GRAP Volume Two

by RoyalPsycho

The first semester of the 1462 freshman class at Beacon is rapidly coming to a close. As the Vytal Festival approaches Team GRAP have begun to prepare to participate. However dark forces have begun to mobilise and, though they don't yet know it, the team will be forced to fight for their lives and the safety of Vale. The second volume of and sequel to GRAP.

10. Chapter Ten: We're Going Back

Chapter Ten: We're Going Back:

November 9th1462 of the Vytali Calendar:

Greta didn't know how she felt about the meeting she had organised. After Aurora had come into the dorm the other day, looking incredibly angry and dishevelled, she had tried to get as many details as she could from the other girl before she locked herself in the bathroom suite and then sent it to Tom. The response from Team TEAL's leader had been very quick and somewhat disheartening as he had immediately offered to hold a meeting to talk about what was going to happen.

Now that Team TEAL knew, there was no chance of procrastinating any further, a fact that left Greta surprisingly depressed. Though officially – as much as it mattered – she was responsible for restarting the investigation of Team GOLD, the Red Fang and various other things it was definitely a decision she had made under duress.

Tom's reply had been rather short – he had explained that he was in the middle of training at the time. They had managed to arrange a time for both their teams to meet and discuss what they were going to do. The rest of Team GRAP hadn't been as happy to hear the news, especially Peter but they had agreed to help out and so they all sat in their room, waiting for TEAL to join them.

"Who's idea was this in the first place?" she thought as she sat at the desk in her room, elbows on the surface of the desk and her head in her hands. Remembering, she glanced at Rapture who was lounging on her bed, a frown on her face.

Shaking her head to keep herself from blaming her teammate, Greta turned back to staring at the wall in front of her. "How'd we know this would have happened?" she drawled sardonically in her head. "How couldn't it? What else would have happened after you decide to go after a bunch of terrorists?"

She grimaced and shook her head slightly as she played out the aggravated argument with herself until she heard a knock at the door. Lifting her head up, she sighed and prepared to get up from her seat only to see Peter vault off of his bed and walk over to open the door instead.

'Hi guys,' Tom said as he stepped into the room. He had a smile on his face but it was tentative and almost apologetic before turning to find Greta. 'I, um… Elizabeth told me about what she did. Sorry about that.'

'Don't be,' Elizabeth said as she strode into the room confidently. 'It got us moving again.'

Greta grimaced slightly at the girl as Lach and Adelheid also walked in behind her. Adelheid seemed irritated as she walked over to Elizabeth and began to tell her off for how she was acting in front of everyone, the sight being rather surprising. Lach, on the other hand, greeted her, a hint of sympathy in his voice and waved at everyone.

'Alright,' Tom said, interrupting his teammates' argument. 'Now that we're all here we can… um, get down to business? Would that be a good way to put it?'

'As good as any,' Rapture drawled in response. She had sat up on her bed and looked the most invested member of Team GRAP.

'You said you found something,' Elizabeth quickly said, directing a look at Greta.

'Uh, yeah, but it's not much.' Greta said. She wanted to downplay the news but the expectant looks from Team TEAL indicated their interest in what she had to say. Sighing slightly and then pausing to catch her breath, Greta began.

'Okay so yesterday I sent out an email asking everyone to try to find something,' she explained. 'Aurora was lucky enough to find Team GOLD when they were making plans or something. We don't really know what they're doing but they are trying to do something.'

Greta then looked directly at them and paused as she tried to think of something else to say. Though she didn't put much effort into trying to elaborate on her statement, she did try to think of what else Aurora might have told her.

'Uh… that's about it, really,' she eventually said, casting a desperate glance at Aurora for help.

'They sounded a bit desperate,' Aurora quickly said, picking up on Greta's expression. 'They mentioned that the Council don't seem to like them after they lost that Paladin to the Red Fang and that the Red Fang are moving their people and equipment.'

She then pauses as if she were trying to recall something and frowns. 'They also said something about the Red Fang having backers but they didn't really go into it, just say that they were receiving guns, money and cars – I think – from them'

'Backers?' Adelheid asked with a sceptical look and tone. 'Who would back the Red Fang?'

'Probably someone who's desperate,' Peter suggested. 'Then again, if they're giving the money for cars they must have a fair amount of money to dispose of.'

'We haven't seen any big crimes that weren't Red Fang terror attacks either,' Rapture added.

'They're probably relying on the Red Fang to do all of the work,' Tom said. He then blinked and blushed a little as he saw everyone turn to him. 'Um, I mean,' he continued, mustering his confidence, 'if someone's hired the Red Fang – I guess – to attack people but isn't joining in as well then they must be using them like, um… I don't know, a distraction, maybe?'

'A distraction?' Adelheid asked. 'What for?'

'I don't know,' Tom replied. 'Didn't Salem or Cinder Fall recruit the White Fang to cause trouble and weaken Vale? Maybe someone's trying to do the same.'

'You really think someone's going to use that trick again?' Elizabeth suddenly said with a sarcastic tone. 'And why would the Red Fang go along with that kind of plan? Working for Salem is what led to the White Fang getting wiped out in the first place.'

'Well if someone is using that trick, its working,' Aurora interjected. 'We have a literal war going on in the Old Residential District. The army has been called in to quarantine nearly a fifth of the city – and just before the Vacuite delegation for the Vytal Festival arrives as well.'

'I don't think the Red Fang could really do any damage to Vale,' Peter said with a sceptical smirk. 'The White Fang had a global reach and hundreds of cells with thousands of people and new faunus recruits constantly coming in before the Massacre. The Red Fang probably doesn't have much more than a hundred people and only exists in Vale. That's one hundred faunus to try to take down a megacity. Even if they have caused a fair bit of chaos the police have them surrounded.'

'He's got a point,' Lach added. 'I've been keepin' an eye on the news and its sayin' that the police are just about ta move in and finish 'em off.'

Greta stayed quiet as she listened to her friends argue over the entire issue. She wasn't feeling particularly confident about the information or their ability to do anything with it and a big part of her was happy about that. She didn't want to go out and definitely didn't want another fight like last time. After seeing what it had done to Peter she didn't want to take her team anywhere near the Old Residential District for as long as she could.

'We should follow them,' a voice suddenly cut through the debate. Everyone turned to see that Elizabeth had spoken.

'Sorry, what?' Greta asked, praying to whatever gods she could think of for enough good fortune to have misheard the other girl.

'We should follow them,' Elizabeth repeated. With those words, Greta's heart sank.

'Are you serious?' Peter snapped at her, drawing a glare from the red-head. 'We did that last time and look at what happened then.'

'And what happens if we get caught?' Adelheid added. 'They were lucky the police didn't find them.'

'Alright,' Elizabeth grumbled as she straightened herself and then began to speak clearly again. 'Then we actually make a plan for when we go after them. We're not going to find anything on the Red Fang by ourselves. Those two teams are our only possible leads.'

Greta watched as Peter and Adelheid both groaned in exasperation. Surprisingly, Rapture was doing something similar though not to the same degree. Aurora, on the other hand, looked somewhat thoughtful, as if she were thinking over Elizabeth's suggestion. Tom and Lach were watching the others, waiting to see what direction the conversation would take.

'So are you suggesting we just stake them out?' Rapture asked. 'Because we did that last time and we were spending days in our room looking out the window.'

Elizabeth paused, her expression becoming somewhat thoughtful and irritated as she pondered on a possible alternative. Greta herself wasn't looking forward to another long period of sitting around on the off chance that they would catch either team going somewhere again.

'We could network,' Tom suddenly piped up, a confident smile on his face even as everyone turned to him with questioning looks.

'We just keep an eye out for them, make sure we can call everyone when they do something and be ready to follow them as quickly as possible,' Tom explained. He still sounded a little hesitant but picked up speed and enthusiasm as he concluded his sentence.

'That sounds like a good idea to me,' Elizabeth said, causing Tom's smile to widen a little.

'It could use a little more thorough planning but that is a decent plan,' Aurora agreed. Lach and Rapture nodded at her statement as well.

'Gods help me,' Peter groaned. 'Are you all serious? Greta,' he then turned to give her a desperate look, 'you have to talk some sense into them. Come on. Please help me here.'

Greta felt helpless as she looked around the room. Everyone was giving her expectant looks but they held different meanings. Peter – and to a lesser extent Adelheid – were both waiting for her to back them in opposing the decision. Elizabeth and Aurora looked like they were hoping she would tell everyone to support the plan. Rapture, Tom and Lach, however, seemed to be much calmer, as if they were expecting her to break the deadlock the conversation was experiencing.

'I..,' Greta began just as a new voice called out from behind her.

'You're chasing after terrorists?' the voice asked in a clearly feminine tone. 'Cool. Count me in.'

Greta span around to see a girl hanging out of their window, her left hand gripping the side of the windowsill and keeping her in place as she swung a little in front of the opening. The girl was somewhat short with mousy brown hair that she had pulled back in a simple ponytail and brown eyes that seemed to have a satisfied and mischievous light in them as she gazed at the shocked expressions of the people in the room. Her clothes were also simple, made up of brown trousers and a loose, breezy shirt of the same colour. She smirked as she leapt down from the window and into the room.

'Wha… who, who are you?' Greta snapped, her expression turning from confused and shocked to angry.

'Hi,' the girl said with a friendly tone that seemed to ignore the hostility around her. 'I'm Elena Skye, just visiting from Vacuo.'

'Wait,' Adelheid said, getting up. 'Elena Skye? As in the Skyes of Vacuo?'

'The very same,' Elena said adopting a more downcast tone and stance and frowning, as if the name annoyed her.

'Why're you here?' Greta asked, forgetting her nervousness and now feeling annoyance at the girl for barging into her room.

'Oh I've been wanting to join in this investigation thing you've been working on for a while now,' Elena replied, quickly adopting her laid-back and inappropriately friendly tone. 'I found out you were doing this days ago and I've been hanging outside your room waiting for you to actually start talking about it again.'

'You've been doing what?!' Peter shouted indignantly, getting to his feet, clenching his fists and glaring at Elena.

'Oh don't worry mister 'changes in the bathroom',' Elena said flippantly, waving a hand and giving him a small, slightly mocking smile. 'Your modesty's been preserved.' she then turned and looked at Aurora, then Rapture and then at Greta with a smirk. 'I have accidentally caught the girls over here a couple of times though.'

'What?!' Greta shouted, Aurora and Rapture saying the same with her. Annoyance was quickly replaced by embarrassment and furious anger. A quick look at the others showed her they all felt the same, even the members of TEAL.

'I'm sorry alright,' Elena responded in an apologetic tone, her hands in front of her. 'If it helps I wasn't trying to peek in on you changing and I didn't hang around when you were.'

'For a matter of fact,' Aurora snapped as she got to her feet. 'It doesn...'

'Elena,' a boy's voice called from the outside, startling everyone. 'Where are you?'

'Edmund,' Elena shouted back, turning and looking out of the window. 'I'm in here. They're actually talking about this investigation.'

'You're inside?' the voice asked in a noticeably incredulous tone. 'Oh, never mind. I'm coming up there.'

In a matter of seconds, a boy jumped up into the air in front of the window and then through it, landing in front of Elena with a slight exertion of effort. The boy was the same height as Elena, with sandy brown hair and a face that had somewhat similar features to hers. He was dressed in a black tunic and trousers and his face bore an expression that was equal parts embarrassed and frustrated.

'Uh, hello,' he said in a diplomatic voice, noticing the tension in the room. 'I'm Edmund Skye, Elena's brother. Sorry about intruding like this and sorry about my sister. She's, well… she's been bored lately.'

'And how,' Elena mumbled, crossing her arms.

'Get out,' Greta said in a harsh, deadpan tone as she glared at the duo. The longer the girl spent in the room, the more Greta found she disliked her. Her attitude was grating and the things she so casually said she had done made her furious.

'I'm terribly sorry,' Edmund said as he began to walk over to his sister. 'We'll see ourselves out.'

'What? No!' Elena said, a grimace of annoyance on her face. Edmund turned and gave her a significant look that Elena returned. Greta had no idea what went on between the two but Edmund's face quickly softened and he nodded with confidence to her, stepping back.

'Listen,' Elena then said, turning back to Greta, 'I've, well, I've known what you've been doing for a while and I want to help.'

'Why do you think we would let you help us?' Peter immediately asked. His tone was heavy with disdain and his arms were folded defensively.

'Okay, I'm sorry,' Elena said, still confident but with a more apologetic tone now evident in her voice. 'I made a bad first impression. I just want to help out. The stuff you've all been talking about sounds really bad and I want to do something. Really.'

'Really?' Peter replied in a deadpan tone.

'Yeah,' Elena agreed. 'I've even got something that can help. My dad knows where their headquarters is.'

'Wait, what?' Greta asked in surprise. She felt like the floor had been pulled out from under her. The main obstacle to their investigation, one that a part of her was happy to see hamper a mission she had never really wanted to continue, was now gone.

'Well my dad's Nox Skye,' Elena said, her previous flippant tone returning. 'Do you think he wouldn't get involved?'

'Or try to take charge of it,' Edmund muttered, rolling his eyes.

'Well that's good,' Elizabeth began, her voice low. 'How does that help us though?'

'Cause I know where it is too,' Elena answered, an eyebrow raised. 'Do you think I would mention it if I didn't know as well.'

The atmosphere in the room settled as the majority of the group sat back, waiting for Elena to speak. Greta wasn't happy to see the others accepting the new girl and letting her stay but didn't say anything. She just leaned back, folded her arms and let out an angry sigh as she continued to glare in frustration. She couldn't remember the last time someone had gotten under her skin like Elena Skye had. There were some bullies in the past but no-one in the last few years had pushed so many buttons so quickly.

'Okay so Dad's been poking around the war going on in the north of the actual city,' Elena began, leaning against the wall next to the window and resting on the chest of drawers underneath it. 'I was able to grab some things from the office he's set up but it's not much. I found this map with a circle marking out several blocks on the far side of the map and a note with tomorrow's date on it.'

'And you think that's where their headquarters are?' Peter then asked, still sceptical of her.

'Well sort of,' Elena shrugged. 'The circle covered a big area but it was the only one in red. There were several others in blue that looked like they were supposed to be police forces.'

'Do you have this map?' Elizabeth asked, sounding slightly eager.

'Uh, well, not with me,' Elena said, averting her eyes and turning her head to the side. 'Dad has it and he'll notice if I take it. I can try to redraw it though. Anyone have a map of the city?'

Aurora got up from her bed, took out her scroll and went over to the desk. Greta looked at her teammate and tried to give her a quick glance that conveyed her hesitance. Aurora caught it and nodded back to her. Greta still felt worried but knew that Aurora had made her decision. She stepped out of the way to give Aurora room and watched as the other girl plugged her scroll into the access port on the desk's surface. Aurora fiddled with her scroll for a moment before stepping back and pressing a button on the desk. The projectors immediately folded out and brought up a map of northern Vale, the Old Residential District.

'This map's interactive,' Aurora explained as she turned back to face Elena, her expression stoic and indifferent. 'Just copy whatever you remember.'

'Oh no,' Elena said, leaning back against the wall and crossing her arms. 'I'm only telling you if you let me in on this. It's my info and I'm not giving it up without a guarantee.'

Greta frowned. She should have seen something like this coming but the entire situation was far out of her experience and had been happening too quickly. She realised she hadn't actually been in charge of the group since they had all arrived in the room. The others appeared to be deliberating on whether or not to let Elena in and so she moved closer to join in the conversation.

'I don't think we can trust her,' Peter said as Greta approached them all.

'I think he's right,' Rapture added. 'Do you really wanna be seen with her when her dad finds out she's stolen police info. This is Nox Skye we're talking about. The guy's not exactly known for being friendly or forgiving.'

'She's his daughter,' Elizabeth countered.

'Well we're not,' Peter shot back. 'She might be let off with an easy punishment but we probably won't be that lucky.'

'Uh guys,' Greta interjected, getting everyone's attention. 'Didn't she say something about tomorrow. That's probably something to do with the police if they've got all those forces around the Red Fang. This whole thing may not be our problem by the weekend.'

'Gods, you're right,' Elizabeth exclaimed, turning back to the group. 'We need to do this soon if we don't want to miss the action.'

"Shit," Greta cursed in her head. She had been hoping to use that to possibly dissuade the group from going. It was one last ditch effort from the part of her that wanted to put the investigation to bed now that it looked like the authorities would be dealing with it.

'She's got a point,' Aurora then said. 'If we actually do want to do this then we need to move quickly. I say we let her join in. What's the worst that she could do.'

'Did you not hear a word I just said,' Peter interrupted. 'If we get caught with her then we have to face Nox Skye.'

'We've faced the Red Fang,' Aurora countered, 'actual terrorists who don't care about local laws. At worst Nox Skye can demand we be punished.'

The group quickly began to argue over one another as Peter and Adelheid quickly threw every danger they could think of at Aurora, Rapture and Elizabeth. Tom and Lach sat on the edge of the conversation, occasionally backing Aurora's group. Greta sat, desperately trying to think of what to say. She had very little idea of what she was going to do and didn't know who to support anymore.

'Greta,' Peter's voice then shouted over the others. 'What do you think?'

'Um,' Greta replied dumbly, realising she was once again put on the spot. She looked around the group as she saw Peter, Adelheid, Lach, Tom and Rapture had turned to her. Aurora looked like she was still contemplating the argument and pondering her next talking point and Elizabeth was looking back at the Skye siblings. 'I, uh, think we should put it to a vote.'

The room went quiet as everyone looked at her. Most of them were incredulous as they digested her snap response. Some of them looked disappointed whilst others – mostly Lach and Tom – looked relieved at what they probably thought was a sensible decision. Peter was the first to break eye contact with her, sighing and leaning back on the bed he had been sitting on, his arms folded.

'Fine,' he sighed as he raised an arm and waved it dismissively. 'I vote against.'

The others quickly agreed with him and cast their own votes. It didn't take very long for Adelheid to also vote against including Elena whilst everyone else was in favour of admitting her. Greta soon found herself as the only undecided vote. It was also clear that even if she voted in favour of Peter's decision she would lose. Screwing her face up as she thought over what decision to make, she eventually made her vote.

'I'm gonna say no,' Greta finally said with a sigh. 'Sorry.'

'That's alright,' a voice spoke. Greta looked up to see it was Tom who was trying to look supportive and neutral. 'Still, that's five in favour and three opposed. I guess we're letting Elena Skye help us.'

'Okay,' Greta said, shrugging her shoulders. 'I guess it makes everything easier.'

'Yeah,' Tom agreed, smiling at her.

'So I'm in?' Elena asked from across the room.

'Yes, you're in,' Greta replied, trying not to let her mild disappointment show. 'Come over here. We we're about to start planning.'

'Thanks,' Elena said as she pushed herself upright off of the wall and walked over to the group. 'I just want to say I really appreciate this.'

She walked over to the desk and began to look at the projected map. A moment later she straightened up and then lifted her finger and traced it over the image. A circle of red light appeared on the map, covering a large area of the northern section of the map.

'It's somewhere up there,' Elena then said as she stepped back. She then traced a larger circle around the first one. 'The police are all around here. I don't really have anything else.'

'That's still a huge area to cover,' Tom groaned as he stared at the map. 'And how are we supposed to get past the police?'

'I think there's a couple of gaps in that blockade,' Elena answered. 'Dad's map had them represented by circles that weren't overlapping.'

'I don't think we can take that chance,' Peter replied. Greta noticed his face and voice were passive but he had the same tired expression he had worn the week before when they were last investigating the Fang and the district. 'We can't just go over them either. They would probably keep an eye on the rooftops.'

'If they are preparing for some big push then they're gonna be moving the police around though,' Rapture pointed out. 'We might get a chance if we time it right.'

'That's a thought,' Tom said in response.

'I don't know how were gonna know when ta move though,' Lach replied.

'We just have to take a chance then,' Elizabeth suggested. It was clear from her tone of voice that what she had just said was closer to an order. 'We can't just sit here and hope Skye over there overhears her father again.'

'Actually I did hear dad say something about when the police are moving,' Elena said as she walked into the group and sat down on a bed next to Rapture. 'They're going to make their 'big push' in two days or something.'

'Huh,' Greta said dumbly as she digested everything all over again. 'I, uh, guess we need to do something then.'

'Exactly,' Elizabeth almost shouted. 'We don't have any time to deliberate anymore. We need to move.'

'Yeah, fine,' Greta sighed, once again giving in to the flow of events around her. 'I guess we're doing this.'

'Alright then,' Tom said, a patient smile on his face. Greta could see a hint of sympathy as he glanced at her and nodded in understanding. He knew she was tired and worried and she smiled back, trying to look stronger and more confident than she actually felt. 'It looks like we've got to get ready for Friday.'

'Awesome,' Elena said with a confident smile. She then turned to her brother who was still standing by the window, a tired frown on his face 'You in Ed?'

'Does it look like I have a choice,' he replied wearily. 'You know dad's going to kill us for this.'

'Only if he finds out,' Elena shot back. A worried frown then appeared on her face before she looked back at the group. 'Uh, don't worry guys. I'm good at avoiding guards. I'll make sure we don't get caught.'

'Thanks,' Greta said awkwardly, unsure of how to feel about Elena assurances. Though she didn't like the way the day had just gone, she was settling into it. If they were going to go back into the Old Residential District, she was, at the very least, going to try to be ready for it.

---

November 10th1462 of the Vytali Calendar:

Greta's heart hammered in her chest as she waited with her team for their conspirators to arrive. They had spent the better part of yesterday trying to work out a plan to get into the Old Residential District safely before retiring to rest up and prepare. It was only after she woke up the next morning that she realised no-one had actually thought about what they were actually expecting to do when they found the Red Fang.

They had a vague idea that they would try to find out what the Red Fang were trying to do but aside from that they were all unsure of what exactly they could accomplish against the terrorist organisation. With the police apparently preparing for one last assault on the Red Fang, there wouldn't really be much of an opportunity for them to do anything meaningful, if there ever was one in the first place.

Still she had agreed – once again – to carry on the investigation and try to find the Red Fang. Now she was standing in front of the aerial docks, dressed in her Huntress outfit and fully outfitted for a long, fully armed trip. She imagined this what it must feel like when they would actually undertake student missions before the Vytal Festival.

She shrugged a little, adjusting Firebrand as it hung from her left shoulder and looked at the rest of her team. Rapture was dressed in her own, rather sparse but functional outfit, appearing comfortable with the exception of the bracelets on her wrists. She fidgeted with them a few times, muttering under her breath as she nudged her folded weaponry closer to her hands. Peter appeared rather inconspicuous, his weaponry hidden within his large overcoat. It helped that he wore the overly large garment whenever he stepped outside and that his weapons were small and easy to keep out of sight. Aurora, however, stood out the most with her Dark Majesty, currently in its sniper rifle form, slung over her shoulder, the elongated barrel sticking up over her head.

It wasn't uncommon for students, even first years, to go out fully armed, often for practise sessions but Greta couldn't help but feel nervous. What they were about to do was definitely illegal and whilst they had all managed to avoid getting caught and punished it was unlikely that they would be as lucky next time. The other worrying prospect was actually picking a fight in the district. They would be going into a hostile environment without boundaries, regulations or viable authorities to intervene for them. The enemies would also be more dangerous than the Grimm in the Emerald and Forever Fall Forests. These were criminals, armed criminals who lived in one of the most dangerous sections of the megacity. Some of them may even have their Aura unlocked like the massive White Fang member she had seen Team GOLD fight.

'Nervous?' Peter's voice broke her from her thoughts, making her jump with a startled gasp.

'What?' she asked, still recovering from the shock he gave her.

'Sorry,' he replied somewhat embarrassedly. 'It's just that do you have a rather obvious frown on your face and you've either been looking around or staring into space.'

'Oh, yeah, yeah,' she said in response. 'Just, well, yeah I'm a little nervous.'

'It's alright,' he said, putting hand on her free shoulder. 'We just need to be careful.'

'Thanks,' she sighed. She didn't feel any better from Peter's encouragement and when she looked at him she saw that he didn't appear that confident either. His mouth was set in a thin line that wasn't a frown but didn't project encouragement to her.

Noticing that she had seen how uncertain he was, Peter flashed a quick and small smile and sighed sympathetically. Greta accepted it, smiling in return but quickly returning to frowning again. She turned back to the main avenue into Beacon, hoping that someone else would come to help distract her and her team.

The crowds were quite thick as older students passed back and forth for their lessons, Vytal Festival applicants went out into town for whatever preparations they needed to make and personnel from the Vacuite warships overhead went about their own business. It took several minutes before she finally saw Team TEAL weave their way through the various groups of people around them. Tom spotted them and waved, a bright smile on his face. The rest of TEAL looked much more cautious though, not unlike Team GRAP.

'Hi guys,' Tom greeted as he approached the group. As he came closer, Greta saw that his smile was rather forced but he otherwise moved naturally. 'Sorry we took so long. We took a while checking we were ready.'

'It's okay,' Greta said in response, waving dismissively. 'We're still waiting for the Skyes.'

'We're here,' another voice called out a second later.

Greta turned to her right to see Elena and Edmund walking up to them. They were both dressed in similar outfits to ones they had seen them in yesterday. Elena wore a friendly smile on her face and had a folded cylinder hanging from her shoulder with a few noticeable seams revealing its mechashift nature. Edmund, on the other hand, carried a katana at his side and was frowning, his expression not that dissimilar to the ones the rest of the group were making as well.

'Good,' Greta said evenly as the twins walked up to their group. 'I guess we can grab a bullhead now.'

Agreeing with her, the others followed as she tried to spot a free vehicle that could take them down to the city. It didn't take very long for them to find a transport that could carry them all and they all piled in to take the trip into Vale.

There wasn't much conversation as they flew down into Vale city with only cautious and unenergetic small-talk taking place between a few people. Greta sat and stewed in her own thoughts as they touched down in the main airfield of the city's eastern half. It was only when they finally got off of the bullhead that Greta finally decided to speak up.

'So are we actually sure about where we're breaking in?' she said in a hushed voice, trying not to attract attention. She saw several others in the group repeat it to those who hadn't heard her.

'Uh, sorta,' Elena said after a pause. 'Nothing I've got is really that good. I mean, all my dad's map had was a series of circles and I've not really been able to find anything better.'

'Right,' Greta then looked at Aurora. 'Do you still have that map.'

'I've saved it and it's on my scroll,' Aurora replied dutifully. 'I don't think we should take it out here though.'

'We should wait until we're at the district,' Tom suggested, earning nods from everyone else.

Nodding along with the others, Greta led the way out of the airfield. The group set out, backs straight and expressions on their face that displayed either grim determination or a worried resignation. Either way, the entire group had prepared themselves for the mission ahead.

---

It had been an hour since they arrived in Vale, ready to infiltrate a police quarantine zone, and ten minutes since they had in fact leapt over the cordons marking where the zone began. For all of the talk of blockading the area and tightening their grip on the district, Greta was surprised at how flimsy the police's actual boundaries really were. Then again she imagined most people who tried to cross the line were probably trying to break out of the district rather than into it. Shaking her head to dismiss the thoughts, Greta tried to concentrate on the task ahead.

'Alright,' Elena Skye said from just in front of her. She was standing by a street corner, peering round it to see if anyone else was on the other side. 'We're clear. Looks like the cops have moved somewhere else.'

With that they all jogged across the street, crouching as they did so to keep their profile smaller and more concealed. Greta felt nervous as she did this, remembering her last visit into the Old Residential District. Her breathing became heavier and she looked back and forth as the group finally reached the other side of the street and piled into one of the abandoned buildings.

'We should stick to the roofs from here on out,' Elena suggested, receiving nods from everyone. Greta did the same. She agreed with the Skye girl's suggestion but was also still distracted by her surroundings.

They then followed Elena up through the house, taking care to avoid any potentially weak spots in the floors and stars and then climbed out of a window on the top floor and onto the roof. Aurora and Elena took point immediately, scanning the area for any signs of police forces or the district's usual residents. A few seconds later they nodded at the rest of the group, Aurora indicating for them to start moving and then began to run lightly over the roofs of the buildings in front of them.

The group carefully made their way over the rooftops of the streets. When they came to new streets that divided the houses, most of them leapt over the divides, their Aura pushing their bodies further. Others, however, who had no viable technique for crossing such a large space, had to climb down onto the street and cross it on foot. It was a slow and nerve-wracking process and slowed them all down. It was when they had covered several miles of empty streets, distant noises of mass movement echoing around them, that something changed.

'I think I see the police,' Aurora said as she peered over the rooftops of one street end they had just leapt on to.

'Where?' Greta asked, ducking her head and trying to get out of view.

'I think there's Paladins on the, um, west side,' Aurora said as she guessed the direction and pointed to her left.

'I see something moving down the street on the east,' Elena added as she tried to concentrate. 'I can't really see much though. Just something that looks like a lot of people.'

'Probably more a' them,' Lach mumbled to himself as he crouched down beside Greta.

'They probably won't be able to see us just yet,' Peter spoke up from the back of the group. 'I don't see any drones in the air. 'Atlesian forces would have already covered the sky with monitors.'

'Vacuo too,' Edmund added from a little further forward.

'They probably don't want to give themselves away just yet,' Aurora suggested. 'Either way, it means we haven't been caught.'

'We need to get moving,' Elena said, a serious tone in her voice. 'If your cops are anything like Vacuo's then they'll be closing this loop up quickly.'

'Alright,' Greta agreed. She suddenly felt a little shocked and galvanized by the fact that the police had finally been found.

With the rest of the group agreeing, they continued on their path, straight towards the area they knew the Red Fang were supposed to be. As they leapt over the divides between rooftops, someone was always on lookout and relayed whatever they could see to everyone else. Peter, Aurora and Adelheid, as the most mobile usually took up the task of watching for the police and quickly ended up leading the way.

Throughout the journey, the group was tense, looking around and over their shoulder, waiting for any sign of either the police or the district's usual residents. Greta wasn't sure how long they spent carefully moving from street to street but eventually Elena gave the order to stop.

'Alright; we're now on the edge of the circle,' the Skye girl said.

'What's that mean?' Elizabeth asked, the first to speak up as everyone else tried to get their bearings. Everyone else had the maps out on their scrolls.

'It means we have a lot of ground to cover,' Adelheid answered before anyone else could speak, 'and little time to do it in.'

Greta sighed as a thought came into her mind. She didn't like it but she knew someone was going to suggest and out of all of their options it was the only one that was feasible. Stifling a groan, she finally straightened and said what was on her mind.

'We could split up,' she suggested. 'That way we cover more ground and we can tell each other if we find the Red Fang or if the police are moving in.'

'Sounds good to me,' Elena said without hesitation. 'I'm pretty sure we were all thinking that anyway.'

'We should stay in communication with each other,' Tom added. 'If anything happens we call one another for back up.'

'Oh yeah,' Greta agreed, everyone else nodding along with her. It seemed that no-one wanted to take on whatever this area had to offer by itself.

'We'll split by teams,' Tom continued. He then looked embarrassed and turned to Elena and Edmund. 'Uh, unless you guys want to...'

'We're fine on our own,' Edmund said before he could finish. 'We've done this before.'

'Besides,' Elena then interrupted. 'We're third years. We can handle the Red Fang easily if we run into them.'

Greta felt sceptical and a little indignant at Elena's statement and she saw she wasn't the only one. Most of the group were frowning and even Edmund looked like he didn't exactly share his sister's opinion.

'Right,' Tom continued after an awkward pause. 'Well; we should probably figure out where we're going to cover as well.'

Greta stepped forward as everyone gathered around, their scrolls and maps out, and began discussing the layout of the circle they were investigating and how to divide it up amongst themselves. For the first few minutes she didn't listen, more worried about possibly being seen or that the old and rotten roof might give way under their collective weight.

'Okay, I think we can take the western half,' Tom said, jolting Greta back to the situation at hand.

'I think my sister and I should take the centre,' Edmund said, his voice insistent. 'That's where the police are going to make a beeline for and we're more likely to escape them.'

'Or convince dad to get us out of trouble if we're caught,' Elena chuckled with a smirk, earning a tired glance and sigh from her brother.

There was some muttering that Greta didn't really listen to though she could guess that it was mostly people objecting to the Skye's decision to check out the centre. She didn't really care where she went but she was worried that whoever ended up looking through the middle of the circle was more likely to run into the Red Fang. Grimacing a little, she finally made a decision.

'We'll take the east,' Greta declared with false confidence, drawing everyone's attention.

'Alright then,' Tom said after another brief pause and nods of acceptance from the rest of the group. 'I guess if we're all okay with this then we can split up and start looking.'

---

After parting with the others, Team GRAP had moved back down onto the streets and were carefully moving through the back alleys, side streets and other secluded areas. Greta had let Rapture take point. Though the faunus girl's home district had been nowhere near as bad as this one was she had a general understanding of how these areas worked and knew how people were supposed to move around unseen in urban areas.

Now that she was separated from the others and responsible for her team, Greta had become a little more focused. She was keeping an eye on her surroundings and trying to think of a plan if they did come across a Red Fang hideout, police forces or anyone else. Her scroll already had the contacts list open and on standby but the signal indicator showed how weak coverage in the area really was. Though they had all planned to keep constant communication between one another it was very clear now that it was never going to be that easy.

'So I don't think they're going to be in any of these houses,' Greta said as she ran her finger over several street layouts. 'There's some kind of warehouse district though that we might see something in.'

'If they have the equipment to cause bombings like Angela's Square then they need the space,' Peter agreed.

'I don't know,' Rapture cut in. 'Most of the gangs in my district liked to spread their stuff out. It made it easier to grab their things and harder for others to steal it all.'

'They have been hemmed in by the police though,' Peter interjected. 'They would have to consolidate most of their assets now.'

'We're heading towards the warehouses anyway,' Greta said, trying to keep everyone on track and get any possible issues out of the way. 'We'll keep an eye on the houses as we go but that's going to be the first place we check out.'

Everyone nodded in agreement and then returned to walking down the empty streets. The air was quiet, completely devoid of the dull, distant echoes of conflict that had followed them during their last excursion into the district. Greta thought that should have made her feel calmer but the lack of expected noise had put her even more on edge. She could see that her team felt more or less the same as she did as well.

It was when they got within half a mile of the warehouses that something changed. They were just about to round a street corner when they saw that the houses in front of them had collapsed. Greta poked her head around the edge of the building and saw that several blocks of houses that they still had to pass through had been flattened, piles of rubble and broken ruins stretching for half a mile before reaching a brick wall that surrounded several warehouse buildings.

"We're gonna have to be really careful here," Greta thought despondently, sighing as she signalled for the team to move forward, crouching low to hide behind the debris.

They crept through the kill zone that now lay before them. Greta couldn't tell how old this damage was. It could have been recent but she wouldn't have been able to tell unless the ruins were still burnt or falling apart. Everything around her looked like it had been broken down long enough to settle and much of the dust was sodden from rain and had moulded into large, semi-solid piles of concrete mud.

She was just about to peek her head around a collapsed wall when Peter crept up behind her. 'I should take point,' he whispered into her ear. 'I can sense what's ahead and see if there's anything waiting for us.'

Greta nodded in agreement and let her partner get in front of everyone. He paused for a moment, shutting his eyes and breathing in sharply. A second later his eyes opened again and Greta swore she could see a faint glimmer of something extra and inhuman in them as he blinked a few times then nodded for them to start moving again.

Their progress was slow as Peter would stop on occasion and wait, straightening a little to peer over the flattened buildings every now and then and then signal to move again. Eventually they made it to the edge of the wall without being spotted. They were pressed against the border of the warehouse area as close as they could without standing up and giving themselves away.

'We have to find a way in,' Greta whispered to the others. 'If they've made a kill zone like this then they're either here now or they've been here before.'

They trekked around the edge of the compound until Peter signalled to stop again. Greta watched him look up at the top of the wall, then look around them as if he were searching to see if anyone was watching then. After a few moments he then suddenly flashed away and reappeared at the top of the wall, looking into the window of one of the warehouses that brushed up against the barrier.

After a few moments where he peered into the window he then pushed against it and Greta saw it rattle a little. He then disappeared again in another subdued flash of light. For a second she panicked and, looking back at her teammates, saw they were nervous as well. Then the window opened and Peter leaned through, a small smile on his face. He then gave them a thumbs up and reached his arms down in front of him.

'The other side's clear,' he whispered as loudly as he could. 'Climb up.'

Greta gripped the slightly crumbled brick in front of her and heaved herself up, finding toeholds for her boots and then began to ascend. It took only a few steps before she could reach Peter's hands and he helped lift her up the rest of the way. As she climbed into the room he returned to the window to help Rapture up, followed by Aurora.

Looking around, Greta was surprised by what she saw. The room they were in was empty, dusty and somewhat neglected but it wasn't falling apart like everything else in the district was. Large clean spaces also punctuated the thick covering of dust that coated the floor along with several overlapping layers of footprints. This room had held something that had only recently been cleared.

'There are people here,' Peter said as he pulled the window shut behind Aurora. Greta turned to him with a questioning gaze along with the other girls.

'A lot of them,' Peter continued. 'I can sense them and if you listen carefully...'

Greta concentrated on her surroundings and she realised that she could in fact hear activity. She couldn't make out what exactly the muffled noises were but it was surprisingly loud and consistent. There were either a lot of people in the building or some very heavy machinery.

'Um, are there any nearby?' Greta asked as she turned to Peter.

'Not at this moment,' Peter replied after a second of concentration. 'There are some people moving about on this floor but they're on a different hallway.'

'Are they coming this way?' Greta continued, brow furrowing.

'No, not that I can tell anyway.' Peter then sighed and put a hand to his left temple. 'I'm sorry but using my Aura like this for too long is exhausting. I'm afraid I'm going to have to stop.'

'That's alright,' Greta said. She was actually rather annoyed that Peter wasn't able to use his bizarre ability to sense people with his Aura but she knew it wasn't worth trying to force him to keep using it. 'I think we should get a closer look at what they're doing though.'

The others frowned but nodded in agreement and readied their weapons. They were now deep in enemy territory and stuck in an enclosed space that was apparently filled with potential hostile enemies. Nodding in return and squaring her shoulders, she pulled out Firebrand from the clip on the back of her belt and opened the door. She peeked her head out into the hallway and quickly looked back and forth.

The corridor was empty. Like the room they were in it was dusty but surprisingly clean otherwise and most of the floor was clean thanks to the well trodden pathways through the dust layer. Nodding back to her team, Greta stepped out into the hallway, followed by her team.

They carefully made their way through the upper floor of the building. Greta cringed at every creak of the floorboards worried that something would summon whoever was inside the building. She didn't know if the Red Fang were the current occupants but considering the people who did live in this district, the other options were probably going to be just as bad. The others were acting the same, checking constantly to see if they had been discovered. The entirety of Team GRAP were thankful beyond belief that the warehouse had no working surveillance systems.

It took several minutes of slow careful sneaking before they found a door that showed a raised gallery through the door's smudged and cracked window. Peering a little further, Greta could see that the gallery overlooked a much larger space, presumably the hanger of the warehouse.

'I think we should go through here,' Greta whispered to her team. 'We could see what's going on in here.'

Once again the others hesitated for a moment before nodding in agreement and following after her. Greta slowly opened the door, wincing at every minor squeak of the rusted metal of the hinges. Once the door was open they all quickly moved through it and onto the gallery. Hesitantly, she hung back against the wall, worried that someone might be there to notice them. She saw the others creep forward to look over the edge of the balcony and then moved forward to peer over with them.

She had been right; this was the main hanger of the warehouse and it was full of faunus. The Red Fang banner, the blood red flag with three bone white slash marks across it that she had despised ever since the suicide bomber in the mall had donned a mask with the symbol on, covered a section of the wall across from her. Underneath this flag were dozens of faunus dressed in masks with the same symbol on them, moving between stacks of boxes that they were loading onto the vehicles that filled most of the massive hanger.

Dominating the centre of the floor was a massive Dust-hauler. The huge tanker took up most of the space and was being loaded up with several impromptu siphons that were pumping long streams of crystallised Dust powder from a series of large tanks that stuck out from amongst the crates. A frame of metal pipes was fixed to the tanker and it was covered in Red Fang that were manning the pumps and running checks on the tanker as they attached it to a nearby semi-truck that was nearly half it's length. Along with the noise of the equipment and the movement of the Red Fang operatives there was also the constant shouting of orders back and forth that echoed in the rafters of the hanger.

'Shit,' Greta muttered. She hadn't expected to find anything as big as what was going on in front of her. Now she had no idea what to do. Even if she called the others what would they really be able to do?

They couldn't fight that entire warehouse of Red Fang especially as she took a closer look at the guards and saw they were ll sporting disturbingly formidable weaponry. They couldn't go to the police without them picking up their scroll IDs, giving away who they were and what they had been doing.

'Uh, everyone,' Rapture then hissed. 'Do you see this?'

Rapture inclined her head in the direction of the other end of the warehouse. The rest of the group followed the look she gave and saw a group sneaking along the edge of the wall. There were four figures and they were not dressed like the Red Fang at all. They were all wearing colourful armour and carried their weapons out. It took only a second for Greta to recognise who they were.

'I… is that Team GOLD?' Aurora asked.

'It is,' Greta replied. Though she could guess why they were here she had no idea what they could possibly be planning, especially as they crept behind the remaining stacks of crates. 'What are they doi?...'

'Move!' Peter shouted. He pushed hard against Greta, shoving her aside as he tried to roll in the other direction. An instant later a pair of axes with bladed chains on them slammed into the edge of the balcony where she had been lying.

Greta looked up to see a huge boy in dirty, rust red armour glare at her with the most terrifying snarl she had ever seen. In his grip where the two axes, one in each hand and a finger pressing down on buttons that soon brought the chains to life. With a grinding sound that everyone was all too familiar with thanks to Elizabeth's weapon, the chain-axes tore through the wood of the balcony and came free.

Greta and her team scrambled to their feet and brought their weapons out just as the new boy leapt back along the balcony. He landed in front of three more figures, every one of them in armour as well. A second later Greta realised who they were. It was Team SWRZ, the formidable Atlesian group that had fought Professor Smith a week ago and were supposedly supporting Team GOLD. They were all sanding with their weapons drawn. Some had scowls on their faces but their leader wore a threatening smirk instead.

'Well what do we have here,' the leading girl said, the claws on her gauntlets sparking to life as lightning-Dust ignited and sent electricity running across the blades.

'They saw Geoffrey,' the girl with the quarterstaff added, pointing her weapon at them and deploying the gun muzzles hidden within. 'We can't have them compromising this mission.'

'You're right,' the leader replied. Her tone and expression instantly became more serious, the smirk turning into a frown. 'We'll deal with them quickly.'

Team SWRZ raised their weaponry and adopted a combat stance. In a panicked response, Team GRAP did the same. Greta unfolded Firebrand fully, realising that it wouldn't be as effective in such a tight space only after the transformation was complete. Still, she pointed the dragon-head muzzle at the older team and saw her teammates doing the same.

Smirking once again at their display and letting out a small chuckle, SWRZ's leader gave a nod. 'Take them out,' she said and with that the Atlesians leapt forward to strike.