Neptune looked up at the scowling face of his shadow, trying to understand what he was saying. He was scolding him, of that much Neptune was sure, partially because he saw him pointing and partially because every decision he had made in there had been stupid and worthy of scolding.

Despite observing all this, the blue-haired junior detective couldn't hear what was being said; the words phased in and out like the music from the happy house; clearly still there but at the same time imperceptible, like a shadow.

He fell to his knees suddenly, unaware of the fact and unaware of the cause, but aware that his face was a few feet closer to the ground.

What? he asked himself internally after attempting it out loud and finding that he had no breath.

What's happening?

He was hyperventilating, the world around him became blurry; he couldn't discriminate between directions and felt like he was spiralling through space.

In the midst of his panic, he felt a wide firm hand on his back.

"You're hyperventilating," the gravelly voice of Smear Locke declared, "Calm down now."

The words seemed to have some magical strength to them as the blue-haired student actually started to relax.

"You okay, kid?"

"I-I am," he managed between gradually slower breaths, "Thank you… it's just, just… it's just..."

"Not used to being a hair away from death?"

"It... was more though," he responded, finally breathing at a normal pace, although still a little raggedly, "I mean I was terrified definitely… but the way those workers looked at me; the fear… I wondered if I was the one at fault. I was just trying to help, but it was as if was some sort of... monster."

"You're over thinking this," Sun said as he offered Neptune a hand up, "You wanted to fight and they were scared, that's all there is."

Smear grunted in response to this, it wasn't clear whether or not it was an agreement.

"Okay then," Sun said, "Since we've concluded a case, the detective in charge ought to treat us, don't you think?"

"Fair enough," he accepted, signalling the pair to follow him.

xXx

The CCTS crime scene was guarded by a team of Atlessian Knights, were they to spot anything out of the ordinary or be attacked, the information would be transmitted instantly to Ironwood and the other members of Ozpin's cabal as well as any capable and trustworthy Huntsmen in the vicinity. That was the plan at least, but the AK's had a design flaw that would make this plan remain just that; it came from a petite lady sporting a fashionable umbrella along with a macilent companion.

The pair walked between the machines, inches from contact but somehow still avoiding the triggering of an alarm; Neo's Semblance kept them from detecting the pair visually while the good doctor fed false inputs into all their other sensory apparatuses, therefore, their heat, Aura and motion detectors were rendered useless.

"What would I do without you?" Arthur mused as he walked through into the crime scene and began his perusal. A few moments in, Watts had some semblance of what exactly had taken place here.

"How did you get that guard to detonate the explosive willingly?" he asked as he turned back to her, the smile on his face giving his current partner an unsettling feeling.

Neo responded by showing an illusion of the guard and a pair of boys who seemed to be her sons, then she dragged her finger across her throat menacingly.

"Oh, I see," Arthur declared in amusement, "That was risky though. Had she been any braver or stupider, that would have upset the plan... something that I know both of us wouldn't want."

Neo glared at the once doctor as though to tell him to come out with what he had to say.

"You don't speak," he said, no longer looking at her, but instead continuing his investigation, "There must be a great deal of trauma that is the reason for that. I hate to be the one to break it to you but as far as you're in her service, you're going to have to do things that you find… uncomfortable."

"You may not want to talk," the last part was said with a strange lilt, as though he meant to launch into song from it, "But you're going to scream if that's the reason you ever fail a task that you're given."

Neo stared at the man in front of her, his back was to her and she had never let anyone off for threatening her, this wouldn't be an exception. Even though, she stayed there unmovingly, not doing anything to teach him a lesson. She didn't know why, but she had a feeling that it was because this was the first threat in a long while that had left her scared of its fulfilment.

xXx

"We have some talking to do," Ren said to Pyrrha, the pair had an asleep Nora resting on their shoulders as they shuffled her in and dropped her onto her bed.

They were in an outskirt village and shadowing the sheriff of the settlement, something that was a lot more difficult than they had first imagined, as this was the first opportunity for rest they were getting since arriving.

Immediately they had arrived, they got to work; a sheriff's duty didn't end at protecting the denizens from Grimm attacks, they had to settle internal disputes, pass announcements and be in charge of basically anything that involved a group of people larger than ten, and the trio were there to share in the work and learn from it.

"We do," she agreed, although she had been hoping he'd simply forget it or take a hint that she was avoiding the topic.

"I told you that the people I usually go to dances with get beaten up or something," she started, her head turned down slightly in embarrassment, "That's not exactly true though."

"What do you mean?"

"You know I'm a Peter Pumpkin ambassador," she said.

"How could I forget?"

"Usually, when I go to events like the dance, I usually go with celebrities or icons to promote the brand."

"Is that it?" he asked with a chuckle as he grabbed his water bottle and took a swig, "I thought it was something serious like they all turned into poison apples at midnight."

"This isn't a joke, and you're mixing up fairytales."

"Okay, but it really isn't a big deal. You danced with celebrities to promote a brand you're an advocate for... like yay for capitalism, I guess."

"It's more than that," she whispered, frustration clearly portrayed in her words.

"Look, I'm here if you want to talk about it, but you have to give me a little more than that," he stated with his hands raised, "I'm pretty dumb when it comes to socializing."

"It's the fact that I hated every second of it," she spat out, as she simultaneously struggled with a bruxism habit he had been unaware of, "And that I smiled either way. That I spent nights with people I detested, for a brand that I feel is almost criminally terrible, promoting it and deceiving people to support it. It's how fake it all made me feel and how I'd gotten used to it until recently."

"I'd see people getting bullied or mistreated, and I'd just sit back and watch because if I had gotten involved, it may have escalated into a public matter, and it may have hurt the brand. I just sat and watched because of a darned cereal."

"Why be an ambassador then?" he asked gently as he placed his hands on her shoulders and rubbed them to relax her, "There's always other brands, and anyone would be happy to back you."

"I haven't really told anyone about this," she whispered as she turned her face away from him.

"And you don't have to, if you aren't ready. I'm not going anywhere, so you can take your time."

"Thank you Ren... but I think I'd rather get this off my chest now."

"There was a time I wasn't the Invincible Girl," she mused, her eyes locked on some invisible scenery painfully, "I was just a burden, trash to be thrown out. Fortunately for me, my particular receptacle was the Milo Lunarist Orphanage."

"Yeah," she acknowledged on seeing Ren's surprise, "They tend to leave that part out in the articles; Sister Hylon is good, but not even her could fight off swarms of paparazzi every day."

"I'm sorry if I reacted strangely, please go ahead."

"Oh no, you didn't, it's totally okay."

"How was it?" he asked, his eyes clearly worried, and maybe something else.

"I loved my time there," she continued, "The sisters were nice, although as harsh as winter sometimes. The kids were… different, I wouldn't say that they were all nice; I definitely wouldn't say that I liked all of them. There were the funny ones, the mean ones, the creative ones. I remember one time, when Gavin tried to…"

She continued recollecting stories from her childhood, telling him about different adventures she had had with her siblings in the orphanage.

"… And then he raised up his hands and said: 'It wasn't me; I swear.'" Pyrrha had been recollecting stories of her childhood for at least an hour now, and it was Ren's turn to be fascinated by her adventures, "And we all knew it wasn't him, but he had been a jerk and he looked pretty suspicious, so we covered up for Grace, the real culprit. However, she flaked on us and confessed to Sister Papil later that night because her conscience bothered her. As you can imagine, she was furious. The next morning, every last one of us got the paddle, all except Grace, who actually did the deed."

Despite the fact that she had been recalling an episode that ended in corporal punishment, she had laughed with every sentence, sometimes having to calm down and wipe the tears from her eyes before she could continue.

"And you said I had adventures," Ren commented playfully with a chuckle.

"I'm sorry, I went off on a little tangent, didn't I?" she apologised, realizing that she hadn't actually told Ren much of anything.

"I don't mind, you seemed to have cheered up. That's what's important."

"Thank you," the redheaded idol said, smiling at her partner before bracing herself to continue, "In a nutshell, I discovered that I had a talent, Pumpkin Pete's discovered that too. I hate it, but… breaking from the contract will have tons of backlash, I don't want them to suffer a consequences from that."

"I understand… fully," Ren declared soberly without meeting her gaze, "I understand having to do things you know to be wrong; things that kill you on the inside every time you do them, for your family."

"The good news is that," he said with a small smile as he looked up at her, "It's that those decisions brought you and I to people who understand... and can keep a secret."

"That much is true," came her almost relieved reply.

Ren looked up unsurely, also wanting to say something.

"I know that I haven't told you exactly what I mean... I-"

"And I know you'll tell me when you feel up to it," she cut in.

"You're a great friend Pyrrha... thank you."

"I'm happy to hear that."

xXx

Team SYBR manoeuvred the ruins painstakingly as they hunted down Grimm but also kept their eyes out for anything that would indicate a White Fang base.

"You'd think he'd be more of a help," Yang grumbled as she flipped over a Beowulf and let Ember Celica loose onto the back of its head,

"He's supposed to be a professional Huntsman after all." She was referring to Dr Oobleck, who didn't get a PhD for fun but apparently went on missions for that purpose. The man traversed the ruins, avoiding almost all Grimm encounters and leaving them to the girls.

"Weiss," Blake called out after they'd dispatched the latest wave, "You're distracted, what's the matter?"

"It's nothing," she whispered as the four regrouped, "Overwhelmed I guess."

"I can understand the feeling," Blake said, as she looked down at her hands that were shaking, "I'm not sure if it's fear or excitement, but it's got my heart in my throat."

"Aww," Yang said teasingly, "Look at you guys getting along."

"Don't we always?" the pair asked simultaneously before grinning at each other.

"If you're gonna do that, I'd prefer if you weren't getting along," Ruby quipped with a smile as the group continued moving forward.

Their march was brought to a halt suddenly though. Their green-haired professor suddenly stood in their way, stopping them from progressing.

"I've been surveying the land around us and mapping it out with my Semblance," he declared in his usual speedy manner, "We're not alone here, there seems to be a large group of people numbering in the hundreds. Innersloth, can't identify them individually, but we can assume that whatever is being practiced here is illegal."

"Let's go in then," Weiss insisted trying to push past the doctor, before being halted by his grasp.

"Not yet," Oobleck continued, "There's a field here that I can't identify, but it is my conclusion that they shall be able to detect us once we cross into it. It wouldn't be much of a problem since ideally, we'd have backup in a relatively short time, but the amount of interference here, most likely man-made, will make using our scrolls or any similar technologies impossible. The solution is simple; we skirt around the field, finish our Grimm eradication mission and return with this information. After which the General will most likely assist in uncovering the goings-on."

This wasn't good; the group there was without a doubt the White Fang, but the Huntsman in charge was in their way. Fortunately, they had planned ahead for this, the girl's looked at each other and nodded in agreement.

Dr Oobleck, who had many years of experience as a professor, could pick out what they planned; he'd seen the same expressions on students many a time. They were prepared to disobey. Before he could react however, Ruby activated her Semblance, managing to lift all her teammates and flying out of his sight and into the very field he had warned them about.

The professor stared out at the rosy form that was rapidly turning into a dot against the horizon. He had to chase after them, but first he had to make sure that word got to Beacon. He sighed and reached into his backpack, pulling out a dog. He then wrote a detailed report, along with coordinates and advised methods of approach and strapped it the dog's collar, alongside his scroll.

"Listen now, Port," he declared seriously to the pug, "Make sure this message gets to Beacon, I'm counting on you." The hound appeared to understand, and despite his short legs, he blazed through the ruins and ran deeper in towards Vale.

xXx

"I need to contact her," Neptune told his partner who was bent over the bowl of noodles he had been treated to by Smear.

"I feel as your friend I should tell you that you should avoid terrorists, even though that should be obvious."

"I'm being serious," Neptune insisted angrily, "You know how to contact her, so tell me."

"So am I, stay away from cult-heads."

"Why doesn't it bother you more?" Neptune asked, his anger climbing, but not necessarily at his partner. "You saw what was, and still is, happening to those people, your people. Why doesn't that disturb you enough to even contact her?"

"Because if the roles were switched, those poor, defenceless people would turn their noses up and walk by," Sun rebutted, grabbing a noodle with a vengeance as he did so, "And they're not my people; I don't owe anything to people I don't even know."

"But you're a Huntsman, in training at least, we're supposed to combat injustice anywhere we see it. And that was certainly unjust."

"You've allowed yourself remain oblivious to this for years," the monkey faunus spat out finally, his own temper flaring, "And now you want to preach to me about my 'responsibilities'? Get over yourself."

This line left a terse silence between the pair, Neptune was a little more solemn, realising how he had been judging his friend who definitely had his reasons and experiences to back up his thinking.

The mentioned friend equally felt bad; he understood Neptune's anger, but this was a stupid decision.

"Look," Sun said, breaking the silence, "I'll contact her. Just… be careful, and call me when you eventually mess up and need my help."

"Sure thing," Neptune said with a smile, "Thank you… this is probably not the last time I'll say something stupid and judgemental."

"Yeah. Fortunately, I won't stop shutting you down when you do."

"Where's Smear? I feel like another bowl."

"I'm glad that you're enjoying yourselves, but there's more to finish," he declared, appearing amidst the pair once his name was called, "This time, we'll be working an actual case. It's basic, so an afternoon of work should be sufficient."

"Yes sir!" the pair jumped up energetically, ready to earn the junior badges on their breasts.

xXx

"They know we're here," Weiss said after they were a few hundred metres in, "Let's execute the plan." The team hadn't known whether or not they'd be allowed to go on this mission, but they had decided on and practiced their plan in the days since their last encounter with the Fang. It wasn't much, but they weren't going in blind.

The group exchanged grins as they pulled their large backpacks from their backs and opened them up.

"Who says being a Schnee is all bad?" Weiss joked with a grin as they pulled out the contents, they were boxes that stretched disassembled into smaller parts interconnected by rail-like links.

They were an SDC prototype; The Outcriers. They were explosives that weren't all that powerful, but loud and capable of causing shock-waves to give the illusion of very powerful military force.

And so, their attack began.