Disclaimer: I own nothing of RWBY.

Mauve

By: Imyoshi

Time to run like the wind!

A rusty click and small wiggle of the door handle's all Treacherous Quadruple get before said door simply gave up, fell over, and broke apart upon impact, coating them in an eruption of aged dust. Not even a foot out the door yet, and already the guys felt like all of Remnant's out to get them.

Luckily, it was only Atlas and their impressive military armada. Any victory was better than no victory—any small, insignificant victory. At least that's what they plan to keep telling themselves over and over again.

They all blink once or twice, wondering how the hell they got stuck in the rundown apartment the first time without breaking anything, before wiping away the dust from their eyes in acute fascination. Any other thoughts were forfeited when the couch broke behind them and a wall collapsed to their side, making the idea of a door useless and unforgiving.

Well, that running like the wind part was taking a small detour.

Blowing a stray strand of his hair away from his nose, Ren glared lightly. "I'm about ready to give up."

Neptune shared in his sympathy, hating that somehow this had been Sun's fault, again! Eat Nora's pancakes he said. They're good for you he said! What's the worst that could happen, he shrugged. Damn it, Sun! Next time he's listening to the stoic ninja and trusting his judgment when it came to anything about his so called not-girlfriend. Even if Neptune distinctly remembered he, too, was all for eating the pancakes.

"We can't give up!" Sun grinned, patting Ren on the back and not noticing the way he tensed up from the sudden pain from his recently tattooed back. "Did Captain French Toast and his buddies give up when Colonel Chicken invaded his home?!"

"Yes."

"Well, luckily we're not them!" he argued anyways, looking over to his two other friends for support. Neptune begrudgingly sighed, nodding his head and Jaune was busy expecting something he found on the old floor. "Whatcha got there, amigo?"

Jaune didn't verbally answer, holding the item for all the guys to see. It was a hard-metal suitcase with the other half of Neptune's handcuff with the handle clearly cut by a sharp weapon. Probably Ren when it really came down to it. The cut lacked the burn marks of Excalibur, and Jaune knew he couldn't cut well with Crocea Mors. Neptune's weapon had no way to cut, and Sun's was even worse. It had to be Ren. No question.

Putting two-and-two together, Jaune hesitantly opened the briefcase, being almost blinded by a light from the sudden shine that came with opening it if. Thank Monty he's wearing sunglasses. "I-It's... I-It's...!"

Looking over Jaune's shoulder, Neptune abruptly swiped the case, smiling greedily at the contents inside. Suddenly he didn't feel so gloomy anymore. "It's a suitcase full of lien and Dust!"

Ren glared over to Neptune, who's lost in la-la land, and looked back to Jaune who's still trying to piece everything together. It's an even stranger sight with him holding Crocea Mors in his hand, like his first day at Beacon Academy. The picture's only stranger with the shield hosted on his other arm. Ren couldn't recall the last time Jaune used a shield. Been a while since Jaune trusted on defense as an option. Aura had always been more of a offensive power if anything.

But problems aside, questions need to be asked. "Jaune, why did you have a suitcase full of money?"

Neptune coughed into his fist, grabbing Ren by the shoulder with a patented smirk. "I think the words you're looking for is, Jaune, thank you for having a suitcase full of money."

Jaune threw his hands up. "I don't know! Don't look at me! It was right there when I found it! Who wouldn't have seen it?" Ren easily enough raised his hand. Jaune glared. "Dang it, you know what I mean."

Sun leaned on the wall, sliding down slowly. "What did we do yesterday?" Connecting some random dots, he looked up and saw the broken handcuff's cut. "Neptune? Did you steal that?"

"What?!" he gasped, appalled by Sun's accusing tone. Didn't help his dilemma with him clutching the case close to his greedy chest with both arms securely locked, but he's still morally hurt. "How could you say that? After everything we've been through!"

"Uh?" Sun stood, walked up and grabbed Neptune's hand with the broken handcuff. "Hello! Do you not see this?"

He pulled his arm away, pretending to be hurt. "That's just a coincidence."

Busy fighting back a reproachful Sun, Ren moved forward to check the items. "I've never seen Dust shards like this before." He grabbed a shard to inspect. The pinkish colored one called to him, luring him. "Who do you think these belong to?"

"Doesn't matter!" Neptune suddenly grinned, shutting the case closed. A second later the stolen container's hitched over his shoulder with his weapon drawn. "But it would be such a shame to just leave it here, don't you think? We might as well take it with us. And we're going to need money to escape. This suitcase full of money can only help us!"

Ren paused for a moment to argue, but last he's checked, his Aura's shot—his leader's Aura's shot! None of them have their scrolls or he his sloth cloak. All of Atlas was out to get them, and they need every advantage they could get, including Dust and money. Besides, there's probably finger prints and evidence all over that case. Best not to leave it lying around for anyone to find, like, maybe potential bounty hunters or policemen, and then have it linked back to them at Beacon Academy.

No, that would be bad. Very bad. But he's still confused to whom the case actually belonged to. Ren couldn't even begin to fathom which person out there was missing a suitcase filled with valuable Dust and unmarked bills. Guy must be sadder than Nora whenever he said no to making pancakes.

...

An angry bull Faunus thrashed a secret camp miles deep in a forest outside of Atlas, scavenging through every one of his personal belongings, not wanting to believe his subordinates' words. Not one bit. No matter how true they sounded or how absolute his men believed. But with each toss and turn of his stuff, and with his anger reaching new heights, he forcefully grabbed his second-in-command and roared at him within minutes of his pointless and anger induce search.

"What do you mean someone stole our rare Dust crystals and all our money?!"

Cowering beneath his leader's fury, the nameless Faunus gulped at Adam Taurus's world famous anger, holding up a clipboard as his own means of protection. Adam, seconds later, promptly ripped the board out of his hands and flung it to Monty knew where, ignoring the yell of someone getting hurt from a flying object. His teeth were bared, ready to tear a new one into his second-in-command.

"We were attacked out of nowhere last night. We thought it was the Atlas military, but it turned out to be two random Huntsmen with frightening strength. One went by the name of Super Pervert. And the other..." he paused. "Went by the name of Monkey Fist."

He let go of his soldier, anger being redirected. The echo's loud and powerful. "Monkey Fist?"

"Yes!" begged the scared man, gaining back some of his earlier courage. "Monkey Fist seemed especially intent at destroying our base, as if he was looking for someone. Super Pervert was the one that actually stole our Dust crystals and money."

Adam growled, not believing that his men got hit by a surprise attack from two Huntsmen called Monkey Fist and Super Pervert. If anyone ever got wind of this, anyone, his entire organization would lose major credibility. They're already known as malicious, merciless, killing-machines. But the idea of word getting around of their latest plunder's too painful to even think about. Especially if people learned their entire base was trashed by two Huntsmen named Monkey Fist and Super Pervert.

"And why you didn't stop them?"

"Sir, their strength proved to be unstoppable. No matter what we did, our attacks seemed ineffective. Most of our men are suffering from severe leg breakage and all our females are out for blood."

Adam cursed into the air. Of all the times to be away, his cause got hit with a preemptive strike. Of all the rotten luck! Damn it! And they just stole those Dust shards from a Schnee cargo train! Now he needed to go hunt down these Huntsmen and take back what was his and end them. Not the typical Saturday morning he expected. Not at all!

Recollecting his thoughts, Adam turned around to grab Wilt and Blush from his tent, preparing to head out and find these new headaches and cease their lives. If nothing else, he needed to keep the White Fang's reputation powerful. Having a black smudge as big as this will only prove disastrous in the near future and the White Fang couldn't afford to lose public opinion now. Not when their symbol's so strong and aspiring.

"What did these two Huntsmen look like?"

...

Rubbing his temples together, Sun sighed tiredly into the air as his buddy Neptune hugged the suitcase with the utmost care, drooling even. This proved why money was the root of all evil. It turned nerds, like Neptune, into craze lunatics with zero self-respect! Don't even get the monkey Faunus started on where that money's possibly going to, probably goggles that could see through walls or a new overcoat with too many pockets? This was why Sun preferred the free world, because the only law was the law of Mother Nature, and she's a cool chick in Sun's book.

Nonetheless, the blue idiot did bring up some good points. They did need to escape Atlas. They did need money. Their Aura control was shot and Dust was the likely counter for such a problem. And there just so happened to be a suitcase filled with the stuff for their needing pleasure. Honestly! How were they supposed to walk away from such an opportunity? It went against everything Sun Wukong stood for.

It's free!

Agreeing painstakingly to keeping the money and Dust, that would no doubt come back to haunt them, the four males head down the hall in a hurry, but stop immediately when Sun's foot went through the floor from the excess pressure buildup of the act of running. From there, they decided to walk coolly to the nearest stairs, not trusting the building's interior coding to hold up much longer. And by the time they reach the closest stairs, the building's making creaking noises and a support beam broke apart in front of them. Luckily enough, there's still three more holding the place together, however long that'd last. Ren's banking on three minutes at the most.

They're running out of time.

Taking turns to move down the stairs, Neptune went first, lightly grabbing the rusted railing and screaming when his mere touch broke the railing in half. His screams only got louder when a mouse passed by his foot and he fell headfirst down onto the floor. Fortunately, the wood held and Sun went down next, reaching the bottom with no harm due to his monkey reflexes, but instantly scowled when the chair he sat on broke the second he relaxed on it, karma at its damn finest.

Two left to go; Jaune prepared himself to go next, having mixed feelings that a staircase was causing them this much untold amounts of trouble. The Arc didn't even want to imagine what the rest of the adventure would entail if this was the easy part. Maybe it would be better to get Pyrrha and Nora to just post their bail?

Holding Jaune back by the shoulder before he could take his first step, Ren spoke lowly for only his Fearless Leader to hear. "I can't control my Aura, Jaune."

He shrugged. "I know, neither can I."

Ren lifted up his glasses and glared at him, applying some extra pressure to his shoulder. "No, Jaune. I can't control my Aura... or my Semblance."

It took a second for Jaune to understand the double meaning behind his friend's words and the significance became all too clear. His eyes widen dramatically as he heard the place around begin to creak some more. No wonder the place was falling apart. And if what Ren's said before was true, they better get the hell out before his misfortune Semblance brought the entire building down on top of them.

It's one thing if Ren's control over his bad luck's skewed. They could handle that. It's another when Ren had no control whatsoever! For the first time in who knew how long, Ren's completely at the mercy of his Semblance.

How unfortunate.

"Hey, dude!" Sun yelled from further down the stairs, breaking them from their talk. He's waving a black article of clothing. "I found Ren's cape!"

And Lady Luck shined her light down on the Lie. That string of bad luck didn't last long.

Ren quietly mumbled under his breath about it being a cloak and not cape and smoothly lunged down from the top of stairs, not fearing for his Semblance to harm him, just the people around him. And of course nothing bad happened to him, but Jaune's still jealous. He would even admit to being curious and wanting to see Ren's Aura and Semblance through Outer Space and the effects it had on the building, but he couldn't concentrate well enough to make that happen right now, not with the building breaking apart around them. He's more scared and timid to concentrate.

Damn it, Nora!

Tearing the cloak away from Sun's dirty hands, Ren perfectly put on his sloth cloak, acting very nonchalant about it. He felt his Semblance falling under his control again, but the effects were severely limited. The Lore only did so much; half of the effort came from his own willpower. But Nora's pancakes have broken him, leaving his Semblance to still leak out of his cloak. Essentially, he's walking around as a shadow of his past self.

The building around him was proof of that, already too far gone to be saved, just like his family. It's only a matter of time before it fell apart.

Taking a running start, Jaune put one foot forward, prepared to jump like Ren, and was only half-surprised when the entire foundation of the staircase broke apart on him. He fell down, sliding up next to Neptune and Sun while the planks of wood and metal created a large pile of junk for all to see. Upon his fall, Jaune somehow got his arm entangled with another piece of black clothing and held it up the moment he sat up.

Closer inspection proved the clothing to belong to Sun's evil persona, Monkey Fist, and he held it up to the Faunus. "I think this belongs to you."

Oddly, Sun grabbed the clothing with acute greed, shivering in place. "You know what? I think it looks nice." A quick change of outfit proved his point. "Yea, it's really breezy. And I look good. Think I'm going to keep it."

Jaune pretended Sun's not posing in the ninja outfit and peered over to Ren, hoping the other ninja would have some clue where to go. Funny enough, he's staring at Sun, thinking over a list of possible ideas that Jaune couldn't for the life of him figure out. He'll have to be a mind reader to know what the Lie's thinking. Getting the truth out of him will be next to impossible.

"Alright, alright! Dance later!" Neptune interrupted Sun, shaking his free hand in a panic. Cracks were forming in the walls and then some, converging upwards toward the weaken ceiling. "We got to go! Like now!"

Hearing the message loud and clear, Sun saluted his nerd friend, grin as foolish as Nora's. Ren glared, lacking emotion as the situation grew direr by the second. How the building didn't collapse on them beforehand was a miracle. And Jaune studied his old weapons, finding their weight and overall style foreign to his hands. They're not as heavy as once before, but they weren't exactly weightless. Aura only supplied him power; his overall muscle structure had failed to improve dramatically over his period of Aura control.

He should probably worry over that more, couldn't be too good for his future.

"He's right..." Jaune searched for a door, finding it at the end of the hall. "Let's get out of here." The first step he made caused the entire building to suddenly shake. He twirled around to Ren.

Ren shrugged. "What? Misfortune has already fallen onto this building. It's far too gone for me stop now." The bathtub where Sun woke up in fell through the ceiling, landing right beside Ren. He remained emotionless. "We should probably go now. The building's infrastructure's too weak to last another minute."

Not needing to be told twice, the Treacherous Quadruple make a break for it, ignoring the way building shook with each heavy step. The crashing behind didn't grab their curiosity, nor did the sudden cracks trailing alongside them as they ran, but they're force to dodge the random breakage of the ceiling, narrowly avoiding getting hit by plaster and plywood. Eventually, they stop dodging and slash and blast their way through, forgoing subtly for survival.

Sun reached the door first, pulling the handle almost a little too hard. He threw it open, waiting for the rest to exit, signaling them to run faster with a panicked wave. "Come on! Come on! The place is going down!"

"We know! Just hold the door open!" Neptune lunged out first, sliding outside with Jaune and Ren right behind. Sun waited not a second longer and joined his wanted comrades.

Slamming the door shut, Sun lifted his hands up and screamed freedom before the entire foundation of the cruddy apartment complex up and died on them, falling apart from the force behind Sun's carelessness. He had the gall to look back and rub his neck apologetically, figuring he might've slammed the door shut a little too hard. Jaune, on the other hand, glanced over to Ren, damn happy that the Lie had a better control over his Semblance. To think his Semblance tore down a building from a lack of control.

Sun smiled weakly, laughing meticulously. "Eh, this building was probably going to be torn down anyways."

"Yea... yea!" Neptune agreed while getting up, never looking back from the avalanche of dust that swept past them. The suitcase's thrown over his shoulder. "Damn thing was breaking apart on us. You did it a favor."

No one but Lie Ren noticed the just renovated sign hanging outside the building's structure as he fixed the collar on his cloak. It's only more impressive when the sign spontaneously caught on fire, turned to ash, and erased the evidence of said sign before his friends could even see it.

"Some things are better left not to think about."

Jaune blinked. "What was that Ren?"

Ren looked away, tone different. "... Nothing, c'mon, we need to get out of here. A collapse building is bound to draw unnecessary attention to us."

Sun threw an arm up, pointing toward the closest town. They're a bit away from other buildings, about a mile or two from the nearest sign of activity. Where they had woken up at turned out to be some apartment complex on the top of some random hill surrounded by dirt and dead vegetation. What or how they ended up there will forever remain a mystery to the four, but they all know if they didn't leave this instant, someone's going to notice the building standing on top of the hill one moment, and not the next. No one's that dumb.

Sun jumped, hooking his arms around all three of their shoulders. "I see the kingdom! It's not too far from here!" Flicking Neptune on the cheek, Sun ran off. "Let's go, Super Pervert! We don't want to miss the next Bullhead home."

Neptune brought his arms down, hanging them angrily on his sides, glaring heatedly through his shades. "Hey! Don't call me that! Sun! Are listening?" He huffed, walking to catch up to his partner. "I'm not a pervert. I just appreciate a perfect female body! Is that so wrong?"

Watching Neptune stalk after his grandiloquent partner with a suitcase full of stolen goodies, Jaune recalled something Ren said, which he was given no choice but to ask. "So when did Neptune and Weiss become a thing?"

"Apparently, it happened during the break. And not only Weiss and Neptune, but Blake and Sun as well. Although, Blake's not as verbal as Sun is. Yang told me this during Dust class one day." Ren paused, flicking some emotion at the Arc. "Are you okay with that?"

Jaune didn't get Ren's question, appearing even more lost than before. "Okay with what?"

Ren glared, confused emotionally. "Weiss and Neptune... Together... Romantically?"

Catching his thoughts for a moment, Jaune finally understood what Ren meant and didn't feel saddened when he thought about Weiss with a different guy. Him and Weiss were never together to begin with, no matter how much he wanted it at first. Honestly, when was the last time Jaune even considered Weiss anything more than a friend and or Dust partner, or cruel and underhanded business person? Been such a long time since he's even thought of her as a Snow Angel. It practically all changed the day they became Dust partners.

When it all really came down to it, he didn't mind. Neptune's not a bad guy. They're definitely both nerdy in their own way. And he's happy with Weiss as his friend. She's nice when she's not getting him to agree to favors that weren't fifty-fifty. So really, the thought of Neptune and Weiss together left no hole in his soul, far from it.

To be perfectly and utterly truthful, he's happy for her. Weiss deserved some happiness.

Jaune laughed lightly, smiling into the air and catching the ninja by surprise. "I guess... I guess I am. I haven't really thought about Weiss like that for a while. I don't know, is that weird?"

Ren smiled, not the one he reserved for Nora, but a smile nevertheless. "No. You're just more mature than before."

Jaune laughed again. "Coming from you, that's saying a lot."

"Hey!" Sun yelled from about a hundred feet away, palms used as an amplifier. "Get your butts over here! We gotta go!"

Knowing the monkey's indeed right, the duo swiftly take off, throwing away walking for a light sprint that soon turned into a hasty run. Sun and Neptune were ahead of them, but not too far. The four have to stick together, alone in Atlas was suicide, and anything else was less than perfect. They may have been unstoppable, fighting machines the day prior, but now they're weaker than the average Huntsmen-in-Training. The kingdom was their enemy and they're all they had.

During the quick run back to Sun and Neptune, Jaune couldn't help but smile into the sprint, even against the dangerous situation they found themselves in. At least that solved one mystery. Now Jaune knew why Sun and Neptune were so keen on finding Weiss and Blake yesterday. It wasn't exactly a major mystery that had been stumping him the past few days, but the idea behind it did settle his soul a bit. Nothing too major, but better in the long run. Plus, he couldn't wait to tease Weiss and Blake about it.

They trailed a little behind Sun and Neptune for a bit, turning serious like a coin-flip. Ren's the first to break the silence, asking Jaune while they had their most likely only moment of privacy for the rest of the journey back home.

"Your Aura..." Ren mumbled, emotionless. "How bad is it? What are we looking at?"

Jaune frowned, concentrating. It's nothing like before. "It feels like the day Pyrrha unlocked it, all jumbled and weird. I can't really do anything with it." He frowned. "It's just... there."

And that's Jaune, their Fearless Leader. Ren's Aura was worse for wear. His sloth cloak's the only thing keeping his bad luck under decent control. It's even allowing the Lie to harbor some Semblance of control over his Aura, but the integrity of the situation was dire. At least Sun and Neptune didn't have Semblances with terrible backlash; at least, Ren hoped that's the case. They didn't know them that well, but after their run back home, who knew how far the Treacherous Quadruple would bond?

Nodding, Ren clicked his teeth together. "The news said something about orbs of darkness... that had to have been your Lore, Gravity. They even had the effect of draining people's hope away." He questioned. "Can you use your Lore?"

Jaune checked, finding it increasingly difficult to switch between Aura and Lore with his control so skewed. Under fluctuations with his control, he almost failed to do so, even occasionally finding the Lore eating away the Aura from a lack of focus, but he's not an Aura prodigy for nothing, and managed to barely switch the powers out, sweating from the intense soul searching. Unlike Aura, his Lore required a much higher degree of control.

"Yup!" Jaune smiled, popping the word with extra enthusiasm. "It's not perfect. But I guess Aura pancakes can only do so much to Lore! Definitely better than Aura, that's for darn sure!"

Ren blinked, hiding his smirk partially with the rim of his cloak. "So I'm guessing the D-Arc Knight is making a return. Are you going to make more anchormen cry for their mothers? What would Pyrrha say to your descent to darkness?"

Jaune bumped Ren's shoulder, adding his own smirk to the mix. "Be careful, Sloth King, I wonder what Nora would say if she learned about your little tattoo. I can already imagine the surprise and happiness on her face."

"... You wouldn't."

"You're not the only person who can rain on people's parades. You know Nora's going to find out eventually."

Pouting his lip slightly—something Jaune knew was as rare as Nora not wanting pancakes—Ren thought long and hard as they almost reach Sun and Neptune, who were almost at the closets building down the hill. He's quiet, even for himself. The atmosphere grew tense and Jaune didn't like it, not one little bit. Ren didn't even bother looking at Jaune as he finalized his last question, forming a tight fist at the terrible answer awaiting him.

"Do you really think the Schnee will hire bounty hunters to catch us?"

Jaune remained running forward, not taking his eyes off the upcoming buildings. The weight of Ren's words or Crocea Mors didn't slow him physically down, but it did slow down his mind for a minute. When he really thought about, really considered the weight of the problem at hand, he pictured what Weiss would do with limitless resources at her disposal, and added in her anger and pride into the mix, but into an older version of herself. And the answer Jaune came to brought untold amount of fear to his eyes. More than even Lore could ever manage to his psyche.

"We need to get the hell out of Atlas."

...

Somewhere in a disclosed location, sitting around an oval, metal table, two brother bounty hunters waited impatiently for their client to arrive after being called forth with an interesting promise of riches. And everyone knew bounty hunters, money made them tick.

They didn't have to wait long until their contractor arrives, with her heels clicking with each step on the steel flooring and gaze sharper than any hawk. Did nothing to deter them, then again, nothing could spook these two, except for carnies and said carnies' tiny hands.

"Gentlemen." Winter Schnee addressed, walking in with confidence and poise. "I've summoned you here both at my secret volcano lair." She sat on her chair and it rolled away from the desk. Seconds later, she wobbled back with that same confidence and poise, pretending that didn't happen.

One of the hunters grinned foolishly with an upbeat voice. "I didn't even know Atlas has a volcano, yea?"

"Hence, the secret volcano lair." Winter stressed, not believing the situation she was in. Stolen kisses and now bounty hunters? What else could ruin her day?

Feeling anger taking over, she breathed calmly, finding her happy place before noting the pair of bounty hunters sitting in front of her, and she blinked once, never saying a word.

These two were the best of the best? This was Atlas's top? The cream of the crop? The bee's knees?

To the right, a man she could only describe as weird, sat before her. He was dressed in a weird cobalt blazer suit with an orange shirt beneath and small ascot. A strange circle and arrow medallion hung from his neck and he had wild brown locks with terrible teeth and out of place glasses. No matter how she scowled at him, he remained smiling, practically eyeing her like a piece of fine meat.

Picking up the file from the desk, Winter checked the contents and raised a brow at the info provided to her from the bounty hunter.

"Danger Young's personal skill set—?"

"Actually, my name is Austin Young." Austin grinned, unable to stop moving in his chair.

Winter raised her other brow, shaking the portfolio. "It says here your name is Danger Young."

"No, no, no, no, no!" he corrected, looking off to some imaginary person with a twinkle in his eye. "Danger's my middle name."

"Okay?" she hummed, disbelieving pretty much on the bio now. She dropped it. "Austin Danger Young."

"At your service! Now tell me..." he moved forward, laying his palms flat on the table with an interested stare. "Why don't we ditch the room for a tick and find some random broom closet and shag!"

Winter dropped his file, appalled. "Excuse me?!"

"Mmmm!" Austin hummed deliciously, definitely eyeing her like a piece of hard candy. "I like a girl with a bit of grrrr in her step!"

"What is wrong with you?"

Austin swirled in his chair, answering her question in passion. "You're what is wrong with me! You're fad, you're switched on, you're a bit of alright, yea."

The older Schnee rubbed her temples, having foolishly thought that maybe meeting the bounty hunters wouldn't have been anything but professional. How silly of her. Monty forbid she ask for normalcy.

"You all right, baby?" Winter looked up, glaring twice as hard. Did nothing, but a girl could dream. "Alright, alright, no need to get your nickers in a bunch!" he grinned innocently, and Winter wanted nothing more to wipe that childish smile off his face.

"I don't look forward to working with you, and don't call me baby."

"Well, we're all you got, hahaha, yea!" he laughed, and Winter's forced to look over to the second bounty hunter she's called since he's sadly right, and if she thought Austin Danger Young was weird, the second guy was downright bizarre.

Unlike his brother—which Winter saw no family resemblance—he was bald, had a single scar running down his left eye, and was slightly paler than Austin. His attire consisted of one outfit that was fully grey and covered practically his entire body, and he had an odd gesture where he held his pinkie close to his mouth, looking always surprised.

Oh, she just couldn't wait to check this guy's bio.

Throwing formalities out the window, she carelessly grabbed his bio and actually looked surprise at some of his credentials, but his name had a lot to be desired. "Now, Mr. Evil—?"

"Professor Evil." he spoke with a slightly deeper voice that had a tad condensing pitch always underlining. "I didn't spend six years in Evil Medical School to be called Mr., thank you very much."

Evil Medical School?

Curiosity peeked, Winter kind of wanted to ask what that was about, but overlooked the notion for now. More pressing matters needed her attention, like finding the punk who stole her first kiss—and stopping the Treacherous Quadruple from attacking Atlas. That's what she meant. Who cared about stolen kisses from strange dark knights?

Psh, not this Schnee.

"Okay, M—Professor Evil!" she corrected herself, placing the bios down and pressing a hidden button underneath the desk. Videos of the Treacherous Quadruple played in the room in a holographic display, not impressing the brothers in the slightest. Professor Evil seemed to be occupied with his names and Austin was stars-trucked by the pendulum toy with the four balls that moved back and forth.

"Ahem..." Winter cleared, grabbing their attention. "As you can see, I called you two here because you're the best of the best and I need you to bring these four men to justice. With your recommendations and skill set, I know you could capture these four and bring them to me."

"That's all smashing and good, baby!" Austin poked a finger at the hologram, leaning back on his chair. "But what's in it for us?"

Winter glared again, hating the word baby, but snapped her fingers anyways. A second later an Atlas android walked in with a briefcase. It placed the case down before her and she slid it across to them, allowing the brothers to inspect the contents to their heart's content.

"Inside that case is one-million liens."

Austin opened the case and rolled a wad of lien next to his ear, and when the flapping stopped, he looked up. "You're eight-hundred and thirty-two liens short, baby."

Winter looked off to the side, guilt not present. "I had to buy the case."

"Ah! So in essence, we're buying the case. But what if we don't like the case?" Austin looked over to his brother and held up the case. "Do you like the case?"

"It is tacky and tasteless." Prof. Evil frowned in approval.

"It's a nice case!" Winter defended.

Austin settled, sitting back down. "No, no, it's a lovely case."

She huffed. "It's offending."

"I like the case!" he fought back loudly, but started to mumble. "I don't like the idea of us not getting a choice in the matter. I mean, here we are, and I—!"

"Alright, I've had enough of this!" Professor Evil yawned, grabbing the case from Austin's hands. "We'll take the case, and we'll hunt down your mongoose problem."

"... What?"

...

Finally reaching the edge of kingdom, the Treacherous Quadruple barely manage a step outside the busy district and already someone was focusing them out in a crowd of hundreds, pointing and screaming at the top of their natural born lungs.

"Oh my Monty! It's the Treacherous Quadruple! Run for your pathetic lives!"

In less than a minute, the street's completely vacant, papers fluttered in the wind with no sound to speak of. The four of them look between each other, lowering their glasses to glare at the silent intersection with deserted buildings. Eventually, it's Sun whom became the voice of reason in all the chaos, plucking off his shades with little concern for identity in a ghost street.

"I think wearing these shades will only cause more problems. Eventually people will stop fearing us and go on the attack. And that is a fight we cannot win. Besides!" Sun added, happy free. "People can't be some so dumb to not be able to see through our disguise?"

"What are you doing?!" yelled a random person, cupping his hands for added effect. He's at the corner of the street that's opposite of them. "Get out of there while you still can, monkey Faunus! Can't you see the three of the Treacherous Quadruple is standing right behind you! Who knows where the forth one is!"

Sun flicked his shades back the moment the guy ran the corner, grin back and powerful. "I guess I was wrong."

"We should get out of here while we still can!" Jaune ordered, running up to the nearest dictionary. They join him a second later, looking for the information they needed. "Come on! Where's the nearest Bullhead station!"

"Found it!" Neptune pointed out, placing his thumb on the nearest terminal, which was all the way across Atlas. "It's just halfway across... Atlas..."

"That's poor planning design." Ren mumbled, hating their luck. "Whoever designed this city clearly wasn't right in the head. Vale has at least four Bullhead stations at every corner of the kingdom."

Jaune shook his head, slapping both his hands on the directory. "We can talk about how great Vale is later, but we gotta run—!"

Shot!

Jaune rolled on the ground after being shot in the shoulder from a blast of random energy. Instantly, the other three were on the defensive, jumping back just in time from similar energy blast crashing into the directory. Two of them had their weapons out as Sun leaned down to help Jaune up, pulling the Arc by the forearm.

Ren aimed StormFlower directly at the machines standing across from them, glaring over the rim of his cloak. "We have trouble. Keep your guard up. It looks like Atlas has security drones as their guardian force."

The Atlesian Knight-200's took aim and prepared to fire. "Targets confirmed. The Treacherous Quadruple. Authorization for lethal force has been approved. Fire immediately. Detain if possible."

A wave of energy beams came straight for the quadruple, forcing them apart to cover more ground. They take cover, hiding behind anything remotely sturdy, as in mailboxes or trashcans, though; they didn't last too long under the constant onslaught of energy.

"Robots..." Jaune laughed, holding up Crocea Mors and his shield. "It had to be robots!"

"What?" Neptune asked, dodging another blast from the security force. "Not a fan of metal and oil?"

Jaune lunged out of the way from another blast, blocking a second with his shield. "Let's just say I'm not a fan of lifeless, cold, killing machines! I and technology don't exactly see eye-to-eye."

"I'll say!" Sun added, bending underneath another ray of energy. "Your weapon is so boring, dude. Where's the extreme at? Where's the fun! That's just a sword and shield! Boring!"

Jaune shrugged, flicking away a blast of energy. "Hey! Some people like the classics. I'm more of a hands on type of guy, anyway."

Ren pulled his leader out of a volley of attacks. "Just be lucky that the robots don't have Aura."

"Yea..." Jaune agreed after a few seconds of silence. "I don't know what I'd do if that happened. It would go against everything Aura stands for."

Ren didn't ask about it anymore. Aura's the power of life, the gift from the soul, hypothetically speaking. To stuff Aura into a machine would be going against Mother Nature herself. And his leader's the epitome of Aura. Jaune probably wouldn't take too kindly to such things. He took his Aura and Lore knowledge very seriously, even if he acted childish about it a lot of the time. No one cared more about the strange power more than his leader.

No one!

"Hey! Hey!" Sun laughed, walking over toward the battalion. "I got it! All we have to do is take off our shades and no one will recognize us! It's easy! Watch!" He walked toward the knights, pulling his shades off. "What sup, my metal companions? That's a lovely shade of paint you got there!"

The drones instantly aimed at sun, fixing their weapons into place. "Target. Monkey Fist. Intelligence, below average. Preparing to fire."

Pulling back, Sun jumped over to his friends, panic clear. He slid his shades back on, sliding up to a fuming Neptune, who pinched him on the cheek, acting very nerdish with his infinite amount of nerd wisdom.

"Unlike people... robots are able to see through our disguise!" Neptune warned, pulling Sun's cheek. "So keep those on! It's the only way we can protect our identity from people!"

Sun pulled back, wincing. "Ow! Ow! Alright dude! Sheesh! That hurts a lot! Let go!" Neptune let his cheek go, still mad. Not even the lien could lift his spirits. "I get it! I get it! Keep the glasses on!"

"He's right, though." Ren agreed, holding StormFlower across his chest, never once taking his eyes off the armed knights. "We need to hide. Atlas is surrounded with these machines, and if even one so calls us out then the glasses won't matter at that point. We need to keep them on at all times so the humans and Faunus can't see our identity." He sighed. "No matter how ridiculous they may look."

"That's all good..." Jaune trailed, concentrating on his Lore. His control's lacking, but not incomplete. "But we should worry about that later! They're advancing!"

True to the Arc's word, the Atlesian Knight-200's began moving forward, firing a volley of energy at the stunned four. They maneuver out of the way, dodging the blast with pained expression, slowly closing the distances with hurdles and power slides.

Deciding to go on the offense, the four manage to close the distance between themselves and the lifeless machines, bringing the fight to them. Sun jumped on one of the drone's shoulders, using it as a balancing tool as he fired shotgun shells at the robots nearby, caring less about the backlash from his attacks on the robot's joints. Any shots fired at him was taken care by his stomping post, getting used up by the monkey before said monkey jumps onto another robot's back and repeated the process. Sun even used his tail to redirect a bot's aim, firing at different intended targets.

Neptune's trident impaled an Atlesian Knight right through the chest, covering the robot in a constant static discharge as he used the bot to swing at other robots, acting as a shield and sword for laymen's terms. He soon discarded the toy, and used one of the robots as a stepping stone; lunging up into the air to rain a hailstorm of energy blasts down upon the unprepared machines. The moment he landed, Neptune kicked one android in the chest, smashing its head in with the case full of money and Dust.

Ren simply dodged a robot's attack, getting within their personal circle, taking advantage of their relativity slow reaction speed. He aimed StormFlower into their joints, sliding across the battlefield with all the grace of a ninja and a Lore cloak to affect his center of gravity. The few he failed to pinch bullets into, he grabbed and forces a chunk of bad luck into their processors, allowing the machines to malfunction on their own terms. Not once did he need to look back to see the machine fall over.

Jaune brought his sword down upon the androids, feeling his Lore giving him the extra strength and speed he needed to keep up, even if he was severely handicapped. The rest of the guys prove not to have any problems in their fights, yet they did move far slower than usual. Each one of his strikes cut right through the metal of the androids, and his shield acted as a great bashing barrier. They're not clean cuts like Excalibur would've done, but he's not complaining. They're definitely better than before he unlocked his Aura weapons.

Odd enough, Crocea Mors didn't disrupt Lore, but his shield definitely didn't like it. As a matter of fact, each attack on his shield seems to be far more powerful than normal. It's not a good thing, not at all. And Jaune's only now realizing that his Aura was never disrupted by his shield, only just his sword itself. How odd.

What's going on? Why now? Why was he barely noticing this stuff now?

Throwing Crocea Mors, the sword cut straight into an android's chest, embedding within. Jaune quickly ran up and pulled the sword out, using his foot to push the robot back as he swung in an arc and took off a few bots' heads clean off their shoulders. Seconds later, he leveled down and picked up a random firearm from a downed bot, firing a haymaker of damage upon the robots from behind his shield. When the ammo's all gone, he threw the gun and stuned a bot before leaping forward and cutting the bot in two with a downwards, angled arc.

The fight only lasted about a minute, but it felt like an eternity between the four. Without their Aura comfortably under their control, any fight would feel like a war, especially if their Aura felt disrupted rather than lacking. Even the simplest of moves cost way too much energy to execute, very less preform to adequately. They're lucky to be walking away almost unscathed, but the pancakes have not been too kind with their aftertaste, and they're soon finding themselves beyond exhausted after taking care of the last of the Atlesian Knights.

The very last of the Atlesian Knight 200 models aimed its gun at the standing four, unmoved by its fallen battalion. "Stop. Surrender immediately. Or be terminated—bzzt!"

Neptune lowered his gun down, breathing heavily along the rest of the four while the last robot fell down without a head. Damn their screwed up Aura! This fight shouldn't even have been a warm-up, but their out of breath already. Don't even get them started on what their next course of action was going to be. They need another minute to catch their breath.

Smiling pathetically, Sun poked Ren on the side. "Damn, your girlfriend's a terrible cook. Remind me to never touch anything she makes ever again. I think I'll eat dirt over her cooking any day."

"She's not my girlfriend." Ren reaffirmed, talking to a wall at this point. "And I tried to warn you. Next time listen to me about—!"

"Shut up! That's not important right now!" Jaune cut in, yelling with a horsed tone. "We need to leave before more show up! I can't fight another wave so soon." To prove his point, he dug Crocea Mors into the cement, resting on the handle for support. His own weight's just too much, even with Lore's elusive gravitational properties.

They all agree, taking as many deep breaths as possible. Neptune's the first to reclaim his energy, having shot and done the least amount of leg work, running into a nearby Sport Specialist store. None of them question it, still catching their breath. He came back out a minute later with packs full with who knew what, handing one to each of them. Inside, they all find canned food, a fire starter, and a few bottles of water.

When Jaune and Ren look up to confront Neptune, it's Sun who threw in a comment. "Nerd boy here likes to camp. He's all about the great outdoors."

Neptune glared, but Ren saw through the reason. "Good idea. Who knows if we're going to end up stuck in the woods? Mantle outside the kingdom is a forest out there, at least during this time of year. We might need to hide there if we're given no choice and can't make it to the Bullhead station by today."

Jaune didn't like the sound of those odds, but here they were, barely able to stand after fighting a battalion of emotionless robots. Actual bounty hunters would just prove to be a bigger challenge, and lest if any fool decided to throw their own hat into the ring. Already the odds were stacked against them. Having a whole kingdom scared of their false might could only last so long. Sooner or later, more and more people were going to revolt and fight back a war they could most definitely win.

Glaring at each of their Auras through Outer Space, Jaune could see Sun and Neptune halting their Aura from healing their minor bruises from a few lucky shots the bots managed to land. Other than that, there's not much to say about their Auras, except for the fact none of them resembled their previous forms, elastic and phasing in and out without a sign of control anywhere. Whatever Nora's meal did to them was still affecting them. Their Auras were working overtime to expel the contents, him included. Having to split up the power for fighting and surviving was a tasking experience. Even Ren's sloth cloak's limited to helping, only being able to suppress his Aura and Semblance, but not adding anything into actually stabilizing his Aura.

How coldly sick.

"Let's just get out of here. We'll figure it all out on the way to the nearest station..." Jaune paused, looking over to Ren. "How far is it?"

Ren sighed, clicking his shades up. "About eight miles due north." Ren could've sworn he saw Jaune's soul die. "We should be there in about an hour if we run."

If only if it was that simple.

Nothing's ever simple with the two of them. Not Aura. Not training. Not eating a batch of harmless looking pancakes. Not anything! And Ren's bad luck Semblance leaking about sure wasn't going to make running away a walk in the park. Not to mention they have to escape Atlas.

Crying to himself, Jaune harden his resolved, creating a pair of fist. "Let's just get moving..."

Nodding alongside him, the team ventured out into Atlas, dwelling deeper into the murky kingdom they know nothing about. Across from them—in every available screen—they see the warning signal for the Treacherous Quadruple and for the people of Atlas to stay locked in their homes. The few people out and about were running away the moment they spot them. Other than that, Atlas was like a ghost kingdom. There's hardly a soul out and about.

Turning a corner, the quadruple took a moment to catch their breath, figuring they've ran about a mile, maybe a little less. They've yet to run into any more Atlesian Knight-200's, but the day's still young, and their wanted posters were plastered on every screen they pass by. They stick out like a sore thumb, especially Neptune's violet hair, and Sun and Ren's black clothing. Jaune's the only one looking normal, but that's pushing it with the shades they're all wearing.

Pacing themselves through the empty streets of Atlas, they found the silence—except for the warning signal—to be creepy. The few people around Sun kept freaking them out, living his evil persona to the fullest, which wasn't exactly helping morale.

Sun grinned, spooking some poor soul with a simple boo. The guy ran faster than the wind. "This is going to be easier than I thought. We'll get out of Atlas with a snap!"

Ren rolled his eyes, hating how Sun just jinxed them. And they were doing so well, too. Now Lady Luck had to prove the monkey wrong. Only because he challenged the luck she bestowed upon them. Didn't anyone know anything? Never challenge the forces beyond their comprehension. And to prove his point, all the screens in the area turned off, only to come back on with a weird, groovy flower in the middle. The music playing's almost psychedelic in nature, and before they knew it, a man's appearing out from some corner and dancing toward their destination.

He was dressed in a weird cobalt blazer suit with an orange shirt beneath and small ascot. A strange circle and arrow medallion hung from his neck and he had wild brown locks with terrible teeth and out of place glasses. And the guy danced—a lot. He practically danced his way around the corner, never dropping that foolish smile of his, completely fearless to their presence.

A real first for them in the past ten minutes.

"Look what I found!" The man shook his arms in an endless loop, moving with footwork only a pro could pull off. "A couple of cats prowling in the streets on a hot summer's day, yea!" Shaking his legs, the man threw his hips around with the rhythm of the music. "Allow myself to introduce... myself. I'm Austin Young... your jailer, juror, and decider! Now let the power of music move your body and free your senses!"

Jaune instantly held up Crocea Mors over his chest, glaring hard. "A bounty hunter! Everyone, get rea—!" Suddenly, they all found themselves dancing along to Austin's moves, mimicking him perfectly. "I! Can't! Stop! Dancing!" None of them could! "What's going on?!"

Neptune tried with all his might to break free, but he couldn't do squat. "It's his Semblance! It has to be!" Frowning distastefully, he found control over his body simply impossible. "I don't know what to do!"

"Well do something!" Sun cried, watching Austin lift up his hands. They all mimic him, dropping their weapons onto the floor a second later. Soon they're doing the moonwalk across the hot pavement. "This isn't good!"

A minute into the dance, Jaune's eyes widen astronomically. "Where did that parade come from?"

A band of people turn from the same corner Austin appeared from, marching in a parade, increasing the tempo of the upbeat music around them. Where they got the instruments mattered little to them, but they appear happy to have the Treacherous Quadruple under Austin Young's control. A little dancing for Atlas's greatest terrorists was a great trade, one they're taking full swing of. And one the four Huntsmen-in-Training fought tooth and nail against.

A fight that's utterly futile under the groovy bounty hunter's Semblance.

"Who cares?" Ren glowered, feeling embarrassed to be seen dancing in such a way. If anyone he knew—if Nora found out—life would become unbearable. "We have to find a way to break free!"

Pelvic thrust! There had to be pelvic thrust type of dancing! If Nora ever learned about this, Ren would never be able to hold any Semblance of control over Nora's antics again, she would never let him live it down. No matter what, this couldn't be known! There's already too little masculinity around them on a daily basis. Oh! And if Ruby found out, then that's ten times worse.

Trusting on his leader, Ren hoped Jaune could find a way out of this, because his bad luck Semblance couldn't reach Austin from how far he was, and there were far too many bystanders to release an uncontrolled wave of bad luck. They could even use their weapons! Ren had no choice but to believe in his leader's Aura and Lore skills to bust them out, because Sun and Neptune couldn't do a damn thing, neither. They're all trapped like flies to glue.

Reading Ren's mind, Jaune glared through Outer Space, finding Austin's Semblance to be a parameter type of Semblance. They're trapped in a giant dome of violet that's stretching across the entire cross-section of the street. Anything even remotely having the power to move was under his control, dancing to a nice tune, a slave to the music and Austin's groove-tastic dance moves. Jaune should know, he had seven sisters, and they all loved to dance the night away. And the dance moves he's throwing out were damn perfect in every way, shape, and form.

Such a shame to bring them to an end, but desperate times demanded desperate measures.

Jaune quickly focused as hard as he could with his controlled-opened palm, finding it immensely difficult to concentrate with all his erratic dancing and sudden movements, not to mention the blaring music surrounding them. In the end, he's only able to create a single Gravity, depraving him of the other two he could normally conjure up. It floated up to him, mimicking emotion and under his control and not Austin's.

Willing it to move, he ignored the way Sun and Neptune stared at the orb, forcing Gravity to move as fast as possible toward Austin. When the bounty hunter raised his arm up, prepared to block his orb with a cane he detached from off his back, Jaune took advantage of the sudden gesture of his raised hand and willed the orb to move twice as fast, dodging Austin's cane. He ordered the orb to do a one-eighty and sprint back to Austin's back, infecting everyone around Gravity with a torrent of bad mojo!

"Whoa!" Austin grinned, breaking out of his wave of depression caused by the D-Arc Knight's bad mojo powers. "That's freak-deaky! Real left field! I love it!"

Hitting Gravity with the side of his palm, Austin suddenly found his Aura drained from the hand-to-orb contact, losing momentary control over his Groove Semblance. It's like that little creepy orb was the man, and the man was always trying to bring people down. And that tiny slip of control was all the Treacherous Quadruple needed to unleash a counter-attack, not throwing away the opening their Fearless Leader exposed.

Moving freely again, Sun clapped his hands together. "It's now or never!" The monkey frowned, finding his Semblance was weakened as well. "He's only able to make two spectral clones. "Damn! This is my limit..."

Austin grinned, pleased. "Your free spirit has broken my Semblance, smashing baby! The party's getting good!" He put his foot back, noticing the Sloth King getting ready to charge. "Oh behave! You don't know what you're doing. You're gonna get hurt!"

Ren picked up StormFlower and charged right for Austin, not fearing for Gravity's effect on him. The cloak will protect him from all the negative effects. Only problem, Austin had one hell of a positive attitude. No matter what, Gravity didn't bring his mood down, he continued on smiling with that damn groove of his, mocking them essentially. Fear didn't exist in that man's vocabulary.

Reaching him, Ren aimed a roundhouse kick for the man's head, not at all surprised Austin managed to dodge the blow with relative ease and bring his cane up to strike Ren's side. The sharply dressed man failed to follow through with another strike to Ren's head, being blocked by Sun's transparent clone. Not to mention Neptune was firing from a long-distance while Jaune managed to create an additional Gravity—at his limit due to his lack of control—forcing Austin to back off.

The parade following him had broken away, screaming in terror with the Treacherous Quadruple breaking through Austin's Semblance. Even for a top-notch bounty hunter such as himself, Austin could only do so much against four versus one, especially when said four were the seemingly powerful Huntsmen that attacked Atlas in broad daylight and managed to beat the stronghold of the military might of Remnant. If that wasn't a kick to the nickers, then that's simply not kosher.

What's a bounty hunter to do?

Holding his cane up across his chest, Austin trailed his eyes between the three opponents within his personal space, two clones and the Sloth King himself. And he's not forgetting about those orbs bringing his mojo down. With them, his Groove Semblance couldn't reach them all. He's stuck between a rock and some type of fat bastard. And that Sloth King's lunging forward, prepared to knee him in the jaw with the two clones covering both his blind spots, while Super Pervert kept Austin from jumping out to avoid the attack.

Austin Young's got nowhere to go. "Blimey, this is going to leave a mark."

The attack never came. A torrent of ice blocked their attacks and acted as Austin's shield, protecting him from the rain of misfortune. The bloke didn't even need to turn around to know who saved him, grinning that crooked smile of his, filled with peace and all that good stuff.

"Austin, can you remind me what do people pay for you? Honestly, do I always need to throw you a bone? These children shouldn't take you more than an after school special."

Austin laughed, clicking his cane on the floor. "Can't! Those little buggers over there are really bringing down my mojo. I can't shake my tail feathers. My jimmies are in a twist. It's a disaster, yea. But groovy save, Professor Evil! I really felt the love between all this ice!"

Prof. Evil let out a long sigh. "I see... Allow me, Austin, to take over. " Clapping his hands, the wall of ice shattered in an instant, revealing a confused quadruple. "You must excuse me for interrupting your little dance, but I feel like the show must go on, so please just die now." With a snap of his fingers, a few bears ran from the corners of multiple buildings, gathering near Professor Evil. "Bye-bye."

Regrouping together, Neptune's the first to point out the obvious craziness of it all. "Are those bears with a frickin' laser beams attached to their heads?"

Prof. Evil shrugged, evilly smiling with his pinkie up. "What? I believe every creature deserves a warm meal." He started to laugh. "Goodbye, Treacherous Quadruple! Finish them, my simplistic minions! Eat till your bellies are full!"

The team couldn't believe what's charging at them. Bears with freaking laser beams attached to their heads! And some were riding unicycles! Worst of all, they're devilishly quick; moving faster than the team could almost react. They could barely avoid getting slashed across the chest from some bears while others ran with their laser firing nonstop. Some of the beams of light even ended up hitting other bears, but bears were tough, they simply shrug off the blast and pretend their fur wasn't smoking.

Ducking under a swipe from a bear, Sun followed up with an uppercut to the nose, finding the bear a lot more resilient that robots or humans for that matter. It easily shrugged off the damage, flicking Sun across the battlefield with a swipe of its bear claw. The monkey couldn't even get time to roll around, getting blasted with another particle of energy Dust. Ren had to jump in and pull Sun out of the blast, hiding behind a building as the bears drew closer.

Meanwhile, Neptune's hiding behind Jaune's shield, firing back his own weapon, confused if it's animal cruelty for shooting bears with tiny little, red hats on. Jaune's busy controlling Gravity, messing with Austin's control to prevent him from using his Semblance, but it's most definitely a losing battle. The Treacherous Quadruple knew that and so did the bounty hunters. They have to run! It's the only way!

"I think it's time to go!" Jaune yelled amidst the chaos, hoping Ren and Sun heard from the across the disorder. "Does anyone have a plan?!"

Deflecting a blast with the suitcase, Neptune's lip trembles for a bit, but then he considered the alternative if they're caught, and forced back his fear. He dropped down and put his hand onto the ground, searching for the damn thing while his other hand reached for an Ice Dust shard within the suitcase. And before Jaune could ask what he's doing, Neptune threw an Ice Dust shard from the suitcase, suddenly calling forth water from the sewage lines underneath the asphalt, creating a wall of ice to separate them from the bounty hunters.

It extended over the two-story buildings, acting as a wall between them and the bears. They're all left speechless, and it's Ren who found his voice again, running up to Neptune as he pulled a manhole from out of the ground.

"Your Semblance is to control water?"

Neptune shivered, shaking in place practically! He quickly flipped open the manhole, jumping quickly inside. "I know, don't remind me! It's a living nightmare! Do you have any idea how horrible it is to control a Semblance that puts fear into your heart?"

Ren remained fixed over Neptune, peering emotionless over the rim of his cloak, losing and all vigor his eyes could possibly cast. He dipped into the sewage line a second later, reaching the bottom to join Neptune in the dirty tunnel system, grabbing the young man by his shoulder with a look of pure understanding.

"I do." Ren sighed, guarding his emotions once more. "Believe me, I really do."

Sun jumped down next, splashing them with dirty water. He's clearing freaking out. "Yea! Yea! Hug and kiss later! We gotta run! There are two freaks of nature up there, and I don't want to end up getting between them!"

The manhole got sealed when Jaune finally jumped down, cutting off their source of light. Seconds later, Neptune reached into his packet to pull out a glow stick, illuminating the sewer system with a soft glow of green. They're quiet for a moment, feeling the earth above them shake and rumble as the destruction to Neptune's ice wall began. The murky water passing between their shoes was the only sound outside the mini-earthquakes, and they each take a moment to catch their breath, using the nearest curved wall to rest on.

The rumbling went on for a while, increasing their fear. The bears above make sniffing sounds, passing over the manhole, unable to find their scent due to the stench underneath. Luckily for them, the bounty hunters probably think they're somewhere hiding in the buildings and not in the dirty and germ infested sewers. Still, who knew how long that'd last? Knowing their luck, they're bound to be caught any second.

They couldn't let that happen.

Jaune gritted his teeth together, hitting his fist on the wall. He's partially hidden from Neptune's glow. "This wasn't supposed to happen! How did we become wanted criminals?" No one answered Jaune, conflicted as well. The Arc's forced to regroup himself, but he ended up sliding down the wall, sitting in the dirty water with his hands ruffled in his hair. "It's not fair... why us."

Another rumble forced them to act, squashing their sadness for the time being, leaving them really no time to think. Sun had to move forward to pick Jaune up by his arm, knowing exactly how he felt. He would love nothing more than to be back at the dorm room Beacon supplied them with, but that's not happening anytime soon.

"Hey... c'mon, you're supposed to be our leader, remember? The D-Arc Knight?" Sun pushed, helping Jaune up. "And we're the Treacherous Quadruple! We turned this kingdom upside once, we can do it again!"

That easy for Sun to say.

It'd be one thing if Jaune was feeling at a hundred percent, but he's sorely handicapped, more so than them. They have years of experience over him, where he's lacking a lot in the fundamental training. It's only thanks to his Aura and Lore control that he'd made it this far. He's not like them. He couldn't just pick up Crocea Mors and be good. All of his training required he used Aura and Lore, both of which deplete themselves the more he used them, and more so when his control's lacking. It's not irony, it's just sad.

Still, sulking in some random sewer while on the run should be a motivator if anything. They couldn't stay here. That'd mean defeat. And defeat was a six letter word he hated. Now victory! That's a word he could get behind! Seven letters! A lucky number! Way better than six!

Facing two different directions, Jaune grabbed Crocea Mors and pointed the blade toward the direction the water's heading. Where's there's an out, there's a way. And the way he's looking for was that way.

Throwing his hand over Sun's shoulder, Jaune laughed, hugging the Faunus close. "Thanks, Sun! I need that! Let's get the hell out of Atlas!"

At the next earthquake, they run away from the shaking, sinking deeper into the sewer system and moving away from the bounty hunters. The glow from Neptune's glow light remained strong, and he managed to grab quite a few from the surplus store, but even so, they all hope there's some sort of light at the end of this tunnel. And after they run for about half an hour, taking many twist and turns that must've sure gotten them off trajectory from their intended target, the team settled down, walking instead of running through the sewer system now. There were a few manholes they could take to get out, but they prefer to keep venturing forward, hoping something better would come along the way.

The silence soon got to Neptune, and he's forced to ask the question that's been bugging him for the past forty minutes. "So... Jaune? What was that creepy dark stuff back there? You know that power you used to free us from that guy Austin?"

Only Lie Ren noticed Jaune's body stiffen a bit, taking the tiniest moments to pause before resuming his simple walk in a sewer. He's not surprised by it. One way or another Sun and Neptune were going to get curious about his Fearless Leader's powers. It'd be dumb not to think that. Ren just didn't think they would ask in the sewer. Seemed like a weird place to ask.

"It's my Semblance." Jaune lied a few seconds later, smoothly. He just needed to keep lying until the Vytal Tournament came up. "I can control little black balls of darkness. They bring fear to my enemies and disrupt their Aura!"

Sun shivered in a good way. "I'll say! Just looking at those things gave me the creeps!"

"But I need you to keep my Semblance a secret!" Jaune urged, stopping in his walk. He turns to look at them. "I want to surprise everyone in the Vytal Tournament and—!"

"Say no more!" Neptune laughed, slapping Jaune on the back. "Keeping your true power hidden so you can get the jump on everyone, now that's smart! No one will see it coming! I like that."

Sun grabbed Jaune's shoulder, leaning on the Arc for support. "Yea! Your secret's safe with us, dude!"

Jaune smiled an honest to true one. No more words were said for a moment and they continue on walking through the sewer, eventually stopping at some random manhole where they could hear people bustling about on top.

Ren moved forward, removing his shades. "As long as we avoid any robots, we should be fine. No one should be able to recognize us without our shades on."

Someone would argue it's safer in the sewers, and then they all realize that they're in the sewers, a disgusting, smelly place. Who wanted to stay here? None of them. And before Ren could ask for any objections, Neptune's grabbing the metal handles to climb up with Sun and Jaune right behind him, all of them plucking their shades right off. The Lie sighed at their eagerness, but was pleased nonetheless that they're leaving the sewers.

Pushing the manhole open, a crowd of people scatter to see four random teenagers get out from the sewer system. They look oddly familiar, it tickled the back of the people's neck, but they couldn't put their fingers on it. On the other side of the spectrum, the teenagers pay them no mind, pushing themselves up with much effort before shutting the manhole and leaving on their merry way, like they didn't just crawl out of the sewer system.

Blending in with the crowd, the Treacherous Quadruple mask their presence, acting as normal as possible as they look for another directory. They hide behind their smiles, keeping an eye out for any robots or other suspicious people following them. Their luck seemed to be turning around when they found a directory, but it fell the moment when they realize they're still about seven miles away from the nearest Bullhead station.

Neptune hunched over, sighing. "Worst. Kingdom. Design. Ever."

"As long as no one is running away from us, I'm fine walking." Jaune countered, waving his hand in the air. "Let's go." Jaune stopped dead in his tracks, face turning deathly white. "Oh no! It's those two again!"

Peering from behind the directory, the trio's eye followed Jaune's sight, instantly locking onto Professor Evil, Austin Young, and their army of circus bears with freaking laser beams attached to their heads. And beside them were a battalion of Atlesian Knight-200's, scanning for the Treacherous Quadruple through shop windows and the crowd of people.

Sun stood rigid with the hairs on his neck rising. "How did they get here so fast? What's wrong with those people?"

Jaune glared over to Ren, wondering if his bad luck Semblance had anything to do with this. The Lie remained silent, removing his glare to search for any possible buildings to hide in.

"It doesn't matter! They're checking places that they think we'll be in." Ren walked quickly, scanning his eyes for a store that no one would ever think to look for them. "We need to find a place to hide."

Giving up, Jaune looked around; eyes searching for any possible place a bounty hunter wouldn't look to find four males. He spotted an area, not one he preferred to go into, but one that might make the bounty hunters reluctant under the same pretext. Still, not one he would want to ever step foot into, but he's—they're desperate enough not to care.

Pulling their arms, Jaune pointed at a secluded building. "How about there?"

Ren stared, blinked, and then gazed with absolute displeasure. "You have to be kidding me? Really? You couldn't have found any better place to hide?"

Jaune shrugged. "We could hide in the sewers again." He looked around and found no manholes nearby. "Uh, never mind." Ren didn't say anything. "Fine! You pick a better place, because that's all I got!"

Ren hoped Sun and Neptune would say something, because he'd absolutely nothing to combat his leader's distasteful plan. Sadly, the duo couldn't find the right words to say, stuck between Jaune's plan and the ever closing in bounty hunters. Their tongues were completely tied and their hands might as well be.

Pinching his nose, Ren sighed loudly and grabbed Jaune's hoodie threateningly. "Nora never hears a word about this... ever!"

He didn't need to tell Jaune twice. If Pyrrha, or any of Team RWBY for that matter, ever found out about where they were about to hide at, their lives would be over in an instant. Instant teasing would be the least of their concerns, and that went double for Sun and Neptune. But they have no choice. The bounty hunters and robots were closing in, and the crowds of people masking them were slowly dissolving with the advancing Huntsmen. Any running would simply provoke the machines and hunters.

"Let's just get this over with..." Neptune slumped, unable to look away from the business.

Rainbow-Dustcious! A male strip bar! How could they tell, because there were neon signs with guys on them wearing dirty outfits and a line of lonely ladies at the doorway! To be fair, none of thought the bounty hunters would search for them there, but it broke so many guy codes that the four actually contemplate fighting the bounty hunters instead.

The deciding factor proved to the bears with freaking laser beams attached to their heads.

Sun ran up to the building. "Sold!"

The guys ran after Sun, stopping just a few feet away from the pink building, gulping all in sync. They look at the front door, lost whether to simply walk in or to find another way in. Their sadden search led them to the Males Wanted sign hanging on a back door with a bouncer for a woman, instantly looking hungry eyes on them. She's shameless in the act, easily opening the door to the four.

Her appearance's a rainbow of colors. Her hair's four different shades of blue, and she's wearing shades almost similar to the ones in their pockets, except they're simply black. The skinny jeans she wore were faded. She's skinny in size, lanky and slightly shorter than them all, but with a smile that made Sun look tame and Neptune's innocent. Her tank-top's pink and she wore a mini-sweater that's cobalt in color, matching Neptune's natural hair color.

Pushing her glasses down, her predator grin's impossible to miss. "Please tell me you're here for the job!" They want to say no. They should say no. However, the sound of bears roaring in the background caught their attention and they walk inside, not missing the giggling coming from the colorful girl as she shamelessly ushered them in with merciless waving. "We got some new talent, Madame Elizabeth!"

The moment they walk in, a woman wearing a red corset that pushed her large chest together, with way too many curls in her orange hair, a dress that barely passed her hips, and black gloves that reach up past her elbows slid up to the boys, sizing them up with guiltless satisfaction. Her pearly white smile was only matched by her flawless skin and revealing outfit. And then there were her green eyes, deep and impossible to miss.

"Well, well, well." she said, accent heavy in an exotic way. She tapped her teeth with her finger. "What do we have here, four delicious pieces of meat, and all for little old me and my girls?!" Grabbing Jaune first, she peered into his timid eyes. "Oh! You got that innocent look that the girls will just eat up! I like that." Throwing him back to his group, Madame Elizabeth leaned on a back wall and smiled at the confused men. "So what brings you four here to my business, you don't seem to be the entertaining type, not that I'm complaining."

They didn't really know what to say, a little distracted by her revealing outfit, still, Neptune spoke for the lot of them, knowing a good answer when it came to business. "We need money to get back home!"

Elizabeth continued to smile. "Don't we all. But are you four prepared to entertain my customers, they can be pretty demanding."

Ren stepped forward, one-hundred percent serious. "It's not like we have much of a choice."

The Madame giggled, loving Ren's cold stare. "Oh! Look at you. Those are bedroom eyes. I can't imagine what those eyes do to some girls." Her eyes trail over Sun and Neptune, sizing them up as well. "And we have a Faunus with a nice tail and hard muscles, and a guy with a smile to drool over. I could definitely use you four."

"So..." Jaune asked, unsure. "We got the job?"

Elizabeth laughed, snapping her fingers. A few women enter with a stand of costumes, revealing and proactive in every way. "Sweetie, you got the job the moment you walked in. I just needed to size you up. And I like what I see." She moved off the wall. "I'll leave you four a few minutes to change, and when I come back, we can talk about your acts. So chose a costume you'll like."

Elizabeth left with the women, slamming the door shut for the guys to change. The room's pink inside with a couch and a heart shaped mirror slash dresser for them to use.

Jaune plucked a random outfit off the rack, holding up a cowboy getup that only consisted of chaps, an overly large cowboy hat, boots with spinners attached to them, a rope, a collar with no shirt, and underwear with a star on it. He held the outfit up for a second, placing it back down with an honest question to follow.

"Is it too late to fight the bounty hunters?" Receiving no answer, he began undressing, caring less if the guys saw him. "We better hurry up. If we don't, they'll end up kicking us out. Then it won't matter."

The trio followed his lead, each grabbing their own outfit to where. Ren picked out a construction combo, Neptune a policemen piece, and Sun a librarian suit. They change out of their own clothing, taking each tug of the fabric with a stab to their pride, but eventually they manage to change and end up wearing ridiculous outfits that they prayed never landed in their friends' hands, or anyone they knew personally.

Whipping his ruler out, Neptune poked Ren's sleeves vest. "I hate your girlfriend, Ren. She got us into this mess!"

Ren opened his mouth to fire back, but Elizabeth returned with a hungry glare, taking in each of their appearance like a fish to water. "Well, well, you boys clean up real nice. I can't wait to see your moves. I hope you know how to dance, but trust me; you can be terrible as long as you lose the clothes. I do recommend you lose the clothes, highly recommend it."

Ushering them to follow her, the Treacherous Quadruple all swallow their pride and take their first steps into the adult industry. There, Madame Elizabeth led them to a podium that's just backstage of the main attraction. A large, red curtain separated them from hungry women, and an outdated song plays that's eighty percent chick flick, and twenty percent romantic. Even worse, the songs playing were more outdated than the stereo system they're playing through, but the four somehow figured the girls didn't care.

Not one bit.

"Ready..." Elizabeth giggled, pointing at Sun first. "You're up, sugar. Just remember dance and take it off."

Sun waved his hand, fixing on his fake librarian glasses. "Watch and learn! Take notes! Couldn't hurt!"

Jaune, Ren, and Neptune envy Sun for his laid back attitude. Out of all of them, Sun's the most used to flashing around his body. The Faunus was always walking around practically shirtless, trying to impress the female population. This was no different, except now he's got all their attention, plus money.

Dancing to the beat of the jungle theme, Sun drank in the cheers of the females, sliding into the spotlight designed for him to dance in. He grabbed the tie around his neck, loosening the material before tossing it toward the crowd, followed by his button up shirt. He tore the shirt open, breaking the buttons as his abs and chest pop out for the girls to cheer. Soon that article of clothing's tossed into the waiting females' hands, getting lost in the shuffle of all the madness.

Neptune had no emotion, watching as Sun danced around in slick pants that were about to be torn off. "Is it weird that I'm used to this?"

Jaune ignored Neptune, pulling on his shirtless collar, figuring it's time for all those dance lessons with his sisters to finally pay off. "Let's just get this over with."

Elizabeth grabbed Jaune by the arm, hugging him tight. "Now you! Go join your monkey friend. He can't handle all that money." True to her word, Sun's almost slipping on the dollar liens littering his dance floor. "I can't wait to see what you got."

Catching his breath, Jaune took a single step back and then did a running start to slide out from behind the curtains, joining Sun as he danced around in only a thin pair of boxers. The girls cheer him on; desperately reaching out to catch the hat Jaune threw the moment he got up, winking to none of the females personally. He sucked in his fear, bending his body back to only bring it back up, followed by his removal off his cowboy vest. He kept the collar and boots on as he shook his tail feathers, adding extra emphasize to his butt.

"If someone shot me now, it'll be a mercy killing." Jaune said with a blush matching Pyrrha's hair. Confidence, he's relying on pure confidence, just like his first day at Beacon. "And damn does this collar itch."

Elizabeth didn't tell Ren to move forward, he just did, walking slowly into the same light with him quietly removing his cop vest, allowing it to simply fall into the floor. His piercing, pink eyes roam across the crowd of Nora level enthusiasts and he began dancing, playing with the belt hanging onto his hips. The pants he wore were easily ripped in two, revealing the black briefs underneath as he did back-flips and handstands to prove his flexibility. The hat covering a portion of his eyes was then flung off, lost to the sea of crazies. And he's just as exposed as Sun and Jaune, minus the boots.

The Madame then looked to Neptune, signaling him to go on, which he prepared for by psyching himself up, fluttering his hands. But he remained in position, unmoving. And eventually he said his problem out-loud. "I can't dance..."

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. "That's your problem? You can't dance? The idea of being half naked in front of a group of middle age, desperate women doesn't even faze you?"

"Nope."

Elizabeth grinned. "Oh? Good then. Glad you have your priorities straight." He stuttered. "Don't worry about it. Look what your friends are doing. What? Are they manlier than you? Are you some nerd?"

That got Neptune. He jumped in place for a quick moment, getting his false courage ready, and then he ran out, tossing both his hardhat and orange vest randomly into the crowd, joining the rest of his friends on the dance stage with a quick slide transition. A quick flash of his smile attracted a good portion of the girls, and before long he's dancing to the beat, doing it awkwardly with little rhythm, but as Madame Elizabeth said, the girls really didn't care if he could dance or not.

No one at Rainbow-Dustcious would ever come to think that the Treacherous Quadruple themselves were dancing for their viewing pleasure.

...

An hour into their jobs, the guys all found themselves dancing for separate parties, losing track of time and working up a sweat. They're all immensely popular, having trained for fighting monsters so their bodies were lean and strong and quite a few have a fetish for the monkey tail. Sun's never been so popular with the ladies. They would've left earlier, but every now and again hear the sounds of metallic footsteps passing by outside, heavy in their movements since they all move together in sync.

Walking up to each separate guy, Madame Elizabeth clapped her hands together. "Your shift is over. Stay and make extra cash if you want, but you're done for the day, company policy. We don't give newbies too much time; the ones who have been here longer have priority."

Ending their dances, the guys retreat back into a corner, well, all except for Ren, he's stuck dancing for a group of older women, having been paid to dance the hour. He's got about five minutes left, giver take. Jaune just finished his half hour special, building up his confidence to new heights, while Sun and Neptune had racked up a hefty amount of lien onstage.

Regrouping—except for poor Ren—Sun gripped the money in his hand, completely overpowered by the most corrupted power in the world. His grin's large and there's even a tiny bit of drool trailing down his mouth.

Sun hugged the cash, never knowing how easy life could be. "I can't believe how much money I made in one hour! This is the easiest money I've ever made!"

"I can't believe we're hiding from bounty hunters in here of all places." Neptune grumbled, envious of Sun's inability to feel self-conscious. They just had to eat Nora's pancakes! "I think I would rather be caught then let the chance of anyone I know walk through those doors."

Jaune blinked, face innocent. "I just can't believe how popular Ren is."

Ren glared at the withered group of old bats waving around one-hundred liens, which only made him seem more appealing. His shoulder ached from his recent addition and he's stuck dancing for perverted old women to hide from the Schnee bounty hunters. "I hate my luck."

Neptune shooed Jaune's attention away from Ren. "Forget about him, we need to figure out our next move. Those robots are still out there."

Lost in thought, Jaune shrugged, pocketing away his money. He's on the same page as Sun. That really was the easiest flow he ever made. Confidence really did work, just not on teenagers, but on older women looking for compliments and fun. They soak it up like a depraved sponge. And some of them really enjoyed Jaune's impressive dance moves and lean body. Apparently, he had soulful blue eyes. He didn't know what that meant, but Jaune's going to capitalize on it.

Sun pouted, fixing his tie. "We could just hide in the sewers again and wait until it's dark out. By then there's less people to worry about."

"But more robots..." Neptune argued.

Jaune scoffed, not caring at all that they're talking basically in their underwear. "I'll take robots over trained Huntsmen any day. That Austin guy's Semblance almost took us down. Robots don't have Aura, which means they don't have a Semblance."

Ren finally joined them another minute later, counting his wad of cash with little emotion, but even the guys could see the small traces of greed hidden within the depths of pink. Money did talk, and the more a person had, the louder it tended to be. Not to mention as an orphan, Lie Ren didn't have much money to spare on himself, so he's a little preoccupied at wondering how to spend his ill-gotten goods.

Sun slid up to Ren, elbowing him in the ribs. "How was the dancing, Ren?"

Ren didn't bother replying to Sun's sly comment verbally, he simply struck the monkey Faunus with his prop baton, leaving a bruise on the monkey's head. Prop or not, Aura could make anything a weapon. Just ask his leader.

Ignoring Sun's cursing, Ren turned to his leader. "What's our next course of action? By now the bounty hunters must be gone."

Looking ridiculous in his getup, Jaune looked off to the side. "We head back into the sewers. There are a lot of robots still patrolling the area, and we should try to find an area less protected."

Neptune shrugged, heading back toward the room where their outfits lay. "Works for me, anything to get me out of this dumb outfit. These damn short-shorts are riding up!"

Following him back to the dressing room, the team walk in and sit down, throwing their legs out when they reach the couch. The dancing took a lot out of them, and the day's only halfway over. There's still a whole other half to venture through. At least they managed to make some quick cash and lose the bounty hunters. That's the only plus they could see.

Relaxing for the better part of five minutes, they eventually get up and begin redressing back into their previous attire, picking up their weapons from the corner of the room. They're silent throughout the entire exchange, barely making eye contact with each, but then walked in Madame Elizabeth, eyes delicious. More so when she spotted their Huntsmen weapons, figuring that they're actual Huntsmen needing quick case.

"Leaving so soon?" It's not a question, but a statement.

Jaune laughed, fixing on his hoodie. "Yea, it's time for us to go. Thanks for the help! The lien is much appreciated."

"Honey." Elizabeth smirked. "You earned that all yourself. You were the one strutting what your momma gave you. I just gave you a stage to shake it." She shook her head, pouting. "I'm gonna miss you four. It's not every day you get the four most wanted men in Atlas to strip for you."

The Treacherous Quadruple all stop in their changing, focusing solely on the laughing Madame. She's smirking behind her palm, unable to hold back her giggles.

Sun's at a loss for words. They all were. "Ah..."

"Oh hush now!" Elizabeth ordered, never letting go of her smirk. "You didn't find it strange that I didn't ask for your id's or even ages? Did none of that even cross those pretty heads of yours?" They're still at a loss for words. "I'm not some person born yesterday; I know a good disguise when I see one. The sad matter of the truth is, not many people can see past the obvious, but I can."

Jaune stepped forward, glare lost. "Then why didn't you call us out on it? Or better yet, call the cops?"

She laughed harder. "Sweetie, do I look like someone who exactly follows a moral compass. I'm far too corrupted for some trivial nonsense like that. There's always going to be crime. But when was I ever going to get the Treacherous Quadruple to dance for me? This was a chance I was willingly to take. Besides..." she shrugged. "You four look like nice boys. And I didn't want to see those pretty faces get hurt. You never know, you might come back here one day looking for work. I can't take the chance of that not happening. I got a business to run."

Neptune rubbed his hair, waiting for the punch line. "Uh, thanks?" He held out his outfit for her to take, but she shook her hand.

"Take it, for your troubles." Moving to the clothing rack, she grabbed Ren's cloak and her eyes roamed over the unknown fabric, wide with girth. She clutched the thing, rubbing her face on it before handing it to Ren, clasping the ninja by the fingers. "Please, I must know! Where did you get this fabulous cloak! The fabric is so soft and form fitting."

Ren pulled the fabric free, putting his cloak on easily enough. "From a Grimm."

Smiling with her eyes, Madame Elizabeth pulled out a camera from who knew where, holding it up for the Treacherous Quadruple to see. She jiggled it a little. "How about one for the road?"

Seeing no harm in it and owing her for not ratting them out, the four put on their shades and moved closer to Elizabeth, squishing her from both sides as they took a close-up picture with a mixed variants of emotions plastered to their wanted faces. She gazed at her scroll and hugged the item, treasuring the picture always.

Jaune rubbed his neck. "Thanks again..."

The Madame hid her scroll between her breasts and shooed the boys out. "Just get out of here already! I have work to get back to. This place doesn't run itself."

Grateful, they leave, not flinching from the sound of the door closing. They each took a moment to pull off their shades, forever engraving the memory into a special place in their heads. Then each one of them looked at each other, nodding together in silence. Without saying a word, they all agree to never speak about what happened here ever again. And they leave, dodging robots and locating another manhole when no one's paying any attention to them.

Grabbing another glow stick from theirs bags; Jaune led the way, following the direction where the water's flowing. "C'mon! We still have a long way to go."

Walking for the better part of an hour, the Treacherous Quadruple reached some sewer lid that led outside. Beyond the bars, they could see an endless amount of trees and sunlight peeking through. Most importantly there's fresh air and not a robot in sight.

Cutting the bars clean with his sword, Jaune kicked the metal away, jumping out the sewer with the trio following along. They breathe in the crisp air, turning around to see the walls of Atlas separating them from the kingdom. Why a sewer line's disposing nasty water into the forest without any restrictions was beyond them.

Jaune stepped forward, placing his hand on the wall. He looked over his shoulder to address his team. "We should set up camp for now and come up with a plan to get back home tonight."

"Why don't we just run into the woods?" Sun asked.

Jaune pointed at said woods. "Because A, we don't know where we're going. And B, there are Grimm in the woods. We'll just end up getting ourselves killed. No! It's better if we regroup up and think of a plan. Then we can move out tomorrow and get back home. The security at the Bullhead will be tight, and no doubt there's going to be robots patrolling the area. They'll see right through our disguise and our only chance of escaping this place. We need a plan."

Unable to fault Jaune's leadership skills and logic, they settle down about a quarter of a mile away from the sewage line, preparing a makeshift campfire with the tools Neptune stole earlier that day. Soon the sun begins to set, turning the light into night, capturing the quietness of a forest with only the fire making any sort of sound. A can of refined beans turned out to be their meal, but they're not complaining, having worked up one hell of an appetite prior.

During their reprieve, they tried to think of many plans to escape Atlas, but there was always someone pointing out one flaw or another that would surely get them caught or expose themselves in the middle of a room filled with robots. Eventually, they run out of ideas and settle around the campfire, sitting in positions that suited their personalities. Only Jaune continued to brainstorm over possible scenarios that could get them out of Atlas and back to Vale, but soon he's discovering that there's no safe way to escape.

Honest to Monty, there's no easy way out. For them it's either fight or fall, sink or swim, win or lose. But there's no easy way out. If they want to escape, then they'd have to do something overly drastic, something that no one would even consider under normal circumstances, not with an armada waiting for them.

Unluckily for them, they weren't under normal circumstances.

Staring at the campfire, Jaune leaned back on the forest floor, frowning into the embers. "I have an idea, but you guys might not like it." He didn't even like it. "And I mean really, really not like it. But I can't see any other way out of this mess."

Sun stopped stirring his beans, open to his idea. "Lay it on us."

Standing up, Jaune threw his beans into the fire, burying Crocea Mors into the dirt right after. Half his face was covered in shadows while the other half was illuminated by the nearby campfire burning into the background.

"We're going to have to steal a Bullhead and fly it back to Vale."

Author Notes: I'm going to try to stick to a 10,000 word limit. This chapter was only 17,000 words so it could make the story ~20,000 words with 2 chapters.