"You look ready for the meeting today," Olesia chuckled as Dorian did his best to run the sleep out of his eyes, still in a pair of sweats and a white t-shirt as they moved him autonomously through the security checkpoint.

"I'm glad we do emergency meetings over holograms. Needless to say I was not ready this morning when the call came in," he informed her. They sat at their respective spots, the others already there and acknowledging them as they turned on their communicators.

"Running a little late, aren't we?" Siobhan inquired.

"To an emergency meeting?" Dorian questioned. "I'm surprised you have it in you to joke after last night." Siobhan shrugged.

"We did our best to stop them, now we just need to get it back," Siobhan noted.

"And if we don't?" Dorian inquired. Stratford cleared his throat.

"Are you two finished?" He asked. Siobhan fell silent and Dorian nodded.

"It seems our two remotes are here," Ruby noted. "And Winter, you said that Kitsune would be unavailable this morning?"

"That is correct," Winter agreed. "She has been undercover once again for some time and couldn't afford the time away."

"So just a run down of what happened last night," Ruby cleared her throat. "Stardust attacked the Expo as expected using a Micro-EMP that only nullified the Dust at the Power Plant in Vale. The Lightning Dust is being replaced by the SDC as an act of charity and because I asked nicely." She smirked. "Mercury, Jett, and Aurora were spotted at the Expo and made off with the aura resistant bullet, but Stratford and Siobhan were successful in taking down Damu for good. Mistrali officials are going to examine its coding and try and determine the route cause for it going rogue. In the midst of the chaos, students from Beacon Academy were able to keep the majority of Grimm attacks at bay throughout the evening, though a prison break was recorded, which saw members of the Stardust Gang escape, as well as one of Remnant's Most Wanted, Boyd Holter."

"One of Alexander's?" Winter questioned. Ruby nodded.

"However, in a confrontation with Coco Adel, despite slipping away from her, he was embedded with tracking nanites courtesy of Olesia," Ruby detailed.

"What?!" Stratford stammered. "This is great news! Why didn't you tell us you were working on something like this?"

"Coco and I decided to keep it a secret in case the council disagreed," Olesia offered.

"For good reason, that worm…" Siobhan stuttered.

"Would you like to repeat that?" Stratford questioned. "We're not off of the hook, you know."

"The nanites are no better! Invasion of privacy," Siobhan pointed out.

"Which is why I only made enough for this one mission," Olesia detailed. "We weren't sure when Coco would need to use it, but we needed an ace since Abigor and Salem's Children kept slipping through our fingers." Siobhan looked up at Stratford who nodded.

"I don't see a problem with it just this once," he stated.

"That's good, because it wasn't up for debate," Ruby noted. "And with that being said, once Adel returns from her vacation we will make plans to take down Blood in the Vale countryside. Mercury is still a threat, but it feels as though his staying power is dwindling. An update from Atlas?"

"We believe that Abigor is still holding Nero captive considering the soldier is of no use to him dead, and the first confession was a false lead, which has seen the capture and imprisonment of Admon," Winter detailed. "As always, we're more than happy to help the other kingdoms, Kitsune feels that she is close to discovering Strakh's new whereabouts somewhere within The Oasis, and Harriet has chosen a team of students to take care of a potential threat at Posiedon's Den along the Vale / Mistral border. Recovering Nero and finding Strakh should bring us one step closer to ending all of this once and for all."

"They're grasping at straws anyways, Coco killed the child that their alleged prophecy called out," Stratford stated.

"They must think they have something," Ruby noted. "As long as they hold on to whatever hope they've created of Salem returning, there will be no peace."

"Let's focus on Blood first," Olesia declared. They all nodded in agreement.

"And Stratford…" Ruby closed. "Find that bullet."

"Seeing as Team NITE has been… decommissioned for the time being, for lack of a better word, I'm going to have your team face off against Team IVRY instead today," Harriet noted as she walked ONYX into the training arena where their peers were already waiting for them. Natalia slipped past Yin and Xavier to Orin, whispering in his ear.

"I have a request," she stated. He looked at her with a smirk before shaking his head.

"I'm telepathic, you certainly didn't need to come over here to ask," Orin pointed out. "In any case, what might your inquiry be?" She cracked her knuckles, motioning with her head to the other group before pointing at him, Rowan stood next to his sister, joking about something, his body loose and relaxed.

"I call dibs on Rowan," Natalia stated. Orin looked at her for a long moment.

"He's already made up for what he did," Orin replied before Natalia cut him off.

"That's bullshit, and you know it," she growled. Orin met her eyes again and nodded slowly.

"Alright, just don't kill him," Orin instructed.

"Oh, I won't," she chuckled. "He wouldn't suffer for long enough if I did." Natalia stepped away from her team's leader, waving to Ilia and Ivory before giving a death glare to Rowan and walking over to Harriet. "Hey, I don't know how much time we have right now, but is there any chance that we can atleast get a two on two in?"

"Don't kill him," Harriet repeated. Natalia laughed.

"I won't, thanks!" She exclaimed.

"You and me?" Orin surmised. Yin waved him off.

"Pfft, go ahead, we ain't stopping you," Yin chuckled.

"Don't kill him," Xavier echoed. Natalia shook her head and threw her head back in a laugh.

"Come on guys," Natalia gawfed. "I would never…"

"Two of you then?" Orin shouted to the other team. Three of them looked up like deer in the headlights as Ilia began to make her way over. Vin grabbed her arm.

"Let the twins handle this," Vin stated. Rowan cackled as he stretched.

"With pleasure," Rowan accepted. "You can have bird boy, Ivory."

"We're birds too, dumbass," Ivory shot back. Rowan readied himself across from Natalia.

"Nat, right?" Rowan asked.

"Natalia," she bit.

"Sure," he rolled his eyes. "I'm in a good mood, and you've got the kind of thighs any man would love to be crushed by. What say we make this quick, and then take it slow?"

"You know, I have been wanting to get my hands on you," Natalia teased.

"My body is all yours," Rowan offered. She cracked a smile.

"Ready?" Harriet called out.

"She won't kill him, right?" Ivory questioned.

"Nah," Orin insisted.

"Very," Rowan chuckled.

"Let's go," Natalia breathed.

"Go!" Harriet declared. Before Rowan could blink, Natalia had sucker punched him into the air using her semblance.

"Care for a dance?" She asked. He flapped his wings, staying airborne and hooking her arm with his weapon.

"Only if I'm leading," he taunted with a pull. She wrapped it around her arm further and pulled him to the ground with a mighty thud.

"Sorry, not going to happen," she declared. He rolled quickly out of the way of a punch from her that cracked the floor, relinquishing his weapon for the time being to get away. "For me? You shouldn't have!"

"Rowan!" Ivory shouted, trying to move in to help him. Orin cut her off.

"Terribly sorry about this," Orin informed her as his staff slammed into her temple, turning her around.

"Is this about that Faunus girl?" Rowan asked. He attempted to take another step back, a grenade from her launcher fired past him, exploding with Gravity Dust that threw him towards her and she fanned out the round, hard light shield that was attached to her arm, slamming him against the ground. "It wasn't even my idea…"

"But you were going to go through with it!" Natalia shouted. He covered his body with his wings, avoiding a second blow before taking to the sky.

"We were just hazing her!" Rowan defended. "You all need to learn how to relax and have some fun." Natalia's jaw unhinged in an unnerving smile.

"This is me relaxing and having fun!" She roared.

"Don't kill him!" Orin shouted.

"I know!" She cackled. She dropped the chain and rotated her shoulders, staring at the floor as he flew overhead. There's no way she can reach me up here, especially without the chain. I just need to wait out her next move and… Natalia fired a Gravity Grenade at her feet, throwing both hands behind her shield and leaping on it, vaulting her in to the air where her cybernetic arm extended out just far enough to grab him by the foot, her eyes crazed as she turned enough to reveal that the chain was tethered to both the floor and her shield, stopping her momentum. She pulled him down past her, another well timed grenade allowing her to plant him into the earth with enough force to create a crater, breaking his aura and leaving him at a loss for words and numb.

"I said not to kill him!" Harriet stated, racing over. Natalia stood over her opponent, cracking her neck from side to side.

"Hey, jackass," she stated. Rowan looked up at her weakly as her robotic arm whirred and spun about, reassembling itself as a chainsaw. "Try anymore 'hazing' with anyone at this school and the last person to ever give you head will be yourself."

"I'm aroused," Ivory said, landing next to Orin. He shook his head.

"I'm taken," Natalia informed her.

"'A' for effort!" Yin shouted, offering fake applause to Rowan. Ilia's scroll rang, startling her nearly out of her skin and her face lit up as she read the contact name.

"Neela!" She shouted into the scroll.

"Heh… Ah… No… Don't hate me," Cobalt's voice immediately killed her adrenaline. "Was trying to install some tracking software that works with her wrist selector and arrows and all that and I seem to have dialed you on accident. Very sorry." With that the room fell silent and Ilia stared at her scroll in disbelief. I… I just… Neela…

"Vin…" She quietly called for him, walking over to her boyfriend as his own scroll rang. "Can that wait a second?" He waved her off.

"I really have to take this. Sorry," he apologized. Ilia looked down at her scroll, still thinking about the call and Neela's state, her hands trembling. You have to wake up! You have to! She tried to hide the shaking as Xavier approached her.

"You and Vin want round two?" Xavier asked.

"I…" She flinched away as he attempted to place a hand on her shoulder. "No, that's alright. I don't think I'm up to it."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Xavier questioned.

"I'm fine!" She snapped. Harriet looked up from Rowan, who she was helping up.

"You okay, Cherny?" Harriet inquired. Ilia nodded, swallowing hard.

"Yeah… I'm fine…" She insisted once more, quietly.

"Do you mind if we step out for some air?" Xavier requested. Harriet sighed.

"That's fine, I might need to get Rowan here down to Arc and Ren," Harriet noted. Xavier held a hand out to Ilia which she declined to take, brushing past him and out the door onto the grass.

"Where are we going?" Ilia asked.

"Wherever you'd like," Xavier informed her. She continued further, the two of them remaining in complete, awkward silence until they were far enough into the woods that they could no longer see the building. "Guess I didn't know that you and Neela were that close."

"I don't know what we are… I… She's a close friend for sure, she's done more for me than anyone has in my life before. Her, Eliana, and Titus. I don't know how to put it," Ilia informed him.

"They're like family?" Xavier questioned. Ilia looked up at the sky and sighed.

"Not like my family," she exhaled.

"Every family is different," Xavier informed her. "Sometimes real family isn't what it's all about. Sometimes it's our friends. Yin's more of a brother to me than my actual brother was, but I don't want to bore you with that. Maybe some other time." She chuckled.

"Yeah… maybe…" she reluctantly agreed.

"Listen," he told her. "It's fine if you don't want to talk about it. I understand. Well, I understand that it's a shit show… I can't pretend to understand your situation in all of this. If you do decide to talk about it though, Team ONYX is here for you. We're your mentors for a reason."

"Right," Ilia exhaled. "Thanks." Ilia rubbed her arms. "I… I'm sorry. I'm not a very open person, and I usually talk to Vin about this stuff… but he's been patient with me, so I guess he deserves my patience too."

"Sure," Xavier agreed. "I'm sorry too if I came off as… flirty when we first met. Was not my intent. Didn't know you had someone either."

"I never saw it that way," Ilia noted. Xavier was unsure why, but even though he had never meant to be forward with her, her comment stung.

"That's a relief," he chuckled. Ilia shook her head and laughed.

"Yeah, Vin can be a little possessive!" She blurted.

"You still have the right to be your own person though," Xavier pointed out.

"Of course," she agreed. "Just… something about you made him defensive." Xavier tsked.

"We might not like each other, but he is one lucky bastard," Xavier spat out before feeling the heat flush on his face. What am I saying?!

"Thanks," Ilia replied, averting her eyes.

"Seriously though, if you need anything, give me a call," Xavier informed her.

"Of course," she agreed.

"And if he ever gives you any grief…" Xavier joked. He flushed again.

"I can handle Vin. He's a hothead, but that's about it," she assured him.

"Ilia!" Vin shouted from the edge of the woods.

"There he is," Xavier muttered, as if he'd been expecting him.

"Right," Ilia agreed hopefully as she left. Vin stared at Xavier as the two rejoined him and Ilia entered the building. As Vin slowly closed the door behind her he never took his eyes off of Xavier.

Lucky bastard?! Man doesn't even know how good he has it… Xavier looked up at the clouds and sighed. Shit…

Sorry about the slight delay, editor and I had to go over a few things. Will Stratford find the bullet before someone dies? Next time, Chapter 48: Ultimatum!

A big thank you to all of my readers, and to artists AG_Nonsuch, Helihi, Cadhla182, Carlomontie, Nliast, Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. The artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.

Until next time, stay healthy and stay classy!