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?

12. Chapter 12: The Tower

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

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

---

The Tower

This wasn't the banquet he'd wanted, nor was it the feast he had anticipated.

Tarz the Surgeon groaned as he rolled onto his back, staring up at the sky above, where he could spy a smoke trail leading above. His eyes followed the trail down to the burning warehouse, which spewed forth smoke and the cries of Uruks still trapped within. His gaze went to the window he'd recently thrown himself from.

Once the vest was far enough out of his reach, he knew there would be no time to retrieve and defuse it. The nearest window had become his only viable option.

Lying there on the ground below the window, the Surgeon had time to curse his luck.

Tumhorn, the rotten bastard had betrayed them. Left them locked up with an explosive hybrid .

But why? Tarz had been such a gracious leader to him, gave him a role to play... a purpose! Taught him how to cut up and prepare meat. Why, even now a pleasant memory of the Surgeon slapping the Slaughterer on the back of the head over and over ran through his mind as he tried to come up with any reason why his loyal servant would try and ruin all their work.

The sound of approaching footsteps made him roll over so he could look behind him.

The first thing he saw was Skak Blood-Axe waltzing towards him whilst spinning his namesake to and fro, behind him several of his Blood-Brothers who were panting from the strain of keeping up with their boss.

And the next thing he saw was the faunus shaped figure darting away via the rooftops behind them.

Tarz reached out towards the fleeing figure, growling at the sight of his meal leaving him, but paused when a heavy boot planted itself near his head.

Stifling his growl, Tarz looked up and locked eyes with Skak as he knelt down beside the fallen butcher.

"Hey there, Laddie." the Axe-Wielder greeted as he looked back up to the burning building "Looks like you lot had yourself a bit o' trouble."

The Surgeon merely looked at him for a moment before sighing and getting up with a cheeky smile spreading on his face "Seems so, I guess the boys dropped somethin' from the mines, eh?"

Skak held up a finger before leaning his weapon to his near, "Hn? Oh, that's a good point!"

Tarz frowned, while his preconceived excuses were tailored to fool the average meathead like Skak, he knew from experience that the Axe-Wielder's make believe friend was far more perceptive.

"Blood-Axe wonders why a Surgeon is hangin' around a mining warehouse."

"Wha-? Well if you must know, I may have had a number of dealings with one of the boys here. All me blades are made from the goods here, so I sometimes come around to make sure I get me some nice carving instruments. An Uruk needs to keep his weapons deadly, ya know?"

Skak rubbed at his chin in thought for a minute before shrugging and turning to his Blood-Brothers "Oi! What you lot standing around for?"

"Sir-" one began before hunching over and panting again "we just blew through most of the shanties, we ain't got your physique for lord's sakes!"

"Blood-Axe don't like complaining," Skak held up the weapon till its empty sockets were glaring at the underling "Neither do I. Some of you get those doors open while the others get some water already!"

Under the gaze of the Blood-Axe, the Uruks relented and split into two groups. As one went for the nearest source of stored water, the others moved to the burning building's double doors.

"Huh?"One reached for the doors, only to find them stuck "Wus wrong wid it?"

Another Blood-Brother nudged him and pointed towards the door's hinges "Look! Some bloke went and jammed a bunch of bolts in the thing's hinges!"

As his boys began angrily tearing the thick bolts out, Skak quirked his eyebrow "Crossbow bolts?"

"Come to think of it," the Surgeon began "I saw that Tumhorn guy slinkin' away before I got blasted off me feet!"

Almost immediately Skak raised Blood-Axe to his ear again and listened for a moment "Blood-Axe is a bit skeptical matey. Was you inside when this happened? Because if so, how'd you know to go for the window?"

Tarz waved it off, "I smelt the smoke, smoke means heat, and a lot of things in there didn't really go good with heat. I didn't know where it was so I may have panicked a bit."

"Scared of a little explosion, lad?" Skak chuckled before giving a confused frown "But see, you said something about the boys dropping something that started all this."

"I didn't get a good look, I just smelt the smoke and knew something was-"

A thick hand latched onto Tarz's meaty neck and hoisted the foul-faced Uruk off the ground. Suddenly finding breathing harder to do, Tarz could only gasp as Skak brought him to eye level "Listen pal, Blood-Axe has a few problems with what ya saying, and hearing you go on is giving me the same inclination. Don't know what it is, mind ya, but I just don't believe you's tellin' me everything."

"Put me down , you muscle-headed nutcase! You ain't got no kinda proof I did a thing wrong! I take care of lots o' lads! What they gonna think when they hear about you tossin' me a-"

Just then the double doors were flung open, tossing the Blood Brothers working on it to the sides. They'd apparently removed enough of the bolts to the point where something inside could finally force open the doors. Heat spewed forth from inside the Warehouse, which was pretty much an inferno at this point. And stepping from the inferno was a number of screaming Uruks who flailed violently and stumbled to and fro as they burned.

Tarz's eyes went wide, those idiots didn't die from the blast?

The Blood-Brothers backed away and watched as the burning Uruks tripped and fell over one another in their mad panic to put themselves out. One shoved another to the ground as the flames ate away at his flesh, one good eye settling on Tarz as he stumbled forward in search of relief "BOSS! HELP ME!"

"Boss?" Skak looked to the Surgeon

"I've never seen this bloke in my life."

Skak didn't even need Blood-Axe to be skeptical of that one.

Hearing Tarz's dismissal of him, the Burning Uruk wailed as he collapsed in a fiery heap, one unscorched arm trying to drag his charred figure forward "BUT YOU- AH AGH!- PROMISED THE GIRL! Promised... a... banquet..."

Skak and his Blood-Brothers just watched as the screaming Uruks finally went silent under the intense blaze, distracted only when the other half of Skak's Underlings came to a stop at the sight. In each of their hands were pails of sloshing water

"I thought everyone inside was dead!" One of the water-carriers shouted "What in blazes happened!?"

"What happened? I'll tell's ya what happened." Skak shook Tarz for emphasis "This bloke just got ratted out is what happened!"

---

Garrison HQ...

Hork didn't move a muscle when he heard them come in, didn't turn to acknowledge his two Underlings or the restrained girl they had with them.

Yang found herself impressed with how unresponsive he could be compared to his eccentric brother. The guy was like a rock while Krimp was... well, something less solid?

Yang cursed, her time in captivity must've eroded her improvisational talents a bit.

"Here?" Pigug asked as he and Dharg steadied her.

Hork finally glanced back at them before nodding and turning forward again.

He didn't seem to be looking at anything in particular, the rather large window in front of him seemed too scratched and coated with sand for anyone to see through it.

Once the two Captains were done situating her, they stepped back and awaited Hork's orders.

Before the Warchief could comment, a chuckling from the edge of the room brought her attention to one she hadn't noticed beforehand.

"Quite the setup you're playing for, Horkie." Ratlug commented as he pushed away from the wall and into view.

Yang bit her lip, the sight of that insulting grin instinctively making her clench her fists in her restraints.

Ratlug came to a stop in front of her, smiling a bit wider after taking note of her angered state, "Of course, you could skip this convoluted ploy and end her now, with her gauntlets locked down she shouldn't be much-"

"I will not have you commenting on my dealings, Exile." Hork stated

Yang watched as Ratlug's seemingly unbreakable grin faded into a frown.

"Well, I suppose you'd be glad to know that me and the boys are almost done here. Soon as the boss finds his little book we'll be out of your hair." Ratlug stuffed his hands into his blood-stained labcoat before walking past Yang to the exit.

"Wait." Hork said

Yang heard Ratlug's footsteps stop as the Warchief turned to look behind him and said, "Unlock her gauntlets."

"Excuse me?" she could hear the tinkerer give a humored chuckle "If she gets out of those bindings-"

"Are you questioning the master?" Dharg asked

Ratlug was silent for a second, before releasing a sigh.

Soon, Yang heard several little clicks from Ember Celica.

"You are an odd one, Gatekeeper." Ratlug chuckled "I know most lads have big opinions on that oddball twin of yours-"

Yang could see Hork's expression harden, but Ratlug continued.

"-but most seem to forget the nutjob who made him what he is."

With that, Ratlug left. Hork glared after him for a while before turning back to the scratch stained window. After several seconds of silence, Pigug spoke up, "If that is all sir, we'll be taking our positions.

Hork merely nodded, and the two took their leave as well.

Yang furrowed her brows in confusion, what was happening? Wasn't this supposed to be an execution? Unless there were more guys hanging out in the shadows, she and Hork were alone.

Just to be sure, Yang tried getting a good look at her surroundings. While she couldn't look behind her, she could at least confirm that there were no more hidden guys in front of her. But as she looked, she found herself realizing that there were no torches or anything lighting up this area, unlike the rest of the tower that she'd seen. Shouldn't it be darker?

Straining, she craned her neck up to see that there was some kind of light shining in from above, she couldn't quite-

"He was a wretch."

Her attention was suddenly drawn back to Hork, who remained motionless.

"A somewhat capable fighter with no spine for combat... all he could think about was bloating himself." Hork shifted a bit to look at his own hand for a moment "We are weapons of war, made to slaughter the enemies of the Dark Lord under our overwhelming strength and numbers. There is no place for distractions."

Why was he choosing now to have a monologue?

"Most of those trapped by their own vices at least know to keep themselves deadly, so as not to become useless in the eyes of the Dark Lord. But he just kept gravitating away from training, away from competence, all he ever wanted was to eat himself to death and he'd do it with a smile!" the Warchief clenched his hand into a fist for a moment and released a growl before letting out a throaty sigh "I was going to beat that habit out of him, was going to carve through the fat and gristle and drag the warrior out of him. He had my blood, he had every opportunity to become a deadly juggernaut of power and stalwart devotion but no. No, he found Bubol... another failure I refuse to forget. All of a sudden he was encouraged for indulging, found chivalry amongst the unwanted and became that walking disease's toy."

Yang swallowed carefully before leaning forward a bit "Hork-"

"I do not find myself infuriated by you and your friends slaying my youngest kin." the Uruk interrupted as he turned back to look at her "I'd always wanted to believe that someday he'd snap out of it and come back to me seeking proper guidance in bettering himself. Held out hope that one day he could stand as my equal in both body and status. But he was too far gone, in truth I knew that Bubol had sunken his talons too deep into his mind. Made giving up and wallowing in his own obsession seem like the only option that mattered."

Hork shrugged at her "In fact, finally being rid of that false hope should actually be quite beneficial to me in the long run."

This was not what she needed to hear. Seeing someone speak so deeply about how much hope he'd had for his young sibling was... it felt... bad. Hearing someone just give up on family they felt would never be the same made her feel sick in a way.

"I suppose, as a Leader I should feel happy that you peons have removed such a gross representation of weakness from the world. Should feel pride in knowing that Ashgarn's foulness will no longer leech off my name. But as a brother... I've found my penchant for dedication and reason... faltering..."

He didn't speak for a moment, and Yang was left with nothing to say as time began to pass. He was clearly far worst than a little 'faltering' as he says. Yang remembered how it was long ago when she realized Summer wasn't coming back, how she couldn't stop thinking about all the memories she'd had with her.

Was this grief-stricken reminiscing the Uruk way of doing it? Yang had expected the stone cold warchief to just come at her with an executioner's axe and be done with it, she'd expected him to be ready and willing to have her cut down by dozens of his soldiers.

What she hadn't expected, was for him to be going through some intense emotional turmoil, to the point where even he recognized it. She'd never anticipated how the seemingly monstrous figures would react to their own family being lost. When fighting in groups they hardly seemed to give a rat's ass about each other, so she'd almost convinced herself they'd see family the same way... especially if Ratlug and Krosh's relationship was anything to go off.

In a way, this was almost worst. She could just hope that a miracle happened before he gathered himself enough to follow through with his vengeance.

---

She needed to get back to Weiss and Ruby.

That was the first thought which crossed Blake's mind the millisecond she managed to escape Tumhorn's trap. Sure, she was much stealthier on her own, and was better able to utilize her semblance without having to worry about the others, but if three against an army was a stretch of the imagination, one against an army was impossible. However, she made use of the situation as much as possible, making her way to the tower while the searching Uruks were distracted by her teammates. They'd made it, at least, and that knowledge seemed to have spread to those who had been looking in the Shanties.

Despite allowing her to make for the Tower in a much quicker fashion, it also meant the lower entrance was surrounded by the Uruks, all clamoring to get inside before the others. Every entrance on the lower sect was crowded in a similar matter.

Which is why she had to try another method.

The ramps, like the ones her teammates had used, were also crowded. However, she was able to traverse along the side of several certain scaffolds that had apparently been used to reinforce the structure. The Uruks there were incredibly few, and so were optimal for her. Carefully weaving through the wooden structure, hiding behind stacks of metal and avoiding the gazes of the Uruks, she finally found a way in.

A single windowframe that had long since been eroded away to a somewhat large hole. There was a large slab of flat metal near it, probably to cover it later on. Blake silently thanked her luck before slipping in.

Landing upon the sand swept floor, Blake immediately let her eyes dance around the hall before moving. She had no idea where Ruby and Weiss could be, only knew that they would seek out Yang as quickly as possible. But to find her she'd have to identify where they kept prisoners, that would take too long.

"Come on!" shouted a voice from around a corner up ahead.

Thinking quickly, Blake glanced around for someplace to hide.

Soon, two Uruks with their weapons drawn jogged around the corner to find the hallway apparently empty.

"Where'd they spot 'em last?!" one shouted to the other

"Heard that Exile got Dreamer up and looking around third floor! We'll take the lift, maybe we can find them first!"

Neither of them noticed the figure clinging to the ceiling, still as a statue as she made sure not to even breathe. The Uruks who were searching... they seemed more in tune to where her teammates were spotted than she'd given them credit for. Initially, she thought they were just tearing apart everything in search of them, but they all seemed to go off each other's sightings.

Slowly releasing her hold on the ceiling, Blake dropped to the floor and looked down the hall after them. If she stayed out of sight and listened in on them then surely...

She was so lost in thought that she initially didn't hear the sound of something large and wooden being dragged along the ground behind her.

"LUCKY ME!"

She spun around just in time to stare down the barrel of a gun before it fired and tore through a shadow clone as the Faunus darted back.

Blake landed with her hand on her weapon and a heavy breath, she'd had just enough time to dodge. Before she could draw the weapon from its sheath, she found herself stricken by the appearance of her attacker.

"Ha... heheheh."

Standing before her was a tall Uruk covered in smeared black markings, saliva and foam dripped from the wide smile etched into his face, his eyes were dilated to an extreme measure, his pupils far wider than should be physically possible. In one hand was a musket with an exceptionally jagged bayonet stuck on it, the other was placed on a-

Blake had to blink several times to make sure she wasn't just seeing things.

The mad Uruk's other hand was steadying what looked like a large wheel which was almost as tall as he was. The wheel seemed shoddily built out of a plethora of wooden bits and pieces, with the perimeter covered in sharpened spikes. A handle she could see placed on its center told Blake that it was some kind of shield?

"FOUND MY PROMOTION!" the Uruk yelled "GONNA SOLVE ALL PROBLEMS!"

As Blake listened to his rambles, she slowly backed up. There was something... familiar about his voice.

"We've been outmaneuvered! Flee now and live to fight again!"

Wait...

"LOOKIE LOOKIE."

Tightening his grip on the wheel, the Uruk turned it around, revealing an unconscious figure strapped to the other side. Wasn't that the Uruk in White Fang attire from earlier?

Knocking the butt of his musket against his Captive's head to wake him, the Mad Uruk sneered before gesturing forth.

"WELL WORM, I BET YOU'S DYIN' TO KNOW 'BOUT THIS CURE-ALL PLAN O' MINE?!"

"Mmm?!" the captive tried speaking as his eyes widened, his words stifled by a gag

"SIMPLY PUT, I'MMA KILL THE TARK THAT KILL'S YA!" he paused to hack up more foam, choking on his next words "GeT pEaCe FrOm YoU...aNd PrOmOtIoN..."

The Captive blinked "HMMMM!?"

"PERFECT PLAN!"

Blake didn't have time for this, her teammates needed her.

Turning, she darted away. She could hear the lunatic cry out in surprise, but surely she was too far away to-

And suddenly he was in front of her.

Blake's eyes widened as the Berserker reared back with the wooden wheel and sent it sailing towards her, the captive strapped to it releasing muffled screams in the process. Using her forward momentum, she slid under the wheel and brought Gambol Shroud up just in time to deflect a thrust of the musket.

"PROMOTION!" the lunatic screeched as his free hand went to one of two handles on his back before pulling an axe free and whipping it towards her. She rolled back out of its range and leaned out of the way of another thrust of the Musket, but the Uruk dropped the axe and grabbed hold of the Musket before suddenly wrenching its rear towards her.

She narrowly ducked under it, only for his leg to slam into her and toss her back. Blake managed to land on her knees, only briefly being distracted by the wheel next to her, whose occupant continued trying to yell through his gag.

Her opponent charged forth with his bayonet lined with the Faunus. She threw herself to the side before slicing at him, the Uruk merely cackling as his aura flared from the strikes.

She backed up as he swiped at her with the musket before going in for a follow up, only for him to reach down and yank the wheel in between them.

Gambol Shroud's sliced at the captive before Blake could stop herself, her eyes going wide as she found his Aura not activating.

The Captive released a muffled shriek as his Captor cheered "THAT'S IT HYBRID! SLICE HIM TO RIBBONS!"

At that the Captive began shaking his head side to side while glaring at Blake. The Lunatic charged her wheel-first, and Blake had to dodge out of the way as it slammed against the wall behind her.

Blake found herself faltering as the sounds of the Captive's muffled yells rose. His captor wasted no time in whipping his musket towards her again and firing, but she was already ducking under the barrel and swiping at his torso.

Unfortunately, Blake underestimated just how easily he was able to lift his wheel, as she found the captive between her blade and the target once again. Panicking for just a moment, Blake tried angling the blade away from the shield-bound Uruk and winced at the sound of sliced cloth. She leaped away and steadied herself as the mad Uruk took a moment to cackle.

But her eyes were drawn to the captive once again, and she found that her blade had nicked the gag just enough for him to tear it apart with his teeth. The moment the pieces of cloth fell from his mouth, a loud growl erupted from his throat.

"Tuka!" he snapped "Let me off of this damn thing you sack of shrakh!"

"THAT WOULD RUIN THE PLAN, UTHUG!" Tuka spat before hefting the wheel shield "I NEED YA BOTH DEAD!"

Uthug felt himself being raised and shook violently "What!?" He shouted before his captor charged towards the Faunus "No, you bastard! Don't-AAAAGGGHHHH!"

He screamed as they approached, Blake crouched low and threw herself over the bayonet before swiping at Tuka's head.

Tuka stumbled, but cackled as he spun and launched the wheel-shield behind him.

Blake watched the incoming wheel approach as its unfortunate passenger released a fearful yell. She shifted Gambol Shroud into its pistol form and dodged past it before raising it towards Tuka, who teleported away before her first bullets could reach him. She scanned around before stilling from the sounds of approaching footsteps and glancing back.

Tuka was already mid-leap, the massive wooden wheel clutched in both hands as he brought it down towards her. The Faunus rolled outof the way as the wheel-shield slammed into the ground, staying sturdy despite the bits of splinters it sent flying from the impact. The same could not be said for its passenger, who had been fortunate to not have been strapped to the side which now kissed the solid ground.

"Dizzyin' me..." the dazed warrior grumbled as he tried shaking the stars out of his view "ya rancid... I'mma tear ya apart... you..."

Tuka planted his foot on the wheel's edge and flipped it back into his awaiting hand before diving towards the young woman once more.

But Blake had already devised something of a plan, well... it would make the battle at least somewhat easier for her.

So when Tuka charged again, she waited for him as Gambol Shroud returned to its blade form. She did as she did before, slipping past the musket and swiping at him. He moved his wheel in between them once again and smirked once again as she failed to connect. She slid past him and readied herself once again as he turned to fire at her once again, until something arose in the corner of his vision.

Shifting his wheel-shield a bit, he watched as Uthug flexed the fingers of his now-free arms.

She'd slashed at his bindings.

Uthug's hand clamped onto Tuka's wrist and jerked, throwing the musket-round off wildly as the Warrior struggled to pull the limb towards his mouth.

"I'm gonna chew threw everything you rotten, meat-headed arse!"

Tuka gasped before his deranged smile finally fell into an enraged grimace.

"NO! YOU'S GONNA RUIN THE PLAN!" He screeched before trying to pull his arm free.

He wasn't given much time to focus on this before Blake slipped past him and dragged her blade along his torso. His aura still held, but the Plan-Maker released a maddened howl as he watched her dart in again.

Raising both shield and musket, Tuka slammed the bottom of the wheel-shield towards her, but Uthug made his movements far too slow. He suffered several more slashes to the aura before violently spinning towards her again.

Blake managed three more strikes like this before Uthug finally managed to sink his teeth into Tuka's weakened Aura. Another beast-like scream tore its way from Tuka's throat as he leaped back from Blake and bit down hard on his lower lip to stifle his own vocalizations. Once he was sure he was far enough away, Tuka turned to the nearest wall and immediately rammed Uthug against it.

Blake felt herself physically flinch from the horrid sound, but was shocked to see Uthug hadn't been crushed from the force. The warrior's nose was thoroughly broken, and he was stunned to the point where Tuka could quickly yank his hand free of his captive.

But Blake saw something odd as this happened, a trail of some shimmering substance leading from Tuka's hand to Uthug.

She wasn't given much time to mull over this oddity, as Tuka quickly raised the wheel-shield and rammed Uthug towards the merciless stone wall once more. But even this time, Uthug was not crushed.

He blinked.

Blake almost missed it, but Uthug definitely vanished before he could be flattened between the wheel and the wall. Tuka was stunned at the lack of a splatter, and the deranged Uruk sniffed at the air several times before jerking his head towards Blake with an enraged gaze.

She was confused at first, until she heard something behind her.

"Huh?"

She turned around to see Uthug standing on unsteady feet, looking even more baffled than either of them "How did I get-?"

A spinning musket slammed into him before he could finish.

As he went down, Blake turned back to Tuka, who dropped his now victim-less Wheel-Shield to the ground in front of him before crouching near it "STILL RUIN PLAN! ALWAYS RUIN PLAN! YOU RUINED!" he rambled, his insane smile now replaced with a tortured frown "ALWAYS RUINED!"

He dug his hand into the wheel and pulled out what seemed to be a second strap on the odd shield.

Once it was out, Tuka reached back with both hands and pulled out a pair of dual axes. He then slid the large shield onto his back, and stood shakily with the new distribution of weight as his arms settled into its straps and he lifted it somewhat like a backpack.

"GOTTA FIX SLOPPILY..." he wailed as he brandished his axes "SO SLOPPY!"

Dragging his axes along the ground as he charged head first, Tuka began openly sobbing as he approached "ALWAYS SO SLOPPY!"

Blake was unnerved in ways she hadn't been expecting, but that didn't stop her from ducking under his first swipe and clashing with his second. Despite the beating he'd taken, she could feel him begin shifting their blades and easily overpowering her. Before that could happen, she used her semblance and darted past him as her doppleganger was crushed between the handles of his axes.

To her shock, he immediately flung himself backwards towards her. She quickly dodged back out of the way as the Wheel crashed into the ground. She saw him struggle for a moment to get up, and she lunged towards him to capitalize.

"RUINED IT!"

He swung his axes together and locked her blade in between them before hauling her over him and sending her rolling away. Shocked by his simple counter, she pushed herself to her feet just in time to duck under another flurry of swipes.

"SLOPPY SLOPPY!"

As Tuka continued releasing mournful wails, Blake leaped back away to catch her breath. He didn't seem so keen on letting her do that, as he quickly crouched low to charge her again...

...only for the tip of a bayonet to sprout from his chest.

Blake froze as Tuka released a screech and keeled over a bit from the sudden attack, revealing an enraged Uthug behind him. "Suck on it you wretch!" he bellowed as he drove the bayonet deeper through the spokes of Tuka's wheel into the Berserker's back "Suck on it and die!"

Despite blood now liberally dripping from the mad Uruk's lips, Tuka ground his teeth together and raised an axe.

Uthug yanked the Musket out of the Plan-Maker as he he spun back with the axe. Darting under his swing, Uthug sliced open Tuka's belly with the bayonet.

The Berserker stumbled, one hand dropped its axe so it could try and contain his entrails within the extreme wound.

Tuka stumbled as he leaked black blood from his many wounds, legs trembling as he turned to look at Uthug.

"Wait..." he spoke through blood and foam "...my...plan!"

Hearing that word seemed to stoke the inferno of Uthug's rage, as the warrior immediately released a battle cry before shoving the bayonet up through the bottom of Tuka's mouth. Gripping the musket with both hands, Uthug forced Tuka against a nearby window frame. With their position, the wheel strapped to Tuka's back immediately began dragging him back out of the Tower.

In a last, desperate attempt to keep from plummeting to his death, Tuka hooked his one remaining axe into the edge of the window frame. His other hand moved from the horrid stomach wound and tried to grab hold of the musket.

But then Uthug pulled the trigger, and sent the insides of Tuka's head spraying out into the arid air.

Breathing heavily, the warrior's fury-ridden eyes were locked on the corpse stuck on his weapon for a second. Then, with a grunt, he raised one foot and kicked Tuka's body out of the window frame.

He watched for a second, taking only a smidgen of pleasure watching the corpse smash into the ground below. He couldn't smile at what should be the greatest moment in recent history for him. His rage at what had just transpired was too great, too potent. He could barely keep himself from dragging the body back in so he could tear it apart with his bear hands, "Did you plan for that, ya bastard?!"

Releasing several breaths, he suddenly stood straight and looked back to find that the Faunus had absconded at some point while he was busy with Tuka.

Finding himself alone with nothing but the blood puddle's left by the Plan-Maker, Uthug had an epiphany of sorts.

He'd never have to hear another one of that pretentious bastard's plans again.

And he felt so... so fucking thrilled about it.

No more excuses, no more having to deal with the fallout of his consistent failures, no more having to deal with any of it!

He'd been hesitant to take Tuka on before, mainly because of that whole teleport shtick he had, but now he was dead! Even the madness of the Shaman's journal couldn't keep him alive, if anything it made him sloppier. Oh the irony, the very thing he poured over was what finally led to his demise!

If he'd known how good throwing caution to the wind truly felt, he would've stabbed him while he slept before they even got to this hellhole.

That made him look up, why was he so hesitant to leave in the first place? He'd thought that Hork's boys would kill him for desertion, but would they? From the look's of it, hardly any of these dimwits even had the balls to travel too far from the Tower in the first place. What about Tarz's smugglers? Well, they were too busy gorging themselves to even walk past the boundaries of the Tower let alone Vale.

Yeah, he could just leave and move to Vale, rob the idiots of this world of their possessions and hunker down with his bounty in a cave somewhere safe from all this shrakh.

What reason did he have to stay? Hell, even that traitorous Deer-Faunus proved how willing she was to leave him behind.

His mind was made up, he was going downstairs and walking out those front doors, and damn anyone who thought they could stop him!

---

"Damn it all, stop them!"

Ruby and Weiss turned the corner at full speed, both of them pushing their legs as hard as they could. Seconds later, dozens of Uruks erupted from down the hall and stomped and trampled each other in their pursuit.

Ruby gave a cursory glance behind her, looking at the bloodthirsty mob on their tail.

"They're-" she turned to look ahead and release a breath before glancing to her partner "dedicated!"

Weiss wasn't holding up as well, and didn't even give Ruby a glance before asking "Are we still on the right path!?"

"Yeah!" Ruby said as they turned yet another corner, spotting a trio of Uruks ahead.

Hearing the suddenly overwhelming sound of footsteps, the three turned just as the girls reached them.

Ruby darted between two and Weiss flipped over the third, the three taking only a moment to shake off their surprise and join the rest of the horde in pursuit.

Not too long after making their way into the Tower, the partners spotted the Elevator-like platform in the central chamber ascending to a higher floor. They would've chased it down and commandeered it, but had been spotted and swarmed almost immediately.

Even now, the Uruks remained hot on their heels after barely making it up a stairway they'd found. Ruby tried to keep a mental image of where the central chamber was in relation to them, even as they avoided the dozens of search parties which would eventually join the pack of pursuers behind them. Even if the lift wasn't there, both of the Huntresses-in-training had ways to quickly ascend to the next floors. Ruby had her scythe and Weiss with her glyphs, they could at least lose this group momentarily.

"So many halls!" Weiss fumed as she caught up to her partner.

"Can't you... summon something under them?" the little reaper offered

"With about two-three dozen people, of course." Weiss replied before glancing back to the hallway-filling horde "There's a bit more than that here Ruby, I'm almost positive it wouldn't put a dent in them."

Ruby's frown deepened a bit at that as they neared what felt like the twentieth corner, "Okay, this is still oka-There it is!"

Indeed, the moment they turned the corner they spotted it at the end of a longer hallway. The Central chamber, with a pleasantly unmanned lift just sitting there.

Weiss wore a skeptical expression as she took in the oddly vacant scene ahead of them, but the roar of the crowd behind her made her tighten her grip on Myrtenaster and push forward.

Just as they were passing the last adjacent hall on their way to the lift, a figure suddenly darted out behind them and lunged at an odd protrusion on a nearby wall.

Assuming it to be the first of another hunting party, the girls kept their focus ahead, only to spy two shield bearers enter the hall ahead. They stood beside one another and raised their shields with one arm while the other hefted thick halberds high up towards the ceiling.

Ruby began to slow, but Weiss summoned a glyph. Seeing the ploy, Ruby quickly grabbed her partner's wrist, "Weiss, don't! They-"

"I know that," the Heiress bit "but if we slow down then-"

The sound of heavy metal colliding with the ground behind them interrupted the Schnee, and the two girls turned to see that a large metal gate had been yanked down from above, cutting them off from the pursuers. The Figure who'd darted at them before was still holding onto the odd protrusion, which was now easily seen to be a lever of sorts.

The pursuers on the other side of the gate pulled and beat at it with all their might, but the figure merely growled at them in an all too familiar tone "Go ahead and beat at it, ya sods. This is my catch you're hounding."

Yep, its Gundza.

The Shadow snapped his attention back to the girls before stepping away from the lever "Now that I've got you all to myself-"

"We don't have time for this, Gundza!" Weiss shouted "Tell your boys to stand down before they have to get hurt.

At that the shield-bearer on the left cooed to his partner "Isn't this exciting, mate!? We's finally getting in on some real action!"

But Rightie didn't share his enthusiasm "Just try not to get me killed along with you."

"Is that all I am to you now?" Gundza seethed at the heiress's words "Just an annoyance you think you can flick away?! I almost had you in chains back at the arena!"

"Yet you failed," Weiss shrugged "because you and all the rest of these unhygienic idiots of yours are a cavalcade of screw-ups!"

Gundza bit down a roar as another form emerged from the adjacent hall he'd darted from.

"Technically, they're my soldiers anyway." this new Uruk stated before settling against a staff he had in one hand, there was a bell held in the other. The staff was topped with a large metal ring, the ring had sharp dust crystals stuck on its edges and a hook hanging on the inside of it

This new arrival looked at the dropped gate before turning on Gundza "Was that really necessary?"

"We have to be the ones who catch them, Dreamer!" the Assassin hissed "Now focus on-"

"You're the Dreamer?" Ruby piped up, interrupting Gundza again and sending him into another fit of silent raging.

Tugog turned to the two young girls and gave them a once over before nodding "Yes, I am Tugog the Dreamer. You should know me as the one responsible for all this, if what Krimp told you is accurate."

"How do you-?" Weiss began

"I saw a lot 'o things the last time I slumbered," the Warchief said as he raised the bell towards his staff "including this very encounter. You can see how easy it was to trap you."

"You call this a trap?" Weiss huffed before folding her arms "Four guys on either side of us? That's a trap? Gundza, it seems you're plans have taken twelve steps back. At least I could consider the Arena and that stunt outside as traps. I believe what this is called, is pathetic."

"Weiss." Ruby nudged her partner as Gundza shook with rage

"You..." he dragged a spear from his pack and pointed it towards them "You dare?!"

"I dare." the Heiress responded

"She's right."

Gundza's head snapped towards Tugog "She's WHAT?!"

"If we were to attack them as we are now, they would simply slip away again."" The Dreamer raised a finger "They only plan to escape to the aid of their trapped friend. Which is why-"

He turned to the gate, eyeing the enraged horde on the other side "You lads do know you can just find a way around it right?"

Those struggling at the metal paused in their ferocity, until one shouted, "Go around damn it!"

"The shrakh are you doing!?" Gundza grabbed hold of the Dreamer and dragged him down to eye level.

"The idea of not using our immense numbers is foolish," Tugog stated with a roll of his eyes "but you have about three or four minutes to prove me wrong."

Gundza tossed him back and charged the girls with a roar.

Ruby and Weiss merely raised their weapon and hoped their teammates were doing better.

---

Garrison HQ

"He just never listened to me!" Hork roared as he slammed his fist into the ground again, the thick stone cracking with every impact "NEVER NEVER NEVER LISTENED!"

He punctuated every Never with another punch, the cracks growing deeper.

"Of course I had to be tough on him, I'm the Elder! What the shrakh else was I supposed to do!? Encourage him to throw his damned life away just because it would make him happy!?"

Hork spun towards his subdued audience with fervor "If the Black Captains knew I was purposely allowing one of my subordinates to indulge like that, I'd be mounted on a wall in seconds, do you hear me!? And the punishment would be dozen strong for him, I couldn't let that happen!"

He turned and walked away before pacing a bit "We'd all be gored! I'm a Warchief, I have to act like it damn it!"

Yang didn't even have the courage to open her mouth and voice responses to his various ramblings, he'd be on her in seconds. Yang always joked around with Nora about being crazy party girls, and everyone agreed she could lose herself a bit when fighting, but watching someone literally talk himself into a mania was just chilling to watch.

"And Bubol, that rotten leech, I want to blame him for it all but I know someone else would've come along to feed his habit anyway! Oh, and the diseased filth used to be such a good soldier too! But then that mystic sack of shrakh got to him and now look at him!"

If there was one thing Yang was grateful for, it was that none of her teammates had to be in her place right now. Yeah, she could just focus on how much better they must be doing! It made the growing sense of finality much less noticeable.

---

Blake ducked into a door and closed it softly behind her before the gang of Uruks could spot her, she crouched down and held her breath as the sound of footsteps marched by.

"The Dreamer's got 'em downstairs! We can climb down and jump 'em while he's got 'em distracted!"

That made the Faunus pause, she'd gotten higher up the tower than Ruby and Weiss? They seemed to be in trouble if one of the Warchief's got them.

Tuka had taken up more time than she'd wanted to admit, if his victim hadn't turned on him she might still be there trying to put him down. After finally being able to continue, she'd tried ascending as many floors as possible without being spotted. She was making quick work too by the sounds of it. She was positive her teammates were higher up, but had they been having this much trouble?

She still didn't know where they could be holding Yang, so if she just focused on providing back up to Weiss and Ruby then-

"Hey Buddy!"

The barrel of Gambol Shroud was pointed towards an over-sized smile in the blink of an eye.

Standing over her crouched form was a friendly giant she damn well should've noticed before he ever had the chance to get this close.

Despite the gun in his face, Krimp gave a warm smile as always and whispered "Whatcha doing on the floor there, lass?"

It was getting more unnerving by the second how he just seemed to appear out of thin air like that, was he really just that sneaky?

Blake pressed an ear against the door while keeping Gambol Shroud locked on the Uruk, when she didn't hear anything she finally spoke, "Krimp, please back away from me."

"Okey-dokey!" he giggled before taking several steps back and giving the Faunus some much needed breathing room "Still doesn't tell me what ya were doing though."

"I should be asking you that." Blake said as she rose, not yet willing to lower her gun

Krimp blinked before raising his arms wide and gesturing around him "What do ya mean? Just take a looksie around ya Blakey!"

She did, and finally noticed what kind of room she'd ducked into.

It was some kinda of armory, with weaponry big and small hung on the walls and lining stone tables. There was everything from crossbows to battle-axes, and the plethora of sharp implements did nothing to lessen the cat-eared girl's worries. At the far end of the room was an exit which led to a balcony of sorts, at the top of the doorway was a rolled up metal gate that looked as if it could be pulled down.

"What exactly do you have to do here?" Blake asked as Krimp turned to one of the tables of weapons and reached for something.

He then lifted an absolutely ridiculously large broadsword off the table with one hand and pointed towards it "I'm here for this!"

The thing was about the size of a full grown man, and its serrated edges gave it a gruesome look to it.

Blake almost felt sick just looking at it "What?"

"Well ya see," Krimp said as he reached under the table and pulled some cloth from under it "I know you was sneaking about trying to listen in on the boys talking to find out where our other friends are, so I did something similar to try and figure out where me bro is!"

"You- You knew what I was-" Blake shook her head "Have you been following me?"

"Nope, but best friends like us can just tell what the other would do in certain siituations." Krimp chuckled as he began wrapping up the sword "I bet if you went to an eatery and popped open one of the menus, you'd be able to tell what your friends would order!"

Blake could confirm that, yes. But the idea of being that predictable in tactics to someone she really couldn't figure out personally was... unsettling.

"So I- Oh, hold up a sec." Krimp turned away from and go on one knee as he tightened some part of the wrappings around the broadsword.

He grunted as he pulled on the cloth, but his position gave Blake a view of two things strapped to his back.

His weapons.

They seemed to have the build of the axes she'd seen Berserker Orcs using, at least in the handles. The blades themselves looked like an odd mix of curved scythes mixed with the regular axe blades. The very tips of the axes seemed to thin into hook-like picks, making for a very oddly shaped pair of weapons.

He hadn't had those when they were walking in the desert, had he been hiding them? When did he grab them?

"So I was listening about, and heard one of them saying how he was building a beautiful blade to present to me bro!" Krimp turned back to her with a smirk "I figured I'd deliver it to him!"

"You're taking that to your brother?"

"Yep!" Krimp pointed to the balcony behind him, "That thing's built close to a series of catwalks that leads all the way up the tower. I'mma use it to reach bro without getting in anyone's way. Though I'mma have ta go slow, I'm a big fella and -not knocking my bro's craftsmanship or anything- but if I fall out there it'll be a bit embarrassing. So I'mma take it real slow! Which is good, don't want to interrupt his time with Yang after all!"

That made Blake lower Gambol Shroud as she stepped forward with a "What?"

"Heard that from some fellas too, he has her up there with him. Don't really think interrupting him during an execution would be very polite, so I'm hoping by the time I climb all that, he'll be done! Then I can give him this beautiful blade and we can finally make up after-!"

He paused once he noticed Blake walking past him towards the balcony. Blinking, he turned to look at her with a confused grin "Oi Blake, where ya going lassie?"

"I'm saving my Partner." she stated as she walked towards the balcony with purpose. This changed everything.

She knew where Yang was, and from the sound of it she was in trouble on a majestic scale. Ruby and Weiss might be in a pickle, but they had each other. Yang was alone with Krimp's brother, what kind of partner would she be if she didn't do everything she could to help-?

"Oh Blakey..." Krimp said with a sad sigh

The unexpected note of disappointment made Blake pause as she turned to look at the large Uruk, who finished wrapping up the large blade and looked at her while strapping it to his back in-between his axes.

"You's a good friend o' mine, but I don't think Big Bro would like it much if you interrupted his thingie."

Blake blinked before her eyebrows knitted together in distaste "If I don't go, he'll kill Yang."

"I know!" Krimp said quickly before tapping his thick fingers together awkwardly "But he's my brother. I can't let ya make his life any more difficult, he's in a bad way from what I hear."

"Krimp, what if he was in trouble and I was suggesting not to help him?"

"I'd have to stop offering kindnesses for a full week!" the Uruk suggested heartily before growing serious, "I would do anything for my big bro, Blakey... and that does mean anything."

She saw him lower his hands to his sides, and quickly took several steps back "I have to help her, you aren't going to stop me."

"The way I see it," Krimp began as he reached for one of the handles on his back "you wont feel as bad about not interruptin' me bro if you was placed in some kinda situation where ya couldn't help it. So all's I gotta do is keep you incapacitated till he's all done, then you can just blame me instead of blaming yourself buddy!"

The wholehearted and cheerful way he spoke did nothing to still the sweat which began to form on Blake's brow as she watched him draw one of his odd axes.

Steeling herself, Blake took a deep breath...

...followed immediately by turning and bolting for the balcony.

An odd screeching sound started immediately after she began moving, and she made the initial mistake of glancing to her side just to see what she could only describe as a high-speed spinning circle of metal carve along the wall to her right before launching towards her. Halting her forward momentum, she leaned forward just enough for the spinning edge to pass over her. However, the sound of thundering footsteps reached her too late for her to regain her initial speed, and she felt a massive hand grab hold of her shoulder before she was suddenly yanked into the air.

Her ascent was followed immediately by a quick descent, and she quickly used her semblance to escape Krimp's grasp right before he threw the resulting clone to the ground with enough force to shatter it immediately.

That had almost been her, Blake swallowed down the realization as she saw him reach up to catch the spinning circle. It had been his axe, just how hard had he thrown it?!

She had no time to question it, as the Uruk drew the other axe with his free hand and launched himself at her. Blake threw herself back as both of his axes left gaping scars in the floor she previously stood upon. But with a simple twist of his ankle, he spun towards her mid-strike.

Blake launched out of the Blacksmith's room, only this time there was a shocked Uruk in the hall who immediately dropped some rubble he had and reached for his blade upon seeing her.

He was the least of her concerns.

She turned away from him and darted away from the doorway as Krimp quite literally slid out with both of his axes cocked back. The smaller Uruk's confidence was shattered upon seeing the Warchief's brother, and he quickly turned and fled as Krimp got his bearings. The second Blake was back in his sight, his axes were sent spinning after her. The Faunus felt her Cat-Ears twitch, but she didn't need them to hear the incoming screech as his weapons sliced through air on their way to her. With a bit of timing, Blake twisted as the Blades reached her, letting them pass by her just as a shadow loomed over her.

She had forgotten just how freakishly quick he was.

As Krimp's bare fist plunged downward, its collision with the ground was followed by some of the surrounding sand being kicked up from the sheer force.

Once it settled, Krimp looked down and was momentarily stunned at the sight of his arm elbow deep in Blake's stomach, but the heavy breathing brought his attention up to the real Blake who had just barely avoided the fate of her clone. Krimp smiled at her again "Wow Blakey, I knew you were flighty but wowsers!"

The Faunus was still stuck on the sight of her limp form gored by the Uruk's arm "What happened to incapacitating me?!"

"Aw, if I had hit ya, ya wouldn't end up like this one, ol' friend o mine!" Krimp chittered with child-like glee as he stood, casually waving the impaled doppelganger around like a sock puppet "Ya Aura would soak up most o' that, because you's strong. This ain't enough to kill ya!"

Blake new for a fact that, had she been caught in a strike like that, she may not share her clone's fate but death would not be far off. She also realized that Krimp might not realize how close to death these "incapacitating" attacks might bring her.

As the shadow Blake began fading, Krimp raised both his arms with a chirrup as the screeching sound of his spinning axes grew again. Blake turned and ran, dodging out of the way of the incoming axes as they returned to their weilder.

Krimp caught them with little fanfare before darting after the raven-haired Faunus, his pounding footsteps soon drowned out by his own joyous humming as he closed in.

"Run run, as fast you can!" Krimp sang casually as Blake tried and failed to outpace him "You can't escape me, I'm ya bestest friend!"

She ignored his song and focused more on the path in front of her, the hallway curved slightly, but there was very little debris for her to worry about tripping over. Of course, that meant that she had nothing to trip up Krimp. She remembered vividly how the rounds from her weapon barely did anything to him back in Vale, and knew that trying to turn and aim for one of his eyes would give him ample time to catch up. She couldn't take him in close quarters.

Despite her speed, she could hear him closing the distance. The sound of his trunk-like legs tearing bits of the ground up as he ran drew ever closer, she just needed something that could slow him down.

"They're coming! Close it!"

Up ahead were two Uruks standing on either side of the hall with their hands wrapped around levers. The second the duo spotted Blake and her pursuer they yanked down on the levers and a thick metal gate began descending from the ceiling.

Seeing her chance, Blake pushed her legs harder and activated her semblance.

With the aid of another Shadow clone, she managed to slip underneath the gate just as it reached the bottom.

"She got through!" One of the Uruks shouted as he knelt down and picked up a spear. Blake turned to intercept the incoming jab when the sound of a steel train colliding with a brick wall caused her and the Uruks to pause as the ground shook.

Krimp had collided with the gate full force and managed to wedge his massive head in its bars, which strained to hold the Uruk back.

"That... that shouldn't be possible." The Spear-Wielder deadpanned in terror as his partner jerked away from the gate

"That's the Friendly!" his partner shouted as he forewent trying to grab his own weapon and instead turned tail and ran "Get away before he breaks through!"

Blake was left watching as the sandstone brick walls began giving, cracking around the gate as Krimp continued forcing his mass against it.

"Sorry for breakin' ya gate, big bro!" He said to the sky before scrunching his face up and pushing harder "But I needs to let you have ya moment!"

Blake decided to follow the example of the other Uruks and make a break for it, quickly outpacing the duo as the gate was quite literally torn from the wall.

---

A shield bearer was thrown from the hallway into the central chamber from a round from Crescent Rose, his half-broken shield sliding away as he struggled to rise.

"Oi," Rightie shouted as he knealt beside him "you still good to go?"

"I can't feel my arm!" Leftie cried out

"Good, remember this next time you start whining about wanting some action."

"Shield-Bearer!"

Rightie dropped his injured friend with the grace of a sack of potatoes before looking over to Gundza, who was pointing a spear towards both the two Huntresses that were on either side of him, "Tell me your master has the drop on one of them!"

"He's asleep."

One could literally hear the sound of the Shadow's patience being snapped like a wooden rod as he glanced back to find Tugog resting against his staff.

"Ruby, now!" Weiss shouted before pointing towards the lift.

"Get that thing out of here!" the Hunter shouted to Rightie before turning and throwing one of his spears at the sleeping Warchief "You aren't making me lose them again!"

The spear collided with the Dreamer's staff, shifting it just enough to make the bell hanging in its ring to release a loud chime. The sound woke Tugog immediately, who looked over his staff before simply saying, "So that's it."

Rightie reached the lift's control lever just as Weiss and Ruby darted towards Gundza simultaneously. Gripping his spear in both hands, he began deflecting the duo's flurry of blows before a red-lined boot landed on his head and Ruby quite literally launched herself off him towards the lift.

While he was still reeling, Weiss slipped past him to follow her teammate to the now rising platform.

Rightie turned and raised his shield just as Ruby sped into him scythe first and almost managed to knock him off the lift.

Gundza growled and darted after the heiress just as she leaped off a glyph towards the platform.

"They're still here!"

His attention snapped to one of the nearby entrances as the horde of pursuers finally reached them and began dashing towards the lift as others made for nearby stairways and ladders.

Gritting his teeth Gundza leaped and grabbed hold of the edge of the lift, pulling himself up just in time to see the two girls overwhelm Rightie. Busy deflecting icicle projectiles, he wasn't able to turn in time to avoid the back of Crescent Rose. The weapon cracked him in the back of the head, rendering him unconscious immediately. Gundza rolled his eyes as the shield-bearer collapsed to his knees and fell face-first onto the platform between the girls.

Gundza crouched and launched himself towards the unconscious shield bearer, startling the two girls, who backed away as he immediately slipped in.

"Getting... better." Gundza growled as he stood in his new body on somewhat unstable legs and stumbled back.

Ruby wasn't willing to give him time to catch his breath, and moved to swipe at him when a roar from above brought her attention skyward.

An Uruk came sailing down from above and tackled Ruby to the ground before her strike could connect, the two of them tumbling to the edge of the lift as Ruby wedged Crescent Rose between them and tried prying him off.

Weiss blinked before raising her gaze, several Uruks were flinging themselves towards the lift from the floors above. A great number were also trying to catch up with them by racing up the tower by any means they could find.

Ruby finally managed to kick her attacker off her, sending him tumbling over the edge just as two more landed where he once stood.

As the girls began contending with the pursuers, flinging as many as they could from the platform before they could be overwhelmed, Gundza managed to get accustomed to the Defender's body. He was getting better at it, if the decreasing time between possession and usability was anything to go by.

Gritting his teeth and turning his blackened eyes towards the two young women, Gundza tossed the shield off the side of the lift and hefted his large halberd in both hands before darting towards a distracted Ruby. However, Weiss had perfect view of the oncoming Uruk, and quickly slid back out of the range of a sword to call it out.

"Ruby!" she shouted.

The Scythe wielder turned towards her just enough to notice the approaching figure. She spun with Crescent Rose and deflected the halberd.

Its weight dragged Gundza back a bit, but he used that to angle it back and wrap the curved edge around the lever before yanking it off.

The Lift wouldn't slow, it's taking them all the way straight to his master! Won't the gatekeeper be so pleased to see it!

Gundza grinned before charging into the fray again. As the girls contested with him and the pursuers, a loud sound began growing from beneath the lift.

Though she was busy with the Uruks, Ruby could confirm that it sounded almost like some kind of jet engine.

But as soon as the sound became unavoidably noticeable, a figure launched itself up onto the Lift whilst trailing flame behind him.

As it landed, the fighters were just surprised enough to pause.

The figure rose, revealing none other than Tugog the Dreamer, who should be quite a number of floors down at this point.

"Marvelous!" the Warchief said with a slight pant before turning to his staff, which had trails of smoke wafting from where the red dust crystals used to be. The bell in the staff chimed with every move he made, it was far louder than a bell of its size had any right to be. The Warchief drew several dust crystals from his clothing and slipped them into the now empty slots, then tapped the staff to the ground several times and watched as the crystals lit up in response.

"Now," he turned back to the girls and held the staff in two hands a two blue crystals glowed brighter "let's see if my visions hold true."

Gundza backed to the edge of the lift as the Dreamer swept the staff towards the ground and released a trail of frosty spikes which the girls had to dart away from. Unfortunately, several Uruks were blasted back by the spikes, though others were clever enough to follow the girls example.

As soon as Ruby regained her footing, she heard the chime of the bell grow nearer and turned to block the staff as it was set ablaze and slammed down against her.

She quickly shoved it back and spun her scythe into another nearby Uruk before turning the barrel of her weapon on Dreamer.

He slipped out of the way of the first shot as the ice crystals on his staff glowed again. Sweeping it up just in front of him, his staff erected a wall of ice between them that cracked with every round from Crescent Rose.

"Speed, if I remember." he commented as his ice wall was whittled away, before looking at his staff and activating several green crystals.

The second the wall shattered, he sped through its fallen remains and whipped his staff towards her far faster than a weapon of its size should be.

Ruby had to activate her semblance to dodge the first three swipes before spinning and clashing weapons with him.

Meanwhile, Weiss was weaving through the wide swings of Gundza's halberd, her small figure and nimbleness making the weapons heavy attacks fairly avoidable.

The problem were the other Uruks who kept taking the place of any she managed to knock over.

One or two would dart in and take swing at her while Gundza raised his weapon again, usually they'd get caught in his attack but that still left few times for retaliation.

Weiss ducked under one of their swings and leaped over his halberd before sailing towards him feet first. The Shadow raised his free arm to defend himself, but the Hieress landed on a glyph summoned inches from his face.

The second it took for him to back away from it, Weiss crouched and launched away from the glyph just as it shot forward and smacked Gundza in the side of the head. He wheeled, nearing the edge dangerously before swinging his halberd back to counterbalance himself. Weiss landed and ducked under the slash of another Uruk's axes, but caught sight of the incoming halberd quick enough to leap over it. It caught her attacker square in the chest and flung him towards Tugog just as the Warchief sent Ruby rolling back to her partner's side.

Tugog watched the thrown Uruk scramble to his feet just as another with a set of throwing knives landed at his side. As the two rushed to engage the girls, the Dreamer looked to his staff before placing a finger to his lip.

"I wonder." he said before gripping it in two hands and raising it over his head.

He focused as the dust crystals on the bottom of the ring lit up, then the ones above them began lighting slowly as well.

Ruby bobbed and wheeved as knives were embedded in the platform around her, the Uruk throwing them cackling as he drew another set from his belt. Pinching the blades between his fingers like claws, he dove at her as the Uruk with the axes followed behind.

Ruby threw herself to the side as he lunged blades-first, the knives finding themselves slashing at the platform as he turned to see Ruby turning to swing at the axe-wielder. Grinning, he turned and leaped at her again while her back was turned.

The Axe- wielder saw the incoming scythe and ducked under it, but Ruby kept swing and slashed the knife thrower out of the air. He went sailing off the side with a trail of his blades following him.

She continued spinning it towards her other opponent, but he merely stepped into range and locked the handle of Crescent Rose in between his axes before ramming his head against Ruby's. She fell onto her back, but yanked her rifle-scythe in-between her legs to steady it as the Uruk swung at her. His axes failed to connect before he was blasted off his feet, but as Ruby hurried to follow-up she spotted Tugog.

The ring on his staff was now covered in electricity, a large blue form was taking shape above it. She realized it was a large blade of water which the electricity quickly began running through as the lower ring was engulfed in flame.

He was using all of them at once, she realized.

Her attention drawn from the still-dazed Axe user, Ruby aimed Crescent Rose behind her to dash into him as quickly as she could.

Before she could, however, Gundza slammed the tip of his halberd into her scythe with enough force to widely throw off her aim and destroy his weapon in the process. Before the Shadow could even back up, the tip of Myrtenaster sliced across his face as Weiss sailed by.

Gundza groaned and drew a spear before swiping at the Heiress as she slid by and swiped at his torso some more.

Ruby was still reeling from the strike, glad that she hadn't fired or else she could've accidentally blasted herself off the platform. However...

She turned to see Tugog's staff still being covered in the powers of all the dust in it at once, she could see the Warchief struggling with just holding the thing "Tugog! Not all dust reacts well together! That thing could explode!"

"Even so-" Tugog paused to wrangle the now violently shaking staff

"What is he doing!?" seems Ruby's partner finally took note of the Warchief's actions, and her distraction was enough to make even Gundza glance towards the Warchief instead of capitalizing.

"Now then!" Tugog reeled back with the violently shaking weapon just as the Axe-Wielder began leaning up again "Let's see!"

The moment the Dreamer swung it towards her, Ruby could easily see he barely had control over it. The staff practically pulled the Warchief along with it, he spun wildly as it continued dragging him towards them.

Ruby threw herself under the staff as he passed by, the now spinning Uruk's weapon searing the ground below despite not even being near it.

Gundza and Weiss both went wide-eyed as Tugog spun closer to them, the Heiress immediately following her partner's example and diving under the staff.

The Shadow quickly assumed his current body was too large and threw his spear up into the air above before launching out of him. Rightie had only a second to realize he was in control of his body again before a hellish mix of multiple dust types slammed into him full force and sent him sailing off the side of the Elevator.

Gundza managed to lunge over the staff as soon as he was free from the Defender's body, and Weiss spotted him falling towards her just in time to roll under him as he collided with the ground.

They both kept low as Tugog pulled himself away from the edge of the lift and continued spinning towards the other side. Pressured by the violently glowing staff above, Gundza reached up just enough to catch his spear before jabbing it towards the heiress.

The three continued ducking, dodging and leaping over Tugog as he spun out of control, the sound of violent bell chimes filled the central chamber as even the Pursuers refrained from boarding the lift while the spinning Warchief's weapon raged.

Gundza didn't care much, as long as they reached the garrison he could care less how! But as he and Weiss split away from each other to avoid Tugog's staff again, he heard the sound of Crescent Rose being cocked.

His eyes darted towards Ruby, who was trying to aim at the Warchief before he spun back over to her. Gundza couldn't aim his spear with the spinning staff so close, so instead flung it sideways towards her.

It collided with Ruby's shoulder as she fired, the round ended up striking Tugog's side and he stumbled just enough for the staff to overpower him. He was dragged off the side of the Lift, his grip finally loosened as he landed on a lower floor. As soon as the staff slipped from his grasp, the storm-like assembly of dust energy cut off. The staff clattered to the ground beside him with the bell giving several dull chimes as its wielder watched the lift ascend away from him.

With the threat of the staff gone, Gundza and the girls rose and turned their weapons on each other.

After some breaths, Gundza cracked his neck before drawing another spear.

"Nobody to hide in now, hm?" Ruby asked

Gundza merely looked between them for a moment before pointing his spear upwards.

Seconds later several Uruks leaped from higher levels to resume their pursuit.

"We always have numbers child!" the Shadow bit as the pursuers lunged for the girls "You're always outnumbered!"

Weiss and Ruby merely gave each other looks before rushing to intercept the Uruks.

.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.

"I've retrieved... my journal."

Ratlug leaned up in his chair and moved his lens-less glasses a bit as he turned to the side to see a tome held near his head.

Holding said tome was the Shaman, who's odd eyes peered down from the all-encompassing robes he wore.

The Fake Surgeon leaned up in his chair "Is 'at so?" he grinned "Then seems Horkie boy ain't gotta put up with us much longer. Hear that boys?"

He looked forward to one of his researchers, who wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead as he took pictures of the very edge of the floor in front of him. Ratlug's chair was situated near the large shaft which ran through the central chamber of the tower. One of their last issues was seeing how they could make the poor excuse of an elevator here go faster without risking the safety of the resources it may carry.

The researcher didn't look up from his work, merely gave a small glance back to the tinkerer before holding up his scroll and taking some more pictures.

Ratlug frowned before turning to look at a nearby wall, where the second researcher was holding a measuring stick against a wall. He too merely angled the cigarette in his mouth a bit before focusing on his work.

"A problem?" the Shaman asked as Ratlug sagged back into his seat

"Oh their just mad they don't get to lounge about with a can of sweet tark drink at their side." Ratlug reached on the other side of the chair and pulled a can from a small container before popping it open "It ain't grog, but it sure does hate the body I'll tell ya what!"

He took a deep chug before pulling the can away and laughing "Hahaha! Tastes like punishment!"

The photographer sighed "Sir, its not that we don't like our work. Its just that there's a Tark-Hunt we currently are unable to attend because of it."

"That crazed bastard of a Warchief said we weren't to do anything but our research while we was here," Ratlug said as he shook the can a bit "that means we ain't dealing with any shrakh he lured to this hovel of a keep."

"Then... we leave soon?" The Shaman asked before being distracted by what sounded like approaching sound of gunfire.

Ratlug was unconcerned "You can leave whenever you want now that ya got your book. And we get to go as soon... as soon as... The shrakh is that?"

He couldn't ignore the sound either, and he stood from his seat to walk next to the photographer, who was staring down the elevator shaft towards the source.

As soon as he looked over, Ratlug spotted a flurry of colliding weapons and dust rounds riding the lift up towards them.

In the midst of the battle he spotted Gundza darting between the red and white huntresses from the Arena. Oh yeah, Yellow's teammate and sister if he remembered well.

The Shaman stepped beside him and gave a hum as he watched the approaching battle "Didn't expect them to get this far yet... impressive."

"Sir?" the Photographer questioned the fake doctor as one of his hands drifted to the multi-gun which dangled on his shoulder strap.

Ratlug in-turn glanced to the Storm Ruler "Well?"

But Pugrish merely sighed before turning away "Hork doesn't wish... for our intereference... with his tower."

"Are you kidding me?!"

The three turned to the other researcher near the wall, who pulled the cigarette from his mouth and hefted his own oddly shaped gun "We go through all the trouble of making these beauties specifically for tark huntsmen like these, we got prime testing materials here!"

"Hey, gatekeeper said to keep focused on the building and whatnot." Ratlug chuckled before moving back to his chair and lying back "He must surely be capable of dealing with a few youngling whelps like them, eh?"

Though the the two researchers both looked like they wished to argue the point, both the Photographer and the Smoker grudgingly returned to their duties.

Or at least, the Smoker was going to return to his duties when two Uruks sped from a nearby hall with fearful cries.

The Researcher was momentarily distracted by the running Uruks, so much so that he almost missed the faunus-shaped blur which followed after them.

But none could miss the hulking form which quite literally exploded from the hall behind her.

Leaving the hallway behind him covered in scratches and other signs of damage, Krimp lunged after Blake with a large section of metal gate still wrapped around his neck.

It was just ridiculous enough to illicit a chuckle from the Stormbringer as he watched the usually friendly Uruk race after the fleeing faunus, with the large gate doing next to nothing to slow him down.

"By the Dark Lord." Ratlug commented as he turned in his seat with a huge grin plastered on his face "Haven't seen him going full force in a good long while!"

Behind the Storm Captains, the lift continued its ascent as the battle atop it raged on. Ruby just finished crushing another Uruk under the weight of Crescent Rose when she spotted Blake of all people on a dead run towards them.

"Blake!" the Young Leader cheered just as Gundza took note of her distraction.

The Faunus had taken note of her teammates the second she entered the room, and the lift they were on... it should work just as quickly as the catwalks in getting to the top. Keeping track of the heavy footsteps of Krimp behind her, Blake suddenly halted her running and threw herself back.

Krimp was unprepared, and the Faunus landed against the large section of metal gate still wrapped around his head as he tried and failed to skid to a sudden stop. The gate prevented him from outright swinging up towards her with his weapons, so he tried slipping one through the bars. But by then Blake had already planted her feet on the bars and used them to launch herself up towards the lift.

At the same time, Gundza turned away from Weiss and darted towards Ruby.

Seeing his aim, the Heiress started to call out to her partner when another Uruk rammed the end of a staff into the back of her knee. Though sucked up by her Aura, the attack did bring the Heiress to her other knees as he spun with the staff. Weiss had just enough time to lean as far back as she could to let the staff swing harmlessly over her.

Ruby's keen ears managed to pick up on Weiss's interrupted shout, and she turned just as Gundza dove at her spear-first.

Time seemed to slow down as Ruby tried shifting out of the way and blocking at the same time...

... the result being Gundza sailing past her and colliding with Blake mid-air. Ruby went wide-eyed as she watched the two sail back and land on Krimp's metal gate, the force of two bodies hitting it at once being enough to send the massive Uruk stumbling back.

Ruby was prepared to jump off the lift and help when the rattling of chains and a gasp made her eyes dart back.

An Uruk had gotten a thick chain wrapped around Weiss's upper torso, pinning her arms to her sides as the Staff-Wielder began raising his weapon with deadly intent.

Blake was still slightly dazed, she had been in the middle of jumping to her teammates when something crashed into her, bringing her back down onto the large section of fence still stuck on Krimp.

She had landed back first, and had only now become conscious of the weight on her.

Gundza had landed on the gate atop her, and was still shaking off the unexpected collision when the two locked eyes.

Recognition hitting them at the same time, Blake's eyes filled with dread as Gundza's rage was ignited tenfold, "You!" he growled out with hatred seeping from his very pores as he began raising a spear "WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS IN MY WAY!?"

Blake tried raising Gambol Shroud, but suddenly one of Krimp's curved blades slid through the bars and yanked her hand down to the bars with it.

"Gotcha buddy!" Krimp cheered as he aimed for her other hand while trying to balance the two of them atop his gate.

Blake managed to whip the cleaver sheath up and out of Krimp's reach just in time to block the Shadow's spear, but Gundza pressed on. He leaned up and grabbed the spear tightly with two hands as he pressed it harder "Stop it!" He grunted as he tried forcing his way past her guard "Just die!"

But two hands were better than one, and Blake could feel her grip on the Cleaver-like sheath failing as the Assassin pressed against it.

Above, Ruby swung her scythe over the edge of the lift and angled it towards Gundza as fast as she could before holding her breath and pulling the trigger.

The recoil sent her spinning backwards into the staff wielder before he could brain her partner, just as the round slammed into Gundza's back and he slumped forward just enough.

Both Weiss and Blake acted immediately.

The Faunus had just the right opportunity to swipe the tip of the spear away from her, but the force still pressed on it sent it sailing down past the bars and into Krimp's wrist. The spear snapped at its tip, unable to puncture the Uruk's hide, but was able to make his grip loosen just enough for Blake to wrench her hand free. Gundza recovered from the blast and leaned out of the way as Blake fired at him, but this took enough of his weight off her for the Faunus to slip a leg out from under him. Before Gundza could raise his spear again, Blake slammed her foot into his chest and sent him sailing off the grate and into the elevator shaft.

Weiss spun towards the Uruk holding the chain, which bunched around her as she closed in. He saw her raising her rapier as much as she could, and quickly reached for a jagged, short sword at his hip. But he couldn't match her speed, and the tip of Myrtenaster jabbed at him with enough momentum behind it to send him stumbling back as his grip on the chain loosened. Weiss moved to wriggle free of the bindings, when she heard, "Duck!" and promptly dropped to a knee as Ruby sailed over her and slashed the Uruk off the lift.

Once the immediate threat was dealt with, Ruby ran back to the edge of the lift just in time to see Blake roll off of Krimp's gate.

Blake looked up at them, in the time it had taken to deal with Gundza the lift had risen far too high for her to reach in time. But if she had something to leap off of.

After lunging under one of Krimp's blades, the Faunus glanced around frantically to find anything she could use as leverage. Soon her eyes turned to a large chain hanging down from the lift which seemed to trail all the way back down to the ground floor. Perhaps it was used to keep it steady when going up and down? Just as she began thinking of a proper way to get past Krimp and dive for it, she spotted a spear wedged into one of the chain's links. Holding onto one end of the spear was Gundza, apparently he'd kept himself from plummeting to the first floor with a well timed jab of his weapon.

As Krimp swung towards her again, Blake made a split decision and shifted Gambol Shroud to its pistol form.

Gundza, still winded by the close-call he managed to avoid, turned at the sound of a cocking pistol and spotted Blake. Gasping, the Shadow reached up and tried to get a better hold of the chain when a dust round hit his spear dead center and split it in half, sending him flailing towards the ground floor once again.

Blake wasted no time in leaping back over Krimp as his weapons carved gashes into the floor she once stood upon.

"Blake!"

Her attention was drawn up to Ruby, who looked ready to jump down and help her.

"Yang's at the top!" the Faunus shouted back to her team leader as her weapon changed back to a blade "You need to get to her, quickly!"

"You's just makin' my job harder, bestie." Krimp cooed as he slipped his axes into the bars near his head, with a grunt off effort he began prying the gate apart with his weapons "It's okay, I'll always forgive you!"

Taking one last look at the ascending lift, Blake turned away from the Uruk and darted back towards one of the nearby passageways just as the sound of his excessively joyous laughter began spewing forth from his mouth again. If it wasn't for her Faunus hearing, she'd be spared the sound of his weapons carving massive gashes into the solid walls around them. She wouldn't have to hear the disproportionately warm giggles that echoed from the wielder of those blades, wouldn't associate these sounds with the comforting, friendly smile her pursuer no doubt had plastered on his face like always.

.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.

"We need ya to come with us."

The joyful smile on Uthug's face melted into a disbelieving frown almost instantly.

In front of him was the large entrance of the Tower, its double doors hanging open as light spilled in, beyond he could see the tips of several shanties. He had made his way down the structure with a grin, the ease with which he moved towards freedom bolstered his resolve with each step. On the way he passed dozens of small hunting parties who scrambled over each other to catch up with the tarks above, no doubt they'd wasted most of their time trying to find the faunus in the Shanties. But the numbers of Uruks dwindled as he neared the ground floor until he was face to face with his objective.

The ground floor looked more empty than it ever had been prior, Hork's soldiers gone off somewhere and the peons they were to govern now rampaging in the upper floors trying to catch the pinkskin interlopers. The stairway Uthug had descended from was right across from the large entrance, its doors having been left open carelessly by one of the hunting parties no doubt. Between him and his exit was the bottom of the great central shaft which the lift traveled along. As Uthug passed under it, he looked up and squinted hard. He could just about make out the circular shape of the lift ascending far up the tower.

No doubt whoever was operating the lift at the time was also wasting their time hunting the intruders. Uthug smiled at the thought of several grunts fighting over the lever and arguing over what floor they should search next. He shook his head and continued towards his true goal.

Perhaps if he had better eyesight he'd have noticed the signs of battle atop the lift, or the small shapes being thrown from the lift towards floors below.

Instead he smiled wider as he approached the exit, his hand about to grab the edge when two figures entered abruptly.

Garrison Soldiers, the first he'd seen in what felt like forever. He didn't need to see the dark armor or the black tatoos on their exposed skin to know who they were, he knew that familiar sense of irritation that crept up whenever one of them was around.

"We need ya to come with us."

One of them had placed a hand against Uthug the moment he spotted him, halting him before he could leave and pushing him back inside the tower.

The Warrior was still slightly stunned by the sudden arrival of Hork's underlings, having been convinced they'd be at the forefront of the hunt currently occurring in the upper floors. But as he caught his footing, a familiar frown formed as he grumbled towards the Garrison Soldiers, "What?"

The one who had pushed him ran his hand through a dirty, short mohawk while grinning down at him "Well we kinda need's a bit of an alibi, ya follow?"

The Looter wasn't impressed, his anger at being interrupted before his escape blossoming into a slow-burning flame of rage at the statement "The Shrahk do you mean alibi, let me by you-"

And then it struck him, making him pause mid yell as he realized the meaning behind the Mohawk-sporting Uruk's words. He would never say he was an intellect, even among the hordes of meatheads and idiots that usually get hauled out of the spawn pits, but he was damn smart enough to put things together. Their timing, their words and even why they were here instead of hunting down intruder's in their Warchief's keep.

"You were looking for the Hybrid!" Uthug exclamation, causing the Garrison Duo to chuckle

"Yeah," Mohawk's partner tilted his bald head and rubbed at his nose "got me a whiff of Tark Beast runnin' about. Thought we could nab her ourselves, but the Warchief sent some runners down early on to recall everyone up top for something."

"We may have prioritized the Beast Girl." Mohawk finished "And now we need a good explanation for why we weren't upstairs with the rest of the boys."

"And how the bloody shrakh is dragging me up there gonna help?!" Uthug shouted, causing Mohawk to snicker some more

"Making sure other whelps follow orders seems pretty good an excuse." Baldie pointed out.

Uthug stammered as he felt an eyelid begin twitching in irritation "I couldn't have heard the summons! I was unconscious and strapped to a wheel for lord knows how long!"

That made the Garrison Soldiers pause and look him over for a bit...

...before promptly doubling over in laughter at his explanation.

"Strapped to a wheel he says!" yelped the one with the Mohawk "Oh the lads'll have a hoot over that one!"

Uthug merely stared, stricken into silence by their mocking laughter. He had been riding so high just moments ago, yet now as he watched these brawny bastards chuckle and holler over what was literally life or death for him, he realized that annoyance would find him despite Tuka's death. Tuka had just been one cog out of the hundreds of annoyances that formed the machinations of his hatred.

The Looter looked down at his hand for a moment, his other tapping the bayonet of his musket against the ground as he remembered just how free he felt before these wretches decided to step all over his fun.

"Ahaha," Mohawk wiped a tear from his eyes and turned back to Uthug "but seriously, let's get a move-"

His eyes landed on the tip of a bayonet before Uthug blasted a hole in his head.

It was at that very moment, when the relief of being rid of yet another annoyance washed over him that Uthug truly recognized how great it was to just not have to deal with someone anymore. The Mohawk-sporting Garrison soldier had an annoying voice, and now Uthug had the pleasure of living in a world where he wouldn't have to hear it ever again.

Unfortunately for him, Baldie wasn't as slow as his companion. The remaining Garrison Soldier had jumped at the sudden murder of his cohort, but a quick growl and the telling shimmer of a weak aura activating preceded him drawing a mace from his belt.

Uthug turned the musket on him next, but the one round he managed to get out was blunted by the Soldier's aura as he charged. Uthug ducked under the mace and spun behind the Soldier, who turned and raised his mace again only for a dust round to slam into his shoulder and throw him back several steps.

The Graverobber lunged in and rammed the side of his musket against the Soldier's throat, forcing him back several steps in order to continue breathing. He swiped at Uthug, who slipped back before jabbing his bayonet into the side of his quarry's leg.

His Aura wasn't able to hold up, and the unexpected slash brought him to a knee as he raised his mace to defend. But Uthug didn't strike, instead he slipped behind the fallen foe and wrapped his musket around his neck and arm.

Uthug pulled hard, his growing grin turning to a snarl as Baldie rammed his free arm back into his captor's gut.

Seeing red, Uthug hauled the other Uruk off the ground before tossing him onto his back.

The Garrison Soldier started getting up, when he caught sight of something in the central shaft above which gave him pause, "What the-?"

That pause would be his undoing, however, as Uthug quickly leaped upon him and pinned both his arms under his knees. He quickly grabbed hold of the bayonet and twisted before sliding it off the musket and plunging it into the Soldier's face.

As any proud Uruk would hope to say, this wasn't enough. Despite the gruesome blade lodged just under one of his eyes, the Garrison Soldier merely released a yell as he jerked his shoulders. Uthug struggled a bit to keep him pinned, but resolved instead to tear the bayonet out and stab again.

And then again.

And yet again.

Over and over he plunged the bayonet down into the pinned Uruk's face, even after he finally stopped moving. Uthug was just feeling so unimaginably happy right now, that made three annoyances he had the pleasure of never having to deal with again. Why hadn't he just started killing things earlier? Ashgarn had always seemed like such a threat back when he served under him, but he could've been killed in his sleep. The Poet and the Singer could've been culled, hell he could've dealt with Tuka before he even had to go on this stupid venture in the first place!

"It would've been like this!" he cheered as he brought the blade down again "And this!"

Perhaps if he wasn't in such a state of euphoric realization he would have noticed the sound of a growing scream earlier. It was coming from above, growing louder as it drew nearer. But maybe Uthug's uncharacteristic laughter of actual, tangible joy drowned it out. It wouldn't be able to forever though, and soon his laughs diminished as the scream finally registered and made the Looter frown.

Confused at the source, he looked up to see a shadowy figure sailing down the central shaft towards him.

Uthug only had time to open his mouth for a yell before the shadow slammed into him.

.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.

Gundza didn't know what happened, one second he was sent plummeting down what felt like dozens of floors on a crash course for solid ground when something had gotten under him. It took him several seconds to realize he'd somehow managed to land himself in yet another body. Another few seconds to realize his body had just finished brutally murdering one of Hork's soldiers.

Black blood seeping into his clothes and two parts of a weapon in either hand, there was no other possibility.

Gundza had been so shocked he hadn't been splattered on the ground, he'd only been using his semblance with the hope that a bug or something would fly by he could leap into but this... this...

This was perfect.

Standing, Gundza looked over himself. Besides the blood of the unfortunate soldier beneath him, he seemed dressed in a more mangy version of the uniforms those hyrbid extremists donned. Odd. Stranger more was the weapon he assumed to belong to the body, as he knew it as a musket but the blade piece in his other hand suggested a bayonet. What would a grunt be doing with something like this? The only Uruks Gundza could think of who could make something such as this were the Storm.

Gundza shook his head, these were all questions for later. He turned his attention up towards the distant lift above. The girls had quite a lead on him, but if they were heading to the Garrison's trap like he expected them to, he might be able to catch up if he pushed himself. It wouldn't be easy, there were hundreds of others currently clogging most of the stairs and ladders, which meant he'd have to find a way to get passed them and-

Where were the headaches?

It was a small thought which raced to the forefront of his mind once Gundza realized he hadn't suffered the usual penalty for jumping to a new body. He'd slipped in seamlessly, and was already controlling it and everything, which should be a good thing. He'd noticed the time between possession and usage growing smaller with each host but this was wrong. Even the door guard he'd been in previously had taken time to get moving and then he had to fight whilst still suffering severe headaches.

This wasn't right, this seemed-

Who in the Shrakh are you?

Gundza paused, having forgotten about the body's true owner due to their silence "Look, traitor. I don't have time to explain-"

WHO IN THE SHRAKH ARE YOU!?

Gundza paused, far more violent than expected but he'd worked with worst. So with a sigh he turned to the nearby stairs and set forth, "I have to get going if I want to catch up them, fledgling, so be quiet and-"

GET OUT!

A tangible rage slammed into Gundza halting his progress as he nearly found himself throwing up at the utter contempt which began radiating inside him.

"How the hell are you-?!"

OUT!

Another wave of purified malice careened into his head with the force of a truck as the headaches he'd been free from returned with hellish vengeance. The Shadow felt as though his spirit itself was being dipped inside acid, who exactly had he jumped into that could produce a reaction like this? Everyone else he'd slipped into, all of them reacted somewhat differently to having another soul slip into the driver's seat. Whether it be the madness of Gimub or Mitch's pathetic defense, Gundza had felt something different from them all.

The hardest had been that self-centered Atlesian bastard, militaristic livelihood led to him instinctively hunkering down with as many military secrets as he could while waiting for a chance to resume control. An annoyance indeed, but not one that interfered with his plans.

But none of them held even a fraction of the almost palpable rage seeping from this spirit, a rage so strong it made moving a chore.

"What-!?" Gundza gasped as he was struck by annoyances of a varying degree "What are you doing?!"

Get out of my body you bastard! I just reached true freedom! Just removed my last obstacles! YOU AREN'T TAKING THIS FROM ME!

Gritting his teeth, Gundza tried forcing down the whirlwind of rage as his limbs slowly continued towards the stairs. The Shadow was not about to be overwhelmed by some random whelp with a bad attitude!

I WAS SO CLOSE, SO DAMNED CLOSE YOU SHRAKH!

"Quiet!" Gundza hissed as he slowly sped up, every movement feeling as if he was wading through a molten river of spite. But he persevered, this peon's irritations would not keep from his prize, "We're going after them!"

Who?

"The Tarks!"

PISS OFF!

The Assassin cursed his luck as he struggled, of course he had to fall into the must unreasonably agitated grub imaginable. He could only hope those slippery little curs didn't get too far ahead before he caught up to him.

---

The lift came to a stop at some type of courtyard at the top of the Tower, both Weiss and Ruby immediately took in their surroundings. It was windy, but far enough from the ground to keep clear of the sand. The Courtyard was lined with waist-high walls that seemed to serve as railing, but some portions were missing. The Courtyard looked far emptier than the rest of the Tower, what with all the makeshift stuff built everywhere. It was uncanny, almost as if everything had been cleared away.

But what demanded attention was the building hanging off the top of the Tower, covered in oppressive dark metal and solid stone. The building seemed to be rising before their eyes somehow, with the very top being nothing more than growing walls.

"Blake said Yang was at the top, right?" Weiss muttered, sighing when she recieved a nod from her partner "What are the odds she's in there?"

"Practically certain." came a voice from the building.

Both girls raised their weapons as two figures stepped forth on an outcropping from the building. Just one look and they could tell that these two weren't like the Pursuers who'd been hounding them up the Tower. Decked out in dark tattoos, they both had a very uniform look despite the difference in armor. A very drastic difference at that, the smaller one wore only dark trousers and an odd helmet while the other was basically a walking tank.

"I am Pigug the Executioner," said the Tank as he hefted a large flat blade and plunged it into the ground before him "and this is Dharg the Hell-Hawk. We are commanders of our Warchief's glorious Garrison, and fight to hold to our reputation for unshakeable loyalty and stalwart defense."

Weiss lowered Myrtenaster just a bit before raising an eyebrow "I take it that doesn't mean you see us favorably in any way?"

"You killed our Master's brother, wench!" Dharg shouted

"Because he was killing people!" Ruby countered

"That's just what Uruks do!"

"Dharg" the Executioner said his ally's name with an underlying warning, one that made the shorter of the two bite his tongue.

Pigug then turned back to the girls "Uruks are not to succumb to fondness for one another like you humans are prone to doing. But some Uruks form bonds that are not to be trifled with. Some may call this being blood-brothers, pit mates, there are a number of ways two uruks can show appreciation for one another that goes beyond fellow soldiers. And when that bond is broken by an outside force, it is only natural that revenge is sought by the remaining Uruk. Its a way of showing just how deep that bond was."

Ruby stepped forward "You don't understand-!"

"No, you don't understand!" Dharg pushed past Pigug and jabbed a finger towards the girls "Ashgarn was a rancid waste who ignored all of his generous brother's gifts, but he was still his brother! You've upset the Warchief, distracted him with this slaying! He's not been well, and its all your fault, all of you wastes of meat!"

The Executioner sighed at his fellow Uruk's outburst before glaring down at the girls once more "We are hoping that inflicting suffering upon you girls will be enough to remedy this grief he seems to be succumbing to, which is why I demand you be loud while we break your bones upon the walls of this tower."

"We don't have to fight!" Ruby tried, even as she and Weiss raised their weapons once more "Just give me my sister and we'll just leave!"

"I'm afraid she'll be dead within a few minutes." Pigug shrugged as he wrapped a hand around the handle of his broad blade "Her part in our Master's path to recovery is just as important as yours, though even I will admit his method of revenge is far more poetic than I would've liked."

At that last part, he glanced towards the building behind him. Ruby glanced up to the hole at the very top before shooting her partner a look.

Weiss caught the look in her eye, swallowing carefully before giving her a nod.

Almost immediately Ruby disappeared in a flash of rose petals which immediately sped towards the hole at high speed.

Pigug acted immediately, turning to his companion and barking "Quickly!"

Dharg crouched low, digging his fingers into his shoulders as his aura began to pulsate dangerously "Already on it."

Weiss saw the Garrison Captain up to something, and quickly ran towards the building while summoning a glyph and shouting, "Ruby!"

What neither of the girls had expected was form him to quite literally explode into a swarm of hell-hawks.

The creatures filled her sight immediately as they swarmed, sending Weiss flying back away from the building before she managed to ground herself on a glyph. She heard a struggling from above and glanced up just in time to see Ruby sail to the ground beside her.

Before she could say anything, Ruby held up a hand before pushing herself off the ground.

The largest concentration of Hell-Hawks seemed to split away from the swarm which now flew around the top of the Tower, flying in a large mash of wings and elongated necks before slamming besides Pigug and forming into Dharg.

Rising, the smaller Garrison Captain now began idly twirling a flail in his hand.

"You won't be getting through." Pigug said with a shake of his head before yanking his large blade out of the ground.

Dharg grinned and began walking forward, pausing only when the Executioner placed a heavy hand on his shoulder.

"You deal with the Heiress." the Armored Uruk said before slowly raising his blade towards the sky "My defenders and I shall deal with her red headed accomplice."

Dharg blinked within his helmet before smiling "Thanks."

The moment the Executioner's blade pointed directly upward, about half a dozen Uruks with heavy-looking shields charged from somewhere behind them and leaped off the outcropping to the courtyard.

"Just don't let them separate us!" Ruby shouted as the smaller of the captains immediately dispersed into a cloud of Hell Hawks again and dove towards them. She spun , twirling Crescent Rose before planting its curved blade into the floor and opening fire on the incoming shield-bearers. The two at the front halted and slammed the sides of their shields tightly together as they absorbed the blasts. From behind them burst another group of Hell Hawks which were too small and flighty for Ruby to sight easily in her rifle's scope.

The Hell Hawks dipped and dived past her before charging en masse at her partner. Weiss had foreseen the incoming swarm and, with the grace and nimbleness only she could put forth, slid out of the way of the ravenous horde. What she hadn't foreseen were the very last seven Hell-Hawks forming together into an arm which immediately latched onto her before she could get out of its range. With a gasp, she watched as the rest of Dharg formed out of the small creatures before he swung his flail at her with his free hand.

She was perceptive enough to get over the shock of his transformation and duck under his swing before crushing their arms together, unwilling to give him the option to attack again. As expected, the Uruk growled and tried jabbing his jagged helmet towards her. But for an Uruk, he didn't have the muscle necessary to just outright overpower her.

Ruby glanced back to the struggling duo and moved to switch her aim when one of the Shield-Bearers slid past her and swung his halberd. She ducked under the edged tip and tore Crescent Rose out of the ground before swinging it his way. Her prized weapon was, however, unable to leave more than respectable slash marks on the thick metal of his shield.

The sound of approaching footsteps encouraged the two other Shield-Bearers to defend as well. If she could just slash past those things, striking the Uruks behind them should be easy for a weapon such as hers. Putting thought into practice, she twirled Crescent Rose horizontally. The Defenders however, seemed privy to what she planned, as they slid to the sides just as her baby once again found its blade in the ground. Only this time a heavily armored boot slammed down upon Crescent Rose the instant it had touched the ground, trapping it there while the boot's owner raised his blade.

Ruby saw Pigug's incoming slash and took a quick breath before releasing her grip on crescent Rose and activating her semblance. The Executioner's massive sword cut through nothing more than several resulting rose petals as his eyes went wide within his helmet. Before he could seek her out, a blur of red slammed into his back with enough force to throw him forward.

Seeing her chance, Ruby grabbed hold of her weapon as she reformed atop it and pulled its trigger, launching her and the scythe forward. Pigug looked back at the incoming blade and moved to raise his own when one of his shield-Bearers leaped in between them and intercepted the young girl's attack before he could even worry about it.

Ruby bit back a curse as she pulled the trigger once more and sent herself sailing away from them before Pigug's other followers could start to capitalize, the Uruks already moved to follow as quickly as their heavy weapons allowed them to. Ruby was ready, backing out of the way of several halberd jabs before speeding past the Shield bearers and swiping at them from behind.

Heavy footsteps brought her attention to Pigug, who drew a red dust crystal before crushing it against his large blade. He dragged the resulting flames along his weapon as he neared, his gauntlet smoking as he wielded the blade in two hands and swung. Ruby twisted under the now-flaming broadsword, slashing at him with Crescent Rose as she kept backpedaling. She leaped back before having to speed away from the jab of another halberd, only for Pigug to crouch and leap towards her whilst bringing the flaming broadsword down.

She stepped back as his blade was embedded in the ground, quickly following his example from earlier and bringing her scythe down on him. But Pigug's hands shot from the handle of his weapon and slammed onto either side of hers before it could touch him.

Ruby found her scythe momentarily stuck in between his gauntlets, and quickly moved to pull the trigger when he tossed the blade to the side and lunged forward, driving his fist into her torso and sending her sailing back.

Ruby managed to land with only a winded stumble as the Shield-Bearers followed, the Executioner taking the time to yank his sword out of the ground before walking towards the melee again.

On the other side of the Courtyard, Weiss was just trying to land a single hit. Dharg was faster than his colleagues to a ridiculous degree, helped immensely by the fact that he could just explode into a burst of disorienting Hell-Hawks and re-position himself whenever he wanted.

Weiss had to keep all of her senses as focused as possible to properly fight him, he'd circle her while twirling his flail and making subtle movements. Then, in a sudden burst of motion, would dart towards her. Her precise movements allowed her to deflect or dodge the many speedy swipes of his flail, but he just kept moving too much to predict well. A Hell-Hawk from the surrounding swarm slammed into her back without warning, sending her flying toward him. She managed to turn her fall into a nimble slide under his swing, before spinning on her knee and swiping at him only for him to turn into Hell-Hawks and disperse again.

This was ridiculous, with that semblance of his he could just keep evading and wait for her to wear out. Weiss narrowed her eyes as she spotted him reforming out of the corner of her eye and turned to face him again.

Flail spinning, Dharg darted forth swinging and dodging through Weiss's attacks before rearing back with his free hand. Weiss darted back as his fist slammed to the ground, the chamber of Myrtenaster spinning before settling on a glowing red.

Dharg looked up just as Weiss plunged the red rapier into a glyph at her feet. He looked down to see a similar glyph forming around his fist and threw himself back just as a pillar of flame erupted from it. He growled before he bended low to dart around it when the pillar died down to reveal Weiss on another glyph.

The Garrison Captain gasped before beginning to disperse, but not before Weiss shot herself like a bullet from her glyph and stabbed at him before he could fully evade.

She landed a bit shakily, unused to speeds like that without the assistance of time dilation. It had been risky, but she had to act fast. As he reformed near the edge of the courtyard, she saw just how her efforts paid off. Weiss was stunned to see his Aura already shimmering, a bruise already forming where she'd stabbed at him. No wonder he was fighting so evasively.

Now emboldened, Weiss stood a bit taller as she pointed her rapier at him. She should have just enough tricks to wear him down.

It seemed Dharg new this too, and bit his lip in anger before reaching behind him and drawing a horn from his belt. Weiss immediately recalled what happened when she'd last seen a horn like that, during the Arena while fighting Bubol and Gundza.

Boldness fading in the face of panic, she shot towards the Uruk as fast she could. But it was already too late, Dharg gave the horn a loud blow before dispersing into Hell-Hawks yet again right before Weiss could plunge Myrtenaster into him. Instead she merely struck a single Hell-Hawk out of the air, which vanished after falling to the ground. So close to the edge, the Heiress heard the sounds of pounding footsteps and growls.

Backing away from the edge, Weiss's eyes opened wide as she saw dozens of Garrison Uruks climbing up over the side. Turning, she saw the same thing happening on all the other edges of the tower.

Ruby blasted herself away from Pigug yet again only to find her jaw dropping as she noticed quickly that they were surrounded. The Executioner glanced at the growing number of Garrison soldiers behind him before pointing his sword at her. The others quickly obliged to the silent order and charged at her, even as she began blasting as many of them as she could.

Soon Weiss and Ruby found their backs pressed together as glyphs and dust rounds chewed into the Uruks around them, the realization that more and more were still climbing their way up to join their brethren only solidifying just how truly outnumbered they were.

.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.

Hork grew silent, his seemingly endless tirade against the failures of his family halting as he heard something, "Seems its time."

Yang could heard it too now, the distant sound of gunfire and weapons crossing. She heard what she immediately recognized as the sound of her baby sister's precious Gun-Scythe, which almost seemed buried under the sounds of dozens of Uruk yells. Panic took hold, and she quickly returned to yanking at her restraints with renewed vigor as the sound of that battle grew more and more worrying.

So caught up in this that she didn't notice Hork approaching her until his shadow fell over her, and she looked up to see him holding a long sword over his head. She flinched as he brought it down, only for him to slice away the binds on one hand. Hork gave her a small snarl before turning and taking several steps away from her. Yang's confusion was overwritten once she heard more gunfire from outside. Quickly she tore at her remaining restraints until she fell from the board she'd been constrained to. Quickly she ran behind it towards the source of the sounds.

The room the Warchief had her in was very large, circular in shape. Across from Hork and her was a long hall which led to a pair of thick looking double doors, that was where the sounds of battle were coming from. She wasted no time in making a beeline for it, darting into the hall and rearing her fists back to break down that door if she had to.

Hork merely watched her for a moment before frowning.

Yang skidded to a stop halfway to the doors as a large fence that seemed to be made of raw stone shot out of the ground and cut her off. Another one with spikes on the bottom dropped down closer, and soon Yang was scrambling back out of the hall as more deadly implements grew from the walls and cut her off. Finally she was back in the room, and the exit sealed itself up.

"You wish to reach them?"

The Blonde Brawler's agitation at having been forced back grew as she turned to see an unimpressed Hork staring at her, "They're my friends and sister, I'll tear through these walls if I have to, damn it!"

"Unnecessary." Hork pointed upwards.

Following his finger, Yang found the odd source of light. This room was excessively tall, reaching high above the rest of the building. The very top had no ceiling and instead was just growing walls.

"Just understand that I will do everything in my power to break you in half before you have a chance of reaching it." the Warchief continued as he drew matching swords and clicked their tips together near the ground.

Yang growled, cocking Ember Celica and crouching, "I kinda like this challenge, big guy."

"Challenge? Not at all." Hork shook his head before glaring her down "This is an impossibility."

The two matched each other's heated looks for a moment before lunging towards each other, with Hork slashing Yang's restraining board out of the way as they collided. Yang swung a fist into his stomach, but he simply brought his sword down towards her. She dodged back out of range before going in for several swings.

Initially trying to use her better speed, Yang ducked and dove between his swords as she sought out every opening she could manage. But then something happened...

She dove back out of the way of another stab when Hork twisted his blade in the floor, all of a sudden a column of rock shot out of the ground and slammed into her full force. She crumpled to her feet momentarily before pushing herself back up and blasting herself forward. Her speed got her between the blades quickly, and she began unleashing a flurry of blows across Hork's front which slowly forced him back.

His Aura ate her blows like nothing, and soon Hork twisted one of his feet and anchored himself in place as Yang continued releasing as much damage as her weapons allowed. Hork dropped both of his blades, which stuck into the ground, before slamming his hands into her shoulders and pinning her arms to her sides. Yang was trapped, and could only struggle as Hork lifted her up and slammed her back-first against the ground.

Still protected by her Aura, Yang had been winded badly from the impact. As she coughed and gasped for air, Hork walked back over to his discarded blades and drew them from the ground before pointing one at her, "Do you not realize that your companions are dying out there to get to you? Do you dare insult both them and me by refusing to fight with everything you have?! This is pathetic!"

As Hork backed away and gave several practice swings of his blades, Yang's head snapped towards him with murderous intent. As her inflamed gaze locked itself to him, her hair began lighting up as heat began radiating from her.

"Hm, that's slightly better." Hork commented before Yang blasted herself at him. He ducked while swinging at her, not realizing that her real intent was to use his head as a stepping stool. Yang leaped from him towards one wall of the room and began blasting herself between them on her way up to the open ceiling above.

Hork frowned at this before tapping a sword to the ground.

Yang ran along one wall before throwing her arms behind her and letting loose with Ember Celica to gain speed, she was almost three fourths of the way there when a stone spike grew from the wall ahead and forced her to leap to another while trying to maintain her velocity. Several stone blocks grew which she had to bash her way through, and a falling rock made her leap to another wall right before the exit. Just as she was about to blast herself out of the building, something wrapped around her ankle and halted her immediately.

Gravity finally took its toll, making her fall face first until the thing holding her leg was the only thing which kept her from plummeting. She found herself face to face with Hork, who's grip on her ankle tightened as they looked at each other. He was standing on a large column of stone he'd raised from the floor below, the scene would've looked quite comical if not for everything else.

Hork merely gave her a shake of his head before dropping her, the Brawler waving her arms a bit to steady her descent. The sound of scratching rock made her glance to the side, only to find Hork spinning around the column whilst clawing a large spiral gash into it.

Yang saw the Column contort in several places, and quickly raised her fists to blast the protrusions which shot at her.

Finally she landed, catching herself quite nicely as Hork stepped from behind the massive column.

"Okay, I get it dude. Faster than ya look." Yang caught herself before she could accidentally vocalize the comparison between him and Krimp, instead adopting a stance "Doesn't mean I can't get away."

The massive Uruk's frown deepened as he raised a fist and slammed it against the base of the column beside him. Almost instantly it fractured along the claw trail he left in it and began collapsing. Yang's eyes shot up to the falling pieces of pillar before Hork's battle cry brought her gaze back to the incoming Gatekeeper.

She guarded against his first strikes before an incoming Pillar prompted the two to step back from each other as it slammed into the ground between them. Yang didn't wait, leaping atop the fallen pillar and diving towards the Warchief Fist-first. Bashing him in the shoulder, Yang barely had enough time to raise her other arm to defend from his next strike. Once she landed another pillar landed between them which she immediately blasted towards the Uruk.

Hork dropped his blades immediately before wrapping his thick arms around the incoming pillar and spinning with it, a dark aura spread across it before he swung it back at her. Yang was prepared to dive over it when spikes began sprouting from the pillar as it careened towards her, forcing her to roll to the side. The second she was standing , a shoulder slammed into her and nearly knocked her off her feet before Hork raised his sword and slashed her away.

Aura still holding, Yang grunted as she rose again. Hork promptly kneeled and dipped his swords into the ground beside him, they sunk into the solid stone as if it were a sludge-like liquid, "You and your allies will die within spitting distance of each other, separated only by the walls and forces I have created.

He stood and dragged the blades out, only now they were covered in more stone spikes, "You cannot overcome me, the murderer and your harlot teammates will be overwhelmed. There is no other option left for you."

---

"Blakey~ Blakey~! Where ya hiding best buddy~? Blakey~ Blakey~! Where ya hiding right now~?"

Blake kept herself glued to the edge of an intersection of halls, her ears twitching as she heard Krimp happily singing as he scraped the walls with his weapons, the sounds mixing together far more eerily than the Faunus would've liked.

He was relentless, keeping just on her trail enough to make complete escape impossible. He was just too damned quick to get passed, and his senses were ridiculous. No matter how quiet she tried to be, almost every movement seemed to alert him immediately. Even if his ears didn't catch her, he'd just start sniffing like an attack dog until he tracked her down. Blake could only hope to hide until he moved far away enough to slip by, but he was just so thorough in searching that he'd already found her twice.

"You must be crouched down somewhere uncomfortable!" the friendly fellow said as he paused and glanced down a nearby hall, "Your back must be feeling all outta sorts, how's about if you let me put ya to sleep real quick and I'll give ya a nice, comfy back rub before going to see me bro!"

Blake gave a silent curse, even when trying to beat her unconscious he sounded far too charming for his own good, it was actually starting to piss her off. She heard him begin taking several steps closer, no doubt about to find her again, but she picked up the sound of a second set of footsteps.

Krimp must've heard them too, because he paused and turned away from her, "Hn? Ratlug?"

"Ah Krimp, still hunting for the Hybrid eh?" the Tinkerer said as he approached

"Oh!" the larger Uruk seemed conflicted "We haven't talked in a bit, buddy! I really reallllyyy wish I could stop and hang out with you and the boys but I'm in quite a pickle right now and need to-!"

"Yeah yeah, real torn up about all that." Ratlug interrupted him "Say, have you seen two grubs in tattered Atlesian garb and storm colors?"

Krimp was silent for a moment before he turned to face him and tilted his head to the side "You mean those two who was with you and Pugsy?"

Blake thought for a moment, remembering the group of onlookers who had been watching in the central chamber. She had been so distracted by Krimp and Gundza that she'd almost missed the Shaman and his underlings.

"Yeah, my Researchers seem to have ran off somewhere." Ratlug groaned "I don't want those idiots messing something up while your brother's got his boot lickers up in arms up there."

"He's doing it now?!" Krimp exclaimed

"Yeah..." Ratlug said slowly before continuing "Anyway, I was just about to start checking downstairs but really, have you seen them-?"

"I have to hurry!" the friendly fellow turned and ran down another hall "Blake! Blakey come out now, I'm a tad bit late already!"

"Yeah, but have you seen them!" Ratlug called out after him, waiting several seconds for any response before grunting "Damned happy go lucky bastard."

Soon after he left to continue his search, leaving only Blake to thank everything she could think of for such a broad stroke of luck. She quickly retraced her steps, making her way back to the armory she'd initially encountered Krimp in. She remembered what he'd said, and with him still looking for her in the halls she had a clear shot.

She found the door still partially open, and slipped inside quickly before noticing that she wasn't alone.

A brawny Uruk in a blacksmith's apron was kneeling and rubbing at several gashes Krimp had put in the floor, muttering angrily as he glanced to where the horrid broadsword once lied. While he was looking, he spotted Blake and quickly made a beeline for the balcony. Blake knew she could beat him to it, the heavyset Blacksmith just couldn't push his thick legs fast enough. She was just about to speed by him when she heard what could only be a heavy gun being cocked.

She looked behind her just quickly enough to see an odd-looking barrel lock onto her before she had to throw herself out of the way as a hail of heavy rounds began spraying all over the room around her. She had to use about seven clones to keep out of the way of the bullets, each one being mulched along with the tables, walls and other pieces of furniture.

Finally the rounds stopped, and Blake was able to pause and catch her breath before looking to the balcony. The gate was down now, and on the other side was the shell-shocked blacksmith. As he looked over the now destroyed armory, he growled before clinging to the gate and turning to the source of the bullets, "You Storm bastards! You know how many orders I'm behind on now!?"

Following his look, Blake found herself confused as her picture was taken.

"You missed." the Photographer said as he lowered a scroll and slowly shut the door behind him. Kneeling in front of him was another Uruk with a cigarette in his mouth, smoke leaking from the barrel of the odd gun in his hands.

Ratlug's researchers, they really were extremely odd looking.

"Huh," the Smoker lowered the gun and looked over it "seems the spread isn't enough to counter mobility."

"Step in the right direction." the other one said as he hefted his own odd gun in one hand and reached behind his back with another "Should we see what else we can learn from this meat-sack?"

Blake rose, shifting Gambol Shroud to its pistol form as the two Researchers drew spears and began advancing. The Balcony gate wasn't like the ones out in the halls, she actually felt she could break it if she struck it enough. That meant she'd have to disable the Researchers long enough to-

Blake just barely managed to duck as a spinning kick sailed over her, almost distracting her enough to not notice the incoming spear tip.

She deflected the Photographer's attack only for him to immediately twist his wrist and wrap his weapon around her's before dragging it down. Gasping, Blake raised her cleaver-sheath only for the Smoker to do the same with his spear. Locked between them, the Faunus felt both barrels of their weapons press against her abdomen and back.

She used her semblance as quickly as she could, darting out of their hold just before her clone was ripped in half by the simultaneous rrounds.

The two Researchers turned to see the Faunus unharmed, and both grew interested yet unsatisfied expressions.

"Semblance allows for greater mobility." the Photographer said before waving his gun several times "A lighter design may be needed in future models."

"Noted." the Smoker commented with a huff before kneeling.

The Photographer immediately used him as a stepping stool before leaping off his cohort and firing at Blake as he sailed towards her.

Knowing the unreasonable firepower the weapon had, Blake lunged underneath him and swiped at his partner.

Momentarily taken aback, the Uruk took a slash across his torso before he turned with his gun firing. Blake ducked under the arc of rounds before slashing at him again, cursing as she found his aura holding under the blows. The Researcher raised a leg and kicked at her, knocking her back into the range of the Photographer.

They clashed weapons several times, the Uruk momentarily being pushed back until he twisted something on his spear and the tip was set alight with visible sparks of electricity. Blake recognized it immediately: Lightning dust. These guys were wielding spear-shaped tasers!

She crossed her blade and sheath together to hold back the electrified weapon, steeling her stance before shoving her opponent back and throwing him off balance. She darted in while he stumbled, maneuvering around arcs of bullets he fired as he struggled to catch himself. But just as she was in striking distance he dropped his spear and instead whipped his scroll from his pocket.

Blake couldn't land the hit before the bright flash of the scroll's camera left her momentarily blinded, and an unseen kick sent her rolling away.

"Close one there." she heard the Smoker laugh "Perhaps some leg braces should be in the works, eh?"

"She's dazed!" the Photographer stated with a noticeable sigh of relief "Have at her!"

Just as the world began fading back into view, Blake heard a chuckle as footsteps moved in on her. She focused on her hearing, darting back away from the sounds of incoming swings until her back hit a wall. The shape of an Uruk lunged forward and she put everything into leaping over him before immediately having to dodge out of the way of a volley of bullets that sprayed from his gun like a shotgun blast.

The Photographer slammed into her from behind and sent her fumbling into the Smoker's oncoming Kick. Even as she stumbled back, she heard the sound of crackling electricity and spun over the Photographer's spear as she fired several rounds into his back.

He stumbled, but the other Researcher helped steady him as his aura finally gave a telltale shimmer of strain, "This ain't working. Perhaps a change of tactics?"

The Smoker gave a thoughtful hum before glancing over and Blake and turning back to his winded accomplice "I have an idea."

The duo began whispering to each other, giving Blake just enough time to realize she had an opportunity. Turning away from them, she bolted towards the balcony gate. The Blacksmith gasped and immediately pressed against it right before the Faunus began laying into it with everything she had, "Oi! What are you two globs yammering about?!" shouted the brawny Blade-Maker "Get back to killing her!"

"But what about if I run out?" asked the Photographer as he placed a finger to his hand "I'd be in a much more dangerous position if-"

"Give me your spear." interrupted the other Researcher

That gave the Photographer pause, but after a second of thought he smiled "Ah, good thinking there lad."

Blake continued slicing at the surprisingly durable gate, and could finally see visible proof of it weakening when she heard movement behind her. She spun out of the way as the Smoker drove a spear into the ground, swiping at her with another in his other hand. Blake backed out of his range, taking a second to question where the bulky gun he'd been wielding went when the Uruk suddenly flattened himself against the ground. The Blacksmith, still grasping the gate, also seemed confused until he looked up and went wide-eyed.

Blake followed his gaze, finding the Photographer leveling the barrels of both guns towards her. She immediately raced to the side as twin streams of high-caliber rounds tore into the wall behind her, she tried closing the distance as she ran in a spiral around him. He angled one of the guns ahead of her and opened fire with that, forcing Blake to race towards him to keep between the streams. He raised the two guns towards her and released double volleys of shotgun blasts, which tore into a shadow clone as Blake darted over him. She landed as he spun around, and she turned to deliver a swift kick to the side of his head when the tip of a spear caught her ankle and threw her off balance as a second spear tip slammed against her stomach.

Despite her aura managing to hold, the sudden arc of electricity which coursed through her left Blake stunned long enough for the Smoker to spin and slam the blunt end of one of his spears into her head. As the Faunus caught herself, she looked up to see the Smoker drop to one knee in front of the Photographer just as he leveled the guns with her again. Seeing no other option, she began running as the hail of bullets started up again.

Watching from the balcony, the Blacksmith cheered the two Researchers on with the more pressure they placed on the Huntress-in-Training, "Yeah! Don't let the hybrid filth get even a moment to breathe! Mulch her with them dumb-lookin blaster things!" As he cheered, his grip on the gate tightened. He was practically hanging off the thing.

Blake was just about to try darting close again when the stream of gunfire finally halted, and a series of clicks rang out as the Researcher ran out of ammo. The Smoker glanced back as his ally dropped to one knee to begin reloading, then turned and rushed Blake.

But the Faunus turned her attention back to the gate, taking note of the overexcited Blacksmith still cheering from behind it before ducking under a spear. As the Researcher turned to spin kick her, he spotted her raising her pistol towards the gate and firing.

The dust round passed through the gate and slammed into the Blacksmith's shoulder, and though his weak aura managed to keep it from penetrating he was still thrown back by the impact. He panicked, hand shooting forward to keep himself from falling over. He grabbed hold of the gate, only to weigh the damaged barrier down. The gate leaned back with him until it snapped free and pinned him to the balcony.

The Smoker merely sighed, "Dimwits, everyone of 'em." before turning and jabbing at Blake. Her exit open, Blake threw herself under the spear before darting for the exit.

"Get low!" the Photographer shouted to his colleague before opening fire once more. The Smoker dropped low and Blake began zigzagging as best as she could as she sped for the balcony. She wasn't willing to give them the chance to get between her and her exit. The Blacksmith groaned beneath the broken gate, he was barely able to move it before Blake leaped onto it and pushed it against him harder.

Eyes darting frantically, she immediately spotted a nearby catwalk and leaped for it as the Smoker gave chase. The Blacksmith was only given a second of respite before the Researcher's weight pinned him beneath the gate, the Storm Member cursing under his breath as he watched the Faunus make a beeline for the roof. He crouched, prepared to leap after her when a hand grabbed his shoulder.

"Don't." grunted the Photographer as he let one of his guns dangle from its shoulder strap "She's heading straight for the Garrison Ambush."

"We might be able to catch-"

"You know we wouldn't have." the Photographer turned and began making for the Armory's exit "We have new notes to go over, let's get back to the boss before he starts throwing a hissy fit."

"What?!" grunted the Blacksmith, whom they apparently forgot about, still pinned as he was "You can't just leave her be!"

"As for you," the Photographer turned back and tossed the Smoker his gun "my condolences for being such an unfortunate victim of a crazed hybrid's desperate rampage."

That gave the Brawny Uruk pause, "Victim?"

He looked to the Smoker, who gave a roll of his eyes before angling his gun towards him and opening fire.

.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.

The training yard was a mess of roars, glyphs and rose petals.

Weiss and Ruby did their best to stem the flow of Uruk-Hai attackers, with both exhausting themselves doing everything in their power to keep from being overwhelmed. Weiss kept summoning glyphs, Ruby kept darting between the Orcs with Crescent Rose spinning and firing. It wasn't enough, the Uruks knew they had them outnumbered. Despite grunts of agitation and pain, many would push themselves off the floor even after their admittedly weak Auras were shattered.

Ruby and Weiss found themselves back to back as they took a moment to collect themselves, reloading their weapons and catching their breath. The downed Uruks began rising again whilst throwing insults and jeers to the young girls, egged on by their Captains. Dharg was still stumbling a bit, his aura long since shattered by a passing glance of Myrtenaster, but still he steadied himself. It was contrasted greatly by Pigug, who seemed just as fired up for battle as when they began.

Ruby had tried making it to the hole in the building several times, each time forced back by the quickly acting swarm of Hell-Hawks. But with Dharg weakened, the swarm was much less dense. If they could take him out, they should have a clear shot to Yang. But the Garrison captain was flighty, even more so without aura to protect him. His bruises did nothing to slow him down and more Uruks arrived to cover for him by the second.

The Scythe-Wielder couldn't see them wearing him down before they were overwhelmed, but maybe if she switched targets with Weiss and took a crack at it-

As she was looking over her surroundings, her keen eye spotted a commotion near one edge of the training yard. Several of the Garrison Uruks were lobbing weapons down towards something, something which retaliated with gunfire. As they stumbled back, a beacon of hope pulled herself up in the form of Blake.

The Faunus took one look at the scene before her and went pale, Ruby and Weiss were both surrounded by what looked like dozens upon dozens of black-marked uruks in armor. She immediately switched Gambol Shroud to its blade form and was prepared to help when Ruby called out to her.

"Blake!" the red-hooded girl shouted over the roars of the attackers as she pointed to the Garrison HQ "Get to Yang!"

The heads of many of the Uruks turned to the new threat, most notably Pigug who shouted "Stop her!" as Blake nodded and took off for the large building.

As a portion of the attackers split off to deal with her, Ruby and Weiss found the pressure lessened just enough to leap back into action. Crescent Rose and Myrtenaster doing their work to fling Uruks left and right as they fought to maintain their ground. Dharg slid to the side of a shield bearer and was prepared to call upon his swarm when Pigug stepped in front of him.

"Stop that Hybrid." the Executioner commanded as he crushed another dust crystal in his gauntlet and spread seething electricity along his massive blade. Dharg took one glance at the building before his eyes went wide within his helmet, the Faunus was already scaling the side and pulling herself onto a bit of scaffolding.

Blake outpaced the defenders easily, despite her tussle with both Krimp and the Researchers her speed had yet to be inhibited. She made for a ladder at the end of the walkway she was on when a clump of hell-hawks slammed against the wall next to her and formed into Dharg as he kicked off towards her. She slid back out of the way and swiped at him, but the Uruk danced out of the way of her blade as he began twirling his flail.

He heard the distant sound of a rifle firing and leaped back out of the way as a sniper round passed by, he glanced to the side to find Ruby trying to speed towards the hole again. Gritting his teeth, Dharg sent another flurry of hell-hawks to intercept her as he swung his flail towards Blake. To his shock, the Faunus lunged into the swing before sliding along his arm and raking gambol shroud along his stomach as she passed. As she pulled her blade free from his flesh, she whipped a line of his black blood onto the wall as she made her way for the ladder.

The Swarm of Hell-Hawks decreased even more, the small creatures disappearing at a rapid rate as the Faunus swung herself onto the ladder and began climbing quickly. As soon as she reached the top, she leaped for the next set of scaffolding, but the second she grabbed hold she felt something wrap around her leg. Her eyes shot down to see Dharg climbing up her legs, his stomach wound leaking profusely yet not slowing him down. With grunts of effort, Dharg hauled himself up the Faunus as he dug his nails into her. Blake tried pulling herself up, but he was weighing her down far too much. Finally, she felt his nails biting into her shoulder as one of his hands reached to take hold of her hair.

But just before he could, she activated her semblance.

Dharg was left holding a clone of the Faunus that plummeted towards the ground as the real Blake leaped atop the walkway whilst taking aim with Gambol Shroud. She fired a round which passed clean through both her doppelganger and the Uruk behind it, who slammed into the training yard floor below and went still as the hell-hawk swarm dispersed.

Though she heard Ruby yelling something to Weiss, Blake was dead set on the hole above her.

.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.

Yang panted as she pushed herself up off the ground, looking up to see Hork dipping his swords into the ground and dragging them out. The stone formed larger, broader blades around them, which the Warchief wielded with little effort.

"I feel... better." Hork stated as he approached "Not satisfied, but easing my way there. Ever since coming to this world, I've fallen prey to annoyance after annoyance... eating away at my patience like a sickness. This genuine relief I feel right now... while battering you around like the worthless lump of flesh you are... I'd nearly forgotten what true comfort such as this felt like."

"I'm... just so damn happy for you." Yang commented with a pained grin as she rose to her feet "Always knew I had a knack for therapy."

Hork merely gave a thoughtful hum before raising a sword.

But before he could charge her again, Blake landed atop his back and forced him into a forward stumble. Yang looked up in surprise before rushing forward as Blake leaped off the Warchief, slamming her fists into his head and sending him stumbling back. Given a brief moment of respite as the Warchief growled, Yang's head snapped back to Blake. The Faunus rose to her feet behind her, a similar look of stricken relief gracing her features.

"Blake... How did you..." Yang caught herself "Where's-?"

"Not here." the Faunus interrupted before turning her attention back to the Uruk "Can we take him?"

As Hork leveled an infuriated look at them, Yang shot her a sad smirk "Honestly, probably not."

"No..." Hork growled as his aura seeped into the floor around him "This isn't getting ruined... You're supposed to die here. All of you!"

"What does he have?"

"Eh, a bunch of columns, spikes and walls growing all over the place."

"Sounds tricky to avoid."

"More annoying than anything, really." the Brawler shrugged "Looks cool as hell though."

As if in defiance, Hork raised one foot and and slammed it down. The floor in front of him seemed to puff up before a row of columns shot out and grew quickly towards the girls, who both moved to evade. Blake leaped upon the columns and slid down them towards Hork, dodging as spikes shot out of the columns towards her. Hork crouched low before leaping towards the incoming Faunus. Blake darted past him, only for him to drop one of his swords and reach back before snatching her out of the air and flinging her away.

Hork landed atop the columns, which crumbled under his weight and dropped him to the floor just as Yang sailed at him from the side. Glancing at her, the Warchief raised a fist, causing a wall to sprout up between them and grow around Yang's fist before she could reach him. Yang grumbled as she tried to free herself, flinching as a sword pierced through the wall a bit to her left. She raised her other fist to blast the wall, but couldn't get the shot off before Hork took hold of the wall and uprooted it with her still stuck in it.

With a roar, he launched the wall and the girl stuck to it across the room. Blake took position and slashed at the wall as it sailed over her, weakening it so Yang could break free and drop to the floor before it crashed into the wall behind them.

As the black and yellow duo rushed the Warchief again, the large window at the end of the room began slowly freezing over. The cold spread across the scratched glass as the battle continued, the three participants caught up in trying to overtake each other.

Yang crashed into the ground and slid closer to the window, Blake leaped beside her. Hork prepared to continue putting pressure on them when he noticed the state that the large window was in, "What-?"

He wasn't able to finish until the now-frozen window shattered, causing both Yang and Blake to turn towards it as the shards seemed to sail over them.

"Guys!" came the familiar voice of Weiss "Get out of there! We have to move!"

Hork was stricken into silence by the sudden escape route that had been blasted into his building, the Warchief going stock still as he watched the two girls race for it immediately, "No..."

His aura was seeping off him in waves, covering the entire room as he shook his head in growing rage "NO!"

By the time Blake and Yang leaped out of the window, he had raised his head into a howl of rage as the entire room began shaking with the force of his semblance.

They landed upon the top of a series of platforms leading down the side of the tower, a single rickety set of stairs went down the length of the large platforms. Waiting for them were Weiss and Ruby, who seemed to freeze upon seeing her sister in the flesh. After being in a near panic for the past few hours, witnessing the payoff for what even she knew was a suicidal plan almost made her go numb.

Yang paused too, so convinced that she would eventually give out under Hork's onslaught that suddenly being in a position like this had her almost startled. Even so, a quick look at her other teammates led Yang to swallow down the wish to hug her sibling as tightly as possible, instead she looked amongst her team and asked, "So how're we doing this? Jump for it or-?"

"NOOOOOOO!" the roar came bellowing out of the broken window as the entire top of the tower seemed to get covered in what could only be Hork's dark aura.

"It doesn't matter as long as we do it now!" Weiss bit, catching herself and walking for the end of the platform "Those things will be on us in seconds, if we jump now and make a break for the horizon we should be able to outpace-"

A body slammed into the ground before her, causing the heiress to jump back as she was sprayed by its blood. The girls all raised their weapons as the body scrambled to its limbs.

It was Dharg

"I thought you shot him!?" Ruby called out as the broken-looking Uruk struggled to his feet.

"I-I did!" Blake replied.

Dharg seemed to have split open one of his wounds during the fall, and leaked profusely as he looked over to the girls, but he shot towards them like a bat out of hell all the same. The girls opened fire, bullets punctured and blasts seared his skin but the Uruk didn't slow, he charged right through them before slamming into Ruby and dragging her down the stairs with him to the platform below.

Blake cursed as Yang practically flew down after them, glancing up just to see more Uruks following the Captain's lead and leaping down towards them as the tower continued rumbling.

Ruby and the Uruk tumbled down the stairs before rolling onto the platform below. Dharg came out on top, immediately slamming one foot down upon Ruby's arm as the other tore a small throwing knife from his belt. Ruby raised her free arm to try and block it when Yang slammed into Dharg and sent him tumbling away.

Dharg scrambled to his feet again as the furious brawler sped towards him.

Ruby stood and took aim at him as the Uruk began ducking and dodging the Blonde's furious flurry, but she caught sight of something.

A swinging pulley with what looked like a stack of heavy wooden planks attached to it was swinging towards the platform from the side, and riding on it was Pigug.

"Yang, get back!" she shouted as her other teammates made their way down to them, the brawler paused in her assault to glance around before spotting the incoming Uruk and blasting herself back as the Planks crashed into the platforms and launched Pigug forward.

Yang brought both her gauntlets up, but the Executioner's sheer force broke through her guard before he crouched and launched into her shoulder-first, sending her tumbling back to her teammates.

Pigug jumped back to Dharg's side, glancing down to the smaller captain and taking note of his wounds "You've taken far too many hits."

"Doesn't matter," his cohort growled out through heavy breaths "my devotion is endless."

"A grand declaration!" came a new voice from behind them.

All of the combatants looked to the open sky beyond the edge of the platform, where something began lowering down to their level. Whatever it was, it seemed to be the source of that immense rumbling which had been shaking the entire structure.

A large hunk of stone began lowering into view, two curved columns stretched out from its sides and connected it to the tower. The columns slid down the stones of the tower like it was a ladder, taking the large hunk of stone which connected them down with them. Riding atop that stone was Hork, whose arms were both buried into rock beneath him.

"We will not be mocked by children!" he roared, blinking away the sweat which formed at his brow "Rally, Soldiers of Sauron! These interlopers will be slain!"

Suddenly, walls began growing from the tower around the platform, a section of stone slid out and covered the stairway.

"He's cutting off the exits!" Blake called out

Immediately, the girls charged forward to get ahead of Hork's walls, but the two Garrison Commanders were there to intercept them.

Hork frowned as he watched the girls work to get past Pigug and Dharg, realizing that his walls weren't moving fast enough he grunted with effort. Soon, spikes grew from the front of his stone.

Recognizing his goal, Yang pushed Pigug away before yelling "Scatter!"

The Girls immediately made distance between each other as Hork began firing a hail of spikes all over the platform. Even Dharg and Pigug scampered away from the girls as their master fired towards them. While Yang tried guarding against the projectiles with her gauntlets and Blake tried avoiding them using her semblance, Ruby immediately called out to her partner, "Cover me!"

Weiss was just about to follow Blake's example and speed away, but instead summoned a glyph in front of her as Ruby rolled towards it. Ruby quickly aimed Crescent Rose through the glyph as it shielded against the spikes.

"Now!"

The glyph vanished as a single round passed through it and nailed Hork right in the forehead. While nowhere near enough to pierce his hide, Hork was momentarily blinded and reeled from the blast. The second his hail of spikes ended, the girls bolted towards him and his captains.

Pigug, instead of taking a stance or readying his weapon, released a loud howl of anger. Almost immediately more Garrison soldiers began swinging down from the platform above.

With their numbers bolstered, the Captains moved to intercept the young women.

It was ridiculous to Weiss, who realized that even if they beat back this wave they'd be able to buy more than enough time for their boss to collect himself. She watched her teammates try to push through before turning her gaze to the wooden platform they stood upon.

"Yang!"

The Blonde bruiser finished blasting back two Uruks before glancing back to Weiss, who merely pointed her rapier to a glyph she'd placed on the platform above them. Grinning, Yang nodded before blasting herself to the glyph. She was locked there as the glyph began spinning faster, she cocked her gauntlets right before the glyph launched her straight through the floor.

A large, gaping hole formed where she landed, and most of the combatants found themselves tumbling to the platform below. Upon this one was a large stack of metal girders which several Uruks slammed into, one tried to rise atop the pile when a pair of high heels landed square atop the back of his head. Weiss kicked off him and darted back along the pile as Dharg crashed atop it and immediately threw himself at her.

Once Blake landed, the heavy pounding of footsteps brought her attention up to Pigug as he brought down his sword towards her. Fortunately, Ruby fired several rounds into the executioner's aura and threw him off as she landed beside Blake.

Looking up, the sniper spotted Hork regaining his senses. But the platform they were on now still ended in open air. He took note of this immediately and began making his stone platform start sliding down to their level.

"Come on," Ruby pointed to the edge of the platform "now's our chance!"

Yang and Blake nodded, but Weiss was still a bit busy with Dharg. For someone covered in bullet wounds, lacerations and scorch marks, he remained unwilling to go down. He swerved underneath several of Weiss's strikes, but the agitated heiress had had enough of his slipperiness. As he swiped at her with his knife, she spun into his range and buried Myrtenaster straight into his stomach

Dharg wheezed as the rapier passed into his body, but he dug his teeth into his lower lip before latching his free hand around Weiss's wrist and forcing her weapon deeper into him.

Weiss gasped in shock as her wrists were coated in his blood, but her eyes immediately darted to his other hand which raised his knife. It shot forward, only for a well aimed shot from Crescent Rose to collide with his hand and blast both the blade and several of his fingers away from him. Releasing a primal roar, Dharg slung his wounded hand around Weiss's back and dragged her up against him before driving his sharp helmet against her.

After the first impact, Weiss wedged her free hand up under his helmet and tore it off.

"Witness the depths of my devotion!" Dharg howled in pain before lunging forward and latching his jaws onto Weiss's shoulder.

Despite being unable to puncture her skin due to her aura, the Heiress released a scream as she felt him trying to chew right into her. The two struggled as the battle continued around them, with Weiss's teammates trying to simultaneously get to her while also taking down the Garrison soldiers who were trying to capitalize on her status. Yang was busy dealing with Pigug, and Blake was trying to manage an entire group armed with heavy shields, which left Ruby on a set course for her partner.

She'd been trying to keep track of the entire affairs of the battle, but between Hork, his minions and his semblance there were more factors than she could plan around. She knew that by the time she got Weiss free of Dharg's clutches, Hork would catch up and be back to raining down spikes upon them. She wasn't sure the first trick would work twice, and there was no way Yang and Weiss could just keep breaking through floors. For now, she prepared to activate her semblance-

-but then the tower wall near the stairs exploded.

A cloud of sand and stone obscured the platform for a solid second as something raced through the battle, its sheer size and speed sent Uruks tumbling away and forced Blake to dart to the edge. Yang and Pigug were flung away from each other as the thing barreled in between them before leaping up to Hork. The Warchief was stunned by its sudden appearance, but had the foresight to bring his forearms up to defend himself as it sailed towards him.

When nothing happened, he slowly looked up to find himself looking at the same platform with dazed and startled combatants dotting it. Many were looking up a him in surprise, except for Ruby and Pigug who both went wide eyed at what they were looking at. He realized they weren't looking at him, but at something beside him.

"Tell me ta kill 'em brother! Tell me how ya want it!"

Perched beside him on his hunk of stone was none other than Krimp, who was poised to leap back towards the platform at any second.

"We need to finish this, NOW!" Pigug shouted to his underlings before ignoring the rising blonde he'd been contesting with and darting for Weiss at the same time Ruby did.

"W-what are you-?" Hork's lower lip trembled in disbelief, the battle feeling as if it were miles away.

"I came to help ya brother, just like the old days!" the Friendly Uruk chirped as he licked his lips and drew his weapons "These is the ones who took little ashy from us, tell me how ya want 'em dead!"

Ruby slashed Crescent Rose along Dharg's back, cutting open a large gash which made the Captain cry out as his grip weakened enough for Weiss to finally force him away from her. But Pigug slammed into both of them from behind and raised his blade over the downed Heiress.

The Scythe Wielder tried to get back to her feet and interrupt him when Dharg grabbed hold of her ankle and dragged her down to the floor. She fired Crescent Rose at the Executioner in a fit of desperation, barely managing to clip his helmet and interrupt his attack long enough for Weiss to summon a glyph above her which flung the Captain into the platform above.

Pigug's weight brought him down quickly, and Weiss rolled away as he slammed against the wood just beside her.

"You shouldn't be here." Hork said slowly with a shake of his head as his breath quickened "You should've stayed far away!"

"They's beating on your boys big bro!" Krimp noted "I really could help 'em out! Besides, what brother doesn't help out his family? You always said-"

"That was a long time ago, things are different!" the Warchief barked "I have obligations!"

"Then let me help ya!"

"No! The mere sight of you is a testament of previous failures!"

"But you made me strong, taught me how to have fun the right way!"

"That isn't the Dark Lord's way, we're soldiers and yet all you want to do is commit to this act we created as stupid youths!"

Krimp's smile wavered a bit, "But you were so happy back then."

Hork stood up over his brother, his teeth gritting together as his eyes filled with hatred unheard of. Krimp stood as well, his smile weakened yet persisting as he looked at his
sibling.

"Hapiness means nothing to the Dark Lord." the Gatekeeper stated, just barely managing to hold back the maelstrom of emotion lingering just on the precipice of his words.

"Look around brother," Krimp giggled before gesturing around them "ain't no Dark Lord in this realm. Why not be young again?"

Something broke within Hork at that wording, even Krimp could tell.

"No." Hork spoke as if pure acid was seeping up from his innards, his brother's smile dissapeared as the Warchief's hands dug into his shoulders.

"NO! NO! NO!" Hork continued repeating as he lifted his younger sibling off the ground.

Krimp saw what was coming and quickly waved one hand in front of the maddened Gatekeeper's eyes "Brother, wait a second!"

"NEVER AGAIN!" Hork bellowed before throwing his brother off the platform.

All combatants immediately darted away as Krimp's massive frame slammed into the wooden platform, which began shaking from the impact.

Pigug immediately darted away from his quarries as the entire platform began coming undone. Both the girls and Uruks immediately made efforts to get away as the entire platform caved in.

Dharg flopped onto the platform below, landing on his wounded hand and screeching before rolling over. He just barely managed to avoid being flattened by Krimp, who landed besie him with a dazed look of dejection on his face.

"Ruined it you fat bastard!" Dharg wheezed through the pain as another form landed beside him.

This one, however, kneeled down beside the wounded captain and scooped him up into one of its large arms.

"No! Put me down!" Dharg screeched through coughs and grunts as he recognized this figure as Pigug, who immediately ran for the edge of the platform and leaped off.

The Executioner reared back with his blade before halting their descent by burying his blade into the wall of the tower several dozen yards away.

Trapped in his cohort's arm, Dharg could only watch as more Uruks and the girls fell down to the platform Krimp had brought down. But then his eyes caught something else, the pile of metal girders began falling as well. They landed upon Krimp before bringing down that platform as well. Sand and stone was kicked up as the combined weight tore through each of the platforms. It was practically an avalanche of wood, stone, sand and metal which grew as it continued down the tower. Pigug and Dharg could see hints of Uruks falling along with the occasional flash of color from one of the girls before being swallowed by the cloud again.

It all culminated in the avalanche slamming into the cliff beside the Tower, some of it spilled down into the shanties below.

Inside the Tower, a smug looking Ratlug gave a whistle as he hauled his new find up some stairs. They struggled in his grasp, but he was nothing if not capable when it came to subduing the unwilling. He couldn't believe his luck, finding something like this just lying around as he did. If it was what he thought it was, then the master was sure to have some exciting way to use it. He came across it while searching for his researchers, who had decided to run off for some reason, and had almost missed it due to how agitated he was.

Thankfully, his keen ears eventually picked up on it muttering to itself in a toppled barrel. And everyone knows that if you find something interesting and nobody's around to stop you, taking it is the only encouraged option.

"Put me down, asshole!" the Faunus trapped in his arm shouted

"Oh," Ratlug sighed in a humored manner "you lost the right to complain the second you let me catch you."

"You didn't even-!"

"Of course I didn't give you a chance to run... I'm no idiot."

"If you don't put me down right now then I'll-!"

"Squirm a tad harder?" the Uruk suggested "Go ahead, feels awfully soothing having you writhing about."

At just that moment a rumbling from outside shook the tower, and he had to pause as he narrowed his eyes and looked around. The sound of falling debris hit his sensitive ears, had one of those bastards blown themselves off the side of the building?

Even further down the tower was a musket wielding Uruk who was still dragging himself up floor after floor in a bid to reach his targets.

Gundza had thrown up twice since slipping into his body, Uthug's endless waves of hatred making him physically ill the longer he had to be merged with his aura. But the Shadow persevered, unwilling to let the looter have the satisfaction of making him leave. Inside, Uthug still raged about flooding his senses with malice the likes of which was unknown to mortals.

Just let me go! Get out!

"I can't... won't!" Gundza stated

By the Dark Lord... this stubbornness gets you nowhere!

"Neither will yours!"

Dunno, putting the thick-headed bastard who refuses to release me through agonizing misery is pretty damned satisfying

"Well-!"

Gundza was interrupted by a shaking which made him fall over, landing on his stomach and causing him to hack up some more bile.

What was that?

Uthug seemed genuinely concerned about the size of that tremor as well, but the Shadow had a good idea of what it might be.

"Its them!" he wheezed before clawing his way back to his feet "Have to... catch..."

You want to move towards whatever the hell that was?! No!

And as Uthug resumed struggling with renewed force, Gundza painstakingly searched for the nearest exit.

But even further down than that was Tarz's lab, which was not empty despite the Surgeon's absence. Inside Ishga Bloodstorm and one of his Blood-Hunters were searching the place.

"But if Skak's got the ol' boy in chains, why is we even looking through his things anyway?" the Blood Hunter asked as he looked some of Tarz's surgical equipment

"Because we don't have the numbers to go about executing any glob we want," Ishga answered before shaking his head "Shame as it is. No, we need some kind of evidence that whatever that bastard was up to warrants takin' his head off."

"He was gonna keep that hybrid from the rest of us, one of his dying boys told Skak that, right? And wasn't there some slave meats and grog in that buildin' o his?"

"Yes, but that would be a good lashing and the loss of a limb or two at most if we go by the Executioner's standards. Skak wants his head, and after the way those smugglers riled up the Shanty-Folk, I ain't too keen on leniency."

The underling went quiet for a moment as he snatched up some kind of journal and flipped through it "Okay, but why's it gotta be just the two of us?"

"Because, Skak's boys are clearing out the warehouse Tarz's been hiding his goods. My soldiers are getting the shanties back in order. So many of those stupid imbeciles left their posts to hunt those wenches that its remarkable the entire place didn't burn down. As eager as my Student is to wet his axe, I for one have my priorities in check."

"So why isn't you doin' this on you's own?"

"Because you are my least competent soldier, and I'd rather swallow Caragor teeth than give you any assignment where you are out of my sight."

"That ain't true!" the Underling argued before lifting the journal and flipping through its pages "Look how good I's am at readin' through this thing, lookin' up all about's the chems, and hybrid blood, and Bubol Bombs-"

Ishga snatched the journal out of his hands in an instant, shoving the hunter out of the way before skimming over the page top to bottom.

"Boss?" the red-themed follower asked as Ishga suddenly looked up from the page and looked around the room. The Bloodstorm's eyes settled on a single corner of the room before closing the book and walking over to it. Crouching down, he felt the floor for a bit before feeling something shift. With several pulls, he yanked a loose panel of flooring up and reached inside.

"What is it?" the Blood Hunter asked as he watched Ishga pull a parchment out.

The Captain looked over the parchment before frowning and looking in the opening again before shaking his head, "An outing by one of the most bitter traitors I've ever seen."

---

Months worth of setbacks, immensly damaged property... dozens of soldiers injured or dead... all because of four tark children.

If Pigug were more brash, he would be declaring his anger to the heavens as he looked over the massive pile of fallen resources which had once been a sturdy and convenient way of guiding large sections of metal up the tower. But truthfully he wasn't even angry enough to warrant such reaction. If anything, the pure silence with which he saw his Master radiate as he silently looked over the damage was simply too disheartening to stoke the desire for vengeance most Uruks would have after such a humiliating affair.

"Think we got him."

Turning to his left, Pigug watched two of his soldiers finished securing Dharg to a carrier. The wounded Uruk had fought throughout the battle despite getting torn up by the girls, his body now marreded with wounds from each of their weapons. A good one third of his face was now sporting a rather large patch of singed flesh, but yet he continued fighting despite losing a good number of fingers to that youngling in red.

"Why'd ya take... me out?" Dharg breathed heavily as his head turned to the Executioner "They got away."

"Hm, it would've been a shame for you to die in the collapse after all that perseverance." Pigug answered "Stalwart dedication such as yours is nowhere as common as it should be."

"I still had plenty of fight left in me!" the Devoted Uruk shouted before wincing as he looked over to his Master "If I had just been able to grab one... then maybe he..."

The larger Captain sighed "More unyielding then ever, are you?"

Even so, he couldn't help but wonder if catching one of the interlopers could possibly make up for what was lost. He gestured to the two Uruks holding the carrier to follow him before moving over to their still frozen Warchief. Hork watched as several of his soldiers scaled the large pile of ruined work, all picking through and searching for those possibly trapped within. He didn't move even as Pigug approached, the Executioner simply stood at his side as Dharg was carried over. The wounded warrior was not one to stay quiet, for the two Uruks carrying him had hardly stopped when he was already straining to speak.

"Master! This... all of this is my fault."

Hork finally moved, turning to look at Dharg with a surprised look "Yours?"

"If I had put more faith in building an aura, if I hadn't let myself be weakened so quickly then we would've overwhelmed them." the Unyielding Uruk raised his wounded hand "I've failed you... but I refuse to do so a second time."

Pigug held back any comments, merely glancing around idly as Dharg continued apologizing. He stopped when he noticed a familiar robed figure surveying the rubble several yards away, bright eyes looking over the damages with interest.

"I shall work twice as hard to make up for this folly!" Dharg shouted as he was carried away "Hear me, master! I shall not fail you again!"

Hork looked down for a moment once he and Pigug were left alone, the Warchief pressing a hand to his head before grumbling, "He's wrong."

"Sir?" the Executioner leaned forward a bit

"He's wrong... but his devotion leaves him blinded." Hork turned back to the rubble with a defeated look "I did this to myself... did this to all of you."

Pigug stayed silent, they hadn't discovered Krimp in the wreckage yet. There was still a possibility he was pinned somewhere near the bottom, yet Hork seemed convinced his younger brother had absconded during the collapse just like the girls had.

"I don't know what came over me." the Warchief continued "Just, I wasn't ready to see him at such a time. And this lack of preparation has left us with nothing to show for our stunt. No vengeance, no affirmation of power, nothing."

"We were all unprepared, sir." Pigug said as he stepped closer and patted the massive Uruk on the shoulder "We underestimated them... next time we face their kind we will have better understanding of this world."

"No," Hork interrupted him before glancing to the side "that won't be enough."

Pigug followed his gaze to the Shaman, who took note of them before turning to leave. Hork wasn't having that, and quickly called out to him, "Stormbringer!"

Pugrish halted as the Warchief jogged over, turning slightly to look up at the Gatekeeper with a curious glint in his bright eyes, "Hm?"

"I take it your boys have finished their recording?"

The Shaman pressed his fingertips together, "Indeed... we shall make haste... leave you to your... devices."

"I want more help."

Pigug looked at his master in shock, "Sir?"

"Interesting... but you do not trust me or mine." the Shaman pointed "Never did... not before."

"Things are different here, tark warriors aren't like the ones we slaughtered at the Black Gate." Pigug watched as Hork's fists tightened "As loathe as I am to admit it, your Storm seems to be prospering the most since arriving here."

Pugrish didn't deny or accept the claim, merely gestured towards the massive Uruk "And what assistance... do you request?"

"Damn it, Shaman. We both know you have access to equipment, the stuff you wanted to help us build with. I need more of it. The Tarks set us behind farther than any would wish to admit, but here I am! You can help us get on schedule, if we get attacked within the next month we're basically sitting ducks to those flying machines I hear of."

Pigug wished to step in, knowing from the contemplative mannerisms the Shaman displayed that this would not be a simple request. The Storm were notorious for looking out for their own benefits, and their leader represented that self-serving ideology to a T. It never mattered whether he aided someone or destroyed them, it always served him in the end. Back in Mordor, the only times his actions weren't centered on entertaining himself were the ones ordered by Sauron or the Dark Lord's chief minions. But here...

"You wish for me... to fix what the girls have broken..." Pugrish stayed silent for a moment before peering at the larger Uruk "But you wish for more... I see it... Another request that you burn to speak..."

Hork gave a long swallow before sighing "No getting anything past you, hm?"

"Resources are no issue... And we have workers to spare..." the Stormbringer tilted his head to the side questioningly, his robe waving slightly in the dry air "But this hesitation... speaks volumes of the possible difficulty... this next request may hold."

"Make me a spawning pit."

"Sir?!" the Executioner stepped forward, unsure whether he'd heard that corrrectly

"You were once a vat keeper! You know how its done!" Hork continued "At a rate like this, we'll need our numbers back!"

"I was discharged from that practice four weeks in... " the Shaman began before releasing a steady breath and giving a small chuckle "but I do know of its methods...And it is not something so simply done."

"But it can be done!"

"Sir!" Pigug pulled Hork back "The formation of spawn pits are governed by the Dark Lord's most trusted, you yourself have stated just how much chaos unmitigated usage of that practice can cause! We don't have the leeway to just-"

"We need it!" Hork snapped at him "It burns me to suggest this, but we need to forego orders. We'll be worn down at this rate! Just think of how much faster our work can be completed if we have our endless waves of numbers!"

"The Spawn Pits...are formed by a very specific ritual, Warchief." the Shaman interrupted the two "I... may have been... looking into recreating the spell with what is available..."

"And?" the Gatekeeper asked

Pugrish merely chuckled again "It is far from impossible... But I focused my efforts elsewhere... not wanting to go against the Dark Lord's wishes..."

"If we make it back, tell any who question that I forced you to do it. Just get it done."

The Stormbringer looked up, his robe shifting just enough to reveal the sharp grin of the Uruk within.

"As you wish... so it shall be..."

.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.

"Skak!" Tarz shouted, struggling in his bonds "Come on, be reasonable!"

The Axe-Wielder was tired of waiting, was tired of being so close to a classic execution. He paced in front of the bound Surgeon, occasionally trying to calm down Blood-Axe as he waited for Ishga. They were in the middle of a large opening surrounded by shanties, waiting around were some of Skak's warriors. The others were still working on the mess the Smuggler warehouse had become.

"He ain't finding nothing, mate. Just untie me so I can-"

"Shhhhh." Skak walked close, pressing a finger to his lips before scoffing "Blood-Axe gets antsy when his victims are talking instead of antsy, you want me to have trouble holdin' him back?"

"Look laddie, I've been in this game far longer than you have and I know how to keep my nose clean."

Skak merely raised a finger and pointed in the direction of the smoke trails that still seeped of what remained of his warehouse.

"Okay," the Surgeon admitted "clean enough."

"I'm gonna bury my pal through that smug smirk of yours."

"So I had a little fun, ain't enough to kill one of your best Doctors."

"So I take it sabotage is your idea of fun."

Skak and Tarz looked up to see Ishga walking over with a fierce look in his eye.

"Bloodstorm, finally!" Tarz cheered as the hunter marched over "Finally come to get this meathead to-"

An unwelcome pile of metal and wires was dropped right in front of him. Ishga crossed his arms and glared down at the Surgeon, his silence being more than enough to portray just how incriminating the object at his feet was.

"Uh..."

"So." Ishga began "Bubol Bombs, eh?"

"Where... where did you-?"

"Your horrid attempt at a secret panel."

"Horrid!?" Tarz looked insulted "I spent weeks specifically modeling that damned thing, it was supposed to mold with the floor so precisely that you'd have to feel molecules to spot it."

"Maybe if your journal wasn't just lying around your lab and didn't point it out you'd have had a chance."

"But I didn't even leave my journal in the lab," Tarz insisted "I kept that in the Warehouse. How could it-"

The Surgeon paused, brain working as a memory shot to the forefront of his mind.

Tarz slammed the panel closed with a chuckle, rubbing his hands together as he tapped it into place "There we go, fits in there smooth as a whistle!"

"A brilliant hiding place." Tumhorn said with a dejected sigh as he reclined against one of the surgeon's tables.

"Ya damn right it is!" the pig-faced Uruk replied before patting his chest "If only I could stop being so impressive, I'm making all of you look bad."

"Indeed, sir." the Archer mumbled as he casually picked something up and opened it, only for an open palm to slam into the back of his head before he could even start reading.

"Careful with that, lad!" Tarz laughed as he plucked his journal out of his lackey's hand "This right here is where all the magic happens!"

He waved it in Tumhorn's frowning face, the archer took a single breath before saying, "Apologies."

"Its where all my brilliant plans and coordination take form, can't have fodder like you getting grabby with it, eh?"

Tumhorn stared at the journal being waved in front of him, "Mhm."

"Why, just think of what might happen if one of you dullards dropped something like this in the hands of... I dunno, the Garrison?" the Surgeon slapped the journal against the bodyguard's forehead with a chuckle "We'd all be ruined immediately!"

The Archer was practically staring holes into the journal now, his eyes tracing its form as it impacted with him over and over,"Mmmhmmm."

"All my work down the drain immediately, just wiped clean from existence."

A single bead of sweat trailed down the side of Tumhorn's face, his breathing notably quickening as the journal slapped him faster and faster.

"Good thing I keep it all nice and hidden." Tarz finally pulled away, tucking his journal into his apron and patting it before turning "Come on lad, we got some work to do!"

Tumhorn stood, "Yes sir." he said with narrow eyes before following the ugly Smuggler out.

Tarz blinked as he recalled the memory, ran it through his mind several times and analyzed it from several angles. Ishga, Skak and the other red themed Uruks looked down at him, waiting for some reaction.

Suddenly, Tarz turned away and spat out "That slimy, ungrateful sack of shrakh!"

Ishga rolled his eyes before turning to his comrade, "Skak."

"So maybe that Zog fellow passed me a recipe that Bubol had for some explosives when he and those chiefless bastards showed up," Tarz spoke quickly "so what?"

"Zog is probably getting torn apart by the Storm at this point, so we'll focus on the maggot we can actually punish." Ishga mumbled before gesturing down toward the bound Uruk "Even if consorting with the walking disease wasn't suspicious in the slightest, the fact you didn't share this recipe the moment you found it is highly questionable."

"I know how this looks, but I wanted to see if it was accurate before I went around showing it off!" Tarz said carefully, nodding to his own explanation "It would be right embarrassing if I was fed bad info and everything! I was gonna test it far away where it wouldn't hurt anybody! If anything, we should be tracking down Tumhorn! He probably used that very recipe to sabotage me! I wasn't planning on using it without-"

"We found this letter in your panel as well." Ishga raised said letter and held it in front of him before glancing down "It surely claims otherwise."

Tarz paused, "But I didn't leave any-"

"Dear whoever actually has the brain power necessary to locate this, the device now in your possession was being constructed by my hopefully former boss: Tarz the Surgeon. He intended to set off this device somewhere in the upper floors of Hork's Tower several days after the Storm left so he could frame them and cause the Warchief to begin open hostilities with the Shaman and his followers. As Tarz has bragged to me many times, this little act of subterfuge was intended to give himself and the others currently working under him more opportunity to work around the Garrison's restrictions since they'll be more focused on dealing with the Storm. He has openly mocked both the Warchiefs and their supporters in my presence, specific insults and statements will be included below. If this note was unfortunately discovered some time after he's died of some circumstance, bury this with him and feel free and to spit on his corpse for me. If I am lucky enough for this to be found and used as evidence against him, I do humbly request that this be read in front of him by the most literate Uruk available. With great thanks, Tumhorn the Unburdened."

Ishga lowered the letter with a raised eyebrow, all the Uruks in attendance going silent except for Skak. The beefy Uruk leaned over him to look at the letter, listening to his weapon for a moment before replying, "That is a lot of spite in one piece o' paper, pal. Really impressive, actually."

"Anything to say for yourself?" Ishga asked a still stunned looking Tarz

The Surgeon opened his mouth several times before lowering his head for a moment, he slowly met Ishga's gaze before giving a weak smile, "Obvious slander."

"Just do it already." Ishga said to Skak, who gave a little shimmy of joy before running behind a now frantically shaking Tarz and kicking him face first to the ground.

"As for all of you." the Bloodstorm turned back to the other Uruks in attendance "I want all the globs whose names are in this journal dragged out here by their ankles if you have to."

Behind him, Skak raised his Blood Axe high.

"Hold on!" Tarz shouted as he eyed the weapon "I can get you a nice sharpener! Don't you think ya pal deserves a good tuning!? I know a guy!"

"Not all off this glob's smugglers were in the warehouse when it went up," Ishga continued "no doubt they're gonna make a break for it the second word gets around of this. Don't give them chance."

Skak's followers nodded, turning and beginning a search for the smugglers as Tarz's pleas were cut off by a descending Axe.

---

The Shaman walked away from the tower, having concluded his talk with Hork. He'd been anticipating a moment of revelation from the Warchief, but had not realized his luck was this his good. Even though his grin remained hidden inside his all encompassing robe, the Stormbringer was undoubtedly in high spirits as he strolled away from the structure and the cliff it was built into. An agreement had been made, and a lesson learned.

Now he merely made his way to where a Dreamer Gate was planned to open very soon. It was to be his way back to the place he and his underlings called home for the time being. He'd made the call as soon as he'd concluded his discussion with the gatekeeper, but a proper Dreamer Gate was not something that could be made with haste, at least not yet. So he took his time, enjoyed the sand and heat for all it offered as he crested a large dune and found a pleasant surprise.

Ratlug's Researchers were waiting approximately where the Gate was supposed to appear, one of them resting as the other tapped away at his scroll. On one hand it was a fine sight to see they hadn't actually deserted, though that had been a minor possibility from the get go. But now the Shaman could only hope Ratlug gave up searching the tower soon.

Or...

As the Shaman approached them, he slipped out a scroll and carefully worked the buttons which appeared. He was nowhere as skilled as Ratlug or even Ogthrak at handling these devices, but he hoped he was good enough to make a simple call.

It was a pleasant surprise to hear the Tinkerer respond immediately, "S-Sir?"

Pugrish took note of something odd, it was almost as if Ratlug was running while speaking, "Found... your boys..."

"Really! That's grand!" Ratlug breathed "They're in for a tongue lashing of the harshest degree!"

"Where...are you?"

"I was actually heading out just in time to spot ya! I found something that might go good with that little sideshow ya got Ogthrak running. I'll show ya when I get there."

The Shaman lowered the scroll with a hum of interest before coming to a stop before the researchers, "You two left... was it worth it?"

"To you, of course." the Photographer said as he continued tapping on his scroll "But for Ratlug, that's more of a gamble."

The Stormbringer merely gave a silent nod, he wasn't exactly wrong in that regard. He saw the Researcher look up, and turned around just in time to see Ratlug crest the hill, his long legs carrying him over the sand quickly as he raced down to them. He wore a large grin on his face and had something struggling under his arm, but before the Shaman could get a better look at it he noticed something behind the Tinkerer.

The Researchers noticed too, as both the Photographer and Smoker looked past their boss to give quizzical expressions at the sight behind him.

Ratlug skidded to a halt in front of them before placing a hand to his chest and breathing, he gave a brief glare to his subordinates before grinning at the Stormbringer "Now-!"

But he stopped upon seeing their faces... his entire presentation of his find halted upon the confusion he saw them look upon him with. He was about to ask what they were staring at when he noticed the clumsy footsteps approaching. He'd been so focused on catching up that he hadn't heard them.

He turned partially to look behind him when something slammed against his side, but the Uruk's stance held and he reacted on instinct by shoving the attacker away.

What landed at his feet was an uruk in a White Fang uniform, coughing and groaning.

"Uthug?!" shouted the faunus caught in his arm.

The Looter hacked up some bile as he looked up, spotting the Deer Faunus in the Tinkerer's arm and immediately growling, "You cowardly-!"

But Uthug never got to finish, as his eyes darkened and his head twitched violently before he threw himself onto all fours and began crawling past Ratlug to the Shaman.

"Assistance..." Gundza grumbled as he dragged himself closer to the Storm Ruler "Just once more! Assist me!"

The Shaman looked over him for a moment before he lowered his head in recognizance "Ah, the Shadow."

"Did you follow me?!" Ratlug shouted to the downed Uruk

"The girls, they can't escape!" the Assassin spat "I'm too close! This body, this Uruk fights with his sickening thoughts of annoyance... Slowed me, but I must reach them! Please!"

"After all the assistance my Master's given you already..." Ratlug shook his head "Truly disgusting."

"Uthug, what happened to you?!" Bebe called out to him "Look I'm sorry, it's just-!"

The Shaman turned to look at her, and despite his visage being covered, the Faunus physically shuddered at the memory "I just..."

"Silence her." Pugrish commanded

Ratlug raised an eyebrow, but gave a shrug before raising his free arm and slamming it into the back of his captive's head. She immediately went limp as the Shaman approached Gundza and kneeled beside him.

"Shadow... this search is changing you." he commented

"Listen to me!" Gundza grunted "They came here on a train... I know how they think... with this timing, they're going to leave on one as well!"

"What is... your plan?"

The Assassin paused "My-my plan?"

"Surely ya don't plan on having us stick our neck out for ya again without a plan?" Ratlug raised an eyebrow as he handed off the unconscious Faunus to one of his Researchers "We had the whole Arena angle to work with last time, but you's gotta tell us how ya plan on not fuckin' this one up."

"The Gundza I know... spoke greatly of how he needed to be the one... the one who brought Ashgarn's slayer to justice. Perhaps jumping through bodies like this has... eroded your sense of patience?"

"Just help me damn it!"

"You paid a good price for our help last time...this time, shall be my last generosity bestowed upon you."

"Sir," Ratlug kicked some sand with a scoff "surely you don't plan on aiding this wreck again? Just look at him!"

Gundza looked over to the Researcher with a pained glare.

"His rush to regain his nonexistent honor has wrung him dry! He ain't even smart enough to get out of the damn body when it turns on him anymore! He's ran himself ragged, he shouldn't even be effective as a toy anymore!"

"Just... just please..."

"I was on board for the first few times you aided this shrakh, thought it was funny watching a desperate reject drag himself across this new land in hopes of gaining favor with the one who scorned him. But I don't see any reason to entertain his delusions anymore, there's nothing to gain!"

"Actually, there could be good data."

Both Ratlug and the Shaman turned to the Photographer, who looked up from his scroll, "Not that I have any right to speak, nor do I rightfully care about whatever game you have going on with this one here, but we encountered one of the Tark girls and managed to discover plenty about our equipment in the process."

"I'm still not gonna forrgive you two for that!" Ratlug stated vehemently

"However... they make a good point." the Shaman nodded for a moment before looking down at Gundza "You say... they'll leave by train?"

Despite still being in a state of mental and physical exhaustion, Gundza managed to nod.

"This may be a good chance..." Pugrish turned to the Tinkerer "...to test one of your projects... good Doctor."

Ratlug placed a finger to his lips, tapping at it for a moment as a smile appeared "Very well, I know just the thing."

Gundza looked up at the Shaman, who gave a slow nod before meeting his eyes "We will assist."

---

That had been luck... pure and simple.

They all knew it, yet not one of the four girls had even spoke until they were far out of reach of the Tower. They just kept moving, from the moment they'd landed amidst the rubble of the Garrison's construction, they'd taken off like bats out of hell. Ruby and Yang had both lent Weiss a shoulder immediately after noticing the Heiress stumbling once she started moving, no doubt just barely managing to recover from Dharg's onslaught. Blake had brought up the rear, continually checking behind them with Gambol Shroud loaded and ready for any potential pursuers.

Finally, the tower disappeared from their vision as they slid down a sandy slope and were now faced with Vacuo's sandy frontier. Here the girls finally began to slow, with Weiss finally demanding a moment of rest, moreso for the winded sisters aiding her than for herself. The sand and sun hadn't been merciful, and Yang collapsed to her knees and began breathing heavily the moment the Schnee halted them.

"I didn't seen anyone following us" Blake commented as she turned to look over her team, assembled together fully for the first time in so long.

Yang released a heavy breath as the heiress carefully took a seat beside her in the sand, Weiss managed to recuperate with far more class than the brawler despite being placed in far more precarious positions during the fight. Yang glanced to the side at the white haired youth, who gave her a small smile in return despite still being winded.

"Yang..."

The Blonde turned to see her little sister looking down at her with disbelief, a hint of tears forming in her eyes.

Yang recognized the state she was in, and how she must look to the others. With how many times her aura had strained to protect her over the past few weeks, her clothing was mottled and roughened with symbols of her many close calls. The many bruises she gained during her training with Krosh had long since faded, but a few noticeable sets of teeth marks could be seen on her jacket. They were a testament of her fights with Mincemeat, along with them were a number of gashes that had been the result of numerous blades. She'd been good enough at fighting to keep her clothing from being reduced to ribbons, but it sported the signs of battle heavily. She knew she'd either die in them, or change out of them the moment that she could, but she never considered what the sight of all the physical abuse she'd gone through would do to her allies.

She instinctively went into big sister mode, cracking her biggest smile and waving off the worries which were no doubt flooding into the minds of those around her, "Took ya long enough!" she gave a weak laugh before patting herself on the chest "I was getting bored out of my mind guys..."

It partially worked, she heard Blake give a sigh of relief and saw Weiss roll her eyes. But Ruby...

Yang dropped the act, shaking her head before raising a hand to her sister "Look, I'm okay sis, really its just-"

The younger sibling practically flew at her, wrapping her arms around her as she released a heavy breath. Yang was momentarily stunned before moving on impulse, placing a hand on the younger girl's back as she released a small sob into her sister's chest.

"You're okay!" Ruby said as she nuzzled against her "You're alive and-and..!"

Weiss tilted her head at the sight, but couldn't fight the smile which grew on her own face as she watched the two. She noticed Blake standing beside the sisters, shifting uncomfortably, and stood once more.

"Come on," she said to the Faunus as she walked over "you should know how this goes by now."

Blake watched as the heiress gestured her over before stepping close to the sisters, almost immediately Yang's arm stretched around her and dragged her in. Emboldened, Blake joined the group hug as well, the four basking in the moment of re-connection for a full five seconds before Weiss finally pulled away.

"Okay, the moment has passed." the heiress said before brushing herself off and straightening her skirt "We have to keep moving."

Blake and Ruby finally pulled away as well, with the Young Leader looking up with a rejuvenated glint in her eye, "Right!" she exclaimed before turning to her teammates "If we're north from the tower then where does that leave us in relation to the nearest settlement?"

"Helstburg is six hours northeast." Blake commented "If we hurry we might even make it before sundown."

"Actually," Weiss looked over the horizon before turning back to them "we could probably catch a ride to Vale if we head Norhwest."

That made Ruby quirk an eyebrow "Weiss, I thought the nearest train was supposed to leave its station around an hour ago?" She glanced between her and Blake "You both agreed we'd have to walk to the nearest town if we didn't find Yang today."

"But we did." Weiss gestured to the now-grinning brawler "And it just so happens that that very train passes through a rocky valley to the northwest, if we hurry I'm positive we can hop aboard as it passes."

"And then we can be in Vale by tomorrow." Blake finished

"Looks like we have a destination girls!" Ruby yipped before pointing to the northwest "Onward!

"Look at you three, when did you all become travel masters?" Yang laughed as she followed "Last time we went on a trip, I remember all of us arguing on how to get there."

"Last time we went on a trip, you got yourself kidnapped by a bony pervert." Weiss couldn't help but say

"Hey," the blonde gave a disheartened pout before crossing her arms "he pulled a fast one on me! Any other day and I would've liquefied him into a disgusting little slushy."

Weiss shivered "Thank you for that oh so beautiful mental Image, Yang."

"Heh, sorry Princess. Guess my time behind bars made me forget how squeamish you can be."

"I'm not squeamish in the slightest."

"Oh good, 'cause I was just about to regale ya'll about just how filthy these guys live. I mean everything stunk like B.O. and blood, this one guy I was wailing on had lost most of his teeth, and his gums looked rotten to hell. And the guy who was training me had a dad that worked as their doctor but he sucked at his job and just kept making his patients wrap soggy, dirty towels all over their wounds. I mean, I was too good in their fighting pits to get anything permanent, but this one guy was following me around with this gaping bullet wound and-"

"Blake," Weiss gestured for the Faunus's attention "can you tell your thick-headed partner to please stop talking before I forget what having an appetite feels like?"

"Better make it quick Blake," Ruby called back with a grin "Weiss's gonna need that appetite for when we get back. Team RWBY's going on a victory binge as soon as we get back. Food stacked to the ceiling!"

---

Somewhere else...

"-ta wake up! Uthug, please! Tell them I belong to you! Tell them they can't just do whatever they want with me!"

Gundza's eyes lolled at the sound of someone shouting at him, but he was in no position to give concern to them. He simply stayed limp as he was dragged somewhere by a pair of arms, the Researcher holding him remained stoic as he pulled the assassin and his unfortunate host along behind their master.

The Researcher to his side couldn't share in that feeling, as he had to consistently readjust his grip on the struggling faunus in his grasp. Every time he had to tighten his hold, he bit down on his cigarette in distaste, which only caused her to start up again.

"Quiet back there," Ratlug called from ahead of them, the Tinkerer not even sparing them a glance as he remained focused on the long hall ahead of them.

"Trying sir." the Smoker responded before hefting the wild Faunus up and grunting into her ear "Calm ya'self hybrid, I ain't gotta do anything to ya unless you keep making this difficult. All I need's to do is get you to Ogthrak."

"Who is that?!" Bebe asked frantically as she looked between him and his partner "What'll he do to me!?"

"Gods, do I really have to lug her sorry arse all the way there?" Smoker turned to his companion "Can't I just dump her on one of the lackeys and let him do it?"

"Ya know," Ratlug raised a finger and waved it as he chuckled "in the old days Soldiers used to call dibs on any womenfolk they found in battle. I certainly don't need her, but as long as Gundza's got a good leash on her pal there, I don't think there'd be anyone to stop ya from havin' her ya'self."

That made Bebe halt her struggled, looking up at the Tinkerer's back as she trembled "W-what do you mean-?"

"In the old days there weren't no spawn pits," the Photographer commented before narrowing his gaze at his boss "you yourself know what could happen if someone tries that kinda shrakh nowadays."

The Swordsmith shrugged with another chuckle "Just a suggestion, ya friend seems mighty intent on complaining."

The Photographer sighed before glancing to his partner "Look. just manage her for now."

"Easy for you to say," the other researcher released a small cloud of smoke before continuing "you got the easy glob to drag about. He don't look like he's even capable of moving."

"I've been thinking about that."

Smoker tilted his head to the side at that, "What?"

"This state Gundza seems to be in. After some lookin' I think I got's me a hypothesis."

"Already got one o' those." Ratlug laughed before gesturing back to the limp Shadow "This dumb bastard's semblance breaks his brain the more he uses it. We should have him jump in a few more people after today and see if he'll do tricks afterwards!"

"Close, but not exactly, sir." the Photographer hauled Gundza up a bit before shaking him a bit for emphasis "He said he's like this because this Uthug guy's been fighting back with negative emotions, right?"

"I don't understand what you guys are talking about," Bebe was lost "Uthug's right there!"

She was promptly ignored by the two Storm Uruks.

"Yeah," the Smoker nodded to his comrade "but that don't make no sense. If some petty looter can fight him back, then what was all that stuff he was doing in them other bodies?"

"See, now there was where I was stuck too. But then I thought about it specifically. See, they key here is that this glob is fighting back."

His partner narrowed his eyes "You goin' somewhere with this?"

"Look, what do ya do if you suddenly feel some unknown consciousness slipping into your own and trying to take over your body."

"Stop it."

"And how? What if you're a weak tark who doesn't even know what this new presence is?"

"Damn it, are you going somewhere with this?"

The Photographer held up a hand before patting the limp Gundza on the head "I'm just putting forth a guess that all this lad's other bodies went on the defensive, whereas the looter went on the offensive. Considering how we've seen him struggle to control those with stronger auras, this actually makes sense."

His partner still didn't seem convinced, and glanced down to the Faunus in his arms "Oi, this Uthug guy, was he a stubborn type? Aggressive, moreso than other Uruks?"

"I don't..." Bebe trailed off as she turned to the limp form of the Six-Year old asshole who'd been ridiculing her for nearly a month now "That's... not him?"

The Smoker rolled his eyes before glancing back at the other Researcher "But what about the Atlesian? If some random looter can give him this much trouble, one of them military tarks should've had him hurlin' during the arena."

"I'm still trying to figure that out myself. If he was a thinker then he'd have more than enough time to test this guy's hold on 'em. He must've pulled a bulwark defensive. Gundz here said that he started getting that Mitch fellow's memories immediately, perhaps the soldier boy tried everything to keep somethin' like that from happening?"

"Pity."

The duo looked to their boss once more, who gave a small shake of his head and sighed, "And here I thought he'd be a trump card if we could ever get him to kick his honor obsession."

"Semblance is still pretty powerful, Sir." Smoker said as they neared an adjacent hall.

Ratlug paused and turned back to them before pointing to Gundza "Anything that has a chance of leaving its user like that could hardly be called powerful, its a literal gamble!"

His underlings came to a stop before him as he groaned and jerked a thumb towards the adjacent hall.

Bebe was still staring hard at the limp Uruk when she noticed herself being taken away, mind racing back to reality as she looked around frantically "Wait... tell me what happened to him!"

"Shut up tark." Smoker grumbled as he dragged her away.

As she and the Researcher disappeared down the hall, Ratlug and his remaining underling continued on their path. The cave wall around them seemed to stretch ahead forever due to a suspicious lack of lighting, but Ratlug strode forth with his usual confidence. They made some turns, went down a set of stairs and even passed several other storms Uruks before finally emerging into a larger room.

"There it is, pal! The potential cure to your consistent failures."

Gundza mumbled something at that, head rising momentarily before falling back to its limp state.

The Photographer frowned, looking over the form of the Assassin before turning to his boss "Sir, are we really letting him fight in this state? The Master finds lots of entertainment from this one's journey, having him die when not of proper mind..."

"He wanted help, we're giving him help." Ratlug snickered before waving his subordinate's worry off "If he wants to get himself killed while we do it then who are we to interfere. Now..."

He leaned towards Gundza "Where we sending this beauty?"

Before the Photographer could offer anymore protests, Gundza grunted and raised his head before speaking "Northwest...Tower...Tracks run past." he said between heavy breaths "They'll go there."

Ratlug grinned "Still some fight in ya, eh? Marvelous!" he laughed before clapping the drained Uruk on the shoulder and turning to his lackey "Get him on top."

Gundza lowered his head again as the Photographer relented and began dragging him again. He felt his holder step onto a platform which slowly began rising as the sounds of metal clinking against metal grew. An alarm somewhere was sounded and the sounds of steam and something throbbing with power reached his ears as well. Machinery whirred and heat washed over him as he heard Uruks shouting to each other over the rising cacophony of sounds.

He couldn't quite make out the words before the platform he was on came to a stop, and the Researcher holding him hefted him up and launched him forward. He didn't fall much before landing atop something solid, his head throbbing as he struggled to push himself up.

"The handle!" he heard the Photographer shout "On your left, grab the handle or you's gonna fly off!"

The Assassin complied, his free hand locking around a metal handle just in time as the thing he was lying on began rising.

"Okay boys, open the gate!" he heard Ratlug shout seconds before the telltale sound of a Dreamer Gate reached his ears.

"We're going on a test drive!"

---

Vacuo- The Sandy Expanse

They just had to time it right, had to get in position before it passed.

Blake pointed it out the moment she heard it, the others picking up the pace as it neared. The cargo train was fast, faster than even they had anticipated. It was much shorter than the one they'd taken to get there, meaning their jumps had to be even more precise. Worry flashed across Ruby's face for a moment as she sped for the cliff alongside her teammates, the idea that they'd have to spend more time than necessary in Vacuo flickered in her mind for a moment before she realized her feet were already leaving the ground.

Three of them landed fine, with Yang stumbling a bit when her boots hit the roof of the train. She caught herself just before she could tumble over the otherside, a hand on her shoulder helped steady her, she turned to look into the eyes of her partner. Blake gave a her a reassuring smile before being distracted by the sound of Weiss releasing a groan.

She turned to find the Heiress mid-stretch, raising both of her arms together and twisting them just enough as the wind blew her lopsided ponytail "Finally leaving this dreadful place. If Miss Glynda doesn't kill us all for up and leaving you all can expect the bath to have heavy usage for a while. All this sand is leaving my skin drying to a concerning degree."

"Are you crazy?" Yang said before gesturing to her head "My locks have been deprived of shampoo for weeks, cut me some slack!"

"We can worry about that once we're back in Vale." Ruby interjected before gesturing to the train cars "For now we should find out which one of these we can bunk in."

Yang tilted her head at that suggestion, but Blake nodded in agreement "The last train ride was... lacking."

"How so?" Yang asked before sporting a grin "Someone's weapon end up someplace unpleasant?"

Weiss shot her a dirty look, but held her tongue as Ruby grabbed her by the shoulder, "Me and Weiss will start up front, you guys start at the caboose. We'll work our way back together and report the most open car to rest in. Let's hurry girls, I want some shut eye before the hour's up!"

With that, the two sets of partners split up to go searching the train for the most comfortable car they could find.

Climbing down between the cars, Blake entered the caboose and found it surprisingly roomy. In comparison to the first train they'd taken, this one at least had enough space in the middle for one to comfortably move from one end to the other. It was a decent contender, and Yang seemed to agree.

The Blonde gave a low whistle as she squeezed past her partner and looked over the room, "Definitely better than my cell." She joked, but Blake stayed by the entrance as her grip on the door tightened.

Yang spotted something near the back, a large mattress which was wrapped up and snugly strapped down beside a large metal dresser "Hey, think we can use that? Whoever its going to won't really have to know if we catch some Z's on it or anything, right?"

She looked back to Blake, only for her smile to disappear upon seeing the worried expression on the Faunus girl's face, "Blake?"

The two stared at each other for a while, nothing but the sounds of the train speeding along its tracks and objects shifting in their restraint to fight back the tense atmosphere which suddenly began growing.

Yang blinked, the lack of words finally getting to her "Blake? What's up?"

The cat-eared youth gave a low breath before looking down, "Are you...okay?"

"What?"

Blake sighed before stepping closer and raising a hand to her, "Are you... okay?" she repeated

"Whu- Yes, Blake we went over this like-"

"I know, but... Are you sure?"

Yang frowned "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You've been with those things for several weeks Yang."

"So?" The Brawler threw some air jabs before flashing her partner a smirk "Every punch or kick they gave me is one I'll send right back at 'em full force!"

Blake shook her head and walked past the Blonde as she crossed her arms "Yang, back in the White Fang, some would spread horror stories about humans to scare younger recruits."

"And? I know Cardin and his crew used to talk trash about Faunus kids all the time, what's your point?"

"My point is that these things, the Uruks, some of the stuff I've seen them do goes beyond even those horror stories. They aren't from here Yang, they seem to make it their mission to make everything except them suffer!"

"You think I don't know that?" Yang got in her face, a scowel marring the Blonde's features as she stared down her partner "I was with them, Blake. I've seen my fair share. Had to beat up some of their own guys who they tear up for target practice, nearly starved in one of their cells with a guy who had a bullet wound in his neck. I had to fight off an armless cannibal with a bear trap for a mouth using nothing but my bare hands, Blake!"

"Then how can you say you're okay!?" the Faunus shouted

"Because I fully intend on getting back at them, eventually." Yang glanced to the side "I got a long life to live, kitten, and somewhere along the line I see my fist sinking into the faces of those bastards."

Blake's expression softened "Yang."

"I just wanna focus on reconnecting with you guys, though." the Blonde turned back to her "It feels like its been forever, Blake. I just want things to go back to how they were... at least for a-"

"-n't need me."

Blake's hand shot up, gesturing for Yang to quiet down mid sentence as the cat girl's ears twitched beneath her bow. Yang stared at her for a moment, having not caught the same words that she did. She began to question what the Faunus was suddenly so focused on, but Blake brought a finger to her partner's lips as she listened intensely. It was hard to hear anything over the loud sound of the tracks passing below, but eventually...

"He doesn't want me."

Blake drew Gambol Shroud as she turned to face the large mattress Yang had been looking at earlier, the source of the voice was behind it. Yang had heard it too, and furrowed her brows as she nodded to her partner.

"He doesn't need me."

The two girls approached the mattress with their weapons ready, the closer they got the more they could recognize the anguish in the voice.

"Brother doesn't want me."

Blake was just about to aim Gambol Shroud behind the mattress...

Suddenly the two heard what sounded like Ruby yelling from outside, only a second before the entire car shook from what felt like an explosion.

Yang went into overdrive, turning and making for the exit of the car while calling out for her sister. Blake was about to stop her, but the sound of gunfire outside made her hold her tongue and instead follow behind.

Once Yang climbed a ladder to the top of the adjacent train car, she spotted Ruby and Weiss ducking behind a piece of Ice the heiress must've raised. The younger of the two had her rifle aimed over the ice and was scanning the large sandy dunes to the left of the train, Yang rushed beside them, trying to find whatever her sister was aiming for, "What's happening?"

"We came back to tell you about a room we found, looked good." Weiss explained while glancing behind herself on the other side of the train "Something came outta nowhere and opened fire, then darted away before we could get a good look at it."

That wording made Yang give a confused look "What do you mean darted away?"

"I mean that thing was fast as he-"

Weiss was cut off as a massive figure of metal launched over a nearby dune towards them, the girls scattered as a massive omni-directional wheel flew past them and landed on the other side of the train. Yang came up with Blake at her side, the Faunus looking at the assembly of parts with wide eyes, "What is that thing?"

"Is that a Paladin?" Ruby asked as she watched the machine easily keep up with the train they were on.

"No!" Weiss said before glancing at the machine and frowning "I mean, it looks kinda... What happened to it?"

The young leader wasn't wrong in her initial assessment, the main body of the speedy machine did seem to be composed of the central chassis of the same model of Paladin that they'd fought in the past. However, it looked as if it had been gutted and reassembled into an entirely different shape. For starters, the cockpit seemed to have been gouged out and replaced with a large glass dome which was black and obscuring, but the dome was lined with the same shoulders of a paladin with all its armaments still attached. Right below the cockpit was a large industrial drill, and on the bottom edges of the body were large dark crystals which pulsed with each movement the machine made.

The real kicker was just how it was moving, the large body of the machine was suspended on this almost comical-looking single leg made of interlocking pieces of metal. The single leg was stuffed to the brim with propulsion and suspension mechanisms which culminated in an omni-directional sphere at its base.

The entire thing was covered in blue and white war paint, and looked completely ridiculous.

The train neared an extremely rocky patch of desert, large mesas and outcroppings of densely packed sandstone rose all around. To the right of the train a sandstone cliff arose, casting a shadow over the girls as the machine kept pace with the vehicle they rode upon.

But while her teammates were stunned by its odd appearance, Yang immediately recognized the colors the machine was sporting.

"The Storm?!" she exclaimed with growing panic

Just as her teammates looked at her, the oddly built mech released a honk reminiscent to that of a truck's. Immediately a figure atop of it that they hadn't noticed before slowly rose before looking around itself while holding to the top of the machine. Immediately, the head of the machine turned towards them and opened fire.

The girls dived away from a series of incoming small rockets and gunfire. Ruby was about to return fire the moment the incoming projectiles stopped, only to watch as the machine crouched and propelled itself over the train with its leg swinging at her. She immediately threw herself back, using Crescent Rose to keep from falling off the train as the machine bounced off its roof to the cliff beside them.

The mysterious rider dropped to the roof of the train as soon as the machine bounced to the cliff, it began to struggle to its feet as the machine darted out of sight again. The girls regrouped as the figure used a tightly gripped musket to push himself to a standing position.

"Uthug?" said Blake, much to her teammates' surprise, instantly recognizing Tuka's vengeful captive from earlier.

"No." came an all too familiar voice as a pair of inky eyes locked with hers.

Blake, Weiss and Ruby all raised their weapons as they recognized him.

"Gundza," Weiss grumbled "aiming for one last failure before day's end are you?"

The Uruk growled as he wiped some sweat from his brow, eyes wandering over agry faces... except for one.

Yang couldn't match the anger of her teammates, instead she levelled a confused glance between both her team and the sick and tired-looking Uruk before them, "Who?"

"Just some body-snatcher who's been hounding us since you got caught." Ruby answered before frowning "Though, I don't know why he looks so..."

"Did you bring that thing?" Weiss questioned before gesturing around them "How did you even find us? You were sailing to the bottom of an elevator shaft if memory serves right"

"I am a trained-!" Gundza paused to cough violently before wiping some saliva from his mouth and growling "Trained Asssassin, wench. If I couldn't predict your movements I wouldn't deserve my title!"

"Former title, correct?" Blake pointed out

"Enough!" Gundza shouted before his free hand shot to his stomach and clutched hard as he shook his head violently "Spending my time in this wretched body has led me to discover the true cause for your wretched evasion of all my strategies!"

"General incompetence?" Weiss suggested

"No!" Gundza shouted before raising his musket and jabbing it in Blake direction "That one!"

The Faunus blinked, "Excuse me?"

"You have consistently thrown wrench after goddamned wrench into every mechanism I've developed! I kill you, then take the white one. I refuse to let you continue to get in my way!"

"Oh yeah!" Yang stepped forward "How you gonna take her down when we're here!"

"I hear that thing coming back for another run!" Weiss called out as the sound of the machine's wheel skidding along sandy ground grew.

"Right, giant Mech. That sounds about fair."

"You guys deal with the Mech." Blake said as she stepped between Gundza and them

"What?"

"He'll just distract you, if he's really after me then let me hold 'em off while you three deal with that mech."

"I ain't letting you take him on alone!" Yang stated "We just got back together!"

"I... I think I can take him." Blake looked over Gundza's stolen form "He seems... weakened somehow. I'll help you guys when I'm done."

"Blake..." Ruby began to say, but just then the Mech sped from behind a pillar of sandstone and began unloading "Just be careful!"

With that, Blake's teammates made for the train car behind her's while returning fire on the mech. The Machine whipped and swerved out of the way of their fire and released more of its own.

"You really see me as that easy?" Gundza asked as he hefted his musket

The Faunus turned back to Gundza and raised her weapon "Don't do this, look at yourself! I don't know what's wrong but you don't look like your capable of-!"

"Fool!" Gundza shouted before lurching forward "As if I wouldn't pull worth from this waste of flesh I inhabit!"

Blake readied Gambol Shroud as Gundza stumbled towards her, his movements sloppy even as he raised the Musket to strike at her.

What she wasn't ready for was for Uthug's eyes to suddenly empty of blackness and for him to grow a confused look as he tried to slow down. Behind him, Gundza pulled free of his body and kicked off from his back as he drew a spear. The Scavenger stumbled forwards towards Blake with his arms spinning, the Faunus had to leap to the side as he collapsed in front of her. She turned just in time to lean out of the way of another spear as Gundza lunged for her.

Uthug gripped his head and groaned as he stood, the clash of blades drawing his bleary-eyed gaze to Blake and the figure she was engaged with. Seeing the assassin dart around her, his face contorted with rage, "You!"

Gundza could practically feel the hatred approaching from behind as the Looter reared over him with his Musket. With a grin, the Exile launched himself backward out of Blake's range into Uthug once again. The Uruk collapsed to his knees momentarily before whipping his musket up and firing at the Faunus, who rolled out of the way before lunging at him. Gundza slipped back out of the Scavenger before using the downed grunt as a stepping stool and leaping to meet Blake head-on. He launched several throwing knives which she had to deflect, then she used her semblance just as he brought a spear down on her. The second the shadow clone dissipated, Gundza swung the blunt end of his spear to the side and struck Blake in the ankle before ducking under one of Uthug's swings and merging his free arm with the other Uruk's. The Looter gasped as the arm holding his musket went wild and found itself aimed towards the incoming Faunus.

Blake bobbed and weaved under the gunfire towards them.

Uthug struggled against the Shadow's influence, clutching his possessedd arm with his free hand and yanking it off focus, only for the taken limb to toss the musket into the air before slamming into his nose.

Gundza pulled free as the other Uruk collapsed, gripping his nose in pain. Reaching up, the Assassin snatched the musket out of the air before racing towards Blake. She slid under the stab of a spear only for him to swing back around with the musket, She leaped over that as well, only for one of his arms to lock around her feet and and spin her threw the air before launching her along the top of the train.

She managed to land on her knees, bu the moment she glanced up she was met with a flying kick which sent her stumbling back. Gundza dropped his spear as he approached, pulling out another throwing dagger as the Faunus moved to retaliate.

He ducked under her swing and slashed at her twice before she brought down the cleaver, forcing him back. She swiped at him again, only for him to slip past her attack and jabbed her with the musket before firing a round, slipping under two more swipes and kicking her bacc.

The Faunus landed beside Uthug, who rose with a groan as he shifted his nose back into place. As he stood, his musket was tossed at his feet

"So," Gundza called out to them as he drew another spear, he was panting heavily from exertion but retained his steely glare "do either of you still believe you have a chance?"

Uthug growled as he picked up his musket "Annoyances have to be dealt with... you're too much of an annoyance to let live!"

"Wait, stop!" Blake said to him before gesturing to the Assassin "He just wants to keep you enraged so he can use-"

But the Looter ignored her, charging towards the Exile again with a swing of his Musket. Gundza ducked under it and sped towards Blake as the Scavenger opened fire on the both of them.

Meanwhile, the rest of her team had a temporary lull in the gunfire as the mech darted behind more rock formations once again. Ruby crouched low and released a breath of exhaustion as she worked to reload Crescent Rose. Weiss crouched beside hery, "I can't get any good shots on it, that amalgamation is moving too fast."

"I think it looks more like a cobra." Yang commented as she kept her fists up, eyes darting around for signs of the machine.

Weiss gave her an incredulous look "What?"

"The amalga-thingie, it's just shaped and moves more like a cobra if anything."

The Heiress rolled her eyes "Whatever," the heiress rolled her eyes before turning back to her partner "how're we supposed to stop it?"

"It probably had to sacrifice tons of armoring to be able to reach those speeds." The young leader said as she loaded up her rifle "Considering how much care its putting into dodging, we just need to find a way to hit it and it should go down quickly."

Yang glanced back "Nice, but how exactly do we-Incoming!"

The Machine slipped out from between two sandy rocks and opened fire again, the girls going back to moving around its projectiles while trying everything they could to land some shots. But despite their efforts, the mech's shocking agility once again led to many of their rounds missing their mark.

As her teammates continued blasting away at it with all they had, Ruby paused upon spotting something ahead. One of the sandy rocks had a relatively large chunk jutting from its top, and given its position.

"There!" she called out to her teammates, "Take that down!"

Though Weiss gave her a questioning look, Yang immediately cocked her gauntlets and fired a double blast which brought the jutting rock tumbling down. The mech seemed to notice the sandstone boulders tumbling into its path and activated its suspension systems to leap over it. But as it was sailing over the sandstone boulders, Ruby sighted it in Crescent Rose's scope and fired. The single round impacted with the mech and made it spin dangerously as it landed. It swayed momentarily as large pieces, several of which housed the weapons it had been firing at them, fell away to the passing sands below.

"You got it!" exclaimed Yang as the Cobra Mech steadied itself "a couple more of those and-"

A loud whirring interrupted her as the drill on the machine began violently spinning, Weiss recognized the model of drill as the Cobra sped towards them.

"Don't let that touch you!" she called to the others before leaping back as the spinning drill swung towards them.

Ruby followed her partner's instructions and sped away using her semblance as the drill just barely missed her.

Yang leaped back as the drill connected with the roof of the caboose where she previously stood, the apparatus gouging a massive scar into the metal as it passed.

Weiss prepared another glyph when a gasp from the side drew her attention to Blake just as the Faunus was sent reeling from Gundza.

Blake fired at the Uruk, who halted his approach justin time to duck under Uthug's musket, Blake had to dodge the bayonet as well, leaving her open to a spear jab from the assassin.

The Heiress frowned before turning back to her teammates, "I'm going to help Blake!"

"Just be quick about it!" Yang called back before she and her sister began trading fire with the mech once more.

Blake watched Uthug stumble away from Gundza once more, catching sight of Weiss in the process.

The Looter heard the sound of approaching high-heels, and was about to turn to check on it when he was struck from behind and sent face first to the roof of the train.

"Weiss, wait!" Blake called out before being forced back by Gundza.

Weiss paused before she could bring the rapier down upon the rising Uruk, she glanced down to see Uthug glaring at her with a fire raging in his eyes, "Another damned irritation!"

He swung his musket, only for the heiress to swipe it away with her rapier. He didn't falter, his free hand shooting towards her. Weiss backed out of his range before raising Myrtenaster and spinning back towards him. Her next strike sent him back to his knees, but as Weiss approached Gundza disengaged from Blake and ran back towards them. He planted his foot on Uthug's back and leaped forward before and swinging his leg towards her. Weiss slipped underneath him as he sailed over and turned to strike him only for the downed Looter to slam the palm of his hand into the back of her leg and bringing her to a knee.

Weiss swung back, her rapier barely missing Uthug's face as his free hand clawed at her shoulder.

She was momentarily distracted by something, something odd. As Uthug scratched at her, her aura flared to defend her like usual. But as his fingers pulled away she saw trails of something connecting them to her.

He didn't seem to notice as those string-like trails broke and raced back to him, he was already rising to continue fighting. Weiss was about to rise as well when the blunt end of a spear slammed into the back of her head.

Gundza stepped past her and ducked under a musket shot as he glanced up. He looked past Uthug to see Blake approaching fast and grinned before slipping past the Scavenger's next strike and once again using him as a stepping stool.

Blake slowed to a stop to raise both Gambol Shroud and its sheathe to block Gundza's incoming kick, she steeled herself before lunging forward just as he landed and striking him with both her blade and its cleave at the same time. To her surprise, his aura shimmered with strain.

Gundza cursed under his breath, had he not recovered from their last battle? Was this a result of that annoying grunt's resistance. He darted back, a scowl forming on his face as he resisted the urge to vocalize his anger.

A roar from behind him drew his attention to Uthug, who brought down his musket only for the Shadow to leap back into him once again.

Blake slowed to a stop as she watched him struggle, the Uruk's eyes rapidly filling and emptying of blackness as the two struggled inside one body. The Faunus was about to offer some form of help when Gundza jerked his musket towards her and fired.

Blake didn't want to fight the captive, from what she'd seen of him he'd just been unfortunate during this entire encounter. But damn if he wasn't getting in her way something fierce, she'd have to incapacitate him at the very least if she hoped to end this and help her teammates.

So with resolve etched into her features, Blake dodged through his fire before slashing at him. As the Uruk skidded away from the strike, the blackness emptied from his irises and Uthug snarled as he saw Blake running towards him.

As she leaped towards him, the Scavenger acted on a sudden instinct. Raising his hand, he spread his fingers wide and roared as something took shape. Blake gasped in shock as she suddenly slammed into a solid surface, that shock formed into disbelief when she pulled away from it and saw what had sprung up between them.

A glyph.

A dark imitation of Weiss's glyph had been raised between them, only faded and black with pieces of it looking chipped and shabby in comparison to the pristine ones the Heiress would summon.

Uthug looked stunned as well, his mouth hanging ajar as his musket lowered. That was to say nothing for the very Heiress herself, who paused just before she could try sneaking up on the Uruk. She squinted her eyes, as if not fully able to comprehend what just happened before her.

Blake tried moving down from the Glyph, only for it to shatter and send her sailing onto her back.

Uthug looked down at her for a moment before looking at his hand "What the-?"

Weiss slashed him along his back, he stumbled forward as Gundza leaped out towards the downed Faunus.

Meanwhile, Yang's consistent firing finally managed to chase the dodgy Cobra into Ruby's sight yet again.

The remaining guns and launchers on the other side of the mech were blasted from the rest of the machine as it spun from the impact once again.

Ruby had emptied nearly two clips at the thing before she finally managed to hit it, the congratulations from her sister managed to bring a smile to her face until-

"You aren't slipping away!"

She glanced back just as Blake darted past her towards the caboose, following closely behind her was Gundza who in turn was followed by a still rage-minded Uthug. She was about to raise Crescent Rose to get one of the Uruks off her teammate when she suddenly recognized what she was doing.

Gundza reached out for the Faunus girl after she leaped to the caboose, fully intent on yanking her back into Uthug, but as he just barely sunk his fingers into her dark hair.

The shadow Clone faded away, revealing the grinning blonde on the other side. He tried skidding to a halt, but his momentum was far too great at that point. Yang launched herself towards him, rearing back with a fist before clothes-lining both him and Uthug in one swing. But Yang wasn't done. As the Uruks fell she clasped her hands together and spun before smashing the two of them through the roof of the caboose.

"Fetch," the blonde commented with a small smirk before looking up to the slightly winded Faunus at her side "I can't believe you remembered it."

Blake gave her tired smile and opened her lips before her eyes widened and she shouted past her partner "Ruby! Incoming!"

The Sniper had just enough time to recognize the rapidly approaching whir of the drill before she activated her semblance and sped out of the way mere milliseconds before the semi-crippled mech buried its deadly implement into the roof she previously stood upon. Ruby reappeared in a flash of rose petals, but was given no time to breath before the Cobra mech pulled back and stabbed at her again. Once more, only her insane speed kept her from being minced by the drill.

This time, however, a glyph appeared around the drill and a large block of ice formed around the front of the mech, essentially pinning it there.

Weiss had timed the activation of her trap as best she could, having to plan ahead of both the Mech and Ruby's rapid movements. But it paid off, and the Heiress released a breath of relief as she watched the Cobra struggle to free itself from her cold grasp, "Gotcha."

Yang took advantage of the machine's trapped status and immediately leaped onto its large domed cockpit before rearing back with one fist. At that very moment she heard a dreadfully familiar click come from her gauntlet just before she could fire, and found Ember Celica locked and refusing to discharge. The second it took for her to look at her unresponsive gauntlet in confusion was all she had before the cockpit suddenly flew open. She had only enough time to push back and lean her her head out of the way before the rising dome had the chance to slam into it. But as she flailed to find purchase elsewhere a foot sped out of the now open cockpit and slammed into her nose.

"Yang!" Ruby yelled out as she and the rest of their team rushed to the Brawler, who fell to the roof of the train while shaking off the sudden impact. At the same time a figure launched from inside the cockpit and landed several yards away from them with its back to them.

Yang sat up with a groan and caught sight of the figure, and immediately recognized the slightly blood-stained labcoat.

"Ratlug?!"

The Storm Doctor turned to regard all of the girls with a sigh before casting a slightly miffed look to the now-disabled machine "Even if that was merely a prototype..." he muttered before shaking his head and shrugging "Well, guess I'll just have to make the next one even better."

Ruby stepped forward and trained Crescent Rose on the Uruk "Sis, you know this guy?"

"He's just the dad of one of the assholes who had me locked up." Yang grumbled as Blake helped her up.

"I'm afraid we've already met, Youngster." Ratlug chuckled as he casually pulled a bottle of water from his coat and took a small sip before continuing "Not even a week and you forget?"

As her teammates hefted their weapons, Ruby thought back "You... were with the Shaman."

Ratlug sighed again before pulling out a folded up towel as well "Such a pity, if I had any inclination to let you live through today I'd say you'd never forget me again."

"Oh come on man," Yang bit "Not only are you outnumbered, but whatcha gonna fight us with? We broke your damn toy. You gonna' fight us with that towel or-"

"That's exactly what I plan on doing." the Swordsmith interrupted as he thoroughly soaked the towel with water.

"You know... After seeing Mulgrim waltz into my cell with a towel wrapped around his open wound, I thought I'd never find a stupider use for the things in my life." Yang looked Ratlug up and down before shaking her head in disbelief "Congratulations, I can only hope this as far as your obsession goes."

"Yang, what should we look out for?" Blake asked, somewhat disconcerted by both Ratlug's demeanor and her partner brushing off his threat.

"Guys, I was forced to hang around this guy for a while." Yang said as she turned back to them and shook her head "As far as I've seen, he's just some creepy asshole who screws with his son too much. He isn't-"

Ratlug tossed the now empty bottle off the side of the train before leaning forward a bit and launching towards them.

The others moved to warn Yang, but the pounding footsteps gave her more than enough inclination to spin around and raise an arm to defend herself just as the Uruk whipped the towel towards her. One end wrapped around her wrist and, with a shocking amount of force, he yanked her back past him before ducking under a blast of Crescent Rose and leaping over a small gap between Blake and Ruby towards Weiss. The heiress couldn't even raise Myrtenaster before he grabbed hold of her wrist and swung himself behind her like an oversized monkey.

She soon found his legs wrapping around her from behind as he dragged her to the ground with him, one of his heels was digging into her weapon arm as one of his sleeves appeared in her vision and a thin dagger slid into his awaiting palm.

Her eyes widened in surprise as he immediately brought the blade down, impacting with the girl's aura twice with blunted thuds which forced the wind out of her as he tried goring his way through her aura.

Before he could go for a third, the sight of incoming boots caused him to loosen his hold on the Heiress so he could slip back before Ruby could slash at him.

Ratlug rolled back onto his feet and watched Weiss immediately roll onto her front while her teammate continued her charge, Ratlug grinned before slipping back out of another swing of the large gun-scythe before darting forward. Ruby saw the sun reflect off his rising dagger and immediately activated her semblance, becoming a cloud of rose petals which slipped past the Uruk Doctor.

However, the second she reformed with a clear shot on him, she found the telling tug of something on her ankle. He had already turned around, and his wet towel was now wrapped tightly around the Young Huntress. She gave only a gasp of disbelief as he immediately dragged her down to him and slashed across her entire body as he spun past. At some point he'd loosened the hold of his towel, allowing him to step away as she slammed into the roof of the train with a grunt.

Smirk firmly planted on his face, Ratlug turned to regard the four girls with a flip of his blade as he slung his towel over his shoulder.

Ruby gave him a glare as she rose to her feet, her Aura still pulsing after suffering such a sudden dual attack. Blake, Weiss and Yang appeared at her sides; all of them seemed equally worn by their previous battles. Even so, they raised their weapons once more, despite the dawning realization that rest would not be coming just yet. Ruby turned her attention back to Ratlug, wondering just how much trouble the lab coat-wearing Uruk would give them.

He turned to face them fully, twirling his towel casually as he did. He took a moment to reach towards the lens-less glasses decorating his face and readjusted them oh so very slightly before rushing towards them.

The girls opened fire on him as he did, the False Doctor slashing and dodging projectiles as he closed distance.

"Scatter!" Ruby shouted

The four girls immediately made distance between each other as Ratlug quite literally leaped into the midst of them. He immediately slashed away both Myrtenaster and Gambol Shroud before spinning past Yang's fist and ramming his elbow into her cheek.

As she stumbled back, he ducked underneath a blast of Crescent Rose before whipping his towel back and coiling it around Blake's arm before she could finish her attack. She immediately pulled back out of the way of his dagger only for him to yank her back towards him. She quickly darted out of the bind, leaving behind a clone which Ratlug tossed away as he spun to intercept Ruby and Yang.

The sisters came at him simultaneously, forcing the Fake Doctor to go evasive for a moment as he continuously slipped past Yang's blows and Ruby's slashes. Eventually he folded both his arms behind his back while dodging another swing of Crescent Rose and lunged into Yang's attack before she could follow-up. His shoulder slammed into her face like a freight train, leaving her dazed just long enough for him to whip his towel back around Crescent Rose's handle just as Ruby approached once more.

With a small grunt of effort, Ratlug pulled both the Weapon and its owner off her feet and swung heraround into her sister. The two rolled dangerously close to the edge of the train as the Uruk was once again pre-occupied by their teammates.

He dodged out of the way of a sailing chunk of ice before slithering his way through a barrage from Gambol Shroud, ramming his shoulder into Blake's side as he passed and charging Weiss.

She saw him throw his dagger towards her and quickly slashed it out of the air, what she hadn't accounted for was the towel which was flung against her face while she was distracted by the blade.

Her vision obscurred, the Heiress tried distancing herslef and reaching for it simultaneously when an unseen fist collided with the side of her head.

She spun, the wet towel sliding off from the force as she tried swiping back at her attacker. He was much closer than she initially though, and caught her wrist mid swing with an amused smirk.

He quickly yanked her towards him whilst raising his leg, his free hand shot to Myrtenaster as he planted his foot on Weiss's neck and quite literally pried her and her weapon away from each other. He quickly ducked under a slash of Gambol Shroud as Blake sailed past him, she came to a stop beside the disoriented Schnee and quickly reached down.

"Weiss!" she shouted while keeping the doctor in her sight "Talk to me."

"He... he got it..." the White-Haired girl stammered while rising beside the Faunus.

Ratlug admired the rapier for a moment before glancing behind him to Ruby and Yang, finding himself surrounded by the team.

He glanced between the two sets of girls for a moment before returning his sight to the weapon in his hand "Let's learn a bit." he commented wih a grin before raising his free hand to his head.

For a brief second, the girls saw both Myrtenaster and the Doctor's head flash white for a moment. It was small, but enough to prompt the girls into action.

"Oh my, what an interesting piece." Ratlug commented before lowering Myrtenaster and spinning its chamber.

Weiss's eyes widened as she noticed her stolen weapon turn an alarming shade of glowing red and turned her attention to her teammates "Wait!"

But Ruby was already mid strike, and briefly shifted her attention to her partner as Crescent Rose collided with Myrtenaster. The resulting blast sent Ruby sailing back past her Sister, who growled as she sped up her charge.

"Marvelous!" the Uruk shouted as he spun the chamber again and darted back out of Yang's range.

She and Blake came at him from either side, both swinging at the same time. Ratlug leaned forward under Gambol Shroud before shifting out of the way of Yang's fist. As he did so, his foot came in contact with a familiar piece of cloth.

As the Blonde turned to retaliate, his leg shot up and launched that damned towel into her face. She immediately leaped back, but Ratlug was on her before she could shake the cloth off. The second it slipped away, she spotted the incoming yellow blade and felt her Aura screech while holding back the voltage of whatever Electric dust was loaded into the rapier.

She gritted her teeth and bashed the blade away, but Ratlug merely twirled past her fist as he spun the chamber yet again. By the time she turned and raised her fist, her left leg was encased in ice.

Consequentially, the ice also left her unable to dodge out of the of the following spin kick which sent her skidding along the train's roof.

Ratlug nodded his approval, raising Myrtenaster and grinning "You know, I quite like this trinket. Mayhaps I'll keep it for a time after I'm done with you."

A battle cry from his side brought his attention to an incoming Faunus, and Ratlug merely gave a chortle as he raised the rapier to intercept the twin slashes of both her blade and its sheathe. She darted past him and shifted her weapon to its pistol form and opened fire. Ratlug swiped her pesky bullets out of the air as he dashed towards her, halting only when he noticed the glowing circle forming between them.

He came to a stop right before a large icicle shot out of the circle, and he immediately glanced to the side to see Weiss kneeling beside a similar circle. With one hand pressed to its center and the other gripping a blue clip of dust, she glared at the Doctor "That's a family keepsake you bastard."

Ratlug rolled his eyes "Typical sentimental human."

Before he could turn and deal with her, he noticed movement from the side. Blake vaulted over the icicle whilst swinging a leg out. He ducked under it and raised Myrtenaster to deflect her onslaught. But amongst the sound of clashing blades was that of another glyph forming. Ratlug shifted out of the way of another icicle, Blake immediately leaped off of it to swipe at his head. Ratlug actually had to grit his teeth to deflect the swipe and the next two icicles at the same time.

But Blake was struck by a sudden idea, and quickly shifted Gambol Shroud while raising its sheath.

Ratlug turned in time to deflect a shot, but was momentarily distracted as Blake threw her weapon. It embedded itself into the top of one of the icicles as Blake rushed him with the sheath.

Ratlug deflected the first swipe, but when he turned to intercept the followup Blake yanked Gambol Shroud towards him with the entire top half of the icicle still stuck to it. With the Faunus coming from one direction and the Icicle from another, Ratlug sighed to himself. With a swipe of Myrtenaster the Icicle was smashed, but the Doctor had to raise his arm to intercept the cleaver-like sheath.

Seeing his Aura shimmer slightly from the strike, Blake was emboldened. She pulled on Gambol's ribbon and sent the pistol blade spinning towards Ratlug again. He caught sight of the projectile and ducked under it, but a quick pull of the ribbon sent the whip-like gambol shroud sailing back at him.

Blake readied the Sheath, but found that she sorely underestimated the Uruk's hearing. He spun underneath Gambol shroud yet again, only this time he brought up Myrtnaster with its chamber already spinning. Blake raised the sheath to intercept, but the Rapier's thin tip slipped right past her guard before delivering a devastating amount of electricity to her Aura.

As he drew the rapier back to strike again, Blake tried shifted her weapon back to its blade form and crossed it with the sheath to defend. But instead of a thrust, Myrtenaster's blade glowed red as the False Doctor swiped at her and blasted her guard wide open. His foot sank into her stomach before she could try and move; and while she stumbled back, he was already lunging towards her once more.

Another icicle sprout up in between them, but this time Ratlug simply smashed it out of his way with another swipe of his stolen weapon before driving his shoulder into the dazed Faunus. The shadow clone fell apart at his touch as the Real Blake tried to desperately distance herself from his onslaught.

He pouted before moving to close the distance with another thrust when a pair of high-heels collided with his arm mid attack. Weiss used his moment of surprise to cling to his arm and grab hold of Myrtenaster before trying to yank it out of the Uruk's hand.

His grip was iron, and the Uruk grinned as he reached with his other hand towards the Heiress when he noted the now half empty clip of dust still clutched in her grasp. At once three glyphs seemed to appear around him and began releasing the sharp icicles within.

Ratlug found himself sighing once more before relaxing his grasp and allowing Weiss to leap away. He jumped back as the three icicles collided together, forming one larger icicle which Weiss landed upon as she smirked towards her weapon before aiming it down at the Doctor.

He merely folded his arms and gave her an expectant look.

Weiss blinked before looking closer at her rapier, only to find that the trigger had been torn off. Her eyes went back to Ratlug, who waved the missing piece of metal in his fingers for a bit before shrugging "Pity to break a family heirloom, eh pink-skin?"

While Weiss fumed, Blake acted. Seeing their quarry weaponless prompted her to leap at him while his back was turned.

However, he turned and swung a dagger out of his labcoat to intercept it. As she skidded along the roof of the train, Ratlug lunged forth to grab her before she could catch her footing, but a pair of hands shot out from the side of his vision and grabbed hold of his outreaching arm.

He glanced to the side and locked eyes with Yang as her grip tightened. Despite her hold remaining unfaltering, he merely gave her a humored smile. With a legitimate growl rising in the back of her throat, Yang yanked the doctor off his feet and sent him sailing back towards her sister, who was waiting weapon-raised.

Ruby pulled the trigger as she swung towards the incoming Uruk, who twisted in the air before skidding along the side of Crescent Rose as it pass under him. His free hand snatched hold of the top of he Scythe, and Ruby felt the giant weapon jerk as his weight pulled it upright. She steeled her grip before looking up at Ratlug, who was hanging from the top of her weapon by his hands.

With a gleaming smile, he raised both of his legs before catching sight of something behind the young girl and throwing himself back away from her. Ruby immediately backed up too as Yang sailed past her towards Ratlug.

The Tinkerer, however, wasn't even looking at her. Instead, he looked past them towards the Heiress, who was obviously conversing with the shaken faunus behind her despite keeping her eyes locked on the Uruk. She was trying to force the chamber of her weapon to spin, which proved more of a tricky task with the trigger gouged out of it.

Ratlug smiled as he drank in the sight of how unsteady they were, the best way to break a chain was to target its weakest links after all.

He sank underneath Yang's attack and charged Ruby as the Blonde vocalized her annoyance at just how slippery he was with an appropriate "Get the fuck back here!"

He clashed with the younger sibling several times before she spotted his free hand lunging towards Crescent Rose's handle and immediately blasted herself away from him. She spun away before planting her scythe in the the roof of the train and slowing to a stop. As she turned to spot him, she just barely caught the sight of an incoming boot before Ratlug landed on her shoulder and launched himself towards the other half of her team.

Weiss flinched as the Uruk landed and darted towards her, briefly glancing down at her malfunctioning Rapier before furrowing her brow and turning to Blake. The Faunus met her gaze before swallowing and shifting Gambol Shroud to its pistol form.

As to be expected, he quite literally carved through the incoming bullets before blocking against the following slash as Weiss leaped past him. He turned to reciprocate when she slid out of the way as Yang barreled past her. Her fist was soon caught in his grasp before he yanked her up and over himself, slamming her against the roof of the train. He moved to bring his foot down upon her when Blake followed Weiss's example and swiped at his leg as it fell.

Ratlug caught himself before the swipe could throw him off, but frowned when Yang reached up and slammed her other fist into the back of his leg and brought him to a knee.

The Monochrome Duo came at him together, prompting the false doctor to drop his knife. His hands slid past the oncoming weapons with the speed of a cobra before locking around both of their arms, his leg locking around Yang's fist at the same time.

With a grunt of effort, Ratlug pushed himself up on his one free leg before taking a deep breath and spinning with all three girls trapped in his limbs. He did three full rotations before unclenching and sending the three flying away from him. Blake was sent towards one end of the train while Yang slid to a stop right in front of her openly gob-smacked little sister.

Weiss was sent flying off the train, but quickly caught herself with a glyph before leaping to her partner's side "Ruby," she said quickly before reaching up and wiping some sweat from her brow "we may be in need of one of those insane plans of yours."

Ruby glanced to her, the creeping sense of worry before slowly blossoming into a ful blown panic as she saw the state her team was in compared to the barely phased engineer currently retrieving his dagger.

Weapon back in hand, Ratlug watched Yang push herself back to her feet and glare at him before realizing his position and turning around to spot Blake rising as well.

They'd let him single one of them out.

Ratlug charged Blake relentlessly despite the telltale sounds of the rest of her team following behind. With her semblance, Ruby caught up to him first and once again brought her Scythe down towards his back. He veered to the side and swung his leg back, slamming his heel into the weapon and throwing her off balance before returning his sights on Blake.

Just as she prepared to open fire again, he threw his dagger towards her, and she diverted attention to blocking the blade and sending it bouncing off her weapon into the air.

But it was that very second of defense that reinforced Ratlug's thoughts, as for just a split second he saw her Aura shimmer as a telltale sign of straining.

He heard another one of Weiss's glyphs activate, and a plan constructed itself solidly in his mind after catching sight of the dagger falling down towards the roof of the train again.

He turned around and spread his arms wide as the Schnee rocketed from her glyph towards him blade-first. Ratlug gave a small little jump right before Myrtenaster's tip slammed into him. Blunted by his aura, the attack merely sent the Uruk sailing away from her...

...directly towards Blake.

She immediately tried backpedaling while firing upon him, but he simply spun in the air and grabbed onto his falling blade whilst letting his Aura handle the barrage.

She wouldn't be able to get out of his range in time, and tried activating her semblance as he raised the dagger in both hands.

The blade came crashing down on her weakened aura before plunging straight through both it and her right arm.

Blake's eyes went wide as she felt it sink in to the hilt, and she bit her lip hard as the urge to scream was overcome by a surge of adrenaline. Despite the wound, she fought to move the weapon still in her hand towards Ratlug. The false doctor merely twisted his blade before yanking her arm to the side and causing the resulting bullet to fire harmlessly into the sand wall beside the train.

His free hand shot forth and grabbed hold of her head, taking a hold of her t hair before sending his foot directly into her leg.

The feeling of her bones caving under the force was what forced the scream out of her, but she could barely vocalize it before his skull slammed into her face and she nearly blacked out.

Satisfied with her barely conscious state, Ratlug yanked out his dagger and tossed Blake to the roof of the train. Her weapon tumbled out of her grasp and disappeared off the back of the train car, but he paid it no mind as he turned to face the three other little girls he'd break.

Despite the crumpled state of their teammate, Ruby and Weiss fought against the rising panic as they continued to press towards him. But both of them had to shift to the side as an infuriated Yang raced past them, eyes red and body aflame.

"You mad I dealt with ya little friend?" he taunted as he raised the reddened dagger to his mouth "Ya know the blood of these hybrid folk always interest me since there's always just a hint of that beast flavor in'em."

He stuck out his tongue and slurped at Blake's blood for a second before shivering "But it riles me up just the same as tark blood I tell's ya. Kick-starts the blood-thirst."

He cackled a bit before twitching at the flavors and wiping some of the red substance from his lips with his free hand, smearing some of it on his mouth in the process. He kept his eyes locked on the incoming girls as he lapped at his palms and crouched low.

"More!" He moaned as he let the flavor settle upon his taste buds "I need's to taste more of what's in ya!"

Yang reared back before blasting herself towards the writhing Uruk, flaming fist sailing forward.

Ratlug paused in his ecstatic twisting just enough for an eye to fall upon the incoming huntress.

And then he launched forward and clotheslined her in what seemed like the blink of an eye.

Both Ruby and Weiss skidded to a halt once Ratlug landed and rushed them "More deliciousness damn you!"

Ruby managed to raise Crescent Rose to block just as he swiped at her, not expecting him to hook the back of his dagger around the handle of her weapon so he could drag his palm into the underside of her chin. She felt herself being lifted up before she collided with the roof of the train.

Ratlug pulled back out of the way of a stab from Myrtenaster before lunging towards the attacking heiress, only for the walking inferno that was Yang Xiao Long to push past Weiss whilst sending her burning fist towards the incoming Doctor-

-who caught it in his grasp immediately.

Yang's eyes went wide as she looked towards his hand, watching his Aura shimmer as it held back the heat of her semblance. Ratlug seemed unconcerned with that, as he raised his dagger and said "Bleed a bit for me, Lady."

Like a flash of lightning the blade sped across her aura twice before she managed to catch sight of it long enough for her to lunge forth with her free hand and grab hold of his wrist.

The Uruk cooed as Yang tried to hold his arms at bay, but he quickly crouched down before ramming his skull into her stomach and charging forward with her dangling from his head. It culminated in him leaping forward and slamming on top of her, but Yang wormed her leg in between them and sent him sailing over her.

Weiss watched her enraged teammate continue to try pressuring their quarry, disbelief marring her features as Ruby approached from behind "He's- he's just getting faster. We-we need to get him off the train. We have to get rid of him before he wears us down!"

She glanced back to Ruby, hoping that her Partner had even the tiniest idea of how they were going to put her suggestion into action. Unfortunately, it seemed Ruby seemed at a loss for words, her eyes glued to the Uruk as he slid through Yang's barrage cackling and cooing the entire time.

Weiss grimaced at the lack of response before stilling her breath and moving to back up the blonde. She was stopped, however, by a hand grabbing her wrist.

"I-i think I might have an idea."

Despite their situation, hearing those words brought a genuine smile to Weiss's face.

.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.

Blake opened her eyes to find the sky above her, had she blacked out?

She tried turning onto her side, only to wince when she put weight on her left side.

Broken leg and an arm with a gaping laceration on it, that dagger had passed clean through. She should be thankful that it hadn't cleaved her bones on its way through, given the amount of force he must'ce stabbed her with.

Blake knew how to fight through the pain, knew how to bite her tongue and focus on using what limbs weren't damaged to lean up. Her head began aching as she reoriented herself, she was almost surprised that headbutt hadn't broken her nose.

Looking up, she spotted the rest of her team trying desperately to overpower Ratlug, who seemed to be moving even faster than before.

Blake's brow furrowed, torn between her desire to help in some way and the blatant realization that she was in no way capable of it.

With the broken leg alone Ratlug would have no trouble stepping on her neck, the stab wound and aching head were just icing on that cake.

No her best bet would be to get out of their way, hopefully get something around that arm before she started noticing the blood loss.

The obvious option would be her ribbon, at least until she found something else. Her eyes turned to the ribbon clutched in her hand before realizing that she'd dropped Gambol Shroud.

Rolling over, she followed the ribbon until seeing it dip off the back of the train car into the space between it and the caboose. She tugged on it, initially reassured by the familiar resistance she felt. It hadn't been lost.

She pulled on it whilst dragging herself to the edge, she could wrap herself up before trying to think of a way to help.

The feeling of her leg dragging behind her made her sick, but she'd push that feeling down as well.

Then she felt it snag on something, and grimaced as she strained to pull harder. Had it gotten snagged on the ladder?

No... something far worse.

Her confusion was replaced with immediate terror once a bruised hand appeared from the back of the train car, followed by another with Gambol Shroud clutched in it.

Before her eyes a ragged and exhausted-looking Gundza hauled himself up before pausing as he spotted the wounded faunus before him.

His ragged breathing grew harsher as his glare dug into her, but the clashing of metal on metal drew his gaze to the vicious three on one battle occurring further away.

"No..." Gundza wheezed before growling and raising the pistol-blade "She's...mine!"

Seeing him take aim, Blake immediately wrapped more of the ribbon around her hand and rolled onto her back to more properly ground herself before yanking hard on it. Gundza's shot went wide, the tug had nearly dragged the weakened Uruk off the ladder.

His other hand dug into the train as his glare returned to the Faunus once more, along with the barrel of Gambol Shroud.

Blake's breathing increased, even if it was just one round... without her Aura...

She tugged hard a second time, the bullet now skimming along the metal roof right beside her as Gundza tried to fight against her force and line up a shot.

"Why!?" He grunted as he fired again, this time the bullet just barely skimmed along her already broken leg "Why can't you just... die!?"

Blake ignored the immense pain emanating from each of her wounds, all her effort was centered on driving his aim as far off as possible.

"Stop it!" he growled as yet another bullet missed its mark, his eyes twitching from the growing malice which rose from the stoked furnace that was his insides "Just stop it!"

A round managed to carve a large gash along the side of her head, but still the Faunus's grip held true.

"JUST STOP!" Gundza roared as he leaned back, releasing his grip on the rail as he steadied himself using only his legs and gripped Gambol Shroud between both hands.

Mind racing as she watched the barrel center on her, Blake acted quickly as his finger began to depress.

With as much strength as she could muster, she yanked him towards her as hard as she could. Without his arm on the ladder to keep him stationary, Gundza was pulled forth quickly, his face smacking loudly against the metal roof of the train as the gun in his hands discharged a bullet which tore the top half of Blake's left cat-ear clean off.

The Faunus bit her tongue so hard she tasted blood, the accumulation of pain slowly eroding her endurance down to nothing.

But it had been enough.

Gundza leaned back from the train car, several teeth having been shattered from the impact and were now falling from his now-open mouth as a dazed expression marred his features. His eyes looked glassy and unfocused, and his arms lowered as he fell back from the ladder and cracked the back of his head on the caboose behind him. He fell between the two train cars, but Blake refused to let her rapidly beating heart calm until she pulled her ribbon and saw her weapon being dragged back to her with no resistance.

She released several shaky breaths as the adrenaline began fading, but the memory of her original intentions resurfaced. With several grunts of effort tinged with pain, the Faunus turned back around only to find the situation having devolved greatly.

Ruby was busy helping Weiss to her feet as Yang desperately struggled to hold back Ratlug's onslaught, at some point the Doctor had picked up his towel once again and was whipping it towards the brawler with clear intent of restricting one of her limbs again.

Yang played cautiously, doing her best to avoid as many of the rapid attacks as possible, but she was getting slower. Her semblance was just unable to keep her going for this long, and as it faded only the exhaustion of keeping up with the Tinkerer's offensive remained.

Blake gritted her teeth, raising Gambol Shroud and pointing it towards the Uruk. Unwilling to let her ragged breathing throw off her aim, Blake closed one eye and held her breath.

Finally, she found the perfect opportunity.

Yang crossed her arms just as the dagger sped towards her again, the strike managing to break her guard but the rebound sent Ratlug's blade wide as the Blonde stumbled away from him. Seeing an opening, he whipped his towel towards her as she flailed, leaving him open for just the precise shot to

Gambol Shroud clicked empty.

Blake blinked, eyeing her weapon with stark disbelief etched into her wounded features.

The towel found its target, tying around Yang's wrist and dragging her towards the Fake Doctor as he whipped his dagger to meet her. Yang thought quickly, raising her free gauntlet between them to intercept it, but the blade merely slipped around her wrist before dragging along her already struggling Aura. But he didn't stop there, and before Yang could try and break from the Towel's hold she was dragged back towards him as the very tip of his dagger sped towards her eye.

She blocked again, but this time the blade broke through her aura and sank into her gauntlet, just barely passing by her arm. Before she could yank back, Ratlug tore his blade sideways out of the Gauntlet, spraying bits and pieces of it across her face while the blade dug into the bridge of her nose as it passed. Yang had no time to reel back before he swung again. With her gauntlet damaged and the cloth still dragging her towards him, her hand instead shot forward to catch his wrist. But Ratlug immediately yanked his arm back out of her grasp, slashing his blade into the meat of her hand in the process.

His grip on the cloth loosened, and for a split second Yang prepared to blast herself out of his range with her remaining gauntlet when his foot shot up and slammed into her face with enough power to break her nose instantly. But he didn't stop, before she even finished lurching from the impact he slammed his foot into her face a second time. He cackled as he raised his leg and slammed it onto her shoulder, dropping the brawler to her knees before slamming his foot into her unguarded face several more times. Each time her dazed form reeled away, the cloth just dragged her back for more punishment until finally he steadied her with his heel.

With a disapproving tilt of his head, Ratlug sighed before finally letting go of the towel "If you could possibly bleed a bit more for me, Lady? That would be grand."

With that, he spun around and slammed his entire foreleg into the side of her head and sent her rolling to the edge of the train car in a heap. He took a moment to look at the trail of blood she left in her wake, nodding as he crouched down to have a taste "Much better."

But before he could have himself a sample of the crimson sweetness, he heard a shout of "Now!" before turning his head to an incoming red blur.

He wasted no time in sporting another grin and tightening his grip on his dagger, standing tall before rushing to meet the unfortunate soon-to-be pile of entrails head-on. But as Ruby formed with her scythe already swinging towards the mad doctor full-force, he noticed a subtle little something forming in the corner of his eye.

Another glyph, smaller than the others but already forming yet another icicle courtesy of the Schnee no doubt. If Ratlug wasn't already in the process of dodging this poor attempt at a coordinated affair he would've shaken his head in humored pity for the worthless girls.

He spun sideways past both the icicle and Crescent Rose, his nimble limbs already stretching to catch himself when he realized the extended feature of the dual attack. Ruby continued spinning with her scythe, landing against the icicle and using her new stepping stool to continue swinging back towards the still airborne Uruk.

Intelligent as he was, Ratlug recognized the tactic as a somewhat modified version of the very play the young red wench used against his machine. He conceded that he hadn't anticipated that level of forethought from such consistently disappointing creatures, and crossed his arms to intercept the strike.

Ruby swiped him out of the air, sending the Uruk sailing towards his mech which was still trapped by the ice. Ratlug landed on his feet inside of the cockpit, already preparing to leap back out when he noticed another glyph already formed around the ice holding his mech. The second he was inside, Weiss had already activated the glyph, which exploded and sent the partially demolished machine spinning away from the train on its single leg.

"That thing still works?!" Weiss shouted

"Not for long!" her Partner shouted before taking aim.

Unfortunately for her, by the time she'd gotten the single limb in her sight, Ratlug had steadied himself with one arm and reached down to the controls of the machine with one of his feet.

The Machine dodged out of the way of her round, and Ruby quickly panicked as she fired again and again to try bringing it down.

"A clever ploy, lassie." Ratlug jokingly commented as he piloted the machine out of the way of her rounds with but a single foot "Perhaps if you weren't part of such a worthless species it might've actually-"

Suddenly, Ratlug jerked his head to his left. The move was so sudden that Weiss ended up looking as well.

The train was just about to pass over a ravine, a sturdy looking bridge had been built which the tracks ran over.

But for Ratlug and his mech, there was nothing but a steep plummet ahead.

The Uruk acted immediately, leaping back from his speeding mech mere seconds before it fell, his filthy labcoat flailing as he watched the train pass to the other side uncontested.

Ruby and Weiss watched as the Uruk landed far behind them, he merely stood, grinned, then gave them a wave goodbye as he soon disappeared in the distance.

Weiss blinked, the sudden lack of immediate danger making all of her limbs feel heavier from the extreme exertion the previous thirty or so minutes put her through. Her partner, however, was already making a mad dash to her sister.

The Blonde was trying with marginal success to push herself back to her feet, the shaky train beneath her made her footing fail her as her sister approached, "Yang! A-are you-!?"

The young leader's panicked worries were stunted when Yang raised her good hand back in a silent gesture for silence, her wounded hand was tucked under her arm "..mmfine."

Weiss stood at Ruby's side, looking the brawler over and going wide-eyed upon looking at her face "You are most definitely not fine, Yang."

Besides the broken nose, Yang now sported a busted lip and a large gash crossing along the side of her face. That was to say nothing of all the bruises, some of which were already beginning to start swelling in response to the physical trauma she'd recently undergone.

"Said I'm fi-Blake!"

Stumbling towards the downed Faunus, Yang had to catch herself as she fell to her side.

Blake's eyes fluttered open once she felt herself being pulled into Yang's grasp, the pain of having her broken leg moved was nearly offset by the warm embrace, but the moment she saw her Partner's bruised and battered face she began silently shedding several small tears she'd been holding back during the battle.

"Oh god, oh god... Oh god!" Yang breathed heavily as Ruby and Weiss came to her side.

"Gundza..." the Faunus raised a finger towards the caboose "tried shooting...stopped...wanted to help...sorry..."

"Yang," Weiss shook the brawler "the towel."

Yang gave her a confused look as she cradled her partner, before realizing that she still had Ratlug's towel wrapped around her wrist.

Soon the Schnee was at her side, trying to staunch the Faunus's arm laceration with the cloth, "Ruby?" she called to her partner, shaking her from the mortified daze she seemed to let herself fall in "The caboose, if Gundza's still on board..."

"No, you're right." the Younger Girl looked down before giving a nod and hefting her weapon "I'll be right back."

.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.

The first thing Uthug did when he was roused back to the world of consciousness was hold back an immediate scream of terror.

He was lying on his back, initially looking up at the large hole that blonde tark made when she blasted him and that damned possessor into this train car. The scream only began rising when he tried taking in his surroundings and spotted a bloody smile being aimed at him from the back of the car.

His hands slammed against his mouth when the smile widened at being noticed, and his eyes traveled up to see Krimp the Friendly looking down at him from behind a mattress.

The Friendly Uruk's upper skull seemed like it had been partially caved in by something, and half his face seemed shifted, the skin just barely keeping itself together due to the broken bone beneath. But despite looking as though he'd been beaten by a horde of living castles, the Warchief's brother merely gave a silent giggle before raising a single finger to his split smile and shushing the now-panicked grunt.

"You looked as if you was having some troubles, buddy." Krimp spoke quietly, his hand lowering as the grunt before him scrambled away from him "Glad to see ya still kickin'!"

Uthug was dumbfounded, the wounds the outcast looked as if he suffered were gruesome even by some Uruk standards!

Krimp just continued smiling until being distracted by something "Oh, seems we's havin' company. Hope ya don't mind, but I ain't really in the mood for too much reconnecting at the moment. I's gonna just take my leave then."

And then, against all logic, the Uruk's massive head seemed to simply disappear into the cargo. No sign of him, not even a sound. Uthug panicked, whatever ungodly magics kept that hulking freak alive weren't anything he anted contact with in the near future.

He backed up, the back of his foot hitting something. It was his musket.

He snatched it up as he stood and aimed it towards where he last saw the freak, backing up towards the train's door as he kept an eye out for even the slightest sign of him. His vision darkened, he raised a hand to his head as a headache hit him at that very moment. Despite the pain, he kept the musket steady, for no pain would be worth whatever hell awaited if that thing got the drop on him.

But at that very second the door was pulled open behind him, and he spun to fire his musket before the back of a scythe struck him in the jaw and sent him to the ground.

Growling, Uthug tried to rise when a foot kicked his musket away and he stumbled. He looked up to find the barrel of a sniper rifle aimed at him, and met eyes with the fearful yet stern gaze of the red-themed girl wielding it. Sighing, the Looter raised his arms up and simply grumbled about his recent string of luck.

And that was thought he was left with as she knocked him unconscious, was there really any stupid sod out there who could claim to have luck worst than his?"

.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.

?_?_?_?_?

"Look, she's wakin' up!"

Bebe opened her eyes, only to squint as bright neon colors flooded her vision and nearly blinded her. She had no idea where that bastard in the strange attire had taken her, she only remembered being shown to some admittedly beefy Uruk who immediately sprayed her with something. Wherever she was, it was connected to that horrifying thing the Uruks called the Shaman, and whatever was related to him would have to be a nightmare of unimaginable proportions.

She'd tried getting herself mentally prepared, thought back to all the horrific torture methods the other White Fang members told her to expect in cases of capture. But that had been with humans, she had no idea what to expect from these otherworldly monsters. She'd tried just picturing the worst case scenarios she could, but after thinking of what lurked underneath the Shaman's robe even that was thrown out the window.

She tried adjusting her eyes to the bright lights, a stark contrast to the darkened caves she and Uthug had been transported through earlier. She could see figures moving towards her, she could only guess they were her torturers for the evening. She almost winced as she felt herself being pulled up a bit by one, but a memory of her brother reminding her of the indomitable spirit of the White Fang suddenly caused resolve to surge within her. It didn't matter what they did, they'd get nothing from her! She readied the most hardened glare she could muster, and opened her eyes to stare down her captor.

Only to be met with a clown.

"Hey!" his make-up spattered lips spread into a grin as he spoke in a familiar voice "She's finally awake!"

Bebe's eyes twitched as the Clown began talking, the sheer oddity before her causing any and all words to fail her as the other figure came into view.

It was a man who's head seemed to be nothing more than a sphere made entirely out of dreadlocks, "Look at her," Hair-Head also spoke in a familiar voice "she's like a lost little lamb!"

The clown stopped talking just long enough to chuckle at that "Right you are, laddie." he agreed before looking down at her "Anyway, so we was made to perform for 'em and got all the other guards involved in this grand dance number-"

Madness... that had to be the only explanation. Bebe's lower lip trembled at the unexpected sights, Hair-Head merely allowed the Clown to continue rambling as the unfortunate recipient continued to gawk at them. An office, this wasn't a torture room, it looked just like a regular office!

And those bright flashing lights, she soon realized they were coming from a large window that she was facing away from.

She pushed away from the clown, who released her without a fuss but continued making confusing statements "-then after the first few live streams got majorly big, he had us start makin' CD's and demo reels-"

Bebe continued backing up, her back finally hitting the window. Right now it was her only escape from this confusing nightmare she found herself trapped in. She turned to push it open and flee but was halted by the even more confusing sight on the other side.

A club floor rested outside the window, right below them. And on that club floor were a bunch of people in masquerade masks. However, their masks and fancy clothes all looked tattered and dirty, some to extreme degrees. Most of them just wandered and chatted while others smoked or downed alcohol. Several even took note of the horrified faunus looking down at them.

Bebe could feel herself being overtaxed by the steady stream of confusing nonsense which was being made real around her, and she turned back to the Clown and Hair-Head with her entire form trembling from the sheer lunacy she'd found herself trapped in.

"-and you?" the Clown finally said before gesturing towards her "You get to be the Limo Driver!"

The scream of anger, fear and confusion that tore its way out of her throat would go on to become the stuff of legends.

---

AN: Remember in the last Author's Note where I suggested this chapter would be below 40k words? Things like that are why I don''t put stock in my own predictions.

Anyway, here it is: The Tower.I suppose one prediction I'm fairly certain is true is that you should expect less action for the next few chapters, since I kinda went overboard with that here, even by my standards. I knew that whichever chapter I stuck the Ratlug fight in would be either too big or too small, so I may have gone with the better more than less approach. Either way, think it turned out nice. This symbolizes that we're over halfway done with this volume, though I'm not sure how many more chapters I'll have to make to reach the end.

Anyway, onto the Uruks. Yes Uruks as in plural.

Hork and the Garrison, didn't mention the Warchief much when I spoke about Ashgarn because out of the three of them I got the most enjoyable story out of the big brothers, especially Krimp who we'll get to later. Hork, as stated before, was a Warchief in my SoM play-through who's specific set of skills caused me problems in the campaign, sound familiar? Yeah, that's how most of that game's nemeses get to you. As the army swelled with members of his gang who managed to kill me during my fights with him, I began making a story similar to the one I made for the Storm. Anyone who bore his colors served him, and it just so happened that the personalities who sported them meshed with their story immensely.

The most troublesome being Dharg and Pigug for two entirely different reasons. Pigug survived by basically tanking through all of my attacks and overwhelming me with superior strength and assistance from underlings. Dharg I could take down easily, but he just kept coming back no matter how many times I downed him, citing his raw devotion for his inability to stay buried. And so, following under the examples set by their leaders, the Garrison is supposed to be an example of stalwart loyalty and service to the dark lord. I suppose that would mean their closest comparison would be to the Dark Tribe in SoW, but I couldn't actually get any of them in there.

Hork's band of stalwart defenders and loyalists formed kept me stuck in the storyline for some time until their deaths.

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. Like it? Hate it? Any ways you feel I could improve? Expectations for the next chapter? Follow or Favorite at your leisure and I will see you all in the next installment of The Dreamer Gate.

Next Chapter: The Singer