New Surroundings

by CrowSkull

A new eviroment means new begginings, this new place might not be kind, but what other choice do you have than adapt and survive, luckly you are not always alone in that journey: Multi-Crossover with RWBY, Watch Dogs, Infamous, Quantum Brake and Prey (2017) that starts before the events of Volume 1...now if only I could tag all the characthers...

20. 20: Past Deeds

A/N: I'll admit, I've been lazing around not doing much as soon as I finished the last exam of the semester, doing nothing but playing games, catching up with friends, playing DND, and editing book chapters... and part of me wishes I could stop time for a bit so I could enjoy maybe like two months of doing nothing. But I have to get back to this before my gaming side takes over and forces me to do nothing but continue to play games until 4 am…

I did need the rest, but this is also rather late in the month, meaning that I might not be able to write Essence and Humanity before the month ends… but I should be able to get it done during the first week of August.

Damn you temptations and stuff I want to play… Damn you! But anyways. I've had ideas for this one. So let's get back to it!

Beta: Genatools

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Chapter 20: Past Deeds.

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"Move it! We gotta get out of here before Five a.m." Foldáz said to the people under his command.

"Uh… boss. Where are we going to move this?" One of those people asked as he put a box inside of a truck.

"Probably south. Past Kuchinashi and to a gas station that is nearby, from there other people will take to another safe house. But it cannot stay here." Foldáz said.

"That's still gonna be like an entire day." The underling whined while hunching his back.

"Shut up and get to it! Sides, you'll be back here by the night even sooner if you all hurry up!" Foldáz himself picked up one of the crates and moved it to one of the vehicles they had lined up.

Foldáz and his underlings worked for one of the criminal families of Mistral, the Iris family specifically. Foldáz was a loyal captain of theirs, and he had been given sudden orders to move everything they had stored in a couple of warehouses on the lower levels of Mistral out of the city. It wasn't difficult to understand why, however, not with the activity that had been present the last couple of weeks. Ever since the incident with the gondolas, the families and gangs had been cautious. There was apparently a new group of huntsmen in town, and some pretty tough ones at that. At first, it seemed like it would only be that instance with the Taupes, it would've been something to take advantage of, but soon after, others began to be hit as well. A gang's gym and a couple of warehouses belonging to other families had been attacked and dismantled, with the cops arriving soon after and taking everything as evidence.

The other families saw it as another run of crackdowns, something that could be avoided by laying low and paying the right person on the Council. But the Iris, they realized what was happening. So far the occurrences had consistently happened out of nowhere and ended with police coming to the scene, but more than that, inspecting the premises and finding enough evidence to put a lot of people under arrest, and a lot of product being lost. There was no warning, or even time, not even discussions on the police radios. Someone was tipping them off and working with them so that they could find all the evidence they needed. Some justice-driven huntsmen or individuals were the first thought, it could be the same ones from the gondolas, or perhaps multiple groups working together. It had happened before after all, but it was rare for these instances to be so… dangerous for them.

The families kept tabs on most things that happened inside the kingdom through different brokers, many of them neutral and not the kind to give away information if not for a heavy sum. And yet, so far four different places had been attacked, places that should have remained hidden and that had caused big losses to their respective gangs or families, and worse of all, the crackdowns had been consistent. No one from the underworld stood to benefit, someone had either had a change of heart, or was forced to speak and give away these locations. Which meant everything could be at risk. The web of information on Mistral was so deep that you couldn't really know who knew what… and perhaps the Iris could be lucky and stay put without anything coming their way. But it was too much a risk for them.

The Iris had too much to lose. They had Dust, drugs, pharmaceuticals, counterfeit Lien, weapons, electronics, and more. If by any chance their stash in Mistral was at risk, they would lose thousands if not millions of Lien. And so they decided it was safer to move their stock to a safer location.

"Alright, this one is full, move the rest of the stuff over those ones. I don't care how heavy they are. If the forklifts are busy carrying other things, then work together to lift them and get this done quicker!" Foldáz ordered. They needed to be as discreet as they could, and getting out of the city before the sun rose was a decent enough way to do it… at least, to get the least amount of witnesses.

"Boss, have you seen the two brothers? The ones with the yellow hair? Those two are beefy, and I need to carry some metal crates." One of the goons spoke to him.

"Yeah, they went with Kyu. They should be on the back end, towards that corner." Foldáz pointed in the said direction. "Turn the corner and you should find loading up another truck." He patted the guy on the back and carried on to lift another crate.

"Uh-huh, okay." The underling went ahead to find the two brothers and Kyu, only he saw nothing once he turned the corner.

"Uh… Kyu? Xu? Kota?" The underling tried to call for them. Once they didn't respond he tried to search for them. As he got closer, he got a hint of a broken box and someone that seemed to lie unconscious inside of it.

"What the…" The Iris goon began to say, and turned as he felt something coming from the side. A distorted image of a man seemingly teleporting while leaving behind a trail of orange distorted glass and mirrors. That man clotheslined him and knocked him out as he smashed him against a wall.

Nearby, other people heard a commotion as something seemed to have hit the wall hard. The goons and thugs looked at each other wondering what it could be. Soon after though, with most of them quiet and paying more attention, they were able to hear a yelp in the distance, accompanied by another loud thud.

"Okay, w-what was t-that?" One of the Iris began to panic.

"Relax, we are-" They heard another thud and a sound they could not distinguish, a weird zizzling that wasn't akin to anything they had heard before. "... Fine." The Iris thug said as he pulled out his handgun. Many others began to do the same, some with shaky grips.

"What's happening over here?" Foldáz asked, and became alarmed once he saw them with their weapons out.

"We heard some noises sir and…" The Iris began to look around and noticed something. "I think we are missing people."

Foldáz looked around and even though most of his men were still in view, some people were missing. That was when they heard a scream that was cut short. Everyone was alarmed at that instant. "Fuck…" Foldáz cursed and immediately pulled out his scroll and contacted one of the people he had on the roof. "Hey, you heard that right? What's happening you are supposed to be our lookouts!"

"Boss… I've seen nothing I don't about the other-... I don't see the others… what the fuck is- Urrgh!" The call was cut and Foldáz looked towards the roof of the warehouses seeing as a trail of smoke and green flames ducked to cover, and not a trace of his lookout.

"Son of a bitch! Everyone we are being-!" Before Foldáz could say anything sparks and blue lightning began to surge through some of the lights, a nearby transformer exploding in electrical surge and putting the entire complex of the warehouse in the dark.

"Shit! Everybody, stay together! Open the weapon crates as well, some of them must be loaded." Foldáz ordered and his underlings obeyed. He himself reached behind his back and brandished his own weapon. A collapsible sword spear. But before he could get to organize his people and plan something, the explosions came.

"What the- Waa!" A scream came from the side as one of the trucks exploded into a ball of fire, but not only it. Other vehicles and crates were being blown up as well, some visibly being blasted by green balls of fire, others by some electric projectiles, and others by some sort of semblance that spawned a surge of fire. The rest of the explosions… it happened too fast, even things that weren't being shot at were exploding and began being set alight.

"Fuck… Fuck…" Foldáz looked around and tried to pinpoint the source of the projectiles in the dark. "Over there! Spread out and- Urgh!"

"Boss! Wait… Aargh!" Another Iris screamed as he was blown away by an electrical shockwave. Similar to what had happened to his leader. It seemed like the explosions were only the beginning for them, as their attackers began to fight them as well. Quickly leaving them in disarray as people were blasted with lightning bolts, struck from the back by a blur and left in stasis in Time Bubbles, beaten and subdued in streaks of green fire that zipped left and right, and some were put in psychotic shocks, clutching their heads as they went down screaming.

Foldáz rolled on the ground, his ears ringing from all the explosions. Slowly recovering his senses and looking around to find that many of his people were being knocked out. He saw a man on a dark coat hit one of his thugs twice on the side with a baton, and then knock them out with a strike to the head before moving to the next person, subduing each subsequent goon with fire enhanced kicks, baton strikes, and shoulder throws in a matter of seconds. He stood up and dodged away as he saw two of his people been placed in a bubble of shimmering glass looking energy, frozen in time while the one that put them there pile drived an Iris goon into one of the crates, and then formed some kind of power blast another one of their trucks with a warping explosion.

He pulled out his scroll and began to dial as he rolled out of the way. An explosion of lightning threw one of his people towards him, the poor girl hitting a pole as she flew past him. More lightning blasts came, a man on the roof firing these lightning bolts from his hands, three of his men were shocked and blasted unconscious while a few others had the misfortune of being on the receiving end of a lightning bomb that he decided to throw. The man then jumped down and beat two thugs with his bare hands, shooting out electricity with each punch.

"Everyone! We are being attacked! Anyone that's not fucking sleeping come here at the Tanaka warehouses now!" Foldáz all but shouted through an emergency call. He ended the call quickly as he dove out of the way of a lightning explosion. The electric man was focusing on some of his other men, meanwhile, the other man was moving and teleporting like an orange blur through the warehouses and punching his others unconscious, ending by drop kicking some through a wall. He didn't know where the man in the dark coat was, but he did spot someone else, a woman in a dark purple and black robe coat.

The woman tripped one of his thugs with a kick and slammed his head on the ground, moving towards another and doing something to his head that left him convulsing on the ground, finally ending a third with two roundhouse kicks and a back elbow to the face. She then made a truck flip over into multiple crates with some kind of shockwave, making small explosions as bullets lit the air like fireworks. He needed to take care of the situation before it got worse, they were attacking his people and he would be damned if let damn do any more damage. They were strong, but he could put up a fight as well… he only needed to last until reinforcements arrived. And so he would start with her.

Foldáz surged forward as the ground carried him, using his semblance to control the ground and shifting the earth and concrete to dash forward. He appeared behind the woman and struck at her back as she was channeling energy to do something else. He hit her and yellow energy emanated from her back, it didn't seem like her aura, but regardless he went ahead and continued to hit her.

The woman rolled and bounced on the ground after the hit and got up with a sword attack, deflecting the follow-up attack, and then blocked the following as she backpedaled, counterattacking when she could with quick slashes. Foldáz lunged forward with a thrust and delivered seven stabs, two of them deflected by the energy barrier and the rest being countered and deflected eh himself had to block some of her attacks before using his semblance to surge forward, the ground carrying into her for a massive swing. She however formed into a black and purple mass and passed through him. Foldáz reacted quickly and turned around with a swing of his sword spear and deflected some sword swing and then dodged out of the way of what he could only describe as a flash of lightning. He let his semblance carry him to the side and then dashed forward again from her right, going past her and then charging at her from different directions and from multiple angles.

She blocked three of the dashes and placed her hand on the ground, creating an explosion of fire right below her and forcing him away to evade the fire, a fire that didn't seem to hurt her. Foldáz responded by making a small pillar of concrete, and using his sword spear like a baseball bat, sending multiple pieces of debris at her like projectiles. She sidestepped, ducked, and dodged them effortlessly before reaching out with her hand and making his aura flare as she spiked his mind. An attack he could feel in his brain, but that was mitigated by his aura.

The woman didn't waste time and seemed to use combinations of dust to create two large floating rocks, and then launch them at him. He used his own semblance to make a wall of earth, concrete, and stone that blocked the boulders. The instant they hit the wall, he used a powerful swing of his sword spear to shatter the wall and boulders and to send the fragmented remains back at the woman. She used another ability to disperse and knock away the shrapnel with yellow kinetic force, however, Foldáz had taken the chance to dash to the side and created a small pillar under his feet to jump at her with a downwards thrust, but she responded by creating a field that seemed to push him into the air and to miss her entirely, sending him tumbling and rolling into the ground.

She then created another fire explosion, and an electrical surge, both of which Foldáz evaded and answered by channeling his semblance through the round and making a concrete spike protrude from where she was standing. The woman narrowly rolling out of the way, and dashing forward as a black mass with her sword, both of them exchanging multiple strikes from their weapons while dashing and charging back and forth until the woman created a fire explosion behind Foldáz as they were clashing weapons, pushing him towards her, and kneeing him on the stomach and dashing past him with sword slash to his side, and then using ice dust to create an explosion of spikes that forced him to roll away. She controlled the ice spikes while they were in the air and forced them back towards him, but he evaded them by subtly dashing to the side with his semblance and then dragging his spear across the ground to create a shockwave of concrete in her direction. She jumped out of the way and made an outwards wave of wind from herself as Foldáz tried to charge at her from the side, pushing him away and stretching her hand towards him again.

This time, Foldáz instinctively dodged out of the line her hand was pointed at, dashing to the side and sending projectiles of concrete, and shockwaves on the ground, all of which the woman was forced to mitigate with her own powers or evade. As the exchange of semblances, dust, and powers continued, Foldáz charged forward while making two floating boulders of concrete that attempted to crush the woman from opposite directions. She crushed the boulders and knocked them away with a combination of wind dust, kinetic energy, and a fire surge, but that was when she saw Foldáz jumped into the air and threw projectiles of concrete with his spear and then came for a downwards strike. She dodged out of the way of the concrete and as Foldáz was coming closer, she pulled out her shotgun, dashing under the arc of his jump and forcing him to block her shotgun blast, making him fly past her and roll on the ground as he landed.

As Foldáz landed he gritted his teeth, the woman was tougher than he had thought she would be, even more so since he had ambushed her, however, it was his turn to be ambushed. As he landed he was surprised from the side by the orange blur, receiving a right hook to the back of the head, a punch to the gut, and a haymaker across the cheek. The punches forced him away right into the electric man, who hit him with a lightning punch, a lightning palm, and pushed Foldáz back with a jumping spinning back kick. Both men forced Foldáz to backpedal and block the following attacks as best he could, punches, kicks, knees, and more were thrown at him from both sides, barely able to block most of them he was flung back several meters by a sudden charge by the man that became an orange blur, and then noticed that both of them were preparing to fire at him with their semblances.

Foldáz created a pillar under him jumping high and flipping through the air as the two men created an explosion of distorted lightning that obliterated where he stood, but as he sailed through the air, he was forced to block as the man on the dar coat fire two green singing shots that sent him further back. He landed with a roll and turned towards the four of them, already breathing heavily… it wasn't going in his favor. But lucky for him, he soon heard cars reaching the scenes and they weren't the police. His opponents noticed as well.

"Reinforcements!" The electric man said to the others.

"Great." The man with the time semblance responded as he pulled a shotgun in one hand and an axe in the other.

"You boys go, I can take care of him." The woman said.

"Uh, are you sure?" The same man asked.

"Yeah." She answered and stepped forward. Foldáz didn't waste time and sent forward another shockwave with his sword spear. But the woman stopped it preemptively with dust and… something else that he couldn't quite piece together. He didn't even know what was dust or part of her semblance… she could do too much, and it wasn't normal.

"The sooner we deal with them, the better." The man in the dark coat said to the others.

"Hmm… alright, be careful, scream if you need us." The electric man said and the three men dispersed to deal with the reinforcements.

"Uh-huh." The woman brandished her sword and faced Foldáz. Foldáz himself knew that he needed to win quickly, or otherwise his men would get massacred. He pulled out a gun from his jacket and started firing at the woman.

She dodged out of the way of the bullets by transforming into a sudden dark mass and began to dash left and right, a sudden pillar of concrete appeared right below Foldáz, he himself barely able to dodge out of the way and then further rolling away as the pillar exploded with yellow energy. Foldáz recovered to a standing position quick, swatted the rock debris towards the woman and continued to fire with his gun, the woman ducking under the debris, running between cover, using an explosion of kinetic energy to launch a crate in Foldáz's direction and finally charge him with a slash of her sword and a shotgun blast.

Foldáz blocked the sash and then defected the buckshot by twirling his sword spear, the woman herself bared through some of the bullets he began to shoot with that same energy that lashed out from her whenever she got hit. Through it all, they kept dashing back and forth with gunfire, continuous melee strikes, and the use of their respective powers. Foldáz blocked a low slash and a front kick before twirling his weapon to block a shotgun blast, the woman kept on the offensive by dashing behind him with a sword thrust that hit his aura, a shotgun shot that Foldáz managed to roll away from, and a burst of lightning that Foldaz blocked by creating a wall of concrete. Fodáz also used his semblance to burst through the wall with a charge, being carried by the ground and leaving cracks behind as he moved, the woman blocked his attacks as he dashed back and forth, and send out another mind spike attack, then proceeding to extend dust trough her sword, creating crescent waves of hard-light whenever she swung the sword towards him. If Foldáz wanted to finish things quickly, he needed to think of something and so he decided to go all out.

Foldáz knelt down as he avoided a crescent wave and rolled away from a shotgun shot, using dust with his semblance to create a tremor that opened cracks on the ground crack that began to glow a hot orange. From the ground several heated up shards of concrete began to levitate and launch themselves as projectiles against the woman, all doing so at different times while he dashed towards her, or shot at her. The fight sped up drastically as Fodáz began to give it his all, using his semblance, his firearm, his weapon, dust everything in order to win… but the woman was full of tricks herself. She kept up the pace with him blocking and deflecting with her sword as he tried to skewer her with his sword spear, shooting in different directions he would go with her shotgun and using both her powers and dust to protect herself from the attack from his semblance, and to restrict where he could go. She did get pushed back and hit by him however, Foldáz knew he was capable of that much and he delivered when he set himself to go all out. He managed to hit her on the face with the shaft of his weapon, push her back with a thrust that was deflected by the kinetic energy that protected her, then she was forced back through a set of crates as he created an explosion of molten spikes, trying to impale her, but it the end forcing her to dive through some crates, he then dashed forward and met her head-on with multiple thrusts and swing of his sword spear while keeping his gun at hand to shoot at her between attacks. The woman blocked the different attacks and let the kinetic energy around her protect her from the gunfire. Foldáz could see how she was continuously reforming that barrier, and so kept pushing the attack and kept the momentum with everything he got until he managed to push her sword aside, made he duck and sidestep to avoid multiple attacks, shot at her between strikes to weaken the barrier, and finally hit her on the chest with a massive swing that pushed her several meters back and tumbling on the ground.

The woman rolled to a kneeling position and Foldáz could see that he had done something, as she was bleeding from her nose, and the woman noticed as well as she stood up. Not wasting time he decided to shot at her from a distance, but her eyes hardened and a barrier of kinetic energy erupted from her and forced the bullets away, as that happened Foldáz decided to rush forward with another jumping lunge, but at the last second, the woman seemingly morphed and disappeared, suddenly above him as he missed the attack and delivered a strong flying kick to his temple, suddenly appearing from his side as she morphed again and damaged his aura as she slashed at him with her sword, then did so again and again with her sword being enveloped by different kinds of dust each time. A swing from a gravity-enhanced blade pushing him away and her dashing towards him.

Fodáz defended himself, but the woman began to be more relentless herself, using her shotgun as she dashed back and forth to surprise him and chew at his aura while she struck at him at close range with her sword, going for deft swings that could at the very least graze him, and then back away to use her powers to pummel him with explosions of fire, ice, lightning, rock, and to unbalance him in general. The woman rushed him as a back from the side with a shotgun rush, and then morphed to be above and come down with ic and swing of her sword, Foldáz struck back with his sword spear, but the woman blocked and countered with a dexterous thrust to his face, and a surge of wind and ice that seemed to coat him with thin sheets of ice. The attacks were enough however for the woman to break Foldáz's guard and allow the woman to mind spike him again. The attack forced him to the ground, but he was still strong enough to create spikes of concrete all around him with a punch to the ground, forcing the woman to jump back, and the tips of the spikes separating and flying towards her like seeker missiles.

The woman decided to use her own power to counter his, she extended energy from herself and created an empowered field all around her, as soon as the concrete missiles touched the field, they stopped, she then combined her fire and lightning powers with the energy and sent towards Foldáz in a massive wave shattering through his concrete spikes and leaving him open. Foldáz was ready for a frontal assault, but he did not expect that she would create crescent waves of smoldering red fiery lightning and use her sword to send them out to the nearby crates. Foldáz realized he was in a bad spot as the waves ignited everything in the crates, the ammunition inside some of them littering the surroundings like fireworks and other crates with dust exploding into different elements. He was pelted by energy, fire ice, and bullets as he desperately rolled and dashed away, leaving himself open and with little aura for a final attack from her.

She dashed behind him and struck him twice with her sword before shooting him point-blank with her shotgun, sending him flying and then forcing his ragdolling body back at her with a kinetic explosion, allowing her to land multiple strikes and kicks as she morphed and dashed as a black mass to get into different positions. She kneed him on the groin, did cross slashes across his sides, hit him with her pommel on the back of the head before landing a cut to his face, hit him with a back elbow at the stomach, pushed him into the air wi a shotgun blast, send out crescent waves of earth, ice, and hard light that juggled him on the air before using hard light to extend the reach of her sword, landing a spear thrust of her to Foldáz before forming a field above him that pushed him and slammed him to the ground. Foldáz felt himself bounce on the ground and witnessed how his aura practically broke, he also saw that the woman was now delivering one final hit to put him out of commission. He realized he had lost.

"Hya!" Morgan yelled as she delivered a palm gravity and electric energy, sending the Iris captain barreling through a set of boxes and crates, his aura already broken and the massive impact further helping to knock him out.

"Puff…" She breathed out as the fight ended, she turned around and saw that Cole, Jack, and Aiden had done their part, the reinforcements had been taken care of, and the police were at the scene.

"He seemed tougher than most… good job." Jack gave her thumbs up.

"Heh, thanks…" Morgan appreciated the gesture.

"You are bleeding." Aiden pointed out.

"Hmm…" She knew it was the case.

"Was that him? Or you?" Cole asked her.

"Mix of both, turns out that my Backlash cannot protect me indefinitely if I keep using it. It's not a migraine, but I do feel lightheaded." Morgan said to them.

"You need me to try and heal you?" Cole offered.

"... We could try that." She nodded. "Maybe at least the mind numbness will go away."

"Alright, keep your eyes open, there might be one or two of the Iris still hiding," Aiden said. "We can have the chat with the police this time." Aiden tapped Jack's shoulder as he began to walk away.

"Yeah, this is the Cinzent's lieutenant, right? I bet he wants to offer us another tip in the meantime." Jack said as he followed.

"Heh, probably." Aiden chuckled, Lieutenant Bleu was more or less eager to give them tips on current investigations, and was continually surprised when The Outlaws called him to dispatch police on family operations the force knew nothing about. The four of them still had their spyware planted, and it had become quite useful.

"I don't think the Iris are gonna like this." Lieutenant Bleu said to himself as he witnessed the carnage, most of the Iris were alive, some needing hospitalization, but alive. Their goods however, well… only about half of them remained.

"Lieutenant!" Jack called.

"Well, it seems you four managed to walk out of this in one piece." The Lieutenant greeted Aiden and Jack.

"I'm pretty sure all of us prefer it that way." Aiden said.

"Mmm, we'll have to process all of these people, and whatever remains of their contraband. Did you really need to destroy that much of it? Some of it it's useful to trace down some of their dealers." The Lieutenant crossed his arms.

"They make good distractions, shock and awe makes it easier to take them down, and hey, as long as they are out of the streets." Jack shrugged.

"Considering what some of these things are, perhaps they are better destroyed anyway," Aiden commented.

"Heh, well you won't find me arguing, it seems like it got hectic. The important thing is that the bust was a success. You can probably talk with Cinzent about your reward, she handles that after all."

"About that… you work with Cinzent. How is it going with gathering manpower? We still have a Taupe base to hit." Aiden mentioned.

"Well… you've been busy, hitting the underworld left and right so far… but it's not like crime has stopped. Families are getting a bit quiet, but we have our hands also full with some more petty stuff. It is making it easier for Cinzent to convince others to approve a warrant and breach on that place, calling it a good streak of crackdowns. Makes the Council and us look good." Lieutenant Bleu told them.

"Does that mean we have at least some people on board?" Jack asked.

"Kinda… strictly speaking, we cannot divert resources that easily. But we do have some people ready. Two squads of TTU are available… though I heard they want some more people, just to be safe."

"Hmm…" Aiden put his hand in his pockets as he thought. "What about you? And all the others here now?" Aiden motioned to the officers and TTU that were present and arresting the Iris thugs.

"We are… well like I said… more petty stuff, important, just not on the level of trying to take down the families' influence." Lieutenant Bleu sighed.

"Anything we can take care of?" Jack asked.

"Maybe, it is actually related to those first tips I had for you to investigate. Remember that Cinzent wanted you to investigate a locale in the upper levels?" Bleu asked them.

"And some shops in one of the lower districts, right." Aiden nodded.

"Yeah. There's been an increase of circulating Ghost Dust, passing right under the radar for the last month, it's kind of a plague actually. It's been clogging the investigators and the TTU must be ready to respond to crack down on a supplier or dealer." Bleu explained.

"If it isn't the families, then this is smugglers and suppliers acting on their own?" Jack guessed.

"Never said it wasn't the families, demand for it increased somehow, and more than likely, everybody is going at it to try and sell as much as they can," Bleu said.

"Huh…"

"Hello Lieutenant." Cole greeted the Lieutenant as he and Morgan joined the conversation.

"Oh, hi. Seems everybody is here now. Everything okay?" He asked.

"Just recovering from taking down their captain." Morgan seemed a lot better than a couple of minutes ago.

"Their captain eh…" Bleu looked in the direction of said captain's unconscious body, two officers already having cuffed him and carrying him away. "Holy shit! Foldáz?!... Wow, you might just earn yourself a bounty bonus if his contract is still up on the mission boards. Fuck me… He is one of the Iris top captains, and no pushover, and now we have him." The Lieutenant was honestly impressed.

"He certainly put up a fight." Morgan rolled one of her shoulders.

"... The four of you could honestly take that stronghold on your own," Bleu said absentmindedly.

"Maybe, but it would probably be like the gondola all over again, maybe a massive crater this time." Cole quipped.

"... Uh… Oooh." Bleu realized that Cole's assessment was probably true. He knew battles between aura users could get destructive, he had aura and a semblance as well after all. But when people on the eve of huntsmen got involved… it tended to escalate.

"Cinzent doesn't want that of course. That's why we need the police, with numbers we can take care of them more smoothly. And speaking of that…" Aiden brought the conversation back to the previous topic.

"Uh, right. I can give you some tips and some places you can check. You help us investigate and maybe take down a couple dealers, and some of us would be a lot more available to raid a Taupe stronghold." The Lieutenant said.

"Dealers? Okay, what did we miss?" Cole asked.

"They are clogged up with cases of Ghost Dust, so we are gonna give them a hand. That way we can have more people available to help us." Jack summarized.

"Ah, nice. So Ghost Dust?" Cole asked again.

"Apparently it's selling like hot bread." Aiden said.

"If that's so, it shouldn't be that hard to find a couple dealers or two… maybe even trace it back to where it's coming from. Or at least which smugglers are transporting it… I mean some people must be making it here, but it's probably easier for them to just import it." Cole hazarded a guess.

"We'll follow whatever leads you have, and also do some investigations of our own, we should be able to make your life easier Lieutenant," Morgan said to him.

"Well, help us, and we'll help you." Bleu said

"About that. The Mistral Police and TTU have gas masks and respirators, right?" Morgan took the chance to ask.

"We do… I guess we'll need them."

"We will," Morgan confirmed. "And we'll need to borrow some as well." She also added.

---

The group started working the next day on tracing down the increasing trafficking of Ghost Dust, the first thing they did was scout the place the Bleu had mentioned one of the first times they spoke to one another, a fancy flower shop in the upper levels. There was nothing that indicated that the shop was any sort of front at first glance, and after a bit of snooping around, it turned out that reality was a little bit more complicated. Ghost Dust was created using dust, which meant that Cole could use his Radar Pulse to detect it. To his own admission, Ghost Dust didn't have the same signal as regular dust, it was fainter, and the pulse it emitted made it seem and feel numb. But lo and behold, he was able to detect Ghost dust inside the flower shop, hidden inside compost sacks.

"I guess no one would look in the shitter, eh?" Cole quipped as he inspected the sacks. Jack standing by him, and Aiden and Morgan speaking with the florist. Distracting them while Cole and Jack looked around.

"You found some?" Jack asked him.

"Yeah, that sack." Cole pointed to one of the sacks of compost, somewhat distinct from the others, the sac itself seemed better kept, and it seemed to not smell like the other sacks. Opening it revealed a grey crystalline powder.

"Yep, Ghost Dust," Jack confirmed.

"How would you know? You've never seen it." Cole prodded him.

"I remember Vanna's description. Sides, what else could it be? Grey Dust? Either way, it doesn't exactly fit a flower shop, and for it to be next to the compost and the manure." Jack pointed out.

"Well, you got that right. Let's see what they have to say… you carry it."

"Fuck off, you do it this time." Jack waved him off and walked off. Cole resigned himself with a sigh and carried the sack to the front desk of the shop. At that main desk, Aiden and Morgan continued to ask the owner of the shop some questions.

"A lot of people around the area have been purchasing Ghost Dust. Have you seen anything?" Morgan asked the owner.

"This again? I… I already talked with the police about this. I know nothing of the drugs being sold around, that should be their problem, not mine. What is my problem is my flowers and the people that request them. That's all there is to it." The owner said.

"Please, try to think back on anything. The police have busted some people using Grey Dust, mostly dumb teenagers, but some of them cracked under pressure and mentioned this flower shop, by name. Do you have a suspicious neighbor?" Aiden asked.

"Or perhaps have you seen something in CCTV? Anyone hanging around your building or the nearby parking lot?" Morgan added.

"No, no, and no. Sorry, but we are on the upper levels, shady deals don't happen here out in the open, and this is in fact a quiet neighborhood, things are actually peaceful here. I can't think of anyone nearby that would have any reason to sell drugs, you want to find more dealers you should go to the lower levels. It's common sense after all." The Florist seemed almost insulted that they would even suspect his shop, or the area around it.

"Uh-huh. Okay then…" Cole said as he and Jack arrived at the front desk. "If that's the case, then what is this?" Cole asked as he laid the sack on the ground and opened it, revealing the Ghost Dust.

"Is… What? Is that…? That's not dust, that's-" The Florist seemed perplexed.

"Ghost Dust," Morgan confirmed.

"Tch Tch, seems like something's off. Why was this in your shop?" Aiden leaned on the counter.

"Tha-at, you… you looked around my shop I-I… that isn't mine. I swear!" The shop owner defended himself.

"Uh-huh, then it's just a mistake, someone must have mixed it with your compost shipment… Now, who would mix up Ghost Dust and manure to a shop all the way up here? Hmm?" Aiden continued asking questions. Cole and Morgan stayed close while Jack began to wonder about the shop, and where he and Cole had found the sack.

"I don't know!" The Florist raised his voice. "But that isn't mine, I don't know how that got in here or why it was hidden amongst the compost. I don't know! I… I manage the shop and my one employee during most of the day, then when the business closes I go to my house which is about one set of stairs away. You can check my home I… I don't have anything there! I… you gotta believe me I have no damn clue why that's there. I… I try my best to run a quality shop in the upper levels...th-the police, my neighbors, they can say it… I've never gone out of my way to meet anyone… shady in any way, even less for drug trafficking." The Florist pleaded.

"Can you answer me a couple questions?" Aiden asked.

"Uh okay alright, sure. W-what are they? The questions I mean."

"Let's start simple, do you know anyone that has used Ghost Dust?"

"No. Not that I know off." The Florist answered immediately, seemingly eager to answer.

"Where do you get the manure?" Aiden asked next.

"I buy sacks from a convenience store down in Shinibaka, Sol street… uh between 0456 and 0478."

"Hmm, okay. Okay, let's give you the benefit of doubt, but why would someone hide Ghost Dust at your store? And how come people that look for Ghost Dust point at your flower shop?" Aiden continued.

"I do not now! Maybe… maybe I'm being framed, it's gotta be, because there's no way Ghost Dust should have ended here."

"Do you actually have anyone that might see to frame you? Any enemies?" Morgan asked.

"Well... uh no. But uh… I… I cannot explain it, there shouldn't be any reason for it to be here… and if someone's been using me as a free storage room then… Then I don't know how they got in, it doesn't make any sense." The Florist scratched the back of his head.

"Say… is there any reason why someone would want Ghost Dust close to the fertilizer?" Cole decided to ask.

"I don't know how the drug works… other than hiding it here I see no reason, but… but why here? I promise I don't know why." The owner of the shop seemed desperate to prove his innocence, he tried to remain calm, Aiden's inquisitive stare didn't ease his nerves at all.

"Hmm, thoughts?" Aiden asked the others.

"So far it seems mostly truthful, and unless he rehearsed all of this, then the way he acts seems genuine," Cole said.

"He is giving details… When did you buy these sacks?" Morgan asked him.

"I buy them in stacks of three that way they last me a while. I bought those last month. We sometimes have some additional ones around that my employee stocks when we don't use entire sacks." The shop owner said.

"Huh…"

"You must believe me, I wouldn't lie…"

"Relax, so far it seems you are telling the truth. And, you don't even seem capable of being a shifty salesman." Aiden said.

"Uh… thanks? But… How do you know?" The Florist looked confused.

"The prices of your flowers." Aiden said.

"They are a bit too fair a price for a shop in the upper levels." Morgan explained. "But it is a good thing if you made it work."

"Well… I do make a lot of deliveries, many people want some of the exclusive offers I have…" The Florist felt the need to say.

"You make deliveries? To whoever asks for them?" Cole asked.

"Uh… yeah… of course."

"Oh wow... I get the feeling you've been played, you might just be an unwilling and unknowing dealer." Cole said.

"I… But I… but my deliveries are-" The Florist got interrupted as Jack approached them.

"He's telling the truth he doesn't seem to touch the sack that has the Ghost Dust, only another person does… didn't you say you have one employee?" Jack questioned him.

"Uh… no. No, no, no way. I know her and… she's just a teenager." The Florist argued.

"Who did you see?" Morgan asked Jack.

"Seemed like a young girl." Jack sighed.

"Wait, what do you mean? See what?"

"How far back in time did you see?" Cole asked.

"It's hard to say, but it happened enough times, seemed like the same person," Jack answered.

"What?!" The Florist raised his voice.

"Sir, does she take care of your deliveries?" Aiden asked.

"She… she does but… she wouldn't deal with-"

"Hey, hey. Listen, so far everything points to her. So we have two options, either she's been using her job here to supply Ghost Dust to others under your nose, or she's doing it under your instructions and you've been bullshiting us." Cole said to him.

"She's a young sweet girl." The Florist argued.

"A sweet girl delivering flowers, who would expect it, hmm?" Aiden said.

"But she… I…"

"Sir, listen, the matter is that there's Ghost Dust in your shop. One way or another it has come and gone. If this is all you know, then the trace goes to her. She could be doing it for other reasons… but we won't know until we question her or find anything that might give us another clue." Morgan sternly said to him.

"You are right… It's just… I don't think it can be her, maybe… a friend of hers… or-" The Florist and the conversation as a whole was interrupted as the doorbell rang they all turned and saw a young girl that must have been in her seventeens.

"Hello." She waved at the Florist, and then paused as she saw the other people. "Uh, Sir Romano. What's going on?" She seemed wary, the four of them were a tad bit intimidating.

"Chumi. I… well we were speaking about you." Sir Romano said.

"So that's her?" Aiden asked.

"She looks similar to what I saw." Jack stared at her with caution.

"Uh… what's happening?" Chumi asked, Aiden and Morgan stepped out of the way and let her see the sack full of Ghost Dust. Her eyes widened, she honestly should've tried and stayed calm, but instead, she panicked, and began to sprint out of the store.

"Chumi! Wait!" Sir Romano pleaded.

"Of course it was the delivery person." Cole sighed as he and Morgan were the first to follow her out the door, Aiden and Jack speeding after her through the side door to try and see if they could cut her off. It turned out to be the right move as they were able to corner her as she tried to reach for a bike they assumed was hers.

"No… wait, that was-" She stammered.

"Why did you run?" Morgan asked the first question.

"I… uh… you were all really scary and I… panicked I… I didn't do anything!" She said.

"Okay, do you know anything?" Jack asked next.

"I…" She couldn't muster a response.

"Far as we are concerned, you know something, kid," Cole said as the four of them approached her and surrounded her.

"Ah… Ah… please I… I… thought." She gulped, not even being able to think of something that would get her off the hook.

"No lying? No crying?" Aiden questioned as the girl seemed to shrink, beginning to cry out of fear.

"Stop, okay, fine… what, what are you gonna do…" She didn't even dare to look at them.

"Why are you delivering Ghost Dust? I doubt you are doing this alone." Morgan said to her.

"I… It's just a party drug, it's not a big deal, it's not that dangerous. I just… A friend, told me I would probably get rich, and… it's just harmless-"

"Party drug, mostly harmless or not, trust me, doesn't matter. If it messes too much with your head, you probably shouldn't do it, even less when it can actually kill you." Jack said to her.

"It only has to be prepared right, and it's not that hard… besides anything can be like that, alcohol can be like that!" She said.

"A drunk and a drug addict aren't that different, but drink is regulated somewhat, and served after a certain age, and one way or another, the chance of overdose is far less. Sadly Ghost Dust is illegal, and since it is, many people don't care about actually making sure it's safe." Morgan pointed out.

"Fuck off… It's… it's supposed to be harmless, it's not that bad." The girl argued.

"How many clients do you have? How many ask for more each day? How many are underage?" Aiden asked and the girl looked down, not wanting to face them.

"Oh boy, well… was the scheme your idea or your friends? Because I gotta admit, ballsy of you to risk poor Sir Romano's flower shop. He probably would have taken the blame and you would have walked away scot-free." Cole said to her.

"No, no… That wouldn't- He… It wasn't supposed to happen!" She covered her face as more tears appeared and she went down on her knees.

"You know… those friends of yours, are they the ones bossing you? Or is it a mutual arrangement?" Jack asked as he knelt next to her.

"..."

"It's honestly better if you tell the truth," Morgan told her.

"I… they brought up an idea to me… and it seemed good but…" She said between sobs.

"Hey, if they told you to use Sir Romano, then they are also using you. If you got caught, then they would probably have let you take all the blame. I don't know, but those don't seem like the best kind of friends." Cole added.

"Please, if you help us, you can maybe fix this mistake. We want to know where they are." Morgan knelt next to the girl as well and put a hand on her shoulder.

"They…" She hesitated for a second, but Sir Romano appeared and looked at the scene, looking at him seemed to spark some sense of guilt in her, and she told them. "They are Rufus Arika and Riala Montevar. I'm… I'm not the only delivery girl but they… they live in the Helios district, Eirini 2908. That's where I pick up the Ghost Dust." She told them.

"Thank you." Morgan said to her and stood up, taking her arm and making her stand up as well.

"W-what's gonna happen?"

"We are calling the Mistral police, once they arrive, you'll tell them what happened. Meanwhile, we are gonna pay a visit to her friends." Aiden said. Chumi silently walked next to Sir Romano without looking at him.

"What's gonna happen to her? She's just a girl. And she told you what you needed, she clearly-"

"Calm down it's fine, if the police give her trouble, then show them this and ask for Cinzent or Lieutenant Bleu." Jack handed him over Cinzent's card. "Maybe call her parents as well." He added. Once everything was said and done, Sir Romano nodded and the four of them took off to the Helios District. There, they took care of Rufus and Riala, they had a large complex and large operation, with many more friends as well… all of them ended up incarcerated, and their lab was shut down. Some of them put up a fight, but those that did ended up with broken bones.

---

After taking care of some of the Ghost Dust that was circulating in the city, the day had finally come, they were going to assault the Taupe stronghold. They had five teams of TTU, and several officers ready for the occasion. Cinzent had insisted and jumped through many hoops to approve the operation, but sadly, she also had to deal with increasing bureaucracy, and she began to suspect someone was delaying her. The more people knew about the operation, the more at risk it would be, the families had eyes and ears everywhere after all. With that worry in mind, she and The Outlaws agreed that she should pull a couple of strings of her own to approve the police raid on the property early, with a no-knock warrant. And so they were now on stand-by a couple of blocks away from the place.

"They probably know by now." One TTU Officer said through the radio.

"Hey… even if we don't find something, we still can probably close the place up, that would at least do something." Another officer said.

"Well depends what the Taupes do inside, what did you guys find?" This time it was Lieutenant Bleu the one that spoke.

"As far as we can tell, it's mostly a stronghold, there could be probably a stockpile of weapons or contraband," Morgan said.

"Oh, and don't forget the execution of traitors," Jack added.

"Ah, fuck me. Well then there's gotta 'be' something there. Probably a torture room as well." One of the officers said.

"Well, going back over the plan. Our four hunts-uh… our four special guests are gonna take point, they can probably handle going without issue, we follow suit and apprehend whoever seems to be related with the Taupes. We make sure no one escapes, that no one calls for help, and clear each room together. We also move fast, CCTV we'll catch a glimpse of us as soon as we get close. That's also another reason why our guests are going first, once they are behind the walls we move in."

"We'll probably take a straight route to whatever main office this place has, so we'll go and won't stop until we get there. If you see blackouts or hear explosions, that's probably us… we'll see how to deal with that and arrest people once we are there." Cole said.

"Do keep your gas masks on. There's an assassin probably inside called Wolfbane, semblance seems to be a sort of toxic breath, leave him to us if you see him, but never take off the mask." Aiden added. The four of them already wearing masks of their own.

"You heard them people, once they are in position the raid begins. People on the ziplines, are you ready?" Lieutenant Bleu asked.

"We got fuck and all windows that seem like good entrance points, best we can do is a balcony or the courtyard. We'll be waiting on your signal." The TTU officer responded.

With that, The Outlaws began to approach the Taupe Stronghold, it was a rather straightforward approach. They used the cliffside once again to get past the walls and noticed a couple of guards in the courtyard. Once they were in position, Cole and Jack dropped on top of both of them, Cole landing on the Taupe guard and zapping his head while Jack landed on his target and stomped his head. Aiden and Morgan dropped next and were ready to breach inside the building through the first door they found.

"Going in!" Aiden said over the radio as Cole zapped the electronic lock on the door and let Jack kick the door open right into a lounging area. Breaching in, the four of them quickly found an unaware group of thugs. Surprised by them kicking the door open, they took them out quickly. Aiden dashed as dark fiery smoke and hit one three times with his baton before ending him with a knee to the chin, and then moved to subdue another thug with an over the shoulder throw. Morgan channeled her Psychoshock to another two thugs and left their noses bleeding as she blasted their minds and left them unconscious. Jack used a Time Dodged to shoulder charge one thug against a wall to knock them out, and then entered Time Rush and punched and kicked another one four times to beat them down. Finally, Cole knocked down another guard with a couple of lightning bolts to the head, and he then knocked down the other by tripping him forward, throwing him to the ground, and arc restraining him to the floor.

"What the fuck!" The Taupe goon tried to move, but could only struggle as he saw his buddies were unconscious and their attackers quickly moved to the next room.

"We are going in!" Bleu said over the radio as the entire block could now hear the bare of the sirens.

Back inside, The Outlaws were moving through the room as fast as they could. Aiden and Morgan usually going first, camouflaged as dark smoke or a tiny object respectively, scouting, and taking someone out to let Jack and Cole move in unopposed, giving the Taupes no chance to even strike back. They continued until they arrived at the main hall.

"What's happening?! What the-!" One of the Taupe thugs was cut off as Aiden materialized behind him, hit him on the back of the knees, and then choked him out with his baton before dashing away in a trail of green fire and dark smoke.

"We are being attacked! Fucking!- Argh!" Another thug was tripped up and slammed to the ground by Morgan, who then curb stomped his face against the floor, and punched him for good measure before disappearing from sight.

"They are here! We gotta-" A woman tried to instruct the others but was clotheslined as Jack appeared and punched her lights out during Time Rush. Another man right behind her was punched on the stomach and then roundhouse kicked on the side of the head as Jack kept moving.

"Holy shit- Ata Aaa. Aaaaaa." Several other thugs were electrified as Cole shocked them with lightning bolts, and then blasted them away with a lightning grenade. One of them died due to a powerful lightning bolt to the head.

Cole continued and fired an alpha rocket that blasted three thugs out of commission while he dashed to the right and punched another two thugs, beating them to submission with electrified fists. More people arrived at the hall, alerted by the commotion, but three groups of them were frozen in Time Bubbles before they could do anything, and another group was blasted away by Morgan's Kinetic Blast. The Blast pushed them and knocked them against a wall while she diverted her attention and Psychoshocked two other people that were close to her, putting them out of commission. Aiden moved between them and took care of a group of three Taupes, Dashing in with four strikes of his baton, a knee to the chin, and an elbow to the back of one of their heads to knock two out, and then finishing the third with a throw over the shoulder, and a strike of his baton to the face. There was a second floor with railings, and a couple of thugs came out of rooms and tried to see what was happening, and if necessary, shoot people on sight. Aiden took care of three of them with multiple singing shots from his guns, green fiery bullets augmented by his semblance that exploded on impact with vast kinetic force, they were enough to knock the air out of the goon and leave them incapacitated. With his remaining bullets, he aimed at another two goons and shot them in the head before they could get a shot on anyone.

Another Taupe was taken care of by Cole as he used his lightning theater, and pulled the thug from the second floor and slammed him into a table on the first floor. The other goons became more cautious, but while they had been distracted, Jack had already made it to the second and he was moving through them with Time Dodges and using Time Rush to knock three of them out, one with a left hook, another with a dropkick, and the final one with an uppercut that slammed the thug to the ceiling. One more tried to surprise him with a sword, aiming to do a reverse grip thrust on Jack's back, but he was killed instantly as Jack did a reverse shot with the D12. As the thugs on the second floor began to dwindle, he Time Dodged between the remaining ones, and used his Time Shield to fling them all away, one into a wall, and the rest went flying down to the first floor. Morgan and Aiden took care of the people that had been frozen in time, Morgan using her Electrostatic Burst to shock and incapacitate the group in the first bubble, and quickly use her Supertherma to incinerate the people on the second bubble to focus on another group that arrived, using her Lift Field to fling another them into the air and then basting them in different directions with her Kinetic Blast. Aiden took care of the last Time frozen group with an ice dust grenade, to quite literally freeze them on an ice bubble until it melted… and that would take a while.

Cole did a flip kick that knocked a thug into the air and then blasted him away with a lightning bolt, Morgan Phantom Shifted and slammed a Taupe against a wall, kneeing her on the face to make sure she was knocked out, Aiden shot a thug on the head, and another on the leg, dashing in with a fire enhanced baton and knocking them out on a single strike, and finally, Jack used his axe to hook in a goon by his belt, threw him over the railing into a pillar, and then jumped over the railing, and landed right on the head of another thug. Cleaning the entire main hall… with relatively few casualties.

"Alright, main hall is cleared. A lot of people taken care of." Jack said over the radio. They could hear some firefights happening around the building at this point.

"We are taking care of many others! They are putting up a fight but we are dealing with them, we already have some people in custody." Bleu said over the radio audible gunfire being heard from his end. "We are taking care of these guys so you four can take care of the others. Go and take care of the assassin or whoever is there and we'll be right behind you." He said.

"On it," Morgan responded and the four of them moved deeper into the Taupe stronghold.

"As they kept moving they found little resistance, most of the Taupes already taken care of, or being distracted by the police. They did find some servants and working girls that happened to be at the place during their attack, they told them to stay put and lay low. The police would eventually escort them out. But eventually, they found what could be described only as a sort of throne room. Spacious, large pillars with banners, a large hall, some tables on the sides, and one big chair at the far end.

"Well ain't that fancy," Cole said.

"Wow… Someone must be over their head, a large office would have been enough. Instead, they gotta play as if they were rulers or something." Aiden said out loud.

"There's gotta be more than this. Like a meeting office, or… anything that might be an important room, maybe overlooking this place." Morgan said.

"An office overlooking all your people... I mean if you are the boss that's the point I guess, but there's some weird power dynamics there with someone always above you and looking down. A bit tacky as well if you ask me." Cole said

"My office was like that, I had a full view of the main hall," Morgan commented.

"Wait… really?"

"Hey, speaking of offices. Up there!" Jack spotted a balcony that seemed to lead to a large room. "Guess there must be stairs behind the throne, or something."

The four of them moved through the massive hall towards the throne, however, Cole suddenly stopped, there seemed to be an extra pair of footsteps nearby, faint ones.

"Hold on…" He raised his hand and the others stopped, He focused his senses and noticed that the steps seemed to be coming from above. He used his Radar Pulse and he saw it, there was someone stalking them from the scaffolding of the room. And he was now diving towards them.

"Above!" Cole called out and they saw a figure jumping down, but more than that, they saw him breath noxious purple gas and blow it towards them as he descended, it was Wolfsbane.

The four of them jumped away from the poison cloud and moved several meters back, Wolfbane proceeded to blow out a giant cloud in all directions. They stayed mostly out of the poison gas, but thankfully, once the poison clouds got close they managed to confirm the gas masks were doing their job. Wolfsbane didn't seem enthusiastic about that fact.

"Sorry pal, not gonna be that easy," Cole said to him as the four of them circled him.

"Hmm…" Wolfsbane grunted and stared at the four of them, without his main killing tool, he would have to get creative.

In a sudden dash he went towards Morgan and tried to reach for her mask, but what happened was that Morgan morphed into a small object, let him dash past her, and then morphed back and grabbed him by the back of his collar, proceeding to throw him to the air with all her strength and knock him back with a Kinetic Blast. Wolfsbane rolled on the ground to recover and was immediately pelted by several bullets and lightning bolts. Taking six gunshots from Aiden and four lightning bolts from Cole to his aura before dashing away and blowing poison clouds to cover his escape. Just as he was dashing away to cover, he was intercepted by Jack with a shot of the D12. Wolfsbane was blown back and he created a giant poison cloud that covered the entire area, hoping to stay hidden and find another way to strike at them. But the four of them were able to follow him.

Aiden was the first to hit him with a dashing strike of his baton and a point-blank fire blast from his palm, shooting two powerful scorching shots from his guns as a follow-up. Wolfsbane however backflipped and avoided the shots, jumping away from Aiden in a large jump. Aiden managed to shoot him twice before he dove for cover behind one of the pillars. Then it was Jack's turn to surprise him with a Time Rush punch to his back, and a kick to his leg, Wolfsbane did recover however and tried to back elbow Jack, nearly hitting him and then pulling out a pair of twin daggers. Jack attempted to hit Wolfsbane again, but Wolfsbane moved first and nearly eviscerated his throat while creating more poison clouds to cover his movements. Jack barely dodged and deflected dagger shanks with his axe and shotgun before moving out of the way of an attack, and then using his Time Shield to push Wolfsbane and the poison clouds away. As Wolfsbane was pushed back, he scored a shotgun blast to his aura and knocked him towards Cole.

Cole went forward with a shockwave, pushing Wolfsbane back towards Jack and firing lightning bolts of his own, also giving Aiden and Morgan a chance to fire at him with their guns. Only Wolfsbane was more capable than most, as soon as he was hit by the shockwave, he recovered with a handspring and went to hit Jack with a flying kick. Jack blocked the attack and was pushed back while Wolfsbane used his daggers to strike Cole's lightning bolts out of the air, Cole was impressed, but he only had to increase his output of power and Wolfsbane was forced to dodge to the side, dashing left and right to avoid both Aiden's gunfire and Morgan's attacks, dashing out of the way of the area of her powers. Cole threw a lightning grenade in his path and Wolfsbane dodged in the opposite direction, right before dashing towards Cole. Cole met him head-on with another shockwave, one Wolfsbane flipped over with a high jump, landing right behind Cole, once there he stabbed backwards with his daggers. Cole for his part turned around instantly and deflected the daggers with a twiring swing of his spear, soon both of them were exchanging strikes to try and hit one another, Cole with his spear and sudden lightning attacks, and Wolfsbane with incredibly dexterous cuts and kicks.

Wolfsbane was fast, that was made clear on the first couple of attempted shanks, as Cole had trouble keeping up with him, meaning that the assassin title wasn't for show, he was a trained professional. Cole found himself sporting a couple cuts on his arms and a small cut next to his neck, an attack he narrowly deflected, all the while Wolfsbane weaved in and out and to the left and the right, avoiding Aiden's and Morgan's gunfire and using Cole as a shield against them. But even with all that speed, Cole could still force back Wolfsbane with his raw strength and his powers, added to that, he also wasn't alone. Cole thrust his spear forward and forced Wolfsbane back, right into Aiden's line of fire, allowing him to hit Wolfsbane with two green scorching shots that knocked Wolfsbane on his back and forced him to roll to recover, just as Morgan made a Lift FIeld and made him fly into the air, right into a thunderbolt courtesy of Cole. Aiden rushed forward next to Cole and Morgan did the same, the three of them scoring multiple hits before Wolfsbane forced them back with a sudden blast of poison gas. Onee that that burst into purple flames in a powerful explosion.

"What the…" Aiden pondered.

"Dust!" Morgan answered for him, recognizing the energy that resulted from combining powers and dust, or in Wolfsbane's case, his semblance.

Wolfsbane rushed forward and almost got close enough to grab Cole's mask, Cole jumping back while Aiden and Morgan attacked him. Wolfsbane blew out poison gas and covered the area, blinding them partially to his movements. They were however good enough to battle him to a stalemate, Aiden with his baton and gun, and Morgan with her sword and hit and run tactics. Aiden eventually jumped over Wolfsbane and hit him with several bullets as he rainstormed them to him in a fancy flip while Morgan set him on fire with a Superthermal trap. Wolfsbane rolled on the ground and used the flames with his poison breath to create another purple explosion, one that forced them to jump back, and once they did, he attacked. Nearly ripping away Aiden's mask and forcing him away by throwing an explosive in the same motion, forcing to do a large backflip to avoid the explosion. All the while Morgan tried to use her Psycho shock on Wolfsbane, but he stepped out of the way and engaged her in melee, knocking her sword to the side, and grabbing her wrist, and using it to force her arm behind her back. He would have killed her right there with a stab to the back of the throat, if it wasn't for Morgan Phantom Shifting away to a safe position, Wolfsbane didn't waste time though, and threw another explosive her way, also forcing her to dodge out of the way.

Cole rushed at him with several thrusts and a lightning palm, Wolfsbane immediately creating another poison cloud to cover his movements. But even so, he didn't see Jack as he appeared in a Time Rush next to him and hit him in the leg with his axe, tripping him up, and then blasting him to the ground with another shot of the D12. As Wolfsbane was slammed to the ground Cole took the chance to shock him on the ground with a continuous stream of blue lightning, but even while being electrified, Wolfsbane powered through and did rising spinning kicks to push both of them away while blowing out poison gas.

The poison gas may not affect them thanks to their masks, but it was an efficient tool to blind them leaving them somewhat unaware of his moves. Wolfsbane began to switch attacks back and forth, alternating between attacking Cole or Jack with his daggers, and suddenly he would try to go ahead and tear away the masks from either of them. Both were able to jump back and dodged his attempts as he kept blowing out poison gas. But even while being that dexterous, Wolfsbane was still getting hit, suddenly feeling Jack's axe on his side and the bobbing and weaving to avoid the shots from his shotgun, and in the end walking into Cole's path and feel a blast of lightning on his back. Eventually, however, it got much worse for Wolfsbane as Morgan concentrated her Psychoshock on him. Wolfsbane dropped to a knee and received a double roundhouse kick from both Jack and Cole, augmented by their respective powers, the kicks slammed to a pillar, leaving cracks on the pillar and leaving him recovering his breath. Right at that moment, Aiden aimed his handguns again and charged up singing shots, but once he fired… Wolfsbane disappeared in an outwards blast of poison, a massive cloud covering where he had been.

"Okay… where'd he go?" Jack looked around trying to find their enemy. Wolfsbane however attacked Morgan, dashing next to her and nearly grabbing her mask if it wasn't for her leaning back at the last moment. Right as that happened Morgan phantom shifted away to avoid further attacks and left a Superthermal trap behind. But Wolfsbane managed to dash away from the explosion as he continued to create poison clouds around the battlefield.

"Can't let him do that," Morgan said to herself as he used a large amount of wind dust and channeled it with her Kinetic Blast to create a Typhoon that dispersed the poison clouds, revealing Wolfsbane right as he was about to attack Aiden.

Aiden saw him coming, and parried a dagger attack aimed at his mask with his gun at the last second, while countering with three strikes of his baton and three gunshots, making sure to keep Wolfsbane's attention while the others moved in. They struck before Wolfsbane could create another poison cloud, and finally cornered him between the four of them. To his credit, Wolfsbane still endured, and managed to hit Aiden with a slash to his aura and a kick to his leg, hit Morgan with a shallow stab to her shoulder, hit Cole with a back kick to the stomach, and hit Jack with an elbow to the face. But it didn't compare to the damage they did to him. They beat him up, they electrified him, stomped on his knee, shot him at point-blank, and finally, Jack put him on Time Stop, and the four of them blasted him away with green fire, gunshots, lightning, and kinetic force. Blasting him right into one of the tables.

"Urrghh…" Wolfsbane was barely standing, but he pulled himself to his feet.

"Okay, if I ever met a dangerous and tough son of a bitch." Jack quipped as he recovered his breath.

"We'll probably need him alive. He might know something." Aiden said.

"He doesn't seem talkative," Jack responded.

"No… but it's probably our best option." Morgan said.

"Alright then, guess nighty night pal," Cole said as he charged up a thunderbolt, Wolfsbane could barely move, but suddenly, he stood straighter, staring directly at them and daring them with an upwards nod.

"Hmm…" Something was off, but regardless, Cole fired his thunderbolt… and watched as it was blocked by a massive mass of hair.

"What the fuck?" Jack exclaimed, the four of them surprised as the mass of light blonde hair became electrified, and seemed to fire the thunderbolt back at them.

"Watch out!" Cole shouted and the four of them dodged out of the way of the thunderbolt. But just as they dodged, they found themselves surrounded by massive strands of hair.

Their eyes widened as the mass separated into multiple strands thick as ropes, coiling around the pillars and rushing at them through the air. They seemed to have a point of origin, but it was far away and behind another pillar, the strands currently attacking them were attempting to grab their extremities, all of them jumping and dodging out of the way of the wild strands of hair, but the strands seemed coordinated, as they kept dodging they seem to follow them, separate them, and push them towards were other stands would go strands, and it was seemingly an endless amount. Eventually, they attacked and fired at the hair with their powers and guns, Morgan and Aiden tried to burn it, while Cole tried to shock it, and Jack tried to shoot it with the D12. For the most part, it seemed to work, them being able to battle with the strand of hair and even cut away some of the strands, but suddenly, some of the strands coiled together and formed a more powerful strand that was able to repel their powers back at them, and it also seemed resistant to bullets. The shock of it was enough to distract them, and it allowed the thicker strands to rapidly separate and wrap around Aiden's arm, Jack's leg, Morgan's arm, and Cole's neck.

The strands of hair pulled and lifted them with enormous strength and flung them and slammed them against multiple walls, relentlessly up until they fought back. Cole tearing the hair away with his strength, Morgan using her sword to cut the strand that was holding her, Jack cutting the one holding him with a shot of the D12, and Aiden burning the one around his arm, all of them dropping with shallow breaths after being ragdolled by massive strands of hair.

"Okay…" Cole coughed. "Whos' there!?" He called as he and the other steadily stood up. The hair strands seemed to retract back behind one of the pillars, and finally, a woman possibly in her fifties, with a red dress, and with long blonde hair that reached all the way to the back of her thighs walked out from behind the pillar.

"You…" She seemed calm, but also seemed to aim a certain amount of venom towards them with her words.

"Who are you!?" Morgan demanded as she and the others aimed their guns and powers at her.

"I'm Madam Sangria." She answered immediately.

"Are you part of the Taupes, or any of the families?" Jack asked.

"No, I was neutral on all their affairs." She responded as she kept walking towards them, her hair lifting itself and moving wildly as she kept walking.

"Then why the hell are you fighting us?" Cole asked next.

"I was neutral… but then you four appeared. You were the ones at Fairwind." She said to them.

"Fairwind…?" Morgan raised an eyebrow, the four of them looked at each other, not sure what they did specifically to her.

"Do you remember a girl named Prata? I know you do, you killed her after all. You must know… You. Killed. My. Niece." She said to them, her face morphing into a hateful scowl.

"... Shit." Aiden cursed under his breath.

Sangria's hair extended in an instant, she whipped it towards them with a movement of her head, the hair changing as it became solid and sharp, the result a giant blade that covered the entire hall and forced them to duck and dodge out of the way.

"Okay, that's a new one," Jack said while taking cover behind one of the pillars, he moved in in Time Rush and tried to get close to her, but Sangria seemed to have very good reflexes, as the moment he saw an orange blur, her hair coiled around her and formed a protective shell. One that wrapped itself around Jack's arm the moment he made contact with it.

"What the- Urrgh!" Jack was caught off as the hair began to manhandle him as it slammed him against the pillars, the floors, and the walls.

Cole immediately jumped into the air and used his thrusters while Aiden and Morgan attacked Sangria, forcing her to use some of her hair to bloc the gunshots and powers, as the stand of hair became thinner, Cole jumped and used a Gigawatt blade to cut the mass holding Jack, catching him before he could fall.

"Ugh…" Jack shook his head.

"You okay?" Cole asked.

"No." Jack deadpanned and both of them quickly dodged in different directions as a tentacle of hair tried to slam both of them to the ground.

As the fight continued, Sangria used her hair to block and repel every single one of their powers, Aiden's fire, Cole's lightning, and Morgan's diverse kind of attacks, not only that, but if any dust was used against her, she could use herself to strike back. They realized it when Morgan hit her blast of wind and ice dust combined with her Kinetic Blast, the result being her hair absorbing the energy and using it to strike back, he suddenly whipping forward and a huge amount of ice needles and a frostbite wind going towards them.

"Take cover!" Morgan called out, the four of them taking cover behind the pillars as the needles and the wind kept coming.

"So… her niece was a copycat… so she has copycat crazy hair. Yeah… totally makes sense- Aargh!" Cole began to choke as a strand of hair wrapped around the pillar he was hiding behind and began to choke him. He quickly cut the strand with a gigawatt blade, and fought off another as it tried to restrain him.

The four of them had to deal with multiple stands as they kept fighting her, any time they tried to poke out to shoot at her or use their powers, a strand of hair would find its way towards and they would have to fight it off, or be ragdolled, Morgan and Aiden being caught off guard and slammed to nearby wall before they could get themselves free, and Cole and Jac being slammed to the floor before rolling out of the way to not be slammed again. All the while, Sangria continued her endless wave of attacks with her hair, sending fire, ice, and lightning through it as she kept trying to pummel them with other thicker strands. The more hair in a strand or mass, the stronger and more capable it became… and it was working to effectively pin them down.

Aiden tried to shoot at her, and her hair protected her as a shield. Cole tried to use lightning grenades and rockets and her hair began to send out lightning blasts as it slammed against them, Morgan tried to use her Psychoshock, and the result was her hair acting as some sort of mental shield and then sending out a strange counter mental attack. Morgan could resist it, but the effects were disorienting. Jack attempted to get close with Time Dodges and Time Rush, but Sangria reacted every time and forced him back by covering herself, or catching him and forcing him to free himself as a whip of hair dangled him by the foot. All the while they still had to evade the giant mass of hair that tried to smash them or cut them half, more than once saving each other as they got caught by a sneaky strand.

They also had another thing to worry about. Sangria's multiple attacks and ragdolling had managed to knock the masks from their faces, and Wolfsbane was still stalking around. He sneakily got close to Jack and got ready to envelop him in a cloud of poison gas.

"No!" Morgan shouted as she made used wind dust and a Lift field to push the poison away, leaving Wolfsbane struggling to keep his footing from the massive wind dust, just long enough for Cole to hit him with a thunderbolt, and for Jack to send him flying past Sangria with Time Enhanced dropkick.

Jack nodded his thanks towards Morgan, but was caught off as he avoided a hair whip and then had to jump over another. Morgan wasn't that lucky as she was hit on the back and sent rolling on the ground, Aiden arriving to save her and pulled her to safety as he dashed as a mass of green fire and black smoke. Cole tried to shoot lightning bolts at Sangria, but even he was pinned down.

"Hey!" Jack called out as he dashed close to Sangria and shot with the D12 Sangria blocking the shots with her hair, but making her focus on him.

"Pay attention!" Jack challenged her.

Jack acted as bait as he was able to avoid most of the hair attacks, but even he had to take cover as Sangria used her to channel dust and other powers. Their fight kept shaking the foundations of the hall as the four of them kept throwing everything they had at her, whether it was powers, bullets, or explosives. And Sangria just reflected everything back in giant waves of elements, and hundreds of projectiles, presumably all of them being individual hairs.

"She doesn't seem to run out!" Aiden said, quickly dashing away as smoke as the two tentacles of hair destroyed the pillar he was hiding behind.

"I think we are just giving more power!" Morgan said as her Backlash saved her from being cut in half by a massive whip of hair.

"Come on… she must get tired! If we all attack together…" Cole proposed, it was probably a bad idea, but they were willing to give it a go. Nothing else had worked so far, and they knew that she could only block so much with different parts of her hair. And so when they found an opening, they attacked together. Aiden using an entire magazine scorching and combustion shots, Cole with several thunderbolts, rockets, and grenades, Morgan with her Superthermal, ice dust, a crescent wave of lightning coming from her sword, and a Kinetic Blast, and finally Jack with multiple time enhanced shots with time reloads, and two Time Blasts. The attack was a massive wave, but what happened was that Sangria called all her back to her and made it condense into a large shield, enhancing it with hard light dust and creating a barrier that seemed to absorb all of their attacks.

"Uh… Okay, maybe she can." Cole stammered, and Sangria sent the massive wave back at them.

"Stand back!" Jack said as he made his Time Shield, the four of them contributed in a way to save their lives. Aiden with a rock dust grenade that created a spike to hide behind while he created fire around the shield to block the incoming ice, Cole holding out his polarity wall in front of them while charging and reinforcing up Jack's Time Shield with lightning. Morgan using her Backlash on the Time Shield and creating a Lift Field that diverted part of the attack, and Jack putting every single portion of Chronon he could muster into the shield. The attack hit the shield and the four of them managed to resist and endure, the rock spike disintegrating and the Time Shield barely holding on… but in the end, they survived.

"Huff… Puff…" Jack and the others recovered their breath as the giant hall had been turned to nothing more than rubble, burning wood, and frozen scattered stalagmites.

"Huff… Huff…" Sangria seemed to be affected as well, it had required an effort on her part, and part of her hair was burnt and frozen. But she seemed ready to keep going, she had a different level of power.

"Okay... we need to do something." Jack began to charge Chronon to fire a Time Stop.

"Jack no!" But Aiden stopped him, Jack looked perplexed but noticed that Sangria was already shifting her hair into another shield.

"Fuck…" Jack cursed as he stopped charging the Time Stop, he hadn't used his time powers much, as he had been mostly a hard to hit bait, but he certainly didn't want her using his powers against them.

The four of them seemed to sit at a stalemate when Sangria decided to act, sending out three massive whips of hair, forming into tentacles and hair blades. The Outlaws avoided most of the attacks, but eventually were caught as Sangria used everything she had to catch them, unleashing a massive onslaught that they weren't able to escape from, not even Jack, as there was no safe space or point he could run to. She broke the walls, the floor, the pillars, and the ceiling as she kept attacking with her giant whips of hair, everything that stood in her way was demolished, leaving massive holes on the walls and craters on the floor. As she hit them and smashed them against the walls and pillars, she made sure that they could not fight back, beating them until it seemed that they could not fight back, only one person flared up as if his aura was dangerously close to completely beaking, and that was Aiden, something she found curious with all the punishment she was delivering, but nevertheless, she restrained them with two of her hair tentacles, making it wrap around them and pushing them again the floor, leaving the third whip ready to finish them as they struggled to get free.

"Huff… your four are too stubborn. You better just die already!" She said with a sneer as she crushed them harder with her hair and raised the fina whip, she would start with Jack and Cole.

"Police! Hands behind your head!" Bleu shouted as the TTU squads breached the hall. Sangria snapped her attention to them, and so she did with her massive hair whip.

"What the fuck is- open fire!" Bleu ordered, the TTU fired at Sangria and she batted them away with her hair whip, sending them flying back, but the TTU had given The Outlaws enough of a distraction to free themselves. Aiden and Morgan freeing their hands and burning the whip that was holding them, while Jack and Cole pushed the hair whip back for them to cut it in half, Jack with Time enhanced cuts from his axe, and Cole with a gigawatt blade.

"Grrr!" Sangria grunted as she tried to restrain them once again, but all of them rolled out of the way and began to fire at her, and so did the TTU.

It seemed even someone like her had her limits, as her hair began to fail and they began to see flashes of her dark red aura. So she decided to retreat, she created one final wave of needle projectiles, forcing all of her attackers to take cover while she escaped through one of the many holes she had created, Wolfsbane following right after her. Once the chaos and the dust settled, there was barely anything remaining of the hall, and the Outlaws were all beaten, bruised, and injured.

"What… Who was that?" Bleu asked the four banged up Outlaws, none of them responded as they focused on recovering their breath and powering through their injuries.

It seemed like Okro would not be their biggest worry, not by a long shot.

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A/N: What? Another loss on their part? Well, it wouldn't be entertaining if there wasn't someone that could challenge them, would it? They are gonna have to make an effort here! And just so you know... TTU will stand for Tactical Team Units, my OC Mistral SWAT.

And well did this come out late, the day before the month ended in fact, well, better late than never. I hope it was of your enjoyment, and don't worry, the four of them will face Sangria again, and more! This is still technically just the beginning of their journey through Remnant. More enemies will come, and more allies as well!

Feel free to follow, favorite, and review if you wish to. See ya next time!