Here we are again. So, I have a question for you guys real quick. If you are a reader from one of my other stories like An Unlikely Hero, Detective Grimm, Blind Huntsman, etc, then you know that I am quite the planner. I like to plan ahead, or at least mentally. I really should write it down, but that is more of a topic for another time. I want to know if you guys would enjoy one last big humungous chapter for the upcoming battle for Beacon. Of course, we are not there just yet, but you guys should already know that it is coming. This is fanfiction after all. And this chapter will be HUGE and wrap up everything that has happened in this story. If I had to guess for this story, probably around 30,000 words give or take depending on how I write it.

Or, I could break it up into a bunch of smaller chapters. Maybe like 3 or 4 6-8k word chapters. Personally, I think a huge chapter will be easier ironically because I can just keep going and going until it's done in about a week's worth of writing. And it would get out faster since I wouldn't have to wait for about 2 weeks in order to get the other chapters out. Thoughts? Please let me know in the reviews!

Beta: CrowSkull

Destiny Fated Black

Chapter 29

The Vytal festival began with roaring approval, The tournament itself was a hot attraction, thousands upon thousands of people were already lined up in the seats screaming and cheering on their home kingdom. People from all over the world, Vacuo, Mistral, Atlas, and of course Vale. It was like nothing ever bad happened, this festival and tournament was going to be something that people would remember fondly for years to come until the next festival came around, rumored to be hosted in Atlas or Vacuo next.

It was already something Ruby was never to go forget. Once, she'd been to one of the previous festivals when she was thirteen years old. Her dad took her and Yang to Mistral where it was being held, and she always remembered it as one of the most fun experiences she's ever had, even now after two years. Being able to attend another, albeit saddened to not be able to take part in it, was something that brought a smile to her face.

Yang and Weiss were the same way, sitting next to her and bickering on and on about their two different perspectives of the world around them as someone from the simple homey island of Patch and from someone who has lived their life able to get anything and everything they wanted with a literal push of a button. It was hilarious to listen to, and she had to keep taking Yang's side whenever she had to confirm something, which always lead to some betrayed feelings from Weiss. It was nice seeing them smiling however, after everything that happened, they needed this. The festival couldn't have come at a better time. It was the perfect distraction from what happened to Blake and everything going down in Vale. Actually, thinking of Vale, she's heard that not a lot has been going down there ever since that raid on a secret organization that has been all over every single news channel that ever existed. It's been quiet, a little too quiet for her tastes, but Harriet assured her that the reason that it was quiet was because the police and General Ironwoods men were cracking down extra hard on crimes and were hunting down and going after any visible sign of the White Fang. Which was great. Better it be professional huntsmen than four girls still in training.

Jaune, Nora, Ren, and Pyrrha sat in the row in front of them. They were all in the same boat that they were in, only that they didn't lose a teammate. Which was amazing. Ruby cried tears of joy when she heard that no one lost their life due to their injuries. It meant that she didn't just lose another friend. She didn't have to go through that pain again, and she could tell that Weiss and Yang were just as relieved as she was. It was sad that they couldn't participate in the tournament, and it brought worldwide disappointment to hear that not even Pyrrha could join. But it also came with great understanding. She'd crossed blades with Marcus Black himself and not only survived, but came close to assisting in his capture. With the disappointment came even more fanboys and girls, which was something the redhead was hilariously flustered about.

She did seem more reserved and exhausted than her other teammates, who all still wore an arrangement of bandages and casts for their wounds. But that was to be expected. Out of all of them, she fought the most and was arguably injured the most. She herself also had a number of visible yet healing wounds and bruises. Such as a pale complexion, bags under her eyes, and it looked like she was straining every time she was laughing or smiling. Ruby was worried about her in all honesty, but she was more happy over the fact that she was smiling in the first place.

Sun's team, abbreviated as SSSN — which made a small amount of sense but no one complained about it — were up next in the tournament's first round. After Blake's death, Sun took it a little harder than anyone else did. He tried to bring her to the dance and tried to get her to open up to him but each attempt lead to failure. Then at the actual dance itself, he tried to find Blake but failed to see her sneaking out of the ballroom after some girl screamed at Cardin for him trying to touch her. It was sad seeing him so depressed as he was. It seemed so out of character for him. He didn't even leave his shirt undone like he usually did. But as time went on, and having a good group of friends to lean on, he was able to finally pull himself out of that dark spot.

He really did like Blake. After seeing him share their pain, it was clear that he would be a friend of their team for the rest of time.

His team went up against some other team from Vacuo. Team INDG as Professor Ooobleck announced them. She couldn't hear what they were saying to each other as the professor eagerly went over the rules of the tournament and what is and isn't allowed to be used as a weapon, but she could imagine it was a bit of smack talk. There weren't many teams in Beacon that could back up their words, and although Sun's team is from Haven, they could and would very well back up their words with action. The all-girl team didn't seem all that approving of his confidence and Neptunes easy start to flirting with them from what she could guess. But what surprised her the most was when the stage all around them went from a bland wide open silver arena to half-desert and half-ocean after a digital dial spun to select the supposedly random stage set. She didn't know dust could be used like that, and Amity Arena must have had a massive stockpile of dust if it was able to produce that much sand, water, and trees and somehow sustain it. Dust was truly magical if you put it in the right hands. And what better hands to leave a giant flying arena powered completely by dust than Atlas?

The battle was intense and left her hanging on the edge of her seat. But in the end, Team SSSN came out on top. Once Sun got Neptune to get off his vantage point and get somewhere near the water, it was all over for the last remaining members of the all-girl team. As Professor Port was congratulating them and they were doing their little funny victory dance, Sun looked through the crowd and quickly found her and her team and JNPR, winked, and waved right at them. They all waved back excitedly. Ecstatic for the victory of their friends from Haven. They might have been from Mistral, and the headmaster of Haven might be in all sorts of trouble at the moment after it was revealed that he was the one responsible for the terrifying decline of huntsmen and huntresses. He was already replaced and the new headmaster Albedo was hand-chosen by the council of not only Mistral but from Ozpin and Ironwood as well.

The next fight that came next came in the form of Team CRDL. In some strange turn of events, they became the favorite out of Beacon to win. Besides the former Team RWBY and Team JNPR, they were in third place in terms of popularity in terms of first years. Team CVFY was the obvious betters to their minors, but Cardin and his team had the power of the underdog on their side. After everything that happened in Vale and the murder in Beacon. Cardin surprisingly showed a empathetic side that shocked literally shook all of the first years in their class when he came up to her, Yang, and Weiss two days after Blake was murdered and apologized to them for what happened, and for being an asshole. In front of everyone. Who knew?

So yes, it felt natural for her and the rest of her friends to cheer for Cardin, Russel, Dove, and Sky when they came up to the stage brandishing their weapons and waving to the crowd with excited expressions on their faces. Though the competition was tight and high against them when their opponents were a team from Atlas. The same team that Penny was on.

"Go, Penny!" Ruby cried out for the friend she hasn't seen in several weeks. "You can do this!"

Cardin somehow heard her and huffed indignantly.

"Er, you too Cardin! Good luck!"

Cardin rolled his eyes and prepared to fight. Across from them, Penny, her partner Ciel and their two other teammates all took a very professional and militaristic formation. It seemed that Ruby's cheers went completely one-sided.

"Pft, nice sis." Yang teased as she nudged her in the side. "After looking at that, I'd hope Cardin knows when to give up."

"He's strong," Jaune said with a strong nod of his head. "He might have been a bully before, but it isn't like he doesn't have the strength to be a huntsman."

"His entire team lost against Pyrrha," Nora pointed out with a giggle. "I might have forgiven him for being a meanie to Jaune, but we can't deny that there is a pretty big gap between our teams in terms of skill."

"That's because you guys have Pyrrha. It's Pyrrha." Yang shrugged. "She beats entire teams every day as a warmup. I bet its not even a workout for you, is it Pyr?"

"What?" Pyrrha looked at her with a confused and startled look on her face.

"I asked if you beating an entire team is hard for you," Yang repeated patiently. "And I bet it isn't even a workout for you."

"O-oh, nothing that dramatic." Pyrrha waved her off and didn't continue, simply turning her attention back to the tournament and watching it.

"Okay," Yang was slightly offended, but she didn't care to act on it. "That's a thing. Vomit Boy, make sure you check that out."

"Check what out?" Jaune asked, clueless.

Ren dragged a hand down his face and sighed. Typical Jaune and his denseness. Truly, he'd need something slapped in his face in order to actually understand something so simple like Pyrrha's feelings for him.

Ruby shook her head just as everyone else did and went back to watching the fight. It would be interesting seeing how Cardin would do against Penny and her team. She's never seen his semblance in action before, though she was told it had something to do with metal weapons and explosions. Which would sorta explain the whole explosive mace thing he's got going on.

Either way, she was going to enjoy the show. Nothing was going to ruin this for her and her friends.

Neo strolled through the festival grounds and nobody stopped her. Which was something she was both offended by and pleased of. It meant nobody recognized her, and if that was the case than her new disguise was a success. Instead of the black-haired green-eyed form that wore a skirt that was known around Beacon as one of Cinder's teammates, she was in a new ashen haired form with blue eyes instead. Practically polar opposites of that previous illusion. It became so easy for her to change appearance that it became second nature to her, and Marcus gave his okay on this particular form, so that was a plus in her book. What was more important was the lopsided set of faunus dog ears she had on top of her head. She was here for a reason, not to have fun, unfortunately.

Getting into the festival itself was nothing short of flashing a fake ticket shaped from her illusion and getting let right in. This wasn't Amity, but it was the area below it that was reserved for games, events, concerts, and anything you can name that would see like fun to the mostly normie population of the world. Marcus would have been able to sneak in after stealing a ticket or just finding some other way in, but after his most recent stunts, he was pretty infamous in not just Vale but around Remnant as a whole. He was the number one most wanted man after all, and funnily enough the second most wanted was Cinder after Marcus had ratted her out. So it was better to send the girl that was barely known and had a semblance to make illusions for just about anything the human imagination could think of instead. It was the smartest choice, and even if she did get caught she could just make herself invisible, hop in her little pocket dimension, and appear somewhere else.

As much as she would have enjoyed the little activities she saw all around her, she was on a mission given to her by Marcus. See if she could find any sign of the White Fang, infiltrate them, find out what they are planning and then report back to him. A simple stealth mission that shouldn't take more than a few hours. Or at least that was what she thought.

It turned out not every group of faunus she walked up to were part of the White Fang. It might have been some of the second-hand racism that Roman had rubbed off on her, but she honestly found herself a little disappointed a slightly ashamed when her little hints and hand signs that were known throughout the White Fang went completely ignored or weren't understood whatsoever. It was definitely Roman's fault. She didn't know how he did it, he could just walk up to a faunus and know that they were part of the White Fang before they even confessed it themselves. Marcus would probably be able to do better too. Bah, now she was getting jealous for no good reason.

Eventually, she did find what she was looking for in the form of a poorly hidden weapon stashed in the back of some guys pants. Not willing to make the same mistake a fourth time, instead of walking up to him she simply tailed him for a few paces. The man with whiskers on his cheeks and fox ears on his head wore pretty normal clothing. Nothing particularly inconspicuous in a simple hoodie and blue jeans with pretty normal-looking shoes. The only thing that gave him away was the gun he had hidden in his pants. After about a minute, he stopped and talked to a friend of his who looked just as inconspicuous as he did, which was none, and the moved on to the next. This carried on for a few more minutes until the group grew to about six or seven people. Five men and two women.

They all stopped and Neo made sure to blend in with the crowd, but kept one of her eyes on them as she pretended to look at something an owner of a flea market was selling. Just one last thing to confirm before she moved in.

One of the women flashed a White Fang mask before hiding it back under her shirt. The men around her nodded their heads and welcomed her. Neo smirked and moved in, making her presence known as she walked straight at them and with a bright expression on her face. The group noticed her and were immediately on guard.

"Hello, is there anything we can do-" Neo shut him up after performing some quick gestures. A very simple sign-language devised by faunus in the White Fang. It told him that she was one of them, and the man replied with a nod of his head. "Welcome sister," He said in a more quiet voice. "I wasn't aware there were any more of us here, are you here for the event as well?"

Neo didn't know exactly what 'event' meant, but she nodded her head anyway.

"What's wrong? Why won't you speak?" One of the other women asked. "Was that supposed to be a yes."

Neo nodded her head a second time.

"Calm, sister," The original man she was tailing said in an authoritative tone. Interestingly, it turned out that he was the leader of this little group. Maybe he was an officer? He might have some crucial for her to report back to Marcus later. "Everyone has their quirks and preferences. Though, this is important to know, can you speak if we need you too?"

Neo was prepared for this inevitability. With a faked sad frown, she pulled down the collar of her hood in the illusion and showed the group a series of scars that ran around her entire neck and throat. She made it look like a brand, a brand from the SDC. The group before them swore and cursed the humans and the Schnee's. Promising that they would kill them all for everything they did against the faunus.

"Damn Schnee's," The leader cursed under his breath. "I can see what your is motivation for being here now. Come with us, there is to be a short meeting commencing soon. You are welcome to attend."

And just like that, Neo was in. She pulled that article of clothing up again to cover her throat, and she followed the rest of the group into a dark alleyway formed by tents and small portable buildings. She let the group ahead of her after opting to stay behind. Even if she had their trust, it wasn't smart to put herself in the middle of them. Cinder was smart, and the ones that she was working with had to be as well or else they wouldn't have been deemed worthy enough to work with her in the first place. Just in case she needed to escape, she had an open path behind her and more than enough time to hop into her semblance and disappear.

They lead her through a 'staff only' part of the festival and that was where things started to get a little more obvious for her. Faunus workers were knocked out and tied up, while their human counterparts lied dead on the floor in a puddle of their own blood. They were executed, a simple gunshot to the back of their head while they were forced to wear a bag over their head. Neo was numb to the sight of corpses, so it didn't bother her at all. She didn't even spare them a second glance as she followed further into the captured part of the area. The group before her all stopped in the center and after a few minutes of mingling around more of their kind filed through. The small meeting that the man mentioned earlier turned out to include a few dozen more people all crammed into one small area. Neo started to get a little worried and tried to stick to herself mostly, but she just couldn't find a spot to call her own completely. Some tried to speak to her, she flashed her fake scar, and they left her alone. When they started putting on their White Fang masks, she made an illusion to make it look like she was wearing one as well. Even when people saw her do it they didn't seem all that bothered by it. It was a semblance at the end of the day, and even when she worked with Roman she wasn't all that popular with the members of the White Fang. The only ones who might know of it were the slightly less incompetent officers of the terrorist organization that she was forced to work with from time to time before Marcus even showed up in Vale. And even then, none of them were here and they wouldn't recognize her new disguise anyway. That was the thing with her illusions, they looked real. You could even touch them and your brain would trick you into actually feeling it. They made sound and could fight, but they couldn't actually hurt people. That was the one con in an ocean of pros that she has mastered over the years.

After what seemed like another ten to fifteen minutes, people finally stopped filing into the little area that they were in. If it weren't for the tent's roof it what seemed to be a break area for the staff, anything above them like drones or just some lucky idiot would have been able to spot them. That was the only thing that protected them from detection. It was like they were all hiding in plain sight. Neo waited some more and all of the officers lined up on the front wall with a whiteboard with some plans and tactics written onto it. Neo looked at it and took a mental snapshot, but it wasn't anything she and Marcus didn't already know, so she stopped focusing on it and waited along with everyone else for whoever they were waiting for. Whoever it was, they had to be important to draw this much of a crowd. Most of these people looked like they were just enjoying themselves, and that was confirmed when she overheard two brothers complaining how they just wanted a single day to enjoy the festivities of the Vytal Festival before having to go back to work again.

Neo narrowed her eyes ever so slightly as she saw the unmistakable sight of bright red step into the room. Red hair, a custom-designed White Fang mask, black outfit and a long hilt that held his sword. Adam Taurus. Neo met him once, but he was the kind of person you just couldn't forget after meeting him once. She knew that he was the leader of the Vale's branch of the White Fang and heard that he was very powerful and skilled. She didn't doubt it, he looked like he meant business and never wasted time with anything he didn't need to. Marcus would want to know about this. Especially since Adam wasn't alone.

Another man was with him. He wore a long dark brown trench coat that was completely open on the front, revealing a very scarred chest and the rest of his outfit and potential weapons were hidden underneath said trench coat. His eyes were bright yellow and almost seemed to glow in the dark. What threw her off the most was the ear to ear grin that almost split his entire face in half as he looked on throughout the crowd. He had an uncomfortable aura without him. Just by being near him Neo felt like creating more distance between the two of them. Even more so when his long and scary looking scorpion tail came out in a stretch and wrapped around his waist.

The look in his eyes told her that he was insane. He's seen things, killed things, and didn't care about the consequences. The scariest thing about this unfamiliar face was that she had no idea who he was. She's never seen him before in her life. Maybe Marcus might have known, and just in case she fished out her scroll and snapped a quick picture of the man. Her semblance hid the entire action from visible sight, but she couldn't help but feel like he knew somehow. Every time the man looked around, it was always in her general direction.

"Is everyone here?" Adam spoke up, drawing the attention back to himself.

One of the officers came up and did a quick headcount. They actually had more than they expected.

"Good, now, this is Tyrian." Adam started, introducing the man beside him. "He is a sympathizer to our cause and will be working with us for our Vytal Festival Project."

"Hehe, that's one way to put it~" Tyrian said with a giggle. The closest faunus to him backed away after hearing it. "No need to be fearful around me, I will be working closely with your boss here. Believe me, my skills are going to be needed, and I have a very particular set of skills that are going to be very useful to this cause of yours. Hehe… You can all thank me later."

"Treat him as one of ours, or you will be hearing from me." Adam continued as if Tyrian didn't just terrify the entire group. "Does everyone understand their roles in what is to come? Or do I need to go over your part just one last time?"

A few hands raised slowly. Neo was tempted to raise hers as well, but it was better not to draw too much attention to herself so early.

"Hmph, very well. When the signal is given you will hear my voice across all intercoms," Adam said as he crossed his arms. It sounded like he explained this many times before, and likely had. "Once that happens, you will create as much chaos as possible. Attract attention to yourselves, scare people. That's it. I will give my speech to the world and Cinder will do the rest for us. Just follow our lead, that's all you have to do."

No one questioned him. No one even tried to go against him. That wasn't enough, she couldn't just go back with what they already figured was going to happen. They already knew something was going to happen during the festival they just didn't know what exactly it was going to be. Neo frowned in frustration as not a single person dared even raise a hand to ask for more details. Sheep, that's what they were. Beaten, obedient sheep listening to the big bad wolf in fear of making him angry.

With an internal curse, Neo made to raise her hand. Better to take a risk than leave with nothing and chance never getting this close to finding them again. Having Adam right here was just too big to pass up.

"No questions?" Tyrian's voice sounding out made her snap her hand back to her side. "Not a single one? We're telling you to kill people you know, that's pretty much a given if you want to be a part of this little operation."

"Tyrian," Adam's warning went completely ignored.

"Hm, not even I had no quarrels when it came to my first kill," Tyrian went on as nobody dared challenge him. "There's always the tears at first, but then came the joy. The blood tasted sweet in my mouth, my heart was beating violently and pleasurably. I just couldn't help but do it again and again. I started to get bored and wanted to go after the next big fish, so I trained myself to kill and here I am now. But still, no questions? Ha! And I'm supposed to be the crazy one?"

He hopped down from the small stage and walked into the crowd. The sheep spread apart to make a path for him. Not even Adam tried to stop him. He just watched and waited to see what was going to happen next.

"Come on, I'm sure there's a question boiling underneath your skin right now," Tyrian said as he walked around. "How do I kill? What do I kill? Where do I cause chaos? Who should I target? All those basic things, and yet I still hear no one."

Neo started to get nervous, there wasn't any more space to back up.

She felt her heart drop when he pointed a finger directly at her.

"I think you have a question," Tyrian said with wide yellow eyes as his finger pointed accusingly at her. Everyone that was near her broke away and left her alone against the obviously insane man. Abandoned quickly, she was forced to hold her ground. Looking completely unphased was out of the question, it was probably considered normal to look scared when it came to facing this man head-on. "Yes, you with the white hair and pretty little dog ears. You look like a fighter."

In a flash he ran right up to her, looking straight into her illusioned blue eyes. Neo backed her back up against the wall and kept an eye on that tail of his. She didn't know how lethal the venom might be, but she didn't want to test it and see for herself.

"The look in your eye, the pep to your step, and your small stature all tell me that you're used to seeing and spilling blood. Tell me, have you ever killed before?"

Many, many times. But she couldn't say that out loud even if she wanted too. Instead, she pulled down her collar and showed the man the scars on her neck. Implying that she wasn't able to talk anymore.

"Hm," Tyrian replied but touching her neck with his filthy hands that were still wet with blood from some earlier kill. "I see, a nice pretty brand of the SDC. Just like our friend over there," He pointed to Adam over his shoulder, who scowled at him in response.

Neo hoped that he would stop there, but that was her first mistake. Hope.

"Only in his case, his scar is actually real."

She didn't know how she knew, but when Tyrian's sleeve burst open as wrist blades cut through the leather-like a hot knife through butter and tried to slash her throat open, the moment his blade made contact with her aura she shattered away like glass. Neo, the real Neo, ducked under his attack and flexibly kicked him directly in the throat. Purple aura flared but Tyrian didn't look all too injured by the blow. She flipped away and landed on her feet, no one tried to attack her, but she was revealed now. Pink and brown hair and all.

"Ah, I knew it!" Tyrian exclaimed as he threw off the rest of his coat and activated the other wrist blade. He didn't even seem phased by her kick. "There was something off about you from the start! It was the scent, you didn't smell of fear like the rest of these sheep were."

Adam landed beside him, hand on his hilt and clothes glowing red. "Kill her." He uttered out.

Neo instantly turned around and slashed at the people blocking her way. She cut a few of them and probably killed one but she didn't care. She had to run and get out of there. She didn't like her chances against just Adam and much less against that insane man fighting alongside him as well. She cut a large hole in the tent and forced herself through it, leaving an illusion of herself to cut cleaved in half by Adam's semblance as she broke into a sprint and ran as fast as she possibly could. She could hear one of them tear through it and chase right after her, and she didn't even turn her head around to check.

Caution and subtlety were thrown out the window the moment Tyrian shot the guns on his wrist blades. Neo ducked and covered her head and let her aura do the rest. Blocking and deflecting bullets that came in contact with her pink aura. Now everyone knew that they were there and there was a new time limit. Not just police, but huntsmen were certainly going to be on their way. Gunshots in the Vytal Festival was considered a felony and a serious crime since it was supposed to be a time of great positivity.

She wanted to use her semblance and escape right there and then but that took time and concentration. She needed a second to focus but she didn't get that second. Sprinting as fast as she was and running away from two of the most dangerous men she knew plus being forced to duck and weave around obstacles that were in her way forced her to just focus on running. At this point, her survival was more important than whatever information she could gather for Marcus to plan through, and she knew he would understand.

Her athleticism and flexibility was put to the test as she sprinted and squeezed through openings that'd usually be too small for any normal human to get through. Jumped and rolled over and under obstacles like fallen tables or stabilization posts along the ground. Yet each time she turned around he was right behind her. Tyrian's yellow eyes were now a neon-bright purple, and his aura was flaring erratically around his hands and making a sickening almost Grimm-like sound. She didn't want to know what that would do to her, and wasn't willing to wait and let him catch up.

Finally, they burst out into the public areas. With no time to think and no time to acknowledge the screaming and panicking useless civilians in her way, she barreled through them. Despite her small size, she was still stronger than most men and women and they couldn't even attempt to block her even if they wanted too. She kept running and sheathed her sword, it useless to keep it out if she didn't intend to use it anyway. Looking over her shoulder for a moment she widened her eyes with shock. Not only did Tyrian do the same thing she was doing, but he was also slashing and stabbing people along the way as well. Injecting people with his venom and slashing at those who got in his way while Adam glared death at her through the mask, uncaring for the innocent lives that were lost. Some spasmed from the venoms effects while others died immediately. Having no aura and no durability training left them hopeless and they died quickly. Neo forced herself to look away as she felt her heartbeat even harder as the fear started to settle in. She wasn't scared of anyone, or anything. But Tyrian… he scared her. She didn't want anything to do with him if she could help it. Roman teased her by saying she acted a little crazy sometimes when she had to kill people, but she never giggled madly out loud and go on a wild killing spree for fun like this guy was. He just didn't care. There was no remorse. No regret. Only fun and excitement.

"Tyrian!" Adam called out to the crazed lunatic as they chased after her. "This is pointless, we're just going to draw the attention of huntsmen this way!"

"A little too late for that, isn't it?" Tyrian shouted back as he continued chasing the mute. "Besides, this is one of the ones Cinder wants dead right? She said I get bonus points for cutting off her head! I don't want to miss that chance!"

Cinder sent him to kill her and Marcus!? No, she couldn't think about that though. All she needed to know was that Marcus needed to know about that when she got back to him, and thankfully, there was a clearing just ahead of her. Once she had some breathing room she could-

Neo gasped as she felt a hand grip her wrist and yank her back with strength she was not prepared for. If it weren't for her aura, her shoulder might have dislocated. She turned and was met with the fearsome maniacal grin that was Tyrian's smile. She felt his hand grip the aura on her wrist, and to her horror, his purple erratic aura somehow melted away her own aura.

His semblance was aura negation, her mind quickly figured out. She didn't let him cut off her hand and she twisted her body to the side and somehow managed to move her arm in such a way that Tyrian missed his mark and clipped himself on the hand. He didn't expect the movement that lead to her suddenly being on his back, and he was forced to let got when Neo stuck her umbrella between his hand and fingers and hit the button to open it. She then jumped off of her back and flipped over Adam's predicted horizontal slash that might have gotten anybody else, but she predicted him perfectly and kicked him in the back of his head and used him as a board to flip herself into the air a second time. Adam and Tyrian crashed into each other and fell to the ground. Both of them cursing at the other as their clothes and weapons got tangled with each other in a stroke of good luck for Neo.

"There they are!" A mans voice cut through the action. Neo only chanced a glanced and saw a brown haired huntsman with what looked to be an Atlesian uniform on, and he wasn't alone, he had about three others with him. A team of Specialists then, they can handle those two if he wanted too. She was going to get out of there while they drew the attention to themselves.

While Tyrian and Adam were wrestling on the ground, she started activating her semblance and heard the tell-tale sound of glass shattering all around her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, feeling herself disappear into her semblance.

For the first time in a long time, she cried on in pain as a bullet pierced into her left calf and dug its way into her bone. Somehow piercing through her aura. She nearly lost her concentration and fell to the ground, but she forced herself to push through the pain and successfully managed to get into her homey little pocket dimension.

Adam held a gun that was smoking at the barrel, scowled when he watched his target disappear anyway, and holstered the weapon and helped his ally up.

"You have a gun?" Tyrian asked, understandably perplexed.

"A special kind, I'll explain later."

"Get them!" A female huntress screamed as yellow lighting coiled all around her.

"No, stop!" The same brown-haired man cried out.

"STAY!" A dark-skinned Specialist shouted. The woman with the speed semblance suddenly slowed down to a slug's crawl. Just as Adam's clothes and hair turned bright red as he activated his semblance. He didn't know what kind of damage an attack from his semblance at full power was going to do, but it was time to find out. Sadly enough, before he could let it out the speed huntress was tackled to the ground by a much larger woman. Tyrian ducked in front of him as well, and a massive arc of red and black energetic flames burst out in front of him. Cutting away people who were too stupid to get out of the way and destroying everything else in its path in a cone shape extending forward about thirty feet.

When Clover came back out of cover once the damage was done, Tyrian and Adam were already running away. He wanted to chase them, he really did. But there were injured and dead around, leaving them behind without his good luck semblance was a recipe for disaster. And Vine's arms were cut badly after he blocked a portion of Adam's attack with his own semblance. Marrow was shouting at Harriet and Elm was just exhausted and defeated as she looked around the bloody crime scene.

Clover sighed. If only they arrived just a minute sooner, they could have prevented all of this chaos.

"The council isn't going to like this…" And frankly, he didn't either.

Neo limped through Vale and winced with each step as she made her way back to her and Marcus' hideout. Some way somehow, the bullet managed to pierce through her aura and into her leg. She could still feel it there now, and she was losing blood fast. It must have been a hollow point bullet. She's been shot before and knew what it felt to get shot by each type of bullet. It was part of her training to be able to distinguish between each type.

She needed to get back to the hideout. He needed to know… She needed to keep Roman's promise. They were being hunted, and this time not by an assassin, but by someone she felt was a lot worse.

Whatever was going to happen next she felt it was coming soon, and fuck, her wound was throbbing like hell...

Another Marcus-less chapter. It's needed unfortunately, he has to plan for what is to come and the rest of the cast are going to need their spotlights for now until the action settles in. Going the save the next scene for the next chapter, enough happened here and I don't need to make such huge chapters so often just yet. That's for the finale part once I get that started if you guys give me some positive input for the prompt I gave earlier in the first AN.

By the way, Clover and part of the Ace Ops showed up in that last part there. It happened really fast so I'll give a quick breakdown. Clover's semblance inadvertently saved Neo, Harriet was charging in as Adam charged his attack, Marrow used his semblance on her and Elm tackled her down before Adam struck and Vine tried to protect everyone with his semblance and got hurt because of it. Put that here just in case. I might have been able to do it better, but it is a really fast-paced scene and things were happening fast all over the place. Just like real life in some situations? Bah, that's just me being lazy. Sorry about that.

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