Ladies and Gentlemen, we are gathered here today, to witness the greatest thing you've ever seen... *imitates crowd screaming*

"In war, you win or lose, live or die - and the difference is just an eyelash." ~Douglas MacArthur

"He's gone."

Scarlet collapsed to the ground and began sobbing while Dantos looked lost on how to comfort her.

"Scarlet, in this line of work, you kiss your friends goodbye each time they leave for a mission. Who knows, maybe he survived."

"Maybe he di-"

Scarlet was cut off by the beeping of both their scrolls. Dantos took a glance at the message before scowling and punching a wall, breaking off a good chunk-and his hand.

Scarlet read through hers silently crying before collapsing to the ground. Dantos sighed and grabbed her and took her to the one safehouse he and Aionion had kept. It lay just beyond the wall and the only way to it was from the roof. They'd even put in turrets that were set to fire at anything that came through the doors if they weren't shut down. They were also closed circuited because Aionion was just paranoid like that.

Dantos settled in to wait for her to stop sobbing, even as he heard the shrieks of Grimm running towards the city.

It took Scarlet two days to stop the waterworks and refused to do anything but eat and drink in between sessions. Dantos had had enough of them and just knocked her unconscious. He'd had a very long two days, caged up in his bunker like this.

His eyes slowly shut closed, even as his scroll signalled that a message had arrived. It was Scarlet who awoke first and looked at the message.

"What does Op 23 mean?"

Dantos stirred and looked at her with bleary eyed. "It means he's back but cannot move from position. He's either been captured or injured. We need to go."

Scarlet caught him just as he fell. "You can hardly move, I'll go."

"What about weapons, we didn't put them in your locker."

"Give me your guns."

"Dark Intent? Fine."

"Don't you have any other weapons?"

"I'm sitting in the safest place in the world due to his paranoia. Hahaha, never thought that would be useful."

Scarlet was nearing the entrance when Dantos called her back.

"What?"

Dantos threw her a two keys on a ring before smiling. "Take the Phantom. He'll appreciate having it."

"What?"

"Go down a floor. It's the first vehicle on the left."

"Yeah but-"

"Don't worry, its got assisted driving. We'll have to show you how to drive later. Now go!"

Scarlet dashed from the room looking for the stairs. She whipped around the corner and nearly crashed into the turrets. She turned back and leaped down the stairs, letting her aura take the damage.

True to Dantos's word, the vehicles were a floor down. He just didn't mention that it was a complete hangar. She counted at least two Atlesian airships and one heavily modified one. The rest of the vehicles were land based from what she could tell.

Scarlet looked at the keys in her hand before looking at the first thing on the left. It looked to be a really large bike, or a very compact car. It had four wheels set in very tight pairs and had a large, bulky front.

Scarlet tried the first key before moving on to the second when it did nothing. The second key started the bike and revealed another keyhole next to it.

She sat on the bike, barely able to reach the handles sitting up. She leaned forward to get a better grip before jumping back as the large part of the bike opened just the slightest and two large swords jutted out at her.

She leaned back in again and they snapped shut. She gripped the handles before a screen beneath her asked if she wanted assisted driving. She hurriedly hit the yes button before squeezing the handles.

At first nothing happened until she slightly eased on the left handle. The bike jerked forward and the bike drove itself to the entrance where she screamed as the bike fell towards the ground.

The bike absorbed the impact and transferred it into kinetic energy with the help of a dust crystal. The bike shot forward and she tried to steer it towards where Aionion was located in the transparent map in front of her.

Aionion woke and smashed his hands onto the walls containing him. He watched as the small curious fish darted away in panic. 'Nebula, why are we in the ocean.'

'We crash landed. Just give me a few more moments and- done. Everything seems to be working fine.'

'What do you mean fine? I don't feel any different.'

'You thought I wouldn't take this opportunity to play Monty with you? I've upgraded you to a mostly human looking being.'

'What did you do this time?!'

'Look at the reflection in front of you.'

'Nothing's differen- What the hell! Why do I look human?'

'You don't catch on very well do you. Perhaps that's what that did... Whatever. Point is, we're blowing this joint. All you have to do is swim really hard, unless you want to be sent flying in this again?'

'I can't swim.'

'What do you mean you can't swim? Just move your arms and legs downward to move upwards.'

Aionion snorted at being treated like a child. 'I'm wearing my armor and I don't have enough room to take it off. Just send this glorified coffin to the surface already.'

'Guess he's not a morning person huh?'

Aionion braces for launch before relaxing and asking a question. 'When are you-!?'

They rose up in a plume of water that carried the crystal structure closer to the shore. Aionion took a step forward as the crystal dissolved around him, breaking into dust and being sucked up by his left arm. He sprinted across the sea floor, cursing the weight of his armor.

Just as his vision was starting to go black, he jumped off the bottom and fell onto the sand, choking up water from his new mouth. 'I hate having a mouth.'

'Its not so bad. You've only had it for a few hours.'

'Next time you're out here, I'm kicking your ass.'

'Yeah whatever. Don't get us killed, I'm going to sleep.'

Aionion sighed, mentally and physically, wow that was a new experience, at Nebula's laziness. 'Which way is Vale?'

When there was no reply, he groaned and marched up the beach, water pouring out of his armor as he did so. When he crested the last dune he caught sight of Vale, several miles in the distance. 'Great, none of my tech is working, my weapons are all gone, Nebula's being an ass, and I'm stranded until I get to the safehouse.'

Aionion shrugged and began jogging towards the city.

Scarlet was having the best and worst moments of her life. This bike was super fast and looked so cool, but she could hardly see where she was going. She continually took wrong turns before giving up and letting the bike steer. It gave her time to think and practice firing Dark Intent.

The guns were beautiful, in every meaning of the word. They were sleek and fit her hands well. It's accuracy was dead on and it had little recoil.

Her admiring the gun stopped when she wrenched the handles to the side to avoid colliding with a pack of Grimm. She fired behind her at them before looking forwards. She nearly missed the dead end that appeared suddenly, causing her to brake harshly, consequently throwing her from the bike.

Dark Intent flew from her hands and she lay painfully against the wall. Her head snapped up when she heard a crunch and several thuds. She dived for the guns and held them out protectively.

She relaxed when she saw a severely damaged Aionion step out from an alley, brushing blood off of his arms. "Stupid beowolves, bleeding on me."

Scarlet didn't recognize the voice but she new that face and armor. "Aionion!"

Aionion turned towards the sound with his hands held up defensively before lowering them when he saw Scarlet. "Why are you out here? I was on my way to the safehouse."

"I came from there. Why do you...?"

"Later." He paused as he looked around. "Is that the Phantom? Why is it scratched?"

"I brought it.. for you?"

Her answer came out as more of a question and he ignored it, settling for opening up the compartments and removing the swords. Nebula formed next to him before being sent into a wall, attracting more Grimm.

"Fuck! Could you restrain yourself the smallest amount?"

"Go back to sleep. There's no room for three."

"Monty fine."

"Umm, Aionion..."

He didn't even look to cut the beowolf in half. "Hmm?"

Her voice came out as more of a squeak. "Never mind..."

She sat in the front before he removed her by the hood of her cloak. "I'm driving, you already scratched her."

Aionion settled into the seat and set her behind him. "What's happened?"

She sighed before answering. "The White Fang invaded, bringing Grimm with them. There's widespread panic and most of the population is either dead, dying, or hiding."

"Did we find the spy?"

"Well, not exactly. We got a voice recording but we haven't found a match in any data. What are we gonna do?!"

"What we always do..." Aionion laughed. The sound alone gave Scarlet a shiver as his voice hadn't settled on a tone and constantly shifted, eerily reminding her of Dantos's voice. "Consider this your first Thursday War."

I think I'm a little too excited for this war... I wrote half of this immediately after the last and finished it in under a week... I need to get laid-or friends, whichever comes first...