The quartet didn't even make it to the stairwell before running into trouble. Duster had been leading the group cautiously towards the door at the end of the hall, moving slowly enough to remain silent, but fast enough so that it wouldn't take a few eternities to reach the exit. The footsteps below told him that the White Fang had entered the building, but he had underestimated just how much time their conversation had cost them. Just before he was about to open the door a black boot kicked it open, knocking him to his back. He used the momentum of his fall to flip up in time to see a pair of rifles raise to greet him. Before they could open fire he flicked a burn crystal out of his coat and towards the shooters. They quickly rolled aside, giving Duster enough time to shout to Nigel to break into the room next to them and pull them inside.
By the time the White Fang realized that the crystal wasn't going to explode, Duster, Amber and Nigel had taken cover inside the room, which had been completely empty except for a few well placed tables. Sapphire, however, stood in plain view. Before he could leap up to pull her out of the way of the immanent hellfire and scold her for being an idiot, she had raised an open palm and started shimmering blue. Suddenly a wall of solid blue light filled the space where the door once stood, deflecting a single bullet back into the shoulder of the one Faunus who thought it was a good idea to try and shoot through it. It took a lot of energy for Sapphire not to laugh at his stupidity.
"Well, that's useful," Amber commented in an aside to Nigel.
"So, we're not getting out that way," Sapphire said, turning to the group, lowering her hand. "Where are we supposed to go now?"
Duster stood up and walked over to the window at the other end of the room. He pulled aside its shades, only to find a splendidly comedic view of a brick wall. "Right," he muttered to himself. "Sis, what room are we in?"
"Two-twelve, I think," she answered.
"Great, th' one room without a secret exit," Duster huffed in annoyance, turning back to the door. Nigel groaned, rubbing the shoulder he spoke from. "How long will that barrier hold?"
"As long as I have the energy to keep it there, it'll hold," Sapphire said, leaning against a wall, still glowing.
"Okay, Amber, check on Nigel. I think he hit himself a little too hard fixin' his speech."
"Right," his sister nodded, walking over to Nigel. She helped him remove part of his shirt, exposing a metal panel on the right side of his back, just below his shoulder. She unscrewed its bolts with her semblance and set it aside, taking a look at the circuitry inside.
"I'm guessing we can't just go through that brick wall?" Sapphire asked.
"Not without damaging a whole lot of public property."
"We aren't already?"
"Nah; technically this place is listed by th' city as quarantined fer structural instability, hence why no one else is around. We moved in an' slowly renovated it over th' years while no one was lookin', an' since no one has come t' kick us out, well, except fer these fine folk, we've kept it as our own."
"I see. Well, let me know if you have any fits of inspiration."
Duster holstered his pistol and paced the room, his arms folded. He mentally recapped the layout of the building, searching for the best route out of the dead end they'd apparently waltzed into. Sapphire watched as what looked like the leader of the White Fang members outside did the same, planning the next move of his troops. There were five of them in total, two on either side of the door, plus the leader. When he stopped striding and began to give out orders she looked back to Duster. He had pulled out a different pistol and was loading color coded rounds into it. "Got any ideas yet? 'Cause it sounds like they do."
"I got some notion," he nodded, flicking the chamber of the weapon shut and holstering it. He turned to his sister, who had just finished repairs on Nigel's voice box. "You good?" he asked.
"Probably," the Mohawked man shrugged, rising to his feet as he buttoned up his shirt. His voice was clearer that time, but still as synthetic sounding as before. Sapphire also noticed that it came from his mouth, rather than his shoulder.
"It was just a few loose cables in there causing his voice to route improperly, nothing major," Amber said, reporting the damages. "You know, I think the laundry room is below us. There's a lot of metal down there – and an exit."
"You thinkin' we should get down there?"
"It's better than staying up here, brother."
"True." Duster continued pacing the room, this time paying attention to the sound his footsteps made. "But there's bound t' be others we didn't see prowlin' around. An' someone needs t' stay close enough t' light that fire."
"I thought you said you took care of that," Sapphire commented.
"It's ready t' burn, yeah, but its receiver is short range. Can't get too far away from th' buildin', or else it won't go."
"Then we should split up," Nigel chimed in, clearing his throat. "Amber and I will lure whoever else might be in the building hunting us up a block north. You two deal with the leftovers here and burn the evidence."
"Okay, that'll do," Duster nodded. Finally his steps rang hollow and he stopped pacing the room.
"That's a, uh, plan and all," Sapphire frowned, "but how do we get out of this room."
Duster pointed down to where he was standing and had Nigel take his place.
"We break th' floor."
"How?"
"With him," Duster said matter-of-fact, pointing over his shoulder at Nigel. He patted his right arm in acknowledgement.
"Oh."
"Yeah."
"Okay, but what will we do about the people outside?"
"I was thinkin' that after Nigel and my sis drop down, you'd stop your barrier and we'd fight our way out."
"They have guns, remember?"
"Last I checked, so do we," he smirked, patting his hidden holsters. Sapphire sighed, putting her head in her free palm. "You have a better plan?"
"No, but…" She looked at Duster's coat, catching a glimpse of the dust inside. "Do you have any frost crystals?"
"Yeah," he said, tossing one to her. She caught it and slapped it into the open space in her glaive's blade. A blue light pulsated at the blade's edge momentarily, the crystal chilling it, a cold fog leaking from its edges. It vibrated rapidly and unnoticeably like a tuning fork, emitting a low hum.
"Okay then, but I still don't like this."
"Fine, but we don't have th' time t' dawdle. Freeze the one in th' middle, then I'll toss out my last burn crystal to blind 'em. I'll take th' two on th' left, you take th' two on th' right."
"Right."
"Yes."
"Okay." Sapphire wasn't sure if he thought she hadn't understood or if he was messing with her.
"You two ready?" Duster asked, turning to his sister and friend. Nigel kneeled down and pointed a fist at the spot in the floor Duster had pointed out to him. Amber stood next to him, a grin on her face, her green-tinted goggles over her eyes.
"Let's wreck shop," she declared.
"Alrighty then," he nodded. He took position in the short hallway leading to the door adjacent from Sapphire and drew his last burn crystal. "Hit it."
Brown dust and wood shavings exploded into the space Nigel and Amber occupied, the muscular man's light jab instantly shearing a large hole in the floor. Duster didn't look back to see if they landed safely, instead relying on the faith he had in them to land on their feet, rather than on their heads. Seconds later, before the White Fang members on the other side of the wall could realize what was happening, Sapphire let the barrier she had created disintegrated, the blue light surrounding her dissipating in turn. She then thumbed a button near the bottom of her glaive's blade and thrust the weapon forward and out the door. It low hum quickly became a loud whine. A brilliant beam of cylindrical, light-blue energy shot out of the glowing blade, slamming the leader of their enemies into the wall, freezing him instantly. She pulled away from the exit, sidling up against the wall as Duster took her place, tossing his burn crystal into the hall, which stuck into the newly formed ice-prison. In the same motion he drew the revolver in his left holster, aimed it at the crystal, and fired.
Duster mirrored Sapphire's decision to take cover as a white light blinded the occupants of the hallway, the burn crystal destabilizing on contact with his bullet, his hat barely clinging to his head. The ice-prison vaporized into a thick mist that exploded through the entryway, obscuring the entire floor. The pair could hear the remaining Faunus outside coughing and stumbling as they tried to recover from the attack. Duster closed his eyes and focused, letting the color of the world drain grey so he could see through the mist, using his semblance to his advantage. He trusted that Sapphire had her own means to see and wordlessly slid into the hall. He fired his revolver twice more, one fatal bullet for each of his opponents. He watched as a pair of blurry figures crumpled the floor, one green, one yellow, each sounding a final death knell.
Without missing a beat Sapphire followed after, engaging the two Faunus on the right, her weapon no longer shaking and whining. As she entered the closer quarters of the hall, she hit a switch to retract the pole of her glaive, which in turn took upon the look of a scimitar embedded with a dust crystal. She slashed upwards through the first Faunus's gun, freezing it the instant the blade touched it, shattering it in two. She then brought it down and across his chest in an arcing motion, sending him to his knees before kneeing him in the face to finish him off. The second she ran through with ease; she sprung forward, slapping his gun aside from the outside as he brought it to shoulder level. She did a half-turn in the same move, holding her blade in a reverse grip, and stabbed it between his ribs. Her foes dealt with, she cleaned her blade with a sharp flick of her wrist, the sheer force of it shaking off the blood that clung to it in one go.
Slowly the mist dissipated, eventually allowing the pair to admire each other's handiwork. Where five bodies once stood, only four lay dead on the ground. Sapphire ejected the frost crystal in the center of her blade and let it clatter to the floor devoid of color; completely see-through. As Duster's vision returned to normal he holstered his weapon, adjusting the brim of his hat back to a more comfortable position.
"That's a hell of a weapon you've got there," he commented, watching as it took the shape of a glaive again.
"My mother gave it to me," she told him, flipping the weapon around casually. "Said it belonged to a friend of hers and that I was a worthy successor to her name."
"Amber helped me design mine," he said, patting the holsters behind his coat. "I can't say they're as fancy as yours, but they get th' job done."
"Right, where to next?"
"Seein' as Nigel an' my sister should be headed out through th' side, why don't we head down the staircase on th' other side of the hall an' check th' front."
"And into the alley? I didn't see a lot of cover there."
"Well, yeah, it's an alley. Front door has a window – we can catch a glimpse of th' outside world from there and plan our next move."
"Will we be able to 'light the fire' from there?" she asked.
"Theoretically, yes."
"Theoretically?"
"It's not like I've had t' burn this place down before."
"Do you even know what you're doing?"
"Theoretically."
"Brilliant," she sighed. "Let's just get down there already."
After Sapphire brushed past him, Duster went ahead and picked up the spent dust crystal before joining her.
The clang that resounded from the washing machine Amber collided with upon falling through the floor immediately caught the attention of two White Fang grunts standing in the hall outside the laundry room. As she and Nigel pulled themselves to their feet, the pair of enemies burst through the door, their weapons raised. She quickly flipped up the lid of the washer closest to her with her semblance as cover, only to duck down as their bullets tore through it with ease. She quickly scanned the room for the back exit and pushed Nigel toward it, scrambling along the floor, barely avoiding additional bursts of gunfire. Her Mohawked compatriot smashed through the locked exit with his shoulder and pulled her through with him, though not before she dislodged a dryer from the wall and sent it sliding across the floor with her semblance, toppling over one of the gunmen in pursuit.
The pair spent only seconds gathering the bearings, making a run for the street before their hunters could recover. A few pedestrians were given a show as they leapt across the slow traffic blocking their path to the defunct building on the other side, only to flee as they recognized the gang that followed.
Familiar with the building they'd fled to, Amber and Nigel turned the tides of their game of cat and mouse, silently evading the grunts through unfurnished halls, leaping between floors and leading them down dead ends. Eventually a second pair of foes joined them, having seen their pursuit from their watch on a nearby rooftop. Amber found it odd for the White Fang to have sent so many people to deal with them. They'd been busy spending the recent months robbing Dust stores and causing havoc to the Schnees. If they had enough people on standby to deal with malcontents, that either meant that more Faunus had decided to join their cause, or that they were shifting focus. Both made Amber worry. However, she had more pressing matters to attend to. Now that there were four opponents to deal with, she and Nigel would have to switch to a more aggressive approach.
After managing to split the quartet into pairs between floors, Amber decided it was time to start whittling down their numbers. She told Nigel to keep the two upstairs busy while she incapacitated the two below. She tracked her pray by listening to their heavy footsteps through the thin floor that separated them. She tiptoed above them for a short while before stopping at the edge of a hole leading downstairs. A sly grin lit up her face as they passed below her, oblivious to the doom perched above them.
As the second Faunus passed out of sight she leapt down, grabbing onto the edge of the hole to swing from and propel her forward into a dive roll. She then sprung out of the roll toward the grunt closest to her, spinning up the energy crystal in her prosthetic's forearm with her mind. Sparks danced off her finger tips as she reached out to her target. The grunt turned around just in time to see her plant her palm on his chest and electrocute him unconscious with yellow lightning. The other tried to shoot her as she pushed the limp body of his partner aside, but she tore the gun apart with her semblance as the first round left the gun's chamber, causing it to misfire and explode in his hands. She stopped his screams by latching her prosthetic hand around his face and slamming him to the ground, delivering him the same fate as his partner.
After a few seconds of silence had passed, Amber found herself surprised that the other two White Fang hadn't come to investigate the noise. She made her way upstairs and found Nigel standing near the disabled bodies of the remaining foes, who had been crushed into the wall. She let out a low whistle in amazement, catching her friend's attention. He turned to face her, sliding his black glove back over his right hand. "And here I thought you didn't like fighting anymore," she commented in disbelief. He shrugged silently in response. "Come on, I have an idea."
Amber and Nigel made their way back out onto the street in front of the building. Before they crossed to get back to the others, the blonde Faunus turned around and faced the defunct structure. "Do you think anyone would miss this building if it were to collapse?" She asked pointlessly. Nigel shrugged again, choosing not to speak. "I didn't think so."
Amber planted her feet firmly into the ground and centered herself, focusing on the metal around her. She raised her metal hand toward the building as she channeled her semblance through the pipes beneath her and into the steel that kept the structure standing. Slowly she closed her palm, the limb shaking as if she was crushing something strong between her fingers. Red sparks danced along her body, her hair spiking up and turning red for the second time that day. The sound of a building buckling under its own weight filled the air loudly, turning the heads of many passersby in the street. Amber set her arm by her side once her hand had finished closing and turned to her friend, who waited patiently with a book in his hands. "I can't see Duster or the stray he picked up from here," she said as the building collapsed beside her. "We should probably go check if they're still by the hideout."
Nigel nodded, not looking up from his book, and followed her back across the street in search of the missing pair, completely ignoring the destruction in their wake.
Duster and Sapphire made it to the front door of the abandoned complex with relative ease. The one White Fang member who'd stayed behind after Amber and Nigel had drawn the others off was a pushover. He'd seen them coming, yes, hearing their footsteps in the staircase from the other side of the hall. He'd even gone through the trouble of situating himself close enough to the door as possible as not to be seen. However, he hadn't exactly been quiet about it. He'd fumbled in getting his weapon in the right position just out of sight, costing him precious seconds to prepare for their arrival. He also hadn't accounted for the door opening inwards. When Duster opened the door all he had to do was look left to see the awkward ambush. Before the Faunus could lower his gun to fire, Duster had slammed his body into him, simultaneously knocking the wind out of him and cracking three of his ribs. For the second time that hour Sapphire had to hold in a laugh at someone's stupidity.
Duster peeked out of the small window in the upper half of the front door, looking for any further signs of trouble. Sapphire hopped over the deserted reception desk nearby, looking over the dust covered books neatly stacked in its built in shelf and the equally as dust covered computer next to them. She keyed the power button of its decade's old monitor a couple times to no avail. It wasn't plugged in, nor did it have a mouse or keyboard to use it properly. She pilfered through the desk's drawers only to come up disappointed. They were as empty as the rest of the building. Out of distractions to keep her occupied, she joined Duster by the door.
"See anything?" she asked, unable to see outside with him in the way.
"I count two more gunmen half way down th' alley," Duster responded. "They look bored – alert, but bored." He stepped out of the way to give her a chance to see what he meant. She walked up to the window and peered through, spotting two more gang members clad in their signature Grimm-like uniforms. They gripped their red and white automatics tightly, pacing up and down the middle of the alley. He was right – they looked bored, fidgeting and itching for a fight. She figured they should give one to them.
"So, how should we do this? One each?"
"Actually, I think I'll take them both, if y' don't mind."
"Feeling greedy?" Sapphire moved away from the door and leaned against the wall, extending her glaive to set by her side.
"Maybe," he shrugged as he flipped open the chamber of his revolver. Five rounds: more than enough for what he had in mind. He flicked the weapon shut and waited patiently for the two White Fang to pass near each other before making his move.
Duster kicked open the front door, surprising the two gunmen, and strode out into the alley. Two steps from the building and his opponents had turned to see him. By the third, their guns were pointed right at his chest. Black lines steamed off of Duster's shoulders as he flared up the other half of his semblance, giving just enough pause as they fumbled to re-acquire their target to aim his revolver exactly where he needed to. To them, he looked like a blurred out shadow – as if he wasn't there. He knew without it he wouldn't have stood a chance. For the next part of the fight, however, he needed to prey upon a presumed empathy between his foes.
Duster fired his first round into the left kneecap of the Faunus on the left, twisting his leg to the side with an agonizing yell. He faltered with his lack of stable footing, falling into the path of his partner's gun. The second Faunus instinctively reached to stop his comrade from collapsing, taking his eyes off of Duster long enough for him to adjust his aim and fire again. The second round bore cleanly through the falling Faunus' neck and into the other's side, killing the firs and piercing the lung of the second. As the second grunt recoiled from his wound, dropping both his gun and friend, Duster put one final round through his heart, allowing him to join his kin in death.
Sapphire stepped out into the alley as Duster twirled his gun around his finger in victory, awestruck by how he'd dealt with the pair. He turned ever so slightly to see her and holstered his weapon, flicking his coat over it to conceal it.
"For someone who talks as much as you do," she began, planting her blade into the ground, "you sure are efficient in a fight."
"We all have our secrets," he smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "C'mon, we should see how-"
Duster took one step forward before a bullet grazed the top of his head. A loud crack bounced off the walls as his hat flew off, a lone White Fang standing gun raised near the bend at the end of the alley. Sapphire inhaled sharply and yanked her glaive out of the ground. She almost thrust it forward, remembering too late that she hadn't replaced the spent frost crystal. She was going to die.
Before Sapphire knew what was happening, Duster fired a round from his revolver, catching the assailant in his eye, sending him dramatically to the ground. She stood back as he seethed angrily, more black steam drifting from his shoulders. She noticed that one of his golden eyes had turned grey and had started bleeding. She also noticed that he had caught his hat in his other hand.
Lastly, she noticed that much like his sister, he too was a Faunus.
Duster took in a deep breath and closed his eyes. His arms slowly fell to his sides, white smoke trailing from the barrel of his gun. When he opened his eyes again they had reverted back to their original color, the colors of the world once again visible to him. He looked down at his hat and let out a sigh as he saw the hole the bullet had made. "I really liked that hat," he muttered under his breath before setting it on top of a nearby dumpster. He wiped the blood from his face and proceeded to re-chamber his weapon.
"Well," Sapphire said, unsure what to say. "That was something."
"Mm," Duster nodded, closing his eyes again as a headache began to bother him.
"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised about your ears." She tried not to stare at the pair of wolf ears atop his head, which were just as brown as the rest of his hair. "Your sister is a Faunus, after all."
"Mm," Duster responded again, still slowly chambering his weapon with fresh ammo.
"But, if I may, why hide what you are?"
"Like I said," he told her, flicking the chamber of his weapon closed before holstering it. He turned to her, hat between his hands. "We all have our secrets."
"Your sister doesn't seem to mind hers."
"She and I have… different approaches t' how we handle what we are."
As if on cue, Amber and Nigel rounded the corner at the end of the alley, not entirely surprised to find them near a trio of dead bodies. "Everyone alright?" Amber called out, her tail bouncing naturally behind her.
"Lost my hat," Duster called back, waving the ruined article of clothing over his head, "but we're fine."
"That's too bad. You really liked that one." They joined them by the dumpster out of breath. "We saw that one go down too late to do anything about him."
"S'alright," Duster said, nodding to Nigel who'd looked up from his book to take notice of his uncovered ears. "I've got more."
"True. We done here?"
"Looks like. Let's bring these bodies inside before we head t' Raoul's."
"How're we getting there again?" Sapphire asked, having forgotten during the commotion.
"We were going t' find an unwatched manhole an' make our way through th' sewers t' get there, but now that we've cleared th' buildin', I say we take th' entrance inside."
"Can we start the fire from there?" Sapphire asked, choosing to ignore that they could've just taken that exit to begin with and they'd never said anything about it.
"Yep. You'll even get a close up of one of th' detonators from there."
"Great, let's get out of here then."
Duster led the quartet further down the stairs he and Sapphire had taken after helping Nigel drag the bodies inside to dispose of. Inside the basement, Amber pulled aside some rusted laundry machines and revealed a hidden trap door. As they walked into the sewers, Sapphire took note of a grey device strapped to a large pile of burn Dust. She hoped they were long gone when it went off. Duster closed the hatch behind them and pulled out a scroll. He hit a series of buttons before tossing it, and his ruined hat, onto the pile. "All set," he declared, and they made their way silently to Raoul's bar.
Two minutes later a loud thump rattled the sewers as the hideout vaporized into white ash.
The hatch leading into the back room of the bar unsurprisingly did not budge on their first attempt at opening it. After Amber sent a few sparks through it to move whatever lay on top of it, however, it creaked open quite willingly. The four of them climbed up the ladder and into the room, paying no mind to the alcohol stored in plain view. The bustling sounds of people enjoying some time off c could be heard clearly from the main room of the bar, glasses chinking together n celebration, laughter dancing across the redwood floor. Duster went ahead and opened a side door leading to a staircase to the apartment above. He and Nigel headed upstairs while Amber stayed behind to introduce Sapphire to the barkeep.
"Ey, Ra!" she called out to the bar.
"One sec!" a grizzly voice shouted back. A hearty laugh followed, enticing Sapphire to take a peek into the bar to see what he looked like. A giant, brown skinned man with short white hair parleyed with a teenage girl with voluminous blonde hair. The two seemed to be enjoying flirtatious conversation, although the blonde eventually left in a huff after being denied a drink for the third time in a row. He told his other customers that he'd be right back and sauntered into the back room to greet them.
"Ey, Amber!" the man exclaimed with open arms, embracing his goddaughter lovingly, lifting her into the air and doing a short twirl. Sapphire silently wondered just how large the rest of the family was. He was easily seven feet tall. "What brings you by?"
"Oh, you know. Ran into some trouble and need a place to lie low for a bit."
"Ah, so that's what that rumble was." He let her down gently. "Had to ditch that hideaway of yours, did ya?"
"Yeah, brother got seen on his way there escorting this fine lady." Amber gestured over to Sapphire and he turned to see her for the first time.
"I see. Made a new friend, did ya?"
"Something like that."
"Well howdy," he smiled, extending an arm to Sapphire. "I'm Raoul. Friends call me 'Ra,' which is just about everyone, really."
"Sapphire," she smiled back, accepting his hand. "Nice to meet you."
"Likewise. I imagine the other two are upstairs?"
"Yeah," Amber nodded, "we're pretty tired."
"Well I'll let you get to restin' then. As usual, you're welcome to stay as long as you need."
"Thanks, Ra. We'll let you get back to it."
"Aye, aye." Raoul waved goodbye and went back to tending to his flock.
"He seems nice," Sapphire commented as they trekked upstairs.
"And tall, right?" Amber grinned, reading her mind.
"Well, I wasn't going to mention it, but-"
"Genetics: it's a heck of a thing. You should've seen our grandmother." Sapphire might've given up on the tall life if she ever had.
Upstairs they found Duster cooking pancakes like he'd promised, Nigel choosing to occupy a chair near a lit fireplace, his book in hand. Amber went ahead and crashed on a bean bag in the living room. Sapphire slumped down against a nearby wall, removing her glaive from her back so she'd be more comfortable.
"Hey, quick question," Amber said, pointing to Sapphire.
"What?"
"You always carry your weapon like that?"
"No, I had a sheathe to carry it in its sword form, but I lost it last night."
"Ah. Bro can probably look for it tomorrow."
"Thanks."
"Still, good that you know how to conceal it without it. Mine's way too big to do that."
"You didn't have yours with you?" She had assumed her arm was all she needed.
"Nah, it's not finished. I'll show it to you when it is, though."
A few minutes passed as they relaxed in silence, recuperating their spent energy. Eventually Duster served his pancakes. While they all had syrup with theirs, he was the only one to add a couple strawberries on top.
"Hey bro," Amber spoke, suddenly remembering something, "I forgot to ask – how's Elaina?"
"Fine, all things considered."
"You two know what you're gonna do yet?"
"No, but we'll have a chance t' talk it out under th' tree tonight."
"She got some time off?"
"Yep."
"Cool."
Sapphire didn't know who this Elaina was, but decided to stay out of the conversation, letting silence settle in once more.
"So," Sapphire eventually began between bites, "that went well."
"You expected any different?" Amber asked, raising a brow.
"Never fought the White Fang before. You three certainly knew how to handle them."
"We've got a lot of experience with that, don't we bro?" Duster nodded, paying more attention to his meal than the conversation.
"I feel like we could benefit more from each other's skills."
"Oh?"
"Well, you all are helping me find my brother's killer, so why don't I help you find your parents killer too?"
"You want to team up?"
"Why not? If you're going to take on the most notorious gang in Vale, you'll want all the help you can get."
Amber took a false moment to think it over, already aware of the benefits of a fourth teammate. She didn't even have to glance sideways to her brother and friend to see they wanted to do it.
"Besides, the more the merrier, right?"
"Well," Amber smiled, "with that logic, how could we refuse? Let's do it."
"Cool." Sapphire did an imaginary fist pump inside her head, secretly shouting "yeah!" where no one could hear her.
"What would we call ourselves?"
"SAND."
The three of them turned to Nigel, who had finally chosen to speak, although not look up from his book.
"Sand?"
"It's an acronym for our names, like Beacon does with their students. It's metaphorical too, if you think about it."
"You and your metaphors…"
"I like it," Duster said approvingly.
"Well then, we have a name."
"SAND, huh?" Sapphire murmured to herself. "This should be interesting."
"So, uh, what now?" Sapphire asked, the newly formed team having finished their meals.
"Sleep sounds good."
"Sleep, yeah."
Nigel nodded in agreement.
"Okay then."
So they did.