The bleak grey walls of Vale's maximum security prison complex and the acre of dead grass surrounding it were lit up like day by glaring lights perched on sixty foot poles. A static buzz drifted on the breeze and through the night– whether from the lights or the barbed wire fence rigged with a lethal dose of lightning dust.

On the hill overlooking the prison, great black wings rose from their owners' body. Their feathers rustled in the wind, and they settled back down. A thin silhouette stepped to the man's side, reaching the crest of the hill to bathe in the light from below. The silver teeth of Wolf's half-face mask gleamed in response to it.

"Have you set the charges?" Condor asked.

"Yeah. We're good to go."

"Did anyone see you?"

"No."

Condor nodded once, and raised a Holoband to his wrist. Jet black, and bulkier than the pristine silver ones used by the students of Sentinel, or the general population. "Sable. We're starting."

Wolf clicked the one oblong button on the small device in his palm and the night lit with a fury of deafening blasts and flame. The lights and buzz vanished in sequence with them, resulting plumes of billowing smoke lit only by flame.

Wolf and Condor began to run. At the bottom of the hill and before the fence, the dirt opened with bubbling pools of liquid abyss. An immense set of wings like those of a vulture ten feet tall spread from one, tar running off its beak as it emerged and screeched into the night. Hands the color of night pulled quivering, spiny bodies from the murk, the jaws of Ursa and Beowolves snapping with hunger.

Inside the prison, the lights dimmed. Shouts muffled by heavy doors echoed through the halls on a drumline of fists on steel. Amid the chaos a door flung open, its lock split by the beast of a man who tasted freedom with a victorious bellow, and ripped open the other doors of the hall one by one.

As her door ripped off its hinge Python remained at her bed. She merely looked to the light pouring in, and cracked a smile.

Condor nodded ahead to the fence, fifteen feet tall with sparking barbed wire woven into its links. "Wolf."

On queue, Wolf held his arms up to his chest and widened his stance, bracing himself against the searing heat of his semblance and the jolts flying wickedly off the fence. With chest and arms encased in black he tore an opening big enough for the two– and the small legion of Grimm behind them.

Footsteps– dozens of pairs– cut off their entry. From behind the watchtower and the nearest corner, an army came to meet them. Thirty human forms, all dressed in the uniform of Frontline's Organic Androids.

"Stop!" the approximation of a man closest to them commanded. He pointed a standard issue dust rifle toward the pair of faunus. "You are on secure government property! Stop now, or we will open fire!"

"The schematics said a dozen Organds total. As per the plan, at least half of them would split off for our diversion in the East Wing," Condor assessed. He pulled a boxy pipe of onyx steel from his back, and with a clatter of moving belts and shifting metal it took on the form of a massive hooked scythe. The weapon looked like death itself; sturdy black steel backing and shaft, shining silver blade alone matching the span of one of its owner's wings.

"Inconvenient."

Condor shot forward on a beat of black wings, and in a single swipe left the Organd in two halves. The piercing twang of hard-light dust rounds filled the night.

Condor shielded himself with his wings and followed through with a spinning slash to sever another Organd's attacking arm, severing its' BCS link at the neck for good measure. Metal shifted again until he held a high-caliber assault rifle. His bullets screamed into the night and pelted a group of his attackers, shredding their simulated aura, then their bodies. Five fell before he needed a second clip. Rather than reload, he switched his weapon back into a scythe, and bisected the last oncoming android at the waist.

Wolf blocked an overhead strike with crossed arms, kicking out and lunging forward with a pair of swipes as the Organd corrected its balance. A Beowolf took advantage of its faltering, tackling it to the ground and tearing its head from its body. Noxis's eyes connected with the Organd's visual sensors, and he watched them go dull as the BCS link cable pulled out of its body, strands of synthetic flesh still attached.

Wolf shook it off before lunging at another with claws aiming at its neck. The android's weapon bounced off his chest and he slashed its throat, eliminating its static field with two swipes and cleaving its chest open with the third. The android stumbled back before being left in two sparking halves by Condor's scythe.

A spray of hard-light rounds peppered Wolf's back, and his semblance grew across it in response. Wind ripped through the faunus's hair as a pair of black wings soared past, its owners' scythe swatting away the defensive swing of the android's baton. He whipped another strike aside and swept its legs out from under it with the edge of his blade before skewering its core.

Wolf took the android to his left, holding his arms up against the hail of dust until the android transformed its weapon. He leapt the last few feet, but missed the first swipe of his claws. He stumbled away and tried for breath after the android's baton crashed into his gut, and raised an arm in time for another swing. He grabbed it with his other hand, ripping it free of the machine's grip and slashing away at its arms and chest until sparks dissolved into the night.

He thrust both arms forward, grasping at the neck of the woman dressed like an android. Its hands tried to pry Wolf's away, but its skin split to the silver beneath on all the spines and ridges of his black armor.

Wolf hesitated, but wrung the machine's neck tighter until something cracked inside, and it went limp. By the time he was finished, Condor had left two more as a pile of flesh and steel.

"Let's go, Wolf. Before more come."

Wolf forced apart the prison doors, opening the tumult inside to the free world. The mass of prisoners set upon the wardens and officers with fists and their appropriated weapons- and when they ran out of wardens, they took to each other with the same savagery.

Yet it all fell to silence as the two entered. Some of the rioting masses turned to look. Others reflected on the wake of their brutality- officers and prisoners alike laying still in scarlet pools– with the first hint of hesitancy.

"Go on, run," Condor allowed. "And don't mind the beasts outside. They won't hurt you."

Apart from the distant wail of the prison siren, the halls fell to a hush as Condor and Wolf pressed on. They finally made their way to the end of the West Wing, and stood in the doorway of the last cell on the left.

Python's tail stretched behind her, and she reflected the motion with her arms. She brought them back toward herself, and a mischievous grin came to her face.

"What took ya so long?"

"They're coming. Let's go."

Moka cradled her paper cup, cozying up to it like a campfire in the damp mid-Autumn air. She pulled her tail in against her neck and back and hid from the falling mist beneath the eaves of Madrona Hall. She checked the time at her wrist, and took a single step toward the door before Lilly appeared.

"Hey Lilly! Love the outfit!" Moka commended, bouncing up to her in a pair of cuffed, washed out, high-waisted jeans and a wide-necked forest green top.

"Oh, you do?" Lilly queried. She looked down at her monochrome outfit of a white tube top and black shorts that approached her mid-thigh. "I was afraid it's a bit much…"

"What do you mean?"

She looked down to her pale midriff in disapproval. "It's so revealing. I changed about four times before settling on this."

"We're going to a party!" Moka reasoned. "You weren't about to pull up in one of your turtlenecks, were you?"

Lilly sighed. "...I considered it."

"Oh hell no, it gets way too hot in there," Moka returned. She turned away as quickly as she strode up, continuing to talk as she got further from Lilly. "The alcohol won't help that, either. Have you drank much before? Are you a lightweight?"

Lilly followed. "Not much, no. I had a couple glasses of wine once with... a friend, but that's about it."

Moka laughed. "Okay, I'll watch ya. It's easy to get carried away at a place like this."

The two began their walk North of campus, crossing the street into a neighborhood that seemed all but out of place within the rest of the city. A spare few miles from downtown, it traded the glass spires and raised white walkways for brick homes and streets cracked by the roots of the orange-brown oaks that lined them. The silver and blue Link glided over rooftops in silent parallel to the two, the only reminder of the neighborhood's place within the city.

As the pair continued on, Moka's relentless zeal began to wane. At a street corner, she allowed a red sedan to turn and addressed Lilly.

"Hey... how's Caspian doing? You know, after everything..."

"He's, well... he still hasn't left his room much," Lilly admitted. "Have you heard from him? You've been speaking to him more than I have lately."

Moka lowered her head. Lilly's brow furrowed at her reaction. "We haven't talked much. I really should have done more about Cattleya. I was almost certain something was going on, but didn't want to mess things up and... I think I did anyway."

"The fault is hers, not yours."

"I know. But I feel terrible! I was trying my best to be a good friend, but I think I messed up. He told me he didn't want to even see me again."

"I'm certain he didn't mean that, either. Once he's out of his room he'll be more willing to talk, I'm sure."

Moka's tone brightened after an uneasy shrug. "Well, we'll think about it later. Thanks for coming out tonight!"

Lilly and Moka weren't first to the party. On their arrival just after nine, two girls peeled away from the crowd surrounding a ping-pong table to greet them and see them inside. The air in the main room: a phantasmagoria of flashing light, moving bodies and noise was heavy, warm, and tinged with the odor of cheap beer and liquor.

Moka's arm brushed Lilly's. "I'm gonna go get us something to drink. You wait right here!"

Left to herself, Lilly lost most of the confidence she brought in the door. She held an elbow with opposite arm, looking around to all the guests that seemed to know each other already. Some dancing in one room, a line for the bathroom already, and the full kitchen Moka disappeared into. She had just pulled up her Holoband out of habit when two men walked up. One on each side, her back to the wall.

"Hey, haven't seen you around here before," he greeted. His neck craned over Lilly, granting her full view of his 5 o-clock shadow and glazed-over eyes.

"That's right, it's my first time coming to one of these," Lilly managed. "I haven't seen you two before either. Do you go to Sentinel?"

"Party virgin, huh?" the second chimed in with a glib smirk and a nod aside to his backwards baseball cap-wearing friend. "Why don't you come with us? We've got a real party going on at my place after."

Lilly's eyes widened, and she couldn't take them off the floor. "Oh, I-I'm flattered, but... I..."

"Oh come on. Don't you want your first time to be special? Let us get you a drink."

"Hey, guys?" a familiar voice called. Lilly's relieved face shot up to see Moka approaching, red cup in each hand. "That's my girlfriend. Back off."

"O-Oh, uh, my bad," one of the two offered before they both vanished into the crowd.

Lilly's relieved sigh rippled the pink liquid of the cup Moka handed her, raising a cloud of its bittersweet aroma. "Thank you for that."

"Oh, no problem! Those dudes gave me a bad vibe. I hope they stay gone."

"Thank you. But is 'girlfriend' the cover story you want to go with tonight? I wouldn't want to hold you back from finding someone."

Moka's drawn-out gulp removed almost half her cup. "Nahh, tonight's ladies' night!" she assured with a pump of her fist. "Besides, I'm not really looking for a fling right now. I've gotten around a bit and it's not like I regret it or anything but I'm kind of looking for something more serious right now, you know? A boyfriend sounds kinda nice."

Lilly drew out her sip, even through the grimace that spread across her face. "I hear you," she said. "Well, it wouldn't be a boyfriend for me, but serious is just about the only thing I can do. I think I feel too much. I was seeing someone around this time last year, but as soon as my feelings got involved, she cut me off."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Moka offered with a drooping tail. It perked up with her smile. "For what it's worth, I think she missed out!" she raised her cup to her lips but lowered it suddenly, sloshing the liquid almost to the rim. "Oh, hey! I know someone from the Sparring Team who's into girls! She's pretty cute I think! I mean, I like dudes, but I think she's pretty!"

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, her name's Aspen! I can introduce you!"

Lilly went rigid, her lips sitting on the rim of her cup. "Oh- n-no. I don't need to be introduced to anyone right now. Really, I've been stuck on the same girl for a long time now."

"Oooh, who's the lucky lady?" Moka playfully prodded.

Lilly took another sip, and a second to compose herself. "Do you promise you can keep a secret? You're familiar with her. And I'm not even out to her yet."

Moka nodded. "Promise."

"...It's Lazula."

Moka's nod accompanied a growing grin. "Oh... I see you! Y'know, she brings you up sometimes at practice!"

"Really?"

"Yeah! She always smiles a bit when she talks about you. It's kind of cute!"

Lilly wrung her cup, half empty in her attempt to keep up with Moka, with a nervous laugh. "Oh, stop. You're going to get my hopes up."

Two hours and five drinks into the night, Lilly gave up on trying to keep up with Moka. Longer still, and she lost the ability to walk straight. She and Moka danced together for a bit, then separately for a while before coming together in the house's living room. Night progressed into the earliest hours of the morning, and the crowd had thinned and the music began to play quieter by the song.

"Anotherrrr!" Lilly commanded, nearly thrusting her empty cup into Moka's nose.

Moka giggled, and pointed a clumsy hand back at Lilly. "I think you've had enough, missy."

"I think I dis-a-gree!" Lilly pointedly countered, her cheeks flushed to match the cup in her hand.

Moka drained the rest of her cup, and looked around the room with pursed lips. "It looks like the party's almost over, Lilz," she said. "Are you good to walk back?"

"I'm fffffine, occifer. I can drive." Lilly's attempt to demonstrate by holding her arms at her sides and walking a straight line ended with her stumbling into a chair.

"Oh, boy." Moka stabilized Lilly, holding a shoulder as she turned the chair around and allowed her to sit.

Lilly let out a decidedly unflattering groan. "I did have too much, didn't I?"

Moka smiled. "You did," she agreed. "But we're okay. We'll just sit you down for a bit, then it's bedtime." Her smile turned sheepish. "Good luck tomorrow. I gotta get up early for work, so I'll drop off some chicken noodle soup outside your dorm before I go. It's undefeated hangover food, trust me. Oh! And don't sleep on your back tonight!"

"You are... an angel!" Lilly exclaimed. She smacked her cheeks with both hands in time to the beat of the song that came on. She paused the endeavor with sudden animation, a look on her face like she had just discovered an all-new form of Dust. "I should make a new combat thing!"

"What, like... a weapon?" Moka guessed.

"Noo, my weapon's fine. Like, clothes. A combat outfit! That's whatcha callit!" Lilly discovered. "I'm tired of wearing a dress when I fight. I feel like an old lady."

"Here for it!" Moka supported. She held an imaginary microphone to Lilly. "What's it gonna look like?"

Something like an overwhelmed swoosh of air escaped Lilly. "I don't know. I want pants."

"Pants!" Moka cheered.

"I'm gonna tell her!" Lilly decided.

"Tell her?" Moka prompted.

"I gotta call Laz–" she hiccuped. "Lazula. And teller how I feel."

When Lilly pulled up her Holoband, Moka would have been more startled if it had been a revolver instead. She leapt at Lilly with a gentle hand at her wrist. "Maybe that's not a great idea tonight?"

"But I can't go on forever like this! I need to tell her sometime and I think that sometime is now!"

"It's... not. But hey. I have an idea. Why don't you take all the feelings you have right now. Like everything on your mind, and everything that has been, and then write 'em down? Then sober Lilly can come back and sift through tonight's feelings to see what she wants to say later?"

"Sober Lilly's gonna steal 'er away... that harlot!"

Moka shook with the laughter she tried to stifle with her hand. Just as it looked like the fit was over, she doubled down with teary eyes and laughed until she ran out of breath.

The tinted black SUV slowed to a stop in the abandoned lot beside the water, in the shadow of the warehouse it once served. The night went dark when its headlights shut off, and silent when the rumble of its engine followed. Python stepped out with an exaggerated stretch of arms and legs, breathing a cloud of mist into the night.

"Oh, I missed this city!" she beamed, golden-yellow lights of the Docks district's ports, cranes, and shipping barges twinkling in her eyes.

The door slid shut without someone to command it. Inside, Condor sat still in the passengers' seat. In the row behind him, beside the seat Python had just left, Wolf tried the door. Its handle wiggled aimlessly, even after he switched the lock.

"Would you stay for a minute, Wolf?" Condor requested without even a glance at the rear view.

"I need to get back and check in to the detention center," Noxis answered. "They're being lenient with me during midterms but if I'm not back by midnight, they'll have questions."

"I have questions too, Wolf."

Noxis subtly stretched a finger to test the handle one more time. "About what?"

"Why do you think so many Androids were stationed at the prison tonight?"

Noxis glanced out the far-side window, where Python leaned in to use it as a mirror and administer her lipstick. "Python was talking to them, wasn't she?" he muttered. "Maybe she told."

"I told her we wouldn't act until the twentieth of November, just before our next objective. Only a few knew the real date," Condor countered. His hand slinked along the edge of the map pocket; where he kept his sidearm. "Unless our enemies knew otherwise, there would be no reason to increase security so early."

"Whole city's on high alert," Noxis insisted. "Makes sense the rest of the kingdom wouldn't be far behind."

Condor raised black steel across the van, into the temple of the unfortunate faunus they hired as the night's driver.

"N-No, PLEASE–"

An ear-splitting crack, and the driver slumped against the window fractured white and painted crimson.

"You know how important it is to me that information does not escape us, Wolf," Condor warned, his monotony oblivious to the dribbling of blood down the inner wall of the SUV. The reflection of his eyes fixed on the choppy grey waters of the harbor. Next to him, Python moved onto her eyeshadow with a contented smile.

"Now, if you would help me clean up this mess."