Chapter 46: Mastermind in the shadows

"Gah!" Cinder cried as was thrown to the ground.

Adelaide had retracted her weapons and was now beating the girl to a pulp with her bare fists. And despite choosing to use her weapons, the dark haired girl couldn't land a hit edgewise!

Now her face was swollen and she had a black eye. On top of that, her clothes were covered in dirt and were starting to rip at the seams, very much like her pride.

How dare this bitch disrespect her like this! Just punching and kicking her around like she was nothing! Like how she had been treated back at the Glass Unicorn. The way she was so effortlessly brushed aside as if she was nothing, as if she wasn't worth the former huntress' time infuriated the girl to no end as it reminded her of the time she had spent being mistreated by such weaklings like the mistress and her daughter.

Just thinking back to how pathetic she was back then to be pushed around by people like that never failed to draw out her buried rage, but being subjected to it again by someone else? Well, that was a line crossed as far as she was concerned. Nobody, and she meant NOBODY, was going to treat her like that and live to tell the tale!

With a groan, she slowly began pulling herself up once again, fighting back the pain in her spine that sent waves of agony shooting through her body. She knew it was pure adrenaline and rage that kept her on her feet, but at this point, she didn't care what it took! She was putting Adelaide in her plac-!

Suddenly, the huntress' foot landed just below her ribs, sending her careening several feet where she crashed into a car, the wind being forced from her lungs as she felt her lower rib fracture.

"You ready to call it quits?" Adelaide called, advancing towards the girl as she doubled up, coughing violently as she clutched her stomach. "As much as I enjoy beating the crap out of children, I do have better things to do with my time. So, if it's okay with you, I'll be on my way."

At her words, Cinder forced her head off the ground to see Adelaide turning around and beginning to walk away from the lot, her back facing the dark haired girl showing her complete indifference to her. She didn't see her as a threat! She barely saw her at all! As far as the woman was concerned, Cinder was nothing more than an inconvenience that needed to be squashed, like a bug!

Biting her lip, the dark haired girl rolled onto her stomach and began slowly pushing herself back to her feet. Hands clenched so tightly around her blades that her knuckles turned white.

"W-wait!" She gasped, crawling to all fours. "W-we're not d-done! I'm still-!"

Bang!

Before she could finish, Adelaide, without so much as looking behind her, fired a shot from her gauntlet that grazed the bride of her nose.

"Kid, just don't." The woman said, still not bothering to look at her. "If we continue, we both know how this ends. Even if you're still in denial about it." With that she finally looked back at the girl, and let out a disappointed sigh at the stubborn persistence in her eyes. It seemed she still refused to learn. And if so, it was probably for the best to put her down before her stupidity took someone's life. Be it her own, or worse, an innocent bystander.

"Fine, let's finish this." Adelaide said, turning and taking aim at Cinder's head. "A brat like you, who doesn't have the foggiest idea of what a huntress she aspires to be, should be stopped right here and now before you bring any more shame to the name. Sorry Summer, but I can't spare someone this self-center. I'm sure you of all people will understand. After all, even to this day, you still are still the hero to many of us. Even if you have had your fangs dulled by the moronic headmaster."

As Adelaide took aim, Cinder tried to squirm out of the way, only for her body to give out almost immediately, making the dark haired girl curse under her breath. Was this the end?

Suddenly, a vortex of flames shot towards Adelaide, completely wrapping the woman in the burning inferno!

"The hell?!" Adelaide cried, raising her hands to block her face from the heat as she squinted to see through the fire and wind. Immediately she began releasing cold air from her body, cooling the flames around her lessening the damage!

"Get away from my idiot partner!"

Cinder's head shot up at the voice. And not a second later, Amber came crashing down into the parking lot, her spear leveled at Adelaide. A split wind dust crystal split in two with a fire crystal stuck between the halves! And if the dark haired girl remembered this combo correctly, she knew what was coming next!

Sure enough, even as Adelaide's semblance pushed the heat back, small spots of finely crushed dust were becoming visible on her clothes and weapons. And of course if Cinder saw that, Amber had as well.

Spinning her staff, Amber fired a blast of electricity from the other end of her staff straight towards the woman, one that moved so fast, she didn't have time to get out of the way forcing her to block it with her gauntlet. Which unfortunately for her, was also covered in the finely crushed dust. Something she didn't realize until it was too late!

The second the attack touched the former huntress, she disappeared in a massive explosion that released a powerful shockwave that caused not only the glass, and even some ice, to shatter, but also was so strong that Cinder would've been blown if she didn't stab her blades into the ground to keep herself in place.

"Wow." Cinder breathed out, her eyes wide at the sights of Amber's hair and clothes whipping around in the wind from the blast. She looked completely different to the meek girl she had met back at the entrance exam. As if something inside her had changed. Or maybe she always had this inside, but had never shown it due to the issue she was dealing with. Whatever those might be. Either way, she felt a twinge of envy stir in her gut.

She had never said it out loud, but Cinder had always assumed if she fought Amber, she'd win. Sure, she knew it wasn't going to be one-sided like most of her other classmates, but deep down, she had always believed herself the better fighter.

But now? After not only digging into the girl's past, and seeing this new side of Amber who not only just bodied Adelaide, an opponent who had taken her out without any effort, doubts began to manifest. As did frustration.

However, that almost immediately was replaced with disgust. But not at Amber, at herself.

What was wrong with her? Here Amber was, risking her life for her and all the dark haired girl could think of was her own inadequacies? Was she really so fucked in the head that the moment someone, even her own friends, got a a better result in a fight all she could to was get upset over it?

Was she really such a petty and horrible pers-?

But before she could even finish her thought, something shot out of the smoke. Immediately both girls' heads whipped around to see Adelaide flying out of the blast zone with the rockets on her skates and landing on the roof of the event hall the Three Dragons had just been performing in.

"Huh, not bad, kid." She said, turning to look down at them. "Some people are saying your generation is weak willed. Glad to see that's not true. You two are much stronger than most of my generation when we were your age."

Cinder and Amber said nothing as they looked up at the woman. Something was wrong. She was too calm, too collected. It was as if none of what was happening had phased her in the slightest. And as they had both grown up around professional huntsmen, they knew this wasn't normal behavior for a huntress under pressure.

"Of course with that said, you're still kids. And lack experience." She said, making both girls even more confused. What was she on about now? "You can't see the trees in the forest. And for that, you have lost this battle. My mission is complete, I'd gain nothing by fighting you now. So consider this your lucky day."

Before either could figure out what she meant, Adelaide loaded a flare into her gun and fired high into the air, where it burst into flames, leaving a bright red smoke trail in its wake.

"Mission success! Time to retreat!" She said into a radio on her ear, shocking both Amber and Cinder. She could use a radio even while they blocked every other signal in Music Fest?! How?! To get something that powerful would cost a small fortune.

But no sooner than the words left her mouth, several trucks pulled up to the front of the building they were fighting in. Immediately the other members of the Enlightened Seraphim rushed out as quickly as their broken bodies would allow and piled into the trucks.

"No you don't!" Amber yelled, spinning her staff so it was aimed at the truck, preparing a blast of lightning.

But before she could fire, Adelaide shot down from the roof, kicking the staff away so the blast flew harmlessly off into the sky. Then, before the dark skinned girl could counter, Adelaide grabbed the girl by her arm that was holding her staff, trapping it in place with the blades on her wrists.

"Sorry, girl. This is going to hurt, but I need you to sleep for a bit." Adelaide said as Amber immediately tried to escape by throwing a volley of rapid punches at the old woman's face, but all of them were dodged with next to no effort from the professional huntress.

Suddenly Amber let out a cry, her punches losing power as she dropped to her knees as steam began rising from her arm. Slowly, ice began spreading from where Adelaide grip her arm, Freezing over her aura and reaching the skin underneath!

Immediately Cinder gasped recognized that move! It was her's! She and Adelaide shared a semblance! Only difference being that she used heat and the huntress used sub zero abilities, and was at a much higher level.

"Amber! Get out of there!" Cinder screamed, trying to get to her feet. She could see the dark skinned girl's skin was turning blue as the frost spread up her arm and towards her chest. If it went too far, Amber's life would be in danger! The human body wasn't designed to handle extremely low internal temperatures and once individual cells were frozen, there was no way to thaw them!

Amber knew that too, and redoubled her efforts to escape! But her punches were growing sloppy as the cold was already sapping her energy as well as the pain making it hard to concentrate. And while she didn't take much damage against Igor, forming a link with someone she didn't know personally had put a strain on her aura, and any second now it might crack!

And if it did, Amber would die.

Using every last ounce of her, Cinder rose to her feet and charged at the woman, her heart hammering in her chest. She refused to let Amber die! Not now! Not yet!

In hindsight, she knew she didn't stand a chance against the huntress. Not only was she out of aura, but she had also been beaten to a pulp and was still recovering from yesterday's fight. She was only alive because of the dark skinned leader saving her. But to the young Rose, that didn't matter. She had sworn that nobody was going to hurt those close to her ever again! And she intended to keep it!

Seeing the girl's charge, Adelaide spun around, firing at Cinder. But even with her aura gone, she was able to deflect the bullets with minimal trouble. But Adelaide already knew that wouldn't slow her and had planned accordingly.

Taking a raw, fire dust crystal from Amber's bag, she stuck it to her chest and then overhead threw the dark skinned girl at Cinder, catching both off guard and forcing the dark haired girl to drop her swords to catch her partner.

And the moment she felt her partner's hand around her, Amber realized what Adelaide was planning!

"No! Get away from-!"

Too late!

Without a second's hesitation, the huntress shot the raw dust on the dark skinned girl!

Boom!

Immediately both girls disappeared into a massive explosion of flames that engulfed them. The shock wave throws Cinder back, slamming her against the wall of the consort hall, knocking the wind out of her and burning her clothes, including the ends of her cloak, to tatters! And while it wasn't obvious the damage done to her actual body, going off how charged her hair was, she wouldn't be moving any time soon.

Meanwhile, Amber, who had managed to cover the blast with both arms mitigating the damage Cinder took, was thrown upwards, her aura shattering from the blast. So she had no protection when she fell several feet, landing on her arm with a sickening crack! And it was a good thing she had been winded to, as she was pretty sure she'd have screamed or maybe even thrown up if she hadn't!

With a smirk, Adelaide turned, skating away after the trucks, which were already racing towards the employees entrance.

Pushing herself up on her good arm, Amber felt her despair fill her chest as she watched the trucks disappear around a corner, leaving both her and Cinder behind, both too injured to give chase.

What had Adelaide meant when she said mission complete? And why the sudden retreat? Had she known about the huntsman closing in? She had kept her mouth shut to avoid giving that away. And even if she had lookouts, that still didn't explain what their mission even was. Or what had completed it!

Staggering to her feet, arm hanging limply by her side, Amber looked out at the corner where the trucks had disappeared. She had a sinking feeling that whatever this was, her and her team had stumbled into something very much out of their league.

A little while later.

Amber staggered towards the designated safety/evacuation point, fighting every instinct to scream as each step made her arm pulse like it was on fire. She knew she had multiple fractures and was already looking forward to having Eric heal it. Assuming he hadn't used all his aura during the battle.

"You sure you're okay?" A voice asked in her ear. "You seem more injured than me. I can walk just fine on my own. You don't need to push yourself for me."

Beside her, and leaning on her for support, slumped Cinder. After the fight, Amber had checked the girl's condition, and it wasn't good. She had a huge gash in her stomach that was pouring blood onto the dark skinned girl as she held her up. An injury like that would have put most huntsmen out of commission for a few days at least. The fact the dark haired girl was still fighting was a testament to her strength, or her stubbornness.

Besides that, the girl had a fractured spine and a few ribs. Fortunately, they were all on one side so she could lean on Amber with little pain. Aside from that, besides a few minor cuts and bruises, nothing too serious. It seemed Adelaide going easy on her had been a blessing. Because under these circumstances, Cinder should by all rights be dead. Although if she didn't get immediate medical treatment, that was still a very real possibility.

But even more disturbing than any of that was how completely defeated she sounded. Her voice had lost all its bluster and confidence, replaced with just tiredness and simple questions and answers. Meaning she was in complete emotional turmoil. Either that or she had brain damage from the trauma.

As for closer, Amber stumbled, almost dropping Cinder as she just barely managed to catch herself with her bad leg, nearly breaking her resolve not to scream. Ever since the adrenaline had worn off, her leg had been burning with pain. And with her aura gone, she had begun to see blood leaking from her boot. At first, she had decided to just try and ignore it, but as she tried to stand back up only to fall back onto her knees, she realized it must be worth more than she had originally thought.

"Hey, take it easy." Cinder said, trying to catch Amber only to nearly fall as well. "We're nearly there. Take a moment to rest and let's take a look at the damage. That way we can give the medical staff a proper analysis."

At first frost Amber wanted to protest, but upon realizing she was right after another failed attempt to get to her feet, she realized how dire the situation really was if CINDER of all people was being the voice of reason.

Carefully, she pulled her boot off and set it aside, letting her get a full look at the damage done to her leg. And immediately she felt sick.

The area around where she had been cut was covered in a huge burn. It wasn't like the type Cinder let on people who annoyed her, (or whatever excuse she decided to use.) which left a distinctive red mark on the damaged area. These were closer to a chemical, her skin had taken on a variety of different sickly colors all at different point away from the epicenter, the place where she had been first scratched.

If that wasn't bad enough, a good chunk of her leg had been eaten away, leaving a very obvious duvet where her calf should be. But the weirdest thing was the smell that lingered on her leg. The smell of burnt flesh mixed with…acid? No. Exhaust from cars? Wrong again. What was this smell? She definitely knew it, but couldn't place it. All she knew was it smelled like the city of Vale when she had first arrived from the country. Yes that was it, it smelled like pollution. Like car exhaust, chemical waste, and trash. That's what it smelled like.

This wasn't natural. She had seen acid producing semblances before, and while they left smells, none of them had this many scents. And none of them could just bypass an active aura.

In which case, maybe his semblance wasn't the ability to burn or inject acid like she had thought. Maybe his semblance was-.

"Amber!"

Said girl's head shot up to see Adam rushing towards and immediately relief flooded her body as she saw he didn't have any noticeable injuries. He was definitely on the losing end of a fight, but he wasn't bleeding from anywhere serious and he didn't seem to have any broken bones. Or if he did, they weren't noticeable.

"Adam!" Amber gasped, trying to rush to her friend only to fall back to the ground as her bad leg gave out immediately, almost forcing Cinder to bear her entire weight for a few seconds. Although that only resulted in said girl falling to her knees.

Upon seeing this, Adam raced forward, helping Amber back up by taking some of Cinder's weight.

"You two look like you went through hell. Is that leg injury a style? Because if so, I really don't understand girls." The Faunus half joked as the two began hobbling towards the site, which was little more than a building with some armed guards stationed outside.

Amber let out a weak chuckle as she limped next to him. "Don't worry, I'll heal." She reassured him as they entered the building. "It'll definitely leave a permanent scar, but my aura should heal it without lasting effects. And once I see Eric, I'll be right as rain by nightfall! Just in time for Mr. Rocks to yelled at me for something else."

Amber's happy façade sounded hollow even to her. But she was just too tired to care. After everything that had happened today, she just hoped the boys would be just as exhausted as her and wouldn't notice.

But to her surprise, Adam gaze fell to the ground and his hand tightened into a fist as his mouth turned into a snarl. Immediately telling Amber something was wrong.

"What happened?" She asked, already dreading the answer. It might not take much to get under Adam's skin, but for him to be acting like this without someone restraining him couldn't be good.

And sure enough she got her answer.

It was a good thing Adam had taken the brunt of Cinder's weight, because the next second Amber wasn't able to support herself let alone the dark haired girl.

A medical team was gathered around a bed that Eric was laying in. Several tubes were already sticking out of him pounding blood into the knight as he leaked out in a consistent flow from the numerous deep slashes that covered his non-armored. But it hadn't been the medical staff who had removed the heavy metal.

The young man's armor had melted down while he was still in it. Now bits and pieces were fused with his skin, which had similar burns to Amber's leg. But while her's had been contained to a single limb, Eric's entire body was littered with them. Each one ranging from the huge duvet to minor swelling burns.

But the most horrible one was a burn on his neck.

It started on his chest, then traveled up his shoulders at which point it switched to his back before snaking up his neck, burning it so badly it had started to eat away at his skin, reaching all the way down to the bone. Amber could literally see his spine in the center of the melted skin, stinking out like the spire of Beacon.

"Eric took the lead." Adam said, helping Cinder onto one of the medical beds as Amber sank to her knees, hands covering her mouth to stop herself from throwing up. Even Cinder seemed speechless for once. "He fought the same maniac we ran into in the sewer. Unfortunately things didn't go our way this time. I was out of aura, and Eric had to protect both me and the band members. Igor took advantage of that. Though looking back, he hardly needed to."

Looking back at his partner, Adam's hands started trembling in frustration as his own performance. Barely keeping his voice steady as he tried to continue. "Back then, we both saw his fighting style and semblance, we thought we knew what we were up against. But back then, he was playing with us. Today, he fought with real ferocity the likes of which I've rarely seen. It was like he was possessed, like he wasn't a person anymore. We only got away with our lives because Eric was able to score one good punch with all his remaining aura, sending him flying into a building which stunned him long enough for us to run. It shattered his aura and knocked him out, but if he hadn't…"

Amber knew Adam was still talking, but she found herself unable to speak. Her own body trembling. If it wasn't for that punch, she probably would be lying there. Dead.

Slowly, she approached the bed, looking at one of the staff who was tending to her teammate. A quick tap on his shoulder drew his attention, giving the girl a clear view of his hands, covered in blood. Eric's blood.

"Will he survive?" She asked, a part of her dreading the answer. And upon seeing the expression of the medical officer, her stomach immediately flipped.

"I don't know." He said honestly, looking back at the huntsman. "This is outside of my field. I came here to deal with cuts and broken bones. Nothing in the job description said I'd have to know how to treat…whatever this is. His body isn't burned or anything like that. It almost looks like a bacteria started eating his flesh in a matter of minutes. I've never seen anything like this before. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if he passes any seco-."

"What do you mean, you don't know?!" Amber snapped, grabbing him by the collar and dragging him up until they were face to face as fear gripped her stomach. She had been so careful to make sure nobody else died on her watch. Yet here she was, having to sit helplessly on the sides as one of her teammates drifted closer and closer to the next plain.

She couldn't lose Eric! Not him, not while he still had his own dream to chase!

.You're being paid to do a job! So why can't you do it?!" She half demanded, half pleaded. "Heal him! Please! You-! He-! If you can't do it, where are the paramedics?! Why haven't they taken him to the hospital yet!? Where are they?!"

Amber's outburst drew the attention of everyone in the area. Over the past few days, they had all seen the normally calm and collected girl trying to direct her team with…mixed results. But they had never seen her break like this before. In fact, not even her own team had seen this side of the girl. Never once saw below her layer to the scared, screaming girl in so much pain she could barely stand it.

"We just called them the moment he came in. They will be here within the hour." The head medical officer said, taking a step towards the girl. "Due to yesterday's incident, I suspect they'll be faster than normal. But unfortunately we just don't have the equipment to heal this kind of damage. All we can do is delay the inevitable."

Immediately Amber let go of the other medical staff and turned to the head, immediately closing distance. And while he was a good head taller, he seemed so small compared to the tear stain girl.

"What do you mean 'within the hour'?" Amber demanded in a deathly quiet voice. "The moment the huntsman got wind of what was happening here, this place should have been swarming with not just police and trained huntsmen, but emergency responders as well. Why aren't they here yet?"

The head medical officer looked at her with a dumb expression that infuriated the girl. Why were they being so slow to react? The emergency responders should have been taking the injured to the hospital the second they realized it wasn't safe to set up temporary shelter. So why was Eric still here instead of being rushed to the hospital where he could get the treatment he needed?

"We tried to contact them the second we heard about what happened." The head officer said, his tone still showing how confused he was. "But I couldn't get a signal. So I sent one of my fastest teammates to leave the event and get in touch with them through other means. They only just got back and informed me they had called 911. Police and huntsmen are on their way. So all we can do is-."

"No!" Amber snapped, her patience finally wearing thin. "I mean the huntsman who already got here! The ones who are helping capture the Enlighten Seraphim! The ones who-!"

"Amber, are you okay?" This time it was Adam who cut in. Walking I've to her and brushing some of her hair away to check for a head injury. "What are you talking about? No huntsmen have been called. In fact, most of the guests haven't even realized what's been happening. And with coms down, nobody's had any way to contact them."

Immediately Amber jerked back, practically shoving Adam's hand off her. "No! I saw Mr. Howard! He said someone had gotten a message out to the local huntsmen and they were swarming the area! He saved me from my fight with Igor! Ask him! He should have come here with Jiao by now! He'll back me up! He-!"

"Amber, maybe you should sit down." Adam spoke calmly as he gently took her shoulder and tried to steer her to one of the beds. "You've lost a lot of blood. You're becoming confused and you need rest. We can talk about that later. For now-."

"I'm not lying!" Amber shouted, her voice becoming frustrated at their refusal to listen to her. She tried to shake herself free of the Faunus' grip, but immediately fell as her leg gave out on her, forcing her to plead her case as Adam half carried, half dragged her into one of the beds.

"Look, just get Mr. Howard! Or even Jiao! They'll back me up!" She practically pleaded as Adam tried to force her to lie down, until eventually being forced to give up and settle on having her sit in the bed. "Mr. Howard should have given both him and you a briefing when you met up! Just tell him that-!"

"Amber! Calm down!" Adam snapped, grabbing her wrist, silencing her immediately. "We never ran into Mr. Howard! Or Jiao! There was nobody here beside us! I literally have a text from you saying you had dropped the singer off at another safe location and we're heading her to make sure we were okay! There have been no huntsmen here since last night!"

Immediately Amber's mouth fell open, her protests coming to a complete halt as she struggled to comprehend what she was hearing.

"What do you mean?" She asked dumbstruck. Slowly she reached into her pocket and took out her scroll, opening it and looking at her recently sent texts. And immediately she felt her heart stop as she saw indeed a message on her team's group chat. It said it was from her and it said what Exactly what Adam had just told her. As well as some explanation about the signal coming back online, which she knew definitely hadn't happened.

"How-?" She breathed, then immediately shook her head before trying to stand once again. "No! That doesn't matter! Mr. Howard was there! He saw me! Spoke with me! He'll back me up! I even left Jiao with him! Find him and he'll explain everything! He'll-!"

"Amber, Mr. Howard is at a massive charity event hosted by the White Fang. As a way to publicly apologize for yesterday's event. I even have a picture taken about an hour before the fighting started." Adam said, reaching into his pocket and pulling his and showing it to the room at large, which immediately sent a chill down Amber's spine.

Sure enough, the face of Mr. Howard was smiling at the camera as he stood next to the leader of the White Fang, Ghira. And looking at the time of when the picture was sent, she knew there was no way he could have traveled all the distance that fast. It wasn't possible with the traffic in the kingdom at this hour.

"I-! But-! Wha-?!" Amber stuttered stupidly. What was happening!? She had seen Mr. Howard here, he had saved her! There was no way she could have imagined it! And the way he spoke and acted, that was no imposter! So how on Remnant did he-?!

"Hold on, are you saying you didn't put Jiao in a safe location? Instead of leaving him with a complete stranger you mistook for the old war hero?" Adam asked, his voice raising slightly. "Igor mentioned something about the other two band members not being his targets, so it was obviously Jiao. And you just left him with an imposter?!"

Amber struggled to find words. She knew that wasn't an imposter, but she couldn't figure out what had happened to the old man. Had he been ambushed on his way out? No. Even if he had, that still didn't explain how he had gotten there in the first place! So what-?

"Mr. Howard? He shouldn't even be here." The voice drew all eyes to Cinder, who had up til now been as silent as a statue, eyes staring up at her teammate with an unreadable look of horror.

"He gave my entire family passes explicitly because he couldn't make it. There's no way he'd be here at any point this week. You were there when it was mentioned, right? When he said he couldn't make it so keeping the tickets was pointless?" Despite her shock, Cinder's voice still sounded confused, yet confident. As if this was something she knew for a fact, not just a hazy memory for a conversation she had been half listening to.

And unfortunately, Adam was much more vocal.

"You did what!?" He screamed, slamming his hands on either side of Amber's head, trapping her between himself and the wall. "Are you serious!? You just let the enemy capture their target?! Why would you ever do that?! You've met the man! How are you so stupid that you can't tell the difference between the real thing and a fake?! Eric might die because of those bastards and you just go and make his sacrifice meaningless just because you can't be bothered to double check the identity of-!"

"I did!" Amber shot back, grabbing the Faunus' shoulders and pushing him off. "It was him! And he was here! I saw him the other day taking down a sign because some people from Vacuo thought it was a racist symbol! I literally met him in the security office! He was-!"

"Racist in Vacuo? The kingdom where people are more concerned with survival than if you have cat ears growing out of your head?" Adam demanded, eyes narrowed to slits. "What are you talking about? Not a single person in that kingdom is going to care if something looks a bit like a racist symbol! And even if they did, I don't think there would have been enough to raise a sink about it. And I can assure you I definitely didn't hear about this from anyone!"

Amber opened her mouth to protest, but stopped short when she found herself unable to come up with an answer. And moreover, his words made sense. She knew that the harsh deserts of the sand kingdom forced everyone to work together to survive. And as, it was one of the few places that had truly started treating Faunus as equals, even if that meant everyone had an impoverished lifestyle.

"Mr. Howard in the security booth? That shouldn't be possible." The head medical officer chimed in. "Sponsor or not, only staff is allowed in there. And besides, while Mr. Howard explicitly assigned some of our staff as a means to let a lot of inexperienced kids get to see what the real world is like. And how hard working in a security field actually is. It was through a proxy agency and he had no say or even knowledge of the people involved."

Amber sat there, gaping like a fish. What? Howard wasn't supposed to be here at all?! But she was sure the person she met in that office and who had saved her was the same old man she had met alongside Cinder's family! She had even checked his aura and had felt the same all three times! There was no way that wasn't him!

But then what about all the discrepancies?! If it was the real man she saw, than that meant he would have not only left a stand in at an important event, but also had been hanging around Music Fest, an event he had given away tickets for, and had swooped in just in time to save her from a fight he had no way of kno-!

"!"

"No." Amber breathed out, her mind racing as she put all the pieces together. Howard was rich enough to get tickets, including a VIP pass that would let three criminals attempt a kidnapping of the SDC heiress. Which in turn, regardless of if they succeed or not, would give him a perfect alibi for where he was today. The day the Enlighten Seraphim attacked, which gave someone like him the perfect chance to magically appear and give the huntsman in charge with false information about the current state of the police and huntsmen response time!

And it didn't end there!

Howard was rich enough to pay off Weiss' guards and staff.

Howard was a sponsor and had a huge say into setting up how to respond to emergencies.

Howard had been in the security booth meaning he knew where each camera was looking.

And most Immediately of all, Howard was one of the only people with the money and resources to fund a device or whatever it was, that could block out an entire event's communications without being detected.

Immediately Amber felt all the strength leave her body, causing her to slump forward in bed, hugging her chest as her heart began hammering against her chest, as if it was trying to break through and get out. Her breathing became rapid and uneven as she desperately tried to find another logical reason for why this was happening.

But try as she might, she couldn't fit the piece in any other way. It had to be the truth, yet her mind refused to accept it!

Her eyes were now bulging out of her head, yet despite that, she didn't see anything. Her ears began ringing with a loud buzzing noise that drowned out the now scared voices of her teammates and the medics. Everything around her began to grow fuzzy as the shock of this revolution made the girl crashing to the ground hyperventilating!

All around her, the sounds of panicked people could be heard. At the same instant, sirens could be heard in the distance, growing louder as they approached. Several hurrying feet ran past Amber's darkening vision, heading to the exit to wave down the emergency vehicles. At the same time, hands were placed gently on the girl's shoulders, trying to draw her back with promises that she and Eric would soon get the medical attention they needed.

But Amber could comprehend none of it. And as darkness engulfed her consciousness, the horrible, unbelievable truth sunk in.

The mastermind in the shadows…was Issac Howard.

///////////////////////////////////////

So, that's not going to give everyone trust issues moving forward, right?

In all seriousness, this has been something I've been setting up for a while. All the way back since the Beacon arc. And yes, this is how I write arcs. I always set up for the following one during the current one. Just good practice as you want everything to flow naturally.

Now if you'll permit me to flex for a moment here, I'd like to add a few more clues I added that Amber didn't touch on because she would have had no way of knowing them.

In the chapter where Adam and Eric first fight Igor, after escaping, they overhear a couple of racist huntsmen talking about Howard shipping. One is that the man doesn't transport SDC products because of his distain for Atlas. The other said that many huntsmen believe that they have ties to the criminal underworld.

The next big clue I dropped was during the Deadly deal chapter. There Qrow very briefly mentioned that someone tips the Seraphim off that the dust shipment was a trap. Something Howard would be privy to given it was his warehouse that was holding it.

I actually might be missing a few in this list as well, but I can't remember them right now.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed. Until next time. Bye!