Atlas Wilds

by Nasha Rei-Kun

If the gang situation around Atlas would cause him so much trouble, Obito would handle it no matter what. For his family. For the people in Mantle. And definitely for himself. He'd become the biggest gang of the underground or destroy all of it from the inside out.

10. New Flags I

a~NRK~

Flammen perched once more but, this time, on a shorter building than he was used to the following afternoon.

He peered at the intersection in his usual Mirage Layer. Programs beeped and booped in his head, starting his observation program.

As he looked around, he noted the faces of Atlas Academy students moving about the streets.

His Master hated this situation, the idea of these children coming down made her think of James Ironwood's tactical mind and 'back-up plans'.

He'd need to mind them and his goals, lest he reveal himself-

There was a beep off his danger program, robotic eyes snapping to the side to see-

The explosion of flames that lit-up the rooftop.

~NRK~

Down below, Vine's eyes caught the bursting fire as he brought his team to a halt.

"What in the world?" Alfons frowned as they watched the large fireball fade and leave nothing but smoke. "Vine, sir?"

"Spread out and surround the smoke," Vine ordered to the Freshmen, eyes narrowed as he focused on the heated haze. 'So, I will finally see it in the mechanical flesh.'

With the others spreading out, and Alfons coming up on his side, they saw the smoke begin to dissipate before catching sight of the robot.

"What the hell is that?" The rich kid asked in confusion. "S-Sir?"

Vine's eyes widened a bit before he nodded. "Alfons, your Semblance is going to be vital in subjugating that machine," he said with a frown as the Freshman grimaced at the robot in question.

"What's it doing?" He asked Vine who raised a brow. "Why was it up there? Who attacked it?"

Moments after asking his question, another explosion of flames rocked against the mechanical being, alarming the two.

The two's heads snapped to the side and stared in shock at a winged individual in the air.

Vine's eyebrow rose further as he noted the odd detachable hood Obito had chosen to wear, one that was almost holy in design that had four long tassels, two on the front and two on the back.

Pure black wings on his back flared out, bat-like ones, that kept him afloat.

"Who is that?" The younger student frowned deeply. 'A gangster?' With this kind of long-range and flight capabilities?

Not good.

"I don't know who that is but that robot takes most precedence," Vine told the rich boy who grimaced. "Alfons, that thing has been surveilling us, why?"

"W-Well… I don't have an answer for that, sir."

"That's fine, I'm not disparaging you but, remember, the general was oddly attacked recently," Vine frowned as Alfons's eyes widened and he paled. "Yes, it's odd, how'd it get here?" He played 'that game'.

The game of 'Words'.

Alfons grimaced. "... We'll do our utmost to bring it down… but, sir, what of that individual?" He asked him, pointing at the still floating Obito. "We don't know him/her/it or their alliances."

Vine knew this would come up. "It's true, that said, while he's not attacking us or civilians, we'll need to balance our priorities. Don't leave my side, we're going with Form Alpha."

The young man looked concerned but nodded, white mist shooting beneath their feet and lifting them high into the sky in seconds.

When the second heated smoke cloud cleared, they saw the machine's form covered by hissing steam and tattered cloth.

Its robotic form was fully in view and Vine blinked as he saw its sleek dark blue hunching frame, the mechanical being's eyes narrowing before it faded out of view in a distortion.

'That's its mirage,' how terrifying. "Alfons!"

The carrot top threw one of his arms forward and clenched it.

White mist shot out from the cloud below them, snaking around the building top before slamming into it, the haze becoming transparent.

And allowing them to see the robot just enough to combat it.

"Formation Alpha! I want a three-person trap team, NOW!" Vine called out as the other students jumped from nearby buildings, converging on the robot. 'We don't know how tough it is, Obito, you'll need to give us the cover we need.'

---

Obito flew around the building the robot was on, a finger going into his hood onto his earpiece.

"The Atlas students are beginning a fight with the robot," he said to it.

~NRK~

Sienna, Perry, and Aster nodded to that, the three Faunus on top of a building really far into the outer edge of Mantle, barely able to see the dots that were the combatants as Sienna pressed her finger to the piece of technology.

Perry lowered his telescope. "We'll see how tough this thing is, you guys," he frowned, passing the telescope to Sienna. "I-I'm freezing, godsdamn," he sighed as Aster threw an arm around his shoulders, the three flat against a roof. "Thanks."

"This fight, will you be able to last?" She asked him with a frown and he sighed. "Perry."

"I'll last long enough, hopefully," he muttered.

"Don't push yourself," Sienna said, watching the proceedings. "If you can't handle fighting for too long, hang back and act as our recon guy. We need to be able to see this thing at any time… mask up," she commanded, her pair already on.

Her friends followed suit as an explosion rocked the sky.

~NRK~

Obito's eyes narrowed as he told his Kudama Wings to enhance with wind, the flying appendages on his back coming out of an orb that began to spew windy energy out the bottom.

His form vanished from the sight of normal eyes, appearing as a blur.

He watched the first contact with a narrowed gaze.

---

Vine's Aura limb shot out and punched the face of the robot, the man landing on the roof in front of it.

He grabbed its head before pulling himself towards it with both feet slamming into its face.

The third-year flipped back and landed with a grimace at the staring, though slightly stumbling, android.

'No effect,' he thought before jumping off the roof quickly, a whip of flame coasting over the edge. "Tsk," the third-year swung out with an Aura limb.

Grabbing the side of the building, he swung around as two Freshmen soared overhead.

"Watch out for fire capabilities!"

There was a yelp followed by a pair of screams before the two were thrown off by another burst of flame.

Vine latched onto the building before throwing one arm out towards the falling duo. An enlarged energy hand caught the dazed two as he frowned.

He dropped down and deposited them by a trio of students with their Semblances activated.

"Attack from its back once I and the others have it occupied," he commanded before jumping up and scaling the building once more, the sight of more flaming explosions, yells, and screams getting a grimace out of him.

---

'It's decently tough,' Obito thought, still flying around.

Even now, he watched as a girl with a handgun strafed the mechanical being while taking shots, each one of those bullets doing nothing more than glance off the robot's hide before it raised its arm like it usually did.

His Sharingan blazed as it lunged at the girl and slammed a flaming fist into her stomach.

The flames built up with near instant control before throwing her off the roof only to be caught by Alfons's Semblance.

The machine swung its arm back and ice soon followed, erupting into a bursting ball full of pillars that deferred and/or crushed the opposition.

Alfons was working double-time, it seemed, catching his fellow students before attacking with his Semblance.

His blows were weak, not even moving the mechanical being before Vine came flying over the edge of the roof.

Their eyes met for a mere moment and Obito slapped both his hands together in the air before building up swirling flames and rapid winds.

For now, he wasn't using the Hamaya, not willing to exert that much of his skill set in front of so many people, but he had a passable distance with his combined elements. Especially because he had all three of his Kudama for this fight.

The roaring white spiral on his fingertips snapped into a sphere before he stopped mid-air, took aim, and fired.

The attack unbalanced the machine a bit and gave Vine the opening he needed to wrap both his Aura limbs around the enemy's legs.

His arms and legs burned lime green before he pulled it over the edge of the building and then spun it through the air thrice.

The maneuver ended with him bringing it down into the street, cratering the very width of the intersection.

'He's definitely stronger than Sienna,' well, perhaps, Obito had seen Sienna work with power that couldn't be underestimated. "Hmph."

He shot off towards the crater, hands crackling with electricity in one and spiraling water in the other.

'Genkai!' (Current!)

He slammed down on the center of the robot's chest, eyes burning.

'Hirame!' (Flash!)

Electricity brightened the area as it ran rampant, tearing up traffic lights and sidewalks while tossing up a cloud of ozone.

Obito's eyes narrowed at the feeling beneath his hands before he shot back into the sky as the robot's hands clapped harshly.

Vine's eyes widened before he crossed his arms over his face, the torrent of dispersing steam getting a hiss out of him.

'It's so potent!' It felt like his Aura was boiling before he bolstered it, tightening the soul energy around himself. "Tsk!"

When the steam waves ended, he was already jumping back, body hissing, as Alfons landed next to him with a look of disbelief.

"What in the world is this thing?" He asked as the ozone cleared to reveal a mostly untouched robot. "That electricity from that one," Alfons's eyes flickered to the flying Obito. "It did nothing?"

Outside of a warped imprint on the Flammen's chest, the android didn't look bothered at all.

"..." Vine's eyes flashed and he sighed. "What is the status report on the others?"

"Half of them are down, that abomination is stronger than most of our Auras can take."

He figured as much. "... Alfons, it seems like it'll be the three of us doing the most up-close conflict," Vine said to the younger man as Obito's form landed atop a nearby coffee shop, the screams of civilians getting a grimace out of the three. "We need to keep things 'quiet', we can't let the populace be assaulted!"

Obito's eyes narrowed beneath his cowl before wind picked up around him as Flammen's form got up.

'Time to test your material, you robotic piece of garbage.'

He shot at it with a sonic boom, left arm shifting.

Obito clotheslined the robot with a giant clawed hand, doubling his wind power as he dealt with the sheer weight the damn thing had on it.

Still, his double-usage gave the desired results as he dragged the android off its feet before shooting down the street like a comet.

'Keep this thing away from people but still within view,' he couldn't let Alfons have any idle time, him nor his comrades. 'Vine, you have to stay back to mind the others-'

"I'm coming!" Came Alfons' voice, getting a smirk out of the Uchiha before he decided this was enough distance.

Obito slammed the robot down before his black limb crackled with electricity.

The attack hit the same spot from before, not doing much if not any visible damage save for a series of white lines from his claw's tips.

'Tsk.'

The Uchiha jumped off and away as white mist broke around the robot.

Alfons grimaced as he held up his hands before clenching them tightly.

His Semblance coiled tightly around the robot's limbs, rotating fast, before being dispersed by the machine simply getting up.

"This damn thing isn't something I can beat with my Semblance!" He shouted to Obito, the flying boy crouched a bit away. 'I can at least try and see his face,' Alfons strained his eyes before reinforcing them only to grimace. 'I can't see-!'

The robot lunged at him and he choked before being clocked. The wealthy boy's eyes rolled as he tumbled backward, the machine rearing back another fist that glowed with barely-restrained fire.

Obito chose only then to attack, his limbs covered in his earth powers' white glow before he lunged and slammed his feet into the side of the machine's head.

It stumbled to the side, heavy steps crushing the asphalt beneath its feet before it swung out awkwardly.

The Uchiha dodged around it with ease before slicing across its face with an electrified chop that sparked but did little more than leave a white mark.

'It's so dense!' Hamaya might not even be enough. 'Genkai Hirame left its mark, it might not be as resistant to water as I thought,' he blurred around the machine.

The robot's rotors whirled before its upper half began to spin on a swivel.

Then, swirls of moist winds began to pick up and spread out from the robot's chassis.

Obito grimaced as he began to fan out, getting further and further away from the beginning-to-vanish robot.

His eyebrows furrowed before he made a sharp turn back at the machine with sparking hands.

His Sharingan blazed as they caught every bit of its movement before he slipped in just in time to face a familiar hand print.

The area crackled with electricity and creaking metal as the disguised Uchiha was flung away from the machine and sent through a shop's side wall.

The street distorted and hissed as Flammen stumbled for a bit.

~NRK~

"I think he finally got a good hit this time," Sienna said as she, Perry, and Aster huddled up. "And while his electricity powers are working," she frowned behind her mask as she passed the binoculars on to Aster. "It's metal is too thick," she grimaced.

"... It's got a print, though," Aster said with a hidden frown of her own. "B-But Bito just got thrown through a building!"

"WHAT?!" Sienna and Perry gawked as Aster nodded.

"I-I think he'll be fine, maybe? Right now, that thing's dent is a bit worse but that's it."

Sienna frowned. "Just a bit more. Alfons is down so they can bring that thing over here now," she said even as she felt her worries rise at the lack of movement in the distance. 'But how long can we do this before Atella gets here?' This was as far from the near-center of Mantle as possible but that gave them, what?

Maybe around fifteen minutes of an Aura-infused run to reach this part of the city from their hideout, ten miles dealt with so easily.

"You think we can down this thing before all the news hits?" Perry asked. "What about your other gang? Hell, what about the other gangs? The other students with that Bastion guy?" He added nervously. "We gotta bring that fucker down before we're lit-up like cracker wood."

"If Atella's prepared to come already, which I doubt, fifteen minutes? Maybe?" Sienna offered him. "At the moment, if we're lucky, it'll take her half an hour to get here. We should have this thing out here where no one'll wanna be."

"But will that stop 'em?" Aster asked with a frown, the flicker of yellow light from afar hard to miss. "If this is too interestin', we're fucked."

They'd have to hope for their best set of luck.

~NRK~

With Alfons out of the fight with many of his other comrades, Obito had been blessed with having only Vine as his partner in this fight.

"The others are going to call back-up soon," the older Mistralian said as they circled the robot. "I'm sure you're aware but we can't make this fight last too long, can we destroy this in the time it takes for that to happen?"

Flying next to the Academy student, Obito's eyes narrowed. "We'll have to," he said. "For now, let's bring this away from the crowded areas," he added as Vine nodded, limbs brimming with light.

They skirted ahead of the robot, Obito landing as they did, before the duo lunged at it.

Wind, Aura, and immense speed had the two of them pushing the machine down the street further and further, the feeling of the sharp cold hissing against their warm skin telling them they were close.

A small spill of glowing flames began to emanate from the robot's chassis, causing both boys to give one more push before jumping back as a tower of fire shot up into the air.

Obito and Vine's heels screeched as they skidded to a stop in the icy streets of the Mantle Outskirts, breaths misting out as they released them.

"Good," the Academy student said as he removed a large folded shuriken from his back, the weapon glowing intensely. "Not as far as we'd like."

"But it'll have to do," Obito finished for him as he threw off his temporary hood, his cloak's own still up as he removed his long daggers from their holsters.

They flickered before they became ensheathed by glowing green wind.

Obito's limbs glowed white as his wings meld back into his black arm.

The machine stopped spewing its powerful flames seconds later, the area soon covered in hot steam.

And all of it was dispersed a second later as Sienna came down from above with a reared-back fist wrapped in her chains.

"HA!"

She swung down and punched at the machine's head, crunching the ground beneath its feet before she hissed and jumped off, landing by Obito and Vine.

"Ow," she grunted as she shook her fist. "That thing's tough," the tiger Faunus said as she clenched her fist, the limb glowing with a red haze. "Let's break it."

They ran at the machine as one, Obito and Vine strafing around a moment later before lunging at Flammen's sides.

The machine raised its arms before bringing them down, the trio hopping up over the wave of destruction that it wrought about the intersection.

Landing on uplifted street rock, Obito reached the robot first.

His daggers swung out in a pair of arcing slashes that sent sharp waves shooting off the machine's torso.

The lack of damage didn't deter him as he ducked one of its swings before unleashing another pair of harsh strokes.

The machine kept on missing as the Uchiha hopped, dodged, and swerved about, Obito attacking every possible moment, several particular slashes flying off the machine's sides and shoulders as Obito crouched in front of it.

The machine didn't flinch at any of it and reared back its fist to slam it into his head before it stumbled, a pair of a hammer blow and tonfa strike from a huffing Aster and hissing Perry slamming into its noggin.

The bear teen hissed out a cold breath as the lizard boy's eyes narrowed, their Aura flickering before steadying and glowing brightly.

Vine's Aura arms slapped around the robot's head before he pulled with all his might, slamming the robot flat onto its back.

Obito and Sienna's forms scaled a pair of nearby buildings before they jumped off, the two coming down in unison on the robot with glowing white and red feet, respectively.

The ground around it cratered as they landed their dual blow. There was the slightest sound of creaking from below them before the two were thrown off by a burst of flames from its chest piece.

'It can still shoot stuff from its chest?!' Sienna grimaced as she tumbled before recovering against the ground, Obito floating in the air beside her.

"I guess we should have known," he said as he landed. "Its mirage abilities do exist all over it, after all."

Sienna blinked before nodding. "Yeah, makes sense."

Perry and Aster rushed the mechanical being as Vine's shuriken shot through the air with the student's Extended Aura over it.

The Mistralian's arms raised and each of his fingers twitched like he was controlling a puppet, the weapon shooting about and slicing against the robot time and time again to little more than white lines across its metal.

Perry came in and swung his weapon at the machine's dented chest plate to little effect. "Stupid. Fucking. BASTARD!" He cursed as he kept on swinging before yelping and barely escaping from a burst of flame. "FUCK!"

Aster punched at the machine's abdomen time and time again before gasping, causing a few shudders of its frame before she was swung at, body sent flying and only saved from becoming intimate with an icy store front due to Vine's outreaching Aura hand.

She coughed a good bit as Vine's other arm pulled back harshly.

His shuriken's rotations doubled as it shot back at the machine's quickly-turned back with a similar increase in speed.

It carved into it as the second sufficient hit they could land before becoming stuck in the ground.

Vine cursed as Flammen's eyes narrowed at them, its body beginning to release more heat. "Watch out!" The third-year shouted as the entire group balked.

Obito, Sienna, and Perry jumped back, the human allowing the latter two to get behind him.

Flammen released an wave of heat that shot out of all of its orifices and destroyed the entire area in an intense shift in temperature. A beam of heat and fire that it slowly began to turn with to aim at the group.

"Scatter!" Sienna shouted out before she, Obito, and Perry began to strafe Flammen, its beam of destruction trailing behind them as they did. "Tobi!" She called out at the human purposefully taking to their back.

'My Kudama can absorb excess elements,' most notably from his own powers.

Obito didn't know if that could translate into 'grabbing' other attacks but he knew how durable they were from his training, so!

He allowed one of his two free orbs to come out of his arm, the normal-sized one, before causing it to expand as the beam caught up to them.

He lunged at Perry and Sienna before the three were covered by the black power.

Flammen's rotors warmed as he focused his attack only for a pair of heavy smacks to send him stumbling to a knee.

"YOU GUYS?!" Aster shouted in horror as the attack ended, leaving behind molten slag and melted houses, nothing but black and dark ground left behind. "N-No, w-what about ou…" She hit her knees as Vine grimaced.

And then the 'black' part of the attack slowly began to fade away, leaving behind a pair of utterly shocked Faunus and a gasping, steaming, human. All 'untouched'.

"Y-You guys?!" Aster yelled, tears of relief falling down her cheeks as Vine blinked in surprise.

"How did they… Obito?" The tall young man asked, getting a snap of the head out of Aster.

The boy's hissing skin made the pieces fall into place as they hurried over, Flammen's own form hissing as its metal glowed a slight white and it hit a knee.

"Tobi," Sienna spoke to the literally hissing Obito as he groaned on all-fours.

"I wasn't… Sure," he grunted before his form hissed more as he allowed his water powers to roam his body. "But, now I know, they can absorb outside elements," Obito grunted before sighing in relief as he finally lost most of his high heat. "But there's a limit and I get hit with what overflow there is."

A useful but dangerous power. "You need to be easy with it," she said before helping him to his feet. "Still, thanks. That attack's not gonna be fun to deal with," Sienna continued as she observed Flammen regaining its own regular temperature. "But it seems like it's also not easy to do for that thing, too."

"I question if it's not possible for it to run out," Vine wondered with narrowed eyes as the others' own followed suit. "If we can make it use up its resources…"

"No more fire blasts or mini-blizzards," Aster finished for him with a frown, wiping at her eyes' corners. "We'd still need it to waste 'em, wouldn't we?"

Obito considered that, looking down at his left arm. 'I don't know,' if he could absorb its attack, couldn't he just drain it? "Maybe we don't need to," he told them as he clenched his fist. "The issue is, I don't know if I can absorb its Dust element directly or if it needs to be applied for me to absorb it."

"Dude, what if you literally fry?" Perry grimaced. "It ain't worth it," he told his literal human best friend.

Call him odd but Perry did see the younger boy as pretty aware, especially so, for someone who was almost four-years-younger than him.

Obito held an understanding of the world that Perry didn't have, which made his age honestly unimportant most of the time. He guessed the younger male was just mature enough for him to not care about his age.

So, he was down for calling him a 'friend', especially so since he needed more male pals like him and Vine.

"I know, we'll just consider it an option if things get bad," Obito said. "For now, let's focus on it. I can feel Katrina's Plant Dust from here and it's beginning to come this way," he added before his eyes locked onto the machine. "Speaking of which."

He crouched down and slammed his hand onto the ground.

It glowed before Flammen's head turned on its swivel as thick green vines shot up and began to wrap around his limbs.

The robot broke them with ease, mere casual swings of its arms breaking their weak hold without a problem but not enough 'ahead vision' as he got blindsided by a large red fist.

The robot stumbled back onto a single leg that was viciously taken out from beneath it by Vine's pair of Aura arms.

A repeat of earlier took place as Aster and Obito appeared overhead and dropped down, feet-first, into the robot's sternum.

There were more creaks as the two jumped off in time to dodge a pair of clapping hands.

The shockwave sent them flying for a bit before Obito's form steadied itself mid-air, his black arm reaching out and grabbing Aster with a large vine coming out of it before she could go through an icy window.

Setting her down, they ran back into the fray as Sienna swung out with her chain and wrapped it around one of the robot's arms, body glowing powerfully as she pulled on it and it stumbled a bit.

Vine ran down the chain's length, arms filled with light before he punched at the robot's noggin, knocking it aside before doing so twice more.

He had to dodge, still, but his blows kept it off-balance enough that Perry's form could latch onto its shoulders.

"SURPRISE!" He grinned.

He reared back before releasing constant harsh thrusts at Flammen's visors, working on one of the eye-like goggles before being rewarded with some actual progress as he cracked its lens.

"YES-Wait, wait, wait!" The lizard boy began to say only to yelp as the robot reached for his nape.

And found its other limb restricted by Obito's body. The Uchiha's eyes glowed as his limbs did, the white power giving him the strength to clench onto the robot's arm tightly.

Obito and Sienna weighed its limbs down as their comrades beat on the robot time and time again.

When his feet could even touch the ground, Obito did his best to send hints and bits of energy into it to wrap the machine's shin up in vines.

Sienna, meanwhile, had pulled as far as she could, her eyes alight with a vicious glint as she filled her chain with Aura.

'I've been able to do this for a while,' she thought as she reinforced her weapon.

It'd been the first thing, crazily enough, Tali had ever taught her. With the lioness being an actual 'master' of the talent of Reinforcement.

Her brows furrowed. 'This is just the beginning,' all of this.

This was a mere footstep forward into a world that she'd always been a part of but never truly put her foot into.

They would win but, from here, Sienna knew that things would never be the same.

Not with her old gang.

Not with her friends who'd soon be her new one.

Not with Mantle or her family.

And, likely most especially, not with Obito. Even as her cheeks colored, Sienna knew that what followed this fight wouldn't be simple.

There'd be complex things involved, so many complicated things like her feelings for her stepbrother, his feelings on the matter as things went along, their plans for the future, and this odd conspiracy.

This fight wasn't going to just end with Flammen's defeat, no. They'd realized they needed more from it.

They needed ITS information.

'But I'm going too far ahead,' Sienna Khan didn't really think of the future, something she'd realized she'd need to work on.

Yet, she had another who could. Sienna may have been hyper-focused on the present but she had someone who could see beyond that and would be beside her the entire way.

Her Aura gained a powerful light.

The tigress coiled her Aura in her chains.

The weapon around the robot's limb crunched it.

There was a blink as she watched her spiritual power spasm around the wrapped-around portion, more and more creaks reaching her ears.

"Huh?" Her focus fell and the tigress blinked as the spasms fell away… Along with her hold on the limb?! "SHIT?!"

Vine's eyes flashed yellow before he grimaced and crossed his arms in time, turning impossibly to barely block the fist that slammed into him and erupted into a large barrage of flames.

The student vanished into an old bakery before the sound of numerous explosions reached their ears.

"Vine!?" Perry gasped before paling as Flammen grabbed him from behind his nape and threw the lizard boy harshly against the ground to the point that he bounced into an icy wall of a dilapidated apartment building. "K-Kaugh?!" The taste of cold metal covered his lips before Perry dropped, Aura flickering as he shivered rapidly on the cold ground.

Obito's eyes narrowed as Flammen's head turned to Aster's frozen mid-punch form before he lifted his leg up and stomped down.

The robot was tossed away from them, slamming into another broken-down building and covered in rubble and loud crumbles via a large erupting stone.

"Get P out of here!" Sienna ordered the bear Faunus who flinched before stumbling over to the wheezing young man. "Shit!" She growled, Aura becoming vibrant.

Obito's Sharingan looked her up and down. 'Her Aura intensified?' He filed that away for later as the two of them faced the explosion of stone, brick, and ice that dispersed to reveal none other than Flammen. "We're making headway."

The robot shuddered a bit, hitting one knee as one of its now-not-there eyes sparked with broken wires and a cracked noggin.

Its body had been dented heavily after their repeated dual attacks and barrages from holding it down, the front chest plate long gone and revealed the dented thinner plate it'd had beneath it that released some hissing parts.

Its entire right arm was relinquished of its outer shell, revealing the wiring and internal skeleton while its legs were both cracked on the thighs.

All in all, they were CLOSE.

"It won't take much more!" Sienna growled as her Aura flared out before she rushed forward, Obito's eyes narrowing at that but following suit regardless.

'I need to mind her mental state,' but she was right.

This wouldn't take much longer and Obito was sure they'd have some time to get out of there before anyone could find them.

So, you can imagine his annoyance when, maybe a few meters before they'd be face-to-face with the damn thing, Flammen's single working eye glowed before its form began to emanate a purple field?

A familiar purple field. "Gravity?!" Sienna realized as she and Obito skirted to a stop. "W-What?" She balked as the damn robot T-posed.

Like, deadass, T-posed before its metal uncrumpled.

Its wiring shifted around into neat rows.

Its cracked openings and missing parts were reinforced by expanding what was left.

And its new giant eye glowed a wicked blue before allowing a crosshair to form within. [All power to offensive armaments.] It said with a newer voice that startled them. [Fire King Mode.]

Its new sleek form released powerful cloak-like flames all over its body, its size only being half a foot taller than Sienna.

Bearing a dark purple frame with steel-plated 'abs', a more humanoid head shape with its new cyclopic eye, and compressed thick legs that now sported some floated extensions, the entirety of it all made the two say one thing.

"FUCK."

[Deployed.]

Obito's Sharingan spun as his pupil dilated.

Its flames expanded.

"Tora!" He called out as Sienna's eyes snapped to him. "DODGE!"

Sienna's eyes dilated.

The two jumped as a ring of flames shot out from Flammen's midsection.

The ring reached all the way across the street, through the destroyed shop beside them, and through all leftover light poles still around.

They landed just in time to watch as the shop slid in half, the light poles' upper halves fell to the floor, and the hissing crackle of the ring's destruction rang across the street.

"It's got way too much range!" Sienna hissed as the fur on her tail bristled at how dry it was.

Obito's eyes went to the ring of nothing but lukewarm temperature around them. "Is Atlas technology so advanced?" He wondered with a hiss. "Or is this something else? There's something wrong here."

"Tobi," he sighed but nodded at Sienna's call. "We can talk about this later," she told him as one of her arms glowed before an Extend Claw formed over it, her Aura thinning around her body, while the other one wielded her chain. "This has got to die. We've got ten minutes until A gets here."

Obito's eyes narrowed before he let out a hissing breath and crossed his arms, daggers in hand.

The dual weapons hissed before a flare of white-hot flame formed down their lengths.

His tomoe spun. "Yeah."

The robot's arm raised before the flames around it spun into three thick rings before it threw them all.

Obito stepped forward and swung out thrice.

Each ring parted around the duo before Sienna rushed past him, the Uchiha running in step behind her, their cowl and cloak flapping loudly in the wind.

The tigress swung her chain and frowned as it was rebuffed by some kind of invisible force that threw up sparks on contact.

'Is it mixing Gravity and Fire?' To make some sort of heated barrier, could Obito do that? 'Less thinking!' Sienna breathed in.

Working with Obito to make a Fight-Ender, as she'd call it, hadn't bore a lot of fruit, unfortunately. So, all they could do was work on 'control' to give her more ideas.

That'd basically been how she'd mastered one-armed Extension but that was it.

'Can I do that thing from earlier?' Sienna wondered as she jumped up and reared back her fist. 'How'd I do it?!'

Her fist swung around and slammed into the top of the barrier, her eyes wincing as she kept pushing down before yelling as she was sent flying back, bouncing against the street before going through a bakery window.

Obito grimaced as he held out a hand. 'Melding Gravity and Fire, I'll make use of that, you robotic bastard.'

A white 'aura' formed over his left hand before he clenched it, red coloring over the small aura.

The former shinobi punched at the barrier with all his might.

And the air shuddered between the two forces before throwing out shockwaves of heat that crushed the area around them.

Obito grit his teeth as he was rebuked, the robot's eye glowing red before he let out a curse as Flammen's barrier followed suit and expanded to slam into him.

'I-It's basically using Shinra Tensei,' the former shinobi thought before letting out a wet cough as his glowing white body slammed into the side of a building.

And then went through its walls to end up flopping against the ground outside of it once more.

Obito moaned slowly at his body's aches and pains, rolling form coming to a stop on his front. 'I'm not in a state to take those kinds of hits,' even with his Earth powers reinforcing his body that one hit nearly sent his mind into the land of unconsciousness. "T-Tsk… D-Dammit, S-Sie…"

He barely pushed himself up off the ground before he grit his teeth, a heat bearing down on him as a shadow fell over his body.

The boy knew he wasn't exactly in great shape right now even as his body glowed blue. 'Until I can build my body properly, I need to take only a few hits,' his eyes narrowed.

He threw his body to the side as he felt a 'rise' in the robot's Gravity Dust, the area where he'd just been erupting into a crater by some invisible force collapsing in on it.

Obito pushed up and quickly landed on his feet. 'It placed the point of gravity on me?' That was possible?! He frowned as he looked to the side and further up the street. 'My knives,' he'd dropped them when he'd gotten a taste of heated gravity.

Oh, and getting blown through a building hadn't helped either.

His body thrummed with a healing breath as he jumped back again and again, dodging more of those gravity implosions.

His eyes narrowed as he landed on the side of a building, blue glow gone and replaced by a large green swirl. The Uchiha vanished in a burst of wind and brick, circling the mechanical threat low to the ground.

Its eye glowed and, barely trailing behind him, Obito grimaced at the slow number of gravity explosions. He counted each second between them before nodding.

Two seconds between each one, their earlier plan to lower its resources might have worked? Maybe?

He didn't know. He'd never sensed for… Wait.

Obito's eyes widened before narrowing, his body blurring as he hurried away from the machine before scaling a nearby three-story building.

Landing atop it, he faced the machine before expanding all his most notable senses.

His Sharingan and his newer Dust Sensory skill.

And the results weren't as instant as he would have liked, his Sharingan did show him the barrier of the machine along with its odd 'range' of a ten-meter sphere around it.

That said, his newer sense only told him that the robot was covered in all kinds of Dust. He didn't feel the sharp distinction between them.

'Why? When Katrina used hers, I could feel it,' and the machine was currently using gravity and fire, right? 'Are they not powerful enough? Am I too focused on the fight?' Obito frowned.

And then he felt the smallest of 'flickers' of each element within the machine? He blinked in confusion as it prepared to lunge at him before an idea hit.

Obito rushed over the edge of the roof before diving off as Flammen's bodily tackle destroyed it in its entirety. Rolling on the street before he recovered into a crouch, Obito closed his eyes.

'Focus on only the Fire Dust,' he thought.

And grinned as that elemental sense slowly unraveled from the others and left him feeling the Fire Dust… Then Obito sweatdropped.

'I didn't know how much it originally had,' Goddammit! "Still, this is good, " his eyes narrowed in interest, using a wind-powered lunge to send him over to his dropped knives as the robot crashed into his former position again.

Picking them up, the Uchiha blinked as a pair of gasping figures landed at his sides.

Vine groaned a bit but nodded to him. "I-It seems we've… Pushed it well," he held his chest, body glowing with Aura that slowly flickered. "The cold is getting worse."

Bearing a soot patch that covered the front of his slightly tattered uniform, the only other hints of his wounds would be some of the bruising on his fingers and one of his hands placed against his abdomen.

"Not… Ssss, enough," Sienna said from Obito's other side, holding onto her left arm. "M-My arm's also not doing so hot," she winced as she did her best to breathe defensively.

With her left arm bereft of its black sleeve and gauntlet, Obito frowned at the purpleness on it, reaching out and holding her bicep tenderly only to get a hiss for his troubles.

With her face scratched up, and her clothes dirtied, Sienna winced again at Obito's frown.

Considering himself, Obito held out his hands to both his comrades and breathed out.

Orbs of water began to expand over the two's limb and abdomen, Sienna and Vine respectively, before they let out slow wheezes as those orbs stopped growing and glowed softly.

'So, I can,' with the slightest of Gravity mixed in with his Water powers, Obito had made orbs of healing… Kind of. "Do you both feel any different?" He asked.

Vine let out a soft sigh. "It's… It's passable," he smiled for the younger man as a rumble came from ahead. "It will have to do," the third-year student considered the small blessing. 'It's easing my wounds,' not healing, Vine knew how to tell the difference, but it was something Obito had in his pocket now.

Sienna, meanwhile, closed her eyes as she flexed her left arm. 'I need to make it up to him.' She'd never been injured like this in the cold before. 'This ain't good.'

She might very well be ruining her arm for life-

There was the sound of tearing before Sienna blinked at Obito's hands wrapping tattered black cloth around her arm, Vine's wounds already tended to.

"This will have to do," he whispered to her as flames lit-up the edges of the bandages before his eyes burned red.

Sienna blinked as the bandage glowed a vibrant red, Obito wincing as veins sprouted around his eyes but he finished and gave her the heated bandage.

The instant warmth, immediate hiss, and then relaxing groan left her shuddering a bit.

"I can't do that more than twice," Obito held the side of his head, right eye closed. "But it'll have to do. For now, I've tried to Reinforce your bandages with heat. Thanks to my powers' ability to keep themselves from clashing as a property, I can do that while your bodies are being eased. This is the last chance."

Flammen stepped out into the cold as more 'hot spots' dotted the area.

[Termination Cannon.] It said as his body sucked in its flames and began to glow. [Firing!]

The three's eyes widened in horror before Vine grit his teeth.

Obito and Sienna watched in slight relief as they flew through the air in some large energy arms, Vine's grunting form taking them away via rooftop to keep ahead of the beam that was following.

"O-Obito!" The older male grimaced as his wounds flexed. 'If I'd been unattended, this would be impossible,' thank the Brothers for the diligent Obito.

They'd be close to dead, if not just dead, otherwise.

That didn't mean he was doing 'great', though.

"I know!" The former shinobi called back before releasing his arm's shape, three orbs floating in the air. "Vine, drop us to the street!"

They went down from a rooftop of a shop, the beam following, before Vine landed and Obito expanded his Black Orbs into a sphere barrier.

The beam collided with the shield with enough force to rupture the ground around it and melt the ice on nearby buildings on opposite halves of the street.

Inside, Sienna held her arm as she and Obito shot Vine worried looks.

The third-year grinned weakly, sweat dripping down the sides of his face. "I-I am well, I'm more worried for… Obito," he said as Obito nodded, his wisp of a left arm unbothered. "Ah, so… You were right."

"It seems so," Obito said even as he saw the edges of his barrier growing white with heat. "But it won't last," he told the two. "We're going down."

Obito pressed his hand to the ground and formed a hole within, the sides of it hissing with steam.

"That damn robot's way too strong," Sienna whined before slipping her legs over the edge. "Um… Where does this go?"

"Into the building to our left."

She nodded before dropping down into the hole in an instant, getting a soft smile out of Obito as Vine nodded.

"She trusts you completely," the extremely-pale-skinned young man said with a chuckle that ended in a cough. "L-Let's go."

They dropped in, Obito flattening his barrier for a moment before pulling his orbs back into his body after they closed the hole.

'That's a thing to remember,' making sure that he always kept his remote activation in mind.

Making it to the end of the hole that curved into a straight after a pair of seconds after the drop, the two nodded to the waiting Sienna before they hurried to the slope at the end.

Slipping into the building there, Obito closed the hole with his black arm as they rested.

"Any more plans?" Sienna asked as she set Vine down in an icy chair and winced at how he began to slide. "C-Chair, Ito. Vine can't rest like this."

Obito nodded, right eye still closed as he manipulated his Earth element to form a stony block beneath the tall young man's form.

"Mmm…" Vine sighed in relief. "Obito, can your senses check its Dust levels?" His eyes closed as he held his abdomen.

"I realized it earlier while it was chasing me and, yes, it does work," Obito smiled. "And since I've locked onto it, I can tell, that thing's last move did a number on… All its Dust," he cupped his chin as Sienna blinked in confusion.

"All of it… Oh, duh, it needs the Ice Dust to cool it down even though it's freezing outside, huh?" She said and the two nodded.

"There's no possible way its attacks don't require more internal cooling," Vine supposed before his brows furrowed even with his eyes closed. "And you both must realize that our window is closing, don't you?"

"You mean A and Katrina," Sienna frowned as Obito followed suit before his left eye widened in horror. "I can sense 'em, they're-"

"No, if Flammen thinks we're dead, he's going to leave," Obito said quickly as she froze. "We can't stay out of sight for too long, he'll leave and we'll have done all of this for nothing while revealing Perry and Aster."

"Shit!"

"Be at ease, if we attack now, we might win either way," Vine told the two as they blinked in surprise. "If it's calculating its escape, it won't use its fire abilities anymore. If it isn't…"

"It's not gonna move…" Sienna said in understanding. "Still, that's if we're not caught. That thing has been throwing around a lot of serious attacks," she grimaced. "We need to move now."

Obito considered it all. 'My left eye's not working,' when he'd separated his element from his 'soul', he'd suffered that much backlash? 'It's not like it's permanent, I'd be able to tell, but what have I lost?' He didn't know.

He had his Black Orbs, his Earth powers, Water powers, and Fire powers.

… Obito held up his left arm and flexed his hand.

It glowed a soft purple, confusing him, before he tried the other elements.

Electricity: Nothing.

Plant: Nothing.

Wind: Nothing.

'Hamaya's out of the picture now,' for how long, Obito hoped to know soon. "Well, let's just… Attack," he shrugged with an open smirk. "Sienna and I will go there and just keep on fighting. If we're lucky, Vine's right and it will choose escape and destroy instead of just 'Escape'. So, we need to push the envelope and just go ham."

Sienna's lips spread in a grin. "Dude, you're speaking my language! Let's kick its ass!"

---

Standing outside the building, surveying the damage it caused, Flammen's internal programs began to sport yellow indicator lights.

His energy sources were lowering, the necessary Fire Dust to get back to his hanger would become vital in just under 5%. His Gravity Dust was also at half and his Ice Dust wasn't much better.

Flammen: Fire King Mode would need to leave now. With his targets not in the current area, he had to return before his Master did so he could inform her of the matters at hand. With their current position in the cold, he couldn't connect well to the Private CCT Cloud she'd made and couldn't inform her here.

His flaming cloak began to shrink, beginning to tuck back into his plating and filling his feet with power-

Flammen stumbled back onto its rear as a large jutting stone slammed into its chest from below, his chest plate dented.

[Intruders?!] It shot to its feet from its seated position, punching through the large stone with a red eye.

A crosshair formed within it before his head turned on a swivel, the bullseye shifting back and forth around the area-

A 'jangling' punch slammed into the back of its head, sending Flammen to its knees as his head snapped around in confusion.

His optical glowed before shooting out a small laser that hit something in the distance, missing his moving targets.

Obito and Sienna moved around like ferrets, shifting in and out of buildings, shadows, uplifted street stone, and more, the duo's eyes never left Flammen's even when it did catch them.

The robot's head turned every which way as it was randomly pelted with stone, unthreatening fire, chains, and even the odd street sign here and there.

The robot was attacked on all sides by the two teens, programs twitching on a 'switch' function before they settled.

On 'Escape'.

Flammen raised his arms, shielding its head, as heat sprouted from its body before focusing into his legs. They began to emanate a powerful light as his body started to lift into the air.

And then a pair of large jutting stones slammed into his thrusters?!

And then there was a spark.

The entire intersection erupted into a large billowing tower of smoke, the explosion ringing out and crumbling some of the nearby buildings as Flammen's form flew awkwardly out of it.

The robot stumbled in the air, balance broken along with its guard, face, and chest before he was blindsided by a giant red fist.

The blow sent Flammen to the ground and crunched the moist cement with its body, the robot's form stumbling a bit as it tried to get up but electricity flickered from his shin joints, his thruster mechanisms misfiring into his legs.

The misfire sent him tumbling down the street and into an old car before he crumpled to the ground, flat on his front.

When Flammen's shuddering frame struggled to push itself up, the sound of shifting earth and a large shadow found it. The robot's head snapping up to find two shadowy figures standing in front of it and the tower of black smoke, one of their right arms glowing a brilliant vermillion.

Its crosshair tried to form but the red claw of one of them, it thinks it was a female Faunus, gripped his ocular and crushed it along with part of its face.

Sienna scoffed. "That's it, Tobi," she said to the younger teen who nodded before kneeling down to Flammen's open cranium.

His hand pressed against the ground and the robot flinched as a large thin slab shot out of it, slicing through its neck and sending it head flying-

Sienna caught it with Extension in a flash of hindsight, sighing in relief as she tightened her grip on the machine's disembodied head before crushing it all in one go, Obito impressed as he folded the earth around the robot's beheaded body.

The two began to sink into the ground, a plate of earth curling up over, and behind, them.

"Haaa…" Sienna sighed in relief as Obito smiled. "Thank FUCK, it's over," she whined.

"Yep, I'll only say that," he chuckled as she punched his shoulder.

"Thanks, I needed to hear it."

They slipped into the earth, just in time for Katrina's waves of vines to turn a corner and bring the student into the intersection.

She frowned as Bastion stood beside her, eyebrows raised at the surrounding destruction.

"What is this?" He asked in surprise. "Could such powerful people disappear so quickly?"

Wearing a regal-looking dark blue suit, the blonde allowed his hair to roam free in its slightly wild state as his black boot-covered feet touched the ground ahead of Katrina's vines in an instant, the man already a good bit away before she could drop down.

"Tsk, what is this? We weren't told of many people who could do that," she said as the two of them looked at one section of the icy area.

At the total and unadulterated destruction that ate through a block's worth of land, old housing, stores, and buildings. Likely the only reason an apartment hadn't been hit was because of some form of care.

"This is likely to blame," Gold said as he picked up a piece of metal, the crumbled-up but sleek nature of it surprising him. "This is familiar," he raised a brow.

And then both young adults blinked as a limping form came around a corner before nearly collapsing.

"Vine?!" The two shouted in shock, hurrying over to the groaning Mistralian.

Gold looked over the younger man's wounds with a frown. "Did whatever do this hit you?" He asked as Vine sighed before wheezing into a bad cough. "Keep breathing. Katrina, we need to take him back now," he ordered the third-year student who frowned but sighed before nodding.

"Alright, we're gonna get you patched-up, Vine," she said as ice formed beneath them and lifted them up, the oncoming bullheads flashing their spotlights over them. "And then we'll get the answers we need."

~NRK~

Obito and Sienna hurried down a large man-made tunnel.

With their masks off and hoods down, they looked back as one of Obito's orbs collapsed the space behind them while another lit the way ahead.

"Smart move, seriously, if we could make holes to every fight to get away, it'd be so simple."

"You know what I'll say, 'simple' is sadly not our thing."

They kept on running for a short bit more of time before coming to a stop by a large earthen wall.

A hole formed in it, allowing the two of them to enter, before it closed behind them and allowed his orbs to finish the tunnel.

Standing in their Central Hub, the two grinned or smirked in relief, hands hi5-ing together above them.

"Thank god!"

They'd done it. For at least another month?

They had TIME. Time to finish up schooling and do more training.

Time to learn some shit!

"Welcome back!" Derry grinned as she entered the hub area from one of their new guest rooms Obito had made. "Y-You did it, right?" She smiled hopefully.

The two nodded. "Yes, that's it for that fucking robot. Jennifer didn't seem to mention more and I believe this odd doctor only had one of those things to freely give," Obito said with a truly relieved look as Derry held a hand to her chest in relief. "We're good for at least another month."

"Huh?!"

"Oh, yeah, Tali's got it out for us," Sienna told the deer Faunus as her jaw dropped. "But it's good, I promise. If anything, we're pretty good, that fight… Being honest, this fight's one of the worst I've ever had," she admitted. "And we came out on top in the damn tundra. I-I think we have a good shot."

"We do but don't underestimate… Anyone, ever, no matter how young, how old, or how frail-looking," Obito reminded her as Sienna nodded. "People who are strong, those who've trained skills and abilities to an impossible point, those kinds of people will make anything they have an advantage. Anyone we face, we face them at full strength, even if you decide to probe in the beginning, only knock them out, or scare them."

"Huh…" Derry blinked at the male brunette as he stuffed his hands into his pockets, the young woman noticing his ripped cuffs and lacking cloak length. "Come on, we can patch up both of your clothes and then get some sleep."

~NRK~

Eight hours later, the trio of Obito, Sienna, and Derry walked in the evening sun back towards the former two's home in some casual clothes.

"I-I slept for way too long," Sienna muttered as Obito rolled his shoulders. "Well, actually, I think I've done that for a lot of my tougher fights but this is the longest it's ever been."

"It was five hours, nothing to be too worried about," he said from between the two older teens. "It's likely due to stress finally falling away, this should pass and soon you can get into bigger fights with less stress and more determination."

"How many fights have you been in?" Derry asked in some confusion as Obito shrugged.

"Enough up to this point."

Sienna considered his answer before shaking her head. 'I can't imagine he had it easy even outside the house,' not in their neighborhood, he wouldn't.

As they made it to the midway point of their walk, sitting in the bus booth, Sienna blinked as Derry's Scroll rang.

"Crap!" She hissed to herself before quickly muffling and silencing it, peeking at the screen beneath her bag's upper lip. "Who is… O-Oh, it's… It's Aster," she told the other two as they leaned in.

Seeing what had been texted, Sienna sighed but nodded regardless.

"I figured she'd want to know what was happening," she said. "A's probably confused as hell why I wasn't answering. Tell 'em I'll come back and answer it. Are they at our house?"

Having that quick conversation before the bus showed up, the three got on with Obito paying for the three of them and shooting the driver a glare that shut his mouth and dropped his skin color a couple shades.

"Let's get to the back," Obito said to the girls as they nodded, following after him as he led the path towards the seats.

They ignored the few gawking people on the bus at that time of night, the human and Faunus halves just staring at the three as they sat down, Obito in the middle.

Leaning back in his seat, crossing his arms and legs, the Uchiha let out a breath that released the smallest bit of steam, his hoodie's hood up and shadowing all of his face save for his mouth.

His eyes closed as Sienna just folded her arms across her chest while Derry folded her hands in her lap atop her bag.

The entire bus gawked at the trio.

'Wait, is he dating BOTH OF THEM!?' The unified thought entered their minds as the bus began to move.

Obito, ignorant to those around him besides Derry and Sienna, hummed vocally.

"When we get back," he said to them. "I wanna try some things she told you," Obito said cryptically.

Sienna cupped her chin even if she blushed a bit at being reminded of her boss's tendencies. 'Yeah, I don't think I could let her hear him say that,' she shook her head. "Y-Yeah, sure, though I can only guess it's a few things. I asked her and she said that one is kinda hard."

"We're not unused to HARD work, our bodies can handle it."

Derry tilted her head. "I-Is this something I should learn, too?" She asked, fiddling with her fingers as the two shot her synchronized tilts of their heads. "No?"

"You're not… Tough enough for it."

They shook their heads.

"I'm sure I'll learn it and just use 'that' on you," Obito smirked a bit as Derry hummed, cheeks coloring a bit.

'Those eyes, his Sharingan,' it was such a cool name but it came with embarrassing remembrance of their 'act' they'd been keeping up. "S-So, can we talk about that when you're done?"

"Sure."

The bus burned like someone made a bonfire.

These kids were too much!

~NRK~

Sitting in his room with his team, Obito had the oddest of feelings.

"Um… Am I the only one who feels like our reputation dropped instead went up?" He muttered.

Sienna cleared her throat while Derry hummed.

"It's kinda weird."

Obito rubbed the back of his head before shrugging. "Forget it, for now… Well, for now some things are gonna change," he smiled as Aster and Perry nodded, the latter sitting on his and Marrone's bed with his top off and a bunch of bandages around his torso. "First off, how are you, Perry? Nothing too worrisome?"

"D-Dude, thank the Brothers for Aura," the lizard Faunus said as he laid down and held up a thumbs-up. "I'm good, probably gonna need to c-chill for the next couple days."

"I'll be keepin' an eye on him," Aster admitted, looking embarrassed by a subject. "W-We kinda need to talk about something… Important," she said bashfully, cheeks red as Perry blinked twice before quickly sitting up with a look of disbelief.

"W-Wait, Aster-!"

"Shush!"

Obito's eyebrow rose at the embarrassed bear and utterly shocked lizard. 'What could it be?' Something between those two? A promise maybe? "Well, that's your business, I won't pry."

"Same," Derry nodded. "A-And speaking of personal business," she blushed as Sienna blinked in confusion. "Obito… How do we solve the situation w-with Mrs. Doll?" The doe asked quietly despite everyone hearing her.

Sienna's tail went ramrod-straight while Obito rubbed the back of his head.

"I…" Obito tried to find the words. 'The issue is that Mrs. Doll will abuse Derry if we broke up,' likely on the ridiculous basis of her not being able to keep a human man or something stupid like that. 'Yet, we're not dating. Then there's her mother… She holds more power over Derry than likely even she knows.'

Sienna, meanwhile, grimaced. 'Right, I forgot about this sitch,' it made her jealous and worried.

Jealous and worried because of Derry.

She didn't trust that woman Derry barely considered a mother, for good reason, so the tigress wasn't an idiot when it came to the idea of what the woman would do if Derry and Obito 'broke-up'.

Yet, she wanted to be in that spot, didn't she? Be his actual piece and him her own.

Sienna knew she was fucked up, she did, but she wasn't so sick that she'd only focus on her and Obito's status.

"I'm sadly out of ideas," Obito admitted as Derry nodded, head down and face pink. "We're both aware that, one, this isn't real," she flinched a bit and Obito almost groaned out loud. "... And, two, we know the gist with your guardian. This is sadly not a situation we can just 'break' out of."

Derry gripped her knees, face glowing as she had one idea but she knew that… S-She knew he wouldn't agree, right?

Obito clearly saw this as not real, fake, an illusion that they'd conjured up for her, Derry's, sake. She had pushed this on him and he had every right to not want this fake romance.

So, why couldn't she let go of the idea and just bear the brunt of her 'burden'? All she'd have to do was tell Mrs. Doll and possibly get kicked out of the house.

Derry now had a home away from her quarters and she liked it, a good bit. With all the amenities Obito had created, even plumbing with Perry, they'd literally made a home.

Plus, she was part of their team now. They'd likely let her stay over often if she kept her keep a-and Obito could make endless electricity, fire, and w-water. Sure, he might need to be there when she showered-

"Wait, what if that's it?" Aster considered as she pat Perry's leg, the young man looking bashful as Derry's face steamed. "Ya know? Make her the reason for the break-up?" She offered.

The pensive trio perked up at her idea, eyes wide as it settled in their minds.

"I've… Um, well, I've only had two relationships in my life," she admitted. "And the first one didn't work out due to how much I hated his mom despite his dad liking me. So, I broke up with that guy and moved on to greener pastures? I think that's that meta stuff," Aster said, looking to the sweatdropping Obito for confirmation.

"Yes, that's correct," he said. "And your idea holds weight. You're right," Obito smirked. "If she wants to be a helicopter caretaker, I'll make her realize how bad that look is."

"S-Still, how long can we make this work?" Derry asked, reluctantly hopefully. "You can't just have me tell her, that's never going to work."

"You're right," Sienna considered. "But what if Ito goes over a couple more times?" She offered. "We don't know if that Jen-bitch is gonna be there again or not. We'd need to know but the issue is he can't always be doing that," ignoring that, well, she didn't want that?

Obito had responsibilities here, they all did.

Training, looking after Marrone, and just studying for their own things was important beyond measure. They couldn't have him constantly going over to Derry's home.

"I know but, well, we have Scroll contact now," Derry suggested. "Why not use that?"

They all considered it before nodding. "Well, in that case, Derry had a valid question earlier. How long should we keep this charade going?" Obito asked the group. "She's going to be a Senior with you all soon, I will, hopefully, be a Junior. We're in different years but telling her mother I'm academically smart doesn't feel like a good idea."

"I-I barely get that word but you right, bud," Perry said as he laid back down. "Right now, making yerself look as uncool as possible might work?" He shrugged. "I don't know this psych stuff like you do."

"You're not wrong but you're also missing a key worry. The issue remains, I don't know how far is 'too far' for Mrs. Doll. I don't see how far her fanaticism goes and do not want to find out if she's fine with whatever condition her offspring might be in as long as she's with a human. Those questions do not need answering and I might very well attack her if they do."

Derry's eyes dimmed at that while Sienna looked disgusted.

Aster looked angry beyond measure with Perry as Obito just frowned through it all.

"So, I'm not going to mistreat Derry, I'd never forgive myself if I did," he said.

"Man, this is so fucked," Perry hissed.

"Right up there with the Avions, it's lookin' like," Aster frowned. "For now, Derry, are you expectin' to go home anytime soon?"

"Thankfully, no. Usually, I'm not really expected back in our quarters," the deer Faunus said with a sad shake of the head. "I'd rather stay outside of the house a-and Mrs. Doll thinks I'm in… Y-Yours," she blushed again, leaving Obito to run a hand through his hair, much to his surprise.

"It's fine," he told her. "For now, make yourself at home. As long as you can help around, even a bit, I'll do my best to make this easy," Obito encouraged as Derry smiled happily. "Now, onto other matters, I need to get this mop off my head," he said as he rolled a bit of his strands between his fingers.

"Don't cut it!" Derry and Sienna said quickly before locking eyes. "Um, that is, it looks fine!" They said in unison, again, surprising one another once more.

Aster's eyes squinted a bit between the grumbling and blushing duo. '... Wait…' Her eyes went to the horribly confused Obito and then back to Sienna & Derry. '... There's no fucking way,' her jaw dropped a bit.

Because if this was true, s-she wasn't sure if she should support Sienna or not.

"... Yo," Perry whispered to her and Aster leaned towards him with a nervous expression. "... A-Aster, t-there's no way I'm seein' what I think I'm seein'," he said in disbelief.

"I… I-I think this is legit."

"Didn't she-I mean, Sie did say he was her stepbro for, like, eight years but isn't this… Is it? I don't fucking know."

As the two whispered secretly about their tiger friend, Obito sighed.

"You two, I do not want all of this on my head," he said.

"We can just fix it!" Derry said quickly. "I'm good at hair, I-I have to do my own since I don't like the style Mrs. Doll uses."

"And we have product money now," Sienna grinned slyly. "It'll be fun."

'Product money?' Obito began to fear for his wallet. "Look, I just don't like having all that hair on my head. It's a hassle to remember most of the time and my hair gets flatter the more it grows," he whined. 'Keeping it in my old life had been such a weird decision,' even if he'd decided to get rid of it halfway through it.

"Dude, trust us, call it the beginning of our newest story and shit."

"You pulled that one out of your ass."

Sienna smirked slyly at him Obito's brow twitched.

"One time. If I like it, we'll talk. You better bring your 'A' game."

"Nice!" Sienna cheered as Aster blinked.

"Huh, wait, we're doing his hair?" She perked up as Perry grinned nervously at Obito.

"Dude, I'm sorry for you," he said.

"Not doing me any favors, Perry," Obito groaned.

~NRK~

And that's how he found himself, an hour later, sitting in a big wooden tub without a shirt and in some swim trunks.

No, don't ask him where such a thing could exist in Atlas of all places, he'd just bought it to not get his normal clothes dirty.

Using his smaller Black Orb as a shower head, the object covered in a thick water bubble that 'rained' water, the trio of Aster, Sienna, and Derry worked in tandem.

Perry snickered from a wooden tanning chair beside them. "D-Dude, they're basically dressing you up!" He snorted before laughing.

"Thanks, Perry," Obito groaned even as his bangs came into view.

"Man, you don't wash this thoroughly, you had more up here," Aster chuckled as she worked his scalp. "Reminds me of my dad, he's not good at handling his hair and I swear he'd grow a forest if he had his way," she snickered before pulling the rain head over and washing his hair. "Alright, look, all clean."

Putting the item to the side to rain into a large funnel that fed into numerous tubes for giant bottles of water, the group observed 'Wet Hair' Obito.

The younger teen had been right, his hair did flatten out the more it'd grown and that wasn't more apparent than now as they saw that his hair could reach almost to the middle of his shoulder blades.

"Hmm," Sienna kind of liked the look, Obito's scar even emphasized in a sexy, no one would ever know, way. It reminded her of his disguised mission…

Her brow twitched as Derry blushed.

"So, um, what kind of style?" She asked them excitedly, the three looking over a magazine with hairstyles within. "Well, most of these are Faunus hairstyles but they should fit Obito's hair. He's got the right amount," Derry smiled.

Perry watched as Obito was put through the proverbial hair wringer as the girls kept on messing with it. It seemed like the scarred boy just chose to look dead to the world, a skill Perry wished he had such control over.

Still, time passed and, in about forty-five minutes, Obito was relieved of his handsy 'burdens'.

"Nice!" Aster said proudly as Perry blinked in surprise while Derry blushed.

"I-It's great!" She smiled brightly.

Sienna cleared her throat off to the side, cheeks rosy. 'I hate that Atella was right that one time,' about Obito.

About the boy who was still, but definitely, filling out after he began to eat better.

Of a boy who actually had an oddly big chest size, shocking as that was, but one that accompanied a well-made torso.

And the style they'd chosen had been one that gave him some reprieve even she was surprised by.

With one longer-than-usual bang that almost came down to the middle of his forehead, they'd spiked most of it back to Obito's clear preference but then came the length that came from doing that.

With the back, they'd decided to smooth it out, like when he'd been disguised, and braided it. The only other addition Obito had been willing to give into was a 'ring' to be held at the bottom to tighten it.

So, with a simple wooden 'donut', they'd finished-Brothers, was she supposed to be feeling things right now?

Because Sienna was, dammit, she was feeling every part of this.

Aster snickered before handing Obito a hand mirror, the physical youngest in the yard looking over himself before grunting.

"Fine, fine, it's alright," he admitted as he flicked the decent-sized tuft currently on his forehead. "I'm gonna have to worry about this from here on out," damn it all.

"It's a cool look, dude," Perry complimented with a thumbs-up.

Obito shrugged.

~NRK~

Thirty minutes later, Obito and Sienna sat on the side of the latter's bed, listening to Atella over her Scroll.

-Sie, ya should have seen this shit, it was crazy. I'm hearing word about flying element-users, a bunch of those Academy fucks came through, a giant robot, and a bunch of craziness going on in the Outskirts, this shit was beyond ridiculous-

Sienna grinned but kept it out of her voice. "Y-Yeah? Sorry, I wasn't really 'in it', today, if you get my drift."

-... Now, uhh, that can be taken a lot of ways, sounds like someone was getting handed their vitamins- Sienna grumbled while Obito just shook his head. -But I'll just take it the normal way. Get better, this… I don't like the looks of this, plus there's some… I kinda need you and your boytoy for an event that's coming up-

Both teens perked up. "What do you mean?" Sienna asked, tail wagging back and forth. "An event? I… I can't think of anything that's coming up?" She tried to say but it came out more like a question.

-Yeah, no, it's not really gang-related… I hope-

'She hopes?' Obito and Sienna locked eyes.

-I know your guy is there, come on, speak up. This might actually need your smarts, smarty-boy-

Despite herself, the Faunus snickered at Obito grumbles. "What exactly is the issue? If you need to involve me, it has to be something that's not suitable for your members, huh?" Obito postulated.

-Man, you landed a smart one, Sie. Godsdamn but he's right- Atella explained. -We need to scope out a special place, a place where not many people could fit in-

Sienna blinked while Obito frowned softly.

-We need people with self-control because we're going to a ball-

…?!

"What?" The two asked in unison.

-Let me tell ya, this thing is gonna go down in the Summer in June. You should be out of school by then, as well as your boy, and I need you two to help. I can't ask Tali about this, she'd cause a scene, so I'm turning to my third-in-command-

Sienna considered her Scroll. 'If it's in June, we'll have time,' if Tali's words were to be believed, and if she was as patient, then she'd try to fight them in May. Right around the end of school. "What do you think, Ito?"

"In the grand scheme of things… Actually, let's tell her," Obito perked up as Sienna blinked in surprise that quickly turned into some nods.

-Oh gods, no, please don't tell me something else fucked up-

Informing her of their random snooping, Atella had one thing to say.

-Fuck me, I am NOT trying to deal with that right now but… Dammit- She groaned. -Tsk… I can't talk to her, you both realize that, right?-

"Yeah, I can see why," if Tali found out they knew, it'd be a downright disaster. "Still, we don't have a real date but it'll happen in May if she was telling her girls the truth."

Atella flipped through something on her end. -... From what I know of, that's supposed to be around the time we're supposed to be renovating-

"Does she keep a rolodex?" Obito sweatdropped as Atella let out a bark of laughter.

-It's an app, squirt, I could never see the point of that shit but Brothers is it kind of fun-

Obito's twitching brow told Sienna they might need to wrap this up. "So, yeah, that other thing? I guess we're in. You knowing about Tali is better than nothing."

-Alright, that's one down and then one up on things to worry about, I'm in the net neutral right now so, fuck it. We'll talk later this week, alright?-

~NRK~

Vine sighed in relief after debriefing the other third-years. "That's all I could figure out before I was knocked-out. That thing wasn't normal," he frowned as the others did.

Plasma bit her nail, wearing her Academy uniform. "Gold…" She turned to her brother who nodded.

"It seems we might need to do some extra credit," Gold shrugged as Vine blinked in confusion. "There's actually been some newly-made inventions on my family's part, Vine. We've created quite the new merchandise," he smiled as he turned and walked off. "I'm already leading the charge on spreading it out into our Hunter Army. In time, the world will see the true power of the Elites outside of those Schnees."

Vine grew worried.

~NRK~

Their 'celebration' had been as simple as Obito & Sienna buying more things for their fridge and pantry before the former cooked more than usual.

With the entire family home plus Fiona, Phoebe, Daisy, Aster, Perry, Derry, and a new little girl, they sat around a bigger table. Though, the newcomer wasn't lost on Obito and Sienna.

"Um," the tigress blinked in confusion at the short child in Aster's lap. "Guys… Yo? Who's this?" Sienna asked, confused, even as her mind twinged at an answer the more she observed the girl.

As said before, she was a short child, almost a baby really, with pudgy fair-skinned cheeks, sea-green eyes, and chin-length salmon-colored hair with the same for her tail's fur color. Wearing a small cream-colored skirt and a white hoodie, the girl looked around at everything with a look of surprise.

"A-Amma goin' here, now?" She asked Aster and Perry who shook their heads quickly.

"No, it's… N-Neon, it's a bit more permanent with… Us," he told her, confusing both the little girl and the others. "So, um, you guys probably didn't think about the fact that Aster said she was in two relationships, huh?" Perry reminded Sienna as the tigress's ears twitched while her eyebrows shot up.

"Y-Yeah…"

Obito, meanwhile, scrutinized the pouting Neon who looked down but kept throwing looks his way. "... Oh my God," he realized as Fiona and Marrone tilted their heads.

"What's up, bro?" The tiger boy asked as the adults blinked.

"Um… Perry, Aster, how long have you had a child?"

The two teens blushed but didn't deny it, much to the shock of every other person there.

"WHAT?!" Most of the group gawked while Aster bit her lip but caressed her child's cheek.

"It's… Me and Perry got together during Freshman year," the bear teen admitted as Daisy gawked alongside Derry. "W-We don't really show it, alright? It's not something we were really prepared for but then our fight kinda put things in a different way," Aster said with a sigh as Neon looked up at her. "I guess I kinda realized how much of a cunt I was for thinking it'd be better for Neon in an orphanage."

"We both made the decision," Perry admitted sadly. "We weren't prepared ta be 'rents, we don't have that kinda cash and stuff so, well, we did that and then just kept things between us as normal as possible. But then my dumbass got hurt like I did and Aster got so worried. I don't want to leave anyone widowed or fatherless. I know what both of those look like," he frowned as Aster nodded.

"I'm sure most of us do," Sienna added softly as Daisy's eyes softened. "Still, you guys were… Parents?" She asked, utterly baffled.

"Not great ones but yeah," they answered in unison.

"What changed for you, youngins?" Phoebe asked kindly. "I can imagine that such injuries could make you worried and shift priorities but you need to realize how much time and money goes into raising a child."

"We know, we're sure," Aster said. "And we're gonna be preparing all throughout the Summer for Neon to come back and live between us when she can. We want to be in her life even if it's not all the time," she added as her daughter blinked in surprise.

"A-Always?" Neon asked, eyes full of interest as Perry chuckled weakly.

"If we can, Neon. The thing is that we gotta make money this Summer," he said. "And that's why we're gonna be doing nothing but working almost all weekdays," Perry told Sienna and Obito who nodded.

"It's fine, we'll always be around, working, training, and even learning a bit," Sienna said with a smile. "I'm fine with meeting them on the weekends to work and stuff," she told Obito.

"I'm the same. And, even then, they can just come on by if they feel like it," he said as she grinned, Moreno raising a brow at the situation at hand. "Mrs. Ireed, is it fine if we work for longer on Tuesday and Thursday so we can have the Saturdays to ourselves? I'd like for us to keep the weekdays as workdays."

The stoat woman nodded kindly. "Ah can tell yall are doing the right thing… A-And I spoke with Marri's teacher," she said, gaining Obito's attention. "She said that the principal at his school wants you to replace all of their furniture with new one if you can. T-They said they'd pay you the big money, too," Ireed said in wonder as Obito smirked.

"Sounds fun. I can do that for three hours on the weekdays since we'll have more time in the Summer," he chuckled as Sienna leaned back in her seat with a thoughtful frown.

"I wonder if I can't do something similar," she considered slowly. "I wanna get stronger, dude, but I also wanna bring in more money. Besides, Derry's gonna need her own cash, too."

Derry rubbed the back of her head with a nod. "But if we're working more on the even days, we should be getting more. That's just business with how our previous efforts have been going."

"Hmm," Daisy considered something. "Well, then, you'd need to be able to carry more, right? It's gonna be a lot if you work for so long," she told them.

"It's training," Sienna had long since adopted Obito's method on that front. "If it's heavier, we can carry a lot of-That's it!" The tigress grinned as the group blinked.

Obito cupped his chin. "You mean doing grocery runs?" He offered.

"No, not… Well, actually," she hummed. "That's the back-up idea, the real idea is that I can work in construction during our downtime," Sienna said before grinning nervously at the humming Daisy. "I-If that's cool?"

"Well… I don't know, you're, what, sixteen?"

"Yeah, I turned sixteen in January on the eighth," Sienna said. "Is that no good?"

"It's just that we'd still be conducting you as a minor, you're not seventeen and that might look bad, sorry."

Sienna rubbed the back of her head… Before her eyes narrowed at a thought. "Then, what about just helping to grab the materials to bring to the site?" She tried as Daisy hummed.

"That might not be as bad… As long as you're not touching the working equipment or doing actual construction work, I guess it might work. I'd have to check, though," the bear woman smiled regardless. "If it works out, three hours would be great. It's not everyday but you guys chose the best time to work with us."

"I could work on Reinforcement while I do that kind of stuff," the tigress explained to her comrades. "Anything else we should focus on?"

Obito considered it. "Do you two have your desired jobs lined up?" He asked Aster and Perry.

"We're both seventeen so we can apply for more work," Perry said as he held Neon's hand, the little Faunus girl gasping before she played with his fingers. "And our birthdays are coming up. That said, we kinda already got some jobs lined-up. Aster's dad let us in on some construction work in his side of the city. He said that there was new stuff going on and it's open to more and more people."

"Alright, well, we're good to go for the Summer then," he nodded. "Now, let's eat, the food's getting cold."

Finishing up and serving the large group some of the new stew he'd made, the mood lifted immensely as they ate well. Beef, potatoes, carrots, and more flowed and was eaten in quick fashion.

Obito blinked as he locked onto Neon, the little girl jumping in her teenaged mother's lap with a look of wonder.

"I-It' so gud!" She squealed as Aster chuckled. "T'at otha place isn't so cool!" Neon said happily as she ate just as well.

"I'm glad," Obito said as Marrone and Fiona nodded. "I'm told my food's pretty nice."

"It is, baby girl," Aster chuckled. "Our bud here is pretty talented, he's got cooking, smarts, and chores," she listed off as Obito sweatdropped while Sienna snickered.

"Thanks."

~NRK~

The next week was just… Relaxing, for lack of a better word.

As the familiar trio walked to school Friday morning, Obito already knew he was fine. He'd done all his work, all his projects and assignments.

At this point, he was only going due to appearances. "Sienna, how much more work do you need for your final month?" Obito asked as Marrone held onto his empty sleeve, the three reaching the boy's school.

"One more assignment I'm already half-done with," Sienna grinned proudly. "Thank the gods, life feels so much easier nowadays, you don't understand," she smiled as he nodded with one of his own.

Going into the schoolyard, Obito nodded to all the parents, older siblings, or guardians dropping off kids. He'd smiled at all of them.

And then it all came crashing down as he locked eyes with Tali dropping off Bleu.

The lioness's sole eye widened in disbelief while Obito and Sienna wheezed.

It was like time stopped for the three, the consequences of all their actions running through their heads before Sienna grunted but shook her head.

Tali growled but barely controlled herself.

And Obito's eye narrowed before he closed it.

"Ah, Obito, welcome!" Sala greeted him with a smile as Tali's eyes narrowed, noting all the reactions the nearby Faunus had with the human boy, man, woman, and children.

'They love the shit out of him?!' Why? What had this little bastard done while here? "Sala, what the hell is going on with that little shit?" Tali asked briskly.

"H-Huh?" The lizard woman smoothed out her dress before smiling. "Oh, you probably don't know but Obito has been helping out around the school last month," Tali blinked in surprise. "His caretaker was supposed to tell me your answer to Summer work?" Sala turned to Obito with hope.

The human boy nodded. "I'll do it, I don't mind," Obito said as he locked gaze with a grimacing Taliesin. "I'm sorry, Ms. Sala, but we actually have business with the woman in front of you," he told her nonchalantly, much to Tali's look of distaste but hissing breath. "We'll drop off Marrone and talk outside of school," he said, ruffling Marrone's hair before Bleu ran up to him from behind Sala's legs.

"Hiya, sir!" He grinned as always, the human chuckling as he crouched to his level. "The food was great! A-And mah legs all good!" Bleu said obliviously, Obito accepting all the consequences with nothing more than a closed-eyed smile.

"I'm glad, you and Azure were big patrons of my cooking," the boy blinked. "Customers."

"But we didn't pay ya! Wait, m-ma paid ya, right?"

"No, it's just a joke," Obito said as he patted the boy on the head before standing up to his full height, Sienna's arms crossed as she kept her gaze locked on Tali. "Alright, let's go and talk about important matters," the human nodded to Sala before walking off with a frowning but shrugging Sienna.

Taliesin's tail bristled but she hid it, patting Bleu on the head and powerwalking after the two. 'You sneaky little bitch,' she'd be getting her piece out of that little fucker if it was the last thing she did.

As the three walked out of the schoolyard, they moved across the street to an empty alleyway.

Reaching the shadows cast by sunlight, Obito stopped with his back to Taliesin as Sienna turned with narrowed eyes.

"You hid like a bitch from me on first sight, huh~?" The woman taunted without a sneer but with a growl. "You've got some balls, fuckboy."

"And you're holding a grudge," Obito said, looking back at her without turning around. "You don't need to do this, Taliesin Coa," her eyes widened as he closed his eyes and focused ahead. "You should realize that it's not hard to hear your name around the street, you live there."

"So, now you're threatening me and my kin?"

"We didn't do shit, woman!" Sienna grimaced. "We're not so low."

"And yet here you are, siding with that fucker who took my eye!"

"You almost killed a man, a little girl, and myself," Obito growled as he finally turned around. "Have you no shame?" He hissed as Tali's tail bristled. "Do you have a hint of thought in that head of yours? You kill people, you have NO fucking right to be giving ANYONE shit."

The woman's growls intensified before she kissed her teeth.

"I didn't do a damn thing that wasn't justified. You decided to go out of your way, the way of your mission, to try and kill people who weren't threats to you. At what point will you realize that consequences are waiting for you?"

Tali's face went blank. "I don't need to worry about that shit," she told him flatly as Obito's eyes narrowed. "I'm taking you down for a ride to hell, kid. That mouth, your body, and probably your life, don't waste my time by spitting emotions at me. I'm well aware of how bullshit your words, and every human's, are," she scoffed before flicking something out of her pocket at the two, Sienna catching it. "I'm coming for you pussies on August 1st, show up before I decide to kill your families."

The air grew cold for a mere moment, a moment of intense thought, before it was soon flooded by bloodlust.

Sienna and Obito's eyes gleamed in the shadows while Taliesin grinned, eyes squinted but releasing a light that even the sun above couldn't hide.

"I'm more than prepared to fight you fucks and end lives, it won't be hard to do so for some weaker folk."

"TALI," Sienna growled murderously. "If you so much as put a hair out of place on their heads, I'M FUCKING KILLING YOU."

A pressure formed in the air as Obito's hidden eye shone even through its black wrapping.

"Don't make Bleu and Azure sad with your passing," Obito whispered. "I don't wish to hurt them, much less reveal I killed their aunt."

"Keep thinking like that, fuckboy, and your title won't just stay in Sienna's bed. Well, faster," Taliesin said with a cocky smirk before she stuffed her hands into her pockets and walked off. "Now, fuck off, I actually have better things to do."

The teens growled before walking out and looking for-

And she was gone, leaving the two confused before Obito's eyes snapped up to the shadowed grinning figure above.

"I. WILL. FUCK. YOU," she threatened with a smile before hopping off, leaving the duo to stew on her threats.

"That whore is getting what she deserves in August," Sienna said with shaking fists before Obito took one deep breath and held her shoulder.

"Come on, let's go," he said as people looked at them oddly. "We're late for school."

~NRK~

Getting into class and getting through the day had never been so worrying for Sienna.

By lunchtime, she was already considering skipping when she found herself atop the roof once more with her team.

Retelling of their new ultimatum, the group paled for them as they leaned on the rails.

"D-Dude, what the hell?! It's been one week and shit's already happening?!" Perry hissed out with a grimace. "Godsdammit, this shit SUCKS."

"It's total bullshit," Aster frowned. "Dammit, well… W-Well, at least you've got until August, right?"

All heads turned to Obito who closed his eyes before nodding. "Yes, I believe we do. Tali's confidence is what was bothering me," he said with narrowed eyes. "Don't you remember what we originally told you? When we first went to our spot, we eavesdropped on her and she said two months. Why did that change?"

"Is it that significant?" Derry asked, confused. "I mean, people change their minds all the time, why would that be something to worry about?"

"Because she's never looked that confident," Sienna frowned. "Usually… The only time I've ever seen her like that was when we had a secret weapon. Like when it was revealed to a lower group that we all had Aur… Oh no, d-don't tell me she got something else new?!"

Obito grunted. "There's a high chance that she is confident due to a new skill/weapon they got. If she's going to attack us with that group we saw, why not be confident in that?"

"What if she is?"

The human boy frowned. 'If so, are they that strong?' He didn't feel like that was right.

All shinobi, on some level, were superstitious. Obito fully believed in sixth senses that didn't come with normal Auras/Semblances.

"I don't think it is. Let's call it another part of our new path," Obito said. "Sometimes, if you feel like something is off, it's off. Paranoid is something many people would say but paranoia helps keep you alive, especially because you know what you're dealing with."

Considering his words, Aster sighed. "Alright, well, what's the plan? Do we still keep doing our planned out stuff?" She asked nervously.

"Yes."

"Wait, deadass?"

"She's got a point, aren't you worried?" Derry asked Obito who hummed before shaking his head.

"No, do remember, we have Vine on our side now. Not just that, the General's projected awakening should be around next week. If we consider it'll take a month for him to gain some form of mobility, that's still more than enough time to speak with him."

"Even though it'd take so long?" Perry asked, surprised.

"Of course. We can't stay idle but don't let that get in the way of your present thinking. We need to be mentally prepared for even our day-to-day lives."

The group, as one, sweatdropped at that, knowing how true that was.

"Well, speaking of," Derry began. "I've been wondering, for the Tattered Maws, w-where do we go from here?" She'd been curious for a while.

Did they count as a 'gang' now? Was it that simple?

"Well, now that we're kinda known thanks to Ito," Sienna considered as she stretched a bit, tail curling out as some of her worries relieved themselves at his words. "We should meet with some of the utility gangs to make our name known in the Registry."

"There's a registry for gang members?" Obito asked in shock as Sienna nodded.

"Crazy as it sounds? It works out due to a trust system," she continued explaining as the others gawked. "You can look at it like a 'This person definitely comes from Atlas's underground' card, it helps us weed out who's new or not to our kingdom. You can pay 'em to keep your info private, too, and any gang who tries to bully their way in, well, they won't exist the next day."

Obito hummed. "Do we have to give our names?"

"God no, there's trust but that's stupid. We just need the group's name, the leader of our leader," Sienna grinned. "And if we want, we can tell 'em what kinda gang we are or our biggest hit. Remember, street cred is very fucking valuable and a sick reputation even more."

"Hmm, we'll go tonight."

~NRK~

With school over, Obito did his usual ferrying of children with the help of the others before they found themselves back at the school with Marrone still in tow.

Sala smiled as she handed Obito a small folded letter. "That's his contract, he says," she told him as he opened the wax seal and pulled out the envelope's contents.

Reading it, Obito nodded to the amount as the others crowded behind him, Marrone on his shoulders. "... Nice," Perry snickered as Aster snorted and Sienna smirked.

Derry rolled her eyes as Marrone cheered.

"Bro, that's some good money!"

"Of course, he wants to make this a ten-year contract," Obito said. "He's promising this amount as what I'll get halfway in, the beginning bargaining point is likely a good 10 less."

Reading further, he'd been right, looking at the amount the man wanted to give him per year.

"Still, dude, that's a decent bit. You'd make as much as my mom does in five years and she works two jobs," Perry said, no jealousy in his voice, just interest. 'I wonder if mom'll have a cool Semblance if I…' He shook away the thought.

Hadn't he and Obito said it? That knowing someone had Aura would indicate a lot to strong people.

But, on the other hand, the other things they'd said and he was soon left conflicted.

Sienna hummed. "It's a nice amount and it raises every year. But when would he get the money? What are his hours?" They needed agreeable ones that'd not get in the way.

"He says that as long as he can do a weekly quota, Obito will be paid a salary," Sala explained, tapping her lip. "The principal was also open to negotiation if you'd like."

"I'm wondering where the quota is," Obito said as he read near the bottom and hummed. "That amount… I suppose I don't mind if it's like that. The school only houses, what, 400 people?"

"I-I don't know that but it's a lot less than other schools so…"

"Should I leave the answer with you? Do you need me to sign anything?"

Going over the fine print and agreeing to its contents, Obito signed the contract and folded it back up into the envelope.

Ms. Sala smiled happily at that as he left it on her desk. "Alright, I'll be seeing you around more often, Mr. Fixer," she joked as Obito chuckled a bit before nodding.

"Well, it shouldn't be wrong. I'll be starting next week, after all," he agreed before bowing to her and taking his leave. "Good evening, Ms. Sala."

"Good evening, all of you."

Taking their leave, the group walked out with some curiosity about them.

"So, that means you'd get… Um," Perry tried to do the math. "32Gs, divided by 12 is… I-I think it's 28 hunid, right?"

"Close enough, it's a lot more money than someone his age would have," Derry said as Obito hummed.

"You're right… Anyone our age wouldn't be able to just ignore even a quarter that amount, huh?" He said as the others nodded. 'I might be able to handle some ideas,' Obito hoped he'd get paid soon even if it was mid-April.

Because he now had disposable income that could be diverted into good things.

"Come on," Obito said. "Let's start preparing."

~NRK~

Vine was very worried as Gold demonstrated the new invention down an empty street in front of all the third-years.

'Obito, everyone, I hope you're prepared for this,' he thought nervously as raging flames colored the road. 'This will likely become bigger than we could imagine.'

~NRK Out~