Ragged breaths sounded raspy and filled the ears; with great volume yet each unsatisfying to the lungs. The crunch of leaves and twigs beneath his feet gave away his position, if the heavy breathing didn't do that well enough. Three broken, shoulder-mounted cameras were carried, blood-coated, in one arm; the other hand grasped a broadsword, white-knuckled and desperately clutched to soothe his tormented mind. The shadows crept in on his vision and the trees towered threateningly overhead, each branch hiding a promise of ambush.

He knew that he ran through a grimm nest, and that stopping now would spell certain doom. His legs screamed for mercy, the veins throbbed and spilled blood, each ounce of his regenerating aura was spent on stemming the flow of his lifeblood.

Beacon.

Professor Ozpin.

The cameras.

Each beam of light that cast its way through the canopy twisted and swayed, the leaves above rustled lightly by wind. Shapes sprouted from the dark shadows, only to be cast back to nothingness by the sun. Hallucinations were not a good sign. A dark wolf jumped from the shadows and he cast it aside, swinging his blade dismissively at the illusion in his path.

There was a thunk, and a growl. The shadows twisted in toward the creature he managed to piss off.

Ruby laughed with slight mania at the display before her. Sköll's fire took shape with a howl and, whipped into a great frenzy, mixed with dirt high in the air. The ball grew and grew and larger pieces of rock were picked up along with it. The mass began to glow a bright red, then orange, then a white; within seconds the earth melted and combined. It cooled, then fell to the ground with a satisfying thump. The reverb shook up Ruby's legs. Surrounding vegetation caught fire from the leftover heat. The bush fire quickly spread, but extinguished its own source of fuel. Ruby brought a shovel to rip up weeds and make a barrier. A lump of rapidly cooling black rock now marked the location of the first of their successful experiments.

The weekend after the team's successful birthday party for Weiss, Ruby took her wolves into the forest to experiment. A little over a month ago, the pieces started lining up in her head. Sköll's semblance had been known since Patch, and Fenrir's showed itself to Yang accidentally. That left Hati, whose semblance had been unknown for far too long. Ruby's first sanctioned spar with her team left an idea in her mind. Now, she simply had to prove her idea right, which proved excruciatingly difficult.

These experimentation sessions were relatively routine. To start, Sköll would work on mastering his semblance. The fiery dust he used to summon had finally morphed into something far more formidable and more akin to what killed that ursa on Patch, at last. It now had proper combat application. After that, Fenrir strengthened his illusions and mastery of the shadows. Even though he practiced with it on their hunts to confuse prey, like the deer and elk that wander the Emerald Forest, no improvement could be made unless he used it on smarter subjects. Something Ruby was far too eager to volunteer for.

She prepared herself now, as she stood in the empty clearing. Telepathic pinging from her babies' every thought gave her a good feel for the location of her pups, an ability she lamented not having when she nearly lost Hati on Patch. Her stenciled hand cannon—now lovingly named Second Wind—fit snug in her hand, in the case whatever distress the illusions might cause attracts grimm.

His display began as it always does. The sky darkened into a shade of purple and shadows twisted toward the last spot she felt Fenrir's mind. Rays of sunlight that protruded the canopies became overwhelmingly bright, as if magnified by a lens. Large, formless presences oozed from the beyond, quickly shifting form to prey on her mundane, subtle aversion of spiders, to the greatest fear of all. Death.

Ruby bolted, screaming for Fenrir to stop. Her mouth moved, but the sound halted, stilled in the air. The trees brushed by and loomed over head, leering at the pitiful creature that trotted through their habitat. Trunks blurred into each other before Ruby realized she had run past those same trees at least five times. She turned to look at her progress to find she hadn't moved at all, and the formless ones were in her face.

The illusion shattered. Ruby's silver eyes reopened to the same clearing she was in before, her Second Wind on the ground beside a pile of empty cartridges. Three worried pups clamored around their mother, who smiled and crouched to assuage their concerns.

"I'm sorry, Momma, I tried to stop as soon as you started firing from your gun," Fenrir's gruff voice came, in a rare yet touching state of worry.

"I'm so proud of you!" Ruby playfully growled as she roughly pet her darkly-furred companion, "don't get down because you did what I told you to! I knew what I was getting into." Fenrir rubbed his head against her and moved forward, giving his mother no choice but to scratch his side.

Hati's butt gracefully plomped onto the ground beside Ruby, patient yet silently prodding for her turn, tail wagging slowly against the dirt and leaves. Her brothers had their successes. It was time enough for her semblance to be discovered and trained. The only problem was, where to even begin? Thanks to her discovery during sparring class, Ruby had a fairly good idea of what Hati's semblance could be. At the very least, it could manipulate auras. The issue, however, was exactly what it did, and how.

Fenrir realized he wasn't being pet any more and trotted off to the edge of the clearing, staring into the forest like a weirdo. Ruby ignored her skulking teenager to properly focus on Hati. Despite her best attempts, aura mechanics weren't really her strong suit. Maybe she could ask Pyrrha for help?

'Intruder.' Fenrir's rough voice echoed in her mind, and both her and Hati turned to watch as a hunter, not much older than Ruby herself, ran into the clearing. He swung his longsword almost dismissively at the dark furred wolf. The surprise on his face was almost comical as the sword actually connected. Fenrir growled, and within a moment the young man's eyes rolled into the back of his skull.

"What the…?" the young reaper questioned. She hurried to her feet and to the man's side. He had a multitude of claw gashes and more clinical looking cuts along his body, as well as a bloody stump where his right hand used to be. Her eyes grew wide at the sight of his blood, causing her to gag. Ruby steeled her nerves and managed to lift the man onto her back with the help of her wolves.

"Grab his things," she commanded, "I'll run ahead and get him care." A cloud of roses replaced the last location of the wolves' mother. They faithfully obeyed to the best of their ability, cameras and longsword in mouth, and rushed to catch up.

Ten second year hunter teams were sent on missions this last Friday. On Monday, only nine returned.

Truth is, they were rigged. The mission select panels were only there to give an illusion of choice. Each mission was set up to provide the team with a challenge and see how the team would react under pressure without any actual danger. After all, these students were barely adults.

And even with all those precautions, one team has disappeared entirely. None of the teachers found them at the mission site, struggling with some unknown relations challenge, or failing to navigate in anything other than circles. Hailing nonstop over radio in the area also proved fruitless, serving only to stress out the operators he sent, and attract grimm. Constant vigil over the area has done nothing but make the scene more dangerous.

So imagine his surprise when Glynda called his personal scroll, requesting his presence in the school infirmary. Ozpin hurriedly unpowered every gadget his holotable had open and rushed down ten flights of stairs with an unreasonable amount of hope in his heart.

He regained his composure just before walking through the infirmary doors, and raised one eyebrow at the scene before him. Ruby Rose sat in a blue-cushioned with her hands clasped between her knees, looking at the floor, as Glynda stood over her, hand on the bridge of her nose. One vibrant green eye opened and glanced at Ozpin.

"That was fast. Ms. Rose here found what happened to our missing second years," Glynda said, jerking her head towards the door. Ozpin's eyes glanced, and his heart fell at the sign. It read "EMERGENCY OPERATIONS" in bold, red letters.

"Who is it? How bad are they?" The headmaster skipped to the point, his hopes already dashed.

"Raye Skyler. More than his fair share of lacerations, and his right hand was severed at the wrist. He'll survive, thanks to Ms. Rose." He nodded. Ozpin let his eyes wander back to the youngest huntress, who now looked back at him. Some of her hair was matted with blood, and what hasn't dried rolled down her cheek.

"Ruby Rose. Thank you for returning Mr. Skyler to Beacon. I would like to extend—" Opzin started.

"Actually, hold that thought. I'll be right back." Ruby interrupted, disappearing in a flash of red rose petals. The headmaster and deputy headmistress shared a curious glance. They both took a seat outside the operation room to wait for their student to return.

When the red cloak graced their vision once again, Ruby was trailed closely by three behemoth-sized wolves, each at well over three feet on all-fours. The last to walk in the room dragged a familiar looking longsword along the ground. The wolves followed their mother and marched right up to the professors, taking a seat before them. Simultaneously they laid their charges on the ground, though covered in saliva they were. The longsword, which was undoubtedly Raye's, as well as three badly damaged mission cameras.

After a good pause, Ozpin nodded, "where did you find these? This is invaluable."

"Raye was carrying them when he ran into us in the forest. I was in a rush to get him to the infirmary, so I had my babies pick up all that and follow. The fourth one is in the room with him, apparently it was helping prevent blood loss and the doctors didn't want to remove it."

"This is the greatest news I've heard all week. Ruby Rose, please meet me in my office tomorrow afternoon. I want to make sure this is properly rewarded." Ozpin stood abruptly, and reach his hand out for a handshake.

Ruby took his hand and stammered "o-oh well it was really no big deal. I-I mean, he found me." The headmaster ignored her embarrassment and collected the three cameras, examining each in turn.

"The memory drives of each of these are still intact," he muttered, before walking off. The reaper watched him leave with a blush on her face, running a hand through her caked hair.

"Do not forget to show up, Ms. Rose."

Ruby gulped, "yes ma'am."

The three cameras Ms. Rose managed to procure told an interesting tale on their own. Each plastic casing mushroomed, expertly shot out of commission. That in mind, combined with burn scores and misshapen, remelted plastic, it was a miracle the data cards worked at all. Not to mention the eerie smell of iron that hung around like a spectre, presumably from after whatever fiery doom these three had met.

When the fourth camera finally arrived at his desk, Ozpin removed the memory drives from the last, and one by one inserted all four to his desk. He copied the files over, opened each and synchronized them one-by-one. The last 30 minutes was the area of interest to him. Four near-identical stills of the same cave entrance, outside of which sat an old fashioned radio set-up. He pressed play.

"W-W-W-What even is that?"

Ozpin winced. His synchronization wasn't exact. He fiddled with the time stamps for an extra minute before he was happy.

"What even is that?" Camera two spoke first, mounted on the shoulder of Earl Maron. The second member of Team CEDR gestured at the radio antenna with his pistol-tonfa.

"An invitation," the spear-wielding leader replied, gesturing toward the cables. Several different diameters slithered into a nearby cave, quickly disappearing into the dark. He turned to look at his team. "This mission just became a covert op. Let's check it out. Hopefully this is just the work of a hobbyist." Cedric Lavender takes point, switching to communicate through hand signals. The team follows the contour of the cave to minimize their presence, and give their eyes time to adjust. Some shouting, further in, caused the group to pause.

"What are you doing?! Be careful with those, this isn't something that you can rush through! Animals, each and every one of you!" A man's voice echoed down the makeshift hall. They continued forward, and the cave opened to a cavern, lit with Dust lamps and stacked to the brim with boxes. Most of which bare the SDC's logo. Several armored men and women work below, organizing the boxes for inventory. Their faces are covered by the masks of the White Fang. The leader halted his team with a raised fist, followed by splitting the group to cover more ground. Camera 2, Earl and Camera 4, Raye took the left and right sides of the cavern, respectively. Camera 3, Dodger Roman, held back with her precision rifle to give her team cover, should it come to that. Cedric jumped down from the ledge behind a couple boxes.

Earl crouched his way along the left side of the cavern, which slowly fell in elevation to equal the center. As quietly as possible, he inspects a number of boxes. He awkwardly turns his shoulder numerous times, allowing the camera to capture the stenciling on each box.

Raye rushed forward along the right, stopping short of the first of three door frames carved into the rock walls. Without actual doors to prevent his snooping, he peeked into each room, to find one room with a long table, another large room packed with empty bunk beds, and finally a significantly smaller room with a desk and map. Littered across the oiled, wooden surface, various scraps of paper were strewn about, their contents hidden by some sort of cypher. The map—a map of Vale—was dotted in numerous thumbtacks; red ones evenly spaced along the wall, green dotted within the commercial district.

Camera 3 goes out, with the microphones of the remaining ringing with the trapped reverb of a gunshot. An engine revs to life, and with it Dodger screams a wet, blood-curdling scream. Cedar pivots on his heel and catches a gruesome scene. The chainsaw of a large white fang man eviscerated the young woman in twain from behind. He screams his own cry, a challenge to the man who killed his teammate. A nearby group of idle White Fang quickly raise their weapons upon the realization of the threat's location.

Several bullets connect and dissipate their energy into his aura, which cracks in response to each impact. Cedar twirls his spear and drops the nearest White Fang, but a final bullet shatters his aura and embeds itself into his skull. His body is dragged to the entrance of the save system, giving the camera an awful view of Dodger's spilled guts. A woman in green saunters up, between the two halves of a promising huntress-in-training, and shot the feed out with a bladed pistol.

Earl, at the sound of Dodger's bloody death, twirled around in an attempt to help. He visibly jumped at the man that greeted him, dressed head to heel in gunmetal grey. A well-placed kick is blocked expertly by his tonfa, but gave the camera a front-row seat down the barrel of a hidden gun in the man's boot. The muzzle flash bleached the photoreceptors, and the feed went black.

Raye rushed to hide. His back pressed firmly against the doorframe. The poor young man breathed heavily, tense and frozen.

The voice that scolded the White Fang earlier spoke up again, "well? What are you waiting for, start searching! Training teams always come in fours! What is it with always getting the useless henchmen!" The last remaining microphone picked up the wet sound of a fearful gulp. Raye who steeled his nerves for the better part of a minute, sprinted out of the room and towards the pile of his friends. A storm of bullets kicked up dust and loose stones from the wall, and he limped at each bullet that hit its mark, or that launched debris back at him.

Stood over the pile of bodies, Raye sliced quickly at the straps holding each destroyed camera, not caring for the flesh underneath. Continually, he gagged at the strong scent of iron, trying to collect each camera without looking at the spilled viscera. The sensor in the camera was overwhelmed by white, filled by a sudden light.

"Where do you think you're going?" The voice was distorted. When the sensor adjusted, the reason was revealed. A great fireball consumed the ground in front of Raye, crisping the pile of his friends. He whisked around with his longsword raised in challenge. It shook, unsteadied thanks to his charge.

Ozpin had had enough, and turned off the feed. Nothing more could be gleaned, anyway; the straps of Raye's camera twisted forward, which dropped the view of the camera toward the ground. His head dropped into the palms of his hands. Another mistake to chuck onto the mountains. His mind went wild. He ran the situation over and over again, trying desperately to find where he went wrong this time. Three teenagers died under his watch. It certainly wasn't the first time, but when would be the last?

The jarring ring of his work scroll shook him from his inner thoughts. Tempted though he was to simply slap the offending device away, he picked it up and answered.

"Headmaster Ozpin speaking." He perked up at the voice heard across the connection.

"It's Dr. Alizarin. Raye Skylar is now in stable condition, though comatose."

"Wonderful. How was his condition beforehand? I never saw him." The doctor hissed sympathetically.

"Not good. Seven broken bones, first degree burns, several cuts as deep as an inch and a half. Bullet punctured and collapsed his left lung, and we had to properly amputate his right hand—it's a miracle he made it as far as he did. I've said it before, but just to reiterate: I will never understand aura. Just when you think it works one way, it somehow manages to hold a young man by the ankle in the river styx." Ozpin chuckled at her allusion.

"Glad to hear he's doing good. Update me on his condition, would you?"

"Yeah, no problem. It's part of the protocol you wrote. Get some sleep, will ya?" She hung up. He rolled his eyes and reopened the feed for Camera 2. Ozpin fast-forwarded the footage to the dust crates Earl discovered, and carefully jotted down the stencils. Even with the few he was privy to from the cameras, the purity, quantity, and type listed on each box gave him an estimation of what it was all for. This was a stockpile built for destruction.

AN: Significantly better upload pace, wouldn't you agree?

Edited: minor errors