Blake and Neo agreed that there might be some hint in the notes, and the three girls started searching. Reaper spent the whole time tinkering. After a few hours, they decided to resume the search back at the hotel, and Reaper took the tech with her. "Damn it…" Reaper eventually spoke after another two hours.

Neo turned around and looked to her contraption. She had no idea what it was supposed to do, but it sounded like Reaper couldn't get it work. She tapped her lover's shoulder and signed, 'Any way I could help?'

"What kind? I seriously doubt your qualified to fix this basket case." Reaper joked.

Neo silently giggled and pointed to the machine. No, help with this?

"Oh. No, I've actually got this working fine." Reaper told her.

'Then what's the problem?' Neo signed, sitting next to the scythe master. She was a little tired of looking over the papers anyway, no kind of secret code was jumping at them.

"I can only think of one thing to guarantee immobilization from someone with Creature's strength." Reaper answered. "But I can't think of how to make it work around his shield semblance."

Neo frowned. She wasn't so sure how well she could help in that department. Reaper lay back, and Neo noticed her eyes were tinging. 'More frustrated than you let on?' She signed.

"What? Oh, yeah, Ember is waiting for me to completely flip over this…" Reaper confessed. "I've practically been banging my head against a wall for the past hour. I'm surprised I'm not shooting flames yet…"

Shooting flames… Neo remembered seeing Reaper/Ember activate that lost part of their sister's semblance. She ended up exploding an entire ship that was 'marooned' for part of the ocean biome. Wait… Shooting flames… Neo also remembered just then exactly how the flames were unlocked. She grabbed Reaper's shoulder and spun her around. 'Semblances are tied to Aura, correct?' She signed.

Reaper raised her eyebrow. "Yes…? Are you on to something…?"

Neo nodded furiously. She began signing 'the belt' repeatedly.

"Belt, what Be-" Reaper's eyes widened. She grabbed her small lover by the shoulders. "The Belt! Neo, you're a genius!" She kissed her fully and rounded on Weiss. "I need The Belt from the Vytal Festival! Neo and I have an idea!"

Weiss was stunned, staring at Reaper. "Umm… yeah, sure… oh, wait, that belt!? I'll call up Ozpin." The heiress whipped out her phone, catching on to the dark lovers' brainstorm.

"Alright, Ozpin said he would have someone deliver it to the station." Weiss told them as they neared the station the next morning. "Also, apparently, there were sightings reporting during the night. You better hurry on your plan."

"Got it." Reaper nodded. "I'll just need a few minutes to modify the-"

"Weiss!" Detective Black called out to them, running down the steps to the station.

"Detective?" Weiss questioned. "Is everything alright?"

"Not really." Blake told her. "I have bad news. Atlas followed up on the stolen tech after I asked them about it. I had to tell them about Creature."

"What makes this so bad?" Blake asked.

"Atlas has a bad habit of hijacking investigations that have anything to do with them, their personnel, or their technology." Weiss informed her girlfriend. "But that's really not something to come out ahead of us and warn-"

"But you did feel the need to warn us. Is it who I think it is?" Reaper asked Black, cutting of the heiress.

The detective looked over Reaper, gauging her thoughts. "Y'know, if being a huntress doesn't pan out, you might make a good detective." Was how he answered.

"Shit…" Reaper stormed off into a nearby alley. "Shit, shit, shIT, SHIT, SHIT, SHIT! FUUUCK!"

"What's going on?" Blake asked, looking to Weiss. The heiress only stared ahead, putting pieces together.

"FUCK!" Ember repeated, heat waves radiating off her shoulders. "This has got to be the worst week of our life! It's like all of our mistakes from last year are coming to fuck us all at once! And not in a fun way!"

"Ember…" Weiss approached cautiously.

"What's next!? Is Mimic gunna come around too!? I wouldn't put that past this shit week!" Ember shouted.

"Ember!" Weiss shouted, and the scythe master turned around. "Calm down…"

Ember took a deep breath. "Right… It's just… Roman broke out… Creature's running around… and now Winter is here… Every single mistake from our year away…"

"Ember, what do you mean by that?" Weiss didn't like the way that was worded.

Red eyes leveled with pale blue. "You know what we mean."

"Ember, you and Reaper are trying to be better than that. Letting Roman and Creature live were not mistakes." Weiss deadpanned.

"They wouldn't be here now though, would they?" Ember countered. "And either way, Winter is in there, and I'm damn sure she's holding a grudge for us nearly killing her."

"Winter is much more reasonable than the rest of my family." Weiss assured, though her voice wasn't entirely confident. "I'm sure we can talk to her…"

A moment of silence followed, before Ember finally broke it. "Weiss, Reaper wants me to say something."

"What is it?"

"Do you trust us?" She asked.

They asked this often, in various situations, and Weiss always replied offhandedly. But that wasn't appropriate this time. This time was a time for complete honesty, untainted by humor. "I do."

"Good." Ember nodded. "If, when we get in there, you end up taking Winter's side… We won't hold it against you. She's your family after all."

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that…" Weiss told her. "Better go face the music."

"Yeah… Time to get moving…"

The station had a different air to it than the last time they were in there. Everybody recognized it, having varying different experiences with, and against, it. Military. And standing right in the center, dressed in all white, was Winter. She looked a little older than the last time Reaper saw her.

She looked over team WBRN as they approached and smiled. "Hello, Weiss. Hello, Blake." She passed over Neo and scowled at Reaper. She almost seemed to flinch at the red eyes. "Hello, Ruby."

"That's not our name." Ember pressed.

"In the military, we call people by their rank or their legal name." Winter informed her.

"Actually," Blake interrupted, "Reaper had it legally changed a few months ago."

Winter seemed surprised. She also seems slightly upset, Ember noted.

Maybe at losing that first little battle.

"Very well, Ms. Rose." Winter turned and looked to Weiss again, holding up a familiar looking belt. "Sister, would you mind explaining why you need this so?"

"It's for Creature." Weiss answered. "He has a unique semblance, a physical shield. We were hoping to null it."

"I see. I will pass this information to the task force." Winter replied, turning away.

"Task force?" Reaper questioned. "What task force?"

"The ones going after Torchwick and Creature, of course. Criminals aren't cleared for field work." Winter responded coldly.

"But that's why we're here!" Weiss argued. "We have experience! We know how to fight him! A non-huntsman task force will only get hurt!"

"My men can handle the toughest Grimm. I think they can handle one man." Winter told them.

"You have no idea what Creature is like." Ember shook her head.

"And besides," Winter continued, ignoring the scythe master, "you were only brought on for consultation, correct?"

"Well, yes, but-"

"Then consultants you will remain. You and Blake can wait in the break room here. I have a holding cell set up for the criminals." Winter waved them off.

Except Ember didn't move. "I don't blame you for hating me, but this is fucking ridiculous! That thing is a true monster."

"A monster you made, if I am not mistaken?" Winter countered.

"Which makes him our responsibility." Ember argued.

"Hm. Weiss, you should keep better control of your subordinates." The older Schnee shrugged off the fact she had no rebuttal.

"Subordinate?" Weiss seemed to reach her last nerve as well. "They're my team, Winter. And my friends. And they're right."

"Weiss…" Winter warned. "Tread carefully."

"No." The heiress put her foot down. "If you going to fight Reaper, you're going to fight my team. And if you're going to fight my team, you're going to fight me."

"Then I suppose you have a choice, Weiss. Your family, or your so called friends." Winter advised. "Choose wisely."

Weiss took a step back, looking over her sister with wide, disbelieving eyes. "You sound like father right now…"

The older sister's nostrils flared, but she remained otherwise stoic. "Make your choice." She warned.

Weiss shook her head. "Winter, you're my sister and I love you. But this time, I'm standing with my team. My friends."

Winter turned her back on the girls, facing away with an air even colder than before. "Davis? Please escort Team WBRN back to the hotel. Their presence is no longer required today. And make sure they enter the rooms they were properly assigned."

"Yes ma'am." An Atlas solider a few feet away came up to the girls and nodded at Weiss. "Move it."

As they filed out, Ember turned to Weiss. "Are you sure this is what you want to do? She's your family."

"She is my family." Weiss nodded. "But I know better than anyone that family isn't always right."

Curiously enough to Ember, Weiss looked to Blake as she finished the statement.

"Wait…" Blake responded, "does that mean…?"

"Yes." Weiss nodded. "And I think I already know a few people from the SDC that might help. I'll start making calls tonight."

"Let me call my parents first." Blake told her. "They trust me, and I'm confident I can get them to trust you, but just in case…"

"I understand." Weiss nodded.

'What are we missing?' Neo signed to Ember.

"I have no idea."

Being forced to their originally assigned rooms meant Reaper and Weiss were locked in 201 together without being able to physically interact with Blake or Neo in the other room. They lounged around, watched some TV, but generally just sat in awkward silence. Then Weiss's scroll went off.

"What's that?" Reaper asked.

"Detective Black… He's giving me an update on Winter's 'task force'." Weiss answered.

"And?"

The heiress shook her head. "Not good. They finally cornered him in an abandoned factory in industrial. Then he started fighting back. Nets won't hold him down, bullets bounce off of him, and they can't get close enough to use the belt… three of the task force were injured, one critically, and… oh…"

The heiress's tone made it clear. Reaper's head hung low. She was guilty for a lot of death, but this felt different. Creature was her fault, and now Winter's vengeance driven decisions were costing lives. "What was his name…?"

Weiss hesitated to answer, but soon gave in. "Her. Valerie Hope."

"Hope, huh…" the irony wasn't lost on the scythe master. "Weiss… do you trust me?"

The heiress looked up. "You always ask that when you're planning something stupid. So what is it?"

"Winter's going to find a way to kick us off this case." Reaper answered. "Might as well be on our terms. I don't want Creature to take anyone else."

Weiss managed to squeeze the address of the factory from Detective Black, and used her glyphs to help Reaper leave the hotel through the window. With the aid of Weiss's time dilation, she raced across town in record time. The glyph wore off in time for Reaper to stop and get a good look at the factory.

Maybe our luck isn't really that bad.

Yeah, maybe fate just enjoys cruel irony.

The two-in-one pair that made up the scythe master stared on at the familiar factory. The giant hole in the side still went unrepaired after nearly two years.

I guess no one wants to buy a foreclosure that used to house a drug lab.

And now 'Creature's story will end where it began.

Signs of conflict flashed through one of the windows, reminding Reaper why she was here. She jumped down and ran into the building, following the sounds of gunfire and screaming. She turned a corner and nearly ran into a group of Atlas soldiers running away from the fight. Two people remained shooting at Creature, who quickly noticed Reaper was there. The beast roared and knocked one of the two men aside, right over a section of railing. He crunched at the bottom.

"No!" The other soldier screamed, his anger taking over. He tried to continue fighting Creature, but Reaper managed to pull him away.

"Run!" She shouted at him. "I'll get your friend!"

"But…"

"Get out of here!" Reaper shouted, imitating Ember's energy. The man nodded and ran. Reaper knew Creature would let him go. The beast only had one target, after all. Rather than fight, however, she jumped the railing instead, intent on following through on her promise. No one else would die by Creature's hand.

Outside, the officer was currently shouting at his troops. "Cowards! You dishonor the uniform! Get back in there, and apprehend-!"

"Shut up!" Reaper scolded him upon her approach, carrying the broken form of the injured soldier. "This man needs Emergency Medical, ASAP!" She told them.

"And just who are you, little girl?" The officer asked.

"Do you not know who I am?" Reaper asked him.

"Reaper!" Weiss shouted, running up to her carrying the contraption Reaper fashioned from Steins spare parts.

"Weiss, you made it." The scythe master nodded.

"Reaper?" The officer asked.

"Blake and Neo are distracting Winter. You should have enough time to end this." Weiss informed her team mate.

"Right. I'll take that." Reaper grabbed the Belt from a nearby soldier. "Still need a minute to modify it."

"Excuse me!" The officer shouted. "Your orders are to remain at the hotel. We have this."

"The broken soldier I just pulled out of the fire says otherwise." Reaper deadpanned. "He needs a hospital. And you need to back off. I know Creature. I can handle this."

"Even if I could allow that, why would I?" The officer asked her. Reaper heard something she didn't expect in his voice.

Is he hoping I can give him an excuse?

Reaper took a deep breath. "Valerie Hope."

The officer wasn't expecting that. "What about her?"

"If we fought Creature first, like originally planned, Valerie Hope might still be alive." Reaper continued. "If Creature is going to kill anyone else, he's going to have to kill me first."

The officer wasn't expecting something that sounded so… noble, to come from the lips of this criminal. Maybe General Schnee is wrong about her… He studied Reaper with all his deductive prowess, assessing her as he would his own men. And he found nothing he didn't expect from one of his own. "You're not quite what I expected, Reaper." He told her. "You have your shot. And General Schnee will have my head…"

"Tell her I held you guys back." Weiss told him. "You'll be fine."

"Weiss, set that up somewhere and ping me the location." Reaper pointed at the contraption. "Then get the hell out of dodge."

"Are you sure?" Weiss asked.

"I have a plan." Reaper assured.

Weiss nodded. "Alright."

The girls strode back toward the factory where Creature was waiting.

It's time to finally correct this mistake.

Sorry this was late. busy day.