Nico had a mission.

Ever since she'd seen Team RWBY's third member, Nico knew she had some business to attend to.

She had kept her weapon by her side at all times ever since knowing that Blake was here. Now, she just needed the perfect time to strike. She had been waiting for forever to see that the girl was separated...

Well, now was the time.

The cat Faunus was sitting on a bench by herself in the late afternoon, around dinner time. No one was around her, and Nico bared her teeth, growling.

She struck out of her hiding spot, swinging her sword straight at Blake. Blake's concealed ears perked up upon hearing Nico's movement, and Nico's sword sliced through a shadowy clone of Blake. The girl had a terrified look in her eyes as she saw who her opponent was.

"N-Nico, wait-"

Nico had nothing to listen to, not from the girl who had helped to imprison her! Blake was a previous terrorist and high ranking member of the White Fang, and yet, here she was! Nico growled menacingly, splitting her sword into two katanas as she lunged forward once more.

Nico was fast, but so was Blake. Even without a weapon, Blake could dodge quickly, and when things got dodgy, she activated her semblance so that Nico merely hit a clone.

This just served to make Nico angrier.

"I'm not here to fight you!" Blake cried out as she ducked under Nico's blades. She cried out as Nico thrusted her other blade forward too quick for Blake to react to, and Blake flew backward, even under the protection of her aura. "I know you're angry, but just let me explain-!"

Nico didn't stop for even a second. Nico swung her katanas once more, unrelenting. The yellow eyed Blake did multiple back walkovers to retreat further, a frightened look in her eyes as Nico neared her with a murderous glare. Blake wasn't dumb enough to think she stood a chance against someone while she was weaponless. The only thing left she could do was hope that Nico would hear her out.

"Please, Nico! You have to believe me, I begged Adam to stop those experiments!l

Adam.

Nico froze for a split second just at the mention of one of her captors before fury overtook her fear. She rushed Blake in a rage, her red eyes narrowed in violent anger as adrenaline filled her veins. She rushed at Blake with more conviction than before, and Nico's blades swung toward Blake more urgently.

Blake ducked under one of Nico's blades, and she quickly rolled under another. Nico combined her blades into one, digging it into the ground as leverage as she roundhouse kicked Blake. Her kick hit a shadow of Blake, who appeared on the right of Nico.

"I didn't want him to continue! But he wouldn't listen to me," Blake tried to explain, even as Nico continued to near her menacingly. Blake just kept retreating as Nico panted heavily, murderous intent in her eyes even as Blake pleaded. "They started experimenting on you long before I was even in the White Fang. Every time I passed your cage, I begged him to let you go! That's one of the reasons I left. You made me realize he was evil...I'm the same as you. I'm running from him, too!"

Nico wouldn't listen. She charged straight for Blake once more, this time feinting a blow to the right and instead swinging from the left. Blake was taken aback, and she cried out as Nico's blade sliced downward, breaking her aura as Blake fell to the ground. She tried to scramble away, fear eminent in her yellow eyes.

Nico advanced closer, and she swung her sword at the girl on the ground. She hadn't anticipated anyone stepping in...so when Tanya appeared out of the blue to block the blow, Nico didn't even have time to register what' was going on. Usually, her Grimm senses were keen enough to notice movement around her, yet she had been so focused on Blake that it hadn't even mattered in that moment. As a result, Nico froze for a second in just sheer shock, and Tanya took advantage of this to swing her leg into Nico's stomach, sending the Grimm girl backwards.

"W-What are you doing!?" Nico growled in guttural anger, simply stomping back toward Blake. Tanya stepped in front of Blake protectively.

"I'm not going to let you just kill her!"

Tanya dodged most of Nico's blows, her aura protecting her from the others as she stood as a shield. Nico activated her semblance to phase through Tanya to get to Blake, but Tanya whirled around and kicked forward at just the right moment as Nico flickered out of invincibility. Nico stumbled, and Tanya threw herself forward to tackle Nico to the ground. The smaller girl cried out in pain as she was pinned underneath Tanya's weight, and she struggled to try and free herself from Tanya's grip to no avail.

Desperately, Nico tried to activate her semblance even though she knew her aura was dead. Coursing hot pain shot through her body, and she screamed out, partially from pain, and partially from utter frustration and anger. She had been so close to taking out someone who had tortured her whole life! Why did Tanya have to interfere!?

"G-Get o-o-off of me!" Nico struggled to no avail against Tanya, her red eyes narrowed in fierce anger as she watched Blake stand and run away. "No!!"

"Why in the world were you trying to kill Blake!? What were you thinking?" Tanya questioned, but Nico was in no mood to be chastised. She just tried to keep pulling away, refusing to accept the fact that she couldn't push Tanya off of her. "Hello!? Nico? Nico-"

"She did this to me!! L-Let go-!"

"She did this to you-? What? Nico, that's nonsense!"

Nico didn't respond, she just growled and tried to struggle against Tanya. It was no use; Blake was already long gone. She furiously snarled, her teeth bared. In this state, Tanya wouldn't blame anyone for thinking Nico was actually a Grimm...but she knew that this was her teammate, and that Nico was trustworthy. She just knew it.

But that still didn't change the fact that Nico didn't trust Tanya enough to tell her about what was going on.

Tanya sighed, and after awhile, she got off of Nico. The Grimm girl immediately tried to dart away, but Nico hadn't realized that Tanya had grabbed ahold of her hood. Nico almost choked herself as the collar slipped against her neck, and Tanya sighed.

"Come on...Let's go find Lyra and Janelle."

•••

"I am..the biggest failure in all existence. I have failed! I have failed everyone!"

"Janelle, what-? What's wrong?" Lyra looked up from her scroll, worried for her teammate who was acting so panicky all of a sudden. Janelle had her head in her hands from where she sat on the desk.

"I...I got a ninety three percent on the last quiz!" Janelle exclaimed, much to Lyra's confusion.

"Wait, isn't that good?"

"No! It is an A minus, unacceptable! If my
family found out about this grievance, they'd probably order me back home immediately," Janelle panicked, a frantic, terrified look in her amber eyes. "An A minus is practically failing!"

"What-Janelle, no. An A minus is not bad," Lyra responded, setting down her phone and getting up to go look at Janelle's quiz. "Look, you literally got one and a half problems wrong. I'd be celebrating about that!"

"No, you would not be!" Janelle frowned, leaning back in her chair. "I thought I had done well! All I will ever hear is of my failure. Perhaps my family was right, maybe I should go back home-"

"Janelle, stop!" Lyra interrupted the panicking girl by placing her hands on Janelle's shoulders and shaking her gently. "You aren't a failure. I don't know what your family has told you, but getting an A minus is not failing at all. Not even Pyrrha would have been thought that! You should be proud of your hard work."

"You do not understand," Janelle just shook her head, politely taking Lyra's hands off of her. She was uncomfortable with the unwarranted physical contact. "My family expected me to go into engineering, where I always got high marks without any trouble. However, that path wasn't what I wanted...this is what I wanted! But my family will nitpick any mistake of mine to prove that I am not meant to be here..."

"If you weren't meant to be here, then you wouldn't be. Destiny brought all of us together, and it knows that we're all meant to be huntresses," Lyra reassured Janelle. Lyra awkwardly placed her hands down, not used to anyone really rejecting her way of comfort. "Don't you think that Professor Ozpin would have rejected you if it wasn't meant to be?"

"Perhaps...But maybe he made a mistake when it came to me," Janelle frowned, her self doubt shining even as Lyra tried to comfort her. "Besides, this whole destiny thing sounds insane. How could anything ever be meant to be?"

"Well, you said you never wanted to be an engineer. You must have known in your heart that it wasn't what was meant to be," Lyra pointed out. "Isn't that destiny?"

"I-I suppose, but where is the logic in that-"

They were suddenly interrupted by the sound of the door opening wide. Lyra and Janelle glanced over to see Tanya in the doorway with Nico standing nervously behind her, her Grimm ears drooping downward. Tanya sighed.

"So, we've got a problem..."