Author's Notes

*Limps away from Margit, The Fell Omen… twice*

If you cannot tell, I've been busy. And it's not only Elden Ring. In these last few months, I've had a paper accepted into a conference (and all the prep work involved), gotten sick, dealt with good ol' DnD drama, and the current project I'm working on at work has entered the last stretch, which means longer hours as we crunch to the finish line.

I originally wanted to have this done around LAiX2 release… back in January/February. That did not happen. Luckily, the next two "chapters" are already done. They just require final revision, so the wait for them shouldn't be too bad.

Enjoy a serious chapter on a day full of crappy, unfunny updates across the board.

Happy First of April. May your day not be filled with groan-worthy "jokes".

Chapter 50: The Fang's Wounds, Part I

Two cloaked and sopping wet figures stumbled into the inn of Domhain, escaping the veritable storm outside for the marginally better cramped and humid inside. The shorter one attempted in vain to shake off the water, to the indignation of the people around her. Her partner, instead, dried himself with a quick burst of electricity.

"…Do that on me!"

GV looked at Mytyl, as if the girl had grown a second head. Then, without a word, proceeded to walk towards the inn's attached bar.

"Lumen! You have GV's Semblance, right?"

"Lady Mytyl… I am not electrocuting you."

"Come on," Mytyl whined, following GV as Lumen hovered by her side. "I'm drowning inside my own clothes over here."

"Be that as it may, I am not committing aggravated assault to dry you up a bit."

"I'm so making Copen or Dad install a dryer on you."

"That seems like an awful waste of space and fire Dust."

"What good are you if you cannot even keep me warm in this inhospitable weather?"

"Then perhaps you should ask your brother and father to build me a body, so I can hold you intimately and provide you with my body heat."

Mytyl faltered, almost tripping over herself, as Lumen floated ahead, a faint chuckle coming from the pod.

The low, pleasant lighting and warm atmosphere of the bar welcomed them. Given the settlement's current Grimm situation, as well as the ungodly storm roaring outside, a good deal of the settlers gathered at the locale, allowing for a lazy day among friends. And it was a diverse clientele. An older couple enjoyed a relatively late breakfast. Lazy teens sipped soda by a corner. A cloaked woman snoozed in a booth, unaware of the curious, and interested, eyes her fine, delicate features attracted. It felt like half the settlement, and the few travelers stuck in town, were loitering inside the rustic establishment, figuring the bar-restaurant was the ideal place to weather the literal storm.

Mytyl stopped her doomed attempts at convincing Lumen upon reaching two familiar figures – and a familiar combat pod – by the bar top.

"Lola-"

"I'll stop you right there," the red and white combat pod said. "I recognize that tone. Like I told the Boss, I'm not electrocuting you to evaporate a few drops of water."

"WHY!?"

Kohaku looked between her distressed leader and her unbothered partner. "You two really are twins."

"I wake up every morning just as surprised," Copen deadpanned. The boy took a look at his sister – sulking like a soaked cat – and his sister's partner – fresh like a broody lettuce. Life truly is unfair. Picking up a damp towel he got for himself, Copen threw it at Mytyl, smacking her on the face and earning an indignant yelp.

Still, it was better than nothing.

Grabbing two hearty bowls of soup placed in front of her by the waiter manning the bar, Kohaku offered them to both Mytyl and GV. The latter picked it up wordlessly.

"Here. You can probably use some warming up," Kohaku said smiling.

"Kohi… you're a saint." Mytyl picked up her bowl in one hand, as she tried to dry herself as best as the damp towel allowed with the other. Laying the towel on her shoulder, she took the first spoonful of the broth and hummed blissfully. "Copen, get yourself a woman like Kohaku."

"Eh?" Kohaku felt blood rush to her face in fluster.

Copen wasn't nearly as affected by his sister's games. He opted for an annoyed scowl. "Why don't you get yourself a woman like Kohaku?"

"Because I'm partial towards the ruder sex." Mytyl responded, with a smirk and without missing a beat. "Besides, what do you think Jaune is?"

A few seconds passed, Copen opening and closing his mouth, multiple times, in search of a proper retort.

"She has a point," Kohaku said, regaining her composure and seeing Mytyl's teasing for what it was. "When he's not being geeky, Jaune does give big house-hubby energies."

"Moving on!" Copen switched topics. "Report."

Mytyl sighed. "We got nothing. Everyone we asked just repeated what we already know. If this Grimm situation is someone's doing, they're being careful. Not even rumors about odd visitors in town."

"And this weather doesn't help matters," Kohaku added. "Most people are more preoccupied making sure their houses don't fly off in the wind than humoring what probably seems like a wild goose chase."

Mytyl frowned. "How did we even miss this weather forecast?"

"I swear Lumen and I were not busy hacking each other in an attempt to one up our cyber-sec protocols."

…

If she could, Lumen would have facepalmed. A sigh without all the catharsis associated with it would have to suffice.

Kohaku tilted her head. "Is that a euphemism I'm too bumpkin to understand?"

Copen narrowed his eyes at Lola. "We'll talk about this later." He then focused on his team. "But Lola is right. There was no forecast for this."

"Which is not weird by itself," Kohaku said, receiving Mytyl's empty bowl and placing it on the bar top. "We're too far from the city of Vale to trust any forecasting, so an unannounced storm by itself isn't that strange. What's odd is the strength of the storm and the speed with which it formed. Have you been able to get a hold of Qrow?"

Mytyl shook her head.

Kohaku frowned, her fingers tapping the bar top in anxiety. "Same with Kon. Even short-range comms are down."

"Worried?" Mytyl asked empathetically.

"Nah," Kohaku reassured her with a small smile. "My sis is a consummate badass. She can take care of herself." Her smile dipped. "But I cannot help but feel something's off about all of this."

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of broken glass and clanking cutlery. And theirs wasn't the only one, as silence quickly spread throughout the bar-turned-dinner. It wasn't the accident itself that silenced everyone present. It was the desperate features of the woman involved, who rushed into the bar, carelessly crashing into a surprised waitress. The woman – an unassuming civilian in her forties – didn't even register that she practically shoved the waitress to the floor. She was too fixated scanning the bar in search of something. Or someone, as evidenced when her eyes zeroed on the team of Beacon students.

"Thank the gods I found you!" Those were her first words upon approaching the stunned Team KVKC. But despite the words, no relief was evident. Murmurs slowly overtook the bars. And every member of KVKC tensed, realizing that something had just happened.

"Ma'am?" Mytyl prompted.

"Y-you have to help them!" The woman pleaded, grabbing Mytyl's hands and hanging to them like a lifeline. Team KVKC, too startled to properly respond, allowed the woman to press on. "It's my husband and daughter. They left to pick up some herbs this morning and haven't come back."

Immediately alarm bells rang inside the heads of each member of the team.

"What were they doing outside the walls?" Copen was the first to ask in a commanding tone.

The woman didn't expect the interrogation. Thankfully, Kohaku was gentler and took a guess. "They probably only traveled within the established perimeter…"

Mytyl's eyes widened. "The storm…" She looked out through the window, where a veritable torrent of water engulfed everything. Settlements like Domhain rose and set with the sun. And it was still fairly early. However, the storm brewed unnaturally fast. "If they left around sunrise, they might have been caught in it."

"N-normally, they would have been back an hour ago," the woman said, regaining a bit of composure. "A-and I cannot reach my husband's scroll."

That didn't bode well. Mytyl asked for whatever information they could on the husband and daughter: appearances, names, when they left Domhain, their usual route; anything that could help. Anything she could think of.

"We'll find them," Mytyl reassured the woman, holding her hands tightly and giving her the best smile she could muster under the circumstances. "Stay here and try to calm down a bit. Worrying will only make things worse."

An unfortunate and cruel truth when dealing with Grimm.

"Team Kaleidoscope, with me." Mytyl ordered, marching towards the exit, and willfully ignoring the pity broadcasted from the other patrons. It wasn't until they were outside, cloaks on and braving the storm, that Kohaku spoke what everyone was thinking, her voice competing against the downpour.

"Mytyl… that woman…"

"I know," Mytyl said through gritted teeth, not allowing herself to hesitate. "But if there's a chance, if they're still alive, we must do something."

"Are you sure about picking this battle?" Copen asked, careful to not come off as judgmental. "Shouldn't we wait for Qrow or Blade?"

Mytyl continued walking, looking straight ahead. But she mulled over Copen's words. "That… could take hours. And we're unable to contact them. We don't have time to waste." She stopped and looked at her team. "One of us could-"

"No." Came the unified front of Copen, Kohaku, Lumen, and Lola. GV didn't talk, but the scowl he gave Mytyl told her he heard, and it was enough to temporarily bring him out of his own mind.

Kohaku stepped forward. "We are a team. Don't even think we're going to wait here while you go and do something stupidly brave. You're making a decision and we're standing by it, for better or for worse."

Her team's faith in her, and the willingness to follow through her orders, warmed Mytyl's heart. She nodded in a show of determination, leading them south towards the last known location of the missing father and daughter.

-o-

Back at the tavern, gossips about the possible fate of the local herbalist and his daughter spread like wildfire. A few of the more tactful patrons and employees did their best to comfort the grieving wife.

And back in a corner of the bar, tucked out of the way in a booth, a pair of pale blue eyes watched the door through which the team of Hunters left. Idle curiosity shone behind a curtain of light blue hair.

-o-

They encountered the first signs of trouble a little less than a mile away from the settlement.

Mytyl had to bite her tongue to stop her voice from cracking. "Can you tell where they went?"

All around them were signs of destruction. Splintered trees. Broken branches. Long trenches of what appeared like tracks from a serpentine animal… or Grimm.

And that was the problem. A mile was what Qrow and Blade determined was sufficiently safe for the settlers to go outside the village. A Grimm attack this close, and in this particular direction, practically confirmed their suspicions and fears about the father's and daughter's fate. The only thing keeping the bare minimum hope was the lack of bodies.

"It seems like the tracks come from all around," Copen said, carefully inspecting the scene. "The Grimm must have ambushed them. But… the tracks split off in those two directions."

"East and south," Lola said, able to tell the directions. "Boss, I see two sets of footprints. The Grimm's tracks and the rain disguise them, but they're there. One set goes east. The other – smaller ones – goes south."

"Mytyl?" Kohaku looked at her team leader for orders. She couldn't hide her frown.

And neither could Mytyl. "Let's continue south."

"You're sure?" Copen asked. "The little girl would be the least likely-"

"Don't say it!" Mytyl snapped. She bit her lips. "Don't say it," she said softer, not meaning to snap at her brother. She didn't want Copen stating the horrible facts. Or the most likely outcome. "The father wouldn't have fared better. Most Grimm went east… he must have lured them."

"Would that make a difference?" Copen asked. It was callous.

But it was also the harsh, cold truth Mytyl needed to consider, to make the… not correct, but the best choice out of bad ones. "Blade and Cardinal are patrolling this area. Maybe they found the father. It's more likely than the daughter stumbling upon Qrow. I don't want to bet on that."

The rest of Team KVKC nodded at her reasoning and continued south.

The next oddity, half a mile south, left them stumped. Just like before, destruction littered the forest. But again there were no bodies. Instead, the Grimm's tracks ended abruptly, mixing with an undecipherable jumble of human footsteps. A quick scouring of the area brought up a single conclusion.

"Someone fought the Grimm?" Mytyl didn't quite know what to make out of it. It brought her some hope. But also trepidation she couldn't explain.

It was Kohaku who managed to pinpoint why. The brunette frowned. "If they were Hunters, they would have reported to Domhain."

"Any idea of who 'they' could be?" Copen asked.

"Bandits. They're more common in Vacuo and Mistral, but Vale isn't lacking for its fair share of them. According to Kon, any bandit with half a brain would have their Aura unlocked. They still need to deal with the Grimm, after all."

"I do register faint traces of Aura from the footsteps," Lumen said.

"Let's move forth," Mytyl ordered.

-o-

The rougher terrain of the abandoned quarry provided a slight respite from the muddier forest soil they've been trekking through. If only slightly. And in good time, as the storm picked up and became more akin to a localized hurricane.

Abandoned machinery and mining equipment littered the place, left to the whims of time; to rust and fall apart.

"You would think the SDC would at least requisition their property," Kohaku said, placing a hand on a broken bulldozer and eliciting a long-suffering groan from the scraps.

Mytyl frowned. "Kohaku, don't bother the rust machine. You'll get tetanus."

"Heh," Kohaku huffed in brittle amusement. "Glad to see you can still crack a joke."

It was the least Mytyl could do to keep her team's spirits up. To keep her own spirit up. They followed the tracks into one of the mine's entrances, finally getting a break from the rain.

"Whatever it takes to cut costs," GV finally said with an introspective scowl. The water that clung to him evaporated with a quick burst of electricity, while the rest of his team worked on shaking it off from their cloaks. "It was probably cheaper in the long run to get new, up-to-date equipment than to relocate or dispose of the ones here." He looked into the mine. "It's dark."

"GV?" Mytyl observed her partner, worriedly.

Copen, instead, carefully inspected the cave, trying to divine what prompted GV's observation. Of course it was dark. It's a cave. Such an obvious statement wasn't merited.

But something caught his eyes. He walked forward, knelt, and picked up what appeared to be a Dust-powered lantern. A bit of heat emanated from it, hardly there and barely producing any light. Copen told his team as much.

"Boss, I'm picking up other similar sources of energy along the cave."

"Why would someone leave barely lit lanterns?" Kohaku asked.

"Because that's just the right amount of light you need for a faunus's night vision to kick in."

All of KVKC turned to GV. His slit, azure eyes gave the barest of glows in the darkness. His scowl deepened. It wasn't hard to read the implications behind GV's words.

Kohaku stuttered. "S-surely there are groups of faunus bandits out there… right?"

"There are," Copen answered. "And bandits have been known to kick up Grimm nests to destroy a settlement, looting the remains."

"But given that Teach and your sister have been chasing these Grimm surges across Vale…" Mytyl continued her brother's train of thought. "Most bandits wouldn't have the manpower to keep this up. And I'm not betting on a tribe that does have those numbers to be solely composed of faunus."

Unholstering Divider, Mytyl slowly moved forward. The rest of the team followed her lead, readying their own weapons.

Kohaku said what everyone was fearing. "Why would the White Fang be here?" she whispered; her words directed at GV.

"…I don't know," the blonde admitted, "but the mines would be an ideal base of operation. It wouldn't be hard to find an older member that worked here. They would be able to navigate it with ease."

Lucky for them, Lumen and Lola were able to provide some light and pick up the traces of Aura long after the footsteps disappeared. But soon, even that vanished, leaving them to guess what route to take. The place was a labyrinth. The tunnels weren't as cramped as one would expect, but the darkness still caused them to feel claustrophobic. And every now and then they could see branching tunnels that abruptly met a dead end.

Little wonder faunus, with their natural night vision, were highly preferred for this line of work.

Despite once being a rich Dust mine, it was now completely devoid of the precious mineral. Splotches of missing rocks adorned the walls. Dried Dust veins, Copen explained, after Kohaku pointed it out. Since Dust couldn't be mined directly like normal ores, the strategy was to mine the rock around the Dust so it could be taken to a refinery and processed safely. To that GV added how the peculiarity of Dust mining, as well as the SDC's drive to dig deep and suck a mine dry, meant higher risks of an accident. All that was needed was a careless swing of a pickaxe to cause a chain reaction. It was just a matter of time.

As they went deeper, tension spiked. Deep holes began appearing on the walls, inconsistent with the ones left behind by the miners. They were too numerous and arbitrary to be human made, yet too even to be natural.

"Grimm," Kohaku muttered.

"Centinels," Copen surmised.

"GV?"

Mytyl called out her partner, but GV didn't listen. His focus was straight ahead, ignoring the holes on the walls and the curt conclusion of his teammates.

It was at that moment that ear-rupturing, inhuman screeches cut through the air.

"MYTYL!"

"BOSS!"

The entirety of Team KVKC fell to their knees, hands instinctively covering their ears. Their eyes bugged out in terror. Suffocating fear consumed them. Their bodies trembled, their muscles locked in place and unable to raise their weapons.

Through the cacophony, Mytyl barely registered Lumen shouting her name. Her breathing quickened into hyperventilation. And through the jumble of horrible thoughts and panic in her mind, she gathered enough sense to focus her eyes on Gun Volt.

Her partner struggled to stand up. Further ahead – and all around her – glowing beady eyes lighted into existence, hungrily peering out of the darkness. The fear consuming her grew exponentially, her panicked mind screeching to a fear-induced stupor as the cockroach Grimm crawled out of the holes by the dozens. Her body was locked in place, refusing to do anything. Even her sharp mind failed to conjure anything but horrible imagery of her and her team's demise.

Behind her, Copen and Kohaku were just as helpless, the Kafka's screech incapacitating them; the unnatural fear leaving them devoid of reason.

It was GV, in front of her, that managed to gather enough sense to throw caution to the wind and attack the Kafkas with all his might. With a scream, lightning erupted from him. Pillars of electricity expanded outward erratically, smiting everything in their path with no discrimination.

"GV!" Mytyl screamed, caught in the attack, her Aura struggling to keep the worst of it at bay.

The screams in his head subsided and GV snapped out of his fear-induced panic, quickly ending the burst of electricity. The attack took out most of the Kafkas. Along with whatever structural integrity remained of the cave. GV watched in shock as the roof above crumbled. And would have gotten squashed if not for a flurry of butterflies ramming into him, carrying him out of the blast zone.

-o-

The distant sound of an explosion stopped all activity.

Light brown eyes narrowed. "Seems we have guests." He picked up his rifle. "I'll scout ahead. Make sure our exit is still clear. Continue cleaning up and be ready to fight your way out."

"Yes, sir!"

-o-

"Mytyl! GV! Are you ok?"

It was to Lumen's melodic voice that Mytyl regained her bearings.

"Y-yeah-" She coughed. Next to her, so did her partner. The dust raised scratched at both her and GV's throats. At least her partner was alive. The leader of KVKC was the first to look back at the newly sealed tunnel. The path was completely shut. And not seeing either her brother or teammate, dread pooled in Mytyl's stomach, nausea threatening to overtake her.

Thankfully, her worries were put to rest as she heard the faint sound of someone yelling her name through the rubble.

-o-

"MYTYL! MYTYL! Damnit! Lola, drills!"

Angry and worried, Copen was not thinking straight. It was a stroke of luck that Lola was self-aware and could tell that her boss's order, to drill through the rubble, was a terrible idea.

"Gah!"

And that Kohaku gathered enough presence of mind to see a terrible idea in the making, picking up Lola and shoving her far away from Copen.

"Copen! Are you mad!? Do you want to kill us by causing another cave-in?"

"But… Mytyl…"

Their discussion was cut short by a voice beyond the collapsed tunnel.

"Copen? Is everyone ok?"

Mytyl's faint response was a sound for sore ears. Kohaku sighed in relief. Copen's worry and anger cooled down.

But only a bit.

"Mytyl, is Volt with you? I want you to take Divider and put a bullet through his head."

"Wha- Copen! No!"

Copen, powerless, punched the debris. "He almost killed us!"

Gently pushing Copen back, Kohaku tried to calm him. "Copen, relax. We're fine. And if GV hadn't done that… I wasn't in any position to deal with the Kafkas. I think I'll take almost being crushed alive over actually eaten alive."

Copen was still fuming. But calmed down enough to relent on wanting GV's head on a silver platter. "We are split. Now what?"

Kohaku took a few seconds to ponder. "These tunnels are all connected, right? Mytyl and GV could continue forward while we try to find an alternate path."

"I don't like that idea."

"Do you have a better one?"

Copen didn't answer. Kohaku approached the cave-in and yelled. "Mytyl! You and GV continue on. Copen and I will look for another way."

"…Ok."

"That's that," Kohaku muttered. She looked at her partner. "Shall we?"

With a grunt, Copen led the way back, silently hoping Gun Volt managed to pull his head out of his ass long enough to help Mytyl in case something happened.

-o-

The walk was awkward, but at least GV was now paying attention to his surroundings. Mytyl wished almost getting eaten alive by Kafkas wasn't what got GV's head in the game. But it did give her an opening.

"GV, what is up with you?" Mytyl closed the distance to her partner. She looked at him worriedly. "You've been… off, since yesterday."

She didn't receive an immediate answer, but she could tell GV was listening. She pressed on.

"We are worried. You have not been quite here since the mission began. We were almost eaten by Grimm. And…"

Suddenly, an idea popped in her mind. She bit her lip. Her stomach revolted at the mere thought of what she was about to do. But if it works…

"GV…" Her tone was a far cry from how she would normally speak. Slower and softer, breathe out rather than said and with a tinge of melancholy. "I'm worried. You've been acting strange." She grabbed GV's hand, stopping the boy on the spot. Not that it was difficult; GV froze as soon as she spoke.

"You can talk to me. You know that, right? No matter what is bothering you, I'll always be by your side."

She felt GV tremble. Her words – the way she said them and that last line – cut through him with surgical precision.

GV averted his eyes but made no motion to step away from her. Mytyl sensed Lumen's disappointment at the tactic, even without any words said. But if it got results…

"Mytyl… why did you become a Huntress?"

Mytyl frowned, not expecting that question from GV. She recalled her conversation with Qrow. She pulled GV along with her as they continued their march. Her arms instinctively wrapped around his as she mulled over the question. She felt a shiver at how right this position felt but forced herself to look past the superficial thrill.

"I… well, partly because I wanted to travel and inspire people. But also because I want to genuinely help people. I know what it means to be helpless. Maybe not under the same circumstances, but helpless, nonetheless."

"You never considered that this might be the wrong path?"

"I have," Mytyl admitted. "But how does one know what's the right path? Results? You won't know the results until you try. And even then, taking the 'right path' doesn't guarantee the results you want." She lightly pulled at GV, looking into his eyes. "Are you doubting your reasons for becoming a Huntsman?"

"…Shouldn't I? I joined Beacon on a whim. In fact, I was roped in because I happened to help Ruby in that Dust robbery. I'm not sure why I am there."

Mytyl listened silently. She hummed as she digested GV's words. "Can I ask what brought up this line of thought?"

"…The White Fang," GV partially lied.

"You're not going all Blake on us, are you?" Mytyl teased a bit.

It got the desired effect of getting a little, if somber, smile out of GV. "No. But it highlights what I'm saying. The two of us were members of the White Fang. We dedicated our lives to fighting for faunus' rights. And we saw becoming Hunters as an alternative. At least to some extent."

They reached the end of their tunnel, entering a vast chamber littered with abandoned mine carts and other equipment. Unlike the tunnels, this was a wide space with a generous ceiling. The same splotches of missing Dust deposits adorned the walls and some of the half-buried giant boulders. A central hub of sorts for the labyrinthic mines. One Mytyl could easily see herself getting lost in.

Mytyl reflected on GV's words as she looked around the chamber with what little light Lumen could provide.

"Not going to lie, GV… that is a tall order. Being a Huntsman will generate some goodwill and respect from the people, but you and Blake still need to play the political game. There is a reason people like Ozpin and Ironwood have not ended discrimination against faunus."

"Or like Asimov…" GV muttered. Just loud enough for Mytyl to hear.

She stared at GV strangely. The name sounded… familiar. Or more likely, it sounded familiar to another certain lavender-haired girl.

A mocking laugh put Mytyl and GV on high alert.

"You know, Jeeves... Little Miss R. Guppy over there has a point."

Immediately GV aimed Dart Leader at the voice's owner. Mytyl let go of her partner and also aimed Divider at the interloper. Lumen's flashlight shined on him like a spotlight.

The man kneeling on top of one of the outcropping rocks remained unfazed. His light brown eyes bored into GV. His rifle and pistol remained in his hands, in resting position – one hanging by his side, the other in front of him, the arm resting on his raised knee.

"If you're going to fight the good fight, what matters is that you commit to it. Dipping out midway just wastes every single sacrifice made along the way."

Mytyl couldn't help trembling a bit. Part of her couldn't help it. The part of her that saw a friendly face despite being the first time seeing the man. She recognized him from Ruby's and Weiss's description, as well as GV's confirmation of his identity.

And she now wished Copen and Kohaku were here. She hoped they were ok.

-o-

"Damnit!" Kohaku harshly whispered, peering from behind the crate she was using as a hiding spot. "Would it kill you to be wrong?"

"I'm not the one that dragged the White Fang into this," Copen bit back. The two partners looked on as the White Fang moved with purpose, cleaning up the place from any evidence of their presence. The chamber they stumbled upon was better supported than the tunnels they walked through. It was also fairly spacious and well lit, comparatively. Either the place once served as a sort of checkpoint for the mines, or the White Fang turned it into an impromptu base of operation.

Though it didn't seem like it would stay one for long. Copen and Kohaku watched as six Fang members gathered and packed anything that wasn't nailed or too cumbersome: papers, electronics, camping equipment: practically everything they had brought with them into the mines.

"Sir," one of the masked faunus approached a massive man that was overseeing the operation. Between his muscled frame, tanned skin, chiseled features, and platinum blonde hair, he cut an intimidating figure. It was not helped by his odd mask, covering the lower half of his face with Grimm jaws rather than the upper half. Instead of answering, he just grunted, signaling his subordinate to continue.

"We just received words from Lieutenant Picchio. He encountered hostiles and is readying to engage… Gun Volt and his Huntress partner."

The entire room, including Copen and Kohaku, forgot to breathe. All attention was now on the messenger.

"…Is he requesting reinforcement?" The muscular man asked slowly and calmly.

"No, sir."

"Tsk. He could learn to share," the man grumbled. "Clear out now! We'll be taking the alternate escape route."

One of the other faunus spoke. "Sir? What about the girl?"

Both Hunters leaned closer. Their hands reached for their sidearms.

"Where is she right now?"

Another of the Fang grunts closed the distance. So close Copen needed Lola to relay his words.

"She's still by the food supplies. She has been kept busy drawing, but she's starting to ask when she can see her parents again."

"We cannot deal with that yet. For now, we'll take her with us. Move. We have no time to waste."

"Sir? Where are you going?"

"To deal with the two holier-than-thou scoundrels eavesdropping."

Copen and Kohaku's eyes widened. Wasting no time, Copen grabbed his partner's hand and issued an order.

"Lola! Aura Burst!"

Not a moment too soon, a cloud of ethereal red 'X's narrowly managed to squeeze through the grasp of two metal claws that attempted to crush them. Copen and Kohaku came out of the mimicked Semblance shooting: Copen at the leader and Kohaku at the startled rank-and-file soldiers.

Copen snarled as they hid behind a minecart. Just in time for a pure Gravity Dust projectile to smash against their cover and slightly warp the metal.

"Copen, we need to find the girl and get out!"

The white-haired boy risked a look at the enemies. The man who attacked them – easily the most dangerous person in the room – re-equipped his claw-like brass knuckles weapons, easily doubling the size of his grip. A quick, purple shimmer told Copen the weapons functioned with Gravity Dust. Probably how he was able to launch and retrieve them.

The other Fang members were divided between finishing clearing the area and aiming their weapons at their general direction in case he or Kohaku attempted anything.

"Come out, cowards. Face me in battle like true warriors!"

Copen scoffed, peering from behind the minecart at the man. "Hilarious, coming from a guy with cannon fodder at his beck and call."

"…You speak the truth. If it is a fair, one-on-one fight you desire, I shall grant it. Leave him to me!"

Kohaku gaped and, seeing her partner's mind whirring, immediately tried to pin Copen in place.

"Copen. No!"

"Boss… I agree."

"It is an opportunity. I can distract him while you find and rescue the girl." Copen grabbed Kohaku's arm and pushed it aside. He looked at Kohaku's wavering eyes. "Take Lola with you. When you locate her, use Ruby's Semblance to escape. I'll follow. There's no way they can keep up with me."

He didn't wait for Kohaku to agree. Standing up, he faced the man; Aix Gear hefted to provide cover and Border at the ready to fire.

The man seemed overwhelmingly pleased. Copen wagered that behind the mask, a fierce grin stretched across his face.

"Magnificent!" His voice bellowed. "A true warrior through and through." He brought his fist weapons into a stance. "Alas, I cannot allow you to leave and put my comrades at risk. Ours cannot be a fight for the sheer joy of combat-"

"You talk a lot."

For a second, the man looked perplexed at the interruption. But his bravado returned quickly. "Then allow our weapons to clash and do the talking."

-o-

"What are you doing here, Zeno?"

"I could ask the same of you, Jeeves. Didn't you defect? Why are you involving yourself with the White Fang time and time again?"

"I'm here as a Huntsman!" GV yelled. "You've been agitating Grimms and pointing them at settlements. Why?"

Zeno shrugged. "Beats me. I'm just following orders."

"You expect me to believe that?"

"Your expectations are not my concerns. And what the White Fang, or Quill specifically, do isn't yours either. You left with our grace. So be a pal, be grateful, and stop sticking your damn nose in our business. And take your new friends and your guppy with you while you're at it."

Mytyl's anxiety increased with each harsh word exchanged between the two former allies. She didn't need to be a mind reader to tell Zeno's bitterness. The red-crested faunus remained perched on the rock, trading subtle barbs with GV. Less subtle were the insults hurled her way.

"Stop calling her that!" GV snarled. "She has a name, and she is not Cyan's replacement."

Zeno scoffed. "Could have fooled me. Look at her! You'll have to excuse me if I have a hard time believing you're thinking with the right head."

Mytyl placed a hand on the seething Gun Volt.

"GV, he's trying to get to you."

"By the gods… she's even the voice of reason of the two of you… she treats you the same…"

Mytyl averted her eyes, unable to look at Zeno's melancholic face without survival guilt eating at her.

Sighing, Zeno stood up. Lumen's spotlight didn't quite reach his face, shrouding it in shadows. The grip on his weapons tightened as he looked down at GV and Mytyl. "You know, Gun… we have orders to capture or silence anyone who stumbles upon our operation. We cannot have witnesses, after all. But for the sake of our old friendship… I'll turn a blind eye if you leave now."

"Not happening." Sparks began shooting out of GV, grounding themselves to the floor in a show of intimidation. "Do you honestly believe you can take me on?"

Zeno's eyes narrowed. "Honestly? I don't know. Neither of us is the same person we were last time we sparred. But let me turn the question back to you…"

His eyes zeroed on Mytyl. Both Hunters tensed. And for the first time, Mytyl noticed the soft glow of the faunus's night vision cutting through the darkness.

"Do you believe you can take me on… while also protecting her?"

Author's Notes

A slower chapter than the last two high-octane ones. But I feel we needed the lull. But just like the last two, this is only, technically, part 1 of a chapter. Part 2 should be out in the upcoming days. (And part 3 after, it turns out…)

Quite a bit has happened between last chapter and this one, including the release of Luminous Avenger iX 2 and info on Azure Striker Gunvolt 3. Naturally, I played the former and have my own thoughts about this and that and how its existence affects this fic. I'll go into more detail after the reviews section. For now, let's do the usual rundown.

Rundown!

5k words down the drain: I had written 5k words of this chapter before dumping them because I was unsatisfied. Originally, KVKC met with CRDL before the request for help reached them. They would then meet Qrow on the way and KVKC and Qrow entered the cave. There were some other details, but those are the ones that made me change things. I felt I was juggling too many characters in the same scene. A frequent issue both for this fic and the actual RWBY. I think this flowed better.

Had to bury some of my jokes, but oh well. Kill your baby and all that jazz.

Later, during final revision, I also did quite a few changes in wording since I decided to read out loud the chapter to myself (something I normally half-ass) and came up with wording and slight alterations to events I prefer.

Like Lumen's teasing: Lumen's body heat joke is an example of that rewrite.

I made a brave dumb decision: When writing this chapters, an idea popped in my head. A dumb idea. Those that get you shot in an alleyway and have your son become The Batman. Hopefully it'll pay down the line. Hopefully without me becoming Vengeance

Mines: Mines are neat. They are full of creepy crawlers to fulfill all your dungeon crawling needs.

Kafkaesque: Hopefully it got across how terrifying the Kafkas can be.

GV's attack on the Kafka: So… Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 :)
That's all I have to say on the matter.

White Fang Lieutenant Zeno and White Fang Elite Carrera challenge you to a battle: What will Huntress Mytyl and Huntsman Copen do? I'm actually looking a bit forward to these fights. I also wished I could play PKMN Arceus, but I refuse to give The Pokemon Company my money as long as their games continue to look like shovelware.

Reviews

ReDestrobo: To be fair, being a hero and a Huntsman are not mutually exclusive. You don't need to save everyone to be a hero. The problem with RWBY and the gang is that they try to do just that. And by trying to find the perfect solution, they end up losing more in the process. But yeah, the canon breach ignored too many of its implication (or worse, swept them under the rug with lighthearted dialogue) for my taste.

-o-

mega-dark: Oof, sorry to disappoint. But the Breach itself is something of a background event, since none of the three main teams are actually involved and it would be an endless string of battle sequences. Sorry D:

Oh right, Gary Stu. That's the one. But we don't have to worry about anyone here becoming Lelouch. I think we're safe from that.

I still played LAiX2 with Japanese voices, but it was cool hearing the English dub for some of the characters.

You are right: Greed Snatcher does not permanently incapacitate Adepts in canon.

No love for biting, snake-lady Elise, I see. There is a reason for the bite, but admittedly it's only an excuse for her to be more snake-like… as well as set up for a lighthearted dialogue further down the line. And yeah, her Septima was always going to be problematic. It breaks the story in more ways than one, so nerfing it was inevitable.

-o-

Highblue4: Glad you liked the previous chapter. I did at some point consider Copen to eventually develop Greed Snatcher. But I felt giving it to the White Fang made for higher stakes.

P.S: Team NVVA is cool. Thinking how Nova would fight in the setting of RWBY without going "A God I Am" was a fun exercise. The black and white glaives were always something that struck me from him. There are other things, but I'll leave those for later.

P.S.S: Don't we all?

P.S.S.S: Don't we all?

Thoughts on Luminous Avenger iX 2 (SPOILERS AHOY!)

Oh boy, LAiX2. This one is a bit of a controversial game. Let's get to it.

Gameplay: On one hand, not a fan of the nerf to Copen. On the other, it makes Lola's Overdrive have more gravitas than just "the power of J-pop." But overall, I think it was a misstep on Inti's part. The LAiX spinoffs have so far been on the shorter side. I just hope this, and the fact the game was announced after and released before Gunvolt 3 is an indication that ASG3 is a meaty game.

Story: The story is an excuse for the gameplay. And while the idea behind Hard Mode is neat (and I have the skills to execute on it) I can see why it is a turn-off for a lot of people. I personally enjoyed the challenge and mystery behind it.

Characters: Copen, Lola, and Kohaku are as delightful as ever. Kind of sad Blade is reduced to a non-character. I'm surprised how neutral I am towards Null. I didn't expect to like her. And I don't, really. But I don't hate her either. I find her role in the story and some of the most shocking story beats involving her to be well executed. Kudos.

The Gravekeepers: This is the topic I wanted to broach, and the most relevant to this fic. I really like these guys. While each of the other antagonists' groups have characters that I like more as individuals, I think the Gravekeepers are my favorite group as a whole. They also have the most banging battle theme. From least favorite to most:

- Ace: I couldn't even remember his name… I think I like him the least because his fight is very hard.

- Brigade: I feel he was wasted a bit. But still pretty cool.

- Autochrome: Someone must take 4th place. Unfortunately for Autochrome, I like his sister more. Speaking of…

- Vespa: I find her whole proper lady and insecurities about propellers to be charming. And she makes a kickass duo with her brother. I melted when I found out Auto claims he is not avenging his sister, but if you lose to him, he admits that was a lie.

- Hail: I find her fascinating. Being the second oldest Gravekeeper, I would love for someone to explore both her and Dacite's views on humans, since they were alive back when humans were still around. And of course…

- Dacite: As I expected, Dacite is my favorite Gravekeeper. He's just so damn cool. And he is cool in this fic, in case you couldn't tell from his fight against Winter. It helps that his English voice is Connor *swoon*.

The other two *SPOILERS*

…

So… Ypsilon and Mother. I suspected the plot twist of this game. At least when it came down to Ypsilon. But since it isn't something the game spotlights, I forgot about it.

But when Mother possessed Kohaku and she looked suspiciously like someone in possession of The Muse, small warning bells began ringing in my head. She throwing attacks she has no business knowing didn't help.

Then her second form happened, and the warning bells became klaxons. First time through, I didn't recognize her battle theme, so that saved me from immediately pinpointing who she was.

Then you defeat her. While the plot twist itself wasn't exactly revolutionary, I believe the execution was well done. With all the foreshadowing beforehand, it felt like the game was properly building to that point. So when her true body is shown after you defeat her, it doesn't feel like a reveal, but like the last piece of the puzzle falling into place. You already knew the outcome. The game builds up to it. It was a genuine "Aha!" moment.

I don't expect deep stories from these kinds of games, so I don't mind if I know the answers beforehand.

As for what this means for this fic… needless to say, neither Ypsilon nor Mother have any place in it.

Hard Mode: My only comment on Hard Mode, beside "It's very hard," is: thank God for Copen saying what we were all thinking. Bless that man for seeing a tiresome trope walk past him and going "Wait… why are we doing this?"

Thoughts on Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 reveals (Spoilers, I guess? No, seriously, some might consider it spoilers)

The dog: So… I'm over here kicking myself for not making Gunvolt a dog faunus. That said, if the length of the game doesn't suffer greatly, I don't mind the idea behind Gundog from a gameplay standpoint. Having this "super mode" you can tap into can make for cool set pieces, as well as provide an accessibility aid to less skilled players.

Story wise, while the concept of Gundog is… dumb, the idea that GV – whose Septima has constantly been called the strongest in existence – needs to be sealed because he became THE strongest Adept in existence is cool. And tying it to gameplay is cooler. This time around, Azure Striker looks as powerful as it is said to be. Just imagine fighting this waif of a girl with her weird-ass blue dog and suddenly, in a flash of lightning that hits you like a truck, you are standing against lightning incarnate. Against a man who has several S ranked dashed in his hit list. Your attacks literally phase through him… assuming they reach him at all. Spokes of lightning chase you relentlessly. The man himself flies at you, becomes lightning as your body is engulfed by him, then picks you up and suplexes you into next week.

Speaking of a girl and her weird-ass blue dog…

Kirin: She… looks… so fun. After LAiX2, I was afraid of how Inti would handle her melee combat. But those swings and slashes look so clean and fluid. And her tagging game looks on point. Though I do get the feeling the game wants you to do the stages with her and the bosses with GV. And her ability to summon…

Summons: Oh god. I can already taste ASG's signature bittersweetness from all the way over here. I was wondering what the hell is Lumen doing on the cover art. But not like this. NOT LIKE THIS!

Being GV is suffering. Like, seriously. Imagine becoming so powerful you become a dog and having to tag along with a girl that, when your powers combine, allows you to manifest lightning clones of your past… including the girl that loved you above all else, that literally became part of you, and you failed to save and have to watch die, like, three times.

I wonder in what new, imaginative ways can Inti deny Gunvolt full, unconditional happiness.