Creature was standing right where Reaper had left him, staring over the railing in the direction she had disappeared. She found it strange he didn't follow. Or move. At all. Even her new approach, as it was from behind him, seemed to go unnoticed. Belt in hand, she snuck near the beast… until her foot stepped on broken glass. The monster gave an uninterested look the direction of the sound. He grew very interested when his eye met Reaper.

For a split second, Reaper noted that his still human eye seemed empty until it met her. then it filled to the brim with overwhelming rage.

"Shit." Was all she had time to say before Creature attacked.

She jumped back and out of the way, his swing going wide. She had to find a way to get the Inhibitor Belt on him… Creature brought his arm level with Reaper's face so she was staring down the barrel of his cannon, and a blue glow built inside it. She barely managed to duck before the cannon went off, singing her hair and bringing forth a flurry of expletives.

Reaper jumped down the railing once again, not wanting to fight in such a narrow space. This time, Creature had followed her down. Reaper looked from the belt in her hand, to the beast in front of her. She did have one advantage over him… The damage to Johnathon's mind that made him Creature also affected his intellect. His powers of prediction were shot, and Reaper could outrun his reaction speed. She started jumping around the room, circling Creature at high speeds. His blue-lensed eye may be able to track aura, but even it couldn't predict where Reaper was going.

Finally, Creature got fed up and fired upon one spot… a spot Reaper was already vanished from. It gave her the opening she needed to rush up from behind Creature and latch the belt the only place it would fit the over-large and over-muscled man… right around his neck. The latch clicked closed, the lights hummed on, and the black-clad woman saw a shimmer glow and fade from around her opponent's form. Jackpot, she smiled.

"Reaper! Down this hallway!" Weiss shouted form across the way.

The scythe master turned around. "I said ping me! Get the hell out of here!"

"Like you can check your scroll! Just hurry!" Weiss took off and Reaper followed down the hallway, Creature on her ass. "Right up ahead!" She pointed at it resting on one side of the hallway.

"Good, now GO!" Reaper shouted at her. Weiss ran off down another hallway.

The scythe master turned on her heel and stared down the monster charging at her.

Just a little closer…

Creature roared and swung at Reaper, and the woman jumped high over his swing. She twisted and flipped in the air to position herself just right, and planted her feet on Creature's chest. Kicking off pushed Creature into the wall and launched her in the other direction with another flip. She landed right on the mechanism she built, setting it off. Five high strength wires launched from the nose of the device, stretching out horizontally. A multitude of blades sunk into Creature and anchored into the wall on either side of him, immobilizing him against it.

"You're done for." Reaper stood straight and brought out Brutal Thorn.

"Rrrhhee…. RRheeaper…." The monstrosity moaned, struggling against the cords.

Crack…

Reaper froze. That sound of brick separating from brick should not have happened. She stared at the wall, where the blades seemed to slowly pull form the surface.

"Reeaper!" Creature shouted, straining harder, and worst of all, moving.

"Oh… Fuck me."

"REAPER!" Creature roared, pulling his arm free and grabbing Reaper with his claw. He pivoted and threw the woman through the cracked wall behind him, completely crumbling it and sending her into the next wall beyond.

Uughh… I think it's your turn… Reaper faded into the back of their shared mind.

"Ohh… fuck you…" Ember told Reaper. She looked up to Creature approaching. "And fuck you, too…"

Creature brought his human fist forward, and Ember barely caught and stopped it using both hands.

"So that's why… the blades must not have sunk in as far as they should have…" Ember thought out loud. There was some resistance under her hand, but it didn't feel like Johnathan Wine's impenetrable shield. It felt spongier, more malleable. She curiously dragged on finger across the back of his hand, seeing a dull gray cloud instead of a bright white light. With enough force, she brought her fingernail to his skin and drew blood. "I got you now, mother fucker." Ember smiled.

Creature pulled back his fist, seeing it wasn't working, and swung his claw instead. Ember ducked, her hand closing around Brutal Thorn, and she swung her own weapon up. Hitting Creature felt like striking water. Resistance at first, but her blade cut through nonetheless. Creature swung his metal arm back around, Ember rolling away to dodge it. She spun back around to goad her opponent, only to meet his fist in her face. She flew through yet another wall, seemingly shaking the entire building.

Don't get cocky now. We may be able to cut him, but it's still Creature.

"As our broken nose is firmly reminding me…" Ember groaned through the blood draining out of her nostril.

Creature charged forward, and Ember decided it was time for Creature to go through a brick wall. She jumped completely over him and kicked his back with full force, successfully putting him through the wall behind her. "HAH! What now, mother fucker!?"

Ember. Focus.

Yeah, Yeah

Creature jumped out from behind the rubble, claw swinging. Ember blocked with a swing from Brutal Thorn, and the two entered a faced paced, drawn out melee. Blow for blow, no one landed a true hit until Ember blocked a grab attempt my Creature's claw with the shaft of her scythe. A blue glow threatened from around the black barrel, and Ember's eyes widened. "Son of a bitch…"

The blast sent her flying back. She didn't break through the wall this time, but still caused a significant dent. She didn't notice that rubble from above her also fell to the floor. She jumped back at him, and swung wide. She managed to hit Creature, but she also cut clean through a support pillar nearby. The pair resumed battle in this manner, dancing around the factory floor and damaging the scenery as much as each other. Ember's wide swings were slicing through walls and the hits Creature missed would instead shatter the area where his opponent was the moment before.

Eventually, Ember found what she thought was an opportunity. Creature jammed his claw into the ground, struggling to pull it out. Ember jumped and swung her scythe down. Creature fired his cannon to get his claw out of the ground, his metal elbow smashing into the scythe, right where Ember's left hand held it. She screamed, her remaining aura not enough to keep bones from breaking. It wasn't as bad as it could have been, just two or three instead of the whole hand.

She took a step back, dragging Brutal Thorn on the ground as she could only hold it with her right hand. Damn it, I need to end this soon. His shield isn't impenetrable, but it's still a pain in the ass…As she was looking around the factory, it finally hit her. Literally. A brick bounced off her shoulder, her aura keeping everything in place this time. Her vision drew up to where it came from. The strength of the two fighters was demolishing the arena they were in. The whole place looked ready to crumble, a thick vertical I-Beam in the center was the only thing keeping the place from falling on top of them like Jenga.

Ember?

We need to beat him.

This is so gunna dull Brutal Thorn…

Like that's the worst of our issues?

Creature charged, and Ember jumped over him once again. The Beast swung around, expecting Ember to be striking from behind again. Instead, she was running straight for the support beam. With a hefty swing, she buried Brutal Thorn halfway into the beam, but she couldn't pull it back out with only one hand. Creature raised his cannon.

One last time…

Dodge now!

Ember jumped to the side. The blue blast finished off the beam, turning the base of the metal to molten slag. The roof started to cave in and Ember realized she didn't exactly plan how she was going to get away. The walls crumbled, walkways fell, and the entire place folded like a piece of paper. An artificial fog fell over the area, the brick dust was not clearing away any time soon.

Weiss was still close enough to see this, and grew visibly worried. "Reaper…"

"Let's wait for the dust to clear…" The officer warned. "The man is tough. We don't know which of them is still standing."

Weiss nodded uneasily, but stayed still. She wasn't going to rush in there just to face Creature alone with no visibility. All she could do right now was hope.

Inside the fog, groaning could be heard. Some rubble started to shift, and a black figure slowly dug themselves out of the wreckage, wincing in pain the whole time. Silver eyes opened to survey the scene. She barely managed to survive the building collapse, shattering her aura and most of the rest of her hand in the process. All that remained was a small sliver of energy, but she would need that. The cloaked woman hadn't run this dry on aura since before the failed aura link. She scanned the ground for Brutal Thorn, but found something else first. A hulking shape in the fog, an unmoving silhouette.

I have to be sure…

Reaper stumbled towards the shape until she could see him. Creature was pinned underneath a mass of rubble, with his back up against the remains of a wall. A chunk of I-Beam stuck out of his gut, and the metal covering what was left of his mouth was torn away. But he was still breathing. He was still growling. He was still alive, as if all he needed to sustain himself was his unending hatred.

Despite being tired, Ember managed to give her two cents.

Finish him this time.

Reaper was ready to agree, and kneeled beside him, her own eyes brimming with malice. When the two's eyes met, everything changed. Malice was softened into something else. Something resembling a mix of sorrow, pity, and compassion. As Creature stared up at her with anger never-ending, Reaper realized something.

Why the fuck is he still alive?

Hold on…

Damn it, not again…

Reaper lowered herself until her kneel turned into a sit. "You don't remember… do you?"

Creature's only answer was to struggle in her direction, trying to pry himself from the debris to attack her once more.

"You hate me. It's all that's kept you going." Reaper continued. "But you don't remember why, do you? You've forgotten… you've lost everything… lost your humanity… All because of me…"

Everything was because of her. Creature, and the people he killed since. Neo's torture, Valerie Hope… It all could have been avoided. That's why she was furious. That's why she was determined to end this. She felt the guilt Creature couldn't. She had let that anger take over, though. By the end, she only thought of ending Creature.

But that's wrong.

Oh, god damn it, this morality crap again?

Not exactly… He will die, don't worry… but this isn't me killing Creature. This is me putting Jonathon Wine to rest.

"This is not an act of vengeance." She reminded herself aloud, speaking as though in mantra. "This is not an act of hate. I do not kill. I am the Reaper. And it is simply your time." After a pause, she added, "in fact… you are long overdue."

She carefully pulled the burn rounds off her belt, as she could only use her right hand. After realizing she didn't have her excess strength as her aura, and subsequently her semblances, were completely drained away, she slammed the ends onto the debris, knocking the tops off. She poured the burn dust into his mouth and held it closed with her hand. With that last shred of aura, she set the dust off. Holding his mouth shut, the fire had only one way to go. Bypassing his shield entirely, up to his brain.

"I hope you find the peace, in death, that I stole from your life. Goodbye, Cre-… Goodbye, Johnathon Wine."

There seemed to be something in his still living eye, if only for a fraction of a second… something resembling contentment and… gratitude? And then it faded, along with the rest of him. At long last, Creature was gone.

His cybernetic eye suddenly lit up and projected a hologram, tinted blue by the glass of the lens. Reaper watched with avid curiosity at the hologram took shape… into the grizzled, wild face of Dr. Verdant Stein. "Password Query. What did you claim to be when you first came to my door?"

Reaper raised an eyebrow at this strange turn of events. Is it really vocally password locked? She decided to give it a go. "I claimed to be a big game hunter, with a friend who had a mangled leg."

"This is within acceptable accuracy of predicted answers. Beginning playback." The holo-Stein responded. "Hello Reaper. If this message is playing, then the subject's brain activity has ceased to zero for a period of ten seconds. Layman's term, Creature is dead, and my hypothesis accurate. Nothing I can do to Creature can help him beat you. I'm leaving this message because I know Torchwick will kill me when I'm finished re-fitting the subject. I'm in no shape to outrun him, but I can still have my revenge. Do not get me wrong, I'm only helping you find him because it is convenient. I don't like you, Reaper. I don't like the law. But I do like being clever, and Torchwick underestimates my cleverness. Creature's Blue eye is built to work independently from his body to project a map of surrounding areas. On this map, a blip will show, indicating the direction and proximity of a tracking device I've snuck onto Roman's precious cane. Trust me, he will never find it. Happy hunting, Reaper."

The transmission cut out as Reaper heard footsteps approaching. She managed to pry the eye out and pocket it before Weiss and the Soldiers found her. She didn't trust that Winter would even consider letting them go if she knew of the map. And she wanted to find Torchwick herself.