Professor Lilith Hale strolled through the forest on the outskirts of Mistral City. After that hectic mission, she deserved a moment of peace. So she thought an excellent, brisk walk would help calm her steel nerves. Unfortunately, it was time for business, not pleasure. Even with the gentle breeze of the wind, combined with the rustling of the trees and grass, Lilith could faintly hear the chime of bells.

"Cocky brat," The woman smirked and side-stepped a single sword that flew through the air and lodged itself into the tree. She glanced over her shoulder, spotting Schwartz dropping down from the sky with his second blade raised. He swung down with all his might, frighteningly intending to slice her in half.

How unbecoming of a student.

Having sensed the young man's bloodlust from miles away, Lilith easily evaded the attack. Schwartz recovered quickly and continued his offense, giving the instructor no time to counterattack. As usual, his attacks were wild and uncoordinated. An unrefined fighting style like that would work against most Huntsmen, but not Lilith. For her, the student telegraphed every move to her.

The Huntress ducked under a roundhouse kick and flipped the student, sending him sprawling into the nearest tree. He collided against the hardwood and slumped to the ground, his black aura flickering.

Schwartz reached for his sword, but Lilith kicked it away. "You lose," She taunted.

"Do I?" retorted Schwartz with a smile. A blade shot through the tree bark, nearly impaling Lilith's face. The Huntress jumped away while it reverted to its original length.

"Close call, Professor Lilith," Watchet called out as he rounded the tree and joined his partner.

Schwartz got off the ground and recovered his swords. "I told you to come at her with the intent to kill!"

"But what if I killed her? I don't imagine the school would appreciate it if I did that." Watchet accurately surmised. While accidents tended to happen during training sessions, he didn't imagine many of them resulted in deaths--especially of instructors. He didn't need that kind of spotlight on him right now.

"If she died during training, then it only meant she wasn't good enough to teach us in the first place!" Schwartz argued. Of course, he didn't plan on killing the Professor. But he found it more efficient to train without holding back or showing weakness. That's the point of training, to grow stronger and prepare for life-threatening situations.

Lilith was almost impressed with the show of teamwork from the students. They nearly had her surprised with their ambush. If only they hadn't distracted themselves with their banter. She charged the brats and planted them both into trees with savage kicks.

"You two have a long way to go before you can get the drop on me, let alone kill me." The Professor declared.

Right on cue, darkness stretched across the forest and obscured Schwartz and Watchet from the Huntresses' view. It soon vanished, as did the students. Lilith couldn't help but smirk at the progress shown by the group. Was the entire team here, she wondered. It was unlikely, but she wouldn't let her guard down.

Overconfidence brought about the downfall of many Huntsmen.

A large, red scythe dropped down from the treetops. Lilith jumped back to evade. The weapon lodged itself into the ground, prompting the owner, Zorina, to fall from the tree and land on it. She stood dramatically on the weapon with her arms crossed. Her black coat flourished majestically in the wind.

"Foolish Instructor! You have been a thorn in our side for too long! Prepare to suffer the wrath of--"

Lilith didn't give her eccentric student time to finish her grandiose speech. The girl needed to learn a time and place for her antics. The field is no place for games.

"W-Wait! I wasn't done!" Zorina stepped to the ground and gripped her weapon, ready to defend herself. Or so she thought. She tried to pull her scythe out, but it wouldn't budge. "What the?! No! Time out! Time--"

The poor, defenseless student was powerless to stop Lilith's mighty fist from driving into her stomach. She flew across the forest and smashed into a tree.

"There are no time-outs in a fight," Lilith stated.

"I thought this was training," Zorina groaned painfully, clutching her stomach. She was going to have trouble breathing for a while.

"How'd she fuck that up?" Schwartz harshly whispered from within the safety of a bush.

"Zorina has always been the theatrical type," Watchet said, amused by the scene and its turn out.

"Useless is more like it," Schwartz rolled his eyes and left the bushes with his partner to press the attack. The students did their best, but by the end of the brawl, Lilith was the one that stood tall over them.

"That should conclude today's lesson. Meet me back at the airship when you're ready." Lilith wiped her hands clean and left the beaten students in the forest.

"We almost had her," Zorina groaned.

"Oh, shut up! Like hell we did!" Schwartz complained.

"There's no reason to be upset. We can learn a lot from this defeat," Watchet said to his teammates, trying to rouse them into bettering themselves. They might not have noticed, but he has. Team SWRZ has made tremendous improvement.

"We wouldn't have suffered this humiliating defeat if we were at full power!" Zorina eccentrically declared with a raised fist.

The team quickly fell silent, knowing precisely what she meant by that statement. What hope did the team have of winning without Rowan, their final member? Ever since they returned from their mission, the girl's been distant. Well, more distant than usual.

"What are we going to do about her?" Schwartz laid down with a sigh and stared at the sky. "We'll never make it into the Vytal Tournament at this rate."

"Is that such a bad thing?" wondered Zorina. As much as she'd like to show off her skills for the world to see, not participating in this wouldn't lead to the end of the world. Or would it?

"It is not," Watchet assured her with a gentle shake of his head. "It would be disappointing, however."

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Here we are, working our asses off, and she's fucking around somewhere!" Schwartz angrily exclaimed.

Meanwhile, somewhere else, Rowan scrolled through the news on her scroll. She couldn't find anything covering an Atlas unit raiding a child trafficking base. She clicked her tongue and closed the scroll. Figures Atlas would be so useless.

Rowan activated her earbud. "Mari, did you find anything?"

"I've found almost everything about that Atlas Specialist you mentioned, but there's nothing; no recent report about her raiding a base." Mari sternly answered.

"It doesn't make sense! That woman's the type that can't help but show their smug face on the news, have their names in the paper!" Rowan complained.

Why would someone striving for admiration and recognition not showcase their achievements for the world? Either they found something they wanted to keep buried, or they haven't found the base at all.

Is that possible? They handed over one of the kidnappers. So how could they not find the base? How incompetent are they over in Atlas?

"I know you're desperate to find out what happened, but shouldn't you focus on something else? Like your search for Duncan?" Mari reminded.

Rowan went wide-eyed. She'd forgotten all about Duncan. That was the mission's whole point: to find out what happened to him. Everything with the kids distracted her and took her mind off it all.

"Damn it!" The con-woman nearly pulled her hair out. How could she let the mission cloud her priorities?

"I knew you had a soft spot for kids, but I didn't think it was that bad." Mari sighed.

"Don't phrase it like that," Rowan buried her face into her hands. When would this nightmare end? "I'll figure something out. Talk to you later, Mari."

"Good luck."

Rowan pulled out the earbud and slipped it into her pocket. She wasn't in the mood to attend classes, but her teammates would complain again, and she didn't want to deal with that. She stood up to leave, but the sound of an aircraft flying overhead caught her attention. It was Atlesian. One that she recognized immediately. It belonged to Joan Stark.

What brought her to Haven Academy?

Rowan couldn't ignore this. Classes could wait. It was a prime opportunity to figure out what happened with the Atlas Specialists' mission. The aircraft landed in the quad, gaining the attention of the staff and students. It wasn't every day Atlas came down to Haven.

Atlas Specialist Joan Stark disembarked from her ship; her spotted tail flowed elegantly behind her with each step. She soaked in the admired stares from the students and kept her gaze forward. She didn't stop to speak with anyone as she walked through Haven Academy as if she owned the place.

The Faunus stopped when she reached Headmaster Leonardo Lionhart's office. She knocked once, then entered without waiting for approval.

Rowan looked both ways before coming from around the corner. She approached the door and pressed her ear against it.

"M-Miss Stark! This is an unexpected visit. What brings you here? Is General Ironwood with you?" Headmaster Lionhart stammered.

"No. The General is busy preparing for the Vytal Festival," Stark answered with a curt tone. "I'm here because I require information from you."

"What information?"

"A prisoner transport ship was attacked some time ago," Stark began with her explanation. "During the mission, we encountered a member of your staff and several students. They severely hindered my investigation. And when I presented them an opportunity to aid me, they rudely refused."

Rowan rolled her eyes from behind the safety of the door. The Atlas Specialist omitted several details about their encounter. Typical elitist behavior. She's throwing her weight around, expecting everything to go her way.

Rowan hoped the Headmaster had the backbone to tell her off.

"Miss Stark, I apologize if you felt disrespected. But, perhaps the students had other matters to attend to?" Lionhart surmised. He sorted through the papers on his desk, finding the report from Professor Hale. "From what this report says, you wanted to use the orphans as bait?"

"It was a sound plan to discover the location of the kidnapper's base," Stark responded.

Rowan despised her unwavering and robust tone. She sounded so matter-of-fact about it. How could she not see the problems of using children as bait?

Lionhart cleared his throat and set the report down on his desk. "Regardless, I do not see what you hope to gain by coming here. We do not know the location of the base."

"That much is clear," Stark responded dryly. "Thanks to your staff's incompetence and inability to grasp the bigger picture. There are still wanted criminals out there."

"Welcome to Mistral," Rowan sarcastically whispered to herself. She could walk down the streets of Mistral and, nine times out of ten, would find criminals.

"That is unfortunate, but I still do not see--"

"I want your staff to take personal responsibility for this! I won't return to Atlas without something to compensate for this blunder!" Stark raised her voice. "Lilith Hale is why I could not find my prisoner!"

The door to the office opened, sending poor Rowan to the ground. The young woman lifted her head, spotting Lilith stepping over her. How did the Huntress sneak up on her like that? She thought that the coast was clear.

"I thought I heard a shrieking cat calling my name," Lilith smirked once Stark's hateful gaze locked onto her. "What is it now, Joan?"

"That's Lieutenant Stark!" Stark angrily reminded. The Feline Faunus took a second and gathered herself. "But it's good that you're here. It saves me the trouble of hunting you down."

"I'm not hard to find," Lilith shrugged her shoulders and then spread her arms out. "What do you want? Shouldn't you hurry back to Jimmy's lap?"

Start withdrew her weapon and aimed. The temptation to fire was almost too great to resist. How could she not shoot when this worthless Professor dared to insult her and her General right to her face? Who did this third-rate Huntress think she was dealing with?

"Both of you, settle down!" Lionhart stood from his desk and gestured to Rowan on the floor. "Consider the example you're setting for the student!"

Lilith and Stark looked at Rowan, then back to each other. "Fine," The Huntresses' eased up, if only slightly.

Lionhart cleared his throat when the tension in the room subsided. He looked at Rowan and asked, "What brings you here, dear?"

"I caught her eavesdropping," Lilith answered before the girl could come up with a lie.

Stark shook her head and scoffed, "What a surprise. That girl's up to no good again."

"Again?" inquired the Headmaster.

"This is one of the students that interfered with the crash-site," Stark confirmed and holstered her weapon. "I've still yet to receive a reason for that."

"She doesn't have to answer. We had a deal," Lilith reminded. It was just like Joan to backtrack on past deals. The woman had no honor. "You can't back out just because things didn't go your way."

"So you didn't find the hideout," Rowan kept a stern expression, fighting off the urge to let her disappointment show.

"No, and the prisoner isn't talking," added Stark.

"Your torture methods need work," scoffed Lilith. The prisoner would've spilled all their info if she had been in charge of the interrogation.

"That's the difference between Atlas and your barbarians here in Mistral. We do not condone torture," Stark hissed. "It doesn't work."

Lilith smirked and lifted her index finger. "It depends on the torture."

"Ladies, please, I fear we are getting side-tracked," Lionhart called out. "Lieutenant Stark, what did you need us to do to rectify this?"

Stark's tail swayed playfully behind her. "I need a small team of your best Huntsmen. We will conduct a thorough search and destroy mission. That secret base must be found and disposed of immediately."

"Unfortunately, I do not have the authorization to do that. You would have to speak with the council. They are the ones in charge of joint task operations." Lionhart informed and returned to the comfort of his chair. He could already feel a troublesome headache coming along the longer this conversation continued.

"Do not take me for a fool, Lionhart. I have already received the council's approval. So, all I need from you is a formidable group of Huntsmen." Stark pulled out her scroll and showed the approval message from the council. It paid to have someone that held two seats in the council in another kingdom. Thank you, James Ironwood.

Lionhart confirmed the authenticity of the message and nodded his head. Everything looked to be in order. So, who was he to refuse?

"Understood. I will see who we have available," The Headmaster searched through the documents on his desk. "Most of our instructors are out on missions with their students."

"I'll offer myself for the mission," Lilith raised her hand.

"Huh?!" Stark exclaimed in a shallow tone.

"Joan needs a formidable team, right? I'm pretty good, and I know just the team to bring along." Lilith smirked.

Rowan felt a slight chill travel down her spine. Something deep down told her that she'd get dragged into this mess. But she didn't mind the trouble this time. It's another opportunity to figure out what happened to Duncan and takedown child traffickers. If she could kill two birds with one stone on this occasion, her luck might begin to change for the better.