Team SWRZ Volume 2 - Chapter 13 - The Flock!

"Mother Carwyn!" Brulee and Maple barged through the doors of the Carwyn Orphanage, disrupting one of the study sessions going on inside. The other orphans surrounded the Faunus twins, bombarding them with questions about their sudden return.

Meanwhile, Professor Hale and her students went straight upstairs to Mother Carwyn's office to explain everything that happened during their mission.

"Goodness! Kidnappers?! The White Fang?!" Mother Carwyn exclaimed, nearly knocking over the tea set on her desk.

"Yeah, it was crazy. What kind of mission did you send us on, lady?" Schwartz pointed accusingly at the woman. His behavior earned him a stern slap to the back of the head, courtesy of Lilith.

"Ignore him," Rowan sighed.

"But his question still stands," Lilith suspiciously stared at Mother Carwyn. Even with the woman's sundress hat obscuring the top half of her face, she could feel the glares from everyone in the office. "What are the odds of coming across the White Fang and kidnappers after the same children on the same mission?"

Mother Carwyn remained silent, possibly unsure what to make of the sudden accusation. The Huntress instructor placed her hands on the table and leaned forward, putting more pressure on the orphanage owner. "What's so special about these children? My students could have died on this mission. All because you hid valuable information from us."

"I am deeply sorry, but I was uncertain if it was relevant. Had I known of the dangers--"

"Let me determine if the information is relevant. Now talk," demanded Lilith with a stern, commanding voice. She didn't care if the woman was her client. Her students nearly died, and someone had to pay for that. The way she saw it, it may as well be Carwyn.

Mother Carwyn hesitated momentarily, weighing her options of telling the group. But, with her surrounded and the group refusing to leave without a satisfactory answer, she didn't have much choice.

"Brulee and Maple's parents were Huntsmen with powerful Semblances. They could repel the creatures of Grimm." Mother Carwyn began with her explanation. Her tone grew more somber as she continued. "Both were killed out on a mission. If I had to guess, information about their children got leaked."

Watchet brought his hand to his chin and pondered the information. "If there's even the smallest chance their kids inherited their Semblances..." He began.

"People would come out of the woodwork to get their hands on those kids," Lilith surmised. The twins had a rough life ahead of them. Hundreds of organizations in Mistral would kill to get their hands-on people with powerful Semblances.

"Then they're in for a rude awakening," Schwartz held his sides and laughed. "I think Brulee activated their Semblance back in the woods, but they attracted the Grimm instead."

"Oh?" Mother Carwyn tilted her head at the news.

"That's dangerous, especially if they're going to stay here," Rowan stated.

"What should we do?" Zorina asked, looking around to the others for answers.

"Nothing," Lilith bluntly answered.

"Nothing?" Amani repeated, unsure if she heard what she thought she did.

"What do you mean by nothing?" Rowan clenched her teeth, restraining her anger to the best of her ability. This woman only proved to her that Huntsmen couldn't be trusted. Who abandons children when there's a threat of danger?

Scum. Huntsmen are all scum.

"What do you expect us to do? Take the children into our custody?" Lilith countered with a question of her own.

"Well, yes," Rowan nodded her head. It's the most obvious choice to make in this situation. If dangerous organizations are after the twins, it rests on the Huntsmen to protect them.

"They are old enough to start taking basic self-defense lessons," Watchet suggested. He wasn't against the idea of taking the twins to Haven, training them to become Huntsmen. The world needed more of them.

"Don't get ahead of yourselves," Lilith interjected. The students had good intentions but needed to see the bigger picture—the more significant dilemma before them. "Who is going to look after the twins? Raise them? Protect them from all the dangers coming their way?"

Huntsmen.

That's the first word that popped into the minds of the students. But it quickly dawned on them how vague that was. Overall, who would be the one to look after the twins?

"The most I can do is bring up this matter to Headmaster Lionhart. But after that, it's out of my hands." Lilith informed the students before she left the room.

The students' hearts sank, having no idea how to help the twins.

"Do not be discouraged, children," Mother Carwyn called out to the students, having sensed their morale drop. "I will see to it that the twins are well-taken care of."

"Thank you," Rowan said before she and the others left the room.

With them gone, Mother Carwyn stood up from her chair and approached the bookcase to the far left of the room. She reached out and removed a single book with a bird picture on the side of it. The shelf rumbles and slides across the wall, allowing her three associates to enter the office.

Alba Heron, Ash Catcher, and Duncan Butch stand at attention in front of the desk while their boss returns behind it. "It's nice to have most of the family back." She smiled pleasantly at Alba and Ash. The smile dropped when her unseen gaze rested on Duncan.

"We came back as soon as we could, boss!" Ash eagerly exclaimed with a salute.

"And I appreciate that, Ash," Mother Carwyn dismissed her comment with a playful of her hand. "First thing's first, Duncan..." The woman's tone shifted dramatically. Her sweet, welcoming tone to entertain guests turned curt and low, frightening the object of her rage.

"Y-Yes, ma'am!" Duncan struggled to respond. The poor man sweated profusely, drenching his torn suit.

"My subordinates risked their necks to save you. I hope you have something to show for their efforts," Mother Carwyn rested her arms on the desk and leaned forward. Duncan swallowed hard, unsure of how to respond to the question. Only incoherent ramblings reached the listeners' ears when he opened his mouth to answer.

Alba stared disappointingly at the bumbling fool. "Did you break him?" He looked to his partner for confirmation.

The short woman waved her hands around frantically as she responded, "Nope! Not me! He could talk fine when I rescued him!"

Mother Carwyn sat back in her chair, unamused by Duncan's showing of stupidity. The man regained his composure after taking a breath. These meetings always stressed him out.

"I'm sorry, ma'am. I have nothing to show..." Duncan reluctantly answered. His heart beat one thousand miles a minute. No one ever wanted to return to their bosses with no results for their hard work, especially when you're a member of The Flock.

The organization practices a three-strike system. Thanks to this failure, this marks Duncan's second strike. He dreaded the punishment that came his way.

"What a shame," Mother Carwyn stood up and turned her back to her subordinates. She stared out to the backyard, where the children played. Brulee and Maple came into her line of sight, happily reenacting the events of their capture.

The haunting silence was overwhelming. Duncan dreaded to imagine what went through his boss's mind. He had to do something to try and sway her. "But I was this close to capturing her! If you had loaned me more men, I could have--"

He froze once he felt a cold collar clamp around his neck. He turned his head and saw Ash step away with a remote in her hand. She waved it around teasingly, just wanting to press the button at a moment's notice. Duncan recognized the collar all too well. It was for when subordinates got out of hand or crossed a line.

"Duncan, are you a child?" Mother Carwyn asked. She smiled and waved at the children playing in the yard.

The sudden question brought Duncan some pause. Was this a trick question? Is there some hidden meaning behind the line of questioning? Answering incorrectly with the collar around his neck made things all too dangerous.

"No?" Duncan answered hesitantly.

"You sound uncertain," Mother Carwyn called him out immediately. "Are you having trouble answering a simple question?"

Nothing about this is simple! "N-No! I'm not a child!" He answered more firmly.

Mother Carwyn sharply turned to face the trio with a scowl. "Then why do you continue to play games with me and waste my time like one? You tried to shift blame onto me. I didn't supply you with enough men? I supplied you with enough materials for the level of threat you described to us."

"And you still got your butt kicked," Ash giggled, enjoying the misery painted on Duncan's face. Oh, how she wished she could take the time to paint it.

"Look I...I underestimated Rowan's Semblance. I swear, I'll hunt her down and--"

"I think I've heard enough excuses and false promises from you," Mother Carwyn dismissed the man's half-hearted words with a wave of her hand. She'd heard the same thing repeatedly from him and previous subordinates who failed her. "Wait, did you say Rowan?"

"Y-Yes," Duncan narrowed his eyes.

Mother Carwyn opened the drawer in her desk to retrieve her scroll. She went through the security footage in her office and froze the image on Rowan's face. "Is this the girl you're after?"

Duncan's face went red with rage when he laid eyes on the picture of Rowan.

"Yes! Yes! That's her! She was here?!" Duncan exclaimed. "How could you let her go?!"

Mother Carwyn snapped her fingers. Ash hit the button to activate the collar on Duncan's neck on her command. The Gravity Dust brought the man to the floor. While he struggled against the force of gravity, Mother Carwyn went through the video footage of the man's capture. Unless Rowan was a master of disguise, a completely different person beat and captured Duncan. To confirm her suspicions, she set the scroll in front of him.

"Is this the person who beat you?" She inquired.

Duncan's eyebrows raised in response to the video. The person looked nothing like Rowan. "No. Rowan was the one that beat me. That bitch, Mari Gould, must've edited the footage."

"So that's how she slipped from our notice," Ash figured.

"But what's she doing pretending to be a Huntress? I thought she was a simple con-woman," Alba wondered aloud. "She knows she's a marked woman, right?"

"Oh, maybe she's using Haven as a meat shield? She can use the school to keep her safe," Ash surmised with a smile. It was an ingenious plan. Haven wasn't a place anyone could sneak into, especially with the number of Huntsmen that protected the joint.

"Not for long," Alba added. "She left the school grounds for this particular mission. It won't be hard dragging her out again."

"What an interesting child," Alba and Ash caught a glimpse of the smile under Mother Carwyn's hat. It was a smile they knew all too well. Their leader had a plan cooking up in that magnificent brain of hers, and they couldn't wait to hear it.

Mother Carwyn only heard about Rowan in passing from Duncan. But just from this little encounter, she could tell the girl had brains. Perhaps there was more to her. She couldn't wait to put the woman to the test.

"If she's playing Huntress, then we need to attack Haven!" Duncan declared. Mother Carwyn snapped her fingers again, prompting Ash to activate the Lightning Dust in the collar this time. He exclaimed in pain while being electrocuted.

"Quiet now, Duncan. We tried things your way. Now we will do things the right way. My way." Mother Carwyn returned to the comfort of her chair. She snapped her fingers again, prompting Ash to cease the electrocution. "Now, enough with this Rowan business for the time being. There is much more to discuss."

"We're all ears," Alba stated, with Ash nodding in agreement afterward.

"The Huntsmen returned with most welcoming news regarding the twins. It seems young Brulee has finally awakened her Semblance," Mother Carwyn announced, spinning around in her chair to catch Brulee still in the backyard playing with the other kids. "It appears that her Semblance has the opposite effect of her parents'."

"So, she can attract the Grimm?" Ash brought her finger to her chin and playfully tilted her head. A wicked smile crossed her face when she imagined all the possibilities and chaos the twins could bring to Remnant with a power like that. "Roddy and his goons wouldn't appreciate a surprise like that if the twins made it to them."

"Speaking of Roddy, we haven't heard any news from him," added Alba as he retrieved his scroll from his pocket. He searched through his messages and found nothing. "Has he reached out to you, boss, wondering where the kids are?"

Mother Carwyn turned her chair back and shook her head. "No, Roddy has been oddly silent. But, it matters not. We already have his money."

Ash giggled. "Roddy will be pissed when he finds out he's not getting the kids. Do you think he'll declare war on us again?"

"He may think we planned on screwing him over from the start," Alba assumed.

"But we did," Ash looked to her partner with a grin. "Why would we ever risk losing potential assets like those kids? One of them can attract the Grimm. Who knows what the other one can do."

"Should we put the other one through a stress test of their own?" Alba suggested. It seemed to work for the first twin, so who would say it wouldn't work for the other? Their plan worked, after all, sending the twins out into the outside world, letting them experience the dangers of Remnant to help awaken the latent power within them.

Mother Carwyn shook her head. She appreciated the initiative her subordinates showed, but there was no reason to rush the process. They succeeded in their goal to awaken one of the twins' Semblances. They didn't need to force the other one to awaken theirs just yet.

"No, our priority should be tightening our defenses. Brulee's only awakened the power, so it's safe to say that she can't control it yet. I imagine there will be frequent Grimm attacks." Mother Carwyn surmised with a thoughtful expression. "Plus, Roddy may send some of his men to pay us a visit, so we must prepare for that as well."

"If they come knocking, their heads are gonna roll!" Ash happily declared while brandishing her trusty weapons.

"I appreciate your eagerness, Ash, but please refrain from killing on the grounds again," Mother Carwyn stood from her chair and approached her executives with a cunning smile. "Today has been a good day for us. Continue to follow my orders, and I'll have Mistral in the palm of my hands."

"Yes, ma'am!" Alba and Ash responded confidently.

"Good, now take Duncan away. I need to spend some quality time with the children," Mother Carwyn put on her well-practiced, motherly smile and left the room. Alba and Ash did as instructed and dragged Duncan back through the bookcase entrance.