Longer chapter, so it took longer to write. Who woulda thunk? Either way, hope you enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 53: Premonition

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.(Chapter Start)

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October 13th

Sunday

Clear

The wind blew through Azura's hair gently as he sat against the cliff overlooking the wet woods below and Vale across the way, scroll in one hand and his eyes focused on Luna as he rested an arm on his knee. She was sitting for once, her long white hair brushing his arm and tail flicking to and fro against his back, seeming to be watching the purple twilight hanging on the sky pensively. Night was falling swiftly, and he wanted to clear his head before the serious stuff came up later tonight. There was a feeling in his heart that things might start moving much more swiftly with Avis and her group on their side, if the action being taken tonight proved anything.

He had a feeling that he'd have to work harder to keep his nightly activities away from team JNPR and Pyra, as well. Convincing them to stand by would be very difficult if they did find out. This was something he had to keep between himself and Neo, and obviously team RWBY. They were, luckily, a lot easier to keep away with the tournament and their own safe investigations in the way.

Not that he didn't want the help. He certainly appreciated Summer's and Luna's help with everything he did. Azura didn't know what he'd do with himself if he didn't have either of them, especially Luna. Despite him and Summer having a much closer physical union for fighting, his mother was his stalwart defender and ally.

"You should let her fight more often." Summer's words echoed softly as he watched Luna. "She's likely frustrated with her inability to help. Especially after the breach…"

"I let her go of my own volition."

Despite the confidence he heard in his own mental voice, a seed of doubt was left there. Summer's words went deeper than he'd like to admit, and she knew that.

"It's hard for a parent to see it that way. A cowardly act when faced with a situation that puts your child in danger doesn't sit well with a parent."

Azura hadn't noticed Luna looking at him until now, her yellow eyes softly gazing at him with a concerned curiosity. With Summer's words fresh in his mind, he decided to put the advice into action.

He cleared his throat, smiling at her before speaking. "I know this'll come out of nowhere, mother...but, you know I don't hold any grudge against you, right?"

She blinked, taking a few moments to comprehend what he meant, before tilting her head and releasing a silent sigh. Her expression dipped into a more negative emotion, making Azura feel bad for even mentioning anything. But he had to say something to let her know it was okay with him. He could never fault an action taken out of fear, not even in his circumstance.

"I know you don't want to hear it, and I definitely don't want to say it. I don't like reminding you of…"

He trails off, finding it hard to say anything more. They shared a glance, the words passing between them wordlessly as she looked away. That he didn't like reminding her of her death. Of the thing that killed her. Of the action she and Summer saw as cowardly when the Nightmare showed up. He doesn't speak again until she looks at him.

"I don't blame you. I mean, I was the one who let you leave."

She tilts her head slowly at him, the look on her face showing that she didn't particularly see it that way. Despite the seriousness of the topic, Azura heard Summer laugh quietly and mutter something about stubbornness running in the family.

"Point is, it's not your fault. I am more than aware of what it must be like to face something that made you what you are." He said, keeping her attention this time. "You fight with me, even beyond death...that's more than enough for me. You don't have to face your fears."

Luna frowns then, shaking her head.

"No, you don't." Azura says, chuckling. "You've done more than enough for me, even if you would tell me that it's never enough. That's what a parent does. I'd know, given I live around my own and have another in my head."

Amusement enters her eyes as a smile creeps on her face. She pulls him into a hug, causing him to grunt from the sudden action. He relents, letting his mother wrap her arms and tail around him. From any other point of view, he might have looked weird, but he had long given up the normalcy of being a simple person. They continue watching the setting sun as the lights of the city ahead begin to start up, the beauty of it bringing a sense of peace.

"I can see why you liked the cliff when you were a student here." Azura said, speaking to Summer. "There's something special about it."

"It was a place for happy memories. For celebration with team Stark. But not anymore." She says, her sigh resting heavily on his mind. "Now, though, it's different. It's a place that brings me old sadness."

"Summer...I never thought about it like that for you."

"I'm not done talking." Summer says humorously. "But this location serves something more now, something beyond when I was alive and with my team and beyond wishing for a second death as a ghost. Here and now, it's a reminder of what there is to fight for."

"A better future." Azura said.

"No." Summer countered. "A better future for you. For Ruby. For Yang. For everyone still alive."

The words were spoken in confidence, spurring Azura into action as he leaned against Luna.

"How about a promise, mother?" He said, speaking gently.

He feels her freeze for a moment before moving again and placing a hand over his own.

"We'll defend each other. When the Nightmare comes...or if we come to it…" He looks out towards the last traces of the sun. "We won't fight to kill it. We'll fight to save each other. You from your endless nightmare, and me from a creature bent on killing me."

Azura feels her hand clasp his own and squeeze. When he looks over at her, he sees a protective determination in her eyes, bright and almost hiding the fear that lingered just beneath the surface. He understood the fear well, but would never admit to the fear that coursed through his veins when he could do nothing to fight the Nightmare directly.

Instead, he smiled bravely at his mother. Bravery inspired others, a positive confidence that stretched deep into the hearts of people worked very effectively in a world where negativity brought violence and pain. She smiled back, moving her hand to his face like a parent who hadn't seen their child in years. His heart swelled as he saw his brave face inspire the woman who inspired him.

His scroll vibrated in his pocket, breaking their little moment of peace as they separated enough for him to take it out of his pocket. It was a message from Neo, telling him to head into the city and make way for the 'old VPD building' and to be there in an hour. A side note at the bottom of the message told him to be stealthy on his way there.

"The...old Vale Police Department building?" He thought, asking Summer.

"Deep in the poor district. Used to be where the police operated before moving into a newer facility. I can guide you to it."

Azura sighs, getting up and looking down at Luna. He holds a hand out for her to take, which she does despite just floating back up into the air. They had somewhere to be, and he wasn't one to be late.

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.(Line Break)

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The rundown and splintered streets were dark and empty as Azura moved from roof to roof with Summer's semblance. They had opted to not use Bumblebee this time, seeing that Neo had told him to be stealthy on his way to the old police department building. Whatever he was needed for, it was urgent enough to ask for caution purely for going there. They were still a ways away from the location, moving at a pace that was rhythmic to him at this point.

It reminded him of Mountain Glenn, if he could be honest. The broken streets signified parts of a city that was uncared for, which simply did not make sense to Azura. Especially when it was supposed to be safer in the city or Beacon than anywhere else in the kingdom. Reality was sometimes not quite as grand as it seemed, he supposed.

"You sound like Qrow." Summer huffs. "I don't need you to become some jaded man too."

He laughs quietly as they jump to another roof. "The day I grow jaded about the world is when I lose to myself, I think. I have no plan to do so."

"Good." She said firmly. "Wait, I see the building. Three o'clock."

Azura looks over, finding a tall building made of blue and white painted material and was several floors tall. There were people on two roofs a street or two away from the building itself, recognizing both Avis and Neo as he shifted his pathing that way. He jumped one last time, slowing his descent and sliding a foot or two through the gravel before stopping. He surprised some of the people there, their posture defensive before pausing and relaxing. Azura's head count told him that there were just about twelve people there, maybe more hidden away.

A few nodded at him as he approached slowly, stooping down once he saw that everyone was either crouching and watching the building or remaining low to the ground. He stopped at the edge of the roof, a low wall the only thing in the way from falling off, right next to Avis. Neo was to her left, giving him a stiff nod before looking away and returning to looking through a small pair of binoculars.

"What's going on?" He asked. "Seemed sudden to bring me aboard, I didn't even know this was happening until an hour ago."

Avis looked at him, her eyes sharp and almost hawk-like. Had he not seen that last time he saw her? Her eyes were unique, he told himself.

"White Fang activity...active, too. They're there right now, moving through the place, and only came in some hours ago. We aren't too sure why, but Croc has a theory." She said, looking back to the building with a frown. "They might be trying to trace a path into the Vale police's database, might be attempting to find a weapon stash. For reference, they abandoned the place and left what people call a vault. There's likely a bunch of old fashioned non-Dust weapons that can be stolen."

"And they would just leave that all there? That doesn't make sense."

"I agree, but Croc wouldn't be my intel woman if not for her uncanny ability to just know things she probably shouldn't."

Azura falls quiet, knowing he couldn't exactly say that wasn't true. He didn't know what Avis and her group was quite able to do yet, so he could only run with it for now.

"So, what's the plan? We obviously have to stop them, no matter what they're doing here."

"Of course." Avis replied. "We can't move in just yet, Hood is getting in position to cause a distraction, then it's our turn."

"Okay, Hood does that...what do we do?" Azura asked, unwilling to be meek when in a serious situation.

Avis finally turns to him again, smirking. "I like your questioning mindset, keep that. Once Hood causes his distraction, there are four jobs being done. The group here will act as recon, warning us of anyone who is coming close. Especially police, we can't get a light shined on us, vigilantes or not. The group on the other roof," She explained, pointing a finger past him. "Are going to be on standby if a fight breaks out. Think of them as our emergency escape plan."

"And the other two jobs are...people going in?"

"Two groups that basically share the same job, yes. Neo and I are going to be entering the building from the ground floor, our semblances are much better for close quarters situations and stealth. You're with Croc, who is waiting on the roof closest to the target location on the left side. Can't miss her by going around. You'll have to get Croc up to the roof of the police department while the White Fang are busy trying to defend against no one, then enter from the rooftop and work your way down. She'll explain what she has to do better than I could."

Azura considered the plan, looking for the building that might be closest to the location, finding a three or four floor building that was near the police department. He figured that was the building Avis spoke of.

"Seems good to me. I'll go find her now, while Hood is setting up. Anything to keep an eye or ear out for how he'll cause a distraction?"

"You'll know it when you see it, Croc will too." Avis answered, jerking her head. "We'll meet in the middle after clearing the building out, remember that we're here with the intention of not being caught. If you find something of importance, it takes priority."

"And Azura," She continued, holding out a black bandana. "Use this with your hood, I don't need a kid to be identified by anyone in there."

He nods, moving past Avis towards his destination after taking the bandana and pocketing it. He pauses next to Neo, placing his hand on her shoulder to gain her attention. Once he had it, her brown and pink eyes looking into yellow and silver, he smiled at her.

"Stay safe in there, okay?"

Neo blinks a few times, her eyes showing the same odd softness as when they last saw each other, before vanishing with the curve of a smirk. Despite not getting any confirmation that she would play it safe, Azura found the smirk to be enough for him. Always a secret with that girl.

He drops his hand from her shoulder, trying to move between the roofs with both haste and secrecy. He kept eyeing the building that they were waiting to be able to enter, finding little movement occurring. The issue was that the White Fang could move in pure darkness, being that they were all Faunus, making it hard to find what was occurring from a distance. Night vision or not, distance always made movement in shadows harder to perceive.

Azura wasn't all too sure about that claim, being only half-Faunus, but it made sense to him. With that thought in mind, he focused his attention on moving from roof to roof. When he made it to the side of the taller building, he looked for a ladder or some way into the building to climb it, finding a ladder on the backside of the building across the several foot gap between buildings.

Gauging the distance, Azura took a few steps back and then ran forward. He jumped at the edge, grabbing the ladder with a grunt as his feet collided with the wall to gain a grip. Situating himself, he began to climb the ladder and was on the roof within moments. Croc was indeed there, watching him like a hawk for a moment with a knife held in a reverse grip before lowering her arm when she recognized him, her green-yellow mixed eyes softening slightly as she relaxed.

"So, you did come. Avis seemed confident you would." She said, returning back to whatever was in front of her.

"She wouldn't have put any trust in me otherwise." He said back, approaching her with an eye on the police department. "I was told you needed a way on top of the roof."

"Yes." Croc replied. "Your semblance can create intense speed, no? Figured it could also jump."

It wasn't his semblance, but he wasn't going to fix her misplaced belief right now.

"You're a lot smarter than you seem." Azura says, looking at the building. "You seem light, too...should be an easy enough jump. Not getting caught is the issue."

"And Hood is already on the case there. Should be in position very soon. A minute, tops."

The conversation ends there, and Azura watches the dark green haired girl do her job. She was tapping on a rather advanced looking scroll, framed with a black covering and lit up orange instead of the regular light blue. Numbers were running in one corner while she typed code in the center of it. There were other small graphs and number nonsense that he either did not understand or couldn't read properly.

"You specialize in tech, don't you?"

"Something like that." She answers, shifting over slightly to show him. "I'm going to be running a scan of the building when we get to the roof, and should go from top to bottom. The main purpose is to run a scan for Dust, to see if explosives or dangerous Dust-based weapons are within. Can never be too sure nowadays. Police and Atlas military run this sort of tech in raids and dangerous locations." She begins typing again. "I've been rerouting it over time, so it should also be able to trace where exactly it is. The tech is actually really rigid and hard to work with."

"And now you're setting it up."

"Precisely, it'll be done in just...about...now."

She finishes her sentence as the code processes and the numbers stop running and set to zero. Picking the large scroll up, she holds it to her chest and stands back up. Her scaly tail flicks to the left and then wraps around her left leg, like when he first saw her.

"This'll be our first job together." Croc said, holding one hand out with an earpiece in it. "This'll be for a private channel between us. Tap the button at the bottom to mute, tapping the button at the top should pull you to the channel with Avis."

Azura took the earpiece, examining it for a moment before placing it in his ear. He sees Croc tap her own earpiece, a small static from the movement going through his own earpiece. She nods, satisfied with her test, then moves forward with the large scroll in her arms. He follows after her, stopping beside her at the edge of the roof, crouched and waiting.

"Ten seconds." Croc mutters. "We wait until it goes off, then move. You know how we're getting up there?"

"Yeah." Azura answers. "You'll have to hold on to me when I grab you."

He glances at Luna, jerking his head to tell her to be on the roof already if something happens to them as they jump. She moves off, and Croc watches him curiously for a moment before just nodding. She seemed willing to do as he said, which he appreciated. What he didn't appreciate was the anticipation of waiting for Hood's distraction.

Then, he heard the screams. They sounded so distant, yet so close. There was a shrill undertone that was barely heard under the screams, but it caused near chaos just by happening. The movement of people in the building hastened as weapons were grabbed and a group went running out to check it out. They were in just as much of a haste to leave as Avis and everyone else seemed to be, which means they couldn't risk whatever was here.

As the group that ran out reached the perimeter of the police department grounds, they all vanished into the darkness and behind smaller buildings that lingered around. Hood was not alone, it seemed. The obviously laid trap of letting others see them take out a group was clear to Azura and Croc, who stood up and began to prepare.

"More of them will be coming out, and they'll all be focusing on getting to whatever they're here for. This is our one chance." Croc said. "Grab me and jump."

Azura nods. "Hold on."

He begins to build up the semblance, focusing on not releasing it as he grabs Croc in a scooping hold and takes a few steps back. He feels Croc's scaly tail grab hold of his waist while her hands grab hold of his sweatshirt, feeling that she had secured herself, and then ran forward and leapt into the air. Rose petals flew through the wind as they jumped, and Avis and Neo could be seen already pushing forward in White Fang disguise, ready to enter the building.

They landed on the roof unbalanced, with Azura's feet skidding across the ground before being stopped by Luna catching onto him. Once they stopped, Azura set Croc down and watched her seem almost shaky and unnerved by the speed and height that they just jumped at before. He didn't comment on it, but instead watched her get on her knees and set the scroll down.

"This shouldn't take long. I want you to wait for the scan, then you can get moving." She said, tapping on the scroll and then started typing. "If all goes well, I can aid as a recon to you while also messing with whatever tech might be left over."

"And if it doesn't?"

"Then I guess I will come down with you and we'll do the scanning manually. Us Faunus do that sort of thing well, especially in the dark."

"Yeah, that's true." Azura says thoughtlessly, realizing her words a moment later. "Wait, did Avis tell you that I was Faunus?"

"Even if she didn't, I could tell." Croc answers, holding a hand up to him. "But we can have that conversation later, we're kind of in a danger zone."

The large scroll vibrates for a second before stopping, the orange color of everything flashing once before returning. A map pops up on the screen, much like a radar, showing several signatures of varying colors. Azura assumed that it was Dust, and he had his thoughts confirmed a moment later as she spoke.

"There's a lot of fire Dust here...also some lightning Dust. Most of it is down below...likely beneath the building, but some of it seems to be found across the other floors. Most notably, about halfway in the building. If my knowledge of the old police department is correct, that's the main computing floor. Lightning Dust being there is normal, given the tech, but fire Dust?" She eyes Azura. "I'll run a secondary scan for heat signatures once I have the location of Dust written down, start making your way towards the floor with the suspicious bunch of Dust."

"Got it. I'll check each floor as I go for safety."

"Good idea. I'll contact Avis about finding a way below the building, then return to guide you."

The two nod at each other, and Azura was quickly on the move. After putting the bandana he was given on and pulling his hood up, he made his way to the door that led to the roof and began to go down the set of stairs before him. The first door he sees, a floor down, he enters and slows his speed. Sliding the dagger at his hip out, he moved methodically through the mostly empty floor. There were some boxes here and there, as well as unplugged and dusty machines laying about.

"A storage floor." He whispered to himself. "Don't think much of use will be found here."

He looked to Luna when she came back from one side of the room, getting a shake of a head and a shrug as his answer. She hadn't found anything either.

A voice enters his ear, quiet enough to not be heard beyond a few inches of him, the static only slightly grating. "Azura? You hear me?"

"Loud and clear."

She wasted no time to advise him. "Next floor has traces of Dust, but no one seems to be there. I'd still advise caution."

"Got it. Any sign of what Avis and Neo are up to?"

"Hard to see through everything else. The tech is still rather primitive."

Azura left it at that, moving to descend down the stairwell to the next floor. He slowly opened the door, peeking inside and finding no one within. He swiftly stepped forward, looking through the room as a chill swept down his back. Much like the floor above, this also seemed to be a storage floor. Boxes littered the floor, scattered supplies and tops of the boxes laid on the floor. They had been looted or left open, suggesting that nothing of value was found by whichever White Fang grunt had looked within.

"You're close to the Dust traces. Look around, tell me what you see."

Azura heeded her words, looking at his surroundings with much greater scrutiny now. He was near one of the walls, the windows providing some moonlight as he walked along the wall. He saw Luna stop by a window, tail flicking with haste as her gaze fixated on it. Azura was confused at first until he realized both what Luna was looking at and why the temperature on this floor in particular was colder than the one above.

The window was broken, but not shattered. There wasn't even a trace of where the majority of the window had gone, a hole being in place of the glass. It was just about large enough for a person to enter, which drew his suspicion. Azura examined closer, touching the rim of the hole and found it to be lukewarm to his fingers. Pulling his fingers away, he brushed particles of fire Dust off of them.

He looked out the window, seeing the fire escape stopping just at the floor he was on. They had no intention of being found by the White Fang, whoever they were.

"Croc, I have some very alarming news." He said, tapping the earpiece as he moved away from the window and made way for the stairwell door.

"What's wrong?" She asked, her voice crackling in the earpiece.

"Someone's in this building beyond us and the White Fang, I think. Have you picked up on any heat signature of someone seeming to sneak? Someone leaving traces of fire Dust."

"Hang on…" She murmured as he descended down to the next floor. "No, but I do see that traces of fire and lightning Dust next to each other are moving in a rather...odd way. Like the Dust itself was sneaking."

"Where?"

"Hard to say. My guess is two floors down."

"Keep an eye on it if possible. Going to the next floor."

"Hm." Was her response, the hum distorting under the static.

This time, the floor he was on held drawers and cabinets. It was dusty and clearly not tended to, but much more organized and orderly. It seemed almost untouched by time, left in a stasis forever. Taking a peek inside of one of them showed empty folders with no paper within, faded words on the folder labeled it with 'evidence of case: November 7th…' and became illegible after.

"An evidence floor? You know, this place is set up in a weird way." Azura muttered, finding similar folders as he moved from cabinet to cabinet. "Nothing out of the ordinary, though."

"It used to be a central hub, that's why. Cold cases, cases that lasted for months, and any of the higher ups used to be here. Smaller stations that are still used were where most of the work was done, but now they have a more centralized location, albeit smaller than this." Croc said, an air of contempt in her voice. "Left these districts to rot in the process."

Azura remains silent, simply examining a few more cabinets and the surrounding area while waiting to see if she would say anything else. There wasn't much to see, which made Azura happier than not, given that this sort of evidence probably wouldn't be great in the wrong hands.

He still disliked the fact that he had to keep saying that in his head, thinking back on how failure of the 'higher ups' and those with power seemed to cause a whole load of issues.

"There's four heat signatures on the floor below, so stay sharp. None seem to be this sneaky thief you suspect is here. Likely White Fang. I recommend dealing with them in some fashion."

"Copy that."

One last glance at the floor he was on filled him with the confidence that he could leave knowing that he hadn't missed anything. Upon entering the stairwell, he went from quietly walking to taking agonizingly slow steps. He gripped and regripped his dagger, flexing his fingers as he stopped right at the door. Pushing it open slowly, he nodded for Luna to move forward and spot wherever the heat signatures were.

"All four are together...where they are on the floor is hard to see, but you're safe to enter right now."

Azura heeded her words, slipping through the door and shutting it gently behind him. This floor was also open, but was filled with cubicles and walls that only went up to his chest. He crouched down, walking forward with the dagger in his left hand and his right hand brushing along the cubicles.

Peeking around the corner showed no one coming, allowing him to pull around the corner and move down the right side. He couldn't hear anything but his heartbeat, drumming with slight anticipation as he moved without knowing where they were. Luna had yet to return, which either meant that she had also yet to find them or she was currently watching them. There was no way for him to safely check, so he simply had to navigate what was beginning to feel like a maze until he found them.

"Or they find us."

"Y'know, sometimes I wonder if you just like humoring the worst case scenario."

His words, while only in his head, conveyed a dry deadpan to the woman. If this were not a dangerous situation, he felt like she would have laughed.

Azura felt hands grab at him just as he was about to continue moving. Momentary panic spurred him into action as an arm wrapped around his waist and a hand covered his mouth. He struggled in the grip, unable to do much as his weapon dropped from his hand, his attempts to fight back futile. Even when he tried to trigger Summer's semblance, he could only send petals out and almost vibrated in the grip he was trapped in.

"There's no getting out of my grip, boy!" The man said, his voice full of a malicious joy as he roared in laughter. "Get over here, I found a little human thief!"

As the struggle continues, Azura sees Luna speeding through the air towards him. Her blade was at the ready, signifying to Azura that she was going to attack. He stopped in his struggles, focusing and then triggering his semblance after several moments for her to get close enough to be a surprise. He bucks back as hard as he could, hitting the man on the chin with his head as she zips right over his head and the sound of her weapon colliding with the masked face of the man who grabbed him rang out hollowly.

He falls to the ground with a grunt, using Summer's semblance to jump back up and scoop his dagger back into his hand in the process. As the tall and wide man turned to swat at Luna, Azura pressed forward and stabbed towards the back of his knee. Surprisingly, blood spurted out instead of biting deeply into aura, but he couldn't spend more than a moment on it before moving around to the other side as the man swung around with his fists swinging to punch him.

Luna swoops around and delivers a side kick to the back of the muscular foe's head, bringing him down to the ground while already on a wounded leg. As soon as he was out of the fight, Croc's tense voice came through his earpiece.

"Two more on the way, I'm coming down. Hold on."

The other three people on the floor came running through the walkway to where Azura and Luna were, electric batons at the ready.

"Why is it always the electric batons?"

Triggering Summer's semblance, he zipped forward side to side in a zigzag motion towards them. Instead of attacking, he leapt over them and kicked out one of the legs of the middle one, a younger female with a lion tail. Luna slammed the butt of her sword into her head, causing her to stagger forward, then dodged in the air as one baton swung at where she had been floating.

Azura slammed forward as petals burst out around him, knocking the staggering girl to the ground. He ducked down while running forward, then turned on his heel to face the two remaining foes when he saw that the girl was not getting up. Luna was by his side now, the two of them moving forward to attack. He heard her block an attack from the back while he threw an arm up to knock the arm of his own opponent up while he swung his baton down, slashing forward and slicing directly into aura.

Quickly slashing again and spinning rapidly on the spot, petals flying everywhere as he then swung out with his now unsheathed sword towards his opponent. He missed, pulling his aura up to take the attack from the baton before getting pulled out of the way by Luna. They were regrouped, taking only a momentary glance to attack. He ran straight forward while Luna zigzagged around and above him before speeding directly towards the target they had. A wild swing to the side forced the other opponent to back off while Luna flew past their target in a feint that worked exceptionally well, the baton flying overhead and letting Azura slam the butt of both of his weapons into their head.

Commotion at the door that led to the stairwell told Azura that Croc had been engaged in combat. He had to make this swift with the last target. They spend several seconds in a standoff, Azura waiting for him to make any move. When they made a dash for the door, going down one of the paths available in the small corridor of cubicles they fought in, Azura quickly triggered Summer's semblance and body slammed into them. Quick on the draw, Azura slammed down on their head to knock them unconscious as well.

With that, the skirmish had ended. Already on the move, Azura ran for the sound of the combat that Croc was in. He had no time to waste.

Swinging the door open, he saw one person in front of her that was reeling from a now bleeding cut on his cheek and another behind her that was currently being choked by her tail. Spurred into action, Azura simply moved to be between the White Fang grunt and Croc, spinning his weapons in his hands before stepping to the right and then feinting to the left before letting Summer's speed bounce him off of the concrete wall and kick the already dazed opponent. Luna caught the long haired girl as she went flying, only mitigating the impact enough to make sure she wasn't accidentally killed, then made sure she was unconscious.

As that happened, the gasping and writhing man that was trapped with Croc's tail wrapped around his throat stopped and they slid down the wall. The small girl was breathing heavily, staggering against the wall for a moment before wrapping her tail around her left leg once more. Azura simply stood there, watching her for a few moments before speaking.

"Are you okay?"

"Mm, yes." Croc says between breaths. "I'm just...not suited for combat. But you were in combat for a while and more were coming."

"I could have handled them." Azura says, looking down the stairwell to see if more were coming. "No one is coming…"

"Not just that. The suspicious target is also moving up, if slowly. Avis said to avoid them if possible, but I suspect that they need to be intercepted."

He frowns at her words, looking over the railing again. He agreed with Croc, but he worried for her ability to defend herself. She herself had admitted to not being suited for combat, so he had to take into consideration the possibility of intercepting meaning an opponent capable of fighting.

"I'm not stupid enough to think I should fight directly beside you, but I'm still coming down with you." She says, pulling him from his internal debate. "Assuming our opponent will be using stealth to their advantage, having me closer makes it that much easier to pinpoint their location for you."

"Good, I don't want you getting hurt in combat. I can handle the combat side of it."

"You sound confident in defeating this foe."

Azura doesn't respond as he begins to tread slowly down the stairwell, a sense of worry entering his heart. The traces of Dust he found, as well as the Dust traces moving with a heat signature, did not bode well for who he thought it could be. He just hoped that it wouldn't be the ones he was thinking of.

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.(Chapter End)

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And here we are. Croc and Hood get some time, even if one of them wasn't even seen in the chapter beyond a reference. Less Neo because of how I decided to write it, but that's just how it goes sometimes.

Hope you have a nice day/evening!