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.

4. Worrying Implications

~NRK~

Obito grimaced as he, a still horrified Sienna, and several of the cops from before sat in an interrogation room.

"... What the hell was that?" One of the male cops asked with concern as he looked from his coworkers to the two teens. "What was that?! Did you know?! Are you a part of this?!"

"No, we're not," Obito said with a sigh as he rubbed Sienna's back in small circles. "... I've spoken with general Ironwood about the situation down here in Atlas with the gangs, we both knew that things were weird and we, kind of stupidly, tried to figure out what was going on," he said vaguely.

"... Is she going to be… alright?" Another of the male cops asked as they looked at the ventilating Sienna, the Faunus teen breathing in and out of a bag in her grip. "... This whole situation is a mess."

"Dead bodies of prisoners, a ruined building, and the attacker in question being some sort of monster," the female cop from the front desk said with a growing frown. "Yeah, it sounds like a great day for a mess."

"What are you going to do?" Obito asked as Sienna shuddered. "We all saw it… that thing wasn't… it wasn't human, it was clearly a robot of some sort."

The cops grimaced at that. "... We… We can't," the first man said as he held his head. "... We need to call a Hunter," he said to his coworkers who nodded slowly.

"I think even the general would come here if you told him it had to do with the gang situation," Obito said as they looked at him. "We spoke at length about it and he's truly focused on it."

The second man frowned before nodding. "That seems like the best bet," he said as he rushed out. "I'll go and make a call online."

"H-Haaa," Sienna choked back the bile in her throat, eyes replaying the event and the aftermath all over again.

"You might want to take her home," the female cop said as Obito sighed, her eyes softening a smidge as her fellow officer nodded. "This isn't a place for kids, Faunus or not," she said and Obito found his respect growing a bit.

"We understand," he said as he stood up with his hands on her shoulders. "... I'm going to be honest," Obito began. "You might want to be careful… we hid our faces before that thing could see them but it's not the same for you."

The two grimaced. "R-Right," the man said while tugging on his collar. "Crap."

"We'll need to stay in the precinct for a while," the female officer said. "It's simply what we have to do while the Hunter or general are called."

Obito nodded before leading Sienna out of the room and then the building, his eyes narrowed as he kept their faces hidden from the eyes of the nearby passersby, the firefighters, and then the news crews.

"Young man! Young man!?" One of them tried to come close but Obito's eyebrows lowered.

He picked up the catatonic Sienna underarm before using a wind-powered leap to get atop a building and then leave the area.

His eye burned bright as he spun in the air before he let out a sigh of relief and landed atop an apartment.

Obito had them drop down into the fire escape before getting them into the building.

He sighed as she leaned on the wall and slid down it into a fetal position before sitting down next to her. "Sie, are you alright?" Obito asked as he looked down the hallway, minding anybody who'd approach them, their hoods still up.

"... T-There were… s-so many bodies," Sienna whispered in horror as Obito sighed.

So, he'd been right, she wasn't that 'hard' if you will. Sienna had likely never partaken in killing, levied against it on principle.

She hadn't been a bad person, that was the truth, and this event had taken her mind down a path of horror.

"A-Am I sane right now?"

"You're horrified, it's normal," Obito said as she leaned on his shoulder, hand grabbing his forearm. "What happened there… sadly, there was nothing we could do about it."

"He snapped Victor's n-neck," Sienna hissed with a paling complexion. "T-There was a sound and-"

"Sie," Obito whispered gently as she flinched. "You… I can't tell you to forget this, I can't tell you it'll get better… but I can tell you if you keep thinking about it, you'll destroy yourself."

She grimaced as her free hand reached up and held her head. "T-This is so fucked."

"Yeah, it is."

They stayed there for half an hour if you'd believe it before Sienna sighed and they got up.

She rubbed her eyes. "T-Thanks, I'm… I don't know how to handle this," Sienna said with a grimace.

"It's fine, I promise. If you need help, let me know," Obito said with a nod. "Let's get out of here."

"Do you think that robot is gonna come back?"

"I made sure to keep an eye out for it, my Sharingan couldn't see anything."

Sienna nodded as they slowly exited the fire escape, her ears flagging as Obito looked around with his blazing red eye.

~NRK~

She frowned as that 'Silencer' came back into the hidden bullhead port.

"Did you take care of him?" She asked the killer robot who bowed to her.

[Target eliminated, Master Avion.] It said as the woman before it sighed.

She was a woman in her late twenties that sported white skin, brown eyes with slightly slit pupils, and curly black hair with two wing-like extensions in her hair by her ears.

Wearing a black full-body dress, a large, fur-trimmed, brown coat, and some white platform dress shoes, the Avion woman huffed before holding out her hand.

The mechanical being lowered its head before a jutting-out chip left the side of its face, the woman taking it and walking to the side of the area.

Putting it in, she frowned as she looked at the 'Notable' folder in her machine's memory banks. "... The police and two others saw you?" She said with a frown as the robot stood up.

[All traces have been burned and annihilated.]

"They still saw you," she grimaced as she bit her thumbnail. "The whole point is to keep things discrete and now we don't know the identities of the two who saw you first!" They could deal with the cops easily, the issue came with the two weird ones.

[... They hid their faces from sight, I apologize.] It said. [Shall I find them?]

"With what clues? Did you see anything else?"

[BEEP. Heights and skin color from their bodies and hands. Can calculate.]

"That's not enough! We have to know something true about them! We don't have anything!"

[Apologies, Master Avion.]

She sighed, holding a hand to her head before she looked at the news, the footage of those two running off causing her face to contort into a grimace.

Then she frowned as she looked at the left hand of one of them.

Or the lack of one.

Her eyes narrowed on the detail. "We may be able to file down those requirements, that one's missing an arm," Master Avion said as the robot's eyes rotated, growing more focused. "Hmmm," she considered their next move. "... leave it, for now, they didn't look like-"

The one-armless one's leap into the sky and atop buildings caused her to freeze.

'Hunter?!' She considered with growing horror before clenching her hands. "No… That can't be true, why run away?" The woman bit her nail again. 'They weren't trying to be seen by the newscasters. So, in that way, they didn't want attention,' did that mean they were scoping things out?

Were they gang members who didn't want to be on the news? That made sense, gangsters and all that.

Ones who'd come to find someone at that particular prison? With the only real big-shot there being Victor… Her eyes narrowed.

'They know too much,' okay, maybe that was premature.

She didn't know what they were there for besides likely being gangsters. Hell, they could have been family members of the other goons of Victor's group.

She sighed as she leaned back in her seat, eyes going to her robot. "... Contact him and tell him we have an issue."

[Affirmative, contacting Dr. Arthur Watts.]

~NRK~

When they got home, the Faunus within it sighed in relief.

"W-We heard the explosion!" Marrone said with horror as his tiger ears flicked. "D-Did something bad happen?"

"Well…" Sienna trembled. "Y-Yeah, it wasn't… good," she looked green as her father looked concerned. "I'm… I'm gonna go and lay down, I won't eat, mom."

Watching her walk off, Obito sighed as Marrone looked at him with confusion.

"... There were a lot of bodies," was all he said, and the group, sans Marrone and the other kids, choked in horror. "We were fine but she saw all of them."

"B-Bodies? W-What's weird?!"

"It's nothing, Marrone. Nothing you'll need to know about until you're older… hopefully much older," Obito said with a frown as the boy frowned back. "... I'll be in my room, I'll get Sienna to eat some of the food later."

As he left the area, Obito looked at his power in the living room.

'I need to get stronger, soon,' he'd thought they'd have time.

This wasn't what he planned for! Now, he was likely waiting to be seen by that stupid robot!

He kissed his teeth as he held his shoulder.

Any cameras rolling meant they'd seen his lack of an arm, making it obvious about his identity despite his efforts to keep that hidden.

Obito got into his and Marrone's room before going to his bag and grabbing a half-empty notebook.

Sitting down at his desk, he picked up a pencil and began writing down everything he knew about the situation.

'This is getting concerning. If someone really decided they wanted to silence Victor, he knew something he shouldn't have,' he grimaced. 'And all his gang members are…'

Wait, did all of Victor's members die? Was there not a few who'd gotten sent ahead to a prison up above?

His eye widened as he considered something before frowning. 'I need to call the general,' if things were as he assumed.

The general's army may have a monster within their midst that was working with the Avion family in this. Well, it was either that or the worst-case scenario but Obito had a feeling that wasn't the case.

This had happened before the man had even considered being a person much less a soldier in the army before he was even born. That meant this was before him.

'Still… I need to know how the Desert Field gang was defeated, specifically,' he grimaced.

That didn't leave him with many options. Was there a gangster historian? As ludicrous as that sounded. Was there a record-keeper?

Or would he need to ask Sienna, or worse, ask Atella about this situation?

God, how had his life gotten so complex?

He sighed before raising his normal arm with concentration.

He needed to gain more control! The situation at hand had simply grown so far beyond his current strength, it was pathetic to see the state he was in.

Electricity sparked up his arm before he focused and it formed a concentration point in his palm.

The electricity crackled as he tried to hold it before it dispersed with a stray arc of lightning flashing by his cheek, the Uchiha turning his head around to see a small black spot on the wall.

Grimacing, he pressed his hand to it and pulled on the water power with difficulty.

He hissed as blue ran up his fingers but went no farther, his palm growing moist as he heard the hiss.

When he removed it, Obito sighed at the wet spot, looking at his hand. '... I can't focus on the powers I'm elementally contrasting to. I need power I can freely use and that means wind, fire, wood, earth, and plant… no, wait, wasn't there one more?' He looked at his hand.

He'd used that other one… that last one…!

Gravity.

His eyebrows furrowed as he raised his hand and focused. Though, in this situation, how did he call upon that power?

Considering all his experiences, the only things he could remember feeling similar were when he used Kamui, when the Juubi tried to tear him apart mentally, and… Pressure, as he'd learned from James.

His hand began to glow purple.

That feeling! Grasp it! Don't forget it!

The reincarnated man hissed as veins throbbed up his arm as his hand grew more purple.

"..." He cut it off moments later, eye on his limb. "So, is enacting the effect also a value I have to worry about?" Like, say, outside of affinity, making his body emit gravity was likely dangerous.

Flexing his fingers, Obito clenched his hand and closed his eyes.

All of the powers at once… he needed to enact all of them at once again to form another sphere of influence like the one in the living room.

He felt his body throb as he tried to call on all the powers at once, his heart beating painfully as he raised his left stump of an arm.

'Focus!' He called out in his mind. 'It's two spheres, it's simple! Don't hesitate!' Obito growled as veins popped up by his neck, arm, and eyes. 'Come on!'

He called on fire followed by wind, two complementary powers.

Obito added the plant power and it burned ferociously before he considered his next move.

He felt like he was on fire as he decided to add electricity, erupting, metaphorically, in heat as his left arm pulsated.

The powers were growing stronger than he could anticipate as Obito grimaced before breathing in.

'Two more,' he gasped as sweat hissed down his brow. '... Gravity.'

He imagined that feeling but directed it in a hopefully helpful way.

Compression. He pulled everything into a point with it, a single burning point, before calling on the last element.

'Water!' And it felt like he'd doused himself in a pool as he called the power to the energy amalgamation within his left arm.

It began to wiggle involuntarily before Obito gave it form, gave it a shape.

The black energy slowly extended down to form a bicep and then the beginning of a forearm.

He hissed as his body groaned but Obito pushed as a hand was made before it was followed by five, familiar, clawed fingers.

He cut it all off and collapsed into his seat, breaths rapid and ragged while he flexed his new arm several times.

"God, that took… way too much," Obito groaned.

The door to the room opened moments later, a pair of tiger siblings peering in at him.

And then they saw his new arm, the Uchiha grinning weakly as he raised it.

"Got something working, finally."

---

Obito ate with little restraint, minding his manners as he ate his food without hesitation.

"Damn, he was hungry!" One of the men said in shock as Obito ate quickly. "... Hold on, I thought the thing in your living room was his arm… weird."

Moreno rubbed the back of his head as Sienna also looked curious.

"He's been gone for an hour, maybe he did some Aura thing," the tiger man said as Obito looked surprised, swallowing his food.

"Wait, what?" Obito said in confusion.

"Yeah, you were gone for an entire hour," Marrone said as the human looked surprised.

"It didn't feel like that," the former ninja said as he looked at his new arm. "... Forming this took way too much time and energy. That last part is why I'm so hungry," Obito informed them.

"So, uh, this permanent?" Sienna asked.

"Hopefully. I'll know in the morning," he huffed as his stomach growled some more. "The end of the week can't come soon enough. Or maybe I should visit Mrs. Stone," he huffed.

"Who?" Moreno asked. "... Oh, wait, that human woman with the bread?"

"Yes, she's the one I got free bread from, usually," Obito said as the other kids perked up. "I'm actually hoping I can get a Spring job from her for the two-week break coming up."

"O-Oh, wait, right!" Sienna looked horrified. "I-I have a small gig with Aster and Perry. We're supposed to be moving stuff in trucks… I-I think you could get in. We'd just need to hope the owner doesn't think we're trying to bring a whole party."

"If I can help, I will in any way. Maybe things will work out," Obito said. "For now, I've just got to do my weekly gigs."

The group of Faunus nodded.

~NRK~

Come the end of the weekdays, Obito nodded as he got his last payment from Ms. Sala, the small envelope filled with lien notes sitting well in his pocket.

Finishing up the last table, Obito rolled his shoulders as some of the other elementary school staff moved the fixed items out of the room.

"This might be finished next week," the teen said as she nodded.

"Well, considering you're some kind of super-worker," Sienna said as she, Marrone, and their friends nodded. "So, that's it for now, yeah?" She asked as Obito nodded.

"With this, I'm done with this for the week. Come on," he said before bowing to Ms. Sala. "Take it easy, ma'am."

"Yes, please, take care," the lizard woman said with a smile as he nodded.

As the group walked out of the school, Perry nudged the human's shoulder with his own.

"Someone's been charmin' up the teach," the lizard teen said with wiggling eyebrows as Obito scoffed.

"It's called, she knows I'm not a threat of some sort."

"You say that but, man, Ms. Sala's never smiled like that in front of us," Sienna chuckled as Obito shrugged.

"It's not like I understand her mind, much less the mind of women in general, I'm hopeless in that regard," Obito admitted as the group laughed. "Now, let's go to the deli."

"D-Deli?!" Aster blinked at him as Obito nodded.

"You guys don't need to go home right now, right?"

~NRK~

The sizzling caused their stomachs to growl in unison, the Faunus balking as Obito cooked some cheap beef he'd gotten at the deli.

But he was cooking for them which was certainly new.

"W-What?! These smells are sending my mind into orbit!" Perry praised as Obito snorted, black arm moving a set of cooking utensils around as he mixed the rice, fish sauce, small vegetables, and beef into the wide pot, the smells bringing Ireed out of Moreno and her room, the stoat woman balking as she smelled it.

"I-I just woke up, what's he doing?" She asked her children and their friends who grinned.

"Obito's cooking, ma, this is gonna be good," Sienna said with a grin as Ireed blinked while Marrone cheered.

"Yeah! Bro did this at granny Thyme's house with eggs and it ROCKED!" The small boy said as Ireed balked before a knock on the door got the group's attention.

"I-I'll get it," the stoat woman said even as her mind remained in the kitchen with the food. 'W-When could he cook such good smellin' food?' Well, to be fair, she didn't know if it was good or not.

She'd seen some of the vegetables in that pot but had never used half of them.

When she looked through the door hole, she blinked at an old goat Faunus and sheep girl.

"Hmm? It's an old woman and child," she said.

"That's Mrs. Thyme and her granddaughter," Obito said. "Can they come in?"

"Sure, let me just," Ireed said as she opened the door's locks. 'He really made 'em all lock-like,' she remarked like she had multiple times.

When she asked Obito how he'd done it, he said he memorized a 'lock book' from the library and just made it.

The boy was ridiculously amazing and good at using things, Ireed realized.

She opened the door to welcome the goat Faunus and her granddaughter in, the two dressed as they'd been when the group first met with grocery bags in their hands. "Welcome, welcome. You know Obito and Sienna, right?"

"Oh, yes, your son helped me out a bit," Phoebe said as Ireed's eyes widened.

"U-Um… w-well, he's not… I'm not," she scrambled with her words as Fiona took off her boots at the door before gasping at the warmth from the area. "... Can we not talk about it?" Ireed pleaded and Phoebe frowned before sighing.

"Alright, I won't cause any issues."

"You didn't, it's…" the woman looked ashamed as Phoebe tapped her forearm.

"Guilt is somethin' that'll eat at your very soul, don't let that happen. The boy's clearly more mature than he should be and that's part of why he doesn't hate ya. You simply have to deal with the hand you were dealt."

Ireed looked shocked at the well-spoken Faunus who giggled a bit.

"You gain a lot of words at my age."

Fiona, meanwhile, rushed towards the good smells. "Bro?!" She popped into the kitchen as Obito finished up.

"Good evening, Fiona," Obito said as she blinked at his black arm.

"Ya got another?!"

"Hmm?" He looked at where she was looking before chuckling. "Yes, I did," Obito smirked as she gasped.

Then her stomach growled and she blushed as he chuckled.

"You can get some, I made a lot just because I didn't know how much we'd all eat. So, you can have some," Obito said with a smile as the girl smiled brightly before she came over and handed him the grocery bags. "Huh? What's this?"

"I-It's groceries! For helpin' me and gramma," the sheep girl said with a smile as Sienna perked up. "Mommy's not home and w-we don't really cook a lot," Fiona admitted with embarrassment.

"Hmph, I don't want to take from you."

"I-It's alright! Mommy was one of the lucky ones. We don't really go through the same things other Faunus do."

"They don't?" Derry asked in surprise as Sienna blinked.

"Oh, wait, right. I'd totally forgotten they live in a nicer neighborhood," she winced as she considered Fiona's situation from the SDC incident. 'She wasn't a part of that plan at all,' and looked at what had happened.

Her future might have been ruined.

"M-Mom said it was safer," Fiona explained as her grandmother and Ireen came into the kitchen, the former sniffing the air with a chuckle.

"Working your cooking magic again?" The goat asked and Obito chuckled.

"Of course," he said. "You both can have some as I told Fiona."

"If we're not a bother."

"Not even close. Can someone get the chairs from my and Sienna's rooms? Sorry, Sienna."

"Nah, man, it's coo'," Sienna said as she and Perry hurried off, the sharing of food onto styrofoam plates causing them to rush. "Coming!" She said without thought, stomach more caught up than her head.

When they returned, everyone was seated and given plates of food.

Some of them had to share some utensils before Obito made extra wooden ones.

The first bites were precious.

"T-This is food?" Ireed squeaked at her plate in disbelief as Obito grinned proudly.

"Did I die?" Perry asked Aster who ate with gusto.

"Hmph! Glp!" She swallowed half her plate without hesitation. "If ya did, we all went ta HEAVEN!" The bear Faunus squealed.

Fiona giggled along with Marrone. "This is so good, bro!" They said in unison as Obito and Phoebe chuckled.

"They're not wrong, this is magnificent," the goat woman said as she ate with flushed cheeks. "Hmmm… why, I'm surprised you don't open up your own little stand."

"... Huh," Obito considered the idea as Ireed perked up. "Well… I'd probably have to do that during the Summer but that's not a bad idea. The thing is, I'd definitely need a good rep."

"W-Well… at the store," Ireed spoke up as he looked at her curiously. "If ya sold some stuff out front, we could also probably get more o' our work," she admitted with a blush as Obito chuckled.

"Sure, though I guess it'd have to be on the days you work there, right?"

"Yeah."

"Iffin' you're looking for more ideas, why not sell some at my daughter-in-law's construction area?" Phoebe suggested as the group perked up. "I'm sure they wouldn't mind good, warm, cooked food."

"R-Really?" Derry gasped at the idea. "... A-And if he had a worker, too?" She asked nervously.

"I wouldn't mind but we'd need to know the area, Mrs. Phoebe," Obito said. "You've told me that Mrs. Thyme got along with her human and Faunus co-workers, right?"

"Yep, that girl would probably be ecstatic," the old goat female said with a chuckle. "I can bring it up to her next week, she's supposed to come back for a long break, after all."

"I'll come over and speak with her as well, I don't mind," Obito said. "Man, things really came together," he smirked as Sienna nodded while Ireed looked at her empty plate with embarrassment. "... Oh, one second. Does anyone-?"

"YES!"

~NRK~

Come the following Saturday, Obito, Sienna, Aster, Perry, and Derry went back to 'that spot' in the outer edges of Mantle.

"Your skills are convenient, Perry," Obito said as the lizard boy stuck onto the wall, helping Aster down to the ground before he landed as well.

"Hehe, it's nice to have a little skill of my own," the boy said as he adjusted his glasses. "It's like Aster said a week ago, she and Sienna have the arm strength, Derry's got leg strength, and I've got slick fingers," he showed them and Obito observed the small grooves on them. "Like Sie, I've also got two Faunus traits outside of the small stuff."

"Right, that was something I always did wonder about," Obito said as Sienna grinned. "I didn't know Faunus could have more than one animal trait."

"Yeah, it's not normal," Sienna said as she rubbed the back of her head. "Ever since I was a kid, the fact that I had my tiger ears and tail always made me different from other Faunus kids."

"I-I think I read that there are rare Faunus with more than one trait," Derry said as she adjusted a bang within her coat's hood. "I-It was an old book and out of date but it said there are 'stronger' Faunus who have more than one."

"Hmm, sounds weird," Aster said. "Stronger Faunus?"

"Y-Yes. I don't really get it, either," she said.

They moved as a unit, all five of them slipping in and out of sight with their array of skills.

With a bit of extra time compared to when it was just the two of them, Obito found them in front of that store again.

"Let's go around the back," Sienna said with a nod as the group moved around the gym in a circular pattern before doing as she said.

Once inside, Obito checked everything. "... Alright, no one's been here," he told them as he rubbed some dust and ice off the mats. "... We probably should have noticed earlier with the dust and ice. No one's been here for a while nor when we first came here."

"Man, are you tryin' to be a detective?" Perry asked as they crouched by the 'hole'. "And, holy shit, is that a TRAP DOOR?!"

"Shush! No yelling!" Sienna hissed as he flinched and covered his mouth. "Let's go down there before anyone sees us."

They hurried down, Obito going last with Aster going before him with some difficulty.

"I'm a big girl but that's the first time I've hit that kind of issue," she said as she sat atop Perry's back, having fallen down after some pushing and pulling. "S-Sorry, Perry," Aster said with a blush as he chuckled.

"Getting crushed by a woman, there are worse ways to die," he said as she huffed.

When they were all back on their feet, Obito lit up the room with another fireball.

"Huh, cool," Aster said as they looked around. "So, there's food and clothes here? You sure this is cool, Sie?" She asked before Obito and Sienna nodded.

"Seriously, you guys should get some of this, too. Aster, especially, since there are tons of men's clothes down here," the tigress said with a grin.

Looting the place, they went into that closet again.

"W-What?" Derry paled and hid behind Obito as they saw the kicked-over corpse. "I-Is he dead?"

"Yeah, it's not-" Sienna began to say before trembling.

---

Fire, blood, shock, and corpses riddled the floor.

---

She flinched before shaking her head. "I-It's freaky as hell, we should leave soon."

Obito frowned at her reaction before nodding. "There were other boxes we didn't check since we were trying to leave early, last time."

Going through those had bore some fruit. In one, Perry had found a tonfa, Aster some knuckle dusters, and Derry an extendable staff.

"W-Why am I getting one?" She asked shakily as the group chuckled nervously.

"We kind of just got into it," Sienna said as Obito nodded.

"Do you even want that?" He asked Derry who looked at the weapon nervously.

"... I-I'll hold onto it," she said unconfidently as the others nodded.

"It's better to have a weapon down here, Derry," Aster said as she rubbed the back of her head. "Actually, I've never seen you fight before."

"I-I don't."

"Hmm, that's fine, it's not like we're tellin' ya to," Sienna said as the deer Faunus nodded.

Getting out of there had required a few extra steps of passing the bags up with Aster coming after them but the group made it out the same way Obito and Sienna left the first time.

"Dude, this is so good," Aster whispered with awe and excitement. "My dad's gonna FLIP."

"Yep, with just me and my mom, these should last for over two weeks," Perry said with a grin. "Thanks, you guys, seriously."

"No problem," Obito and Sienna said in unison.

As they snuck around, though, Obito's eyes widened as his Sharingan locked onto something from the sidewalk.

"Into the alley!" He hissed as he urged them into it, the group hiding out of sight as he peeked out. "Crap, that thing is flying around!"

"W-What?" Derry asked as Sienna paled. "S-Sienna? What's wrong?"

The girl swallowed down her bile as she shook her head shakily. "I-It's nothing."

"Right," Aster said flatly with a frown as the tigress flinched. "... Fine, fine, not now."

Sienna grimaced before her ears perked up. "W-Where is it?" She asked Obito who sighed slowly.

"It's just flying around, right now," he said as she peeked out to see nothing. "I can see its energy signature or, really, the energy surrounding it. Ice and Fire Dust… a mirage," Obito hissed as Sienna and the others blinked. "... Okay… it's going away," he whispered.

The group rushed down the alleyway before jumping into a broken-down building, going inward towards the second floor and hiding by the broken stairs.

"Alright, spill," Aster said with finality as Sienna grimaced.

"I-It's…" She held her biceps before shivering, and it wasn't from the cold. "... Fuck…"

What followed was the two's recounting of the 'incident' and their suspicions.

As soon as they heard it all, the three Faunus choked and paled.

"And it's likely… a part of a bigger problem," Obito said as he rubbed Sienna's back. "I won't say anything, it's for the best that-"

"Nuh-uh," Aster said with a look of finality that Obito's eyebrow twitched at. "Nope, I've seen enough TV in malls to know what you're gonna say. Nope."

"You guys don't-"

"But we do," Perry said as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Sie and you are probably gonna end up in some shit sooner or later, how'd ya think we'd take that?"

"Well enough to know we're not gonna die."

"Debatable."

"Do you even know what that word means?" Obito held his head as Perry grinned.

"I looked it up for the day I'd finally get you on the backfoot in smarts!"

Aster snickered at that. "He's hopeless," she said. "But he's got a point, we'd hate it if you guys got so involved like that. The Tattered Maws aren't gonna just take this lying down!"

"The who?" Obito blinked as Sienna blushed, head down even as she waved off his hand.

"T-Thanks but…" She grumbled in embarrassment. "I figured… w-well, if we had a gang to stop the other ones, it'd work out better than trying to be a boogieman," Sienna huffed as Obito's eyebrow ticked.

"... You're not in on this, are you, Derry?" He asked as the deer Faunus blushed before messing with her fingers. "I doubt they included you in trying to make this crazy idea."

"W-Well, they didn't," Derry admitted. "A-And I really don't want to fight anyone."

"That's fine," Perry said as Sienna and Aster nodded. "Last thing anyone should do is get involved in gang stuff."

"Hello, kettle," Obito said sarcastically as Perry grinned.

"Nice ta meetcha!"

"Dammit, Perry," the human facepalmed before dragging it down his face. "... If you both are sure about this… you'll need your Auras."

"Oh, we got those long ago," Obito looked startled as Aster giggled a bit. "W-Well… When Sie got hers, she asked us if we wanted our own woken up like a couple of years ago."

"I…" Obito's Sharingan blazed as he looked at the two, the three Faunus jumping at the sight of the doujutsu. "... how'd I not notice?"

"When did you have super-weird-cool eye powers?!" Aster asked in awe as Sienna chuckled.

"Honestly, I was surprised a month back, too. I didn't know he had a thing like that and it's somehow a Semblance that isn't a Semblance," the tiger teen said as Derry blinked.

"A what?" She asked. "W-What's that mean? Obito?"

"... I got it a long time ago, it responded to danger, I suppose," he said vaguely as Sienna frowned. "I figured out I had it when I was around ten."

'Ten?' Something about that made her blood chill. 'When was that?' Sienna considered.

"Wait, so, you have Aura, right?" Derry asked before blinking as Obito shook his head. "W-What?"

"It's weird in that… I guess you could say my powers pull on my soul specifically due to how messed-up my Aura system is. With everything that happened, the Dust inside of me connected throughout my body and spirit."

"Right, Sie did say something about that," Perry considered. "You injected Dust directly into yer body, I don't think that went well."

"It didn't," Sienna said. "So… you guys really want in on this?"

"Yep!" Aster and Perry said.

"I-I'm sorry," Derry winced before Obito shook his head.

"There's literally no reason for that. Not wanting to jump into trouble is probably the smartest thing any of the five of us could be doing."

"..." Derry pursed her lips together before nodding. "A-Alright, I guess."

"Alright, we should leave now," Obito said.

~NRK~

The return to the Khan household had been one with more looks than any of them preferred but they did their best to mitigate it.

When they reached Obito and Sienna's home, they deposited those two's items before they headed off towards the other three's homes.

With two 'grabs' down, they spread out the gathering of bags to lessen the suspicious nature.

With the array of bags evenly distributed between them, the group made it to Aster's home first and foremost.

"Oh, dad's probs not home," the bear girl said as they looked at a small slip in the door. "Come on, let's leave these in the kitch."

She opened the door for them and they entered the one-story home.

Inside was homey, the colors on the walls being a rather new-looking brown, the floor made up of mismatched wood, which seemed to have been focused into little designs everywhere, while they entered another foyer with two other pairs of shoes in it.

"You have a nice home despite the temperature and oddness of the wood," Obito said as Aster grinned.

"Yep! Me and dad worked a whole Summer to get this done. He works in construction and got all kinds of extra material!"

Going into a rather nice wooden kitchen, Perry nodded as they put the things down on a well-made table.

"Let's hit my place next, that cool, Derry?" Perry asked as Derry nodded, now looking a bit… nervous. "?"

"I-It's fine! I mean it!" Derry responded in an instant. "I-It's just… w-when we get to my house… don't freak, okay?"

"Hmm? We won't, it's not like we're dealing with much better," Obito said as Derry blushed. 'I suppose even one of us would be the worst off.'

He felt for the young woman.

Sienna simply raised a brow as her tiger ears twitched.

Huh, weird.

~NRK~

Perry chuckled nervously as they made it to his place and began to go up the steps of the boarding house in front of them.

"I-I never saw a boarding house before," Derry whispered as she looked all over the light gray building.

It sported barred-up windows where they could all see either potted plants, nothing, small pets, or HA, Hot-Air, units.

"Come on in to my placey-place," Perry said with a chuckle as they went in through the front. "It's pretty cool here and you'd be surprised to know-"

"Perry?" Came a human man's voice as he walked over on a peg leg, the group's Faunus looking surprised. "Oi, lad, I thought you'd gone to them there's…" the man brushed his bushy mustache as Perry grinned.

"Hey, Mr. Heinz," the young man said as the man nodded with closed eyes.

"Right, them Saturday Schools!" Heinz realized as Obito hummed. "... Ah, I've never seen 'im with a human frien'."

"Yeah, he's Obito, Sienna's not-so-bro but we just ran with it," Perry said as the group nodded. "Is mom alright?"

"Aye, last I heard, she was headin' on over to her second job. She tol' me ta tell ya that she'd be home earlier today."

"Gotcha! Thanks, Mr. Heinz!" The group walked past as they nodded to the man who nodded back before grabbing a coat from the coat rack by the door and heading out. "As I was saying, this place has both human and Faunus peeps in it. A lot of 'em don't hate us, for a bonus."

"I-I didn't know normal humans could do that," Derry said as Obito rubbed the back of his head as she looked from the door to him. "You all are weird to me, s-sorry."

"No offense taken," he said as she nodded with a smile.

Aster leaned over to a twitching-eyed Sienna. "You seein' this?"

"Yep."

---

Perry's place in the boarding home wasn't as big as most of their houses, his being made up of two small rooms for him and his mother, a small kitchen-living room mix, and one bathroom in the living room.

They put his portion of their hauls on a small foldable table in the 'kitchen' and it creaked.

"... One second," Obito said as he kneeled down.

With some effort, a thick, stable-looking, table of similar size to Perry's original one.

The boy looked grateful before choking as Obito made actual seats!

"I noticed you don't have any."

"M-Me and mom usually just stand and eat, thanks man, I'm serious."

The girls grinned.

~NRK~

Their burdens had lowered immensely so the group looked so normal compared to their beginning set of bags.

Still… something about their travel was getting more and more absurd to the human.

"... Derry?" Obito spoke up as the deer Faunus blushed a bit, the group coming to a slow crawl as they looked so out of place it was painful. "Derry."

"I-It's nearby," the Faunus blushed harder as she trembled. "I… M-My parents-"

"Derry?!" Came the call of a person from down the street, a woman who wore a horrified look on her face while apologizing to every human on the street, which was basically everyone, as she came up to them.

A woman with seemingly pale, light pink, hair and white skin, her blue eyes locked onto their mammal-horned group member. Wearing what could only be called a maid-dress uniform that was black with white accents, her feet covered by black boots that looked well-taken care of and not beat-up like most Faunus clothes were.

No, she looked rather clean.

"Mo-" The deer girl froze before stuttering. "M-Mrs. D-Doll, h-how can I help you?"

"H-How?! You were supposed to be… ahem, at the estate or studying?" The woman nearly hollered before calming herself. "Why are you still out and about? What about the study group?"

"Apologies," Obito said as he stepped forward with a bow that shocked the woman. "All things considered, this is my fault. I'm the one who offered to tutor Derry," he added.

"Y-You?" The woman looked shocked as Derry looked down in frustration and embarrassment. "I-I see! Well, sir, please. If anything is amiss, don't mind her, she might have a difficult time getting some concepts!" The woman, Mrs. Doll, said quickly as Obito's eyebrows furrowed.

Obito's mouth opened to say something in Derry's defense but was stopped by the young woman herself holding onto his bicep with a shake of the head.

Mrs. Doll wasn't ignorant to this fact. "... Yes?" She implied something in but a word, leaving Derry to blush and shake her head in horror.

"N-No, wait, it's not-"

"Hush, none of that," the woman said with a grin. "Right now, it seems I might have misinterpreted what you explained," she explained as Obito's eyebrows shot into his hairline. "A pleasure, I'm Derry's caretaker," she curtsied with an elegance that he was surprised by.

"Right, I-" He began to say something, the whole situation leaving him FAR behind, but Derry's pale expression, and her hand gripping his back, left him silent. 'The hell?!' Obito stared at her as she peeked up at him with embarrassment but a look of pleading.

His cheek twitched before his Sharingan blazed bright red, Derry being sucked into their shared minds in an instant.

---

"The hell is this?!" He said to the shocked deer girl who scrambled.

"D-Don't! She'll hear you!" Derry screeched only for Obito to place a finger on her cheek and turn her head to look ahead of them. "...?!" The Faunus squawked as she jumped before hiding behind him. "WHAT HAPPENED?!"

"I took us into our shared minds," Obito explained flatly as Derry's head turned to him mechanically. "Now, TELL ME WHAT'S HAPPENING?!"

She flinched at his shout as she looked down in shame. "..."

"... Derry, this isn't going to last forever," Obito said. "I can feel my power already weakening. Right now, I need to KNOW what's going on. What the hell is with this woman?"

"... S-She's my mom," Derry said as he stared at her in disbelief. "Snff! She's… She and I work at the Barron family. S-She… s-she thinks of everything as a chance to get ahead in life."

The area around them flickered and Obito grimaced at his weak genjutsu skills.

"That's why I need you to play along… p-please?"

Her teary face had him sighing.

---

They returned and Obito rubbed the back of his head with his black arm, the limb hidden beneath his sweater sleeve and a glove he'd found for both his hands. "A-Ahem, right, I wanted to say, a pleasure to meet you, ma'am," Obito said with a normal black eye. 'Crap,' how had he been turned into a boyfriend?!

"Yes, yes, charmed," the woman giggled victoriously as Derry burned bright red. "Well, please, come. I'd like to know the kind of man that a Faunus like Derry could enchant," she grinned as she gestured down the road to them.

The others just watched all the craziness play out in front of them as Obito kept a stone face all the way through.

When the woman was ahead of them, leading the way with a grin, Obito grimaced as Derry looked too apologetic to be mad at.

And, honestly, it wasn't like he would have been. He could see where she was coming from.

That didn't mean he didn't hate the questions soon to be asked of him.

"What the hell was that?!" Sienna hissed at Obito in disbelief, looking alarmed, annoyed, and jealous. "This is new."

"Dammit, Sie, I'm trying to figure this out as much as you are," Obito hissed back. "... Derry, you need to explain this to us soon. I'm annoyed, not with you, but with this situation in general."

The doe blushed before nodding. "W-When we can talk in private," she whispered as Perry looked at the woman ahead of them in confusion with a frown.

"I don't like this," he whispered and Aster nodded.

"Me neither."

~NRK~

The Barron estate was, for lack of a better word, big.

It was bigger than a house, bigger than all their houses combined, and GRAND. It looked lavish, well taken care of, and like it was full of nothing but the finest things in life.

Being near the center of Mantle as is but a good bit to the right, it had a small driveway but was large enough that it didn't matter like in the movies.

This thing was clearly more expensive than their lives were to these people.

"Come, our masters aren't all in at the moment but they're supposed to be having guests so I hope you don't mind, Mr. Uchiha," Mrs. Doll asked with a closed-eyed smile as Obito raised a brow. "And the rest of you, be on your best behavior," the woman's eyes creaked open, frosty ice orbs causing the Faunus friends to jump.

"Oh, uh, yeah, promise, we're good," Sienna said nervously. 'The hell? This woman's terrifying!' Wasn't she some normal person! 'I don't like the looks of this.'

"They'll be having guests?" Obito asked as Doll smiled.

"Yes, why, they're VERY important people. You see, the Barron family is one that's… hmm, fell from their perch if you will," the woman smiled like someone who didn't care. "They've slowly been reknitting their wealth and are on the rise. Today is important as we're supposed to be hosting the Avion family's head and heiress."

The group, as one, stopped and stared at her, the woman clearly taking it as them knowing their reputation and NOT the fact that these people might be destroying their city.

'WHAT?!' The five teens looked ready to bolt.

This wasn't good!

"M-Mrs. Doll, I wasn't aware!" Derry said.

"Yes, because you not being here might have been a boon," the woman said with a sigh as Derry flinched.

"Ma'am, as her… significant other, I'm going to say, Derry certainly didn't deserve that remark," Obito said with finality as the woman's eyes widened.

But her reaction following that made him flinch as she grinned.

"Why yes, you're right. That was rather rude of me," the woman said as the Faunus looked either horrified or disgusted, Sienna and Derry occupying that last 'hint'. "Just know, you will be allowed to do as you please in the servant's quarters. Apologies if they're not up to your standards."

The bipolarity of this woman was putting Obito aback. 'She's completely insane,' and that RICH coming from him. 'This isn't good.'

Derry had seemingly understated how much her mother cared about only her chances.

To outright bash her daughter in front of her potential boyfriend and then quickly switch the 'script' on him from 'confirmation', Obito had a feeling she was planning something between the two of them.

And he didn't like it.

They walked to the side of the mansion towards a smaller, far more modest, 'home'.

Going inside the two-story quarters, the group was bowed to though they all knew it was mostly towards Obito.

"Derry, take your… beloved and his group to your room. Tonight, we'll be serving and you need to rehearse your etiquette and manners."

Derry sighed before remembering something. "U-Um, mother, it's, well…" She blushed before the group took off their bags. "These items were gifted to me by Obito, m-my b-boyfriend," Derry said as she opened the bags to show Mrs. Doll the goods. 'Please, for the love of the gods, JUST ACCEPT IT!' She did NOT want to get into it with her mom right now.

But, as luck would have it, the woman looked surprised and intrigued as Obito coughed.

"Yes, well, I and Sienna wanted to help out no matter how we could. I didn't know Derry's life was more… comfortable but we don't mind giving this to her even now," he said as Doll gasped in awe, causing him to sweat. 'Woman, what the hell are you-'

"Why, of course!" The woman grinned and the group chuckled nervously. "Goodness, what a kind and nice young man, Derry. You'd best keep your claims!"

The deer Faunus simply blushed as she nodded, the group began to take it all to the kitchen only for the maid to wave them off.

When she hefted everything on her own? That began to raise some alarm bells.

"... Derry, hon," Obito said flatly as the girl jumped with a bright red face. "Can you lead us to your room?"

The quick fashion in which they got there could have made records.

Sitting down in a rather good-looking room, especially for a Faunus, the group on the bed, the air grew silent with mounting disbelief.

And Perry broke it. "Who's that bitch downstairs?" He asked in complete and total disbelief as Derry winced while Sienna and Aster nodded. "Derry, I swear to the Brothers, slapping that woman might be worth having my ass sent to jail."

"She's… By the Brothers," Aster shivered. "W-Who in the world is as flaky as that bitch?"

Derry's head fell.

"Yeah, no, fuck that woman," Sienna hissed as Obito sighed. "Dammit! Even this servant woman can talk down to us, and you, like that just because she's-"

"Sienna, she's not human," Obito said as the three Faunus stopped, paled, and turned to him. "... That was Derry's mother… and I'm pretty sure she's a Faunus."

"..."

"..."

"... D-Derry," Sienna began to say shakily. "I-"

"N-No, you're… you're right," Derry flopped back onto her bed, eyes shut closed. "... T-That woman can barely be called a mother," she threw her arm over her eyes. "But that's the one I got… saddled with."

"... Sorry."

"No, I… I get it," Derry said as she looked at them and the group noted the difference in her countenance.

Gone were small nervous stutters and in their place were measured pauses and considerate thoughts.

"You seem more put together," Obito said as she sat up next to him, looking at him with seemingly darker blue eyes. "?"

"... Acting that way…" Derry hissed. "Learning to hide everything about me, about what makes me me, I've learned it all from… Mrs. Doll."

"This is… kind of crazy," Aster said as Derry nodded. "You always seemed so… booky and stuff, like the quiet and weird type."

Derry let out a bark of laughter. "Of course, I do! Everyone already hated me for my so-called 'comfortable life', adding in my real personality? They'd have fucking destroyed my one chance at being happy. Going to school is the one chance I get to not have to worry about fucking etiquette, humans who clearly have it out for me though that's debatable, and a mother who thinks it's her job to make me commit to these people."

"She's a completely different person!" Perry gawked as Derry giggled.

"Well, just because I'm different on a personality level doesn't mean I don't actually like the things I do," Derry said with a smile as she looked at a large bookcase full of books almost all the way to the top. "Books are awesome. I do like our teachers, probably some of the best humans I've ever met," she noted as Perry and Aster balked.

"W-Well," Aster pouted a bit. "I guess they're not the worst."

"... They're not," Perry agreed with a shaky grin. "Still, I… I guess even we didn't know you, huh?" He said with a sad expression. "Sorry."

"No… I do get it, at least you were one of the few ones who never forgot I was there," she said as Sienna and Aster winced. "No, none of that. I don't blame you, you likely heard about me long before you even saw me."

"That doesn't mean we don't regret it," Sienna inputted as Aster nodded. "But, well, it's nice to know the real you."

"Hm, hm," Derry smiled before frowning. "... You heard her, didn't you? Tonight… those guys, or really just one woman, from the Avion family are supposed to come here soon."

"Yeah, that's… it's concerning," Obito said with a frown. "This is bad. We couldn't plan for this and this might be the ONE chance we get at figuring out one of them so easily," he frowned. "... And I think the only way to make that happen… is for me to be here."

"... I understand what you're saying," Sienna said as she glared at the wall. "But can we get in?"

"No, Sienna, just me. We both know that two of us, much less another Faunus, you know what mean," Obito clarified. "Will look like."

"Actually," Derry said nervously. "... If you did try and make a good reputation with Mrs. Doll… that might work," she grimaced as Sienna's eyes narrowed. "But… the only way to do that would be to… play into our culture," Derry got out with difficulty as the two in question's eyes widened in horror. "... You know what I mean."

"... Wait, fuck no, that'd be-!" Aster began to say only for Sienna to raise her hand to stop her.

"..." She looked angry before swallowing her pride. "Are you sure that'd work?" Sienna asked with a grimace as Obito frowned deeply.

"Sienna, don't-"

"You said it yourself," she said as Obito grimaced. "This might be the one chance we get to see the bitch who's ruining-"

"Sienna," Obito emphasized her name as she growled at the air. "Dammit, Sienna, are you really willing to make me act like that?"

"You won't be, though. We both know how you feel about us."

"That doesn't mean this won't be offending me on a level I can't possibly imagine," Obito said as she flinched, looking away from him. 'There has to be a way, right?' He considered as he looked down in thought. 'My illusionary powers aren't strong enough to handle this with a genjutsu,' he clenched his teeth.

"For what it's worth," Derry spoke up. "If things work out in our favor, you could easily play up the 'kind master' card. They may not like it but, hell, you're already there. We don't even know if this horrid family is racist despite how low of a chance it being the opposite."

"..." Obito grimaced. "... Sienna."

"We can handle this. Things will work out," she reassured him.

"... Dammit, I know I'm going to hate myself after all of this."

Derry looked on with kind eyes. "I get it, this is gonna feel awful but if it helps things, I can at least help in this way."

The trio of Derry, Obito, and Sienna walked out of the room and downstairs where they found Mrs. Doll stacking things.

Derry came in with a bow, hands on her thighs. "Mrs. Doll," she spoke, still bowed, as Doll looked at her and then the two.

"Yes?"

"Obito asked if he couldn't help out with the staffing," Derry said, still bowed. "We both know that we're currently understaffed and Obito wished to help out for this situation even if just for tonight."

The Faunus woman blinked at them as Obito nodded before gesturing to Sienna.

"I can also bring in my Faunus as well," he said with a smiling expression as Sienna grumbled. "All things considered, at home, she can clean and set things properly," every word that left his mouth made Obito want to shrivel up and die.

He hadn't been lying when he said he'd feel offended but he feared more for Sienna's reaction than his own.

Obito knew Sienna was a good person but despite everything, he knew that this might very well breed a seed of doubt in her mind about him. Despite his reservations, Obito would be damned if he agreed to this and didn't get anything out of it. All for Sienna's sake and her trust in him.

"Young sir, there'd be no need for you to dirty your hands like us," Doll said. "Well… if nothing else, do you have any issues with your Faunus and yourself learning how to handle their small corrections and the like?"

"I'd be honored, we both would. Bowing is important, Sienna," Obito admonished gently as they did.

Sienna, meanwhile, felt her blood boil at the situation.

The worst part? She'd brought it upon herself and Obito, forcing him to do something he clearly was against and now making him make her uncomfortable.

'Gods, I'm regretting this.'

"Hmph, she seems lacking a bit," Doll said as Sienna's eyebrow twitched. "... But if Derry's lover is so adamant, I'll allow it," she added with a sly smirk as Derry burned bright red.

"W-Why'd you use that word?!" The daughter asked as the woman chuckled.

"There are many words for 'boyfriend', Derry. Now, if we're to do this, you two might need the entire rest of the day to learn everything we'll have you doing. Can you stay? It'd be important that you do."

"Yes, we'll see the other Faunus off before joining you," Obito answered.

Derry nodded.

Going back upstairs, closing her door behind them, Derry looked at the head-grabbing Sienna while Obito grimaced as he held his face.

"This was a bad idea," they said in unison.

"I hate this," Sienna said in horror. "W-What the hell was I thinking!?"

"You feel the strongest about our lots in life and this current situation the most," Perry said with a sigh. "Sadly, life's a crapper when it comes to throwing good luck our way."

"Are you sure about this?" Aster asked. "It's not like you couldn't spin it like you're getting chills and stuff."

"... I-I need to do this," Sienna said with a shudder as Obito grimaced. "We… There will never be another chance like this, I just have to… hold it in."

"Sienna," Obito frowned. "Just that little bit made you horribly angry, are you sure?"

"Yes! We need this, right?!" She shot back as he grimaced once more.

"Yes, we do but you putting yourself into such a mental place… and me being the reason?" She flinched and looked away. "This doesn't help. It really doesn't. Besides, why do you need to come?"

"... I have to see her face."

"I can just use my Sharingan."

"No! No second-hand shit! I need to look at this bitch and make sure I remember her with my own eyes!" Sienna hissed as the others looked concerned. "I have to."

Obito was starting to realize that 'I have to' came with concerning implications. "... Fucking hell," he cursed. "... I'm not gonna get you to leave, am I?"

"No, you're not."

Derry could see it, too. 'This isn't good. She's not thinking properly,' going in there with so much anger would do her no good. 'But I get it,' dealing with her mother was such an acquired 'taste' you needed to have the will of a saint.

Or of a stubborn mule like she was but Derry had lived this life for years, she knew.

"... Fine… Fine," Obito sighed as Sienna nodded with angry eyes. "... But, since I'm doing this, no matter what you tell me, I need you to tell me what you want after all the hell I'm likely to put you through," he said with finality as she flinched in shock.

"W-What?"

"No 'nos', I'm not backing down on this one."

"..." Sienna winced before huffing. "Just one?"

"Three."

"Obito."

"Sienna."

She rubbed the back of her head before rolling her eyes. "Fine but don't expect anything crazy."

"Never did but you have to use them up in a year," Obito said with a smirk as she rolled her eyes again. "Or else I'll figure out something to do for you."

"What the hell kind of conversation is this?" Aster asked Perry and Derry as they sweatdropped. "Sie! Just take it."

The tiger girl groaned. "Fine," she grumbled. "And… I-I guess that might be something else to look forward to besides the madness that's coming."

"I'm sure it will be," Obito said.

---

An hour later, after being measured, Obito, Sienna, and Derry were dressed in matching servant uniforms.

The female teens in similar maid outfits to Mrs. Doll while Obito had been given black slacks, a long-sleeve white dress shirt, a black vest, and dress shoes.

He'd kept his gloves from his previous outfit, hiding his black arm from sight, thankfully with no issue from Mrs. Doll.

Though, she'd hissed at his scarred left arm and had given him a more professional black blindfold for his left eye, combing his hair down to cover it as much as she could.

At present, the three were currently handling the food preparation, Obito taking Mrs. Doll's order from a table while Sienna and Derry stood across from the seated woman, hands by their thighs and folded together.

"Now, note," the Faunus woman said as he bowed by her seat with his hands folded behind his back. "Good, good. Proper posture no matter the occasion," Doll said with a sly smile. "Now, the current menu, what do you remember from it?"

"About all of it, ma'am," Obito answered with a closed-eye smile. "Which ones do you want to be recited?"

"Hmm!" She smiled. "Do you remember each section?"

"That part is a bit fuzzier," especially without his Sharingan but he'd done his best. "I'm prepared."

As she had him recite specific dishes, Sienna barely kept her face from shifting in annoyance.

"It's only for a night," Derry whispered as she took in a calming breath. "Right now, just focus on that. You have a mission, don't you?"

Sienna's eyes looked down in frustration, eyes landing on her dress, her hands, calloused and slightly scarred.

These didn't belong here. This wasn't her!

'But I need to get through this,' she told herself but her mind burned.

Her nails felt like ripping through this stupid cloth and then slamming into someone's face.

Preferably an Elite's.

~NRK~

Five hours later, the three rested in Derry's room.

"T-This thing fucking sucks!" Sienna shouted into one of the pillows. "Who decided this is what servants wore?!"

"Likely someone who liked looking at their servants," Obito said with a shrug as he sat at the base of the bed, lacking his vest with the top three buttons of his shirt undone. "Or they liked people dressing the same."

"Uniformity," Derry said as he nodded, the deer sitting on the edge of the bed. "Well… you're past the first part, Sienna. All you have to do is get through the night and you'll probably have more information than you ever expected."

"... I guess."

~NRK~

Two hours later and the quartet was at the ready by the door, facing another series of surprised-looking servants who then grimaced as they saw either Obito's clear young age or the three Faunus's 'Faunusness'.

Obito's eyebrow lowered and the gathered servants flinched as he did.

He wore a small smirk as he ignored them entirely. 'Now, let's see our guests.'

The doors to the main home opened via a chauffeur in uniform, the man bowing to a pair of figures who entered the immediate area.

One of them was a man of a very mature age, his fair skin full of wrinkles as his black eyes and shifted around to look at the gathered staff.

Obito's gaze locked with his and they kept it for a mere second before the man smirked, his nape-length brown hair in a mullet style with two wing-like strands styled up.

Arron Avion, the man who'd been but a child when he 'broke' the Desert Field gang.

Wearing a long black cloak with tan fur trim over a thick white sweater, black slacks, and brown dress shoes, the servant across from Obito took his cloak and bowed to the Elite with no wasted movements.

"Pay attention," Mrs. Doll said softly to them as they watched the staff work like a well-oiled machine to welcome them in, the four copying them. "A man and woman like these two are to be treated with the utmost respect."

Sienna's eyebrow twitching was the only indication of her anger as she saw the heiress of the Avion family.

Her hair was black compared to her father's and set in a straight style with the same hairstyle by her ears.

Wearing a brown turtleneck top, a long black skirt, and white platform shoes, the woman's large black coat was taken by Doll who moved with the same efficiency that the other staff had.

The woman's eyes went from her to the three's side who Doll had just left. 'Oh?' An interesting morsel had found his way into her gaze, Obito's sole revealed eye locking onto her without fear or nervousness.

No, if anything… she grinned slyly as she saw neutrality in his face but a gaze of interest in his eye.

'We'll see, young man,' she smirked as she walked off.

'Oh, I didn't like that look,' why'd he feel like meat out of nowhere? 'Whelp, apparently, some stereotypes might be true about the Elite,' how concerning.

As they followed the two to the dining room, Obito's eye flickered to Sienna's heated gaze.

He walked closer to her and bumped her shoulder with his. "Too much heat," he whispered and her eyes widened before she grimaced.

"I know," she lied as she clenched her hands in front of her thighs. "It's hard," Sienna hissed under her breath as he sighed.

"Two hours, that's all."

She nodded but, even then, her anger flared as the two laughed at something one of the other servants said.

The nonchalance while still coming down to Mantle to destroy the order. The ones who were going to get involved again!

Sienna wasn't as smart or observant as Obito was but she could put together the fact that, eventually, whoever was doing this was going to get involved in their lives again.

That stupid fucking robot and its murderous ways aside, they'd contact one of the gangs, most likely, and bring in another weird 'Hunter' from afar to keep things clean, yeah?

Her eyes narrowed as they made it into the dining room.

The former Elites sat at the table, a family consisting of parents, a son who wasn't above the age of 10, and a daughter one year older than 10.

The four sat at a decently large circular table in the middle of a large room, two entrances to the kitchen on one side while two close-together closets rested opposite the kitchen.

The table held ten chairs, the family in four of them while the guests sat across from them.

"Wine?" Derry asked with a closed-eyed bow.

"Yes," the head Avion said. "Germa, do you have any as old as Atlas itself?"

"Yes, quite a few," the Barron head said as he clapped his hands. "Isabella, Derry, handle it quickly, yes?"

"Yes, sir," Derry and her mother said in unison before they headed out.

Leaving Obito and Sienna to 'fend for themselves', so to speak.

"Hmm, I'm curious, Mr. Barron," the heiress began as she folded her hands and legs, eyes shooting to Obito's silent and still form. "You didn't happen to hire so young, did you?"

"Apologies, we were understaffed and this young man is dating one of the servants. He offered his help," the head of the family said as the servants, his family, and the two guests balked. "Yes, it's quite peculiar but Isabella speaks well of his ability to learn fast and memorize."

"Hmm, young man, speak candidly with me, did you even know of the Barron name?" Arron asked.

"With all due respect, I don't live in the same sector as the Barron name," Obito explained simply with no other movement besides his eye closing. "All things considered, I assumed they had a good reputation and decided to help out since it was the weekend."

"Curious," the heiress said with a smile. "Jennifer Avion, young man," the newly-introduced Jennifer said with a smile that was disarming… but eyes that shot him the look of a lech. 'Oh? Someone's guarded,' and seemingly has seen through her smile.

Fascinating.

"Pleasure, Obito," Obito answered with a bow, knowing that Isabella would out him in an instant if she could. 'So, far, things are going well,' he considered as he held the gaze of the heiress who giggled a bit, much to his concern.

Sienna seemed to have regained her composure, thankfully, and simply waited by the wall with a few of the maids who made small talk that she sighed at.

Not good, he should probably-

"Obito… ah, Mistralian," Arron said as Obito nodded. "That's curious, I didn't know there were still Mistral people here."

"Hmm? I don't follow," new information?

Yes, please.

"Yes, back in the days before Atlas was a flying city," he said. "Back then, all sorts of people came to Solitas for an opportunity. Miners were of all sorts of cultures if you will. Following that, even as Mantle and Atlas were at odds, more foreigners kept coming and making homes here," the head of Avion leaned back in his seat with a hum. "Perhaps one of them was your parent? Relatives"

"My parentage is unknown to myself, apologies for bringing down the room," Obito said as the man looked surprised. "I found myself in a foster family in my younger years and life went on and I simply didn't care much for it. If they didn't come back then, there's nothing to really worry about."

"Mature for your age," Jennifer smiled. "Ah, yes, you are young. And dating the maid with the antlers, she seems older than you."

"I'm only fourteen," Obito said and they looked surprised. "As for dating, it's recent. Things just seemed to occur and here we are now," vague and still more aligned to the truth.

"Oh, a young man with charm," she giggled a bit. "Goodness, youth these days seem so beyond me and I used to be such an age."

"You don't look a day over twenty."

"Flattery is an interesting currency, O-Bi-To."

Well, on the upside, he was keeping things cordial.

On the opposite end, being so polite was making her interest in him grow. Talk about the good with the bad.

Mother and daughter returned with the selected wine and dinner were quickly served afterward.

Obito and Derry found themselves at Sienna's sides, pushing out the maids who seemed more occupied with tending to the families.

Thank God. "How are you holding up?" Obito asked softly as Sienna sighed.

"I don't like being here," Sienna said with a small groan. "Honestly, I'm cooling off. If I'm not talkin' to 'em, I can stay chill."

"It's fine, usually, events like these only take dinner and a bit of chess," Derry said with closed eyes and a small smile. "We'll be fine. Especially since, well, the other servants would rather serve them than you both."

Which was pretty true. The group of butlers and maids seemed dead-set on tending to these two's, and the main family's, every need and want.

Hell, Obito felt they would have freaking breathed for them if they could, it was so odd.

Still, time passed uneventfully, the three going forward, even if only a few times, to make themselves known but inadequate in the grand scheme of things.

Sienna retained her composure all-throughout, looking more curious than angry.

'It's so weird,' she'd expected quiet dinners and little talk but these people chatted almost as much as her own family did when eating. 'Weird.'

She and Derry were currently washing dishes, in the kitchen and away from the dining room.

"Everything going well?" Derry asked and Sienna nodded.

"Yeah… honestly, I feel fine," the tiger Faunus said. "I'm just sizing them up. They all look like normal people, it's weird."

The two nodded. "Still, anything interesting?" She asked the two only for Sienna to look at Obito as well.

"Nothing you both didn't hear," he said. "... I'd need private time with her, I think. She's not gonna just spill everything and the truth is that I can't force her to. She's got too many resources in her favor."

"Of course this wouldn't be so easy," Sienna grumbled.

Things progressed once more as dinner was finished and they moved to the recreation room of the estate. Standing by the wall near the entryway into the area, the quartet watched on along with the other staff.

Then something curious got said. "Are you sure, Germa? We can easily just go back up," Arron said as the head of the Barron family smiled.

"No, please, we have more than enough space to enjoy your company, I insist," the head of Barron said.

"Well… I'm fine with it," the Avion man said before looking at his daughter. "What say you, Jennifer?"

"We'd be honored," the heiress said with a smile before looking behind them. "And are they going to be here for the night as well?" She asked with a grin that was completely aimed at the eyebrow-twitching Obito. 'Oh, feisty,' she could work with that.

"Well, I was sure he was simply helping out for dinner," the head of the Barron household said.

Obito responded with a bow. "It's still the weekend, I don't mind," he said.

"Hmm, there should be enough space in the servant's quarters, you don't mind?"

"Not in the least, it's still bigger than my own home."

"Then it's solved," Arron chuckled. "Now, I'm sure you have our little games from before."

Germa smirked.

The three teens sweatdropped as the two brought out a long pair of mirrored boards that connected in the middle of the room.

And so, the weirdest, richest, game of D&D took place.

Sienna's eyebrow twitched in disbelief the whole time as they brought in more wine, water, and small snacks.

'The hell is going on?'

~NRK~

Night fell and Obito was sitting on his bed in his guest room.

Wearing some borrowed clothes from the clothing they'd given to Derry, having washed them earlier.

In a pair of black sweatpants and a purple shirt, he cupped his chin before the door to his room opened for him to see his two Faunus associates.

Sienna in an embarrassing white teddie she seemed to hate every second of moving in with Derry wearing a similar article of clothing but in black. The two pieces did have more modest adjustments but they were, sadly, still teddies. You don't just walk around in those.

Thankfully, they got away with wearing coats over their shoulders and socks on their feet.

They entered quickly and closed the door behind them, Sienna's face burning bright red as she walked over and flopped down onto the face of his bed, screaming into the fabric as she held her head.

"FUCK THIS PLACE! I HATE THESE CLOTHES! FUCK THESE PEOPLE!" Her muffled screams reached the two who rubbed the back of their heads.

"I-I can tell you've been… tested," Derry said with a look of apology, bowing to Sienna who barely lifted her head to see it. "I'm sorry. I mean it," she said as the tigress groaned into the linen once more.

"Fucking hell," she went limp. "I'm starting to think this isn't worth it," Sienna huffed as Obito rubbed the back of his head.

"... I'm sorry, I know this wasn't ideal," he said with a sigh. "But we're past the extremely hard parts, now all that's left is the hard part."

"What?" Sienna looked at him like he was an idiot. "What in the world are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the fact that now we can go and check their rooms and Scrolls," Obito said as the two looked at him in shock. "The fact remains, this is our one chance. I certainly don't want to come back here like this. We all don't want that."

Sienna hissed. "Damn right, I don't. So, we'll sneak into their rooms?"

"I will," Obito said as her eyebrow twitched. "Nope."

"You don't have my hearing and can't see in the dark without making it super obvious," Sienna countered immediately as he stopped and his eyebrow began to twitch. "Gotcha, bitch. We're going in on this one."

"Dammit, Sienna."

"Still, why did you say this was the 'hard' part?" Derry asked with a smile. "Are you expecting something?"

"Yes, especially if these two are the ones behind everything," Obito said. "Right now, if they truly are the ones who own that robot, what's stopping them from having more small machinery on them? What if they bug their rooms? Or what if the Barrons had all rooms full of cameras? We were lucky none of the servant rooms have them installed but we don't know about the main rooms."

"Y-Yeah, I understand that," Derry said with a frown. "And you're going to go?"

"I said all of that to prove a point about how much to consider for this mission. I'm definitely still going. What about you, Sienna?"

"No change, bud," Sienna said flatly as he sighed before shrugging.

"Alright, we'll need to rest until we're sure everyone's asleep. So, a bit after midnight, maybe 2 in the morning," Obito said with a nod.

"... R-Right, wake up at the right time," Sienna said as she remembered the bed she'd been in. "No offense but the beds here are ridiculously good considering everything."

"Sienna's right," Derry said. "I-I have a Scroll timer, though," she added and the two gaped at her. "I-I can't take it out of the house but we can use it."

"But then how do we all wake up?"

"What do you mean?" Obito asked. "We'll just… crap," he grimaced.

"Exactly," Sienna said. "What'll happen if we wake someone up? Besides, you know how far Derry's room is from ours."

Obito kissed his teeth. "So, what's the plan?"

Ten minutes later, he was aware of the 'solution'.

Godsdammit.

Obito kept his arms crossed as he sat up against the headrest of his bed, dressed as he had been earlier, while Sienna and Derry laid down on both sides of him.

"T-This works, right?" Derry said in embarrassment. 'Gods, this is so WEIRD!' She'd never slept in the same room as a boy before, especially not a human.

Sienna simply huffed. "You'll need sleep, too, ya know?" She told Obito who huffed.

"I can sleep like this, I promise," he said to her as rolled his shoulders. "Besides… I need to be able to lunge for the door in case someone comes in."

"Is that a good idea?" Derry asked.

"... Probably not but we don't know what anyone here is like, I and Sienna don't, anyway. And you don't know what the Avion family is like, none of us do, so this is the safest thing."

"..." Sienna clenched her hands on her pillow. "Do you think we'll actually find something?"

Obito's eyebrows furrowed. "I'll make sure we will. I have a skill that, while weak, could really solve some things… if that Avion woman doesn't have Aura but I haven't felt anything yet."

"I-Is this that skill from when we were on the street?" Derry asked while Sienna made a curious sound.

"Oh, that's why you two flipped?" The tigress asked.

"I can connect our minds due to my Sharingan," Obito said as Sienna's tail thumped against his shin. "Its powers are pretty versatile and it'll help in the future, too."

"I don't know what that word means," Derry said.

"It's Mistralian."

"What, you look up the name in the library?" Sienna asked and he snorted.

"Learning old Mistralian helped flesh out some part of my bloodline and, yes, it helped."

"Huh. I guess you always wondered?"

"Hmm, only a bit but at least we now understand a bit more about that gym," he said as the two nodded. "Still, this means that there might have also been Vacuan people here. So, his family, likely in the past, contracted one at some point."

"We'll need to check."

"Yep."

---

Four hours later, Obito's eye opened in the dark to the sound of Derry's Scroll, the feeling of arms around his stomach causing him to sweat nervously.

'It's fine, they're already waking up,' he told himself as the two young women began to awaken, his eye closing as he let things progress without issue.

"H-Huh?" Sienna groaned from his right, the tiger Faunus looking at her situation with a huff, warm cheeks hidden in the darkness. 'Dammit,' she sighed as she got up before looking at Obito's calm, close-eyed, face. 'Must still be asleep.'

She shook his shoulder and he blinked before looking in her direction.

"Sienna?"

"Yeah," she let him know as Derry yawned before rubbing her eyes, looking at her position.

She blushed but Sienna's eyebrow twitched as the deer Faunus flexed her hands on Obito's stomach.

"Derry?" He asked her immediately as he felt her fingers. 'Don't you dare!' Obito ordered mentally in futility.

Though the older teen seemed to only be getting up, hopefully?

She sat up, Obito feeling the shift in the bed before he felt it from behind.

The deer turned off her Scroll's alarm before nodding to the two… before nodding to Sienna.

"Alright… you guys have your window."

The two got up and got ready… with some difficulty.

Obito's Sharingan gave him enough clarity to find his bag and drop his top but not enough to remind him that he was changing in a room with two females who weren't shinobi.

As he pulled on a black sweater, Derry watched him the whole way even as Sienna's eyes locked onto her.

'Derry, for the love of the Brothers,' the tigress grumbled mentally as she put on some thick black tights. 'Can you not drool over him while we're prepping for danger!?' She got on a black top.

Okay so, yeah, she wasn't going but she was supposed to be hyping them up! Not dressing them down!

Sienna grumbled as she put on some black gloves before tying a black bandana over her hair and ears with some discomfort.

Obito nodded as he put on his gloves before tying a black cloth over his mouth. "I'm ready."

"U-Uh?" Derry swallowed and popped out of her puberty-endorsed reverie to nod with red cheeks. "Y-Yeah, you are."

Sienna facepalmed.

~NRK~

Getting into the main building would have been easy.

With the connection between the servant quarters and the main manor, they could just walk into it… but with previous planning, they already scoped out the areas.

They knew there'd be cameras at the passage and, so, had to go for the external route.

Climbing out of Derry's window in the shadow of night before sneaking around the sides of the house before they began to climb the walls on the outside via a little bit of 'wooden ladders'.

Obito stood at the top of the scraggly tree roots he'd made, he placed his hand against the wall again and made more of it so he and Sienna could climb further.

At the bottom of the area stood Sienna, the young woman on guard as she hid in some bushes, minding the area.

She was there for another five minutes before a small, unnoticeable, wind blew her hair back and she nodded.

Sienna climbed the 'ladder' quickly and stealthily, form nimble and strong as she scaled the roots in a quarter of the time Obito had.

When she landed next to him on the roof in her sneakers, he nodded before 'pulling' on the wood towards his left arm.

It slid under his sleeve before slipping back into the black arm, a skill he'd practiced over the week.

He and Sienna locked eyes again before nodding and slowly creeping across the rooftop.

As they did, Obito mapped out, in his head, all the different pathways he knew of and how they could be framed to the house.

They stopped in the middle of the roof before sliding down to the back by an attic window.

He raised his two fingers and placed them by his ear as he then pointed at Sienna.

She nodded and closed her eyes, shifting her bandana enough for her tiger ears' earholes to peek out.

Seconds passed before Sienna nodded and Obito reciprocated.

Small, sharp, wind energy settled on his fingers before he placed them near where the lock on it should be.

Obito slid his finger across it before Sienna nodded at a small clinking sound.

They opened it slowly before slipping in, the Faunus closing it behind them.

The two sighed in relief before going towards a part of the large area and kneeled down.

Sienna placed her ears to the floor as Obito kept watch.

"Hmm, keep circling the city for now. I want you to keep an eye out for those two."

Her eyes widened as she pressed her ear to the floor more.

---

Jennifer sat by a DeskScroll with a hum, wearing a black robe, on the screen of her computer being a virtual representation of her robot's sight and entire map pieced together from its memory bank.

'I made a mistake,' she should have known better. 'Father did this all on his own back then?' That was pretty incredible.

To handle the underground wasn't easy, she'd learned. The fact that she had to try to pick and choose from these stupid gangs was annoying enough.

Keeping her interaction private wasn't as easy as she thought. Her father had explained to her his own escapades back then and she'd thought replicating that would be easy but it wasn't.

Finding gangs made choosing one difficult, then she had to figure out their leaders' personalities which might not mesh with her plans, and then she had to approach them somehow! And that still didn't account for how she could do all of that.

'Victor had been so stupid and horny, I getting him to act was too easy,' all she'd done was have her robot meet him and flash her picture for 'potential nights' if he did his job well. 'I'm glad that transaction is over with but this still leaves me down a pawn.'

She looked at the map and considered the location of the police station.

Jennifer drew lines from it to several locations. "They weren't that tall and I think one of them was a male. I've surveyed the footage enough to accept that as a possibility," she said to it. "Right now, we need to look around for one-armed individuals, check their heights, genders, and histories. We need to know about all of them."

-Yes, Master Avion- The robot said through her headphones.

She leaned back in her seat with a sigh. 'I'm way too wound-up,' oh if only she could have slipped that rather curious young man into her chambers. "Hm, hm, hm, he'd have been quite the delight," Jennifer grinned pervertedly.

---

Reiterating all that she heard to Obito, tail bristling from around her waist. "What do we do?"

"Well, we now know she is, in fact, the one sending that robot around and is looking for people like me," Obito sighed. "Dammit. It's really only a matter of time before she finds us, Sienna."

Sienna grimaced. "... So what do we do?"

"..." He frowned. "We can't kill her," Obito said even as Sienna looked conflicted. "Not only because we're better than that but also because we're thinking only she's involved. Right now, it's clear that she's involved but we don't know anyone else who might be. What if she has moles? We'd be running into a situation with no info. Right now… what we need to know or do is destroy the machinery she needs to make that robot, figure out all of her contacts and resources… or… defeat her robot without her knowing it's us."

Sienna's eyes widened at that. "C-Can we even do that?" She asked in horror. "That seems impossible."

"That's why we need to make sure to get in as much training as we can. Sadly, I don't know what she'll do if she finds out it's me," Obito said. "Ignoring that she'll realize I live with you all, that robot might cause more problems than we can possibly imagine."

"... W-What about the general?" Sienna asked. "We need to make him know. What if he has some way of dealing with this?"

"... You're not wrong," Obito said. "... For now, we'll simply keep listening in."

---

"Hmm…" The Avion woman simply kept observing in her seat when a call came in from her Scroll. "Hmm?" Checking the caller ID, her eyes widened. 'It's him!'

She picked up. "Good evening, Doctor."

-Yes, apologies, I was making some adjustments to a project, Jennifer- Came a voice from her Scroll, the small piece of tech left on 'Audio Only' mode. -Hmph, it was only a week-

"Not everyone lives on the same timeframe, sir," Jennifer groaned. "Besides… there's a reason I needed to contact you… some individuals I don't know saw the Flammen ," he made a noise of surprise. "I'm currently going over the possible suspects and should be able to find them within a month."

-A month? WHY?-

"Father and I need to make a trip to Vacuo," Jennifer said.

---

Their eyes widened.

"Vacuo?" Obito and Sienna choked.

"Are they going to contact Keler?" Sienna considered while Obito frowned. "What do you think will happen if they do?" She hissed.

"... They might try to bring another person into this," Obito realized with a grimace. "Another person like Keler."

---

"We need to speak with a contractor who didn't explain his mental process properly," she frowned.

-... Remember our agreement, keep me out of it. I've given enough, I have my own goals to focus on-

"Even if the general might get involved?" The man made a noise that sounded like a crushed pipe. "Right now, you know he's getting more involved, right?"

-Why would he know anything about the Flammen?!-

Jennifer frowned. "That's the point, besides those two individuals, one of whom clearly has Aura and possibly a Semblance, the police precinct had several members who saw it. I couldn't plan for that, the Flammen was interrupted before it could finish its objective and leave."

-Tsk… Haaa- The doctor sighed. -Fucking hell, the issue comes that you can see the robots Military Code on its side. I, sadly, can't get the material for its creation without more questions than a relatively new scientist should have. You have to get rid of that and then handle the ones who saw Flammen-

"My father and I are already working on the officers," she said. "Right now, they'll be destroyed in a moment where their schedules align at night. Sadly, that's not doable yet and I know doing that so quickly would just bring more attention."

-Tsk, it's something, at least. And you can't speed up the locating of these miscreants?- He asked.

"Do you think it's easy? There are more factors I have to consider. Ignoring how tedious looking through so many files is, we leave in two days. Our current predicament doesn't leave me access to my home computer, either. I'm tied on both hands."

-Then that's all that can be, I suppose-

"Still not helping?"

-No, I'm not. This isn't my mess, that Military Code you should know about already and have done something to hide it. I've washed my hands of this mess for good-

Jennifer kissed her teeth as the call ended.

---

"... Fuck," Sienna hissed. "A month?"

"... it'll have to be enough, sadly," Obito said with a grimace. "You're right, we need to go and speak with the general. We don't have time to do otherwise."

"Did he contact you yet?"

"No, so I guess we'll be paying him a visit."

~NRK~

And that's the end of that chapter.

So, for now, there's another time limit they need to deal with. That, their identities being leaked, this robot, ANOTHER potential Hunter-level individual, and a powerful family breathing down their necks.

Never mind that Obito has now been put into a situation that he didn't want, Sienna's anger is flaring, and the fact that they don't know how James will react. There's certainly a chance for good luck, obviously, we know James is a good person, but they don't know that.

We see a bit of the group's homes before hitting Derry's, the one with far more detailed issues within.

The group decides to become a gang itself, minus Derry, for now. The beginning of a grand organization made in a frosty shack, it's kind of funny.

Obito finally made another arm though, likely with hidden effects. The focus needed was clearly important.

We meet Fiona again and she comes with opportunity possibilities along with her grandmother.

And, finally, we got a look at our long-term antags for a good bit of this fic. Jennifer and Arron Avion, father and daughter. Said two are full of issues for our protags but we'll hit those in time.

Ciao. Don't know what chapter I'm writing next.

Words: 16.4k+

~NRK Out~