Chapter 44: Angelic assault

Cinder bit back a groan as the backstage area was blasted with loud music, making her head hurt.

Just as she had predicted, the battle yesterday left her all kinds of achy and tired. Her aura hadn't made a full recovery and she still had a bad bump on the back of her head from when the shipping container had smashed into her. If that wasn't annoying enough, the Three Dragons had to get up at three in the morning to get ready for the concert, meaning her whole team had to be up before them.

It was exhausting, especially being grilled by the cops for hours before. Questioning and requesting, for hours! It actually felt like they were being treated as the aggressors, though Amber had later explained that was because they were on a team with someone who was a known associate of the criminals.

"You okay?"

Cinder jerked out of her thoughts by Amber's question through the radio. She looked up at the security camera having completely forgotten their job. After yesterday's action, it only highlighted how mundane guarding the spoiled singer was.

"Yeah, I'm okay." She replied, giving the camera a thumbs up. "Just a bit tired, but I'll manage. No need to worry."

There was a pause before Amber replied, her tone still carrying a bit of worry.

"If you say so, but you definitely seem upset. If you want to talk about it, I'm sure we can find someone willing to listen." She said, catching Cinder by surprise, had her irritation really been so obvious?

"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry." She said again, leaning back against the wall and folding her arms to try to appear comfortable. She wasn't really sure what Amber was talking about, but she really didn't have the energy to ask. "I might still be a bit tired from yesterday, but it's nothing I can't handle. These past few hours have been really exhausting."

"Well, you're in very good company." Amber joked, her tone now back to normal. "I have to say, I never would have predicted a kidnapping yesterday. It's a stroke of good fortune that you were right there. And of course Eric's semblance fixing Adam's leg. That might have been a career ending injury if not treated right away."

Cinder laughed at her joke, now starting to relax properly now. "Yeah, I'm almost sad he didn't. Would have saved us from four years worth of long unwanted lectures about Faunus rights and what not. Seriously, he should change his tune once in a while."

Now it was Amber's turn to laugh, masking Adam's "fuck you!" Which he made no effort to hide. That for a laugh out of the whole team.

"Speaking of changing tunes, I thought today's song was supposed to be A Million Lights." Amber said cheerfully. "How come they're performing The Bloody Mask? Didn't they perform that yesterday?"

Cinder's head shot up at her words. Confused, she listened to the song, and sure enough, it was definitely A Million Lights. Had Amber mixed up which dance routine went with which song? Maybe, there were a lot and they always saw the band practicing.

But Amber had such a good memory, that just didn't feel right. She had memorized half of their history book before the term even started! She had a phenomenal memory! No way she just forgot what one of their dances looked like-.

"Hey! Cinder! Where are you going?!" Amber suddenly demanded, her tone somewhat annoyed. "Get back to your post! The concert's not even close to being over. Just wait a little while longer before doing an outdoor patrol!"

Now starred in bewildered up at the camera, now completely confused. What was she talking about?! She hadn't moved!

"Amber, I'm not going anywhere." Cinder said, more confused than angry. "I'm still at my post. I haven't gone anywhere."

"Liar! I can see you walking out the building right now!" Amber shot back, her annoyance growing. "You have just left the building! Can you please come back here! I know you don't like being told what to do, but-!"

"I'm not!" Cinder shot back, flipping off the camera. "I'm literally standing at my post! I don't know who you're talking about but it's not me! And if you don't believe me, just use your semblance! That'll show you I'm right!"

There was a pause, then the familiar sensations of her mind being opened shot through her. She blinked a couple times as it came through. For some reason, it felt more forced today. As if Something was trying to block it, though Cinder had no idea what it could be.

Nevertheless, her mind was opened and they could both now see from the other's eyes. And immediately they both gasped.

Amber was shocked as Cinder wasn't lying as she saw she was indeed still standing at her post, still flipping off the camera. At the same time, Cinder's jaw dropped when she saw herself on the cameras, walking out of the building to the employees entrance where she took out her scroll and began looking at it with an angry expression.

"What the-?!" Both girls said in surprise and bewilderment as they saw what the other was seeing. What the hell was going on!?

Suddenly, out of the corner of Amber's eyes, Cinder saw another monitor in the booth, this one displaying the Junior competition entrance. And she could make out Summer's swaying white cloak!

"It's playing yesterday's tapes." Cinder murmured, eyes wide with realization. Then she pushed the button on her earpiece and screamed at her teammates. "It's playing yesterday's tapes! Someone's hijacked the security cameras and looped the footage! The event is under attack!

Immediately understanding the situation, Amber pelted to the emergency phone on the desk and snatched it up to dial 911! However, her fast response time was only because of her sharing Cinder's sight. Something that became clear as her other teammates were much slower to respond.

"W-what are you talking about?!" Eric demanded, his view still completely obscured by his position under the stage. "What's going on?! Is something happening up there?! Do I need to pop-!"

Before Eric could finish, a deafening screech echoed through their earpieces! Acting on her reflexes, Cinder clamped her hands over her ears, squeezing her eyes shut as she gritted her teeth as if that would stop this horrible high pitched sound!

At the same time, Amber dropped the phone as it too released the same horrible screeching. (Though she wasn't sure how she knew that as Amber's semblance didn't transfer sound.) However, that wasn't even the worst of their problems.

The music on the speakers had also been replaced with the screeching sound, resulting in the audience's cheers turning to screams as they clamped their hands over their ears to block out the noise pollution.

The sound only lasted a second, but as it came to a stop, all Cinder could hear from the earpiece was the crackle of static. That and the painful ringing in her ear.

"Hello? Anyone there?" Cinder said into her mic, but was greeted with nothing but static. Something was jamming them! Immediately she pulled her scroll out of her pocket and tried to call her team, but that resulted in both that screeching sound, then static.

"Shit!" She swore under her breath. Looks like they were the target today and without any way to communicate, she'd have to protect the band herself.

She turned and was about to rush onto the stage when she suddenly felt a part of her mind expand, letting a third pair of eyes join the club.

Adam was now linked up with Amber's semblance, meaning even without going onto the stage, Cinder could still see everything happening in the audience hall. People were looking at each in confusion as Jiao stepped forward and tried to apologize, saying there must be technical difficulties and assuring everyone that they would resume shortly.

But as he stood on the stage and addressed his fans, Adam's perfect night vision caught something he hadn't seen in the dark room that the singer hadn't, or couldn't see.

Three full grown men were making their way towards the stage, dodging effortlessly through the crowd as they went towards the band. They had heavy jackets and were quickly pulling out weapons. Small guns and knives, nothing too dangerous, but with a crowd this size, if a fight broke out, it would be a bloodbath!

"Shit!" Amber swore as she had also noticed. Immediately she spun around to another member of the event security, shouting as she went!

"Hey! Someone's looped the camera feed! And my team just saw several armed suspects at event hall 7! We need to contact the police and get everyone out of there in an orderly fashion!" She yelled, causing the guard to turn in confusion. He was a straggly teen, barely out of high school, with an unkept uniform and a girl's names tag. He even had messy long hair and skinny arms making everything about the guy scream push over.

"Huh?" The kid asked, confused, taking his feet off the desk and rolling his chair over to Amber's screen to take a look at what she was talking about.

"Looks fine to me." He said dryly. "I don't see any armed intruders or anything. Looks like business as usual."

Immediately, Amber turned to him, eyes narrowed in frustration. "Didn't you hear me?!" She demanded, resisting the urge to strangle him. "The footage is looped! And all contact with the people in the building is down! We need security there before panic-!"

"Wait." The boy interrupted, speaking at a teeth grindingly slow speed. "If you can't make contact with the people inside, how do you know what's going on?"

"Because my semblance lets me transfer and receive information." She replied through clenched teeth. "I can see through the eyes of my team. So I can see they, and everyone else in the building are in danger! We need to-!"

"Wait!" The boy interrupted again. "You do know there is no such thing as semblances, right? They just made up to hide the human experiments that the government does in secret. It's no more real than the lie about Grimm being attracted to negativity, or a round planet. You can't seriously believe you can-."

"For the love of-! Fine! I'll do it myself!" Amber snapped before getting up and racing to the loudspeaker system, pressing the buttons to make it play in the area nearby the event, but far enough away to ensure the people inside the building couldn't hear. Then she practically punched the call button to activate it!

"Attention security! An armed assault is under way at event venue 7! Inform the police and keep the public away from the area! Then send a large team to evacuate the civilians to a safe location in an orderly and calm-!"

Amber broke off suddenly, her eyes widening.

Seeing through Cinder's, she saw the dark haired girl was taking actions in her own hands. By rapidly making her way towards a fire alarm!

"No! Don't pull that!" Amber yelled into her radio, only to remember it didn't work. Panicked, she ripped her scroll out of her pocket and tried to call the girl, only for it to inform her that her call was out of service range. Meaning she couldn't contact her partner or stop what she was going to do!

She only had one option left. Her semblance. If she used that, she could stop Cinder from starting pandemonium. But if she did, her secret would be exposed. And even worse, everything she had hidden, everything that she had felt, it would all be dumped onto the girl.

No! Amber wouldn't let that happen! No matter what! She wouldn't. Couldn't face that again! Not after all the pain she'd already forced onto others. She wouldn't break the girl with all that self hatred! Not again! She had sworn never to use it like that again! She wouldn't force her feelings onto someone else again!

But maybe she could send a single control bit of information.

Closing her eyes, she focused on the single thing she wanted Cinder to know. The lone messages that would be transformed. And once in place, she opened the seals on her mind she had put in places years ago, letting just that single thing slip out.

/Don't touch that lever!/

But it was too late. The message reached Cinder just as she grabbed the levers. The sudden thought appearing in her head surprised the girl, making her spin around looking for a threat. But as she did so, her fingers caught on the edge of the lever and pulled it.

Bbbrriiinnnggg!

Immediately the fire alarm went off alerting everyone in the build, including the assailants, that something was wrong.

Realizing their cover was blown, one of the men pulled a handgun from his coat and aimed it at the band members on stage. A few people around him looked over and saw what he was doing, but weren't sure if it was a part of the show or something.

However, any thoughts of this being scripted were out the window as he pulled the trigger. The deafening bang drew all eyes to the man and the bullet as it sailed through the air, hitting Jiao in the face, knocking him to the floor!

A stunned silence, then…

"Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!"

The bloodcurdling scream was followed by pure panic as the spectator stampeded to the exits, trampling others in their hurry. At the same time, several other people in the crowd drew weapons and began to rush the stage, cutting down anyone who got in the way.

Cinder and Adam were about to go down and get the band off the stage when they were stabbed minds from all sides by emotions that weren't theirs, rampaged through their heads!

/Anger! Fury! Rage! Damn it! Why do you have to cause a scene everywhere you go! Just for once would you-!/

Suddenly, Amber's semblance broke, the connection cutting off like someone had pulled the plug on a computer. And as it did, their heads were blasted back as if they had just been the ones shot by a bullet!

The shock knocked Adam out of the scaffolding and onto the ground where the fleeing people trampled him.

Cinder meanwhile staggered, slamming into the wall as she clutched her head, a dull ringing filled it.

"Gah." She groaned as she steadied her. Everything around her seemed to sway and was so badly blurred, she struggled to keep her balance. The ringing in her ear drowned out all other sounds, even the screams and gunfire on the stage.

Cinder remembered Amber saying something about her semblance having a bad side effect of forcibly cut. And now she immediately understood why she had given her the warning.

After a few agonizing seconds, Cinder regained her mobility as the pain began to fade. And as her surroundings came back into force, she could hear the sounds of a fight on the stage.

Drawing her blades, she rushed onto the stage, just in time to slam her foot into one of the assailants who had tried to grab Jiao.

"Bout time you showed up!" Eric yelled, he was standing at the front of the stage, fighting off the majority of the armed mob, but while he fought off several people at once, more had gone around him and after the band.

"All of you, to me!" She yelled and immediately the band rushed to her side for protection!

Standing as a barricade between them, Cinder began slashing and kicking anyone who got close, cutting them down or knocking them away. All the assailants had a small amount of aura that protected them from a single fatal blow, but they were little more than cannon fodder against her.

Screams of her opponents filled her with glee as she effortlessly danced around them. Hacking and slashing in a beautiful flurry of blades and fire! Quickly shaving their numbers and stopping them from reaching the band.

What had she been so worried about? This was easy! These guys were chumps! Barely even a challenge! Already their numbers were thinning and in a few more minutes they would-.

"Aaahh!"

Cinder's and Eric's attention was immediately grabbed as Adam was sent flying from the bleachers, landing on the stage with a loud crash, aura flickering! They both looked up just in time to see a lone figure aiming a gauntlet style weapon at the Faunus.

Immediately Eric slid in front of Adam, blocking the bullet with his shield. At the same time, Cinder fired an arrow at the person from their blind spot.

However immediately after firing the shot, the person, who they could now tell was a woman in her late forties, gave her wrist a flick, causing the gauntlet to close blades over her hand, letting her swat the arrow away without turning.

As the glass weapon fell to pieces around her, the woman's eyes narrowed as she turned to look down at Cinder. And the moment their eyes met, the dark haired girl immediately recognized who was standing above her. And she wasn't the only one.

"You again." Adelaide said, eyes narrowing as she glared down at Cinder. "I didn't expect to run into you here. Where's the white haired boy? Shouldn't he be the one to lead the charge? Or is he not your partner?"

"I don't need him to fight." Cinder snarled, taking a step forward. "You got the jump on me last time, but this time I'm prepared! I'm gonna wipe the stupid smirk off you f-!"

Cinder came to a halt as she found Eric's arm blocking her path. His eyes narrowed at her as he nodded to the people behind her.

That's right. She had a job to do. Protect these useless singers. Cinder wanted to scream in frustration. Her best chance to settle her score and because of the situation she couldn't take it. She had no idea when she'd clash with the gang leader again and losing the opportunity to knock her block off just pissed her off!

But a mission was a mission. So with a repressed growl, she came to a stop next to Eric.

"I have an idea." She said begrudgingly. Behind them, Adam pulled himself to his feet, clutching his side as his aura flickered. "But I'm gonna need a distraction. Think you can take the band and Adam and run? I need you to draw out her semblance."

Eric shot another glare at the dark haired girl before his eyes flicked to his partner and his already weak state.

He wasn't stupid. They were all still spent from the battle yesterday. And while him and Cinder were in a comfortable position both in strength and aura levels, Adam was still recovering from the injury to his leg, one that wouldn't heal for a while.

"Fine." She grunted, taking a step back. "But if I find out this is just an excuse to fight her to boost your ego, I'm not covering for you when Amber finds out. You're totally on your own, got it?"

Cinder gave a nod, then turned back to face her opponent.

"Now!" She screamed and immediately Eric turned and ran, scooping up two of the Three Dragons and signaling to Adam to do the same, (And the Faunus obeyed without question.) and running for the backstage to escape!

"Oh no you don't!" Adelaide screamed, raising her foot before bringing it down onto the floor, immediately causing the entire hall to freeze!

The ice raced across the ground towards the stage, creating an ice rink as it went! Even traveling up the wall and curtains. Not even corpses were spared it's wrath!

Just as Cinder expected!

Immediately she fired three arrows into the advancing frost! The heat meeting the cold was Cinder's cue to detonate her arrows, flooding the area with steam!

Now hidden, Cinder fired two arrows into the stage's lighting as she followed her teammates, detonating them once she was clear, blocking the path after them.

"That won't hold for long!" Cinder yelled as she raced alongside her team. "And we can't get a hold of the outside! It's now on us to take care of the problem! Let's get the band out of here before-!"

Cinder broke off as the floor below her froze into a solid mass. She let out a curse as she slid forward at an uncontrollable speed, crashing into Jiao and sending them both tumbling into the wall as the path forked into two paths. One leading to the employee parking lot, the other to the main exit.

"You okay?!" Adam called, sliding to a halt next to them, offering his hand. "Come on, we have to keep moving before she catches up! There's a designated safe area not too far from here! If we can make it there then-!"

"Look out!"

Before Adam could finish, Eric screamed and made him look up just in time to see a large raw dust crystal flying towards him. It was growling a slight blue indicating it was more pure than what most people could get. Most likely pulled straight from Atlas' refineries.

However, before he could dwell on it, the crystal exploded! Creating a massive wall of ice right in the hallway!

It was thick and heavy, not to mention huge! The top had pierced through the ceiling and the outside wall! Drawing several gasps of shock and surprise as the onlookers saw a good chunk of the building crumbling!

The sudden expansion caused the mass of ice slammed right into Adam, knocking him right through the wall with enough force he was sent skidding several feet back even after being hit, only stopping when he slammed into a small stage set up for other forms of entertainment.

"Shit!" Cinder swore as she placed her hand on the ice between her/Jiao and Eric/the rest of the band. Immediately she tried to melt a path through. However, before she could, two bullets hit her in the head, knocking her against the wall before she fell to one knee!

"Not so fast." Cinder's eyes went wide as she heard the sound of Adelaide's voice coming from just down the hall. Had she seriously gotten past the barricade already? "I'm not letting you regroup. Not after all the trouble you've caused. But seeing as I'm short on time, I'll make it easy for you. Hand over those band members now, or I'll kill you and take them."

Growling to hide her confusion, Cinder turned to glare at the woman as Jiao let out a little squeak of fear as he took a step back.

"Why?" Cinder demanded, eyes narrowed to slits. "What do you want with them? They aren't rom Atlas, or have any real contention to them. Why should you care?"

Adelaide rolled her eyes as she took aim at her once again. "That's none of your business." She replied. "Just hand him over and I'll spare you and your pathetic teammates. Surely you must understand this is a fight you can't win."

Cinder slowly got back to her feet, watching every move the woman made. The way her eyes flicked from her, to Eric, to Jiao, then back to her told Cinder who she was most interested in. And while she had no idea why anyone would want this pathetic man child, her future was on the line. So she already knew her answer.

"Yeah, tempting offer, but I'm going to have to go with option C." She said as she pulled another arrow from her quiver. Then, without turning to look at him, she screamed a warning to Eric. "Run now!" With that, she fired the arrow right at the woman.

Adelaide, without even trying, swatted the projectile with no trouble whatsoever.

"I know that's not the best you can do." The woman said as she took aim at Cinder. "Surely you didn't think that would-."

But before she could finish, the arrow exploded creating a massive steam cloud covering the area! It completely engulfed the hall making it impossible to see anything beyond form less outlines.

Taking this opportunity, Cinder grabbed Jiao and ran in the direction of the exit, practically dragging him along as she went. On the other side of the ice, Eric ushered the other two band members towards the opposite exit, covering their rear as he ran.

As the steam cleared, Adelaide found herself alone.

"Children. You'd think huntsmen in training would have more regard for their surroundings. Nobody's going to pay for a huntress who destroys more than she protects." She mussed as she examined the burn marks in the area around the arrow, then she closed her eyes and let out a sigh.

"Guess you were right, old man. Ozpin definitely seems to prioritize fighting abilities over proper huntsmen behavior."

"What was that about!?" Jiao screamed as he and Cinder raced outside the building and into the employee parking lot. "Who was that?! Why did she know you?! What does she want?! And why does-?!"

"Oh just shut up would you?!" Cinder snapped as she dragged them over to a fancy sports car and effortlessly smashed the window before reaching in and unlocking the door. "Hurry up and get in! I need to get you out of here before that figure skater gets out here! So just get in a drive to the city and get the police!"

Once the door was open, she practically shoved the singer into the car and slammed the door behind his still shaking form.

"Call every available huntsman you can find! Send them here! This is about to become a much bigger battlefield than what we can handle! If this gets out, then it's going to escalate into something much more dang-!"

Cinder broke off as two gunshots echoed through the lot, popping both of the car's tires.

With a snarl, Cinder turned to the building as Jiao let out a terrified squeak. There she could see Adelaide already advancing towards them, her weapons fully covering her hands and feet as she effortlessly glided across the ground towards them, freezing the ground just in front of her as she went.

"Brothers, she is so annoying." Cinder snarled as she drew five more arrows and took aim. "Okay, new plan. Run on my signal. We're getting to that safe zone now and waiting for professional huntsmen to arrive. Until then, you stick close and don't get in my way!"

With that, Cinder fired the arrows right at Adelaide!

With a confident smirk, the gang leader effortlessly swatted two out of the air, both bothering with the other three that landed in the ground next to her forming a triangle. Instead, she firmly dug her foot into the ground and released a burst of cold air, freezing them before they went off!

"Great." Cinder snarled, taking a step back. A bead of sweat ran down her face. She couldn't take Adelaide with Jiao right there. Sure, she probably wouldn't kill him as ransom wouldn't work with a corpse, but they were in hot water as is. Best not to push their luck.

This was bad. She was rapidly running out of options. If they ran, Adelaide would catch them as she was much faster. If she fought, she'd lose because of Jiao. And with Adam and Eric on the other side of the building and guarding their own musicians, she couldn't count on reliable backup anytime soon.

So what was she supposed to do?! She'd have to pick one quickly! Biting her lip, Cinder began running through her options again, her only real change was to run. But to make it work, she'd have to do what she had been doing so far, catch her opponent off guard, stun her in place for a few seconds, put some distance between them, rinse and repeat.

Gritting her teeth, Cinder fired another arrow at Adelaide, this time igniting mid flight, turning it into a flaming arrow that would detonate on impact!

Without missing a beat, Adelaide raised her arm and shot the glass projectile right out of the sky! This created another massive steam explosion, completely blocking the gang leader's vision, again.

Seeing her opportunity, Cinder grabbed Jiao and dragged him towards the exit, running at full speed as the car was peppered with bullets from the irritated huntress.

"Running again?" Adelaide asked, her voice masking her frustration. "Is that seriously all you can do? What's the matter?! I thought you were a fighter! Don't tell me all that bravado was just for show! Or are you going to just run away for your entire life?!"

"That's all you'll ever do…"

Cinder froze mid step, her heart racing as looked back through the mist where she could see another figure standing behind Adelaide, staring at her with rotten black eye holes filled with malice, with judgment.

Trembling, Cinder found herself unable to move from that spot. It was as if Adelaide's words had unearthed all her trauma that she had spent the past four years burying, and bound her in place. Those simple words were already a challenge she couldn't turn down!

As the steam cleared, Adelaide found Cinder standing at the edge of the lot, swords drawn glaring daggers at her as Jiao pulled at her arm.

___________________________

"What are you doing?!" He demanded, trying to get her to come with him. "Are you insane?! You can't fight her! She's one of, if not the most powerful crime lord in Vale! She'll destroy you!"

With a snarl, Cinder jerked her arm out of his grasp, not even bothering to look at him.

"If you want to run, then run." She said coldly, shifting into her fighting stance. "I'm done running! She's come after us one way or another. So I'll just take her out here and now, stopping her once and for all."

"Are you kidding me?!" Jiao yelled, grabbing her cloak and once again trying to pull her away. "You were just fine with the running plan literally seconds ago! Is your ego really so frail that you're going to let a childish taunt drag you into a fight!? Come on! If we get to the safe area we can get other huntsmen to help!"

"Don't tell me what to do!" Cinder let out a frustrated growl, swatting his hand away, this time with her sword promoting the singer to let out a cry and stagger back, falling on his butt.

A moment of silence passed as the two locked eyes, then rage filled the man's eyes as he stood up, this time drawing his own weapon and pointing it right at the stubborn girl.

"I'm paying you to guard me!" Jiao bellowed, violently shaking his gun at her. "You work for me! So stop putting that stupid, oversized ego first and do your fucking job! I'm in charge! You will escort me to-!"

"SHUT UP!"

Spinning, Cinder landed a powerful blow with the hilt of her sword against Jiao's temple, sending him crashing back to the ground, aura flickering.

"You think just because you have money you can tell me what to do?! That just because you're rich you can treat me however you want?! That you can have me on your bark and call all while treating me and my team like trash?! Screw you!" Cinder yelled, all her restraint gone. How dare this worm treat her like an insect! She was done being someone else's pawn! She never wanted to go back to being their punching bags! And she never would!

NEVER!

"I'm not your slave! You can't order me around like I'm your personal object! Job or not, I am sick and tired of your whining! Go fuck yourself! I've already taken out most of them, so just run away like a scared little boy! There are plenty of huntsmen here who will do their righteous duty and protect you, so stop bitching at me, and get out of my face!"

Jiao held Cinder's glare for a few seconds, then he spat in her face before turning to the exit.

"Fine, but when I tell your school about this, don't blame me for what will happen. You brought this upon yourself."

With that, he took off down the street, putting as much distance between himself and his guard as quickly as he could.

"No you don't!" Adelaide yelled. Immediately she raised her foot into the air before slamming it onto the ground! Ice shot out from the point of contact, racing across the ground towards the fleeing singer with blinding speed!

But Cinder was ready. Without missing a beat, she fired three arrows into the path of the attack, detonating them on impact! The result, a huge explosion of heat and fire, stopping the ice in its tracks!

"Nice try, but I'm not falling for that trick again." Cinder said cockily, taking a step forward. "I underestimated you last time, I admit it. But things are different now. This time I'm going to beat you so hard, you'll be seeing double for a week!"

As the steam cleared, the two women locked eyes, glaring daggers at the other for a few seconds before Adelaide let out a scoff, breaking eye contact.

"You talk big, but I don't see Lil' Miss' pawn with you today, so you don't have his protection. Which means I can kill you without consequence!"

Moving faster than Cinder could react to, Adelaide twisted her foot, immediately causing the ice to expand, covering the entire lot once again!

Cinder slipped back slightly at the sudden change of terrain, but was able to stay on her feet. Looking up to the older woman with a grin, she carefully stood to her full height and calmly spun her blades in her hands.

"For an old war hero, you look like a one trick pony." Cinder mocked. "If you think something this basic can take me a second time, you're clearly underestimating me! Funny thing about me, I rarely fall for the same thing twice!"

With that, Cinder leapt into the air, blades burning white hot as she activated her semblance. And as she came down right above the woman, she couldn't keep a smile off her face. She had been waiting to get her payback for her first week!

But if the reckless girl had been paying more attention to her opponent, she would have known she wasn't the only one smirking.

"Perfect." Adelaide thought. "Everything's going according to plan. That annoying slime ball actually held up his end of the deal. Now I just need to hold her here until the kidnapping is done."

With that, she used the mini engines on her skates to propel herself back, gliding effortlessly out of the way of the attack and back towards the edge of the lot before opening fire! And while Cinder was able to easily deflect the bullets, she clearly only had eyes for her.

What a stupid little girl.

_________________________

Meanwhile,

"Aah…" Adam moaned as he regained consciousness. When he had been blasted out of the building, his aura had broken so he had no protection when he slammed into a car. In fact, the only reason he had come to at all was because for some reason he was being jostled quite roughly.

"Good, you're awake." Eric said as he looked up at him. Immediately telling Adam he had been slung over the boy's shoulder like a sack of potatoes as he ran through an employee-only area littered with trash and other discardable items. Fortunately, it was a surprisingly wide area so they had some distance from the smell as they headed towards…wherever he was heading.

"W-what happened?" He asked clumsily as he reached up and rubbed his head. "Where's the band? Were the enemy defeated? Is Amber back yet?"

"The enemy is still at large." Eric replied, as Adam slipped out of his grasp and landed on the ground running next to him. "We have two members of the band, but Cinder broke off with the third. If she's smart, she'll head for the safety area to get help suppressing the gang. We'll meet up with her there and then either go help fight, or stay and protect the band. Either way, we can't do anything until our clients are secured."

"Right." Adam said quietly. Normally, he had preferred just taking the enemy out before they could hurt the people he was protecting, but yesterday still weighed heavily in his head. The damage of his actions AND hesitation had nearly cost his people everything, and despite his talk with Amber, he still couldn't quite bounce back as easily as she could.

Honestly, he was jealous of her in that regard.

Suddenly, Eric's upper body was thrown backwards! This sudden change in momentum caused his feet to fly up as he crashed down, making a deafening clanging sound as he hit the ground!

Immediately Adam skidded to a halt as he saw a chain sticking out blocking their way forward. It was pulled tight so when Eric slammed into it, he wound up falling onto his back. However, given how strong it was, that was a good thing. Had he been moving forward without any way to stop, that probably would have cut him in half!

"Well, I certainly didn't expect to find you two here."

Immediately Adam and Eric looked up, hearts stopping in their throats to see Igor standing in front of them, playfully spinning the weighted chain as he pulled the bladed part out of the wall and back to him.

"Who would have guessed that I'd run into you during this boring mission. Lady Luck is certainly smiling down on me today!" He said, licking his lips hungrily as his eyes danced with unchecked sadism.

"This is bad." Adam thought as he helped Eric to his feet. They were facing an opponent who not only was familiar with their fighting styles and tactics, but they still didn't have a clue about his. They didn't even know what his semblance, how it worked, or what its limitations were. While Igor on the other hand had a pretty good idea what to expect from theirs. On top of that, Eric was still drained from yesterday's battle and he had lost his aura already. All that alone would make this a near impossible fight, but the cherry on top was that they still had to protect the band!

Even with his confidence in shambles, he knew full well they couldn't win this fight.

"Eric?" Adam whispered, making the knight nod slightly.

"I know." He whispered back, pulling his shield from his back as his partner drew his sword. "Unfortunately, he's blocking us in. We're going to need something to draw his attention long enough for us to run. I've got something for that, but-."

Bang! Bang!

Reacting immediately, Eric slid in front of auraless men, blocking the unexpected bullets with his shield. Drawing a laugh from the insane huntsman.

"Not bad! I honestly thought I might have had you there!" Igor laughed as he lowered the sickle part of his weapon. The blade had split right in the center revealing a SMG like gun that had been hidden inside the weapon. "I normally don't let an opponent get a second shot at me, but when I do, that's usually enough to give me the advantage!"

Eric glared at the man as he peered out from behind his shield. His heart hammering at his narrow intercept. A second later and Igor would have put several rounds in to the musicians heads!

"Hey idiot! Just in case you didn't know, ransom doesn't work if you kill the people you're promising to return!" Eric shouted, taking a step back, trying to discreetly put distance between them and the madman who had the badge of a huntsman. Unfortunately, the moment he gave ground, Igor mirrored his move, taking a step forward keeping the same distance.

"Hahahah! That's cute! Thinking I didn't know something that basic!" He laughed, now spinning both his weapons faster and faster, whipping them into a blur. "I just need one of these useless boy toys. The others are worthless. And as luck would have it, the one I need as an active aura. So I'll just poke them until I find the one who doesn't pop!"

"You'd get a lot more for the whole set!" Eric said through gritted teeth, now looking around for anything he could use as a distraction. "And I don't think one person is going to be worth as much if one of the band dies! You like money, right?! Surely you can-!"

"We have no intention of ransoming them." Igor said, coming to a stop a little ways ahead of the two huntsmen in training. "The boss has other plans! She intended to test her newest toy from Atlas! Apparently it was so hard to get, it cost us almost all our spies in the kingdom! But if it works, she has assured me that it'll be well worth all the trouble."

There was a pause at his words. Then, slowly Igor's face became engulfed with an insane grin as shear glee began to dance in his eyes. Then he threw his head back and roared with uncontrollable laughter!

"But who cares about that shit!? I'm just here for the killing!" He screamed with a gleeful tone not unlike a child! His insane laughter mixes with his words making them sound even more deranged than they already did.

"So let's stop all this pointless talk! I want to cut you open and bleed you guys like a fish! Scream! Cry! Make a beating symphony of pain for me you worthless cattle! Let's paint the ground with blood and turn worthless existence into a piece of art! A modern piece of flesh and organs! Hahahahahahaha!"

Suddenly, before he even finished laughing, he lashed out with the weighted chain on his weapon, making it wrap around Eric's ankle! Before the knight had time to react, the madman tacked the chain, sending him crashing to the ground!

"Eric!" Adam cried, shouting in front of his partner as their opponent charged head first at them.

Brandishing his blade between them, the young Faunus swallowed his fears and uncertainties. He couldn't afford any mistakes, he had to fight at the top of us game if he wanted to survive this battle!

In the security booth, the still useless cameras now displayed static as when someone tried to fix them, it had only made things worse.

As she watched her carefully laid plans falling to pieces around her, Amber swallowed her frustration and anger. Wordlessly, she pushed past the other people stationed there and made her way to the door.

All content within Music Fest had been shut down and now they couldn't even get a message out. And because of the inability to stop and think, she had been left with a single option.

"H-hey!" A voice called her as she grabbed the handle. Looking over her shoulder, she saw the same douche high school students form before making his way over.

"You can't go out there yet." He said, reaching out to grab her shoulder. "The cops are going to be here as soon as we get the message out. We need someone to file a report. And seeing as you were the first person to notice this stuff, I think-."

Immediately he boy froze mid step as Amber sent him a death glare, filled to the brim with her all the pent up frustration and stress she had been building for the entirety of this stupid mission.

The glare combined with the pure rage made its presence clear as crystal, huntsmen training or not. This one look, not only sent the teen staggering back, but also drew the attention of everyone in the room, who stared in shocked silence at the girl, too scared to move or try to stop her.

Now free of any obstacles, Amber grabbed her staff and swung it onto her back, and without any hesitation, she left to join the fight!