Okay, I swear I did not plan to be finished as fast as it was. Two days, almost. But by the time I decided I wrote enough for the day, I saw that I had written over 2k words of the chapter. I'm a fan of this chapter, mainly from how simply it came together for me, as well as the character interactions.

Hope you enjoy it!

Chapter 23: Ups and Downs

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.(Chapter Start)

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August 11th

Sunday

Clear

Azura had stepped just outside of JNPR's dorm when he saw Weiss open the door to RWBY's own dorm and grab onto him.

"Wha!" Azura yelped in surprise, getting dragged into their dorm as she closed the door again.

As he shook his head and rebalanced himself, he looked around at all of team RWBY, noticing Sun and talking to him.

"Did you get dragged into whatever is happening here too?"

Sun grinned. "Nope. I totally just eavesdropped and now I get to tag along."

Azura looked at the others, and upon not receiving any words disagreeing with Sun, sighed. "So why am I here? Or rather, why did Weiss see fit to kidnap me as I leave my dorm?"

"It's not a kidnapping!" Weiss complained.

"You literally stole him and forced him in here. That's close enough." Yang said, shrugging.

Sun looked between a frowning Weiss and a smirking Yang, deciding to break the silence. "Sooo...is someone gonna explain why we decided to kidnap Azura when he has no idea what's going on?"

Weiss scoffed, like her reasoning was good enough. "Well, we needed to even out the groups, obviously."

"Weiss, we have entirely separate groups. Me and Sun, you and Ruby, and Yang decided to go alone. I doubt Azura needs to be going with her, no?" Blake said, eyeing Ruby and Azura before looking at weiss again.

Azura remained silent, deciding to let things play out.

Yang coughed to once more cut the silence. "Yeah, my job doesn't exactly require anyone else. Besides, it'll be easier if I do it that way."

Ruby watched the conversation for a few moments longer before speaking. "So why don't we have Azura join me and Weiss? Since we are kind of deciding that…"

Before anyone else could respond, Azura spoke. "Can I at least know what's happening?"

Weiss sighed. "We're investigating the White Fang. Me and Ruby are going to the CCT to check the Schnee records about dust robberies. I'm in the family, so it should be easy to get. Blake and Sun are going to a White Fang rally meeting to see what's going on and any plans that they can find. Yang's...being shady and talking to an info broker."

Azura took in the info, then spoke again, more nonchalantly. "Well, I'll join Weiss and Ruby, then. Shouldn't be too big of a deal, yeah?"

When Weiss nodded, Yang went for the hanging fruit of a joke. "So, we gonna talk about the fact that our resident Ice Queen was the first one to drag a boy in here for a quick 'chat'? Looks like our little queen is growing a soft side!"

Ruby groaned and Blake rolled her eyes, Sun laughed, and Weiss was glaring at Yang. After a moment, she sighed, and moved to open the door. "Not even going to entertain your fantasy, Yang Xiao Long."

And with that, she left, with a Ruby running after her, crying out. "Wait, Weiss! Don't forget me!"

Azura sighed, speaking aloud. "What have I just decided to join?"

As Yang passed him, she patted him on the shoulder. "It's an adventure, Snow. Better get going before the icicle gets a little pointed."

Azura chuckled, moving past her. "Terrible pun, as always, Yang."

As he moved to catch up with Weiss and Ruby, he heard her laughing.

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.(Line Break)

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"Yes, Atlas made the first of the CCT towers to allow the kingdoms to communicate with one another. It was their gift to the world after the 'Great War'." Weiss explained to Ruby, like she was an instructor.

And, in classic Ruby fashion, she mocked it jokingly, making her voice lower and more smooth. "Oh, look at me! I'm Weiss, I know facts, I'm a rich Ice Queen!" She giggled, amused with her own antics.

Azura smirked as he watched Weiss respond. "Don't patronize me, you pest. You wanted to come here anyway! We could have done this in the library."

Ruby bent over, faking a melancholic look. "But this is so much better…" She quickly straightened out, excited again. "I need to take a picture!"

Though, as she went to get her scroll out, she ended up fumbling it out of her hands and forward several feet. They all moved forward to go and get it, but quickly saw a familiar face grab it and look at them.

"Penny?" Azura asked, wondering what she was doing here.

"Penny!" Ruby exclaimed, moving closer.

Though, the orange haired girl merely handed the scroll back to Ruby and then swiftly walked off. Ruby turned around, seeming confused.

"What was that about?" Weiss asked, crossing her arms.

"I don't know." Ruby said, confused. "But I'm going to find out!"

Azura and Weiss watched Ruby leave, running off and calling for Penny. Azura raised an eyebrow, then turned to Luna.

"Follow after her, make sure she's safe." He said, watching her go, then looked over at Weiss. "Well...shall we continue?"

Weiss sighed. "I suppose we shall. That was a peculiar encounter, was it not?"

Azura shrugged. "We tend to have a lot of those."

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Trust me, I know."

They turned to move through the courtyard to the entrance of the CCT, Beacon students walking around them as they did so.

Once entering the building, however, Azura looked around the building. It resembled most other Beacon buildings, with the regal look and simplistic color choices. Seeing Weiss looking at him, he moved to walk next to her.

"Sorry. I haven't been in this building yet." He explained.

"I figured. Well, let's get moving." Weiss responded as they walked.

Moving through another door on their left, Azura saw a dark silver looking room with green lights, very much not like Beacon's simplistic and regal look. A central terminal was seen, as well as several elevators placed around.

He followed Weiss to one of the elevator doors, then entered it with her. The doors closed, and a robotic voice came from a scanner on the wall, sounding female.

"Hello, welcome to the CCT. How may I help you?"

Weiss quickly responded. "I'd like to go to the communications room, please."

Azura smiled at how polite Weiss always was. It was fun to watch at times.

"Absolutely. Can you and and any companions in the elevator please place your scrolls on the terminal for identification?" The voice responded.

Weiss placed her own scroll on the terminal, and it flashed green. The same occurred when Azura placed his scroll on it as well.

"Perfect. Thank you, Miss Schnee. Mister Heart."

The light vanished and, as the elevator started to move up and Azura leaned against the wall, Weiss started to practice her smiles.

Once she tried and failed to smile genuinely three times, he spoke. "It's okay, Weiss. It'll be a short conversation, right?"

Weiss sighed, nodding. "Yeah. Doesn't mean I shouldn't practice."

Azura frowned, but decided to not push it as the doors pushed open and she walked through. He followed after her. It was a large room, Azura noted, with several glass windows and monitors and seats scattered everywhere. Some students were currently using them, but most were empty. To his left was a blue screen with four symbols on it, showing the status of the CCTs in the other kingdoms.

They approached a holographic woman, and it spoke once they approached. "Welcome to the Beacon Transcontinental Transmit Center." It smiled warmly. "How may I help you?"

Azura felt a little weirded out by the hologram, but made no comment and let Weiss speak.

"I need to make a call to the Schnee Company headquarters in Atlas."

The hologram closed its eyes and smiled again. "Absolutely. If you head over to terminal three, I can patch you through."

Weiss nodded her head. "Thank you."

As they walked away, Azura whispered to Weiss. "Am I weird to find that lady kinda scary?"

Weiss gave him a glance from the side, then shook her head, amused with his question. Azura stuck his tongue out at her, dropping it.

Weiss sat down at the terminal, while Azura stood by. As the screen remained blank, she sighed heavily and made a rather down face. He placed a hand on her back, and smiled once she looked up at him. Her face dropped to a more neutral look, then looked at the screen again as it showed a worker for the SDC.

"Thank you for calling the Atlas-oh! Miss Schnee! Good afternoon. Would you like me to patch you through to your father? I think your sister Winter might be here as well."

Azura couldn't believe his eyes when he saw Weiss give a warm smile as she answered. "No, thank you."

It felt so fake and hollow to him.

"I was wondering if you could find some files for me. I've compiled a short list."

Once she connected her scroll to the machine, the worker seemed surprised.

"I see. If I may ask, what is this for?"

"School project." Was Weiss's smooth response.

It felt weird to see her act like that.

"With all due respect, ma'am, there is some sensitive info on this list."

Weiss smiled again. "Then I will be sure to treat them with care."

The skeptical look on the worker's face said otherwise. "Right. The data is being transferred to your scroll now."

"Wonderful! That will be all, then." Weiss said with a little too much enthusiasm.

"Are you sure you would not like to talk with your father, Miss Schnee?"

Weiss nodded quickly. "Yes, I am sure."

The lady raised an eyebrow. "Okay. Well, have a nice day, Miss Schnee."

The screen turned off and left them with a reflection of Weiss's smiling face, before it dropped to a more tired look.

Azura frowned as he looked at it. "Weiss? Everything okay?"

"Yeah...just fine." Weiss responded quietly.

Azura felt that he shouldn't ask about anything, so he tried to shift her mind away from whatever she was thinking of.

"Well, it seems like you might need a bit of cheering up."

Weiss looked up, sighing. "Azura, please don't."

He frowned in response, unsure of what to say.

Weiss got up, heading for the elevator in silence. Her stride was stiff and she seemed rather distracted. Azura sighed, following after her into the elevator. As it went down, Summer spoke.

"Certainly seems like family issues, if I have any say. I suggest that you just leave her be for now. We got the info we were looking for."

"True. But she seemed, I don't know, more upset than she's letting on. Do you think we should've tried to get the info in another way?" Azura asked.

Summer chuckled. "Azura, dear, I worry about you sometimes. She wouldn't have done this if she couldn't handle herself for it. Think of it like this, she knew what she would have to face making that call."

Azura remained silent, not liking the idea of one of his friends dealing with something like that just to get some info. He couldn't help but wonder if there was another way they could have used.

Shaking his head, he stepped out of the elevator with Weiss. Walking out of the CCT was a quiet affair, but he made sure to keep an eye on her, watching her calm face from the side. Though, he didn't have long before Weiss pulled out her scroll, hearing a ringing come from it. They stepped to the side, out of the way of other students, and Azura listened to Weiss talk.

"Ruby? Where are you?" Weiss asked, listening to the response. "What do you mean in Vale? And Penny?" Growing silent again, a look of confusion crossed her face. "What? No, you dolt, I have no idea what you are talking about." She sighs. "Alright, fine. I'll come meet you. Shall I bring Azura?"

Though, Azura felt his personal scroll go off a moment later, and he tuned out of their conversation as he looked at it. It was a message from an unknown number.

"Hey, you. Your friends from the docks are going to do something stupid. Come and help me, and I'll keep them alive."

He looked below and found a non-descriptive picture with a location. Some back road of Vale. Frowning, he looked up at Weiss and closed his scroll.

She had clearly already finished her call with Ruby, looking at him expectantly.

"When's the next airship going out?" He asked, trying to remain calm.

"We have five minutes." Weiss responds.

Azura nodded, moving forward at a jog. "Let's get going, can't miss it."

He just hoped she didn't notice the twitching of his fingers.

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.(Line Break)

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Giving a quick excuse to Weiss that he would meet them just a little later had been easy, easier than he thought.

As he ran through the streets, first with plenty of people, but that crowds started to thin out as he went further into the shadier side of Vale. Summer's petals flew everywhere as he went along, trying to get there as soon as he could. He kept looking around his surroundings, looking for the specific building that had been shown. He assumed it would be in a large and empty building, since he had been told that Blake and Sun would be going to some White Fang recruitment.

He stopped when he saw a warehouse with one White Fang member lying on the ground. He approached the Faunus, finding him to be unconscious. He sighed in relief, then looked around.

Finding a peculiar set of boxes that seemed to be set up specifically to get into a high up window, Azura looked up and found Neo looking at him. She nodded her head to signal that she wanted him to go to her, and vanished.

Azura looked between the boxes, then signaled for Summer to trigger her semblance. As he hopped from box to box, he made it to the window, grabbing onto it and somewhat stealthily climbing through it. He landed on what he saw was the catwalk above everything, crouching as he set his feet on the ground. Neo was beside him, and once she saw that she had his attention, she pointed through the crowd.

As he followed her finger, he saw what seemed to be a disguised Blake and Sun. Nodding, Azura whispered to Neo.

"Any way to not have me be recognized? I know I agreed to help you, but I can't just risk being found out."

Neo nodded, a playful smirk seen on her lips. It made him realize that she could easily see him, despite being human. Unnerving, really.

Seeing a dimly lit scroll turned to him, he saw her response. "Yes. I can wreath you with my semblance. It will keep you disguised to everyone as a black haired man with green eyes. Clothing is the same, but the colors are different. Even those petals will not be seen. It'll be enough."

Azura nodded, not wanting to question the sudden act of trust about telling him about her semblance.

Turning to look down at the warehouse ground, he could see recruits moving forward to clearly do something, while Blake and Sun stood by. He frowned, unable to do much but watch for what they would do.

Neo tugged on his sleeve, and he moved along with her on the catwalk. Surprise filled him at the sight of a massive mechanical...well, mech. It was something he didn't even know was a thing. But it was easy to connect what the robberies were for.

"That's got to need a lot of dust to power that thing." Azura muttered.

He continued moving with Neo, and he could see that they were making way to the entrance. Though he stopped moving once all of the lights below suddenly shut off after he heard a gunshot, the last thing he saw being Blake firing a bullet at what he assumed to now be a power circuit.

Using his better night vision, he grabbed Neo as chaos erupted among the crowd, speaking to her.

"I can see better in the dark, Faunus perk!" He said, trying to explain to her when he saw her surprised look. He looked down, not seeing Blake and Sun anymore.

Though, he didn't need too long to search before a window on the second floor shattered, two figured flying through it.

Though, a larger hole was made in the warehouse as he saw the mech slam through it, causing him to speak louder than intended.

"Shit!"

He looked at Neo, speaking fast, "Come on, we gotta go after them! Me for Blake and Sun, you for Torchwick!"

He ran off, hearing her follow after him. Jumping through a higher up window, he landed on the roof that jutted out with a roll, seeing Neo do the same. From there, they caught sight of Blake and Sun running along the roofs.

Giving chase, they hopped from roof to roof, making their way towards them. The mech could be heard making thundering noises as it ran after Blake and Sun, and he could see it racing through the streets and causing damage to the buildings around them.

They were able to keep up with it easily enough, though he could see that they were starting to be further away from both the mech with Torchwick and Blake and Sun. As the buildings and roads became more defined, he could hear the sounds of hundreds of cars coming up.

They landed on one more building before stopping, the multiple hanging overpasses that intercrossed visible. He took in the distant mech with cars being flung to the side, clenching his teeth. The reckless killing made him sick, but he shook his head.

Turning to Neo, he spoke quickly. "We'll have to catch up to them. I can do that, but you need to hang onto me."

She nodded, allowing Azura to scoop her up in his arms.

Speaking aloud, he crouched down slightly. "Trigger it."

Within an instant, they were off, Neo's hair flying wildly as his transparent cloak flapped in the wind. Racing through the cars and jumping through others, the distant mech was coming closer, but still not as fast as he would hope.

He strained the semblance, and the humming from the runes raised into a crescendo as he did so.

Several more moments of hopping along cars, he saw a glimpse of Blake and Sun jumping across from one overpass to a lower one. The mech jumped after them, and he could already hear the giant thud that resonated through the ground.

"Brace!" He called out as he leapt off of the overpass to the lower one, barely managing to dodge a flung car as he did so.

He grunted as he landed, but pushed himself to keep going with the speed. Despite Neo's size and clearly light body, it was enough to make the speed of Summer's semblance slow down.

He was able to stay behind the mech, but was barely making any new distance. As he hopped from car to car, he could see Sun land on the mech, whacking at it and clearly trying to damage it. After a few moments, the mech spun its topside as it kept moving, and he could see Sun get flung from it.

Azura almost stopped to go get him, but he quickly saw him bouncing on what seemed to be his clones. Shaking his head, he kept going as car after car was flung around. For a few moments more, it seemed that the Mech was going to just keep after Blake, but once he saw ice cover several meters of the road, he realized that Blake had sent a distress signal to her team.

No one but Weiss would freeze over an entire section of an overpass to stop a mech.

Only for the mech to somersault over the ice.

"Fucking why?!" Azura exclaimed. As they closed in on the ice, with no other object to get over it, Azura prepared to go sliding across it.

"Might want to get a better grip, Neo!" He called out.

Using her small size, she managed to wrap her arms around his neck, her face in the crook of his neck as her hair blew in the wind. Her legs wrapped around his waist and Azura hit the ice.

With the speed he had already been using, he slid with a massive amount of momentum. As he neared the edge, he called out again.

"Now would be a good time to pull some new trick out, Summer!"

"Trying!" Summer yelled out. "Jump up!"

Feeling a surge in his legs, he jumped, and it was like some massive burst of speed flew him in the air. There was also the sharp crack of the glyphs starting to break from the sudden action.

Azura managed to land on his feet again, running much slower than before, but still going. He looked ahead, seeing Blake wrap her bindings on the mech's arm, using her momentum to twist it, since Torchwick had to keep the mech moving with it, unless he lost an arm on the mech.

They vanished as the mech and Blake went off of the overpass, and soon, another crash was heard.

As they came to the same place it fell, Azura slowed down and stopped. His breathing was ragged, but he still crouched down to let Neo get off of him. After a few moments, he looked over and saw all of team RWBY together, confusing Torchwick with some ice dust mist covering the ground.

Watching it unfold, he moved to Neo. "You need to be in a position to get him out. You clearly have something in mind, right?"

Neo nodded, but did not elaborate on it.

Azura frowned as he looked down at the fight, Ruby had just slashed at it, and it was easy to hear the metal rip apart and whine. He took his beacon scroll out, seeing that he was at 73% aura, having used Summer's semblance for an extended time.

"Neo, you have to make it seem like we fought. Quick, while I keep my aura down!" He said to her, letting his aura down, the cloak vanishing.

She moved over to him and, without thought, punched him to the side of his nose.

He put a hand to his mouth and nose as he winced at the pain. Pulling his hand away, he saw blood directly on it.

"You have a mean right hook, lady." He said sharply.

She smirked, slicing his cheek as well.

"Ow!" Azura exclaimed. "You and your-"

He froze midway as he felt her tongue move along his cheek, directly on the cut. She moved back, then quickly vanished with a shatter of her illusion.

"That cannot be healthy for me…" Azura muttered to himself.

Though, he could see Yang flaring up and clearly angry. He jumped off just as she charged forward at the mech, smashing her fist into the arm of the mech with a brutal crack.

Triggering Summer's semblance and taking his weapons out, he landed with a grunt, feeling a chunk of his aura quite literally drop suddenly.

"Even slowing down with forcing your speed to drag me backwards...that still sucked…"

He moved to catch up with the others, seeing Torchwick on the ground with a destroyed mech behind him. Luna moved over to him while he did so, her eyes wide as she saw the blood on his face.

"Ladies. Ice Queen." The man said.

"Hey!" Weiss said, offended.

"Hey, it's the kiddo too! Though...looks like you took another beating!"

Ruby and Blake looked back to find Azura, who was grinning as he caught up.

"Guess we take this guy down now." He said, raising his weapons.

Yang growled, shooting out a flaming shot from her gauntlets towards torchwick. But just as it was about to land, the lady of the hour, Neo, showed up and blocked it with her parasol.

"Sorry gang, but this isn't a mystery for you to solve just yet. Leave that to the group with the talking dog, you hear?" He said, amused. "Now, I must be going. Thank you for your time."

Neo winked at Azura, before bowing and staying in that position. Yang leapt to them, smashing her fist into Neo, the image of her and Torchwick shattering into glass as she did so.

Yang shook her hands out at her side, sighing. Everyone came up behind her as Weiss spoke.

"Well, looks like our plan...shattered into pieces."

Ruby giggled for a moment and Azura smirked, though it pained him.

"No. Just no." Blake said.

"Talk about terrible timing, Ice Queen." Yang commented.

Weiss waved her arms dramatically. "What? But you get to do it!"

"Yeah, because there's a time and a place to make jokes."

"And this isn't it?!" Weiss exclaimed.

Yang smirked. "No."

Azura rubbed his nose again, the blood seeming to dry as he did so. "You tried, Weiss. You get bonus points on your next quiz for that."

Weiss looked over at him, glaring. "I don't want to hear it from 'I'll catch up with you guys later', Azura."

Azura laughed. "I had reason!"

Weiss waved him off. "Whatever you say."

"You guys got to fight a mech! A mech!" Azura said, opening his arms as he waved to the destroyed mess.

Weiss raised an eyebrow. "And what about you? You're bleeding...somehow. Did you get caught off guard not once, but twice?"

Azura blinked, deciding to take the words for what they were, nodding with a smile. "Yep!"

Weiss scoffed. "Seriously?"

Ruby started to approach him, clearly looking to see if she could help, and Azura made to step back and get away before he was grabbed and had Blake directly in front of him.

Her amber eyes had a knowing look in them, though she made a face as she wiped at the slice on his cheek. He tilted his head, whispering.

"Later."

She nodded, wiping at it again to get the blood off of it. She grabbed his head, as if inspecting it for anything else, then spoke.

"He's fine, Ruby. Just a little beat up. You know how these things go."

As sirens blared and a certain blonde professor approached with them, Ruby and Weiss walked forward to meet them, with Yang just behind. As they did so, Blake spoke quietly, with a hint of disgust.

"Saliva? Really?"

Azura shrugged as she let go of his face. "Sorry. Bring it up with the ice cream flavor if it's an issue to you. Because I'm a tad bit too scared to stop her, not that she's slow about it. By the time it's happened, all I can do is question my life choices."

Blake rolled her eyes. "Seriously, a joke? You and Weiss?" She shook her head. "Whatever. You're safe, then?"

"Yeah." He responded.

"Good. Now, come on...we have some serious things to report." Blake said.

Azura looked up at the overpasses again. "Yeah. Yeah, we do."

As the walked slowly to Glynda and Blake's team, she sighed and spoke again.

"It's terrible. I just hope there was more injured than dead."

Azura patted her on the back and shook his head. "I hope so too. We all do. You think we'll be labeled poorly for this? Not that a rating or whatever is what I care about."

"I don't know. I doubt it would be labeled as our fault, seeing as we did technically give chase, in a way."

Azura frowned. "I suppose so. You think Sun is doing good?"

Blake smirked, letting the dark topic drop. "Probably. I'm sure he's eating some noodles or something, knowing him."

Azura rolled his eyes at the image. "Yeah, that does sound like him."

Even with the light words, Azura stepped closer to Blake and placed his hand on her back, tapping his fingers. She let him do so.

It somehow made him feel better to know that it was Blake who knew what he was up to. In this moment, she was the only one who knew what these situations were like, given her past.

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.(Line Break)

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"Nothing. We got nothing. No punishment at all for ruined property or harm to civilians." Blake said, leaning against the wall in the RWBY dorm with Azura.

With the other three gone, it gave them a moment to talk about their long discussion with Miss Goodwitch on what they should actually do when such an incident occurs within the city of Vale.

"I guess not. While it's the best case scenario...it feels off." Azura responded.

"It feels scripted, you mean. If I had to guess…"

Azura frowned, knowing what she was thinking. "You believe that Ozpin pulled some strings."

Blake nods. "I do. As headmaster to Beacon, he has final say in the matters of his students. It's likely that he excused us from any damage we caused."

The door opened, letting in the three other members of team RWBY, with Yang talking. "Who excused us from any damage we caused?"

Azura waited for the door to close again. "Ozpin, likely."

As everyone moved to sit on their beds, Azura leaned on the wall and spoke again. "As headmaster, he would have the power to do it, which is what Blake was saying."

Weiss lifted a hand to her chin. "Not wrong...he would be able to do with all the power he has as the headmaster of a huntsman academy."

Yang shrugged. "Well, that's no matter. What I want to know is who Azura was fighting against on the overpass."

Weiss nodded and Ruby looked over at him. Blake watched passively, and Yang looked at them before turning to Azura as well. "Well? Who was it?"

"Neo, Torchwick's partner in crime. Caught me by surprise while I was giving chase to the mech." Azura said.

Weiss raised an eyebrow. "So...she managed to cause those wounds while you have a Huntress inside your head that has clearly increased your evasive speed?"

"It does seem odd." Yang said.

Azura rolled his eyes. "I want you to have to deal with a girl who can summon illusions of all kinds at will. Let me tell you, it's really hard to work around, trained Huntress or not."

"Not to mention the fact that you told her to wound you." Summer commented.

"Some details aren't supposed to exist." Azura responded dryly.

"And she's clearly a skilled fighter, if she's managed to hurt Azura not once, but in both fights Azura has had with her." Blake said, supplying some good cover.

Ruby frowned. "Well, we'll just be more careful around Torchwick and this Neo next time, right?"

Seeing everyone nod, she spoke again. "Now, what have we learned from our investigation so far?"

Blake was first to answer. "Me and Sun learned what all of the dust was being used for. The White Fang have their hands on several Atlas Paladins, but we never found out just how many they really had."

Yang shook her head. "Nothing from me. My contact was utterly useless in this case."

Weiss spoke last. "Well, we know that they are not being selective in what dust shops they rob. But the reports are citing that most of the shops being hit were in the southeastern portion of Vale. It's safe to say that they might be operating somewhere from there."

"We didn't get much, but it's certainly a good start. They are large enough to be able to smuggle military grade tech, but mainly work within Vale. Seems like outside help." Blake said.

Ruby nodded. "Yeah. Well, it's late, so we should call it a night."

Azura took that as his cue to leave the dorm, giving his goodbyes to the team.

He sighed once the door closed, standing in the hall silently. Luna was looking at him, concern on her face.

"I have a feeling that we'll be messaged by her again soon." Summer said.

"But what for?" Azura responded, thinking.

"I don't know. But things are starting to escalate to a dangerous level, and she did say that she'd message you when she needed your help. She did it tonight, but everything managed to go in both yours and her favor this time." Summer explained.

Azura nodded, thinking about the incident they dealt with today. He sighed again. "Well, let's just hope my next meeting with Neo won't involve my friends. That was dangerous."

He made his way into the JNPR dorm, waving tiredly to his team, and quickly falling asleep on his bed once he laid in it.

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.(Chapter end)

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As said in the initial AN at the start of the chapter, I surprised myself with how fast this chapter came together. Not much to say about the chapter, so I won't try to go all over the place with explanations.

Have a nice day/evening!