Author's Note: I... Have... RETURNED! And should really be studying. My first final is tomorrow. Oh well, posting this should only take a minute.

I hope.

Let's do a thing!

Disclaimer: Blah blah blah, vaguely amusing joke about not owning any of this.

Fight Scene

Yes, Another One

"Black?" Milly said, lowering her pistols, "Like the idol singer?"

Marcus Black groaned and ran a hand through his hair. "That's my son," he said tightly. "Pop music. If he's going to be a musician, couldn't he at least play something manly? Like film soundtracks?"

Milly wasn't entirely sure how to respond. Marcus Black. What had she heard about Marcus Black… Oh. Oh. Crap. She brought her pistols up once again, bringing them to bear on the assassin. "Why yes," Black said dryly, "I'm very happy to see you to. It means that I'll be able to finish this job and get paid. Any more questions?"

He sunk into a crouch. "No? Good."

Then he was on her.

Adam burst into the room.

"Hey, Taurus. What's up?" Lancer said cheerfully.

"What's going on," Adam snapped.

"Assassins in the girl's dormitory," Nails replied. "Probably getting taken care of as we speak."

Adam jumped out the window.

"Never done that before," Lancer said contemplatively. He rubbed his chin. "Oh well, probably nothing." He finished off his soda, and planted the bottle next to its empty compatriots, and stood up to check the refrigerator for another.

Milly jumped away, firing as she went, but Black was fast, the kind of learned speed that she had seen from Adam and Lancer, and he danced around her shots, ricocheting off of the walls and spinning above her, bringing a leg down in a vicious axe kick. Milly brought her pistols up in a chopping motion, catching the attack, but Black's other leg came forward and she swung to the side, throwing him away and sending his left foot mere centimeters past her face. He planted his hands on the floor, spinning himself around, Milly leaned away too late and he knocked one pistol from her hand.

She shifted the second one into a two handed grip, firing wildly, and Black dropped low going for a leg sweep that she jumped above, flipping backwards to land on her feet firing again. Black charged in, going for a snap kick, but Milly was ready for him this time and she slid neatly inside his guard, bringing a fist up to punch him squarely in the eye, if he hadn't brought his own arm up to block, but that left his side open and she brought her pistol up to aim at his temple, or where his temple was a split second ago, as he leaned backwards, throwing himself into a somersault that planted him on his feet again so that he could charge forward. That was all Milly needed to throw herself backwards, flipping herself and coming up with both pistols in hand again.

They paused a second, regarding each other.

Then they were moving again, charging in close, and just as Black was leaping, kicking out, Milly dodged past and opened fire. The greave on Black's back leg fired, throwing him into another flip to dodge the shots, but now Milly knew where he would be landing and opened fire again. Then she realized that he hadn't attempted to evade where she was firing and threw herself back, the bullet from Black's greave slicing across her side. Black landed on his feet and shot forward, Milly flipped her guns around to hold them like impromptu tonfas, and Black attacked with a flurry of kicks that Milly could barely block much less dodge. She was being pushed back, she knew it, soon she would be against the wall with nowhere to turn to and JUMP!

The bullet whizzed under her feet and as she landed she looked to her side, down the hall that the shot had come from. Now that the battle had truly paused, she could hear… No screams. That was strange.

"Didn't I tell you to stay back at the safe house?" Black snarled at the interloper. They looked to be about ten or eleven, with pale lavender bangs that hid their face like a half-drawn curtain, allowing one black eye to peer out nervously. They were clad all in black clothing that hung off of a too-small, too-thin frame, black shoes, black jeans, and a massive black sweater that dropped down over their hands and covered everything from the mouth down… with the exception of a massive tear in the left shoulder, which allowed Milly to see bandages wrapped around the offending spot.

Her stomach churned. The mysterious shooter on the ferry.

A door slammed open.

"Hey!" Nina shrieked. "Keep it down, I'm trying to sleep!"

Milly, Black, and the mysterious… whatever they were, Milly honestly couldn't tell—looked at her in collective askance. Nina stalked back into her room and slammed the door with a humph.

"… That aside," Black said. "What are you doing here?"

"M-mission," the child stammered—darn it, even the voice was androgynous!—bringing the massive black pistol they were carrying to bear on Milly again. "Gotta complete the mission."

"I'm completing this mission," Black said flatly. "You had your chance, you blew it. Now head back."

Milly had found that one of the stupidest things that you could do in the middle of a fight was to stop and hold a conversation. She decided to demonstrate why it was such a foolish idea, and opened fire on Black again.

One of many things that their series of battles with Accelerator had taught the Network was that fighting in a closed space meant that you were more liable to get hit with bullets, knives, empty coke cans, or whatever it was that your enemy felt like using against you. While normally Misaka could use this to some degree of advantage, this time she was lacking in a very important piece of her arsenal, and was unable to. There, she was quietly and carefully working her way out of the dorm, trying to get somewhere that she could figure out what was going on and tripping over the balled-up whimpering man on the floor.

Ow.

"'Oh, Misaka remembers you,' says Misaka, expressing relief and some misgiving at encountering potential allies. 'Where did you get that gun?' she asks."

"I always carry this with me," Luki said cheerfully, waving the… cannon that she held in the limited space that she could.

"And I always carry my knife!" Noki added, brandishing her own weapon. The man on the floor whimpered again and tried to squeeze himself into an even tighter ball.

"What's going on here?"

They all turned at the sound. Kallen and Lelouch were standing behind them. Neither of them looked amused. Shirley (who Kallen was carrying in a piggyback position) looked mostly asleep.

"We were out late picking up some important visitors," Lelouch said tightly. "We get caught traffic for an hour after an accident, and lost two more after being swarmed by an army of cats. Who even needs an army of cats? I don't know! WHY WAS THERE AN ARMY OF CATS—"

Kallen slapped her hand over his mouth. "Sorry," she grinned ruefully, "he's a little bit stressed."

"'The dorm is being attacked by assassins,' Misaka explains despite her own curiosity about the army of cats," Misaka stated. There was a loud crash and plaster rained from the ceiling as if punctuating her words. Then Adam exploded through the wall, skidding to a halt as his eyes met Misaka's. In an instant, he was standing there as if he had been loitering around the whole night.

Lelouch grinned almost maniacally, and clenched his fists.

"Sayako. Jeremiah." He bit out.

"Sir."

"Master Lelouch."

"Wow, Luki! Where did they come from!"

"It's how you establish an awesome character, Noki!"

"Find these assassins," Lelouch continued, "and DEAL WITH THEM."

"No need," another voice came, and a figure stepped out from the shadows. "If you don't mind, I was in that car for a while. I don't suppose I could stretch my legs a little?"

On the one hand, Marcus Black. A melee fighter who primarily specialized in kick-based fighting styles. Getting close was tricky, but not impossible and made it difficult for him to use his preferred techniques.

On the other hand, the young child who Milly had decided to call Squishy until she could safely inquire as to their actual name. Small. Light. Still, carried a hand-cannon like it was nothing, so they weren't especially weak. Apparently allied with Marcus Black, however temporarily it might be.

The solution was simple. Get close to Marcus Black, take advantage of the above weakness. It would impair the child's ability to hit her without injuring their ally, and if she was fast enough, she could keep them from getting a clear shot. Child's play.

Or it would have been, if the kid wasn't such a good shot!

Duck. Flip. Dodge. Fire. Yikes!

Milly was in trouble and she knew it. The battle was speeding up as Black and the child built up a rhythm, and while she could hold her own in a fight, she was on average a wimp compared to pretty much everyone in Remnant. This was becoming more and more obvious and Black was coming closer and closer to getting the one hit he needed to end her.

Thus, it became apparent, a new plan was needed.

So Milly began firing at the floor, spraying bullets everywhere she could. The floor couldn't be doing well after enduring all of Black's devastating kicks, and sure enough, when his foot came down once again the floor gave way and dropped all three of them in the hall directly downstairs. Milly took the opportunity to start running again, dodging around the child's now-clumsy shots (a child, no matter how formidable, was still a child) turned a corner, and forced her legs—screaming from the exertion of a fight that would have not left Lancer of Adam even mildly sweaty—OHCRAP Black's foot was planted right between her shoulder blades and it was all over and—

When Milly came too, she immediately scrambled to her feet, casting about for her pistols. Whoever had gotten her, she hadn't even seen them. She needed to be prepared, armed against whatever was coming…

"Sorry about that," someone said behind her. And Milly definitely recognized the voice. It's owner had been an infrequent visitor during her childhood, usually vanishing behind closed doors with her grandfather to discuss secret things that she wasn't yet old enough to know.

She turned.

Her savior was standing there, right foot planted firmly on Marcus Black's back, the child tucked under left arm. "It's been a little while since I've gotten to do anything fun," he said, "and I'm afraid I got a bit carried away. Don't worry, you weren't out longer than a minute, and this little lady was already quite out of the fight. Nice trick with the floor there, although I'm not certain the contractors will agree."

Milly gaped. "Mister Ozpin," she said finally, "Does Miss Goodwitch know you're here?"

Professor Ozpin blinked. "Yes, yes, of course she does. Why wouldn't she?"

Author's Note: I don't think Glynda knows he's there. So, yeah, Ozpin is going to be here for a few chapters. Five or six, or however it takes me to get through three-four days. I hope that wasn't a spoiler. And chronologically this story arc will end before the end of the Mandatory Training Arc in Weiss Reacts, so if anyone out there is keeping track of the timeline (comically slim chance though it may be) now you know.

And knowing is half the battle.

So yeah, next time: Lelouch talks to his "houseguests" and... I guess we have the will-reading? I need to start planning these things out better.