Summary: The girls head off for their first mission, but first, the Principal has something to show Weiss; something that informs her of the dark side of Beacon.

Ozpin tries to deal with the aftermath of the incidents on the night of the dance.

The purpose of the mysterious White Fang member is revealed, and it leaves Neptune with a new perspective and mission.

"What exactly happened?" Ozpin asked as he kneaded his brows, it was too early for such a severe migraine.

"Dare, Dare, Die is a mystery group that rose to fame primarily on Switch," Glynda parroted,

"Their content is mostly edgy and relies heavily on shock factor. They were the ones who 'detained' Mr. Vulpes. Their attempt to unmask him backfired and instead it was revealed that Ms. Dellarobia is in fact a faunus. They were also brutalized by Mr. Vulpes, a good part of which was caught on video."

Ozpin merely sighed in response, too tired for any other response.

"Russo will be here soon," Glynda declared, "We'll be able to shed some light on the other matter then."

There had been no announcement on what happened to the students or the general public, other than the fact that there was an explosion. Besides the relatives of the deceased, no one would be made aware of this incident.

This was standard practice in a society where negative emotions could easily lead to catastrophes.

News like this was often delayed until some sort of progress was made in the investigation so that a measure of security could be communicated to the populace.

"Mr. Vulpes is outside?" he finally asked, his irritation not even making any attempt to be hidden.

"Yes, he is," Glynda said as she signalled the faunus in question up.

"Good day, Principal," were Adam's first words on walking into the office. The former general was sombre, almost glum, neither his eyes nor his heart in his greeting.

"Firstly," Ozpin stated, attempting to rein the bull's attention towards him, "I would like to apologize for the ordeal you had to endure, it must have been difficult."

"I've been in worse," he responded absentmindedly, the livestream was, at best, a small factor in his current mood, it was much more complicated than that.

"Yet you are clearly perturbed."

"I guess I am."

xXx

The night before, Adam sat on the roof of his dorm, his head clutched in his hands. His hands that were still covered in blood; he hadn't killed or crippled anyone, but the state he left them in wasn't one that would leave them grateful for his 'restraint.'

He had let himself lose control again after all these years.

"Adam," came a voice from above him, a voice that belonged to a dead person, "I'm sorry for

running off all of a sudden."

It was Penny, the same Penny who should have been in a hospital bed somewhere, dying slowly from Smoke poisoning. Instead, she was here, apologising for... he had forgotten, he wasn't paying attention to that.

"You... you're okay," he managed, sieving through his confusion to remember what he was supposed to say.

"You left so suddenly, I was worried. I planned to follow after you but..." he paused, looking at his bloodied gloves and feeling the strange urge to hide them behind his back "... this happened."

"You are distressed," Penny pointed out, unaware of what else to say.

"You're one to talk," he returned with a smirk, observing her now tattered dress, "What happened?"

"I can't say," she said, sadness lacing her words before she looked up hopefully, "Maybe next time?"

"Maybe next time," he asserted with a small smile, "Get some rest. Maybe we'll even get to the dancing part then."

"Farewell then," she said in a near cheer as she launched off the roof and into the sky.

Adam stared at the green streak she had become, she was alive, she wasn't supposed to be. Neo had some explaining to do.

xXx

"Could you call team SYBR in?" Ozpin asked Glynda after he had dismissed the class rep. The group walked in a few moments later, expectation clear in their postures and gazes.

"It seems that trouble follows whether or not you girls are a part of it," Ozpin remarked as he looked at team SYBR, "You are now allowed off the premises, do try not to cause any more messes while you're out. You're dismissed, except you, Weiss; I need to talk with you."

After the girls filed out, Ozpin rose and directed her to follow him into the elevator. The pair began a slow descent, making Weiss' tension palpable.

"Here we are," he said as the lift stopped and he got off.

The pair were in an underground level, a cavern-like structure covered with iridescent rocks, they were in a Dust vein. At the cavern's centre, there was a pile of much more luminous Dust crystals, polished and refined, but strewn carelessly in a large pile.

"Do you know what these are?" he asked, his glasses reflecting the cold blue light of the pile but his eyes still piercingly visible from behind the lenses.

"I don't," she whispered, feeling a certain gravity to the environment around them, she could feel a tingling in the very air around them; this was a powerful place.

"Each one of these crystals has a name carved into it," he said as he leaned up against a wall, "Each is dedicated to a past student, students that never ended up graduating; these rocks represent each of Beacon's deceased."

His words sent a chill down her spine, she looked at the large pile, it was several feet tall, there had to be hundreds of names there.

"Why are you showing me this?" she questioned, her eyes not leaving the pile, her attention was so captured by it that she didn't notice that her mouth was dry. Just how many students like her had never left these four walls?

"To make sure that you have no illusions of the world you are going to be facing," he responded bluntly, "The number of times that your team has been in danger, and worse the number of times you were of no help, is appalling. I've seen students who were, quite frankly, much more capable than you lot, and yet... I'm looking at some of them right now." He was referring to the pile, cocking his head in its direction in case it wasn't clear.

"You show this to every leader?"

"No, only those whose every action as team leader is accompanied by a death knell," he said as he approached her and stared her down, "You want revenge, you have to decide whether you want it more than your team's safety."

"I-I won't let anything happen to them!"

"That is the most arrogant sentiment ever," the Principal stated, bearing down upon her, his face contorted in something that could only be described as anger, although maybe that wasn't accurate enough.

"Life won't hold back just because you want to protect them, especially when you intentionally put them in the path of danger."

As though seeing that he was going too far, the grey-haired wizard pulled back suddenly.

"It would be best for us to leave now."

xXx

"Decide, Ms. Schnee," Ozpin urged as she exited the elevator, "The choice will be made for you eventually if you don't."

She nodded imperceptibly as she walked out into Beacon's courtyard, she was supposed to be contemplating what she'd seen and been told, but she didn't know where to start; her mind was scattered.

"Weiss," she heard someone call, the heiress turned back and saw a face that brought a smile to hers.

"Neptune," she said with a smile as he walked up to her.

"Hey there," the bluenette basically grinned out as he stood in front of her, "Are you okay?"

"Yes," she lied, "Why do you ask?"

"You just seemed down, is all," he responded embarrassedly, scratching the back of his neck, "Just wanted to make sure."

Stifling a blush was a Herculean effort on the petite princess' part. This was the first time since last night that the pair had met.

xXx

It was the previous night, Weiss was supposed to be asleep by now; she had a daunting day ahead of her, to say the least. That was part of the reason she couldn't, she was apprehensive of what the next day would hold. Still, scenes from the night kept replaying in her mind, she hadn't expected to have that much fun. Yang was a good partner, and she actually really enjoyed Dove and Russell's company, even shared a dance or two with them, that was when Yang abandoned her to dance with Mercury, whose date had mysteriously disappeared. She had serious work to do tomorrow, but the night had still been refreshing.

A ping from her scroll pulled her out of her reverie, she lifted her scroll to see a number that see the sender was a number that she didn't recognise. The text read: "Open the window." The heiress was a little wary, but she doubted anything would happen, this was Beacon after all. Then again, there was that explosion, along with Adam virtually being kidnapped.

She decided to grab Myrtenaster just in case.

She peeked out of the window, her blade ready to spring into action at any moment.

"Hey Weiss," Neptune whispered, standing on a ledge just beside her, "Could we talk?"

The heiress wasn't exactly excited to see him at this time, but she still humoured him and used her Semblance to boost herself unto the roof. A few seconds later, the blue-haired heartbreaker shakily stood on the roof with her.

"What do you want?" she questioned him testily, she couldn't even believe that she was humouring this.

"I wanted to tell you why I did what I did earlier."

"I'm listening," she invited him with a sarcastic smile, "Tell me why you coldly turned me down. I'm waiting."

"I can't dance," he said seriously, walking towards her as he did, "I have two left feet at best, I'd have just embarrassed you on the dance floor. I didn't tell you because it's something I'm really insecure about."

Weiss was surprised by his stark honesty; so surprised, that she didn't notice that he was approaching her until he was a few steps away.

"Hold on," she urged as she stretched her hands in front of her to halt him and buy herself some time to process, "Why're you telling me now?"

"I saw something today," he said solemnly, retreating a step, "It placed a decision that I can't help but feel I have to make; something risky, but right."

"I'm getting that exact feeling now," he declared with a bright smile and a shrug, "This feels right; the wind blowing through your hair, the romantic ambience, telling you exactly how I feel. It all feels right."

"You haven't though," Weiss corrected, wrapping her arms around herself, "Told me how you feel that is, not exactly."

"Well," Neptune responded clumsily, "I… don't know. I'm hardly ever this honest with people, I guess I'm not sure what to say."

"Well," she said as she grabbed his hands and pulled him close to her, "I know how I feel."

"How?" he asked expectantly.

"I feel like dancing," before her sentence was over, a glyph appeared beneath their feet and lifted the pair.

"I should also mention," he stated calmly as he stared straight into her eyes, "I'm not good with heights."

"You seem to be doing okay."

"That's because I'm staring into your eyes so intently, it helps me forget how high up I am. If I look down, I'm going to make like Scooby-Doo."

"Okay then," she responded with a smile, "May I have this dance?"

"As far as you don't drop me," he quipped, "I'm all yours."

xXx

What followed was an embarrassing display; the pair kept tripping over each other, he got pretty close to breaking her Aura with one of the steps he took on her foot. It was a… memorable night and the reason that the pair could scarcely talk to each other without blushing.

"Well anyway," he finally mustered after the seemingly endless hemming and hawing, "I wanted to wish you good luck. Who're you shadowing?"

"Dr. Oobleck," Weiss basically grumbled out, "I'd hoped for a more 'combative' Huntsman to shadow, but he should still be good, he's a professional Huntsman after all."

"Yeah," Neptune assured her unconvincedly, "He's probably got a weapon in his trench coat."

"Who are you shadowing?"

"A crime specialist," he responded enthusiastically, "Smear Locke, he's very elite. We even get junior badges."

"You're very cute," she commented once he flashed the badge in front of her, "You're really excited about being a detective huh?"

"Wouldn't be as excited if not for what happened yesterday," Sun chimed in frostily, glaring at his partner, the bluenette was not to be left behind and returned the gesture, bringing the atmosphere to such temperature that even the Ice Queen noticed.

"What happened yesterday?"

"Nothing," Neptune responded tersely as he slowly looked away from the monkey faunus, "We'll talk after our missions, see ya."

Weiss was slightly perturbed but decided to push her unease to the side. Neptune was probably fine.

xXx

"Mr. Locke sir," Neptune called as he ran up to the detective they'd be shadowing, "I'm so honoured to be working with you."

"Smear's okay kid," the detective, a tall, grizzled man with greying brown hair and glazed eyes responded, making his tired attempt at friendliness.

"Yes, Mr. Smear sir," the Vacuoan student continued as he pulled out a notepad, "I went onto Unfound and s-"

"You're clearly serious about this," Smear interrupted, grabbing his notes and looking through them, "I'm impressed."

"Thank you, sir, I am."

"Your subject seems to have last been seen in Nevice, that's a red light district," as he said this, he looked at the pair concernedly, "Are you sure you're up for this? You're not going to see anything you like there."

"We're sure," Neptune answered sharply, cutting off Sun before he could object, "We can't always be comfortable, we have a case to solve, so let's do it."

"You have spunk kid," Smear declared, his gravelly voice signalling them to follow him, "That ought to change soon."

xXx

"Blake," Adam called as he walked up to his former partner with a smile, "About what happened earlier."

The faunus princess eyed him subtly, suspicion in her gaze. After a few seconds though, she relaxed her guard and sighed.

"I'm sorry," she apologised earnestly, looking away from him, "It's just that, you scared me… I saw the video."

She had seen this man commit all sorts of atrocities; fill whole rivers with blood without even changing his expression, but he'd never seen that before. He hadn't been a soldier, a renegade, or even an extremist there; he'd just been an animal.

"I understand," he told her, raising his hands up in a pacifying manner, "Mind if we talk still? Before you have to go."

"Yeah, let's talk."

The pair looked for a secluded spot and stood, facing the other and ready for some explanations.

"You first, I guess."

"My bow is a magical item," Blake started, following Adam's prompt, "It's part of an old relic known as the Veil of Nightshade, a Belladonna heirloom. Virtually, the part of you that you want hidden most will be. I could put it on and my facial features can be concealed, etcetera."

"Thank you for giving it," he said as he handed it to her. "I know I've never shown you what's behind the mask," he gestured as though to remove it, but his hand simply rested on it, "But thank you, especially since it blew your guise."

"It's okay," she said as she gestured for him to slow down, "You needed help, so I helped you. That's how partners work last I checked. Not to mention, that I was pretty much done with hiding anyway."

"You called me out on my crud," she expanded, "I wasn't helping faunus, I was even too afraid to be associated with them. But now… now, I'm actually making a difference; doing my best to stop the Fang. It feels sort of like atonement for being a part of it for so long. Either way, I'm here and I'm proud and I'm grateful. So, thank you too, for setting me straight and giving me the opportunity to have a really awesome reveal."

"My turn huh?" he asked, his question effectively killing the warm atmosphere. "I'll tell you what I know, but that's hardly anything."

"It's a… condition, it's characterised by manic and hypomanic episodes, low impulse control, and compulsive behaviour. I basically become… an animal, I don't know why. All I know is that I have to keep it under control, I usually do, this time though…"

"This time, those jerks bit off more than they could chew," she said, placing her hand on his shoulder to show her support, "What happened to them, by the way?"

"We reached an agreement," Adam stated, the frown on his face showing his severe displeasure,

"They'll announce that it was all staged, and I'll confirm that… the alternative is me being labelled as an animal, which won't help anyone."

"I understand, le-" her sentence was cut short by Adam; the bull faunus had wrapped her in a hug, taking her completely by surprise.

"Thank you," he whispered before letting go of her and walking to where his team would be.

xXx

In a small but hospitable inn around the outskirts of Vale, team AMEN sat across a macilent man whose wicked smile and prominent moustache obfuscated the rest of his features. Arthur Watts sat before the young group; processing the information he'd just been given.

"James is smarter than I thought," he admitted almost nonchalantly, "Atlas' cyber-defences seem to have transformed completely."

"In other words," Mercury sniped, "They're better than you."

"I can still easily break into it," he declared, "But it won't help the Trojan plan, we can hijack the

CCTS, but the fleet itself is divided into individual networks, unless you're planning to do it one by one."

"Either way," Adam said as he stood up, sure he wasn't the only one without a complete understanding of what had been said, "If that's all, we're supposed to be shadowing someone now."

"Hold on," Watts instructed, while contemplating something, "About your unsuccessful assassination attempt, I'm intrigued."

"Didn't see you as a macabre person," Mercury commented.

"I'm into all sorts of things," came his reply, as he gestured for Neo to follow him and left the room.

"Let's get to work then."

xXx

"Have any money on you?" Smear asked his two shadows as they readied to enter Nevice.

"Never do," Sun responded, raising his hands up to show them empty.

"A little," Neptune responded fishing out his wallet.

"Hand it over; anything you take into these places, you don't take out. Your weapons should be harder to swipe though."

Neptune complied, handing his wallet and a few other items to the detective. "Where do you think we should start sir?"

Hiding his irritation at Neptune's mode of address, he beckoned the pair to his sides. "Our missing person is female and faunus, if she was last seen around here, then in all likeliness, we'll find more at a happy house."

"Yeah. Um, what's a happy house?" Neptune asked, raising his hand as though he was in a classroom.

"You'll find out soon enough, lad. Just keep in mind; never trust anything by its name."

Happy houses, the very centre of the hospitality industry in Remnant, although other sectors gave it a wide berth, so it was at the same time an outsider. In a society where negative emotions posed great danger, what was the obvious solution?

Reduction of negative emotions.

Correct.

How could that be done?

A society of stoicism? Training from a young age on how to handle negativity?

No and no. The answer was... cheap, instant gratification.

Happy houses were the embodiment of this answer.

Gambling.

Drugs.

Whores.

How can negativity dwell in this environment? That was the question that was asked by the moguls that headed the industry.

xXx

Neptune couldn't help but clamp his nose shut, the stench here was so pervading that he was sure he'd be throwing his jacket away after this was over. They were in Pure Bliss, a multi-chained happy house, its entrance radiating a bright red glow that engulfed the entire street it was situated on.

Smear had asked to speak with the owners and the trio was led down into a basement level. The basement was what evoked Neptune's disgust; it reeked of incontinence as well as several other things that he was sure he didn't know how to properly describe. He could hear children crying amongst them, he saw the frightened faces of girls who couldn't be over their early teens and sporadic brawls that broke out in different places over food and whatever else here that could be considered valuable.

"This room is reserved for 'undesirable' workers," Smear explained, as though he was some sort of tour guide, "That's the majority. The famous ones get their own quarters and sometimes even servants from among the undesirables."

Neptune actually knew all this, he knew the stench, and he'd heard this explanation before. He asked Smear that question in case if his knowing of it would be suspicious. Maybe it was how deep an impression his first visit had left, but despite the fact he still felt sick, now wasn't as bad.

xXx

Neptune fell on his knees and let go the contents of his stomach; that had been disgusting.

It was the previous day, and he had seen the truths of one of Remnant's largest industries.

"If I'd known this'd be your reaction, I'd have packed a paper bag," the White Fang member, who had introduced herself as Wynn Cyprus, teased. She had just given Sun and Neptune a tour of one of the smaller brothels in Borough, another of Vale's red-light districts, and one much worse than Nevice.

She turned to Sun, the reason for this whole excursion. The monkey faunus wore a frown, showing his dissatisfaction, but seemingly not affected beyond that. She had actually given up on recruiting Sun since their first encounter, however, she knew her orders and had to keep trying; he was important for some reason she hadn't been told yet.

"Do you see why the Fang has to do what it does?" she asked, gesturing all around them, "Faunus experience this daily; we're liberating them."

Sun stoically stared at her before turning away disinterestedly.

"Everything there is sickening," Neptune declared, finally rising from his knees and wiping his mouth with his arm, ignoring the several napkins he had on his person in case of emergencies.

"But the White Fang is no better," he continued angrily, "I've seen what you people do; the number that you kill, including faunus. You're joking if you think we're going to listen to whatever flaky justification you have."

His outburst began a pregnant silence that remained amongst the group for a few seconds.

"We're not any better," came her casual response, shocking Neptune's eyes wide.

Sun simply narrowed his gaze at her, he was surprised by this; cult-heads would generally rather die than admit the lunacy of the organization they mindlessly followed, let alone admit it so nonchalantly.

"The only difference I can see is that we actually help faunus," she continued, turning to Sun, "He's proof, he wouldn't be here if not for the Fang."

Sun nodded in acceptance of this point, but a thank you didn't seem forthcoming.

"Hundreds and hundreds are being sponsored in the same way," her voice remained low, but the spirit and tempo increased with each word, "Being liberated from dumps like this, making sure their lives don't start and end as slaves and breeding units."

"Just to be sacrificed in your war, or killed in the crossfire," Neptune shot back, not ready to yield, his righteous anger planning to overcome her manic passion.

"What's the alternative? To standby so that there'll be peace while our kin suffer? That isn't an option."

"No," Neptune replied flummoxed at the question; he knew that killing wasn't right, but he admittedly had no other solution, "But there has to be some better way."

"You really are cute," she said with a chuckle, finding his vague 'solution' amusing, "You think that you can save an entire race with 'there's a better way'?"

"I'm confident that there is," he insisted looking her straight on, his eyes unrelenting.

"Cuteness has its limits though," this time, her statement was only accompanied by a scowl, "Fine then, prove it."

"What do you mean?"

She threw a card at him that he caught and looked at, it was a person's ID.

"Forget saving a whole race, just save this one person," she challenged with a condescending grin, "She's been missing for a few days, her parents uploaded her info onto UnFound, yesterday, that's even what I'm here for. If she's lost for up to a week, the odds are against her ever returning, in one piece at least. I want you to use your 'better way' to find her and rescue her."

"This file has the results of my investigations into the matter," she said as she offered him the file, before turning to Sun, "Want in on this?"

"I'll leave the tracking to the dogs, no thank you," he responded with a short smile, "Besides, unlike my friend, I have no solution."

"I'll do some more digging," she mentioned as she walked away from them, "Then I'll find a way for the info to get to you. You'll meet a guy outside the tailor's, he has your tuxes. Ciao."

Neptune had come to the dance, but he didn't dance, he isolated himself from everyone else and studied the file and all other info he could get on her from social media.

xXx

Now, he was here, on his way to finding her he reckoned, he'd prove that there was a better way.

While he was transported into his reverie, Smear was having a talk with the owners of the establishment, brother and sister from what Neptune surmised.

The room was spacious and sophisticated, from the polished wood of the desk the siblings sat behind to the murals that spanned the walls of the room. There was only one thing that prevented the classy room from being a first choice when it came to entertaining guests.

The room was large enough to be ostentatious, but there wasn't that much free space. All over the room, as though occupying every semblance of free space, the happy house workers lounged.

There were a few of them who would offer refreshments from time to time, but the majority seemed to be there for the décor. They posed suggestively, plastered their bodies against the walls, some even danced; nothing over the top, they simply moved their extremities slowly, almost languidly to the imperceptible tune that played throughout the room.

The siblings were oblivious to all these things; the brother stoic and his sister simply uninterested. They were a strange pair; both sported black hair and refined features, hers a more natural beauty while he spoke of a more cultured attractiveness that gave him a – probably intentional – coldness. Their clothing was equally refined, but the odd scar here and there spoke the truth of the life these siblings had led.

Neptune was looking for more than that though; he was looking for any signs, any indication that treating people in such a manner bothered them even in the slightest. He didn't find any.

"Finding her will be easy enough," came the sister's reply, her hair was long and flowing back, giving a feeling of wildness that was admittedly capturing, "However, it will cost you quite a bit."

"I thought you said it'd be easy," Neptune cut in, earning several glances on him, including the amused ones of the siblings.

"My child," she replied, apparently unbothered by his interruption, "We'll have to traverse a rather large area in search of one girl, who is most likely out of the Malachite family territory, in which case we'll have to pay other territory owners to ensure that no conflicts arise, as well as lower our own heads before them. Also, if she's been here a few days already, then she'll need to be 'cleaned up' a good deal, if you're catching my drift."

"Thank you, Melissa, Melathon," Smear said, tipping his hat to the pair as he gestured for Sun and Neptune to follow him.

"What about Jean?" he asked, wondering when they'd pick her up.

"Very funny kid," Smear whispered sharply in his ear, "I already told you that this isn't an actual job, I'm just showing you how an investigation would go down. Besides, you don't have the money to enlist their service."

"You're telling me that we're going to leave her?" he asked, his voice shaking, knowing the answer.

Smear was helpless here; this was the Malachite's territory, and their laws were absolute.

"Wait a second," Melissa said, surprising Neptune, "Mel just told me that she is indeed in one of our houses, you keep such good track of things Mel, I'm not sure how I'd keep this place afloat without you."

"Either way," she continued, "We could give her to you, but a benefactor of ours has taken a particular liking to her, and that would make things… difficult."

"What?!" Neptune cried, the veins on his face on the verge of popping.

"Give her to us?" he raged as he pulled his arm away from Smear's grip, and placed his hand on his weapon, "She isn't your property; she's a person, a person who's coming with us, whether you like it or not."

Before his sentence was completed, several weapons flew out and trained themselves on him, ready to strike him should he take another step.

Sun wanted to go ahead to give aid to his partner, but seeing as Smear didn't make any move, he opted to follow his lead.

"No one comes into my house and makes demands," Melissa declared, lacing her sentence with a manic energy, before turning to Smear, and throwing a wink at him, "Well, almost no one."

The only answer her gesture evoked was a growl from the giant.

"Are you going to let the kid go already?"

"Only because it's for you dear," she said as she signalled the guards to lower their weapons.

"Do visit again soon," she called after them as Smear pulled Neptune with him and exited the room.

xXx

In the airship that was transporting team SYBR, alongside the Huntsman they'd be shadowing, the ever-energetic Dr Oobleck, there was a tense silence, one that certainly made the girls uncomfortable, but not uncomfortable enough for any of them to break it.

"Dr Oobleck?" came Blake's questioning voice, catching everyone's attention, she'd usually be the last person to start a conversation.

"You watched the video, the one with Adam," she continued, "And you know that it wasn't staged... I was wondering if you knew anything about it."

"I do," he stated, uncharacteristically slowly, "This is a topic I usually hold off on teaching until the later years because it may contribute to the stigma faunus students already have to deal with."

"What Mr. Vulpes experienced is a condition most commonly referred to as Frenzy, it's extraordinarily rare now, but when faunus first emerged in Remnant, and for centuries after, it was a prevalent problem. It made faunus react to the slightest provocation with rage as your friend displayed last night."

"This was an essential factor in the establishing of human dominance over faunus; with faunus being so volatile, it was justified and even encouraged to use… unsavoury practices to keep them under control. Apathy inducement is a primary example, and one that is still used today. Unfortunately, that's as much as I know of the matter as will be helpful."

"No, thank you," she said with a sad smile, "At least now I can wrap my head around what happened."

"I'm here to be of assistance," he stated, by way of acknowledging her thanks, "We'll be there soon."

xXx

A few minutes later, the group were in the ruins that were Mountain Glenn. The dark atmosphere was intimidating, but not quite enough that the Huntresses in training didn't move in with gusto.

They all had missions to accomplish today and nothing would stop them.