"Alright, up you go." Yang narrated as she pulled Ruby up to the elevator door on the desired floor. Blake was already standing next to them as she waited for her leader to finish brushing off the metal carapace over her torso, followed by her adjusting the red scarf around her neck.

After straightening everything out she took a glance around the room. The stairs they wanted were clearly marked, with long hallways of different servers and data storage filling the room. To their left were lockers and a couple hooks with coats and hats hanging from them.

Ruby took the lead with Yang and Blake following on her heels as they passed through the walls of servers. The many flashing lights caught Ruby's eyes, making her head turn from one side, then back to the other as they went about performing their functions.

"Architect is in charge of maintaining the original matrix for archival and historical purposes." Blake spoke out from behind Yang.

"What?" Was the expected reply Blake got from her leader.

"The matrix we use for our everyday lives is the third iteration created. This one was originally developed back home, when it was still called the 'United States of America.' Eventually, as technology advanced and changed, the platform couldn't adapt to modern systems so the great dragon, Chihli Bo, prime minister of the Ji Federation in northern Old China, ordered the development of a new system built to be adaptable to the future." It wasn't till after she finished that all of them realized they had stopped to listen.

"Hey Blake," Yang spoke out breaking the silence, "How about we save the history lessons till after we're done."

"Right, sorry." She agreed, accompanied by a nod.

They continued along into the simple staircase to take them up the next to floor. Ruby was honestly a little disappointed. She was expecting some sort of secret passageway filled with 'killer death robots' and top of the line weaponry to protect a vault that could withstand high explosive fire. Instead she got something you could find in a generic office building.

The thirty first floor was a locked door, with a small window at eye level, with only a massive room of old computer systems. Wires ran across the floor in every direction with blocks of systems covered in lights like the servers below.

As Ruby turned the corner to continue up to the next floor a rush of air accompanied by the thunder of a cannon slammed into her mid-stride. Even with her metal limbs and armor it was still strong enough to knock her off balance. She fell flat on her back with a grunt as the sudden impact forced the air out of her lungs. The force disappeared as quickly as it came, letting Ruby sit up to see Yang and Blake leaning on the walls with death grips on the hand railings.

Once everyone righted themselves, they took a combat stance as they started to move up the steps at a faster pace. Ruby leveled her rifle at the door at the top of the steps, signalling Yang to rush it. A blonde bolt rushed by, as Yang lept up the last flight of stairs only to bring her fist slamming into the door's center. The surface caved under the force before being torn from it's hinges into the room it had blocked a moment before.

Yang raised her fist, ready to fight any assailant that came at her. Instead she was met with the sight of nine different individuals all on their knees in a kowtow position with their hands behind their heads. Each was dressed in casual clothing, with only the white labcoats they wore revealing they were even working.

The lab was decently sized, the size of a basketball court with tables running along the walls and neatly organized branches to give all the workers their own little work space. In the back of the room was what they came for though. The blueprints made it look like a room a third of the size of the lab's total space. What it turned out to be was a steel walled vault. At least, it appeared to be to Yang.

The doors looked like they had taken extensive damage, and smoke pouring out betrayed that an explosion had just happened within. Yang hoped that their target was still alright, rumors said that their employer ate runners that didn't meet his high standards. Though the silver lining was that now it would take far less force to break in. They knew that they would need some muscle to get in, but something like this would have kept them out if it was still in working order.

"Everyone, may I have your attention please." She called out for all to hear, as Ruby and Blake came up behind her, weapons still at the ready. The scientist all looked up, whether from understanding or just because the intruder was speaking to them, Yang didn't care.

"I will need you all to sit over on that side of the room," She narrated with large, obvious hand motions for any non english speakers, "and make sure you keep your hands where we can see them at all times."

Everyone present started moving to the spot Yang had gestured for them to move to without protest. Blake went about inspecting the rest of the room. Computers lined the back of the lab behind the vault, as well as a door that lead to more stairs. The vault itself though didn't have any openings other than the broken door in the front.

While Yang went about babysitting the workers, and Blake went to do her own thing, Ruby stepped up to the massive vault door. Her rifle extended out to it's scythe form, getting few 'aww's from the onlookers. The blade flashed red as she brought it down slicing through the metal door. Its own weight held it in place forcing Ruby to slash again, and again. Finally she broke through the first layer, only to find a second, only scratched up from her previous attacks. A grunt of mild annoyance escaped her as she went back in full force. Spinning the blade from one side to the other to keep her momentum up. The scientist were wide eyed as they watched the red runner's weapon turn into a cyclone of red steel and hard light.

The door whined as it was slowly weakened, and the whole structure started to lean forward. A loud snapping sound caught Ruby's attention just in time to see the whole face of the wall was falling toward her. With speed that would seem like teleportation to the naked eye, she vanished as the heavy door fell to the ground, dragging the frame and the rest of the wall with it.

There was a loud boom as steel collided with steel, and heavy parts clanged against each other. When everything was silent Ruby stepped forward to inspect her handy work. The door was on the ground, but the wall around it had become warped and bent as it was pulled with it, becoming a new barrier to some extent. Rubble had filled up the hole that remained, but there was still an opening just big enough for Ruby to fit her head through. Blake ran to the front at the sound of danger, only to relax when she saw everything was still ok.

Ruby stepped up to the small gap in the barrier and pushed her head through. The optics on her right eye immediately flipped through to her low light lense so she could get a better look inside.

The whole room was trashed, no doubt from the explosion that just happened, but Ruby could still make out a computer terminal in the room, as well as walls of hardware all wired up to some kind of pod in the very back of it. Then she saw it. In the center of the room was a chair, that looked like it had been bolted down to the floor, but now was on its back, and a human figure still sitting in it, despite its compromised position.

Ruby moved some scrap metal out of the way before applying her strength to pushing the hole wider. Metal grinded on metal as it gave away slowly, one inch at a time. Her arms gave out automatically before the machinery inside could risk overloading or breaking. The crack was still small, but she could squeeze through the gap with a little effort. She leaned back as she put her head and arms through first. Seeing a spot to grab, she lifted herself up so she could pull her legs in before lowering herself to the vault floor.

She took one last peek outside to make sure everything was alright before she went in. Yang flashed her a thumbs up as she continued to tower over the scientists, who were now sitting in a corner together.

Returning to the objective, Ruby walked over the rubble within toward the broken chair. The woman in it was unconscious, if her scanners were correct. She was dressed in a fine white top, with crochet lace swon around the neck and sleeves, and a knee long skirt around her waist and legs. No trauma or other injuries were detected by Ruby's once over, but she did have a doubled heartbeat. Ruby fell to a crouch as she continued to look her over. A proper scan showed the second heartbeat wasn't a fetus or anything. It appeared that she had two hearts, both pumping blood in synchronization. Ruby's mind wondered as she thought about the implications.

Two hearts was common in trolls, and it wasn't unheard of for other goblinoids to also grow a second one when they reach puberty. But there were no signs that she had any goblin blood in her. Her goggle's scanners didn't go any more in depth than that though, she could only see that her arms and legs were both robotic, and it looked like she had some kind of chrome on the right side of her head. Two triangular prongs extended through her pure, untamed white hair just above the ear, with small blue lights flashing on and off every third second.

She also had some super high quality synthskin for her arms, face and stomach area. The pure complexion made Ruby slightly jealous. She liked her natural look, but if she ever did get synthskin, she could only hope it was half as good as what this woman had.

Ruby lightly shook her shoulder, in hopes of stirring her awake. She made a soft groan in response to the action, but eyes remained closed. Not knowing what to do to wake her she took a seat next to her head, legs crossed, then proceeded to continually poke the woman's cheek. The thought came across to just pick her up and carry her, but doing that while she was unconscious could cause serious problems for her, even more so with the chrome plugged in so close to her brain. So continuing to poke the synthskin cheek was all she could do.

The sound of tearing metal outside of the vault drew her attention away from the women. She stood up to ask Yang what it was, but the sound of gunfire alerted her to it being a hostile. With full speed she bolted to the opening and took a peek outside.

Yang, alongside the scientists, were crouched under the desks they were next too, with the latter cowering in fear. Standing next to the door was a man in a black jump suit, with black metal plates over his forearms, shoulders, chest. A cream, wedge shaped helmet covered his head, hiding any trace of flesh underneath. The only thing that could be called a face was the vertical edge in front, and the only break in the featureless surface were brightly glowing red lines, the only representations of eyes she could see.

He stood in the doorway with a solid stance. Both of his pistols had some kind of plate that enclosed his knuckles, the tell sign for the Phantom Blade's signature weapon. Both were currently leveled at Yang, each firing pale blue hardlight rounds at a rate that almost made them appear to be laserbeams. Yang crouched below one the the desk, holding her gauntlets up as a makeshift shield against the onslaught.

Ruby pulled Crescent Rose from her waist, and fitted it through the hole to act as a stabilizer as she took aim at the man. The roar of her rifle drowned out the rapid pulsing of her opponent's own weapon. Ruby went dumbstruck as she watched him backhand her heavy round with the guard plate on his right pistol. Bringing up the left in the same motion, Ruby was forced to pull away as the air her head was in a moment before was consumed in pale blue light.

A second later the shots moved to a different location, but never stopped. This was bad, when they were hired they thought this would be an easy job, with their only real concern being Lone Star and their "special tactics" units. Why were "Ashita Tactical" here? What about this woman was so important that they would send a Phantom Blade?

Her attention was redrawn to the woman in the chair. Their objective was her, so they could just flee from their attacker, but the problem of how they would get out still remained. Ruby rushed back over to the woman, hoping Blake and Yang could hold out till she could get her awake.

Both hands came onto her shoulders and started shaking her lightly. Still she refused to stir, causing Ruby to shake harder. "Come on, wake up!" She shouted, this time being rewarded with a soft groan, and eye movement. She shook her again, but once more didn't get any reaction. The sound of Yang yelping before slamming into the wall forced Ruby's attention away. Panic started to encroach into her mind, and she returned to shaking the white haired woman even more fervently, her hand passed by the woman's face, knocking it to the side. A moment later Ruby jumped realizing she had just slapped her.

She was really losing it, the thought of slapping her hadn't even come into her mind, she just did it. A groan made Ruby rush to her side as the woman's eyes started to open.

"Oh good you're awake! Come on we need to go!" She practically shouted, jumping to her feet and grabbing the synthetic arm on her new companion.

"Where am I? What happened-"

"Can we do this later?" Ruby interrupted, pulling her up into a sitting position, hoping it would get her to comply in some manner. She didn't resist, unlike other people Ruby had to 'retrieve' in the past, and let herself get pulled onto her feet. She seemed in a daze, like she had just woken up after a long night.

She stood a little less than a head taller than Ruby, which already made her slightly more jealous of her. Her ice blue eyes, her hair, her face, everything about her was beautiful, which made Ruby incredibly jealous.

"Are you ok to walk? Or should I carry you?" Ruby asked, seeing her eyes drooping.

She looked like she was about to pass out right there. After a moment Ruby decided to carry her, she didn't look like she was in any condition to get anywhere quickly. She step up and started to reach out, but suddenly the woman's eyes saw something behind Ruby and next thing she knew she was falling after being pushed backwards.

"Look out!" She shouted both arms reaching to her right waist for something that wasn't there. After a moment and her left hand not finding it was looking for, she actually looked down to see nothing was there.

Ruby started to sit up, watching the women look around for whatever she thought was on her waist. After a moment, she snapped back to attention, her arms raised into a basic combat stance. Once more she was left looking around, whatever she thought she saw wasn't there anymore, from what Ruby could tell, and she watched the women look around again for whatever it was.

"Where did he go?" She asked no one in particular.

"Where did who go?" Ruby replied as she stood up.

"Koroku! He was right there." She said, gesturing to behind where Ruby was before being pushed to the ground.

Ruby looked to the direction she was suggesting, then back to the white haired women with a confused expression, "You're sure you don't want me to carry you? You seem kind of-"

Before she could finish the sentence, she was cut off, "No, you don't need to carry me! I saw him, right behind you!"

Ruby only stared blankly at her, about to speak again when the sound of of something slamming into the wall outside caught their attention. Ruby recognized the ensuing cry of pain as Blake's and rushed over to the opening in the vault. The woman continued looking around the ground, like she was looking for something. Then eventually the ruined computers, cables and objects caught her attention, afflicting a sense of awe in her.

"Come on! We need to go." Ruby called out to her.

"I can't find my sword!" She called out to the red scarfed warrior regaining her senses.

Ruby stated she didn't have a sword, only to get a look of shock in return. She gave one last once over for it before walking over to Ruby. A look of anger on her face, and a "tsk!" escaping through her bare teeth as she walked over to the opening.

Ruby climbed through with ease, swinging her feet so she could land outside in a single movement. Her heavy rifle was in hand before she even straightened herself up, and she quickly glanced from one flank to the next looking for any hostiles. The clash of hard light on hard light, and the beating sound of gunfire that had been muffled inside the vault, returned to her ears clear as day.

"Do you need help?" Ruby asked turning around to see the woman stepping up to the opening.

She took a quick peek outside seeing where she would be landing before working in her mind how to climb out. She placed both hands on some broken metal and started to prep herself, but stopped when a ringing in her ear moved her hand from the metal to her head. She gave a soft grunt of pain as a headache started to set in. The red eyed girl she was with turned to her, and despite not being able to see her face, her body language showed concern for her. She waved it off, and explained her head was just hurting as she massaged her temple and brow. Her fingers didn't feel right though, sparing a look she realized she was wearing some kind of gauntlet. A second passed and she realized she wasn't wearing anything, her arm was just completely metal! She looked to the other arm and saw it was in the same state.

The limbs weren't bulky, infact, they were proportioned to what her arms normally would be, though had flat metal faces with soft edges rather than the organic curves her normal arms would. She flexed her fingers, and found they still worked in the same capacity as before. She could even feel, despite them being metal. Her red and black themed companion seemed patient enough to wait for her as she continued to examine her arms. The headache not even processing in her mind.

In the corner of her eye, a black figure was on the ground starting to get up two large swords in his hands. A moment later she recognized the large gold crescent on the face of the helmet and called out to the red girl in front of her.

She turned to face Koroku leveling her weapon at him. It roared like thunder, as it fired something from it. She had heard of the westerners having weapons like these, but they were always described as being cumbersome and unreliable. Koroku rolled across the ground avoiding the attack, then righting himself back on his feet. More shots were fired, but this time he held his ground. His two swords made quick slashing movements, intercepting with seeming ease.

The red girl stopped her shooting, and adjusted her grip. The whole weapon opened up into a scythe, the blade glowed red like she had never seen before. Another girl, armed with a black sword and cleaver, appeared on the left flank, while on the right, one with glowing yellow fists and a matching mane of hair stepped into sight.

Koroku wasn't deterred, and took a defensive stance, both blades forward to intercept any attack. The new yellow warrior rushed forward, letting out a roar as she cocked back her fist. Koroku raised his arm to intercept hers, and push it away from him, as his other arm came in to slash at her midsection. Her knee caught his wrist stopping the attack while she countered with a left hook. The larger man had to lean back to avoid the attack, and completely disengage as the one with the sword came up to strike from behind. The armored man jumped back, rolling on his shoulders to get away, his katana's morphed into some kind of small hand held weapons.

Pulses of light, darted across the floor as he fired whatever strange weapons he had. Both of his targets dived out of the way, letting the attack harmlessly blast away at the background. Koroku traced their movements, shots leaving a line of debris in a trail behind them.

The attack stopped as red movement above caught his eye. The girl with the red scarf trailing behind, flew through the air her scythe cocked back to come down on him. The obvious attack was child's play to avoid. The glowing red blade going past into the ground with a simple side step. She continued her momentum instead of stopping though, the blade easily cutting through the tile floor as she brought it about to attack again. He avoided again only to avoid a third that followed with lighting speed. The next attacks came faster and faster, keeping him on the defensive as the deadly blade's flurry closed up the many obvious holes in her guard. The break he needed came as she let her scythe loop around her back for a horizontal strike. Koroku raised his foot to intercept the shaft as the blade came around to cleave him in two. With little effort he pushed it back, finally breaking his opponent's strike and leaving her open as his fist came forward straight in the kisser.

As she recoiled back he looped his blade with her own, locking it in place so she couldn't defend herself while he brought the other up over head. The black sword user rushed forward on his flank forcing him to stop his attack to block hers. Sparks flew off the two blades as they met, grinding up till they were at each other's hilts. A twist of his wrist and he had his blade on the inside of her sword's small hand guard. She refused to let go of her blade, letting herself be pulled forwards instead. His foot caught her, punishing her mistake as the hard impact forced her from her blade while she went flying back, skidding across the ground. The red girl called out to her as she came to a stop, leaving herself distracted. Koroku twisted their weapons around, leaving her open as he jumped into the air and delivered a strong kick to her head, sending her to the ground as well, only stopping when she slammed into one of the desks.

A battlecry pulled Koroku's attention away from the two, as Yang rushed in, nailing him square in the face with a mighty blow. His feet left the ground, as her's slammed down to stop her momentum. She watched him fly across the room before finally slamming down on the hard tile, then skipped across the hard surface out the door. The sound of him tumbling down the stairs echoed into the room as the two girls picked themselves up, a little worse for wear.

One of the scientists started to crawl to his feet from his hiding spot under the desk Ruby slammed into, before diving back down as gunfire returned to the room. All three of the girls also moved to different desks seeking cover. Ruby tumbled forward, landing on her feet, scythe returned to its rifle form. Peeking over the thin metal surface, she could see the black figure in the back, his legs spread so he could prop himself on the walls high enough to see in.

She fired a return shot, but as expected, he just tucked his legs in, letting gravity pull him down out of sight. Ruby held overwatch on the door, as both Yang and Blake darted from desk to desk as they advanced for his second assault.

"Are you ok?" Ruby turned, so see the white haired women speaking to one of the scientists who was cowering next to her.

"Tā yīdìng shì zài zhèlǐ děng nǐ. Nǐ bùshì zhèlǐ bù ānquán, nǐ xūyào líkāi zhèlǐ!"

A box opened on Ruby's visor as she watched the man, his words being translated to english for her.

"Nǐ zài liúxuè. Wǒmen xūyào dédào nín de zhìliáo shī." The women responded, the box translating her words from Mandarin to English, "You're bleeding. We need to get you a healer."

He followed her eyes to his shoulder to see his lab coat had turned crimson. He spread the small cut in the fabric to take a look at the injury. It was a small cut, nothing to worry about. The hard light could be sharper than obsidian, letting them make very clean cuts, and moved fast enough so they couldn't cauterize the wound. Something like this would probably just be a scratch for a couple days, a week at most.

"Wǒ huì méishì de, rúguǒ nǐ líkāi wǒmen dūhuì gèng ānquán. Tā zhǐshì zài zhèlǐ děng nǐ."

"I'll be fine, and we'll all be safer if you leave. He's only here for you."

"How do we get out of here then?" Ruby asked, hoping he could speak some english.

The man didn't acknowledge her directly, instead focusing still on the white haired women. He mentioned the door in the back of the room, and told her it would lead to the roof. She nodded in understanding then, stood up.

"Koroku! Let's finish this outside!" She shouted toward the doorway, causing everyone present to turn to her. She shifted her stance, while raising her hand to make a beckoning motion.

"Wait! Don't-" Ruby shouted as she watched her run off.

Gunfire erupted from the doorway, preventing her from pursuing. The sound of the pulsing was getting louder as the Phantom Blade charged forward. In her mind she visualized where he was. He must have been running, no doubt prioritizing his objective rather than them. He had to be passing Yang at this point,which meant she would get a clear shot while he was distracted.

The sound of the hard light fire stopped, and Ruby quickly straightened up, bringing the barrel of Crescent Rose down on the desk and bracing it against her shoulder. She saw Yang laying on the ground, holding her face, and Blake still in cover. A second later, her vision went black as something impacted her head. As she fell backwards light returned to her as she landed. A moment later the stomp of an unseeable foot landing next to her head revealed what happened.

"After him!" She shouted as she rolled onto her front.

She sprinted ahead, running around the vault just in time to see the door closing. She pressed herself to go faster, leaping through the air so her foot could take the lead as she kicked open the metal surface.

The door slammed on the wall with a loud bang. Ruby curled up into a ball as she hit the ground, and rolled out the momentum. Rising to her feet she presented her weapon for any immediate threats, but found none. The stairwell went down another two floors, and up all the way to the top of the building. She ignored how impractical this whole building layout was. It was almost a century old, so the layout probably made sense at the time.

She bolted up the steps, taking them three at a time. Hearing footsteps echoing further up above her keeping pace with her speed.

"Ms. Schnee, wait!" A male voice called from above. The thought that she was behind got to her, and with all her strength she kicked off the flat she was on, jumping the next flight of steps in a single bound. Her feet came up to stop her as she passed over the final step and continued on toward the wall. The concrete cracked as she made impact, and she hung there for a second before gravity regained its grasp on her. More softly this time, she landed on the ground and continued her run. The lunge turned out to be slower than her original pace, making her growl to herself in annoyance as the consistent turns kept her from using her true speed.

Soon she found herself coming up on the final flight of stairs. The door was cracked open, the sound of the storm outside still raging at full force. Ruby kicked it open, letting it slam on the outside wall as she stepped out. Her rifle was leveled as she stepped out, looking for the phantom blade or the women. Thunder rumbled in the clouds, drawing Ruby's attention to above.

:::::

The heavy rain pounded on her lithe frame as she ran across the gravel. Her clothes were soaked, and her white hair had greyed from the water. The night air was warm and the rain was actually relaxing to the touch. As she stepped toward the edge of the building she was on she sneaked a peek over the edge. Rain fell down toward the streets far below as small specks moved along them, with countless people along the sides. She pulled back, realizing she had been holding her breath a moment later.

The building she was on was taller than anything she'd ever seen before. She felt like she was on top of a mountain, yet despite it, several more buildings stood even taller amongst the city, each glowing a variety of colors, with strange moving signs and other symbols scattered about she couldn't identify.

A red form rushed past her from behind, the tailwind catching her with enough strength to throw her forwards. A yelp escaped her as gravity took hold of her, pulling her toward the ground far below.

Her arm automatically reached out and grabbed the ledge she just slipped from. The the stone that made up its shape cracked under her powerful grip while the rest of her body swung softly in the air. The people below continued on, completely oblivious to her predicament, while the red shape continued on, sharing their ignorance.

Its serpent-like body moved through the air with ease. She had never seen anything like it before outside old paintings or stories. The word "dragon" echoed in her mind while her jaw silently mouthed in unison.

Gravel crunched under footsteps, drawing closer to her as she started to collect herself. A man in black clothes and armor, with a strange cream colored helmet stepped into sight looking down at her. Unsure of his intentions she tightened her grip onto the ledge, but refrained from showing him any hostility directly.

"Do you require assistance Miss Schnee?" His voice was human, but had a very emotionless monotone to it.

He reached his hand out, which she promptly took. It didn't seem like it took any effort on his part to lift her up in his one hand high enough for her to place her feet on the ledge. He released her, then turned to leave.

"We must go. You aren't safe here." He commented as he started walking away.

"Slow down there, sir." Her comment making him stop and give her his full attention, "I appreciate the help, but I don't know who you are, all I know is Koroku is about and no one is safe till I can put him down for good."

The man cocked his head in confusion, muttering the name to himself to help along with figuring out what she was talking about. "Who?" He finally asked, giving up.

"Koroku of Yumari."

"..."

"The Black Giant?"

"..."

"The Bloodstained Daimyo?"

"I apologize, but I am afraid I have heard of no one of the name or titles." He replied, his monotone giving way slightly to shame.

This man kept calling her "Schnee" for some reason, a name she'd never heard before. He also had never heard of Koroku, a man even everyone across the provinces knew, even if it was just the name.

"Where am I? What happened?" The first girl she saw didn't answer the questions, but maybe he would.

"This is Singapore. One of the Four Asian Tigers. City law enforcement is near universally controlled by Lone Star. George Han has been Prime Minister for-"

"Sing a pore?" The syllables being pronounced individually, "I don't know where I am then. Do you know what direction Kannadaco is?"

"I'm afraid Kannadaco isn't a real place. Singapore is located on the tip of the Malaysian Peninsula in Southeast Asia."

She stared at him, expecting him to burst out laughing or in some other way show he was joking. How could he not know what Kannadaco is. Even merchants from the west knew what Kannadaco was before they even arrived in the Provinces.

She turned back to the city taking in the site. She hadn't seen anything like it before, but surely a city like this would be known across the world. Its gold spires stood taller than anything she had ever seen. All the lights that seemed to be magic to her eyes. Wherever she was, she certainly wasn't in Ameritaki.

"Come, I have a prearranged residence for the next week before we head to Tokyo." He stated, waving his arm to have her come along.

Normally she would be skeptical about the situation, but she wasn't dumb enough to think she could make her way home in such a strange place without some kind of direction. She looked over the city, taking in its sights, a second time before following. She didn't trust the man, she didn't even know his name which raised red flags immediately, but he hadn't done anything to be branded as a threat either.

The rain continued its assault without remorse, the rumbling thunder breaking into lightning, connecting with the spring tips of the building. The door to the staircase was wide open. Footsteps started to stand out from the sound of the rain, running towards them. She turned to see who it was. Strange objects stood on the roof from giant cubes making a rumbling noise, to pipes connecting different points with each other. Finally the source of the footsteps appeared into sight. The girl with the red scarf, stopped on the spot the moment she saw them, sliding on the wet gravel as she dug her heels in.

"Hey!" She shouted, finally slowing to a halt and aiming the strange red weapon at them.

Her escort growled, as he stepped forward, his right arm coming up to separate her from the red girl, while the other grabbed a strange device on his hip. After a moment the panel on the back of his palm made a soft click before quickly rolling open into a crescent shaped sickle like weapon.

Holding the weapon in front of him like a sword, the inside crescent of the weapon started to hum, as a light blue light enveloped the edge.

"Persistent..."

Sorry for the delay, this guy was a pain to get out. Let me know what you guys think, I always enjoy feedback. Thanks to Lazerbear7 and Spartacus400 for their help.

Till next time Review + Follow.