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Chapter 117: The Runaway

The sun had set hours ago and the normally peaceful streets of the middle class and suburban neighbourhood that Ruby Rose called her home, being far from the Hive Tower complexes of inner New Vale were lit by simple street lights; those lights flickered as the legendary Huntress tore through the streets in a crimson blur leaving a trail of rose petals, blaring car alarms and unintentionally startled pets in her wake.

"Come on Syneffo where are you" Ruby whispered, unable to hear her own words as she breached the sound barrier with a dull boom; becoming ever more frantic as she went. The fear and dread had wormed its' way into her gut and the icy, sickly weight had made itself comfortable there whilst doubts and unwelcome thoughts whispered into the back of her mind, growing more unforgiving and insistent with every second. It had been over an hour since Ruby had discovered Syneffo Nikos's room empty, her window open and the teenager herself missing though that gave her no real indication of how long she had actually been gone for. Growing desperate Ruby sped towards the woods to the rear of her home and weaved between the trees at breakneck speeds, her Semblance accelerating her senses to a point where they could keep pace with her movements and allowing her search them as thoroughly as the darkness caused by their canopy blocking out the broken moon would allow.

She found nothing, no sight of either Syneffo herself or any clues such as footprints that she could use and eventually Ruby was conceded that this approach was not working. He surged back to her home, her arrival announced by the howling winds that trailed behind her as she ran and as she stood on her porch, doubled over and gasping for breath with her hands on her thighs the front door opened revealing an equally worried looking Penny who shook her head in silence

"Nothing?" Ruby panted out

"None of the neighbours have seen her" Penny confirmed before reaching into her pocket and producing something that made Ruby's heart sink "I found this under her pillow"

"Oum damn it" Ruby whined as she looked at Syneffo's scroll, realising that not only could they not use it to track her; an action that the caped Huntress would never had even considered under normal circumstances but also that Syneffo was now entirely unreachable, even if someone she were more likely to answer a call from, such as her brother attempted to contact her.

"Ruby" Penny breathed out, clearly deeply uncomfortable with the suggestion she was about to make "I think we should talk to Qrow"

"What?"

"I'm not happy about it either but he can help" Penny admitted "He can access almost any security cameras and if Syneffo isn't here she might have gone into the city….besides, if anything happens to her; someone need to contact-"

"Okay" Ruby interrupted, unwilling to even entertain the idea that something could have happened to the girl whom she had promised to care for as well as train "Okay, I'll talk to Qrow"

"Sensational"

"Can you stay here?" Ruby asked quietly "Just in case she comes home, talk to the twins and make sure they understand that everything's going be fine" her tone was far more assertive and confident than Ruby honestly felt but Penny nodded in agreement all the same and the two shared a brief nod before Ruby made it across the short distance between her home and that of her recently estranged uncle.

"Come on, come on open up" she muttered under breath, shifting her weight anxiously from one foot to the other as she rapped against the wood of the front door repeatedly; all manners and consideration for the neighbours forgotten. Eventually she heard shuffling movement on the other side of the door which was opened a moment later, revealing a tired and somewhat dishevelled looking Qrow

"Ruby?" his crimson eyes suddenly seemed to focus, as though the significance of Ruby's presence despite their current bad had terms finally registered "What's wrong, what's happened?"

"Syneffo ran away"

"What?" Ruby made her way passed him and stepped into Qrow's home with an impatient huff

"We were training earlier today and she was getting so worked up that it was drawing more Grimm. I told her that I was planning to send her back to Anima and that I'd train her in a few years, maybe after she graduates from one of the academies and she seemed okay with it; we called her down for dinner tonight and she didn't answer, when I looked in her room she was gone" Ruby's pace picked up with each word and by the time she was done explaining she was gesticulating wildly

"How long has she been gone?" Qrow asked, stroking his grizzly beard slowly

"I don't know" Ruby admitted "I've been looking for her for over an hour and I can't find her anywhere-"

"That's not a surprise" Qrow sighed, trying and failing to sound soothing as he explained "She's not just part of the Nikosi tribe Ruby she's a Nikosi Pathfinder; one of their scouts when they're leading caravans through Grimm country….You could have walked passed her a dozen times and if she doesn't want to be found you'd never know she was there"

"That's why I need your help" Ruby answered simply

"Do you think she would've gone into the city?" Qrow asked

"Where else would she go?" Ruby shrugged "Her brother is at Halo Academy"

"Do you have anyone on the ground looking for her?"

"No, just me" Ruby shook her head "Penny is waiting at home"

"We're gonna need more people, Corey's still on the mainland but the Omega Wing still isn't repaired so she'll be on foot-"

"You're getting the kids involved in this?" Ruby demanded

"Yes" Qrow answered simply "This isn't a mission or anything covert, this is us asking them to help us look for a lost little girl in a city that she doesn't know….besides, if Fluffy and his boyfriend found out we kept it from them that Syneffo was missing-"

"Alright, I understand let's start looking for her" Ruby sighed "I'll call Corvid and Felix and ask them to help us" Ruby slipped her cape off of her shoulders and made her way towards the entrance to Qrow's basement base of operations; all animosity between them forgotten at that moment for the sake of a much greater good

"I'll be down in a minute" Qrow grunted "We're gonna need some of Oobleck's best for this"

Hive Tower Twenty Two was a decidedly poor area of New Vale's capital, located just far enough away from the centre of the city or the freight and commercial docks to make commuting an irritating affair it was similarly removed from the industrial areas located towards the outer edges' of what could be considered the inner city and serves as something on a barrier or checkpoint to mark the transition between the more affluent areas of the city which were still built in the style of Old Vale and the crowded, multi-layered metropolis that was the cities' beating heart. The internal lighting systems of New Vale's many Hive complexes had been dimmed for the evening, which in Tower Twenty Two or more specifically it's lower regions; that the flickering and sickly yellow light of the failing and poorly maintained infrastructure had simply ceased and that the streets were now lit solely by neon signs of various businesses which had remained open late into the night, such as supermarkets which seemed to never close. Many of the patrons of those businesses which were usually the only people outside of their homes at such a late hour, with even the gangs of hooded teenagers who roamed the streets having retired for the evening, caught sight of a girl whose copper hair had been dyed an unnatural platinum colour, seemingly in her mid to late teens although it was hard to tell with the sunglasses she wore and the mask covering her mouth and instinctively clutched their bags a little closer to themselves, unable to adequately explain the feeling of wrongness that pervaded around her.

Nickel was currently too busy sulking to care about such things.

Privately the android found herself lamenting the fact that she had ever told Ozymandias about having seen the remains of the Grimm Pantheon's living weapon scuttling around the city; ever since she had done so the mad scientist had become steadily more and more insufferable in his insistence that Nickel find the errant creature, despite her continued lack of anything resembling a lead as to its' whereabouts. She was reduced to her current approach of simply prowling moodily through the most downtrodden districts of New Vale, the areas where the negativity that the Creatures of Grimm fed on was most abundant

"This is dead-ass dumb as hell" she muttered under her breath to nobody in particular as she kicked an empty can into a small pile of litter and detritus that had accumulated at the side of the road, casting her eyes around she finally paid notice to the odd and suspicious looks being cast in her direction and let out a sigh in realisation; this was not an area of the city known for having a large population of students and she looked painfully out of place. Seeing a nearby fast food business she made her way towards it with the intention of buying the sort of cheap, greasy and unhealthy junk food of dubious quality that one would only consume willingly if they were intoxicated; her idea being that it would act almost as a disguise and that anyone viewing her would simply see a young woman who had drunk perhaps too much at a rave or party and left a little early.

As she entered the brightly lit establishment she saw that she was far from the only person there, with a line leading to the counter which she took her place at the back of and several small groups of people who were obviously as drunk as Nickel herself was intending to pose as. Within a few seconds of her entering a member of one such group attempted to speak to her, alcohol slurring his speech

"Hey, hey….what's with the sunglasses? It's dark out" Nickel remained silent, which the cretins seemed to take as an invitation to continue judging by the way another of their number chimed in

"He doesn't mean anything, he's had to much to drink….come on cheer up, let's see what's under that mask; give us a smile" Nickel's temper, a tenuous thing at the best of times snapped without warning and the now platinum haired android reached for the nearest empty chair and hurled into the group of men with devastating results; they had been seated near a window and said window was now shattered with the chair itself laying in the street outside and the man whose face it had struck now laying limp and unconscious partway through the window-frame, bleeding profusely. The effect was immediate and as the rest of the group leapt to their feet in an obvious attempt to brawl with her and the restaurant was filled with panicked and furious shouting another customer had the sense and decency to put themselves between the angry teenage girl and the group of men, firmly ushering Nickel out; her attempt at blending in more effectively wasted and with nothing else to be gained she left the area, making her way through Hive Tower Twenty Two entirely and crossing a bridge into one of its' more lively neighbouring towers, as she moved through the more crowded streets with ease she kept a careful eye on her surroundings until she caught sight of someone who demanded her attention; lightweight golden armour, a pair of ornate short handled axes hanging at her hips, a physique that managed to be gangly yet lithe and athletic all at once and deep crimson hair cascading down her back.

All of that was unimportant when compared to the impossibly bright, almost mirror-like silver of her eyes.

"Chief, chief come on pick up the Scroll" Nickel muttered under her breath as she swiftly withdrew her Scroll and dialled

"Nickel, have you-" Ozymandias's warm tone was quickly interrupted

"No but I've found something else….I'm looking at a Silver Eyed warrior right now chief. Not Rose, not her kids" there was a moment of stunned silence as the scientist processed this seemingly unplanned for circumstance

"Are you sure"

"Chief I'm looking right at her" Nickel hissed "Of course I'm sure"

"Observe but do not-"

"Fuck that" Nickel countered bluntly "This is what you woke me up for remember….she's armed but she's alone, doesn't look like a threat" Ozymandias remained silent for a moment once again, clearly weighing up the pros and cons of allowing Nickel to do as she pleased

before answering

"Do this quietly Nickel, no doubt Ruby Rose already knows of your existence after you failed to kill her nephew"

"Don't remind me" Nickel growled "Don't worry about this chief….Moving to intercept"

It was late when ten teenagers exited the airship terminal at which they had arrived, the flight which they had arrived upon had been one of the last such flights either arriving from or departing for Halo Academy; the only light coming from the city which sprawled out in all directions and their breath misting in front of them as they stuffed their hands in their pockets to keep the cold from biting at their unprotected skin.

"So where do we start?" Eagle asked she had been comfortably curled up in bed with Hellion after returning from New Hope when Felix had called her to explain that Syneffo Nikos had run away from his Aunts' home and that the Lion Faunus was gathering as many people as possible to look for her; the freckled blonde had naturally dragged herself out of bed and gotten dressed as fast as possible and informed Hellion of the situation, the Dragonfly Faunus had earned herself a lingering kiss when she had contacted her team-mates who had been elsewhere in the academy at the time and implored Carcharodon to have Team GORE assist Team FADE in their search. Both Eagle and Hellion had been stunned into silence when Raffia had seconded the idea, though his reasoning that it would give them something to hold over the Nikosi tribe should it ever be needed was precisely the sort of justification they would have expected from him; it was Onyx's comment that had forced the Shark Faunus's hand however, simply grunting 'She's a lost kid'.

The final two members of the group of ten were Helios who Felix had predictably contacted first and who had equally predictably mobilised Team NEON, and Nyanza who had offered to put his Semblance to good use, noting that in such a vast city they would require a considerable amount of luck to find a single person whilst Ether and Olivine were keeping watch at Halo Academy's airship terminal, there were after all a few flights left for the evening and it wasn't entirely out of the realms of possibility that Syneffo was making her towards the academy to find her brother.

"We're looking for Corey first, she said she's on her way" Felix answered Eagle's question before leading the group in the direction he knew his sister would be arriving from, she and the rest of her team having made their way into the city to celebrate both completing their final exams and Lux and Rusty's engagement; though as the quartet came stumbling into view from the distance it became clear to Felix that they may have celebrated a little too much to be helpful

"Hey Fluffy, what's up you said it was important….Hey Onyx" Corvid's wide and glassy eyes and the fact that she was wobbling as she leaned against Iris for support made it clear that she was very drunk before her slurred speech confirmed it

"Helios's sister has gone missing, we think she's somewhere in the city" the news seemed to sober her up at least somewhat and Iris, being the teams' token voice of reason helped by producing a bottle of water for her to drink

"Ah darn it" Rusty's heavily accented twang interrupted "We'll help ya look….but I aint sure how much the little lady is gonna be, hell I wouldn't let her fly even if the Omega Wing was up and running she's had too much to drink"

"I can see that" Felix sighed "And I'm sorry about this, I wouldn't as but it's important y'know"

"It'll be fine" Corvid declared firmly, giving Felix and Helios a stern glare that was utterly at odds with her exuberant tone "It will, don't worry Fluffy, Heely. We're gonna find baby Nikos, call Ruby to pick her up and then you can all come and out and celebrate with us; come on Fluffy I promised we'd go all out one last time before I left the academy and this is it!"

"Okay, we'll split up by teams. We've all got each others' Scroll numbers and we all know what Syneffo looks like, red hair, silver eyes and gold armour….not hard to spot; let's split up and cover as much ground" Felix turned to Iris and quietly muttered "And can you take care of her for me?"

"Will do" Iris nodded as she led Team CLIR away, Carcharodon silently acknowledged the suggestion and led Team GORE in the opposite direction whilst Onyx shot concerned glances at Corvid over his shoulder as she left.

"Hey" Felix placed his hand on Helios's shoulders and rested his forehead against the taller mans' "We'll find her….Corey's drunk but she's right, it's gonna be fine"

"Thank you" Helios murmured, kissing Felix's forehead before turning to Nyanza and quietly adding "Let's go" a moment later they had departed leaving Team FADE alone in the street

"Any idea where she might have gone?" Arctus asked quietly "I mean I know this isn't like Atlas or anything but it's still a big city and she's not from around here"

"It's not safe for her to be out here at night dude" Diamond added with a shake of her head, her own parents having made sure that their daughter knew exactly what the worst that could happen was "There's all kinds of sickos out there"

"I knew Dee" Felix growled as he led his team in the direction he intended to search, purposefully trying not to think about such things "I'm trying to think where would she go and what kind of trouble would she get herself into; she's angry, stressed and stubborn as hell-"

"So where would you be?" Eagle asked innocently, managing to lighten the mood a fraction if nothing else.

To say Syneffo Nikos had panicked would be a monumental understatement.

The redhead had made her decision to abandon the Rose family home almost immediately upon returning there with Ruby and had acted upon it without hesitation. Whilst Syneffo could convince herself that her mother would welcome her return to the Nikosi tribe with open arms and without issue the fact remained that Kataigida Nikos was not the entirety of her people, despite the immense of amount of power her status granted her over them. She was a failure plain and simple, she had been sent to New Vale for a specific task and was being sent home in disgrace with her objective incomplete; Syneffo's blood had run cold at the thought of what the tribal elders would think of her and found herself swallowing a lump in her throat and wiping her eyes as she wondered whether they would petition her mother to have her exiled into the wilderness, true enough no Nikosi had faced such a fate in her mothers' reign but it was still a possibility to her. Even if she was allowed to remain Syneffo knew with utmost certainty that her place within the Pathfinders would be forfeit, either the Pathfinders themselves would censure her from their ranks or her mother would simply forbid her from working alongside them, the fact that she had been sent home from New Vale serving as evidence that she was incapable. She was unfit for her station and would either be the cause of civil war within her tribe as a line of succession was decided or Helios would have to be summoned back to the tribe to retake the mantle of heir to the Nikosi against his wishes.

Neither of this options were ones Syneffo could stomach and so she had left, whilst New Vale was vastly different to the open plains and terror filled forests of Anima she had still managed to put her skills to good use and remain unseen by anyone as she slipped through the trees that lined the narrow and winding roads away from the area of New Vale in which Ruby and Penny lived, using some of the exceptionally limited amount of Lien at her disposal to board a night bus once she reached a more industrial part of the city. The ride had given her enough time to contemplate her actions and form a plan, Syneffo had decided that if Ruby was unwilling to teach her then she would master the power of her Silver Eyes herself, she intended to make her way out beyond the cities walls when the sun rose and seek out the Creatures of Grimm.

Her short term plans however were far less concrete; Syneffo was lost and had no way to find her bearings. This was not a place she had visited with either Ruby or Helios and his friends, a high street filled with people; raised voices and thumping music from countless sources seemed to pound against her skull whilst the stench of alcohol hung in the air, firmly pushing her way through the mass of bodies and paying no heed to the curses that followed she left and desperately sought out somewhere more quiet where she would hopefully be able to sleep for the night. Eventually finding a bench and curling up on it with her eyes screwed shut and sniffling as she fought the urge to cry Syneffo wallowed in her misery and noted bitterly to herself that she must have been a pathetic sight.

She was interrupted by a steadily increasing light which shone through her eyelids and a whining sound that changed in pitch and volume in tandem with the light, unsure of what was happening Syneffo reacted on instinct alone and hurled herself from the bench before her eyes were even fully open; a decision that was proven correct when the bench exploded behind her and sent her crashing to the ground. Rolling into a crouch and drawing the Harpy's Claws Syneffo was greeted by the sight of a deathly pale and freckled girl who appeared to be not much older than herself with coppery hair that had been died platinum though the roots remained visible; the girls' right forearm seemed either too large or grossly misshapen as it strained against the fabric of the sweatshirt she wore, though this was far less disconcerting than the glowing and ethereal green light that began to stream towards her open palm.

"Wow these things are really not practical" she noted conversationally as she pushed her heart shaped sunglasses onto the top of her head with her gloved left hand "Big oof"

"You!" Syneffo exclaimed, the removal of the glasses allowed her to her attackers' face and its' uncanny resemblance to Penny; it was clear that this was Nickel Polendina, the android who had almost killed Felix and whose existence was at the root of Ruby and Penny's disagreements with Qrow

"We know each other?" the voice was innocent and sickly sweet, laughably at odds with her actions

"You call yourself Nickel Polendina" Syneffo rose to her feet slowly and noted as Nickel's eyes widened that they were different shades of green

"Oh" Nickel cooed, clearly entertained by this development "Well if you know me by name and you've got silver eyes, then you must know Ruby and Penny as well….are they scared yet? Come on you've gotta tell me" Syneffo, being defiant by nature met the androids' gaze and gave an answer she knew to be false

"Not even slightly"

"Well let's work on that" the redheads' instincts prevailed once again and she dropped into the crouching position she assumed when using her Semblance; the crimson dome and impassible light expanding out around her as Nickel fired her remaining arm mounted weapon. Syneffo's shield held firm but she could feel her Aura being depleted by the power of the attack it was subjected to, after a few tense moments the beam of destructive light spewing from Nickel's palm guttered out and she cocked her head in bemused surprise

"Huh, okay then" before Syneffo could so much as think Nickel had appeared directly in front on her, crossing the distance between them faster than the eye could see and ploughing her fist into her gut, Syneffo flew backwards and collided with the nearest wall with a sickening crack as her vision swum and the sound of her own armour creaking under the force of the blow made itself known over the ringing in her ears. She had a vague impression of her attacker sauntering towards her with an utter lack of concern as she tried to drag herself to her feet and ready her axes but no sooner had she done so than Nickel was on her again, this time the attack was low and Syneffo felt her legs buckle as they were swept from beneath her following by a blinding and excruciating lance of pain through her chest that tore a scream from her, her ribs breaking as Nickel's fist surged upwards into her side, the android followed up by simply grabbing the redheads' limp form and throwing her down the street where she crashed into the side of a parked car in an explosion of broken glass. Lights flickered on in nearby apartments above stores and curtains twitched as people looked out of their windows for the source of the calamity, yet no help came and Syneffo was forced to drag herself into a crouch once more whilst every ragged breath she drew sent a fresh wave of agony through her

"Well, good game kid" Nickel sneered as she began to advance again, Syneffo in response combined the two halves of the Harpies' Claws into their ranged form and loaded several dust tipped bolts into the automatic crossbow

"Really?" the sadistic android cackled "Arrows, against me? Are you-" she was silenced as a salvo of Fire Dust tipped bolts impacted against her, the jagged crystals embedding themselves in the fabric of her baggy sweatshirt as they ignited and set Nickel on fire.

Syneffo wasted no time admiring the results of her attack and simply ran for her life, certain that Nickel would be after her again within seconds.

Team FADE had been searching for Nickel for over an hour already having started with the first bars and clubs that they had seen, it was unlikely that Syneffo would have been allowed inside such establishments as she simply did not look old enough but Felix had shown her picture to the door staff and explained the situation nonetheless; the Nikosi did not follow the laws of the Kingdom of Mistral when it came to their drinking age after all and Felix had seen Syneffo drink Nikosi liquor whilst they had been in Atlas. After searching the nearby bars and clubs had yielded nothing they moved onto their next idea, knowing roughly what time Syneffo had fled Ruby's home Felix realised that the girl hadn't eaten and that she would most likely be ravenous at this point; with that in mind the four of them had visited every fast food establishment throughout the lower levels of several Hive Towers, reasoning that Syneffo would most likely not venture into the upper regions. They had still found nothing, the staff at one restaurant whose premises sported a broken window had excused themselves from giving a statement to police officers to explain to Team FADE that the damage had indeed been done by a teenage girl, yet she had not looked like Syneffo.

Eventually Team FADE had found themselves in another Hive Tower making their way through a high street filled with a variety of bars and late night arcades and bookies, a street which in essence seemed to be built around extracting as much lien from those who passed through it as possible by catering to every vice they could have.

"I don't think she'd be here dude" Diamond noted to Felix "If she ran away she's probably looking for somewhere quiet to be in a bad mood by herself"

"Yeah, makes sense" Felix admitted "I'm still gonna talk to the door staff though and…." he trailed off, the sound of tearing metal and booming crashes in the distance reaching him; though it was almost lost beneath the sound of loud music and drunk people in large numbers, knowing that his human team-mates were unlikely to have have noticed anything he turned to Arctus

"You heard that right?" he demanded urgently

"Heard what?" Eagle asked, confirming Felix's suspicions

"Might have been a car accident….it came from over there" the four of them shared tense looks as an inexplicable feeling of dread took hold

"Come on, this way" Felix gestured to a side street and began leading them roughly in the direction in which the sounds had come from, only to stop short when they reached the street and saw massive amounts of damage

"What the hell?" Felix mouthed out almost inaudibly as he took in the sight of smashed walls, heavily damaged cars and a bench that had been simply blown apart

"FELIX LOOK AT THIS!" Diamond called out, the silver haired sniper had wandered ahead and was picking up a heavily burned and nearly unrecognisable sweatshirt.

It was filled with crossbow bolts

"Ah shit, come on follow the wreckage!" Felix demanded unsheathing Hack and Slash as he tore passed his team-mates and began sprinting through the streets, using the damage left by Syneffo and her unknown adversary as sign posts to guide the way whilst Arctus, Eagle and Diamond followed suit and drew their own weapons as they chased after him.

After running for several minutes the four of them came skidding to a halt and Felix's deep blue eyes were wide with terror as his blood turned to ice in his veins

"Put her down Nickel!" he screamed out without thinking, the sadistic android was currently holding Syneffo aloft with with a single hand around her throat and it seemed that the girl had fought back as best she could, the singed tank-top Nickel had worn beneath her sweatshirt sported a tear in the midsection and the lenses of her heart shaped glasses were broken but it was for nought however as the Harpies Claws lay on the ground at her feet and Syneffo's flailing attempts to free herself were rapidly becoming sluggish. As Nickel turned to face Felix looked at her, for the first time since the breach and saw the lasting effects of the damage he'd done to her, the mismatched eyes, the skinless and robotic left arm and ragged patches of torn skin which started on her back reached up over her shoulders from where her wings had been removed

"NOT ASKING TWICE!" Arctus roared, hurling a Glyph which span like a saw blade at Nickel's outstretched arm, the now platinum haired Android simply dropped Syneffo and pulled her arm out of harms' way before placing a foot against Syneffo's head as the girl coughed and sputtered, futilely struggling to crawl away

"Oh she's a friends of yours?" Nickel asked, ripping her colourful face-mask away to reveal a manic rictus grin "I'm gonna curb stomp her 'til I need new shoes!" Nickel raised her foot and prepared to make good on her threat and time seemed to slow to a crawl as Felix charged forwards; his team-mates however once again came to his aid, Arctus created an obsidian coloured Glyph fuelled by Gravity Dust between Syneffo's skull and Nickel's foot as it came down with the result of hurling her into the air with Diamond then raising Lex Talionis and opening fire, a trio of Lightning Dust rounds striking the android in mid air and sending her crashing to the ground in a twitching heap whilst Eagle lunged into action and activated her Semblance, her avian form carrying her to Syneffo's side where she proceeded to pick the younger girl up and carry her to relative safety behind Team FADE.

"I call shenanigans" Nickel huffed as she returned to her feet, Arctus and Diamonds' combined efforts evidently doing little other than irking her.

"Nickel we don't have to do this" Felix pleaded, his tone enough to make the other members of Team FADE turn to him in confusion; they had never heard their leader, the embodiment of unstoppable force beg an opponent to see reason like this before and then, it made painful and horrifying sense to each of them.

This was Nickel Polendina, she had almost killed Felix in their last encounter and the Lion Faunus was terrified of her.

"Aunt Penny knows you exist" he continued "She didn't before, none of did….Nickel nobody wants to hurt you, or send you back to Atlas or whatever it is you're worried about"

"We can help" Eagle chimed in, hoping there was at least a slim chance that Nickel could see reason and quickly considering everything Felix had told her about his previous encounter with her "Professor Geppetto Polendina died over ten years ago, my Mum runs Poly-Tech now….If you don't want to look like Penny Polendina any more she could do that-"

"They with you?" Nickel nodded to Eagle, Felix and Arctus when the Lion Faunus nodded she sighed and continued "Great, good for them….Now take a good look at what you did and tell me if you think I'm gonna be talked out of this" Felix fought to overcome the terror currently rooting him to the spot as Nickel's Aura flared around her, pulsating and expanding with a shifting and corrupted glow as she activated the Booster supplies that had been coursing though her

"FIVE DEAD BODIES IT IS!" she charged.

Ruby had been within Qrow's basement which had often been called a lair for over an hour, which she had spent alternating between pacing in agitation and peering over her uncles' shoulder to look at the various feeds being displayed on the numerous screen of Qrow's supercomputer, each feed being taken from one of the countless security cameras scattered liberally throughout New Vale's inner city.

"Anything?" Ruby demanded

"Still looking" Qrow answered quietly as he disregarded the current set of camera feeds and hacked into the footage from a fresh set

"The docks?" Ruby asked in confusion

"We don't know what she's thinking" Qrow grunted with a shrug "She could be looking for a way to Anima on her own terms" Ruby pursed her lips as she considered the idea for a few moments before finally deciding that whilst she couldn't explain or prove her reasoning it just didn't feel right; a feeling that was soon supported by evidence as Qrow shook his head and sighed

"No sign of her here….not unless she's already climbed onto a ship heading to Anima" he stroked his beard for a moment "I could pull up a list of what's docked there and send some anonymous tips about a stowaway-"

"And get her arrested?" Ruby demanded incredulously

"She's safer sitting in cell until you can pick her up than the alternative" Ruby scowled and shook her head

"Keep looking"

"Okay….any word from Fluffy?" Ruby paused and withdrew her Scroll, her nephew had been keeping her informed of the ongoing search on the ground and relaying information from the other teams

"No" she murmured, noting that it had been longer than she would have expected since Felix's last message; she decided to call him only for the call to go unanswered. Frowning she turned to Qrow once again

"I can't get in touch with Felix, he didn't say anything about his Scroll having a low battery"

"Where were they last heading?"

"Tower Twenty Three….the high street"

"I know which level that is" Qrow nodded, quickly bringing up the camera feeds from the surrounding area, eyes narrowing as he took in the trail of damage that led away from one of the nearby side streets

"THERE!" Ruby exclaimed, silver eyes wide and fearful "Oh mu Oum, it's her" terror seeped into every fibre of Qrow's being as he watched each member of Team FADE, including his own daughter fighting with all the skill and resourcefulness at their disposal in an effort to protect a clearly injured Syneffo Nikos from Nickel Polendina

"We have to go"

"RUBY WAIT!" Qrow demanded and she mercifully halted, having made it half way up the stairs out of the basement in a blink of an eye

"You should stay here"

"Are you insane!" she demanded "That's her, that's Atlas's rogue android and-"

"I know!" Qrow barked "And Eagle's out there but if she went after Syneffo then it means you were right about what Oz is using her for….She's being used to take out Silver Eyed Warriors-"

"So we're gonna sit here and-"

"You're gonna stay here and not run into what might be a trap" Qrow stated firmly "I'm going out there" he punctuated the statement by grabbing Harbinger from its' resting place and sheathing the oversized sword over his back, Ruby silently fumed as she tried to find a rational counterargument yet none were forthcoming so instead she simply pulled her uncle into a tight hug, her anger with him forgotten for the moment at least

"Be careful"

They were struggling.

Nickel was fighting at her full capacity, something she'd been unable to do when she'd last fought Felix and the additional power she could draw upon far outstripped any advantage that their numbers may have given them.

"EAGLE MOVE!" Felix bellowed out in warning as light gathered around the androids' clenched right fist as she launched a wild haymaker which Eagle narrowly managed to avoid by hurling Sentinel to the side and taking to her avian form. Sentinel unfolded from his shield form and launched his clawed appendages forward on their cables and began pouring an absurd amount of electricity through them the moment they seized Nickel in their grasp.

Seeing the android staggered for a fraction of a second both Eagle and Felix decided to press the advantage and charge, Eagle readying her sword and forgoing any notion of honourable combat as she prepared to simply run her opponent through from behind whilst Felix ran headlong at her

"Wow you are doing the most!" Nickel laughed as she ripped Sentinel's claws free of herself and in the same fluid motion turned to kick Eagle away from her whilst hauling Sentinel from the ground and throwing the automaton into Felix who was brought crashing to a halt.

Arctus and Diamond were right behind him, the sniper using her Semblance to run along the ceiling of the Hive level they were fighting within whilst Arctus charged directly at the android, gathering a Glyph in his right hand as he aimed and fired Grimmiger-Henker in its' double barrelled laser cannon mode which forced Nickel to weave around the bolts of searing light. As he drew close he allowed the Glyph in his hand to expand outwards and a glowing white Minotaur Grim construct rampaged from its' surface.

Nickel broke the construct in half at the waist with a single dismissive backhand.

Undeterred by the sight of Nickel's glowing fist ripping through his summoned Grimm Arctus continued to charge, shifting his weapon into its' great-sword form to which the android responded by holding out her right arm and unfurling her Photon Accelerator, unleashing the light that had gathered there already in a single destructive beam which the Bear Faunus quickly struggled to defend against; creating a dozen Glyph in front of his chest in quick succession which were shattered just as quickly before Arctus himself struck and flung backwards by the attack, his chest smoking as he struggled to pull himself to his feet.

Diamond flipped down from the ceiling the moment Nickel stopped firing and halted her advance with a punishing kick to the face which she followed up by shifting Lex Talionis into its' glaive form as she crouched low and slashed at her legs in the same moment Eagle leapt onto her back in an attempt to drag the machine down. With her augmented strength however Nickel managed to carry her disoriented staggering into a full-tilt charge at the nearest wall as she hurled Eagle over her shoulder, sending the armoured Huntress ploughing through the interior of the store to which the wall belonged. Diamond's attempt to rush to her aid was rendered ineffective as Nickel span and backhanded her glaive away with her mechanical left arm before driving both forearms down onto Diamond's shoulders and forcing her to her knees, then promptly kicking her in the chest and sending her rolling to a stop across the street.

"Go off I guess" Nickel snorted as she sauntered almost lazily into the middle of the road and surveyed her beaten opponents; Syneffo and Arctus were struggling to rise, the choked girl finally revealing that she had some fight left after all, Diamond was currently winded and unable to move and Eagle was slowly limping out of the building she'd been thrown through, giving Nickel a moment to decide on the order she planned to kill them in.

Then Felix collided with her with enough force to send her hurtling through the and come crashing to a stop several dozen feet away.

"You live your best life buddy, I've been wanting to clap back against this version of you" Nickel spat coldly as she returned to her feet; Felix had entered his Balrog State and the ground glowed beneath his feet as he began to charge, Nickel responded in kind and her corrupted Aura left a contrail of emerald light behind her as she rushed to meet the Lion Faunus. The ground shook and windows shattered as the two met each other in an explosion of raw force that was felt several hive levels above and below them. The pair moved and fought at blinding speeds, Felix's wild and powerful blows knocking Nickel aside several time yet each time she responded with devastating attacks of her own and as the floor cracked beneath them it became clear that it would be a contest of stamina.

One that Felix lost as Nickel planted her foot firmly in his midsection and kicked him to the ground, his body returning to its' natural state as he fell

"I am so done with you" Nickel announced, breathing heavily as she unfurled her Photon Accelerator once again and took aim, clearly intending to end the battle with one last display of overkill and Felix team-mates rushed as fast as their various injuries would allow to drag the Lion Faunus aside in what they knew deep down would be a futile effort. Felix closed his eyes and prepared for the end to come.

It didn't

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW!" Felix opened his eyes to a world that was tinged red for a few seconds before the last of Syneffo's Aura failed and her flickering shield vanished

"I'm sorry, I couldn't hold her" the redhead whimpered. Felix didn't answer, instead he strained his ears and allowed himself a broad smile that showed off his overlong canine teeth as the sound of an engine reached his ears.

"Behind you"

"You must really think I'm an idiot" Nickel chuckled with a roll of her eyes "What kind of Saturday morning cartoon-Wait what?" she turned around just in time to see an old, black and rusty car speeding towards her and Felix used her distraction to pull Syneffo away as she brought the vehicle to a halt with her shoulder, crumpling its' front end entirely as it flipped over her but using the last of her Booster enhanced strength by doing so.

Then she saw that the car had been a ruse.

Qrow had placed a brick on the accelerator of his car and used his Semblance to exit the vehicle and trail behind it in mid-air; with the ruined car sailing over Nickel he returned to his true form in a flash of Aura before leaping into the fray. Stooping into a low bow he used he used the flat edge of his sword to block Nickel's uncoordinated overhand in a manoeuvrer that had come to be called the Branwen Defence, following up by unsheathing Harbinger and shifting it into its' scythe mode in a single fluid motion and catching Nickel by the waist with the curve of its' blade, flinging her aside like a rag doll before shifting his weapon into its' shotgun form and opening fire. Nickel's Aura held and she was still a monumentally powerful opponent but now she was weakened and outnumbered, the android weighed up her options and realised that there could be any number of additional Hunters following after Qrow

"Gonna have to leave you all on read" she shrugged, readying her photon weapon in a blur of movement and firing at Qrow's overturned car, when the fireball of the resultant explosion had passed she was gone; leaving Team FADE, Qrow and Syneffo alone with the sound of sirens approaching them as the authorities chose to finally make their presence known.

"Everyone still in one piece?" Felix managed to choke out, his movements made sluggish by exhaustion and ache, receiving confirmations that his friends were in fact okay he gave a nod of thanks to Qrow, who was slinging Eagle's arm around his shoulders so that she could use him for support and then turned his gaze to Syneffo

"You are in so much trouble"

Authors Notes:

There we go, things are speeding up now.
Yes the chapter title is an homage to Vol.1 of canon.
A couple more chapters in which the final pieces will line up and then we've got our finale to get through.
Which means we've got our big bad Grimm that I promised you….Remember how I said in any other year the Vol.8 breach would have been an end of year finale; I've got something special that I've been saving.

And very soon, very very soon I'm finally gonna get to show you the plot twist that I've been saving for literally years.

But anyway let's summarise:
The severity of the situation aside, you can understand why Ruby didn't really want to deal with Qrow….that wound is still too fresh.
Think back to Syneffo's first introduction at the start of Second Year, hiding in the trees to steal a kill from Helios, she's good at keeping out of sight.
Qrow makes a solid point, if Helios found out that Syneffo had gone missing and nobody had told him heads would roll.
If anyone is wondering why almost everything seems to happen in the poorer parts of the city there's two reasons, a) delayed police response times, if half of these fights happened in a middle class part of town the law would be there in five minutes. b) Write what you know, I'm from that part of town.
I know it sounds dumb but the junk food acts as a disguise; you see a group of guys roaming through the streets in the middle of the night and you might think they're up to something, if they're eating kebabs then they're probably just drunk.
Yes Nickel just went full Captain Marvel.
I'm sure you all saw the way this was going to play out the second you saw that Nickel was out in the city.
"Quietly" nope.
Technically speaking Hellion and Eagle didn't get cock blocked but it's the principal that counts.
Raffia will die before he admits he's becoming a decent person.
I suppose we could argue that Nyanza's good luck Semblance worked…..running into Nickel would've been bad luck.
I'm sorry but after the monumental head-fuck that her exams were there's no way Corey did not get utterly shit-faced.
Diamond is the city kid of Team FADE, she knows it's a jungle out there.
I had throw in the parting line from Eagle.
I just want to point out that Syneffo wouldn't actually be exiled or anything close to it, it's honestly just a case of her worrying herself into a frenzy; the Nikosi are tough, not cruel.
I honestly made myself sad with the mental image of Syneffo crying herself to sleep on a bench.
Nickel really is an evil little bitch.
Syneffo has discovered Nickel's one weakness, being set on fire.
Yes that was the same place Nickel was at that Team FADE visited.
Okay I know that Felix hearing the sound of Nickel smashing through something to chase after Syneffo was convenient but canon supports me on this.
I specifically didn't show Syneffo's Aura break just so I could have her make the save later, you can still strangle someone to death if they've got an Aura….they still need to breathe.
"I'm gonna curb stomp her 'til I need new shoes!" might just be the most iconic thing Nickel has said.
Felix and Eagle really did try….but Nickel's nuts.
That's actually the first time Ruby's seen Nickel.
Okay Qrow was wrong but it was still too much of a risk to take.
If you remember Nickel had used her Booster reserves when she was fighting Kafsi so she'd already used her trump card before Felix even showed up.
I just want you take a moment to consider the fact that she broke what has become Arctus's signature construct in half with one hit, just to get an idea of what level powered up Nickel is on.
Nickel didn't actually fight Balrog Felix last time.
Nickel 2 – Cars 0.
And the long awaited return of the Branwen Defence….and if you see that term referenced anywhere just remember that I'm the on who coined it.
I wouldn't even say Nickel lost, she just decided that the situation was no longer strategically viable and fell back.

Thank you to SumoSnipe and Funlander for their reviews.
Nope….and even if Winter did retire Ciel would take her role, but you're on the right track.
Regarding Corona and Torchwick's Mum….epilogue.
I mean the proper head space for Silver Eyes is "Life threatening conditions" but Ruby did also promise to keep Syneffo safe, you see the conundrum.
Indeed, teenagers….with attitude; which is totally not a subtle plug for my Power Rangers story.

As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review.