A/N: This one could have gone up earlier but once again I extended it a bit. But I do like this one. Funnily enough, the title was the hardest part as the original title idea got scrapped since… well it will fit better for a future chapter. Anyways I hope you enjoy another big chapter.

Beta: Genatools (In Spirit)

Chapter 21: Not Dead Yet.

One could say that the point of defeat was to test whether one could get back up or not, and stand back was something neither Cole, Jack, Morgan or Aiden were strangers to. It didn't get rid of the sting of it, or the injuries for that matter. Regardless of aura, regeneration, and overall toughness, they all walked out with their fair share of bruises and wounds. And the fact was that they got lucky.

If the TTU hadn't arrived chances were that they would have been killed. They were played and made for fools as Madam Sangria dismantled them and left them helpless. She was far more powerful than anyone they had ever faced in Remnant, and left them wondering how truly strong they were if she alone could fight all of them at once… if they could be ready to face her or someone else like her.

"... I must apologize. I think… I do think the blame here falls on me. Someone must have caught wind of what we were doing. Someone must have talked and warned the Taupes. I should have been more careful-" Cinzent began to apologize.

"Hey, hey. Easy… could've been worse. We still caught them before they were ready for us." Cole tried to ease her mind.

"I… I don't wanna know what they had planned if those two were the unprepared trap." Jack quipped.

"If we hadn't rushed the raid… It might've been a completely different story." Cinzent said. She, The Outlaws, and Lionheart were having another scroll call. The four wounded back at their rented apartment.

"There's no point thinking about it. It's already in the past… egh-" Morgan held her side as pain surfaced. She had felt that pain ever since Sangria's hair had smashed them against the wall… one of the many times. It seemed like one of them had bruised her ribs.

"Are you… are you four doing okay? It seems the fight with Miss Sangria was… uh-" Lionheart began.

"It was an absolute shitshow, there's no way around that. We'll survive though..." Aiden said as rolled a shoulder, trying to get rid of some bone ache he felt.

"That's one way of putting it… but please, do not think it is your fault. Anyone lesser would've been killed. You managed to fight and survive in the end. In my experience sometimes that's the best one can ask for." Lionheart said.

"I mean yeah… we fought back. Still didn't even feel like we even touched her though." Jack sighed.

"We were getting there… her hair was burning and she seemed tired." Cole pointed out.

"Yeah, and we were far worse off," Aiden said. "Doesn't help Wolfsbane was there as well… we spent too long fighting him."

"Gotta give it to him. He knows how to fight." Morgan mentioned.

"Mmm…" Aiden grunted his agreement. Wolfsbane could indeed fight back the four of them for a time.

"Even if this Madam Sangria and Wolfsbane escaped. The stronghold fell. It is not a total loss… far from it as many of Taupes were apprehended. And surely there's something that can be gathered from it. Anything that might give us a hint of the true base of operations of Taupes could aid us and you in your pursuit." Cinzent said.

"If they didn't get rid of any evidence. Perhaps not everything, but if they were setting up a trap… I-I… I wouldn't call the families that reckless. Not even the Taupes." Lionheart interjected.

"Even so… perhaps now we can begin a proper crackdown on them and the other families. We've shown that the Mistral Police and the huntsmen and huntresses are able to fight against them, that they are not invincible. With this I can show the council that action can be taken, results will bring more support, the people will know that the families don't control Mistral fully yet. And I don't believe the Taupes will go after you if you stand with us on that, they'll think twice before-"

"Cinzent… I think that's not the case. As long as Sangria stays out there, she'll come for us." Morgan interrupted.

"Uh… wha- what do you… How are you certain?"

"She told us. She's in it for herself, she was neutral with all the families before but… then we came along." Cole began.

"More than two months ago now we… Took care of the Golden Blades that were in Fairwind. That's how we dismantled the gang. But in order to do so, we had to fight them and their leaders. One of them was a young woman called Prata. She was Sangria's niece… we killed her during the fight… And Sangria seems to know it was us." Aiden explained. He did see the irony of someone coming after him because he helped in killing their niece. It wasn't a comforting thought. But even so, he knew Prata had made her choices, choices that had forced Cole to kill her. He couldn't say he was truly sorry for her, but he could feel pity for Sangria.

"I… see… If that's the case this Sangria is going to be an issue, and she decided to stand with the Taupes, in order to get to you." Cinzent brought a hand to her chin.

"Yeah, but speaking of that. It's the first time we heard of her… all we know is that she works with them. Like other smugglers and such… she is… something in the underworld. I think that much is easy to guess. But who is she really?" Cole asked.

"It's… the first time I've heard of her… I… I asked some people I know but they knew nothing. There's nothing I could find about her through any normal means. I… " Cinzent stammered.

"I believe I can be of assistance here." Lionheart raised his hand.

"Wait, you know her?" Jack asked him.

"I… Well, no. I don't. But I do believe I might know who she really is, or… have an idea." Lionheart took a deep breath before beginning. "Several years ago I sent huntsmen on a mission requested by the council, it entailed looking into the supply lines for some of the families, supply lines of the more… expensive contraband. Dust jewels and eh… heavy military ordnance. The top of the line that no normal smuggler can obtain."

"She… doesn't seem to be a smuggler though. At least I don't feel like she is." Jack said.

"Do let me finish, please. Ehem." Lionheart said before continuing. "The investigation ended on a supply cache recovered and handed back to Atlas, the smuggler band apprehended. But what was discovered was that… there seems to be a… secret organization in Mistral. There are clans and gangs of different criminals aside from the smugglers and the families. Brokers and assassins are abound as well on the farthest reaches of the kingdom. But there are some that manage to remain hidden, their names only known to a select few… if they even have names."

"So… secret what? Crime syndicates? Isn't that the families kind of shtick?" Cole asked.

"You are correct. No, they are… middlemen, for a lack of a better word. Neutral parties that specialize in what they do. We have known for a while that there's an assassin organization in Mistral. But there seems to be more. One of them… is what if I remember correctly was called… The Swans. The leaders and the best suppliers of the Mistral Black Market. Able to sell and auction products between the families themselves and the higher circles of society, able to get their hands in even the more obscure of items. And to operate without leaving a trace."

"How is it that you know about them then?" Morgan asked.

"L-like I said, a mission and an investigation were forwarded by the Council," Lionheart answered.

"Okay, and what do the Swans have to do with Sangria? Is she part of them?" Aiden asked.

"It's a bit more complicated… The investigation was fruitless in the end and only served as a way to incarcerate a supplying band of experimental weapons and to learn more about the organization. But there was something we managed to gather. The Swans are an organization that has an elective system where the next in line is already present and voted for. An elected heir if you could say. During the time, the active leader wished for someone in particular to replace him. The only thing we could gather from the arms dealers at the time was that there was an internal struggle that had them divided, and the Swan head wanted a prodigy of his to follow after him." Lionheart explained.

"So that's her? She's the prodigy?" Jack asked.

"There's always a chance that anyone can master abilities, aura, and semblances like hers on their own, yours are an example. But if what you said about her semblance is true then… I can only think of a few people with that kind of raw strength. And even less the people that can possibly assist in training such a complex semblance. To control one's hair and… use people's semblances against them. B-b-b But! The Swan head apparently had someone that was training their prodigy, one of the few people I know with the experience and knowledge of obscure semblances. Master Xiu." Lionheart said.

"Master Xiu…" Morgan repeated.

"I've heard of him. A couple of families with aspiring huntsmen and huntresses in training have tried seeking him out. Offering a lot for any information. A sort of hermit if I remember correctly." Cinzent said.

"And one that is very hard to find. I and other headmasters and authorities reached an… agreement with him to not disturb him. He would rather not deal with anyone if he can help it… and rarely does he stay in the same place." Lionheart said.

"But then that means you know where to look?" Cole asked the headmaster.

"I uh- ehem, sorry. I can give you the last few places that he visited in his wandering, and the last few reports. But nothing concrete comes out of them. Maybe if you find someone that has recently met him… then maybe you'll be able to guess where he is. If he remains there… he's been known to move around and to never stay in one place. Makes contacting him incredibly difficult." Lionheart told them.

"What agreement do you have with him? Why does he want to be left alone?" Aiden asked.

"Eh… past lives. He has a criminal past, and decided to get away from it. He assisted us, and we agreed that he would be free as long as he didn't return to the city. Let's leave it at that." Lionheart said.

"It's the first time I've heard of it. I knew about shorter sentences and the possibility of early release but… Why do I get the feeling that there's no record of any of this? How many people have had those same deals offered to them?" Cinzent asked Lionheart.

"You are right, it's off the books. But believe me, it is better that way. The only way to keep something secret in Mistral for a long time is to make it seem as if it never existed to begin with. That's what Xiu's past is. It doesn't exist anymore. He is merely a wanderer and a teacher. And to be fair… he was… a special case." Lionheart responded.

"Well, your special case seems to have been training all sorts of people then. If he has trained Sangria as you say." Cole pointed out.

"Was that part of the deal?" Aiden wondered.

"Officially, he's just a freelance teacher and… master if you could say. As long as his training sessions don't break any laws and he doesn't return to his past life. His students and who he chooses to train are his business."

"Would he be willing to talk to us? Would he tell us what he knows about a former student of his?" Cinzent asked.

"You think we'll even find him? Whether he would or not won't matter if he's unreachable." Morgan interjected.

"Well, you have proven yourselves capable trackers. If nothing else… Perhaps it could be worth a try." Lionheart answered.

"You said our best bet was anyone that had recently met him, do you have anyone in mind? What about those families? Do we have a list of them we can go and ask?" Aiden questioned the headmaster.

"There's a couple of rich families that might know something. Not all of them live in the capital, however. There's however one person I know who has met him recently… somewhat. Perhaps more than five years ago. But he has met Xiu multiple times and might be your best option."

"Okay, so who is it?" Jack asked.

"Kayden Glas. One of the huntsmen that were part of that investigation on the Swans. He's also one of the current huntsmen that has recently been out of contact. He was due to call someone over a month ago, and the last we heard of him was over six months ago… more than a year since we last met him in person."

"Is he undercover or something? Awfully long with no contact whatsoever." Cole questioned. They then noticed Lionheart tapping his fingers together.

"Uh… headmaster?" Morgan tried to get his attention.

"Oh, sorry I-... I sent him on a… personal request. He is on a long mission to scout out for Grimm nests and safe locations in the kingdom. Any place that could have natural dust or that could serve as a settlement or a CCT relay could be of great importance for the kingdom. On top of keeping track of areas that we usually can't. The Grimm and different bandits or even the families could be hiding in remote areas without us knowing." Lionheart explained.

"Sounds like a lot for one man. And he agreed?" Morgan asked him.

"He did. He has served for many years as a capable huntsman, and I must trust that he can take care of himself. I can give you the details of his mission if you seek him out. I hope you are able to find him." Lionheart wished them success.

"If we can't find him, then we are gonna have to check with the rich families. Or some other way…" Cole guessed.

"I hope you remember that finding Xiu will only help with finding more about Madam Sangria. The Taupes and the other families will continue to make their moves regardless if she helps them or not." Cinzent reminded them.

"Well… that's gonna be an issue and a half. But what is going to be the families' next move? We… got any idea?" Jack asked.

"Not for the moment, but I'm sure the investigators I know will be able to turn up with something. With this little break on the families' activities, we can continue to pressure them and perhaps even remove their activities from the capital."

"I don't think that's gonna happen." Aiden immediately said. "They won't be pushed out of the city just like that, and even if you push someone out, there's always someone else that can take that spot. They are smart and persistent. They won't give this kind of control away just like that. We've surprised them… but now we need to be careful. Because now is the moment where they might start pulling strings."

"Whatever strings they have, their reach does not yet reach me or-"

"Cinzent! It actually does reach you!" Aiden interrupted her. "Someone already got a hint that we were planning that raid. Someone's already keeping an eye on you! You gotta start being careful because this is just the start… Even if this war is over sometime soon, doesn't mean they'll stop. They won't disappear overnight. We can cripple them, but getting rid of them it's gonna take a hell of a long time."

"Sangria has her own bone to pick with us. But they know you are involved, and probably that you are set on what you are doing." Morgan added. "If you are gonna keep being a thorn on their side… I don't think they'll have any qualms on how to make you stop."

"A full-on war with the families is difficult Cinzent. We can keep the peace here. It's what we've always done. But please… don't be reckless. They have far more strength outside of our reach in distant settlements, and other connections as well. If you pressure them too hard and you are not careful… you could even end up as another unfortunate accident. It takes a lot to depose one leader, please do take that from me." Lionheart said.

"... I… understand. But I cannot, and I will not stop now. Their war would just escalate if we don't stop them, and I won't let them take advantage of all the chaos and negativity to start sowing even more and let the Grimm run rampant. I don't understand why the violence escalated so quickly… but we are already dealing within the far corners of the kingdom. Your huntsmen and huntresses are doing everything to maintain control out there and in the settlements Leo. Is up to us to fight them here." Cinzent spoke.

"Hey, we are here all the way... At least until things calm down. We are also not gonna let them get away with all of this, that's why we are here. Right?" Cole said and the others nodded. "Gotta give it to you though, you sure have balls," Cole said to Cinzent.

"Thanks… I suppose…"

"Yeah, but hey… if we need to worry about the families. For now, maybe we should try and see what they are gonna do. We've been hitting them so far, but the Taupes gotta be doing something else to try and be the ones to influence the people here… like… having councilmen in their pockets or something…" Jack said to her.

"... You are right. Maybe that would be the best bet." Cinzent pondered her options.

"But, maybe try to keep it down. There's gotta be some investigators you know you can trust." Jack suggested.

"There are... Alright, this might take longer, as it will take a while for them to find any leads while being discreet. But I hope I'll be able to find something in the future, something big… something that can truly cripple them."

"Sounds like a solid plan. We can worry about Sangria and anything else that we can take care of." Morgan said for the four of them. Everyone seemed to agree.

"For now… if you want to help, you should talk with Leo here, or perhaps with Lieutenant Bleu. he might have some tasks or cases you could assist with. I'm gonna do my best to involve the least amount of people in this private investigation."

"Mmm… that's probably for the best. We don't wanna stir them too much if we are gonna try and hit them hard." Aiden approved

"I'll send you the details on Kayden, and some of the rich families that may know about Xiu. I happen to know a few of them. I'll also forward a mission from the mission boards if you wish to help that way. There's still plenty of Grimm to take care of… and perhaps you might want to look at the bounties… you could begin to hit the families outside the confines of the city and venture out to the kingdom. There are a couple of bounties that might be affiliated with them, and some search and destroy missions for hidden bases and outposts." The headmaster told them.

"I guess we'll see… but we'll definitely think about it and see what we can do," Cole responded.

"Excellent… well… if that is all for now. I say that… well at least we have a plan to move forward." Lionheart chuckled nervously.

"For now we do… I hope we speak again soon. I hope you heal and that you stay safe." Cinzent said to them.

"Likewise." Morgan nodded, Lionheart bowed his head and his screen disappeared, Cinzent followed right after. And so the four of them were left alone.

"Ugh…" Jack slumped down on his seat. "Is not gonna end… it's just gonna get harder." He said as he ran a hand through his face. "What's the plan if she appears again?… I mean, she wants to kill us. And she took us all on… I get the feeling she might try to do it herself."

"I don't know… she's with the Taupes now. That means she's doing something with them as well. Probably supplying them if she really is the leader of those Swans." Cole guessed.

"If we have to fight her… we could try surrounding her. We didn't get a chance this time. But maybe we can surprise her if we attack from all directions." Aiden suggested.

"If she lets us… I don't think it's going to be that easy." Morgan said as she rolled her shoulder. A small grunt came from her as she felt a sharp pain on her side.

"Hey… you okay?" Cole asked her.

"Kinda… I might need to rest for a couple days." Morgan said. Cole and Jack had a healing factor that was able to heal them relatively quickly from most injuries, on top of being pretty durable themselves. Aiden had aura that could protect and heal his boy, on top of being very resilient even before having aura. But her… her powers hadn't granted her a regeneration of any kind, and she knew that without her Backlash, she would've been dead on many occasions. She would heal, however, and quicker than any normal person.

"Hey, it's fine… as long as nothing is broken. Is there… anything broken?" Jack asked.

"No, but I think there might be some internal bruising," Morgan responded.

"... Hey, you think you can fix that Macgrath?" Aiden asked Cole.

"I think… I already healed all of us once, but if you still feel it then it must have been bad. Okay, we can check after we rest for the night. First thing tomorrow we can check." Cole planned his pseudo treatment. He could heal a lot of injuries, but his healing pulse seems to only target certain injuries at a time. Doing it continuously did nothing, as his electricity would target the same injuries as before, as it was in a way continuously healing. Once those areas recovered totally, then he would be able to heal further.

"Okay Doc." Morgan quipped.

"Heh."

"So we are resting for now? I mean I don't mind. My leg still feels off." Jack said.

"And my shoulder still feels slightly out of its socket. I guess while we stay here we can try and listen in on the spyware on the ring. Maybe someone will say something about Sangria showing herself. Someone must know her." Aiden reasoned.

"Maybe… guess we'll have to see." Jack stood up from his seat and limped towards the hallway. "I know it's late, but I'm using the shower. I feel I need it after today."

The Outlaws decided to take two days to rest. Or rest as much as they could knowing Sangria was out there, and possibly looking for them. They didn't know exactly if she was, but it was a good bet, meaning they had to be extra careful. Not going outside, and not exposing themselves before they were ready to be back in action. Which led to a very lazy couple of days in the apartment.

"Okay, what you think?" Jack asked Cole from an armchair as they stared into a hard light screen, their TV. They were looking through the channels to see if they could find something entertaining. All the while passing a ball to each other out of boredom.

"Reality show, trash. Change it." Cole said as he laid on the couch.

"Yep, agreed." Jack changed the channels and caught the ball at the same time... "Okay... documental?"

"Eh… no feeling it," Cole responded and caught the ball as well.

"Alright, are we still gonna keep searching? Because at this rate let's go back to Grimm's Squad Adventures. At least that cartoon looked fun." Jack said and caught the ball.

"Cheesy is what it looked like." Cole kept up as they continued to toss the ball as they spoke.

"Well we've gone through what… forty channels already? I'm tired of looking through this shit so might as well set for that."

"There's gotta be something… I mean… maybe we can find one where they show that Vytal Festival."

"Well, haven't found it yet. But I'm getting bored, and I am the one with the remote. I say we might as well try and see one, eh?"

"You only have it because I can't touch it." Cole pointed out.

"Yeah, and means I get to choose in the end." Jack rapidly began to change the channels until he found the one he was looking for. All with a mocking grin, catching the ball as Cole threw it at him.

"Jackass."

"Yeah, yeah. Fuck you too." Jack replied and tossed the ball back, both of them sitting back as an episode of the show started.

"Hey! Did anyone of you leave the toilet clogged?" Morgan walked into the living room.

"Don't look at me. I did nothing." Cole raised both his hands in defense, and subsequently was hit in the face with the ball. "Argh… really?"

"Sorry." Jack immediately said.

"You two never stop, do you." Morgan deadpanned.

"Okay, the ball was his idea." Jack pointed at Cole.

"... Anyways. Did any of you two do it?" Morgan asked again.

"Already said I didn't," Cole said first.

"Wasn't me either. What about Pearce?" Jack followed right after.

"He's not exactly my first guess." Morgan retorted.

"Oh, so you are betting it was us then," Cole said.

"If I had to suspect someone of breaking something or not flushing. It would be you two." Morgan crossed her arms.

"Okay, ouch. But is it that bad? Did it stop working or-"

"Yeah." Morgan interrupted Jack.

"Well shit. Literally."

"It wasn't us. Either you did it and you are trying to shift the blame, or it was Pearce. Where is he?" Cole looked around as he hadn't seen Aiden yet.

"He went to buy take-out for the day," Morgan answered.

"Why is he always the one buying lunch when we are holding out on a place? I feel he's the one that does it the most." Jack questioned.

"Eh… You can trust the guy to go and come back quickly. Though I don't know if the bastard would call us if he got ambushed." Cole said.

"At least he knows what to buy… though he could try and bring food with more flavor." Morgan leaned back on one of the walls.

"Heh, yeah. But anyway… It wasn't you then?" Cole asked her.

"No." Morgan insisted.

"Well, then we'll have to ask him when he…" The three of them turned as they heard the door to the apartment open and saw Aiden. Wearing his green sweater and the rest of his attire, while opting to not use his coat or hat. "Ah, speak of the devil."

"So what are you three saying behind my back?" Aiden said as he placed three bags on the dining table.

"Did you clog the toilet?" Cole was the first to ask.

"... No," Aiden responded dryly.

"Okay, someone here's gotta be lying then. Because it's apparently clogged." Cole informed Aiden.

"Huh… Who found it?" Aiden asked them.

"I did." Morgan raised her hand. "No, I didn't do it. You honestly think I would clog it and then come here to try and blame one of you?" She asked them.

"Eh… there's always a chance." Aiden said, earning a scowl from Morgan at his "lack of faith".

"I didn't," Morgan emphasized.

"Uh-huh. Well, what are the chances no one did?" Jack asked the others.

"What, you think the shit crawled itself up the pipes? Like rats?" Cole asked.

"Hey, that actually happened to me once. I was on a trip through different states and I and… a friend of mine ended up in a motel that was just horrid. The pipes clogged at the very end and everything just kept accumulating until I'm pretty sure it went back up through. The place smelled bad, and I think the faucets' water came out a dark yellow." Jack told them.

"Ugh…" Cole and the others cringed at the thought.

"We got out of there and opted to keep driving through the night." Jack continued.

"Great… so if no one here did anything to clog it. Then the pipes might have an issue. Excellent." Morgan sighed.

"Either way the toilet is ruined… okay how bad is it? Is it like floating there or you can see it at the bottom just staging and-" Cole asked.

"Is not that bad just yet. But the water is not coming back and… it tries to return. I suppose we'll have to deal with that, we do have a plunger for something." Morgan said.

"Right… you'll be doing that?" Jack asked.

"Don't get ahead of yourself." Morgan retorted.

"Was just wondering if you volunteered for cleaning duty." Jack shrugged.

"Do we have to keep talking about shit right before eating?" Aiden asked them as he unpacked their food from the bags.

"I suppose not. What did you bring this time?" Morgan asked him.

"I don't know, it is apparently called a Roasted Kyu, Chai Fai, and some sort of seaweed. It looked like Chinese, so I decided to go ahead and try it. I did bring some smoothies though, someone was selling them on the side of the street." Aiden lined up the take-out so that anyone could take or try what they fancied.

"Well look at you bringing variety… so smoothies… strawberry flavored?" Jack asked as he walked to the table and looked at one of the smoothies.

"Yeah… your point? Wanted another flavor?" Aiden asked back.

"Uh... no, uh… nothing, don't worry about it."

"Don't worry guys! A Grimm beast cannot ignore a challenge, we'll face it head-on and combine our weapons into the Razor Laser! We'll take it out in one shot!" An overly hyped vice came from the hard light screen on the living room.

"The hell is that?" Aiden asked.

"Oh… a cartoon. Guess we can turn it off for now." Jack said.

"Nah, wait… it's getting to the good part." Cole said.

"Thought you found it cheesy." Jack raised an eyebrow.

"Eh… It's grown on me so far." Cole said, the others looked at each other and merely shrugged.

"You can keep watching while we eat, you know," Morgan said to Cole.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm going mom." Cole stood up from the couch and went to the table.

"Don't call me mom. Please." Morgan said as she opened a box of crusty meatballs.

"Hey, it's a compliment. You are a better mom than mine was… you are honest for starters." Cole responded.

"I would rather not be compared to your mom." Morgan insisted.

"You know… that's probably for the best," Cole said as he tried some rice. The four of them silently for a couple of minutes. Often looking towards the screen in the living room as the characters were in some big dramatic fight with something that looked like a weirdly proportioned Deathstalker… not at all accurate to the ones they had seen.

"Kinda smaller than the one we fought in the cave." Aiden pointed out.

"Yeah, and that one is not making more Grimm appear from its back… I say they are having it easy." Jack joined in.

"What are those sounds it's making? It's like a weird clicking instead of the screeching we normally hear." Morgan wondered.

"Eh… could be worse, the rest is very okay though. Though speaking of work. Do we have something on Sangria on our own?" Cole asked.

"Didn't we all check and listen for anything yesterday. Aiden's spyware didn't turn up with anything, it was just dealings with other smugglers, and them watching out for if police would try to crack them down." Jack said.

"Yeah, but he always checks first thing in the morning when he wakes up." Cole pointed at Aiden. "So… something? Nothing?" Cole asked him.

"There's actually something," Aiden responded.

"Truly?" Morgan and the others were surprised.

"It's not much. But putting two and two together I figured out what they call Sangria. I don't know if they know her real name. But for whatever reason, it seems they call her 'The Lady'." Aiden said.

"The Lady… are you sure?" Jack asked him.

"Remember Madam Hóngsè? Well someone visited her and warned her that The Lady made her move with the Taupes. My first instinct told me it was Sangria… as they said it happened just a day or two ago, just when we fought her. They talked a bit more about her. They don't know why she joined the Taupes, but it is clear they don't want to cross her or her organization." Aiden told them.

"The chances of The Lady being someone else are still there. But so far, there's a chance it is Sangria." Morgan said.

"It seems to match her. They said she seemed to join for personal reasons. That someone pissed her off. But also… remember how Madam Hóngsè spoke about an event before? Something Hóngsè could organize? Those guys that visited her that day seemed to work for some lady that wanted entertainment." Aiden spoke.

"I remember… they also offered her to work with other families, but also said she was already working with someone close to the Taupes." Cole nodded.

"Hmm…" Morgan put a hand to her chin. "Was there anything else?"

"Hóngsè wondered if the auction was still going. Someone told her that yes. We are talking about some big event with an auction involved." Aiden began.

"And if Lionheart was right… The Swans specialize in auctions. Sounds promising." Morgan nodded her head.

"It's gotta be her. Seems to match. And if it isn't… It is someone at least that is with the Taupes and is doing a serious event. Wait… did they say what that event was for? Apart from that auction?" Jack asked.

"They didn't go into details. I also don't know who might be going. Could be the families, or could be other interested buyers or groups." Aiden informed them.

"Hmm. If they are now with the Taupes then I don't think they are selling to the other families, wouldn't make sense." Cole said.

"It could be a neutral formality. It might also be not common knowledge she's with them, and it could act as a trap for the other families. Or not, it could be just a way for the Taupes to gain more influence while the people of the auction get rich. Either way, someone's winning something." Aiden pointed out.

"If it is an event, and if it is Sangria. Then she's going to be there. This event might be our chance to catch her off guard, and to throw another wrench on the Taupe's plan. And Hóngsè might just be our ticket in." Morgan began to form a plan.

"We'll need to know where and when… it could be soon," Aiden said.

"We might have to pay another visit then, maybe a more direct one this time." Cole proposed.

"Could work… didn't she also want to see if she could hire us as arena fighters? Maybe we could do that." Jack offered another angle.

"Going undercover might be a bit too risky if Sangria is involved, she knows our faces. And many others probably do so too already." Morgan said.

"True… But with luck, this event, this auction. It might be something that we can use to cripple them further. If not get Sangria…" Aiden said.

"We still gotta worry about Okro and Zerasmus… maybe they know where she'll be,'' Jack said.

"Maybe… but for now we'll have to worry about the one that can actually kill us on her own," Cole said to Jack.

"I mean, I totally agree with that. But just saying they are still out there. And we'll also probably have to take care of them sooner rather than later." Jack mentioned.

"We'll need to know where they are… the event might be a chance to find more about the Taupes. We might get to know where their true base is." Morgan said.

"Sounds good. Then I guess we should focus on that. We'll find out where this event is, and we'll look for Xiu. The more we learn about her and how to beat her. The better." Aiden spoke.

"Mhmm. Then… we are starting with Kayden?" Cole asked.

"He seems like the most promising lead. So I would say so." Morgan answered.

"His last known location was to the southeast, a week of travel away. So we should get going first thing in the morning. Lionheart can give us a lift in Bullhead, that will take a day or two and the rest will be on foot" Aiden said.

"Roger that." Jack acknowledged, all of them continued to eat as they made plans for their journey.

The journey had taken them farther south than they had ever been in Mistral. They went past mountains south and even went somewhat close to the coast. They landed on a very small settlement and asked questions about Kayden, all they ended up gathering was that he set out to investigate the northeast side of the mountains. About four months ago, however.

With only that as a lead, they set out to the mountains trying to search for any landmark that Kayden would be investigating to find dust deposits, areas for CCT relays, or anything that could be of interest. They had an understanding of how far one CCT relay could reach, so the first thing they did was ask for a map, compare it to a map of CCT signals they had acquired, and search for the most optimal places for a relay. Whether Kayden had scouted those places already or not… they would have to find out for themselves. After that, they asked around for any information or tips or where they could find some natural dust caves or mines. They didn't get much, but they got some tips and a couple of locations. Ending with several points on their map to search.

The Outlaws had to fight several Beowolves and Creeps as they made their way through the wilds, showing that the farther from civilization one went, the Grimm seemed to become more prevalent. It did little to stop them however as Jack hacked away at one Alpha Beowolf's throat and then flipped it over his shoulder and shot its head off with his shotgun before destroying a group of Creeps with a Time Blast. Aiden watched the group's side as he killed two Beowolves with precise shots through the eyes, and finished off a third with three hits of his baton, an axe kick, and a final baton strike that fractured its skull. Morgan and Cole exchanged lightning energy with their powers and unleashed blasts in opposite directions. Cole using a lightning grenade and a rocket to kill a Creep and a Beowolf, before throwing his spear like a javelin to impale a Beowolf to a tree, and Morgan using her Superthermal power, altering with ice dust, and shooting them and destroying them as the Grimm turned to icy statues.

Cole jumped into the air with his thrusters and fired a powerful thunderbolt to an incoming Boarbatusk while Jack used a Time Dodge to tackle kick a Beowolf and break its leg, right before killing it by embedding his axe on its head and speeding off with Time Rush, ripping half of its head off with the momentum. Morgan threw her sword into the air and used her remote manipulation to telekinetically slam it down on Grimm behind Aiden, meanwhile, Aiden used his baton to hit a Beowolf's jaw, and then used his semblance to dash behind it as dark smoke, and killed it by grabbing the back of its head and igniting and blowing half of its skull off in a burst of green flames.

"Alright, that's all of them." Cole dusted off his hands.

"This is like the… fourth pack? There's really a lot of them out here." Jack swiped some sweat from his forehead.

"It's alright, they haven't come out in large numbers yet. And the more we kill, the better it will be in general." Morgan reloaded her guns.

"We are getting near a spot for a relay, we should hurry. We need to find Kayden alive." Aiden told them.

"Right… Hmm. Think we can trust Lionheart's faith in this guy? To say he is still alive at least." Cole asked the others.

"For our sake let's hope so," Morgan answered as they continued their trek to a spot in the wilderness that seemed somewhat apt for a relay.

It took them twenty minutes, but they reached a clearing that was atop a hill slope. Once they reached the area they had the gratifying surprise of finding an object at the top of the slope. It looked to be a beeping light attached to a spike nailed to the ground. They retrieved it and were able to tell it was a sort of beacon.

"It's emitting a signal, I think it's supposed to be a marker. Not sure exactly how far the signal can reach though." Aiden told the rest of the group.

"Can you do anything with it?" Jack asked him.

"Maybe… It's a signal that uses waves. Maybe I can tap into it with my scroll, see if it's in a frequency." Aiden began to look for any number in the spike that might serve to identify its radio wave.

"It might be… If I had to guess, this thing is a disposable marker. Made so it won't depend on anything out here in the wild and emit a signal for quite some time until they decide if they want to do something with this place or not. We used a couple of similar beacons out in space." Morgan reasoned.

"We are guessing that Kayden placed it then?" Jack questioned.

"You could figure that out," Aiden told him as he began to tune in his scroll to the beacon's wave.

"Well, true. Let's see…" Jack began to focus and was able to see into the past, he wasn't sure exactly how far into the past, but he could tell it was placed somewhat recently, far more recent than when he tried to pinpoint The Howler. "Okay, I see a guy… "

"Does it look like him?" Cole asked him while Morgan used her scroll to show a picture of Kayden, given to them by Lionheart.

"I don't know if I ever told you, but the images I see are kinda blurry when I see into the past. But yeah, it looks like him, he has that same shirt collar and hair." Jack said as he watched an echo of the past Kayden placed the spike on the ground. "He's placing it, turning it on… he looks at his scroll… aaannnd… now he's going in that direction." Jack pointed northeast.

"Can you tell how far back it is?" Aiden asked him.

"No. Not really. What about you? Tuned in?" Jack asked back.

"I am." Aiden showed his scroll, a map app open and showing a couple of dots on the map that seemed to be emitting the same signal as the spike they had.

"Okay… can guess when this one was placed?" Cole asked him.

"Not really, it's a very simple beacon. It has a battery, a light, and an emitter. It doesn't have an internal clock or operating system that can track time." Aiden responded.

"Well, shit…" Cole said in return.

"Hey, maybe you can find that out." Morgan snapped her fingers.

"Mmm?"

"You can feel how much charge of electricity something has right?" Morgan asked him.

"It's not precise, I can't transform electricity into days or weeks… at least… not without some extra details," Cole answered.

"But.. you can see, or feel, how much energy it can have and how much it currently has. Might not be the best, but we can use that to get an idea of how long it has been here. More or less." Morgan suggested.

"Uh-huh… well I can give it a shot but I don't promise anything." Cole moved his hand towards the spike, and hesitated. "I might just end up frying it."

"It actually looks… durable. It's supposed to sit out here in the open." Aiden said and handed over the spike to Cole. "Just be gentle with it."

"Hmm…" Cole began to try and feel the spike without running electricity through it or try to absorb it. There was something, a small battery that he could barely feel. A couple of sparks jumped from his hands as he did his best to absorb very tiny amounts of electricity and then give it back. "Okay… it has like uh… seven-eights of battery left. And it's consuming very little."

"How much would it take for it to use another eight?" Morgan asked him.

"Just guessing? Eh… okay it would take a while to even take a half of one they are built to last, more than a month... yeah far more." Cole thought for a couple seconds. "So maybe about… another seven months maybe?" Cole shrugged.

"Really?" Jack was surprised.

"Yeah, guess it makes sense if they were supposed to sit here all alone. Though I wonder if they can approve something to be built here before these things run out of battery." Cole wondered.

"They are little more than fancy markers that can help track the locations on a map app. Eventually, they can be used to upload the locations to a device and the places would be recorded in it. It helps track things that are out of CCT range and then upload them once you are back in range." Aiden explained.

"Well regardless, we have other beacons. And they are in some places we also marked on our map." Jack noticed as he looked at Aiden's scroll.

"Mmm… if this has lost an eight already…" Morgan began.

"Then this must be one of the first places he checked in this area. It's the place we went to first." Cole finished for her.

"Then this is probably him right about when they last spoke to him…" Jack guessed.

"If he's moving northeast… and comparing it to the map and the beacons. Then it seems he's been moving in a giant circle. Makes sense. He can quickly cross off areas and stop at these settlements." Aiden compared both maps they had. "They don't have signal, at least not beyond local, but he can stop there to rest and resupply."

"It also seems he has not marked some of the places we guessed for the relays," Morgan noted.

"Probably deep in Grimm territory, or not safe for other reasons. Seems like he marked other places as well, some on the mountains. Dust deposits?" Cole pondered.

"If not that, then perhaps something else. But regardless, if he's moving in this circle…" Aiden pointed at one of the Beacons that seemed to be southeast.

"Then that would be the last one he placed," Jack said. "So we are cutting straight away to that one?" He asked.

"It's not a bad guess, and we need to find him soon. We can't waste time going through the entire route and asking at the settlements." Cole said.

"It would maybe be a day or two. But I think we should be able to make it with our supplies." Aiden said to them.

"Then that's what we'll do. We'll find the last beacon, and follow his path from there." Morgan declared.

"We could maybe go to the next place he's supposed to look at. Ir should be this place?" Jack pointed at a spot they had marked as a place for a possible relay, but that was also close to a possible dust deposit they had been told about, the mountain in that area seemingly rich in dust according to the locals.

"That's a good idea. We can pass through there on the way and see if we find something." Morgan agreed.

"Sounds good. Should we double time?" Aiden asked the others.

"Heh… well, if he's been out of contact. Probably." Cole said and they took off towards the area of the last beacon with haste.

It took them a day to cut through the forest, moving as fast as they could without wasting too much energy or full-on running blindly through it. But they managed to reach the next spot they had marked as a possible relay, an open glade that was bordered by a canyon. And they were surprised to find it turned into what looked like the aftermath of a big battle, with a giant crater on the ground, traces of fire on the grass, and large tears on the ground that seemed to be caused by powerful attacks or shockwaves.

"This… doesn't look good," Jack commented.

"We need to find our man. Let's search." Aiden said and the four of them began to quickly investigate the scene. Jack and Cole used their powers to find traces of the fight, both of them finding echoes of the past, and could identify Kayden had been ambushed by five people. They had a short talk at the beginning, but quickly it turned into a fight that Kayden could barely manage.

"It's Kayden, and it doesn't look good for him." Cole said as he witnessed an echo made of neuroelectric energy being flung back by an explosion and then being on the receiving end of a hammer swing.

"There's no body. Unless they took him then perhaps he managed to get away." Aiden said as he looked for traces of footprints.

"Funny thing. When they meet, it seems like Kaden is not surprised." Jack mentioned as he watched his own echo made of Chronon.

"Was he expecting them, was he betrayed?" Morgan asked. Jack focused back on his vision of the past to find out.

"I don't know why you are following me, but I'm sure we can make a deal. I've served a long time as a huntsman, I can pay you to leave me alone." Kayden said after some initial surprise.

"I'm sorry, but that's not gonna cut it." The biggest of the five assailants, said, and then seemed to sick the other four on Kayden.

"Someone was following him, and he knew. He didn't know why though." Jack relayed to the others.

"How many enemies can a huntsman get? Eh?" Cole said as he looked at his echo. "Okay, the images are clear, there's enough so even I can piece something together without a body. This is recent. Really recent, no more than a couple days." Cole said.

"We might be in luck then," Morgan said. "Or… well, maybe not."

"A couple of days is horrible if he had a fight… let's just hope he got away," Aiden said as he looked at some of the tracks. "All these footprints are hard, probably made during the fight… but they don't go back to the forest."

"They don't… and the traces of fire and everything else. They get closer to that edge." Morgan pointed to a spot that led to the edge of the canyon.

The four of them approached that place, Cole and Jack focusing their senses on the spot, once they got closer, they were able to tell that at some point Kayden managed to break off from the onslaught he was in the middle of and tried to retreat. They saw echoes of him diving towards the canyon while others followed him.

"He jumped off. And he still had them on his ass. They jumped off right after him." Cole said.

"He did hold off for a while… maybe two to three minutes. But his aura seemed like it was breaking. He jumped off… and used a grapple gun! Huh." Jack added.

"So he took off then… there!" Aiden was able to spot another crater and a scorch mark that seemed to be made by some sort of explosive at the bottom of the canyon. "It's safe to say they continued that direction."

"Yeah, the others were a bit more careful, once used what I guess it's his semblance, and the others climbed down by using their weapons as climbing picks," Jack mentioned. They poked over the edge and noticed some large cleaves that seemed to extend pretty far down the side of the cliff.

"Seems like it…" Morgan assessed.

"Alright, I think we spent enough time here. Kayden is gonna die or worse if we don't hurry." Cole said, took a running start, and jumped off the side of the cliff and down into the rocky canyon.

He landed with a thunder drop. The others followed right after using their respective powers to land safely. Jack used his Time Rush and Time Dodge to forward himself in through different small jumps in zigzag and slowing himself down right before landing, Aiden used his semblance to transform into a mass of dark smoke, landing at the bottom and reforming himself, and Morgan caught herself with her Lift Field right before landing.

"Right, let's go." Jack began to sprint, the same as the others as they began to follow the trail of destruction that Kayden and his assailants left behind.

They ran for ten kilometers straight, only stopping to keep track of which direction Kayden had gone off. It seemed though that eventually, Kayden managed to shake off his pursuers, but they were still close by. Whenever Cole and Jack found an echo Kayden, another echo of his pursuer would appear eventually. But regardless, they were able to follow Kayden's trail for another five additional kilometers. Kayden's location became more vague as he seemed to finally shake off his attackers… but all indicated for him to be deeper inside the canyon.

Eventually, they managed to follow his tracks until they found an abandoned camp hidden on the side of one of the nearby mountains. It appeared that Kayden tried to make a wide turn to lose his pursuers, and settled to hide in a corner until they went past or they tried to look for him somewhere else. There was no trace of a fire or much more other than a large bedroll tied to a rope, and the remains of some food and bandages.

"He camped here… though I don't think he slept," Jack said as he witnessed the movements of Kayden's echo.

"He was probably trying to recover some aura and energy, on top of patching himself up and keeping himself warm during the night." Aiden guessed.

"He should've probably just kept running," Cole said.

"We managed to get her in an hour or so, but he probably had to evade them for far longer. You two said he was sitting still a couple times." Morgan pointed out.

"Yeah, he was trying to hide… guessed he kept that going all the way into the night," Jack said.

"The bedroll and the rest… this is recent. We have a day's difference at most." Aiden began to look for any tracks.

"Wait…" Jack raised his hand. "Those five found the camp, but they didn't find him," Jack told them what he was able to see with his Time Vision.

"They are still on him then… they gotta be near," Cole said.

"Shh…" Aiden shushed.

"Eh?" Cole raised an eyebrow.

"Shh shh… listen," Aiden told them. A couple of seconds of silence transpired until they heard a distant sound, the sound of gunfire and explosions.

"That's gotta be them." Jack jumped up.

"We have to go then!" Morgan said and the others agreed. The four of them sprinted in the direction of the sounds without stopping.

The sounds became louder and louder as they continued to approach. They ran for two minutes at the top of their speed until the sounds eventually stopped. They had gotten close though, and were able to tell that sounds came right from behind a hill on their way.

"Hey Jack! Go!" Cole called out to Jack. Jack himself nodded as he entered Time Rush and pushed ahead in a blink. He arrived at the top of the hill and was met with a steep cliffside. From there he looked down and spotted five people at the bottom of the cliff, while another seemed content watching from the sidelines on a rock formation. He identified Kayden amongst the five at the bottom, badly beaten, bruised, and cornered. But still alive. He wouldn't be for much longer if he didn't act, however.

"Okay… let's do this," Jack said to himself as he jumped off the cliff and landed safely with his zig-zag maneuver. He saw as one of the people surrounding Kayden began to aim at him with a revolver, and was probably about to execute him, and decided to act before he could. Unaware of him, they had no chance to react as he Time Dodged forward and trapped that person aiming at Kayden in a Time Stop.

"What fuck!" One of the attackers yelled and then instinctively raised her weapon as Jack appeared in front of her and shot her with the D12. She blocked the shot, but was unable to retaliate as he immediately entered his Time Rush, and used to carry Kayden to a safer location.

"This is none of your business!" One of the other attackers shouted as he fired his gun towards Jack.

"Don't make us kill you to- Argh!" He was cut off as he was shot by two scorching shots from the top of the cliff.

The other attackers turned and saw Aiden, Morgan, and Cole at the top of the cliff, all of them jumping down to fight them. Cole rushed in first with his thrusters and rained lightning bolts and rockets from above, forcing them to scatter as the explosions went off.

"Son of a-" One of Kayden's assailants attempted to shoot at Cole with an assault rifle, only for the bullets to be blocked by Cole with his polarity wall as he landed. Cole fired lightning bolts back and the assailant rolled out of the way, Cole quickly having to focus on the others as a man with a giant hammer tried to smash him into paste.

Cole side-stepped out of the way and drew his short spear, channeling lightning through it as both of them began to exchange blows. Neither being able to hit the other for the moment. Meanwhile, Morgan landed with her Lift Field and made a run by Superthermal towards the person frozen in the Time Stop. Breaking it in a ball of fire as she rushed towards the woman holding a large sword with a blast of her shotgun, and throwing crescent waves of hard light dust with her sword, the woman answering by blocking the assault with her blade and rushing back at her by surrounding herself in flames and dashing forward in a mass of fire. The man with the assault rifle attempted to shoot at Morgan as she was fighting his colleague, but before he could so, he was ambushed by Aiden with a baton strike to the face and two singing shots two the leg. Aiden dashed behind him as a surge of green fire, knocked him into the air with a baton uppercut enhanced by green flames, dashed into the air as a mass of dark smoke, and grasped his head before making a fiery explosion that threw the assailant to the ground, pushing him further away with two scorching shots before landing.

The man rolled on the ground and put the fire out quickly as he began to fire back at Aiden. Just then, the man that had originally been trapped in the Time Stop recovered from the explosion. His aura took heavy damage, but he would get no time to rest as Jack appeared in front of him with a Time Dodge, shoulder tackling him and then shooting him at close range with the D12 before going in for an axe swing. The man recovered from the shotgun blast and transformed his weapon, the revolver he had shifting into a dagger and then pulling a second dagger and parrying Jack's axe. Both of them began to exchange strikes and swings as the man would try to shank Jack on the sides, Jack would dodge and counter with three swings of his axe, all of which were blocked or deflected by the assailant and then answered with another stab or swing. Both of them weaving in and out of each other's range. As that range grew, they switched to firearms, Jack with the D12 and the man by transforming his daggers into revolvers, both firing at each other and dodging out of the way of gunfire.

Cole battled the man with the giant hammer, rolling out of the way of one of his wings before hitting his side with a gigawatt blade and with a thrust of his spear. The man recoiled and swung wildly, forcing Cole back as he charged towards him. Cole back-pedaled while throwing lightning grenades and firing lightning bolts, most of which the large man hit out of the air with his hammer right before charging as he seemed to become more agile and flighty. It was odd, the man moved as if he weighed nothing one second, and the next he attacked as if he weighed more than he should. Cole noticed the pattern once he blocked one of the hammer swings and was knocked into a rock from the unexpected force.

Cole guessed he had a semblance he was using to achieve that. As the man charged in with a sudden two-handed overhead strike, Cole used a shockwave to knock him back and rushed in. He held onto the hammer and made a massive torrent of lightning surge through it, electrocuting the man and then blasting him with thunderbolts and a lightning rocket. The man got flung back as Cole still had his grasp on the hammer, throwing it behind him as he prepared to charge the man again. That was when he noticed the large burly man with a dull green coat watching them. He seemed surprised, but also analyzing them. Immediately Cole fired a thunderbolt at him, the man pulling out a hard light dust crystal and using it to make a barrier that blocked the attack.

The man eyed Cole with a glare. Cole for his part was ready to try and fire more lightning at the guy, but was instead tackled by the other big man he had been fighting. The man was moving incredibly fast for his size, far faster than Cole would have expected. Cole pushed him off himself with a shockwave and shot him with a thunderbolt while he was in the air. Sending him back several meters. But the man seemed to twist and float in the air as he harmless landed, it didn't stop Cole from continuing to fire lightning bolts, rockets, and grenades at the guy. Forcing him to run to avoid the onslaught of lightning.

On the other side of the battlefield, Aiden was using his semblance to dash out of the way of the line of fire of his opponent, getting out of the way just before barrages of burst fire hit him and answering with his own barrage of gunfire. Aiden dashed and managed to hit his opponent with a surprise roundhouse to his ribs, but he had to exchange strikes as his opponent quickly fought back with kicks and punches of his own. He deflected and blocked the punches, getting an opening and firing twice at the man's gut with two scorching shots. The man spun as he got hit and transformed his assault rifle into a glaive as he spun it behind his back. He twirled it and deflected the follow-up shots from Aiden before rushing back at him, forcing Aiden to duck and backflip to avoid two wide swings.

As Aiden landed, he began to feel something in his head, a soft headache. He shook his head and looked back at his opponent, and noticed he was seeing double. As the man charged at Aiden with a jumping attack, he realized that it was probably him that was causing it. Aiden sidestepped left and right to avoid the attacks aimed at him, but his vision betrayed him, and he wasn't able to see an upwards swing that hit him right on the chin and sent him flying backwards. He rolled on his side as he landed and up to a kneeling position. He took a deep breath and focused on his opponent, he needed to get him quickly, and so he formed a plan. As the assailant rushed at him again, Aiden focused on dodging and jumping out of the way, but staying just in range so that his opponent would keep trying to hit him with the Glaive rather than switch back to his rifle. Once he got a clear pattern of the attacks he used, he was able to tell what he would rush at him with, even with the double vision affecting him.

Once his opponent attacked again, Aiden rushed in as well with a green firebolt from his palm, hitting the assailant right in the torso as he was in the air and following it with a barrage of double gunfire from both his guns, emptying two entire magazines and then grabbing his for before he could be pushed further back. Aiden slammed his opponent to the ground and smashed his head with a strike of his baton. His vision cleared as the influence of the man's semblance on him seemed to dwindle. He was about to land another strike of his baton, but the baton got caught by the man's hand. Aiden's eyes widened as the man pulled him closer so that he could try to stab him with his glaive. Aiden barely was able to pry his baton free and block the thrust as his opponent got up, and soon they were back dashing at each other and exchanging strikes.

Meanwhile, Morgan was pushed back as the woman she was fighting hit her guard with a massive sword swing. She recovered with a roll and began to think of a new strategy. She couldn't compete with her strength, she had good reflexes and was able to use her semblance to avoid her powers if she saw them coming, so she would have to think of an alternative way to hurt her.

She began by using her pistol, hoping that the woman wud block her shots, and she did. With her large sword in front of her as a shield, Morgan threw her own sword behind her while she continued to take potshots, making it look like a desperate attempt to hit her. It wasn't though, as when the woman got close she used her Remote Manipulation to pull her sword back and jam into the woman's back. The woman yelped and immediately surrounded herself in flames, but before she could act, Morgan had already placed her Lift Field and combined it with ice dust to freeze the woman in place, and then blast her with a shotgun shot and a Kinetic Blast. The result being the woman being knocked back as her aura flashed.

The woman gritted her teeth and rushed at her with fury, but right before she could hit Morgan, Morgan herself transformed into a tiny object and slipped through her attack. She got behind her and hit her on the back with an arc wave of hard light dust from her sword, and then used wind dust with her sword to create wind shears that shot forward after each swing. The woman was hit by the first shears, but she blocked the following ones and dashed towards Morgan instantly. She engulfed herself in flames and surprised Morgan one relentless attack after the other, Morgan barely able to dodge out of the or deflect the attack as best as she could. She eventually had to use her Phantom Shift to be able to evade her, dashing behind the woman in hopes of getting a clean hit on her. But the woman spun around and met her attack, both of them hitting each other as Morgan hit her with thrust enhanced with gravity dust, and the woman hitting Morgan with a greatsword swing engulfed in flames.

Both of them were knocked back as Morgan's backlash took the blow for her and separated them. Both panting and watching the other for their next move. Morgan was the one to attack first with an Electrostatic Burst. The woman dodged out of the way and sent forward a shockwave of fire with her sword, Morgan dodging out of the way and then dashing away as the woman began to chase her again.

The four of them were fighting able fighters, and they seemed capable of giving them trouble. But in terms of who was winning, The Outlaws had delivered far harder blows and left the four assailants in disarray. And the real fight was yet to begin.

Aiden dashed between rifle shots as he approached his opponent and delivered a baton strike to his jaw, and a spinning hook kick to the temple, stunning him and noticing he had pushed him towards another fight.

"Jack! Pass!" Aiden shouted as he aimed one of his guns and aimed behind the man he was currently facing with a powerful charged shot. Jack in the meanwhile was avoiding the shots of his own foe, and stopped as he saw as a bullet covered in green fire and dark smoke fly past him and hit his opponent right in the head, resulting in an explosion of green flames.

"Guuaah!" Jack's opponent yelped as he was taken by surprise, Jack immediately turned around and saw as Aiden pushed his opponent to him with a side kick engulfed in green fire. Jack grinned as he caught the man, hooked his axe around his shirt, and flipped him over his shoulder before using Time Rush to throw him towards his own opponent. The man slammed into his colleague as Jack aimed and fired a Time blast, hitting them both and knocking them down in a distorted explosion.

"Thanks. Now the others?" Jack spoke to Aiden.

"Before those two recover. Yeah." Aiden nodded.

"Got it," Jack said and both of them sped off to help their friends with their fights.

Cole somersaulted over the large man he was fighting and planted a sticky lightning grenade on his back, unbalancing him as it exploded. But the large man used the explosion to propel himself to the side and then attack Cole from another angle. Cole braced himself as the large was about to charge him at incredible speeds. But he didn't need to, as just before the man got halfway, he got drop kicked by Jack with a Time Rush and Time Dodge, an audible crack and notable flash of aura coming from the guy as he got pushed over twenty meters by the impact.

"Heh, took you long enough?" Cole chuckled.

"I took long enough? You are still fighting this guy!" Jack fired back.

"Well, yeah. Let's fix that." Cole said as he and Jack moved in tandem towards the man.

The man got surprised as even before he could fully recover he felt the impact of an axe swing on his side, and then was hit by nine small bolts of lightning that came out like a machine gun from Cole's hand. Cole rushed in with thrusts of his spear, punches, kicks, and lightning surges, all the while Jack appeared from the opposite angle with a Time Rush swing or punch before backing out and Time Dodging to the other side to shoot with the D12. They overwhelmed the man quickly as Cole hit him with a lightning palm, made two lightning-quick thrusts with his spear, and then did a flip kick that knocked the man into the air, right towards Jack as he appeared above with a shotgun blast, and used his Time Dodge to quickly dash at him with a knee to the gut, right before disappearing and leaving Cole to blast the man from the side with a lightning rocket. The explosion knocked the man back and right into being clotheslined by Jack with a haymaker, and so it went.

The man tried to desperately recover, but before he could, he had to block an attack from Cole, and that gave Jack an opportunity to place him in a Time Stop. Once trapped, Jack fired his D12 twice and Coe blasted the Time Bubble with lightning creating an explosion that heavily injured the man, and finally, both of them charged at him from opposite directions. Cole punching him and clotheslining him with a lightning punch while Jack punched him in the lower back, the result being the large man doing a flip before landing motionless on his back.

"See, that was good." Cole smiled.

"Oh yeah." Jack agreed as they went on to help with the rest.

All the while they both had been fighting the large man, Morgan had been assisted by Aiden. Morgan dodged out of the way of a couple of fireballs before firing back with her pistol. The bullets didn't seem to do much as they looked as if they were absorbed by her opponent's flames. The woman she was fighting threw a wave of fire at her and Morgan used her own Superthermal to disperse the flames and then reached forward with her Psychoshock, earning a pained grunt for her adversary. In response, she engulfed herself in flames and used her control over fire to levitate, and was about to rain fire on Morgan but before she could notice, Aiden appeared in a mass of green flames and dark smoke. He dashed into the air with two strikes of his baton, a fire enhanced spinning kick, and then used his initial momentum to spin above her and rain bullets on her, slamming her to the ground and letting Morgan rush in with three sword slashes of her own, a hard light enhanced swing, and then a blast of her shotgun followed by a precise Kinetic Blast that slammed the woman to a wall.

"Need any help?" Aiden asked as he landed and reloaded his guns.

"Well… I won't refuse it." Morgan smiled.

"Hmm." Aiden himself grinned. Both of them turned to see the woman get up in an explosion of fire, fury in her eyes.

They both got ready to fight her, but as she used fire to propel herself towards them, she got shot on the shoulder and knocked back into the ground. As the woman rolled on the ground, Aiden and Morgan dashed in with their respective abilities to take advantage of the situation. Aiden dashing to the side while firing scorching shots and throwing a concussive grenade before dashing in with close-range shots and strikes of his baton, while Morgan stopped the woman from trying to fly or dash away with an inverted application of her Lift Field. Pushing her towards the ground while she unleashed a barrage of powers, a Kinetic Blast combined with rock dust to make a shrapnel explosion, an Electrostatic burst to stun her, a Superthermal combined with ice dust to extinguish her flames and hit her with a close-range shotgun blast.

Even though they were focused on fighting her, they did notice who had shot her. It seemed that Keydan was still able to fight to some degree and was now taking potshots. He immediately turned towards his two previous assailants, the ones that were blasted away by Jack, and shot at them as they tried to return to the fight. With all of Kayden's assailants heavily injured, it was just a matter of finishing them off.

Kayden shot at the man with the glaive and managed to surprise with a shot to the leg, the man grunting in pain and leaving himself open, just in time for Jack to Time Rush by and smash his face against the ground with a downwards punch. Morgan and Aiden went in and out of their opponent's range, dodging out of the way before she could try and cleave them in half, all the while hitting her with melee strikes at close range, or at farther range with either their guns or their powers. Aiden managed to land a couple consecutive shots with both handguns before his opponent blocked with her sword, and he had to roll out of the way. Two revolver shots impacted his aura and he instinctively returned fire while dodging more gunfire. The woman tried to chase after him, but Morgan stopped her in her tracks with a Psychoshock.

"Graah!" The woman screamed as the Psychoshock affected her far more than before. She turned to Morgan and immediately had to dodge out of the way as Morgan created a spear of rock, it grazed as she rolled to the side. She then focused on Morgan dashed towards her in a mass of fire, Morgan avoiding her with Phantom Shifts and backpedaling while shooting with her guns.

The two of them dashed back and forth, throwing blasts of fire and energy. Morgan juked her attacker and used her powers to keep her at bay, using her remote manipulation to control her sword, laying Superthermal traps on the ground, and using Kinetic Blasts to push her back and give her openings to shoot. Another kind of opportunity presented itself, however. Morgan grinned as she threw Electrostatic Burst after Electrostatic Burst, a wave of sparks forcing her attacker to backpedal, and as she did, she noticed that the sparks seemed to be being absorbed by someone. She turned around to see Cole absorbing the electricity and rushing at her with a cross slash of gigawatt blades.

Cole and Morgan blasted the woman with lightning while Aiden shot at the man with dual revolvers. Outmaneuvering him and getting close enough to hit him in the back of the head with his baton and hit him with a point-blank shot. He rolled out of the way as the man with the glaive tried to skewer him, but Jack intervened. Entering Time Rush he hit the man with his axe from multiple angles before putting him in a Time Stop and rushing towards the man with revolvers. The man with the glaive remained in the Time Bubble until Cole blasted it with two lightning rockets, knocking the man with glaive to the ground and leaving him motionless as his aura seemed to break.

Aiden jumped towards the woman that Morgan had been fighting and tackled her with a flying kick and shot six bullets at her at close range, knocking her down and straddling her. He was ready to finish her, but a sudden roar that grew louder made him look up.

"Graaaagh!" The large man that Cole and Jack had taken down was chagrin at him with renewed vigor, but he would get very far as Morgan used another Psychoshock to stun him.

"Urgh!" The man yelped, tripping and rolling on the ground due to the attack.

Morgan immediately used a sideways Lift Field to smash the large man against a rock while he was still recovering. During that time, the woman that Aiden was straddling had gotten a second wind, and burst into flames and began to fly. Using her semblance in some manner that allowed her to levitate while she engulfed herself in flames. Aiden was knocked back and rolled backwards to a standing position, ready to fire at the flaming woman. But then something else happened. A cable rope wrapped around her neck.

Aiden turned and saw that Kayden used a grapple gun the same one he used to rape down the cliff a day prior. Kayden couldn't muster enough strength to pull the flaming woman down, and so he tossed the grapple gun to him. Once Aiden caught the grapple gun, he pulled and slammed the woman into the ground face first. Cole noticed what had happened and got an idea as he looked back at the large man.

"Hey, Pearce! Let's knock some heads together!" Cole called out. Aiden stared at him and understood well enough. He gripped the cable tightly and spun around, dragging the woman with all his strength as he used the cable to throw her towards Cole. Cole for his part created a lightning hook and snatched the large man by the leg, spinning around and throwing him with the lightning tether towards the woman.

"Jack! Get ready!" Morgan called out as she realized what Aiden and Cole were doing, deciding to might as well join in. Jack weaved out of the way of a dagger shank and kicked the man with revolvers in the face. He soon noticed what was happening.

"Got it!" He called out and grabbed the man he was fighting by the shirt and entering Time Rush.

The woman and the large man smashed together in mid-air, Jack suddenly appearing in a blink and throwing the man with revolvers towards them as well and placing them all in a Time Stop. Once they were all huddled together, The Outlaws attacked. Cole with thunderbolts and missiles, Jack with a Time Blast and with shotgun shots, Aiden by emptying two entire magazines of bullets enhanced by his semblance, and Morgan with the combination of a Psychoshock, a Superthermal explosion, and a Kinetic Blast. The resulting explosion scattering the people inside theTime Bubble in different directions, all with their auras broken.

Once they were all without aura, they finished them off. Aiden kicked the man with revolvers to the ground and hit him in the head with his baton, right before executing him with a singing shot right between the eyes. Cole finished off the woman by hitting her with a lightning strike as she tried to get up and use her semblance once again, leaving her as a smoking corpse. And Jack took care of the large man. The guy stood up and tried to charge at them again, but Jack put him in one fina Time Stop and emptied six shots of the D12 into it, the Time Bubble breaking and leaving the man's head as nothing but red paste.

"That's that." Jack panted. "Hey… and that other guy?" He asked.

"He's knocked ou over there." Morgan pointed at the man with the assault rifle-glaive.

"Oh, no, I mean good. But I was talking about the other guy." Jack said.

"The fifth guy?" Cole looked towards the place where he had seen the burly man with the green coat. And saw nothing. The four of them looked in all directions but it seemed like the man had disappeared.

"He vanished." Aiden sighed as he recovered his breath, immediately however they heard panting from behind them.

"I… I owe you four a big one. Thought that was it in all honesty." A bruised up Kayden limped towards them. The old huntsman leaning against a rock for support.

"You have no idea how lucky you are," Aiden stated, and he was right.

"If we weren't looking for you. If we didn't try and catch up with you. If we didn't hurry… Well… we wouldn't be talking now, would we?" Cole chuckled.

"Again… thank you." Kayden took a sigh of relief. "I haven't been able to rest well for three weeks now."

"Who were they? Why were they after you?" Jack asked him.

"I don't know. I know they are assassins, or… they were." He said as he looked at one of the corpses. "But why? Damn if I know… who would bother to put a hit on me? There might be more than a couple people actually. I pissed off more than a few that work for the families or other crime syndicates… ehem." Kayden held his side as he coughed.

"Trust us, we know the feeling," Morgan said to him.

"Mmm… I see these four. And Hazel?" Kayden asked.

"Hazel? That big guy that likes to sit back?" Cole asked, earning a nod from Kayden. "He's gone."

"Fuck."

"You know him?" Jack crossed his arms.

"No. But he was… he was off. Weird. He found me like four weeks ago, and presented himself with his full name. Hazel Rainart. After that, he said he was sorry and… he tried to kill me. Didn't even say who sent him. I managed to escape him, but then the assassins began to appear and pile up one by one. By last week they were all chasing me together through different towns and the wilderness. I tried to lose them in Grimm territory, but it almost felt like the Grimm ignored them completely. The rest… well, I guess you already know if you found me." Kayden laughed, and then made a short pause. "Why were you looking for me?"

"Well, multiple reasons. We were sent by Lionheart to check on you, you were out of contact for a bit too long, but really we need you to help find someone. Master Xiu." Aiden told him.

"Xiu… Heh… Well look, thank you. And like I said, I owe you a big one, and I'll be happy to pay you back by finding that old sack. Might have to go and thank Lionheart as well." Kayden said.

"You can thank him in person. We do need you to come back with us." Morgan told him.

"Heh… you know, my mission is not over," Kayden responded.

"Dude, I'm pretty sure it is. Unless you wanna continue like you are now. Besides, you marked most places down already.2 Jack said, Aiden showed his scroll to show him that they knew about the beacons.

"Huh… you really did track me down. But you are right. I think it is a good moment to call the mission done. Can't continue if at least one of these guys might still be coming after me. Shame… would have liked to know who sent them, and now they are all dead. Except for Hazel." Kayden sighed.

"Uh, there's one guy that's still alive," Cole mentioned and pointed towards the unconscious assassin.

"Really… hmmm."

"You are thinking of interrogating him?" Aiden asked.

"If I can… but I would like to have time to do so…"

"Are you thinking of bringing him as well?" Jack asked.

"... If we can…"

"... We got here quite quickly. If we are able to call a bullhead back, then maybe it shouldn't be an issue." Morgan reasoned.

"As long as we tie him up and gag him properly," Aiden added.

"So we are bringing him then. Ok fine. Uh… how are we carrying him out of the hole though?" Jack asked as he noticed there wasn't an easy way to walk back the way they came. Even less carrying a person or aiding a limping one.

"We'll have to figure it out I guess." Cole sighed.

"How is the journey going Qrow?" Ozpin asked through the scroll.

"It's going alright. You know, we could've just waited for an available bullhead instead of me taking the long way." Qrow said back.

"They are all pretty busy, or they are not meant to take cross-kingdom flights. Besides, you yourself can fly, and these moments are precisely why you were given that ability." Ozpin reminded him.

"Yeah yeah…" Qrow took the chance to take a swig of his flask, he would need it if Ozpin was going to be a smart ass. "I should be able to get to Mistral in a week and a half. Maybe two weeks." Qrow said before taking another swig.

"Good. As of now, Lionheart has told me that everything is in order and that those four have been a great assistance." Ozpin said.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Qrow asked.

"Perhaps, but Lionheart's vagueness doesn't leave me satisfied. It seems to be related to the activities of these four. So we can take the chance to check on him as well." Ozpin said.

"Fair enough. But… are we still worried about these guys?" Qrow asked.

"Their hearts seemed to be in the right place. That much I could gather from when I talked to them. But they seem slightly, aimless. People with their skills don't appear frequently. Even less with good intentions. If we could convince them to become huntsmen, then perhaps we could have new allies to assist us and Lionheart on that side of the world. They seem to have left quite the impression on him."

"Alright… are you bringing them into the fold?" Qrow raised an eyebrow.

"Qrow please, it's too soon for that. And we don't know if they can be trusted with that information. I merely want to see if they are huntsmen material, while at the same time checking how the situation in Mistral is going… I wouldn't put past 'her' to have a hand in… destabilizing the crime families, and the kingdom."

"Hmm… yeah, understood." Qrow nodded, seeing where Ozpin was coming from. The sooner things went back to normal the better. And if those four could help with that and become huntsmen. Well, maybe there was a chance that it could help them in the future. It was hard to find people that got shit done after all.

A/N: Phew, well that took a bit, but definitely was better than last time. But anyways, the road continues for these four. Now I gotta start writing other chapters and go back to Resistance Mode as well. Oh and College and other stuff, but eh.

Hope you enjoyed it. Follow, favorite, and review if you wish. And I'll see you in the next chapter. Have a good day!