The air they drew into their lungs seemed to be heavy with the soot and dust from the crumbling factories and broken refineries. Jaune and Pyrrha didn't remember it being quite so heavy, but they weren't quite as on-edge as they were now. Now their bodies were coiled like springs, and their minds were ready to do whatever it took to bring Nora back.

No one wanted to speak a word, not even Roman was willing to break the silence. The only one who seemed totally unaffected by the oppressive tone of the place was Neo, who was taking lighthearted steps through the alleyways and paths, kicking up small clouds of filth as she did so, the smile never fading from her face. In spite of her nonchalant attitude, she still moved silently, ears perked up to hear anything that might lead them to the possessed Nora.

Neo had taken the lead of the group once they had entered into the ruins. After all, she had the set of abilities that made her ideal for finding someone on conditions like these. The whole time she had gravitated towards the center of the district, and was sure that she was starting to close in on the girl. Her sensitive ears could tell that there was something nearby, breathing heavily and making occasional grunting noises. She could hear the sounds bouncing off of the numerous hollow buildings, echoing and resonating, confusing her senses slightly, but it was not enough to hide its source. It took a little more focus than it would have normally, but she didn't mind. The only thing that really annoyed her at all was the feelings of her two new companions. Their fear was palpable, especially to her. It spiked with every sound, no matter how small it was, if they heard it, they reacted.

Roman dealt with the situation far better. In true alignment with what Neo had come to expect from him, he barely felt any fear at all. He was on edge, of course, ready to react to whatever he needed to, but his head was cool and level, keeping out a watch for anything suspicious.

The other two were far worse. The blonde, Jaune, seemed to be on the verge of panicking. Whatever had happened here before must've been very unpleasant, as it seemed to have left a lasting impression on his mind. The girl, Pyrrha, was far more stable mentally, but found herself inconvenienced by the loss of her eye. Her frustration at not being able to see as well as she once had was made clear by her heavy breathing and frequent twitched of her head to the side. Neo knew that it would likely not factor much into her fighting, though.

Her own role in the fight would be an enjoyable one. To provide a target that couldn't be hit was something that simply rang true with her. She would find it amusing, no doubt, and perhaps even find a foe who could keep pace with her. That would be interesting, and something that she had looked forward to for some time. No human had ever really been able to do such a thing, but perhaps one empowered by a demon would.

Her steps stopped as a sudden wave of power swept out from somewhere in front of her. The emission was not strong enough to be felt by her cohorts, but she sensed its touch as clear as day. It was the one that they were looking for, but what she could have done that would generate such a pulse, Neo didn't know. There had been a sense about it, like a soul, but it was no kind of soul that she had ever felt. Something was definitely off about it, skewed in some subtle manner, but what it was, she couldn't say. The pulse did serve to point in the direct location she had to go, and she was quick to start approaching its source.

When the building the pulse came from came into view, both Jaune and Pyrrha reacted in predictable ways. Both tensed up, and memories of pain started to enter their minds. She could feel them tense up and start to hesitate.

She shot a look backwards at Roman, giving him a signal with her eyes that he needed to make sure they wouldn't quit now. Roman gave her a knowing nod, and immediately started to speak to them in a special tone of voice reserved for when he was manipulating people. "Hey, how are you kids doing?" There was a brief pause, during which Jaune and Pyrrha seemed to briefly try to come up with a response. Before they could, though, he continued speaking, voice hushed so that it wouldn't carry too far. "Because, I really can't tell you how much of a shame it would be if you were to abandon your friend in this horrible hellhole. I mean, if you did that, then her safety would be left up to me and Neo. And, not that I doubt our own abilities, but we have been known to overindulge in the whole violence thing from time to time, and murder has happened."

The two looked back at him with disdain, fully aware of what he was saying. If they left or gave up, he probably wouldn't stop at incapacitating her. If that were to happen, they would lose Nora forever. They couldn't let that happen. Everything they had tried to do up to this point had been trying to get Nora back. Pyrrha had lost her eye in the struggle. They couldn't abandon their efforts now.

Their resolves hardened, and Neo looked back to Roman, smiling. He had a way with people, that was certain. The two kids would be an important part of the fight, she knew, but she knew that they would be stretched to their limits. Whether those limits were physical, she didn't know, but she was sure that it would be a mighty struggle.

They started their approach, and Neo started to make out more sounds from the building. An unsteady, heavy breathing, along with infrequent squealing. She knew that it had to be Nora, but what she was doing Neo couldn't guess. She pointed, affirming that Nora was in the building, and started to lead the way towards it again. Behind her, she could hear Roman drop behind Pyrrha, arranging the group in the order that Jaune had suggested.

Neo continued to creep across the ground, and the other's followed behind, practically following in her footsteps. They still made a huge amount of noise by comparison, but it was something that Neo had learned to tolerate. What she knew would cause problems, though, was if they followed her inside the building. When she reached the entrance of the building, she turned back to her teammates and motioned for them to stop. They did so, and she entered the building alone.

Another person might've had to watch out for the rock or glass on the ground, but Neo's natural abilities made it easy for her to evade them. She didn't even have to look down at the floor as she practically skipped across the floor. Her boots continued to fall precisely where they needed to, and it wasn't long before she was on the stairs, making her way up to the source of the noises. The stairs were equally as silent as the floor, and it was not long before she saw the one that she was here to face.

Nora Valkyrie, her body flattened against that of another that she presumed to be Ren, was quite different then what she had expected. She didn't look human, her body was stretched into odd proportions; her arms were long, and ended in claw-like appendages. Neo could see even from the distance she was at the veins that pounded heavily, harder than a human heart could drive. Her hair hung down slightly past her shoulders, messy and unkempt. Muscles rippled across her entire body, not distorting her general shape, but making it clear that her strength would be unmatched.

Her arms were wrapped around the boy, who was looking spindly and frail. It was a clear contrast between the two. His eyelids hung halfway over his eyes, and beneath them the pink colored irises lolled unmoving. They weren't focused on anything, not even Neo, and were simply staring off into space.

Nora was facing away from her, so Neo couldn't make out any more details about her, but she could make out more about the energy she was feeling. It was soul energy, not unlike the kind that she could feel when people used their auras, but still different somehow. It was like there was a raw energy moving from one to the other, like she was feeding off of him. Neo had never felt something like that before, but it made her uneasy. Souls weren't meant to be consumed like that. Not even the undead did things like that.

She could tell that whatever Nora was doing, she was almost done. Neo took a few silent steps towards her, bringing her parasol up, ready to fight. She knew that it would be to the advantage of everyone of she took the opportunity to strike the girl before she had time to prepare herself, and she readied herself to do so. The parasol rose above her head slowly as she approached from behind, and just as she was about to bring the tip of in down in a bone-shattering strike, Nora reacted.

The girl's head and torso twisted, in an exact manner, as if something guided her muscles. The two stared at each other for a moment, neither one completely sure what to do, before Neo brought the parasol crashing down on Nora's forehead.

The blow that should have robbed any teen of their consciousness almost the instant it connected jolted Nora's head back, but beyond that, it barely seemed to do anything. As with jolting her head back, it made her jaw drop, revealing rows of sharp teeth extending from the gums, and a two-pronged tongue that slithered among them. It was at this point that if Nora had any good graces left, they left her. A howl left her throat, tearing the silence apart in the motionless building. In the span of a single instant, Ren was shunted to the side, and Nora was on her feet, ready to fight with her new opponent. Neo could tell that something was very off about the girl, not just in her body, but in her very soul. She was giving off a kind of power that Neo had never known, but on top of that, it seemed that she had simply more of a soul then Neo had ever seen. It wasn't that it was more powerful, but that there seemed to be two.

The gears clicked into place, and she knew what she was doing. She wasn't merely feeding off of the boy's soul, she was taking it into herself, combining it with her own. And if Neo had to guess, she was almost done, if she wasn't already. The words that she screamed rang out, almost splitting even Neo's ears, saying "Why can't you just leave us alone?"

As soon as the horrible cry finished, Neo could hear the sounds of her allies entering the building, feet hitting rocks and glass the whole way. She could practically track their progress through the concrete below from sound alone, but there was no time for that. Her initial guesses that Nora would be fast proved to be dead on as the girl lashed out at her, claws slashing the air in swift motions. Neo could see the air before them be pushed away, leaving small, nearly invisible trails. All it took to evade the attack was a small drop of the shoulder, and to lean her body away.

It whizzed through the space that she had occupied a fraction of a second before, and Neo smiled. Nora would be more of a challenge than she had had in a long time, but she could still read her like an open book. Her muscles told of what her next assault would be, and her brain was clearly not coming up with any kind of a long-term plan for the fight. It was simply enraged, and Neo knew that there would likely be nothing beyond that rage.

Instead of backing up and putting some distance between the two, as was her instinct, she held her position, and let the girl grow closer as she recovered from her miss. She would need to remain close if she were to keep the girl's somewhat animalistic attention. She heard the others start to climb the stairs, and felt her confidence grow even more. She knew better than anyone that numbers did not mean victory, but they certainly helped in the matter.

As they came up the stairs and entered into the room, Nora struck out again, this time trying to grab a fistful of Neo's clothing. She saw the move coming far before it happened, but the speed at which Nora's fist shot out in an attempt to catch her was still surprising. She pulled one leg up, pulling much of her weight from the ground. With her other leg, she spun herself in a circle, like a top, moving again just out of Nora's range. The girl again let out a frustrated growl, but this time Neo wasn't going to simply let her recover. With one leg up off the ground, and her body spinning, she was in the perfect position to get off another powerful strike.

She the leg out, and threw her body into what would be the final spin. She pulled her arms closer to her, and a smile spread across her face as her rotation sped greatly. Then, just as Nora managed to get her feet under her steadily again, Neo's ankle struck her at the base of the neck, sweeping her totally off-balance and knocking her off of her feet. Nora was thrown to the floor, using her arms to brace the impact, and rolling so that she could spring to her feet immediately.

Behind Neo, Roman grabbed the back of Pyrrha's circlet, pulling her back so that she wasn't directly in the line of fire before shouting "Heads up!" He brought his cane to bear on Nora, and fired without hesitation. There was a shout from both Pyrrha and Jaune, mostly surprised, and then the definite thumping sound as a Dust-powered flare was spit from the end of the device. It screeched across the short distance between the two before slamming into Nora and exploding, the volatile mixture inside spurring the Dust inside to rapidly discharge.

The sound of the explosion rang loud, and small chunks of concrete were either shaken or blown off of the walls and ceiling. A small crater was left underneath Nora, who had been knocked back to the floor.

There was a moment of hesitation before Pyrrha moved in, her spear ready and her shield up, prepared to block anything that her friend could try. Nora started to move again, arms reaching out and grabbing hold of the floor, pushing her back up, but Pyrrha wouldn't allow it. Neo could feel the regret the Huntress felt over the act, and the sorrow that it brought her, but she could also feel the cold determination that overpowered those things.

The metal spear tip met with Nora's ribs, and stabbed through the flesh. It was not without significant resistance, though, far more than a regular human's would. The spear sank about two inches down before Nora reacted, twisting her side in an attempt to dislodge the thing, and screaming out in pain. Pyrrha was surprised by this, but didn't let it phase her too badly, and put more pressure into the spear. The metal sunk a few more inches deep before Nora jolted to the side, freeing herself from the impalement and pushing herself away as best she could. She didn't stop moving across the floor when she freed herself, though, and started to skitter up the side of the wall. Pyrrha found herself stunned by the sight of Nora scaling the wall effortlessly, but Neo didn't allow herself to be surprised. Instead, she lashed out with her parasol, a powerful lunge bringing the tip of the parasol into one of Nora's hand.

Nora's greater strength and durability did not help her when the bones of her hand were cracked between concrete and Neo's weapon. Not even her strengthened aura could save the fact that her hand was broken. She immediately tried to compensate for the loss of a grip, but failed when Neo flipped her parasol in her hands and lashed out again, moving almost too fast to see. The hook at the end of the parasol caught just barely on the tattered remains of her shirt, and pulled her down from the wall with far more power than Neo's small body would have been able to muster were she merely human.

Nora hit the ground again with a heavy thud, and several cracks, before remaining still for a few moments. She couldn't bring herself to move for a few moments, but then the fire inside of her chest lit back into life, and a new rage started to fill her chest. She leapt up to her feet, and turned to face her enemies again. New was the first that she saw, and the first one to meet her ire. She lunged out at her again, but this time tried something different. Instead of simply trying to power through the defense, she would try to subvert it. Neo moved to defend, using her parasol to knock Nora's hands away, but she was ready this time. She moved her hands to the side, and brought them around the parasol, grabbing Neo's wrists.

Her first instinct was to pull the woman towards her, so that she could bring her into a close grapple and do far more damage than she would otherwise. As she did this, Neo reacted in a way that Nora hadn't expected. Instead of resisting being pulled towards her, Neo pushed off the ground towards Nora, using the force that Nora was exerting to launch herself through the air. Neo twisted in Nora's grip, and brought herself in an arc over her, pulling Nora's arms with her.

Bones popped out of their sockets, and Nora shouted out in pain again as Neo continued to force Nora's arms down. Even with the bones disconnected from their sockets, Nora's muscles made pulling her arms difficult. Neo still managed to do it, though, opening Nora up for more attacks by the others.

Nora tried hard to free herself, pulling her arms regardless of the damage that she would do to herself. Her legs kicked as hard as jackhammers, and Neo knew that she needed to avoid them. She also had to hold Nora upright, as without her legs beneath her in a steady manner, she was about to topple. It was only by Neo holding her arms that she was able to stay upright.

Pyrrha took advantage of the opening, stepping forward and spinning her spear in her hand. Neo watched, semi-interested, as the weapon folded in on itself, shifting into a different form. It changed into a sword-like form, and Pyrrha stepped forward, readying the weapon to do more damage. Neo could also see the look on her face, and the tears in her eye. It was clear that she didn't want to do this, but she had to. She didn't really have a choice in the matter. It was either she do this, or Roman do the same with his flares. Roman's words about "overindulging" echoed through her mind readily, and she had to steel herself for the mental pain she was about to endure.

The red metal of the blade sank into Nora's shoulder, and Pyrrha leaned most of her weight into it, tears starting to flow freely from her eyes. The blade made a few sickening digging sounds before it started to scrape against bone, and Nora screamed loud enough to drown it out. Pyrrha screamed too, trying very hard not to simply break down.

Nora kept trying to break free, but the arm that Pyrrha stabbed stopped most of its struggles. Her kicking, however, was given a new vigor, and even Neo started to find it more difficult to hold her. Pyrrha was blind to this struggle, though, and pulled her blade from Nora again.

It made a sucking sound as it left the flesh, and Neo could feel that Pyrrha was starting to feel nauseous. She didn't let the feeling get to her yet, though, and stepped to the side in order to give the same to Nora's other arm. She brought the blade up, Nora's blood starting to run down her fingers, and brought it plunging down again.

The blade did mostly the same as it had the first time, and Pyrrha started to give way under the pressure of what she was doing. Attacking Nora out of immediate self-defense, or if she was attacking a teammate was one thing, but while she was restrained like this was another thing entirely. There was something very wrong about it, and she didn't like it. It went against everything that she had ever been taught.

Tears were falling from Nora's eyes now, too. Neo couldn't quite tell if she was genuinely crying, or if it was some attempt at manipulation. Her kicking increased in power again as she struggled against Neo, and she braced her weight in her back leg to compensate. While doing this, Neo's gaze drifted to Roman. He was standing back by the staircase, a prepared look on his face, his cane held at the ready. He was looking for any opportunity to shoot, and Neo was sure that if Nora was able to get away, he would find one. That could go badly, though, as Neo could still see the cracks in the floor from the first he had shot. If he did it again, it was possible that it would cause some structural damage. If the building collapsed, not only would it be a very dangerous place to be, but she would be willing to bet that Nora would make an escape. She had the majority of Ren's soul, she had everything that she wanted. If the building collapsed, Roman would likely be injured. She couldn't let that happen, so she had to keep a hold of Nora.

Her fingers tightened, and she could feel bones bend in a way that a human's bones wouldn't. Neo didn't quite mind, though, and only cared about simply getting the job done. Roman needed to stay safe, and it would be much easier to make happen if she kept Nora held.

Pyrrha pulled the knife out of Nora again, and fell to her knees limply, her hands going to her face. Neo could tell that the pressure had become too great, and that she would likely no be of any use throughout the rest of the battle. Once someone gave in to something like grief or terror during a battle, it was difficult for them to get out of it. She had seen it many times before, and used it to her advantage a good number of those.

When she dropped to her knees, her head entered into the area that Nora's feet were kicking vigorously. Neo couldn't do anything but lift Nora slightly in an attempt to get her away from Pyrrha. Unfortunately, Nora saw her chance before Neo was able to do anything, and her heel connected with Pyrrha's head, knocking her down flat. She gave a short screech, then went limp on the ground. Neo looked up to Roman, trying to communicate with her eyes that he needed to do something.

It was a parallel of situations they had faced together before, where someone had been holding someone else, and a third someone was beating the second someone, but now there was an added risk to the situation. Now if Neo let go, the person wouldn't just fall to the floor and writhe. Now they would get up and fight. Hard.

Roman seemed to know exactly what to do, though. He stepped forward without hesitation, taking a deep breath before tossing his cane into the air and grabbing it by the bottom. The cane looked fragile at first, but it looked significantly less so once it started to wail on Nora, bruising flesh and cracking bone like it always did against those that Roman deemed worthy of getting his own hands dirty with.

Roman took a moment to drag Pyrrha out of the way, they started to lay into Nora with everything that he had. Neo had rarely seen his act with such viciousness, but there was a sadomasochistic smile on his face. the metal cane clanged against Nora several times, each one accompanied by a screech, until he brought the cane over his head one last time, and brought it down right on her cranium. There was a loud crack, and Neo was instantly aware that Nora's body had gone limp. She let go, and made sure that her foot was in a good position to stomp on her head if she moved again.

Nora did not move again. The reason for this was quickly evident, as Neo saw that Nora's head was slightly dented in. Her eyes were half open, and her jaw was slack. She looked like she had been knocked out to an extreme, to the point where a normal human would need serious medical attention. Perhaps it would even be fatal. But to Nora, she was sure that it was nothing more than a temporary inconvenience. The wounds were already started to steam, hissing and spitting angrily as they started to close. Even the bones of her skull seemed to be realigning, and both Neo and Roman knew that killing her couldn't be as easy as a simple beat down.

Jaune came pounding up the stairs, not carrying his weapon, but instead dragging a very heavy looking industrial chain behind him. He looked from the faces of Neo and Roman to Nora on the floor, and then moved forward quickly. "Here, use this!" He held the chain out to them, and both grabbed a hold of it quickly, dragging it out of his hands. As Roman started to get close to Nora again, Jaune said "Hey, watch out for the smell!"

Roman took a moment to look back at Jaune with a leering expression, but then as his chest rose, and he got a whiff of it. His eyes crossed slightly, and he put a hand to his head, swaying unsteadily. Neo moved faster than he could fall, dropping the chain and catching him. She moved him away from Nora slightly, steadying him before moving back to Nora and proceeding to tie her up with it.

Behind her, she could feel Jaune take notice of Pyrrha lying unconscious on the floor. Fear flooded his brain, and he practically ran over to her side, hands going to her head quickly. He started to talk to her, the typical panicked person nonsense that Neo found impossible to focus on at all. All she caught was "Pyrrha? Pyrrha, wake up!"

Roman was quick to start trying to shut him up, saying things like "She's going to be fine, just a knock on the head." Then changing the subject, saying "So how did you get this chain so fast? You were downstairs the whole time, right? So was that just lying around down there, or what?"

Jaune shook his head and said "No, one of those ghost things told me to go and get it." He took a seat on the floor and rested Pyrrha's head on his lap, brushing the hair out of her face and looking at her more closely for injuries.

Neo tuned her attention back to Nora, making sure that the chain was as tight around her as possible. When she was satisfied, she put her parasol through the end links, making sure that she wouldn't be able to simply pull free. She gave them a tug, and nodded to herself. It would be hard for anything to break out of that, especially her.

Jaune looked up from Pyrrha and said "She broke out of a chain like that before. It wasn't that big, but still…" his voice tapered off before continuing, saying "Just make sure that she doesn't wake up, alright? That's all that we can really do about this, I think." Neo looked back up to him and nodded, smiling again. If the duty to beat the restrained Nora into unconsciousness every time her wounds started to heal too much, then she would take the job with joy. The fun that one could get out of beating a prisoner was quite diminished when they were unconscious.

Neo sat back, done with the restraints. Nora had been neutralized, and now they had to await further instructions. Roman prepared to say something, and she looked to him before he had even cleared his throat. He did so anyways, and said "Alright, well, we beat the child, so is our job done now? Do we have to take her somewhere, or what?"

Jaune and Neo looked at each other, not sure of the answer. Jaune was the first to speak up, bringing some degree of reason into the mix. "Well, we didn't get told anything beyond this, but it stands to reason that Naze already has the rest of this thing planned out. Whatever the next step is, it's probably already in motion, and we just don't have anything to do with it. I mean, the ghost thing told me to get the chain, so he knows what's going on, right?"

Roman gave a small nod. He didn't want to admit to the reasoning of a child, but he didn't have much of a choice in the matter. There was no other option, as they hadn't been told anything past to knock Nora out.

Roman let out a sigh, then lowered himself to the ground. If waiting was all that there was to do now, he was going to be comfortable doing it.

The five of them waited for what ended up feeling like an hour, but in reality was little more than a few minutes. When the shade finally did show itself to inform them of their new master's will, Neo was the first to become aware of its presence, seeing it as it started to slowly melt through the wall. This appeared to be before it revealed itself o the others, as they did not react. As it drifted towards the center of the room, she could see that it made a clear effort to keep away from Nora. There was something about her that upset the shade, and that was very interesting to Neo. Whatever the effect of the demonic energy that Nora gave off on a normal person, it didn't seem to have the same effect on the shade. It seemed to have some negative effect on the shade, not that she could tell too well, but if it was avoiding the energy, it couldn't have been good for it.

The shade positioned itself in the center, then seemed to thicken. When it did this, the others started to look in its direction, standing and giving it their attention. Once it had their attention, the thing started to speak in the quavering, scraping voice that they used. "An adequate job, to be certain, but hold your positions. She will be collected before long, then you may return to your individual charges. You must keep her here until then. Are you able to do that?"

Roman nodded, stepping forward and saying "Of course we are! What do you think we are, incompetent children?" He motioned behind him to Jaune and Pyrrha. "That's just those two. Neo and I could keep her here as long as you need!"

The burning, eyes of the thing turned to him, and were fixed on him for several moments before the shade simply responded "Quite." And stared to fade back out of existence. Nobody had anything else to say to the thing, so they let it go without any further pestering. They were left in silence again as it disappeared back into nothingness, staring at each other with unsure expressions.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to sit around until whoever had the wonderful duty of collecting this pleasant little girl. Until then…" he sat back down, reaching into one of his interior pockets and pulling out a neatly ordered deck of cards. "…anyone want to play?"

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Author's Note:

Sorry for the short chapter. but some things came up, and had to be dealt with. As always, give me reviews and tell me what you thought, because this was important stuff this chapter.