After Nina disconnected from the call, Ray looked at the coordinates she sent. It was a warehouse belonging to one of the crime houses.
"Why she wants to meet in the Vagabond?" Neil was questioning her decision. "We could simply convert on her position."
Ray was deep in thought. It was almost as if he completely ignored the red-head's remark.
"Are you liste…"
"I am," the one-eyed man rebuked without emotion. "Was just thinking about the location."
"Of where they took Vivian?"
He said something under his breath and shook his head. Neil could not hear what his words were, so he raised an eyebrow and decided to ignore that.
"The rest is probably on their way to the pub," he finally said towards Ray.
"Yeah," a simple answer that didn't bring anything to the conversation. Was Merlot in shock that Vivian was caught? So, he does care, went through his mind.
They both headed towards the meeting point. Raymond had already recovered from the apparent shock and led the group. Walking in silence was starting to annoy Neil, and he needed something to take his mind off of his slowly growing headache.
"It seems that our work was a waste of time, was it not?" He said towards his companion.
"No work is ever a waste of time," he answered in a cold, monotonous cadence. "We still got information that might prove useful at some point."
"Well, yeah… I was just filling the silence," Neil continued to massage his left temple with his thumb.
They shorty got to the Vagabond, and all their Faunus friends were already there. They used Nina's and Gran's room as the conference space of sorts.
"Good," the mouse Faunus started when the remaining Huntsmen arrived. "We should walk through the plans of the warehouse."
She closed the door. She then displayed a 3D model of the building plans in a hologram form in the middle of the room.
"How did you get that?" Amethyst was visibly confused.
"I hacked the local network of the…" Nina shook her head. "That's not important right now! We don't have the time to go through that. What we need is a plan of action!"
"We won't achieve anything if we go on about that rushing and emotional," Neil stepped in front of the model, inspecting it from all angles.
"That space belongs to Hana," Ray suddenly threw into the conversation.
All eyes were on him in a mixture of confusion and shock.
"Wasn't Hana the gang that we promised to get the boss's son?" Amethyst asked quickly.
"That's why it makes so little sense to me," the man also stepped to inspect the plans with his arms crossed on his chest.
"So was the kidnapping act a ruse?" Gran was bewildered.
"If it was, we would already be dead."
"I don't understand this," The huge Faunus sat down on the bed, looking blankly into space.
"Of course you don't," Ray said under his breath, and only Neil could hear him.
"Let's just focus on getting Vivian out, ok?" Nina suddenly interjected.
"It seems their security measures aren't that advanced," Neil started sharing his thoughts. "It's Atlas tech but outdated by few years."
"I hacked them so I know that it can be bypassed with relative ease," Nina threw in. "That part of the plan isn't the actual problem."
"Yeah," Neil was still massaging his left temple. "We don't know how many people are guarding the complex, but knowing our heavy hitters," he looked at Gran and Amethyst, "they shouldn't be much of a threat."
The lizard Faunus punched her open palm. "We can turn that place upside down."
"And if there are some actual opponents that require actual skill, I can take them out," Ray added, with a smirk on his face.
Amethyst narrowed her eyes, glaring at the one-eyed warrior.
"It's hard to say for sure," Neil continued, "but my best guess is that they might be keeping her in one of those rooms." He pointed out the two biggest rooms in the complex. "They need a lot of space to keep all the kidnapped victims."
"If so, we would have to go through this corridor," Ray butted in, pointing out the middle section of the storehouse. "And it looks like we would have to go through the entire building to get to one of those rooms."
"Don't forget that we're freeing everyone," Gran suddenly added. "Not just Vivian."
Ray just grumbled, looking bothered, but he stayed quiet.
After some careful consideration, Neil added: "So Nina can deactivate the surveillance," he pointed out a line just outside of the building, "while I can take care of the door. Any unwelcomed guests can be met with Ame's and Gran's fists. We rush towards those two rooms and check for prisoners." He finished by tapping the chambers in question.
"We also need an escape plan," Ray added while circling around the hologram. "It doesn't seem like there are any fire escapes?"
"Who designed this building?" Nina was abhorred by the layout.
"Clearly someone who didn't care for the safety of anyone inside," Amethyst threw in what was on her mind.
"Or by someone who didn't have time to get it done," Ray added.
"So it seems like the only way out is also the way in…" Neil said slowly. He wasn't fond of the fact that there was seemingly no other route.
"So we get in, bust everyone out, and that's that," Gran stood up, looking at everyone. "Can't get any more simple."
"I really don't like that plan," the red-head was still considering what other options they had.
Nina took a closer look at the plans. "Gran could brute force an opening," she said, looking at the walls. "If he has enough aura left, he could destroy one of the walls here," she pointed at a specific side of the rooms they targeted. "It doesn't support the weight of the warehouse, so destroying it wouldn't make it collapse."
"Still," Neil looked at the girl. "I think we could consider that a plan B."
A sudden clapping echoed throughout the room. Everyone started franticly looking around, searching for the source of the sound. Only Raymond had his eye fixated on one point.
After the slow bravo came a female voice. "You really did an excellent job of digging up those plans and coming up with a strategy. Too bad it's where it all ends."
A gust of wind, then the sound of clashing blades. Raymond blocked an attack, but no one saw the enemy.
"You… You can see me?"
Raymond smirked, looking at the familiar woman with a pink mohawk. Both her hook swords were blocked by the Huntsman's weapon. Her look of confusion quickly changed to a confident smile. She jumped away and took a step to the side, and the maroon eye of her opponent followed her movement.
"Interesting," the mohawk girl smiled, standing wide on her legs with her weapons to the sides. "I wonder how you can see me."
"I was more interested in why no one else can," Ray asked, keeping his gaze on the opponent.
The girl's smile just widened, and she dashed towards the group. Merlot reacted, blocking the advance. Seeing as his companion stopped an attack, Neil whipped out his kusarigama. He attacked blindly where he suspected the enemy was, but the blade did not connect.
"In front of you!" Ray shouted towards Gran, who instinctively punched whatever might be before him.
The girl jumped up, avoiding the jab, and landed on the man's shoulders. She then clasped the hook ends of her swords on his neck and pulled. Activating his aura in time, he was able to avoid having his throat cut open. However, the pain of the experience wasn't a pleasant one. He grabbed the swords to keep them in place. Seeing the position Gran was in, Neil swiped the sickle of his weapon above him. The attack swiped through the air, avoiding any physical contact.
The woman let go of her swords to avoid the swing and, with a back handspring, landed directly next to Nina. Before the attacker could do anything else, Raymond already dashed towards her with his blade ready. With a vertical slash from beneath, he attempted to cut down the pink-haired woman. However, she quickly pulled out a pair of brass knuckle knives she had hidden behind her and blocked the attempt. With a swift torque of her body, she pirouetted behind Ray and attacked Neil.
Gran was holding the hook swords, catching his breath. He could see them, a pair of simple blades with curved points, a sharp edge for a pommel, and a crescent-shaped guard coming from the grip. He tossed the weapons aside and looked in the direction of the scuffle.
Neil got cut across his chest and stumbled back. He felt a kick to his legs, making him completely lose his balance. The moment he collided with the floor, Raymond jumped over him with a bolley kick, striking something in the air.
Nina noticed dust rising from one place on the floor and activated her semblance to create a bubble enclosing whatever was there.
"You missed!" Ray shouted, annoyed, and traded blows with the invisible woman.
"How can I trap something I can't see!"
The would-be assassin rolled backward towards her hook swords and picked them up. As Gran noticed the disappearing act, he punched the place the blades vanished from. His fist was grabbed by the hook, and the woman pulled the mountain of muscle towards her making him lose his balance. The Faunus collided with the floor while Ray jumped over him with another attack.
Amethyst, confused by the intrication, activated her semblance, sending a blinding flash of light across the room. Neil noticed the intent behind his partner's actions and averted his gaze. Everyone was briefly distracted by the brief glare, but Neil eyed the situation. Did he saw something?
"What the hell was that?" The one-eyed warrior shouted, trying to keep his eye open.
"I thought it might reveal what the hell are you fighting," she defended her decision.
"It seems I can't take you all alone," the mohawk girl stood in a defensive position with one eye closed. "At least not when one of you can apparently see me."
"You couldn't take me alone, and yet you think you could win with the whole group," Raymond smirked. "The balls on this one."
The pink-haired woman smiled. "I already like you."
Ray attacked the girl, but she deflected the blade and dashed towards the door. Merlot gave chase, and they both rushed out of the room. He tried to slash her across the back, but she was able to parry the attempt to the side. At the corridor of the inn, a younger man was mopping the floors.
"Stop her!" Ray shouted.
The boy raised his head towards the one-eyed warrior with confusion.
"Stop who?" He asked, baffled, while the woman slipped on the wet floor beside his legs and used one of her hook swords to change her direction towards the exit.
Ray blinked a few times, his eye still hurting from the flash of Ame's semblance. "Just get out of my way!"
He pushed the obstacle to the side and dashed behind the escapee. When he ran out of the pub, she was nowhere to be found.
"Damn it!" His rage attracted few confused stares from the people on the street. He got back inside and returned to the room.
"It seems we are compromised," Neil stated, still massaging his temple. The pain made him close his left eye from time to time.
"What the hell was that?" Gran said, holding his hurting throat. He let out an uncomfortable cough.
"You guys really didn't see her?" Raymond asked them even though he already knew that for a fact. For whatever reason, he was the only one who could see the attacker.
"I thought I saw someone," Neil answered. "Just for a brief moment, there was something like a shape? Almost like a ghost…"
"When?" Merlot asked, wanting to determine what could cause that.
"Just after Ame's flash…" He started to think, but the headache prevented him from formulating any coherent idea of what that implied.
"Her?" Amethyst raised an eyebrow, following on Ray's question. "The voice we heard was feminine," she nodded, stroking her chin.
"The ability to conceal herself must be her semblance," Nina added while she was looking into Gran's injury. "Still, why did Ray could see her?"
Merlot looked at everyone, hoping someone has an answer. Silence.
"We still have to go rescue Vivian, right?" Amethyst broke the short silence. "She's now in bigger danger. If that woman is the kidnapper, then she knows we are after her."
"She's not," Nina interjected. "The kidnapper was a man for sure."
"If she… they?" Neil was thinking for a short while. "If that semblance can conceal her, then maybe she can appear as someone else to others?"
"Speculating the nature of her abilities will get us nowhere," Ray stood in, pointing at the still displaying hologram of the warehouse plans. "We have a job to do."
Nina's ears drooped. "But we probably will encounter her there. How will we be able to fight her?"
Ray smirked. "Leave that to me."