Fools Who Fight

Same time...

Mercury had to backpedal out of the way even faster this time as Mason leapt into the air and brought both his weapons down on the ground, creating a crater in the dirt as he chased after the grey-haired boy.

"Get back here when you git gud!" the redhead yelled as he transformed both his longsword and his battle-axe into their ranged-weapon form and began firing shotgun shells and pistol slugs at the fleeing Mercury, who dodged out of the way each time.

"Raiden!" he called out ahead of him at the shadowcaster, who was occupied with fighting the brunette swordsman on his team. "A little help here!" his voice clearly carried a tone of distress and urgency, but didn't betray the fear he was feeling as he ran for his life.

As Mercury had no knowledge of Mason's Semblance, or how it made the berserker stronger every time he was able to land a hit, the speedster had simply drawn on the fight parrying one another, neither combatants able to land an actual blow. Mason's spontaneous fighting style was somehow more than enough to counter the grey-haired boy's speed and concussive blasts, leaving him only to try and get under the berserker's guard to land a hit while parrying the hits that Mason dealt. However, he quickly noticed how each hit the redhead dealt was stronger than the last, and opted to fall back so that someone else could take over, since he was having no luck.

Putting up a wall made of his own shadow between himself and Tanner, Raiden glanced in Mercury's direction. "What's the matter, Boots? I mean sure, he's a feisty one, but I'd expect you to be a-"

"Just shut up and help me!" Mercury shouted, cutting the black-haired teen off as he pushed his body off the ground with one foot and did a mid-air twist to avoid several slugs that Mason shot his way.

"Your deus ex machina can't save you from me!" the redhead yelled after him in reply. "No matter what the writer says!"

With a sigh, Raiden reached into his wall of shadow to pull forth a shield and hold it over his head, as Tanner vaulted over the wall between them and fired several Dust rounds at him from above, yelling as he made his arc through the air and each shot exploded against the shield.

The shadowcaster grunted as each shot made contact with his shield, growing more fatigued by the minute as he extended his Aura through the use of his Semblance. Not wanting to waste any more time, the teen reached into the remainder of the wall of shadows with his sword to allow the solid darkness to coalesce on the black blade. When Tanner's feet touched the ground, the shield he held dissipated, and Raiden swung his sword in a wide arc directed at Tanner, sending a wave of solid shadow his way that knocked him over and onto his back. I've got to do everything here, don't I? Reaching into his shadow once more, the midnight-haired boy closed his eyes for a moment before pulling out a dagger attached to a length of thread.

Once the shadowy thread was firmly wrapped around his arm, Raiden reached out with his off-hand to help with his aim as he built momentum by swinging the dagger at the end of the rope faster and faster before finally releasing his hold on it and sending it flying into the path of the berserker. Within seconds, the redhead was trapped in a coil of shadow as the black-haired teen yanked on his end of the shadow, causing Mason to fall to the ground. "Now, Merc! Finish him now!" he called out as Mercury channelled his forward momentum from running into a backflip that sent him several metres into the air before landing behind Mason.

Bound by his torso and on the ground, the redhead had no way to defend himself as Mercury leapt into the air with a boost from a concussive round that he fired directly into the ground. When he reached the peak of his jump, the grey-haired boy positioned his right leg so as to drive his heel right into the berserker with a powerful slam. A metre from the ground, however, a small explosion against his knee caused Mercury to land two steps too far off and miss his attack.

With a grunt of annoyance, Raiden turned to where the shot came from and found that Tanner had gotten into a crouch and fired a single shot from his sword-pistol, which was now folded into a double-barrelled flintlock, aimed at Mercury.

"I didn't say you could get up!" snapped at the swordsman as he channelled his Aura while curling his fingers, willing several tendrils of darkness to rise out of Tanner's shadow and grab him by the arms, pulling him back to the ground.

However, with his focus so divided and his Aura half-way depleted, the rope of darkness that bound Mason weakened, and the berserker was able to tear himself free. Raising Fuil to block an attack from Mercury, Mason repaid the favour to Tanner by firing a shotgun shell at Raiden from Bas once it folded into its lever-action shotgun form.

Sensing the imminent threat, Raiden held his weapon, Hollow, in front of him to deflect the oncoming pellets, unintentionally releasing his hold on Tanner and allowing the boy to charge straight at him with his sabre out.

With how quickly the brunette closed the distance, Raiden didn't have any time to turn and block the oncoming attack with his blade. But just as Tanner's sabre made contact, a green and brown form slid in front of the oncoming attack and caught it in between two long-pistols.

The black-haired teen took the moment to relax his shoulders and breathe out a sigh of relief as the brunette in front of them stuck his triple-barrelled pistol over their locked weapons in an attempt to shoot him, only to click dry three times and getting no reaction out of the shadowcaster. "I had him, you know?" he said with a huff, directing the question to the head of green hair right in front of him.

"Don't worry about him," Emerald strained to say through gritted teeth without turning around to look Raiden. "-worry about the-"

Before the mint-haired girl could finish what she was about to say, a beam of hot energy struck Raiden in the back and sent him sprawling across the ground. Having no way to protect himself, the teen continued to roll across the ground painfully with the unrelenting force of the beam until it stopped.

Coughing out a mouthful of dirt and grass he had accidentally picked up, Raiden sent a glare in the direction of the beam, finding a hooded figure he didn't see before crouched on the ground, holding what looked to be a hybrid between a curved sword and an energy-rifle.

Another one? Raiden was quick to raise his sword as he got up and into a low stance, holding it upside-down defensively as he expected another attack. The figure's attention left the shadowcaster, however, as he fired a second beam of energy at Mercury. However, the speedster seemed to have sensed the attack coming and bent his back far enough that the beam struck the redhead that he was fighting instead.

With the berserker out of the way, Mercury suddenly turned his attention on SK, closing the distance in seconds as he brought one leg around in a roundhouse-kick aimed at the rogue's neck. SK raised his falchion in response, catching the attack with the flat of his blade. "I've been waiting for the chance to kick your ass." The onyx-haired boy hissed as he pushed back against the boot and vanished.

Taking a deep breath, Mercury waited a beat before suddenly kicking out in one direction, missing the rogue by an inch but provoking an attack in response. A blade began to materialise from its tip to its wielder as SK struck out from what he thought would be a blind-spot for the speedster's defence. However, at the last split-second, Mercury transferred his balance onto his hands and twisted his whole body on the spot, swinging his legs in a circle and kicking the sword away before the rogue had a time to redirect his attack.

From his hand-stand, the grey-haired teen pushed himself off the grass and landed a couple metre away from SK. "So have I, slick." Mercury said with a grin as he dusted his hands off. "So have I."

Across the battlefield, Tanner and Emerald stood with their guns pointed at one another, either opponent reluctant to be the first to pull the trigger as they glared at one another.

With careful sidesteps, the two began to circle around one another in order to keep their respective allies and enemies in sight. "How'd we end up like this, huh Em?" Tanner called out as his eyes glowed orange for a moment, causing a ripple of Aura to surge through his scarf.

Emerald took a few seconds to respond as she mirrored Tanner's footwork. "You know, I wasn't sure whether to feel relief or pity when I saw you jump out of that airship." The mint-haired girl's voice was a little high-strung from the fatigue of battle and the emotions behind them. "I thought you'd died when T came for you, but now I'm not sure if I'd wish you had died then and there." Her crimson eyes shone in the noonday sun.

"It doesn't have to be like this, Emerald." Tanner said as he slowly lowered Crossed Star. "We don't have to fight one another."

"Yes we do!" Emerald shot back. "There's no winning a fight against Cinder, so you're either with her, or dead."

"Haven't I already shown you that I'm more than capable of beating impressive odds?" Tanner asked her rhetorically. "Look, you're really pushing my patience here, Em, but as one of my best friends, I'm giving you a chance to lower your weapons so that I can guarantee your safe-" before the brunette was able to finish his sentence, the mint-green haired girl in front of him jabbed one of her weapons forward, which grazed Tanner's waist as he twisted to the side. "-ty." He finished as he brought one of his pistols around to try and club the girl over the head. Green twin-tails swirled in a spiral as Emerald twisted to intercept the blow with her own pistol. Aiming low, Tanner tried to fire off a shot from his double-barrelled at Emerald's leg – having reloaded all his weapons a few moments ago, but the shot was redirected almost instantly when Emerald brought her other pistol around to hit it to the side.

"You should really think about upgrading your loadout." Tanner commented as he blocked a strike aimed at his head. "If I weren't going easy on you, you'd already be on the floor."

"Oh, you're going easy on me, are you?" Emerald quipped with a quick smirk. "Funny, I was just about to say the same thing."

The swordsman quickly grinned at the nostalgia behind those familiar lines that they shared with each other in the past, but it quickly disappeared as he swung Crossed Stars around to try and take a shot at the girl's left shoulder. The barrel of the gun was stopped a centimetre from being aligned with Emerald's shoulder by her free gun, causing Tanner to involuntarily fire a shot off, unintentionally striking a spot close to where Cinder was standing, making the woman glare at him from across the battlefield.

Tanner was unaware of his serendipitous misfire, however, as he continued to press his offensive on Emerald and force the girl to take several steps back as they traded strikes and missed shots with one another. "I'm going to run out of bullets eventually, but so are you." Tanner warned as one of his stray shots hit Mason in the side, causing a mound of ice to form and freeze him to the ground. "When we do, you had better decide to surrender, because if you don't, I'll have to skewer you. And so far, there are only…seven people I really want to skewer."

"Face it, Vermillion;" Emerald hissed back as she fired two shots from one of her guns, each bullet going wide as Tanner slapped it to the side. "-if you could kill me, you'd have already done it."

"Something tells me you don't want to kill me either." Tanner said as he pushed her back to put some distance between them as he fired a concussive blast of fire from each of his pistols.

The force of the shots, which Tanner had purposely aimed at the ground Emerald stood on, sent her back a few metres in a spiral through the air, but she quickly recovered by sticking the landing with both feet, one hand being used to support her as she dragged three lines through the dirt and grass. As much as he hated to admit it, the trickster was right; Tanner didn't have it in him to kill her, yet.

Just as he was about to say something else, a warcry coming from one side caused Tanner to pivot on one heel and intercept the target. With both guns trained on where his eyes were looking, the brunette quickly took aim as he saw Raiden run up to him from one side, sword drawn and ready to deal a heavy slash.

Firing a quick salvo of shots from his weapons, Tanner's eyes widened suddenly as the figure of the shadowcaster dissolved as the shots passed through it harmlessly. Only after a second's hesitation did he realise that it was one of Emerald's illusions, and quickly turned back to face the girl. However, it was already too late, and Emerald had already begun firing rounds from her long-pistols at him.

With determination to end the fight while not killing the mint-haired girl, Tanner quickly changed his grip on Beofield, causing it to transform into its sabre form as he dodged and blocked each oncoming shot with the blade of his weapon. With quick footwork and a clever flanking technique he had picked up, Tanner quickly closed the distance between them and put both his weapons against Emerald's body – Crossed Star against her chest, Beofield against her neck.

In response, Emerald pushed the barrels of her long-pistols into Tanner's chest, the hot barrels making themselves known through his orange denim shirt. "Go on, do it." Emerald dared with a cold look in her eyes. "You wasted your last shots on the illusion, so all you've got left is your sword. However, I've still got a few shots in these things." A few seconds passed as they held each other's glare, neither of them daring to take the initiative to break the standoff and provoke the wrath of their opponent. As the seconds passed, Tanner scanned those cold, crimson eyes that stared back at him, searching for a trace of the girl he once knew, and helped find their way in Atlas while he tried to find his own way.

They had been there for each other in their time of need, but, as fate would have it, they now stood against each other.

Tanner came to realise that the Emerald he had known was still there, all of her, but there was something different that he couldn't quite put his finger on. Suddenly, her look turned triumphant. "I told you, there's no way you could-" a loud explosion at point-blank range cut her off as Tanner pulled on the trigger of his flintlock pistol, causing the hammer to slam into the remaining round in its chamber and fire it off into Emerald's chest, throwing her back several steps with a crackle of lightning.

Her mint-green Aura flickered over her form with a few streaks of residual lightning before flickering out like a broken lightbulb, signalling that the last of her protective Aura had just been depleted. "Someone's not counting their shots." Tanner quipped. Me. It's me. I legitimately thought I was empty – dammit! Now I've got to apologize to her…eventually.

As he slipped his pistol into its holster, Tanner took his time with walking over to Emerald's downed body, who was still struggling to get up. Reluctantly, the brunette put his boot on the thief's chest where he had fired off his point-blank shot, eliciting a hiss of pain as he used the tip of his sabre to tilt her head up to meet his eyes. "Give up, Em. You know the longer we fight the more Grimm we're going to attract."

With a few strained breaths of air, the thief eventually met his gaze with her own steady glare. "That's the point, isn't it?" she hissed out through her teeth.

Furrowing his brow, Tanner crouched down so he didn't have to strain to hear her. The guilt in him further compelled him to use his free hand to support the back of her head as he spoke. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't pretend like you don't know." Emerald spat back, but her bitter expression changed to one of surprise as it looked like the blood momentarily drained from her face. "You don't…do you?"

"Know what? What's going on?" Tanner tried to force the answers out of her, but was cut short when a cry of rage came from his left and the brunette had to leave Emerald's side to fend off a sudden flurry of attacks from Mercury.

Every strike that the speedster dealt, Tanner had to take a step backwards until he found his back pressed against SK's. However, with both swordsman and rogue focussed on fighting their respective opponents, the sudden proximity with another person was registered as an enemy, and both immediately spun around to try and strike each other down. Only after their blades clashed and locked did they realise who they were about to fight, and who they had to fight.

Behind SK, the shadowcaster was sprinting towards him for an attack while Mercury was running up from behind Tanner. "Switch!" the rogue yelled suddenly, but Tanner didn't need any further prompt as he followed the Vacuo-born's anti-clockwise movement to deflect a strike from Raiden, who was now only using his sword to fight.

Surrounded on both sides, the brunette suddenly got an idea that would either kill them both, or save them both. "When I say so, drop to the ground and get your laser beam ready!" he yelled over his shoulder while pushing back against the shadowcaster with the flat of his sabre.

"What? Why?"

"Now!" he yelled as he used his free hand to grab the end of his neck-scarf, undoing it in a single tug as he swung it around in a wide, anti-clockwise circle. With the remainder of his Aura, Tanner channelled it through the enhanced fabric of his scarf and caused the Dust carefully sewn into it to ignite.

His cheap trick worked, startling their two opponents and forcing them both back several steps. With the golden opportunity present, SK didn't hesitate to power up his beam-rifle and fire at both their opponents from where he was crouched on the ground. The first blast sent Mercury flying backwards, but the second was blocked by the flat of Raiden's longsword as the force behind the beam of energy pushed him backwards by several steps, dragging two tracks in the dirt.

The rogue would have kept his offensive up for longer, if the cartridge in his falchion hadn't run out of Dust, forcing him to stop, give the weapon a couple seconds to cool off before swapping capsules by sliding a new one into a slot that opened up in its side.

Before he could resume his offensive, however, Tanner nabbed his attention by grabbing him by the shoulder. "I need you and Mason to hold them off – Emerald's down, don't bother with her – while I go find T."

"You do that, I can handle myself." SK said, sounding thoroughly winded. "That bloody marauder's taking care of a few Grimm that're showing up. If we don't end this soon, Cinder'll be the least of our problems."

"I think that's what they want."

A sudden sense of vertigo overtook T as he was thrown off his feet by a blast of Fall Maiden energy from Cinder, sending him through the burnt and broken remains of one of the walls of the barn. The feeling only lasted a second as he stumbled in the ashes and charcoal back to his feet, ready for whoever attacked him next.

Out of the corner of his peripheral vision, a shimmer of light from his left immediately had T deliver a roundhouse kick with his right leg, intercepting a pink and white parasol that had been swung at his shoulder. The backwards force behind the kick had T back on both his feet as he raised his bionic arm to block a flurry of strikes from Neo. Both fighters were nearly equally matched, with Neo only slightly faster than the hacker as his blunt strikes were slower than the illusionist's deft strikes.

Their fight dragged on for seconds, kicking up ash and burnt splinters of wood as they pushed each other back and forth through the burnt remains of the interior of the barn.

However, they knew each other's fighting style well enough to know how to counteract their opponent. The way in which they flowed in their fight provided a glimpse at how well they knew each other, the fight between them seeming more like a dance than anything as they either dodged or blocked every strike they were dealt or dealt. From the perspective of someone watching the fight, it would seem they were equally matched, and that the fight was locked in a stalemate.

The whole time, as metal clashed against metal, T held back. At any time, he could have used either his sidearm or one of his extra harpoons to get a ranged advantage. Each punch he struck was pulled ever so slightly as to only damage the girl's Aura and not leave any lasting bruising or break any bones. Neo, however, didn't hold back, and each strike and stab from her rapier-parasol had the intent to kill.

"Neo," T ducked under another stab as he struck out with his leg. "-listen to me." The sole of his boot landed square on Neo's chest, sending her back a couple steps in a flip.

A couple steady heartbeats passed as Neo rose to her full height, holding eye contact with T as she signed with one hand. "I'm done listening to you." As she said this, the hacker suddenly felt a chill go up his spine as he turned around to see Cinder dash towards him with both of her blades ready to impale him through the abdomen.

"And I'm done playing." T said out loud as he held out his left hand, channelling his Aura through it to manifest as his Semblance. Almost immediately, Cinder stumbled in her dash before collapsing to the ash-covered ground with a pained groan on both her hands and feet, dropping her weapons while using one hand to cover the top of her head and try to sooth the mind-splitting headache she suddenly felt.

As his hand glowed a bright-blue, T was barely handling it any better. His Semblance, Pacify, worked both ways, giving him a significantly weaker headache while the ash-haired woman felt as if her head had just split open.

When he turned around, however, Neo had him at blade-point, the tip of her thrusting sword pressed gently into his throat as she glared at him with a baleful look while signing with one hand. Let. Her. Go." She said as her eyes momentarily switched colours, applying just a little bit more pressure onto his throat for emphasis.

"Neo, any moment now, a horde of Grimm is going to sweep through here and kill everyone. My airship is already on a flight path to pick us up, which means I'm you're only hope of making it out alive. Now, you either follow me, or die with her." He stated as he gestured back to Cinder, who was trying to slowly crawl towards her discarded weapons, the edges of his vision starting to blur. With the way his Semblance worked, it was a lot harder to pacify a strong mind without having to exert himself at the same time – and Cinder had a strong mind, so what he was doing now was really pushing T to his limit. "It's your choice."

This was the greatest variable in his plan; whether Neo would follow him or not. If she didn't his only option would be to sacrifice the others as a distraction while he knocked her out, called in Overwatch and let the Grimm sweep through the area and kill them all. If she did agree to go along with him, well, it made things a lot easier.

T's thoughts were broken momentarily by the sound of shifting glass. Turning around, he saw that Cinder had gotten hold of her bow and was trying to pull the string back and fire. However, her aim was so shaky, the hacker doubted that she could hit him even if she was able to pull the bowstring far enough back.

"Neo." He hissed out, the pain in his head starting to become too much for him. "I can't hold on much longer. You have to-" before he was able to finish his statement, a familiar howl went up in the air, echoing about the open field as T's HUD showed an increase in his heart-rate.

A few seconds passed as the girl maintained her glare before nodding ever so slightly. In hindsight, the fact that she never dropped her glare should have been an indication of her true intention, but T was too relieved at the time to care.

With the minor slip-up in judgement, T unintentionally loosened the vice he had on Cinder's mind, allowing the woman to build up the concentration she needed to flick a small fireball at him. Moving purely on muscle-memory, T raised his metallic arm to intercept the projectile, releasing his hold on Cinder entirely and allowing Neo to dash by him, grab the ash-haired woman and disappear in a blink of light.

Before the hacker had the chance to curse his reflex and for going against his own probabilities, he found himself blocking an incendiary projectile coming from the direction he was facing. With his arm raised, he blocked the shot and waved the flames away, revealing Tanner standing on the opposite side of the destroyed barn with his flintlock raised. Though he didn't say anything for a few seconds, his facial expression conveyed his apology.

T saw, though, that in his eyes, the brunette held no regrets for the accidental friendly-fire.

"What just happened?" Tanner hastily asked as he began slowly swinging his pistols in a circle, on guard and weary of any surprise attacks.

"Neo's Semblance allows for short-range teleportation and the ability to leave a solid copy of herself behind." T stated the fact as he began walking towards the swordsman.

"Well, whatever. We need to get out of here." Tanner warned just as a howl went up from his left and T's right, compelling the two to raise their weapons in that direction, anticipating an attack by a large Grimm. A second passed, then the next, then Tanner lowered his guard to continue speaking. "Something's not right – Cinder's got something up her sleeve that doesn't have her worried about the Grimm."

With genuine confusion on his face, the hacker turned to face Tanner as a small chill went down his spine. "What do you mean?"

"Emerald said something about-"

Before the Atlas-born swordsman could finish what he was trying to say, the sound of wood splintering and falling apart gave way to a pack of three Beowulves. Raising their guns, Tanner and T fired a series of shots at the pack, the bullets piercing straight through their as they each finally dropped after a headshot.

"You can't trust anything that bitch says." T said as he dropped the clip in his gun to the ground and slapped a fresh clip into the silenced pistol.

Tanner's features darkened slightly after T made that remark, but continued as if nothing had been said. "She looked scared – not about us or the Grimm, it was more like she was scared of Cinder. T, you have to believe me, my hunch is telling me that this is going to go bad really fast for us."

A boarbatusk suddenly burst through the burnt, fragile planks of wood that made up the wall of the barn. "Hunches didn't get me this far." T said as he took up a defensive stance while the boar-Grimm let out a fierce squeal and began pawing the ground with its legs. "Statistics did. Move!" the hacker's warning just got to Tanner as he dived out of the way of the boarbatusk, which had suddenly charged forward.

The swordsman dived out of the way with a split-second to spare as the creature of Grimm burst through the wall on the opposite side of the barn, causing what was left of the roof to collapse on the evil creature as Tanner and T made their way out of the remains of the barn – clear of the falling rubble.

Neither got a chance to take a breath. By the time they clambered over the charred wooden planks that made up the wall of the barn in order to escape the collapsing building, they were both intercepted from either side by Neo and Cinder, who struck in a diagonal slash.

Anticipating the attack, T was able to raise his arm in time to block the strike from Neo, but Tanner wasn't, taking a large amount of damage to the Aura protecting him. Unable to stand against the force that the ash-haired woman had struck him with, Tanner fell to the grass with a hard slam as the half-Maiden dug one of her heels into his chest.

With two light kicks, Cinder was able to send the brunette's weapons rolling across the ground and out of his reach as he took a sharp intake of air. "Hannah wasn't kidding," he wheezed out weakly. "-stiletto heels hurt like a bitch." Even in his incapacitated state, being faced with the cold steel of his enemy's blade, Tanner was able to flash an obnoxious smirk. "Double that if they're being worn by a bitch."

"Would you rather I rest my heel somewhere else?" the ash-haired woman asked with her own smirk in return. The foot she had rested on Tanner's chest began to slowly move lower. "Somewhere more…sensitive?"

"Do that, and I can't guarantee I won't make a mess of your boots. I also can't guarantee you'll have those legs after that." Tanner replied.

"That's assuming you live long enough to do something about it."

A few metres away, T struggled with the bladed end of Neo's parasol, which she was trying to drive into his face. With both hands wrapped around its end, he held it at bay instead of sending it back into the multi-coloured girl. Holding her back, the hacker quickly debated in his head what the best course of action would be to take.

The Grimm were already upon them, and Overwatch was at best a minute out. Everyone else was expendable, but that didn't help his case against the overwhelming odds. However, T's hesitation and indecision played into Neo's strategy, as the petite trickster suddenly drew her weapon back with such force that the cyborg was drawn towards her.

T saw, clearly, that Neo had the perfect opportunity to drive her rapier through him right then and there. The fact that she didn't briefly sparked hope in his mind, but it was quickly buried once again by doubt and a cloud of other emotions as she rounded him – using his shoulders as pivoting points as she swung her whole body around to get behind him, and held him in a choke-hold with her parasol.

Struggling briefly, the cyborg craned his neck in order to stare at the girl out of his peripheral vision, trying to convey his thoughts without words. A low growl from behind them quickly reminded him of the ever-growing presence of the Grimm.

"Neo, please." T could barely say the words with how tight his throat had become.

In response, the murderous combination of colours pulled even harder on her parasol, allowing the hacker to feel his own windpipe being squeezed. To prevent himself from losing breath faster, T exhaled all the air in his lungs to reduce pressure, preparing to channel his Semblance into the girl on a moment's notice.

"Neo, make sure he's watching." Cinder ordered as the Grimm continued to surround them in an even tighter circle, none of them daring to break it.

A few metres away, enemies turned into reluctant allies, choosing to fight the Grimm over fighting each other for the time being. SK raised his left hand and fired a salvo of micro-missiles at a Death Stalker – doing nothing but burning it's thick scales – as Emerald covered his back with fire.

"We're going to die out here unless we stop fighting each other and work out an escape plan!" SK shouted as he swung his falchion in a wide arc, taking the top of a beowulf's head in one swing.

"Not us," Emerald said just as an Ursa brought it's paw down on her, hitting nothing as the girl dodged out of the way in time. "-just you. Merc, Raiden, we need to get back to Cinder!" she called out as she began firing wildly to clear a path straight to her team leader.

Distracted by the statement and wondering for a second too long about what Emerald meant, the rogue was caught off-guard as a Beringel pounced on him, crushing his arms under it's massive fists. Unable to move his arms at all, SK was only able to glare in a mixture of anger and fear at the large creature on top of him, turning his head to the side to see that Mason was faring slightly better.

The redhead berserker was by himself, surrounded by a pack of beowulves with nowhere to go. However, his erratic attacks and defensive-offensives kept catching the beowulves off-guard no matter who tried to attack him. "Bruhs, are you even trying?" he asked a beowulf that he had caught in a lock with his battle axe and his longsword by it's head, right before pulling his weapons back and decapitating it.

On the other side of the battlefield, T, Neo, Cinder and Tanner had been thoroughly surrounded by Grimm of all sizes, with no way out that didn't involve carving a path through the monsters.

The first thought that came to T's mind was that this was a final, suicidal attempt by Cinder to rid Remnant of him, once and for all. It was a dramatic display of her desire to destroy him, no doubt, but from everything he had seen of the woman, this was the last thing the ash-haired woman would do. While Cinder was a lot of things, she was not foolhardy – not to mention, she lacked the morality and conviction to give her life up in order to destroy his.

Suddenly, Tanner's warning came back to his mind, and the hacker suddenly realised that he should have taken the warning into account, instead of dismissing it as an attempt to dissuade them from continuing the fight. All that was left, really, was to find out what Cinder's ace was.

Against the pounding of his heart, against the blaring alarm in his mind warning him about the incredible number of Grimm around them, T held his ground, keeping half his mind on the ETA of Overwatch's arrival as he watched the woman.

A moment later, a Grimm Beowulf began walking up to Cinder and Tanner on all fours, with the intent, T had assumed, to finish the downed man and fight the woman if it had to.

What happened next, however, the hacker could never have predicted.