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Chapter 117: Kitsune

The Kitsune Grimm had been surrounded and set upon from all sides with Team MARS using every ability, weapon and tactic at their disposal to bring down their adversary, only to be left shocked and awed by the things' own speed, skill and ferocity as the vulpine monster drew weapons from its' own arsenal of blades and fought them in a way which felt uncomfortably as though the Hunters were fighting one of their own.

Thus far they had scarcely managed to land a hit on it.

"GET CLEAR!" Athena-Jade called out in warning as she held Heartbreaker steady in its' laser cannon form and prepared to fire at the Kitsune which was currently locked in combat with Regalia, clutching a pair of broad-bladed cleaver-like axes as it fought her; the Racoon Faunus managed to hold Apex Scavenger overhead and block an acrobatic somersault intended to bring both of the Grimm's blades down on her shoulders and from there she managed to kick it in its' armoured chest, staggering it enough to fall back. The Kitsune never ceased in its' motion, using the act of being knocked backwards as the beginning of another maelstrom of slashes and leaping blows as it began to give chase.

Athena-Jade fired Heartbreaker and even then the Grimm did not stop.

The Kitsune did react however, throwing itself around and over the beam in a cartwheeling leap which the Bear Faunus realised was infuriatingly similar to one of her own preferred ways of evading attacks; landing in a crouch the Kitsune sheathed its' axes by reattaching them to its' body where they become two of nine former tails which had been relocated to its' upper back and instead drew a pair of katana before rushing at Athena in a zigzagging blur of motion.

Seeing the Grimm coming the Bear Faunus took a slow breath to steady herself and shifted her weapon into its' bladed form, adjusting her stance and forming a single glyph at an angle beneath her feet as she prepared to use a technique favoured by her Aunt Winter; sapphire blue eyes honed in on the Kitsune, time slowing to a crawl as she waited for the exact moment and perfect angle of attack and then launched herself forwards at blinding speed to deliver a single swing intended to cleave the Grimm in half whilst it was in mid-air.

The Kitsune countered her.

"What?" the word left Athena in a confused gasp, followed by a pained sound escaping through gritted teeth as the impossibly agile Grimm managed to leap up onto the blade of Heartbreaker and then work itself behind the Bear Faunus, landing a kick to the side of her head before spinning around and raking both of its' curved swords across her back and leaving her Aura rippling. Before Athena could even properly process what had happened the Kitsune was bearing down on her again and using its' far greater size and reach expertly to put the Bear Faunus on the defensive, her efforts to black twin katanas made of solid bone with a single sword of her own being bolstered by the additional movement her glyphs gave her which led to the Kitsune simple chasing Athena across the battlefield that the wastelands hand become.

Until Stygian intervened.

The Mouse Faunus's Semblance allowed him to teleport into the exact space where two blades would clash and expertly sidestep both his partner and the monster she fought, kicking aside the second sword of the Kitsune before slashing at its' chest with Sharp Cheese. The Grimm retaliated with expected viscousness, snapping and biting at the Mouse Faunus before forcing Stygian backwards as it slashed both of its' katanas out in sweeping arcs that bisected one another; leaving the dark-skinned young man almost stumbling into his partner as he blocked follow up overhead attacks.

"AJ, glyph!" he called out frantically and Athena seemed to realise immediately what her intended, complying quickly by creating a glyph directly between herself and Stygian, infusing its' surface with Gravity Dust until it shifted to a shimmering darkness and watching as the Mouse Faunus, even with the Kitsune still bearing down on them managed to turn and offer a wink of a single electric blue eye before kicking the surface of the glyph and using it as a springboard to hurl themselves forwards

And more importantly hurl the Kitsune backwards.

Even as it was sent reeling and tumbling head over heels the vulpine monster proved itself to be a dangerous foe; Athena-Jade rushed forwards and conjured up a larger glyph around herself and Stygian almost reflexively to protect her partner after seeing just how swiftly this particular Grimm could react and reorient itself whilst the Kitsune vindicated her concerns by switching weapons once more, this time drawing a pair of sickles and driving their blades into the ground to anchor itself and come to a halt by tearing twin furrows into the ground.

Athena-Jade and Stygian were not alone however and Astra and Regalia announced their return to the fray with their typical explosive show of force. Specifically their combined attack came in the form of something the two had used ever since their initiation; a dark shadow fell over the Kitsune and a whooshing sound was quickly followed by a ground shaking impact as Regalia used the harpoon component of her weapon to haul Astra high into the air and then bring them crashing down, the Deer Faunus at the same time using Buckshot Ares in its' twin shield form and engaging its' hard-light generators to create an unstoppable force capable of smashing through anything in its' path.

The end result was a crater at the side of the road they had been fighting on and clouds of dust and debris being sent out in all directions to shower down on the surrounding area only for the Kitsune to be revealed to be unharmed once the dust settled. The nine-tailed Fox Grimm had managed to lap aside and was already preparing to rush out and around the periphery of the fight in an effort to corral Team MARS into positions of its' choosing yet Astra and Regalia were not finished and quickly followed their signature move up with an inversion of it.

"Now!" Astra called out, taking Regalia's harpoon and engaging their own Semblance whilst the Racoon Faunus retracted the cable to rocket herself forwards much as they had during their landing strategy; allowing the Deer Faunus, now encased within their blazing Aura-self to heft and launch their partner directly at the Grimm with a battle-cry on her lips and Apex Scavenger at the ready. She and the Kitsune Grimm struck one another with a thunderclap impact, Regalia managing to land several blows in the initial exchange which culminated in her using the pickaxe head of her staff to lift her foe up overhead and slam into down into the ground; yet even here the Kitsune was defiant and used its' inhuman speed and agility to reorient itself before it had even struck the floor. Lunging forwards and upwards it flicked the sickles in its' hands into a reverse grip and used the inside edge of their serrated blades to hook onto the shaft of Regalia's weapon and use the purchase they had found to throw her aside like a rag doll.

Astra was on the attack in an instant, keeping the Kitsune from pressing its' advantage and leaping at Regalia by deploying the guns of Buckshot Ares and unleashing a veritable firestorm of ammunition at the monster only for the Grimm to answer the attack its' most obscene show of power yet. Sheathing its' sickles and returning them to its' fanned array of weapons the Kitsune drew the enormous bone broadsword which had been the most central of its' nine tails and began blocking, parrying and deflecting the incoming bullets with a dizzying whirlwind of movements which rendered the thing an incomprehensible blur and was the equal of any Hunters' efforts.

"What the hell?" Astra demanded incredulously as they silenced their guns, realising that to continue firing would be a pointless endeavour and simply staring at the Kitsune which continued to twirl and flourish its' blade as though mocking the Hunters.

"That thing is too fast and too smart" Athena-Jade declared bluntly as she and Stygian fell into place and regrouped

"Have you got a plan?" Regalia asked hopefully, carefully studying the Grimm as she returned from where it had thrown her.

"Not yet but I'm working on it" Astra answered, trying to hide their own uncertainties about continuing to face off against such a monster. The Kitsune for its' part seemed to be relishing the violence and halted in its' taunting showmanship only to heft its' broadsword in both clawed forelimbs and shift its' weight in obvious preparation for a charge.

In the next instant the Grimm was hurtling towards them and Team MARS were forced to defend themselves again.

Nickel Polendina was in the space which doubled as her office and a small operational command centre when she was joined by Jade Rangifer.

The former Spring Maiden who had been her teacher and guide when it came to mastering the powers she now wielded, her fellow founder of Maiden-Gate and now her girlfriend was a Reindeer Faunus whose antlers necessitated the sun-hat she wore being tilted back to a precarious angle which rendered it almost entirely redundant. She also wore a simple green skirt and short sleeved blouse which managed to balance being suitable for the summery weather with a sense of professionalism whilst also showing off a complexion which bore the typical prominent tan of an Atlesian exposed to prolonged sunlight and a healthy amount of meat and muscle on the bones of the young woman who had once looked somewhat underfed, though she was still willowy and perhaps shorter than she might like. Her dirty blonde hair was worn in a single ornate braid whilst bangs framed her face and were kept clear of pale green eyes which brightened momentarily at the sight of Nickel before looking beyond the current Spring Maiden to focus on what Nickel herself was watching.

"I was told there was an emergency?" whilst Nickel and Jade held no official titles as of yet the fact remained that it had been they who had founded and named Maiden-Gate and Nickel was its' chief protector; the settlement had no council member and as such its' leadership was an ad-hoc thing handled by a group of key figures within various sectors, union representatives and other community leaders of which Jade and Nickel were both members which explained the sense of urgency conveyed by the Reindeer Faunus, who would forever consider herself too inexperienced for such a role. Nickel Polendina however managed to soothe her girlfriend with utter nonchalance and a winning smirk.

"Already in hand, come and take a look….Chief" the android with dyed green and black hair lazily span her swivel chair whilst simultaneously hopping out of it, gesturing for Jade to sit and then positioning herself behind the Faunus as she did so in order to gently massage her shoulders. Nickel's office and command centre was a place whose title seemed generous for it, in truth a cramped and cluttered space which resembled a combination of a particularly shabby storeroom and the monitor room for something no more important than the average shopping mall, with a few photographs and posters added to give the place the faintest of personal touches. The appearance was deliberate and for two reasons which Nickel placed equal importance on, firstly the simply refused to allow herself to think of an office as homely in anyway and took measures to prevent it from becoming so and secondly making the space seem unimpressive and unimportant served to disguise it; in reality the various screens and monitors Nickel had access to displayed various important locations in and around Maiden-Gate as well as the camera feeds of several aircraft belonging to the Kingdom of Menagerie which had been assigned to the growing settlement.

Including the one which Team MARS had been deployed in.

"You sent those kids out alone?" Jade asked uncertainly, in the version of Remnant she hailed from many people were hardened killers and soldiers far younger than Team MARS were now but she understood that things were fundamentally different here, though the specifics of exactly what was proper sometimes eluded her.

"Yeah, they should be okay" Nickel answered calmly, continuing to rub Jade's shoulders as she explained "Looks like someone got lost, pack of Beowolves was following 'em down the road so they set a flare off. I sent Team MARS in just to give 'em something to do; the civilian has already been extracted, air support is waiting to hose any Grimm that break off but it looks like there's only one left"

"Yeah but it's not going down, even against four of them" Jade chewed at her lip, wishing that Jade would remember that not everybody was as impossibly overpowered as her.

"They're third year students, they've got this….OH SHIT THAT ONE LOOKED IT HURT, GOOD GAME BUDDY!" Nickel lurched away from Jade doubled over and slapping her thigh whilst cackling uncontrollably at the way one of the four students in the field had been batted aside with an incredible amount of force.

"Nickel please" Jade gave her girlfriend a wide-eyed and panicked stare, pleading and gesturing frantically at the screen "Will you please go and help them?"

"They're fine" Nickel answered flippantly, still chuckling.

"If anything happens to them then you'll have to explain it to Ruby and Penny….But if anything happens to Athena specifically then I have to be the one to explain that to Weiss" the Reindeer Faunus looked positively haunted at the idea of such an ordeal, colour already draining from her cheeks in a way which halted whatever playful retort Nickel might have offered and instead left the android returning to Jade's side and offering her reassurance.

"Hey, come on….Do you think I'd send 'em out there if I didn't think they could handle it? They can handle this and if they can't there's already air support there" Nickel paused and Jade turned to give her a lingering look "But don't worry, it's close enough to the edge of our territory that I can get there in a few minutes….If anyone's Aura breaks then I'll get out there and save the day and stuff"

"Thank you" Jade breathed out, reaching up Nickel's hands and gently lacing their fingers together only to catch sight of the steadily growing smirk that the Spring Maiden wore; one which promised mischief as it worked its' way across her face.

"But let's make it fun"

"Nickel no"

"Nickel yes" the android beamed "Dead ass it'll be fun….Let's take bets on who gets the final shot on that Grimm and takes it out; personally I'm gonna bet on Ruby's niece"

"Ugh, you're terrible" Jade laughed.

"So you don't want in?"

"I didn't say that" the Reindeer Faunus countered with a faux pout as she gave in to her girlfriends' antics and charisma, turning her attention back to the ongoing battle between Team MARS and the nine-tailed Fox Grimm and studying them before making her choice "Astra, I think Astra can do it"

"Because they're a Deer Faunus?" Nickel gave her a knowing look.

"Antler solidarity, it has to be- Oh come on!" Jade exclaimed, getting into what Nickel considered to be the proper spirit as she watched Astra be lifted from their feet by a powerful blow.

Astra hit the ground with a whoosh and a thud which knocked the air out of them whilst their Aura continued to ripple and fluctuate around them for a few moments in the wake of a particularly vicious swing of the Kitsune's sword.

Discipline that had become instinct through rigorous training took hold and they quickly flung themselves backwards, rolling into a crouch with their shields brought up in front of them and their hard-light generators ready to be activated, peering over the lip of their weapons as they struggled to breathe despite the pain of ribs that might have been bruised and keeping their sea-green eyes firmly locked on the Kitsune. The nine-tailed Fox Grimm itself pressed its' advantage and came charging headlong at them with its' massive bone sword trailing behind it to deliver an artless and telegraphed but still devastating assault that would doubtlessly have forced the Deer Faunus to take cover behind their convex wall of rose-tinted hard-light were it not for Regalia who quickly came to her partners' aid.

The Racoon Faunus's harpoon struck the Kitsune in the back, below its' array of blades and as the Grimm glanced over its' shoulder and snarled Regalia offered it a taunting smile

"Go ahead, make my day!" with that she began retracting the harpoon in an effort to drag the Grimm backwards which the Kitsune responded to with the now expected degree of worrying intelligence, first driving its' sword into the ground to anchor itself and then drawing one of the last weapons from its' arsenal Team MARS were yet to see, namely a dagger with a crooked and curving blade. Turning about face the Grimm tried to bring the dagger down on the retracting cable and upon realising that it could not easily hack through it instead began using the cables' tension as it retracted as a way to try and drag Regalia off-balance and into its' clutches.

Astra acted without hesitation, throwing themselves into a position where they would be less likely to strike Regalia by accident and once again unleashing the guns of Buckshot Ares.

The Kitsune tried to rip itself free of Regalia's weapon and tear its' own sword from the ground to return to its' previous inhumanly fast blocking but found itself struck several times before it could do so, letting out a pained yelp as several bullets struck its' oddly ornate skeletal armour and sent spiderwebs through across its' surface or else ripped gruesome wounds into obsidian flesh in a display which Astra couldn't help but take a grim satisfaction from.

In response the Kitsune fell back, sheathing its' sword and drawing its' other dagger; flipping the paired blades and holding them in a reverse grip as it bounded and flashed erratically around Astra and Regalia who had already began to move carefully closer towards one another, covering one another's backs to mitigate the Grimm's obvious efforts to confuse them and catch them unaware.

Eventually the Kitsune made its' move, at exactly the same moment Athena-Jade and Stygian made theirs.

"HEADS UP!" Stygian's voice took on a strange, watery and distorted, oddly distant quality as he spoke whilst already on the cusp of using his Semblance, as though he speaking from the depth of some unknown place he passed through whilst teleporting.

The Kitsune lunged at Astra and Regalia from an oblique and unexpected angle, throwing itself into a needlessly convoluted series of flips and somersaults whilst also launching itself into a high arc which seemed to brazenly defy physics and was clearly intended to bring the Grimm down directly between its' foes, the impact of a meteoric landing giving it an opening yet it was halted by Athena and Stygian using their Semblances in tandem.

Steel and bone screeched against one another as Stygian teleported directly in front of the obvious danger, coat flapping dramatically around him as he appeared in mid-air and was prevented from crashing to the ground by Athena's glyph appearing in perfect position beneath his feet.

Astra watched with rapt attention as the Kitsune struggled, trying to scrabble and claw against Stygian only to find itself hopeless as it was being held in mid-air and there was simply nothing for it to find purchase on and instead it was ultimately forced to throw itself backwards to a flailing leap which had none of its' previous agility and was quickly countered by Athena using the technique she had developed before the Vytal Tournament. The Bear Faunus was a blur of motion and a force of nature all at once, besting the Kitsune at its' own game as she vaulted through the air on a combination of glyphs and four spectral Beowolf limbs until she drew close enough to slam herself bodily into the vulpine monster and rake the blade of Heartbreaker across its' armour as it was sent sailing backwards to land in a crumpled heap on the ground with enough force to crack the tarmac on impact. From there Athena hastily helped Stygian to the ground and the four members of Team MARS regrouped, taking defensive formations that Stygian quickly found his place within even after such a limited amount of time to familiarise himself with his new teams' way of fighting.

"It's gotta be down now, no way it's not finished after a fall like that" he breathed out, only to be proven wrong and utterly galled by the temerity of the Grimm as it dragged itself back to its' feet and spat out a broken tooth in an obvious display of defiance; the thing swayed and staggered before limping several steps and sheathing its' crooked daggers to instead return to the paired katanas that it had used earlier in the fight.

"Astra, please tell us that you have what of those plans that are absolutely absurd but somehow still work" Athena breathed out, managing a slight smile despite the tightness of her words and feeling a slight sense of relief when the Deer Faunus, without taking their eyes off of the Kitsune as it skulked and paced whilst returning the predatory gaze.

"I think I've got something" they answered "Regalia, can you use your Semblance and try and find an answer….I wanna double check something"

"Okay" the Racoon Faunus answered uncertainly, doubting that Look-See would provide anything so direct or obvious as an exact and usable answer to the abstract question of how to beat the Kitsune. After several seconds with the faint glow of her powers' usage visible from beneath her goggles she shook her head and gave an apologetic gesture.

"Sorry Astra" she shook her head "Look-See just marks all of us as beacons, so the answer is 'us'….Athena's beacon is a little brighter maybe?"

"That's what I was thinking, thanks for double checking" Astra chuckled, managing to catch all of Team MARS off-guard with the revelation that they had used Regalia's Semblance as a means of quality control for their own ideas.

"Okay seriously" Stygian demanded, growing uncomfortable with the way the Kitsune continued to prowl "What're you planning"

"It's simple" Astra grinned "That thing can't fly, but with AJ's help we can"

Gestalt-Prime skulked and prowled across the roof of the building they had taken to lurking on like some terrible mechanical gargoyle in a display which seemed entirely too menacing and foreboding for daylight hours. Overall their efforts would undoubtedly have been better suited to the dead of night, with the broken moon partly obscured by the high waves of dust thrown into the air by the howling and freezing winds which buffeted the defensive walls of Pikesreach than the present moment, where the metallic components of the Alpha Cyber-Grimm gleamed in the sunlight and the smells and sounds of the people of Pikesreach going about what they considered to be a largely normal and pleasant day wafted upwards, including the voices of several individuals, primarily impressionable children who had bought into the rhetoric spread by Aefen's followers and were now under the impression that Gestalt-Prime was some sort of guardian figure to protect them from monsters and bandits.

The annoyance that came with that notion might have the most unwelcome of all of the more nuanced emotions, sickeningly human and complicated things that Gestalt-Prime had been subjected to since their apotheosis; truly it seemed that being a superior being came with its' trials and demands.

Such distractions were quickly pushed from the mind of the hybrid Alpha however as they kept their thoughts occupied by more productive matters to distract from idle frustrations that they were powerless to act on and would continue to aggravate them, like a splinter in the mind if they did nothing. To that end Gestalt-Prime lowered the visor which covered their glaring Cyclopean optic, allowing themselves to roll the crimson orb at the ongoing pointing and awed chattering from below as they stalked across one part of the uneven and over-designed castle-like structure that Aefen had taken as her base of operations and personal lair, their segmented, armoured and serpentine tail uncoiling behind them and a low, satisfied growl escaping them in an utterly animal way as several muscles and mechanical components interwoven with one another flexed and shifted satisfyingly in order to allow them to unfurl their wings from where the limbs stowed almost in their entirety, with only the axe-bladed points arcing up over the monsters' shoulders. A moment later Gestalt-Prime took to the sky, performing a few lazy loops around Aefen's stronghold which satisfied the curiosity of the crowd gathered below before the Alpha Cyber-Grimm powered upwards to the highest point of the building where their single remaining Shroud Variant was perched.

"Fly" they ordered bluntly, the lesser Cyber-Grimm responding by craning its' hyper-mobile neck and letting out a grinding, shrieking chitter whilst continuing to perform what would outwardly appear to be preening behaviours before finally rotating its' modular limbs so that its' wings were in position and then taking to the skies with its' insectoid abdomen ablaze as it rocketed away.

Gestalt-Prime wanted eyes in the field.

Their enemy within the Hive-Mind, the colossal mental presence which had already gazed upon them once was now certainly aware of where Gestalt-Prime was hiding and with the situation more precarious than the Alpha Cyber-Grimm would outwardly admit such a liability made them uncomfortable and filled them with a fear they had no desire to become accustomed to.

Pikesreach's defences were weakened again and would take more time to repair, many of its' fleshy defenders had fallen and several of the Cyber-Grimm were damaged or scrapped; with their abilities to fight back so heavily curtailed Gestalt-Prime found themselves running countless mental calculations and simulations based on all of the gathered data from their own experiences and machines they had integrated with throughout their lesser forms, trying to find strategies that would provide more favourable outcomes only to be forced to conclude that if their unseen nemesis chose to act again, especially given the increase in size and ferocity between their previous efforts then Pikesreach would likely fall and drastic actions would have to be taken to prevent total and catastrophic losses to Gestalt-Prime's plans.

Under normal circumstances the hybrid Alpha would have given sincere consideration to retreating and relocating, either to Jidhir Town where they would be under the watch of Nero and his lackeys or another, undecided location where Aefen could be put to work once more; Gestalt-Prime had their pride to be sure and the natural bloodlust of all Creatures of Grimm that would drive them forwards in the face of any conflict or enemy however these were tempered by the intelligence which had guided them towards their higher purpose, something beyond simple feeding and satisfaction. It was a moot point however, Aefen's work which would aid the Alpha Cyber-Grimm's vision for the Grimm species as much as it would vindicate the scientists' own ego was reaching critical stages and could not be abandoned which meant that Pikesreach could not be abandoned as long as there were any other options, which in turn meant that every possible effort to keep enemies' at bay would be taken.

Especially the enemies already within Pikesreach.

Damascus Nero was no fool, however his limited resources had left him with no choice but to use the most obvious of agents to keep watch over his supposed allies whilst they were out of his sight; an abysmal human weakness which made Gestalt-Prime sneer, when they gave a Creature of Grimm under their command an order they could expect it be followed without the need for wasteful spying. Zirconia Shadowmoon was persistent however and Gestalt-Prime did not have long to wait before the Grasshopper Faunus came into view, moving swiftly but unobtrusively along the roofs and ramparts of the settlement to keep her quarry in view. Aefen had suggested that Nero might be engaging in some higher level of trickery, using Zirconia as a ruse whilst also having another spy within Pikesreach however no proof had been found and every precaution had been taken, leaving the sentient monster and the rogue Hunter engaged in a silent battle of wills and wits wherein each of them waited for the other to expose themselves and show their hand as they continued to man their chosen posts, Pantheon perching themselves above Aefen's lair like a roosting bird and keeping watch for any sign of malfeasance whilst Zirconia watched and studied from afar in an obvious effort to discern what might be happening within, or better yet find a way to slip passed the hybrid Alpha.

Readings flashed along Gestalt-Prime's visor, showing Zirconia's elevated heart-rate and other signs of distress and the monster sneered, seeing it as a sign that their battle might soon come to an end.

They would welcome the peace of mind that would come from Zirconia's absence in whatever form it took so that they could focus more fully on the greater threat that their fellow evolved Grimm posed, especially now that Aefen's work was beginning to show such blatant promise; the latest of her test subjects had managed to survive for several minutes after the hybridisation process and even shamble several paces before expiring in a particularly gruesome fashion.

In truth Gestalt-Prime had been glad of silence once the subject had stopped screaming.

"GET READY!" Astra called out, giving their team-mates a final warning as the Kitsune came rushing at the Deer Faunus, once again zigzagging erratically and moving at a blinding speed in an effort to keep its' foe from defending themselves and yet Astra remained steadfast and prepared; unleashing a few short salvos of gunfire to keep the Grimm from slipping around them and attacking from behind before simply raising Buckshot Ares in twin shield mode over their face activating their had-light shields once more in the exact moment that the Kitsune pounced.

Team MARS acted with perfect synchronisation and timing.

As the Kitsune slammed into Astra's defences, its' clawed hindlimbs struggling and ultimately failing to find purchase on the hard-light field between itself and its' prey and their swords trapped in an awkward position which left them useless the Deer Faunus stepped forward and threw the Grimm even further off-balance with all their might.

Before the vulpine monster could strike the ground Regalia's harpoon struck the thing in its' back and she hauled it into a high arc overhead and brought it crashing down to the ground with an earthshaking thud with left the Kitsune sprawled and struggling to rise, one of its' katanas broken by the force of the impact and its' body further ruined by the Racoon Faunus ripping the harpoon component of Apex Scavenger free to instead open fire with her shotgun to blast away chunks of its' armoured carapace and, more importantly keep the thing pinned in place whilst a glyph appeared beneath it.

The next part of the assault was a devastating combination of Semblances wherein Athena-Jade used one of her shimmering glyphs to blast the Kitsune high into the air where its' speed and agility were of no use at all and as it reached the apex of its' sailing arc through the air Astra pressed the attack, their Semblance-self taking shape around them in time to deliver a single uppercut from a fist comprised of glowing and fiery red Aura that was as large as the Grimm itself and sent the monster soaring higher still.

The next attack came from Stygian who kept watch of the Kitsune and teleported at the exact moment it began to fall, their Semblance rightly identifying the combination of a fatal fall and the proximity to a thrashing and flailing Creature of Grimm armed with numerous bladed weapons as the most dangerous thing in sight; allowing the Mouse Faunus to ready Sharp Cheese by feeding Ice Dust into its' hyper-conductive blade and reappear, already falling directly beside the Kitsune to thrust their sword into it in an attack which left ice crystals creeping outwards from the initial wound and the entire body of the nine-tailed fox Grimm sluggish, freezing mist spilling from its' maw with its' efforts to bite at Stygian in a final display of murderous intent.

From there it was Stygian and Athena-Jade together who ended the fight.

Stygian's Semblance could only secure them a way into danger and offered no means of retreat and so the Mouse Faunus was forced to simply fall alongside the Kitsune Grimm and hope that help would come before he struck the ground, trading blows and locking swords with the Grimm the entire way down until the sound of something hurtling upwards through the air towards him.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" the Bear Faunus's frantic advice was followed by a fierce battle-cry and Stygian reacted without thinking, planting both feet on the chest of the Kitsune and kicking away in order to avoid being caught in his partners' attack; Athena-Jade herself came into view a moment later and the Grimm was entirely unable to stop her as she surged upwards on glowing, ephemeral wings and gave a mighty swing of Heartbreaker, the swords' oversized blade decapitating the Kitsune with a single stroke. Athena never halted however and instead pivoted in mid-air to see that Stygian had continued to fall and from there her wings disappeared to be replaced instead by four spectral Beowolf limbs which erupted from a series of glyphs held at the small of her back; Athena-Jade fell but more glyphs began to appear and the Bear Faunus used each of the rapidly arranging surfaces as a platform from which to leap and propel herself, stowing her weapon and powering onwards and downwards until finally she drew level Stygian and snatched her partner mid-fall.

Landing on the ground Beowolf claws first and carrying the Mouse Faunus bridal style in her arms.

"We did it" she breathed out "We actually did it….Of all of your plans Astra this is the one that I'm going to struggle believing the most. At least the usual method of just throwing you at the problem in different ways has some kind of- why are you laughing?"

She found herself trailing off as she became more aware of the fact the Deer Faunus she had been talking to was simply doubled over with laughter, pointing at her with one hand whilst clutching at a similarly amused Regalia with the other in an effort to steady themselves until, after a moment of trying and failing to compose themselves they quickly drew their scroll and snapped a single photograph of Athena and Stygian's current position.

"Don't worry I'm not gonna sell it to the press….But I am definitely sending this to your brother"

"You fucking ass-hole!" Athena gasped as the realised exactly how the scene could be construed and responded by not only finally releasing her Semblance but also by dropping Stygian, with the undignified yelp her partner let out before hitting the ground leaving Astra and Regalia reduced to wordless, breathless hysterics.

"Oh my gosh I am so sorry" Athena gasped, gloved hands flying to her mouth in embarrassed shock before holding one out to help her partner up "Are you okay?"

"Well I survived a fall from all the way up there" Stygian chuckled as he allowed himself to be pulled to his feet "Pretty sure I can survive a fall from….What maybe two feet off the-"

"You suck, you suck so bad" Athena countered, casually elbowing her partner in the ribs in retaliation to the jab at her height.

"Yeah, yeah….But thanks for the assist" Stygian beamed, patting Athena's shoulder as the two of them turned to face one another, electric and sapphire blue eyes meeting one another for the briefest moment before turning away; an inexplicably welcome distraction being provided by Regalia who chose that moment to speak up.

"Heh, that wasn't flying, it was falling with style….But it was still pretty cool so uh, maybe you won't have to take extra classes on weekends any more?"

Athena could not help but give a tired but enthusiastic whoop at that idea, her obvious feelings being quickly seconded by Stygian who gave an amused snort at her response before holding a hand out for the snowy-haired young to high-five; only to pull the hand up and out of her reach in another obvious attempt to tease her for being vertically challenged which Athena responded to by creating up onto a hastily created glyph, thereby sparking a fresh round of bickering and playful scuffling where the two of them remained utterly oblivious to Astra and Regalia watching the proceedings with faint bemusement until the Deer Faunus let out a shrill whistle in order to get their attention.

"Come on, let's head back to Maiden-Gate….our ride should have set down back there unless the person the Grimm were following needed immediate medical evac"

With that Team MARS collectively set off, noting that they would likely be assigned to providing security for the roadwork crew responsible for repairing the damage their fight with the Kitsune and its' pack of Beowolves had done if it could be organised before the end of the weekend and individually taking stock of both the Dust and ammunition they had depleted and the various small scuffs and bruises that would no doubt being aching soon enough that they had each acquired. Before long the sight of their waiting transport greeted them, its' hull gleaming in the sunlight in a way which was only partly obscured by the haze of dust and rippling air from its' idling propulsion systems and its' nose and wing-mounted weapons remaining trained on the space around the team until Astra held up and gave several gestures to communicate that they were fine, uninjured and with no Creatures of Grimm left to follow them.

From there it took only a few more minutes for the four students to reach the craft and climb into a hatch that hissed open as they approached it, being greeted as they did so by the sight of the crafts' co-pilot attending to what was obviously the lost civilian who had sent up the initial warning flare; their form hidden from view by both the co-pilot herself and the layer of blankets that enveloped them.

"Doesn't seem to have any severe injuries but some of these cuts might get infected" the co-pilot, a stern looking woman with close-cropped hair began without preamble "She also doesn't seem to have an unlocked Aura and I had to give her a tranquilliser….She'd gone into shock and was incoherent, thrashing to get away when she realised that we weren't taking off"

"The wasteland can take a toll on people" Regalia nodded sagely "My people have rescued people….We didn't sedate the people we found though"

"Do we know who she is?" Astra asked, not missing the slightly disdainful tone in Regalia's voice and certainly not missing the way her features scrunched up in faint annoyance at the way the co-pilot answered Astra's question.

"She was too out of it to answer, I checked her pockets for ID….Nothing, no ID no scroll"

"So she might have met bandits" Stygian offered.
"Go on" Astra nodded from the co-pilot to the door separating the cockpit from the rear of the craft "Go tell our pilot wheels up, we should get her to a doctor"

"Agreed" the co-pilot gave a brisk salute as she departed, though her words were more gentle if only by a fraction and as she left Team MARS got their first proper look at the woman they had rescued.

"If it was bandits then Nickel is gonna go nuts, especially if it's the ones already doing…." It was Stygian who had been making the observation, only to trail off as words utterly failed him with the realisation of who sat before him in an incoherent and addled daze; the blue-haired young man staggered forward several steps only to collapse to his knees before her and take her calloused, blistered and cracked hands in his own with a single choked sob escaping him.

"Stitch, what's wrong? What…." Athena-jade fell silent as she looked at the beleaguered looking woman and a single glimpse of the tattoos etched into her dark skin made everything clear to her in a way that made her heart ache for her newest team-mate "Oh….I am so sorry"

"Guys" Stygian croaked out, tears already spilling down his face "This is my Mum"

The sun had begun to set over Menagerie, painting the interior of Headmistress Coco Adel's office with a plethora of dazzling hues as red and gold sky was filtered through stained-glass windows and yet the beauty of the scene was entirely lost on Coco herself as she took her seat within the office which had been designed to create an imposing air of authority, doubly so as her first action was to open a hidden control panel at her desk which would begin locking down the office entirely; an action which spoke of the paranoia that she carried with her since realising that one of her own students had been the one to attack her son in this very office.

The stunning view and beautiful colours were lost as the office was cast into darkness by armoured shutters falling into place over the windows whilst the entrance to the office was similarly sealed and an array of countermeasures to various methods of espionage were put into effect and from there Coco removed her signature beret and glasses, taking the liberty of pouring herself a cup of coffee from the pot of expensive special blend she kept on hand before poising herself, finding herself squinting as she stared at the screen of her computer in the otherwise unlit office and feeling somewhat foolish at her own newly suspicious nature but not so much so that she would let herself disregard it.

Eventually the video call she had been waiting for began and screens began to open, flickering and lagging for a brief moment as connections were established through countless levels of encryption and security; the first such window being accompanied by an explosive burst of sound which was, for all of suddenness was still extremely welcome.

"Coco stop sitting in the dark like a moody thirteen year old unless you want me to send you the most trashy outfit I can find in Lukewarm Subject!"

"I don't think that will be necessary" Lie Ren's voice followed the familiar, nasal and always exuberant sound of his wife's voice, his own words gentle and faintly bemused whilst Coco found herself snorting faintly and turning on the lamp at her desk both to make viewing her screen easier and because she had no doubts at all that Nora would make good on those threats, with the ever stylish headmistress having no desire to look like a second rate Ruby Rose impressionist.

"Glad to see that you're well Nora"

"I'm just glad to see anything!" Nora finger-gunned as she offered the retort which had clearly been intended as a joke, though upon hearing it Coco could not help the way her eyes lingered for a moment too long on Nora's injuries.

A web of lightning bolt scars arced and forked their way across her face, stretching from the point where the Shroud Variant Cyber-Grimm had drove the remains of its' arm into her eyes upwards and across her forehead into her hairline and also across her cheeks, though the right side was more heavily affected with injuries etching themselves into her skin all the way to her ear, jawline and neck. Nora's eyes themselves, or more accurately the space they had once occupied had been entirely hidden from view by the model of Cybernetic augmentations she had chosen, an older model which rather than involving the working of machinery into her eye-sockets had instead been grafted over brow and nose-bridge to create an effect not unlike goggles or perhaps a particularly heavy pair of bifocals whose large circular surfaces and the various shutters and filters around them adjusted constantly and allowed for an impressive degree of expression whilst the light emitted by the cybernetics had been carefully matched to Nora's original eye colour. The end result being an owlish and inquisitive look which Coco knew instinctively had been chosen because it would be less upsetting for the children in her care to see.

Any awkwardness was quickly overcome by the arrival of two more members of the conference call, both of them based in Atlas.

"Hello everyone" Antonia Arc greeted her peers, the oldest of the Arc siblings now having as much white in her hair as the signature shade of blonde associated with her family; the combination of colours almost ironically being reminiscent of the armour often worn by the many Hunters the extended Arc brood wore. Antonia also looked tired in a way that seeped into bones and around the edges of her screen Coco counted an amount of energy drinks which made her quickly stop counting, with Qrow's forced retirement from even his less direct roles the head of Poly-Tech had taken a more active role in their secretive groups workings, handling matters that could not be swiftly or easily attended to by members of Winter's Specialists as well as employing the various benefits of heading one of the few corporations of a similar scope to Damascus Nero's former conglomerate to keep watch for any signs of the man's lingering influence in corporate circles; to say nothing of the work that running said company entailed.

"My apologies for my lateness, I was withheld by other matters" General Winter Schnee announced with a crisp and direct tone, speaking before she had even seated herself comfortably and a faint hiss of mechanisms within a leg that was cybernetic from the knee downwards suggesting that she had been too busy of late to properly maintain the limb, a suggestive thing in its' own right even considering the drive and tenacity the eldest of the Schnee siblings was famous for.

"You're not late….This is everyone?" Ren asked, adjusting his glasses and making himself more comfortable beside his wife.

"It is" Coco confirmed letting out a slow sigh that became a growl midway through "This still doesn't feel right without Qrow….Fuck Nero for everything they did"

"It never gets easier for us to lose people either" Winter lamented "Not in this, where there are so few of us holding back everything that threatens to overwhelm Remnant….What I wouldn't give to have Glynda with us now"

"Professor Goodwitch would have had Nero found, bound and gagged and then launched into the Emerald Forest by catapult by now" Nora chuckled, the mental image allowing all present to share in the brief laughter before Winter spoke again.

"I have some small news to report, unless anybody else would like to speak first?"

"I've made no developments….It's hard to sift one kind of corruption from another when dealing with CEOs" Antonia admitted with a wry smile which seemed to buckle under its' own weight and become a deep scowl as the woman, who was one of the most thorough and demanding perfectionists Coco had ever encountered took the lack of progress as a sign of some personal failure whilst Winter, hearing no objections considered the answer her permission to continue.

"My Specialists, along with Hunters and other covert operatives have been working to stop the spread of Nero's ideology and, arguably more importantly any efforts by Atlesian citizens to give material aid to our enemies" Winter's frown deepened into something truly fierce at the thought "We've managed to arrest one businessman who had been buying Conglomerate assets after finding proof that he intended to redistribute those assets on Nero's behalf, both to Menagerie and other places as required….We also detained a small group of would be fighters, nobody with any training, skill or experience; just some idiots who liked the idea of a new Remnant that they were sold on a forum which has since been shut down"

"We have similar reports in New Vale" Ren murmured "Though since Nero's attack on the Capital the Council has been less willing to openly involve Hunters in matters such as that….Artemis Tan was a representative for a short period and we have other means of acquiring information"

"Indeed" Winter nodded "What concerns me more however is that the Atlas military and Council along with several of our largest companies, including the SDC and Poly-Tech have been targets of a prolonged campaign of cyber-attacks?"

"By Nero's people?" Coco asked

"We doubt it could be anybody else" Winter seemed to struggle not to give an edge to the obvious answer, an effort Coco appreciated.

"To what end?" Nora asked, her cybernetics giving her the appearance of peering intently with brows furrowed as several components shifted and realigned.

"We don't know yet, which we suspect is part of the reason for such an all-embracing approach"

"Nero's people are looking for something specific but they don't want us to know what it is" Ren noted, pausing to consider for a moment before adding "Then we should focus on that, if we find out what Nero is looking for then we can make more reasonable predictions about his next steps….We know who our enemy is now, we've seen what he's capable of. Now we need to know what his next step is"

"And if we know what he's looking for then we can bait traps" Nora suggested calmly "Let him make the moves we want him to instead of being the ones reacting and chasing and getting blind-sided all the damn time"

"Agreed" Winter nodded, offering the diminutive redhead woman a sympathetic look before turning her attention to Coco "That is unless there have been any developments on Menagerie which would allow us to take more direct and drastic action?"

"Nothing concrete, smuggling through Port Alistair has been brought to a complete stop through our efforts but its' likely Nero has people in both high and low places in other settlements….Although we had a report earlier from Nickel Polendina" Coco answered, pursing her lips and preparing to have her input criticised for how flimsy it sounded by Winter.

"Go on" Antonia urged, being one of the minds responsible for Nickel Polendina's creation had been only the first stage in the complicated relationship between the eldest of Jaune Arc's sisters and Penny Polendina's intended successor and Antonia would always be somewhat leery whenever Nickel's name was mentioned

"A team of students, Team MARS were sent there for a few days for extracurricular training in order to help them adjust to their new circumstances" Coco began "They encountered a woman fleeing from Grimm with no form of identification who had clearly been in the wastes alone for longer than is advisable and who has been unable to communicate with us thus far….What we do know for certain, which makes me suspicious for reasons I'll admit that I can't fully articulate yet is that this woman is from Pikesreach"

"Pikesreach….An independent settlement beyond the edge of what is officially considered Menagerie" Ren chimed in, understanding the particular political situation involving that settlement along with a great many other disturbing facts about it after having conversations with his former student Stygian Blue during the Mouse Faunus's initial enrolment.

"That's the place" Coco nodded, eyes narrowing to a vicious glare at the mere thought of the settlement which was an affront to everything that both Hunters and Menagerie were supposed to be.

"You think that Nero might have a presence there?" Winter asked.

"The people running that settlement are everything he tried to paint Hunters as, they'd never work with him….At least not willingly" Coco considered "Something isn't right about this, I want to trust my instincts and I feel like I should speak with this woman in person"

"Agreed" Winter nodded, catching Coco by surprise before adding "If there's any chance at all that this woman is a security risk to Damascus Nero's operations then the best course of action would be to offer her shelter in your academy until the truth can be ascertained….We already know from the deaths of Petrol and Rowan Oralie and the attack on your son that there are no depths Nero will not sink to"

That was a chilling thought and the image of Zirconia Shadowmoon being dispatched to silence a witness which her mind conjured for her was one which Coco had no desire at all to think about.

Stygian Blue and Nickel Polendina had almost come to blows.

The Mouse Faunus had understandably been left reeling by the realisation that Team MARS's rescuee had in fact been his own mother and the sight of her not only sedated and riddled with small injuries which seemed to align with being exposed to the harshest of Menagerie's elements and had been reduced to an emotional wreck for the duration of the flight back to Maiden-Gate, refusing to let go of his mothers' limp and motionless hand whilst his friends offered what moral support they could and listened to blue-haired young man as he explained haltingly with tears giving way to furious rage the meaning of the tattoos adorning the woman's shaved head, that whilst every inhabitant of Pikesreach wore tattoos which denoted their trade, role and overall station within the settlement these spidery markings were intended to identify pariahs, failures and the untrustworthy.

His altercation with Nickel had come when the android woman with her dyed black and green hair had arrived at the settlements' airship terminal in order to meet them the moment they stepped out onto the landing pad with doctors already in tow, at which point Nickel had made the poorly calculated decision to try and separate Stygian from his mother, insisting that Cornflower Blue needed to receive medical attention immediately and be kept for observation whilst at the same time demanding that Team MARS, who were both under her command and care and still in the midst of a training operation needed to begin the debriefing process. Hearing this had pushed Stygian over the edge of some unseen precipice and he had wasted no time at all in giving Nickel a piece of his mind, yelling stepping into her space until an effort to point a finger at her whilst standing close enough to touch her had annoyed the Spring Maiden enough to act; her temper flaring and body remaining perfectly still with her hands behind her back as vivid green fire spewed in an erratic and crackling way from her eyes whilst the various plants and flowers in the immediate area came to life, confirming earlier suspicions that the reason for Maiden-Gate's widespread and colourful collections of flora was at least partly a defensive measure. Stygian found himself hoisted into the air with his limbs bound as vines and roots constricted him and mutated, worryingly coloured thorns began to grow from every surface.

It was then that cooler heads had begun to prevail.

The other members Team MARS had, without hesitation and despite how ill-advised it may have been, prepared to defend Stygian from Nickel in case the Spring Maiden, a woman who was no stranger to death and violence of the most extreme variety tried to take things further. Jade Rangifer had arrived at that moment however and between them the Reindeer Faunus and Athena-jade had managed to calm their respective partners and get to the heart of the matter, bringing the situation under control before things could devolve further. Nickel had been working under the reasonable but faulty proposition that where there was one lost or stranded civilian than there should be others, that there should be other people waiting to be found and rescued from the Grimm unless they had already been targeted by others, with less benign intentions which would present a different set of concerns. and for this reason she had wanted Team MARS debriefed and ready to redeploy as soon as possible, upon hearing that the woman was from Pikesreach and was Stygian's mother no less the Spring Maiden had become far more understanding; agreeing to a compromise of Team MARS undergoing a debriefing first before Astra and Regalia returned to sentry duty whilst Stygian and Athena-Jade would be allowed to keep watch over Cornflower and Nickel performed aerial sweeps of the areas around Maiden-Gate.

With Athena-jade and Stygian currently being in the midst of their security detail.

"You know she could have killed you right?….Nickel, she could have pulled your head off by hand" Athena-jade's tone was hushed and for a moment she thought that Stygian might not have heard her however he merely shifted his weight and shrugged a moment later

"Thanks for having my back" the words escaped him in a dull, hollow voice which spoke to how emotionally drained he was. The two of them sat on either side of a door located on a currently empty corridor within Maiden-Gate's small general hospital, Cornflower had been given a private room as a precaution although the noise of the regular bustling activity of the hospital could be heard in the distance, steadily cycling up to the hectic and all hands on deck situation that was common to emergency rooms on a Friday night all across Remnant; this noise, combined with the high-pitched electrical whine that assaulted Stygian's senses along with the sensation of his own heart hammering left his efforts to strain his hearing and listen in to his mothers' room in case she woke up unsuccessful all whilst the glaring and sickly overhead lights and the medical stench in the air punished his keen senses to the point of making him physically ill.

"It's what partners are for right" Athena answered whilst reaching over to give Stygian's hand a brief squeeze, pulling away as he jerked suddenly at the unexpected contact "Are you gonna be okay Stitch?"

"Right now I don't give a fuck about whether I'm gonna be okay or not" Stygian's voice cracked "I wanna know if she is"

"I get that" Athena whispered "It's not really the same at all but there was a point in my brothers' first year where he was missing in action for a while, so I get how much having to wait for answers sucks"

"It's the suckiest right?" Stygian managed a weak chuckle and smile which showed brilliant teeth as he used Athena's favoured description for her problems which the Bear Faunus herself could only snort at.

"Go sit with her" she sighed eventually "She's your Mum and nobodies' coming for her here….If they did I'll hold 'em off"

"Thanks AJ, you're a good friend….No matter how much you didn't want to be before" with that Stygian rose to his feet and placed a hand on his partners' shoulder briefly and without thinking before heading into his mothers' hospital room.

She looked peaceful.

Cornflower lay mostly covered beneath plan sheets and had been placed in a hospital gown whilst her own clothes were cleaned, the older Mouse Faunus had been connected to several machines monitoring different vital readings and was being steadily rehydrated via a drip and overall her recovery seemed to be going as well could be expected, albeit slowly owing to her lack of an unlocked Aura. She was unconscious and showed no signs of stirring as Stygian cautiously approached her and took a seat which had been left in the room, one of the thin-framed and universally uncomfortable kind common to such institutions though her present unresponsiveness seemed to be result of simple exhaustion rather than being medicated.

"Hey Mum" Stygian croaked the words out shakily, scared to raise his voice above a whisper "I wish it hadn't been so long since I'd seen you….I wish I'd been able to come back, I would have made things right….I'm still gonna make things right Mum, I promise"

Stygian remained like that, sat at his mothers' side until he finally fell asleep as the weariness from fighting the Kitsune and a long day in general began to make itself known; stirring only slightly when Athena-jade quietly entered the room to throw a blanket over him as he dozed in the chair.

Author's Notes:

Okay so we're halfway through Vol.07
We can see roughly where the second half of the volume is gonna go now and I've also managed to sow some more seeds for things that will become important in Vol.08 and beyond.
I'm gonna take a week or so to plan the next 8-10 chapters but given that I'm over a month ahead of my posting schedule but the time anyone reads this it won't matter.

So let's summarise shall we?:
The way that Hunters normally mow down Grimm and bounce from target to target? Yeah it was like that turned on its' head fighting the Kitsune
Its' total arsenal was one broadsword and then a pair each of katana, axes, sickles and daggers.
Yeah, the whole copying moves thing isn't working out for AJ; she might know how to use things like Winter's 'Samurai movie slash' on a technical level but she doesn't practically apply them well enough.
Well the teamwork between AJ and Stitch in this opening part of the fight wasn't perfect but the groundwork is definitely there.
Astra and Regalia on the other hand have actually improved their signature combo to the point of effectively being able to infinitely chain it if there's a big enough crowd of Grimm.
Regalia is absolutely a powerhouse who can just pick the average Grimm up and slam it on the ground.
But let's be real the mental image of the Kitsune just pulling a sword and basically doing the lightsaber style deflections whilst being shot with two mini-guns is pretty awesome and Team MARS were right to a little nervous.
Okay so this chapter is a little shorter than what has become my average and it honestly feels even shorter than that because a few scenes are mostly just there to create transitions between different parts of the main fight and I'll admit that the Nickel scene is one of them….Although it was still nice.
Nickel calling Jade 'Chief' there's a joke about her being the bottom there.
Also, that office absolutely suits her.
Jade is allowed to have a skewed sense of caution given that she's from a timeline that's post apocalyptic because Adam basically won.
Nickel also having a skewed idea of how squishy other people are makes sense given that she has had a 1v1 with Salem before.
When in doubt, invoke Mama Weiss.
Hey the professors take bets on stuff during initiation, Nickel and Jade are allowed to take bets here.
Astra's getting lifted on camera smash-cut into them hitting the ground as we pan back to the actual fight.
Had to get a good movie quote in here and that one worked….But the Kitsune countering by using the cables' own tension was a good show of how smart it is, also it was inspired slightly by that one scene in the Under the Red Hood animated movie where Jason cuts the line before it goes taut.
The moment Stygian intercepted the Grimm in mid-air was the moment Astra started making a workable plan because they saw it scrabbling uselessly with absolutely no way to use all that agility it had.
Gestalt-Prime has followers now, with Aefen's cult spreading the word the undeniable proof of how effective the Cyber-Grimm are it's honestly understandable; especially for people who've been cut off from the rest of Remnant for around twenty years, meaning the kids have never left.
Look at 'em pretending that their feeling are so much better than human feelings when they only have one eye and still can't resist a dramatic eye roll.
….Also, the urge to mutter 'Big stretch' like I'm talking to a cat when they deploy those wings.
Gestalt-Prime is actually scared right now, they do not want to fight Pantheon yet and they are honestly not used to being on the defensive; I think every major fight Gestalt-Prime has taken part in at this point has involved them being on the attack.
So Gestalt-Prime and Zirconia are playing a game of "I know that you know that I know that you know" which will be interesting considering her behaviour last chapter.
But, importantly and yet hidden in a blink and miss it, almost throwaway line….Aefen's testing of Human-Grimm hybrids is showing even more results.
Let's be honest, the whole plan boiled down to 'Get it in a position where it can't fight back and then jump it four on one' but it was brilliantly executed.
Okay so Astra and Regalia did a bit, but this mid-season finale needed to include a proper tag-team effort from AJ & Stitch and Athena getting her groove back properly, which I think was delivered by that final blow and Athena catching Stygian.
Falling with style….I'm not sorry.
But we all knew what was coming next as soon as they started heading for their transport.
Regalia giving the bombastic side-eye to the co-pilot for sedating Cornflower and checking her pockets for ID just felt right, but also Cornflower's panic seemed perfectly justifiable given that she's been on the run from Pikesreach for a day and a night, chased by Grimm and when help finally came the opened fire on the Grimm while she was still on the ground and didn't immediately get her to safety.
THERE IT IS, THERE'S THE MOMENT WE WERE WAITING FOR.
Okay, so late afternoon with the sun setting….A few hours have passed which means Coco knowing about what happened definitely makes sense.
Lukewarm Subject….You know what store that's a reference to.
Nora's back, she can see again and she's cracking jokes about losing her eyes! I was gonna have her show up in an earlier chapter but plans change….Basically she's got eyes that are more like Maria's canon ones that the robot eye Ruby's got in this universe, also her scars are a nod to the ones in canon that are everywhere but her face except here they literally start on her face.
Professor Goodwitch would absolutely have catapulted Nero into the Emerald Forest.
So the cabal are doing something, just because it doesn't make sense for them to be completely useless and chasing shadows; they've managed to deny Nero some funding, resources and recruits but nobody who knows enough to be a problem.
Also, Nero was looking for things that would progress his plans last chapter and now Atlas is being hit by mass cyber attacks.
Nora's got the right idea, stop playing defence.
So Coco knows about Cornflower, which means it's only a matter of time before she knows that Zirconia, Aefen and Gestalt-Prime are there.
Stygian knows what those head tattoos mean and he's not stupid, he knows why his Mum was branded with them after he left.
Stygian and Nickel were both justified in their initial reactions, he was understandably upset about the idea of having to leave his Mum for any amount of time whilst Nickel, with the information she had at the time was justified in wanting to get more info and then act quickly and decisively; both of them acted dumb about it….That being said, that is a fight Stygian would not walk away from.
Team MARS are real ones, everyone was willing to back each other up, but it would have made no difference at all; Athena-Jade and Jade talking it out is the only thing that stopped it going sideways.
So now AJ and Stitch are on watch at the hospital while Astra and Regalia are on watch (And probably making out) somewhere else.
It wasn't a 'Moment' between AJ and Stitch, but it was still a moment with the 'Suckiest' and AJ putting a blanket on him.
But I'm pushing an actual talk between Stygian and Cornflower back to the back half of Vol.07

(EDIT) Thank you to MajorBrony95 for their comment on the last chapter.
Unfortunately the celebrations on the job front were a little a premature, it was an absolute shitshow.
Now they're a proper team, with big combos and everything.
I wouldn't say evenly matched, Pantheon has a LOT more resources and has them spread in a lot more places.
Oh Zirconia is far too dramatic and old-school romantic to ever leave without a word.
As for Team NUGT, I have something planned for them...I'm gonna say that honestly it's so nuts I'm not even sure they deserved it.

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