Rogue Huntsman

Deviation

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"I don't know how long she controlled the both of you… but I know it was for years. So I won't ask too many questions," Anoel slowly stated, following Ray as he pushed his way through the crowded pathways toward the dormitories, "if any at all. I just need to know one thing."

Anoel paused for a moment as they walked inside, but however brief it was, she already knew he was only half-listening.

"Do we stand a chance?"

Ray passed a dorm room, grabbing a male student by the collar and throwing him back inside as he was about to leave it. "I'm sorry, but at what point did you think you were tagging along?"

"From the moment I dug my sword out of my personal vault," Anoel replied coldly, dropping a palm to its crimson pommel to lift the tip of its slim black sheath, "I was going either way. Whether you decided to run with Ly and leave, or actually fight her."

"And you think it will be as easy as digging out a sword?" Ray snarled, practically kicking his way into his dorm room. Luckily, it was unoccupied.

"As useful as whatever you're about to dig up," Anoel muttered back, staying in the doorframe.

He immediately approached his side of the room before lifting his bed up by pillars of violet light. His hand then reached for a black, militaristic crate.

"If you're coming then you better bring more than a fucking sword…"

He popped the latches open, revealing the contents inside.

Military-grade weaponry rested in organized padding inside, but Anoel was never a fan of bulky firearms.

"Sword and twin daggers. I'm keeping lightweight." She knew she'd need to be prepared for this fight, "Can't be slow against her. Though I can't make sense of all the red flags I got about her from Ly as we talked…"

Ray pulled out a black, lightly armored jacket, almost identical to the one he wore now, and set it to the side. Following it he brought out black jeans and a pair of handguns of the same color.

"You can't get comfortable up close either, so if those are your only weapons of choice, it's your funeral," Ray said over his shoulder as he loaded the firearms and cocked the slides back.

"Up close is the only way I know how to fight," Anoel returned, eyes roaming about the room as her fingers fell into an instinctive tight grip around her weapon's handle, "I already know the risks."

"Do you?"

Ray paused as he turned to face her, carrying the change of clothes in his hands.

"There's a reason why Ly fears her, Anoel. And it's got nothing to do with her fighting skill."

Ray then passed her on his way to the bathroom, intent on changing his attire.

"The little I do know of her just makes me want to find her all the more." That was especially because of just how much Ly feared her. And for all the traumatizing reasons to follow.

Ray was out of the bathroom no longer than 5 minutes after he entered it, "Well, since you're so adamant about killing her, I guess this trip will be educational for you."

"I don't care if it's educational," Anoel retaliated, eyes distractedly focused on the window and its dimming glint, "I'm here because as long as she's alive she poses a very real danger to both of your lives."

"Well thank you for stating the obvious once again, but before we do anything, riddle me this, info-broker," Ray began as he slotted his guns inside the holsters on his thighs, finally turning to face her directly, "What the fuck has any of this got to do with you?"

"Because I owe it to Ly to do this for her," Anoel said, her voice dropping.

"So signing up for a suicide mission is your way of repaying her? Forgive me if I'm a little skeptical, but I don't believe you're doing this to pay her back for something."

"There's a lot I owe her," Anoel stated plainly, drifting her gaze to the floor now, "It's in your nature to be skeptical, but we both want the same thing."

She was there for Ly's sake.

Ray was always there for Ly's sake.

Disbelief was evident in his eyes, but he nodded regardless, "There's more to what you're saying, I'm not stupid, but it doesn't matter now. We're probably both going to die anyway."

Anoel didn't want to drag anyone else into it. She had no intention to, because this wasn't their fight. With the two of them, there was some small chance of apprehension in a killing blow due to usefulness.

Ano knew Ray was useful in Quinn's eyes, and that could stay a killing blow if it came down to it.

For herself, she didn't care if it did or didn't. For anyone else she brought with her…

They were sure to die without a hint of hesitation.

She refused to let that happen.

"Whatever happens, whether we're enough or not, we're not walking away from this unless she's dead or we are," Anoel spoke lowly.

"Then there are some things you should know," Ray replied, voice as low as hers was, "Firstly, it wasn't years. It was one. One year, seven months, and fourteen days. Lylac lost track of time due to what happened to her, and furthermore, nearly lost her mind too."

Anoel would do anything to take that year away, if she could, "We'll make up for that time then."

"It took me half a year to stop her from having nightmares about it, Anoel. The scars she has, both the mental and physical ones, run a lot deeper than you think," Ray closed his crate and slid it under the bed.

All of it made Anoel sick with a deep, twisting pain of remorse for something she had no control over. It tore her back to the same feeling of dread she had when their parents died and she found Arex in the ruins of their villa.

The same, sickly trauma sunk through Arex's dull eyes as it did the other night, in Ly's. When Quinn came back.

She knew she couldn't have done anything, but she wished she could've stopped it ever since she met Ly all those years ago.

Taking away that void in Ly's past was impossible. Anoel knew that. Replacing it was almost just as hard.

But making sure it never happened again was all Anoel wanted to do right now.

"I spent hours stitching her back together after that bitch spent minutes tearing her at the seams. So, unless we actually kill her tonight, the time that was stolen from her will never be replaced. I am willing to die if I have to," Ray tore his gaze from the phoenix and looked to the window.

Anoel just kept staring blankly at the floor.

"I don't know what your relationship with my cousin is, but there are only three reasons why she'd tell you about Quinn. Either she trusts you, she had no choice, or you pried the information from her," he stared out the window with the same cold, unfeeling expression, "Personally, I'm inclined to believe that it's the second, but… I have been wrong before."

So has she, "There's a lot of contacts and targets I'll openly admit to prying into for information. It's my job, and I'm good at it."

It was one of the only things she knew for sure she was good at.

"But Ly was never one of them."

A long-winded sigh escaped Ray's parted lips. "I'll take your word for it, but this is far more personal to you than you let on."

"Quinn made it personal that night in the bar," Anoel muttered out, knowing and feeling just how personal this ran. Something that scared her far more than the prospect of them not walking away from this alive.

"So you've seen her…?" Ray asked, turning to face her.

"I've seen enough of her to know what she is," Anoel replied, turning to pull the door open just a crack to get ready to leave.

She was the kind of person Anoel knew well, and knew just how dangerous it could get with what they could become.

"She's a woman who will stop at nothing until she gets what she wants. That's the only thing that matters to her."

"She's also acting out of character…" Ray muttered in reply, and for the first time, displaying an emotion.

He was unsure of something, confused even.

"This is bad."

Not like she was expecting it to be good. "Being forced into a corner is always bad."

"She's trying to bait me out…"

"Of course she is."

It's what Ano would do.

"Most traps only work when they can ensure total control. But this is the only chance we'll have to know where she is and when she'll be there," Anoel continued, hating how every word falling from her lips garnered more and more weight, "It was an open invitation. I wouldn't have come to you if I knew for sure you'd have no idea where she'd be right now."

"Then you've made the right decision, because I think know where she is."

That was all she was looking for from him, "Then take us there."

Night fell as quickly as a cold storm began to brew over downtown Vale.

Raindrops fell against the concrete ground, heavily pelting away at the metal containers scattering the docks and beating into the slow rise and fall of newly rampant waves off the coast.

Water pooled and filled the cracks at their feet, coursing through puddles and drainage grates as Anoel and Ray approached an abandoned warehouse by the docks.

It hadn't been used in years.

That's what the authorities said anyway.

It had been an old safehouse, used by Quinn, Ray, and Lylac years ago.

And from the cold, lamenting look hidden beneath a violet veil in Ray's eyes, what took place here was digging up memories he'd much rather suppress.

"Quinn came back to Vale to make a statement," he spoke lowly, eyes staring up at the imposing metal walls of the building before them, draped in the dreary shadows of dark clouds, "But whether that was to haunt us for what happened, or to finish what she started… I don't know."

"She's in town, and we're here to finish all this for her," Anoel returned, cold clothes clinging to her skin beneath the black cover of her hat.

She wasn't in the right mindset to keep herself dry from the rain, nor did she want to be. She wanted to feel numb.

"She'll always have motives." Motives they were already playing into. She recognized that, "But there's little we can do about them. The best we can do is stop them."

"I've always hated secrets…" Ray muttered as he took the first step toward the warehouse.

"Everybody has them," Anoel muttered back, staring up at the warehouse's dark silhouette before moving forward with him. She knew that more than anyone.

They approached the shutter doors, Ray stopping just before them with an apprehensive expression on his face.

"They've been used," He ran his gloved finger along the seam before examining them, "The dirt that should be here has been displaced."

His hand eventually retracted, gaze drawing back out to harden against the warehouse walls.

"She's here."

The confirmation only made this feel all the more dangerous… because Anoel couldn't sense her, "She's hiding her heat signature if she is. But I can tell the mechanism to open these doors was used in the past few hours."

Anoel gazed up to the top of the large set of doors, narrowing her gaze.

"The cables are still warm."

Her eyes eventually traced along the wall and its windows soon after, climbing its way to the building's rooftop.

"She already knows we're coming, but she doesn't strike me as someone to trap an entrance. Not after inviting us over." A woman like that wanted more satisfaction.

"Doesn't matter how we get in. Like you said, she's inviting us in," Ray replied evenly, "Doesn't mean she doesn't have traps laid out on the inside though."

"I'm fully expecting traps, but you know her far more than I do," Anoel returned, turning her gaze to sweep down the side of the building for other possible entrances. Mainly just for the sake of finding a quick exit, "But I would think she's confident enough to see herself without a need for them, once inside…"

"I guarantee she has traps inside, but she won't let them take the glory for her," Ray said as he took a step back from the shutter door. "They'll be designed to stun, not kill."

"Good to know…" Anoel sighed, shifting her weight to her other leg as she finally brought her dull gaze back to the rain-covered door, "You ready?"

Ray let a sigh escape him momentarily as he maintained a hardened gaze on the entrance, "As I'll ever be…"

He crouched down and gripped the bottom of the shutter, his hands clamping down on the metal before lifting it just enough to slip inside.

"And Anoel? If we make it out of this alive… I'll buy you a drink."

'Anoel, you've been gone for over 24 hours now. Where are you?'

Arex frowned.

Kit was still busy trying to find a place to hide all of their payment.

The general rule Anoel always told her was that if she didn't respond in an hour, she was either in trouble or having an important meeting with a contact.

It's been three hours since she sent that message.

And she was still gone.

"Special delivery!"

A knock came from the door, and from the voice, Arex donned a confused look as she peered over to Kit then slowly slipped off her bed.

It was Dante.

"Erm, hang on," she spoke out, quickly ushering Kit and the case to the bed as the two shoved the lien-filled black suitcase down next to all of Arex's storage boxes.

As soon as that slid out of view, Arex let their blanket drape down to cover that particular place beneath the bed and made her way to the door.

"Need something?" she asked, pulling the door open to see why Dante was stopping by. And why he's delivering something.

"I bring gifts. And also because I needed to get away for a bit. Not even I can entirely handle those rascal siblings of mine…"

They… seemed like a handful, but Arex couldn't honestly relate to that. "Well, what makes this room a good place to get away? And why the gifts?"

Arex stepped aside as she asked those questions, seeing if he wanted to enter the room or not.

If he wanted to hide, this was probably the last place anyone would think he'd be.

"You guys are nice to talk to. And fun to a degree. Of course, your leader would be plotting every second of my demise, which would never happen mind you, but still, you guys are pretty fun."

Arex just quirked a delicate brow. That last part was entirely understandable, Niro did that all the time, but the first two parts were… weird to hear, "Not that I don't believe you, but Kit can't exactly talk and I'm terrible at holding up a conversation."

"Still fun. I haven't had to bring out sign language since my voiceless friend got her voice back. Whole story with witches I need to tell you guys about someday. And you're pretty fun to hang out with in your own way. Even if you're a bit awkward around people."

Awkward was an understatement. But Arex let him in either way, letting the door shut behind him as she took a few steps into the room.

"You're pretty fluent with sign language, so that explains why you know it so well," Kit cut in, strolling over to take the small basket from Dante's grasp with a flick of an ear, then padded away.

"Guess we need to make time to hear it at some point, then," Arex replied quietly, watching Kit plop herself back down onto their bed to start plucking wrapped items out of his gift basket of baked sweets, "Still, kind of weird to show up just to talk without wanting something."

She was used to people having ulterior motives. A social life was strictly online for her, or just limited to inter-team communication.

Which… extended as far as blood relations and her direct partner.

That reminded her too. She glanced down to the scroll still in her hand, the light on it still dim and unblinking.

No new messages.

"Meh, I don't want anything to be honest. Just want to strike up a bit of conversation is all. And make friends. Are we friends actually?"

"Probably not," Arex answered honestly, if also a bit distractedly, "Might eventually be, though. Have you seen Anoel at all over the past two days, by any chance?"

It was a bit abrupt and sudden, but he got around, didn't he?

He had to have seen her.

Still recovering from the last statement, he looked like he was carefully thinking about it, "Two days… Is that… unusual behavior?"

"Not for her," Arex replied, "But being unresponsive is. She's an info-broker. She's always checking her scroll, so it's weird for her to leave a message for so long without responding, even if she's busy."

"Huh…" he said looking off to the side, checking the display of his holographic scroll.

It was the first time he seemed puzzled…

"Last I saw her was yesterday night at Nosferatu's bar when… Actually, I'm leaving that last bit out. But yeah, I saw her then. She seemed to be doing okay. Nothing wrong or anything."

It almost felt off, the way he said that last part, "Was she with anyone?"

"Know anyone called Ly?"

Arex knew the name well. Anoel liked to talk and think about her, so it wasn't a surprise to hear she was with her last night.

It really wasn't much help.

"Was anyone else there?" There had to be a reason why she's been away for this long. Even when Anoel's with Ly, she finds time to respond to her own sister.

"Just me, my partner, and that bundle of pure joy TA from Dravus' class. Apparently she took Inuba out for a girls day out, which turned into a girls night out. They ended the day with going to Niro's bar, and I just happened to walk by."

Dravus' TA? Why did a teacher's assistant take a student out for something like that? "Okay, still, it doesn't really sound like something that'd give Anoel trouble or keep her… Was that all that happened? Just a talk?"

It still felt like something was being left out.

She had no idea what, though. She wasn't that good with Anoel's semblance, for how little she's used it.

"After your sister tried smooching my partner, yeah, it was just talking. Getting to know each other more in a basic sense. Got to start somewhere, right?"

She couldn't tell if he was lying. But she felt like there was something wrong with what he was saying.

And that was only making her more worried.

"Doesn't surprise me, but… Anoel didn't come back to the room last night, so she probably stayed with Ly. She's just been inactive since."

There was a small chance that she was on a job. The meetings she has with Ly tend to lead to that, or just ways to source certain pieces of information.

That, and Arex also wouldn't put it past Anoel to just visit Ly for the sake of visiting her.

None of that explained the lack of any kind of response though. And it didn't help that Arex couldn't get ahold of GHOST either.

"Well, she is an info-broker right? She could just be working a lengthier job than usual. After all, I did ask her some time ago if she could find out about certain matters for me of a complex nature. Not sure if she took it seriously though…"

"She doesn't take a lot seriously. And she'd warn me if she was going to be away for a while." The reason being to avoid worrying Arex about her running off and disappearing for some amount of time.

Things she tended to worry about.

Like now.

"Hmmm… You must really like your sister."

"Well, yeah, she's my sister," Arex returned easily, checking her scroll again.

Still nothing.

"I'm just worried about her. She likes to get into trouble and there's usually nothing I can do about it."

"Well, us older siblings tend to make it that way. Most of the time unintentionally," he said with a soft smile.

"It doesn't help that it still worries and scares me when she does…" And the way she always ensured Arex couldn't get in harm's way to help her made it even worse.

"Well, have no fear. I'm sure she's fine."

Sure. Like that helped at all.

"Just as much as we get into trouble, we just as quickly get out."

Arex knew that better than most with Anoel's way of life. But it still didn't help hearing it.

"Well, I've got a small errand to run now that I remember. If I see her, I'll patch her in immediately for you."

Yeah… she'd like that, "If you see her. But thank you."

He left the room with a small wave to both her and the kitsune, their door closing softly behind him as Arex stood there with her scroll.

She needed to get ahold of GHOST somehow.

A small rustle came from the bed though, and Arex turned her gaze up to see Kit's tails flicking back and forth.

A warm cinnamon roll sticking out of her mouth.

Arex just sighed, "I'll get you a napkin…"

Anoel slipped inside as he held the door open, disappearing into the darkness of the warehouse as she stood herself back up.

Her eyes slowly began to adjust, night vision beginning to kick in as the dim light threading through the door behind her slowly closed once Ray slipped inside as well.

A faint glow emanated from his irises as she took a glance back to him, his hand lowering the door to silently rest back against the ground before the two returned their attention to the rest of the interior.

It was more of a factory than a warehouse, decades-old machines lining the warehouse floor, making corners tight and the pathways tighter. Multiple overhanging catwalks stretched across the ceiling, making for an easy ambush attack.

Shipping crates hung from stubborn, rusted steel cables, suspended in the air for god knows how long.

The perfect layout to defend and plan with.

"I shouldn't have to tell you to keep your eyes open, but chances are she already knows we're here and she's waiting to spring something," Ray whispered as he took Anoel's flank.

"Then we just have to make sure we can take whatever she springs," Anoel muttered back, keeping her voice breathless as her grip on her sword's handle stayed as tight as it was outside, "I still don't sense her heat, or any residual heat she'd make. Why?"

Ray's eyebrows furrowed, "It's her suit. I designed its material to isolate nearly 100% of an individual's body heat for sub-zero environments, then dump any excess heat into a heatsink which can be ejected at will. You won't sense her until she's right in your face."

He drew one of his pistols and pointed it forward.

"But I have proximity and motion sensors. If she gets within a certain distance, she'll light up like a firework."

"Well, at least you'll react then," Anoel replied, knowing she was walking into this blind and hinging on Ray to react first to any kind of approach from Quinn. But with how this was going, it was more likely they'd spring a trap first before drawing her out at all.

So she started to move forward, keeping her steps quiet and slow, but conscious of wherever her weight was centered to be able to change her movements as quickly as possible.

"You have the benefit of above-average hearing. You're not completely useless. I'd rather be in this environment with a faunus like yourself than another human," Ray replied as he checked every corner they passed.

"Faunus, huh?" Anoel questioned, quirking a delicate brow as she kept her gaze and attention sweeping around their environment in front of and around her, "Took you long enough to bring that up, considering I never gave anything away. Was it Arex?"

"If either of you were trying to hide it, you didn't do a very good job, your affinity covers scans, but your sister fails to keep up in that regard," Ray countered. "Not that I don't care about your anatomies, but I don't treat faunus any differently than I do with humans. As far as I'm concerned, you're all a pain in my ass."

"Even the cyborg gets defensive about his opinions on the Faunus," Anoel commented with a light smile, cocking her head for a moment before shaking it. "I don't blame her. She doesn't know how to hide it."

Though, Anoel knew some part of Arex didn't actually want to keep it hidden.

She was more afraid of what she could do than what she was.

"If it's all the same to you, I don't like the term 'cyborg', I prefer augm-"

A small, almost inaudible click suddenly echoed throughout the silent warehouse floor.

"Shi-"

Ray's body grew shrouded as a focused, loud explosion suddenly detonated beneath his right foot, sending a cloud of metallic particles up into the air that forced a quick arm up to Anoel's eyes to keep the shrapnel out.

The haze threw Ray into a coughing fit that lasted for just over two seconds before they both heard a metallic ringing approaching from behind Anoel's back.

She immediately twisted out of the way in a blind step, something thin and sharp cutting through her jacket's sleeve as she caught a glimpse of the long projectile fluidly snapping toward Ray in front of her.

"Block!"

Ray's eyes widened as he quickly crossed his forearms in front of his body, the projectile glancing off the gauntlets hidden beneath his sleeves and losing its momentum as it slacked, fell to the ground, then rapidly retracted to wherever it came from.

It was a bladed whip…

Anoel hated whip users.

Her eyes stung, but she quickly tried to stop the weapon's return with a stomp of her boot, missing its tip by just half a second.

Where it originated from was still veiled by the dispersion of dust and particles from the explosion.

"The bitch is using chaff mines, I'm blinded," Ray growled as he wiped his eyes with his sleeves and shook his head erratically, "My sensors are fucked, Anoel. I keep getting feedback."

"Well that's what chaff mines do," Anoel replied back, keeping her narrow eyes toward the source of the whip as she stepped back toward Ray.

Another noise sounded, but it was the latch of a switch snapping into place and a humming of heat and light suddenly coming to life above them.

A spotlight suddenly beamed down at them in the fading dust, abrasively melting into the darkness of the warehouse.

"You really should have left the conversation for the journey here."

The feminine voice that echoed across the warehouse was filled with a sadistic tone, the same condescending one Anoel knew from the night at Niro's bar.

"Hope you're enjoying my little gift for you, Ray. Couldn't make it too easy now, could I?"

Ray's movement froze with anticipation, eyes widening and scanning the area around them.

Anoel wanted to move forward and find the source of the voice, but knew she both needed Ray and couldn't leave him blind on his own. Especially not while the chaff mine effects were still most potent.

So she slowly drew one of her daggers from the holsters at the small of her back, by her waist, keeping to a defensive position in front of the boy to stay in the crossfire.

"Are you looking to kill us or gloat?" Anoel asked, left dagger down at her side as her right hand stayed on her sheathed sword.

"Actually… I'm looking to thank you, info-broker…" the voice replied, "you couldn't have made my job any easier than you just have. Quite literally escorting Ray here like you've just done. So very helpful of you."

The info-broker grit her teeth as she shook her head slowly, "Escorting him to you is far from what I've done. And if you're looking to thank me, why don't we have a little face to face conversation then? I always love those."

Quinn chuckled from the shadows, "You're trying to convince yourself that you're doing the right thing, and yet, I don't think you quite realize that you've betrayed her."

Oh, Anoel knew that all too well, and it hurt her to do it. But it was better than the alternative…

Anything was better than seeing Lylac dead, whether that was from Quinn's hands or her own.

Ray stayed silent during the exchange, drawing his secondary pistol and keeping both of them extended in different directions.

"I'm willing to bet Lylac will be mortified to hear that her only friend consciously sacrificed her cousin in a pathetic attempt to quickly solve a situation that's way over her head… a pity, really…"

She didn't have much choice, "You and I both know there weren't many courses of action here. So stop selling yourself short."

Anoel kept her attention around them, knowing it was easy to project a voice wherever it needs to be whenever the recipient couldn't see its source.

"You knew this was going to happen. You planned for it," Anoel continued. But nobody could plan for everything.

"You underestimate just how much I know, Anoel. And when this is over, and you're nothing but a heap by my feet… I'll make sure your sister knows how utterly powerless you really were…"

"I came here expecting to die, didn't I?" Anoel asked, sweeping her dagger to the side to flick a small flame into the ground, "I've never cared about what I am. She knows that. It'll be nothing new to her."

The phoenix's eyes glowed as she tossed another flicker the other way, each ember melting into the foundation of the warehouse as the concrete around them began to simmer and crack.

"But I wouldn't bother going after her. She gets emotional about these kinds of things," Anoel stated blandly, tossing another light ahead of them and into the floor, "She'll kill you on sight."

Ray's gun slowly started to move behind her, his head raising, "Then let's hope she doesn't have to, shall we?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he shattered the spotlight hanging above them with a shot of his pistol and blanketed the warehouse back into shadow.

The faintest clink of a metal pin was pulled before a metallic bounce cut into the room, Ray grabbing Anoel's arm to turn her away just as the device slid into the total darkness of the cluttered interior and detonated.

White light flashed in a concussive ring, rattling the shelves and lights in a dull, shaking bang just before the three points of light in the ground around them began to break the concrete surrounding their epicenters.

"Outside. Now."

Ray broke through the door first, shooting a hole through its center to weaken it before throwing himself into a running kick to warp it outward.

Anoel leapt through the opening behind him just as a tremoring quake shook the ground, the girl falling into a roll as dust and shattering glass plumed into the air from the warehouse's windows.

The ground beneath them immediately began to grow unstable, the large cracks forming inside starting to shatter and web outward into the docks and asphalt around the warehouse as the building began to break and crumble.

Anoel's eyes flashed orange as a dull light inside blindingly shot through the broken windows and openings in the walls just inside, one last tremor quaking out from the center of the building before its foundation crumbled entirely…

And the warehouse caved in on itself, crashing to the ground and sending a wave of dust and wind scattering into the open air of the rainy night.

"Think any of that hit her?" Anoel asked.

"It's statistically impossible that it didn't," Ray affirmed evenly, "but if she survived shaped charges going off in her face, this was nothing but a minor inconvenience. You might have only just pissed her off…"

"Better than fighting her on turf she had the advantage in," Anoel returned, "At least it gave us a slightly better chance of beating her."

"You know, Anoel… if I had known you intended to bring the whole fucking building down on top of her," Ray began, still catching his breath as he swallowed, "I would have brought a rocket launcher with me instead."

"I doubt she's the kind of girl to let herself get hit by a rocket," Anoel replied, keeping her gaze on the smoking rubble as the rain pelted down on her blazing fire.

"No… but it would have done all this a lot quicker."

A silhouette suddenly formed in the light of the flames in front of them, a feminine figure slowly walking toward them as she clapped her hands slowly.

When she passed through the cloud of dust, both Ano and Ray could see the slight, condescending smirk strewn across the pale face of their adversary. Her eyes were hidden behind the peak of her officer's cap.

"Well, that's certainly one way to start a party," Quinn said nonchalantly, dusting herself off.

When in Rome surrounded by Romans, tear down their home turf and fight them all on even grounds. And by that, I mean blow up their coliseum and piss them off.

Yeah… well, it was her best plan, anyway.

Change up the game just enough to make it fair.

Or as fair as it'll ever get.

Still no Niro, but there's a good reason for that. His scene will come up after this fight goes down, which'll be interesting to write.

Next chapter will quite literally consist of the fight against Quinn, so you have that to look forward to. I think its conclusion will be fit in, but we'll see. I don't want to overload a chapter's word count.

Either way, you can look forward to that.

For now, Favorite and Follow.

I look forward to seeing REVIEWS for this. You'll be introduced to a LOT of concepts of mine. Feel free to give me your thoughts.

Cya XP