Lady Diamond Hornet vanished in a flash of light. Arvid lifted his sword above his head and swung down.

CLANG!

A light gust of wind swept through the room as sword met claw. Lady Diamond Hornet frowned and grabbed the blade with her other hand as well. Arvid grinned and pushed down. The hornet girl was forced to leap away as the sword slammed into the floor.

“Oh, a strong one. That’s, like, kind of annoying.”

“Take heart, fair maiden, for it takes many men to match my might!”

“I see. I wonder if, like, you’re also fast?”

With that, the hornet girl vanished, a gleam of light flickering off her diamond skin. Arvid barely had time to raise his sword when a claw collided into it, then vanished before he could respond.

And then the room lit up as shining lights sped past.

Arvid grimaced as scratches appeared on his extremities. He focused his blade on his head and torso, preventing any vital strikes, but could not respond to the blows. Soon, he was breathing heavily, blood dripping from countless wounds.

“That’s like, kind of disappointing. What’s the point of being so strong if you can’t do anything?”

“Right back at you. What’s the point of all that speed if you can’t strike a blow that counts?”

“Kay, I’ll do that then.”

The hornet girl vanished once more. Arvid grinned and swung his sword, abandoning his defense. His sword approached Lady Diamond Hornet’s side as her claws reached for his torso.

Just then a kunai slammed into Lady Diamond Hornet. It bounced harmlessly off her skin, but had a paper tag lit on fire tied to it.

BOOM!

An explosion knocked the two opponents to the ground. Kiyosuke appeared, sword at the ready.

“I’m not done yet. Phantom Slash Storm!”

He drew his blade. A gust of wind blew through the room, arcs of light appearing around Lady Diamond Hornet. The hornet girl drew her wings to her body and lifted her arms to shield her face. The clash of metal on diamond sounded over and over.

And then it stopped.

And Lady Diamond Hornet was unharmed.

“Wow. Going for my wings. Like, soooo unoriginal.”

A flash of light, and the hornet girl was behind him. She grabbed Kiyosuke by the back of his collar and threw him into Arvid, both boys tumbling to the ground and grunting. As they groaned and stood to their feet, she extended her insect abdomen, revealing a wicked stinger gleaming in the light.

“The boss will scold me again if I play around any more, so, like, can you just surrender? You’re like, going to get stabbed or something if you don’t.”

“Kiyosuke.”

“I’m not afraid of her.”

“Listen well, you idiot. I can’t deal with her speed, and you can’t cut through her armor. So use that speed of yours and get me an opportunity or we’re both going to die.”

“...fine. Don’t miss.”

With that, shadows and flashes of light appeared all around Arvid, sparks flying as a blade clashed with claw and stinger. Kiyosuke deflected the stinger with a Phantom Slash and lifted his blade to catch the girl’s claws.

Only to vanish in a puff of smoke.

“Now!”

Arvid grinned and swung his blade at the now exposed Lady Diamond Hornet.

CLANG!

Sparks flew as his blade collided with diamond. The hornet girl sped through the air, crashing straight through a wall. Arvid rested his sword on his shoulder and grinned as Kiyosuke leaned over his knees, panting.

“Well done, comrade. A hard fight, and a worthy victory.”

And then lightning arced around the two boys. They screamed, and dropped to the ground convulsing. Behind them, a group of armored guards walked through the door, the lead one carrying a huge cannon with a tesla coil instead of a barrell.

“Is impressive, I had doubt when a friend told me to up the voltage. Will that not kill them, I wondered? Tesla technology is very dangerous, you know. But it seems you are quite tough, da?”

Lady Diamond Hornet groaned, holding her side as she stumbled out of the hole in the wall.

“I, like, totally had them. You didn’t, like, need to interfere, Mr. Ivan.”

“I am sure I did not, friend Diamond! You are impressive as always! But this way, is slightly cheaper I think. Fixing walls is troublesome, da?”

Elise walked forward, eyes fixed on the elderly lady. Her protocols stated she should strike with maximum force, but Commander Bob had stated in no uncertain terms that there was to be no casualties. She would, therefore, need to handle this carefully.

She walked up to the woman and tried to gently move her.

Her hand moved to the side.

She tried again.

Her hand curved up and around the woman.

Elise jumped back. She was detecting abnormal energy readings, similar to the readings she got from Saydaa. The woman raised an eyebrow.

“You should know better than to judge by looks, girlie.”

“Acknowledgement: Reassessing potential threat.”

Elise held her right arm up. A panel opened on the wrist, and two dart-tipped wires shot forth. These too, curved around the woman, landing harmlessly on the floor. Elise’s red eye twirled about.

“Observation: Unidentified defense measures detected. Testing limits.”

Elise transformed her right hand into a gun barrel, firing a single shot aimed just to the side of the woman. The bullet went off target. She fired a three round salvo. These too, did not hit their target. Elise unleashed a full automatic burst.

Not a single shot landed where Elise intended.

She took a step back and ran diagnostics on her targeting protocols and sensor hardware.

No problems detected.

Baba Yaga raised an eyebrow.

“Straight to guns, are you trying to kill me, girlie?!”

“Explanation: This unit is testing defenses to calculate minimum required force. Force will be adjusted to non-lethal measures.”

“And you’re actually explaining it. Hah, just hit me, girlie. I’m old, not helpless.”

Elise put her hands together, arms glowing orange. A beam of light pierced straight through the woman…

Who burst into black mist.

Elise turned this way and that, scanning for signs of the woman.

A whisper reached her ear.

“Behind you…”

Elise spun around and fired another beam.

She hit nothing.

“Observation: Opponent has highly effective stealth measures. Adapting strategy.”

The glow of Elise’s arms changed from orange to purple. She took aim at the center of the room and backed up to stand over Nana.

“Singularity protocol activated.”

The bolt flew towards the center of the room. Just then Baba Yaga reappeared, right in the path of the bolt. She lifted the edges of her robe, revealing a large mirror. The bolt flew straight into the mirror, falling inside of it.

And then shot back out towards Elise.

Elise spread her hands.

“Gravity barrier activated.”

The purple sphere surrounded Nana and herself just as the bolt exploded into a singularity. Purple lightning arced over the barrier as the singularity pulled on it. The barrier started to flicker…

And finally the singularity shrunk and vanished.

Elise dropped the barrier.

And Baba Yaga was right in front of her.

The old woman tapped Elise’s forehead once.

And the world went dark.

Elise couldn’t comprehend what she saw. Her visual sensors registered no data. Yet, still images flashed in front of her. Or rather, sensations?

The rhythmic beeping of a machine at her side.

The feeling of tubes within her body.

Trouble breathing, something over her face.

Adults talking in muffled voices.

Sparks.

Wires.

Metal grinding against metal.

Something…unpleasant.

Things she couldn’t explain, couldn’t grasp, appearing on the very edge of her vision.

“Warning: Organic components reporting attack. Error: mechanical components failed to register. Warning: Organic components requesting response. Error: mechanical components could not locate target. Warning…error…warning…e-error…”

Back in the room, Baba Yaga stood in front of the cyborg girl as she stood completely still. She let out a long string of curses.

“Seriously?! SERIOUSLY?! She has THIS much unprocessed trauma at her age and they sent her against ME?! Girl like her should have some unrequited love and crappy friends at worst! Oh, I am going to have WORDS with them for this!”

Saydaa sighed as she sat in a cell. Small little devices protruded from the walls, zapping her the moment she tried to draw on her powers. So much for riches and spoils.

Should’ve stuck to street-cons, Saydaa.

A group of men opened the doors, carrying Arvid and Kiyosuke, both unconscious. They placed them into cells next to her. Saydaa sighed. Typical.

Welp, nothing to do now except hope the killer robot girl could locate the detention level sometime soon…

Another door opened. Guards entered, carrying an unconscious Nana.

And a frozen Elise.

Saydaa started to sweat.

They might be in trouble.

The three groaned and began to stir. Elise’s robotic eye started to flicker and the girl started to move again. Saydaa let out a sigh. Welp, everyone was alive and together.

Now to figure out what the heck to do.

Just then, Saydaa heard heavy steps coming from the entrance stairs. She gulped and turned. A man opened the door and entered the room…

“Boss-man?!” “Bob-sama?!”

Saydaa and Nana exclaimed at the man walking through the door. Bob nodded and armored guards unlocked the doors, allowing the team into the hall. Bob stood in front of them, arms crossed behind his back.

“W-What’s going on boss-man? Did you come for us? Did you bribe them? I thought we were goners…”

“You were. Fortunately, I am friends with the CEO of this establishment.”

“Wait, what? You’re friends with the boss of this place? Wait, then why the heck are we robbing it?!”

“You weren’t. This was a test of the bank’s security, as well as your team’s capabilities. Neither side was informed to preserve the validity of the test.”

“What the heck? Seriously?!”

Arvid groaned as he rubbed his back but nodded.

“I guess that explains the strict no-killing rule.”

“Indeed. The bank’s defenses performed as planned, though a handful of vulnerabilities have been identified. Which brings us to the second half of this: your performance.”

The team froze, and evaded Bob’s gaze.

“First off, this was a test, and your first real experience. You will not be penalized for your failure here, as you all followed the most important rule and avoided casualties. But I do expect you to learn from this, and not to repeat your mistakes. So, who can tell me your biggest mistake?”

Arvid let out a sigh, speaking in a small voice.

“...we split up, went off the plan.”

Bob rubbed his chin.

“Close. Splitting up and going off the plan are not inherently wrong. It is the way you went about it that’s problematic.”

“The big problem is that you didn’t work as a team. Arvid, Kiyosuke, you were convinced the enemy super needed to be dealt with. That take was not wrong. But you ignored the team’s misgivings and pressed on regardless, throwing the plan into chaos. And you did not work together in the fight, compromising your ability to defeat the enemy quickly. You ended up in the very situation you were trying to prevent.”

“Elise, Nana, Saydaa, you wanted to stick to the plan, and avoid unnecessary confrontation. That was also not wrong. But when your teammates went off-course, you did not adapt to the circumstances, and ended up in the worst case scenario. Worse, you continued to press on without your teammates, with multiple members captured or incapacitated throughout the operation. This was a low priority mission, failure was preferable to casualties.”

“Ultimately, either method would have been fine. You even could have retreated and planned for another day, and that would’ve been fine. But breaking into two separate teams with different plans rendered both unfeasible. In the end, a bad plan, if executed decisively as a cohesive team, can be more effective than many good plans executed by solo actors.”

The team looked down. Bob let out another sigh.

“We will work on this going forward. For now, just know that next time, make sure everyone is on the same page before you act. If you cannot agree on the plan, it is better to fall back and regroup in a safe location. You, however, should not press on alone against the consensus. Because next time you won’t be fighting against my friends.”

THWACK!

A gnarled staff smacked Bob over the head.

“What are you doing, fool boy?!”

Baba Yaga hobbled into the room, dragging Ivan by his ear. She tossed him to Bob’s side as she pulled his ear too.

“Berating your kids like that! They’ve been scuffed well and good, boy! It’s carrot and stick, not stick and more stick!”

Bob’s eyes narrowed.

“This isn’t a daycare, I can’t afford to coddle them.”

THWACK!

“Don’t you talk back to me, boy! Daycare’d be much better, they have a lick of sense over there! Open your eyes and take care of your girlie, boy.”

Bob blinked for a moment. Baba Yaga let out a dramatic sigh and flicked her hand. Elise floated in the air and slammed into Bob. Bob grunted and then looked at the girl. Her face was as expressionless as ever…

But then he saw it.

A slight, ever so slight quiver in her human eye.

Bob let out a sigh.

“...I’m sorry. Elise, are you all right?”

“...Status Report: No damage detected, Commander Bob. Elise…operational and ready for orders.”

“How about your organic components? Emotionally?”

“...Hesitant Report: I…I am not sure…”

Bob pulled the girl into his arms and gently brushed her head.

“...you did well. Don’t worry, I’m not upset with you.”

Elise stood still, red eye spinning about.

“Confused…Query: Commander Bob…I…cannot calculate a response…”

“Then don’t. Just do whatever your organic components tell you.”

Elise froze for a moment, then slowly wrapped her arms around Bob. Bob let out a sigh, then looked up to the others.

“That goes for you all too. You made some mistakes, but you’ve been doing well over all. That was the point of this, so you could fail in a real but controlled setting, and have a chance to grow from those mistakes. I have high hopes for you once you do.”

The others nodded. Baba Yaga heaved another sigh.

“Look what you did, you’re about to make a machine cry, for goodness sake. Well, now that that’s out of the way.”

THWACK!

She whacked Bob over the head once more, then grabbed his ear and brought him to the ground so that both he and Ivan were kneeling in front of her.

“WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU TWO DOING?! GETTING AN OLD WOMAN INVOLVED IN YOUR STUPID GAMES?! MAKING ME BEAT UP CHILDREN?! I AGREED TO MOVE HERE AND WATCH YOUR LITTLE CLUBHOUSE FOR PEACE AND QUIET! I THOUGHT THAT FOOL SON OF MINE RAISED YOU BETTER THAN THAT, IVAN!”

“I-I am sorry, Babushka…”

"AND YOU! BOB! DON’T THINK YOU CAN GET AWAY WITH WHATEVER YOU PLEASE WITH YOUR LITTLE STOIC AND CONSTANTLY IRRITATED ROUTINE! DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU MADE ME DO TO THE POOR GIRL?! GROW UP AND SHOW SOME HEART, BOY, PEOPLE ARE RELYING ON YOU NOW!”

"...I'm sorry..."

The team’s eyes widened as they watched Baba Yaga berate the two grown men, both kneeling on the ground like penitent children. They turned to each other and nodded.

Number one lesson of this mission: Don’t mess with the witch.