired man appeared in front of him, "Why aren't you in class right now?"

Jaune stuttered, "Uh, sorry to interrupt it's just. Professor Sin hasn't shown up."

The teacher leaned down to meet his eyes adjusting his glasses as they slid down his nose, "I beg your pardon?"

Jaune leaned back, Oobleck's overly active personality always bothered him, "Well it's been an hour since class started and he hasn't shown up. So I. I just thought I'd come tell another teacher since we don't know what to do."

"I see" Oobleck replied quickly straightening himself, "Very well. I will give a call to Ozpin and Goodwitch and inform them. Please return to your class post haste. Inform your classmates that they are to use this time as a study hall and review their material."

Oobleck turned to his students, "You are all to do the same I will return shortly" with that the professor zoomed out of the classroom a trail of papers flying from his desk as he did.

As he was told, Jaune returned to his class telling them Oobleck wanted them to use this time to study which they did and when the bell rang their teacher still had not arrived.

"Maybe he overslept?" one student suggested.

"He does work a lot" another said, "He spends most of his time in his lab studying the. Well you know."

"Do you think something happened?" another student thought, "An attack or an outbreak somewhere?"

"I think we would have heard about it if that happened."

The steel door to Sin's lab flew open slamming against the steel wall, the echo loud enough to wake the dead as Professor Goodwitch marched across the monolithic floor toward the back where Sin was standing watching the wall mounted monitor.

"Sin!" she nearly yelled as she approached him, "In case you haven't noticed you had a class to teach. Four hours ago!"

"I've been busy" he answered coldly holding up a remote and pressing a button.

Glynda looked at the monitor and her eyes went wide at the paused image, "What is this?"

Sin started the footage from the beginning, "An emergency feed from one of the research facilities in Atlas. One of their staff became infected, he turned and began attacking everyone and the captive grimm were released."

Glynda watched as doctors and researchers screamed for their lives as their turned colleague and the released grimm tore them apart, blood splattering against the walls before their screams were replaced by gargles unable to form a single word. The footage ended with the body of a female doctor being thrown against a desk half her face mauled as it landed in front of the camera. Glynda turned away unable to watch while Sin started the video from the beginning once again.

"When did this happen?" she asked him.

"This morning" he told her looking at the time stamp of the video, "They managed to broadcast it to every other facility, but no one has been able to contact them since. Chances are they're all dead."

Glynda looked back at him keeping the monitor out of her peripheral, "Why haven't we heard anything about this?"

"It's being covered up" he told her, "I tried to contact the facility myself through direct communications and got nothing. Then I tried calling through the military switchboard and they told me there was too much traffic to connect my call. The Atlas military is trying to keep this under wraps."

Glynda risked another look at the monitor, "Why would they do that?"

"To avoid a panic?" Sin guessed, "Though they won't be able to keep it quiet for long" he turned to monitor off and walked back to his desk.

"What do you mean?" Glynda asked returning her attention to him.

"Protocol" Sin told her, "All of the facilities dedicated to researching the virus have a contamination protocol in place. If an outbreak occurs in a single room, the room is sealed and sterilized, by fire. But if the outbreak cannot be confined and spreads to multiple parts of the facility, then the virus is sterilized along with the facility."

It didn't take long for her to realize what he meant, the facility would be destroyed to prevent the outbreak from spreading.

"Wait" she said, "You said all of the research facilities have that protocol? Does that include your lab here?"

Sin nodded, "Of course."

"So you're telling me your lab is essentially a bomb? ON CAMPUS!"

"No it's not a bomb" he told her, "I'm not insane. That door you came through, there's a reason it's made of steel and as big as it is, the same goes for the floor, the walls and the ceiling. If an outbreak occurs in here, that door, the only way in and out of here gets sealed and everything in here gets torched. Complete containment and sterilization."

Glynda crossed her arms glaring at him, "And how come I haven't heard of this until now?"

Sin shrugged, "I don't know ask Ozpin, he okayed it and had it built for me when I agreed to work here as a teacher" he sat at his desk, "Now it looks like I'm going to have to take more time off. I may need to go out to the facility in Vrede, they may have had a breakthrough and I need to be there."

"What kind of breakthrough?" Glynda asked him, "It'd better be important if it's going to get in the way of your job as a teacher."

Sin handed her a clipboard, "They think they've finally traced the origins of the virus."

Glynda's arms fell to her side, "Really?" she asked her stern tone gone replaced by hope.

"Maybe" Sin clarified, "They're still unsure, but I'm going to head there and look it over myself."

He flipped through several pages on a clipboard, "Going back through records these creatures didn't start showing up until two years before the end of the war, and they first appeared in Vacuo."

Glynda watched him set the clipboard down and reach for another, "We already know that, what kind of lead would that be?"

He handed her a report, "They were shipped there. In containers, by boat. And since we know these creatures can't survive being in captivity for more than a few days that limits the number of places they could have come from. The island to the far south, the island that became Menagerie, that's a five day trip by boat so we can rule it out. The shortest trip between Anima and Vacuo would be a week by water, so that leaves the entire western side of Vale and the south west portion of Mantle and Vacuo itself."

Glynda looked over the report, for once a piece of paper in this lab that wasn't a bunch of scientific gibberish, "That's still a lot of ground to cover."

Sin nodded, "But it's more than what we had. The first priority is to see if any shipping logs from back then are still around in some old record storage and if they are we can track find the ship by narrowing down the dates and track it back to it's point of origin. If that doesn't work well, then we have to think of something else. Either way it puts us closer to finding a way to end this."

"Well" Glynda said setting the report back on his desk, "Clearly this takes priority over your classes. I'll talk to Ozpin and arrange a substitute."

Sin slid her a slip of paper, "Alfred Norne, my old teammate. He's a retired huntsman, but I did teach him a lot about field medicine and emergency first aid. Assuming he can take time away from his current job he'd make a good substitute. And of course there's always Ivy, but I don't want to ask her to cover multiple classes."

Glynda sighed, "So you don't want to ask another to do some extra work, but you'll work yourself to the bone without a second thought?"

"I'm used to it" Sin answered standing up from his desk and turning to one of his cabinets, "Also there's no one else to do it."

"There are nearly a thousand people" the combat instructor reminded him, "Around Remnant there are hundreds working toward the same thing you are."

He slid the cabinet drawer closed, "And in the past five years I've made more progress than an entire facility, by myself."

Their scrolls rang, an emergency news alert was being broadcast.

Sin dived for his scroll on his desk, "No, come on" he begged.

"We've just received word from an airfield in Anima, an airship carrying passengers from Mistral to Vale including a class of first-year students from Haven has crashed. The airship sent out an emergency S.O.S broadcast after being attacked by a swarm of lancers. Rescue crews and a group of huntsman were dispatched to the area along with local authorities to search for survivors, so far none have been found. We will continue to cover this story as events unfold and will keep you updated."

Glynda turned her scroll of casting her eyes to the floor, as tough and strict as she appeared in front of her students, she was still human and the events of the day began to compound and crush her.

Sin dropped his scroll back on his desk, "This is why I work" he said, "Why I push myself so far, why I refuse to sleep or eat. The sooner we find a cure the sooner we can eradicate these monsters" he braced himself against the edge of his desk hanging his head as he leaned forward, "And the sooner people can stop dying, the sooner children can stop dying."

"Even so" Glynda began the tragedies of the day still weighing on her, "You're no good to anyone if you work yourself to death. Even you need to rest at some point."

Silence, Sin stood there unsure of what to say next. She had a point, her, Ozpin, Ivy, Port and Oobleck even Peach. They all told him countless times he worked too much and needed to slow down and take time to rest and he knew they were right, but, he couldn't. He couldn't bring himself to slow down, he couldn't allow himself to rest until he was on the verge of collapse, if he stopped even for a day he feared dozens would suffer and die. This was his goal, his dream in life, to find a cure for the virus that plagued their world.

He pushed off his desk and turned his back to her walking toward the supply closet grabbing a briefcase and began gathering documents. He didn't say another word silently sorting through various reports and trial notes before setting them in the case, preparing for his trip out of the city. Vrede was only a five hour trip by airship so depending on how long he planned to stay at the main lab he should only be gone a couple of days.

He closed the lid of the steel briefcase sliding the dial wheels to lock the latch, "If all goes well I'll be back in a few days" he finally said grabbing his brown fur lined jacket, "If I end up staying longer I'll be sure to contact you."

Glynda crossed her arms once more, "Not like I can stop you" she said, her usual tone returning, "Just come back in one piece."

The two left, Sin locking his lab behind him and saying goodbye to Glynda as he stepped off the elevator and made his way to the bullhead landing. His jacket slung over his shoulder and the briefcase with his research in hand he sent a message to the lead of the Vrede lab telling them he would be leaving Beacon shortly, he noticed a missed call on the screen, Ivy had tried to call him earlier, just before Glynda arrived in his lab. Her voicemail as usual was her complaining about him working too much and missing his class, not that he blamed her.

"Sorry Ivy" he said sliding the scroll back into his pocket, "Hopefully one day I won't have to do this anymore."

Arriving at the bullhead landing he saw a second ship waiting with four students preparing to board. Judging by the way they were going over their bags it seemed they were about to leave on a mission, though it was hard to tell what team it was until he saw one of the students stand.

"Team CFVY" he noted, seeing the towering form of Yatsuhashi Daichi, no other student in Beacon or staff member matched his height.

A star team that was not only one of the best in Beacon, but top of the second-year class. Since their formation they had an impressive track record every time they went into the field. It was Velvet, the faunus girl with rabbit ears that saw him first, she waved as he approached calling out a greeting to him which made the doctor smile.

Velvet was normally a shy and rather timid girl often staying quiet in most matters and outside of her own team rarely talking to others, but when it came to him she was always happy.

"Hello Velvet" he greeted her, "Ms. Adel, Mr. Alistar, Mr. Daichi."

"Professor Sin" Yatsuhashi nodded.

"Came to see us off?" Coco asked him.

Sin shook his head, "No, I'm on my way to the research lab in Vrede for a conference, but since I saw one of my favorite teams here I may as well say hello."

Velvet smiled, "Are you alright?" she asked him, "I heard you missed your classes today."

Sin nodded, "I'm more or less fine, just, had a lot of work that couldn't wait. I should've alerted Ozpin or Glynda, but I was too focused on my research."

The faunus girl's smile faded a little, "Oh. Any luck?"

Sin shook his head, "Nothing of note, but the lab in Vrede may have had a breakthrough" each of the students locked their attention on him, "That's why I'm heading out there. They've called for a meeting with the head of each facility and lab so we can all take a look at it together."

"I see" Velvet replied looking at the ground, "Well we're off to the eastern quadrant, a town out there has requested aid to help clear out a pack of grimm that have been prowling around. Thankfully no one's been hurt so far."

"That's good" Sin answered before grinning, "A town in the eastern quadrant huh? A pack of grimm lurking about. Reminds of a time I met a little faunus girl who got lost in the forest."

Velvet's shoulders raised covering her neck as she smiled shyly, "Crying her eyes out before a beowolf appeared" Sin continued, "But she was saved by a, rather dashing and well dressed huntsman."

Velvet looked up at him remembering just as clearly as he did the day they met nearly nine years ago, the day she nearly died until he appeared and saved her and the day she decided she would become a huntress.

"I should thank you for that" Coco said leaning against Velvet's shoulder, "If it wasn't for you I never would have met my special bun here."

Velvet's cheeks flushed, "Coco" she muttered looking away once more causing her leader and teacher to laugh.

"Keep each other safe" Sin told them, "I'll see you all when I get back."

He turned around heading to his own bullhead when he stopped and called back, "Oh and Velvet. Be sure to take some good pictures for me."

Velvet called back as he stepped onto the airship, "I will" she waved watching the ship leave, before boarding the other with her team.

Heading in opposite directions she watched the dot in the sky get smaller as it got farther away, her smile fading with it over the horizon. Her and her teammates saw the news broadcast about the ship from Mistral that was attacked and crashed and she knew he had seen it as well. Every time there was a grimm attack bad enough to make the news Sin would always lock himself in his lab and focus solely on his work for days on end. He wasn't just going to the other lab to attend a conference, he was going so he could have access to their research and equipment and he wouldn't sleep or rest as long as he was there.

Feeling a hand on her shoulder Velvet looked behind her to see Coco, "He'll be alright" she told Velvet.

Velvet looked back out at the empty sky, "He works harder than anyone else when it comes to the grimm. He won't be back in a few days, he'll be gone for a week maybe longer without sleeping and without food. Like he always does."

"He does it for you" Yatsuhashi said sitting on the floor crossing his legs, "He does it for all the students at Beacon and everyone in Remnant, but you're special to him. You've been his favorite student since you started here and you're history together. He wants to make sure you have a safe future ahead of you."

"I know" Velvet answered, "I just don't want it to come at the cost of his own health."