The weeks leading up to the Vytal Festival were a balance of festivity and practicality. On the one hand, events like the dance were celebrations of culture and friendship. On the other hand, missions with professional Huntsmen were as much about gaining field experience as they were demonstrations of skill.

On the other other hand (Penny had to simulate the addition of extra limbs to force the analogy to continue), all these events had to fit within a fairly narrow schedule. There had to be time for the missions to complete before the tournament started, after all, and not all missions had the same start dates.

So signups for their missions, Penny knew, had to be on the day after the dance. There was no other way to make all the dates work.

The day after the dance, she reminded herself. Not the morning after.

This, too, was a practical matter.

"Someone tell the Goliath to stop stomping on my head," said Weiss.

"Here you go," said Yang gently as she placed some things on the table beside Weiss's bed. "Water and painkillers. Be sure to keep drinking water all through the day."

"What's water got to do with anything?" said Weiss in so threatening a voice Penny felt the need to provide an answer she didn't have.

Luckily, Yang spoke instead. "Princess, I'm afraid you're experiencing your first hangover."

Weiss raised her head from the sheets. In Penny's estimation, Weiss looked more bedraggled than if she'd just tried to 1v4 Team JNPR. "Hangover? But I never drank... Oh. The punch!"

"The punch," said Yang. "Told you."

"But you didn't exactly protect me from it," Weiss said crossly.

"When's the last time someone told you "don't do that" and you listened?" said Yang.

Weiss stared for a long moment before saying, "I can't think of anything because my headache is too bad, but I'm sure it's happened recently."

"Sure it has. Although I guess I should have expected you'd be a lightweight."

"If you knew my mother, you'd be surprised," said Weiss, but to Penny's relief, she chose to take the pill and the water instead of elaborating further.

"The good news is there's no rush," said Penny. "We are not due at the auditorium until this afternoon."

"To get our launch speech and view the mission boards," said Blake. Blake looked somewhat sleep deprived, which Penny had expected, seeing as Blake had returned exceptionally late in the morning, and even then had taken a shower before getting into bed. Only Penny had noticed, of course. She would admit to intense curiosity about what had kept Blake out so late... except that she was unprepared to talk to the others about her evening with Ruby. She decided not to question Blake on an analogous topic.

"I asked each of you to think about the type of mission you wanted to go on," said Blake. "What have you got for me?"

"I recommend a search and destroy mission," said Penny. "Given our combat prowess, it seems the most efficient and appropriate use of our skills."

"I vote for an escort mission," said Yang. "Hopefully to somewhere dangerous so we can get some action, but I'm not that fussy about it. I just want to help people do stuff they couldn't do otherwise."

"I care less about the mission type and more about the mission time," said Weiss. "Whatever mission we choose, it should be short enough that we can return to Beacon in time to jam in more training before the Tournament. Every little bit helps."

"I care less about the time and more about the space," said Blake. "I prefer to keep us away from the White Fang's supply routes to the southeast. If we're really leaving the pursuit of the Fang to Ozpin for now, let's steer clear.

"And I don't think that conflicts with what anyone else wants," Blake continued as she took down notes on her scroll. "We'll have to see what's on offer, but I think this leaves us with some good options. I'll break ties if it comes to that."

"Sounds good," said Weiss, before she flopped back down on her bed. "Now, I'd prefer to go back to pretending none of this exists for another couple of hours."

"I'm hurt," Yang said, though she didn't sound it to Penny's ears.

"Don't push your luck."

"Well, this is ugly."

"You always were one for understatement," said James Ironwood.

"Or maybe I'm not one to place too much value on dramatics," said Ozpin.

From her seat to the side of the conversation in Ozpin's office, Glynda choked down a scathing remark.

"Someone infiltrated the CCT Tower," said James. "Guards don't just knock themselves out."

"And yet you said there was no security footage of the intruder," said Ozpin.

"None," said James.

"One of my students did see a figure moving away from the tower late last night," said Glynda. "Based on what the guards remember, the timeframes seem to line up."

"I have an eyewitness that said the same thing," said James.

"Given the choice between believing our eyes and believing our technology," said Ozpin, "where do you put your faith?"

"Normally, that'd be a hard question," said James. "But there are extenuating circumstances this time."

Ozpin gave a restrained gesture of "go on".

"The intruder wasn't interrupted," said James. "They had all the time they needed to accomplish whatever they were there to do. So I had my CCT technicians run diagnostics on the tower this morning to see what'd been done to it. They found… nothing."

Glynda's eyes narrowed. "No one attacks critical infrastructure to do nothing to it."

"Precisely," said James. "We have to assume they completed their mission, we just can't tell what it was. There's a common thread here: these are things only an Atlesian insider could pull off."

"Is this really the time for chauvinism?" said Glynda.

"Unless you know someone outside Atlas who's an expert in CCT systems," said James, "then yes. This attack was too perfect to be an outsider's handiwork."

"Should I presume you're starting an investigation for a traitor?" said Ozpin.

"I already have, but I have another theory," said James.

"Do tell," said Ozpin.

James took his time. If Glynda were inclined to charity, she'd say he was ordering his thoughts for better presentation. If she were being cynical, she'd say he was sanitizing his words, seeing what he felt he could share and what he wanted to hold close.

Which was how things worked at this level. Glynda was drowning in secrets and lies. Gods, how her life had gotten away from her, that this was normal for her now.

"One of Atlas' finest minds, Dr. Watts, was reported dead eleven years ago," said James. "I have evidence suggesting he survived. He's the only person I know of who could penetrate our technology, and who isn't reliable." He hesitated, then said, "It's possible the enemy has recruited him."

"Possible," Ozpin repeated, half as question.

"I can't prove it," said James.

"Do you believe it?" said Ozpin.

James thought it over for several seconds, then nodded.

Which set Glynda off. "When did you come into this 'evidence'? If this 'finest mind' is as dangerous as you say, and if he was recruited by Salem, I would've wanted to know about it sooner!"

James bristled, but Ozpin spoke before James could return fire. "I'll expect answers to that question and others in the near future. The most urgent question is, What do we do about this now?"

James refocused; Glynda could see the tint in his eyes as he tapped his Semblance to fare through his temper. "I'm bringing my best minds to bear on this problem, including one I've kept in reserve and who could be Watts' equal. If Watts is involved, and he did something to the CCT, we'll find it."

"When you do," said Ozpin, "don't immediately take action. Gather all the information you can and we'll discuss how to handle it."

"You'd leave a vulnerability in the system?" said James, aghast.

"It's not a vulnerability if we understand and control it," said Ozpin. "It's like with spies. An unknown spy is a threat. A known spy is an asset who doesn't know it yet."

James's hand tightened until his prosthetic squeaked beneath his glove. "I'll never abide a traitor."

Ozpin gave his most non-threatening smile. "On a related note, how goes the investigation with that scroll I gave you? I imagine the same cyber-security experts who are scrubbing the Tower are the ones you'd have working that scroll."

James settled marginally. "Oh… you mean the scroll that assassin carried?"

"That's right," said Ozpin. "I strongly suspect the same bad actors behind the CCT attack were also behind the assassination. If so, you'd now have two samples of this "Watts'" handiwork."

James nodded. "I'll check in with my experts and let you know what they've found. I'll meet up with you tonight to catch up."

"I have other obligations tonight," said Ozpin. "Tomorrow morning."

For a moment, James looked greedy, like he was about to ask what Ozpin's obligation was– but a warning look from Ozpin deflected him. Maybe James realized that he had no justification for curiosity when he'd been less than forthcoming.

Maybe Glynda was being generous.

"Tomorrow morning," he agreed.

"Until then," Ozpin said, giving James the conversational dismount he missed so often on his own. James inclined his head in respect and took his leave.

"He's not telling you everything," said Glynda when the elevator had closed.

Ozpin sighed. "Fair is fair. Now, I believe you have an operation to take charge of."

"Yes, sir."

"Good hunting."

It took a few hours, but eventually Penny's teammates were organized, dressed, showered, caffeinated, and semi-functional. In the meantime, Penny reported the suspicious activity near the CCT Tower to Professor Goodwitch, who took it with no noticeable unease. Penny couldn't help but speculate: had Professor Goodwitch already known? Was this something expected? Was it something unexpected but not worth worrying about? Professor Goodwitch gave no clues, so Penny could come to no conclusions.

Regardless, by mid-afternoon Team BXPS was filled with a restless energy. They were ready, even eager for their mission, regardless of what form it took.

Team JNPR seemed much more at ease. Penny couldn't explain it, but there was a calm that radiated from the team, quite a feat considering it counted Nora among its members. They were also collectively smiling more than Penny had ever seen. Even Ren had adopted a 1/4 smile as his base expression, when normally a 1/4 smile was the maximum he ever displayed.

The dance, apparently, had been very eventful.

The teams traded pleasantries and friendly conversation as they made their way to the amphitheater. Penny's eyes found many of their fellow teams, some they had scouted successfully, others which were nearly unknown, including ABRN, CMEN (still missing its fourth member), NDGO, and more. They were organized by school in what looked like walls of uniforms. Penny found herself fascinated by how they fit together and how the uniforms looked different on different people.

"Some speech," said Yang after the headmaster had delivered his remarks on Vytal and the Great War. "You can tell he rarely cares about this stuff, he gave it way more attention than his greeting speech."

"It almost felt like he was there, like he remembered, the way he talked about it," said Blake.

"That's impossible," said Weiss. "The Great War ended 80 years ago. Professor Ozpin wasn't even alive back then, never mind old enough to have memories of it."

"I know," said Blake, "that's just how it felt to me."

"Professor Ozpin doesn't have a color name," said Penny. "Perhaps that is why he feels so strongly on the subject."

"Not in his last name, anyway," said Weiss, but then she frowned. "What even is Professor Ozpin's first name, anyway?"

Her only answer was a round of shrugs.

"Anyway," said Blake, "let's focus on the next thing. We're here to pick a mission, so let's go see what's available."

Projectors had been set up around the edges of the amphitheater, dividing the total crowd into eight parts, which meant none of the lines were as long as they could have been. BXPS didn't have to wait long before it was their turn to make their selection.

"This looks to fit our criteria," said Penny. "Search and destroy along the Sanus coast south-southwest of Vale. Expected duration one week."

"It doesn't look like we'll get better," said Blake, before she looked to Yang apologetically. "Sorry, no escort mission this time."

"No biggie," said Yang. "I'll take it out on the grimm."

Analysis noted that violence was not usually seen as a socially acceptable way to deal with frustration, but Tactical pointed out that anti-grimm violence always was.

"We'll take it," said Blake, and she selected the mission.

An error message popped up when she did.

Team mission selection already locked-in.

The team exchanged questioning looks, which Penny didn't understand, followed by a question she did understand but couldn't answer. "Did one of us already pick our mission?"

"I don't think any of us did," said Penny. "The mission board would not have been open to us before now, and I did not see anyone make a mistake with the interface."

"There were no mistakes," said Professor Ozpin as he rounded the projector. "And I was the one who selected your mission."

Realization came to Blake first. "Does this mean you're ready to hit the Vale Branch?"

"That's right," said Professor Ozpin. "And, as promised, your team is part of the operation. Your professional Huntsman oversight is already waiting for you at the docks. Your mission start time is in thirty minutes. Make any final preparations you need and proceed there promptly."

"Thank you, sir," said Blake.

He gave a slight shake of his head. "Don't thank me yet. Your role in this operation is supposed to be a minor one, but there are numerous moving parts, enough that the plan will almost certainly not go to plan. You will probably have to improvise, and the overall danger of the mission may be far greater than normal."

"You know what else is greater than normal?" said Yang. "Team BXPS."

Professor Ozpin gave a mild smile. "Here's hoping your bravado is merited. Good luck."

"You heard him," said Blake to her team as Professor Ozpin left them. "Do whatever you need to do, be back in the courtyard in twenty minutes so we can be at the docks in 25."

"Yes ma'am," chorused her team.

Despite Professor Ozpin's warnings of danger, Penny found herself more energetic than ever. A real operation, a sanctioned one even, doing real Huntress work. She'd always had the capability to accomplish such a mission, but now she had the trust and confidence of others to give her that mission.

This was going to be amazing.

Penny needed fewer supplies than her teammates. Even an expedition of days required her only to pack extra magazines for Elektra and extra Lightning Dust crystals for in-the-field recharges. She needed no hygiene supplies, provisions, or changes of clothes (though she took one just to be safe). The field was no place to do routine maintenance which would have required her to carry tools. If she suffered severe damage, only Turchina could repair her, and Turchina was far too bulky to take anywhere.

Accordingly, she was the first to arrive at their meeting place in the courtyard. She found herself barely able to be still, and released some of her extra energy bouncing on the balls of her feet while waiting for her teammates to assemble.

When all four had gathered, only nineteen minutes after Blake's go command, they proceeded down towards the dock. Students were bustling in every direction around them, either preparing their own supplies or going to their own staging areas. Not all of the missions would be starting today, but even those teams with later start dates wanted to be ready, and some missions had long durations and would require heavy planning and supply loads.

"I'm surprised you could fit everything in one backpack, princess," said Yang. "I was sure you'd be carrying some luggage for, like, your industrial strength hair dryer or something."

"Look who's talking," Weiss snapped right back. "Where are your thirteen bottles of conditioner?"

"Waiting for me to come back, of course. In the meantime, I can keep my hair kinda clean the old-fashioned way."

Her eyes flashed to red and her hair glowed like burning gold.

"Something unique to you can't be the 'old-fashioned way'," said Weiss. "That's not what those words mean."

Yang released her semblance and grinned. "That's a matter of perspective."

"Can we stop flirting and focus?" said Blake. "I don't know who we're supposed to be meeting for our mission. Professor Ozpin didn't say, and the mission listing doesn't specify either."

"That seems very sloppy," said Weiss.

Yang shrugged. "I guess we're supposed to know just by seeing… Uncle Qrow?!"

Yang came to a stop and her team followed suit. Penny tracked Yang's eyes and her gaze fell upon a dangerously thin, raggedy looking man, with a weapon strapped to his back that possibly outweighed him. Despite his appearance, Penny had to appreciate the complexity of his weapon. She wondered what all it could do and what it meant about the man who carried it.

"Hey, firecracker," said Qrow.

"You're our professional Huntsman?" said Yang.

"Yep," said Qrow (using the same articulation of that word that Yang used, Thesaurus noted, and Ruby too for that matter). "What, do I not look like a professional Huntsman?"

Tactical could tell from the way Weiss's mouth was straining that she was only just keeping herself from answering 'yes'.

"I didn't think they allowed you around kids," said Yang. "You always said you weren't much of a role model."

"Still not," said Qrow. "In every way except for one, and that's the one that matters to us tonight. That's all I'm gonna say about the mission for now. Everyone needs to come with me, our airship leaves in five."

They followed Yang's uncle to a waiting Bullhead with its bay door open. "Everyone onboard, then lose your backpacks," said Qrow. "You won't need 'em."

"The mission board said this has a ten-day duration," said Blake.

Qrow smirked. "The mission board was lying. A little bit of deception for security reasons."

Penny gave an explosive hiccup; Qrow eyed her a suspiciously as she tried to talk down Jiminy. The argument "I'm not the one who was lying nor can I fix it" seemed to hold well enough. When she didn't make any other reaction, Qrow looked away. "Like I was saying, this one's a short turnaround. Odds are we'll have the Fang in the bag by morning. So lose your supplies while I go talk to the pilot. I'll give a mission brief once we're airborne."

He disappeared into the cockpit. Penny, having traveled lighter than her teammates, found herself with a moment while they unloaded. It occurred to her that Ruby might want to meet today, but Penny would be incommunicado for this mission, so she dashed off a quick message to preempt her friend. She was done before Qrow returned.

He returned with a flask in his hand, which he took a drink from before speaking. Judging from her teammates' reactions, the smell was potent: Blake's nose wrinkled, while Weiss put her hands to her head as if her hangover had returned. Yang, by contrast, just sighed. "Is this really the time to be drinking?"

"I know what drinking time is better than you do," said Qrow, smacking his lips as he replaced his flask in his shirt pocket. "This way, I'll just be a little tipsy when the fighting starts instead of drunk."

"Much better," said Yang in a voice which left Penny zero chance of discerning sincerity from sarcasm.

"We're after the Vale Branch of the White Fang," said Qrow, in firmer tones than before, as if a different subroutine had taken control of his vocal processing. "After its core cadre, anyway. The part-timers, the reservists, all have day jobs, and they live in settlements with everyone else. The hard core, not so much. They have a series of major caches, plus a roving camp to make 'em hard to track down. There's about fifty full-timers, and compared to your typical White Fang mook, they're a bigger deal. Most of 'em are as good as a combat school graduate. A few could get into an Academy if they weren't so busy with terrorism. The leader, plus a lieutenant or two? They're Huntsman level."

His eyes flicked towards Blake; Penny's did, too. Blake was paler than usual, but said nothing.

"Ozpin's put together a strike force," Qrow went on. "Two full teams of the best Huntsmen in Vale, plus a few freelancers," he gestured at himself, "and a couple teachers. More power than he uses for just about anything, really. Including a couple of us who could solo ol' Hornhead."

Blake was taken aback. "'Hornhead'?!"

Qrow rolled his eyes. "Fine. Adam."

Blake shook her head urgently. "There've been Huntsmen who've said they could take Adam alone. They were wrong."

"Sure," said Qrow, "but none of them were me or Glynda."

"Professor Goodwitch is part of this?"

"Hold your horses, we'll get there." Qrow drew his scroll and transitioned to projector mode. A 3-D topographic map appeared showing very rough ground: a nearly-vertical east-west ridge made a boundary. The land below it was broken up by a depression to the south that rose to make a narrow plain with the surrounding ground at the foot of the ridge. All of it was heavily forested. At the extreme border of the map, perhaps 1.4 klicks from its center if Penny was reading the scale correctly, ran a north-south river.

"The Vale Branch has set up shop here," he said, gesturing at the plain at the juncture of the different landforms. "Pretty decent choice. It's really difficult to see from the air, it's too rough to bring vehicles in, and they've got three directions they can retreat in and easily cover.

"So we're cutting 'em off," he said, motioning to the east and west. Dots appeared, which Penny presumed stood for Huntsmen. "We move in quietly, disable the sentries before they raise a fuss, and take positions surrounding the camp. Then we hit the camp from every direction at once and bag the lot.

"Now," he said, scanning around the team, "who can see the obvious flaw with the plan?"

"The depression to the south," Weiss said crisply. "Those small Huntsman groups can't completely join up on the southern edge of the camp until after the attack starts- there's too much ground to cover and it's too uneven. Before you close your net, there's a window for people to escape through the depression."

"You got it," said Qrow. "Anyone who's not in the camp at the start might get out that way, too. You're trainees, what would you do? Belladonna, what's your solution?"

Blake's eye (and one ear) twitched, but she focused. "We need another team to block the depression," she said, gesturing with her hand at the southern exit of the depression. "Cut off any attempt to escape that way."

"And that team doesn't need to be pros to do that job," said Qrow. "Since they're not expecting to see the worst bad guys or the most numbers, just a few stragglers."

Analysis pinged. "Team BXPS meets that description," said Penny excitedly. "That is a job well within our skill level."

"That's the idea," said Qrow. "Of course, if the Fang gets its shit together and stages a breakout to the south, it could be more than stragglers. In that case, it'd help to have a top-shelf Huntsman as backup."

"Which would be you!" Penny said with excited clapping.

For a moment, Qrow reacted to Penny's enthusiasm with narrowed eyes and uneven gaze, like he was inspecting her while shielding himself from her. After three seconds, though, all of that dropped. He huffed, and a corner of his mouth tugged up, like he was trying to smile but had forgotten how. "Huh. That kinda energy throws me back a bit. Haven't seen it in a while."

Without explaining further, he took a drink from his flask and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. Yang stared at him the whole time.

"Now," said Qrow, serious once more, "one thing to keep in mind. The White Fang's core is all Aura users, right? More athletic than normies or most grimm. They might be able to escape along the sides of the depression, not just the southern exit."

"But we can't go all the way to the camp perimeter," said Blake. "They'll have at least one sentry in the depression."

"You can bet on it," said Qrow. "No offense, but I don't think we can count on you lot to quietly deal with some sentries the way a pro team can."

"None taken," said Penny.

"So we'll start at the exit, like you said," Qrow said with a nod at Blake. "When the fighting starts, and not any sooner, we'll move northwards up the depression, scoop up any Fang we meet, and plug the north entrance at the edge of the camp. When we do that, the net's sealed up.

"But there's one more thing that's our job to deal with," said Qrow. "Something we haven't mentioned yet. Something that matters for where this mission's happening. Anyone?"

"Grimm," said Yang.

"Got it in one," said Qrow. "The Vale Branch isn't gonna be happy when we show up. They'll be scared, pissed, half a dozen other things, none of them good. That much negativity coming from that many Auras… you can bet any grimm in the area will come running. They probably won't arrive until after the fight's well underway, though. So, once we close the net, we turn around, and form the first line of defense to keep the grimm from munching on our Huntsmen allies or our Fang prisoners.

"When it's all over, a big airship we've got on standby will come for the prisoners, with a couple Bullheads as escorts. The Huntsmen and Glynda will take care of the prisoners, and we'll be in a Bullhead, and we all go home. Any questions?"

"Are we repeating General Legume's mistake?" said Weiss. "Attacking a Faunus camp at night."

"Hey, looks like someone's been paying attention in Barty's class," said Qrow. (Thesaurus tried its best, but could only come to 67% probability that "Barty" meant Doctor Oobleck.) "It's good that you're thinking like a Huntress, but we are, too."

He stepped over to a supply locker at the front of the Bullhead's main hold, drew a bag, and started handing out what Penny recognized as IR goggle sets. He offered a set each to Yang and Weiss, who took them; he cocked his head knowingly at Blake as he passed her over, but didn't call attention to it.

When he went to hand a third set to Penny, Penny shook her head. "I am perfectly capable of seeing in the dark without that help."

Qrow shrugged. "Suit yourself."

"Don't you need a set?"

Qrow smirked. "Nah. I'm built different. I'll be okay."

Thesaurus failed Penny yet again. 'Built different' implied 'construction'; Penny could say 'built different' and it would be perfectly appropriate. Qrow was, as far as Penny could tell, a normal human being. He had no Faunus features she could detect (Trash had ordered that inspection before Penny could put a stop to it, even if she appreciated knowing the result), and he certainly was not an android, which would have made the phrase 'built different' make sense.

Penny decided to be charitable to herself. It wasn't her Thesaurus that couldn't interpret words, it was Qrow's. Hopefully his night vision was better than his language programming.

"Alright, everyone get nice and cozy," he said. "We've got a few minutes to get to our landing zone, and then we'll take our time moving overland on our approach."

He gave a smile Penny found the opposite of reassuring.

"Welcome to the big leagues, ladies."

Next time: In the Dark of the Woods