Heart to Heart

Chapter 29: Hunted

Specialist Winter Schnee walked to the landing pad where the aircraft that was waiting for her was. She saw two other Specialists already waiting for them. Both wore usually attire of their branch but with some unique traits given that their branch could modify their equipment as needed.

One was a woman who was slightly shorter than her with a green hood to her uniform with a quiver of arrows. Her long brown hair was put into a long twisted ponytail that rested on her shoulder. There was what looked like a metal fighting staff with her that she was leaning on. Thinking about it, she remembered this person as Robyn Greenwood.

The other was another member she was familiar with although she hadn't worked with him before. He was Wōdan Grau, he was a bit taller than Winter with a combat coat about him. He carried a weapon that was currently a spear on his back. The thing that stuck out the most was the missing eye with the scaring over it. In the place of his missing eye was what looked like a mechanical eye patch that was grafted onto the skin. If she remembered the file correctly, that was actually one of Atlas' new experimental replacement eyes.

"Specialist Winter?" Robyn asked.

She nodded her head. "Yes have you two been briefed?"

"Stolen aircraft, crashed, unknown number of enemies, capture if possible," Grau stated with a shrug and then looked behind the woman. "Who's your friend?"

Behind Winter came a young looking girl with long orange hair with a black and green dress with a white blouse and a large bow on the back of her hair. She looked like a young teenager but was very stiff like in how she stood.

"Salutations everyone." The individual stated with a small wave to the two of them.

"Uh…hi?" Grau replied giving Schnee a questioning look.

"Wait," Robyn stated looking at the girl. "I know you, you were in the Vital Festival for Atlas. Aren't you that robot girl that got torn up?"

Grau's head quickly turned to look at the 'girl' in question as he thought back to that Festival. It was kind of hard to forget it as everything that had gone down and to how Beacon fell at that time too.

"For security reasons you will not talk about Miss Penny Polendina being here." Winter stated.

"But how is she even here?" Robyn asked. "I mean she was, well, cut in half."

"Correct if I were human that would have been fatal," Penny said sadly but then smiled. "Thankfully I am not exactly human."

"Great so we get a robot doll as backup?" Grau grumpily sighed.

"I am not a doll," Penny told him sternly but still trying to keep being polite. "I am artificial but I have a mind of my own."

Grau looked at her for a moment as she stared back at him. He gave grunt of a laugh. "Well she's got spunk I'll give her that but how is she in combat though?"

"Oh don't worry I'm fully combat ready now," Penny smiled and nodded her head.

"I guess we'll find out if that's true then," Robyn shrugged not sure about the idea of working with a robot but she had had worst people to be teamed up with in the past.

Winter was glad to be working with professionals again as they boarded the craft.

While Winter and her team were flying out Ruby and the others were in the streets near the crash. All of them were carrying various gear as they made their way through the dingy streets. Qrow was keeping an eye out for any surprises he had seen enough bad neighborhoods to know that they could get jumped by random streets gangs looking for an easy target.

The streets were dark, unkempt and the whole area had this oppressive feel to it all. The few people they did see were giving them looks but keeping their distance. It was obvious they didn't belong and the locals weren't making them feel like they were wanted here, which they weren't.

They had been walking for a bit now but they had no real destination in mind. They were just trying to get as far away as possible and maybe take a break to rest up and think of what to do next. Although they had all rested a bit on the flight, it wasn't enough to get their full strength back. Given that several of them had their aura shattered, the flight had restored their aura to where it could manifest but their reserves were low.

Maria was starting to struggle keeping up with everyone. That landed hadn't been kind to her old frame and while she was spry for her age it was only for short distances. She walked with a cane for a reason after all and now she was starting to feel her age catching up with her.

Oscar with his backpack noticed this first as he stopped next to her. "Are you doing okay?"

Maria panted as she started to think of just playing it off but she hadn't been this active in awhile. Normally she just walked at her own pace but keeping up with everyone was pushing her body.

"I think I could do with a rest," Maria told him.

Ruby wasn't far away hearing this and looked at her and at the rest of them. They were all tired and needed a place to rest up fully. "I think we need to stop for a bit."

"We also can't be close to that ship," Qrow reminded her.

"Well it's not like I don't see any hotels nearby to rest up. Even a run down one would be great," Nora sighed looking around the place. The only lights seemed to be from the few streetlights that were working and the neon signs of a few businesses.

"Maybe we can hide somewhere while we recover and think of our next step?" Jaune asked.

"A place to lay low huh?" Qrow looked around there wasn't much in the way although there were a lot of what looked to be empty or closed buildings. Some looked closed because it was late others looked like they couldn't afford to keep open. There were signs that said 'foreclosed' or 'evicted' signs on them. Qrow narrowed his eyes thinking he saw something.

"Can you go a few more blocks?" He asked.

"Yes what do you see?" Maria asked him.

"A possible place to lay low," Qrow stated as they walked down the street. There at the corner was a fenced off two story building. It looked to have been either a small factory or warehouse from how it looked but it was obviously not in operation anymore.

Qrow took out his weapon as he made a slash into the chain link fence. He pushed it aside as everyone got in. He put it back as close as he could so from a distance it looked like it was still intact. They found a locked door but Nora grinned as she pressed up against it and pushed. The lock couldn't stand up to her strength, as it easily broke open.

When they got inside the place was large but not very well lit.

"Well at least it's out of sight," Blake stated as she put down her bag as it kicked up some dust from the ground.

Weiss coughed a bit from it, "lovely."

"As long as it's a place we can rest up I'm fine," Maria sat down against a machine that had been stripped of everything of value that you couldn't even tell what it had been used for in the past anymore.

Everyone took spots on the ground as they started to set up a small camp like area in the most well lit area of the large open space. It had been a very long day as Qrow went to take a look and make sure no one would sneak up on them or at least not easily sneak up on them. Jaune placed his duffle bag down, placed his weapon to the side as he rolled out his bedroll from when he had been camping with since he and the others had left Patch.

It would at least give him somewhere less dirty to lie on as Yang soon found herself next to him.

"Got room for one more?" She smiled.

"I think I can work something out," He shifted a bit giving her just enough room as she spooned with him. She rested her head on the shoulder without the armor as she sighed.

"God what a day," Yang sighed feeling tired and yet too tired to sleep.

"Yeah just imagine how hard it would have been if we had to go even further like Vacuo?" Jaune joked.

"I think Blake might not have minded," Yang smirked knowing her partner had hated to be split from Sun after the two of them finally got together. She rather wanted to see how Blake would react the next time they met up with Sun again.

Jaune's hand that was wrapped around her gently caressed her side as he looked at her metal arm. "How is your arm?"

Yang flexed it, "Still works but the gun won't work anymore. I think Adam broke something internal."

"Sorry."

"Don't be," Looking at her arm, she had been thinking about it on the flight over the ocean. "I think I need to make another Ember Celica for it."

"Really?"

Yang nodded, "Yeah the gun is a nice little surprise but it's not as versatile as my weapon. It's a pain in the ass to reload too, I can't do it in battle like I can with my left arm and it also doesn't hold as much ammo. I think with the extra armor of the gauntlet it might help protect the arm too."

Jaune looked at the holes in her mechanical arm. "That must have been one hell of a blow."

"Yeah it was," Yang sighed. "I swear some of those blows actually had me worried. Blake's psycho ex was nasty."

There was a moment of quiet between them as Yang in a softer voice said something she had been feeling ever since that fight ended. "You remember our talk back in Haven when you asked me if you were a good person?"

Jaune nodded his head he did in fact he felt that was the turning point in their relationship on how they got to this point in their lives together.

"I killed someone Jaune," Yang said in a soft voice. "I killed someone and…I don't feel much of anything. I should be all disgusted with myself but honestly, I just feel so much relief. I was so scared during that fight but I don't feel scared anymore and all I feel is just confused about it all."

"Jaune what if I liked killing? I mean sure Grimm no one feels back about but even if Adam was a total bastard and needed to be put down what does that make me? I don't want to the be the kind of person that feels nothing when faced with this."

Jaune hugged her close. "Yang listen to me you are still a good person. I'm sure Adam was different because of all the pain he's caused you and Blake. He was haunting you for months now and I think you're just glad it's finally over. I'm pretty sure if it was anyone else you would feel horrible about it."

"How do you know?" she asked in desperation. She felt like she was turning into Raven and that's something she never wanted to be. It was bad enough she could see that she looked so much like her and that was bad enough she didn't want to start acting like her.

"Because I know you Yang," He said as he used his other hand to caress her hair. "You are a wonderful person and I know you would never enjoy doing something like that."

"You sure?"

"Positive," He gently told her. "I wouldn't be with someone that enjoyed killing Yang. You know how I felt about Cinder but besides her, I can't really see myself enjoying killing either. We're both in the same boat about this and since you were there for me when I was thinking about it so now it's my turn."

"Just remember this, you Yang are a wonderful person and my feelings for you prove that." He finished.

Yang smiled a bit closing her eyes. "You're getting better with this whole boyfriend thing you know?"

"Really? He felt good hearing that. "Well thanks, this is all new territory for me after all."

"Well just keep it up and you'll do fine," She assured him.

"So feeling better then?" He asked her.

"A bit…still bummed that I lost my bike." Yang sighed. "I put a lot of work and a lot of miles on that bike."

"Sorry I don't think I got anything for that," Jaune wasn't sure what to say about that.

"It's okay, I just got a lot of memories with that bike is all."

There was a moment of silence until Jaune thought of something that might cheer her up at least he was hoping it would. "Well, how about I send a message to my sister to see if someone can find it?"

Yang shook her head, "Sorry but given how high it fell from the entire thing would be trashed. Even if they found it the engine and frame would be so damaged that I would have to replace it and then most likely a lot of other stuff. It would be easier and cheaper just to get a new one."

Jaune could hear the longing in her voice but something she said got his interest. "Well how about when we finally get a break we do just that?"

She shifted to give him a questioning look.

"I mean getting you a new bike? Actually I always wanted to ride one too."

"Do you even know how to ride a bike?" She raised an eyebrow.

Jaune shifted a bit nervously. "Well…no but I do know of someone who could teach me."

Yang gave a small smile as she thought about it. It might not be too bad to help him learn. "You're also going to have to learn how to maintain a bike too. No boyfriend of mine will be mechanically illiterate when it comes to bikes."

He just shrugged with a grin, "Well isn't that what couples do? Find stuff to do together? It is isn't it, I mean I thought so." He said the last one with a little uncertainty.

"Yeah it is," She got back into her comfortable spot on him as she thought about it. It sounded like a nice thing for them to do. She thought about a new bike with Jaune behind her holding her waist as they just ride the roads together. Then she thought of them riding together on their own bikes and she could see them racing and going off on adventures together like that.

It was a good dream.

Maybe for her next bike she would still have it mostly yellow but have some white in there instead of the black. She wondered if she could talk Jaune into the same or similar paint color if they got bikes together after all.

Ruby saw them and although she couldn't hear what they were saying she got a good vibe from it all. She remembered how withdrawn Yang had been after her injury and how she had caught Jaune at night training while punishing emotionally punishing himself. Now looking at the two of them, she felt they were going to do just fine now.

"So what now?" Blake asked sitting on her own bag looking at her broken weapon with a frown.

"Well we could use something to eat and drink," Weiss stated.

"I think we got some snacks somewhere." Oscar looked through one of the bags and pulled out a water bottle for the former heiress.

"Thanks," Weiss nodded with a smile. "So any luck?"

"With Ozpin?" Oscar sighed. "I keep trying but it's hard to know what he's doing. I can't feel him there as I used to only that he's somewhere in the back of my mind. Like something is just out of reach, if that makes any sense."

"I hope he comes out soon we have a lot to talk about," Weiss stated flatly before taking a drink.

"You and me both," Oscar sighed again. There was a lot he needed to talk to him about now that he and everyone else knew the full truth.

"So what's next after we have a break?" Blake asked looking around.

"Easiest way is to get to a travel station and use that to get up to where we need to go," Maria thought about it. There were travel stations with aircraft that traveled all the time to the Upper and Lower areas.

"You know where one is?" Blake asked.

Maria shook her head. "Sorry but I never been down here in this part of the city before."

"I'm not sure if we can just ask for directions either," Blake said thinking back to how the people in this neighborhood had been looking at them and keeping their distance.

"Maybe we can find a store or a better area?" Ruby offered. "I mean there's also got to be signs around the city too right?"

"Sounds like we're in for a lot of walking tomorrow," Weiss sighed. "I think we should get rested up maybe in the morning things would be better it is pretty late at night after all."

Ruby thought about it. "Yeah, I think Weiss has a point. In the day maybe we can find some help or at the very least get pointed in the right direction."

-Crash site-

As the airship landed and the ramp came down winter could see that the area of the crash site was already cornered off. There was already Atlas military making sure the area was secure, as they had arrived not long before them. Both sides of the tunnel were now closed off now to prevent anyone from going down it. Although there wasn't much traffic in this area of the city it could still happen.

"Report." Winter asked the first soldier she noticed with officer ranks on their uniform.

"We've sealed the area off and we called in a recovery team to get the equipment out of here." The officer stated with a salute. Everyone knew the Specialist by their uniforms and that if they were here then this event was a lot more serious than just a simple stolen vehicle.

"Very well my team will take a look at the crash site," Winter told him. "Is there any change of the vehicle from exploding or any fires?"

"None ma'am," He replied and pointed to the front of the tunnel were two wings could be seen. "As you can see the wings were ripped off so the engines were with them and the rest of it while damaged was inspected and nothing dangerous should happen."

Winter nodded as they moved into the tunnel, they could see the scrapping on the ground from the metal, there was some white paint at the start but the rest of it was a trail gouged into the street. This would require a road crew to fix but then she remembered where she was. The odds of any kind of roadwork being done on this road weren't very likely unfortunately.

The rest of the craft could be seen with some military members, most likely engineers, looking it over.

"Give us the area," Winter commanded as the engineers didn't want to argue.

The team split up as they searched the area, Robyn scouted the area looking for anything as part of Wōdan's artificial eye glowed blue as he used it's more advanced functions. He could see an overlay of the area with footprints as an example that popped out in this mode. The problem was with all their troops walking all over the place he had to carefully look things over to try and make out the different between footprints.

Penny was already inside the vehicle with Winter following her. Penny went to look over the controls as Winter checked the cabin. She stopped smelling a rancid smell and looked down and her face twisted into a disgusted grimace.

"It appears one of the criminals couldn't keep their meal down." Winter stated.

Penny came over and looked at it, she bent down and placed two of her fingers into the substance.

"What are you doing?" Winter asked.

"I have sensors in my fingers tips," Penny explained. "I'm linking it up to Atlas files if there is any match in any database from the DNA found inside of this."

Winter hadn't known that she had that ability built into her. That certainly helped as linking to the Atlas military, police databases would allow them to identify anyone if they had a criminal record or any record that they had without having to wait for the results.

Penny's eyes looked to be reading something that wasn't there but suddenly it stopped as she stood back up to face Winter. "Sorry ma'am but the data isn't in Atlas Military, Civilian, or criminal database."

Winter nodded that meant whoever did this wasn't from Atlas originally or at least not someone who either had government service or a criminal record.

That at last told her something about what happened here. "What of the controls?"

"There was no bypass whoever stole this did so without unlocking the controls." Penny reported.

Winter frowned at that. Normally you have to put in a code to get the engines started up, as it was a way to prevent theft or at least make it easy. The only way this would happen is if the vehicle was already started up or it was given to said criminals with the computers unlocked or hacked. One of those scenarios was worse than the other for a few reasons she could think up.

"Found something." Wōdan's voice called out. They left the craft and saw that the male Specialist was a ways away from the vehicle kneeling down looking at the ground. "Found a trail, it took me some time but it leads to that emergency exit and I checked with our boys here. No one's been through the door.

With his artificial eye, he could see several tracks going to what looked like an emergency exit in the tunnel side. It would make sense to go this route as both ends of the tunnel would be watched by the Atlas forces since the crash.

"How many?" Winter asked although she couldn't see them she trusted his skills as he looked along the street.

"Hard to say but a lot, I'd say between six and ten. They were walking together so the footprints are all over each other. One might be injured, there are these round marks in step with the footprints so someone was walking with a cane or a makeshift one at that."

Winter frowned that was a lot more than she would have guessed. She might have to call in reinforcements if things proved too difficult, then again, it was a nasty crash and if they were injured if they were forced into a fight it might go better for them. It also meant that they were slowed down unless they split up or the one with the cane was left behind. Slowly the picture of what they were dealing with was forming in her mind but the picture wasn't complete yet.

"Where's Specialist Greenwood?" Winter asked looking around not seeing the woman.

"She went on ahead, oh there she is," He nodded to the open door as he stood up it was at that moment that Robyn walked out of the doorway. She walked up to them and showed a piece of cloth as Winter took a closer look it looked more like canvas on closer inspection.

"I think this was from a bag of some kind, found it near the end of the tunnel. Looks it got snagged on something." Robyn explained.

"So they were carrying something?" Penny asked tilting her head.

"Weapons, dust, explosives," Robyn shrugged. "Hard to tell really but they are certainly geared up. I found this too."

She held up what looked like a used dust round.

"They left a dusk round?" Penny looked closer at it confused. It looked to be a smaller round maybe for a handgun?

"You know how rounds can sometimes catch in clothing only to fall out later when it gets shaken loose or someone finds it and just throws it away without thinking?" Robyn explained to her. "Might have been that or ejected from a weapon they had on them too." She sniffed it, as the burnt smell was still fresh. "Recently fired today too although I'm not sure how long ago, maybe a few hours at the most."

That told Winter that whoever they were might have taken the ship by force. Her eyes narrowed at this as the thought of Atlas soldiers being shot just to steal one of their ships did not sit well with her.

"So we have a direction then," Winter nodded pleased with this. "We better get a move on then, they have too much time ahead of us. Specialist Grau can you track them with your eye?"

"As long as they didn't go into a high traffic area," He told her confidently. Tracking was of course one of his specialties after all. Robyn was also great at scouting and it was the reasons the two of them had worked together on several missions before now and made a good team. Between the two of them, anyone they were tracking usually ended up being caught.

"Then let's go then shall we?" Greenwood grinned, as she was eager to hunt down whoever had stolen the Atlas airship.

-Elsewhere-

Neo wasn't sure where Cinder had been taking her only that they ended up outside of what looked like some kind of club. She saw the large neon sign of a candle that read 'The Candlestick' in red colors. The club strangely didn't have a bouncer in front, as Cinder walked in as if she owned the place. In fact she did that all the time now that Neo thought about it.

As they crossed the threshold Neo's ears were filled with blues music with a singer on the stage. Looking around the place looked to be not a dance club like how Junior ran his place in Vale. This place actually had some class to it.

Cinder went to the bar as a tall man had their back to them.

"Hello Jack." Cinder said.

The young man stopped as he started to turn around. "Well there's a sexy voice I haven't heard in-whoa! Cinder that's uh…a new look."

Neo looked at 'Jack' as he looked to be about Roman's age, he had on clean and well-pressed clothing of dark blue. He looked to keep his appearance very well maintained and there was a small scar one of his eyebrows. Obviously someone used to getting into a lot of fist fights to get that kind of scar. Neo had to say he was handsome and seemed to know it too.

"Life has been a bit difficult," Cinder replied. "I need to see him."

Jack looked around thinking it over, "Well okay but you know if he's not happy to see you that's all on you."

"Of course," Cinder replied.

Jack motioned for them to come behind the bar as he led them through the door into the back. As they took some stairs up he gave an appraising look to Neo. "So who's your cute friend?"

"Her name's Neo," Cinder replied.

"Cute name for a cute young lady," Jack grinned and winked at her. "So what's your story?"

Neo rolled her eyes as she ignored him.

"Cat got your tongue beauty?" Jack asked.

"Don't waste your time," Cinder told him as they got to the top of the stairs and walked into a hallway. "You won't get anything out of her."

"Well I do so love a challenge." He replied.

They were led to a thick door as he knocked there was a voice that told them to come in. Neo wasn't sure what to expect but seeing the man in the center of a room with chairs all around him in a circle she guessed this was the 'Crocked Man'. There were others in the room a few men and a couple of women that were eying them. She focused on the older man who was starting to get graying hair and wrinkles. If she had to guess, he was over fifty but his eyes bore into her as if he could see everything you were with his dark eyes.

He wore a fancy stripped suit with his hair immaculately brushed to the side with a thick mustache. What really caught Neo's attention was his body. He had a cane and it looked like one of his legs was misshapen, the hand on the head of the cane was clawed slightly and part of his face looked like someone who had a stroke as it sagged slightly on one side.

Neo suddenly realized why he was called 'Crooked' and it wasn't just because he was some kind of underworld figure.

"Well Cinder it looks like you have darkened my door one more time." The Crooked Man stated in a cultured baritone voice, which was calm but held power in it. "It seems life hasn't been kind to you since we last met either."

"No but when is it ever?" Cinder asked him.

He nodded his head, "Oh yes that is true."

He slowly got up as he limped over to them, even though the man looked to be some kind of cripple Neo was getting some nasty vibes off him. He towered over Cinder even though his back was bent slightly. He looked at Cinder before looking right at Neo with a long but very calculating gaze. His eyes went up to her hat as he looked back at her eyes.

"So you must be Neapolitan," He stated making Neo tilt her head wondering how he knew her name. He only gave a small smile. "Roman spoke of his new little protégé."

Neo's eyes widened in surprise at this, this old man knew Roman?

"He never told you? I'm not surprised, Roman was always very independent and didn't like to talk about the past. He always was looking to the future after all." He walked back to his seat as he sat down and pointed to a picture on the wall.

"He also liked to show off too much," Jack stated leaning up against one of the walls.

"You two never did get along," The Crooked Man sighed.

Neo went to the wall to see various pictures she saw an older picture of the man in front of a building. Around him were various people, some were young boys and girls, she thought she saw a younger Jack there with a band aid on his face but then she froze seeing a familiar face. There in the photo was a much younger Roman as a teenager.

"Roman grew up here," The old man explained to her. "I gave him that hat you're wearing on the day he left. He wanted to go out and make a name for himself since he couldn't do that here in Atlas. He needed room to grow and couldn't do it 'under my shadow' as he once said to me."

Neo had never known anything about Roman's past, mainly because she had never thought to ask him. A pang of loss hit her again, she didn't expect to run into a link to him here and it was bringing up wounds that were still too fresh for her.

"It was through him I learned how to contact Roman," Cinder explained to her. "You can't just look up an address for Roman just anywhere after all. So when I was last here I got in contact with the Crooked Man to help me find the best thief in all of Vale."

Neo never really thought about it before, Cinder had just showed up one day at one of Roman's hideouts while she was out. Now it started to make sense, it wasn't like you could just run into Roman at random or go looking for him and expected to find him. If it were easy, the police would have caught him years ago.

"Yes and although Roman left our little family to strike it on his own," The man gripped his cane a little harder as his voice grew a slight edge to it. "He was still one of my boys."

There was a click as Jack had silently moved to the door and locked it while they were focused on the old man. Every other member of the gang in the room were tensing up as Cinder had a feeling that this wouldn't be easy after Neo had come after her but she had plenty of time to think of what to say if this happened.

"I didn't kill him," Cinder stated flatly.

"But he did die on your watch working for you." The Crooked Man said flatly.

Neo noticed that his clawed hand was moving slightly on the cane and although it was different, she could see the signs that it was a weapon much like Roman's, actually now that she thought about it, it might be more accurate to say that Roman's was more like his. She wondered why he chose a cane of all things to make a weapon out of, at least that was one question she had answered.

"He was killed because of a certain individual we've tracked to Atlas," Cinder told him never once losing her cool demeanor. "Ask Neo, that's why she's with me."

He looked at Neo now. "Is this true?"

Neo actually took a moment to think it over, partly because she wanted to see if Cinder would sweat a little. To her disappointment she wasn't, in the end Neo simply nodded her head.

The Crooked Man leaned back to think on things. "Because she has vouched for you I'll leave the matter be."

He waved his hand as the tension building up in the room dropped as Jack unlocked the door.

"So this person is here in Atlas," He mused. "Did they happen to arrive in a stolen Atlas ship?"

Cinder raised an eyebrow at that she knew that he had his fingers in a lot of places. This was actually impressive he knew about this so quickly. People did say that his reach was very far and deep in this country it was why she sought him out after all.

Maybe this was also, why Roman wore a lot of white. It was one of the standard colors of Atlas society and she never knew where Roman was from originally. She hadn't cared to know all the really needed to know was that Roman would always have her back. At least that's how it was supposed to have been.

"That would be correct," Cinder nodded she figured that they would be on their way to General Ironwood at least that was the most logical assumption she could make. It wasn't as if they knew many people here at least not powerful ones that they could go to for help. Other than the Schnee family that is but that was where she would look next if they weren't with the General. If all else failed she was sure she could ask him to find out where they were holding up in Atlas, for a price of course. Nothing was free with this man.

He hummed in thought, "You didn't ask me where they were which means you already know where they are or will be, so you need something else I take it?"

"We have an associate heavily wounded that needs medical attention," Cinder told him.

"How badly?"

"Badly."

He took only a moment to think about it and turned to Jack. "Jack my good boy, please help the ladies with their associate and take him to the good Doctor."

"Which one?" Jack asked as they had a few doctors both legitimate and those that were less so on a payroll.

"The one on the East Side."

Jack paled at that, there was only one doctor there although Jack would never call that crazy bastard a doctor. "He's liable to kill him than heal him."

The Crooked Man looked to Cinder, "While this is true is he lives he'll be in top shape, better some might say."

Cinder shrugged. "If he dies then he dies now then is there a price for this help?"

He nodded his head, "Always, there is always a price to pay for everything in this world. A hard truth I learned long ago. There had been some young fools thinking they can take what is mine without consequences but we can talk at length when you return."

"Jack please do see the ladies out and show them to the good doctor." He politely ordered the young man.

"Yeah sure thing boss," He didn't look pleased to Neo and Cinder about taking them to see this 'doctor' they wouldn't know why until the moment they met the man.

TBC…

Okay a couple of things I want to say.

First I wanted to thank everyone that takes the time to actually review this story. It's because of people like you that I can write this. I like getting feedback so please if you read this please leave a review last chapter only half the usual number reviewed and not a lot viewed it and it made me worry that people were starting to dislike the story and I didn't know why. So again, to everyone that takes the time to put in a review I really do thank all of you as you have no idea how much it means to be to get feedback.

Second, I planned on bringing back Penny since the start of this story, I had a plan to make her identity secret in this chapter but then Rooster Teeth actually did bring her back as I got spoiled early with it and my plans of the big reveal in the next chapter were scrapped. So I had to rewrite her parts of this story since no one would really be surprised by what I had planned originally. It will mostly stay the same but I basically had to change it up a little as it my surprise was ruined.

Hopefully the rest of what I have planned won't be.