I'm glad to be back. Sorry for the unexpected hiatus over the winter season, but I'm back and raring to go. Full throttle, just like before. I'm grateful for everyone who's waited and all of my reviewers. If you're interested I rewrote the first chapter. Maybe better maybe not so maybe check it out. Anyway Enjoy the first of many many chapters to be released soon.
Zade and Max walked back onto the beacon campus, relieved to finally get back on familiar territory. They walked past the dorms which were still under construction, though progress was significant, and straight to the infirmary. They walked through the doors, and saw Allister and Athena talking in the waiting room.
"What's up?" Zade asked, sitting in a chair next to Allister. Max walked over and stood near them. Allister clapped a hand on Zade's back.
"Hey you guys are finally back! How'd it go?" Allister asked, giving them a smile.
"We got it done." Zade said confidently.
"So you know who tried to do this?" Athena asked, leaning forward.
"Not exactly… Lionheart was useless, but some thugs tried to attack us, which lead us to this sex slave ring called the Carousel, run by a group called the Syndicate. We believe that the Syndicate are the people we are looking for." Max explained.
"Well you boys certainly have been busy over the last few days." Athena said, smiling at them.
"We've seen worse." Max said.
"That much is true." Allister agreed.
"So what do you plan to do now?" Athena asked.
"Well. I need to go and sort through all the data I stole from the Carousel. I'd like to get searching as soon as possible." Max said, walking away with a wave.
"How is everyone doing?" Zade asked.
"Things are better. Nora is up and about, Ren is helping her get back in top shape. Yang is getting stronger. She can only take a few steps, but she's getting better everyday. Ruby is still too injured to stand, but she seems to be in better spirits. Weiss and Blake are both still unconscious. Today I was also able to discharge another 12 students. So things are getting better, slowly but surely." Allister answered.
"Good. I'm going to sit by Weiss." Zade said, standing up.
"You're a devoted husband. She's lucky to have you." Athena said.
"Thank you your majesty." Zade bowed lightly.
"Please. You're family. Call me mom." Athena smiled. Allister rolled his eyes, as Zade chuckled.
"Of course. I'll see you later. Allister. Mom." Zade said, walking off. Once Zade walked through the waiting room doors, Allister raised an eyebrow at his mother.
"What? If they're your family they're my family." Athena said, matter of factly.
"Nothing it's just funny." Allister said,
"Whatever." Athena said. Sitting their and looking at her son.
Zade walked down the hallway and opened the door to Weiss's room. As he walked in Qrow and Winter turned to look at them.
"Yo." Zade said. Winter and Qrow just nodded.
"What happened?" Winter asked.
"They were doing a mission for Beacon when they were attacked." Zade explained.
"I see. How are you holding up though." Qrow asked.
"I'm fine." Zade said, nodding, and raising an eyebrow.
"Hey hey. I know what it's like to lose people close to you ok." Qrow said, defensively.
"I never said you didn't." Zade shot back. Winter walked over and gave Zade a hug.
"Thank you for caring for Weiss though." she said.
"She's my wife. I wouldn't do anything less." Zade answered, as Winter pulled away.
"Where have you been for the last couple of days ?" Winter pressed.
"I was with Max trying to beat some information out of some people." Zade explained. Winter stepped back.
"Did you find anything helpful." Qrow picked up.
"Hopefully." Zade said, sitting down next to Weiss, and holding her hand. "Max is combing through some data now."
"Well I hope he finds something." Qrow sympathized. Zade nodded, kissing Weiss's hand, as the three of them stood there in silence.
Ruby looked up as the door to her room opened. She expected it to be her father, but her eyes widened when Max walked in.
"Hey Max." she smiled, looking up at him. Max smiled back and took a seat in the chair next to you.
"How are you feeling?" he asked, watching her concerned.
"I'm actually a lot better since Allister has been taking care of me." Ruby explained.
"Yeah, but… How are you feeling?" Max asked again. Ruby sighed.
"I don't know… It's rough. I thought my team was ready, but we weren't close. I thought we could handle it and now everyone's really hurt." Ruby said, looking down.
"C'mon. It's ok." Max consoled her.
"It's not. I'm supposed to be the leader. I'm supposed to be the one who protects my team and makes sure we all come back." Ruby said.
"You couldn't control it." Max stated.
"It doesn't matter. We should've still been better. I should have been better." Ruby said, her clenched fist trembling. Max scooted closer, and pulled Ruby into a hug. Ruby grabbed onto his shirt and shoved her face in his chest, as he gently rubbed her back.
"It's ok. It's ok." Max comforted.
Standing just outside the door, peeking in, were Taiyang and Allister. Taiyang couldn't help but grin as he stepped back from the door.
"Should I go and give her some healing?" Allister asked, already knowing the answer.
"Just give them a minute." Taiyang said, leaning against the wall. "My girls are growing up so quickly." he added.
"Life can do that to some people." Allister agreed.
"It's sad to see her like that though." Taiyang muttered.
"She's strong. She'll be fine. Everyone needs to breakdown once in awhile in order to rebuild themselves as a better, stronger person. I have no doubt that she'll make a great huntress and an even greater leader." Allister spoke up reassuringly.
"I guess you aren't such a bad pick either." Taiyang rolled his eyes jokingly.
"Hey hey." Allister protested, and the two men laughed.
Across the campus, Dreamwalker walked quietly through the halls of Beacon. She passed by everyone, as though she were a ghost. Thanks to her powers of illusion she might as well have been. She smiled diabolically as she passed by an unsuspecting group of students. She wanted to use her powers and terrify them to death, but she had a mission and the mission came first.
"Where am I?" Dreamwalker growled, checking a map of the school didn't cross her mind in her rush to fulfill Mistress taurus's wishes. Dreamwalker kept looking, until a voice caught her attention.
"Well well. Snooping are we." Emerald said from behind her. Dreamwalker, pulled her hood lower on her face and turned around. Dreamwalker growled at Emerald.
"Don't be so surprised. It's only natural that there's more than one illusionist in this world." Emerald said. Dreamwalker scoffed.
"I don't find anything surprising, except what a poor decision you've made." Dreamwalker responded. Emerald rolled her eyes.
"Cinder told me to keep an eye on you. Why are you here?" Emerald asked, slowly reaching back for her pistols.
"I'm here on official business which does not concern you." Dreamwalker answered. "And if you don't leave, I can't promise I won't hurt you."
"Your illusions won't work on me." Emerald declared. Dreamwalker laughed under her cloak, he presence oozing killing intent.
"Oh… they don't need to." she responded. Emerald grit her teeth and drew her pistols. Emerald started firing at Dreamwalker. Dreamwalker casually dodged her bullets and moved in close. She struck out with her needle, barely missing Emerald's face. Emerald unfolded her sickle blade and slashed out, catching Dreamwalker's chest. Dreamwalker spun around, jumped over Emerald's head, wrapped her arms around her neck, and slammed Emerald down over her shoulder on her back. Emerald coughed out. Dreamwalker dashed back and quickly glanced around, ensuring that no one was around. Emerald rolled over and pushed herself back up to her feet. Dreamwalker was already in close, and jumped up, kneeing her face. Emerald reached out and grabbed a hold of Dreamwalker. She threw Dreamwalker to the ground, and fired at Dreamwalker. Dreamwalker focused her aura outwards, and blocked each shot, before rolling away. Emerald jumped back, and extended her sickles by their chain, swinging them around. Dreamwalker danced around the room, easily dodging each of Emerald's intended hits. Dreamwalker flipped over one last chain, and brought her foot down on top of Emerald's head. She flipped in midair and kicked sharply across Emerald's face. Dreamwalker continued spinning, and once Emerald turned back, sidekicked her right in the nose. Emerald let out a cry as she stepped back, holding her nose. Dreamwalker landed gracefully, and refused to give up her attack. Rushing in and stabbing with her needles. Emerald felt a few of them slice through her clothes as she desperately tried to avoid them.
"I need to use my semblance." She frantically thought, trying to make Dreamwalker think that she had disappeared. Dreamwalker stopped dead in her tracks. She looked around, appearing rather frustrated. Emerald smirked to herself, happy that her semblance took hold. She took a step towards Dreamwalker, but stopped cold, when she felt something small and metal pierce the skin on her stomach. Emerald gasped as the Dreamwalker she was looking at disappeared, and the real one appeared right before her, smirking devilishly
"I told you your illusions were worthless. Now feel reality slip from you." Dreamwalker said cryptically, drawing the needle from Emerald. Emerald stared at her and her vision quickly started to blur.
"W-what did you do?" Emerald asked, falling against the wall to support her weight.
"Just a little something something. If illusions won't do, then let's try a little hallucination huh?" Dreamwalker mocked as she turned and started walking down the hall.
"Get back he…" Emerald struggled to say, as she took a step towards Dreamwalker. Unfortunately, the body had already weakened to the point where she collapsed. Emerald could do nothing except lie there as the hallucination began to take hold.
Ruby had calmed down and was gently laying her head on Max's shoulder as he and Titan started sorting through the data that he copied from the Carousel. With each file Titan's holographic body couldn't help but shudder.
"If you need to. I can lower your emotional capacity if this it too much." Max offered, noticing his Partner's discomfort.
"No it's fine. You wanted me to be a perfect A.I, and this is a good chance to display some sympathy, as well as a knowledge of right and wrong… on a more emotional level." Titan answered, trying to steel herself.
"Since when are you so business first?" Max asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Since I've realized how dangerous your battles really are. You created me and it's my duty to do anything to defend you." Titan answered.
"No one would believe she's not human." Ruby muttered. Titan beamed.
"You're really think so!" she said excitedly, before shuddering as another unsettling image passed by the screen.
"Absolutely." Ruby affirmed, returning Titan's smile. Max continued to scan through data, when the sound of the infirmary doors bursting open, and screams from hell filled the halls.
"MAX!" Allister yelled. Max turned towards Ruby, who sat up and off of him. Max gave her a nod and jumped of the bed and raced into the hall. Allister and a few nurses were struggling to keep Emerald restrained on a gurney. She screamed incessantly and incoherently, while lashing out with fists, feet, and anything else she could get her hands on. Allister held her arms pinned with one hand, while his other was trying to soothe her with the Dragon's holy light, but it seemed to have no effect.
"What's happening?" Max asked as they walked past.
"Just shut up and grab her legs." Allister instructed, while jerking his hand away from Emerald's sudden attempt to bite it. Max nodded and ran to the end of the gurney, grabbing hold of Emerald's legs and holding them down. They lead Emerald into an emergency room, where they planned to strap her down to a more secure table. However, She freed her leg from Max's grip and kicked him in the face. Max stepped back momentarily, but Emerald had taken the opportunity to also knee Allister in the face, loosening his grip. Emerald flipped off the bed and between the two of them, landing and making a beeline for the door. Max lunged forward and just managed to grab her ankle, causing Emerald to trip and smash her face against the door. Emerald rolled over and immediately kicked Max's face again. Max let go and rolled out of the way, as Allister advanced. Emerald grabbed a shelve of medical instruments and brought it down on Allister.
"Crap!" Allister cursed, trying to avoid all the sharp instruments. Emerald continued screaming and turned for the door, when she was promptly stunned by Taiyang, using a lightning dust pulse from his hand. Taiyang grabbed the paralyzed Emerald and carried her over towards the table, where he promptly strapped her down. Taiyang stepped back from the table and turned towards Allister, who was brushing himself off, and Max, who was rising from the floor.
"Problem solved." Taiyang said with a smile, ignoring the fact that Emerald's screaming had resumed. Taiyang sighed.
"What's wrong with her?" Max asked, looking at Allister.
"I don't know, something is wrong, but my dragon healing doesn't seem to be having much of an effect." Allister answered.
"I'll get Titan." Max responded, walking out of the room. Allister turned towards Taiyang, who was giving him a concerned look.
"If the dragon powers aren't helping, then whatever she have might not be solvable." Taiyang said, deadly seriously.
"I'm sure Max will have something." Allister said, as Max came back into the room. Max placed titan on the counter and opened her. She resumed her holographic body and began flying around emerald, scanning her while covering her ears from her screams.
"So?" Max asked.
"I don't know what could have caused this. There's no natural cause that I can find online, so I assume that she's been afflicted by a semblance, or a very very potent drug. What really matters is that her neural activity is out of control. Whatever's she's seeing or feeling, it's causing such high levels of sensory input that her brain can't keep up. She'll totally burn out and suffer severe brain damage if we don't stop this." Titan diagnosed.
"What do we do about that?" Allister asked, unnerved at the true severity of the problem.
"Nothing unless you know how to actually stop neural activity." Titan explained. Max and Allister suddenly had a spark of inspiration. They both turned towards Taiyang.
"What?" he asked, clueless.
"You used to be a high ranking Lightning dragon weren't you?" Allister asked, deviousness in his voice.
"I haven't done that stuff in years, other than the basics which I used against you that one time." Taiyang explained.
"We want to you to shut down and restart her brain… a reboot if you will." Max said.
"Whoa! I don't nearly have the precision needed for that anymore. I'll kill her." Taiyang argued.
"It's the best thing we've got." Allister shrugged as they picked up Taiyang from the arms and set him down just behind Emerald's head.
"Hold on." Max said, as he shoved a gag in her mouth, muffling her screams. "Some peace and quiet to work with." Taiyang cracked his fingers and placed his hands parallel to each other on opposite sides of Emerald's head. He took a few deep breaths and lightning began to arc between his palms and her head. Taiyang stared at her intently, trying gently as possible to absorb the electricity in her system. Titan hovered above Emerald, keeping close watch on her vitals. Taiyang started to gain confidence, pulling the electricity from her nervous system as fast at it could produce. Soon Emerald fell completely still and silent.
"Ok. Neural activity is 0." Titan announced. Taiyang breathed in and send a spark of lightning coursing into her body. The lighting traveled up and down her nerves, snapping her to consciousness. Emerald tried to say something, but it was muffled by the gag. She ripped it out of her mouth and tried again.
"What the hell just happened?" she asked, panting and still scared.
"Not sure. Just rest and we'll send the doctors in." Max said, as the three of them left the room, being replaced by the academy's staff of doctors.
Outside the three men stood their, each with a concerned look on their face.
"What do you think is the cause of this?" Taiyang asked, unsure of what he just witnessed.
"I can't say much about it." Max shrugged, leaning against the wall.
"Well whatever it was it proved one thing. There is definitely something fishy going on in Beacon." Allister answered.
"I agree, and I've already had steps taken to ensure the safety of the rest of the student body." Ozpin interrupted, walking up to the small meeting.
"Professor." Taiyang greeted politely.
"Taiyang." Ozpin greeted back.
"Professor what do you mean by extra measures?" Max asked curiously. Not wanting to waste any time regarding his friends safety.
"I've had security on campus increase, and I will be assigning team ENDD, and hopefully Taiyang, Qrow, Winter, and Athena to constantly have protective duty over the injured students, especially team RWBY. They could be in more danger than the rest." Ozpin explained calmly. Max rolled the plan over in his head for a moment, before nodding his understanding.
"I can assure you Professor, the culprit will pay." Allister declared, holding a fist up by his chest.
"Admirable, but I do hope you can keep this a secret, we don't need any more bad press, and we especially do not want students in a panic." Ozpin cautioned. Allister nodded, and stepped back to calm himself down.
"I guess there's nothing else to do but go about business as usual is there?" Taiyang shrugged, glancing at the rest of the group. When no one decided to say anything he continued. "Then I'm going to head back to my children if you don't mind." Taiyang excused himself as he walked off. Ozpin, Allister, and Max each stood their for a moment before the three of them spilt up, heading off towards their own specific task.
Max gently rapped on the door to Ruby's room, planning on being polite as opposed to just bursting in. He stood there for a moment, but received no answer. Max knocked again, exerting just a little more force. Still, no answer. Max rolled his eyes, immediately expecting something suspicious was up. Max placed his ear against the door, trying to hear anything inside. After a moment he was able to make out the sound of stifled giggling. He immediately picked up on the joke, shrugged, recognizing the two voices. Max the door a few more hard pounds, and quickly raced to the next empty room.
Inside the room, Ruby, and Titan were trying really hard to stay absolutely quiet, without much success. After another small outburst from Ruby, Titan's holographic form, pretended to smack her upside the head.
"Girl, if you want to see how much he likes you by making him overreact to a potential situation then you need to shut your trap." Titan whisper shouted. Ruby nodded quickly and covered her mouth with her hands, not wanting to give up the game. The two girls stared at the door expecting more knocks, or at least a worried ask from Max outside, but they both jumped out of their chairs, when the knocks they were expecting were ringing from the outside of the building, They spun around to see a smug looking Max outside the window. Titan growled and looked back at Ruby.
"Sorry." Ruby said, sitting back in her hospital bed. Max pulled the window open and hopped into the room. He gave Ruby a sweet smile before sitting on the edge of her bed.
"You know if you're well enough to go along with one of Titan's cockamamy schemes I think you're just about ready to get out of here." Max said, cheerfully.
"Yeah, but it's a shame it didn't work." Ruby answered, crossing her arms.
"You'll get me next time." Max reassured her, winking as he turned his attention to Titan.
"How the hell did you get here?" he asked, realizing he had left her in the operating room to go speak with the guys, and had accidentally left her there.
"Specialized transportation legs, for when you forget me for some reason, or I need to be somewhere." Titan answered.
"Ah." Max noted, remember adding those.
"So what happened? I heard a lot of screaming." Ruby asked, curious as to what happened.
"It's not great. Some girl had a crazy panic attack. We think there might be an enemy on the campus so we are going to tighten security." Max explained, growing gentler as Ruby's face became more and more worried.
"That's terrible, do they have any idea who the person might be?" Ruby pressed, hoping that she could help in some way.
"Not really, but at least there some good that comes out of it." Max pointed out. Ruby pursed her lips for a moment, thinking, before coming up empty.
"What is it?"
'I get to stay here until the threat is resolved." Max said, wiggling his eyebrows playfully. Ruby couldn't help but blush as her heart did a little leap in her chest.
"A whole night with Max in my room. US ALONE!" her mind screamed as she tried to keep on an appropriate demeanor, hiding how nervous and excited she was,.
"That sounds… appropriate." Ruby answered. Max chuckled a little, he could tell that Ruby was pretty bad at hiding her scooted closer, and placed a hand on her leg.
"It'll be a fun sleepover." Max suggested, his words driving Ruby even more wild on the inside. Ruby stared at his hand, and tried to form words.
"Y-yeah sl-s-sleepover t-totally." She nodded excitedly, anticipating Max's next advancement. Much to her disappointment he pulled away, and jumped off the bed. She paused for a moment before he spoke to her.
"I've got to go get what we need for a night full of… fun." Max said, licking his lips and stepping out of the room. Ruby stared at the door for a minute, steaming with anticipation and frustration. Titan reappeared in her holographic form, pretending to fan herself.
"Whoa, is it hot in here or what?" She asked rhetorically, as Ruby answered by nodding her head silently.
"Somebody's been hanging out with Zade." Titan noted, as she moved up close to Ruby. Ruby didn't know how to respond to Max's sudden and aggressive advancements.
"What do I do?" Ruby asked Titan, her nervousness showing.
"Just be yourself. I promise everything will work out." Titan answered. Ruby took a moment to steel herself and nodded. She then proceed to destroy her own newfound confidence.
"What if he doesn't like me, or finds me boring? What if I'm not pleasing enough?" Ruby asked, desperately. Titan rolled her eyes.
"You need to stop listening to Yang. Be more like Weiss. You're young. There's no need to rush into something you're not comfortable with." Titan advised
"But his hand… on my leg." Ruby trailed off.
"Oh sweetie, that wasn't a sexual advance. He just wanted to see how flustered you'd get so he could gauge how interested you were in him. You'll know when he wants to try and get in your pants." Titan explained. Ruby couldn't help but sigh.
"Thanks a lot Titan. You're a good friend."
"Damn right, so I'll go hide in the corner, and let the love fest commence." Titan joked as she disappeared and her briefcase walked itself to a corner of the room. Ruby turned back towards to the door, expecting Max with much anticipation.
Late that night, Dreamwalker stalked her way into the infirmary. She growled, seeing the guard sitting at the check in station, along with the nurse.
"That fucking Emerald bitch. I bet she's the reason security is so tight around here. I've already had to use my semblance on 7 other guards." She complained to herself, as she slid so that she was just on the other side of the counter. She took a deep breath and allowed her semblance to work its magic, slowly putting the guard and nurse to sleep. Dreamwalker stood up and peered over the counter. She smiled, pleased with her work, and she headed towards the patients rooms. As she stepped into the hallway, she finally realized how unprepared she was.
"Shit. I don't know where they're keeping the sword. Most of his team are here so it's definitely in the infirmary, but who's guarding it?" She asked herself, as she looked at each of the door in the hallway. She groaned, realizing she'd have to check each one by one. Getting to business, Dreamwalker creeped up to the first room and peered inside. The room was lit by a screen that was projected onto one of the walls, though whatever had been playing had ended, leaving it blank. On the bed were Ruby, sleeping sitting up, and Max, who had fallen asleep and fallen into her side. By Ruby's leg was a mostly empty pizza box.
"Not here." She whispered to herself as quietly as possible, stepping back from the door. Dreamwalker promptly moved onto the next room. It was completely dark, and occupied by a single student she didn't recognize and a drowsy guard.
"Onward." she sarcastically remarked, continuing. Her third stopped seemed like a likely candidate. Weiss and Winter had fallen asleep, curled together on Weiss's bed. The hard part was That Qrow and Zade were both sitting, staring intently at the door. Neither made a sound, to not alert intruders, and because they just didn't like talking to each other in general yet.
"Too risky, better look somewhere else first." Dreamwalker thought, as she started to sneak forward. She was suddenly struck with fear as she felt herself run into a medical cart, and a glass jar fell on the ground, shattering. Dreamwalker bit her fist and shook in anger at herself. She cautiously turned back towards Weiss's room, expecting the two huntsman to burst out and attack her. Much to her pleasant surprise, nothing happened.
"Dense idiots." She chuckled, moving on to the next room. Here she finally struck gold. Taiyang was sitting, casually guarding the unconscious Blake. Right next to her bed in plain view, was what looked to be the sword as Mistress Taurus had described it. Dreamwalker stared at Taiyang, and willed her semblance upon him. He was resisting her power much better than anyone else had, but she wasn't entirely surprised by that. Eventually, like everyone else, he succumbed. He yawned, dozed off a few times, before finally falling over asleep. Dreamwalked took quick advantage of the situation, and slipped into the room. She gently picked up Darron's sword, careful to keep it in its sheath as her mistress had commanded.
"Not to get to the northern stronghold." Dreamwalker said, as she raced from the infirmary, still remaining as stealthy as possible.
As she exited the building, she thought she was in the clear, but her perception was shattered as she walking into the nearby courtyard, and saw Zade already waiting for her.
"Did you really think I would let you get away with Darron's blade?" Zade asked, drawing both of his crescent blades."
"I didn't realize you were too stupid to stop me earlier." Dreamwalker shot back.
"Well I figured Taiyang could, and if not I'd get a solid look at your semblance." Zade reasoned. Dreamwalker scoffed, realizing she was totally outsmarted. She stepped back and extended both of her finger blades, ready for a fight.
"Are you gonna stop me?" she taunted.
"If you insist." Zade answered. He took the invitation and teleported directly behind Dreamwalker. Slashing with his blades. Dreamwalker calmly countered, moving into a handstand, and kicking Zade's blades into the air. She pressed her body, and springed out, kicking Zade hard in the middle of the chest. Zade was forced back, and stumbled onto his ass. Dreamwalker, determined to end it quickly, luned at Zade with one of her blades. Zade teleported to her side. He stuck a leg out, tripping her, and teleported above her, letting himself fall on her back. Dreamwalker grit her teeth.
"He's good, but not as good as me. I should probably get away, before more people show up then." Dreamwalker decided, rolling over, and forcing Zade off of her. As she rolled she reached out and grabbed a hold of his leg, enhancing her powers effect as she flooded his mind with horrifying illusions. Zade stepped back and grabbed his head, trying to push away the illusions. Dreamwalker pushed herself to her feet and ran off into the night, taking Darron sword with her.
Inside Zade's mind was a torrent of deformed and disturbing images that would give the most hardened of warriors night terrors for years. He stepped back, and fell to his knees, as she tried to shake the illusions form his head.
"They're just fucking illusions but they won't go away!" Zade yelled out loud as he slammed his head on to the ground. Zade grit his teeth but could feel the overbearing illusions consume all of his senses. Despite his every attempt, he was being consumed from the inside.
"Is this really how I die?" Zade asked himself, feeling his body and mind grow weaker.
"I hate it when others try to dirty my souls. Count yourself lucky." A dark voice said, from somewhere deep inside Zade as blue hellfire burned through the illusions like kindling. Zade watched the illusions disappear as she snapped awake. He pushed himself to his feet and stared at his chest.
"The hell was that?" he asked, trying to discern the oddly familiar voice he had just heard. Eventually Zade decided not to dwell on it and kicked some dirt at letting Dreamwalker get away.
"Well there nothing to do now." Zade reasoned after a moment. "Only thing left is to make sure that Max's data pans out."