Chapter 79: Welcome to Beacon

Earlier, that night.

The forest was endless, its darkness impenetrable to all but those made to see through it. The wind blew through its trees constantly, light enough to be forgotten until the rustle of leaves and creaking of branches cut through the silence. And there was always the feeling of being watched, despite there being no creature to be found no matter how hard one looked. Not until it was right on top of them.

This… was not how Ilia saw her night going.

She leapt from branch to branch, her aqua eyes glowing slightly as she strained her night vision. She'd left the forest floor as soon as she'd entered the forest, finding the treetops a quicker method of travel as she searched for her goal.

Well, not so much entered as was catapulted from the top of a cliff!

Seriously, what the hell!?

Ilia shook her head, forcing her frustrations away for the moment. She'd have plenty of time later to marvel at the utter insanity that was Headmaster Ozpin.

The fact that Chief Ghira and General Ironwood found nothing strange at all with launching four teenagers into a Grimm infested forest at night said things about their own mental state that Ilia wasn't prepared to contemplate.

She took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. She had better things to do than question the sanity of world leaders.

"Grrr…"

...even if said world leaders were the reason she was in this godsforsaken, Grimm infested forest.

Ilia placed herself flush against the tree trunk, making herself as small as possible as she peered down through the branches. A Beowulf prowled through the foliage below, growling lowly as its molten eyes cut through the darkness. She gripped the hilt of her sword as it drew closer to her hiding place her scales rippled in preparation.

The Beowulf sniffed at the forest floor, a constant growl at the back of its throat. It prowled from tree to tree, getting more agitated by the second. When it reached the base of Ilia's tree, it took in a deep breath, and the growl turned into a snarl. It's head shot up, a roar in the back of its throat as its burning eyes stared right towards Ilia...

And saw nothing.

For a brief moment, the Beowulf paused as what it saw didn't match up with what its other senses were telling it. There was a rustle in the branches above.

To the outside eye, the Beowulf suddenly slammed its head to the ground chin first for no reason, letting out a yip of surprise. Black ichor flowed from a hole in its forehead, its glowing eyes dimming within seconds.

The air above the dead Beowulf shimmered, revealing Ilia kneeling on the beast's neck. Her scales rippled as she pulled her blade free from the Grimm's skull, leaping away as it fizzed into non-existence.

Ilia let out a breath before climbing back up into the branches. This made the fourth Grimm she'd encountered since entering the forest. Just how many was she going to encounter before she met up with anyone?

She thought back on the Headmaster's words, trying to discern if he'd given them a hint, some kind of hidden message as to what was expected of her…

"Now, normally a new team would find a collection of chess pieces at the altar, your goal being to select only one, your team's chosen piece acting as a sort of character test. However, seeing as how we already know your various skill sets and you will be the only team entering, we will be forgoing that and altering the test a bit. Instead, at the altar, you will find a small pyramid-shaped object. A… relic, of sorts. Your objective is to reunite, collect the relic, and return here before sunrise."

...nope. It still sounded too straight forward. Reunite, get the relic, and get out without her and her team getting eaten.

Ilia paused before her next leap. Her team… For some godsforsaken reason, Ozpin, Ironwood, and Ghira wanted to make a Huntress team out of them. A barely reformed White Fang, a serial criminal, an Atlassian prodigy, and a futuristic all-powerful android… and they wanted them to sit in a classroom learning about Remnant History and the machinations of Dust. Make them students at a Huntsman school.

They wanted her to be a Huntress.

…

When did this become her life?

"Rawrr!"

Ilia's head shot up at the sudden roar, just in time to see the massive paw coming for her. She tried to jump out of the way, but was too late, getting swatted out of the tree.

She hit the dirt with a yelp, quickly pushing herself back to her hands and knees. Her stomach dropped at the sight of an Ursa Minor looming over her on its hind legs. The beast let out a thunderous roar as it fell forward, its claws aimed for her.

Ilia rolled left, putting herself right between the Grimm's paws as they slammed into the ground. She lunged upwards, her sparkling blade sinking into the Ursa's neck. The beast roared in pain, throwing its head to the side and knocking Ilia into the air with the motion. Ilia grit her teeth as she tumbled through the air, getting her feet under herself before she landed. Her heels dug into the dirt as she skidded back, crouching as she waited for the Grimm's next move.

The Ursa roared in rage, black blood dripping from its neck. It took off in a lumbering run, blazing eyes zeroed in on its prey. Ilia tensed her legs, trying to judge the right time to vault over the Grimm-

Only for the Ursa to suddenly vanish.

Ilia blinked as the sound of steel slicing through air rang out. The Ursa screamed as it was thrown to the side, its eyes going dark as it slammed against a nearby tree. It hung in the air, pinned against the tree truck by six black and green blades, steel wire trailing from their hilts.

"Friend Ilia! Are you okay?"

Ilia's eyes followed along the wires, towards the source of the voice. She relaxed a little when she saw they led back to their owner, slowly walking out from behind the foliage, four more blades hovering around her.

"Penny," she breathed, coming out of her crouch. She rolled her shoulders to remove the last bits of tenseness. "Yeah, I'm okay. Thanks for the save, but… I think I had that handled."

Penny tilted her head, a confused smile on her lips. "I don't doubt you, but was the point of us coming here not to assist each other?"

Ilia sighed. "Yeah, I guess it was." She looked Penny up and down, giving the girl a small smile. "So… since you're the first one I found… or, that you found me… I guess that makes us partners."

Penny blinked at her, and her smile grew blinding. "It would appear so!" She then paused, her smile fading as her brow pinched. "Is that… good?"

Ilia felt a small twinge in her chest at how quickly the android turned uncertain. She ignored it, letting out a huff of a laugh. "I think it's about the best I could have gotten. Ciel seems like the steadfast by-the-book type and Neo… well, she's kind of cool, but she's..."

She thought about the mute girl's constant smug smirk, the mad gleam in her eye she'd seen while they fought the White Fang, the way she beat anyone who pissed her off over the head with that parasol (granted, she'd thus far only been seen hitting Roman, who probably deserve it, but still…)

"...a lot." Ilia finally settled on.

Penny seemed to contemplate this for a moment, before nodding. "Well, I believe you and I have the potential to be a great unit!"

Ilia grinned at her returning enthusiasm. "Well, thanks." She looked around the forest, noting the lack of Grimm and notable landmarks as Penny's blades circled them protectively. "So, since we found each other, should we try to find Ciel and Neo, or head towards this 'relic'?"

Penny hummed to herself. "The point of this exercise is to see how we function as a team. To that end, I'd suggest we complete the team before we head towards our objective."

Ilia gave a small shrug. "Sounds good to me. Not sure how we're going to find them."

Penny frowned, tilting her head to the side. After a moment, she pointed to the right. "I can hear gunfire coming from that direction. One of them is likely engaged in combat."

Ilia blinked, not hearing anything herself. "You can hear that from here?"

"Not… as a normal person can," Penny slowly admitted. "I was designed to have senses far beyond that of an ordinary human… or Faunus."

Ilia hummed at that, not sure how to feel. "Well… I guess we should get moving. If there's gunfire, they might be in trouble." She stared off in the direction Penny had pointed, only for the android to stop her.

"Would you like me to fly us to them?" She asked with a smile. "It would be faster, and give us a greater scope of the situation.

Ilia paused, perplexed. "Um… I guess. But… how would I fly with you?"

Penny beamed. "Like this!"

Faster then Ilia could react, Penny lunged forward. Ilia yelped as she went weightless, her feet leaving the ground as the android's arms went behind her back and legs. Ilia yelped as she was lifted, her blade retracting into the hilt as she clutched it against her chest. She felt her face inflame as Penny held her like she weighed nothing.

"See? Like this, it will be easy for me-" Penny's proud beaming smile faded as she looked down at the girl in her arms. "Friend Ilia?" She asked, perplexed. "You've turned pink. Is that normal?"

Ilia pinkened a shade darker, before schooling her face and clearing her throat, willing, begging, her scales back to their regular color. "I'm… fine, Penny," she said, ignoring how her voice had raised an octave. "Just...you should probably ask permission before just picking someone up like this."

"Oh." Penny looked up and down Ilia's held frame. "I just thought… Is it… rude?"

Despite the awkwardness, Ilia felt a chuckle build in her throat at the android's honest confusion. "Most people would think so, yes."

Penny hummed. "Noted." She then looked up through the canopy of trees. She looked back at Ilia hesitantly. "Would you still like to fly with me?"

A grin made its way onto Ilia's lips, her heart's hammering finally starting to slow. "Yes, Penny, I would."

Penny beamed again. "Okay!" Giving a high pitch whine, Penny's jetpack wings burned with green fire, the android's feet slowly leaving the ground. Once they broke free of the treetops, Ilia was buffeted by the increased wind. She blinked against the rush of air. Penny's arms suddenly tightened around her as she tilted forward-

Shrrooom!

-and blasted away!

"Aahhh!" Ilia screamed, instinctively holding onto the nearest thing for her life… which happened to be Penny's neck. "Penny!"

Penny looked down at the Fanus's yell. "Is something wrong?"

"Warn me before you take off at Mach 1!"

Penny looked confused. "But I haven't broken the speed of sound-?"

"You know what I mean!"

Though Ilia couldn't see it, the look on Penny's face implied that she did not. She did gather that she was moving faster then Ilia was comfortable with, and slowed her speed.

Ilia relaxed slightly but kept a tight hold on Penny. She could feel embarrassment burning in the back of her mind, but it was outweighed by the adrenaline rush she was sure wouldn't go away until the landed.

As the trees blew past below, Ilia tried to determine where they were going. She could see the cliff they'd originally been launched from in the distance, the spires of Beacon far off behind it. She faced back forwards, trying to see any sign of their potential teammates. Despite not seeing any obvious signs, she could feel Penny dip and adjust course several times, following a path only her partner was aware of.

Partner. She had an Atlassian Super Android for a partner at a Huntsman school. That was going to take some getting used to, for several reasons. Still, she hasn't been wrong before. Considering the other options, she'd rather be paired with Penny than…

…

Ilia slapped her hand to her forehead. "Oh no…"

Penny jerked in surprise, her flight path dipping up for a moment. "Ilia? Is something wrong?"

Ilia threw her head back, watching the world fly by upside down. "Maybe. Probably. Just something I thought of." When she lifted her head and saw Penny's confused look, she let out a heavy sigh. "Since we found each other, that means we're going to be partners, right? So, what does that mean for Neo and Ciel?"

"Well, I suppose it…" Penny blinked, pausing. A look of worry passed over her features. "Oh, dear."

Ilia bit back a snort. "Yeah, that… that about sums it up. If this works, this whole team thing is going to be... Interesting."

"No shit. Neo's going to eat that kid alive."

Ignoring Roman's amused commentary, Ozpin looked up from the live feed on his scroll to watch the glowing green dot in the distance soaring across the treetops. The two men stood at the cliff's edge alongside Goodwitch and Ironwood, all four monitoring the impromptu exam on their scrolls.

"Miss Polendina and Miss Amitolla appear to function as an amenable team so far," Goodwitch said as her eyes scammed across the screen. "No personality clashes or conflict of methods as of yet. If they function well together in combat, I can see this partnership working."

"Frankly, I think seeing them in combat is a moot point." Ironwood frowned as he watched Penny fly away with Ilia in her arms. "The footage taken from the White Fang attack proved that they work well together."

"In a crisis, yes," Goodwitch fired back, her look cutting. "All Hunters are expected to function with allies of chance. Whether or not they can consistently function together is another matter."

At that, Roman let out a snort. "Well, I know Neo can buck up when she has to. What about your straitlaced little prodigy, Ironsides?"

Ironwood's only answer was a severe glare.

Roman cackled. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Ah, you can't pay for this kind of entertainment!"

As Roman received another glare, this time from Ironwood and Goodwitch both. Ozpin gave no commentary. Finally moving his eyes from Penny's flying form, he tapped on his scroll to watch the other examinees.

In a dark corner of the Emerald forest, the angry buzz of insectoid wings echoed through the trees. Glowing compound eyes streaked through the shadows, red light trailing as dog-sized forms flitted from tree to tree. Three wasp-like Grimm darted between the foliage, searching for their lost target. The worker-type Lancers darted up and down the trees, circling each one before moving to the next, their buzzing growing louder with each failed search.

Bang!

A gunshot rang out, and one of the Lancer's heads exploded in a shower of black blood. As its body fell bonelessly to the ground, its companions spun on the spot towards the sound of the gunshot. With an angry shriek, the two Lancers fired their stingers like harpoons, a thin strip of string-like flesh trailing as they screamed through the air.

A thin form of blue and grey ducked back behind, the stingers just barely missing its head. One of the stingers struck hard against a nearby tree, its tether going taunt as the Lancer tried to retract it. Before it could pull the stinger from the wood, there was a glint of steel. With a pained shriek, the Lancer found its stinger cut. In anger, it rushed its prey's hiding place.

Razor-sharp claws sliced through the tree trunk like it was paper, sending it toppling to the side. But as it reared back its legs to attack again…

Ciel popped up from behind the remaining stump, pistol aimed over her knife.

Bang!

The point-blank shot reduced the Lancer's head to a puff of black, its body falling. As it started to vanish, the final Lancer launched its stinger again. Ciel grit her teeth, lifting her knife to deflect the stinger. A metallic clang! echoed out, the force of the impact nearly ripping the knife out of Ciel's hand as the stinger went wide. As the Lance hurried to retract its stinger, Ciel pressed a button on the side of the pistol, then took aim. She pulled the trigger.

Shrring!

The bullet trailed frost as it flew through the air. The Grimm let out a shriek as it was hit in the chest, ice coating it within seconds. With its wings fully frozen, the Lancer fell to the ground, and shattered.

Breathing heavily, Ciel spun in a tight circle, aiming her pistol towards every possible hiding place as she searched for more threats. With none immediately apparent, she allowed herself a moment's relief.

This… what had she gotten herself into?

It had started so simple. General Ironwood himself had come to request her personally, having heard of her talents as a homeschooled prodigy. He said he needed someone not enrolled in Atlas Academy to be partnered with his own prodigy for the Vytal Festival. It was a great honor. How could she say no?

He never mentioned getting pulled into an operation against the White Fang.

He never mentioned she'd be working with former criminals, ex-extremists, and living legends.

He never mentioned wanting to enroll her in a school an entire continent away from her home.

And he most certainly never mentioned that the girl he wanted to partner her with was a robot.

General Ironwood was one of the greatest military minds in the world. He was the most heavily decorated officer in the Atlassian Military. He was responsible for successfully keeping the peace for over twenty years.

Ciel could not deny these things as fact.

Neither could she deny that she was growing increasingly intimate with the phrase 'never meet your heroes'.

Ciel took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. She had to focus. What's done was done, she had no control over it and could not change it. She just had to follow orders and… everything would work out fine.

And her most recent order: reunite with her 'team'.

Closing her eyes, Ciel focused. After a moment, the sun symbol on her forehead started to glow. The circle at the center of it split down the middle, opening to reveal an intricate depiction of an iris. The eye darted back and forth throughout the circle, before focusing to the left.

From her point of view, the world seemed to narrow. Looking through the symbolic eye, her sight was warped and stretched, the edges of her vision growing more distorted the further she pushed it. A headache started to form as she focused, her field of view narrowing as she tried to close in on a flash of light far off in the distance. Nearly at the edge of her range, the trees started to thin, the ground becoming littered with broken stones and ruined architecture. She caught the glint of steel and the glowing of angry yellow eyes.

The eye closed, returning to its sun-like appearance. Ciel opened her eyes, putting a hand to her head as she hissed in pain.

Ciel shook her headache away, turning to look towards what she'd seen. She now had a goal, but she needed to move fast.

A frantic five-minute sprint later, Ciel knew she was nearing the fight. She could hear shrieks of Grimm at the edge of her hearing.

Up ahead, she could see the clearing. Loading a fresh clip in her pistol, she brought her arm up to aim as she broke through the trees.

Her heart stopped, then sank.

It stopped because of what Grimm she saw was making all the noise: Two Deathstalkers, the massive scorpions scuttling around a broken circular structure of aged stone, filled with empty pedestals, save one.

It sank because of who the Grimm snapped their pincers and struck with their tails at, seemingly frustrated as they tried to hit the small figure darting between them.

Neo.

The ex-criminal leapt between the Deathstalkers' claws, just dodging them by inches each time. Her expression kept shifting between smug confidence and sudden panic depending on how quickly she saw the incoming strikes. She deflected a few of them with her parasol, the seemingly flimsy device not-so-much as bending under the blows, then used the blade within to swipe at whatever part of the Grimm was closest.

Ciel shoved down her conflicting feelings, changing her aim as she saw one of the Deathstalkers reared back its stinger. Hitting the Dust controls, she fired two ice rounds.

The bullets hit the mark, encasing the Grimm's stinger in a block of ice as it struck. Neo jerked at the sound of the gunfire, then rolled out of the way of the incoming strike. The frozen stinger slammed into the ground next to her, shattering in a shower of black ice. The Deathstalker shrieked in pain, whirling around to face the new foe.

Ciel briefly caught Neo's eye, the mute's face full of surprise before she grinned brightly, turning back to the unharmed Deathstalker. Ciel couldn't watch how she engaged it as the Grimm she'd injured charged.

Ciel fired a few rounds, the normal bullets skipping harmlessly off its mask as it shrieked. She ducked as it snapped its claws at her, stabbing her knife into the softer flesh just behind the pincers. The Deathstalker jerked back, batting at her with its other claw.

She rolled away, getting her feet back under her when she suddenly heard a whistle behind her. She looked back to see Neo at the opposite end of the clearing, running full tilt towards her, her Deathstalker hot on her heels. The mute had a shard of ice in her hand, still dripping black blood.

Before Ciel could even wonder 'what?" Neo frantically pointed at the ice, then at her feet. When Ciel didn't immediately do… whatever she wanted her to do. Neo rolled her eyes, she pointed at the ice again, then mimed pointing a gun down.

Ciel blinked. Oh!

As the injured Deathstalker reared back for another strike, Ciel started running at Neo. She brought her pistol up, locking the dust control fully on. She fired her whole clip at Neo's feet.

Neo jumped over her bullets, the ground behind her freezing. When she and Neo reached each other, they dodged in opposite directions.

The Deathstalker that had been chasing Ciel turned to follow her.

The one chasing Neo ran right over the icy field.

Its legs skittered wildly as it found no purchase, a confused squeal coming from it as it scrambled. Out of control, it slammed into the other Deathstalker at full speed, the two Grimm shrieking as they tumbled in a tangled mess of legs and pincers.

Ciel rolled to her feet, eyes widening as she saw the injured Deathstalker, in its tangled state, had fallen on its back. Seeing her opportunity, she rushed forward, swinging her knife with both hands into the Grimm's throat. It let out an ear-piercing shriek as she twisted the knife, jerking hard to slice upwards through to its chin. The Deathstalker spasmed for a moment, then went still, the light in its eyes fading.

Her current threat ended, Ciel turned to help Neo-

Only to gasp in horror.

She only just caught the motion of the Deathstalker's tail as it flew forward, its tip slamming into the ground… and right through a downed Neo's chest.

A scream tried to work its way through Ciel's closed throat as she saw the mute girl get impaled. But before it could… Neo exploded.

Ciel's brain short-circuited.

The Deathstalker let out a chirp of confusion as it stared at the jagged shards of person drifting through the air, then let out a halted shriek as a blade poked its way out the top of its head.

Ciel watched as Neo, dirty, covered in black blood, but unharmed, rolled out from underneath the Grimm's head. As the Deathstalker slumped to the ground, she walked over to Ciel with a swagger in her step. Once she reached the stunned prodigy, she looked her up and down with a frown. She reached out, put a finger under Ciel's chin, and closed her mouth for her.

Ciel jerked back, jolted out of her stupor. She blinked at Neo for a moment, trying to find her words. "Wha… How…" She looked at the black stains on the ground, breathing heavily. Then she caught the proud, humorous smile on Neo's lips. Something clicked into place. "Did- did you plan to freak me out!?"

In answer, Neo waggled her brows.

Ciel's mouth fell open with a disbelieving scoff, her brow twitching at Neo's smug look. She opened her mouth to retort, only for her eyes to suddenly widen. "Get down!"

The sudden shout made Neo look around in surprise. In the same instant, Ciel grabbed her by the collar, yanking the mute to the ground as a green beam of light soared over their heads…

And right into the face of the King Taijitu lunging at them.

Ciel and Neo watched in muted awe as the giant snake's white head was burned to a stump, it's remaining head shrieking in agony. A second yell sounded above them, Ilia appearing from thin air as she leapt right out of the sky, stabbing her electrified sword into the Taijitu's skull, the tip of her blade poking out its chin.

As the beast started to fall and fade, Ilia leapt from the Grimm's head down to the forest floor. As she walked towards the two, Penny descended from above the treetops, hovering over her shoulder.

Ciel stared open-mouthed at the duo, stunned both by the sudden appearance of such a Grimm and the quickness of its takedown. She was only broken from it when she found Ilia's hand extended in front of her face.

"Hey," Ilia said with a slight smile, squatting down to their level. "Need a hand?"

Ciel swallowed, slowly nodding. "Yes." She took Ilia's hand and was hoisted to her feet. She brushed away the dirt from her clothes, trying to appear nonchalant. "Thank you for… your assistance."

Ilia's smile lessened somewhat at her clinical tone, but she brushed it off. She turned to Neo, who was waving off Penny's efforts to help her up. She gave the android a harsh glare when Penny insisted anyway.

"It's no trouble, I promise!" She then blinked, seemingly realizing something. "Oh, um… would you prefer if I…" She stopped talking, then made several deliberate motions with her hands.

Neo's eyes went wide before, hesitantly, she made a string of movements.

Penny beamed at her. "Yes, I do! As part of my programming, I currently know over eighty-seven different languages, including VSL."

Neo nodded slowly, looking much like she didn't know what to do with this information. With a silent sigh, she signed more.

As soon as she was done, Penny let out a small gasp. "Oh! Oh, I'm so sorry for presuming. I just thought that... given the circumstances-"

Neo cut her off with an exaggerated wave, her usual smile back in place.

To the side, Ilia and Ciel looked between the two, lost. "Um, Penny?" Ilia said, catching the two's attention. "Sorry, to interrupt, but we only caught half of that conversation."

Penny blinked, then looked bashful. "Oh, sorry." She looked towards Neo, who smirked back in amusement. "Neo just said that, while she knows it, she's not that comfortable speaking in sign language unless it's with family." Neo nodded in confirmation.

Ilia tilted her head a little but didn't think much of it. Ciel, however, saw a problem. "But… if we're going to be on a team together, you have to talk to us in some capacity. If you won't use sign language, then how will we communicate?"

As if in answer, Neo rose a brow before pulling out her scroll. She typed on it for a few seconds.

Ilia then felt a buzz against her leg at the same time a jingly tune came from Ciel's pocket. They both pulled out their scrolls, finding identical text messages.

Neo- Like this.

"Oh," Ciel said, her drow raised a little in surprise. "I suppose that will… wait," Her head then shot up, likely having the same realization Ilia was trying to puzzle out. "How do you have my number? How- How are you already in my contacts?!"

Neo's smirk grew.

Before Ciel could press further (and from the look of it, she was more than ready to), a howl suddenly rang out from within the forest. The four girls instantly whipped around, putting their backs to each other.

Red eyes gleamed from the shadows of the dense woods, the low tilt of deep growls growing closer. From the opposite direction, buzzing could be heard, red lights streaking as small forms darted between the trees.

"Looks like we're going to have our first fight as a team," Penny said evenly, an undercurrent of excitement in her voice.

"Well… let's make it a good one, then," Ilia agreed, her sword buzzing back to life.

Ciel hummed in agreement, trying to swallow down her nerves as she drew her pistol. Before she stowed her scroll away, she heard it chime one last time. She glanced at it just before the first Beowulf broke came into view, catching a glimpse of Neo's smirking over her shoulder.

Neo - Let's try to keep each other alive, eh, Partner?

As the four girls separated to square off with a particular Grimm, their examiners scrutinized their movements.

"Well, Oz, maybe you were right," Ironwood said, somewhat begrudgingly. "They seem to work together pretty well."

"In this instance," Goodwitch commented, her critical eye watching Ciel's slight stumble when Penny sent a blade sailing past her head to strike the Lancer preparing to fire on her. "Teamwork must be repeatable, not just situational."

"There will be time for them to learn, Glynda," Ozpin said quietly, his focus on Penny as she hovered above the fight, backing up whoever seemed to need assistance like an overwatching guardian. The others seemed to have picked up on what she was doing, as any Grimm that came too close to her was either shot down or sliced mid-jump.

"Yeah, don't know about the long term, but Neo knows how to adapt to weird situations. She'll figure out how the others work and where she needs to put herself."

While Ozpin watched as Ilia, too distracted by her own Beowulf to see the one about to claw her back, only for Neo to suddenly appear between them, block its claws with her opened parasol then impale its head on the hidden blade, he couldn't help but agree. "They've shown more than the required potential, and have reached the relic. I believe we have our answer."

Ironwood let out a heavy breath. He had an odd expression on his face as he turned to Ozpin, pride in Penny and Ciel warring with his frustration at the situation. "I have to agree. Once they return, we will-"

Ironwood trailed off as the air around them shifted, sensing danger in the air, the others noticing a split-second later. The four Hunters whirled around, weapons in hand-

Scraaaawww!

-only to dive to the ground as something bright, red, and massive blew right passed them, the cliffside before them exploding into a shower of rock and earth. A blast of wind followed, nearly blowing them down into the darkness below.

"Fuck!" Roman shouted as he whirled around, holding down his hat with one hand and aiming Melodic Crudel with the other. "What the hell was that!?"

Ozpin blinked as they all looked skyward. The… whatever-it-was was nothing more than a red dot in the distance.

"Oz?" Ironwood questioned, tight grip on his sword.

"I… am unsure," the headmaster replied slowly.

"Sir."

Ozpin turned to Goodwitch, only to see her lifting her hand into the air. The reason was soon apparent: as the gale that blew passed them died down, specks of red light started fluttering around them.

"Oh, no." Roman groaned as he snatched the red flecks out of the air. "No, no, no, no!" Glaring down at the rose petals, he slammed his hand to his forehead. "Of course. Of-fucking-course."

Despite his crude language, Ozpin found himself unable to criticize.

For mere seconds later, a closer blast of rose petals nearly took them off their feet again, this time with yellow joining the red. The twin blurs shot right off the cliff, free-falling for a moment before skipping across the red and yellow glyphs that formed below them. Two more skips and they reach the forest floor, vanishing off in the direction of the crimson form soaring away.

"Gah!" Roman yelled, unprepared for the second blast. Without his hand to steady it, his bowler hat was caught by the wind and blown clear off his head. He leapt after it, fingertips grazing the brim as it went over the cliff's edge, disappearing into the vegetation below. Roman fell to his hands and knees as he watched his hat fall, gaping at the darkness. Then his head tilted up, rage on his face as the ex-con shot to his feet. "Rosebuds!" He shouted after the long-gone blurs. "I'm calling your parents, you super-powered brats!"

"You have got to be kidding me," Goodwitch groaned, fingers freezing across her tablet in their search for Beacon's security feed. With an exasperated look, she held her scroll out towards Ozpin. "Sir. You need to see this."

Still dusting off his clothes, Ozpin took the tablet. He felt his heart skip a beat at the image taken from a rooftop camera pointed towards the grounds, that of a Nevermore seemingly flying right through the heart of his school. A closer look quickly furrowed his brow as he noticed the beast's red color and silver eyes.

Then he noticed the rose petals falling from its wings.

"Oh dear," he sighed, mirroring his second's exasperation.

After staring at the image himself, Ironwood slowly turned to Ozpin, trying to restrain his disbelief. "These girls are only in their first year?"

Ozpin took a deep, calming breath, letting it out slowly. "And it's not even half-over yet."

"What do we do, sir?" Goodwitch asked. "Do we recall the examinees?"

Ozpin stared off at the red blur streaking lightning across the sky. He drummed his fingers against his cane as he contemplated. "...No," he said after a pregnant pause. "Part of the exam is meant to see how teams deal with unexpected circumstances. That includes encountering and working with other teams while out in the field."

The four watched as a ball of yellow suddenly leapt out of the trees below, bouncing back and forth through the air before finally colliding with the Nevermore in a shower of red and yellow rose petals. The summon let out an ear-piercing shriek, plummeting out of the sky with the yellow mass right behind it, both vanishing into the trees below.

Roman let out a low whistle, sitting back. "Well, it doesn't get much more unexpected then this clusterf-"

The ex-conman was interrupted by the ringing of a scroll. All eyes turn to Ironwood, the man himself looking down perplexed at his scroll. His brow furrowed at the name splashed across its screen. He collapsed it with a smooth motion, converting it back into phone mode and taking the call.

"Specialist Winter, do you have something to report?" His eyes then widened, loud hurried words being heard by the other three. "Winter, slow down, I don't…" His face suddenly went slack,."What happened to Weiss?"

Betaed by Covert Weapon

A/n: Why am I so mean to Weiss? I swear I like her! Really! But somehow all the good ideas I have for this fic end up with her hurt. Yes, including future ones. Am I the baddie?

So, Ilia and Ciel's Semblances. I'll go into them in detail in later chapters, but to give you the short version… well, Ilia's is obvious, if a little boring, but it works for what kind of team I'm planning them to be. As for Ciel, her's lets her see everything around her within a certain sphere of influence, the drawback being that looking too far strains her, and she can't see through solid objects.

Sorry for the wait. Writer's block is a pain.

See you at the next one! It's always on the way, I promise!