Here we go, let's get this done.

Beta: CrowSkull

Destiny Fated Black

Chapter 30

Clover looked around the crime scene that was the aftermath of the chaos that ensued just an hour or so ago. The people that were injured were already taken or lifted off to a hospital and those that were not so fortunate to have just sustained an injury were left behind for now as part of the crime scene. He already had Marrow and Vine place down different marks and outlines of each important mark and blood splatter, and it wasn't like it was a total mystery of who committed the crime since they all saw who did it. Adam Taurus, a well-known figure in Atlas for his crimes against the kingdom and the Schnee Dust Company. And after some research and getting back with Winter and Ironwood, Tyrian Callows. The latter was much less known than the former, known as a simple serial killer who trained in his own style specifically designed to kill huntsmen. As soon as his name came up, his profile went up to one of the most wanted men in the world. Already on par with Marcus and Adam themselves.

So they already knew who did it, they just wanted to know why and what caused this. There was a third party involved as well. Someone they know nothing about other than an alias. Neopolitan, or as she prefers to be called by, Neo. It was only for a few seconds, but there was no mistaking the pink and brown color palette that was burned into his mind after he looked over her profile and what pictures and recordings there were of her. Apparently, she worked closely with Roman Torchwick and acted as his muscle in some way or another. But now that Roman was dead, what else could she be doing? The immediate thought that came to mind was that she was now working with Marcus. But why?

The 'why' could be answered with that Livestream that Marcus broadcasted to the whole kingdom to incriminate Emerald Sustrai, and it worked very well landing the young girl in prison for the rest of her natural life in the tightest and darkest corner in the Atlesian mountains far to the North-east of the world. But no one bought it for a second that Marcus was seriously turning over a new leaf. Sure, he might be trying to stop Cinder and the White Fang as well, it was understandable. After hearing what he heard about the organization and how they killed his wife and forced him to kill his disillusioned son, that could break any man and make them do very strange things. But despite that, he wasn't considered an ally. At first, Clover was somewhat empathetic toward him, but after reading his profile and the entire list of crimes that were listed — and those were the ones that were actually known — there was no potential alliance with the man.

All this chaos spilled blood, and innocent lives lost. What did it all lead up to? Was this just all for the power of one unconscious girl in Beacon's basement? It seemed pointless to him. With the might and intelligence of Atlas and Beacon on their side, Cinder couldn't hope to try and get close to her. Especially after she was now known for being the main mastermind behind everything happening in Vale. She lost the element of surprise. They not only knew that something was coming, but they expected it.

Another thought for another time. He was a Specialist for a reason, and not just because he was good at fighting people and killing Grimm. What made him a Specialist was his detective skills and his luck.

General Ironwood asked him to find out anything he could about the reason behind this sudden battle and chase and ordered him not to come back until he has something. It might have been a little over the top, but he understood the General's sternness. People died today. On a day that's supposed to be radiating happiness and positive feelings. It was already a nightmare keeping this from the hungry eyes of Lisa Lavender and the press, but they couldn't hide it from the people that actually witnessed it with their own eyes. They had to hold on hope that no idiots recorded what happened and posted it on some social media website. As depressing and cruel as it may seem, this just couldn't become public yet. The people of Vale and those attending the festival didn't need terrible news, especially the students.

The crime scene extended further than what was just visible in the wide cone-shaped burned area that was left behind from the attack from Adam's semblance. They tracked the carnage all the way back to one of the staff areas within one of the large tents. There they found three dead humans with their throats slashed and terrified faunus workers with binds on their arms, legs, gags, and masks over their heads. Clover tried to question them first, but apparently they were knocked out from the start and woke up as they were now. Terrified and scared, and they didn't know anything. That was a dead-end, so Clover tried to piece together how everything went down from there.

Where the dead humans and the hostages were are signs of a meeting of some kind. It had to be for members of the White Fang since Adam and Tyrian were there. So if Adam was hosting a meeting and possibly going over plans, what was Neo doing there? She clearly wasn't an ally if she was attacked like she was. He saw it himself, they were trying to kill her. So it was safe to assume that she wasn't there to make amends. Which meant that she was there to potentially spy on them and find out what their plans were.

If so, she didn't do a very good job at it since she got caught. Assuming that was the case, he saw the spot where one of the bodies of a terrorist lied. A deep slash wound across his chest, collarbone, and then neck. He must have bled to death, and assuming from the number of bloody boot prints that were going right over and past him, no one bothered to even try and help him. Next to the poor bastard was a very clear cut hole into the wall of the tent. The fabric and cloth that the tent was made out of were very tough. Tough enough that even some weaker caliber bullets couldn't penetrate through it. So the fact that it was able to be cut through implied someone using a sharp weapon and had the knowledge of how to use it.

He had stepped through that hole and then followed the path of light carnage that lied beyond. It wasn't all that bad. Some knocked over barrels here and cut cloth there, some obstacles that were in the way as well. But nothing that even a normal person wouldn't be able to get through. The path leads right to the public grounds and that was where things got messier. People were pushed and injured, and some of them were dead due to deep gashes into their chests, backs, or necks. He didn't know why they would waste time killing people to get to their target, but evidently one of them decided it was the right thing to do. Not Adam, he was smarter than that, and not Neo either. She was running away from them. To waste time murdering everyone that got in her way would have gotten herself killed and this would be a very different kind of investigation.

That left only Tyrian, and he thought himself stupid for even considering the other two as suspects. The rest that happened was what he saw with his own eyes. Tyrian caught up to Neo, she maneuvered her way around them and got away after making them fall over each other, they arrived, Adam shot Neo with something and then used his semblance at full strength. Marrow used his semblance on Harriet to save her life and Vine nearly got himself killed defending the bystanders with his aura projecting semblance.

And now here he was, Vine was injured, Harriet and Elm were sent elsewhere to make better use of their skills, and while Marrow was doing his best to help out, his personality was weak and held him back from being as helpful as he could be. He wasn't useless, but he was always regarded as the weakest of the Ace Ops for a good reason and not just because he was still the newest addition to the team.

"What do you think we can do with this?" Marrow asked as he walked up to his leader. "There's plenty that they left behind, but it's not like we can do much with it…"

"Yeah," Clover replied. "They all got away too, and there isn't anyone worthy of questioning. Lucky for them… too lucky." With a sigh, Clover pinched the bridge of his nose. Cursing his passive semblance of good fortune.

"Hey, you can't control who your semblance affects," Marrow said with a reassuring smile, somehow knowing exactly what went through Clover's head. "Either way, it saved lives. I've seen Adam's semblance cut through tanks before. The fact that it didn't just cut through Vine and kill all those people… Man, talk about luck." Clover chuckled when Marrow winked. Yes, a good luck semblance was useful but it was a wide area passive effect. It could save him from trouble but also save his enemy. He'd heard that there was a counterpart to his good luck semblance but he never did have a one on one with that man, Qrow, he remembered his name.

"Yeah, you're right," Clover said with a sigh as he looked around the crime scene once again. "Even with all the luck, I could ask for I really don't know what lead we can take from this. We know something is coming, but all we can do is prepare for a vast amount of possibilities. Taurus is a known quantity, as is Callows…"

"Well, what about Neo?" Marrow asked with a shrug. "She's as much a mystery as any to investigate and we've got a blood sample from her after she got shot. It's not much, but it's something. I doubt that Tyrian and Adam are going to show themselves again and I'm damn sure Cinder won't either. This could be the only thing we've got."

Clover thought about it for a few moments, only to then nod his head in agreement. "I agree, it won't be much, but at least we'll figure something out. We might be able to find a reference from her blood sample and find out what she is doing and why she is working with the likes of Marcus and them, but there's always a chance that her existence might not exactly be official in the general data and identification information system of Remnant." People who lived out in the outskirts for instance. They could never really be documented citizens of any kingdom if they were never discovered or made contact with anyone outside their village. Unfortunately, that made it easy to fake an identity and come out of nowhere. Anyone could just walk into a kingdom and make an account for themselves there under any name because most of the time there wasn't enough evidence to prove that they were wrong.

However…

"There might be one way to get some real information on her," Clover said with a growing smile. A light bulb flicked on in his head and the ideas began to flow. "The organization facility that we just raided, they had technology that rivaled and even went beyond what Atlas is capable of. We might be able to use their technology and vast databanks to find something our own devices would miss."

"Really? That stuff still works?" Marrow asked, shocked.

"A lot of it was set to self-destruct after the place was found out, but with some of our best engineers that we brought over from Atlas we managed to repair some of it." Technically, that was top secret information that shouldn't be said in public like this. The tech that Atlas 'confiscated' was a deal made with the council of Vale if it meant destroying the facility within their own kingdom. It would push Atlas even farther ahead than every other kingdom, but being an ally of Vale already it didn't mean much. It was a small price to pay in order to get rid of a third of Remnant's assassins. "I could bring that blood sample of hers up to the flagship and see what I can do with it. Actually, before I end up regretting this, bring up what we have on Adam and Callows as well and send it to my scroll as soon as you can."

"Yes, sir!" Marrow saluted him and went on to do as he was ordered.

Nodding, Clover typed a number into his scroll and called for a Bullhead. He'd need to get to the flagship as soon as possible and process this potentially vital information quickly.

The blood sample of Neo and the many notifications his scroll was ringing off started to burn a metaphorical hole in his pocket as Clover raced up to the flagship in one of the fastest Bullheads that Atlas had to offer. After being forced to follow protocol and go through the motions that all Atlesian personnel had to go through in order to board the flagship, Clover speed-walked his way to where he knew all of the captured organizations' techs were being kept. Or hidden. He didn't care.

Ironwood's flagship was like one massive maze. One wrong turn and you'd end up going in the opposite direction that you intended to go. Thankfully for as advanced and intelligent that Atlas was, they kept the design of the ship simple. The soldiers and pilots had their own deck with all the necessities required so they wouldn't complain about anything, below that were storage and Bullhead landing pads and launch offs. Above the soldier's decks was the main piloting deck that actually controlled what the ship was doing and what cannons were fired and what was being fired along with the many control systems that helped steer the ship, the speed, etc. But on that same level was where the huntsmen and Specialists were kept. Where Ironwood himself would be around most of the time if he wasn't already helping with the control of the ship itself and giving out orders. There was a deck above even that which could be considered an 'Attic' of the ship so to speak.

That was where Clover was going, but in order to get there, he needed to get through the prisoner holding cells. For obvious reasons that were kept far away from the controls of the ship itself, and it would have been where they kept Roman Torchwick if he hadn't been killed in the ambush they had set up. High priority targets and prisoners were kept here. Right now, it was mostly empty. They'd caught a few of the assassins from the organization and were being held here for interrogation. And the 'Maids' that they had been using to fulfill their desires were sent to the best mental hospitals in the world. Well, the ones who didn't kill themselves, anyway.

Clover refrained from the urge to kick at one of the cells to wake them all up and rob them of their sleep. He wasn't going to waste his energy, they were already being interrogated by the use of 'advanced methods' so they were already facing the punishment that they deserved to go through.

After getting through there he nodded to some of the pilots and tired Specialists as he made his way through the upper deck. They were all working themselves to exhaustion just keeping the flagship where it was. Controlling such massive ships was a lot harder than it seemed, and it took a lot of teamwork and effort just to keep it hovering in one spot. Constant checks, constant adjustment against the wind, constant dust usage. He would have helped if he could, but he had a mission to take care of first. He entered the Specialist's deck and went deeper into one of the hallways. The very one where the private quarters of Ironwood himself stayed. After asking for special permission from James himself, Clover checked behind him and in front of him and double-checked to make sure no one was seeing him, then flashed his scroll in front of one of the lights keeping the hallway lit.

A hidden door opened with a hiss, and rows and rows of engineers and scientists all turned their heads to meet his. With a nod, Clover let himself in and shut the door behind him. They all recognized him, so they let him be and went back to what they were doing, which was trying to figure out how to replicate the technology that the secret organization was capable of producing. He ignored all of the crazy things they were trying to invent and made his way through the secret deck. He's only been there a few times, and he was the only one of the Ace Ops that actually knew that a place like this existed on the ship itself.

No one questioned why he was there, they knew he was there for something and didn't get in his way. He wasn't a regular visitor by any means, but he was a known quality among the Atlesian men. He was let through into the area that he wanted to get into and he finally found the place that he was looking for. It was similar to what one could find in a laboratory for experiments with blood and DNA and gene splicing. Except this was someone better. The original tech was destroyed in the raid, but there was enough left behind that they were able to rebuild it and get it operational again. Along with the large computer box as well.

Clover sat down in the cushioned seat and got to work. Neo's blood sample was kept in a corked bottle. How they were able to get it off of the ground before it dried up was beyond him, but there was enough in there to run a few tests and that was all he needed to find someone. He wasn't a scientist and didn't know exactly how to operate the machine and computer, but someone was kind enough to write down a simple manual for someone like him to try and understand what he was doing. He went through the steps from beginning to end. Turned on the machine and computer first, and typed in the login and password three times for it to actually enter its own system. He moved the mouse and clicked on a program labeled simply PEOPLE and opened it. At first, it was just a blank black box, but that just played into step 2 easily.

A small circular opening opened up for him in the machine, and with prayer and hoping that his good luck semblance kicked in, he poured all of Neo's blood into the machine. The machine whirled to life and immediately went to work. Almost immediately, Clover watched as that black empty box on the screen started filling with code of white text and numbers and then for a picture of Neo to pop up.

"Already?" Clover said as he read through the girl's information. It was all rather simple and somewhat mysterious. Some of it he already knew and others, he didn't. "No… there has to be more." Clover scrolled down and something instantly popped out at him. In the tabs that showed the girl's name, appearance, aura levels, and semblance was the term affiliation. And it read as such.

Affiliation: Former Master ranked, fulfilled rite. Last known appearance [REDACTED] Black [REDACTED] Working with To[REDACTED] CODE: BUTTERFLY-V:-

Clover stopped reading what he couldn't understand and growled in his frustration. Another dead end. He almost gave up but he couldn't stop there. There had to be something more than this amazing tech could do and pull off. There was just no way the data could be this damaged after everything that hyped them up until the raid. With a determined expression on his face, Clover went on to typing and trying to find something with the mouse. His good luck semblance has gotten him out of bad situations, helped in finding lost people, and saved lives. It had to be able to help him here as well.

Hours went by and he lost track of time. He constantly read through Neo's profile from beginning to end, played around with the machine and typed away at the keyboard with what limited computer skills he had. Until something happened, the black screen went blank again and his heart dropped. Only for it to soar as an entirely different profile was pulled up. He had to thank his luck for that because honestly, he couldn't thank his own skills for getting him this far.

You were right Marrow… Clover thought with a victorious smirk that turned serious once a picture of the same girl from before popped up on the screen that showed her in a much different light. Instead of the mismatched brown and pink hair, it was all brown, and her eye color was actually naturally a greyish-white. He would have thought she was blind if it wasn't for the clear black pupil in the middle. She looked bruised, dirty, and her expression was a far cry from the teasing smirk that she always seemed to wear whenever she appeared. Below it came to a completely different profile, and none of it was redacted in any way. This was what he was looking for.

First Name: Nea

Last Name: Poli

History: Nea Poli was a girl who lived on the outskirts of Vale who snuck her way into the kingdom some years before the events of Mount Glenn. She suffered from a condition that dwarfed her growth and never grew past the height of four feet, seven inches. With the condition brought an unusual youthful body that was reinforced by aura. Often confused to be much younger than she really is, Nea was a talkative girl and good with her words, manipulative, deceptive, and lived quite a good life on the streets. She often stole from stores and was self-trained. Exceptionally skilled in parkour and was unnaturally flexible. History before this point is unknown, but it is likely that her village was attacked by Grimm, for no other traces of family members were found aside from two men and one woman who lives in Vacuo. Considered for recruitment after successfully defeating and killing an assassin sent to kill a different target with a steel pipe sharpened to a point and edge. After some investigation and a retrieval contract done by a member of the Black family, it was found out that she possessed a very powerful illusionary semblance.

Trained by: Scarlet (Alias). In edged weapon combat. Her method was unorthodox and required extreme athleticism, flexibility and unusual use of an umbrella(Parasol?). Heavily mentally straining, and Nea Poli required breaking. Underwent Maid treatment, came out obedient, yet sharp. At the end of her training, Nea lost her ability to speak due to a traumatic mental disability development and in her anger, killed her own trainer. I remained as part of the organization for several years until the events of Mountain Glenn. Exercised her rite after becoming a Master Ranked assassin and successfully retired from the organization, picking up a new and different name after re-entering Vale's society.

New Name: Neopolitan

Last Name: Unknown

New Affiliation: Roman Torchwick and Cinder Fall

Beneath that was a picture of Neo as she was now. Smirking, strong, and with pink hair on one side and different colored eyes.

Possible Second Recruitment: Low

New Affiliation(Updated January this year): Marcus Black, ex-master assassin and deemed contractable to death.

Clover cursed as he read through the second part of the profile. It went on into many ways to get Neo back into their organization by force. The kidnapping of Torchwick before he died, the murder of Torchwick to rob her of what she had left to live, and even marked down exact dates of key events of Neo's life and everything that they could use against her from that list. When Neo first lost her voice, they declared this Scarlet trainer expendable and let her die from her hands, used her as a stealth weapon after that after they had an iota of her loyalty. It went further in-depth on how they could use Torchwick against her, and how they never really gave up on having on as one of their assassins.

Reading further into the profile revealed all of the contracts that she has carried out in the past. Contracts against normal everyday people contract against police officers and those in low governmental positions, and then it escalated from there dramatically. She was a stealth killer of assassins, and there was even a suspected mental illness list of what fucked her up in the head. She killed easily and with no remorse, whereas before, she was just another homeless girl just trying to survive and was just a little too good at it. Her hottest ever contract was on one of the council members of Vale who was rumored to be the one who made the official call to collapse the tunnels to Mountain Glenn, and the one who hired her was… Of course, it had to be Torchwick.

From there, she was basically a ghost. Only appearing where she was needed, and always under the disguise of her semblance's illusions. She only ever started popping up again two decades later which was around the time Cinder and Marcus came into town. That meant that Neo was actually in her late thirties or at least in her forties. It was crazy to think that a woman like her existed, but then again, a semblance that steals other semblances existed. Nothing was impossible these days.

Clover leaned back in his seat and ran a hand down his tired face, this new find was important for them to know, but it all felt a little too invasive to him. He tried to not look at the photos that were more revealing than others, and felt sick to his stomach after watching some of the videos of Neo 'training' and being 'treated'. Really, it was a wonder how the girl didn't go insane. His guess was that she quickly got close to Roman, who must have known about the organization from Marcus before he left Vale and Beacon, and picked her up from there. Be it out of pity or by some other ulterior motive, Neo chose him over the powerful organization.

And this rite that it went into… Brothers, he had no idea what to make of it. If Neo, or Nea Poli as her true name stands, had been found before this all happened to her he was sure that she could have become something much better. She'd have made a great huntress.

Clover sighed and clicked away from the profile, then proceeded to delete it all after making a backup of one copy and sending it straight to Ironwood. He trusted him not to abuse the information. James was a General with a lot on his hands, but he wasn't cruel.

With a yawn, Clover went to work on another person. With this technology, he felt like he could find anyone if he really wanted to. After the many hours of tinkering with the computer, he had a very vague sense of how to navigate its programs. Enough so that he didn't have to rely on the blood recognition machine at least.

If there was anyone Ironwood wanted to know more about, it was Cinder Fall. Adam was already known for being a high ranking officer in the White Fang. Tyrian was known for being a hunter-killer and maniac. Marcus was known for being a huntsman trained assassin with a semblance stealing semblance and for everything he has done so far. But Cinder Fall, there was nothing on her. No records save for the fake ones that Lionheart got busted for. She was a ghost.

"Let's fix that…" Clover whispered to himself as he went to work on the computer. One way or another, he'd find something. This organization seemed to know everybody and had a knack for invading someone's personal life. With this woman, he would have no quarrels seeing every little thing that ticked her off or pleased her and used that against her.

Some people just didn't deserve mercy or the pleasure of privacy.

Neo whined as she lied face down in the bed. Whimpering each time Marcus moved around a pair of stolen medical tweezers in her leg.

"Stay still," Marcus groaned as he held down her shaking leg. "Didn't you go through the same training I did? You should be numb to pain."

Neo kicked him in the face with her other foot.

"Stay still!" Marcus used his strength and forced down her other leg and waited for her to stop fighting, then sighed. Some people just didn't take the sensation of pain well. Or perhaps she didn't go through the same kind of training he did back then when he was a rising star in the organization. Either way, he needed to get this bullet out of Neo's leg. It's been hours since she got shot and he already felt bad for sending her out there and felt responsible for her injury. It didn't matter how important the information was, Neo's life was more important.

A dark chuckle escaped from his mouth at the thought of that. A few weeks ago, he wouldn't have cared about Neo at all. Now, he was feeling bad for her and attempting to pull a bullet out of her leg. Albeit haphazardly.

Hey, he's never gotten a bullet stuck in his body before. Usually, it went all the way through. With how powerful weapons are nowadays, it was really a rarity for bullets to get stuck in bodies. It didn't mean that it didn't happen, it was just rare. This was his first time trying to pull out a bullet and he went through the steps he made up in his head. He cut off Neo's pants from that knee down and disinfected it already. Now just came the hard part of actually taking the bullet out of her leg.

It looks like it got stuck in her leg right up against the bone. Marcus felt around with the tweezers, much to Neo's displeasure, and made a mental note of where it was. He made a small metal bucket to throw it in once he got it out, and Neo had a pillow to bite into to prevent herself from screaming and making a lot of noise. He often wondered if Neo could even make a sound, now he was wishing for her to shut the fuck up so he could concentrate.

"I got it!" Marcus exclaimed when he felt his tweezers pinch down on its target.

"NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!" Was Neo's reply.

Marcus motioned the bullet out of Neo's wound until he was able to see it. On a mental count to three, he decided it was best for him to get it over with and yanked it out of Neo's calf. Neo's scream was muffled by the pillow she was forcing her face deeper into, and there was blood everywhere. And it wasn't stopping.

"Shit," Marcus cursed as he grabbed a bandage and squeezed it against Neo's leg. But still, it wasn't stopping, and quickly Neo was getting more and more pale. The adrenaline must have finally faded, and she was losing consciousness. "Shit!" He squeezed as hard as he could on the wound and knew that it was going to bruise as a result. Neo couldn't lose too much blood, and there was no hope of getting her a transfusion and not landing her right in prison as soon as she recovered.

There was only one thing he could do. He couldn't stop the bleeding without hurting Neo too much, and the wound wasn't going to heal quickly even with Neo's aura being active. If it even could be active while she was knocked out.

Marcus calmed himself down and made his decision. He took in a deep breath and pressed a hand tight against Neo's injury. White aura flashed and flickered, then Neo's aura flashed and flickered. He let go of her wound and it was still there, but now it was healing and wasn't bleeding nearly as much. Neo snapped awake a few seconds later, her skin now much more the usual color as she flipped herself onto her back and looked around the room until she saw him.

After looking at him, she went down to her injury and looked at it. Amazingly. Impossibly. it was healing and the bleeding slowed down dramatically. With no further prompt, Marcus tied the bandage taught against her leg and nodded his head.

Neo nodded back knowingly and then spread her arms out to her sides expectantly.

"No," As much as Neo pouted, Marcus was never the hugging type of person. That didn't stop Neo from trying anyway, but she was too tired to get out of her bed and get closer to him. She ended up giving up and lying back down in bed with a pouty expression on her face.

Marcus ignored her and went to go pick up the bullet that he'd just yanked out of her leg. It was impossible to ignore a bullet piercing through aura somehow. He had to investigate and see what it was.

His hand reached down into the bucket and he grabbed the silver-ish bullet that was drenched in red blood. His eyes narrowed as he recognized the caliber and design. This wasn't any normal type of bullet, nor was it made out of any usual metal. This bullet was made out of Etricium. A very rare and hard metal that was used in most huntsmen weapons and was banned to be manufactured as bullets for fear of their abuse in killing huntsmen. There were some areas on the body where aura was strong, and where aura was weak. On the back of the legs, for instance. It would be a good spot to shoot one of these rounds.

And whoever shot it had some accuracy. They managed to hit one of the arteries and nearly killed Neo. It wasn't from any normal White Fang member, so if he had to guess, it would have come from Adam. He felt like that man was the only one who would be able to hurt Neo out of their entire stupid terrorist organization.

He wiped away some of the blood and made the metal more clear. A shine of blue caught his eye. In a panic, Marcus ran over to the sink and washed off the rest of the bullet. Really hoping that what he was suspecting wasn't true.

Sadly, it was. The Etricium bullet wasn't just any usual bullet. It was a tracking bullet. Designed to lodge itself into its target and stay in there. It was why it was so hard to pull out.

"Shit!" Marcus dropped the bullet on the ground and smashed his foot against it. Crushing it with his metal leg. "The damn bullet was a tracker," He explained quickly once he saw Neo looking at him with a weird expression on her face. Which quickly transformed into an expression of panic as she tried to launch herself up to her feet. Only to stumble and almost fall.

Marcus caught her and helped her stabilize on her feet. "Don't move too much, we can't fix nor afford to reopen that wound." He said as he lifted her up with one arm and let her hang on his shoulder. "It will heal soon. Just hang on and let's get out of here."

Neo flicked her chin in the direction of the table where he kept all of his plans written down.

"I can remember them," Marcus said as he took his pistol out with one hand and then loaded in an explosive fire dust round. Without hesitation, he shot it toward the table and it exploded and caught alight. With that dealt with, Marcus carried Neo out of the room and ran out into the Valean early morning. They had to relocate as soon as possible, and it had to be now. It's already been hours since Neo came back to him and he treated her. More than enough time for that tracking bullet to remain active.

Two figures were waiting for him as soon as he entered the alleyway, his eyes narrowed and he leaned back on one leg, preparing himself to run the other way as soon as he could.

"About time you figured it out," A deep voice coming out of a young man's face called out to him. "We were tired of waiting for you," Marcus remembered the man from months ago, the one who leads the Vale branch of the White Fang.

"Hehehe," The other man, shrouded in shadows, giggled. "It's about time we finally meet face to face again, Marcus."

Marcus stopped and turned back around, eyes wide with shock, anger, and contempt. The men didn't even try to chase him, they knew he would stop once he recognized the voice. It was one he hadn't heard in years. But it was the same voice he heard from that day…

His black eyes met vibrant purple. His teeth gritted in anger. Neo spotted his change in demeanor at that too, it wasn't typical for Marcus, at least not in the way he was showing it now, normally his anger was seething and cold, but this, this was boiling, not quite exploding just yet, but maybe soon.

"Tyrian," Marcus growled. As he took his gun back out and shot once, Tyrian bent his back in a very creepy way, all while cackling as he avoided his bullets. The air had become tense, a fight had already broken out. Marcus wasn't that stupid, he wasn't going to fight with Neo on his arms, the shots he fired were the only one he'd fire.

Adam had his hand on Wilt and was ready to rush in as well. Someone likely already heard the shot and was calling for help or something, all the while aiming at Tyrian Marcus lowered Neo slowly, she limped slightly and stared back at Adam as she righted herself. Slowly both Adam and Tyrian began to approach them.

Adam bristled as they walked forward. "You know him?"

"Not important!" Tyrian threw off his jacket and started sprinting toward Marcus. "Killing first!"

Marcus didn't run. He tapped Neo on the back with his elbow, the signal was simple, to get out of the way, he trusted her to get out of there herself. This one, he had to kill himself. It didn't matter if Adam was there to help him. He had to eliminate another nightmare of his past before it could torture him any longer.

"It's not your fault," Summer's dying voice echoed within his mind a second time. "I-I should have kept my guard up… I-I'm sorry."

Marcus roared in anger and pulled out his knife, ready to square off against Tyrian had on. Neo, as she was limping away saw Adam speed up to catch up to them, one way or the other, running or not, she would have to face him, if only to distract them for a few precious seconds.

Fighting against the pain, Neo grabbed her weapon and turned around. She had a promise to keep, and she wasn't going to let him down.

And ain't that a set up for next chapter. Hmph. I'm sure you guys are going to like this little twist. Let's see how far this goes!

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