"Velvet on your left!" Coco called out ducking under a beowolf's claws and retaliating by smacking it with her designer bag.
Her faunus teammate leaped into the air back flipping over another beowolf the camera at her hip projecting a blue-white light that took the form of her leader's designer bag. Taking the hard light copy construct by the handle with both hands Velvet brought it down on the monster's head as she landed behind it sending it to the ground. She smiled pleased with herself as the grimm dissolved into black mist, her skills had come a long way since she first entered Beacon.
"Good job" Coco told her setting her hand on her shoulder, "Now then" she smirked looking behind her, "Just a few more. At this rate we'll probably be done before Fox and Yatsuhashi."
Velvet stood at Coco's side, "Do you think they're ok?"
"I'm sure they're fine" Coco answered confidently, "We are the number one team in the second-year class for a reason you know."
Velvet quickly counted the remaining grimm, "I know, I'm just worried because there are far more than we were told there was."
Team CFVY had taken a search and destroy mission in the eastern quadrant just outside the city of Vale where a small town had noticed a pack of grimm roaming around. For the first week no one was hurt, but since then the grimm had started getting closer and the residents were becoming scared. A request for aid was sent to Beacon and the Vale council and since the reported number of grimm was so low the council deemed it not enough of a threat for a professional huntsman and passed it off to Headmaster Ozpin at Beacon.
By the time CFVY arrived at the town nearly a dozen people had decided to pack up and flee to the city until the grimm were wiped out, some even evacuated on the bullhead the students used to get there while the remaining people barricaded themselves in their homes at night. According to the mayor the pack shouldn't have numbered more than a few dozen, so the second-year team split into teams of two to deal with them, but so far Coco and Velvet alone have already killed almost a hundred. They hadn't heard from Fox or Yatsuhashi in almost an hour and Velvet was beginning to worry despite her leader's insistence that they would be fine.
The three beowolves that were left began circling the two girls who quickly stood back to back to cover each other and as the first one leapt at them Velvet ducked and Coco spun on her heel a backhand strike from her bag sending the monster into a tree. As she ducked Velvet turned as well spinning to the side and jumping to her feet as she swung the hard light bag in her hand, the edge of it slamming against the second beowolf's jaws causing its head to snap to the side. The last of them lunged forward and the two girls nodded at each other swinging their bags and smashing the monster's head between them killing it on the spot.
"See?" Coco asked Velvet, "If we had such an easy time with this many I'm sure Fox and Yatsuhashi are fine."
The hard light copy of Coco's weapon vanished from Velvet's hand, "I'm sure you're right, I just can't shake this feeling, after what happened yesterday with that airship that crashed."
"You worry too much" Coco told her adjusting her shades, "But if it'll make you feel better let's go find them. Did you remember to keep count?"
Velvet nodded, "We killed ninety-three."
Coco smirked, "Pretty good, wonder if those two managed to get that many. If not dinner's on them" she gestured for Velvet to follow as they went deeper into the forest.
Farther north in the city of Vrede, Sin had finally arrived at the main research facility for the kingdom of Vale. Scanning his ID badge at the door he waited for the electromagnetic lock to disengage before walking in. The first level which was open to the public had a lot of people in it, almost crowded the news from that morning about the airship that was downed by a lancer swarm had sent many citizens into a paranoid frenzy. Sin squeezed through them to get to the security checkpoint at the back that led to the sub-levels, showing his clearance badge to the faunus guard he was allowed through.
He sighed in relief when the steel doors closed behind him cutting off the noise from the lobby, he didn't blame the people for being scared, but they were so loud the head of security had used a megaphone and could only barely be heard over the crowd. Using his clearance badge on the elevator door he waited for it to open before using the badge again to gain access to sub-level 3 where the main lab was.
"Hold the door please" he heard a woman's voice call out to him.
Quickly putting his arm between the doors to stop them closing he waited until the black-haired woman stepped on.
"Thank you" she said quickly holding her own badge against the scanner, "I was running late."
Sin nodded, "You're welcome, Dr...Fall" he said reading the name on her badge.
"You can call me Cinder" the woman answered with a smile, her amber eyes shining in the elevator's light.
Sin nodded again, "Alright. I haven't seen you around before, you new?"
"I am" she answered, "Well I've been doing this for a while I'm just new to the more important stuff. I just got my level three clearance a few months ago in Mistral."
"Mistral?" Sin repeated, "How's Dr. Fishburne doing out there? Still driving everyone up the wall?"
Cinder looked down, "He was. He died nine days ago."
Sin froze, "What? I didn't hear about that."
The woman nodded, "Thankfully it wasn't from the grimm, he was just old and sick" she covered her mouth, "Oh, that sounded rude didn't it?"
"Don't worry about it" he told her as the doors opened, "So who's in charge at the main now?"
"Dr. Della Robbia is the lead now" she told him stepping off the elevator.
"That's odd" Sin smirked, "He doesn't exactly have the mindset for this kind of work. He's good at theories, but the actual research aspect of this isn't in his skill set."
Cinder agreed, "No it isn't, but he is good at spotting the talents of the others and he puts everyone on a team to compliment the other's skills. Thanks to him our lab is looking to make some real progress in the coming months."
Sin opened the door for her, "That's good. After what happened to the lab in Atlas we're all going to need to have to step it up."
Cinder walked through the door, but stopped, "You're. Sin Helms right? The doctor and huntsman who has a solo operation at Beacon?"
He nodded and she smiled, "I've heard a lot about you. You're dedication to this cause is second to none and you're work ethic is perfect something we should all strive to adopt."
Sin rubbed his nape, "Well, I know a few people who would disagree with that. The work ethic part not the dedication part. My friends, some of my students and even my bosses think I spend too much time working. They're worried I'll end up working myself to death."
"Should they be?" she asked him as they continued to the main lab.
Sin shrugged, "I can't blame them for thinking that way. To be honest when I get focused like I do I tend to stay at it for days on end getting so wrapped up in my work that I forget to eat or sleep. Most of the time it ends with me just passing out from the exhaustion."
Cinder stepped in front and faced him smiling, "That just shows your dedication to what you do, but perhaps you should tone it down just a little, for the sake of your friends. If something were to happen to you I'm sure they'd be devastated and it would also be a big loss for all of us, you're discoveries have helped further our endeavors more than any single lab has in the past five years."
Sin shrugged again, "Just the results of hard work" he said stopping at the door to the main lab and scanning his badge, "Well the conference is starting in about ten minutes that gives us time to grab something to eat real quick."
"You go ahead" Cinder told him, "I'm actually not here for the conference I'm just here to drop off some research notes and test results" she held up her briefcase, "After that I'm heading back to Mistral."
Sin smiled, "A shame, well it was nice meeting you" he said offering his hand.
"Likewise" she replied shaking his hand before they went their separate ways.
"Fox" Velvet called as her and Coco walked through the forest, "Yatsu! Where are you guys? Coco and I are all done."
"They're still not answering their scrolls" Coco said sliding hers back into her pocket.
Velvet turned to her, "Maybe they're still fighting? They may have run into more than us."
Coco tilted her shades down scanning the tree line, "Maybe. If that is the case then I guess dinner is on me for the rest of the week. If they are still in combat we should hear them, they couldn't have gone that deep into the forest."
Velvet checked her own scroll, "Neither of them have tried to call me" she said seeing no missed calls, but one unread message.
"From Sin?" she muttered seeing the name on the message, "Just remembered your birthday is in three days. I'll treat you and your team to dinner when I get back."
Coco stood behind her reading over her shoulder, "You know" she began making Velvet jump, "You spend too much time with him you're going to make me jealous."
Velvet turned to her hugging the scroll against her chest, "He's just a friend" she told her, "He. He saved my life when I was little."
Coco smirked, "I remember" she said placing her finger against Velvet's chest, "I should remember to thank him for that, if not for him I never would have met you."
Velvet's cheeks turned a tint of pink, "Coco I" she stopped when Coco's finger pressed against her lips her leader's playful expression gone as she looked over her shoulder.
Velvet heard it to, something moving behind the trees. Coco turned readying her weapon as Velvet slid her scroll back into her pocket falling into a defensive stance alongside her leader. Whatever was moving was getting closer and heading right toward them.
Coco warned, "Velvet, get ready" preparing to transform her purse her finger stopped over the switch when she saw their teammates step out from the shadows.
Velvet gasped, "Fox, Yatsu!"
"Coco, Velvet" the tall swordsman said with a relieved expression, "We've been looking for you."
Coco lowered her purse, "That's what I was going to say, where have you two been?"
Fox gestured over his shoulder, "An ursa and boarbatusk ambushed us when we tried to call you, our scrolls were crushed."
Coco sighed, "As long as your both ok" she said shaking her head, "Anyway, what's your count?"
"Eighty-nine" Fox told her which made Coco grin, "Ninety-three" she told them, "Guess you're paying for dinner for the next week."
The red haired huntsman in training chuckled, "Well a deal's a deal, just go easy on our wallets."
As Coco said she won't make any promises Velvet looked at her scroll again, replying to her friend's message, "I'm sure they would like that. I just hope you're getting rest out there."
As she pressed send she looked back at her teammates so caught up in their friendly banter that she didn't hear it until it was too late. A king taijitu rose from the bushes striking at the faunus catching her flat-footed.
"Velvet!" Yatsuhashi yelled seeing the black head of the massive serpent just before it's head swung downward ramming into Velvet's side sending her beyond the tree line where they couldn't see.
"Yatsu go!" Coco ordered as her and Fox began attacking the grimm.
Yatsuhashi rushed past the tree line in the direction Velvet went, finding her thirteen meters from where they were slumped against a tree slowly getting up.
"Velvet!" Yatsu called rushing to her side.
She took his hand and stood, "I'm alright" she panted, "My aura's gone, but it took the damage, I'm just a little winded."
"Look out!" Yatsuhashi yelled pushing her to the side and raising his sword blocking the attack from the other end of the king taijitu.
The grimm's fangs hooked around Yatsuhashi's blade as he struggled against it calling for Velvet's to help. Looking around for her weapon Velvet saw it half buried in a bush and dived for it. Bringing out a copy of Coco's weapon Velvet fired at the king taijitu distracting it long enough for Yatsuhashi to turn his sword and cut its head in half.
Dismissing her copy of Coco's minigun Velvet leaned forward bracing herself on her knees as she caught her breath, thanking her teammate for the save. With the massive serpent dead the team regrouped leaving the forest and returning to the village to report their success while waiting for their bullhead to take them home.
After Cinder and Sin went their separate ways she opened another door where a single guard stood at the end of the hall next to an electronically sealed door. Approaching the end of the hall the guard stood in front of her asking for her clearance badge to which she smirked handing him her card.
Taking her card the dark skinned guard looked at it for only a second, "I can't let you in here ma'am this area is for level four clea."
His words were silenced as a sword was shoved through his throat, blood quickly pooling on the floor as his arms went limp and his legs slack. Watching his eyes roll into the back of his head Cinder pulled her blade from his neck and watched as he body dropped into the corner the blood from his wound dying his blue uniform. Taking the dead guard's hand and pressing it against the palm scanner Cinder stepped over the blood-soaked corpse and through the door into the live specimen room.
When the door opened the snarls and growls of several dozen grimm filled the warehouse sized room. Hundreds of cages of varying sizes lined the walls many filled with the different species of grimm, beowolves including a few alphas, ursa with a single major, boarbatusks, creeps and even a cage of a flock of smaller nevermores. As she passed by each cage she placed a small disc shaped device from her bag on the lock, humming as she went through the room. With the final one in place she used the guard's body to prop open the electronic door and passed by the conference room where the many experts and authorities on the grimm were meeting.
She noticed multiple well known researchers in the room, doctors, virologists, scientists, and the lead of every laboratory in the kingdom of Vale where all in this room. Then her eyes landed on Sin.
"Even Dr. Helms is here" she thought to herself, "As a huntsman he may be an obstacle, if he survives."
Back in the main lobby of the facility she pulled her scroll from her pocket and with the push of a button the devices she placed on the cages of the grimm activated, shorting out the electronic locks and opening their doors.