"You got this" Yang muttered to herself, tossing her jacket onto the bed, Yang scooped up her prosthetic off the nightstand and walked over to her mirror. Looking herself over she slowly brought the robotic limb up to the metallic stud poking out of her stump. Part of the implant the hospital had installed back when she'd first lost her arm, her dad having likely signed for it while she was unconscious.

From what she understood it was meant to interface with the prosthetics and the chip in her neck acting as a bridge between the signals her brain sent to the limb making it move, while the one the hospitals had offered her were nowhere near as advanced as the newer model General Ironwood had given her, they would have helped restore some of the independence she'd initially lost following her injury.

She'd refused the prosthetics at first, unable or unwilling to accept the reality that faced her, now, on the other hand, she was just thankful to have it. Taking a breath Yang brought her prosthetic to the stud and pushed it in, the stud sunk into the prosthetics interface port the audible click and blue light that blinked on at her 'wrist' indicating it was active.

Nodding to herself Yang slowly raised both her arms up in front of her, the black and chrome casing of the prosthetic contrasting the naturally pale skin of her flesh and blood limb 'Alright then' If what the doctor said was true her prosthetic should be able to move in sync with her flesh and blood arm. Taking a breath Yang slowly began to clench her fists, a shuddering gasp left her as her prosthetic hand closed without issue, lowering her left arm yang slowly began clenching and unclenching her fist, tilting her arm to the side yang rolled her wrist a metallic whirr greeting her ears.

Looking back at her reflection, Yang smirked back at herself in the mirror before dropped into an all too familiar stance, clenching her right fist tightly a section on the upper form arm of her prosthetic shifted back unholstering the shotgun barrel hidden inside. Stepping back from the mirror into the centre of her room, Yang took a few experimental jabs at the air and following up with a quick reverse roundhouse.

Ceasing her assault Yang dropped her arms back to her sides, the shotgun barrel retreating back into the hidden compartment. Rolling her shoulders a small grimaced gracing her features at the tightness in her upper arms and thighs, she wasn't out of shape by any means, her time working with Madam Mallari combined with Koan dragging her out of her room to join his daily routine, she'd managed to stop herself from wasting away into some couch potato, though it was all too obvious her attacks had lost some of the refinement she'd built up over the years.

Something her dad would have likely had her working on today had she not convinced him to give her a few days to adjust to the prosthetic, before making a start on the rigorous training regimes he probably had in mind for her. In any case, she had plans today, involving a certain blond and the mysterious note she'd discovered a few days prior, a few knocks sounded off her bedroom door, speaking of which.

"Come in" Yang called back, a familiar blond shapeshifter stepping through and closing the door behind him.

His face lit up slightly at the sight of Yang wearing her prosthetic "You finally put it on." Koan gestured to her arm, Yang looking back down at the metallic limb as he continued "How does it feel?"

"It's good" Yang replied bringing her arm up she clenched her fist. "I gotta say, I thought it would be like this huge weight or something, but it just feels...Natural." In her opinion, the egg heads up in Atlas had definitely outdone themselves, I mean who wouldn't expect some drawbacks at first, like her arms movement being out of sync or something like that, however she was pleasantly surprised to find that wasn't the case. "But that's not why I wanted to talk to you." Yang added, making her way over to the nightstand Yang pulled open the draw, reaching inside she pulled out Lilly's message "Take a look at this, I found it in my room the night Professor Port and Oobleck came over."

The blond shapeshifter accepted the note, Yang watches his eyes roaming across the paper before looking back up at her "You sure this is legit?" They knew she was on the island, but the reason why was still up in the air right now, for all they knew, this could have been planted by someone else as a way to draw them and Lilly out in the open.

"Not sure" Yang sat back down on her bed, jabbing her thumb over her shoulder and towards her window. "Dad said she staying at the Coopers old place, it's not far from here and if this is legit, then there's something up."

"And what if this wasn't from Lilly." Koan held up the note for emphasis, it wasn't the first time their enemies had hidden behind what they all thought was a friendly face.

Yang shook her head slowly "I don't think so." Sketchy as it might have been, she couldn't exactly broach the topic with her dad around, talking about the multiverse, aliens and magic might be a bit too much for him to deal with. Hell, even if he did listen, the fact Lilly might be trying to bring the two of them in on some world-ending situation probably wouldn't go over all that well. "After everything we've seen, I'm pretty sure subtlety isn't exactly their style if they wanted to try and kill us, why wait until now?"

Yang glanced down at her arm, she'd been the most vulnerable out of her entire team up until now so if the Psycho Rangers wanted to finish her off, it probably wouldn't have taken much effort on their part. Then again maybe that's why they hadn't tried, the Fall of Beacon had come damn close to breaking her, the loss of her arm, Alex's death and Blake abandoning them had tossed her into a dark pit she'd just starting to pull herself out of.

And they'd probably enjoyed every second of it.

"Yeah." Koan slowly nodded along with Yangs -if rather grim- logic. "But your dads no gonna like us leaving out of the blue for no reason."

Yang smirked "Maybe" Pushing herself up off the bed Yang strolled forward and pushed her chest into Koan's, she pecked him on the lips. "If I hadn't convinced him, to give me a day to get a feel for my arm, and what better way then a girl spending the day with her boyfriend."

Koans shook his head in mirth, yeah that sounded like it would get her dad of their back for a few hours, enough to get in contact with Lilly and hear what she had to say. Although he'd admit now that the idea was out there he was a little disappointed they wouldn't be living that lie. Yang brushed her fingers across his cheek making him look at her.

"And then maybe on Saturday we can do it for real, there's this place in town I know, great food and even better drinks." While Patch couldn't hope to hold a candle to Vales nightlife, there were still a few good spots in town for a night out to de-stress, she and her friends from Signal had spent more than a few nights at one of the local diners and a few bars, though she'd made sure news of the latter never made it back to her dad. "That sound good to you?"

"Yeah" Koan leaned forward repaying her kiss with one of his own.

"Cool" Pulling away from the blond shapeshifter, Yang flicked her head towards the door. "Alright you go grab your stuff, I'll meet you downstairs in a bit alright."

"Yes, Ma'am" Koan smirked, stepping back away from her Koan turned and swiftly exited out into the hallway the door clicking shut behind him, Yang herself moved to her closet and started getting changed. After all, their lie wouldn't hold up all that well if her dad spotted her leaving for her so-called 'date' in a pair of sweatpants and a tank top.

/

'Breath'

'Hold'

'Release'

Sighing through her nose Weiss slowly opened her eyes, the now-former Schnee Heiress stood in the centre of her bedroom, or perhaps prison cell was a more appropriate way of describing it. She'd been right to be worried about her father during the gala, not a day later had he made an announcement to the media, apparently due to the mounting stress and trauma that had been inflicted upon her during the fall of Beacon she had decided to revoke her status as the Schnee heiress and passed it onto her younger brother Whitley.

This combined with a few falsified documents and the testimonies of some of the more well-known psychiatrists in Atlas diagnosing her with acute depression, had all but sealed her fate. Worst of all, Whitley had known about it from the beginning and had gone along with it without so much as batting an eye towards what her father had planned for her.

Now here she was, confined to her bedroom, the houses staff ordered to stop her should she attempt to leave the manor grounds and all but forgotten by the world until her father managed to force her to conform to his whims, or simply disowned her altogether.

Honestly, the latter had become more tempting by the day, at least then she'd be free of this rat nest she'd found herself in.

Pulling back on her rapier Weiss channelled her aura into her weapon the tip glowing a dull cyan. Just as she was about to make another attempt at her summoning glyph, a muffled buzz from over by her bed snapped Weiss back to reality, the white-haired girl glanced over to the source of the noise, a small smile gracing her features. Setting Myrtenaster down by its case at the foot of her bed the former heiress made her way to the vanity mirror at its side, casting a glance to the clock above her bedroom door as she passed, the messages always came around the same time every day.

Weiss pulled out the middle draw, lifting up the false bottom she retrieved the scroll Cameron had given her back at the Gala. While her personal Scroll might have been confiscated she'd at least managed to hide this one ahead of time, opening her lifeline to the outside world Weiss tapped away at the screen pulling up the message menu.

C: 'You doing alright in there'

Cassandra Chan, the Pink Space Ranger, one of her few contacts outside of the manner.

C: 'I hear life on the inside can be rough.'

Weiss rolled her eyes in response to the message, had her younger self been in her situation she'd have likely snapped at the person on the other side, now, on the other hand, she could feel her lips twitch up into a small smile, grateful for the older woman attempt at levity.

W:'I'm surviving.' She typed back

C:'Good to hear'

C:'Has your father mentioned anything about what he plans to do with you?'

W:'I imagine he plans to marry me off, though that may be challenging given he's labelled me damaged goods' That was likely the only reason why she was still here in the manor and hadn't been shipped off to some remote hideaway, he still believed she could be of some use to him or rather a bargaining chip that could help boost the company's wealth and image.

C:'He even makes a passing remark about that, you say the word and I'll have you out of there.'

Weiss swallowed thickly at the implications of Cassandras words, one message from her and she'd be free of this prison again and on her way back to her team, but in doing so draw unnecessary attention to her rescuers from both Atlas and the Psycho Rangers.

W:'If it comes to that I'll contact you, for now, I think it's for the best you maintain your covers.' Cassandra's reply was quick to follow.

C: 'For us, or you?'

W: 'Both, if what you've told me about the project is true you and Cameron might be this kingdoms best chance at mounting a solid defence against those monsters. In the meantime I can plan my own escape, I still have Klien here with me, if it comes to it I know I can count on him to help me' While she was grateful for all they had done for her so far Weiss couldn't afford to distract the two of them from their mission in Atlas. Venjix a rouge computer AI, the same one that took control of the Atlesian knights and Paladins back at Beacon, the same one responsible for the disappearance of general Ironwoods flagship and the AI infamous for wiping out ninety-six per cent of the human population on its original world.

She was almost grateful the CCT network had been cut off during the attack, had the connection remained intact, well... she didn't want to think about what might have happened had the rouge program been allowed to spread and infect the rest of the Generals armada, though knowing the company the Psycho Rangers kept and what she'd learned of Venjix from Cameron and Cassandra, he would have likely wiped Vale of the face of Remnant.

C: 'I understand, but if push comes to shove and you need an out, don't hesitate to contact us.'

Weiss smiled down at the message, glancing up at the clock Weiss grimaced and began typing out her last message for the day.

W: 'I have to go before one of the staff checks up on me, thank you, Cassandra.'

C: 'You're welcome, be safe Weiss'

Deactivating the scroll Weiss quickly returned the device to its hiding spot, after taking a moment to ensure the false bottom fitted properly into the frame Weiss closed the draw and moved back to Myrtenaster, picking up her rapier she stepped back into the centre of the room taking up her position once more she resumed her training.

'Breath'

'Hold'

'Release'

If she could recreate even a fraction of her summon from Beacon, her eventual departure from Schnee manor might just go a lot more smoothly. A familiar cyan glow re-enveloped the tip of her rapier, stepping back she twirled a stream of burning blue and white embers trailing from the tip of her rapier. At the close of her twirl, Weiss dropped down to one knee stabbing the tip of her rapier into the floor.

A summoning glyph spun to life in front of her, the sword of the Arma Gigas slowly, but surely emerged from the centre of the glyph, the power of her summon forming a small gust of wind that whipped through her hair. Pouring all her concentration into the Glyph Weiss failed to notice her bedroom door slowly opening and a certain annoyance making himself at home.

"Hello, sister." Whitley greeted, leaning back against the open door, the youngest Schnee sibling stared down at his elder sister, a satisfied look in his eyes.

Weiss's eyes snapped open and the Gigas sword shattered, her glyph fading into white particles. Cursing under her breath Weiss shot a small glare towards her younger brother as she got back to her feet.

"Ugh" Weiss grumbled to herself, of all the people who could have walked in right now it just had to be him. "Leave." She said

"How hurtful. And here I am about to offer you a favour." Her younger brother drolled on glancing down at his nails in disinterest. " Father's taking me to town to introduce me to some of his business partners. I'd thought I'd see if you wanted me to pick up anything since you're... well, stuck here." he mocked

Rising back up on her feet, Weiss could only look on in disbelief. "Seriously?" The sheer obnoxiousness that flowed off her younger brother at that moment left the white-haired girl at a loss for words, he was acting like this was all some silly little game. "Why are you always like this...Are you jealous, is that it?" Weiss groaned pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Whatever do you mean?" The younger Schnee inquired.

"Is it why you hate me?" Weiss replied. "Are you jealous of my abilities, of Winters?"

"Hmm... no, not really." Whitley said, stepping away from the door the younger Schnee crossing his arms or his chest. "Honestly, I find it Barbaric." Gesturing towards Weiss's rapier Whitley continued. "It's beneath people like me. Like Father. What can a single Huntsman possibly do that an army cannot?" Weiss narrowed her eyes at her little brother. "That's why we have one, even if it is run by a fool."

Feeling her patients wearing thin Weiss pointed the tip of her rapier towards the doorway "I said, leave." Weiss said

"Fine, fine." Whitley raised his hands in mock surrender and turned to leave "I've got better things to do anyway. Enjoy your... training, however pointless it is." Pausing out in the hall Whitley turned back to his elder sister." What is your plan anyway? What exactly do you think to accomplish while locked away in your own bedroom."

Weiss took no small pleasure in slamming the door closed in his smug face with one of her gravity glyphs. As for her plan, well as they say one step at a time, moving back to her previous spot Weiss took up her previous stance, taking a claiming breath Weiss repeated her twirl and stabbed Myrtenaser into the floor once again.

Another summoning glyph swirling to life, the glow surrounding this one intensified as the inner sections spun faster. A low rumble spread through her bedroom shaking her bookcases and spilling their contest across the floor, her summon rising up from the glyph and beginning to take form. A pulse of light shot out from her Glyph shattering her bedroom window, Weiss brought her free arm up to shield herself, her aura flaring around her in response to the danger.

Suddenly her bedroom door burst open. "Miss Schnee are you alright?!" Klein called out to her, his eyes landed on the young miss his eyes widened, taking a step back Klein stared up at the towering being in front of her in amazement. Weiss smiled up at the portly butler before turning her gaze to the ethereal Arma Gigas that now stood before her.

'Step one complete' Weiss noted, the armor Gigas knelt before her bowing its head in reverence to its summoner. Weiss nodded down at her summon before turning her gaze back towards the portly butler 'Now for step two.'

"Klein, I need a favour."

/

Yang let out a breath through her nose the gentle summer breeze wafting through her hair, even if the circumstances weren't that great she was glad to get out of the house for a bit, the look Koan had given her when she'd come downstairs in her new combat gear was just an added bonus...Among other things, glancing down at her prosthetic Yang tugged her jackets sleeve down a little further hidden the limbs chrome finish from sight.

Her new combat gear consisted of a pair of form-fitting black pants with knee-high brown boots, a tan jacket with orange lining and gold edging, beneath which she wore an orange crop top. The coat has darker brown short sleeves, a thick collar that completely encircles her neck, and two long gold-trimmed rectangular tails.

She looked good, the fact Koan hadn't been able to stop staring at her for the first couple of minutes only helped to treasure that. Although she'd admit Koans new look certainly cut a dangerous figure, the snarling face carved into the Mempo he was wearing definitely upped the intimidation factor.

Along with his mask, his straight jacket now had black sleeves with red lining running up from his wrists to his elbow, a series of thin armor plates were sewn into the biceps accompanied by a set of dark orange leather bracers around his forearms, with orange and red fingerless gloves. A leather strap now travelled from his left shoulder across his chest and down to his right hip securing a katana and empty rifle sling across his back.

Where he got the Lien to pay for half of it she didn't know, then again he probably didn't just go out on those patrols for fun and given the status of their relationship she doubted her dad had been letting him stay for free.

"How long now." the blond shapeshifter asked pulling Yang from her thoughts.

"Not far." Yang replied.

The cooper's old residence was still a little way up the road, although given their doubts about the legitimacy of their message they might want to consider a better route than just walking up the driveway. Pausing Yang glanced around spotting another mailbox just up ahead. "We can cut through here and circle around behind the house" Yang gestured off the side of the road and into the forest to their left, while it wasn't the most direct route it would at least let them get close to the property without being seen.

If they were walking into a trap the best they could do was stay off the main road, brushing past a few brambles Yang and Kaon strolled into a clearing a small bungalow sitting at the very centre. "Uhh, you sure about this?" Koan asked eyeing the house wearily, he really didn't want to have to explain to the cops or passing huntsmen why they were all decked out in combat gear and ready for a fight if one of the neighbours caught them trespassing on their property.

"Relax." Yang replied, hopping the fence surrounding the exterior of the property "The houses around here have been empty for a few months now." The few 'neighbours' they had left were mostly huntsmen families, or people who couldn't afford to leave, the rest had packed up and left for the safety of one of the neighbouring kingdoms.

She hadn't known the family here all that well, although given their greatly differing lifestyles that wasn't all too surprising, the lives of huntsmen and those of civilians tended to mix like water and oil. "Still, you'd think they'd have a little more faith in the kingdom." Koan vaulted over the fence following behind Yang as she crossed the back yard, the two sparing a small glance towards the bungalow as they passed. "I know what happened at Beacon was bad, but it's safer inside the walls than out in the wildlands."

"That's why they left. Because we all thought we were safe." Yang reached across her chest gripping her arm just above the prosthetic. Never once in her life had she ever thought her home would be brought as low as it was. What made it worse was that it wasn't because of the Creatures Grimm, but because of the actions of their fellow man "The Psycho rangers and Cinder showed us we were wrong." Tilting her head back Yang peered into the tree line ahead.

"The house should be just past these trees." She said

"So what's the plan when we get to the house?" Koan inquired, they were already going in blind, so the least they could do now was have a solid plan of attack in case things went sideways."We're already going in blind right now, the last thing we need is to be caught with our pants down." God, if magister Arnux or Coronach ever found out they'd even consider doing this as half-assed as they were, being forced to scrub the barracks latrine with his toothbrush for three months would probably seem like a vacation.

Yang hummed to herself, he had a point."Ok, once we reach the house you hang back by the treeline and keep an eye out, I'll head out towards the house and see if I can draw them out in the open." Yang raised her hand stopping Koan when it looked like he'd protest. "If this is a trap they might play their hand a little early if they think I came alone. If that happens-" Yang extended Ember Celica "-I'll put some distance between us and you can flatten the place with Tyrannopede, alright." Yang said

Koan rolled his jaw, in all honestly if anyone was going to be playing bait he'd rather it be him, at least that way if someone took a pot shot from the house, he could take it and get back up again fine and dandy, Yang on the other hand... if it was one of the weapons the Psycho rangers had brought from earth.

"Hey" Yang spoke up pulling the blond shapeshifter back to reality "You trust me don't you?"

Yang, definitely, the one who invited them... not so much. "...Fine." Koan sighed, before sending a sharp look the blond huntress way. "But the second things start looking sketchy you back off, got it."

Yang nodded "Fair enou-"

"Yang?" A small child-like voice called out to the blond brawler.

Tripping over her own two feet Yang stumbled to the side, catching herself on a tree branch the blond brawler glanced up at the surrounding trees recollection flashing in her eyes... that sounded like."Yang!" The canopy overhead burst open raining a shower of leaves and twigs down on the two of them as a small blue missile swooped down from its hiding place above and into the blond brawler's chest.

"Yang!" Koan called out in alarm, arm reaching back for his sword, only to still as he realised just what the blue blur was.

The sudden impact combined with her previous confusion knocked the wind out of her, falling back onto her butt, her arms instinctively closed around the object now...nuzzling her. Looking down at the object in her arms her lavender eyes widened as the owner of a pair of bright yellow optics stared back up at her.

"C-circuit." She stuttered staring down at the Robotic blue owl in awe, after a few seconds, a beaming smile spread across her lips and she embraced the Ai in full. "Circuit! I can't believe it." She muttered, looking back up at Koan who seemed just as surprised as she was "We thought that message was some trick, we were..." Yang trailed off relief washing over her, her grip slackened around the robotic owl, she smiled down at him.

Kneeling by yangs side Koan reached out and rubbed Circuits head affectionately. "It's good to see you, little guy." The shapeshifter greeted.

Circuit leaned forward rubbing his head against Yang's chest "I missed you guys." Circuit muttered into the blond brawler's coat "After the fall of Beacon everything was in chaos, Adam had everyone pull out and Alex..."

"We know." Yang whispered stroking the little guys back comfortingly.

After a moment of Silence Circuit began to shift in yangs arm, taking that as her cue Yang climbed back to her feet and uncurled her arms allowing the robotic bleu owl to take flight once more. "Come on" He hovered away from the two deeper into the forest. "Lilly's going to want to see you guys." Yang and Koan nodded to one another and began to follow, the walk lasted around five minutes before the house began to come into view through the trees.

Yang recognised the old two-story cabin, she'd run a few odd jobs for the Coopers back during her time at Signal, the couple had been getting on in years and had come to rely on- if not her dad- then her whenever they needed a helping hand, they even offered to pay her for her troubles whenever she stopped by.

Now that she was seeing it again after all this time, it was a little weird not seeing that rusty old pickup in the driveway, the smoke coming out of the chimney, the welcoming smile across the ageing woman's face, they'd come to wish her well before they too left the island, she hoped Vacuo was treating the two of them well.

"Look who I found!" Circuit called out pulling Yang out of her thoughts.

The blond duos eyes landed on the back porch where a familiar blond woman was sat, Circuit flew overhead settling down on the railing beside Lilly. "Well, you two took your sweet time." The yellow ranger called out to the two, taking a sip of her water bottle she gestured towards Yang prosthetic "I take it you got my message" Setting the bottle down by her feet she stood up and approached the two, raising an eyebrow at their appearance. "And... came heavily armed."

"Yeah." Yang rubbed the back of her neck nervously

"We weren't exactly sure if the note was genuine or not." Koan pulled Lilly's note from one of the pouches on his belt, holding it before the Yellow ranger for emphasis. " So we came prepared in case it... you know."

The yellow ranger nodded slowly, she'd be the first to admit she could have been a little more direct in reaching out to them, but then she'd have to deal with the living embodiment of red tape that was Tai-Yang Xiao Long, and well... "Well, let's just say it was easier than me trying to broach the topic with your father watching like a hawk." Lilly replied, Tai-Yang might have been a Huntsmen but he was also a father, and she doubted he'd have reacted all too well to her plan of action.

"Yeah, we kinda figured that part out ourselves." Yang replied "So.. what did you want to talk about."

Lilly glanced past the teens towards the forest around them, before flicking her head back towards the house "It'll be easier if I show you." The yellow ranger turned on her heels and began walking back towards the house, Koan and Yang shared a small glance before following her across the yard and onto the back porch.

Pushing open the back door Lilly led the Blond duo through the kitchen and into the back hall "When Beacon fell our best chance at ending this fight as quickly as possible went with it." Lilly explained to the two. "The Psycho rangers have never been ones to make alliances in the past, so Fall's involvement caught us off guard, and the destruction of the CCT during their attack only made it worse." Approaching the cellar door she fished out a set of keys from her back pocket, unlocking the door she pushed through flipping the lightswitch at the top of the stairs as she went, Yang and Koan followed her down, Yang's eyes widened slightly as she stepped into what she could only describe as a scene from some old spy movie.

"Whoa" Koan breathed

A console similar to the one she'd seen inside the mobile command centre sat against the back wall, the screen split into eight different video feeds showing the outside of the house and the surrounding forest, a punching bag and set of weights occupied the left side of the cellar while the table pressed to the right wall was littered with dozens of news articles and documents bearing Beacons Emblem above that was a bulletin board with six photographs pinned to the wall and connected by red string.

The faces of Mecury Black, Emerald Sustria, Cinder Fall, Neopolitan and Roman Torchwick stared back at her, the five of them arranged in a hierarchy with Neo and Roman at the bottom, the master thief had his face crossed out while a question mark hovered over Neo's, Emerald and Mercury sat above them, their faces connected to Cinders while above that bitches own face was the blank outline of a person, another question mark drawn over their face. "When that happened we knew we needed to disappear for a while."

"And you've been here this whole time?" Yang asked gesturing to Lily's set up. "Why didn't you come to us sooner."

Lilly sat down in the chair in front of her console. "You needed time to heal up and we had an end of the world scenario that took priority." Yang and Koan shared a worried glance, they knew the fall of Beacon was bad but the reports they'd heard over the news said it was under control, just what did she mean by end of the world?

Sensing their mounting confusion Lilly continued. "Do you remember how the robots went haywire back at Beacon?"

"Kinda hard to miss" Koan replied

Lilly rolled her eyes "There was a virus uploaded into the general's flagship that took control of the knights and Paladins" Lilly leaned back into her chair "Project Venjix, a self-aware computer virus that has one hell of a bone to pick with mankind. Cam was able to isolate it to the Flagships Local Area network, but it still managed to escape with the flagship and an army of robots to boot."

The Plumber in the room's eyes widened in alarm. "So why aren't you there dealing with that instead of being here?" Koan demanded. If this virus was as dangerous as Lilly made it out to be, then why was she wasting her time here when they could be focussing their resources with that instead?

"We are, I just volunteered to stick around to keep an eye on things here in Vale." Lilly assured the blond shapeshifter. Vale was still pulling itself together months after the fall of Beacon, rebuilding had been slow and the efforts to take back the school had been met with one hiccup after another. She helped out where she could, but tended to stick to the shadows most of the time. Although she was sure Glynda was at least aware of her presence in the city but had not yet reached out to her, likely for the same reason she hadn't done the same, after all, the last thing Vale needed right now was her drawing the Psycho rangers attention back to them.

"A battleship isn't exactly the most discreet mode of transportation, so we'll know if he makes a move, and the security Algorithm Cam put in place is keeping it busy while we work." Lilly jabbed her thumb back over her shoulder towards the console "He and Cassie are in Atlas right now working on reinforcing the kingdoms security network." Her gaze shifted to Yang."They got in contact with Weiss as well."

Yang's eye widened" What! Is she ok, can we talk to her?" She demanded

"She's in good health and from what Cassie tells me is working on a way to get back to you and the others." Lillys scowled. "Her father is making things difficult though, he hasn't hurt her." Lilly was quick to assure the blond brawler, catching a small flash of red in her eyes. "But he's definitely not helping her either."

Yang crossed her hands over her chest a thoughtful look passing over her "What about Ruby?" She asked Koan nodding in agreement

"I wouldn't be too worried, your uncle asked Adam if he'd help keep an eye on them along the way."Lilly turned back to her console minimising the camera feeds and pulling up one of the most recent messages Adam had sent her. "From he told me in their last transmission, she and the rest of JNPR just stopped off in a settlement called Higabana, they shouldn't be that far out from Mistral now."

"What about Loyax and Whiger?" Yang asked, curious about the fate of her fellow gladiators from back in the mine.

"And Blake?" Koan added, Yangs face twisting into a small scowl as she looked off to the side, even after all this time talking about her partner was still a sensitive subject. "Is she doing alright?"

Lilly's face fell slightly. "Loyax is scouting Vacuo, from his last message he made contact with some of the members of Team CFVY during a small skirmish out in the desert, he even got an offer to teach at Shade." Lilly explained, however, the message had included both a warning about the rise in Crown, a so-called revolutionary group that had been gaining influence in the desert kingdom, as well as a few of Loyaxs personal thoughts on some of the staff's treatment of their students especially those who'd transferred over from Beacon.

From what she'd gathered, if Professor Rumpole's questionable or rather borderline abusive teaching methods continued as they were, it wasn't going to be long before the big guy ended up stepping in. "That's great." Yang's lips twitched up into a small smile, happy to hear her fellow gladiator was doing well.

"As for Whiger he's been tracking Blake for a few months now, from what we can tell by her movements, she seems to be making her way to Menagerie." Lilly typed away at the console bringing up a small map of Mistral, the names of a few of the villages along the way highlighted in green. "She hasn't made it easy for him though, my guess is that she doesn't want to be found."

"...Good riddance then" Yang muttered

"Yang" Lilly and Koan snapped back at her. "Nows not the time." The yellow ranger added

Yang's arm began to tremble her fingers twitching closed into a fist, the trembling slowly coming to an end. "Whatever." She scoffed "You said you had something to tell us, so what is it."

Ignoring Yangs newfound attitude Lilly gave in to the blonds request. "Around two weeks ago one of the sensors I set up around the island was tripped." Typing away at the console, Lilly brought up a video feed from the event. Clicking play the trio were shown a video of one of the denser parts of the forest around patch when suddenly several red cracks spread across the surrounding trees with at least a dozen Moogers passing through into the clearing, the video picked up their leader, a red Mooger barking a series of orders to its brethren, the camera switched following the Moogers throughout their journey until a familiar structure came into view beyond the treeline.

Yang's eyes widened, it was her house. "You put cameras outside my house!?" She yelled in indignation snapping her firey red gaze down to the Yellow Ranger.

"Like I said" Lilly continued, ignoring her fellow blonds fiery gaze, her eyes focused on the footage playing out on the monitor "I stayed behind to keep an eye on things, that included you." Lilly gestured back to the video a familiar mane of Blond hair coming into view. Yang watched herself making her way up the gravel path toward her home, recollection dawning this video was from her last visit to Madam Malaria, the day her dad brought home her prosthetic.

The red Mooger made a series of hand gestures its brethren taking up a firing line across the treeline, drawing their bows the Moogers knocked back an arrow, and took aim at the blond brawler.

Yang began to pale, realising just how close she'd come to death. Koan reached out gripping Yangs arm, even though she stood by his side, the sight of her seemingly on the cusp of death shook him to his core.

Just as the red Mooger raised its arm to give the order to fire, a familiar mace flew into view smashing into the line of Moogers knocking them further back into the forest, the Jungle Fury yellow ranger leapt into view, slamming the mace into the ground the video showed the weapon unleashing a small energy wave into the air that quickly dispatches the downed Moogers before they had a chance to recover, the video stopped there.

"That's why you were there that day." Yang realises, looking down at the older woman who'd saved her life twice now.

"I ran into your father not long after that, he was... oddly polite towards a random woman he saw walking out of the woods with an ornate mace in hand." Lilly mused to herself, usually, whenever you saw a stranger walking up to you with their weapon out you'd be on guard. Taiyang, on the other hand, had been all smiles and good mornings, he was either way too confident or ...maybe it was just one of the social norms around here.

"I..."

"They're going to try again Yang." Lilly cut in, glancing back over her shoulder at the blond brawler "And if they're coming after you I can only assume they'll go after your teammates as well with maybe ten times the forces, I've already sent warnings to the other, but for all I know, it might already be too late." Lilly rose from her seat "Which is why in the next few months I'll be going to join Adam and your uncle in Mistral and I want the two of you to come with me." The two blond teens were taken aback by the yellow rangers revelations, Yang herself took a few stepped back from the console sitting back against the table.

"This is... a little sudden." Yang began, she'd been out of the game for over half a year now, it'd take at least a month for her to get back into her old training routine, and twice as long of that training for her to get back to where she used to be. Hell, she'd just worked up the nerve to put the damn prosthetic on after leaving it sitting on a shelf for weeks.

"It's sudden but necessary." Lilly replied. "If they're coming after you and your team, it'll be better if we can form a unified front. I caught the goon squad back there by surprise, but now that the first group haven't reported back more of them will come." Lilly looked to the blond brawler, bowing her head to her. "I'm sorry for dropping this all on you at once, but the danger this presents not only to you but the islands residence make this a priority."

"I get it, I just..." Yang looked down at her prosthetic, flexing and unflexing her hand. It wasn't a question of whether or not she was willing, but whether her body was ready." I need time, time to get back into training, time to iron out all the kinks before I can even think about leaving for Mistral."

Lilly nodded along with Yang's words before rising out of her chair. " If that the case, I've got a few months until your sister and her team are expected to reach Mistral."Lilly crossed her arms over her chest. "And a lot of free time on my hands until then, time the two of us could put to better use."

Yang blinked in surprise "You want to train me?" She asked

"If you'll have me." The yellow ranger replied. "I know you've probably got a whole routine planned out with your father already, but a few more lessons on the side would only help you improve." The fact they were also on a bit of a time crunch was an unspoken factor. "Just know that won't be anything like Beacon I'm not going to coddle you, so be ready." When it came to training a Pai Zhua master had to be firm, she'd be pushing Yang harder than Beacon, she'd make sure the huntress in training gave her everything she had... and then more.

"No, no, it's fine, more than fine actually." Yang stood firm meeting the Yellow Rangers eye "I won't let you down"

Lilly nodded slowly "Good because we're going to have a lot of ground to cover."

/

Leaping from one palm tree to another Blake closed in on the spy, said Faunus woman glanced back over her shoulder and cursed under her breath. Pushing off from her perch she leapt down to one of the lower trees twisting mid-air to face her pursuer once she landed. Blake stopped on top of her own tree across from the spy, her amber eyes glaring into the slits of their stylized white mask.

The trunk flexed and palm leaves rain down above the Whiter fang agent "Gotcha!" Sun yelled as he leapt down at them from above, the spies eyes narrowed beneath their mask kicking off the trunk she springboarded off a nearby tree launching herself into the sky. Narrowly dodging the monkey Faunus before he crashed down on the palm tree below them.

Blake leapt over Sun continuing the chase back into the city. "Hey, wait up!" Sun called out to her

"Don't let her out of your sight!" Blake shot back

The spy leapt free of the treeline and onto one of the nearby houses Blake hot on her tail. The spy jumped from one home to the next hoping to put some distance between her and her pursuer, with little effect as Blake matched the Faunus women's movements to the letter, sliding under some pipes the spy turned to face her, the Faunus girls skin shifting from ebony back to a pale white with dark brown spots covering her arms and legs.

Drawing the weapon off her lower back the spy took aim at Blake, the cat fauns skidded to a halt across from her. Pointing the barrel of her weapon at Blak the spy hesitated for a moment before gritting her teeth, the 'barrel' of her weapon extended forward splitting into a series segmented link forming a whip, lightning crackling across their surface.

The spy lashed out with their weapon striking the pipes in front of Blake, the cat Faunus narrowly avoiding the jet of steam that arced towards her face. Rolling under the pipes Blake slowly rose back to her feet keeping an eye on the spies weapon, that attack might not have been meant to maim her too seriously, but that could change at any given moment.

"Why are you watching me?" she demanded

The Faunus woman smirked back at her and slowly lowered her weapon, just as sun leapt up onto the roof behind her. "Give up" He called out to the spy "I'm not above hitting a girl you kno- whoa." Sun fell back as the spies telescopic whip sliced through the air past his face. Taking advantage of the distraction Blake rushed the spy kicking the scroll out of her hand, the white fang agent leaned back dodging Blakes's fist and responds with a kick of her own, knocking Blake back.

Spinning on her heels the spy made a mad dash for their scroll, only for Sun to tackle them aside."Grab the Scroll!" Sun called out to Blake as he wrestled against the Faunus woman beneath him "Seems someone thinks it's important!"

"Get Off!" The spy growled headbutting Sun the left side of her mask shattered revealing the grey eye hidden underneath, twisting her hips the spy swung sun off to the side, leaping to her feet she raced after Blake closing in on the Cat Faunus, only to be tackled by one of Sun's clones, the remaining three swiftly followed helping pin the spy to the ground.

The scroll teetered perilously on the edge of the roof before slowly beginning to slide off, Blake's eyes widened, the cat Faunus leapt forward sliding across the roof on her stomach her arm shot over the edge and snatched the scroll out of the air. Sun grit his teeth his hold on his semblance failing, with a sigh the gold aura around him shimmered out of existence his clones soon following as the young man fell to his knees.

Taking the chance the spy leapt to her feet and darted towards Blake

"Blake watch out!" Blake rolled onto her back finding the tip of the spies weapon hovering over her chest.

"Give. It. Back" The spy growled her White fang mask slowly crumbling away, revealing an all too familiar face.

"Ilia" Blake narrowed her eyes up at her old friend.

"Wait? You know her?" Sun stumbled to his feet, looking between the two Faunus women in alarm. "But she doesn't even look like a-"

Ilias grit her teeth, her skin tone suddenly shifting to a bright red along with her spots and hair changing to yellow as she lashed out as Sun with her whip stabbing him in the shoulder, lighting arching through his body as he cried out in agony and collapsed down onto the roof unconscious.

"Sun!" Blake cried out in alarm, acting quickly she swept Ilia's legs out from under her and rolled to the side, and jumped to her feet Blake rushing between Sun and Ilia, just as her old friend managed to get her legs back under her.

"Give it to me, now!" She demanded pointing the tip of her weapon at Blake.

"No" Blake shot back.

Ilia clenched her teeth her skin changing colour once more, her hair and spots now a bright blue while her skin had shifted to dark green. Letting out a small sigh through her nose she slowly lowered her weapon, starting back at the cat Faunus forlornly. "You shouldn't have come back." She said before pulling her arm back the telescopic blade of her weapon shifting into its whip variant once more, Blake raised her arms up in front of her and prepared her aura to fend off any attacks.

Ilia brought her weapon down lashing at the ground beneath her spraying a cloud of dust into the air in front of her, Blake stepped back closer to Sun her amber eyes darting around in search of her old friend, only to find her missing as the dust cleared. Dropping her arms Blake whirled around and rushed to Sun's side.

"Sun! Sun!" She called out to him receiving a weak groan in response, blood spreading across his white shirt.

"No, no, no, no, no" Blake gasped clasping her mand over the wound "Somebody help, please!" She called out to the streets below as she pressed down on the wound trying her best to staunch the bleeding. "Please..." She begged tears pearling up at the edge of her eyes, and for a moment, blond hair shifted to brown and ocean blue eyes turned dark green. Alex lay in Sun's place his lifeless eyes staring up at her.

"Not again, Please...Hold on Sun... Hold on."

/

The mistral sky above them had grown darker, the storm coming in on the horizon only adding to the growing list of problems that seemed to bear down on them from all sides. "It's gonna be ok Uncle Qrow, just hold on." Ruby said, staring down at her uncle's pale form laid out on the stretcher carried between herself and Ren, With Nora bringing up the rear And Adam taking the lead beside Pyrrha, the feeling of dread inside of her growing by the second.

"Tai..." Qrow muttered deliriously courtesy of the poison flowing through his veins. "She's... she's not com-" His words trailed off into another coughing fit.

"He's getting worse." Nora winced

"How much farther?" Ruby asked

"It's not far now, it's just a few more hours." The red-clad reapers gaze turned towards The Black Ranger. "He's gonna be alright." Adam glance back toward Pyrrha who stared down at the map intently, muttering to herself as she tracked their progress, it wouldn't be long now Qrow just had to bear through it a little longer.

Glancing up over the edge of the map Pyrrha spotted the fork in the road ahead "There" She said pointing to the signpost ahead, she and Adam jogged ahead towards the signpost. A smile bloomed across Pyrrhas face as she spotted two of the signs the first labelled KunchiNashi the one below that Mistral, they were on the right track.

She glanced at the other one and her smile fell. "Kuroyuri?" Adam asked, looking at the red-haired champion in confusion. Opening the map once more Pyrrha glanced down at the chart and followed the trail, but there was no village by that name labelled anywhere around her. "It's not on the map" Pyrrha replied a hint of worry in her tone as she went over their route a second time to be certain, did they take a wrong turn, had... had she made a mistake?

"Is something wrong?" Ruby called out as she ran up alongside them, her eyes flicked to the crossed-out signpost. "Hey what's that? I thought we were heading to Omi?" She asked

"I don't know?" Pyrrha quirked her brow in frustration "This sign doesn't make any sense, there shouldn't be another settlement that way for at least another few miles."

"Maybe it's a new settlement" Ruby surmised, villages tended to pop up outside the kingdom's walls all the time, it wasn't too far out of the realm of possibility that their map might be just a little outdated. "We might be able to get help there."

"I don't think so." Adam muttered. The sign looked as old as the rest and the groove carved across the name didn't inspire much confidence

"He's right." Ren spoke up as he approached the group from behind. "We won't find any help there, that village was destroyed years ago."

"But if it's closer than Omi, it's the best bet we've got." Ruby rebutted

"It's not going to work" Ren shook his head in response

"Ren, Ruby has a point." Pyrrha cut in, even if the settlement was lost there might still be supplies that we could use, clean bandages, painkillers, maybe even something we can use as an antidote." She gestured back towards Qrow, gods knew anything could be of help right about now.

"Were not going to find anything." Closing his eyes Ren lowered his head, he and Nora had watched that... 'thing' pick the village clean of almost anything that caught its twisted curiosity, and what was left had likely burned with the rest of his home, there wasn't going to be anything there to find. "We just need to press on, Omi is only a few hours away, we can make it."

"Ren" Adam cut in, it was all too clear there was something personal about that place nagging at the usually stoic Green Ninja, but right now whether it was Omi or Kuroyuri, they needed to move on and soon for Qrows sake."Qrow getting worse by the second. Look I get you not exactly fond of the place, but if there's a chance something might have survived whatever happened there, that can help him." Adam pressed, gesturing back towards Qrow "We can't waste it."

"Well, what if we split up?" The four turned to Nora, the red-haired bomber stepped up beside her partner, resting a hand on his shoulder "You guys can cut through the village, while Ren and I head through the mountains."

"No" Adam shook his head in response "Did the two of you forget what happened a few days ago, you're being hunted. We split up it just makes picking us off one by one easier, its safer if we-"

"We don't have time for safe!" Nora cut Adams sentence short, before returning towards Pyrrha "Pyrrha said there was another village through the pass along the way, we might be able to get there and bring back help." Nora pointed out, Qrow might not be able to make the climb but they could. "If not, then it'll at least give us a better lay of the land, the maps been wrong once so maybe there's somewhere else close by that isn't on it."

Pyrrha glanced back down at the map once more. "It's possible." She muttered. Ren turned to look at Nora nodding to her appreciatively, a sudden cough from Qrow drew the five of them back to the matter at hand as well as adding an uncomfortable weight to their decision, if they were wrong, the choice they made right now could very well cost Qrow his life.

"It's better than nothing." Adam relented shouldering his Power Axe the Black ranger went to check on Qrow. Adam sighed to himself, they needed to keep moving, the more distance they put between them and the last known location the Psycho rangers had on them, and if the kid thought they had a better chance of finding help for the red-eyed huntsmen sooner than their journey to Omi, then he wasn't going to stop them if only so they could get moving all the sooner.

Pyrrha and Ruby look at one another for a moment, before the Scythe wielder slowly nodded. "Alright" the red-clad reaper agreed

The Emerald Spartan stepped forward pulling the two into a hug. "Look out for each other on the way, that's all I ask." Pyrrha said

Nora returned the hug in full while Ren gentle patted his teammate across the back. "We always have." Nora replied smiling towards her partner over Pyrrhas shoulder, breaking away from one another the red Haired bomber gave Pyrrha a sharp salute before turning on her heels and racing off down the path towards the mountains, Ren offered a small nodded to the two one final time jogging off to join her.

Nodding to one another Pyrrha and Ruby made their way back towards Adam and Qrow. Stepping into place Ruby knelt down alongside Adam and hoisted her uncle's stretcher up behind her, Pyrrha drew milo from her back and took the lead on the path into Kuriyuri.

"They're going to be fine Pyrrha." Ruby said offering her friend a comforting smile.

Pyrrha sighed, reaching up to touch her pauldron she glanced back over her shoulder back down the path there teammates had gone. "I hope so."

AN: The tension is on for Adam and team RRVN as they race against the clock to find aid all the while Qrows condition continues to worsen, will they find aid in time, or will this dusty old Qrows luck finally run out.