Chapter 2

The tension mounted inside the jeep as they followed Sienna towards the mining complex, everyone able to see the automated turrets set up against a broad wall as their vehicle cleared the forest. Proving that they weren't entirely incompetent, the SDC had created something close to a hundred meter kill zone, making certain that no Grimm could cross the distance before the turrets could engage them.

Of course, that level of paranoia wouldn't have been necessary if they weren't keeping their workers as abused wage-slaves who generated negative emotions with every breath, so Ilia wasn't inclined to give the company any credit for their forethought.

Crossing the no-man's-land seemed to take hours instead of twenty or thirty seconds. The nervous energy didn't fade into something more focused until they were nearly at the open gate. Sienna gunned her engine ahead of them as soon as a guard stepped out of the open entryway, and Adam floored it a fraction of a second later to keep pace.

The human ahead barely managed to dive back into the gatehouse before Sienna's jeep roared through the space he'd just occupied. Adam followed her lead, keeping the accelerator flattened and making the engine roar as he got them into the courtyard before anyone could think to shut the gate. Ilia felt her seat-belt dig into her chest as they went from speeding to skidding when he abruptly slammed on the breaks, Van and Aryl cursing up a storm behind them as they were likewise thrown against their restraints. Adam had been the only one ready to brace himself, and he was diving out of the car the moment it had stopped moving.

"Giant, arrogant, bastard of a-" She swore as she ripped her seat-belt off and shoved her door open. He'd had the foresight to yank the parking break on his way out, so at least the jeep had stopped. "-where'd you learn to drive!?"

"Less talking, more fighting!" He shouted as he raced towards the wall, Sienna's chain already flashing beneath the spotlights while she attacked the recovering guard. "Find a way inside!"

Resisting the urge to tell him that she knew her job, Ilia let her skin ripple to black and got moving deeper into the complex. The first alarms began to blare from speakers before she'd gone more than a few steps, automated lights flicking on and aiming their beams at the fighting near the gate. She didn't have any problems avoiding them, whoever was directing the lights probably missing the single dark form moving off on its own.

Which gives me time to look around.

By the standards of the SDC, it was a very small mine. Built into the side of a large hill, it's center was a heavy concrete block of a building worked into the earth. It had numerous loading doors, plus another large truck backed up nearby, leading her to guess that it was the entrance to the actual mining tunnels. Next to it, connected by a sky-bridge, was a slightly less ugly three story structure she hoped was the main headquarters and control center. Just beyond that, surrounded by their own fencing, were a pair of bland tenements.

The workers' homes... the people who pulled up the wealth the company relied on were trusted so little that they were kept caged even inside a walled compound.

Getting them out will come later. Stay on mission.

Most of the staff inside the main building must have still been awake because the first AK-130's were marching out of the probable-headquarters when she began her approach. The mech's advance blocked her direct route, and she twisted her lips in frustration before cutting to her left. The move into the deeper darkness served to give her a few seconds to call on her semblance before any of the androids could detect her. Shadows wrapped up around at her once, taking her natural camouflage from merely letting her blind in with the darkness and turning it into something close to true invisibility.

So long as no one snapped a light in her direction, or otherwise screwed with the area near her at least. Her semblance wasn't perfect, but so far as anyone could tell it worked on anything. Grimm, Human, Faunus, Machines... she could potentially avoid them all so long as she stayed in shadows, and so long as no one new to directly focus on where she was.

Time to hope none of them picked me up beforehand...

Ilia blew out a breath and put on more speed. This was her best chance and she knew it; the security door would close once the machines were clear and then it would a real pain to break in. Her legs burned as she sprinted forwards, keeping a wary eye on the Atlesian Knights as she moved past them. None of them seemed to detect her; her semblance and their single-minded focus on the the battle near the gate keeping her clear. She was nearly at the door when someone inside shouted for the mechs to move faster, one last machine walking out before the door began to slide downwards.

She was too close to abort, and too far away to simply run under it. So instead she threw herself forwards, hitting the ground just outside of the doorway, and then rolled frantically in before the steel could clang shut.

Her momentum caused to her to smack right into a pair of legs, a man letting out a startled shriek and falling onto his ass in surprise and fear.

"Fuck!" She swore even as they both kicked at one another, trying to free up their legs.

"They're inside!" He had to be young because his voice cracked while she tried to get to her feet. For his part he didn't even try to stand up, instead just scrambling away from her. "They're inside!"

Getting upright as quickly as she could, she raised her weapon to find a teenager in an ill-fitting manager's uniform, a much better alternative than a guard with a gun. His face was still spotted with red, and his expression made it clear he was a few seconds away from losing control of his bladder.

Apart from that, there was no one. He must have just been the closest one to the door and been sent to release the Atlesian Knights before locking down the entryway.

I got lucky...

"Shut up!" Her voice was already a bit low for a woman, but she went as low and rough as she could to up the intimidation factor. "Stop moving!"

He failed at the former, whimpering and gasping something about this not actually happening, but succeeded in staying put on the floor. That gave her a couple more seconds to take a better look around, revealing a fairly bland entryway. An abandoned security station was just ahead, complete with a weapon's detector and helpful signs saying what was and wasn't allowed inside. A nearby door was open to a darkened room, a glance inside letting her guess it was probably where the mechs had come from.

More important was the small collection of controls in between that door and the main entrance, and she carefully stepped towards them while keeping an eye on her latest prisoner.

"Lever there unlock the security door?" She demanded, waving her free hand towards a bright red lever next to a keypad. "Yes or no!?"

"Y-yes!" He whimpered, "I'm, I'm I-Important! Y-you can't kill me! My f-father will pay you millions for me!"

"If your father was that rich you'd be in Atlas." Ilia replied as she reached out to grab the lever, grunting a little with the effort to force it back up. The bright red lights around the doorway dutifully turned blue, and there was a quiet groan as the door began to rise back into the ceiling.

The teenager surged away the second her attention was diverted, his footwear making squeaking, screeching sounds as he tried to stand and run at the same time. Sighing, she turned and lifted her weapon again, aiming for a short second before lightly caressing the trigger. The mild bolt of electricity took him in the back, and he went down with another shriek.

He was still twitching when half of an Atlesian Knight came flying through the now-open door, Sienna following it with a wicked grin on her lips. She slid to a halt beside her, chain up and ready before she relaxed on realizing no one else was present. "Excellent work Ilia!"

Ilia felt her spots flare to a mild pink at the praise. "We should hurry, I don't know if they can override-"

She hadn't even finished speaking when an alarm blared and the door began to lower on its own accord. Cursing under her breath, she whipped back around to the controls but only found the emergency lever she'd already set, along with a small keypad that lacked a nice 'override' button for her to try. There was a 'lock' button however, and she slammed it down with her thumb... then wished she was surprised when nothing happened.

This time her distraction meant she didn't see Sienna move until the High Leader had grabbed her and hauled her backwards just as Adam sprinted in, ducking just in time to avoid clipping his horns on the descending door. Behind him, Van and Aryl came tumbling in more like she had. The pair rolled the space she'd just occupied, groaning and trying to disentangle themselves while while Adam's head swiveled as he checked for targets, only to come up as empty as Sienna had.

"Nothing in the area, just a self-important idiot." She informed him before glancing at Sienna. "What about the team from your car ma'am?"

"They will guard the vehicles, finish off the mechs, then watch for Grimm." Sienna patted her once on the shoulder before starting to head inwards, tapping Adam on the arm as she did. "Adam, you're up front with me, Van, Aryl, you're rearguard. Ilia, your prisoner?"

Ilia shrugged. "An important teenager who's worth millions, and is also about to wet himself if he hasn't already."

The taller woman snorted and simply stepped over the teenager as she walked past. Adam took the more direct route and stepped on him, making the boy gasp in pain just as he'd begun to recover from the shock she'd given him. Ilia followed Sienna's lead and walked around, but from the sound of it one of the two men behind her gave him a decent kick as they moved past.

Sienna paused at a helpful map just past the security station, nodded once as she apparently memorized it, and led them down dull gray hallways until they reached a stairwell. They went up quickly but cautiously, the two brothers keeping their guns up and watching behind while Adam kept the shotgun portion of his own weapon up and aimed ahead.

After a quick pause to check the doorway on the second floor, Sienna and Adam formed up side by side as they advanced. Ilia gave them a second, then moved out after them, Aryl catching up with her while his brother stayed another meter behind.

"Love the ambiance." The wolf faunus gave her a grin as they carefully advanced down empty halls. "Nothing says corporate arrogance like having your logo plastered on holographic displays in an otherwise empty hallway."

The snort came out before she could stop it, her eyes glancing up at the snowflake and SDC lettering rolling by along both walls. "They should have pictures of the Schnee family instead. Then people could throw darts at moving targets when they got bored."

Aryl snickered, and even Adam barked out a laugh, a sound that cut off when echoing footfalls began to come from every direction. "More androids! Coming from ahead!"

"Covering fire!" Sienna ordered as she loosened the chain around her right arm, accelerating into a charge. "Adam, Ilia, up front with me!"

Cursing her shorter legs, she stretched them as much as she could and had just barely caught up to the others when the first Knights began to emerge from the intersection just ahead. These were already in full close-combat mode, blades extended and moving with more speed than the marching ones she'd slipped past outside.

With only a meter or so of space between them, the Atlesian Knights were on top of their raiding group almost as soon as they became visible. Weapons clashed and metal rang as faunus and android all but ran into one another. Ilia focused on the one closest to her, cutting her weapon at it right arm to block a thrust from a wedge-shaped blade. The android fought in silence, pulling back and then cutting at her head with its left arm... slowly.

So painfully slowly. It was probably fast enough to fight small Grimm, and definitely fast enough to beat down angry civilians, but to a huntress? Even one with her rushed and limited training? The thing was practically glacial in its movements.

She had no problems at all recovering and slashing at its waist before it was even halfway through its own follow-up. The weak joint gave way on impact, the top half falling away with a crack of metal and a few sparks. She turned her head to find a second target, and only barely got her weapon up to block another Knight bringing both of its blades down at her head.

The mechs might fall apart if you hit them in the right spot, but the damned things hit hard. Ilia gasped and almost buckled with the effort of holding the blades away from her scalp.

Sienna took its head off with a kick, then was gone in a blur of stripes and metal as her chain and fists tore through another pair of mechs faster than Ilia had dealt with just one. Adam surged past on her other side, his blade cutting through an android as if it had been made of paper rather than metal, while the brothers behind them combined their gunfire to deal with the last member of the initial wave.

The five of them had just enough time to take a few steps forwards before the next group emerged at the far end of the hall. Ilia sucked in a sharp breath when their arms rotated, configuring themselves into gunnery mode, and began accelerating when Adam and Sienna likewise resumed their charge.

Her whip cracked as she brought it up, swinging it in quick motions to deflect which of the low-velocity shots she thought were coming at her, Adam's sword and Sienna's chain likewise blurring as they did their best to preserve their aura. Sparks flew as shots ricocheted away, or drew more colorful marks when they got through to be turned aside by their aura.

But as many as the rounds as they got, they couldn't get them all, and at least one of the Knights wasn't aiming for them.

"Brother!" The pained cry came from behind, and Ilia jerked her head back to see Van on the ground, clutching at his shoulder while Aryl slid to a stop beside him.

She hesitated, her forward sprint skipping a step, and then took three quick hits to her chest, gasping in pain as her aura stopped her from being instantly killed. Swearing under her breath, she got her eyes forwards where they had to be. Ahead, Adam slid to a halt and stepped right, Wilt whirling in his hands as he kept himself between the wounded regulars and the attacking mechs.

"Take them!" Sienna barked as she moved to join Adam's blocking position, "We'll cover the wounded!"

"Yes ma'am!" Ilia called as she ran past them, Lightning Lash snapping out as quickly as her tiring arms could make it move while she drew closer.

Both of the front-line mechs corrected their aim to focus on her as their programming realized she was the most important target. Her bob and weaving motion didn't help as much as it would have against a group of humans, the robots better able to simple keep their aim directly on her. More shots slipped through her guard, pain flaring with each hit as her aura rapidly began to plummet.

The shout she released when she reached close range was half battle-cry, half scream of pain, neatly summing up everything she was feeling in a single wordless sound. She leaped and began to spin, the first strike of her weapon beheading a Knight before it could take more than a step backwards. Her momentum carried her forwards, letting her complete the spin and take the second target in the waist, Lightning Lash crackling as it cut through the weak point.

Knight number three was in melee mode, and ran itself onto her weapon as she continued her turn and firmly planted her feet. Her finger tightened on the trigger, sending the last bits of dust in the hilt into the machine, shorting out its systems and sending it tipping backwards to crash down.

...letting her see five more of them rushing straight for her.

Her left foot slipped back slightly as she tried to reset, then a black and red form blurred past on her right as Adam took the lead. Wilt flashed in red arcs, the dust blade seemingly cutting the air apart as it effortlessly tore through the androids before they could even make an effort to block or avoid.

A little pool of jealousy welled up in her stomach at the reminder that Adam had a full huntsman's weapon in comparison to her scrapyard creation... a pool that widened when he took the next two down just as effortlessly, not even taking a single hit as he did.

Show off...

"Move on." Sienna stated as she moved past, "Van will make it if we can clear this floor."

Ilia glanced back to see Aryl finish helping his brother sit against a wall, Van's gun in his lap as he weakly waved for him to move on. She bit her lip but obeyed her orders, turning away once again and running after her compatriots. She caught up just as they reached the next intersection, all of them slowing to take the turn. According to the very helpful signs on the walls, the manager's offices and the security center were both right around the corner, meaning they were nearly done.

Sienna and Adam both slid to a stop a second after reaching the opening, something her exhausted muscles managed a few beats too late, leaving her standing in the center of the hall in time to see six living security guards with rifles aiming directly at them. It was all she could do to awkwardly backpedal into cover, wincing a little as the building's alarms finally began to blare; blue lights shifting to red all around them while bursts of gunfire hammered into the walls.

"I can-" Adam's proposed plan was cut off when a grenade bounced between them. Ilia had just enough to time stare at it in horror before it began venting a cloud of foul smelling smoke.

She tried to suck in a quick breath and hold it, but she wasn't quite fast enough. Gas filled her nose and lungs, and for the second time in the same night she found herself retching and hacking as she tried to breath. Some vague part of her heard the sounds of combat, and a man coughing and swearing. Aryl must have caught up just in time to get a lungful of the stuff as well.

Get clear... have to get clear...

Stumbling blindly, she could only tell she was free of it when a half-clean breath of air filled her mouth, her shaking hands pulling her mask away as she tried to breath. Gasping, she managed a couple more steps and then looked up in time to see Sienna and Adam effortlessly beating down the security team... they must have been able to hold their breath, unlike her. That or they'd gotten a much better breath in before the gas had hit them. Or both.

Shame at her failure mixed with envy at their skills and weapons, then both emotions faded as Adam kicked down the last guard.

His posture... changed as he did it, his hand shifting his blade into a downward grip while he stalked towards the downed man. The chiseled tip was aimed at the guard's heart, and her mouth was opening to ask just what he was doing when Sienna beat her to it.

"Adam!" The High Leader's voice was sharp, "Let's move. Ilia, Aryl, get them outside and secured."

Adam hesitated, then seemed to shake himself slightly and nodded. Ilia slowly put her mask back into place as the two ran into the control room, terrified shouts and cries following as they handled the managers.

He was about to... no. I can't think about that now.

"Come on." She said quietly, casting her eyes over the groaning guards. The fight had been pretty well beaten out of them, but whatever Adam had been about to do had left them all nervously glancing at her weapon and Aryl's rifle.

"Let's get this over with."

Ilia leaned against the front of their stolen security jeep, watching as the mine workers cautiously began to assemble in a nervous crowd. Those nerves probably weren't being helped by the sight of the SDC's staff on their knees, hands bound behind them while the masked forms of Aryl and the others from Sienna's car stood guard around them.

"They're lucky we're leaving them alive." Van growled from where he was sitting on the jeep's hood, his left arm bound in a sling they'd found in a small medical station. Her skills with patching someone up weren't anything to write home about, just enough to make sure he wasn't going to die and hopefully stop bleeding, but Sienna had easily picked up that she was the most exhausted out of everyone present.

So it was medical duty for her while everyone else corralled the prisoners, set mining charges against dust deposits, and got the workers to come out of their rooms.

"Killing them wouldn't help the cause." She said quietly, thinking more about Adam and the prone guard than the bound prisoners.

That earned her a disbelieving look, brown eyes narrowing behind his mask. "You're the last person I'd expect to defend those bastards after what happened to your parents."

"I'm not defending them." Ilia snapped, her spots flaring to an angry scarlet. "But the more of them we kill the harder they crack down on other faunus, the ones still trapped in other mines or stuck in other shit jobs."

He glowered at her. "You think they won't crack down anyway?"

She shrugged, "There's a difference between the Schnee's doing more awful shit, and Atlas making it policy. If the SDC keeps making things worse they just prove our point and get us recruits, maybe even make more of the humans take notice and actually do something. Isn't that the point of all this? But if Atlas make things worse we're in another faunus war and the Atlesian Air Fleet is bombarding Kuo Kuana tomorrow morning... which means we lose. We lose everything. If we have to kill people we pick them very carefully."

He winced, straightened a little as if ready to argue... then slumped tiredly. "...dammit. Our grandparents should never have taken that deal. All Menagerie does is give those assholes a hostage to use against us, better to have just started the war for our rights then and there."

"Not their fault three of the kingdoms reneged on their promises, or that the last one is an anarchic mess." Ilia said quietly. "And at least a lot of faunus have a safe place to grow up now."

"...I guess." Van leaned back with a quiet groan, his back resting against the windshield as Sienna hopped onto a crate and waved for the workers to approach. "Think they'll appreciate what we've done for them?"

It was too far for them to really hear whatever speech the High Leader was giving, but she could read the crowd's body language easily enough. Maybe half, all of them faunus, were practically weeping and looked ready to mob Sienna in celebration. The others were somewhere between aghast, horrified, and terrified of what had happened and what it would mean for their lives.

"...not as much as either of us would like. This place was awful, but it was the only job most of them could get." She sighed. "Company script or not, processed and crap food or not, it was probably still better than what they'd get on the streets in Mistral."

"Fucking humans. Fucking Mistral." He shook his head and let it rest backwards. "...think I'll get leave back home for this little hole in my shoulder?"

She shrugged, not minding the change in subject. "I'd guess so. You've probably got a few weeks of recovery unless you want your aura unlocked."

He shuddered a little. "No thanks. The super powers are cool and all but I'd rather not need years of training that still results in me being a walking Grimm-magnet at the end."

That made her smile a little, "Fair enough, I guess. Come on, looks like she's directing the ones who want to leave to that truck. Let's get you in the back and get ready as well."

Soon enough they'd be back at camp... and she'd have to tell Blake about what she'd done.

And talk to Adam about what he'd nearly done.

And I'm ahead of schedule, so we'll see if we can change the releases to be Monday/Thursday instead of just Mondays. Here we get the events from the raid scene in the Adam character short, and next we'll get to deal with the aftermath as well as meeting up with a young and idealistic crusader named Blake.

Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."

Thanks, Kat