Team SWRZ - Volume 2 - Chapter 16 - Deals in the Dark!

The trip to the forest didn't take long, thanks to Lieutenant Joan Stark's Atlesian airship. A few creatures of Grimm polluted the area, but clearing them out with two teams of freshmen and three professional Huntsmen proved no issue. Since there were so many of them, it was in their best interest to separate and scour the forest. Team WEIS traveled with their instructor, Clementine, and Team SWRZ went with Lilith.

"Okay, you brats need to keep your eyes peeled," Their instructor ordered. Now that they were out in the field, they couldn't let their guards down. The students were in unfamiliar territory as far as she was concerned. They had to worry about unseen enemies. "We could be out here for the next few days trying to find this base."

"This one only has one eye," Zorina boldly proclaimed, stopping to adjust her eyepatch.

That was a mistake.

Lilith had no tolerance for the girl's imaginary play. She grabbed the eyepatch, tore it off the girl's face, and stored it in her pocket. "You'll get this back after the mission."

"Huh, maybe we should've tried that from the beginning if it's that easy to make her cut the shit," Schwartz smirked at the scene, watching Zorina scurry over to Rowan for comfort. They're out on a mission now. She can save the kiddy play when they're back at the academy. But even then, they must work on getting rid of that alter ego of hers.

It's tiresome.

Her antics are making a mockery of the team and making them look bad. Adding Zorina's fear of the Grimm only makes things worse. But, he can only tackle so many issues at a time. The first order of business is getting Rowan to participate in the Vytal Tournament.

"Hey, did you notice Rowan acting weird back on the ship?" Schwartz whispered to Watchet.

"No. I was too busy focusing on the briefing," Watchet admitted with a shake of his head. "When was she acting weird?"

"Around the time that Stark woman mentioned that con-man. What was his name again?"

"Duncan Butcher," answered Watchet. "You should pay attention when receiving details about our missions. You could miss valuable information."

"Find the enemy base and destroy it. That's what I got," Schwartz shamelessly stated. "But anyway, Rowan was staring hard at that guy's image when he showed up. Plus, remember the crash site where she and Zorina got arrested? That was the ship where that Duncan guy escaped from."

"You believe there is a connection between Rowan and this Duncan fellow?" Watchet asked.

Schwartz responded with a nod. The dots were beginning to connect in his head. "Remember when she pushed for us to take the escorting mission?"

"Yes, but I was the one that suggested it in the first place."

"Yeah, but what if your suggestion gave her the ammunition she needed?"

"I do not understand what you are trying to imply, Schwartz."

"It's just a theory, but what if there's some relationship between Duncan and Rowan? Rowan took the escorting mission because it would get her to the crash site and look for something. Maybe she was trying to confirm if the guy survived the wreck or not." Schwartz spitballed.

"For that to happen, she would need to learn about the assault on the airship first. But we did not learn of it until we got to the village." Watchet stated.

"Maybe she did know about it. Either way, something was worth going to that crash site for her. And I'm interested to learn what that was." Schwartz looked to Rowan, getting her ears chewed off by Zorina's complaining of her stolen eyepatch.

"Perhaps now is not the best time to worry about that. Our mission takes precedence over your interests," Watchet sternly advised.

"Relax, I'm not going to do anything crazy," Schwartz assured his partner, but his nonchalant delivery didn't bestow any confidence.

Meanwhile, Rowan walked through the forest purposefully, keeping a sharp eye on her surroundings despite Zorina trying her best to distract her. This mission's another opportunity to find her ex-partner in crime. While the thought of seeing him again brought nothing but dread, it had to happen.

She had enough problems in her life without Duncan around to cause them. But that raised the critical question in her head.

How would she stop him?

She tried leaving him for dead in the sands of Vacuo, getting arrested and sent to Atlas, but none of those approaches worked. If she couldn't finish the job and end Duncan once and for all, perhaps someone else could do it for her.

"Hey, Fated One," Zorina nervously called out to Rowan for the tenth time. "Could you use your super speed Semblance to get my eyepatch back? I need it and--"

"Could you shut up?" Rowan harshly shut her down. "Drop the alter ego act and focus on the mission! We're not playing a child's game! We're out on a REAL mission with REAL danger! Take this seriously, or else you're going to die!"

Rowan stormed off and continued with her search for the secret base. Schwartz and Watchet stood by Zorina, acting as her means of comfort. It was one of the first times Rowan seriously lashed out at her partner, so it was tough for Zorina to process it all.

Lilith kept to the front of the group, shaking her head at the drama and baggage the first-years brought along with them. Perhaps she should've ordered them to leave that behind before forcing them onto the mission. If they kept this up, Clementine and her students would win the bet. She couldn't have that.

Team SWRZ had to get their shit together by the end of this mission, one way or another.

The next couple of hours of their search went about as expected. They found nothing. Sure, some Grimm got in their way now and then, but nothing concerning the secret base appeared. The group had no choice but to settle down and camp out when night fell.

"Great first start to the mission," Schwartz complained, lying on his back and staring at the stars.

"You didn't expect us to find the base that easily, did you?" Rowan asked.

Schwartz looked at her with a puzzled expression. Of course, he did. Why wouldn't they find the secret base so easily?

"I mean, with your super speed Semblance, it should take you a couple of minutes, right? You could go off on your own, find it, and then return to us." Schwartz suggested.

"You have no idea how draining my Semblance is on my aura. What if I mess up and get lost in this forest? Or fall off a cliff like back during the initiation?" Rowan countered.

"We shouldn't separate anyway," Zorina advised against that tactic. "We're unfamiliar with these woods, unlike our adversaries."

"Perhaps Professor Patel and Team WEIS are having better luck than we are," Watchet said, glancing over to Lilith. The woman paced back and forth away from the campsite, talking on the scroll.

"Judging from her body language, I'm gonna go with no," Schwartz said.

Lilith closed the scroll and returned to the students, grumbling. "No good. The others weren't able to find anything either."

"If the next few days will be like this, we should burn the forest to the ground. That should make it easier to find that base." Schwartz suggested with a sickening grin.

"No," Everyone quickly shut that down.

"Who's taking the first watch?" Lilith quickly changed the subject.

"Rowan and I can do it," Schwartz quickly volunteered with a raise of his hand. That action alone raised red flags in Rowan's head.

"What's he doing?" Rowan internally panicked. Her teammate was too quick to offer themselves as a tribute to the task.

"Okay, Rowan and Schwartz will take the first watch. The rest of you get some sleep." Lilith demanded.

Watchet and Zorina nodded their heads and retreated into the comfort of their sleeping bags. Meanwhile, Rowan and Schwartz moved away from the campsite and surveyed the area for any signs of danger.

"What do you want?" Rowan immediately confronted Schwartz. Now that the two of them were alone, she figured it was the best time to get it all out of the way.

"Do you remember that favor you owe me?" Schwartz started.

Rowan immediately recalled the team's previous mission. "Yes?" She answered hesitantly. What kind of favor could he possibly ask for right now?

"You never answered why you went to check out that crash site. That's my favor. I want an honest answer," Schwartz called in the favor.

"You'd rather I answer that than try to get me to join the Vytal Tournament?" Rowan tried to change the subject.

But Schwartz wasn't having any of it. He shook his head and continued, "That's another problem for a different time. I don't think it's coincidental with this Duncan guy escaping and you checking out the wreckage."

"...What are you saying?" Rowan asked, now on guard.

Schwartz smirked, noticing Rowan getting tense around him. He took a step forward and added on the pressure. "There's a connection between you and this Duncan guy, isn't there? What is he to you? A boyfriend? A family member?"

"For your safety, Schwartz, I'm asking you not to do this."

"That's a first, you being concerned for anyone but yourself."

"That's rich coming from you,"

Schwartz chuckled. She'd got him there. "Look, you seem to know something about this guy. You've gotten us involved with two missions that have something to do with him. You're hunting him. What is it that you're trying to do?"

Hesitant, Rowan opened her mouth to answer, only to stop and weigh her options. She never thought of this before, telling someone else about her affiliation with Duncan. Why would she ever want to do that in the first place? There's no way to explain it without revealing her criminal history.

That was the case until an idea popped into her head. Perhaps she could kill two birds with one stone in this single mission. "You're right. I know him. We have a bit of history."

Schwartz looked suspiciously at the young woman. He didn't expect her to give up that easily. "Okay, so why are you looking for him?"

"I went to the crash site to confirm if he died. But I never found a corpse, so I imagine he's alive somewhere. If it turns out he's hiding within that base, I need him dealt with," Rowan leaned in closer just so that Schwartz could hear.

"Like captured or..." Schwartz trailed off intentionally, wanting to hear his teammate tell him precisely what she wanted from him.

"No, capturing him won't work. He'll escape with his Flock buddies. He needs to die," Rowan harshly responded, the brim of her bowler hat obscuring her eyes from Schwartz's perspective, making the moment all the more sinister.

Schwartz couldn't believe his ears. He never imagined that Rowan, of all people, would suggest killing someone. Whoever this Duncan guy was, he sure must've done something to piss her off.

"Okay, if we find him, I'll leave him to--"

"No," Rowan shook her head. "You need to do it. You're the only one I can trust to do the right thing and end Duncan for good."

"The right thing? Since when has murder ever been considered the right thing to a Huntsman?" Schwartz playfully retorted. He was honestly interested in the potential assassin contract. But he'd be taking a massive risk in outing himself by killing another human on this mission.

That risk is precisely what Rowan wanted him to make. If she could somehow get Duncan and Schwartz in the same room together, the two psychopaths would fight and kill each other, hopefully ridding her of them. With them both dead, she'd have no reason to stick around Haven anymore or Mistral. This mission was her best chance for freedom.

Rowan refused to let this chance slip away.

"Don't play games, Schwartz. We both know our "team" doesn't quite live up to Huntsman standards. Besides, you're always threatening to kill other people anyway. I've seen it in your eyes several times," Rowan casually pointed out.

In some ways, Schwartz reminded her of Duncan. Both men were bold and reckless. They never considered the consequences of their actions and how they would affect the people around them. In her eyes, her plan was a way to cleanse Remnant of two potential threats in the future.

"Oh? Is that right?" Schwartz smirked, getting more interested in the conversation as it went on. "So, if I find and kill this Duncan guy, what do I get out of it?"

"I'll join the Vytal Tournament," Rowan answered.

"Wow, all it took for you to agree was for me to kill someone?"

"That's IF you succeed. Should you fail, then all bets are off."

"You're a cold-hearted woman. But I like that. You've got yourself a deal. I'll take care of this Duncan for you." Schwartz extended his hand.

Rowan hesitated but eventually returned the gesture and shook his hand, sealing the deal. "Good. I look forward to working with you in the tournament."

"No, you don't," Schwartz shook his head.

"No, I don't." Rowan pulled her hand back and walked away to patrol elsewhere.

With their conversation over, a new one began with Watchet and Zorina. The duo watched with mild interest, then turned to each other once their partners split up.

"What do you think they were talking about?" Zorina asked.

Thanks to his previous conversation with Schwartz, Watchet had an idea of their discussion. "Perhaps they were becoming friends."

Zorina shook her head, not believing that for a second. The two of them becoming friends? Not a chance. Even she couldn't become friends with her partner, so how could Schwartz, of all people, manage that?

"No way, something else happened," Zorina presumed. "They shook hands. I think they struck a deal or along those lines."

"Perceptive," Watchet acknowledged the girl's skills of deduction. He thought the same thing as well. While he had no clue what the deal was about, it was nice to see them acting cordial for a change. Perhaps there was hope for them yet.

"I'm not an idiot, despite what people may think," Zorina pouted and sank further into her sleeping bag.

"Forgive my rudeness, but perhaps people's perception of you would change if you portrayed yourself in a different light," Watchet suggested. "While your theatrics are...interesting...there are times when it can be vexing. Especially today as you learned from Professor Hale and Rowan."

Zorina's face went bright red in embarrassment, grumbling to herself. She knew how annoying she must've been whenever she played acted. But what else was she supposed to do? No one would understand her authentic self. How could they when even she didn't know who she was?

"I will not pretend to understand your circumstances. You have your reasons for why you act the way you do. Just learn to dial it back when we are out on missions," Watchet thoughtfully advised. "We need everyone at their best. That includes you."

"You don't have to tell me that. I know," Zorina turned her back to Watchet and closed her eyes, wanting to go to bed for the night. "Thank you, Watchet."

"You are welcome, Zorina," Watchet smiled and went to sleep.