A/N: Just a simple Infiltration Mission, you would think that things would be so easy they can just get in and get out and have a celebratory dinner once it's done. Well, they're wrong. Things have gotten a lot worse for Team PASM when Xever's cautious nature gets the best of him. It's going to be A LOT worse for Winter and Akira as I'm sure you all might be aware.

Chapter 21: Lockdown

The alarm blares as lockdown initiated under Xever's command. The party guests can't help but panic at this sudden alert, but the Faunus are much more afraid when Xever immediately orders them to be sent to 'The Dungeon'. Akira is the only one who is unafraid of what ill fate might be in store for her and her fellow Faunus.

"Nobody goes anywhere, I am having this mansion on full lockdown until further notice," Xever says, before he leaves.

Marlene watches the whole thing from the monitors. "Xever is on his way, he's most likely heading towards the Study."

Patrick and Winter fight among the Atlesian Knights. Winter takes out her sword, which was hidden within her dress. Patrick is fighting unarmed, but he is still skilled with his fists and feet. Plus, when he gets a hold of one of the knights, he tears off its arm and used the blade attached to it as a weapon. They fight the knights until they were all defeated.

"We need to move. Marlene, can you guide us through the halls?" Winter asks.

"Of course. Head forward then make a left." Marlene says.

Patrick and Winter follow Marlene's instructions. With her help, they were able to make their escape with a little conflict against the knights. Once and a while, Marlene makes sudden changes to the path she suggests to them. Things are getting pretty tight for them.

When Xever reaches his Study, he looks behind the portrait and opens the vault only, very much to his displeasure, to find it completely empty. "Schnee!" He growls. Xever speaks into his wrist communicator. "I'm ordering all Atlesian Knights to capture Winter Schnee and her associates. Kill them if necessary, but leave the Schnee alive."

Marlene hears the whole thing from the monitors and warns Winter and Patrick about Xever's order. Winter suggests that they hurry to the security room. The hallways are filled with an increasing number of Atlesian Knights. Even at their best, Winter and Patrick become overwhelmed. They have no other choice but to retreat.

When they did, the other end of the hallway of filled with Atlesian Knights. They are surrounded, Patrick then opens the door to the closest. "Get in!" He grabs Winter and pulls her in. Closing the door in front of them.

"What are you doing? You've trapped us." Winter says.

"We were already surrounded. What else could we do?" Patrick says. There's banging on the door, loud hard banging. "Give me the Schematics."

Winter's eyes shot wide open hearing that. "What?"

"You heard me, give me the Schematics." Patrick says.

Winter protects the Schematics. "You'll have to pry it from my lifeless body for it."

"Look, we don't have time to argue about this!" Patrick says. "You said Xever is a cautious man. He'll know everything about you. He knows it is you who have the schematics, and you and I both know that he'll know you well enough that you can never let them fall into the hands of an associate. Including and especially a 'Criminal Mercenary' such as myself." There's a mass bang on the door that causes the blade to pierce through it. "For once, just trust me. Give me the Schematics!"

Winter doesn't say anything. In defeat, she lets out a disappointed sigh and hands it over. "I hate it when you're right." Patrick takes the schematics. "But what makes you think he won't frisk you for them?"

Patrick turns on his Dust Bracers, filling it with Gravity Dust. "He'll have to find me first." Patrick jumps up to the ceiling. At that moment, the door breaks open. Atlesian Knights have Winter cornered. Among them, Xever makes his way through the Knights, approaching Winter with a Collar in hand.

Marlene watches the whole event from the monitors, only she is left surprised to see that it is only Winter that is being taken away. "What the..." Marlene turns on her ear communicator. "Patrick. What's going on? Answer me."

"Just tell me when the coast is clear," Patrick says. Marlene waits for Xever and his Knights to leave the halls, then tells Patrick it's all clear. Patrick comes out of the closest in Marlene's sight. "It's time for a Back-Up plan. Selena, sneak out of the Foyer and meet us in the Security Room on the second floor."

Where within the mansion, there's a Dungeon Floor, filled with nothing but noises of tortured screams and darkness. Winter is being held in one of the cells, her wrists chained and hanging above, with two Atlesian Knights guarding her.

Xever walks inside, which causes Winter to look up at him with a cold glare. "I must admit, it acquired to me that you being here could only mean a mission to take back the schematics."

"And yet, you had no problems with inviting me in." Winter says.

"True, that was a mistake on my part." Xever says. "Now, tell me...Where are the schematics."

"I don't have them." Winter says.

For her stubbornness, Xever shocks Winter, only shortly. Even only a short while, Winter gasps for air. "Do you take me for a fool, Schnee? You and I both know you had them. Even after my Knights have searched you, they're still missing. Where did you hide them?"

"I'm not telling you anything." Winter barks.

Xever shocks her even more, but with the voltage slightly increased. "You have a strong will, Schnee."

Winter speaks once she is done panting. "I've lived with a madman such as Father for 20 years...You are nothing."

"Yes, I am well aware of Jacque's Reputation. He's certainly a worthy rival, him and his company." Xever says. "But don't underestimate me. I have ways of making you talk." Xever shocks Winter once more. "Do you love your new Collar? It pressure points a nerve on your spine that nullifies your Semblance and deactivates your Aura. A little something I bought from an associate of mine." Xever looks closely at Winter. "As a matter of fact, I recall he has his eyes set on you. Perhaps I could make a fortune selling you out to him."

"Do that, and the General will have your head mounted on his wall," Winter says.

"Do you honestly believe I am afraid of Ironwood? That Tin Man soldier cannot touch me." Xever leans in and whispers into Winter's ear. "I even have an associate within the Council." Xever turns and makes his leave. "When next we met, I hope you'll be a little more...cooperative."

Marlene, Selena, and Patrick watched the whole thing from the monitors. Patrick is really focused on Xever. "Associate of his..."

"We need to get Winter out of there, and Akira too." Selena says. "What's the plan, Patrick?"

"Give me a minute." Patrick moves Marlene aside, taking over the controls. He starts typing on the keyboards, midway his work, he inserts his Scroll onto the computer. When he is done, he lets Marlene take control once again. "All right, here's the plan: Marlene will stay here and be our eye in the sky. You and I will head for the dungeon." Patrick turns to Marlene. "Did you ready the signal?"

Marlene nods. "I have."

"Have it ready and wait for my command," Patrick says.

Patrick and Selena make their way to the basement levels of the mansion. The hallways have been much more clear of knights since Winter's capture. When they arrive at the basement levels of the mansion, they kept going deeper until they have arrived at the Dungeon Floor. There are Atlesian Knights guarding the halls. Using Winter's Sword and Marlene's Guns, Patrick and Selena take out the two Knights at the entrance.

Patrick and Selena take their first step into the hallways of the Dungeon. the whole area is dark with the walls and the ground made of stone, torches on the wall lighting the halls. And the air is filled with screams of agony.

Being here puts a chill on Patrick's spine. "We must find the prisoners first."

"Of course." Selena says.

Patrick and Selena fight their way through the Atlesian Knights. Finding the prisoners wasn't that hard, they just have to follow the sounds of screams. The Knights put up a fight against the two of them. Patrick faces them as vanguard while Selena supports him from behind, shooting at a distance.

When they make it through the Knights, they come across one of the Prison Holds. Within it, there's an actual human instead of an Atlesian Knight. A Dungeon Tormentor. The Tormentor is astonished at the sight of intruders entering his dungeon. "What the? How did you make it past the Knights?"

Patrick and Selena don't answer him. Instead, Patrick charges at him. The Tormentor uses his whip on Patrick. Patrick blocks the attack with Winter's sword, only that was a mistake for him to make for the whip wraps around the blade and the tormentor uses his strength to pull it out of Patrick's hands.

"Hahaha! You are unarmed." The tormentor says.

Patrick puts on his serious face. His left arm clinches into a fist, triggering a device on his wrist. "Am I?" The Tormentor looks confused, only to recent a face full of flames from Patrick's Wrist Flamethrower. The tormentor screams in pain as he takes the burning flames. When Patrick ceases his attack, the Tormentor's Aura is flickering until it depletes. Then he collapses.

Patrick picks up Winter's weapon. "Let's get to work. Selena, I need your hairpin."

Selena hands him her hairpin, and Patrick uses it to pick the locks. When the cell doors are unlocked and opened, the Faunus are in fear. Selena explains that they are not here to harm them, but to save them. Once Patrick is done with his work they gather all the Faunus out of the cells.

"We are planning to overthrow Xever Marley." Patrick says. "If all goes well, you'll be free from his slavery."

"But...the Collars. He'll be able to control us as long as we have them." One of the Faunus says.

"We already have that covered." Patrick says.

"We're looking for our friend, Akira." Selena says.

Everyone mutters to each other, most of it wondering if these two 'Humans' can be trusted. Others find it surprising they're referring a Faunus as a 'friend'. A Female Servant Faunus speaks. "If you're talking about the new Servant, she was taken along one of the other groups. I believe it's the second hall to the right from the entrance."

"Thank you. You all wait here and lay low, we'll come back for you all once we're done with the mission." Selena says.

Patrick and Selena take the path one of the Faunus told them about. In the hall, it's filled with Atlesian Knights. Patrick cuts them down with full force, avoiding their incoming attacks as well. Several of the Knights start moving up to the wall and onto the ceiling, and Selena uses Marlene's Guns to shoot them. Only her guns can't so much effort, but when she shoots at their legs, the Atlesian Knights lost their grip and fall and crash on the stone ground.

They both arrived in another Prison Hold. Like in the previous one, there's a human Tormentor, only he's working on one of the Faunus. Selena recognizes him, it's the Faunus who spilled the drink and got shocked. Seeing the poor guy being tortured can't help but reply Xever's outrage in Selena's head.

The tormentor sees Selena and Patrick and is astonished. Just before he could speak, Patrick charges in against him. The tormentor didn't catch on as fast as the other one, so he ends up taking the hit and being slammed against the wall. While he's busy, Selena helps out the injured Faunus. Patrick fights off against the tormentor until he slams him against the cell bars and knocks him unconscious.

Patrick gets to work on picking the cell locks while Selena speaks with the Faunus. "Thank you, Miss Akimura. I must admit, it feels surprising and weird being rescued by a human."

"I'll take that was a compliment?" Selena says.

"Don't take it personally. I know there are still good humans out there, I've just been in the dark for too long." The Faunus says.

"It's fine, don't worry about it." Patrick explains the rest of the Faunus their plan and tells them to lay low. "We're looking for Akira. Do you know where she is?"

"If she's that Faunus who is with you, she is not here. There are two other Prison Holds, they could have taken her to one of them." The Faunus says.

"We've already raided one of them, so she must be in the last one," Selena says.

Patrick and Selena leave the Prison Hold. When their out in the main hall, a loud agonized scream fills the halls. Hearing that noise startles them both, not only it was loud and sudden. But also familiar.

"Did you hear that?" Selena asks, worried. "That voice, it sounds like..."

"I know. We should hurry." Patrick says.

They both head towards the remaining hallway to the Prison Holds. Atlesian Knights block their way but they fight through them, and the agonizing screams drive their motivation to break through the army.

In the Prison Hold, all the imprisoned Faunus cower within their cells. The Elite Tormentor uses his electric trident to trigger the shock on the collar Akira, who is hanging in chains on the wall at the end, wears.

"Your will is strong, as expected from the Daughter of the Rhysenshi Clan. I will enjoy breaking it just as I did with the rest of the Faunus!" He says.

The Tormentor shocks Akira, who screams in agony. "Argh! ...Do what you will to me, I will not break!"

"Such Arrogance. You will submit, Animal." The tormentor says. The sounds of clashed metal and static fill his ears. To his curiosity, he turns and sees Patrick and Selena along with a defeated Atlesian Knight by their feet. The Tormentor shows no expression of fear or astonishment. Instead, he only turns in their general direction. "So, the famous Selena Akimura and The Shadow Hunter before my very presence. Should I assume you are here to relish the agony of these creatures?"

"We are here to free the Faunus, and our friend and teammate." Selena says.

The tormentor laughs. "I see, so Rhysenshi belongs to you? You want her?" The tormentor positions himself, powering up his trident. "Come and get her."

Patrick opens the hilt of Winter's Sword, taking out the second blade and then positioning himself to fight. "Free Akira and the Faunus, I'll handle him."

Selena does as Patrick orders. The Tormentor doesn't pay any attention to Selena, just focuses on fighting the Mercenary Student before him. The Tormentor makes the first strike. Patrick blocks with the main sword, then strike with the second. The Tormentor repels Patrick's weapon. He slams the trident to the ground, unleashing a wave of electricity. Patrick braces himself, he takes the hit but still stands his ground. He's nothing like Peter and his Ironwill. The Electricity does a number on Patrick's Aura.

Selena picklocks the chains on Akira open. When she's free, Akira drops to the ground. Selena helps her stand. "I'll be fine." Akira tells Selena.

Patrick strikes at the tormentor at great speed. The tormentor blocks and dodges his attacks. When there's an opening, the Tormentor uses his Semblance to disrupt Patrick's Aura, leaving an opening on his body to strike. Patrick receives a long cut on his right arm. This concerns Selena and Akira.

"How are you gonna fight with one arm?" The Tormentor says, laughing.

Patrick growls at his opponent, wielding Winter's Sword in his remaining hand. "I didn't earn my name as Shadow Hunter for nothing."

The tormentor strikes, Patrick dodges the attack. He activates his dust bracers with Earth Dust. When he's on his enemy's side, Patrick stomps his foot, causing the dust to unleash a wave of earth spikes inflicting heavy damage to the tormentor's Aura and knocking him back against the wall. Falling into unconsciousness.

Patrick finally collapses on his knees. Selena rushes to his side checking his wound. "This is bad. Akira, can you heal him?"

"I can't use my Chi while this collar is on," Akira says.

"We've got that covered," Patrick says. He communicates with Marlene. "Marlene, the Faunus are free, active the signal."

"Copy that," Marlene says. A command signal goes out all over the mansion and, all at once, the collars all deactivate. All of the Faunus are astonished at the sudden freedom they are given.

Winter is still in her shackled situation. Xever returns to her interrogation. "Are you ready to start talking, Schnee?"

Winter looks at him with a glare. Just before she speaks, her collar deactivates, much to Xever's astonishment. "You know what? I am!" Winter uses his Glyph to send Xever flying onto the ceiling, then smashing him wall to wall. The guards by start take positions. Winter then uses her Glyph to summon an Ursa. The summoned creature takes out the guards and, with one swipe, breaks Winter's shackles.

Selena, Akira, and Patrick move out of the Prison Holds. Akira is using her Chi to heal Patrick's arm. But it's doing little effect, and Akira can hardly keep it up. Akira lets out an exhale once she's done. "My strength is still drained. This is all I can do for now."

"It should be fine. His Aura can handle the rest." Selena says.

Winter rushes in, regrouping with her associates. "I had a feeling you were behind this." Winter focuses her attention on Patrick. "Where are the Schematics?"

"Uh, you're welcome." Patrick says, annoyed.

"The Schematics!" Winter says, sounding more strict.

"Relax. Marlene has them." Patrick says.

"Very well then. Let us regroup with her." Winter says.

With Xever held prisoner by the Faunus, such irony, Winter and her team PASM regroup with Marlene to call in the Atlesian Air Force. While they're waiting, Selena and Akira return to the Foyer to tell the guests of the situation, and the Lockdown is over. Patrick delivers Winter the security tapes of the Dungeon his scroll was recording, including taking one of Ironwood's elite fighters who is also the daughter of Jacques Schnee being chained and tortured, as evidence of Xever's criminal actions. Much to his disappointment, the information he hijacked from the computers was useless to his needs.

"Another dead end." He says.

When the air force arrives, the Guests and the Faunus were taken first, return to their home, or taken to Atlas Headquarters. Ironwood personally picks up Winter and Team PASM on his own and takes them to Dr. Pietro Polendina's lab.

Patrick and Winter explains everything they have seen on their mission to Ironwood. "What we have witnessed the Faunus were experiencing in the Prison Cells, it was nothing like we have expected from Xever's racism towards them."

"I can vouch for them. The way those collars worked. It's almost frightening." Winter says. "For once, I have my father to thank for getting me through them."

"I am sorry for what you've been through, Winter. But I am proud you were able to pull through." Ironwood says. "I've been trying for years to put an end to Xever's motives and actions, but thanks to the evidence you got, we will put him in his place."

Patrick feels annoyed that Winter is getting all the praise he did. But what he didn't expect... "As much as I hate to admit this, given to the status of a certain someone, I cannot take credit for acquiring the evidence, General. That was the work of Patrick Aki, sir."

"You're...giving me credit?" Patrick asked, astonished.

"Do you have a problem with that?" Winter asks him.

"No, just surprised," Patrick says.

Meanwhile, Akira, Marlene, and Selena deliver the Schematics to Dr. Pietro. He does a check-up on Akira.

"Ah, I can't thank you enough for returning these schematics to me." Dr. Pietro says.

"It was no problem at all, Dr. Polendina sir." Selena says. says. "If I may ask, what are the schematics for?"

"I'm afraid it's something I can't tell you about. I probably shouldn't even be talking about it with Marlene and she's the daughter of one of my partners who were assigned to this project years ago." Dr. Pietro says. He finishes up his check-up on Akira. "Well, I don't see any signs of permanent damage or internal injuries. I would advise taking it easy for a couple of days, you should be just fine, my dear."

Akira sits up and gives Dr. Pietro a bow. "Thank you for the assistance, Dr. Polendina."

Once their business was done here, Selena and Akira make their leave to meet up with Patrick. Marlene stayed behind, wanting to talk to Dr. Pietro. "I'm glad we were able to save her. Do you know when she will be finished?"

"It's hard to say, but honestly I'm hoping she'll be built and ready for the Vytal Festival. Maybe not this year but probably the next one." Dr. Pietro says. "When she's done, I'd like for you to come and visit. I'm sure you two will be great friends."

"I look forward to it, Doctor," Marlen says.