By the time Sera made it to the communications tower, she thought she was too late. A pair of unconscious guards lay on either side of the entrance, and more were scattered around inside.

"Ah, hell," she pulled out her scroll and quickly typed on the screen. Once she was done, she put the device away in her jacket, then waited. When she heard something like a rocket flying towards her, she grinned.

Her weapons locker hit the ground so hard it cracked the concrete at her feet. Sera typed in her code on the keypad, silently laughing to herself.

'Six-nine, six-nine,' she thought. The locker door popped open, and she immediately grabbed her body holster and put it on. With the familiar weight of her sword and shotgun on her back, her tense shoulders relaxed.

"Okay," she thought aloud, then entered the CCT. She stepped over the unconscious guards and stepped into the elevator. She assumed that the cat burglar was heading to the top floor, so that's where she was going, too.

Classical music played in the elevator while Sera tapped her foot impatiently. She was hardly in the appropriate clothes for a fight, but then again, at least she wasn't in her dress anymore. Plus, she thought she looked like a badass rockstar.

DING!

The elevator opened, and Sera drew her sword. She walked carefully, scanning the dark room. Dozens of desks and cubicles were on the floor, and any one of them could be holding the mysterious burglar.

"Marco?" the amnesiac called out, calmly drawing her Boomstick with her free hand. "Come on say, 'Polo,'" she added. "I know someone's here."

Then someone rose from the shadows behind a desk with her back turned to Sera. At least, the huntress assumed it was a she. Slim hourglass figure, flowing black hair, a tight bodysuit. When the woman turned around, Sera raised an eyebrow at the black mask on her face. Masquerade-style.

"Huh," she thought aloud. "Is that supposed to be your tactical getup or…? 'Cause maybe next time you could go more tactical and less 'slutty B-list action star.'"

The intruder regarded her with cold eyes before materializing a pair of black swords that appeared to be made of glass out of thin air.

"Guess I hit a nerve," she murmured and tightened her grip on Igni, her sword.

The two of them rushed each other, trading blows with their swords. Sera had to work overtime for this one. She had to block both of her assailant's weapons while she only had the one. It wasn't new to her, though. There were plenty of dual-wielding students that she'd sparred against.

She blocked and parried the black swords as best as she could, but this chick wasn't a novice. The lady in black went on the offensive, swiping at Sera and forcing the huntress to backstep. She spun, her blades like a deadly blender trying to slice up the amnesiac into a huntress smoothie.

Sera was running out of options in this head-to-head fight. She backflipped away and quickly slid a red crystal into her weapon. Just before the masked lady could press her, she hit the switch on her sword to light the blade up like a torch.

The woman jumped away before Sera could barbecue her and manifested a black bow like she'd done with her swords. She fired a trio of glass arrows at the huntress, and Sera knocked them out of the air with ease. Sera smirked and stared down the woman with an air of confidence.

'Yeah, lady, you're gonna have to do better than that,' she thought.

Then she heard a loud ding, and the expression on the intruder's face faltered. Sera glanced back to see the elevator doors opening, and General Ironwood stepped out. She couldn't help but grin. Perfect timing.

Then she looked back to the woman in black just to find that she was missing. Sera's head turned from side to side, trying to locate her.

"Oh, come on!" she complained and turned to Ironwood. "She was just here!"

"Who was here?" Ironwood asked, searching the room.

Sera extinguished the flame on her sword and sheathed it smoothly. "A woman! I saw her breaking into here, so I followed her."

"A woman?" the general blinked. "Who was she?"

"I don't know," she shook her head. "She was wearing a mask."

"Hmm," he continued searching the room. "I'll tell Ozpin. You may go back to the dance, if you wish."

"But—"

"We'll talk about it tomorrow," the general interrupted.

"She's still out there, though!" she waved her arms.

"And she's long gone by now," he said. "For now, just go back to the dance, and we'll cover everything at a better time."

Sera's shoulders slumped. Of all people, she thought Ironwood would agree that they needed to find her. Besides, she was pissed that she got away. "Fine," she rolled her eyes and headed for the elevator. Before she could make it inside, the General called out.

"Sera."

She halted, looking over her shoulder.

"Good job. You acted just as a huntress should," he said kindly. Sera gave a curt nod, then went into the elevator.

The entire walk back to the ballroom, she reflected to the fight and ways she could have subdued the woman before she could escape. For one, she should have used her other weapon for more coverage. Two, she should have kept attacking when the elevator arrived instead of looking to see what the noise was.

She slapped her forehead. 'Stupid!'

. . .

Sera had returned her gear to her locker and sent it back into the school so that there wouldn't be any questions when she got back into the dance. When she did get back though, not too much had changed. Dozens of students were slow-dancing with each other, including Jaune and Pyrrha.

She was glad that the two were spending that kind of time together, even if it was a bit weird with Jaune being in a dress.

"Ugh," she put her sunglasses back on. "I can almost smell the hormones going crazy in this place."

"Sera!" a voice called, and the huntress looked over to find Yang hurrying over to her.

"What, you didn't want to dance?" she asked her teammate when she reached her.

"Pfft, as if," Yang crossed her arms. The white dress suited her, but Sera thought she would've worn something a little more, well, Yang. "I see you're still in your rockstar clothes. Don't you think it'd be a little more fitting to, I don't know, wear that dress to the dance?"

"Eh," she shrugged. "Why not. I will in a minute. Where're the others at?"

"Oh, Ruby is off somewhere. Weiss and Blake are with Sun and Neptune. Where'd you go off to?"

"Nowhere," she lied. "Just out for a walk. Nice night out."

"Uh-huh," the blond said. "So, what's the deal with that chick in the blue? She seemed awful friendly with you."

"I'm not sure," Sera said. "Cerulean's been acting weird all day. I think she wanted to be my date."

Yang looked at her with a sly expression. "Oooh, look at you go with the cute blue-haired girl."

"It's not like that," she rolled her eyes. "At least, I don't really want it to be. Heck, I didn't even want a date to this," she gestured to the ballroom.

"Why not? Romance not your thing?"

"Are you kidding?" Sera scoffed. "I've got way more important things to worry about than dating."

"Why? Is school that important?" she asked. Sera just raised her eyebrows in response as a sort of shrug. Yang sighed. "You know you're allowed to have fun, right?"

"Of course," she said. "Weren't you paying attention when I was on the stage?"

"Yeah, I don't think anyone in here could ignore it," the blond smirked.

"Exactly," she said. "I can have fun."

"But when are you going to have fun with, I dunno, someone in particular," Yang wagged her eyebrows.

"Ugh, no," Sera rolled her eyes.

"C'mon! I'm sure you could find someone," she said.

Sera quirked an eyebrow at her, then headed for the stage. After all, that's where her dress was.

"Hey! Where are you going?"

"I'm not talking with you about dating right now, Yang," she said over the music.

"Why not?" she said.

She made it to the stage and climbed onto it, going behind the curtain so she could change. "It's just not in the cards for me, Blondie. Like I said, there's more important stuff to do," she said while she took her clothes off to put her dress on.

"I don't see what the big deal is, there's plenty of time for stuff besides training, you know," Yang said from the other side of the curtain.

"Drop it, Yang," Sera warned while pulling the dress up her midsection.

"Fine, fine," the blond groaned. "Just hurry up! I'm getting bored."

Sera rolled her eyes again. With the latest excitement in the night, she certainly couldn't afford to get distracted.

After she was back in her dress, the huntress did her best to fix her hair so they could rejoin the party. She appeared from behind the curtain and Yang made an exaggerated purring noise.

"Would you stop," the amnesiac groaned.

"Fine," the blond held her hands up. "I'm just trying to boost your confidence."

"Are you kidding?"

"Yeah, you're right—you're already an airhead."

"That's not what I meant," she walked through the crowd.

"You're no fun tonight," the blond frowned.

The rest of the dance was uneventful. Sera drank punch and talked with her friends about various things. Ruby was still stuck on the performance and Weiss looked bored. Blake seemed to be in a better mood, though. Yang revealed to Sera that she'd finally talked some sense into the Faunus. JNPR was having fun, too. Every so often someone would compliment their dance routine and Sera on hers and Weiss's performance.

She had to admit, it was nice to get some recognition around here. Before, she was just known as a pretty strong fighter and the weird girl that was on two huntsman teams. Now, she was the cool rockstar chick. She just needed a few thousand Lien worth of tattoos and she'd be good to go.

After about an hour, the ballroom began to empty, and Sera figured it was time to leave. Besides, after that brief fight and the long day she'd had, she was tired. (Of course, she collected her things before leaving the ballroom though.)

She crashed into her spot on the floor face-down and almost instantly passed out. She didn't even know if RWBY had made it back or not. Sera just changed into her PJ's and went to bed.

. . .

Like usual, her dreams were uneventful. She was a bodiless entity drifting through darkness and fog, left only with her own conscious to keep her company. Since she had no better way to spend her time, the huntress decided to reflect upon the previous day's events.

The dance itself certainly went far better than she could've hoped, but the fight with the masked woman was entirely unexpected. If they ever met again, she'd have to try better to beat her.

She spent a good while considering ways to improve, but one glaring fact kept coming back to her: the masked woman was on a whole other level of combat than what Sera had experienced. Like, full-on huntsman-level combat. She'd need to do better.

Plus, what was going on with Cerulean and Yang? Cerulean was awfully touch-y with her, and Yang kept trying to talk her into dating. Of all things to do in a combat school, she was trying to convince her to date? Sera knew that normal teenagers did that, especially in a school/academy full of students. But Sera wasn't lying when she said she had more important things to focus on. She couldn't afford to get distracted.

She just had to find out who she was. It was really starting to eat at her, and she wasn't sure how much longer she could go with not knowing. On several occasions, the amnesiac had considered marching right up to Ozpin and demanding to know if he'd made any headway. She was over halfway through the school year, and she knew nothing about herself, other than her alleged name, Kassandra.

The huntress was floating through a thick cloud of fog when she was suddenly brought back to the real world. She sat bolt upright in bed with her fists clenched and sweat beading her forehead.

"Good morning, team RWBY!" Ruby announced, her fists placed at her hips.

Weiss groaned and poked her white head up from her pillow. "What are you doing, you insufferable dolt?"

"Today is the day that teams will be assigned on an actual mission! Which means that we can investigate the White Fang hideout in the south!" Ruby said proudly.

"She's right," Blake landed nimbly from her bunk, a determined expression on her face. Now that she was actually sleeping, the Faunus seemed to be back at one hundred percent. "It's the perfect time. We just need to find an assignment in that area."

"Sera? Are you okay?" Yang blinked from her bunk. The three other girls turned towards their fifth teammate.

"Uh, yeah," the amnesiac said rather shakily. "Why?"

"You look… pale," Ruby noted.

"And sweaty," Weiss frowned. "What's the matter with you?"

"I don't know," Sera admitted, getting to her feet. "I think it was a bad dream," she half-lied. "I'm sure I'll feel better after a shower," she almost stumbled to the bathroom.

"Uh… Okay," Weiss blinked.

"In other news," Yang said, holding up a cylindrical package. "Dad sent us mail!"

"Ooh!" Ruby exclaimed, then disappeared into a flurry of rose petals and reappeared on her sister's shoulder trying to grab the package. And of course, Taiyang Xiao Long had somehow managed to fit a whole corgi and a dozen cans of dog food into that tiny package. Ruby and Yang were excited, Weiss was quizzical, and Blake immediately got as far away as possible.

"ZWEI!" Yang and Ruby exclaimed, holding the small dog into the air proudly.

"Your dad put a dog through the mail?!" Weiss demanded.

Yang put the corgi down, a wicked grin etched on her face. "Oh, he's done way weirder stuff than this."

Zwei gave a happy bark in the sisters' direction. Weiss frowned at the dog and put her hands on her hips.

"You mean you're telling me that this stupid, mangy mutt…" she trailed off when Zwei looked up at her with big eyes, his tongue hanging out of his mouth. "Is going to live with us forever?" Weiss said in a baby voice, bending over to scratch behind the corgi's ears.

Blake glared down at them all, but mostly at Zwei. "Please keep it away from my things."

"Oh, come on," Ruby said. "How can you not love his little face?"

Then the bathroom door opened, and Sera stepped back into the dorm room. Her eyes drifted to the source of her team's attention, and her jaw dropped. She surged forward, picking the dog up with ease and holding it into the air.

"Puppy!" exclaimed. Zwei ruffed in her face, and her grin grew wider.

"Uh, yeah," Yang blinked at her friend's odd new behavior. "That's Zwei."

"Kind of a funny name," she noted, putting the short dog back onto the ground before scratching his ears.

"He's so cute though!" Ruby bent down to excitedly pat Zwei's head. Sera smirked and crossed her arms. She was about to say some sort of funny quip but was interrupted by her scroll buzzing in her pocket. She immediately pulled it out to see why it was buzzing and found a message from Professor Ozpin.

"Please come to my office to discuss last nights events. P.S. You're not in trouble."

"Hm," she frowned slightly.

"What is it?" Weiss asked.

"Nothing major," she said. "Ozpin wants me to come to his office to talk about something."

"Oooh, someone's in trouble," Ruby said childishly. Sera rolled her eyes and pocketed the device before putting her coat on.

"What's there to talk about?" Blake asked from atop her bunk. The rest of her team was looking to her for answers, but she didn't want to waste any time. Zwei was yipping and turning in circles.

"Tell you about it later?" She adjusted her coat and pulled her boots onto her feet.

"Fine," Weiss rolled her eyes. "But you better not be late for the mission assigning."

"Pfft, as if I'd miss that, Ice Queen," she scoffed. Weiss just rolled her eyes again and Sera gave a quick wink to her team before heading for the door.

"See you later!" Ruby waved, then Zwei gave a bark.

Ten minutes later, she was standing in front of the door to Ozpin's office with her arms crossed. She knew that they just wanted to hear her side of the story about what had happened last night, so why did she feel so nervous? It's not like she did anything wrong. After all, Ironwood had said she'd acted just as a huntress should in that situation.

With a deep breath, the amnesiac pushed open the doors to the office and stepped inside. Ozpin was at his desk, like usual, while Ironwood stood near the window with his arms folded behind his back and Professor Goodwitch was at the Headmaster's side.

"Miss Calypso," Ozpin perked up.

"Ah," Ironwood said, smiling briefly. "There she is."

Sera glanced between the three adults semi-warily. "Hey," she said. "Sorry if I'm late, I sort of forgot how long it took to get across campus."

Ozpin chuckled. "It's quite all right. You're not late at all."

"Oh, good," she muttered.

"The dance was certainly more eventful than you were expecting, wasn't it?" Goodwitch asked.

"Ha!" Sera rocked on her heels. "That's one way of putting it."

Professor Ozpin cleared his throat and gestured for Sera to sit in the chair in front of his desk, so she did. "General Ironwood told us what happened in the CCT last night, but I wanted to hear it from you. From the beginning, please."

"Of course," she nodded. "I was at the dance but wanted to step out for some air. That's when I saw someone running across the rooftops near the ballroom, heading towards the CCT. So, I followed."

"And you didn't think to tell anyone about this woman?" Goodwitch asked.

The huntress smirked. "I did, actually. But I thought that by time I made it back outside, I would've lost them. I followed her to the CCT, where I called in my locker to get my weapons before going inside. There were unconscious guards everywhere. I got into the elevator and just figured that she'd be on the top floor. I found her up there and she attacked me, so I fought her back. That's when General Ironwood showed up."

Ironwood nodded in affirmation, and Sera returned the gesture. She was glad they believed her. After all, it's not like she was lying. Plus, her story matched Ironwood's.

"Very well done," Ozpin commended. "Who knows what that woman could have been after. Just as the General told you, that's exactly how a huntress should respond to the call to action."

"Anyone else would have done the same thing," she said modestly, but it was nice to get some praise.

"Maybe," Ozpin said. "Still, well done."

"Thanks," Sera cleared her throat, tapping a finger against her thigh. Goodwitch eyed her curiously, and Ironwood seemed to study her as well.

"Is everything all right?" the General asked.

"Hm?" she looked up. "Oh, yeah. Sorry. I've just been thinking a lot about… Well, everything."

"I see," the headmaster nodded. "Anything in particular?"

She shrugged. "Not really, apart from that woman's voice and that I still remember nothing at all."

"Can't say I blame you," Goodwitch murmured. Ozpin shot her a look, then returned his gaze to the white-haired huntress.

"Everything is going to be just fine. We're waiting for an update from someone in the field regarding your identity, so hopefully it'll be good news. As for that mysterious voice… I'm not sure."

Goodwitch shot him a quick glare, and Ozpin could feel it practically burning a hole in his head. Goodwitch felt that they should tell Sera the real truth about the woman's voice, but Ozpin refused. She and Ironwood weren't entirely sure why—the old man just didn't want to share that secret.

"That's reassuring," Sera muttered, but Ozpin ignored it.

"I know that it must be frustrating to wait so long and still know nothing. But believe me, we are using our best resources to solve your problem. As long as you don't go, ah, finding your own methods of intel-gathering," he raised an eyebrow.

Sera nearly flinched. She'd forgotten that they knew about her going to Junior for help.

"Did those prisoners make it back to their home?" she asked. She'd nearly forgotten to ask about the Faunus she'd saved from some sort of slave trade deal. Thankfully, she'd managed to get Qrow to help her, then Ozpin promised he'd get them home.

"Yes, they're all back in Menagerie. The leader of the island promised to make them new homes, where they would be safe," the headmaster said.

Sera's shoulders relaxed as she exhaled. "Good."

"Are you still doing well in class?" Ozpin asked, interlacing his fingers.

"I think so," she shrugged. "I've been getting better at fighting—I hope."

"Sera has improved significantly since the beginning of the semester," Goodwitch added. Sera looked to her, surprised that the professor would vouch for her. "Along with her usual practice, she's being privately tutored by Miss Nikos to help her swordplay and combat instincts."

"Ren and Blake are helping with my aura, too," she blurted. "And the others help. Heck, even Yang has been teaching me how to box."

"Really?" Ozpin raised his eyebrows. "Very good. If you keep it up, you might even get to Pyrrha's level," he chuckled.

"Fuckin' unlikely," she exhaled. "Yeah, maybe," she smirked.

Ozpin returned her smirk. "Have you given any thought on the missions you students will be taking today?"

"A little," Sera shrugged. "Are they hard?"

"Only the upper-level ones, but you won't have to worry about that—you're only a first year," he responded.

"Actually, I have a question," she sat up straighter. The three adults raised their eyebrows.

"Oh?" Ozpin chuckled. "And what's that?"

She gave a small smile. She remembered something her team had said after their latest vigilante mission about a White Fang hideout somewhere in the southeast part of Vale. "There's somewhere I want to go."

Ironwood and Goodwitch gave quizzical expressions, but Ozpin just smiled lightly. "Any particular reason?"

"I can't think of any good ones," Goodwitch crossed her arms.

Sera just grinned. "There might be a White Fang hideout in the southeast. RWBY and I want to find it."

"That's a horrible idea," Ironwood stepped forward. "We cannot allow students to stage an assault on the White Fang!"

"Why not? We already did twice—and won, by the way," she said. "Besides, I don't think there'd be an assault, we just wanted to find them. You could send your whole fleet there, if you want."

The General perked up a bit, considering the offer. "Hmm…"

"James," Ozpin said, then turned to his student. "As it turns out, there may be an assignment in that area."

"Really?" the huntress sat up. "You don't think that maybe…?"

"It's a possibility," the headmaster said. "Under the condition that a licensed huntsman can accompany you. That area is infested with Grimm that I'm not even sure you students can handle."

"Ozpin, is this really the best-?" Goodwitch said.

"Done," Sera interrupted. "I'll gladly take a licensed huntsman's help. Except…"

"Except what?" Ozpin asked.

She crossed her arms and suppressed a smirk. "It's not going to be Qrow, is it?"

Ozpin chuckled good-naturedly. "No, I don't think so. It'll likely be one of the professors here."

"Like who?" she raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sure we'll figure something out," the headmaster smirked.

Sera sat back in her seat. "Uh-huh."

Professor Ozpin cleared his throat and sat up straighter. "Well, if you want to make it to the ceremony at all, you'd better hurry back to your team and get ready."

"Uh, right," she hesitantly got to her feet. "Does that mean my request was approved?"

"I'd say so," the headmaster leaned back, idly tapping his finger. "Under one condition."

"Another 'one' condition?" she murmured.

"You will follow orders that the huntsman gives you. You will not complain or talk back. I'm not telling you this to be unkind, but to ensure your safety. On real missions, things get dangerous and unpredictable. So, you will listen to your huntsman."

Sera gulped. "Sure thing. You know me, always following directions." Goodwitch rolled her eyes, but Sera ignored it.

Ozpin gave a small smile, and Sera recognized that kind twinkle in his eyes. "Dismissed."

She nodded, then quickly turned to leave the office. Walking in, she didn't know she was going to ask about having a specific mission assigned, but she was glad she did. Now, they'd be able to go after the White Fang. If there's a hideout to find, that is.

The huntress rode the elevator down to ground level impatiently with her arms crossed and foot tapping the floor. Then her scroll buzzed in her pocket again, and she brought it out. Thinking it was a follow-up message from Ozpin or even a text from one of her teammates, she didn't really expect much. But then she saw the name of the contact and her heart skipped a beat.

"Qrow," she thought aloud. The last time she'd heard from the huntsman was when she'd rescued the captured Faunus from Junior. Sera unlocked the device to read his message.

"White Fang have orders to capture you."

She blinked uncertainly. There was not a single reason she could think of for the White Fang to be after her. What had she even done to any of them? Sera could only assume that Qrow knew this because he had to be the one looking into finding her identity that Ozpin mentioned… unless he just discovered this bit of information completely out of the blue.

"Why?" she typed back, feeling her stress-level rising as she did so.

She saw three dots appear on her scroll, signifying that Qrow was typing. Then the emoji of a man shrugging appeared, and she rolled her eyes. Great, both of them were in the dark about why the largest terrorist organization on Remnant had her name on their list of people to kidnap.

"Awesome," she replied to the huntsman. "Anything else I should know?"

Within a minute, she got a reply. "Not at the moment. Just keep your head down and eyes open, Snowball."

"Would this be a good time to tell you that your nieces and I are plotting to find a secret White Fang hideout, like, within the next few hours?"

"…" he responded. Then, "Just don't get caught, or it's going to be me that has to come rescue you."

She smirked, shaking her head as she typed her reply. "Wouldn't dream of it, old man."

Then her elevator dinged, and the doors opened. The huntress pocketed her scroll and set out from Beacon Tower with a sense of purpose. She was going to find this White Fang hideout and demand to know why they were after her. It could lead to more clues about her past, and that was reason enough for her to tear their whole base apart if she had to.

Nothing was going to stop her.

. . .

"…This isn't good, Ozpin," Ironwood folded his arms behind his back while gazing across the horizon.

"I know, James," the headmaster commented.

"They were here!" he whirled around, his fists clenched. "We must launch a counterstrike."

"I honestly don't know how many times I can repeat this—we can't. Any thoughtless action from our position could send the city into a panic, and—"

"What else are we supposed to do?" the General demanded, slamming a fist onto Ozpin's desk. "If we continue to do nothing, your students will end up fighting in the war you wanted to protect them from."

Ozpin sighed, glancing to Goodwitch. He didn't think she'd be coming to his rescue any time soon. "Are you finished?" the headmaster's eyes narrowed at his friend. Ironwood looked like he wanted to get angry, but he just straightened his posture until his face relaxed.

"I think I just about am," he turned away from Beacon's headmaster and stormed out of the office. Once the doors slammed shut, Ozpin let out a heavy sigh and leaned back in his chair.

What was he going to do to prevent the catastrophe that may be soon to come?