"The armory?"

"Why would there be something coming from the armory?" Janelle questioned suspiciously, and Nico just shrugged.

"I thought Grimm weren't in this building," Lyra glanced at Ozpin, who shook his head from side to side. She could tell he wasn't lying only because the voice would have said something by now.

"No, they aren't," Ozpin looped his coffee cup onto a carabiner before he tightened his grip on his cane. "But Grimm have been attracted to the outskirts of this area for awhile now. They are attracted to negative emotions...so someone must be attracting them. Whoever they are...they aren't pleasant to be around, either. Be ready for anything."

"B-But we have not properly fought any enemies before!" Janelle was taken aback at the thought of fighting actual people. Being a huntress, in theory, only detailed hunting down Grimm! Ozpin just shook his head.

"Not true. I placed you all against team CFVY, didn't I?" Ozpin pointed out. Before anyone could remind them that they had indeed lost that battle, Ozpin continued. "You may have lost, but that was before you all bonded. That was just to get you all closer. This is the true test. I chose you all for a reason...prove me right."

"But Headmaster-"

"Janelle, you must not shoot yourself down before you all even get a chance," Ozpin interrupted her sternly. "Stop doubting. I know that the four of you can do it."

Janelle looked downward. She didn't know if they could...they were inexperienced children fighting against who knew what. Yet, Janelle had always respected authority, and here Headmaster Ozpin was, saying they could do it...Janelle took a deep breath before clutching her bow in her hands.

"My apologies," Janelle said determinedly. She wouldn't prove the Headmaster wrong. "We will not disappoint."

"Good."

"Nico, where is the armory?" Lyra questioned, and Nico took a shaky breath before speaking.

"I-I-I o-only k-know h-how to get t-there w-with my s-semblances..."

"Well, when Ironwood and I found this place, we did find an armory," Ozpin shrugged. "I wasn't going to help, but...well, these are just directions. Follow me!"

Team LJNT followed Ozpin through the labyrinthine hallways. They all had determined looks on their faces as they prepared for Ozpin's real test. None of them wanted to fail or let the team down, so they pressed on.

No matter how much it hurt.

"Here it is, if I remember correctly," Ozpin said, gesturing to the door in front of them. Nico nodded.

"Y-Yes, I h-hear v-voices in t-there," Nico's voice trembled. She really didn't want to go in there, but she didn't have a choice. At the very least, her team was there... Lyra took her hand off of Nico's shoulder to grip her axe with both hands.

"Then let's do it."

Lyra kicked the door down to reveal a room with empty walls. There were a couple of stray weapons laying around or on the walls, but the crates in the middle were completely empty. There were three people dressed in jackets with a red symbol of a wolf with three slashes through it. It was the symbol of the White Fang. They had masks obscuring their faces, but upon seeing Team LJNT, they visibly panicked.

"What are you kids doing out here?" The White Fang member with brown hair demanded. As Ozpin stepped out from behind Team LJNT, they all gulped. "They've got the Headmaster..."

"Perry, drill a hole!" The blonde girl with an elaborate black mask demanded, her squeaky voice prominent. "Protect the hostage. We'll hold them off!"

"Hostage?" Lyra's eyes glanced behind the four White Fang members. Just barely, she could see a blonde boy tied up on the ground, and he whispered a 'help me'. Lyra narrowed her golden eyes at the White Fang. "...Team LJNT, go!"

Lyra dashed forward with the rest of her team, heading straight for the blonde girl. The White Fang girl dodged and then swung her own sword. Lyra twisted out of the way, and the two continued to exchange blows. Lyra could
see the blue haired boy 'Perry' drilling a hole in the wall behind them. Lyra tried to sidestep the girl she was fighting, but her large sword kept blocking Lyra's most agile of moves. Every time she went in for a flip, she had to stop or be impaled by that giant sword. She needed help to get past...

"Janelle!"

The purple haired warrior stopped shooting at the other members of the White Fang, directing her bow toward Lyra. Lyra took great care to avoid Janelle's arrows as they came spiraling in her direction. They flew past her and toward the blonde girl. As the White Fang minion ducked under Janelle's arrows, Lyra charged up and stepped on the minion's back, flipping over them before slicing her axe in their direction. The blonde girl went skidding back, and Janelle shot an electric arrow towards her. It directly shocked her, sending her falling to the ground.

The other two members of the White Fang were dealing with Nico and Tanya. There was a brown haired boy wielding a katana and a cyan haired boy with a bow. The guy with the bow fired sharp arrows right toward Tanya, who blocked them with her rifle. She quickly transformed her weapon into her staff, swinging it at the boy with the katana. Much of her surprise, the boy was much more agile than the Grimm she was used to fighting,
and he was able to block her and anticipate her.

As Tanya swung from above, the boy managed to calculate her move and roll out of the way, swiping at her feet. Tanya just barely jumped out of the way. Nico's eyes widened in surprise. She had been keeping back, not wanting to fight when she still felt so emotionally fragile, but Tanya was struggling... As Tanya recovered, using her semblance so she could keep up with the boy with the katana, Nico dashed by in a blur of shadowy black.

She slashed back and forth at a deadly speed, quicker than Tanya had been without her semblance. The boy really couldn't keep up as he struggled to block. The boy with the bow fired arrows toward Nico, and Nico activated her semblance to dodge the arrows. As she came out of her semblance, the boy swung his katana at her, only to meet Tanya's staff. Nico kicked forward, sending the boy with the katana flying to the ground. The boy with the bow just put his hands up, throwing his bow towards the drill.

Lyra dashed toward 'Perry' who fought weaponless. He really had nothing, but despite this, he was able to dodge Lyra's heavy golden axe. She dug her axe into the ground as leverage to roundhouse kick him, but he managed to dodge. In a desperate act, Lyra quickly picked her Midas out of the ground and hurled it toward Perry.

The boy hadn't exactly predicted the lean girl to be able to throw her axe at him, and as a result, the golden axe hit him right in the face, handle forward. The boy fell to the ground, rubbing his forehead in pain as Midas clattered to the ground.

"That's all of them!" Lyra sighed in relief, looki toward Ozpin for approval. When she did, she began to walk over toward the hostage. Suddenly, the drill made a creaking noise as it cracked through the wall, and the boy with the bow bolted.

He quickly grabbed his bow and the hostage, hightailing it out of the room. Lyra shouted for him to stop, hurrying to her axe, but before she could even make it there, the boy had sealed up the hole with ice dust from his bow. The blonde girl stuck her hand out to the ice, as she had somehow crawled over there while the fighting had happened, and the ice grew thicker and sharper. Her sleeve rolled down her arm, revealing a black and violet tattoo in the shape of an eye.

Tanya blew three rockets right toward the ice, but it didn't even manage to dent the hardened wall. Janelle's fire dusted arrows hit the ice, but with no effect.

"They're gonna get away!" Lyra shouted, hacking her own axe at the ice to no avail. She cursed in irritation, beginning to turn toward the open door to try and race him to the exit...but Nico dashed right towards the ice.

She couldn't fail this mission, after all...she had to be strong. No matter how much this place hurt her, she needed to be strong for herself, for the mission...and for the team.

She activated her semblance, phasing through the thick streams of ice. As she regained form, she sped up right toward 'Perry' slicing her sword once and tripping him. He went crashing to the ground along with the hostage, and Nico pointed her sword right at his neck. 'Perry' frowned and sighed, this time surrendering for real.

"T-Thank you so much!" The tied up boy gratefully shouted, a tearful look in his bright yellow eyes. Nico just took a deep breath. This was just a hallway here, but...it was the hallway where she had actually escaped this wretched place. She couldn't falter here, though. Not when the hard part was already over. "I-I-I thought it was over...you're such a cool huntress!"

Huntress...Huntress. She was being regarded as a Huntress...not as a Grimm, or as a specimen, but as a Huntress...despite the emotional pain, Nico's ears perked up slightly.

Nico had always known that being half Grimm would exclude her from everything...but at the very least, she could still get recognition from at least one person as a Huntress. In a way, being Grimm had sort of helped. They never would have saved this guy if she hadn't heard the crash, and she never would have heard the crash if she wasn't Grimm.

She may have been conceived as a Grimm under terrible terms...But Nico could use them to her advantage.

Perhaps...it wasn't as bad as it seemed.