Reed and Seraphina rode the elevator down to the basement level, where the forge was located. Reed had never been to this part of the headquarters before, and was therefore surprised when the elevator doors opened onto a spacious natural cave, large enough to fit the entire apartment complex Reed lived in.

The cave was well lit, dust powered lights lining the rough stone walls as they curved up to a domed ceiling fifty feet above. The left side of the cave had a double line of twenty forges, next to which stood a massive pile of coke against the far wall under the open end of a chute. The middle was taken up by racks, containing partially assembled gun-spears, and far too few finished ones. The right side of the cave was set up like a classroom, lines of single desks laid out in front of a black board.

The apprentice forgers sat at these desks, listening to the Forgemaster as he strode back and forth in front of them. He was a tall, thin man, with a clean-shaven face and shaved head. Despite his waspy appearance, Reed could see cords of muscles standing out along his arms.

"We are most likely facing a crisis here," the Forgemaster said in a neutral voice, "and they will pressure us to churn out as many gun-spears as possible. That does not mean, however, that you are allowed to sacrifice quality for quantity. A poorly built weapon will cause injury to the user, taking a fighter out of the battle."

The Forgemaster noticed Reed and Seraphina approaching, and turned to face them. "I'm assuming you two have a reason for being here when Guards aren't generally allowed in the forge?"

"We have orders from Sergeant Tanners to speak with forge apprentice Phaedra," Reed said, spotting her in the back row as she whipped around at the sound of his voice.

"Normally I would tell anyone with orders from a sergeant to get out of my forge immediately," the Forgemaster said with a slightly sour tone. "But Tanners is probably more qualified to give that order than most of the captains. Very well, you have five minutes."

"Additionally," Reed interjected as the older man went to resume his lecture. "Sergeant Tanners says to expect a group of forgers to be deployed with the Guards, and requests that she be included in that group."

Reed withheld the fact that Tanners had demanded that she be included, figuring the Forgemaster would appreciate a request more than an order.

"Very well," the man said, waving a dismissive hand.

"What the Grimm-eaten Maiden panties is going on here?!" Phaedra said as Reed and Seraphina guided her away from the seated group. "They won't tell us any more than that stupid announcement that was made this morning, which was obviously a vague pile of Hermit shit."

"Grimm have overrun the CCT Support Tower in the Morose Mountains," Reed said, causing Phaedra to release a stream of expletives under her breath. "Sera and I have been ordered to patrol the city to ensure order."

"We are being put on slum duty," Seraphina said, rubbing the back of her head with a hand and looking worried. "Which is not going to be an easy task. I guarantee that as soon as communications went down the gangs swept through the worse parts of town and established their own version of martial law. They will be removing valuables from shops and people's homes on threat of death, and may have barricaded the streets to slow any action from the Town Guard."

"Please tell me you brought our weapons," Reed said. "I really don't want to face off against the various undesirables we are going to encounter with one of those twigs the Town Guard calls gun-spears."

Phaedra snorted. "What do you take me for, one of these other useless fools trying not to wet themselves? Your halberd is strapped to my pack, and Miss Muscle's knives are in the front pocket. By the way, I should mention I made a modification to your halberd last night. I planned to surprise you with it after work today, but I guess-"

"Apprentice!" The Forgemaster shouted, arms crossed and foot tapping the ground. "Your five minutes are up, rejoin the group."

"Fucking pain in my Maiden parts," Phaedra muttered, as she started walking back. She looked over her shoulder and said, "The new switch employs two different forms of Fire dust, forward for stream and backwards for projectile. It comes out the tip, try not to hurt yourself."

Reed found her pack against the wall by the elevator. He handed Seraphina her knives, then unstrapped Halmvoulge from her pack, noting that next to the green switch a red one had been added, with room for it to be pushed in both directions along the length of the staff.

The two recruits made their way back to the elevator, and from there to the classroom. The room was far less populated than before, most of the recruits having been split among the various patrols to lessen the impact of their inexperience. Two recruits remained, a girl with long purple hair and a guy with a cloth hat pulled low over his eyes, along with Tamus and a middle aged guardsman with a scar over his left eye.

"Alright everyone," Tamus said in a quick tone. "Here's Reed Aoki, your squad leader for the day. I will leave you to get acquainted while you wait for orders from Sergeant Tanners. Reed, Seraphina, if I could see you two in the hall for just a moment."

Reed followed Tamus into the hall, Seraphina close behind. Once the door was closed, Tamus turned and said briskly, "I will be quick, I still need to form up my own squad. The older man's name is Delphin. An accident with some Grimm several years back left him rather simple, but he is an adequate fighter and has been ordered to follow your commands. He will do as he's told, just don't expect too much improvisation from him.

"The two from your batch of recruits are the ones who showed the most potential, other than the two of you. The one with the hat I saw on the gun range, and he's quite the crack-shot with a rifle. Those are going to have to be distributed anyway, so might as well give him one of those when you check out weapons from the armory. Also ask for a pair of short range radios. They have been sitting collecting dust for years, so we only have enough for two per squad. Good luck."

With that the large man strode away, not waiting for any reply from Reed or Seraphina. The Faunus had made sure to give him the pertinent information regarding his new charges, but obviously had more on his mind than just their squad.

Reed walked back into the room and the purple-haired girl bounced up to him. She threw her hand up to her forehead in a salute, body quivering with barely suppressed energy. "Private Abbey, reporting for duty, sir!"

"Just Reed is fine. We're the same age, it feels weird to have you call me sir. What would you say your strengths and weaknesses are?"

"Well Reed, sir, I mean just Reed, I'm quick and hard to keep a bead on. During the limited sparring training we did I could almost always get out of the way of attacks, though Corporal Tamus always lectured me on maintaining proper form. I'm also a lousy shot, like, super lousy. Just can't seem to keep the spear pointed in the same direction long enough to line up the target."

Reed hoped this girl wouldn't accidentally shoot him in the back while trying to hit someone in the complete opposite direction. He turned to the guy, who had sandy blond hair sticking out from under his cap. "And you are?"

"My name is Chase."

"Tamus tells me you are a pretty good shot with a rifle, anything else?"

"I'm pretty good at climbing, especially buildings." The words were clipped and said without inflection. The tone wasn't rude, just matter-of-fact.

Reed smiled and said, "I won't ask how you learned how to do that, but it will be useful. I will be relying on you to cover us from the rooftops and keep an eye out for hostiles."

Walking over to Delphin and turning, Reed said to the rest of the room, "This is Delphin. He had a bit of a mishap with some Grimm in the past, but he is more than up to the task of giving us support, if what the corporal said is anything to judge."

Delphin nodded to the others, but remained silent. Reed wondered if he was even capable of speaking.

"Alright everyone, let's go get our weapons from the armory while we wait for deployment orders." Reed pulled Chase aside as everyone else filed out and said in a low voice, "Keep an extra sharp eye out on the area around Delphin. Tamus said he can fight, but I'm not sure how aware of his surroundings he is."

Chase nodded his understanding, and the group moved down the hall to the armory. Abbey and Delphin managed to receive gun-spears that weren't too crooked, and Chase confirmed that with some adjustments to the sights the rifle should shoot accurately enough. Reed checked out his short range radios and handed one to Chase. Once they returned to the classroom they found an unused frequency and put the earpieces attached to the radios in their ears.

Sergeant Tanners walked in shortly after, waving the group over to the black board, where he used clips lining the top to hang a map of the west side of the city. He circled a northern section of Adigiar, and thanks to Seraphina's groan Reed knew it was a particularly bad part of the city.

"You will be patrolling the north section of the 24th district," Tanners said, pulling out a pen and drawing a line that began on the right side of the circle.

"Your primary purpose is to be seen by the inhabitants so they know the Town Guard will be patrolling, so you will be taking a winding route. Not going to lie, this is a pretty dangerous part of the city. Smaller groups should leave you alone, but you are bound to run into some larger groups that think they can take you. Focus on driving them off, but do what you have to in order to make sure none of you get hurt. If you see anything that you think is too much for your group, do not engage. Note any of these locations and we will send a larger, more experienced squad upon your return to route them.

"I cannot emphasize this enough, your safety is the number one priority. Considering the expedition that we are about to embark upon we can't afford to lose anyone. Without the CCT System we will be operating blind. Normally in the instance of inner city patrols we would use GPS mapping through scrolls, but you will have to make do with a paper map."

Tanners handed out five smaller copies of the district map to each of the members of the squad, then stood straight-backed, looking over each of them in turn. "I expect to see each of you in four hours' time. Good luck, all of you."

Reed's squad saluted the sergeant as he marched from the room, then turned to Reed, awaiting orders. As he looked at them, Reed decided that Tamus had chosen well. Despite the two recruit's lack of experience and Delphin's handicap, the mere fact that they as a group looked to one person for guidance would make them a more cohesive unit in the field.

The thought of being that person scared Reed, but as he looked at the faces around him Reed resolved that they would all make it back to headquarters alive. Even if he had to put his own life on the line to ensure it.

"Alright everyone, we have our orders. Let's move out."

As they walked through the town towards the location where they would begin their patrol, Reed explained to the rest of the squad the formation he wanted them to take.

They would be winding between two parallel streets, systematically covering a the northern half of the district. Reed would take lead, with Seraphina and Delphin covering their flanks while Abbey watched their rear. Chase assured Reed that he could remain on the rooftops, even as they crossed small side streets. Reed couldn't see how, but he took the young man's word for it. He decided to have Seraphina cover the side of the street under the buildings that Chase would be perched on, and ordered Delphin to cover the opposite side. This would give Chase the best vantage to watch the scarred man and make sure no one managed to sneak up on them from that direction.

It took them thirty minutes to reach their starting point. During that time they took the larger, more populated roads, and Reed noticed a significant change from earlier in the day. The alleys were empty, the constant patrols having dissuaded low-lifes from hanging around this section of town. No one walked the streets, shops were closed, and in many of the apartment windows wardrobes or bookshelves had been pushed to block any unwanted eyes from peering in. It was eerie, but the quiet indicated that people were at least safe.

As they approached the 24th district, however, noises started to reach them. Car alarms, breaking glass, and shouts started to reach their ears, and Reed could feel the others starting to get nervous. They reached the corner that they were supposed to turn down, and Reed halted the others with a raised hand.

"Alright, this is it everyone. Stay in formation, announce hostiles as you see them, and support one another when able. Chase, get up on that roof and tell us what you see."

The sandy-haired boy nodded, turning to eye the building next to them. It was four stories tall, three floors of apartments over a line of small, locally owned businesses. There was a fire escape outside the apartments, but the bottom of the ladder was more than fifteen feet in the air.

Chase did a couple of quick squats, before crouching low and jumping to the fire escape, bypassing the ladder entirely and vaulting over the railing.

"You call that climbing?" Reed muttered under his breath.

Chase disappeared onto the rooftop, and a minute later his voice crackled to life in Reed's ear-piece.

"The street is clear for a block or so, but after that it looks like a war zone. Cars flipped, store fronts smashed. There's a couple small groups of people moving around breaking anything in sight, but it seems to be limited to the streets. I don't see any movement in the apartments."

Reed relayed what Chase had seen to the others, then formed the others up before leading the way down the street. The right side of the street was a solid line of buildings, the city wall visible behind them. When they were half way down the block the groups started pointing in their direction, and all of them quickly dispersed down alleys and side streets to the left.

The first block was uneventful. Once his squad reached the first intersection Reed waved them to the left, and they made their way to the parallel street. Chase flashed over the street, making another amazing jump to clear the road and land on the roof opposite.

"Watch out," Chase's voice warned in Reed's ear. "There's a group of about ten guys breaking into an electronic shop half a block down the next street. They are carrying stuff down an alley across the street, and I can't see down it so there may be more."

Reed warned the others, adding, "This is likely to be our first confrontation, a group of ten will think their superior numbers can win out against us."

"Are you sure they are wrong?" Abbey asked, looking around nervously. "No offense, but that's twice our current numbers. Maybe we should go back and tell Sergeant Tanners?"

Seraphina snorted, twirling her knives through her fingers. "Please, anyone committing petty theft is gonna be small time. This is just the warm up."

"Watch that alley, Chase," Reed said into the microphone on the cord. "If you have the time, aim to disable. An injured man takes two enemies out of the fight, assuming someone tries to help him."

"Got it."

Reed took a deep breath, putting his semblance on low burn just in case, and led the way around the corner. They hadn't closed half the distance when the group noticed them and dropped what they were doing. They grouped up between Reed's squad and the store, nine beefy guys sticking out their chests and swaggering up to the patrol. They carried a variety of improvised weapons, mostly bats, with a couple of kitchen knives and a single log-cutting ax.

"Hold it right there, kiddies," said the one wielding the ax, putting it over his shoulder and leaning down to leer at them. "I'm sure the Guard is scrambling to gain control of the city, but there's no point risking your lives. Why don't you just turn around and tell your boss that this section of the city is a lost cause."

His gaze traveled to Abbey and his leer took on a hungry look. "You can leave the cutie in the back, though. It's been a while since I've had someone young enough to be a Maiden."

"Delphin, stay back and keep an eye on the alley. Sera, cover my right. There's no use talking here, let's see how many we have to knock down before they break for cover."

Seraphina stepped up next to Reed, leaving a healthy gap between them to allow Reed adequate room to swing his staff. Reed didn't bother to release the halberd head, broken bones would make for less mess than bloody stumps.

The man's face contorted with rage. "Alright you little piece of Hermit dung, you asked for it."

He stepped forward and swung the ax over his head in a downward stroke. Reed slid to the side of the blow, swinging his staff over the ax to slam into the man's face. He reeled under the power of the stroke, back peddling as he dropped the weapon. Reed pursued him relentlessly, quick jabs slamming into the man's midsection until his Aura broke. Spinning to gain momentum, Reed turned and smashed his staff into the side of the man's knee with an audible crunch.

The man dropped with a howl, and three of the bat wielding thugs took his place with angry shouts. Not wanting to take any chances while so outnumbered, Reed flipped the green switch and brought the staff in front of him, passing it from hand to hand in an impenetrable spinning shield. Every time one of the thugs tried to hit him the bat in their hands was jerked to the side by the force of the collision. One was unlucky enough to take a redirected blow to the face, blood spurting from a broken nose.

As the man spewing blood retreated, Reed pushed into the gap between the remaining two men. He struck one of them across the hands, causing him to drop his bat. Reed brought the staff up and struck him on the side of the head, knocking the man to the ground. Out of the corner of his eye Reed saw the man behind him attempt to take advantage of Reed's positioning, aiming a blow at his legs.

Reed tucked his knees beneath him and jumped over the bat. Turning mid-air, he brought the staff down on the man's shoulder. He grunted, but the thug's aura held. Reed deactivated the wind with a flick of his thumb, bracing the other end of his staff on the ground. Hanging in the air, Reed lashed his foot out to collide solidly with the man's face. His aura broke as his head snapped back and his feet left the ground. He flew a short distance and slammed into the ground, unmoving.

Suddenly Reed felt large arms wrap around him, one of the men abandoning his bat in favor of trying to grapple him to the ground.

"Careless," Reed cursed under his breath. He squatted down, then pushed off the ground to slam his head into the man's chin. As the arms around him loosened, Reed spun to stick one of his legs behind the thug's knee. His hand slid up under the man's arm, pushing him with his momentum over Reed's leg to slam head first into the ground. Light flashing off the man, Reed caught his staff before it hit the ground and struck the man a quick blow to his lower ribs, feeling several break.

Seraphina faced off against the last bat wielders and the two wielding kitchen knives. She held her knives in a reversed grip and leapt forward to close the gap. The first thug attempted a cross slash, but the cheap knives were no match for Phaedra's dust infusing. When they met Seraphina's knives the top halves were sheered away. As the man stared, dumbfounded, she grounded her feet and planted one knuckled hand in the man's face, the other in his gut. The first broke his aura, while the second dropped him to the ground retching and gasping for breath.

Two of the remaining thugs swung at her in unison, bat coming from the left and knives from the right. She blocked the bat with the knuckles of one knife, flipping the other around and slashing down to meet the knives. She cut through the hilt of one knife, but only the tip of the second, and the blade glanced off her thigh.

"Tch," Seraphina grunted, pushing her foot into the offending thug's chest and launching him several yards down the street. She brought her right hand around to slam into the side of the remaining opponent's head, his eyes growing glassy as his aura broke and he dropped his bat. Grabbing the back of his head, Sera brought it down to meet her knee for good measure.

The man Seraphina had kicked down the street and the last guy with a bat broke and ran for the alley.

"I thought you planned to make more of them retreat than that," Chase said dryly.

Reed ignored the comment, sweeping his gaze through the surrounding windows for reinforcements. "Any movement in the alley?"

"Nope. Those two looked about ready to piss themselves, I think we are clear."

Reed turned and motioned for Delphin and Abbey to fall back into formation. The normally hyper girl was standing stock still, gazing open mouthed at Reed and Seraphina. He raised an eyebrow at her, and she snapped back to the moment. Obviously trying to look professional, she looked behind her, then back at Reed and nodded to indicate that the coast was clear. Considering Reed was looking in her direction this was pretty obvious, but he didn't say anything.

Continuing down the street, the young recruits and their older companion saw more evidence of the chaos that had taken over the 24th district. A dumpster had been pushed out of an alley, its contents aflame, to rest on the sidewalk. More roving groups moved up and down the street, one of the larger ones accosting a small group carrying an expensive hologram projector. As Reed watched the smaller group set the projector on the ground and scurried for cover, the larger group exchanging wide grins and slapping each other's backs before picking it up and carrying it further down the street.

As before, once they turned down the street groups began to disappear one by one. Soon they were walking down a nearly empty street.

"We aren't doing enough," Reed said under his breath to Seraphina. "People are just moving around us, once we leave an area I am sure they go right back to looting and breaking."

"There's not much else we can do," Seraphina said with a shrug. "You may be a good fighter, but five people aren't going to change an area this big and bad with one patrol. Tanners knows what he's doing. Seeing patrols in this area will put people on edge. They will be a little more hesitant to do worse crimes, like murder, fearing a Guard will catch them in the act. Our little display earlier will make its way through the circles as well. Strength is king here, and knowing that legitimately capable Guards are the ones patrolling will increase their wariness tenfold."

Reed ground his teeth but let the topic drop, another taking over his thoughts. He had noticed that many of the groups were composed almost entirely of Faunus. Despite his personal feelings towards them, it was a fact that many of the animal-like residents of the city resorted to crime to get by. When no one would hire them for legitimate jobs they had to find ways to feed their families, and a riot was the perfect chance to acquire resources that may otherwise be impossible.

As they approached an apartment complex two people burst from a side door in an alley, a medium sized and slightly overweight man dragging a haggard, middle-aged Faunus woman behind him. The man threw the woman unceremoniously on the ground and fumbled at his belt. When she stood and opened her mouth to accost him he brought the back of his hand across her face, knocking her quivering to the ground.

"Stop," Reed said in a cold voice. The man spun to them, the lust in his eyes turning to anger as he took in the group of Guards in front of him. "Just what, exactly, do you think you're doing?"

The man sneered, looking Reed up and down, taking in his youthful appearance. "Nothing that a kid like you would understand. This trash over here owes me quite a bit of rent money, I'm just taking what's rightfully mine."

Looking him up and down, Reed came to the conclusion that he represented very little real danger. Some fat men were incredibly strong, but this guy's arms were flabby and his gut jiggled in waves when he talked. He decided that now was as good a time as any to give his newer recruits some experience. "Abbey, please come here for a minute."

Abbey approached nervously, hands ringing around the gun-spear in her hands.

"I need a chance to assess your combat viability, and this guy is about as pathetic as they get."

"But Reed!" Abbey protested, eyes wild. "That man is trying to… you know. And I'm a girl. I mean, that is to say, I…"

"Abbey," Reed said, his tone understanding but serious. "This is basically a war-zone, with very real danger around every corner. The next fight you are in is likely to be with unfavorable numbers, possibly a sneak attack, and with much larger, more competent opponents. This is the best chance you will have to actually win. If you can't fight now, you might as well go back and have Tanners put you on a squad patrolling the main strip."

Giving his voice a thoughtful inflection, he added, "You could always just aim for that thing between his legs. He's done you the kindness of taking it part way out, no shame in a low blow in a street brawl."

Abbey's face turned pink, but a small smile forced its way onto her face. Straightening her back, she walked forward and took up a textbook stance, with the tip of her gun-spear pointed in the man's direction.

The overweight man seemed to rethink his choices when the gleaming metal was leveled in his direction. He took a step back, but a gun-shot sounded from the roof behind and a bullet cracked into the ground beside him.

Reed mentally praised Chase's initiative. He needed Abbey to face this, here and now. Real combat was a world's difference from training exercises in a controlled environment, and even one fight would make her a much more valuable asset to their squad.

Of course he also had his semblance on, and was ready to step in at a moment's notice.

"You have two choices," Reed said to the older man. "If you beat young Abbey here, I will make sure you have a comfy jail cell with a lovely cell mate. Good guy, a bit insistent but I'm sure you two will get along great. If you try and run my friend on the roof there will put a bullet in your leg, but I will still get you that cell. Your call."

The man glanced around wildly, scanning the roof tops trying to determine what direction the shot had come from and if he had any avenues of escape. Locating Chase, his eyes went down to the building below, where Seraphina had positioned herself with arms crossed in front of the only entrance.

The man took a step back, as if he planned to take his chances with Chase, then lunged at Abbey.

He snatched at Abbey's weapon, but despite being taken by surprise the young girl was faster and stepped to the side. The man spun on her and lunged again, and again Abbey ducked to the side, but this time the tip of her spear dropped a little. When the man tried to lunge again, she brought the weapon up between his legs, a triumphant smile on her face.

The man's face contorted in pain and weak light flashed as his aura broke, but he grabbed the weapon in one hand and pulled it so that Abbey was in reach, twisting one hand into the collar of her uniform.

Chase cursed and the sound of a bolt sliding into place sounded in Reed's ears. Under his breath, Reed whispered, "Hold, Chase."

A look of panic entered Abbey's eyes. She tried desperately to back away from the man, but his grip was firm as he pulled her in close. "Might as well take a good memory with me, eh?"

He grabbed the other side of her uniform and made to rip the jacket open. Yelling in panic, Abbey's hands found the back of the man's head and she brought it down to her knee in a fair imitation of the move Seraphina had pulled earlier. The man yelped in pain as several teeth hit pavement just before their previous residence toppled to the ground beside them.

Abbey looked in surprise at her hands, then at the crumpled form on the ground in front of her, and a wide smile split her face. She punched the air and whooped, "Alright! That's what you get, you lousy pervert! Taken out by a little girl, by the Maidens that felt good!"

Reed smiled and released his semblance in relief. Seraphina walked over with a broad grin, clapping Abbey on the shoulder and drawing from her pocket a length of rope she had scavenged from a nearby alley. She hog-tied the man, then lifted him bodily and tossed him in a dumpster.

"We can tell Tanners about him later," Seraphina said, dusting her hands off. "Hopefully we have patrol cars able to pick him up."

Reed led Abbey away from the other members of the squad and turned her to face him. She was shaking a little as the adrenaline left her system, but she was smiling in satisfaction.

"I know that wasn't easy for you, and I am sorry I had to push you that hard."

Abbey shook her head. "Thank you, Reed. You were right, I'm sure that was easier than what we have to face, and I still almost panicked and let him overwhelm me. I learned a lot from that fight. Also, I appreciate you wanting to protect me."

"How did I want to protect you? I'm the one that made you go in and fight him."

"I saw your face when he grabbed my uniform," she said, leaning forward and smirking at him. "If I hadn't knocked him down there I don't think he would have survived the afternoon."

Reed shrugged but allowed himself to smile back at her. "Just looking out for my squad. Anyway, we still have a lot more encounters like that one, it's time we moved on."

They walked back to the group. Seraphina was comforting the Faunus woman who had almost been assaulted. The woman was thanking her repeatedly, and Seraphina looked decidedly uncomfortable as she patted the woman's shoulder awkwardly.

Abbey seemed to recover quickly, but Reed noticed a few changes. She went straight for where her weapon lay on the ground. Rather than holding it gingerly like she had before, she gripped it firmly with both hands close to the triggers, taking solace from the gun-spear's presence. Her scanning of the surrounding areas, which had been jerky and sporadic before, was now calm and slow, making sure to take in everything.

She had won the fight, and gained some valuable experience for it. Reed smiled. He was starting to like his squad.

Reed's team continued to snake its way through the district. Word seemed to be preceding them, as they turned corners they often found the street already deserted. Another group attempted to accost them, a group of no less than fifteen individuals.

While Reed and Seraphina took on the brunt of them, Abbey and Delphin took care of several who had the tactical foresight to attempt to surround the group of Guards. Near the end of the fight Reed heard several gunshots from Chase's roof top, and a man with a hunting rifle toppled out of the second floor of the building opposite.

After the squad's continued successes no one came up against them, and they neared the end of their route after several blocks with no confrontations.

They were in high spirits, when Chase's voice took on a warning tone.

"Reed, hold up a second. There's a blockade at the end of the next street, give me a minute to check it out."

After a minute of silence, during which Chase moved to a better vantage point, he started describing the scene around the corner.

"It looks some kind of rally. The street is blocked by a line of dumpsters, and there are a couple of guys with hunting rifles standing behind them. A small delivery truck is parked at the end of a dead end, and there's some guy standing on top of it yelling his head off about something. 'Rise of humanity?' 'Profane corruption from the beasts?' What the hell is this guy on about? There's a pretty good sized crowd of people cheering him on, and there's a symbol painted on the truck. It looks like… Maidens, that's dark. It looks like a severed rabbit's head with a chain wrapped around the snout."

Reed relayed what Chase had seen to the others. Seraphina reflexively grasped the hilts of the knives at her waist, checking the abandoned street around them.

"Reed, this is bad," she said in a nervous voice. "That sounds like the Heroes of Humanity. They are the most active and violent anti-Faunus group in Adigiar. A bunch of good-for-nothing thugs that peddle drugs and run human only bars."

"There's a group like that in Adigiar?" Abbey said in horror, holding a hand over her mouth.

Sera nodded seriously. "They get sadistic pleasure from torturing and murdering Faunus. Normally they meet in secret hide-outs and hidden rooms, but with the city in chaos they are like a rabid dog that's been let off its leash."

"Reed!" Chase's panicked voice sounded in Reed's ear. "A couple of thugs just exited one of the buildings, they are pushing a family of Faunus at gun point into the center of the street!"

A cold sweat broke out on Reed's back. They didn't have time to think or plan. They had to act, otherwise lives were going to be lost.

"Sounds like a lynch mob," Reed hurriedly relayed to the others, "They have hostages, and it looks like they don't plan on letting them live long."

He wanted to tell Abbey to get back to headquarters with Delphin, but at his words she tightened her grip on her spear and a look of cold determination replaced her previous horror. Seraphina already had her knives out, and even Delphin's eyes looked harder than normal.

There was no time to waste, so he just shouted, "Follow me!"

As he charged around the corner the others spread out in a loose fan behind him. He began shouting orders to the others. "Chase, take out those sentries! I will blast a way through the barricade. Delphin protect Abbey and you two watch our backs! Sera, focus on whoever you think is the most dangerous and keep an eye on those two. I will go for the hostages."

"Sir!"

Reed couldn't help but grin at the unity of the shout. He pointed the tip of Halmvoulge forward and his thumb found the new red switch. When they had closed half the distance he pushed it back and a sphere of fire exploded from the end. It rocketed through the air to crash into a dumpster.

The sentries' shouts of warning were drowned in the explosion as the dumpster was thrown through the air, crashing to the ground next to the impromptu stage. One of the sentries was tossed against a nearby building by the force of the fire ball. The other leveled his rifle at Reed, but a gunshot rang in the air and the man fell, clutching a destroyed shoulder.

Reed charged through the opening, staff striking around him as he entered the shocked crowd. A part of him told Reed to introduce the racist scum to the full deadly prowess of Halmvoulge, but some of these people may be innocent, seeking safety in a crowd. Instead he used the ice infused end of his staff, leaving a dozen people incapacitated in the span of a few seconds.

"The Town Guard seeks to aid the disgusting part-beast demons!" the man on the truck shouted, a fanatic gleam to his eyes. He threw his arms wide, open vest revealing the rabbit's head tattooed in disturbing clarity across his chest. "Show them that the Heroes of Humanity will free us from the forced cohabitation with our inferiors through whatever means necessary!"

The crowd turned on Reed's squad, and he realized that his former worry that there were innocents among the crowd was unfounded. Every single person drew weapons from their belts, mostly a motley collection of knives and bats, but with the occasional sword and gun. From the heavy scars and ready stances, Reed judged that most of them knew how to use them.

Reed flipped out Halmvoulge's ax head and activated the green switch as Seraphina's knives transformed into the gleaming black claws. They met the first wave of thugs with ferocity. Seraphina was a blur of movement, claws slamming weapons from hands, carving gaping wounds into legs and shoulders, and leaving thugs unconscious on the ground. Reed left the majority of them to her, knocking a couple of thugs flying and charging towards the captives.

The thugs who had been escorting the Faunus family turned to meet him, a pair of sword wielding Heroes. They took up a coordinated stance, one crouched with a low guard while the other stood slightly behind with his sword held high. Reed activated his semblance as they darted in, swords snaking in and out in an intricate dance. He sought to smash their weapons from their grasp, but the pair were obviously experienced fighters and turned their blades with his parries to lessen the force of the blows.

Seraphina finished off a couple of thugs trying to approach Reed's back, then tore through the crowd, shrugging off the occasional blow that crashed against her aura. A few thugs tried to circle around her, but they were met by Delphin and Abbey. The pair worked well together. Delphin's experience was suddenly apparent as he engaged enemies in unhurried, precise attacks. Abbey flitted around him, darting in and out of the fray to strike crippling blows when the opportunity presented itself. Bullets fired again and again from Chase's rooftop, the pistol wielding thugs hidden in the crowd being picked out with unnerving accuracy.

Reed realized that the sword wielding pair was far too skilled to be powered through. He deactivated the wind flowing from his weapon, shifting to a dueling stance and pushing his semblance further. Thinking him suddenly open, the pair lunged. One aimed a slash intended to disembowel him, the other a diagonal strike at his neck.

Ducking down, Reed slipped under the high strike and caught the other on his staff. As the taller man stumbled past him, Reed feinted at the other's head. As his guard rose Reed redirected the strike down, and Halmvoulge's blade bit deeply into the man's thigh. He dropped with a bellow, and Reed turned in time to deflect a vertical strike at his head with the other end of his staff. He spun Halmvoulge in his hand and the spur slammed through the second thug's upper arm, his sword dropping to the street with a clatter.

Reed knocked out both downed thugs for good measure, one with a fist to the jaw, the other with a foot to the temple. He turned back to the Faunus family and his heart sank. The fanatical leader of the "Heroes" stood with a revolver pressed to one of the hostage's heads. Reed realized with horror that it was the young fox-Faunus with the white ears he had saved from Seraphina's gang so many weeks ago.

Next to him, the boy's weeping mother was being held by another thug. His head was shaved bare, defined arms gripping a pair of Tonfas, one against the woman's throat. A man with a white-haired muzzle lay on the ground behind them, eyes blank and lifeless.

The thug holding the Faunus woman wasn't looking at Reed. His eyes were focused on the muscled girl behind Reed, currently in the process of lifting a thug off the ground to slam him into the side of a building.

"I can't believe you've chosen to throw in your lot with these pathetic fools, Seraphina."