Tate turned, and swung his rifle bayonet in an arc at Cinder. Cinder blocked with two upraised swords, and the force of the blow sent her sliding across the stone floor. Her shoes carved up two great trenches in the stone floor.

As the stone splinters were tossed into the air, Cinder dropped both of her swords and raised her hands. The splinters suspended in the air suddenly coalesced with their nearby neighbors into sharp, deadly blades. Cinder waved a hand and sent the wave at Tate. Tate spun his rifle with both hands in a circle and blocked most of the blades. Some still went on through and struck different parts of his body, sending him flying back.

Tate landed on his back with a grunt. Cinder leaped upward and then jumped down on him with her two swords in hand. Tate barely managed to block, and the force of the two-weapons clashing cracked the stone floor beneath them. Cinder leaped off and flipped backward, and Tate did a kick flip to land himself back on his feet.

On the sidelines, Mercury and Emerald watched. Emerald had her hand over his mouth in sheer amazement, while Mercury watched with an impassive expression on his face with his arms crossed. Tate turned back to Cinder, and they began circling each other. Instinctively, Tate ran a hand over the scar on his face from when he was struck by a Wind Blade from a huntress he had been assigned to kill. It's been several years since that incident, and the wounds he sustained that mission had manifested as scars, serving as a grim reminder that Tate was outmatched by most hunters and huntresses when it came to hand to hand combat. It was only through his luck that Tate had managed to off that particular huntress. Most likely, the huntress had let her guard down when she saw the difference in skill level between them.

Since then, Salem hadn't sent him on any more missions. The news of the huntress's death didn't take too long to spread, and Salem said it would best to lay low for now. In the meantime, Tate trained with Hazel mostly and only Cinder just recently to hone both of their combat skills. It was during those sessions with Hazel that Tate learned that Hazel could stab himself with dust crystals to augment his abilities at least three-fold. Many holes in the wall and the floor were created by none other than Tate's body himself. Tate had always ended up forfeiting before his aura cracked, feeling a little frustrated that he couldn't seem to discover his semblance or best Hazel.

Cinder combined both the swords together into a bow and fired off three arrows at Tate's feet. Tate back-flipped out of the way just as three separate explosions punched three craters in the floor where he had just been. Tate ran off to the side and took potshots at Cinder with his rifle at his shoulder. Cinder jumped off to the side and dodged the bullets, before holding up both of her swords and blocking more of them as she closed the gap between her and Tate. She jumped up and kicked at Tate's chest. Tate was sent flying back into a wall, and he barely managed to move to the side as Cinder buried her swords in the wall where he used to be. Cinder pulled her swords out of the wall and swung at Tate from the side, and Tate held up the rifle to block the blow. However, this time Cinder's swords chopped Tate's rifle in half.

Tate held both pieces of the rifle with disgust. So much for Watt's engineering prowess.

Tate dropped the two useless blocks of metal, which clattered to the floor and then he whipped out his pistol. Cinder kicked it upward out of his hands, and with her other leg kicked Tate in the face. Tate was spun around by the blow and he grasped at his face as he stumbled backward. Before he could react, Cinder's sword flashed and Tate was lying on a heap on the floor. Cursing, Tate pushed himself to his feet with his arms and looked at Cinder. Cinder was still holding both of her swords, as she looked at him with amusement. Tate looked back at Emerald and Mercury, his face flushed at being humiliated in front of them.

Over the course of those few years, Cinder had minimal contact with Tate. She was always with Salem, being trained in things that she refused to speak about. Of course, at least some of the components would have to be combat, because Cinder had improved to an astonishingly impressive degree. But now, her training was completed and Cinder had requested that Tate accompany her to Mistral to build her team. After seeing her, Tate observed that with age, Cinder increased in not only height and beauty, but also ruthlessness and cunning. However, initially, Tate was skeptical about Emerald and Mercury when Cinder introduced them to him, because of their age. Cinder assured him that their backgrounds and their motivations would be absolutely key. Emerald was a thief that was raised in a life of poverty. Unlike most thieves, Emerald would be one nearly impossible to catch. Cinder observed that Emerald had been using illusions as a method for her thievery. Mercury, on the other hand, was straight up an assassin. He killed his father, which was supposed to be a hot-shot and the original choice for Cinder's team. But after seeing Mercury fight, Cinder figured that Mercury would make an equally good fit. Tate had agreed reluctantly and then bought a house to prepare for their arrival.

Cinder whipped out a flask of dust. Crystals flew out in an arc around her, and with a wave of her hand, the deadly shards were sent flying at Tate. Next thing he knew Tate was sitting with his back to the wall, tasting something wet and coppery in his mouth. His body rippled with black color, as his aura broke and merely dissipated. His vision was spinning from having hit his head so hard on the wall.

For a moment, he was taken back to the Fulton Hydro dam. The sound his body made when it hit the wall was the same sound Tate had heard right before he slammed into a boulder at the excess of 60 m/s. Tate always marveled at the strength of Prophet. With his nigh invincible Nanosuit, Prophet torn through CELL's elite Spec-Ops like a hot-knife through wet tissue paper. Speaking of which, there was only one other thing that Tate remembered clearly tearing through squads with the same strength and speed as Prophet.

Ceph Stalkers. They were six feet tall biomechanical squids wrapped in a powerful exoskeleton. They were so fucking tough, that they could afford having their guts protruding out of the gaps in their exoskeletons. While years of warfare have taught humans the advantages of a long-range projectile weapon, Ceph Stalkers gave that concept the middle finger as they laid into CELL squads with swords as if they were medieval swordsmen.

I want that sword. Tate thought, with his stomach churning from the pain he had just experienced.

He heard metal on metal as Cinder trailed her swords on the ground, throwing up a trail of sparks. "Do you forfeit?" She teased.

"Bill, RIGHT BEHIND YOU. ON YOUR SIX!" A Stalker burst out of the grass and its arm blades flashed twice. Bill's body was torn apart like a fish that was filleted, and fell with a wet sound on the floor. His blood sprayed across the grass like a fountain, staining the grass and turning the dirt below into mud.

Tate fell over backward, his gun falling from his hand in shock. The Stalker's head turned with a mechanical hydraulic whine as it turned to its next victim. With a screech, it leapt at Tate. A deafening explosion sounded from above Tate, and a shockwave flattened the grass all around Tate. A 60-mm grenade had impacted into the Ceph, and its guts sprayed across the grass, the purple hue mixing with the red as its exoskeleton fell on the grass with a heavy thud. With a hiss of metal, the Ceph's arm blade fell right beside Tate and impaled itself into the hard-packed dirt. Tentatively, Tate grasped the blade with his right hand.

With a flash of metal, Cinder was sent sliding back. Her mouth was open in shock, and when she came to a stop, her arms hung limply at her sides. Tate noticed that her eyes were uncharacteristically wide from both a look of slight fear, and surprise. From the sidelines, Tate could hear a slight gasp come from Emerald. Even Mercury had uncrossed his arms and had leaned forward to get a closer look.

In his hands, Tate was grasping the very Ceph Stalker monomolecular blade. He stared at the blade for a moment, marveling at the balance in weight. Tate then stabbed the blade into the ground, and it dissipated into dust and crumpled into an ash pile on the floor.

He looked up at Cinder. Cinder had regained her composure, and she now hung her swords at her back. "Are we finished here?" She said, keeping her voice as calm as possible.

"Yeah."


Tate placed a glass on the table and held up a flask right above it. The brown liquid came out and mixed with the ice, sending it to the top. With a grunt, Tate placed the flask down and held the glass to his mouth and began taking large gulps.

Mercury eyed the flask, and then his arm slowly reached for it. With the glass still at his lips, Tate held up a hand and waggled a finger at him. Mercury withdrew his hand. Sitting next to him, Emerald giggled slightly

Tate set the glass down heavily on the table. "Don't get into the habit." He grabbed the flask and placed it back into the cabinet.

Cinder emerged from the kitchen and placed a couple plates of food at the table. Emerald quickly reached for it, even before it had touched the surface. Tate cringed a little as he heard Emerald's characteristic loud smacking of food as if she hadn't eaten for years. Of course, it was understandable given Emerald's background, but Tate wished she'd get over it.

Without looking at Emerald and Mercury as she placed the food on the table, Cinder turned over to Tate. "That was unexpected." She began.

Tate shrugged. "I mean, you'd think getting slammed into the wall by Hazel would have activated the semblance by now. I guess I'm a slow learner."

Cinder took a seat herself at the table. "The timing couldn't have better. I was worried we'd have to push the agenda back so that you can get repairs. But this revelation means we can push the plan earlier than expected."

Tate, Mercury, and Emerald all exchanged glances.

"What exactly are we talking about?" Mercury asked.

Cinder set down her fork and leaned forward. "We're going to take down the Fall Maiden."

Mercury spit out his food all over the table. Emerald instantly recoiled in disgust and pushed Mercury away. "Gross!"

Mercury sheepishly wiped at the table with his napkin. All throughout, Cinder didn't bat an eye.

"They're like demi-gods, aren't they?" Tate asked. "Are you sure we can take her down? It's four versus one, but…"

"Not all Maidens know how to wield their great power correctly. Remember, a Maiden's power is often transferred to the person that they last think about. It can be very likely that the wielder may not have been ready to take on such responsibility."

Tate hadn't remembered that fact. "Okay." He didn't want to voice the other possibility of the Maiden being actually competent. "As long as you know what you're doing…"

"Have a little bit more faith, Tate." Cinder teased. "After all, several years ago, you wouldn't even have dreamed of having aura, much less unlocked your semblance."

"Several years ago, I didn't expect you to almost kill me either." Tate said sarcastically.

"Enough with the love bird talk." Mercury said, holding up his hands in quotations. "What's the plan?"

Cinder dropped her fork, and then fixed Mercury a glance so venomous that it could have flayed the wood off the wall. Tate leaned back and crossed his arms. Mercury coughed. "Sorry, ma'am."

"You should watch what you say, Mercury." Emerald chimed in with a mouth full of food. "It hasn't been the first time."

"Just…" Tate sighed, as he leaned his head on his hand. "Be cool, ok?"

"Emerald's right." Cinder agreed. Emerald's eyes widened a little bit, but then lowered it to hide the fact that she was beaming from Cinder's approval. "Once we track the Fall Maiden's location, Emerald can set up a trap using her illusions. With the element of surprise, Mercury and Emerald can initiate the first attack. Tate and I can come in for the second wave."

Tate pointed his fork at Mercury. "Mercury just…has metal legs, doesn't he?"

"Yeah? What's it to you?" Mercury's eyes narrowed.

"Never mind." Tate cut off the conversation on purpose. He loved getting under Mercury's skin.

Mercury leaned forward, growling a little under his breath.

"Enough." Cinder said coldly, as she flashed a glare at Tate. "Assuming she has superior combat ability, we need to attack from multiple different directions. She can't expect to deflect all our attacks at once. If we keep up the attacks relentlessly, eventually she will get overwhelmed. That's when I can pull out my strongest attacks and hopefully break her aura. I'll go a little more into detail as it comes closer to that day. But I expect you all to train together in the meanwhile and more importantly, learn to fight together as a team." With that, she picked up her plate and went back into the kitchen.

Tate watched her go, and looked at the two younger ones at the table with an expression of disbelief.

"You heard the boss." Emerald said, with a slight smile.

"Well if anything, the difficulty is going to come from Mercury, not you." Tate said, shooting a glance at Mercury to see his reaction.

Mercury rolled his eyes. "I'm a team player. Really." He set his metal leg heavily on the table, and began fiddling with it with his screwdriver. In the process, he almost knocked over Emerald's plate. Emerald looked at Mercury with a look of irritation, before picking up her plate and going into the kitchen where Cinder was.

Tate regarded Mercury for a moment as he chewed his food. Then he reached over and yanked the screwdriver hard to the right.

"OW!" Mercury cried out, almost falling over backward. He grabbed the screwdriver and glared at Tate.

"Oops." Tate said unapologetically, as he flicked on the television. Just as quickly as the television turned on, it quickly shut off again. Tate looked to the kitchen doorway, seeing Cinder standing there with the remote and looking extremely displeased. Emerald was right behind her.

"As a team…" Cinder repeated. She tossed the remote roughly on the table, before walking past the dining table and into her bedroom.

"Alright. Alright." Tate and Mercury said at the same time hastily. Then both of the them reached for the remote.


And there we have it. Finally another chapter! Hope you all enjoyed and like I said before, I post randomly so hitting the follow button would be more helpful to allow you to be notified of future chapters.