-Now-

  Ruby Rose could feel the butterflies in her stomach grow and more active as the VTOL neared the landing pad. It was past lights out now but no one seemed to mind her being here. Not that she really cared anyway, she just wanted to see Terry. She personally kicked herself every time she worried about him but she couldn't help it. To her it seemed childish to constantly be worrying about him and his team, even though that wasn't the case. In their line of work, the risks were high for every single one of them, no matter how skilled or experienced. She knew that first hand. It wasn't uncommon for hunters in training to return from an assignment with a few new battle scars, but it was the risk of them not coming back at all that scared her the most. The girl shook the last part from her mind as the craft began to land, the doors opening when it touched down.

  "He'll be ok, I know he will.."

  Much to the young girls relief she was right, her heart leaping as she saw Terry walk off the ship, bow slung on his back. She quickly rushed up and hugged him close while the medical staff looked over his team. Terry looked exhausted, his arms wrapped around Ruby loosely. His hood was pulled off revealing a nasty bruise on his cheekbone, the scent of something foul mixed with sweat radiating off of him like an aura, but Ruby didnt mind. She was just happy to have him back. The girl pulled away and planted a kiss on his lips, eyes full of concern. "What happened out there? Are you hurt? Is everyone OK?"

  "I'm fine Rubes, and so is everyone else." He smiled at her and rested his hands on her shoulders. "Reggie lost an arm, but it healed up pretty quick. A night in the med bay and we should all be good as new."

  "I would hope so..." The girl said while burring her head in his chest. The others walked by with the medical team as Terry and Ruby held each other, Ellie calling out to them with raised hands. "Atta boy Terry!"

  The team leader could feel his cheeks get hot but smiled anyway. He hear Ruby giggle as he turned to face them, one arm over her shoulder. "Is that jealousy you're compinsating for there Ellie? I know you'll find a guy to tolerate you someday."

  Ellie snorted. "Like anyone can handle this much girl. Im a free spirit baby, I don't need no man holdin me down."

  "Hey Rose!" Reggie called. "When you gonna dump that scrub and get a real man?"

  Ruby laughed and put a hand on Terrys chest. "If by real man you mean you, than Terry and I will be together for all eterity."

  Ellie burst into laughter and clapped Reggie on the back. "Buuurn! Need an ice pack, maybe a Popsicle?"

  Xenia rolled her eyes and moved in between the two of them. "Alright now, that's enough. You two can be single together in the infirmary with the rest of us, OK?"

  "Fine." The two said in unison as the med crew led them away. Xenia smiled and looked back at her team leader. "Coming Terry?"

  "Yeah, right behind you." He looked back at Ruby and smiled. "See me in the morning?"

  "You can count on it, you big baby."

  Terry smiled and kissed her forehead before walking toward the med bay with his team, Xenia waiting for him. The girl smiled and waved gently as Terry walked over and the two of them headed off, Ruby watching them for a few seconds before walking back to her dorm, the cool night air giving her goosebumps at its touch.

"I assume Jaune will want a report in the morning." Xenia said softly, as if her voice would wake some student even though they weren't in the dorms. Terry rubbed the back of his neck with a sigh. "Yeah, I'm sure that will be an interesting one to have." The encounter was a strange one, and the Grimms words weighed heavily on his mind. The fact that it talked was shocking enough, seeing how no instances of Grimm speaking have ever been recorded in history, but what it had said had only made things stranger. "Long live the ways of old.."

Xenia snapped him out of his thoughts with a nudge to the shoulder. "Alright Terr Bear, you can worry abut that later. Lets just rest up for now."

"Yeay, sounds go- wait, did you just call me Terr Bear?" Terry asked with a wide smile.

Xenia laughed lightly. "I can be funny you know."

"Doesn't mean I'm used to it."

Xenia punched his arm a little harder this time. "Whatever. Let's just get to the med bay you dork."

The two walked in silence the rest of the short distance, with Terry hoping to get some good sleep tonight. But with the image of the battle still freash in his mind, he had a feeling that sleeping would not come so easily.

---------------------------------------------

-Then-

Nix looked around the new building as Ami led him down a long hall. "What kind of place is this?"

Ami looked back at him witb a smirk. "Somewhere I think you're going to like. Now keep up, I can't wait for you to meet the others."

"Who are these 'others' you keep taling about?"

Nix got his answer when they entered a massive training hall, with a handfull of other people all doing different things. Couches where arranged in a commons area with a large TV while a long table sat at the other end of the room next to an isolated kitchen. The room itself connected to more hallways and had varisous training equipment pieces set up in the back, compleat with weapon racks and different kinds of targets. It was like all of Beacon wrapped into one large room, and Nix couldnt help but be impressed. Ami took notice and elbowed his shoulder. "What did I tell you? Like it?"

The boy nodded. "I will say, its quite cool."

Ami smiled and clapped her hands. "Hey all, Im back with our guest!"

The others stopped what they where doing and came over, some just looking up from their activitys. The Fanus girl waved her hand over the group with a happy smile. "Nix, meet the Defenders.

The others smiled at him confidently, coming in all shapes and sizes, a mix of men and woman all only a few years different than Nix. Ami pointed them out one by one. She first pointed to a man about twenty years of age wearing a tight fitting athletic shirt and pair of combat pants with boots. He was a built man with his mucels showing from under his grey shirt as he stood with his arms folded, his black shaved hair and grey eyes taking in everything that they could about him, the look reminding Nix of a Nevermore. "This is Snapshot, our marksman." The man looked him up and down and smiled, a look he had gotten from many others at Beacon, one of mutural respect for fellow warriors. The mans voice was youthful but had a hint of gruffness to it. "How you doin?"

The second person was a girl of Ami and Nix's age with brown hair that came down to her shoulders and wore a cowgirl hat. A pair of aviator glasses covered her eyes and a lollypop stick stuck out from pink glossed lips as they formed a smirk. Her outfit consisted of a brown vest and full brown pants with a revolver and bullets holstered around her waist leading to a pair of cowboy boots. She had cool look to her but Nix felt a very deadly vibe coming off of her, like he was about to step on a viper. "This lovely lady right here is Vixen, but we call her Barrel." The girl flicked her hat brim up a bit and looked over her glasses at him, revealing red eyes. "Howdy sugah.

Nix smiled at her and cocked his head. "Whats with the nickname?"

Vixen pointed over to the couch behind her, her southern drawl coming out as she spoke. "Its because of my sis, Charis. We call her Smoke." The girl looked up at them from where she sat, holding her hands in her lap cross legged. The girl looked almost identical in outfit as her sister but wth jet black hair and no glasses with the same colored eyes. Nix could see a Katana sword sheethed on her hip from where she sat and he nodded at her, to which the girl said nothing. Vixen looked back at Nix. "She ain't much of a talker."

Nix nodded and smiled to himself. "Smoke and Barrel; cute."

Ami directed his attention to the next girl who was walking over, one who was more woman than girl. She had long curly red hair and wore a black blouse with a blood red skirt to match her hair and lips and wore a large rapier on her hip. She had fair skin and green eyes that narrowed in on Nix like and animal spotting its next meal. She smiled seductivly at him as she came close, stopping close enough to the point he could smell her intoxicating perfume. "Well well, who have we here?" The woman said with a cooing voice.

"Nix, this is Widow." Ami said with a smile. The woman held her hand out to him. "Pleasure."

Nix smiled back and kissed her hand gently. "Pleasures all mine."

Widow put her other hand on her bust. "Oh, and what manners." She leaned in close to his face with a light giggle. "I like you already..perhaps we can get to know each other more later."

"Alright Widow, leave the kid alone." Ami said playfully. "Besides, I saw him first."

Widow huffed and pulled away, not before whispering "some other time" in his ear. She turned on her heels and walked off toward another hallway. Ami laughed and gave Nix a clap on the back. "Easy killer, she'll eat you alive if you get to close. Come on, there's still more people for you to meet."

"I bet she would.." Nix followed her down one of the halls that were lined with doors on each side. "These are our rooms, don't mind the mess." She walked to an partly opened door with a 'Keep Out' sign posted at an angle on the outside. Ami pushed open the door and Nix was greeted with the strongly obvious scent of a boys dorm. Empty energy drink cans and various pieces of clothing were scattered around the room, as well as many other random pieces of mechanical junk. What took most of the attention was the multiple computer monitors that were placed on a large desk, the screens stacked to create one giant setup. At the desk sat a boy of about seventeen with messy brown hair, clearly asleep. He wore a plaid flannel shirt and jeans with a beat up pair of tennis shoes and a thick pair of glasses that were falling down his face. Ami smiled and walked over to him, tail swishing. She went beside him and moved her tail under his nose, the soft tip brushing back and forth quickly. "Wake up!" She cried, causing the boy to startle and fall backwards out of his chair.

  "Dang it Ami! Why you gotta be like the that?!" The disgruntled boy asked as he rubbed his head. The Fanus girl laughed and helped him up. "Because it's funny." She turned back to Nix now. "Nix, meet Hack. He's our tech nerd."

  "You're a nerd.." Hack grumbled as he put his glasses back on. "But nice to meet you. You're the Mistresses brother, right?"

  "Yeah, that's me. Does everyone know that?"

  Hack smiled. "Well, when you're the one who built the cities security monitoring system you tend to find these things out."

  "You built all of that?" Nix asked with wide eyes. "Thats impressive. How did you-"

  "All right super nerds, you can dork out about stuff after the tour. We better hurry up if you want to be on time for dinner tonight." Ami chimed in as she took Nix by the hand and led him out. "I'm not a nerd!" Hack called as they left, his voice trailing behind them as they walked down the hall. Ami looked over her shoulder at Nix once again. "Alright, that just leaves Toby, Chen, and Thunder, then that will be everyone."

  "So what do you all do here anyway?" Nix finaly asked as tthey walked. The question had been in the back of his mind but with all the hustle of the day he hadn't had a chance to ask. Ami only laughed. "Really? I thought you would be smarter that that. You of all people should know that all cities need a force to protect it. Or one to expand its territory."

  "Oh, right." Nix flushed a bit at the simplicity of her answer and glanced at his feet as they walked back into the common area. Ami looked around with her hands on her hips. "Hey, has anyone seen Blink?"

  As if on que, a light blue streak of light rushed into the room and stopped at the couch, with a boy of sixteen now leaning on it with folded arms. He had a nice face with short brown hair that was covered by a black beanie hat and brown eyes. A pair of orange goggles sat around his neck and stood out against his blue athletic shirt. His pants were black and covered with pockets while a pair of running shoes adorned his feet. A mechanical harness sat on his chest with four straps that secured it to his back with a bright blue orb sitting at its center, the orb constantly pulsing with some sort of energy.

  "Speak of the devil...Nix, meet Blink, our newest, and youngest, member."

  The boy winked and gave a two fingered salute. "Yo."

  "Blink here is our speedster, fastest kid I know." Ami pointed out, gesturing to his chest piece.

  "And don't you forget it." He dashed into the kitchen in a blink of an eye, back again with a banana in his hands in another second, already having it peeled. "I may not be as experienced as the others here, but I can take care of myself just as well as any of them."

  "Is that so?" Widows voice said from their right. Just then a white stream of what looked like a spiders web shot itself onto Blinks leg and pulled him to the floor, Widow dragging him over. "What did I say about eating the last bowl of Pumpkin Petes?" The boy twisted around and held his hands up. "Come on Widow, I was hungry!" The older woman rolled her eyes and walked back toards the dorm rooms, dragging Blink along by her web amid his protests. Ami pinched her nose as they disappeared around the corner, followed by a slaming door. "Those two I swear.."

  Nix gave her a look. "Does this happen a lot?"

  "More than you know." She glanced at the clock. "Well it looks like its time for dinner. Shame you couldn't meet Chen and Thunder, but I'm sure you'll get chance some other time. I'll walk you back."

  Nix waved goodby to the others as they walked back into the city streets, the sun now set behind the treetops. After a short walk they arrived back at Ios manner, with Ami stopping at the door. "Here we are. Hope you had a good time."

  "It was..interesting to say the least."

  "Well, I'm glad you found it interesting at all. The team works hard to keep everything here preserved and proteced, you should really see them in action sometime."

  Nix smiled. "I'd love to." He turned and went inside then. "Thanks for the tour Ami. Hope to see you around." The door shut behind him and he put a little pep in his stride as he walked toward the dining hall where his sister waited for him. And waiting with her, answers to all his questions.