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Chapter 116: The Wanderer

The hunt had gone on for over a day already.

Sunlight began to creep and venture above the horizon of Menagerie, granting a blessed reprieve from the freezing winds which had lashed and howled across the island through the night and kicked waves of dust and detritus high enough to have them shower down onto anybody unfortunate enough to be caught out in the open without proper cover. The mercy would be extended only briefly however, the island Kingdom of Menagerie was a place of extremes and before long the freezing cold would soon be replaced by a scorching and blistering heat through which only the most hardy or desperate would travel through without proper protection as the sun emerged more fully.

Pantheon's attention, through the proxy of a specially crafted and reforged Creature of Grimm was firmly on one such desperate soul and had been so for some time.

In the immediate wake of the Grimm General's latest assault on the settlement of Pikesreach it had first seemed that their human prey, or perhaps more accurately the insolent and misguided Gestalt-Prime felt secure enough in their position and their power to simply weather successive blows with the forces already at their disposal; a prospect which Pantheon had been prepared to answer with overwhelming brutality if needed though the intelligent monster would have found the victory there, even if it meant the end of Gestalt-Prime to be incomplete as they were certain that the would be usurper had other nests and boltholes elsewhere. As night had fallen at the end of that first day however, with blood still soaking the ground and the defences of Pikesreach still smouldering in places Pantheon had been rewarded for their patient tenacity as a lone figure, a Mouse Faunus who had taken care to carry a weapon and hide her supplies for the journey with countless pockets rather than a backpack in order to make herself less suspicious before venturing out of the settlements' defences on what could only be a mission to muster reinforcements.

Pantheon couldn't help but think that the woman knew she was being stalked and hunted.

Everything about her actions suggested a paranoia which went far beyond the healthy levels of wariness that might make the difference between survival and perishing in the wastelands where Grimm, humans with the temperament and proclivities of Grimm and animals with sharp claws, teeth and lethal poisons roamed and instead ventured into an all-consuming and ceaseless terror which could not only sustain the monster Pantheon had set to the task of keeping watch of the obvious messenger but would likely have drawn other Creatures of Grimm if they were not being deliberately kept at bay to maintain an illusion.

Even with every appearance of solitude the Faunus woman had travelled through the freezing night without pause and continued, albeit at a faltering an uncertain pace long into the heat of the day, shedding her jackets and trudging forward with her weight carried as much by her spear as her own feet until finally she had been forced to rest; doing so far from the safety of any of the more well travelled routes known to be watched by Hunters and creating a makeshift shelter for herself beneath the shade of large boulders where she ate, drank and rested without ever truly sleeping. After her strength was recovered enough to proceed and her temporary shelter rendered untenable by presence of dozens of small, swarming lizards whose lurid colourations suggested that they were highly venomous Pantheon's prey had pressed onwards once again; claiming several of the bothersome reptiles with the end of her weapon before she did so and it that the Grimm General, watching from afar and through the eyes of their specialised Grimm was given the sense that the prey knew they were being followed.

The only other possibility was that the Mouse Faunus had wandered out into the wasteland without a plan or destination and that seemed too far-fetched an idea to contemplate.

She had first wandered through the remains of a long pillaged and forgotten settlement where Pantheon had first hoped that she would reveal some hidden entrance for their hordes to fall upon, that had not been the case however and instead she had remained hidden for some time, long enough that Pantheon had considered simply sending the Grimm which followed her into the ruined settlement, one which had never grown larger than a small hamlet without even the beginnings of proper defences and having the loyal Creature of Grimm either exterminate the Mouse Faunus or else force her to run more desperately.

The Grimm General had been spared the trouble of such a heavy-handed and obvious course of action, one which would have given away their intentions beyond any lingering doubt as the woman reappeared and made what seemed to be some paltry attempts to shake off who or whatever was tailing her by veering sharply from one direction and apparent course of action to another until finally she had been forced to sleep again, this time digging herself into a small trench in the blasted and cracked earth and covering herself with her blankets.

Were it not for Pantheon's influence she would have been eaten alive during the night.

A swarm of Infernal Devices, small ant-like Grimm whose bodies melded together as they swarmed over their victims to form larger constructs of interlocking blades and traps had approached the easy meal only to be warned off and it was after the second such attempt, this by a flock of Scree which had begun to circle ominously overhead that Pantheon had decided more robust means of insurance were needed to ensure that all of the effort that they had expended to track this lone Faunus to wherever the rest of Gestalt-Prime's forces and resources lay hidden.

The lone Grimm that had watched from the edges of the second attack on Pikesreach and stalked its' prey diligently across the wastelands for a day had fallen back to a safer distance where it had been joined by a small pack to reinforce it and create a protective perimeter around their prey as she slept. Now that the woman was once again rising, forcing herself to eat and drink sparingly before setting herself into motion with an unwavering resolution the Grimm had pulled away to a position where they could safely regroup before beginning to follow and as the Mouse Faunus chose a direction, seemingly at random as long as it was not the same way in which she had come Pantheon's force continued to prowl along behind her from a distance which kept them just out of her sight.

And Pantheon was pleased.

Whilst the Grimm General had never set foot on Menagerie in person they had still managed to gain a respectable foothold on the island, to such an extent that they could, through the memories of Grimm under their sway create a rough map of the place where Salem had once roamed in their minds and this knowledge gave Pantheon an impression of a place in the general direction this lone messenger was travelling, a settlement where unnatural things had happened and where Grimm felled with worrying regularity and frightful force.

All that remained now was for Pantheon to see the place and be given certainty and from there to kill Gestalt-Prime's messenger before they could deliver word from Pikesreach.

This hunt would reach its' end soon.

Friday Morning had come and Team MARS had woken themselves at an hour which Astra had assured their friends' was almost normal to them whilst Athena-Jade, far less tolerant of such things had grumbled, barely coherently at the injustice and outright insanity of.

That had been some time ago however and since then the Bear Faunus, along with her team-mates had managed to become more fully alert and functional over the course of a flight across the wastelands which was now coming to its' conclusion.

"Every time I see or hear about one of the bigger settlements on Menagerie I can't help but wonder what things would be like if I'd headed in a different direction and ended up there" Stygian murmured as they peered out of the window of the transport provided by Breaktide Academy.

"I mean if you'd gone to Blackwater Cove you'd probably be dead" Astra replied easily, the Deer Faunus having come to consider Menagerie their home to such an extent that the jokes natives of the island Kingdom shared about certain cities and their reputations came easily to them; the answer earning Astra a small snicker from Regalia who made herself more comfortable leaning into her partners' side whilst at the same time eyeing cartons of food between the four of them which had gone half-eaten as Team MARS collectively came to conclusion that their current flight was far too shaky for them to enjoy their breakfast. Stygian merely rolled his eyes at Astra's quip and rolled his electric blue eyes as he pressed on undeterred.

"But what if I'd found my way to Maiden-Gate….This place looks pretty nice, this is what Pikesreach could have been if things had gone differently" this caused Astra and Regalia to peer out of the windows and reacquaint themselves more properly with the settlement that they had not seen in some time whilst Athena-Jade merely snorted and used opportunity to deliver a sarcastic comment of her own.

"You would have gotten here, met Nickel Polendina and then turned around" hearing this caught Stygian off-guard, he had not heard his new partner offer such a dim appraisal of someone since he had been the subject of her disdain and misplaced anger himself and the Mouse Faunus was naturally left curious as to the reason behind it, before he could decide whether his current relationship with his partner was one where it would be fitting to simply ask for more details Regalia spoke up.

"Huh, it looks like they've been busy….it looks different to the last time we were here" this was enough for Athena's pale and rounded features to scrunch in minor confusion and prompt her to look out of the window nearest to herself, situated on the opposite side of the transports' rear compartment and give a wordless hum of agreement. Seeing this as an opportunity Stygian crossed the space between them and positioned themselves beside the Bear Faunus so that they could share her view of the settlement below.

Maiden-Gate was a beautiful place.

The main thoroughfare into the city and the one for which it was named was framed by a massive arcing structure of interwoven trees which rose high into the air and were currently blooming with what Stygian saw was, in a flagrant disregard of nature various different fruits and flowers, some of which growing from the same branch. This high arch served as the beginning of the settlements' perimeter wall which were as well made and maintained as any other though sported an addition which Astra, Regalia and Athena-Jade could all recognise as new in the form of truly colossal works of ivy and sculpted branches forming a lattice of green across the walls which could not possibly have grown in the amount of time that had passed since their last visit.

On the outside of the walls were the farms and orchards of Maiden-Gate, some of the largest and most varied on Menagerie owing to the fact that they were tended to by the current Spring Maiden which had, if the teens looking down at them were correct been expanded upon since their last visit. Behind the protections of the walls was the settlement of Maiden-Gate itself and where before it had been a work in progress with much of its' vital infrastructure in the process of being constructed the place was now an undisputedly thriving town and as their transport crossed into the settlements' airspace they could easily recognise that in addition to an airship terminal suited to both passenger flights and freight there were other, similarly massive structures present whose gleaming glass and steel forms were covered with surprising amounts of entirely decorative plant-life; making the settlement so vibrantly colourful that upon first glance an onlookers eyes were left too unfocused to identify the miniscule forms of cars and people moving through the streets below.

Stygian allowed himself to take the scene below in so thoroughly and lose himself in the details of the place which was vastly different from not only Pikesreach but also Port Alistair and certainty the vast, interlinked and sprawling towers of Neo Vale that was caught by surprise when the transport came to a halt, hovering in the air before beginning to descend onto a waiting landing pad at the airship terminal; the sudden lurching leaving him staggering and then quickly trying recover from the indignity whilst his team-mates shared some understandable chuckling at his expense.

"Okay, it's go time people" Astra declared eagerly despite not knowing what lay ahead; shouldering their limited amount of luggage and eyeing the now cold leftover breakfast and considering for a moment before reaching out for a sausage, only for Regalia to snatch it from beneath their fingers, sticking her tongue out at her partner as she swaggered into place beside them and offered them half.

"Are you okay?" Athena asked reaching out and placing a gloved hand on Stygian's forearm as if to steady him, an easier task than gripping him by the shoulder given the height difference between them. In response the Mouse Faunus merely took a moment to pointedly adjust his long coat, the way his sword sat as his back, the necklaces he wore and finally his hair before offering an answer.

"Yeah I'm good….What about you?" he chose to indulge his curiosity and expanded on the question "You sound like you don't like Nickel Polendina and that's the Hunter we're working with right?"

"She's not a Hunter….She's private security and tough as all hell, like ridiculously powerful but she was never a Hunter; she actually dropped out of an Academy once. That's not what's important though" Athena-Jade "She's dating someone called Jade Rangifer who knows my parents….Jade is the reason I'm called Athena-Jade-"

"Oh" Stygian cocked his head in surprise, the answer was not what he had expected at all.

"Yeah, except Jade really isn't the person they remember and we never really had the relationship that my parents would have liked Jade to have with any of their kids I guess….It always felt strained and a little awkward" Athena sighed, following Stygian's lead and adjusting her own hair whose current short ponytail was longer than she had allowed the snowy white locks to grow for some time "Jade is cool don't get me wrong….But Nickel, in the politest way possible is a lot to deal with"

The transport landed at that moment and Stygian, after being raised around the level of superstition which had been allowed to take root within Pikesreach could not help but see that timing of the dull, thumping motion that shook them all as vaguely ominous.

Astra however showed no such concerns and happily pressed the controls which allowed the nearest of the transports' hatches to open with a hiss of compressed air and left Team MARZ confronted with the sight of a figure who was familiar to three of them.

As young as Penny Rose, formerly Polendina looked for her supposed age, Nickel Polendina appeared younger still and appeared outwardly to be no older than perhaps her mid twenties at the latest; otherwise she appeared as though someone had recreated Penny but with deliberate distinctions and stylistic flairs. Her skin was perhaps a few shades paler and her freckles more prominent which was in turn made more prominent by her choice of predominantly black or otherwise dark clothing and hair that was died a mixture of black and a painfully vivid shade of neon green.

"Whaddup bitches?" the android who had become the Spring Maiden exclaimed by way of greeting; offering an ear to ear smirk which drew nervous and uncertain groans from most of the team whilst Astra, having grown into the position of team leader superbly since their last meeting with Nickel answered her with a genuine confidence which they had only been able to mimic with bravado before.

"Yeah, no fuck this….Turn us around pilot we're going home. Too early in the morning for this" Athena audibly gasped at the audacity of her team leader, leaving Stygian staring uncomfortably between each of those present as they tried to predict what would happen next.

Nickel laughed.

"Dead-ass, no cap it is way too early!" the android snorted "I like you kid, no cap. But any-who buddies here's the deal….Apparently you got a new guy?"

"That would be me" Stygian spoke up, seeing no alternative but still feel decidedly uncertain when Nickel's eyes fell first on him and then roamed to Athena-Jade.

"Well he's nice, definitely got that drip" with an approving nod Nickel seemed to return to her previous train of thought, if it could be called that "Since you're all gonna have missions and stuff coming up but you haven't actually worked together as a team before and since we're expanding here at Maiden-Gate the Big Chief Coco herself asked me if I wanted a few extra pairs of hands….So basically you four get some practice runs before a real mission by helping patrol in and outside of Maiden-Gate"

Stygian processed all of what had been said before leaning down so that he could whisper directly into Athena-Jade's ear, uttering words which made his partner bite down on her lip so she didn't begin giggling there and then.

"Yeah, I see what you mean about her….She's a lot"

Zirconia Shadowmoon was beginning to regard the presence of Nugget, the unfortunately named Chicken Faunus who led the eponymous Team NUGT as both an omen of bad news, largely borne of incompetence and laziness and, more immediately the source of a headache.

The Grasshopper Faunus had never interacted closely with the team of fellow Breaktide Academy students either on the island Kingdom or in Neo Vale when they, like Team MARZ had qualified for the Vytal Tournament and grew more glad of that fact with every passing day. During the months that had followed the reveal of Nero's plans to usher in a new age for all of Remnant Zirconia had seen and learned enough of her old classmates to know that they were people whom she would have actively avoiding approaching or offering a chance to herself; they were a team of cowards, shirkers, liars and socially climbing, grasping bullies who would almost certainly have graduated from Breaktide and gone out into the world to be the very same sort of Hunters whom Nero sought to rid Remnant of and their presence within the ranks of his revolution was arguably more damnable than that of Aefen Cruor as the four of them contributed little of unique value and siphoned any the legitimacy of Nero's goals with their presence.

Nugget himself was the worst example of his teams' failings, the young man stood at an average height and boasted a frame which was certainly athletic and lean but was perhaps slightly too stringy to be considered powerful and was hindered by a gait and postured which had grown more slouched and skulking of late, save for those times he had been snapped at and ordered to stand straighter by Carmesi. The Chicken Faunus had developed a tanned complexion after spending a great deal of time outdoors which went some way to make him seem less haunted and made an effort to seem imposing and eye-catching in the way that Zirconia felt a hero, Hunter or otherwise should be through a combination of gold jewellery, modified street-wear and practical, almost knightly armour worn in sparse and mismatched pieces; leaving his arms bare to display tattoos and bands adorned with imitations of teeth and claws which he often claimed corresponded with those of the Creatures of Grim he and his team had killed. Nugget's Faunus attribute was a layer of speckled brown feathers which reached at least far enough to be visible around his shoulders as they peaked through his sleeveless jacket and would have covered his head had they not been partially plucked to create a slicked back faux-hawk of feathery quills which paled in comparison to Astra's far more dramatic style.

Worst of all however was the fact that he was making his way towards Zirconia.

The Grasshopper Faunus found herself fighting back the urge to let a curse slip between her teeth as she came to a halt in her patrolling of Pikesreach's ramparts, a task she had taken up in order to lend credence to her stated reasons for remaining at the settlement and also because it allowed her to keep a watchful eye over her supposed allies as Damascus had asked her to, even if she was woefully ill-equipped to actually stop whatever treachery Aefen and Gestalt-Prime were clearly engaging in. Nugget had been in the midst of a frantic huddle which included his team and several others with whom he often interacted, largely those who either encouraged, enabled or excused Team NUGT's behaviour and conduct and more than one person whom Zirconia suspected who the Chicken Faunus was sleeping with however, upon seeing Zirconia his expression had cycled quickly from panicked to calculating to relieved before he had said something to his allied and sidled across the distance which Zirconia had chose to leave between them; meaning that their conversation could take place with a modicum of privacy.

"We've got a problem" Nugget said without preamble to which Zirconia's response was to arch the eyebrow which, along with the scars from her last meeting with Athena Slate was left visible by the modified half mask she wore.

"You have a problem?" she corrected, though taking care to phrase the obvious challenge as a question; whilst she had been raised largely sheltered from the high society of New Vale due to Nero's own distaste for such spaces she did have some rudimentary knowledge of how to politic and navigate in a power play. Nugget for his part seemed unprepared for such a battle of wits and Zirconia found herself realising that she was not actually sure where the young man hailed from, his accent was certainly not one she recognised as belonging to any part of Vale and his choice in attire and weaponry, despite her best efforts avoid being judgemental put her more in mind of someone from a background with far less opportunities than her own; as such the Chicken Faunus simply shrugged.

"Whatever, it's a problem that's gonna become everyone's problem" he shrugged, annoyingly nonchalantly for someone effectively admitting that he had failed in his duties.

"What did you do Nugget?" she demanded.

"Nothing saying it was me that fucked up" he shuffled, visibly uncomfortable under the scrutiny "But word from the people who keep watch over the farmers is that someone's missing….We're not sure when they vanished but must be in the last couple days or so?"

"How did that happen?" Zirconia rasped out, forcing herself not to raise her voice and reveal to anybody who might overhear them that there was a problem of such massive proportions. Whilst the idea of being a jailer and protecting Remnant by keeping it within a cage was one that she could not condone there was a simple and practical truth to consider, namely that if a native of Pikesreach were to leave the settlement and inform others of what was happening in the settlement then it would only be a matter of time before Hunters in the employ of the Kingdoms came to destroy every trace of Nero's work and bring Pikesreach under their own control with or without the consent of its' people.

"How did it happen? It's been fucking chaos since the Grimm last hit us!" Nugget exclaimed "It's one of the farmers that the others didn't like….Apparently she fucked people over once already, I don't know specifics-"

"You are not filling me with confidence in your ability to correct this" Zirconia deadpanned, keeping her tone flat, neutral and yet bitingly cold enough that the Chicken Faunus was left bristling in an effort to keep some semblance of his ego in tact.

"I'll let that one slide, fine" he spat "But look, it could be nothing….She have gotten herself eaten by the Grimm, we might find a leg or something in one of the fields; who knows, hopefully right?. Even if she did run, there's nothing missing from this places' supplies so she wouldn't have gotten far….Maybe she'll turn around and come back"

"And maybe she'll make it to a route patrolled by Hunters. Maybe they'll take her all the way back to Port Alistair and Professor Adel will come here herself….Who knows Nugget, you might be able to hide when the fighting starts and then shift your allegiances again; I doubt it though"

Nugget bristled at that, his hand twitching towards his shotgun until Zirconia brought him by a halt, drawing Sunriser Cain faster and levelling the pistol at his throat. In the distance the rest of Team NUGT began preparing themselves, proving that whilst they may not be able to hear the specifics of the conversation they were still watching proceedings closely. Nugget's hand moved away from where Cluck-Shot rested and he raised his hands in submission.

"Okay, so it's a mess" he sighed "It's fine, I'll fix it….I'll take my team, maybe a couple other people and we'll look for her-"

"Do you have tracks to follow?" Zirconia asked pointedly.

"No but come on it's a lot of open space and nothing-" she waved him off to silence him and took a moment to remove her mask, both so that she could see the look of stern disappointment on her face and so that she could sigh more deeply and satisfyingly without it.

"If you had said that in front of Carmesi he would have thrown you over this rampart and onto one of those spiked barricades" Zirconia informed Nugget casually with an airy tone before driving the point home "If there are no tracks then it's because the dust kicked up by the wind has covered them, which means that our runaway either left last night or the night before. They have a several hour head start and you have no idea where they might have gone"

"Fuck" Nugget breathed out succinctly.

"Indeed"

"But what about the Cyber-Grimm?" a flicker of hope found its' way into his voice "The last one Doctor Cruor made before we came here, the Man-Eater. We could turn that one loose?"

The image of the Man-Eater being used to execute Pikesreach's ruling Hunters flashed in front of Zirconia's eyes and her blood ran cold at the memory, breath catching in her throat as she considered exactly what would happen if that particular monster was unleashed upon the wasteland in search of Pikesreach's missing inhabitant and found herself repulsed in a visceral, instinctive way. The Man-Eater was a truly vile thing and the idea of willingly and knowingly unleashing it on someone solely to silence them represented a step in a direction Zirconia found herself unwilling to travel; something impossible to reconcile with the vision of a better Remnant she had committed herself with wide-eyed idealism to building and instead falling more in line with the exact brand of tyrants and monsters she had hoped to save people from.

Her predicament left her with a simple of choice between risking the security of Nero's operations in Pikesreach, along with her own freedom on one hand, whilst on the other hand was the possibility of ending that risk through what amounted to a premeditated act of murder in the most violent ways imaginable.

Zirconia chose.

"No" she shook her head before fitting her half mask back into place and working her much-shortened hair around its' fastenings.

"No?" Nugget arched an eyebrow.

"The Man-eater is still in need of repairs and sending it that far afield without proper support would be a risk. Besides, if it can be made operational then I'd rather it be kept here in case we need to fight against the Grimm again….Or Hunters" Zirconia's words were calm and well reasoned and yet she was lying to Nugget's face; she truthfully had no idea as to the condition of some of the Cyber-Grimm which had been damaged in the recent attacks though the Chicken Faunus's muttered curses suggested that he believed the falsehood.

"I will explain the situation with to Mister Nero in short order. In the meantime begin readying the defences in a way which does not raise suspicions; the last thing we need is more panic" with that Zirconia turned and stalked away, leaving Nugget with an ashen face at the thought of being blamed for the lapse in security whilst Zirconia herself found herself wondering how exactly she would explain her actions and decisions.

As well as wondering just how long she could delay her report and if doing so meant that she was deliberately giving this apparent escapee more time reach safety.

Team MARS had been put to work shortly after arriving at Maiden-Gate, with Nickel Polendina and her partner in a romantic sense as well as more immediately practical ways, Jade Rangifer the former Spring Maiden with whom Nickel had helped found the steadily growing settlement which already showed the promise of becoming one of Menagerie's more prominent cities having explained what would be expected of the students over the course of the following days and the nature of the challenges which faced Maiden-Gate.

There would be internal patrols of the settlement to ensure that things were continuing to run as smoothly as expected and required, part of an ongoing effort to battle organised criminals. Maiden-Gate truthfully had little by the way of law enforcement and authority, having only recently grown large enough to warrant the founding of its' own dedicated police forces where previously Nickel Polendina alone had been a sufficient deterrent for any aspiring racketeers or other such criminals; similarly the settlement was yet to serve as a permanent home or base of operations to any professional Hunters who were not retied from service. The actions of Damascus Nero had gone some way to change things, with some Hunters already in negotiations with both the local authorities and the Kingdoms' Council to relocate themselves to Maiden-Gate indefinitely in response to the new circumstances however this was simply not happening fast enough to counteract gangs from places such as Blackwater Cove who saw the growth of the settlement and the currently uncertain position of Hunters to branch out into new territories and establish extortion rackets, drugs labs and chop-shops in which to disassemble stolen vehicles.

As well as working internally Team MARS would also be expected to undertake patrols out beyond the edges of Maiden-Gate, both ensuring that no Creatures of Grimm could draw close enough to become a threat to the town whilst also keeping records of any faults or issues with the early warning systems and layers of protections which existed beyond the main perimeter wall; a matter which had become far more important since the loss of Hammerfall Outpost and one which had prompted no small amount of grumbling from Astra as the Deer Faunus pointed out, at length just how much time could have been spent if they had been able to bring their pickup truck or if Jade and Nickel had been willing to include a company car of some description as part of what was inarguably an unpaid internship.

There were also patrols and inspections of the defensive wall and whilst each member of Team MARS could certainly operate and to some degree maintain the weapon emplacements mounted upon it they were relieved to discover that this would not be expected of them and instead that Nickel had included the task simply because the view from the top of the wall allowed them to see both out into Maiden-Gates' territory and into the town itself, meaning that any suspicious activities might be spotted sooner and more easily as well as, arguably more importantly making the Hunters a visible presence and reminding the people of Maiden-Gate that they were protected.

It was this latter task which Team MARS were currently in the midst of, with Astra and Athena bickering good naturedly as usual.

"Yes Astra, we get it" the Bear Faunus sighed dramatically "You could clearly, naturally, obviously; utterly self evidently and axiomatically bring down whichever wasteland bandit crew it is that's using Maiden-Gate as a base of operations and doing business with the people from Blackwater while we're here; single-handedly of course"

"I didn't say single-handedly, I said we could do it if Nickel let us focus on one job and gave us the time" Astra countered "I mean I did bag Petrol that one time….And it was me and my brother who caught Rowan when she was working with-"

"Oh come on now, we both know that's not how that happened!" Athena exclaimed indignantly, remembering, perhaps more honestly exactly how the events aboard the monstrous Dread-Hulk Grimm during the teams' first year had transpired and the exact circumstances' around that particular gangsters' capture. The entire back and forth leaving Stygian and Regalia alternating between holding their own conversation about the particulars of each others' experiences growing up on Menagerie and beyond the reach of the Kingdom itself and being reduced to laughter every time they caught a particularly entertaining fragment of their partners' back and forth.

"Look all I'm saying is-" Astra was shushed, forcefully as Athena first let out a wordless sound of pure an unimaginable frustration whilst at the same time reaching up to physically hold the Deer Faunus's lips shut and then turned to Regalia, only to find the Racoon Faunus bent double and in utter hysterics at the sight of Astra continuing to try to speak; evidently enjoying the chance to play to a crowd.

"Regalia, please I am begging you to take your partner and get us lunch or something; I will pay for it" the snowy-haired and muscular woman pleaded, withdrawing a decent sized wad of lien as she spoke "Just please take them somewhere I don't have to hear any more of this before I lose my mind"

"Heh, hasta la vista baby" Regalia chuckled, giving a lazy wave to Stygian and Athena before snorting at the sight of Astra who preened as though they had achieved something and adding "That'll do pig, that'll do"

From there the pair departed, walking hand in hand and pointedly ignoring Athena's grumbling as it grew further and further away as the two of them made their way further along the pathway built into the top of Maiden-Gates' protective wall and towards the nearest stairwell which would return them to ground level. Before they reached their intended destination Regalia came to a halt, with Astra settling into place beside their partner and girlfriend, a title which they were still both growing used to and found themselves giddily excited at the thought of; finding themselves naturally moving from holding Regalia's hand as they walked beside her to looping an arm around her waist and gently brushing against her hip as she peered out over the wall and took in the sight of Menagerie stretching out into the distance.

"Hey" Astra murmured gently, their fingers brushing idly against her skin "Sorry if I was being a little bit too much back there"

"Heh, nah you're funny" Regalia turned to face them, Astra turning their head slightly to ensure their antlers were out of they way as she did so "Especially when you're trying so hard to be cool"

"Not quite sure how to take that" Astra replied jokingly, their faux point being answered by Regalia sticking her tongue out at them playfully; Astra in turn fighting the urge to retaliate by tickling her.

"I just wanted to really get a look at this place….It's really something" the Racoon Faunus noted, gesturing to the massive amounts of greenery spreading across the perimeter wall.

"Yeah, especially when you realise that all of it is part of Nickel's idea of defences" Astra noted, sea-green eyes watching the nearest tendril of creeping ivy warily as though it might come to life "She can do weird stuff with plants and Gestalt-Prime apparently came to Maiden-Gate before Carmesi lured them to Port Alistair….So it looks like she's set up precautions for next time"

"Pretty….And awesome" Regalia mouthed, words barely audible as she added "And so fast as well; if settlements can spring up like this then eventually there's gonna be no wasteland left for the tribes"

"Worried about the future?" Astra asked gently, leaning forward to rest their forehead against hers.

"Heh a little" Regalia shrugged "Aren't we all right?"

"Yeah" Astra admitted, hands slowly trailing up Regalia's sides until finally they cupped her cheeks "But it's us, whatever happens it's us. You told me once that I make you feel you can take on anything-"
"You remembered that?" Regalia sputtered out the exclamation, remembering the words she had said to Astra at the dance prior to the Vytal Festival well enough and upon seeing the smile that Astra answered with she was simply overcome.

Astra's back was pressed against the wall as she all but threw herself at them.

The kiss grew fierce and needy within a matter of moments, Astra's initial gasp of surprise at Regalia's sudden eagerness giving way to their own enthusiasm as they grabbed at her rear and kissed their way down her neck until common sense finally reasserted itself for the two of them and the moment passed.

"Wait, wait" Astra panted out breathlessly, though they made no effort to move their mouth from Regalia's pulse "We can't do this here, it's broad daylight and anyone could see"

"Yeah" Regalia agreed, the notion of exactly what they shouldn't be doing leaving her shuffling uncertainly and wringing her hands together before finally pushing herself forwards and speaking again "But heh….Maybe when we get back to Breaktide, back to our dorm um, we could try doing other stuff?"

"If you're sure, then absolutely" Astra answered without hesitation, swallowing thickly as they tried to keep distracting mental images from forming. Regalia's answer was to nod enthusiastically.

"Everyone makes it sound like so much fun, I could never see the appeal of stuff like that with random people or whoever….But with you, yeah I think I want to" she beamed, privately wondering if it would be better to discuss specifics beforehand or simply see what happened at the time only for an entirely separate thought to occur to her and be voiced instantly "Oh and Astra by the way….If I was a bandit hiding in and around Maiden-Gate, I'd probably be hiding over there"

Astra's gaze followed the direction their girlfriend was suddenly pointing in, their mind feeling as though it had screeched to a halt for a second before it reoriented itself and the Deer Faunus realised that Regalia was referencing their own earlier joking bravado which had managed to annoy Athena.

"I am the luckiest Faunus on Remnant y'know that right?" they laughed as they leaned forward to briefly kiss Regalia whose tail swished happily at the praise and the contact "But we should probably go and get everyone some lunch before AJ comes and takes her Lien back?"

"Yeah you're right" Regalia laughed, a curious look on her face for a moment as she added "Do you think we'll actually find the criminals who've been trying to set up shop here, or any Grimm will come?"

"I mean statistically?" Astra shrugged with a faintly bemused smile "When do you we ever get a job that goes smoothly right?"

Former Chairman Damascus Nero had once again found themselves within the pristinely utilitarian confines of their personal airships' command bridge, where the gloom and cool, moving air was a welcome relief and a sharp contrast to the scorching brightness currently beating down on Jidhir Town as it seemed to do relentlessly and without pause; the islands' climate being as actively hostile to those who lived on it as its' wildlife or the roving bands of cut-throats and Creatures of Grimm which prowled across it in Nero's opinion.

At present the unassuming looking leader, who privately felt that he lacked a certain charisma and presence that should be required for anyone to call themselves a revolutionary was once again sporting dark rings around their quartz coloured eyes, giving him a worn appearance which was only exacerbated by the way his posture had begun to suffer from the amount of time he spent hunched over screens and displays and also the slipping standards of his personal grooming; his dark hair hung lank and unkempt whilst a faint stubble had begun to litter his cheeks and jaw which in turn made the scars left by chemical burns in the same events which had taken his arm all the more prominent for their inability to grow hair.

Despite his outward appearances however Nero's mind was as sharp and active as ever, being turned to the countless aspects of his ongoing plan to bring about a bright new tomorrow for all of Remnant. Shell companies and legal and financial facades had to be maintained even now so that resources might be procured, supply lines had to be established and maintained to ensure that said resources, along with new recruits made their way to where they were needed; information campaigns needed to be covertly conducted whilst at the same time keeping a watchful eye out for the attentions of the Kingdoms meddling hand, all without considering the various acts of bribery and blackmail which formed the distasteful grease which allowed the proverbial gears of his war machine to turn. On the island itself there were far more immediate matters to oversee, though Carmesi had proven his worth a thousand times over as the Komodo Dragon Faunus, now surrounded by men and women he saw as worthy of the future Nero sought to build had taken to training the steadily growing forces with fervour and gusto; training them and field testing each new batch of Cyber-Grimm with impressive results which in turn saw Nero's influence spread as more and more isolated hamlets, villages and fiefdoms too meagre to be considered by the bureaucracy of Menagerie showed signs of swaying to his cause.

All of these concerns however were short term things and Nero would not be content until his vision and his dream were realised entirely; meaning that he would continue to pore over endless reams of data from every possible ill-gotten and dubious, disreputable source he could find until the key to the next step of his bright new tomorrow was in his grasp.

Though for all of his feverish and obsessive focus he could not help but smile in a fatherly way and allow himself to enjoy the distraction that an incoming video call from Pikesreach presented.

"Zirconia" he beamed, croaking his adopted daughters' name out and in doing so realising just how exhausted he truly was and how long it had been since he had last drank water.

"You look like death" Zirconia greeted him pointedly, the Grasshopper Faunus herself being sat cross-legged within whatever private place she had managed to find for herself within Pikesreach where the secure method of communications between the two settlements could be used; her surroundings just dimly lit as Nero's own and the mask she had taken to wearing removed to show the strain and toll that recent months had taken on her. Nero's heart ached for the young woman whose features were harder and lacked a light which had once been present, an absence more painful than even the ragged scars carved into her flesh.

"Nonsense" Damascus forced out a dry laugh in his effort to maintain their old back and forth "Everything that dies on this ghastly island is picked clean by the bugs within minutes and here I sit with meat on my bones"

"Scarcely" Zirconia answered with a faint upward twitch of the uninjured side of her lip; each of them enjoying the moment of normalcy between them no matter how strenuous and fleeting it was before Damascus finally spoke again.

"This isn't a scheduled report, which leads me to believe that there have been developments?"

"There have" Zirconia admitted with a nod, mismatched eyes darting away uncertainly before she continued "There's at least one person I can confirm is unaccounted for following the last attack by the Creatures of Grimm; a farmhand. Currently we're uncertain if this person is missing or dead but given the risks, well it didn't seem wise to presume the latter"

"No, indeed not" Damascus nodded in agreement "Have search parties been dispatched"

"Not yet. Nugget wanted to correct his mistake but given that we have no trail to follow I felt that spreading ourselves thing would be too dangerous, currently our forces are in defensive positions"

"I see" Nero fought the urge to smirk at Zirconia's obvious dislike of the Chicken Faunus, he had interacted briefly with the former student Hunter upon his initial defection and found him sorely lacking in appreciable qualities "What of the Cyber-Grimm?"

"Too many were destroyed or damaged, the Man-Eater would be most suited unless we were to send Gestalt-Prime out themselves" Zirconia answered, eyes darting warily around again before she added "I would have expected the repairs to be finished by now but it seems that Aefen has other commitments-"

"Zirconia" Nero chided "You are not a child telling tales on other schoolchildren. Speak plainly and honestly with me please"

"I'm sorry" the rogue sighed, the heaviness of the sound relaying just how truly exhausted by the pressure of more lies and secrecy she truly was "Aefen and Gestalt-Prime are planning something, I don't know what but I am certain….Almost certain, to a point beyond reasonable doubt that she is using the prisoners we took as test subjects for her experiments"

"And have you seen any evidence first hand?"

"No" Zirconia shook her head "I tried to force the issue but….I'm outnumbered here, I don't know for certain that I can count on any of our people here for support; I don't think it would matter against Gestalt-Prime"

"I understand" Nero sighed and if Zirconia noticed the way that his relief that she had seen nothing of Aefen's experiments outweighed his outrage at the idea of his own movement being undermined from within by her cult then she chose not to comment "It means that she's further along that I expected her to be"

"You know what she's doing, what she's planning?" Zirconia asked, confused and hopeful all at once "Then we should stop it?"

"No" Nero shook his head, a sudden writhing and poisonous feeling of self-loathing squirming its' way through is gut as he saw the look of horrified shock on Zirconia's face.

"But if she's using-"

"She is using people that already fought against us and would already be dead in any other circumstances….This new future of ours has already been paid for in blood and we're committed to it now; it would be worse if we were to stop, we'd be disrespecting everyone who gave everything to see it through" Nero found the words catching in his throat, needing to screw his eyes shut for a moment and remind himself of the importance of his goals and the faces of the people who had been taken from him before he pressed on

"Do not ask me to tell you what Aefen is working on-"

"But you know-"

"I have ideas, of course I have ideas of what Aefen and Gestalt-Prime are planning….I have to know what they want in order to know how to use them effectively" Nero shook his head, loathing how he sounded so much like the worst caricatures of his enemies that his mind could produce

"I know, but I do not condone or agree with them….The truth is this Zirconia, those two are useful to us and our bright new tomorrow relies on their results of I believe they are doing; but not in the way that they want"

"You're playing them?" Zirconia asked incredulously.

"Of course, I am a businessman am I not?" Nero, despite the situation managed a small smile at that "We are playing with fire with those two, if I were to tell either of them no then they would turn against us, if I were to give either of them free reign then the results would be just as bad….So I have you there, keeping them focused on what we need them to be focused on and nothing else beyond their work and trying to keep it a secret"

"So what should I do?" Zirconia seemed utterly lost now.

"Continue watching" Nero answered "There will be a moment where Aefen's work is completed but has not yet been applied practically….That is the moment we are waiting for and with Aefen being what she is I am certain that she will be unable to keep herself from bragging to all of Remnant once her vindication is in her hands"

"I see" Zirconia swallowed thickly clearly disturbed by everything she was hearing "And what of the missing farmhand?"

"I'll have Carmesi select a dozen or so extra people, people he deems unlikely to be drawn in or waver in their convictions and have them first scour the areas around Pikesreach before providing you with reinforcements….Given the Grimm attacks it shouldn't raise suspicions"

"Thank you" Zirconia murmured, already reaching for the mask she had taken to wearing in order to hide her expression and make her scars more prominent; a combination which made her appear far more menacing than Nero felt comfortable with.

"Zirconia darling….I know I ask a great deal from you, more than I want to; you've already lost and sacrificed so much" he sighed again "But you are doing good work for a cause greater than any of us. I love you and I'm proud of you"

"Thank you" Zirconia answered in a dull, numb tone before ending the communication in a way which left Nero blinking in momentary surprise at its' suddenness before he pushed onwards despite his worries and heavy heart and returned to the work which had previously occupied his attentions.

Plans were moving forward, the Cyber-Grimm were only the first stage and with Aefen seemingly making progress in her ambitions Nero realised that he needed to act quickly if he wanted to be in a position to capitalise and change the world with a single, decisive strike.

Cornflower Blue was exhausted almost to the point of delirium and yet still, with every muscle screaming in protest she continued to resolutely place one foot in front of the other and suck in one gasping, ragged breath at a time in a desperate attempt to cling to survival.

The Mouse Faunus had been on the run from Pikesreach for over a day and in that time had already felt her hopes be dashed and shattered.

She had powered onwards through the night after fleeing, the numbing cold being punctuated by the burning sting of small and jagged pieces of gritty detritus cutting into her as howling winds and thrown dust, stone and anything else in their path into the air at lashing speeds until finally, after the sun rose once more and transformed the wastelands once again into a searing and baking expanse she had been forced to rest though sleep had never truly come to her, every slight breeze making her tremble and fight the urge to spring to her feet and try to run with energy she no longer possessed in case someone from Pikesreach had been sent after her; eventually it was the wildlife of all things which forced her to press on and eventually she did so. A return to largely aimless trudging, simply refusing to allow herself to lay down and perish had seen her stumble across an old, ruined settlement which might even have been founded at around the same time as Pikesreach itself and fared only a little worse in the long run; its' signs having been faded by the sun and blasted by the elements to the point of illegibility, giving Cornflower no clue as to where the place had once been, only that it was now a husk that had already been picked clean and offered so little that even the roaming bands of bandits who prowled the wastes saw no value in using it as a hiding place.

At that point Cornflower had felt her faith and convictions wavering, a brief notion of returning to Pikesreach crossing her mind only to be swallowed by the simple and dreadful reality that to do so would be death, either as punishment and retaliation from whichever sentry had been blamed for her escape or simply as a bloody sacrifice to whatever it was Doctor Aefen Cruor had been using the prisoners her people had taken for. Instead she had faltered indecisively for a while before simply choosing a new direction, one that would still take her far from where she had come and continued relentlessly but wearily, changing her path sharply as brief moments of hope and inspiration struck her until finally the freezing night had fallen once again and she had been forced to rest once more.

On the second day of her exodus from Pikesreach Cornflower felt dread like nothing she had ever experienced before; not because she knew that her water would not last another day and that if she did not find help soon she would likely never be found and not even because the possibility of being abducted by raiders who might sell her to the worst of the Nomad Clans whose bizarre practices were speculated about in hushed whispers by the people of Pikesreach, or worse still back to Pikesreach itself. Instead she was terrified for a far more simple, primal reason.

She was exposed in the open and the Creatures of Grimm had found her.

Cornflower had known that she was being followed by something since she had awoken that morning a little after sunrise, at first she had thought or more accurately hoped that it might be nothing more than a pack of the sinewy and rangy coyotes that hunted across the wastes after being introduced to keep other reintroduced species in check. The Mouse Faunus highly doubted that it would make a difference if it was coyotes given how utterly spent she was and how inexperienced she was with the spear she had taken from Pikesreach and now used as a glorified walking stick however it did mean tip the odds in her favour somewhat as coyotes were at least a little less likely to attack, at least whilst she was alive or conscious given that they were reputably cowardly ambush predators.

The truth had become painfully apparent as the day had worn on however, the sounds of muffled snarls as one of the beasts briefly collided with another or stones being knocked aside managed to bring Cornflower's head whipping around, each time with a frightened gasp until finally she had caught her first real glimpse of what stalked her across the open wastes; hulking lupine horrors on the very outer periphery of her vision whose simple mass, proportions and spike-ridden profiles gave away what they truly were. Beowolves were on both sides of Cornflower, the jaws of a flanking move that had reached outwards and around to cut off any opportunities for a sudden escape whilst the bulk of the pack of monsters remained behind her, stalking and hunting from a regular distance which brought them close enough to be spotted only sparingly and even then only as dark shapes looming on the edge of Cornflower's vision as she glanced fearfully over her shoulder. Even with these limited and fleeting views she knew that her situation was worse than it had first appeared, she had seen the Creatures of Grimm up close on more than one occasion just as any other farmhand of Pikesreach inevitably would and whilst she could not say for certain what the thing which moved amongst the Beowolves following her was she knew immediately that it was something different altogether.

Despite clearly having her surrounded and beaten in every conceivable way, for reasons Cornflower could not begin to fathom the attack didn't come and so instead; with the monsters at her back serving as a terrible form of motivation she had pushed herself onwards until the world spun around her and her breath came in heaving, gasping sobs from the pain until finally she found herself looking on at a fresh source of hope.

She almost dismissed it as a mirage or hallucination, something conjured up by her mind to mock her.

It was a road, a wide stretch of black tarmac whose surface would certainly be burning to the touch cutting through the cracked earth one either side of it and whose surface was lined with reflective cats' eyes in place of lights which would need to be maintained. The road was one whose appearance suggested that it was well travelled but not large enough to suggest that it was one of the major thoroughfares intended to branch their way across all of Menagerie which Cornflower vaguely recalled being planned for the island. A cruel, jaded and defeated part of her mind whispered that it would be another, final dead end and that when she found herself wandering through whatever ruins lay at the end of this road she would be set upon by Grimm already stalking her; another part of her however, the part which refused to be silenced and sounded at once like her younger self from before she had first travelled to Menagerie and also like her son with its' hopefulness offered another opinion.

What if the road was not a dead-end, what if it could lead her to a village that was growing rather than one which had fallen.

A distant snarl reached her keen ears and the Mouse Faunus realised that the sight of the open road had spooked the Grimm in some way, causing them to draw closer by just enough for them to be seen more consistently at the edge of her vision and this small change in their behaviour spurred her onwards. Realising that anything which unnerved the monsters hunting her could only be a good thing she came to a halt on the open road and began to prepare herself both physically and mentally for a final gambit; she reached into the various pockets of her layered clothing in order to find the last of her water and gulp greedily at it before casting aside the spear that would be no use to her along with everything else which might weight her down until finally she was left holding a flare-gun she had picked from one of the bodies at Pikesreach and taking several panicked breaths in a futile effort to steady herself.

She held the flare-gun overhead and fired directly upwards before sprinting as fast as her burning and leaden muscles would carry her, all whilst screaming for her life in the desperate hope that there was someone near enough to hear her.

"HELP ME! I NEED A HUNTER! ANYBODY PLEASE HELP!"

Team MARS had received a frantic, expletive laden warning from Nickel Polendina and thrown aside everything that they had been doing in order to leap into action at a moments' notice.

A distress flare had been spotted by watchers at the furthest edges of Maiden-Gate's territory and hasty inspection had revealed a pack of Beowolves being led by something presumed to be some variant of Alpha stalking a lone individual. The Grimm had drawn far closer to Maiden-Gate than would normally have been possible for them owing to the loss of Hammerfall Outpost and the fact that much of the towns' security was overseen by Nickel personally meant that there was nobody in the immediate area to move in and intercept. At present the Creatures of Grimm were not directly attacking their wandering and clearly lost victim, instead hanging back as if to slowly siphon away the fear and misery the running woman was clearly exuding rather than simply gorge themselves in a rush of visceral and direct violence, such a level of resolve which showed itself as additional cruelty being something which further confirmed the beasts were being led by a more intelligent Alpha; the behaviour of the monsters allowed for a small mercy however as it left enough space between the Grimm themselves and their target for Team MARS to intervene before the situation could become a tragedy.

Astra planned to make the most of the brief window of opportunity and as they strode into the rear compartment of their already airborne transport the looks they saw on their team-mates faces assured them that Athena, Regalia and Stygian were similarly committed.

"Okay here's the plan" their clear and firm tone, more confident than they had once been as a leader cut through the building tension

"Single civilian heading following the road straight for the fields outside of Maiden-Gate, Grimm behind her and to the sides and we all know that Beowolves are fast enough that if anybody tried to drive out to her that she'd be cut off and so would whoever tried to help-"

"So we're going in by air" Stygian nodded in understanding.

"Exactly" Astra confirmed "The plan is for us to intercept before the Grimm can get close enough to hit the fields. Our pilot and gunner are gonna open fire, pick off some of the Grimm on the edges, we jump out and put ourselves between the bulk of the pack and the person they're chasing-"

"Just Beowolves?" Regalia asked, being acquainted more than well enough with what else lurked on the island.

"Alpha pretty much confirmed, so everyone stay sharp and don't get get complacent because you think they're small fry" Astra gave their partner a faint smile but otherwise managed to keep themselves professional and focused on the seriousness of the matter "We deploy and take out everything if possible. If not, possible if the Alpha is a smart one then we create an opening for the transport to land and scoop the civilian and fall back to defensive positions around the outskirts in case they try to regroup….Any questions?"

"No" Athena-Jade answered in a dull monotone as she moved into position in front of one of the crafts' hatches "We've got this"

There was a moment of tension where Astra was uncertain whether or not they should speak up and offer reassurances or a listening ear, glancing over to Stygian they saw that the Mouse Faunus appeared equally worried as each of Team MARS came, in tandem to the realisation that this would be the first true test of their ability to work as a team, their first time operating under their new name and structure away from a controlled environment.

Their first time without Zirconia.

Athena-Jade drew heartbreaker and shifted the oversized and uniquely made blade into its' laser cannon form, rolling her shoulders back and letting out a slow steadying breath which Stygian made to comment on as he fell into place beside her, unsheathing Sharp Cheese with a sound which drew the Bear Faunus's attention however neither of the new partners had chance to offer one another more than a brief and silent look of recognition and reassurance before the sound of roaring gunfire demanded the teams' attention.

"That's our cue!" Astra bellowed, their voice rising above the sound of their own weapons unfurling "SHOWTIME PEOPLE!"

A moment later the hatches flew open and Team MARS leapt out into action.

Despite her worries and her uncertainty Athena-Jade could not help but be taken in by the rush and the thrill she felt upon leaping out into the open air and feeling the first of her glyphs form beneath her feet as her landing strategy took effect, modified only slightly to account for her new weapons; the rush becoming a giddy and heady thing as the snowy-haired young woman realised, with her sapphire blue eyes lighting up that things seemed to be working and happening according to plan.

Their transport had loosed hails of gunfire, choosing not to risk firing rockets down onto the road below and had succeeded in taking out the foremost of the Beowolf pack which had been positioned to envelop their prey and surround them which in turn created enough distance between the remainder of the monsters and the individual they had been hunting that Athena could ensure that she landed between them, moving forwards as she fell through the air in a zigzagging path by leaping from glyph to the next.

Secure in the knowledge that her rescuee would come to no harm the Bear Faunus readied her laser cannon and began firing down into the bulk of the Beowolf pack with blast of ethereal jade green light which warped the air the around them. In doing so she realised that Stygian had not only landed safely but had in fact been the first of Team MARS to do so and was no using Athena's aerial barrage in a way which brought a confident smile to her face. Her new partners' Semblance had identified the Grimm at the head of the pack as the largest threat and allowed him to teleport directly to it and deliver a single, glancing hit with all of the momentum of his fall carried with him; from there Stygian had begun using Athena's laser-fire as a means of redeploying himself, reappearing somewhere new every time she fired and cutting through any Beowolves which might have narrowly avoided the initial blast.

A flaming red presence in the air beside her confirmed to Athena that Astra and Regalia were having similar success with their own landing though that had been a far less uncertain conclusion all things considered, the Deer Faunus had first used the rarely seen 'Glider' form of Buckshot Ares in order to control their angle of approach enough to bring them into a more favourable position before engaging their Semblance and lashing out as the glowing and towering construct of solidified Aura took shape; their low and sweeping kick becoming a titanic blow which shattered the bones of a swathe of the Grimm below and reduced them to fading mist in an instant.

Regalia had waited until Astra's Semblance had been engaged, falling with a faint glow seeping from the lenses of her lowered goggles revealing that 'Look-See' was giving the Racoon Faunus some manner of guidance before turning in mid-air and firing her harpoon up towards the hand of Astra's Semblance-self; the construct caught it and with a quick gesture Regalia conveyed her intent. A moment later the harpoon was being winched back into place which in turn pulled Regalia into the palm of Astra's glowing hand, allowing the leader of Team MARS to throw their partner underarm into the midst of the Grimm below where she landed in the midst of their thinning ranks with Apex Scavenger at the ready. Astra released their Semblance in short order and took to the ground, sprinting close enough to ready the guns of Buckshot Ares and open fire in twin streams of bullets which passed by either side of Regalia and created an effective kill-box around the Racoon Faunus.

With her team-mates already on the ground and the Grimm being swiftly culled Athena decided that it was time for her to take the fight to the enemy and promptly allowed the last of her uneven staircase of glyphs to vanish. Instead glyphs formed at her back and from them a pair of incandescent and ethereal, feathered wings erupted and she swooped downwards upon them, Heartbreaker reverting to its' close combat form as she did do. Beowolves caught sight of her falling upon them and in a last, frantic and savage action they came bounding towards her landing zone, snarling and snapping as though desperate to achieve something before they fell.

Heartbreaker's oversized blade cut through several Grimm in a single swing.

"JUST THE ALPHA LEFT!" Stygian called out and Athena-Jade glanced forwards she saw that the Mouse Faunus was correct and also almost certainly boasting as they delivered that report, obsidian mist and smog rolling everything around them as he twirled and flourished expertly with the blade of Sharp Cheese which in turn crackled and glowed with the effects of several kinds of Dust coursing through it, a combination which Athena could bitterly admit she found familiar.

"Good work" Astra called out "Surround it, cut it off"

Stygian had landed in the midst of the Grimm with Regalia following soon after and as such they had managed to position themselves behind their foe and position themselves far enough apart to cover a wider area whilst still being able to assist one another. Astra was approaching the Grimm head on and moving slightly to their right and so Athena quickly rushed forward and fell into step beside them whilst at the same time moving left to surround the last remaining Grimm entirely; in doing so making a simple observation which she felt an immediate need to point out.

"That's not an Alpha Beowolf"

"No it's not" Astra nodded in agreement as they regarded the thing. It was far larger than the lupine horrors that had trailed in its' wake to be sure, bigger even than the average Alpha Beowolf yet its' proportions and build were different in a way which gave it far less overall mass and brute force; instead giving it an uncomfortable and decidedly odd grace and delicacy.

The thing was vulpine in appearance.

Its' snout, whilst still lined with fangs was far narrower and more slender than that of the usual Beowolves and the fact that it retained ears along with its' skeletal armour gave its' fox-like appearance further emphasis. The Grimm stood largely upright but was hunched forward by the weight and strain on its' overlong and sinewy limbs, each ending in five curved and wickedly curved claws though the forelimbs were noteworthy for the simple fact that they possessed opposable thumbs which served as an immediate warning that the thing had more about it than first suspected.

Beyond the things' altered proportions, increased size which left it capable of looking down on any of Team MARS even when lurching forwards and strange degree of poise and balance with which it moved the thing could almost be mistaken for a regular, if uncommon Creature of Grimm; its' body being the expected combination of midnight black flesh and bone coloured armour albeit with the latter having an almost ornate appearance, as though it had been crafted rather than grown with its' far more regular and less obtrusive spikes and sharper lines as it encased the Grimm's extremities, skull and particularly its' torso.

An illusion which fell apart when one saw the things back.

The Vulpine horror had no tail where one should have been located and instead sprouted a massive growth of bone which grew from its' spine and fastened itself to and around the things' shoulders, fanning out and splitting into several parts as it reached overhead. Closer inspection revealed the truth of the odd sight, there were nine growths of bone which had formed broad and flat surfaces and then from there shifted further into a collection of blades with the central pillar of the collection becoming a massive longsword whilst the tails around it had begun to resemble sleeker, curved weapons with a single edge such as axes, sickles and katana.

It was a Kitsune Grimm and its' nine tails had become a weapon rack.

"Any idea how we're dealing with this one?" Athena asked, already set on edge by the obvious predatory intelligence and malevolent in the Kitsune's eyes as it turned slowly and surveyed each of Team MARS in turn as though it were already forming strategies of its' own.

"Not yet" Astra chuckled as they dropped into a familiar fighting stance "But if those weapons don't fade away with the rest of it then I call dibs"

And with that Team MARS moved as one, their first true test underway.

Author's Notes:

Okay boom, next chapter is our proper mid-season finale and we are, as you can see set up for a very good time.
Also, I'm writing this the day after I posted Chapter 111 if you want an idea of how far ahead I am so my plan is to write Chapter 117 and then take a few days to a week for planning the second half of Vol.07 but at this point I can pretty much promise you that it's gonna make absolutely no difference to your reading experience.

But anyway, let's summarise shall we?:
See the last chapter was a Wednesday and this chapter is a Friday so I had to spend some time explaining how Thursday went for the Cornflower on the run, besides Menagerie is big enough that Team WULF's first mission was them working with a big armoured land-train; its' definitely somewhere that you can walk across for more than a day without seeing civilisation.
Pantheon is working on a false pretext and it has actually cost them their best chance at finding Jidhir Town and Gestalt-Prime's allies.
"The only other possibility was that the Mouse Faunus had wandered out into the wasteland without a plan or destination and that seemed too far-fetched an idea to contemplate" the Grimm does not get how dumb people are willing to be when they're scared.
Cornflower is not a Hunter, people who are not prepared for the wastes die in the wastes and she is literally only alive because Pantheon wants her to be.
A settlement where unnatural things happened….Because it's protected by the Spring Maiden.
AJ and mornings, name a more iconic rivalry.
Stygian is trying to have a whole moment of deep introspection, there is a time and a place for that and 'Surrounded by friends who're bitter at being woken up' is neither.
Team MARZ did briefly visit Maiden-Gate in Vol.03 where they saw the first Land-Shark.
Maiden-Gate was attacked by Gestalt-Prime in Vol.03, so now it's been fortified in a way that only Nickel can….Remember how she sealed it off from Gestalt-Prime and their Grimm horde?
Okay it's such a small thing but it's been stated time and time again how food is an important cultural thing for Clan Aiktishaf; she gave Astra some of the last bit of breakfast.
The whole Jade is the person Athena-Jade was named for, but also isn't because of Multiverse is something that AJ absolutely cannot begin to explain to Stygian without looking crazy.
Nickel Polendina….She's a lot.
I am working dutifully to make you all hate Nugget for a reason.
Also I actually finally got around to giving the little bastard a description….I feel like on same level that if Remnant has Chavs then Nugget is one.
"You have a problem?" Zirconia shut that 'We' business down immediately.
"We might find a leg or something in one of the fields; who knows, hopefully right?" hate him yet?
Zirconia is absolutely having fun reading this guy to filth.
And here we have our first of two very important Zirconia moments in this scene, when asked to commit what is effectively pre-meditated murder for Nero's vision she said no and started gumming up the gears of the operation just a little bit.
The description of what Team MARS were supposed to be doing on this job is arguably filler, but it does set the tone and world-build in a way that makes thing feel fuller and more lived in by showing some knock on effects of Nero's actions and the realities of living in Remnant as a whole; anything that makes people uncertain in Hunters is going to make organised criminals braver and trust me on this….A town that has the potential to quickly grow into a city but doesn't already have its' own drug dealers; that's free real estate.
I love Astra and AJ's friendship, they have never stopped bickering and taking the piss out of each other and they wouldn't have it any other way.
Astra definitely needed to be called out for that bit of revisionist history and creativity with the truth though.
I was honestly tempted to have Astra match Regalia's energy by responding to "You're funny" with the full Joe Pesci routine from Goodfellas.
"But it's us, whatever happens it's us. You told me once that I make you feel you can take on anything" that was romantic as fuck and you know it and Astra deserved to get pounced on there.
Regalia is Demiromantic but now she's got someone she's into and dating them….Well, to be blunt she wanted Astra in and around her face at that moment.
Regalia's people have dealt with bandits of course she knows where they'd hide and that just makes her even hotter to Astra.
"When do you we ever get a job that goes smoothly right?" what's a fourth wall?
Nero is a very busy man and he has got even bigger plans that the Cyber-Grimm are just one facet of.
The relationship between Nero and Zirconia is always an interesting one, such a shame it's getting strained.
Hops was absolutely throwing everyone under the bus there.
So there are two very important details to notice here; firstly that Nero is a brilliantly intelligent villain….Think of how many villains have scheming backstabbing underlings, Nero has thought so far ahead that he knows what his underlings' end goals are, what plans they'll concoct and has actively incorporated their inevitable backstabbing into his own master-plan.
The second thing is that this is the second big Zirconia moment because she can see the difference in Nero now….In First year this was the man who actively held the reigns on Carmesi when he wanted to use living people as bait, Nero believed in his principles and would not take shortcuts for his vision; now he's telling Zirconia to stand back and let Aefen carry on with human experiments right after she just decided that her conscience couldn't allow some things.
Cornflower's scene is intended to be a parallel to Pantheon's opening scene, showing what she was actually doing and thinking from a human perspective.
It's simple and utterly hopeless, she is basically just walking because she has got nowhere left to go.
Being caught out in the open is like that scene in Jurassic Park where Ellie Sadler says "We can make it" and Muldoon just says "No we can't, we're being hunted" because he knows there's another Raptor right there, just out of view.
She might not be a hunter but she's seen an Alpha Grimm dangerously up close in the last couple of weeks, she already knows that what's leading this pack is something different.
Being on the open road means she's on the right track to somewhere….But if the Grimm are smart enough to have a plan and tactical moves then they're also smart enough to know this might be their last chance to grab her.
The hopeful part of her brain sounds like Stitch….Have some feels.
And now we're cutting to the action, I could have changed the order of the scenes so that there was something between Cornflower and Team MARS to create a more natural sense of time passing but nothing really felt right, even putting the Zirconia and Nero conversation there had a flow that I didn't like.
The planning stage was pretty straightforward but a good chance to show that even with what's happened to them Team MARS are all capable and have definitely grown since first year; Astra especially.
Important detail, Cornflower has been covered and pretty much saved before any of Team MARS actually saw her.
That whole landing strategy scene was fun to write, the new tactics and modified moves people are using were great but especially AJ and Stitch's laser pointer trick that they used in Ruby's class.
And now we get to see what Pantheon turned that Alpha Beowolf into….A nine-tailed fox that uses the tails as a weapon mount.
The idea actually came from reading Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao, specifically what I pictured in my head when I read the scenes with the 'Nine-Tailed Fox' Chrysalis….Although the official designs are a different vibe entirely; but still great.
Also….If you haven't read Iron Widow yet then do that.

As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review.