Pietro continued on his own through the streets on his search for Novus. It wasn't too hard to find him; simply follow the trail of mangled, dissolving Grimm bodies.

"No sign of him yet" Pietro said over his comms, "But the Grimm bodies are becoming fresher, so I must be getting close."

"Keep at it" Hayden told him over the other end: "He's not too far now."

"Well, that's a relief."

"Wait," Hayden suddenly said.

"What is it?" Pietro asked, "Is he moving again?"

"He is" Hayden replied, "You might not like where he's headed."

"And why is that?"

As if in reply, a stream of fire shattered lit up the road right in front of Pietro, and the doctor looked up to come eye to eye with Novus, his Heavy Battle torch pointed right at him. The message was clear: Don't take one more step.

Piero held up his hands: "Novus, I've been looking all over for you."

Novus kept the weapon raised.

"Surely you recognize me, don't you? Pietro Polendina?"

No answer.

"Why don't you say something? I'm here to help you." Pietro then took another deep breath; he needed to be more careful about what to say next: "I know what you're feeling; I miss her too."

There were a few moments of silence. Then, Novus slowly walked up to Pietro, slightly lowering the Torch.

"Keep talking" Hayden said over the earpiece, "I think you got his attention."

Pietro continued: "I know loss is hard. Penny may not seem like it, but she is like a daughter to me. I know you're filled with grief over losing her; I am too."

Novus was directly in front of Pietro now.

"But what you're doing…this isn't grief anymore. You've let your grief turn into anger and you let that anger control you."

Novus slowly clenched his fists; Pietro knew he needed to do something quick before he became the next living pancake.

"This isn't going to bring her back; trust me, I know. Besides, would Penny have wanted this?"

There was a tense silence between the two, and for a moment, it seemed to Pietro as if he had struck the wrong nerve. Suddenly, Novus's breathing became ragged and short, and, dropping the Torch, he fell on his knees as a strange breathing sound could be heard from under his helmet. Pietro recognized immediately what was happening; Novus was crying.

Guiding his chair up next to Novus, he put a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder: "It's alright. Just let it out; I won't judge. You might want to take that helmet off before the inside gets soaked though." He said with a chuckle. To his surprise, Novus actually did so, exposing his scarred and tear streaked face.

"I miss her too; I am her father after all" Pietro continued, "And you know what? I also knew about you and Penny's relationship."

Novus looked up at Pietro, but the scientist only smiled back, "It thrilled me to know she had fallen in love with you; I always wanted her to have a normal life. It broke my heart to see her torn apart, and it hurts me now to see you suffer because of it."

Novus sniffled a bit as he stood back up. He looked back at Pietro and managed a weak smile.

"My advice is to find your friends" Pietro advised, "They lost a lot too from the Fall of Beacon, so they might be able to help as well."

Realizing the truth in Pietro's words, Novus nodded at him and, brushing a few tears out of his eyes, re-donned his helmet, ready to head out.

"Hold on now" Pietro said, "If you're going after them, you're going to need some help. Fortunately, that is something I can give you."

Pietro tapped his earpiece: "We're all good here."

A few seconds later, a blue portal opened next to the two. Pietro gestured to the portal: "After you."

Novus nodded and walked through the portal, entering Hayden's Atlas lab, where Dr. Hayden himself was waiting.

"I'm glad to see you decided to listen to reason, Novus" Hayden said, "If you're ready to get back in the fight, Pietro and I are willing to help."

Pietro walked through the portal and up next to Novus, with the portal closing moments after.

"Well then," Pietro said to Novus, "Let's get started; there's a few thing you're going to need if you plan on heading for Haven."

…

In another part of Atlas, Weiss sat sorrowfully in her room. She had every right to be sad; her father had just stripped her of her heiress status after she accidentally summoned a boarbatusk in the middle of one of Jacques's fundraiser parties. In her defense, she had snapped at one of the other guests when they insulted Vale. To make things worse for her, before the party, she had been asked to sing for the party guests; the song she used was the one Julius had helped her create, which he had fittingly titled "This Life is Mine" Weiss loved the song and had decided to use it, but thinking back on it now, it hurt her more; she had heard the news of Julius's disappearance and probable death during the attack on Beacon, and it had disheartened her ever since.

Suddenly, she was snapped of her thoughts by a knock at the door.

"Come in" she called. The door opened to reveal the Schnee family butler, Klein.

"Forgive me, my dear" he said in his sheepish tone, "but I overheard your little scenario with your father. I truly am sorry for you."

Weiss sighed and looked at the ground: "It's nothing you could have stopped."

"That may be true" Klein replied, his voice becoming more dignified, "Anyways, someone brought something just now and it appears to be for you.

Weiss looked confused. "For me?"

Klein handed her a small envelope. Sure enough, her name was on it, but not much else.

The butler stepped back. "Well, is there anything you need of me, miss?"

Weiss shook her head. "No. Thank you, Klein."

Klein nodded and left as Weiss opened the envelope, pulling out a small metal disk with the Atlesian symbol on it. Weiss looked over it, confused, when it suddenly vibrated and flew out of her hands before resting on the ground in front of her. Startled, Weiss leaned back in mild fear as the center of the disk began to glow, projecting the holographic form of Dr. Samuel Hayden.

"Forgive me, Miss Schnee" Hayden said, "But I felt like your father wouldn't allow for us to meet in person."

Weiss scoffed. "You're not wrong. What is it?"

"I know you're probably still recovering from what happened at Beacon" Hayden explained, "But something else is happening that is much bigger than you may realize. The one who attacked Beacon isn't done yet, and we need anyone willing to fight to step up. something tells me you might be one of those few."

Weiss felt a glimmer of hope rise in her chest. "You want me to help fight?"

"You're a Huntress, aren't you?"

Weiss was about to eagerly agree, but then deflated in concern. "How would I even get out of here?"

Hayden explained, "I've arranged for passage on a cargo transport heading in the direction of Mistral. The only difficult part is sneaking you out of here. Fortunately, VEGA is capable of hiding your signature from unwanted eyes."

Weiss was beginning to light up again as the plan unfolded.

"So" Hayden finally asked, "Are you in?"

Weiss only needed a second to think about it; she nodded.

"Good" Hayden replied, "I'll guide you to the hangar when it's time, but for now, until we meet again."

Once the hologram dissipated, Weiss looked over to a pink case at the foot of her bed. Walking over, she opened it, revealing Myrtenaster. Taking the handle, she brought the sword up in front of her face, a determined smile on her face; time to get out of here.

Quick disclosure, we won't be seeing Novus until the very end of Vol.4 because I want to have a very exciting and much anticipated revealing at the end. Before anyone gets on me, I technically didn't break the Slayer doesn't cry rule because Novus isn't the Slayer himself. The crying was his mother's side kicking in(you'll find out her identity later). Let me know what you guys think so far though.