Waking up with a soft groan, Kagami slowly shifted under her blanket as the light of the morning shined through the curtain. Exhaling, she sat up with a yawn. She sat still for a moment, quietly thinking to herself before she sighed. Sliding out from under the blanket, she had her long sleeve shirt on along with a pair of black shorts and green socks. She glanced around, seeing Elise sprawled out on the second bed, Kris sleeping on the couch with a leg hanging off and scroll on her chest and Cheyenne on the floor in a pile of blankets. She reached up, rubbing her face a little before stepping over and nudging Elise.
"Come on, prepare your body to wake up." She mumbled, watching her friend groan and hide further under her blanket. Shaking her head, she grabbed the blanket and pulled it off her. "I mean it. It's about time to get up." She rolled the blanket up, tossing it onto Kris who groaned back and mumbled something along the lines of it being too hot.
Hearing footsteps, Cheyenne sighed softly while laying still. "Morning already?" She half mumbled before rolling over onto her back.
"Sadly..." She trailed off before exhaling heavily. "I wouldn't mind sleeping some more but..."
"We have a lot to do today." She finished for her and nodded.
"Yeah." She nodded back. "I'll go see what Baren is up to. You can stay laying there for a little if you want."
"Done and done." She muttered, pulling the blanket over her antlers as she closed her eyes.
The jadette chuckled softly, shaking her head as she headed out the door and to the kitchen.
Once again, the room fell silent. The sound of the clock quietly ticking being the only sound heard. As the second hand moved around, the minute hand went to the top as the hour hand clicked onto the eight. As it did, Elise's scroll suddenly began to make a very loud beeping sound.
The young farm girl let out a faint yelp, jerking awake with wide eyes. With messy hair and a brown shirt, she quickly looked around before snatching her scroll and turning it on. When she did, she noticed an alarm going off with the name Wake Up, Learn To Do It On Your Own -Baren. She blinked a few times, staring as she turned it off. Heavily exhaling, she collapsed back onto her pillow with a huff. "Oh for the love of Oum..." She closed her eyes while resting her arms over her chest. "I think I just had a heart attack..."
Both sitting up, Cheyenne had Kagami's hoodie on while Kris had a plain red shirt. Blinking with wide eyes, they glanced at each other for a moment before giving off heavy breaths and laying back down with soft thuds.
As the morning went on, Kagami and Baren both came back into the room. The younger with a glass pot and a smaller metal one as the old warrior held a plate of misshapen biscuits. Setting the two pots down, Kagami took off the larger lid to reveal a white sausage gravy while Baren set the biscuits down and removed the smaller lid to show a plain white gravy.
"Oh damn that smells so good..." Elise mumbled in shorts and socks, now laying on top of her blanket that Kris had thrown back to her while also on her stomach with her head at the foot of the bed. Her chin barely hanging off the edge. "That smells REALLY good." Her nose twitched.
"As should everything I make." The pinkette gave a nod while eyeing Kris. "This one is yours." She pointed to the smaller pot.
Sitting on the couch with her headphones over her left ear, the redhead smiled and nodded towards her. Her feet bare as she had on green shorts. "Thanks." She smiled with a yawn.
"Everything you make does smell wonderful." Cheyenne added, the sleeves of the green hoodie going over her hands slightly as she sat on the other bed in a pair of brown shorts. Her bare feet gently tapping against the hardwood floor. "It could be your semblance honestly."
"It's just practice." Baren shrugged, grabbing a biscuit and scooping it in the warm gravy. "Practice and watching my mother." She took a large bite before stepping away. "Your four should eat up. Vytal is still a ways away."
"Don't have to tell me twice." Elise was suddenly standing next to the food, a biscuit in each of her hands.
Eyeing her, the jadette chuckled softly while shaking her head. "Well, that's an easier way to get you out of bed." She smiled.
"Speaking of that..." She slowly turned towards Baren. "You."
Grinning, the old warrior shrugged as she finished off the biscuit in her hand. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"What do you mean you don't?!" She snapped back only to hear a chuckle in response.
"Wait what?" Kagami blinked a little as she eyed her friends. "What happened?"
"Nothing." Kris shook her head with a sigh as she grabbed a few biscuits and took the small pot of plain gravy with her to the couch.
"Don't worry about it." Baren glanced at her with a smile. "It's my business."
"Wait, but now I want to know." The jadette held out her arms. "What happened?"
"Baren decided to wake up Elise by setting an alarm on her scroll." Cheyenne shook her head a little while taking a bite from her biscuit. "A very, very loud alarm. That scared all of us."
Blinking, she eyed her mentor for a moment before exhaling with a nod. "Yeah... that sounds like her."
"Now what does THAT mean?" Baren eyed her with a grin.
Freezing, Kagami went quiet. "Nothing." She quickly said while grabbing another biscuit and stuffing it into her mouth.
Later on, the five of them were fully dressed and walking down the streets of Mantle while keeping close to the sides of the buildings. Glancing at her mentor, Kagami softly sighed. "Are you sure about this plan?" She quietly asked. "I mean, I know not to question your judgement but..."
"Everything will be fine as long as it goes exactly as I planned it." Baren eyed her back, her arm resting across her chest.
"Okay yes, but," Cheyenne held up a finger. "It's still illegal and if we get caught stealing a small boat from the Atlas Army..."
"We won't though." She shook her head with a sigh. "What don't you get about following everything I said step by step? Everything will be fine as long as you four do your part."
"Yes, but-" Elise was cut off.
"Quiet." The old warrior held up her hand. "It's not that complicated."
"We're going to so get arrested." Kris mumbled quietly with a soft shake of her head.
Sighing, she closed her eyes for a moment before reaching up and rubbing the bridge of her nose. "This is the REAL reason I never had kids, I swear. They never listen."
Before anyone else could say anything back to her, there was a soft rumble in the ground followed by an explosion up ahead. A set of tires screeching in the distance. Everyone on team MACE all froze for a moment, keeping their balance before eyeing each other as they rushed ahead. Raising an eyebrow, Baren seemed intrigued before she calmly began to walk after them.
Already working on crowd control, several AK-200s were standing guard in front of a building. Or what remained of one. The entire place was caved in on itself as rubble and debris littered the streets. A bent metal sign that was just barely visible could be seen with the name Serki's Repairs. A small business weapon repair shop. Though there wasn't much left to the shop itself now. And by the faint red stains deeper in the rubble, Serki was underneath it all. The most peculiar part of it all though was the small spray painted rainbow on a larger chunk of stone.
"Oh my God..." Elise trailed off, her eyes going wide as her mouth opened.
Narrowing her eyes, Kagami glanced around for a moment before she slowly pushed herself through the growing crowd of people. Her ears closely paying attention to their whispers.
"It's bound to be him. No one else would leave a calling sign like that." A man mumbled.
"But it can't be. The military said he was killed over a year ago." Another spoke up.
"I wouldn't believe a damn thing they say anyway." A female Faunus commented.
"I heard it wasn't just him. There were also two girls with him. And this other man." A man grumbled out.
"It's not just some other man. It's his boyfriend." Another man said with a rather annoyed tone.
"You're joking, right? Not Dion again? Wasn't he in Vale?" A woman quietly said under her breath.
"He apparently found a way back." A man complained.
"Excuse me." Kagami finally spoke up while looking over towards a woman. "Did you say Dion? As in Dion Ysus?" She raised an eyebrow while moving her hands behind her back.
"Yeah." The woman nodded slowly. "Do you know him?"
"I've... met him a few times. Don't know him that well. Who is he?" She asked.
"Are you a Huntress?" She eyed the jadette's sword.
The correct answer was no, but that was surely not going to get the response she wanted. "Yes." She answered without hesitation.
"Hmm..." The woman trailed off for a moment. "He's known by many names all over Remnant. Mainly The Man That No Prison Can Hold. He's managed to escape from prison in multiple Kingdoms dozens of times. He can pick locks with wires and climb up smooth walls. He can slide through the smallest of air vents and bend his body in ways that make his bones almost seem like that don't exist. If you put him in a high tech facility, he can use his semblance to alter his body to that of another person's that he's touched. So scanners are useless. His most well known escape is when he was in Mistral and he used miso soup to erode away metal bars and shackles to escape. He does what he pleases knowing there's no cell that can hold him forever. He isn't afraid of anything and it makes him careless and dangerous."
Kagami slowly nodded, taking note of everything before she raised her eyebrow again. "And what about the two other girls? And Dion's boyfriend?"
"The girls, I don't know. Probably just some high level lackeys." She shrugged a little before going quiet. "The other though... His name is Regen Bogen Mehr Farbig Gaye The Third. Rey The Third." She swallowed. "The Rainbow Thief. He's... not the type of man you should take lightly. His father was one of the front runners for equality between Mantle and Atlas but that got him and everyone nowhere. He's... a menace compared to him. And a threat to everyone he meets. He's not a little spoon or a big spoon. This man is a knife. He rules the underground and is a master of stealth and sabotage. Not to mention his above average acrobatic skills. And if you get in his way..." She eyed the destroyed building. "You'll regret it and so will everyone else around you."
She nodded slowly, thinking to herself before quietly exhaling. "Thank you." She nodded once more towards the woman before stepping away. Making her way back through the crowd of people, she eventually made it back to her team who all stared back at her.
"What was that about?" Kris tilted her head, her hands in her pockets.
"Did you figure out what happened?" Elise quickly asked.
"What's... the matter?" Cheyenne mumbled softly as she saw the expression on her leader's face.
"It's..." Kagami went quiet for a moment before shaking her head. "Dion's here in Mantle."
"You mean that purple haired pervert?" The farm girl's head tilted. "Didn't we put him in jail like twice?"
"Yep. And he's apparently an escape artist." She held out her hands. "So now he's running around Mantle causing a bunch of trouble with a new crew. That's... what happened here." She pointed towards the destroyed building.
"He's... killing more people." The redhead trailed off as her brow furrowed.
"Yeah..." The jadette nodded.
"So what are you four going to do about it?" Baren asked from behind. Her arm resting over her chest.
"What?" The Faunus glanced over.
She sighed back, shaking her head. "What are you four going to do about this criminal?"
Blinking, the three other members of team MACE glanced at their leader.
With her brow furrowed, Kagami stared at the ground for a moment before taking a deep breath. Raising her head, her eyes slowly narrowed as her jaw squared. "We're going to send this guy back to prison. Permanently. I haven't been home in five years. A couple weeks won't matter. Vytal can wait. We have a responsibility to do." She eyed the Atlesian Knights before glancing at the people in the street. Her hands balling into fists as she looked back at her team. "Someone is going to have to protect the citizens of Mantle from Dion and his friends."