Beacon attacked by White Fang with support from an outside party—humans, no less. Tawny desperate to find Aspen who was last seen with the leader of the White Fang's sword through her heart. Eight days in the custody of the Atlesian military on suspicion of involvement. Aspen released with a prisoner's shock bracer—one she'd actively tried to hide—and a mission to track down two of the conspirators. None of it added up for Carmine.

Atlas knew what Aspen was. After all that time, they had to. The bracer on her wrist was a high-voltage leash used for dangerous individuals, and Mantis had cited her ability to sense Aura—a distinctly Grimm-like ability—as a reason for this mission to be assigned to them. Except the mission had come from Beacon, which meant Beacon knew, and if both Beacon and Atlas knew, Vale certainly knew as well. With the threat someone—something—like Aspen posed to all of Remnant, how could the Council seriously think she was worth trying to control? What guarantee did they have that she even could be controlled? Ozpin certainly hadn't been able to.

And yet, here they were, moving rooftop to rooftop through the middle of the city like some comic-book vigilante superheroes. Aspen even had the dark-and-brooding look with her new armor. The base was the same all-covering leather she'd worn the day after initiation, since reinforced by various Grimm bone plates riveted on. Carmine was reluctant to admit it, but she'd clearly known what she was doing, both on the level of craftsmanship and practicality. He just had to wonder if she realized she made herself look like the thing she pretended she wasn't.

Front and center was the Ursa mask she'd used as a breastplate, inverted so the wider bottom sat higher on her chest. Even with the eye and nose holes, she'd placed it in a way that maximized coverage so if something did get through, Carmine imagined it wouldn't bother her all that much. On her back, she'd affixed the thick forehead plates of a Taijitu. The longer pieces were even split near their middles to maintain free range of motion. On her upper arms, she wore Beowolf masks, and on her forearms, what looked to be two sets of Boarbatusk muzzle plates each, split down the middle and trimmed to fit her build. To protect her legs, she'd bisected a Boarbatusk faceplate and attached the pieces to her thighs, while a pair of Nevermore masks covering her shins doubled as potential weapons with their spike-like crests. Carmine had little doubt that was Aspen's intent as she had also attached sharpened bone chunks to both her gloves and elbows and Beowolf claws on the end of each finger.

What Carmine found most disconcerting about Aspen's armor wasn't its appearance, but how quietly she moved in it despite its heaviness. Even when leaping across a street, she barely made a sound beyond the initial impact. As much as he might not have liked it, there was no denying that it was an important skill on this mission. While two of their targeted buildings had turned up empty, the White Fang hideout they'd gone after next had been guarded by at least three sentries posted on various nearby rooftops. Since GREI wasn't cleared to take even them out, they'd been forced to sneak around them.

Of the four of them, Carmine was most worried about Rhys. Carmine had trained for this sort of operation, Ilex had proven himself during the Battle of Beacon, and Aspen wasn't human. Deafness aside, Carmine wasn't sure Rhys was aware of how much noise he could make at times. Fortunately, despite the occasional clumsy landing on longer jumps, Rhys managed to muffle his movements enough to stay undetected. It had even been his idea to use sign language to communicate.

|Stop,| Aspen signed. The four of them came to a halt, crouching low on the rooftop. They were approaching their fourth location now and had already skirted two sentries, which implied that there wasn't more protection here than the last hideout. However, Aspen had also brought them in much closer before. She hadn't been entirely clear on the range of her… ability other than closer meant stronger, which made it difficult to guess why she'd stopped them here.

Ilex hesitantly tapped Aspen on the shoulder, clearly still spooked by her armor. |What's going on? Do you feel them?| Aspen closed her eyes, hands still held out from her previous sign. Seconds crept by. Taking shallow breaths, Carmine glanced around for any potential threat. They weren't invisible just because they weren't moving, and he didn't fully trust Aspen to alert them of an incoming guard.

|I feel something,| Aspen finally signed. She opened her eyes and looked back at them. |It may be Emerald, but there are too many others to be certain.|

Rhys perked up at the potential lead. |So, we just need to get closer right? Then you'll know for sure?|

Nodding, Aspen signed, |That will help, yes.|

|Help?| Carmine asked. He didn't have the same fluency in sign language the others did, having only started learning after being teamed up with Rhys, but he knew enough to get by. |How closer help…| He struggled for a moment, curled his hands inward so the backs of his fingers touched, then pulled them apart into fists. |…separate?|

Aspen frowned, contemplating the question until Ilex stepped in. |I think it's like a book, right? It's hard to distinguish individual letters from far away, but move closer and you can read the words.| He looked to Aspen for confirmation on his analogy.

She nodded. |That is an accurate comparison.|

Carmine had to stop himself from rolling his eyes at how Ilex beamed. If he'd known his partner was going to hijack his questions to get on Aspen's good side, he wasn't sure he would've started asking. Still, it did raise an important point. Aspen's "ability" acted just like any other sense. It was sensitive to range and, presumably, intensity. |You feel Emerald far?|

|If it is Emerald I'm feeling, she is… anxious. Far more than the White Fang around her.| Aspen grimaced and turned her eyes away. |It is painful.|

A muffled gasp escaped Rhys's throat before he clamped both hands over his mouth. After a moment, he removed them to sign, |How bad is it?|

Aspen didn't answer right away, her hands hovering at her sides before a shudder ran through her. |It is like a sword,| she signed, reaching a hand up to tap the center of her breastplate, |here.|

If anyone else had said as much, Carmine would've thought they were exaggerating, Aspen, however, knew exactly what it felt like to be stabbed through the chest. If she said Emerald's anxiety felt like a blade in her heart, Carmine was inclined to believe her. If that were the case, though, it shined a new light on Grimm behavior. Grimm attraction to negativity was common knowledge, but no one could ever explain why. If anxiety—fear, really—hurt the way Aspen described, it wasn't difficult to imagine that a normal Grimm would feel the same. Pull together enough negative emotions in one place—like the Vytal Festival or even Mountain Glenn—and any Grimm within who knew how far would come running just to try to snuff out the source of its pain. Except, at the Vytal Festival, they hadn't. Witnesses even reported Grimm running away from Beacon, and that just added another layer to the mystery.

Carmine shook his head to himself. The actual details of Aspen's ability were important. If it was, in fact, a sense like any other, there had to be a way to circumvent it. Sight, hearing, touch… even balance and pain could be interrupted. It wasn't a weakness yet, but it was a step in the right direction. |We move now?|

Aspen nodded. |Yes, but carefully.| She glanced over her shoulder, though not quite in the direction of the hideout. |There is another sentry ahead.|

Team GREI continued across the rooftops, following Aspen's lead to avoid the unseen sentry. After just a few minutes, they were perched across the street from their target. The building was an unassuming warehouse save for the armed guards, one on the roof and one in the shadows of the alley near the main entrance. The roof, unusually, featured a skylight and, though the White Fang had covered it with a tarp to limit visibility, light peeked out where the wind picked at the edges of the fabric.

Ducked down behind their building's parapet, Aspen closed her eyes to concentrate on searching for Emerald and Mercury's Auras. The muscles on her face were tight, and Carmine could see her eyes twitching behind her eyelids. After a minute of this, Aspen opened her eyes again. |They are here.|

Despite himself, Carmine felt a surge of excitement course through him. They were finally going to get an opportunity to prove themselves as a team. He may have convinced himself that he didn't like any of the others, but he needed them if he wanted stay at Beacon. That was the whole point, right? Learn from the best, become smarter and stronger, then… claim his birthright. The idea turned sour in his mind and quashed his excitement. Carmine turned his attention back to the warehouse. |You certain?|

Aspen glowered, though her ire didn't seem directed at him. |Yes. It is them.| She glanced across the street. |We should tell Mantis and Tawny. They may have advice.|

Ilex nodded. |Sounds good, but what about the sentries? We don't want them seeing or hearing us before we go in.|

|I will deal with them,| Aspen signed. Then, before any of them could stop her, she was running silently across the rooftops.

Carmine felt reluctant to let her go off on her own, but the worst thing she could do was kill the White Fang, which would hardly be a terrible thing. Instead, he pulled out his scroll to contact Mantis. There was still too much risk of being detected if he called, so he typed a message instead.

Ilex smacked him on the shoulder, interrupting him. |What was with all those questions about Aspen's Semblance?| Ignoring the question, Carmine finished his update for Mantis and sent it. Ilex was persistent, though. |Seriously, man. I know you don't trust her for whatever reason, but did you honestly have to grill her like that?|

Carmine sighed. Rather than try to sign his answer, he just typed it out on the scroll. -/It has nothing to do with trust. We have a right to know how it works./-

Frowning, Ilex signed, |I don't agree. If she didn't tell us about it before, I'm sure she had reasons. Besides, we're in the middle of a mission.|

Oh, I'm sure she had reasons, alright. Carmine's scroll vibrated with a new message, but he ignored it to write out a response to Ilex. -/All the more reason for us to know relying on it isn't going to screw us over./-

While Ilex grumbled to himself, Carmine pulled open Mantis's message. -\Alright. Tawny and I will move in to support you, but this is still your mission. We can't tell you how to approach this. Keep in mind, however, that a place like this will have plenty of boltholes and you can't cover them all. Stopping the White Fang from escaping is a secondary objective. If Mercury or Emerald get out onto the street, you will need to stop them as soon as possible.\-

None of the information in the message was new or revelatory to Carmine, but he made sure to share it with Ilex and Rhys. Rhys nodded as he read the message, but Ilex looked dissatisfied. |Nice to know they have confidence in us,| he signed, rolling his eyes.

A blur of white appeared in Carmine's periphery like a phantom, and he had to resist the urge to draw his knife. Silent as ever, Aspen knelt beside the group. |I have eliminated the sentries.| She didn't have blood on her armor, so that was a good sign that she hadn't killed them. Handing her his scroll, Carmine carefully watched her read over the message. About halfway through, she pursed her lips, but it wasn't until she'd read through the entire text that she pointed to the word boltholes with a questioning look on her face.

|Emergency exits,| Ilex explained. |Places to escape through.|

Satisfied with the answer, Aspen nodded and passed the scroll back to Carmine. He took a moment to send an acknowledgement back to Mantis before stowing it away. |Plan? | he asked Aspen.

The girl looked across the street, eyes narrowing. |There are… twenty… six White Fang. They will get in the way and should be eliminated as quickly as possible.| Aspen glanced at the three of them, then back to the warehouse. |Rhys and I will go through the roof and clear them out. Ilex and Carmine, cover the main entrance on the ground. If Emerald or Mercury exit, stop them.|

Carmine drummed his fingers against his knee. Splitting the team wasn't a bad idea, all things considered. Twenty-six White Fang was not insignificant, even for Aspen and Rhys together, but Mantis was right to point out that not all of them would stick around once the fighting started, especially not against Aspen and Rhys together. The sooner they could scatter the White Fang, the sooner they could focus on their real targets and lock them down. Having himself and Ilex outside, not bogged down by White Fang and ready to give chase, made sense. Even taking Emerald's Semblance into account, it wasn't likely she could effectively stall both of them longer than it would take Aspen and Rhys to catch up. There was just one part he had a question about.

|How cross unseen?| If they all tried to jump across the street to the other roof, they could deal with the guard there, but the one in the alley would almost certainly see or hear them. Likewise, if they went along the ground, they risked the guard on the roof seeing them and raising the alarm. Their best bet would be to do it all at once. |Need hit guards same time.|

No one offered an answer right away. Rhys tried to look stumped, but the way he looked between the three of them made it clear he wasn't even trying to come up with a solution. Ilex and Aspen, at least, made a point of reexamining the layout of the street. Carmine considered the possibility of crossing further down the street, but that still carried a risk of being seen and delaying the mission—not that time was a major factor.

Ilex's ears twitched, and he raised a hand up to his mouth in thought. Carmine almost made to ask him what he'd come up with, but Aspen bumped his shoulder first. |Do you have something?|

|Maybe.| He frowned, eyes flicking between the two guards, then he turned back to the group. |Okay. Aspen, can you and Rhys take out the guard on the roof fast enough that he won't raise an alarm?|

Aspen spared a glance across the street, and Carmine didn't miss her fingers curling into a fist. |Yes. I had no problem… taking out the sentries.|

|Wait, wait, wait!| Rhys butted in, flailing his hands in the middle of the group to stop anyone from signing. He looked up at Aspen, a wide grin on his face. |Let me get him! Please!|

Carmine slapped at Rhys's hands. |You not jump far enough.|

The grin on Rhys's face only grew. |I can if Aspen throws me!|

Throw him? That was absurd. Rhys was a blunt instrument at best. Sure, Aspen could almost certainly throw him across the street and, sure, he could probably take the guard out with a single punch, but that all predicated on Rhys not being seen or heard before he had the chance to do it. Aspen, on the other hand, was a veritable shadow. Plus, she already knew exactly how to take these guys out quickly and quietly. No, it would probably be better for her to deal with the guards and then—

|Okay,| Aspen signed.

Carmine buried an aggravated sigh. |I hate.|

|We know you do, buddy,| Ilex signed, a patronizing smile on his face. It quickly faded, and he focused on addressing Aspen and Rhys. |Okay. Give Carmine and I some time to get into position down in the alley. We'll go when you do.|

Aspen nodded and Ilex turned to move toward said alley, but Carmine grabbed him by the arm. |No tell plan?|

The grimace on Ilex's face wasn't reassuring. |You won't like it if I do. Don't worry, though. All you have to do is stand in the alley and look menacing.| A shape of the plan formed in Carmine's head, and he glared at Ilex. |Exactly like that.|

Aspen didn't object, so Carmine grit his teeth and ran with it. Not like he had any better ideas. Ilex led him over to the other side of the roof where they could drop down without attracting any attention. The streets were quiet in this district, so they didn't have to worry about pedestrians or passing cars spotting them. Once on the sidewalk, Carmine made to enter the alley, but Ilex stopped him. |Hang on.| He thought for a moment, then fumbled around with his clothes. It didn't accomplish much besides mussing them up, but that was already a greater length than Carmine would have expected. Satisfied with his efforts, Ilex stuck his head out and presented his cheek. |Okay, now go ahead and—|

Carmine slugged him. Spinning off balance into the brick wall of the building, Ilex blinked away the stars in his vision. A nasty bruise was already forming over his temple and cheekbone, unprotected and unhealed by his Aura. After taking a moment to regain his bearing, Ilex shot Carmine a glare and slowly raised a hand up to stick a finger into the fleshy part of his cheek. Carmine returned the glare without backing down. As far as he was concerned, Ilex deserved it. Clearly demonstrating his agreement with that sentiment with a sigh, Ilex waved his hand dismissively and led the way into the alley.

About halfway down the alley, Ilex stopped. Picking up an empty beer bottle some vagrant had left behind, he nodded and looked up. Carmine followed his gaze to find Rhys peeking out over the edge. The younger faunus gave a thumbs-up with a questioning look, at least until Ilex returned the gesture. Smiling, Rhys disappeared back over the edge. The plan was on, for better or worse.

Carmine made out footsteps on the rooftop as Rhys took a running start, but they were soon drowned out by Ilex sprinting through the rest of the alley. He tossed the bottle against the wall along the way, not hard enough to break it, but making a lot of noise and very clearly drawing attention to himself. Carmine quickly followed, stopping short of the alley mouth. Up on the opposite roof, the guard looked out over the edge to see what was going on, only for a flying Rhys to collide with him and drag him back out of sight.

Down on the street, Ilex had slowed his pace and kept glancing over his shoulder fearfully. The guard in the other alley stepped out of the shadows, his gun raised toward the unknown figure. "Who are—?"

"Oh, thank the gods! Another faunus!" Ilex gasped dramatically. He pointed back at the alley Carmine stood in. "A human attacked me! He's in that alley right now! I think he wants to kill me!"

Oh, you're damn right I hate this plan! Pulling out his weapon, Carmine shifted it into a crossbow and loaded a bolt. The White Fang guard looked understandably confused by Ilex's raving at first, but Carmine made sure to make himself visible enough to present a bigger threat. You better have a plan for this, you jackass!

The guard's rifle hit the street as Ilex grabbed him from behind. One hand covered the guard's mouth to keep him from shouting out, while the other seemed to be wrapped around his throat. With the trap sprung, Carmine ran out to support his partner as needed. Getting closer, he saw that Ilex was pressing his bracer up against the man's neck, but he still couldn't tell what he was doing with it. He could, however, hear Ilex frantically whispering, "Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep…!"

Gradually, the man slumped to the ground, unconscious. Ilex sighed with relief and pulled his hands away, revealing a dot of blood on the guard's neck. Carmine looked at him with suspicion, but Ilex just rolled his eyes and turned his bracer outward. A needle jutted out near his wrist, though Carmine couldn't see the syringe it was attached to. "Relax, it's just a sedative." Ilex said quietly.

There was no immediate threat of being heard, so Carmine couldn't get mad at him for that. Still, there were a few obvious questions. "Where did you get your hands on a sedative and why on Remnant did you build it into your bracers?"

Ilex's face paled, but quickly flushed with indignation. "I swear, it's not what you think. It's pretty potent, so I figured it would be useful against Grimm." He waved his hand down at the man laying in the middle of the street. "I barely used any on him."

Carmine frowned. Assuming he was telling the truth about the dosage, it was plausible that Ilex had acquired it for the purpose he claimed, but that didn't mean he'd never considered it for other purposes. "You didn't answer my first question."

"And I'm not going to." Ilex scoffed when Carmine raised an eyebrow. "Please. As if you've never used less than official channels for supplies."

"Fine, but that doesn't—"

The door to the warehouse creaked open. "Hey, I heard some noise. What's going…" Carmine and Ilex turned to see a woman in White Fang regalia staring at them. She wasn't armed, but there was no mistaking the fact that she'd seen the unconscious guard at their feet when she shouted, "Oh, crap!" Before either of the students could react, she slammed the door shut again.

Ilex's and Carmine's eyes met. "Oh, crap."

(- -)

"Would you stop pacing already, Emerald? You're seriously stressing me out." Mercury didn't receive so much as a glare in response from his partner. In fact, she actively avoided looking at him. Rolling his eyes, Mercury closed the game on his scroll and set it on the table he sat beside. "Emerald."

"Shut up!" The girl snapped in response. She did, at least, stop pacing. "I don't want to hear it."

Mercury scowled. Of course she didn't. She hadn't wanted to hear it for the past week but, at this point, there was no denying the fact that Cinder wasn't coming back for them. "We can't stay here." They'd managed to convince the White Fang to let them hole up in the foreman's office using Cinder as a threat, but it was only a matter of time before the terrorists realized the two of them didn't actually have any bargaining power. Either that, or the military would find the hideout and they'd have to go on the run. Better to get ahead of both outcomes now.

Emerald shook her head and went back to pacing. "If we leave, Cinder won't be able to find us." She paused and pulled out her scroll.

Jumping to his feet, Mercury grabbed her arm before she could do anything rash. "What do you think you're doing? You can't contact her."

Emerald snarled and pulled away. "Get off! I know that. I just…" Her mood shifted, and she looked forlornly at her scroll. "What if she needs us? What if she's waiting for us to contact her?"

"You know that's not how she works," Mercury chastised. Why on Remnant did he have to be the reasonable one? "If she hasn't found us by now, that means she's either captured—"

"Don't you say it."

"—dead—"

"Don't!"

"—or she's left us behind."

With a frustrated yell, Emerald drew one of her pistols and pointed it at him. Tears flowed freely down her face. "She's not dead and she didn't abandon us! Cinder would never do that!"

Mercury had to fight the urge to lash back at her. Loathe as he was to admit it, each was all the other had left. Cinder had pulled them from nothing, given them purpose. For Mercury, that came with the opportunity to get one over on those who would look down on him. For Emerald, that came with a mother figure or whatever complex it was that made her cling so tight. Regardless, Cinder had been all too happy to exploit that attachment for her own ends. It seemed he would have to do the same. "So, you think she wants us to get captured, then? Because that's what's going to happen if we stay here."

"Of course not!" Emerald spat. She easily saw through the rhetorical question, but that didn't mean it didn't have the intended effect. Her pistol shook in her grasp and Mercury took the opportunity to push it out of his face. Emerald didn't resist. "She… She told us to wait for her…"

"No, she didn't," Mercury said, jabbing a finger into her chest. Emerald didn't need to be coddled and he certainly wouldn't have been the person to do it. "She said she would find us when she was finished. There are safer places we can lay low and wait for her. Places where we don't have to deal with White Fang." Emerald turned away, her entire body shaking at this point. Mercury scowled. If she couldn't make up her mind at this point, he was going to have to cut her loose. No point keeping himself tied to a sinking—

The sound of glass shattering and the ensuing shouts of confusion reached them from the main room. Discussion set aside, Mercury led the way to the door and out onto the catwalk overlooking the warehouse, giving him a clear vantage point from which to see what had caused the disturbance.

Down in the center of the room, surrounded by shards of glass, was what Mercury could only describe as some sort of Grimm. He could scarcely discern it's shape other than the suggestion of limbs, but the bone plates covering its leathery body were unmistakable. Given its positioning and the extra draft in the room, it must have entered through the skylight. Such an entrance—particularly one in the middle of the city—would explain why every one of the White Fang lackeys had been shocked into inaction, despite most of them being armed.

The dumb silence in the room collapsed when one of the White Fang ran into the room, shouting, "We're under attack!" Mercury wanted to shout back that she was a little late to raise the alarm, but she followed it up with, "There are huntsmen out front!"

Huntsmen? But then…? Mercury looked up to the skylight. As expected, one of the panels had been shattered but, through it, he could make out the grinning face of a vaguely familiar teenager. He dropped his head to look at what he'd thought to be a Grimm, only to be met by the blood-red eyes of Aspen Gray. "Damn. How did they find us?" There was no way this could be a coincidence. Of all the people Vale or Atlas or whoever could've sent to break up the White Fang, the rephaite was the one to find their hideout?

"Aura," Emerald whispered. Her eyes were wide with horror and staring down at Aspen. "She can sense our Aura. But if she's found us…"

She didn't get a chance to finish her thought as the White Fang finally came to their senses and opened fire on the intruder. They never had a chance of hitting her, however, and she carved her way through their ranks with her bare hands faster than they could track. Screams of terror and pain rose above the thunder of gunfire as faunus were sent flying through the air into crates and walls and empty space to fall bodily to the floor.

Mercury nearly lost his balance when Emerald grabbed onto his shoulders and forced him to face her. "We need to leave!" she practically begged, the irony apparently lost on her. "We have to get far away from here, before he finds us!"

"He?" Mercury echoed. "What the hell are you—?"

Something exploded underneath the catwalk, sending Mercury tumbling over the edge. The unexpected fall left him too disoriented to brace and he landed on his side with enough force to knock the breath from his lungs. He rolled onto his back, sputtering as he attempted to force his diaphragm to work again. Back on the catwalk above, Emerald climbed back to her feet and spared a look down at him before taking off to find an exit from the building. "Bitch," Mercury managed. Truth be told, he couldn't entirely blame her.

Shaking off the lingering pain from his fall, Mercury climbed back to his feet. From the looks of things, the explosion had knocked down a handful of White Fang who'd been clustered together. Mercury wouldn't have put it past them to have fallen victim to equipment malfunction or a stray bullet igniting a crate of Dust, but all of them were still alive and in one piece, which implied a more deliberate—

Mercury sucked in a breath and threw himself aside and back to the ground, narrowly avoiding the slab of metal wielded by the teen from the roof. The boy moved quickly despite the size of his weapon and Mercury had to pull his legs up to his chest to avoid being crushed in the follow-up attack. Using that momentum, Mercury kicked himself back into an upright position, lashing out at his attacker in the process. The boy—Aspen's partner Rhys, Mercury remembered—staggered back, but even a boot to the face didn't seem enough to wipe his smile away.

Drawing his leg back into a fighting stance, Mercury scanned the warehouse for an opening to escape. The White Fang had scattered like a flock of seagulls, the few still conscious and foolish enough to fight Aspen quickly falling to her inhuman speed and strength. When they were dealt with, he'd be stuck fighting her as well as the runt with the rocket launcher. Better to get out now while he still had an opening.

Rhys charged in toward Mercury, rearing his breaching ram back. Taking a single step forward, Mercury leapt into the air just as Rhys swung upward. The end of the weapon came up under Mercury's feet, giving him another base and extra momentum to jump off from. By firing his boots, he was able to easily clear the catwalk railing. It was just a matter of sticking the landing and he'd be home free.

Something heavy slammed into him, knocking him into the office window hard enough to fracture the glass. Whatever it was fell on top of him, pinning him to the catwalk. Finding his breath once again, Mercury rolled the object off him. Agh… What the hell was that? A weak moan answered his question as the unconscious body of a White Fang grunt slumped onto the catwalk next to him. "Really?" he muttered, climbing to his feet. Looking over the edge, he shouted, "Did you have to throw a person at me?"

Aspen didn't rise to his provocation, barely looking up at him before turning her attention to Rhys. She made a few gestures up to the edge of the catwalk, out where Emerald had gone. The runt slumped for a moment but nodded and slung his heavy ram onto his back. Mercury considered his options. Apparently, Aspen was sending her partner to go after Emerald, leaving him for herself. He felt a little flattered, though that didn't mean he wanted to fight her. He couldn't imagine her not having backup, even besides the members of her team. Not to mention the fact that she was rephaim. He'd paid enough attention to know that he'd gotten lucky the last time they'd fought.

Unfortunately, it didn't appear as though he would be getting a choice in the matter. Rhys, propelled by Aspen, landed up on the catwalk with him, followed shortly by Aspen herself. With both between himself and the exit, Mercury had no choice but to prepare himself for a fight. Rhys looked hesitant to leave Aspen alone, but a nod from her sent him scurrying out after Emerald.

"So, looking for a rematch, huh?" Mercury asked, eying Aspen over. Getting a closer look at her, he understood why he'd mistook her for a Grimm. He'd seen her armor when he and Emerald had followed her through the Emerald Forest, but she'd since reinforced it with the very plates she'd been tearing from the Grimm. "That armor looks good on you."

Aspen ignored the compliment. "I am not here to spar. You attacked Beacon. You killed people. I am apprehending you."

Technically, he hadn't killed anyone that night, but Mercury doubted she even understood what a technicality was. "Yeah, kinda figured as much," he said with a shrug, not breaking from his stance. "Still, best not to forget who won last time."

Stopping a few feet away from him, Aspen narrowed her eyes and mirrored his stance. An uneasiness rose in Mercury's gut, tugging him away and whispering for him to run, but he pushed it away. He studied her carefully watching for any tells. Last time, she'd been barehanded and had taken to mimicking his own style once he'd gotten the upper hand. Her new armor looked like it restricted her movement too much for her to pull off that trick again. Regardless, given she now had claws affixed to her gloves, she would likely rely more on her hands than her feet.

Aspen proved Mercury correct, faster than he would have liked. Like lightning, she reached out to slash at his eyes. Mercury managed to hop back before she could touch him, but her advance was rapid enough to keep him backpedaling. Mentally measuring the distance to the end of the catwalk where it wrapped around the office behind him, Mercury leapt away from another of Aspen's long-reached slashes. His feet found purchase on the railing. Pushing off again, he somersaulted over and angled a kick toward her head.

Aspen moved too fast for him, though. Her hand latched onto his leg before she'd even turned around, and she threw him across the room. Mercury bounced off the ground before he could recover, and even then his momentum kept him stumbling backward into a crate of Dust. I am really getting sick of being thrown around like this! Apparently in no rush to finish him off, Aspen dropped from the catwalk, giving Mercury time to dig around in the crate. This should do.

"We're not so different, you know," Mercury said, keeping the Dust crystal he'd lifted behind his back. "We're weapons. The only difference is that I know when I'm being used."

Aspen didn't blink. "I know what they want from me."

Mercury laughed, a brief moment of genuine humor. "Oh, I was right about you. You are special." He smirked. "If it means anything, I don't want to kill you." Readying his stance, he threw the Dust crystal—burn—out toward Aspen. Predictably, she ducked out of its path, but he hadn't been trying to hit her. Instead, Mercury lifted his leg and fired.

The crystal exploded in a blossom of fire; not enough to consume Aspen, but enough to hurt her and, more importantly, distract her. Mercury closed the distance between them before the fireball could dissipate. A kick to her face knocked her upright, opening her up to shrapnel blast to the chest. While a few pieces of metal lodged themselves into the leather, most bounced off the Ursa mask breastplate. Pressing his attack, Mercury dropped to the ground to sweep Aspen's legs from under her. She had enough presence of mind to lift one leg, but he still caught her other ankle with the toe of his boot and toppled her to the ground.

Twisting around, Mercury brought an axe kick down toward Aspen's head to finish her off. His heel bounced off her arms only for her to grab it and clamp down. In a panic, Mercury twisted out of her grasp, but the damage had already been done. A quick glance down when he rose to his feet told him that she'd managed to crush the firing mechanism in his boot. He cursed to himself. It was only a minor loss, but he needed every advantage he could get.

To make things worse, it seemed all he had accomplished was pissing Aspen off. When she rolled back up to her feet, her eyes were practically glowing with fury. She charged forward, arms drawn back in preparation for attack. Mercury did his best to act first, feigning a kick with his undamaged boot, only to chamber it when Aspen made to block. He fired another shrapnel blast, this time aimed closer to her shoulder where there were no Grimm bones to protect her. Aspen reacted by dipping into the attack, taking the hit with the Beowolf mask on her arm. She followed up with a cross to Mercury's jaw.

Mercury couldn't be certain that he hadn't blacked out from the hit, but he soon found himself climbing to his feet on the other side of the room with a sharp pain in his skull. What the hell…? He'd known Aspen was stronger than basically anyone alive and the force of her punch still caught him off guard. Just how much had she been holding back before, to be able to hurt him even with his Aura?

Aspen didn't give him much time to think on it, rushing back in to engage. Mercury met her with a series of kicks aimed up and down her side, anywhere he might find an opening. She slapped each one aside. Ducking beneath a fist that cracked the wall behind him, Mercury dropped to his hands and kicked up toward her chin. Shrapnel cut through her hair but didn't so much as scratch her skin, nor did it stop her hand from closing around his leg once again. This time, something more vital gave way beneath her grip.

Mercury kicked his other leg out to gain the momentum needed to break away, managing to slip under her arm and stumble away behind her. Shit, I think she broke my ankle. Eyeing Aspen carefully, he continued to back away. There was blood in the water, a fact Aspen was clearly aware of as she stalked toward him. Mercury scowled. I'm not going down so easily! Stopping on his undamaged foot, he propelled himself forward and lifted his other leg to bring it down in an axe kick.

Aspen caught it without so much as flinching. She seemed to expect it, in fact, turning to the side just as Mercury's leg came down, and his heel came to a stop in the palm of her hand. Then, raising her other arm up over her head, she brought her elbow down into his knee.

A cry of pain threatened to claw its way out of Mercury's throat as bone tore through metal and artificial nerves. His leg burned with a near-paralytic fire that only paled in comparison to when he'd originally lost his legs. Another spark of pain coursed through his nerves when Aspen pulled her elbow spike free, but she did release him. Mercury instinctively pulled the remains of his leg closer while pushing himself away with the other. It didn't take him long to determine that he would not be walking out of the building, literally or figuratively.

"I am not like you," Aspen said, stepping over him. Her breathing was far more labored than it should have been, and her hands clenched into fists. It seemed like he'd gotten to her more than she'd let on. "You have no reason to kill and you do it anyway. My biology… compels me to kill and I choose not to."

Mercury laughed despite his pain. "Of course. It's harder for you to resist your urges, so that makes you better than me." He sneered. "You know what? You're right. I don't have to kill, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy it. You've killed before, right? So, I'm sure you know a thing or two about that."

Aspen snarled. Claws tearing through the fabric, she grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him up. "I know you, and I know you continue to make the mistake of believing you understand me—"

"Don't I?" Mercury shot back, trying to hide the desperation of his gamble. "You want them to trust you, to accept you. You think if you take me in, if you keep doing what they ask you to do, they'll let you act like the person you think you are." Talking wasn't Mercury's strong suit, but Aspen's lack of immediate response told him he was on the right track. "That'll never happen. You're just a pet to them, a living weapon they can sic on whomever they please. Even if they let you play at being a huntress, you'd still be working for them, doing what they want."

Mercury pursed his lips. "Let me go." Aspen's eyes hardened, and he quickly raised a finger to stop her from interrupting him. "I beat you before. Now, I don't know if you even understand the concept of honor, but you owe me a favor and I'm cashing it in." Taking a breath, he put on a confident smile. "You can come with me. We'll be free. No one will use us again."

Aspen's grip tightened on his shirt. "This." She hissed. "This is what I meant. You speak of freedom, cooperation, honor, but you are only interested in serving yourself. You seek to use me for your ends all while decrying those who would do the same. Perhaps I will always have to work for their trust…" She pulled him close, so his face was inches away from hers. "…but I will not be used by you."

Mercury forced himself to keep her gaze. To do otherwise would be to admit defeat. "So, you do understand honor, then." The tension between them was strong enough to pull a Goliath. Clearly, Aspen leaving with him was out of the question—she was far too stubborn—so Mercury could only hope honor would be a strong enough motivator to release him.

Aspen broke first. Furrowing her brow, she glanced downward before letting him drop back to the floor. Mercury edged himself away, but Aspen didn't move to stop him. "That's what I thought," he muttered. Grimacing, he pulled his leg up to inspect the damage. Somehow, Aspen had perfectly lodged her elbow spike into the metal seams. It would take some painful work, but he could still repair it himself.

Mercury didn't see Aspen raise her foot until she brought it down on his other leg. The metal offered little resistance to her boot and the ensuing pain overwhelmed Mercury's defenses. Unbothered by his screams of anguish, Aspen knelt and grabbed his jaw, forcing him to look at her. "If it means anything," she said, eyes burning with blood and fury, "I really want to kill you." Shoving him back down, she stood up. "You're free to go."

With that, she left him to writhe on the cold warehouse floor, reduced to clutching the twisted metal hanging from the stumps of his legs.


Aspen, honey… Maybe tone it down a notch.

Woof, this chapter is on the hefty side. Just over 7000 words at end of first draft, when my chapters normally run about 4000-5000. I'm proud of myself, though, because a lot of the extra length came from the dialogue in the first scene, and dialogue has been something I've worried over for a while. It's nice to see myself improving.

On a bit of a technical note, one thing I hadn't fully considered when I decided to include a deaf character was how I would write sign language. I was quick to latch onto the | | format for sign instead of quotes (and flipping it from Rhys's perspective), but sign language doesn't really work the same way English does. Vocabulary is only a part of sign, with expression being the rest, and I haven't really incorporated that into the story since I don't know sign language or have anyone to consult with. I've done some research on writing a deaf character, though, and I don't think I've done anything egregious. Regarding Carmine's "speech" patterns this chapter, I don't mean for it to be insulting, but rather as a goofy way to show that he knows how to communicate what he wants to say but doesn't do it as smoothly as the others.

Oh, before I forget, if you're curious about what Aspen's armor looks like, I posted a few drawings over on my tumblr (same url as my pen name here).

Next time, we'll see how smoothly the rest of Team GREI's first mission goes. As always, au revoir!