The Dreamer Gate

by Malignent

Thousands of Uruk-Hai are drawn to Remnant after a ritual gone wrong, and are more than capable of bringing their own taste of war to this new world. Now the people of Remnant must deal with this new and numerous threat. As the Tournament draws near, and the actions of the Uruk Leaders grows ever bolder, can peace truly be maintained?

7. Chapter 7: The Shadow

Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of The Rings, the Middle-Earth universe, Shadow of Mordor or RWBY.

This work will contain moments of intense violence, dark and dirty humor, and canonical divergences.

---

The Shadow

"Hey Krimp, we still on for the game later today?"

"Sorry Tenny, somethin' came up and I ain't got a clue if I'll be able to make it."

"Bummer dude."

"Oh, but Cena wanted to go see it, maybe ya could bring er with ya and use my ticket."

"Woah really?"

"I know ya been tryin' to break the ice Tenny, maybe this is just whatcha need!"

"Thanks man, I'll tell ya how it goes at the club later if you're out by then."

"Just bein' a friend pally!" Krimp waved back as the student he'd been talking to rushed off, once out of sight the giant turned back to the two girls he'd been walking with.

Weiss had pinched her nose in annoyance as her teammate looked on in apprehensive uncertainty. This had to be the eighth time the trio had been halted in their trip to Ozpin's office by some random student who needed to speak with Krimp about something. And they weren't all unfamiliar faces either, which had to have been the most unsettling part about it. Russel needed some secondary confirmation about the smell of a new gel he'd been trying and couldn't trust anyone else to give him an honest answer, Coco and Velvet had asked about a sight-seeing trip they'd been planning on taking the Uruk on tomorrow, Yatsuhashi had been wondering why he'd been late for their daily meditating session, and Nora had shown up twice asking for a rematch in some inane rivalry the two had apparently formed over who was the bestest friendly friend on campus.

It was utterly asinine, how were they supposed to get to Ozpin's office if they couldn't go twelve feet without one of Krimp's numerous friends crawling out of the woodwork? Not even Yang had this happen to her when they traveled between classes or to Vale, and she was known for being the social butterfly of the group! Weiss was now determined to properly apologize to the blonde-haired bruiser after they rescued her from those savages and properly educated them through a classic Team RWBY beating. She had made a fuss of the elder sibling's inclination for excessive extroversive tendencies, but even dragging the Team to the occasional party didn't compare to being assailed by an army of associates. Truly the heiress didn't exactly realize what horrific levels of tedious annoyance the REAL extreme brought in its wake.

"Oh hey guys! You finished your chat already?"

The voice was none other than the leader of Team JNPR, Jaune Arc. He was carrying several books with who many considered the rising Champion of Vale, Pyrrha Nikos, who gave a matching smile as the duo approached the trio.

Weiss tried to look as if she wasn't annoyed by another detour, she had missed their friends during the trip and had genuinely wished to reconnect with them as soon as possible, but getting sidetracked so many times in such a short span of time had to be horrid for her health.

But she turned to the duo with a casual smile gracing her lips as she tried looking nonchalant "Oh hey guys, yeah we just needed to settle a few things."

Jaune shared a look with his teammate before raising an eyebrow "You sure? You had this look on your face while you guys were shoving him into your room, ya know the kinda face that says: This can't be happening, somebody handle this before I explode."

Weiss blinked, then immediately scoffed "I don't know what you're talking about, we just needed to have a...friendly chat."

"Oh she said it!" Krimp clapped

"Trust me Weiss, I've gotten pretty accurate at reading your annoyed expressions... for obvious reasons, heh heh." Jaune admitted sheepishly "It got us pretty worried."

"Jaune and Nora spent some time guessing what the issue was." Pyrrha said with a humored little laugh "It may have gotten a bit exaggerated."

"So now I need to know which one of us was closer on the money."

"There was a misunderstanding," Blake interjected as she folded her arms and glanced at the disguised Uruk "we called Krimp while on our trip and he said something we may have misinterpreted. We'd been on edge since then and needed to clear it up with him once we returned."

"Damn, that means Nora was closer than I was!" Jaune pouted "She thought maybe someone had called you claiming to be the big guy over here and lured you guys back for a ransom or something."

The monochrome duo stared at him for some time until Blake said "Wait...how is that the closest?"

"Look, your friend's gotten us into some wacky scenarios since we met him, I wouldn't put a hostage situation out of the picture."

"Like that time yesterday," Pyrrha recalled as she pressed a finger to her lips in thought "when we found out that all of the first-year students had their weapons stolen and Krimp and Coco led an investigation revealing Sky to be the culprit."

"Or the time-"

"Yes yes I'm sure it was all very bond-building." the heiress interrupted before gesturing down the hall "Krimp here was just about to accompany us to Ozpin's office to give our report."

"Oh yeah, what happened out there anyway?" the Arc asked "I didn't get much from Fox about what happened so..."

Weiss and Blake glanced to each other for a moment as Krimp just hummed behind them, finally the Faunus stepped forward "We had a run in with some raiders, we chased them off but they'd gotten away with some White Fang captives. They'd apparently been hunting them down and were raiding settlements along the way."

"Odd, usually brigands like that stay away from other criminals." Pyrrha noted "And the White Fang aren't exactly a small organization."

Blake nodded "We wanted to rescue their prisoners, and we did but...their Captain was...difficult."

"He pulled a fast one on Yang," Weiss said with a weary pause "and when Ruby tried to help her she ended up getting hurt. We were still dealing with his goons. By the time we found Ruby, he and Yang were gone."

Things were quiet for a moment, until Jaune spoke up "Do...either of you know what exactly happened to Yang?"

"We're hoping Ruby saw something before she was rendered unconscious." The Faunus pointed out, "That's really all we can hope for in terms of leads."

"Red's a fighter!" Krimp piped up, raising both his fists with a grin "So's her sis! Neither of 'em would go down without a fight! Yang's probably a'waitin' for us to go get her!"

"Yeah..." Jaune gave a small smile at the Uruk's contagious optimism "she probably is."

"Anyway, we should probably get these books back to the dorm." Pyrrha suggested as she hefted the texts in her arms for emphasis "We should tell the others what's going on."

"Right," her team leader agreed before nodding to Weiss and Blake "good luck with your report guys. We'll go visit Ruby together once this all squared out, kay?"

Soon the black and white duo were watching the others leave, optimism fading with them...except for Krimp who still oozed positive vibes.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Blake spoke up suddenly, causing Weiss and the disguised Uruk to look at her. She glanced up to the hooded giant "You know we didn't call, and we didn't tell them about the Uruk situation, so why didn't you speak up about it?"

It had been a concern to her during their conversation with the two JNPR members, Krimp could've derailed their conversation so many times yet kept quiet and happy for the most part.

"Well I wouldn't want ya to feel bad about havin' those muddled memories. Wouldn't that be embarrassing?" Krimp tilted his head to the side before shaking it "What kind of friend would I be if I embarrassed my buddies?"

"Just let him do his thing," Weiss placed a hand on her shoulder and nodded down the hall "come on...maybe we can get to Ozpin before-"

"Hey Krimp!" said yet another random student

"Just why?!"

---

Where am I?

The sounds of gunfire and explosions were beginning to sound clearer and clearer.

What's happening?"

His vision cleared more, to the point where he could more easily see the ceiling of the club he worked at.

Why can't I feel anything?

"Ah," came a voice he didn't recognize "so you're finally awake."

...why are my lips moving?

Gundza had to roll his eyes at the strait of bad luck he was having so far. Not only did his new body turn out to be that of some loser junkie's, not only did he just so happen to run into two Warmongers not minutes afterward, but apparently his body's former host wasn't as much of a mental push-over as his bad habits had implied.

The Uruk-possessed man was currently hiding behind the destroyed DJ booth along with that damn disc-jockey in the bear mask. He could hear the sounds of battle coming from the dance floor below, but with his current luck there wasn't a chance he'd put himself in the direct view of the Shaman's Elite. He'd planned to just sit there and wait till the Uruks below had what they'd came for and left, maybe sneak back out to the alley if they started destroying the building.

But then Mitch started talking.

Gundza had hoped that the human would be mentally weak enough to keep suppressed during his time using him. Gimub was loyal enough to keep quiet whilst borrowing his body, Gundza didn't want to have to deal with some weak, addicted mess of a man on top of the aching crave for Gresh leaves this body had gotten used to.

W-why can't I move my body?!

"Keep it quiet tark I still haven't gotten over the headaches." the Uruk growled out as a spray of bullets flew over the sound system and peppered the walls.

Who are you?!

"What'd I just say about being quiet?"

The Captain took a moment to glance over the sound system and saw pretty much what he'd expected. Half the bouncers unconscious on the ground or wedged into the walls of the club while the remaining ones struggled to keep from joining them. The only ones keeping from immediately getting pulverized were Junior and the twins, and from the way things were it was obvious that wasn't going to last for too long.

A stumbling bouncer lunged for his rifle, only to fall as Krosh leaped onto his back feet first. The unfortunate man fell to his hands and knees as the Uruk planted his boot on the back of his head and gestured to the side, then leaped off as Melanie slashed at him with one of those blade heels of hers. Some ways behind them Junior was backing up as he readied yet another missile volley and his goons ran past him towards the other Warmonger.

Ogthrak looked more pissed than his partner, who was just chewing the scenery with all those jumps of his. The larger Uruk swung those large arms of his and batted the unfortunate underlings away like flour sacks. Turning back to Junior, Oghtrak snarled before being engulfed in another explosion. The Bar's owner didn't seem convinced, and raised his batzooka again as the larger Uruk charged out of the resulting cloud.

Yeah, that wasn't going to last for long.

Why are we under attack?

Before Gundza could scold the weakling for speaking up, the sound of a gun being loaded drew his attention back to the DJ... who had pulled a damn SMG from out of nowhere. The possessed-man rolled his eyes as he patted himself down.

"Hey tark," Gundza grumbled as he noticed a certain lack of something "where's your weapon?"

I-I-

A blast from the dance floor prompted the Uruk to raise his voice "Where?!"

I think I dropped it...in the alley...

The Captain could feel his eyelids twitch, "When this is over Tark...I promise that I'll erase that disappointing, rancid waste of a life of yours from this world."

WHO EVEN ARE YOU!?

Before Gundza could scold him for being too loud, the DJ opened fire on the assailants and caused Gundza's eyes to go wide "No, you filth! Don't draw attention to us-!"

He didn't even finish before an unconscious bouncer sailed into the DJ and sent the Bear-headed man stumbling off his feet as the sound of footsteps climbing up to them became more audible. Suddenly Krosh leaped atop the destroyed mixer and chuckled at the tow of them. Going white, the Captain immediately tried scrambling to his feet while the DJ raised his rifle. The Warmonger closed distance quickly, tearing the weapon out of the panicked record-spinner's hands and swinging it into his oversized mask. The headwear was dented upon contact, and the DJ tumbled over the side of his booth as the Storm Elite turned around.

Gundza had gotten to his feet and was running away when the rifle slammed into his back and knocked him off his feet. He careened into the ground hard enough to renew the headaches that had just started dying down, he rolled onto his side and spotted Krosh charging him with that annoyingly familiar grin.

"Wait!" the possessed bouncer shouted as he tried scrambling back "Hold on you maggot! Don't-"

His complaints were silenced when the Warmonger's boot connected with his jaw and immediately rendered him unconscious.

---

Vacuo- The Desert Tower

Hasty footsteps echoed down the halls as Ishga raced past the many Uruks and captives walking them. The Black Gate Garrison Uruks would glare beneath their helmets or over their shoulders as the Red Uruk darted by, growls and scowls accompanying ever single glance. Ishga had no time for past grievances, and kept his destination in mind as he tried to steady his panicked breaths.

Coming across a door larger than the rest, Ishga skidded to a halt before the two defenders guarding it. Bearing the red color of their Warchief, both glanced down at the Hunter before glancing to one another.

"I need to speak with the master." Ishga stated over his uneven breathing.

"Warchief's asleepin'" one of the defenders grunted out

"Said he wanted his sleep," the other said with a casual gesture off his spear "ya know, on account of the stress keeping him awake the last week or so."

"It pleases me to hear the master's doin' better, but we NEED him awake now." Ishga insisted before reaching past them towards the handle, only for two halberds to block his path. The hunter blinked before glaring at the two defenders.

"Sorry there Cap'n," the one on the left grunted "I ain't gonna be the Uruk who fails my Warchief's requests."

"Are you two really goin' to do this now?" Ishga muttered before backing away from them.

"Tugog says he wants sleep no matter what," one said with a chuckle as he raised his shield "so if we kills the one trying to interrupt those orders-"

"-and erase a weaklin' relic like ya'self in the process." the other raised his as well

"Then we might just be seein' a promotion for our act of loyalty."

Ishga sighed and reached for one of his spears as two halberd tips were directed towards him "You idiots, we don't have time for this shrakh!"

"You don't have time," one emphasized as the two began advancing on him "we gots all the time we need."

Nearby, several passing Slavers halted their haul of tarks to watch as the two defenders started circling the hunter.

"I'm going to feed your corpses to the dark beasts for this!" Ishga growled

"There will be no need for that."

The defenders paused along with Ishga before turning their attention back to the now-open door, where Tugog himself stood sporting a genuine smile. Ishga immediately pushed past one of the distracted defenders towards his "Master! Thank the Dark Lord, I need you to come with me!" he stepped closer and gestured down the hall "Hork's garrison have-"

"I know."

The Bloodstorm stopped at that, the even tone of his usually on-edge master forced him to slow down and take a closer look. The Dreamer seemed rejuvenated, almost like different Uruk in comparison to the jittery mes he'd been for the last few months. Shaking his head, Ishga stepped closer "But they've got Dushrat-"

"I'm well aware, servant." Tugog said with a sigh as he stepped past him "My advisor seems to have angered the Black Gate's Garrison, I suppose you've come for my aid in diffusing the matter."

"I-I mean I- Yes," Ishga said as he followed behind "they've got this asinine idea that he's been conspiring."

"So that's why..." The Warchief said as he walked "I suppose that means the Executioner's already begun sharpening his blade, how did this come to be exactly?"

Ishga sighed as he began recounting.

An hour prior...

He and his brother had returned to Tarz the Surgeon's little lab in the tower, accompanied by Skog and his two lackeys. It had taken a bit longer than necessary because the Corruptor had insisted they wait for Muggrish to finish disposing of the slave they were interrogating, which was also prolonged by Skog's specific instructions on how to kill him. When they got back, Ishga was pleased to find Skak still talking with his weapon in the corner. The muscle-brained fool had a bad tendency of wandering off, often prompting Ishga to track him down.

The two locked eyes as he entered, and Skak wasted no time in raising his weapon and pointing towards it "Blood-Axe says this ain't a good idea."

"I haven't even said what we're here for." the Blood-Storm pointed out as his brother pushed past him

"Don't make it no less of a shrakh idea, and Blood-Axe knows his shrakh."

Ishga just sighed as he stood off to the side of the room, looking away only when Tarz walked over to him "I send ya daft fools to go make a few portals and ya come back with a band of Reds?"

"It was my brother's idea." Ishga pointed out as the Surgeon rolled his eyes "You seem more agitated than you were when we was testin' the gates."

"Because the worm ya left me with wouldn't shut up!" Tarz growled as he gestured to Skak, who was in the process of holding a quite one-sided conversation with his weapon "Can see why no one else wants 'im around, so why exactly haven't you killed 'im and been done with it?"

"Family matters, Tarz." Ishga pointed out "You wouldn't get it."

"Ready."

His brother's voice drew the hunter's gaze towards Maku, who had drawn up a dreamer gate on Tarz's board...right where the Surgeon's scrawled writing previously was.

Tarz choked back a shocked gasp as two hours worth of work were wrote over in less than a minute, both hands squeezing his own head in disbelief.

"Okay," Maku said as the gate began opening "once you guys get there. You need to ask to be taken to Ratlug, he's our top researcher and should be able to make a better case for you to present to the Grand Shaman."

"Oi," Skog said hesitantly as he frowned at the gate "I thought you was gonna' help us learn about the Gates and what not?"

"I'm sending you to someone who can help," the Warmonger grunted "Ratlug helps ya talk with the Grand Shaman, he approves, then you guys got Storm support."

"Why can't we just present this to him ourselves?"

"Because if you stand before the Grand Shaman with no one to vouch for ya, he'll end up havin' you and your fellows over there eat each other in front of him for a quick giggle."

"He wouldn't actually do that, would he?" Torz spoke up from behind Muggrish

"Thought you was s'posed to be smart?" the Corruptor grumbled before turning back to the gate "Fine, we talk to this Ratlug runt and get back on track after makin' it through the Shaman."

Maku nodded and stood to the side as the three red-themed Uruks approached the Gate. One by one they all ventured inside as Maku took out that stolen scroll of his and began fiddling with it. Once they were gone, he smudged away some off the symbols around the gate and it immediately sealed behind them.

"Okay, now that that matter's settled." he turned back to his brother and the Surgeon "We can get back to work."

"You just erased all of my writings!" Tarz finally broke free from his stupor.

The Warmonger turned to look at the remnants of the writings, mostly obscured by the remains of the dreamer gate. He shrugged and turned back to them "Don'tcha got any of that stuff memorized?"

"Course not, ya damned fool! That's what the board was for!"

"Blood-Axe says ya shouldn't a let em go." Skak spoke up as Tarz angrily walked towards Maku.

"Not now, Skak." Ishga muttered as he watched the Surgeon square-up with his brother

"He also says we should leave while they work this out." the axe-wielding Uruk stood and walked to Ishga's side "Let's go find some slaves to step on, eh?"

As Ishga turned to rebut the larger Uruk the door to the lab was suddenly thrown open once again. As the occupants turned towards the door, a single Uruk was tossed inside. Even without seeing their face, the distinct helmet and body shape immediately made Ishga's eyes go wide as other Uruks began stepping inside.

"Dushrat?" he muttered before jerking back as a foot pressed the Advisor to the floor.

"Yes," Dharg grumbled as he dug his heel into the Uruk's back "some of ours found him and his crew digging an escape route out of the lower tower. Right through the rock, using up our resources."

The other Uruks with the dark Captain bore the black marking which easily identified them as other members of the Black Gate Garrison.

"So he wanted a fall-back for when the humans came knocking, so what?" Ishga asked defensively, not liking where this line of dialogue was going at all.

"Despite the sheer gal he's shown for outright ignoring my master's will, we had planned on forgiving him after a small beating." the Hell-Hawk said as he removed his helmet, the amount of black blood leaking from Dushrat's mouth emphasizing just how 'small' his thrashing had actually been "Of course, we'd need one of his peers to corroborate with his tale, so we sought you lot out. But guess what we hear while's we were on the way in?"

Ishga glanced at Maku, who seemed thoroughly disinterested with the claims about to be placed forth "Oh do tell us, lapdogs, I'm sure it can't be any more of a waste of my time than what I'm expecting."

Dharg grumbled at his comment, but retained his smirk "Oh of course a Storm Boy like you would try actin' casual when caught conspiring."

"Conspiring!?" Ishga stepped forward

"Aaaannddd my time has been wasted," Maku rolled his eyes "congratulations."

"It just makes sense, don't it?" one of the Black Gate defenders spoke up from behind the Hell-Hawk "Sendin boys to go chat up the Shaman while securin' an escape route for if ya little coup doesn't work."

"A coup?" the Blood-Storm stepped forward with a raised an eyebrow "Seriously?"

Ishga knew this was coming, the Black Gate's Garrison had been aiming for something like this for weeks now. The red loyalists had known the risk obviously, but they'd underestimated the Black Guards desire for prosecution.

"Figure Pigug's gonna give 'em the chop for such blatant rampancy." Dharg grunted as he dug his boot into Dushrat "Hopefully get the Warchief to go easy on you lot for this."

This is not what they needed now, any other time Ishga wouldn't give two shrakhs about the Advisor. He'd probably get promoted to his position with him dead, and if they were back in Mordor he'd probably be working with Skak to assassinate him to prove his worth. But here, with Hork and his underlings edging closer to hostilities, the Master needed all the Uruks he could get his hands on.

But what could he do to diffuse this scenario? The smug look of bloodlust in the eyes of the Garrison convinced him that any words he might speak would fall on deaf ears. Violence would naturally lead to even more escalation, as was the Uruk way, and one look at Maku's bored expression showed just how little his brother cared for the situation. He had more than enough inclination to believe that once they started Executing, things would just go downhill from there.

The Present...

"And so you decided to call upon me." the Dreamer said as he glanced to his side at Ishga.

The two were standing upon a thick wood and metal platform that served as the central elevator of the Tower. Held aloft by chains and employing a good old weight and pulley system, the platform was often used to transport materials and Uruks up and down the Tower's many floors.

Tugog gave a nervous sigh, but kept that smile of his going throughout Ishga's little tale "You know they find me weak...unfit for my role."

"Don't matter, you just need to get Hork to calm 'em down boss." Ishga insisted "You know how his boys get when they start getting this way."

"I shall speak with him," the Warchief conceded before glancing at the hunter "but you may find the results of this chat wanting."

Ishga didn't have time to consider his master's words, as soon the platform reached their destination: the training area near the top of the tower. Appearing to be a slightly smaller structure jutting from this flat roof, the very top of the tower had been taken as a command center for Hork's captains, with his quarters residing at the very top. This area had probably once been a glorious looking courtyard with a scenic view of the tower below, but had been recently converted into a full on training arena by the Uruk-hai Occupants. The entire tower had gone through various renovations, with the slaves being put to use mining sandstone which was used to patch up the various holes in the structure which had formed over time. Catwalks now clung to the vast majority of the tower which, despite looking healthier than it probably had in centuries, still didn't seem capable of withstanding a concentrated attack.

But that was not what Tugog was here for, that scenario was a discussion for later. No, his goal were the crowd of Black Gate Garrison Uruks standing in a circle around a small wooden seat. Standing over that seat was none other than Hork's attack dog himself, Pigug the Executioner. Dragging a rock along his excessively thick sword as he glared at it through the eyeholes of that black and white metal helmet of his.

Cries for blood could be heard from the crowd, and Tugog could spot a large form moving within their command center. It had to be Hork, drawn to the sounds of an execution as expected. From the doors of that structure Dharg dragged a badly beaten Dushrat to the seat, it seemed the Advisor had regained his consciousness because he was now yelling at the Garrison soldiers around him.

"Release me you daft fools! I'm no traitor!" Dushrat cried out to the surrounding Uruks, pausing and leaning towards his Master once he saw him drawing closer with a captain at his side "Boss, boss please get me outta' here! They've gone mad I say, Mad in the head!"

"Strange," the Executioner said as he stepped in front of Dushrat, voice echoing inside his helmet as he tapped his blade against the ground "I expected you to be cowering as far away from this little execution as possible."

Tugog gave a nervous chuckle as the Garrison soldiers turned to him, their many taunts now aimed toward him and Ishga. The Blood-Storm looked as if he planned on interjecting, but a look from his master made the Hunter back down while the Warchief stepped forward.

"I probably could've...probably should've if the sudden number of blades pointed my way says anything." he folded his hands in front of himself and gave a low hum before meeting Pigug's gaze "But that would've just prolonged this in the end, wouldn't it?"

"Nice to see that you ain't got no denial on how this is gonna' end up." Dharg uttered, to the cheers and jeers of his soldiers "Now we get to kill your little Red-runt right in front of ya."

Pigug hefted his blade for emphasis, and the Advisor flinched before opening his mouth to call for help once more until-

"What is this?"

All turned towards the Garrison HQ, where a familiar Warchief stood in the doorway. Hork huffed at the sight, the look in his eye betraying the sheer amount of annoyance he had for this. Bags under his eyes, his lips already pulled back in a semi-snarl. It pained Tugog to see him like this, he knew Hork was breaking down the longer he was from his charge. Back in Mordor, Hork would never let himself seem this dependent on anything. Even when defending the gate he cared for so much from rebel sabotage, he never acted like this. Tugog cursed his fellow warchief's promotion, as he had done at several times previously. As a Captain, old Hork would've been offended at the idea of being this affected by the absence of a single structure.

Now, he was running a tired gaze across his Uruks, settling not on Dushrat, but his own Captains "You two, supposed to be aiding the Grimm-Killers with today's hunt."

"Yes sir, we's aware." Dharg spoke up before gesturing to their prisoner "But while we were gearin' up for that we-"

"Those are MY soldiers..." Hork interrupted him harshly as he continued stalking over "My soldiers... who are about to go out to slaughter an ancient beast probably capable of killing them all."

Dharg took a step back as his Master stood over him, the blinded rage now suddenly reaching the Hell-Hawk. Pigug's hand visibly tensed on the handle of his blade, but the Executioner kept his composure quite well in comparison to his fellow Garrison Captain.

"And now, you want to slander my name by sending my soldiers into the maw of their prey without their experienced, sturdy Captains there to lead them?"

"Of course they wouldn't, old friend." Tugog spoke up, to the surprise of Ishga, who had been distracted by the Black Gate Protector's actions.

Hork looked Dreamer up and down before pushing Dharg out of the way "You" he growled ""is this your doing?"

"What!? You can't just blame my master when-!"

"Yes it was." Tugog answered with a nervous laugh before gesturing towards the now-shocked Garrison troops "I took time away from your soldiers for this little event."

All of their underlings simultaneously glanced at the Dreamer with disbelief in their eyes as Hork advanced on him. As the shadow of his fellow Warchief fell over him, Tugog took the time to push Ishga out of the danger zone as Hork's enraged growls became all-encompassing.

"Why..." the massive Uruk grumbled as his burning pupils peered down into the lesser Warchief "Why would you... DARE!? Do something.. SUCH AS-"

"A peace offering."

The Dreamer's sudden words made the Black Gate's Overseer pause, the Hate in his eyes briefly pushed aside by confusion, confusion which spread to the other Uruks in attendance like wildfire.

"A...what?"

"A peace offering of course, I've noticed you've seemed a bit...eh..." Tugog thought for a word for a moment as he tried to hide the fearful sweat on his brow "stressed. Yes, stressed. So I felt having you kill something might cheer you up a bit."

"WHAT?!"

Of course the yell had come from none other than Dushrat, who struggled out of the grasp of his captors and stumbled to his feet despite his bound arms "Sir, what lunacy are you speaking?!""

Hork looked back at the restrained Advisor, his angry grunting dissipating a bit as he turned back towards the Dreamer with a raised eyebrow "What are you playing at?"

"Well, as your friend," he noted how Hork grunted at that term "I feel something akin to sympathy when seeing how our predicament affects you. Back when we were grunts, killing something always brought a sick grin to ya face. So I figured... maybe it still does."

"Boss, what in Sauron's name are you talkin' about!?"

"This is...a trick..." Hork grumbled as he began building his anger once more, puffing up his chest in the process as he jabbed Tugog in the chest with a meaty finger "You must be...trying to trick-"

"Think, old chap," the Dreamer said before giving a nervous cough and patting his old partner on the shoulder as he stepped by and gestured to the flabbergasted onlookers "the only other explanation would be that your soldiers disobeyed orders. And well trained followers like that would never disobey their Warchief, now would they? I mean, ya did train them ya'self."

Dharg and Pigug shared a look, narrowing their eyes but keeping their mouths closed as they found they couldn't offer a rebuttal without putting themselves in the face of the Warchief's wrath.

"No, my Uruks are better than that...they're elites!" Hork said with conviction before settling his gaze on a mortified Dushrat, then glancing to Tugog at his side "Hn, so you've fallen to sacrificing your own underlings to appease me?"

"Come on, Hork old boy." Tugog shrugged, trying to look casual "A-as I recall we used to do similar things back when we were just Captains."

"I was different back then," the Garrison Commander turned on him "I was younger, more reckless. Shouldn't I be insulted that you believe the same tricks will bring me pleasure?"

"Master please!" Dushrat yelled "What are you saying!? Have you gone mad like the rest of them!? They kidnapped me for an execution, just tell him it was his stupid bloody soldiers!"

"I do believe the Advisor just insulted your boys." Tugog said without hesitation, capitalizing on his follower's lack of foresight.

Dushrat flinched back as Hork turned his gaze back on him, Tugog kept a nervous look in his eyes at his side "It would be unwise to allow him to do so in front of your own soldiers."

Hork growled, the rumbling in his throat eventually shifting to a chuckle as he reached for one of the swords on his back "Finally speaking some type of sense I see."

"Boss..." Dushrat muttered as his captors began backing away from him, even the Gate Captains backed up as Hork began sliding one of the swords from its sheathe.

"Wait!"

The massive Uruk paused and glanced behind him, the Advisor momentarily had a look of hope spread across his face as Dreamer stepped forward and pulled one of his own axes from his back. He held it towards the other Warchief before flipping it over and saying "For old times sakes," he said with a nervous chuckle before tossing it to him "I'd like to see if Hork the Mangler is still as intimidating as ever."

Of course, the larger Uruk caught the weapon easily, looking it over critically "This isn't like the axes I had back then, but I suppose it shall suffice."

With that said he slid one of his sword outs with his other hand and tossed it towards Dushrat, taking several practice swings with the axe as the surrounding Garrison soldiers caught on and began chanting or blood.

"Stand and fight for the right to survive," Hork called to the unfortunate Red armored Uruk, who blanched as the Gatekeeper turned on him "All structures bend to my will, I shall feed this tower your blood."

---

Junior's Club

A-are we dead?

Gundza groaned as he rolled onto his stomach, cursing the renewed pain in his head as he pushed himself up off the catwalk he was lying on. He could hear voices, besides that of Mitch in his head-

That thought immediately snapped the possessed man to attention "You're still in there?!" he shouted, thankfully the humans below didn't seem to hear him.

W-...I was j- yes?

"Then they didn't break the aura then." Dugza muttered as he steadied himself on the nearest guardrail "I had been under the impression that-" he shook his head "Never mind, seems like I still get to play around in this body o' yours, meatbag."

I...I still don't even know what's happening! Why can't I move?! Is this a side effect of Gresh I wasn't told about?

The Uruk groaned as the tark began subconsciously throwing questions at him, but decided to ignore him for the time being as he took in their surroundings.

Junior's club was trashed, broken stuff littered the dance floor and broken glass and spilt liquor seemed to coat the walls. The civilians had all evacuated, but battered and beaten bouncers lied all amongst the wreckage. Many had woken up, and were either trying to help up their cohorts or just stared at the carnage in disbelief. The voices seemed to come from several of these bouncers, who seemed to be arguing with those two females Krosh had busied himself with during the brawl.

"We can't find him if we don't know who took him!" one of the bouncers said "He kept this place together! You have to help us find him or-!"

"Or... what exactly?" one of the twins said as she patted a dark bruise with a flinch of annoyance "Far as I know this place is like... done for."

The other nodded in agreement with an air off indifference, "Yeah..."

So...they really took him?

"They're Warmongers." Gundza grumbled as he vaulted over the guardrail and stumbled a bit before standing straight on the ground floor "Not much that actually keeps them from taking what they want."

Oh god... then the club...

"Hopefully done for," Gundza grumbled as he immediately made his way to the exit "only been here not for an hour and already the place can burn for all I care."

But- Wait, you know those guys right?! You can help get him back!

"Ain't doin' that." the Uruk stated immediately as he walked through the destroyed doors which once served as an entrance.

"Hey Mitch!" a voice called out, making the possessed man pause at the doorway as one of the bouncers rushed to him "Where are you going, man?! You gotta help us convince these two to-"

"Those frigid wenches can do whatever they damn well please."

The odd tone came as a shock to the bouncer, who flinched as Mitch turned on him. The recovering junkie they knew seemed pissed, like how he looked when Junior had first cracked on him for his bad habits. But that wasn't it, his regular eyes were eerily blackened. A single white pupil floated in the middle of those inky holes instead of the brownish ones, as if he'd slipped on one of those odd contact lenses. And from those eyes his veins were slightly dark as well, it was odd enough for the taller bouncer to flinch from the addict.

"Dude, what's wrong with your eyes?"

What? What's wrong with my eyes?

Gundza tilted his head to the side in confusion before those odd eyes of his widened and he cursed, that damn Warmonger must have knocked off his glasses when he kicked him! And they were probably left shattered on the catwalk above, so yet another annoying factor off his ability was bared for the world to see. As much as he hated this place, he had been grateful that bouncers like Mitch all wore those unnecessary shades of theirs. He would've had to find some other pair without the odd eyes being pointed out.

The other bouncer backed away a bit as Mitch spewed forth a stream of familiar and foreign-sounding curses at once, "Hey, listen man I don't-"

And then Gundza realized the easy solution to his problem, and his odd eyes turned on the bouncer before him who was talking about some pointless matter or something. The glasses were standard for employees like him, and they just so happened to survive the Warmonger attack.

"-so if this is something new you're going through just understand that we need everyone to pull toget-"

He was silenced as Mitch's fist careened into his stomach, breaking his already struggling Aura and making him double over. This new position made it easier for Mitch to slide the red shades off of his head and place them on his own before his next fist sent the man sprawling onto the ground.

The hell are you doing!?

Gundza cracked his knuckles as he adjusted to the new red filter which covered everything "I believe this is the equivalent of what you tarks call...therapy."

His eyes were drawn back to the gagging man before him as he snarled "And I don't believe you have much of a right to bitch and moan to me while our place of employment rots around us, maggot."

"Yo Mitch!" another employee called from the side as the others took note off the sudden violence "What in god's name was that for!?"

"What?" Gundza quirked an eye beneath his shades before nodding to the guy beneath him "You mean this?"

"No shit he means that!" another piped up

"Just teaching a worm not to waste my time with his mundane bullshittery." Gundza paused at that and laughed to himself "I'm liking these words you have, Tark."

"Does anyone know what he's talking about?"

"He probably got into the Gresh Leaves before the attack." one of the Twins said as she rolled her eyes "As usual."

"And since this place is knocking on death's door," the possessed man said before turning towards the doorway once more "I suppose I'll be taking my leave now."

The shouts of his former coworkers caused Gundza to groan, but he ignored them as he exited the club. Immediately he operated on what he could find in Mitch's memories, he needed to plan "Oi runt, remind where your crummy little hidey hole is."

My job...I'm gonna get kicked out...

"Focus! Just point in the right direction before yo go cryin' and whatnot."

Why do you even care...?

"What with all the trouble I just went through, siftin' through ya memories ain't easy. Make it a little easier by just tellin' me where ya... apart-ment is."

You're going through my memories?!

"Yeah, don't worry though, ain't nothin' of much use besides the surpisingly colorful words you weak Pinkskins have round here." Gundza looked down at Mitch's hands "So soft and weak, even your Aura was no match for me."

Who are you!? Stop avoiding the question!

"There's a difference between ignoring and not caring." Gundza grunted "It's an admittedly small one that lesser creatures like you Pinkskins wouldn't be able to comprehend, but a difference none the less."

With that Gundza continued glancing around at the buildings around him, trying to match them up with Mitch's memories "As for who I am, guess ya' deserve the honor of hearing my title. I am Gundza the Shadow, loyal servant of the black gate, and the current master of your weak pathetic body."

The word master seemed to make several of Mitch's memories come to the forefront, one of a disappointed male elder greeting him at the entrance of a police station, another of that Junior fellow accusingly pointing at a small bag of chopped Gresh, and a final one of a large man requesting money in exchange for a living area. And that memory finally gave Gundza the location of-

"The apartment..." he cooed "so that's where it is. A worthless place where I shall refurbish the plans of my hunt."

Get out of my head!

"No can do there worm, my will is stronger than that measly, decrepit Aura of yours." this made the possessed-man growl "The only thing protecting the weak of this world, and yet still you humans find ways to make it weaker."

M-my aura?

"Maybe if you hadn't been killin' off senses left and right with those damn weeds of yours, maybe you coulda lasted longer. I hope the consequences of your actions truly pains you for the duration of my stay.

You were that thing that jumped on me...that shadow...

"Looks like ya were killin off brain cells too, took ya that long to figure it out." Gundza grumbled at the sheer ineptitude of the body's former owner "A stronger Aura may have been able to fend off my power, but with you it was like slippin' on a pair of gloves. I mean ya body's a wreck in here, filled with all that poison a failure such as you seems to enjoy, made ya head more of a piss take then I would've wanted, but it was still as simple as could be."

Gimub had allowed him in easy and simple as part of testing the limits, and it was most certainly easier than forcing his way in. Despite the annoyances it provided, the struggle of getting through Gimub's aura just proved that despite being a basket case he was still strong enough to be a true warrior. Unlike this welp who put up a similar fight but still managed to disappoint.

"You should thank me," Gundza said as Mitch's apartment building came into sight in all its crummy glory "perhaps you'll get some taste of that dream of yours before I've no use for you anymore."

What dream, what are you even talking about?!

Gundza only smirked in response before making his way to the filthy apartment.

---

A Cave Somewhere...

"So what do you do for fun?"

"Shut up."

"Got any female Uruks on your radar?"

"Shut up."

"How long you been serving, eh?"

"Shut up."

Yang was certain that if she just kept badgering Mulgrim with questions he'd eventually crack under the pressure and attack her. Weiss always did say she could be incessantly invasive at times. Here's hoping the Ice Queen's labels stood true, and that this new plan of hers would work better than the last.

Since Krosh had left, Yang had tried talking Mulgrim into helping her escape, tried picking the locks with a hair pin she kept for rainy days both literally and figuratively, and even tried fashioning a shovel out of some of the stuff in the cell.

Easy to say that all of those plans fell flat before they even had a chance, and Mulgrim must've known this as well because he didn't even try stopping her the entire time. He did get a bit apprehensive when she tried picking the lock, but other than that just stood in place watching her like a hawk.

Now she'd decided mental warfare was simply the only way to go.

"That's a nice sword ya got there."

"Shut up."

"You practice often?"

"Shut up."

"I do."

"Don't care."

"Why not?"

"Shut up."

"Why?"

"Shut up."

And so the battle of wills continued, if she could just keep this going long enough, he'll eventually crack. Or at least, he would if Krosh didn't pick that moment to step in.

"Okay, me and Oggy finished the job so- what the hell is this?"

Yang wasted no time in smirking "A battle of minds so great it'll leave your little lackey here wetting himself for the next few weeks!"

"Shut up."

Krosh just rolled his eyes "Whatever, not important. Get up Lady."

"We having another round?" Yang asked as she stood and stretched, this was what she'd been waiting for "I'm sixty-seven percent sure I can totally take you now."

"As fun as proving that wrong would be, no." he instead gestured for her to follow him "I need to make sure you aren't too damaged from that curb stomp I put you through, remember that? Yeah, I had another slave girl who ended up dying from something I did to her weeks prior, didn't think much of it before she stopped getting up when I kicked her. Don't want my little champion dying on me like that, so I'll be taking you to the doc for a little look see after every training period from now on."

"Doctor?" Yang tilted her head to the side as she cautiously stepped towards him

"Wait," Mulgrim spoke up "we thinkin' o the same doc here?"

That made Krosh give a small groan as he scratched the back of his neck "Yeah, as much of a pissant he is, he's the most convenient at the moment."

He gave a small chuckle at that as he ushered Yang out, the first time she'd seen the outside of the cave...

...and realized with a shock that they were standing in a hallway.

"What is this?" she asked as she looked around, the door of the cave she'd been held in had been carved out of the back of hall, the cave floors turning into tile as she stepped away from it. Had this always been here, she didn't remember it being like this when Krosh dragged her in, it had all felt like regular rock walls not...this...

She didn't have long to ponder it, as Krosh gestured for her to start walking as Mulgrim stepped out and closed the door behind him. The Camera guy folded his arms and grumbled something unintelligible before following behind. Yang just turned to face the hall ahead and kept walking. On either side were other doors that had been built into the walls, leading to what she could only assume were more cells. This proved true as she started hearing the groans and whimpers of prisoners echoing out of several cells, she could only hope to bring back help for them after she escaped, that is...if she could even figure out where this place was-

That line of thought was interrupted as a large fist punched a small hole through the cell it was in, a fist that definitely belonged to an Uruk. They were keeping their own in here too?

"Maaahger!" a deep but muddled voice called out, as if he was gargling through some type of oral restraint "Maaahger! WaaaMaaaahger! Yaaaa aaaaaaa diieeeeee!"

Krosh scoffed at that fist as its owner tried unsuccessfully bashing their way through the rest of the door, then turned to Mulgrim "Get some of the boys on this before it becomes a problem."

The camera guy nodded and ran ahead before entering another door and disappearing, Krosh ushered Yang onward, though the sounds of the thrashing prisoner still echoed through the hall.

Yang kept her eye on Krosh the entire way, hating the fact that he seemed so at ease with escorting her on his own. It just meant that he was confident in his ability to take her down if he needed to, which irked her. Luckily, keeping an eye on him didn't keep her from noticing the increasingly concerning characteristics of the area around them as they traveled further down the hall. It began looking cleaner, more well kept, and the cells became more efficiently spaced and organized in their placement. Which only cemented in her mind that Krosh had gone out of his way to give her a crummier holding cell. Peaking inside one through a small viewport, she saw it even had a rudimentary bed and a bedpan! And here she had Mulgrim Camera wiz telling her to humiliate herself by going in a corner, unbelievable.

That anger nearly made her miss the door that was right in front of her, but she managed to stop before giving that Warmonger dude something else to taunt her with.

"Mkay, let me just..." he punched a code into a-

"Is that a keypad?"

"Yep."

"You have one of those..." Yang began slowly "but you can't even set up a camera or even a proper toilet in my cell?"

"Baby you know it," he said while shooting back one of his now common shit-eating grins "priorities ya know?"

Yang narrowed her eyes as the door slid open...

...and they immediately widened again.

Beyond the door was a hallway with windows along one side, and even before she stepped forward and pressed against one to get a better look, she could recognize the sounds of a factory. Through the windows she could spot conveyor belts were below, people in jumpsuits assembling tiny things while blue and white painted Uruks in oddly familiar armor oversaw production.

"What is this...?"

Krosh leaned over to take a look "None of your business, now come on."

Despite the view, Yang couldn't tell what those on the factory line were making. It was just one of the many questions that were building up as this little visit to the doctor's continued. Uruks forcing people to work on stuff in a factory, factory connected to a prison hallway, why the hell were they even going to a factory for a trip to the doctor?

It would seem that those questions would soon be answered, as Krosh opened a door for her, this time the sound of a laughing Uruk could be heard.

"-and so I find a way ta get his arm back on, right? But the stupid cur decides he don't trust me usin' the Anesthetic stuff on em, so I end up boltin' the poor bastard's arm back on while he's awake and screamin' like a babe! HA!"

Yang paused once she found the owner of the voice, mostly because he had both of his hands in the guts of an Uruk. A tall looking Bald Uruk in a blood-stained doctor's coat covering his bare torso was hunched over at an operating table which looked insanely out of place in the factory setting. The coat had an I.D. card of some faunus man who was probably the original owner, and beneath it the Uruk wore what seemed to be the standard blue trousers and blue-white body paint they all seemed to have. Oddly enough he also had a pair of busted full-moon glasses which had the lenses removed, the frame bent oddly around his head.

And there was something else odd about him, something about his face that Yang couldn't exactly put her finger on, but the sight of the Doctor pulling bits of metal from the wounded Uruk distracted her again.

"So I stop in the middle of it, on account of his thrashin' making things a bit more difficult for me, and he immediately yells for me to get back to work...after taking three full minutes to get the other screams out of him." the Uruk Doctor continued even as he pulled a large piece off metal from his patient's abdomen "So for the next hour or so it's this ludicrous mash of him yellin' for mercy then cursing me for stopping. Couldn't stop laughing me head off!"

To her surprise, the wounded Uruk gave a low chuckle to the Operator's story, which caused his wounds to tug and pull in a grotesque manner. The Doctor shared in his humor for a moment before pulling another piece of metal from him and wiping some sweat from his forehead, "Anywho, that's why Tugor's arm is backwards now." he chuckled to himself "Now you just lie back and have the aura thingie take care of the rest."

With that he turned on Yang and Krosh, who had kept an unamused expression throughout the entire sight.

"So, Krosh me boy." the Doctor cackled "Nother slave problem?"

The Warmonger just rolled his eyes before nudging the blonde "Lady, this is Ratlug, our warband's Sawbones and Swordsmith. He keeps the boys and the blades in check."

"So... you're a doctor?" from how he treated his other patient, Yang was not convinced this would lead anywhere other than more pain.

"Well I was just a Swordsmith before, I could put an Uruk back together right quick then too, but they liked me weapons much more." He patted his bald head in self-admiration "But I learned lots o' helpful things in this world, so the Grand Shaman said I was fit to fix and ended up giving me another title on top of it!"

Yang slowly turned to Krosh "You're going to put me in this guy's hands?"

"Trust me, he probably knows what he's doing." the Warmonger nodded

"His other patient literally just walked off with his stomach hanging open."

Krosh glanced past Yang to see that the Uruk previously on the operating table had exited the room out another door and was stumbling along a wall while cursing.

"Pssh," Ratlug waved it off "he just likes actin' tough. Trust me, slave wench, I'll have those aching pains out of you in a jiffy!"

Yang had only enough time to utter a "What?" before Ratlug's hand sped forth and snatched her off the ground by the throat with strength she hadn't expected from him. She knew from first hand experience that the Uruks were almost all incredibly strong, even Mulgrim's skinny self was somehow rocking enough abs to make Cardin jealous, and she also knew that appearances could be insanely misleading if some of her recent defeats came to mind. But what was this shit!?

Ratlug ignored her clawing scratches as he gave a small whistle and walked back to the operating table with her kicking legs held off the ground. He slammed her down onto the table and tightened his grip to hold her there as his other hand whipped an extremely large bonesaw from his coat.

"Now you just tell me where the pain is and I'll cut it out, right quick-!"

He jerked a bit as Krosh slapped him on the back of the head, "Idiot, I said to check her for problems, not cut her up! I sorta need her not cut up."

"Oh come on," Ratlug said while inching his bonesaw closer to Yang's abdomen "I already got me saw out and everything!"

"No...bad doctor." the Warmonger reprimanded

The bonesaw was pulled away, though Ratlug's iron grip still held her to the table as he gestured to Krosh angrily "Ya know I don't appreciate you treatin' me as such, youngin'."

The label made Krosh's eyes go wide before he hissed "You don't get the pleasure of calling me that, old man."

The idea of having something on the Warmonger made Yang momentarily forget about the precarious situation she was in. He didn't like references to his age? She didn't know much about Uruk biology besides what she'd heard from Krimp, which wasn't much. They came out of pits, right? The dude looked to be in his late twenties early thirties range, but due to the vast physiological differences between all the Uruks she'd seen that didn't mean much. She'd seen young looking Uruks with pale hair, old looking Uruks with the strength of a person in their prime, fat Uruks who could run faster than half the trained professionals at her school, and that didn't even count the insane range of skills she'd seen among the Captains so far. How Bubol could move with the nimbleness of a choreographed dancer with all those painfully disgusting boils weighing down his body, or how Krimp could look like a living giant yet require Ruby's semblance to outpace.

And that didn't even touch on the range of their skin colors...

So yeah, she was not the leading mind on Uruk biology, but she did get a sneaking feeling. A feeling that kept growing as she watched Krosh and Ratlug argue with each other. It started off as a small suggestion her subconscious brought up as she heard the Doctor's comment on Krosh's age, and grew as the two devolved into a certain category of banter she recognized. Albeit she also wasn't a leading mind on Uruk Psychology, despite the common thread of violence seemingly linking them all together, but she began noticing more things about the two: How Krosh seemed to groan once they entered the other Uruk's presence, how Ratlug seemed predisposed to teasing, and how if she looked at them in a certain way, she could almost see a faint resemblance-

"Oh shit," she uttered as realization hit her "he's your dad."

The statement made the two cease their conversation, and a smug grin grow across the Doctor's face "See, even ya lass spots the resemblance."

"I mean..." she twisted her head to the side in his grasp "kinda?"

Their noses were somewhat similar, but she'd seen that amongst other Uruks too. What really sold it was picturing Ratlug without the massive, jagged teeth he had poking out between his lips. If those were gone, he might share enough of a human appearance to look related.

"Can it, you old bastard." Krosh murmured before nodding to Yang "Lady here needs an actual check up, can't go digging around in her like your other patients."

Ratlug pouted, which looked odd considering his Orcish visage, before rolling his eyes and glancing down at her again "Whatever, ya ungrateful git, so what exactly is wrong here?"

"Dislocated her shoulder during a training sesh." the Warmonger nodded towards the shoulder in question

The Sawbones gave a short chuckle "And how is this more of a problem than the lass you was draggin' around last week? The one who seemed to have misplaced the bones in 'er legs?"

"This is my champion, don't go confusing her with the regular throw-away toys I bring around here."

Ratlug just gave a shrug as he began poking at her shoulder "Well madame, feelin any problems or so?"

Yang still couldn't let the whole father-son thing go "I thought you guys came from spawn pit thingies?"

The Doctor began chuckling mischievously at that, while Krosh just leaned against the nearby wall and glanced through a window to the factory floor below "We do, least we're supposed to. This guy over here just got a bit too curious and got himself exiled."

The brawler's eyes went back to the Doctor, who massaged her arm as he seemed to remember previous exploits fondly "Ya don't get ta bein' an Uruk of method like me without havin' a nice, healthy bit o curiosity."

"Curiosity which led him to wondering what human milk tasted like." Krosh interrupted with a mutter

The implication of that little statement made Yang's eyes go wide with comprehension.

Ratlug pulled away a bit to rub his bald head with his free hand "Yeah, and since there's this thing about not beddin' humans on account of ya bein' a bunch o' filthy, pathetic weaklings, I made the sacrifice of beddin' one of me slaves for knowledge!"

"Great," Yang mumbled as she turned her glare back on Krosh "so I get hurt...and your solution is to send me to a rapist?"

Krosh rolled his eyes "Tarks complain too much."

"Anyway, I of course got the short end of the stick in the end, if ya catch my meaning." Ratlug gave a bit of a chuckle as he went back to inspecting her arm "After many trials I concluded that Human milk tasted like shrakh compared to some cattle milk."

"Or human blood."

"Or human blood, yes." the Doctor grew an angry look "And on top of that, I got stuck with the spawn when me little milk-maker decided poppin' out a few youngins was too much and went and died on me."

"...You guys are literally the worst people I've ever encountered." Yang muttered, liking this inspection less and less as she learned about the one administering it.

"Oh yeah, I tried abandonin' 'em in the wilderness where some wild beast could deal with 'em for me, but then this one" he gestured to Krosh "decided he was too good for dyin' and all!"

"Really feeling that parental love right now." the Warmonger snarled

"Even goes to savin' one of his mutant kin on top of that."

"Wait wasn't he just an infant at the time?" Yang couldn't help but ask

"Ha! Lassie don't even know how Uruk maturity be workin." Ratlug burst into laughter "This bastard was probably the size of one o' you tark children when he came out!"

"...and you wonder why his mother died in childbirth?"

"All human women are weak when it comes to birth," the Doctor scoffed "the wench couldn't even handle the first little runt. The rest just fell out of the remaining hole along with several other vital organs."

"Hey, Kroshie boy?" Yang called to the side as she once more tried pulling at the hand around her neck "I'm really not comfortable with the guy you've got lookin' me over here."

"And I'm not comfortable with you dragging on about that harlot woman." Krosh bit at his elder before rummaging through a nearby drawer passively and meeting Yang's gaze "What he did was Taboo for any respectable Uruk, only those savage chief-less idiots would go around wasting time with tark women. You enslave them if they're strong enough, kill them if they're weak, then cook up whatever's left of them... just like any other sniveling lesser species."

"A medical Uruk's curiosity is not so easily sated, youngin'." Ratlug said as he wet a nearby rag in water and began squeezing it

"Yeah, curiosity which got you exiled like that Gundza fellow, your just lucky the Shaman was willing to employ you."

"You're lucky too," the Doctor grumbled as he draped the rag on Yang's forehead and began applying pressure "hybrid spawn like ya'self often get crushed soon as they're found. Only the Master would be willing to keep you alive, same goes for that other mistake o' mine."

"Can we just focus on fixing my slave!?" Krosh barked before pausing, soon lessening into mutters as Yang noticed him pull something out of the drawer

The blonde squinted to get a better look at it, letting a curious look spread on her face at the sight of the large, clunky looking pistol in Krosh's hand. Why the hell was that in a Doctor's office? Yang halted that question before she could think too much on it, this Ratlug guy didn't seem to belong in a doctor's office either, these guys probably didn't give too much of a damn where they stored stuff. The way it was built did give Yang an idea, and anything to distract her from the horrid being standing over her did wonders for her nerves.

So maybe they were making guns with those assembly lines out there? She wasn't as much of a techxpert as her sister, but she could probably put these two clues together. However, the main problem with that theory was that the pistol in front of her now looked like it was made of a different metal. She couldn't get too good of a look at the assembly line, but mulling it over could potentially help her when she escapes.

These thoughts were interrupted by Krosh, who glanced up from the weapon "What in fuck's name are you doing?"

Yang's attention was drawn back to Ratlug, who just finished tying rope around her forehead to keep the rag secure- what the hell WAS he doing?

Ratlug tilted his head to the side "Ya wanted me ta help her, I just finished helping her." he finally released her and stepped away, prompting Yang to sit up and scoot away from him as quickly as possible.

"I told you she might have problems with her arm." Krosh stated as he turned on the Doctor

"Correct."

"Why in the hell did you tie a rag around her head?"

"To help her," Ratlug clapped before getting struck with realization and turning on Yang "ya gonna want that rewetted every seven hours."

Yang was about to say something before water dripped down from the rag into her eye, she wiped at it "Tch- it's getting in my eye."

"Necessary sacrifice for healing."

"What about the arm?!" the Warmonger asked as he dangerously gestured with the pistol.

"It's even better now that the rag is secure."

"I'm... not sure that's how that work." Yang couldn't help but say

"You a doctor?" Ratlug turned on her with squinted eyes

"Well-"

"No, I am!" He jerked a thumb to himself before glaring at both of them "I stole this 'ere coat fair and square, so I don't want you non-doctors complainin' when ya can't understand the wonders of medicine."

"Tell me you didn't do this just to waste my time!" Krosh stepped forward

"Now why would I do that!?" it seems Ratlug's patience was wearing thin as well

"Well you guys did just spend some time explaining how much you hate each other so-" Yang muttered

"Shut up!" they both interjected before getting into each other's face.

"Fine." Yang didn't know much about Uruks, but when it comes to beef she was quite well versed. When two guys start spouting insults at each other and getting into each other's face, those were tell-tale signs of an incoming brawl, which often necessitated gathering in a circle around the two combatants and chanting while they start wailing on each other. Depending on how badly they're distracted with this familial hate party, she might just have a chance to esca-

Then the door opened...

It happened so quick that Yang had to do a double take, one second Ratlug and Krosh looked like they were about to go at it. Then the door opens, Krosh spins around faster than she would've expected.

And now Mulgrim's on the floor with a bullet hole in his neck.

"Oh fuckin'-" the Warmonger turned on the Doctor "Look what you made me do!"

"Oh so you want to put this one on me?"

"If you hadn't been wasting our time-"

Yang tuned them out, the sight of Mulgrim's body bleeding out throwing her for a loop. She looked up to the two Uruks who had immediately gone back to arguing with each other, disbelief still etched into her face as she realized for probably the sixth time this day just what kind of captors she was dealing with. She never liked Mulgrim, she didn't like any of these things, but she'd never caught herself wishing they were dead. Maybe she'd entertained the idea of beating that Bubol guy to a pulp from time to time for that cheap crap he pulled during their last encounter, and the Warmonger always made her grit her teeth whenever he'd flash one of those shit-eating grins of his, but she liked to think a thorough ass-kicking for both of them would be enough to sate that anger. Mulgrim was annoying, but nowhere near as annoying as those two. She briefly considered whether or not this meant she'd get a new camera guy, but that thought was quickly replaced with wondering what type of species could possibly survive like this?

Shaken from her daze by the sound of Krosh tossing the gun away, Yang slid from the table and trained her eyes on the Arguing father-son pair and uttered: "The hell is wrong with you guys?"

"And now the woman speaks again." Krosh groaned before turning to her "Look Lady, could you give me a second while I-?"

"I just watched you kill one of your own guys, is this really normal for you two?"

"Oh please, he ain't dead." Ratlug waved it off before gesturing to the downed Uruk "He'll be fine."

"I am literally watching his still body lay in a growing pool of his own blood."

"It would take more than that to put down a Storm soldier." Ratlug waved her off before walking over to Mulgrim and hefting him over his shoulder before chuckling "'Sides, he's got one o' the best medics in Suaron's army right here to tend to him."

---

Vale Slums

"You just had to pick the most fitting of insect-infested dung heaps to fester in, didn't you?"

Gundza grumbled as he looked through Mitch's scroll, reclining in a moth-eaten chair in a below-average apartment.

Stop going through my stuff!

The Uruk's eye twitched as the repressed human decided to speak up once more inside his head, "I do believe the term is: MY stuff. I'm in your body, your body purchased these items, therefore they're now mine. Not like you were gonna use them for much besides the usual human shit. Look at this, twelve porn sites in the past week? Can you be any more jaw-droppingly pathetic?"

What are you even looking for? You've just been going through traffic schedules for the past three hours!

"Indeed, my plan for acquiring my target necessitates the appropriation of a certain vehicle." Gundza cackled "You should be aiding me in searching, perhaps I'll only cripple you when I have my target and no longer have to soak in this pitiful form of yours."

Yeah, tough luck pal. From what you've been going on about, not only is this target of yours a huntress in training, but is also heiress to literally one of the most powerful companies on Remnant. I doubt you'll be able to take her in this...what did you call it? Oh yeah...pathetic body of mine.

"Maybe it'd be hard if you controlled it, but I'm not some failure junkie. I'm a Captain employed by the great Black Gate Defender himself!"

How is traffic supposed to trap her anyway?

"There's the idiotic thinking of yours again, its simple. I'm going to present a scenario only your Huntsmen can possibly hope to stop, it will draw her to me like a fly to a zapper."

But...wouldn't that draw all the other huntsmen as well?

"Indeed, but we only need to focus on her."

You'll get us killed with a plan like that! I'm not ready to die!

Gundza groaned and stood from the chair before walking to the apartment's single dirty window and pulling the filthy glass open "Your constant abuse of life-threatening substances begs to differ."

Look...I think I get it now. This is some kind of divine punishment designed to make me care more for my health. A 'Stop caring about your body so your body stops caring about you' kinda thing, I get it! I've learned my lesson, so just stop before you put me in a position I can't recover from!

"Pfft, me and the divine just don't mesh well Tark. I'da thought a failure like you wouldn't be into those stupid tark beliefs, what with how they never serve ta make your life more bearable."

Gundza scanned the dismal streets critically as a sigh passed from betwixt his lips "Besides, you can't even tell me you hate this. In fact, you love it."

That's ridiculous!

"Can't lie to me, worm. Mixing with ya soul like I am, you weak-willed welps are like open little books once the headaches stop." the possessed man stepped away froom the window and had to be careful not trip on some of the junk Mitch had lying around "Truth is, you hated responsibility. Hated having to live with the wreck of a life you found yourself in. Humiliated by everything and everyone you'd ever known with nothing but those leaves to ease your suffering. You wanted to be a race car driver when you was young, wanted to feel the adrenaline of speed take you away. You got your training and everything, then bam! First lady-friend ruined ya, publicly emasculating you by posting that video and leading you to shameful, vengeful crimes against the society you feel shunned you."

Contrary to what Gundza expected, Mitch seemed to have gone silent... leading the Uruk to smirk as he went back to researching.

"And what Irony it was too, you were a wannabe racer reduced to a getaway driver, then further reduced to muscle at some shite club." he laughed "But don't worry my boy, least you can experience a taste o' that adrenaline before I no longer require your sniveling frame."

---

Ozpin's Office

"And with more activity being attributed to the Blue Scarves and White Fang, officials have been adamant that their search for the perpetrators has been going strong-"

Ozpin and Ironwood watched the screen before them, showing news footage of a burning arms factory located in Atlas. The General had one hand to his chin, trying to maintain his composure, but his fellow headmaster could easily tell just how much these recent attacks had unsettled him. Ozpin himself sat at his desk with his hands folded together on top of it, as they switched channels and heard different versions of this latest story from different media sources, he subtly shifted his gaze from the General to the screen in order to gauge his reaction.

"We don't have time for this," Ironwood muttered before turning to the professor "dealing with the Uruks and the... ahem, saboteurs simultaneously was a challenge as is, but now these terrorists are coming out of the woodwork like locusts. We don't have enough forces to spread around like this, somebody's going to notice something."

Ozpin gave a small hum in agreement before sitting straight "It would seem handling this tactfully is no longer an option," he said with sigh as he looked over the various reports of kidnappings, robberies and more which seemed to multiply even further as time went on "in order to deal with any one of these threats we'd end up leaving openings for the others."

"Which is why we need to go public," the General placed his hands on the desk as he spoke "operating from the shadows like this is limiting us far more than helping us at this point. We get the people's support, then we can send forces in bulk to deal with those monsters while we focus on finding the infiltrators. Once they're in custody we can push back the White Fang and Blue Scarves before they get too bold."

"James, you and I both know what happens the second this information gets to the people-"

"We can deal with the Grimm, we always have!" Ironwood insisted "Those monsters alone should be feeding them enough negative emotion as is!"

"I can see what you're trying to say, General, but you have to realize that-"

Whatever Ozpin was about to say, he was cut off by a beeping sound. Both of the Headmasters turned to a small screen projected from the desk. The Professor glanced to Ironwood, who looked back for a moment before sighing and nodding for him to answer it. The Atlesian then stepped away from the desk and folded his arms behind his back before walking to the nearby window.

Ozpin watched for only a second before pressing a finger to the screen.

Seconds later two of his very own students were approaching from the elevator, an oddly large individual following behind them with happy hums drifting from the wrapping around his face.

"Ms. Schnee, Ms. Belladonna," Ozpin greeted the two of them with nods as they stood at attention before him "I hear your team has seen an unexpected amount of trouble these past few days. I'm sorry if I've kept you waiting for long, things have been quite hectic here as well."

Seeing a chance, Weiss spoke "And would some of that have anything to do with...Uruks?"

Hearing that made Ironwood turn from the window as the Professor raised an eyebrow, "And where exactly did you learn that term from?"

"They were the reason our trip went sour," Blake spoke up before looking down "they're why one of our members is missing."

Ironwood stepped over being leaning towards the Professor and muttering "Oz, if they're operating this close to the cities already then we have even less time than we anticipated."

"Hm," the Headmaster turned back to his students "I'm sure you two wouldn't mind recounting the events in detail, would you?"

The Huntresses-in-training steeled their nerves before retelling of the events of the past few days. Everything from their initial skirmish at Yires to their first encounter with Krimp.

"His title was the Friendly?" the General interrupted at that tidbit of information

"Yep!" for the first time since entering, it was Krimp himself who answered, Weiss had been hoping that they could save that little revelation for the end of their recounting, as it would no doubt prove more challenging to discuss than what was already set in stone. That hope was dashed as soon as Ozpin turned to the disguised Uruk in question with a tilt of his head.

"I had been meaning to ask who your acquaintance here was," he said "I had assumed he was someone who aided you on your journey."

Before either of the girls could say anything, the massive Uruk stepped forward jabbing a thumb to himself "I sure did, the name's Krimp the Friendly and I helped them track down Bubby after a good old tussle!"

Ozpin gave him a critical look as Ironwood stepped forward "You say you're the Krimp the girls spoke of?"

"Yep!"

"An Uruk?"

"Yessiree!" he said as he reached for his wrappings and pulled them from his face.

Almost immediately Ironwood's hand instinctively reached for his pistol, even Ozpin's eyes showed a considerable widening as the Uruk revealed himself. The Friendly didn't seem to notice the sudden excess of tension, simply taking a deep breath with that excessively joyous smile on his face.

"Ahh," he sighed "effective but a tad constrainin'."

Blake tried to diffuse the situation as quickly as possible "He's actually quite tame in comparison to the other Uruks we've encountered, so when we found a chance to bring him in for questioning..."

"I can see the same benefits you girls you have." Ozpin said after looking his unexpected guest up and down "Though I must ask how you got him here without raising any suspicion."

Before either of the girls could reply, Krimp beat them to it "Oh, I've been hangin' around for a few days."

"You've been what?!" the General did not seem pleased at all by this information

"Yeah, I've been hangin' around makin friends and pals, goin' on adventures and that sort o' thing with me new mates."

"And the various staff didn't notice a thing?" Ozpin interjected

"I didn't want to be a bother to all them busy bodies, ya elders be runnin' around dealin' with all the troubles comin up that I'd just be a right big bother!"

"You've been evading them for several days?" Ironwood uttered in disbelief "All the security we have-"

"Girls, if you'd be so kind as to continue your story?" their Headmaster interjected

"Of course." the Faunus answered as she looked between the Headmasters with uncertainty.

Continuing on, they spoke of their 'friendly tussle' and how it eventually led them to Bubol. Weiss tried to decipher the looks on the Headmasters' faces, but besides Ironwood's constant suspicious glances towards the Uruk they maintained professional expressions.

"-and after hauling Ruby back to Yires to recover we traveled back to Vale with the town's populace." Blake concluded before looking down "We acted hastily, we should've-"

"But you guys were so cool!" Krimp piped up excitedly "Fighting off Bubby's buddies like that and rescuin' people! Like heroes!"

"You were watching us?" Weiss asked accusingly as she turned on him

"Just because I ain't gettin' in the midst of a brawl between besties, doesn' mean I ain't curious on how it ends!"

The Heiress grumbled, but before she could admonish him for his skewed priorities her Headmaster spoke up.

"Though I wouldn't use your... friend's exact manner of tone, I do agree that what you girls did was indeed quite brave." he said whilst gesturing to them "It seems you all knew the possibilities, and chose accordingly."

"Every huntsmen is expected to know what they risk once they enter a battle, the same goes for soldiers as well." Ironwood chipped in, finally taking his gaze from the Uruk to give a respectful nod to the young huntresses in training "You girls know them, and your teammates know these as well. As long as you remember that, then you mustn't let yourselves be held back by thoughts on what could've or should've been."

Blake looked down at that, glancing up only after receiving a nudge from Weiss.

"We thank both of you for bringing this knowledge to us, I believe you all are quite deserving of a rest." Ozpin said before looking back to Krimp, who waved at him with a happy giggle "General Ironwood and I would like to have words with your acquaintance here, perhaps you should take some time for yourselves."

"Thank you professor," Weiss said before bowing.

She and Blake turned to leave, but the Faunus stopped for a moment and turned back. She walked over to Ozpin's desk and leaned close to whisper to him "Krimp's been displaying a bad habit of withholding certain details."

Ozpin smirked at this before glancing back to Krimp, who was in the middle of unsuccessfully trying to give Ironwood a handshake, he leaned back to her "I'm sure we'll be able to get something useful from him, nonetheless."

---

The City of Vale

"So after that we cornered the beast in a cavern, but the old boy wasn't going to give in that easily."

The Gun Store owner lifted another empty bullet casing from a jar full of various casings in many different qualities. Gundza leaned against the counter while the old fellow continued the tale of exactly how and where he'd fired that bullet, as had been the same theme for the past few hours. The Uruk was starting to wonder whether or not listening to this dodger continue rambling was worth the end goal or not, but whenever he thought that he'd just glance to the clock on the wall behind the shopkeep and remind himself that when it reached a certain time he'd be able to take revenge on the old man for making him suffer through these shrakh stories.

You're the one who asked him about the jar in the first place.

Gundza wasn't foolish enough to openly argue with Mitch in front of someone, and he didn't feel like thinking up some rebuttals either. Instead he just took a moment to remember one time when Bubol had tried seducing him by doing an impromptu strip tease in the middle of-

Oh dear god, WHAT IS THAT!? I think I'm gonna throw up!

As if a subconscious could throw up, Gundza had the body, had the stomach, he'd decide whether or not its meals would return to the open world.

With Mitch riling from the trauma of what he'd been forced to see, the possessed man looked back to the clock as the Gun store owner began another story. Normally he'd have broken and torn every bone, muscle and vein in this tark's body by now but his plan required him to hold himself back until a certain time. He had to wait for a bus to stop nearby, and had to plan for how long it'd take to make it from this store to the bus. To pass time, he'd made the mistake of trying to start a conversation with the shopkeeper, and would go on to regret it the more time passed.

What made it worse was the fact that nearly every story the old tark told him was one-hundred percent fable. The Uruk Captain had only spend so much time inside Mitch with his memories, and working with the information gleamed from a certain informant Gundza could tell just by looking at them that most of the bullets held before him had never actually been finished. Some were, mixed in here and there, but the vast majority of them were factory new if their appearance said anything. And of course, all those bullets were matched with the more grandiose of tales. Add to that that the owner kept speaking in an overly exaggerated accent, and Gundza wondered just how many of his customers were fooled by this shtick. If they knew, then it obviously wasn't enough to keep them from frequenting his establishment if he was still in business.

Gundza sighed under his breath, he should be more capable of appearing interested in words which left him unimpressed. It used to be part of his occupation before his disownment. He remembered infiltrating other armies under the orders of the great Warchief: Hork of the Black Gate. Pretending to enjoy killing and fighting in the name of other Warchiefs in order to grow close to them. Scouring their strongholds top to bottom for any sign of a threat to the Black Gate Garrison, reporting back to his Master and, if necessary, assassinating the Warchief and any supporters he must. Sending anonymous information to his target's rivals in order to get them killed in an ambush, starting those very rivalries through indirect provocation, giving insurrectionists the fighting chance they need to replace their own master and so forth. All at the will of his proud master who would always welcome him and his loyal followers back to the secure presence of the Black Gate whenever they'd return. He could practically taste the jealousy of his peers, as his Master's trusteed Shadow he worked from the dark to destroy anything he'd wish.

And then, that bumbling idiot ruined everything...

One of his previous followers had made the mistake of picking the absolute worst target during an assassination, and while the rest ended up catching or killing their marks, he just so happened to fire an arrow into the one Uruk there who had been feeding his Master information for months. Gundza had panicked, he'd let one of his soldiers kill one of the Master's helpful contacts. He'd have to punish him quickly, lest he catch some of the blame.

He'd broken both of the welp's legs and dragged him to the top of the Black Gate himself, where Hork had been waiting to hear of the results of his mission. What he hadn't expected was to see Gundza beat his own underling to death right there in front of him. Expecting forgiveness, the Shadow had been shocked to see disappointment etched into the face of his Warchief. He was told that forgiveness was something only weaklings begged for, and that a true member of the Black Gate Garrison would instead beg for their punishment instead to learn from their folly.

To show that type of cowardice, that shame, in front of him and his followers was an insult most unforgiveable. It had been too late to beg for a regular punishment, instead he'd been given a fate worst than any lashing, beating or mauling he could've been subjected to. He'd been turned into an exile, disgraced like many of those chief-less slime, like those taboo breaking sociopaths, he was now worthless in the eyes of his master. His soldiers followed him like the loyal ones they were, perhaps it was too bask in the new freedom being an exile offered. But that wasn't for Gundza, as loyal as he was the new position of a disgrace burned worst than any brand possible.

In a way, he supposed that should make him feel more sympathetic for the sap whose body he was using, the one who had also felt the burn of being shamed before all. But he wasn't weak enough for sympathy, and quickly thought back to that strip tease just to hear the sounds of the poor human whimpering in his head. The chuckle he released did not go unnoticed by the shopkeep, who snapped his fingers and regained the possessed man's attention. Instead of looking to him, Gundza's eyes traveled to the clock.

Almost immediately he gasped loudly and began hastily pulling all the bullet shells together and stuffing them back into the jar. The owner of the store saw the lack of tact with which he handled the small objects and quickly gestured angrily to him.

"Hey pal, careful with those!" he called as Gundza screwed the lid on tightly "You know, I should actually be charging you for touching th-"

He was silenced when the very jar of casings in question sailed into his face, shattering gruesomely as the force slammed him into the wall behind him.

Could you at least show some kind of restraint?!

"No time!" Gundza said as he pulled the red tie from around his neck and quickly wrapped it around his hand "We're going to be late for the bus if we don't hurry!"

Once the tie was secured, he quickly punched his way through the display case "I will not have this plan be ruined by a little reminiscing!"

.-.

"Hey kid, mind turning that thing off if it's just going to keep ringin' like that?"

Mercury lowered his scroll before glancing towards the front of the bus, in the reflective mirror he could see the bus driver giving him a slightly annoyed look. He gave an apologetic look before replying with "Sorry, friend of mine's acting kinda frantic right about now. Keeps calling and-"

"Well, I mean can you at least move farther back?" the driver asked, trying to be sympathetic whilst still keeping his eyes on the road "I mean it just keeps ringing."

"Hey man, I hear you." Mercury nodded before leaning back against the bus seat "Its just that I've kinda already gotten comfortable, be a shame to ruin relaxation like this."

"What are you doing Merc?"

The silver-haired boy glanced to the seat across from his, where his green-haired teammate was glaring at him with a look of annoyance which mirrored that of the bus driver's "Just move back already, don't make a scene."

"But Em, this seat, it calls to me."

The dark-skinned girl grumbled before turning to the bus drive and putting on her best apologetic smile "Sorry sir, my friend just likes being a pain when he can be."

Mercury's smirk grew, one who knew Emerald as long as he did knew that over ninety-seven percent of the green-haired girl's smiles were fake.

"Yeah, I know the type, but I can't properly escort you all if that thing keeps ringing so-"

"Know what? This is our stop up here anyway." the young man nodded towards an upcoming stop sign and locked eyes with the driver through the mirror "Guess it doesn't really matter, hm?"

Emerald groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose as the two made their way off the bus, the annoyed bus driver eyeing the grey-haired youth the entire way. As they got off, those waiting began to step on board, paying as they went. The green-haired girl waved back to the driver apologetically as they walked along the sidewalk, looking as sincere as possible before turning back on her partner with a frown.

"Do you just have this inherent urge to be an ass wherever you go?" Emerald accused as Mercury went back to tapping away at the small device.

"Hey don't blame me, the boss's been amping up her messaging the more those Orc things give the Fang problems." he said before pausing and turning on her "Come to think of it, she should be sending the exact same messages to you as well."

Seeing where he was going with that, Emerald immediately tried retracing "Now hold on, before you start running that mouth ag-"

"You turned off your scroll." Mercury said with a laugh "Holy crap, you couldn't handle it could you?"

As the two argued, Mercury was momentarily distracted by the sight of a guy in a black and red suit shoving people out of the way to get onto the bus. He recognized it as one of Junior's old guys, probably freaking out over the mess that occurred at their club. Usually Merc prided himself on not giving a damn about anything he didn't have to, but anything was better than listening to-

"Are you even paying attention to me?!" Emerald questioned

"Oh boy, I sure do wish I couldn't." he muttered before turning back around "I don't see why you're getting so defensive, last time the boss found out I was slacking I just got that whole reminder thing about what kind of hellish things she'll do to me if she catches me off target again. The one where she burns some random guy alive in front of you and promises to go slower once she finally gets to you. And I'm not even her favorite kiss ass so she might even just settle for some old fashioned physical abuse, and since I'm the one responsible for being a kick-ass fighter it won't even effect your work too much."

He turned back to Emerald who's glare was overtaken by possibly fear or something while he prattled on about the possible punishments for this little tidbit, he found it amusing for a moment before her anger returned full force as she realized what exactly had been said.

"Wait, who are you calling a kiss-"

Before she could finish, they were interrupted by the sound of automatic weapon fire. They both turned back towards the bus along with several other pedestrians just as the Junior Goon from before tossed out the Bus Driver, who was now riddled with bullet holes. Someone screamed, and several people rushed to help as the doors closed and the bus took off.

.-.

What the hell are we doing!?

Gundza cackled as he got comfy in the driver's seat and pushed down on the accelerator, "Lucky we got here before the bus left, eh Tark?"

That doesn't answer my question!

"The hell are you doing!?"

Gundza glanced in the overhead mirror to see one of the passengers apparently got the ballsy idea to approach him. That won't do. Rolling his eyes, Gundza reached one hand down to the duffel bag next to his seat as he kept an eye on the road. He pulled one of the weapons from the bag and reached around with it as the pathetic weakling got to him. In one smooth motion, he stuffed the barrel of the revolver into the man's mouth and pulled the trigger. Screams erupted from behind him as several of the other passengers were covered in the remains of the man's head.

The possessed man slid the revolver into his suit and wrapped both hands around the wheel once again as he began swerving to avoid several cars. Glancing into the mirror, he could see they had about seventeen prime hostages, not including the now headless one which collapsed behind him. After some searching over the vehicle's controls, he eventually found the intercom and reached to turn it on.

"Hello meat sacks, unless some of you are unaware, you're vehicle has currently been hijacked by an armed and dangerous little welp. That would be me, kicker is I'm planning on gunning down whichever one of you worthless peons decides to give me a hard time on our calm, collected little cruise here."

"You can't do this!"

"As far as I see I'm already in the midst of bloody doing it you mentally deficient maggot!"

The Bus lurched dangerously as Gundza made a turn, the very end of it slamming into a newspaper stand before it was properly leveled once more.

Quick question, do you even know how to drive?

"Nope, but you're actually pretty good at it, so I'll just be borrowing from those inherent racing skills." the Uruk chuckled before speeding up

I have inherent racing skills?

"That's what you take away from that statement?" Gundza rolled his eyes before pushing down on the pedal.

The terrified passengers were just now realizing how dangerously fast the vehicle they were in was going, and several had quickly buckled themselves in as the bus accelerated. One bit into her nails as she watched the world pass by from the window, watching horrified pedestrians gawk and back away from the street as they watched the hijacked vehicle barrel down the road. Ahead, the other cars tried desperately to get out of the way, but it was more do to Gundza's apt hands at the wheel that bus kept from crashing into any of them. Of course, that also meant that without anything to impeded their progress, they just kept building momentum.

I'm...this is my skill that's doing this?

Gundza rolled his eyes at the body's former host sudden amount of self-confidence, but those eyes were suddenly drawn to one of the mirrors as sirens began blaring behind him. From what he could see of the vehicles, he could confirm that these were indeed the law enforcement of this city. If he was correct, then they'd soon have to deal with Atlas's occupational security.

"The first response eh, I expected more." he scoffed as he checked the road then reached back into the duffel bag and called out "Duck you insolent scum!"

Even the passengers who were stricken with fear through themselves against their seats once they saw the SMG in their captor's hand. Soon dust rounds exploded from the rear window of the bus, peppering the windows of the police cars. One spun out of control and crashed into a nearby building, as the others began spreading out along the road behind him.

"Oi tark, ain't this kinda like those races you wanted to do?" he uttered mockingly as he turned back to the road just in time to maneuver around another pedestrian vehicle.

Despite the mocking tone, Mitch had gone quite silent as he viewed the happenings around them. He remembered watching those racing shows as a kid, he remembered wishing to feel the excitement of speeding down a raceway, he remembered the sheer terror once he was speeding away from officers of the law. But for some reason, that didn't deter him as much as it did back when he was just the getaway driver. He suspected it had something to do with the shameless, brazen monster currently in control of his body. But either way, he couldn't help but love the sight of the road disappearing beneath them, the way the buildings besides them arrived and went the faster they drove, the way those cars in the rearview mirror seemed more and more like rival racers out on the track.

Mitch hated to admit that he was starting to enjoy this, this was the speed he'd always dreamed of during those long days of guarding at Junior's. Those hostages, those officers shooting at them, hardly any of that mattered when he was going fast, speeding along like a flash of lightning. And why should he slow down? The last time he tried slowing down Cynthia- that bitch!-ruined any hope he ever had of getting on the track like his old heroes. But here he was, back on track. And those bastards were trying to slow him down again? Probably just to make him feel as worthless as that treacherous sadist!

He saw a turn coming up, the sudden shift in Gundza's head jostled him out of his delirium just in time to realize the Uruk thing inside him was starting to show doubt. That wouldn't do, a real racer never lets an obstacle take him out of his element!

Gundza didn't know what was happening, at one point he was determining when he should pull the wheel, the next second the oddly blackened eyes of his receded as Mitch's subconscious gave an unexpected surge of will he hadn't been expecting from the junkie.

What!?

But Mitch didn't answer, instead his grip on the wheel tightened before he jerked it to the side with stalwart force. The bus tilted dangerously once more, the front threatening to scrape against several floral arrangements as they skidded by. The few passengers who hadn't buckled up were suddenly thrown from their seats harshly as the vehicle they were in pulled off a maneuver it wasn't even built for.

Gundza only had a moment to be amazed within Mitch's head, before he regained his bearings and growled loudly in his subconscious.

You! What in Sauron's name did you just do!?

"Shut it man, I'm driving here!" Mitch called out before pressing the gas the rest of the way to the floor "You were driving too slow!"

The Uruk was about to argue when he started tasting something in Mitch's head, a bit of fire in his soul that hadn't been there before. The faster they went, the more that fire burned. Gundza gave a considerate groan for a moment before chuckling.

Okay, Tark, if that's how you want it to go then have at it. You keep this bus going NO MATTER WHAT!

"Just gotta get more room." Mitch muttered before checking a passing sign, he had to squint at it as they were now going far faster than recommended. Once he realized exactly how close they were to a highway merge, the realized speedster grinned as he wove his way through more of the sparse traffic.

---

Beacon Infirmary

The sound of something plopping into a seat beside her bed made Ruby open her eyes to see the expectant face of her partner looking down on her.

"Weiss?" she said at first before yawning and raising a bit from her bed.

"Easy there, Ruby."

"I can manage, I've been getting-" she paused to yanw again and smile "lots and lots of beauty rest since yesterday. So how'd things go with Ozpin?"

"For better or worst," she gave a confident smile before pressing a hand to her own chest proudly "I believe we did exceptionally well given the circumstances."

"And then came here to give little old me a visit?"

The Heiress rolled her eyes before placing her head in her palm "I suppose, the second I arrived the doctor asked if I vould give you several essentials to help expedite your recovery."

"Oh...like better pillows?" Ruby gestured to the fluffy objects behind her before thinking of something else "What about Zwei? Did you bring him... or did you bring cookies?"

"No, Medicine you dunce." Weiss stated with a sigh before reaching beside her and producing a small assortment of pills and a Styrofoam cup of water "Those things that your body uses to recover, remember those?"

"I'll admit that I figured I'd have an easier time an administering these than him," Weiss commented as she looked over the items for a moment "seeing as how I've seen you do some pretty excessive things to get away from horrible flavors bef-"

"They taste bad?"

Weiss glanced up to find that Ruby had shifted to the opposite side of the bed in the seven seconds she'd taken her eyes off her and was now looking at her and the pills suspiciously. The Heiress narrowed her own eyes as she stood and walked over to the other side as well.

"Oh come on." The Atlesian said as she leaned over her Team Leader's form and gave her a stern look "After what we've been through lately, I'm more than certain a bit of medicine is more than tolerable Ruby."

Despite the initial resistance, Weiss managed to coax her partner into taking the pills. Reluctantly swallowing them with tiny gulps of water, Ruby immediately winced at the flavor as she leaned back down and stared up at the wall for a moment. Weiss watched her, her gaze softening as she watched tears start to form in her eyes.

Sighing, Weiss looked down for a moment before saying "Look, how about I go get you some of those cookies, hm? Will that make it better? I didn't think they'd taste too bad, really-"

"I couldn't do anything..."

Realizing what was really plaguing the little red-head's mind, Weiss let her expression grow a bit more solemn as more tears formed in the younger girl's eyes.

"I was right there... and yet... he took her..."

"Ruby, please don't start talking like that." Weiss said as she walked to a small drawer near the bed.

As she began looking through it, she scolded herself for being relieved at her partner's words. Yang HAD been taken by that infected hooligan, who knows for what unholy purpose. Despite concerns which could arisen from that, not one of them was assured that she was dead. This was still only a short-lived bit of relief from the near constant stresses which the Heiress had had to deal with lately, and soon she returned her gaze to Ruby before speaking "I think we both know that you fought tooth and nail for her, you did all you could."

"But-!"

"I don't want to hear it," Weiss interrupted before pulling a remote from the drawer and walking to a screen built into the wall opposite to Ruby's Bed "I already had this entire conversation with Blake about her self-doubts on what could've been, and I've come to expect that kind of stuff from her at this point."

She turned back on her leader "But I suppose I've gotten used to seeing you brimming with positivity." she admitted reluctantly as she began flipping through channels "And that's why we're going to find one of those ridiculous action shows you love so much, and you're going to at least try to feel better, okay? Someone on this team has to keep spirits high, and I'm...I'm not exactly a leading expert on morale support."

Ruby blinked at the admission, then tilted her head to the side a bit "I dunno Weiss, you're doing pretty good right about now."

"J-Just tell me when you see something you like."

Ruby smiled at that and leaned back, watching the channels pass by for a moment before looking at her partner "Where is Blake anyway?"

"After giving our report and still failing to help her get over her recent bout of worries, I instead shifted tactics." the Heiress recounted "We ran into Sun and Neptune, and once they mentioned they were planning on cruising around Vale with one of their teammates, I immediately encouraged her to join them. I figured being around people who more openly express their joy and excitement would be more therapeutic than being around...well...me I suppose."

"Weiss... I think you might be catching that self-doubt thing going around."

Weiss merely shot her a frown before going back to checking channels "Perhaps one day I'll be as well versed in the art of interpersonal consolation, but at the moment I find my results lacking."

"Do you really think a drive is going to help her?"

"Oh please, Ruby" Weiss glanced back to her "a relaxing drive through the wonderful city of Vale seems like just the relaxing thing she'd enjoy. If we're lucky, she might even stop by a bookstore on the way and-"

Weiss flicked to a news channel.

"The hijacker continues to elude Vale law enforcement with stunning dexterity, tearing across the streets of Vale without a single indication of a destination."

Blinking, the Heiress turned back towards the screen as footage played of a bus going speeding along a highway with several police cars trying and failing to keep up.

"Since taking the vehicle, the perpetrator has not given a single request to pursuing law enforcement, and so far seems to be travelling at random. Destroying public property and endangering the lives of dozens of pedestrians. The suspect is considered armed and dangerous, and has taken every passenger on board the vehicle hostage."

Ruby glanced at Weiss and immediately flinched at the mortified expression on the Schnee's face, so she swallowed a bit before leaning forward and giving a hopefully reassuring smile "Don't worry Weiss, what are the odds they'll run into that bus-Jacker guy anyway?"

---

The City of Vale

"So you're saying this thing doesn't even have hydraulics?" Sun asked with a gasp

"Why on earth would I buy a bloody car with hydraulics?" Scarlet questioned as he tried to keep focused on the road

"Its the principal, man, you're an eligible bachelor with a large budget who wants a car. What unholy force compels you to forsake the stereotype of bouncing along the road with all your pals?"

Blake sighed as the back and forth continued, she leaned her head slightly out the back window of Scarlet's recently purchased car. The red-headed boy was behind the wheel, nervously attempting to keep an eye on the road while also continuing his verbal dispute with his team leader, who was sat in the back with Blake. Neptune was in the other front seat, but he'd kept silent for most off the debate in order to finish a bowl of soup he hadn't been able to finish at the shop they'd recently departed from... and probably to enjoy the spectacle of his two teammates arguing.

"I'll have you know this baby is a perfect mix of both speed and maneuverability." Scarlet defended his purchase with a harrumph before petting the wheel "Why would I compromise such reliability by adding unnecessary modifications anyway, I mean, besides bouncing what exactly do they do?"

"A-are you doubting the inherent power of the car bounce?" Sun looked as if his teammate had just insulted his mother, lowering his head and shaking it in pity "Dude... for shame."

Scarlet glanced to Sun suspiciously, "What? What power, what are you even talking about, lad?"

"Neptune, I don't think we can help him," Sun turned towards his still-eating friend with a sigh of defeat "he's...he's too far gone..."

"What is happening right now?"

At that exact moment, Neptune lowered his bowl and gave a depressed sigh as well "He was a good man, Sun, you did all you could."

"Neppy my boy, not you too!"

Blake wasn't even sure how the dispute started. Probably sometime at the noodle shop, Blake had been too distracted to continue keep up with their dialogue. She tried...tried so very hard not to keep thinking about Yang and Ruby. Tried not wondering what was happening to her partner, tried not questioning what those Uruks wanted with those White Fang grunts, tried not scolding herself for letting her worries get away from her again. Every time she's allowed herself to mull over negatives like this it always just leads to more trouble for her and those around her. But for some reason, she just...just couldn't help it...

"-ey Blake?"

The cat faunus blinked at the sudden use of her name and glanced back at Sun, who gave her an expectant look "I'm sorry, what was the question?"

"Wouldn't this car be better with some sweet 'draulics or something?" he reiterated, receiving a glare from Scarlet

"I..." she glanced to the side in thought for a moment "I'm not really that into cars."

"Ya don't have to be a mechanic to know what's cool or not." the other Faunus chuckled before leaning back in his seat and looking up with a look of determination "It's a feeling you get in your very soul."

"Oh please," their red-headed driver scoffed before turning to Neptune as he neared the highway "come on Nep, you should be the most knowledgeable out of all of us. This is still a pretty sweet ride, ain't it?"

Neptune gave a considerate look at the interior for a moment before snapping his fingers, garnering the attention of the other passengers as well "Actually, you know what would make this vehicle 80% percent better? A Junior Detective paint Job."

Sun's audible fist-pumping became the soundtrack to Scarlet's worsening expression "You two are not painting my new car!"

"Oh come on Scar," his team leader said as he leaned forward "a true police cruiser look would totally compensate for the lack of hydraulics."

"No hydraulics, no paint, I am putting the metaphorical foot down." Scarlet said with stalwart conviction as he reached for the radio "You lot are gonna end up ruining it at this rate."

Blake felt as though she should be taking more humor from this bit of banter than she was, but she just-

"Hey, turn that up!"

The sudden seriousness in Sun's tone was enough to distract Blake from her wayward thoughts, and so her attention was drawn to the radio along with Neptune's as Scarlet turned up the volume.

"The hijacker's now heading along the 741 Route Highway at unprecedented speeds, where Vale and Atlas officials have cordoned off civilian access and are setting up various blockades in an attempt to slow the vehicle down." the voice announced "Still no issued demands or contact made by the hijacker, who has been identified as 32 year old Mitchell Tethers and is considered heavily armed. Comparisons between this and the suspect's speculated past in auto-crime have led many to believe this to be the result of a mental breakdown brought on by the recent destruction of the venue he provided security for."

"Hey guys," the monkey-faunus garnered their gazes with a smile "wanna go racing with a hijacker?"

"But I just got this car!" their red-headed teammate whined "They said heavily armed, heavily armed and new cars aren't supposed to go together!"

"We'll fix it up for ya when we get that Paint-Job later." Neptune said before pointing forward "Come on now, you were the one who said this thing was a perfect mix of speed and maneuverability."

Scarlet glanced back desperately only to find his team leader smiling at him expectantly, glancing to Blake only to flinch back. The idea that he wouldn't assist simply out of fear for his vehicle did not sit well with her in any capacity.

Finding himself outvoted, Scarlet turned back to the window before sighing and shifting gears.

.-.

It was pretty easy making their way to the highway, with Neptune predicting where the hijacker would go next based on the reports on the radio, Sun began laying down a plan as they drew closer to their destination.

"Okay, apparently he's going pretty fast, so we're going to have to slow that thing down before he ends up crashing or something." the blonde boy pointed out as he looked over his gun-chucks "Scar'll drive as close as possible while Neptune tries taking out the tires, without them, it should be harder for our perp here to keep speed. Meanwhile, Blake and I'll try to board the bus and take him on directly."

"Are you sure that's such a good idea?" Blake couldn't help but ask as they finally pulled onto the highway and began ascending "What if he grabs one of the hostages?"

"Well," he thought for a moment before smirking "then we'll just focus on the wheels if there's anyone in grabbing distance to him."

"I don't think so," Neptune interjected "with how dangerously he's driving it would be unwise to keep anyone within reach. If he's smart he'd realize how easily they could catch him off guard."

"Huh," his blonde leader glanced up "usually I'm hoping whatever punk I'm taking down is an idiot. First time for everything I gu-"

He never finished, the words dying in his throat as he spotted something in the rear mirrors. Blake noticed his sudden pause, glancing to the mirrors as well just as Sun shouted "Swerve!"

Catching his meaning, Scarlet pulled the wheel to the side quickly as a speeding bus barreled right past them.

"That's the hijacker?!" Neptune shouted "He's using a bus...That's impossible, buses aren't built for speed like that!"

His words had truth, for as Blake could see the transportation vehicle had no problem keeping ahead of the VCPD cruisers pursuing it. It would seem absurd in any other situation, but all she could really think about was what happened when that speeding hulk finally ran out of fuel?

Neptune was snapped out of his confusion by Sun, who leaned forward between the two front seats to shake Scarlet "Hey, either way he's getting away! Let's see what this thing can do!"

.-.

Is this... your semblance?

Mitch could barely hear Gundza's contemplative voice, he was too busy whooping and hollering. The wind blowing through the open window, the sight of road vanishing beneath him like it was nothing. It was more than enough to distract him from the whimpers and cries from the terrified captives hunkering in their seats far away from him. And why wouldn't it? They were just jealous they couldn't produce speed like this!

I suppose it fits you in a way, all things considered.

Mitch's smile was nearly ear to ear, things couldn't be better! The speed, he'd never imagined he'd be able to taste speed like this in his life. The rush of it was nothing like the rush off gresh, or a stiff drink. It was so...so much more REAL.

And yet, that reality was shattered by the sight which appeared before him. Almost immediately the smile left his face as his gaze landed upon a thick road block of police vehicles directly in his path. There were several spike strips being deployed in front of it, no doubt to forcibly slow him. Ahead one of the officers took a megaphone from one of the cruisers and began speaking into it, but Mitch couldn't care about that.

"Slow... they're trying to slow me!" he said as sweat began forming on his brow at the lack of alternative paths he could take "They want to take the speed from me! no way out!"

Calm down you griping buffoon! Only a weakling allows anything to stand in their way! Here, watch and learn!

Irises darkening once more, the Uruk took control and grumbled before reaching into the duffel bag at his side.

Yelps came from behind as the passengers watched in horror as he withdrew a fully automatic assault rifle from the bag. Setting it up and aiming for the cars ahead, Gundza prepared to shoot before pausing at the sight of a large billboard on the other side of the street. A plan forming quickly, the Shadow grunted as he altered his aim and fired heavy rounds into the thick highway divider ahead.

What are y-?

Gundza jerked the wheel towards the now weakened divider, and screams arose from behind as the entire bus smashed through it onto the other side of the highway. The front tore in various places, but the vehicle's sheer speed allowed it continue moving without slowing. Pulling the trigger once more, Gundza leveled the rain of bullets onto the lower portion of the billboard. He could hear the officer's pleas for him to stop growing more and more desperate as they slowly realized that the bus wasn't slowing down in the slightest. But the Uruk didn't let that distract him from firing away that the billboard... until finally it started falling.

"Tark, now!" the exile shouted as he lowered the weapon "Take the damn wheel already!"

Soon Mitch found his hands on the wheel once more, the panic already rising once more as the billboard fell atop several of the cruisers before him. But then he realized exactly what his dark possessor had done. His giddy expression returned in force as his grip tightened, and the cries of his hostages fell once more on deaf ears. The second the front tires drove atop the collapsed billboard, Mitch and Gundza both felt a shock of pride run through them they turned the assault rifle to the side and began firing.

Shocked at the spectacle, the officers watched as the bus drove along the sign, riding it right over their roadblock. It was only when one spotted the barrel of an assault rifle pointed their way that he yelled for them to hit the ground. A spray of heavy bullets rained among the line of vehicles and their drivers, some were thrown right off their feet as others hid.

The bus landed on the other side and continued on as the hijacker duo laughed simultaneously.

Glorious, meatsack! finally showing something of worth I see!

Mitch felt the adrenaline flooding his system at what they'd just pulled off, breathing heavy as his eyes momentarily glanced in the rear view mirror.

His breath hitched at the sight of some car following over the sign after him.

Oh for the- what is it now!?

Mitch squinted into the rearview mirror, and made out the forms of what looked like teenagers in that car.

Ah, young tarks ready to end their miserable lives before they have to suffer living long as a pathetic pink-skin. We shall grant their request with mettle and-what!?

The Kruk's prideful words were cut short when his trained eyes spotted a familiar looking form in the backseat of that vehicle. It was the dark huntress whelp who traveled with the white one! What in Sauron's- why wasn't the white one with her?! Who were these men-filth maggots she was driving with? Whatever happened to teams?

"New racers eh?"

Gundza's angered thoughts dimmed as Mitch's words registered.

Mitch's grin spread to a dangerous level as his eyes focused once more on the road ahead "They won't be able to handle us! We're too fast for them!"

At least he wasn't immediately whimpering...wait. The Shadow thought on it, perhaps he shouldn't be surprised at this outcome. In all honesty this was a good turnout considering how many other Huntsmen could've responded first. In fact, this was a golden opportunity.

The car skidded behind the bus, Sun sticking his head out to look inside before smiling and leaning back in "Okay, our boy doesn't look like he's got any human shields in range."

"Then we just need to take him down and get ahold of the wheel," Blake said while keeping her gaze firmly locked on the bus's driver's seat "but it'll have to be simultaneous."

"No problem, I'll distract him while you use those fancy ninja skills of yours to make it to the wheel." Sun offered

"And I'll see if I can shoot out the tires," Neptune said while hefting his weapon

"Right... and keep Scar from freaking out."

The blue-haired intellect frowned at that and glanced at their driver, who was none too pleased with the turn of events "60,000 lien and two weeks of research down the drain."

Neptune turned back to his leader "Seriously?"

"Break!"

Opening his door, Sun leaned out as they came up behind the speeding vehicle. However, before he could make a jump for it, he spotted the hijacker levelling an assault rifle towards him.

"Turn right, turn right!" he shouted, the car banking to the side as a hail of bullets tore the rear door of the bus off and sent it skittering along the street behind them. Pulling himself on top of Scar's car, Sun steadied himself before leaping onto the bus.

"Get off my ride jackass!" he heard the hijacker yell as he pulled himself on top of the vehicle, trying to steady himself once more. Glancing back, he smirked at the sight of Scarlett maneuvering to the other side of the stolen bus and Blake readying herself for her part of the plan. And the sound of more bullets brought his attention back in front off him, where bullet holes appeared in the roof of the vehicle rapidly as Mitch tried hitting him. Eyes-widening, Sun backpedalled quickly. Snapping his gun-chucks together into his staff, he slipped off the back of the bus and spun his staff as he gripped the roof of it and swung inside.

"Gotcha!" the hijacker yelled as he trained his gun on him, but Sun was quicker.

Whipping his staff up, he fired a bullet which tore through the top of the assault rifle, effectively ruining it.

"What the-?!" Mitch cried before his eyes darkened "Cheap tark shite!"

Spotting Sun racing towards him, Gundza tossed the weapon and grabbed the wheel in both hands before jerking it roughly to the side, immediately throwing off Sun's footing as the vehicle lurched.

.-.

"And don't even get me started on the insurance!"

Neptune ignored his teammate's complaints and turned to Blake, who was now leaning out of her door as their driver positioned close to the speeding bus "You ready?"

Blake nodded, but her face soon contorted into one of shock as the bus suddenly lurched towards them. Scarlet hit the brake, slowing them down just enough to get out of the way as the bus moved to the other side of the highway. More gunshots rang out from within the vehicle as Scarlett tried giving Blake another vantage to jump from. But then the bus suddenly spun to the side.

As if all of its weight had been thrown against the wheel, the Bus rammed into the side of Scarlet's car with enough force to nearly throw Blake out of it. As their driver struggled to right his vehicle, Blake grabbed hold of the door and held strong before she could be fully dislodged. Seeing the bus rear back for another go, she quickly hopped onto the red-head's hood and leaped. Leaping off a shadow clone of herself, she gained the lift she needed to reach the front of the bus. At her position, if she could just climb up then perhaps she could reach through the driver side window and get ahold of the wheel.

Pulling herself up, she slowly crawled along the front of the speeding vehicle as more gunfire rang out from inside.

"Just die already!" she heard the hijacker shout before the bus lurched again. Her foot slipped, forcing her to steady herself dangerously for a moment before finding yet another grip. The front of this thing was a wreck due to crashing through that median earlier, but she could manage. Pulling herself to the driver's side, the Faunus spotted Sun through the windows. The blonde team-leader deflecting bullets fired at him, steadily inching forward due to the momentum getting thrown about every time the hijacker jerked the wheel.

But Blake couldn't focus on that, the driver's window was open and he seemed thoroughly caught up in dealing with Sun, all she had to do was reach forward and grab hold before he spotted her. Reaching forward, Blake might've been able to reach it if it weren't for the sudden shift in vertigo. Apparently Neptune had succeeded in shooting out one of the tires, because the Bus suddenly shifted dangerously as the sound of metal screeching along the road reached all of their ears. The Hijacker cursed and focused on regaining control of his vehicle.

"No! Stop! I can't slow down again, damn it!"

Blake struggled to keep her grip true, but eventually one of her hands did indeed slip as more pieces of the bus's front slipped away. She kept losing her grip as the bus swerved dangerously, finally giving in and reaching for the top of the grill on the front of the bus, knowing that it would put her in the driver's direct line of sight. Sure enough, once she finally was secure she glanced up and locked eyes with the Hijacker, who gave her a confused look before something strange happened.

Right before her gaze, Mitch's eyes suddenly began filling with this inky blackness. At the same time, a malicious scowl spread across his face as he began speaking in a much gruffer, throaty voice than she expected.

"There you are!" he growled out before whipping a revolver towards her, forcing her to slip down as bullets and glass whizzed over her head. He quickly turned his weapon on an advancing Sun, until they both shifted dangerously as another tire was shot out. The Hijacker's growl deepened as he quickly thought of an out, with Sun quickly regaining his footing he had to think fast. And so he did.

Suddenly the bus was aimed for the edge of the highway, the safety wall suddenly approaching at high speeds. Realizing she'd be crushed against it immediately despite the vastly reduced speed, Blake acted on instinct and pulled herself higher. Almost immediately she came face to face with the barrel of a revolver and immediately left a clone behind as she dodged to the side. Gripping onto the edge of the window as her clone took the bullet and was flung from the bus, Blake's free arm shot forward and grabbed hold of the Hijacker before he could fire the next one, his face contorting into an enraged frown as Sun tried to reach them before the-

When the bus impacted with the safety wall, Blake and Mitch were both flung from the vehicle and careened down from the highway to the industrial yard below. Blake wasn't concerned, she'd survived greater falls than this, it was the Hijacker she wasn't to sure about. She'd lost her grip on him when they'd been dislodged from the bus, which she could see had slowed down enough to keep from falling the rest of the way off the highway. That was a relief, she could trust Sun and his pals to get the hostages to safety while she restrained the Kidnapper.

Speaking of which, she reached for the hilt of her weapon as her keen hearing picked up the sound of a pistol cocking over the rushing wind. Twisting towards the falling hijacker, Blake dashed past him with a slash to his aura, dodging under his bullet in the process. She took a note to focus on just how unnaturally dark his Aura was, muddled with sickly blacks and greys, before bringing her blade up to deflect the next few bullets.

The buildings below grew ever closer, and Blake oriented herself to land on her feet. Skidding along a roof, she kept her gaze locked on Mitch, who rolled towards her while raising his revolver again and charging her. Ducking to the side of the first bullet, Blake intercepted him, sliding under a swing of his fist and getting the leverage needed to kick him away. She hadn't anticipated him to stumble back and end up tripping off the edge of the building, a loud impact sounding from below. She wasn't sure how much of his Aura he had left, it had seemed strong when she'd hit it but... A quick glance over the edge confirmed that he was indeed still alive, just rolling angrily off of a now-dented dumpster.

"Stupid maggot." he grumbled out in that gruff voice of his as he got back to his feet "Stubbornness runs in all you filth."

Blake landed several yards from him and spun to point her weapon at him "You, do us both a favor and stand down, you've lost."

"No!"

The raven-haired girl paused at that, did his voice just got up several octaves? And that inkiness in his eyes vanished along with that weathered tone.

"I won't let you slow me down again! It only brings pain!" Mitch said before tightening a fist in defiance "I finally get to be happy and everything just keeps trying to make a fool of me!"

Glancing to the side momentarily, Blake took a breath "Sir, just give up. You've already gotten-"

His eyes darkened once more as he growled "Shut your cunt mouth up, Tark!"

And there it was again, while on the bus she'd been focused on slowing the vehicle and protecting the citizens, but now Blake could take the time to notice how oddly specific he'd change his voice and attitude occasionally. A mental illness of sorts? And that term, Tark. She'd only heard it spoken by Uruks, had he come into contact with them recently?

He stood straight and pointed a finger towards her "I went through quite the ordeal tracking you to your hidey hole, wench." that commanding tone uttered disdainfully as he lowered his finger and scoffed "And yet here you stand expecting me to give up on my hunt so easily."

Okay, that was not what she had been expecting from the guy who just stole a bus.

"This one gave me lots a trouble, but he's proved more than useful enough in bringing me to you." he massaged his neck with a scowl "A step closer to my target."

So this whole thing was designed to draw her out? He seemed to recognize her when they locked eyes on the highway, so that's not too much of a stretch. But what was the end goal here?

"But if I hop into you, then she'll come to me for sure!" Mitch took another step forward before his eyes emptied once more of that black inky color "You won't stop me! Won't slow me down!"

As he spoke, he kept stepping forward. Blake stepped back only from the sheer oddity of what was occurring before her. His eyes kept shifting between that black color to their regular tone. Each time he did he kept changing between those two voices, but as his anger piqued the difference became less and less noticeable.

"I won't ever let anyone slow me down again!" "I will never surrender in such a show of weakness!" "I'm better than that!" "Better than you Tark!"

Blake took a cautious step back at that, the two voices were now speaking the same words simultaneously. Something dark appeared on the hijacker as he took off his suit jacket, revealing to holstered pistols as he tossed it to the floor.

"I'll show you." he chuckled, drawing those pistols as that dark form took shape. It almost looked like a shadowy humanoid was transposed on top of the man, making them both look a bit blurred. But even with how they obscured each other, Blake could identify that the second figure looked as if it was pulling a spear from its back.

Mitch pointed forward with one of his pistols just as the shadow pointed with his spear "A speed demon like me never slows down! He just runs over anything in his way! Get ready to be mulched under my wheels ya shrakh!"

Before Blake could question further on what exactly was happening, the hijacker raced towards her pistols raised and the shadowy form disappearing inside him as he did so. Instinct kicking in, Blake immediately lunged to the side and swiped her blade through the air several times to deflect several oncoming bullets as Mitch opened fire. Once his weapons clicked empty, the huntress altered her course and instead dove for him before he could finish reloading. Before she could reach him, that shadowy figure stepped away from him swinging its spear in an upward arc which forced her to leap back.

Just as she caught her footing once more, Mitch charged through the dark form pistols raised. Swinging Gambol shroud up, Blake began deflecting the bullets as she backed away from the onslaught. Finally spotting a hole in his offensive, the Faunus ducked under a recently discharged bullet and slashed his side only for that shadowy form to slip out of him once more and deflect her blade with its spear. Before she could back up, the Hijacker swung his pistol into her head whilst pulling the trigger. The force of both the gun and the bullet impacting against her aura threw Blake away from him.

She immediately tried pushing off the ground, but the second her gaze was raised she saw the man's foot speeding towards her. She threw her self out of the way, Gambol Shroud shifting into its pistol form as she tried capitalizing on her position. But even though he was still recovering from his failed kick, that damn shadow reappeared and began spinning its spear to deflect the bullets as he spun back towards her.

This was bad, from how things appeared to her she had somehow put herself up against two opponents at once. She'd have to treat the shadow as a separate individual, as it seemed aware of attacks that the Hijacker wasn't. If that was the case, she'd only be able to get through their guard by catching them both by surprise at the same time. But they were in the same body, she couldn't plan around an enemy that only appeared to counter. At least not without time, time the hijacker's speedy methods of attack easily deprived her of.

The man raised one of his pistols and gestured towards her with a chuckle, the shadowy form inside him occasionally becoming visible "We'll see just how fast you are after I blow out both of your knees, Tark. You can't beat me on your own!"

"That's what she has me for, pal!"

The new voice made Mitch's smile disappear as he turned to glance up, eyes widening as Sun's form descended from above staff mid-swing. Yelping in surprise, the Hijacker immediately crossed his pistols and caught the staff between him, the downward force sending him to one knee. Realizing his host had let himself get distracted, Gundza peaked behind them to see Blake already darting towards them.

Stepping away with a spear raised, Gundza growled as he swung it. With Mitch's focus elsewhere, Blake was able to maneuver around the shadow and slash at his sickening aura. The Uruk roared before sinking back into Mitch and throwing Sun off them. Now standing between the two hunters-in-training, Mitch seemed to struggle to maintain his confidence.

"So," Sun began as he straightened up and smirked at the dark duo "what's up with the whole having a guy inside you thing? Ghost of former partner come back for revenge? Lab experiment gone terribly wrong? Possessed by upset ancient spirits?"

That last one got Blake's attention, but she didn't have enough time to focus on it before Mitch stood tall.

"More roadblocks for this Speed Demon to crash through," Mitch muttered "annoyances to be forgotten once their crushed bones are in my rearview mirror!"

"Really taking the driving shtick to the next level, eh?" the monkey-faunus twirled his staff casually before adopting a ready stance.

The shadowy form stepped out of the Hijacker once more and faced Sun while gripping its spear in both hands. Mitch suddenly took a knee and swung both pistols towards the two Faunus and opened fire, both deflecting as the shadow leaped back onto his shoulders and dove towards Blake. She deflected the tip of the spear with her sheathe as Sun ran to the side evading the gunfire. He managed to reach Mitch and deflect several more bullets before sweeping his legs out from under him.

As if realizing his host's peril, the shadow leaped back out of Blake's reach and deflected the next swing of the staff while Mitch pulled himself from the ground.

The former bouncer spotted Blake incoming and fired at her, but she managed to slide under his bullets and leap with a slash which sent him stumbling backwards.

In that moment of respite, the combatants took note of sirens in the distance. Seems the local law finally recuperated from that mess at the roadblock.

"Guh! Need to move faster." Mitch grumbled as the shadow leaped back inside of him "Can't lose this lead, not now!"

As he spoke, the shadowy form pulled back and lobbed its spear at Blake, which she ducked under only to back up as Mitch lunged forward and fired. The shadow stayed behind and pulled another spear from its back as it faced Sun, who was already leaping towards it. It brought up its spear to block, but Sun merely leaped off it, forcing the dark figure to take several steps back before swinging its spear forward again. Sun leaned out of the way while spinning his staff, firing several shots from it which caught the shadow off guard and once more caused it to reluctantly adopt a more defensive stance.

Blake was much more capable of taking Mitch on without that thing covering for him, he kept firing his pistols at her, only for her to slide past them and slash at that disgusting aura of his. It was growing weaker, just a few more good strikes.

The tipping point, however, came from Sun instead. After finally getting used to the ranged capabilities of his staff, the Shadow had gone back on the offensive, more easily evading both swings of the weapon as well as bullets. But then the blonde smirked...

And suddenly his staff was a pair of gun-chucks.

An audible curse came from the Shadow as he was violently forced onto the defensive, unable to properly adjust to the significant shift in fighting style in time to avoid the next flurry of attacks. It was enough to make it lose its form and travel back to Mitch, who was unprepared when Sun's foot connected with the back of his head. The Hijacker spun towards Sun with a yelp before a quick swing of the leg threw the former bouncer off his feet.

Blake saw the opportunity, right as Mitch was descending towards the ground and the Shadow was preparing to jump back out to cover for him. Crouching low, she darted forward with Gambol Shroud and its sheathe gripped tightly. Lunging with both of them into the falling speedster with enough force to send him sailing away. But she saw as his Aura shattered, the ghastly colorations seemed to bleed away from it leaving a much more natural color. As the coloration bled away, the shadowy form inside of him seemed to be dislodged from him and was flung from its host. As it did, it began taking a more recognizable shape, and Blake's eyes widened as it landed in a nearby dumpster.

Mitch collapsed to the ground with a groan, the pistols having slipped from his hands after that last attack. He coughed violently as the two huntsmen approached, a weak mumble came from betwixt his lips before his eyes snapped open.

"Captain?" he said as he placed a hand to his head "You still there!? Come on! I need that confidence man, where'd you go?!"

"Any idea what he's talking about?" Sun leaned towards Blake "Blake?"

But Blake kept walking past both of them towards the dumpster, immediately leaning over it to try and find that form. Where was it? She was positive she saw it take the shape of an Uruk, did it sink into the garbage or-?

"Hey uh, you okay over there?" Sun asked while keeping the now panicked hijacker in sight

"Did you not see it?" She turned back to him

"See what?"

"That shadow!"

"I saw the thing go flying from that finisher of yours." the monkey Faunus replied with an appreciative smile before nodding down to Mitch "Don't think this guy'll be making another one of those anytime soon."

"I don't wanna be slow again, Captain please!" the hostage taker said as those sirens finally closed in.

Sun could spy the flashing lights on the highway above, and spotted several Atlesian airships en route. He turned back to Blake, who seemed adamant in searching that dumpster.

"I know he landed here," she said with a determined look "maybe it-gah!"

She was interrupted in her search when a large rat leaped from the dumpster at her. Quickly getting over her shock Blake tossed the scrambling creature away from her in annoyance, only for her annoyance to turn to confusion at a strange sight.

When the rat landed roughly on the ground, its aura flared to protect it from injury. Its aura looked sickly... just like-

"YOU RUINED IT ALL!"

Attention was now drawn to Mitch, who suddenly lunged towards Blake while pulling a collapsible baton from his pocket. Sun moved to intercept, but without that shadow or aura Blake was easily able to kick her attacker's leg in and knock him unconscious with the sheathe of her weapon. With that taken care of she quickly glanced back towards the rat... which was gone.

---

AN: Welp, this turned out far larger than I had anticipated. I suppose I shouldn't make any more suppositions on when might I update, as so far I just end up jinxing myself. Either way I suppose I should feel a smidgen of pride for reaching over 100,000 words, but then I realize that I'm not even halfway done yet and realize that victory is not here yet. In all honesty I can safely say that the vigor to buckle down and finish this chapter no matter its length came from the shadow of war trailer, which I can safely say has my level of hype adamantly raised. It has been about two months since the last update, and I am truly sorry for those who I've made wait for this.

Now then, let's talk Gundza.

During my experience of playing SOM, Gundza was nowhere near as long-lasting as some of the other opponents I had to face like Krimp or Bubol. But what he lacked in longevity he more than made up for in impression. As stated before he was basically what I considered the end of a rival story I dubbed the Stalking Arc. He just showed up one time during a confrontation with the Prowlers, who at that point I'd been able to counter fine. And then Gundza showed up with his Inspiring Presence Perk and suddenly he and the Prowlers were tearing me apart every time they spawned together. Identifying him as the thread holding them together I singled him out and slew him, which immediately made my time dealing with the rest of the ambushers easier. And then I tried taking on Hork, only to find him right there at his side, insulted that I would raise arms against his glorious master. And of course, who else would show up but his entire entourage of Prowlers there to aid the Black Gate Defender in annihilating me. Sure enough, he remained quite the thorn up until his eventual demise.

Anyway, I suppose that'smore than enough for now.

Anyway, hope you enjoy, any and all criticisms positive or negative are welcomed in full so leave a review if you are so inclined to do. Follow or Favorite at your leisure and I will see you all in the next installment of The Dreamer Gate.

Next Chapter: Blood: Storm & Axe