So this is an important thing to note in regards to the story going forward. Due to lack of characters available in the story description, I was unable to make an important note of this story becoming AU as of the end of Volume 2 of the show. It's possible that may change depending on what they do with Volume 3 and if I'm able to work that into the story in any reasonable fashion. As of now though, it is not my intention to involve the Vytal Festival or the tournament in any way.

This chapter also marks an important turning point for the story and I hope those of you reading, both new and existing readers like what I have yet to come in terms of material. Aside from that, enjoy the newest chapter.

"Hey man, you ever seen that kid look so worked up before?"

These, and words similar to them, were some of the words Frost could hear coming from assorted lackeys and henchmen as he made his way to Torchwick's personal space in the warehouse. Clearly he had done a better job of keeping his emotions in check before if this was their first time seeing him so openly frustrated. That or without Torchwick around they were possibly less caring about avoiding any confrontations with one of his "personal" agents. Either way, none of that mattered to Frost. The only thing that did was getting to his destination and finding answers.

Just as Frost turned the corner that was within sight of Torchwick's hangar, he was stopped by a hand roughly placed on his shoulder. Upon turning to see what the interruption was, Frost came face-to-face with Emerald and Mercury, the latter of which being the one who placed the hand on his shoulder. Frost spared a few moments to simply look at them before shrugging off Mercury's hand and turning to face the two.

"What's the rush?" Mercury asked as he crossed his arms across his chest with a smirk. "Or didn't you hear? Torchwick got caught by Ironwood's goons and taken away to get locked up. So if you're going to talk to him about something, he's not here."

Frost had to fight to keep a joyful smirk appear off his face at the news of Torchwick getting arrested before speaking in return. "Clearly he didn't fill you guys in on part of his own plan then. I was tasked with grabbing something from his…office, if you could even call it that," Frost motioned back towards the locked door before continuing, "after the Mountain assault happened regardless of how things went to retrieve something important. He figured there'd be a good chance that at least some soldiers would show up to the scene so I'm grabbing something to help break him out."

For a few moments, Emerald and Mercury simply stood and studied Frost as he stood before them, fighting to keep any nervous twitches hidden as he felt a bead of sweat trickle down the back of his neck. After what felt like an agonizing amount of time, Mercury simply shrugged as he and Emerald returned to more relaxed postures. Emerald then sighed and shook her head before returning her attention to Frost to speak, "…Whatever. Obviously he didn't fill us in on the accelerated schedule for the train, so him keeping another secret isn't exactly all that surprising. Doubt Cinder will be happy about that though."

"When has Torchwick ever given a crap what Cinder thinks as long as he keeps his skin?" Frost retorted as Emerald put both arms behind her head. "The guy's always been a snake so it's not like he has any reason to like any of us, regardless of where we stand currently."

"Guess you're right." Mercury said as he and Emerald turned to walk down the corridor Frost came down. Frost calmly walked around the corner until he was out of sight of the two of them before practically flying across the floor of the building while making as little noise as possible before reaching the locked door. He then took a calming breath before placing his bare right hand in front of the keypad for the door. After concentrating for a few seconds, the tips of his fingers started to glow lightly before a small spark of energy jumped to the keypad and discharged the circuits keeping the door closed. Frost breathed a sigh of relief at the lack of an alarm before silently stepping through the gap in the door and pulling it shut behind him, not noticing the light trail of smoke and blinking red light on the far side of the panel in his haste.

"Now…if I were a hidden trove of secrets hidden by an infamous thief/criminal…where would I hide it?" Frost pondered to himself as he started going over Torchwick's supplies in his attempt to find a hidden switch or secret lever. In all of the times he had been in this room, he had never really noticed anything out of the ordinary and so didn't really have any clues to go off of in terms of potential hiding spots.

He moved around all sorts of things, from schematics of Atlas Paladins to routes for city-wide heists of Dust based on locations and sizes of buildings. After endlessly searching for at least 10 minutes however, his search came up fruitless for anything out of the ordinary. He could only slam his palms against a desk as his frustration began to boil to the surface once again.

"Where is it?!" Frost snapped as he stood against the metal surface, his mind abuzz with ideas of places that a door, handle, or even a small switch could be kept hidden. "He claims so often that he's a master at what he does, at never getting caught by the police because he always thinks one step ahead, and yet he doesn't keep a hidden compartment for anything he needs to keep private?! It doesn't make any sense!"

Frost swept aside a bunch of the different papers on the desk's surface before kicking the metal in frustration. He pauses a moment later at the sound of something rattling or shifting inside the desk right after kicking the desk itself. A look of realization then appears on his face as he rushes around to the side of the desk where the handles for the drawers are before practically ripping out each one and placing it on top of the metal surface.

"I really hope I'm right here…" Frost ponders aloud as he fishes through boxes of cigars and Dust cartridges before gently setting each thing aside before returning to the contents of the drawers. Frost's hope is nearly depleted by the time he reaches the last drawer just as he feels a leather material brush his fingertips towards the bottom. A bright smile appears on his face as he carefully slides a book out of a side compartment in the drawer and places it in front of himself on the desk.

"Count on someone so narcissistic to keep something hidden practically in plain sight where no one would think to look." Frost chuckled to himself as he opened the book to a random page. After reading a few lines that seem disinteresting, Frost skips ahead a few pages before his eyes catch a particular line of text.

I can't believe we got stopped by a little girl! It's bad enough that these goons I got from Junior don't fully understand how a robbery works, but for some kid with some weird-ass scythe weapon to be the reason we didn't get our target is the most annoying thing I've ever had to deal with. Bad enough I had to rely on the Dust queen to actually get out of there but this is ridiculous!

Frost had to take a moment after reading the text to get over the fact that this seemed to be a journal of sorts that Torchwick was keeping separate from everything else. Frost then smirked as he sees that Torchwick has been having a string of bad luck over the last few months in regards to his plans before skipping ahead a few more pages and reaching what looked like another large rant from a night at the docks.

Goddamnit! Why of all things did she have to be there, again?! The first time I ran into that red-hooded girl I thought it was a fluke, but now with her, the crazy laser girl, the monkey-boy, and the cat girl, I'm starting to wonder if I'm eventually going to just get beaten by kids rather than the adults that keep trying- and failing- to catch me. That heist was going to put us way ahead of schedule, so of course it would have to be the one that goes sour! I think I need to see about getting more muscle of my own, just in case.

Frost sighs as he looks at the date stamp on the entry- just a couple weeks before he and Neo ran into him at the old warehouse and everything for them changed. Frost paused for a few moments to collect his thoughts before turning another few pages further as a look of sadness appears on his face at the entry he turned to: the very night they first met Torchwick.

I know I said fate was being harsh to me before, but I think things are finally starting to turn around...minus the fact that Dust supplies keep fluctuating like crazy. Either way, I just so happened to run into another situation that lost out on Dust for us, the fan-fucking-tastic part being that it was Dust we ALREADY STOLE! This time it was from a couple weird kids that clearly don't check the news that much if they couldn't recognize me even with Dust ash covering my suit. I honestly thought I would get my chance to vent some frustrations for once and get rid of the pests this city has, but noooo. I get to find out not 30 minutes after I get back and get some good clothes on that the same two kids got taken to the hospital to recover from their injuries!

Frost scans further down the page to see that there is more text added in, sort of like an afterthought to the initial entry.

This might work in my favour though. These kids clearly aren't armed or capable of the same stuff that those other kids are…I think I might have found my new muscle. Hopefully these ones are actually competent for once.

Frost could feel his knuckles rubbing against the metal surface as he clenched his hands into fists after reading this entry, frustrated at how unfortunate the timing was, but also at having to relive the memories of that night again and the helpless feeling he felt seeing Neo carried into the ambulance with such an extreme amount of care as though she were a porcelain doll. But he couldn't stop here, not without finding out more. Frost spared a quick glance to the door to see if there were any signs of motion as well as to focus and hear if there was any increased activity from the other side.

After sparing some time to find that nothing was currently out of the ordinary, he returned to the book before turning a number of pages further in. His eyes kept their hardened look as he began to read the next entry. At this point, anything could be possible for either plans Torchwick could have, or other intentions he has for himself and Neo.

Turns out those kids actually have some sort of abilities. The files I had swiped from the hospital seem to state that both of them have recorded emergences of Semblances despite not having any training at any of the Huntsmen schools. Apparently they're not able to either, given how they live in an orphanage down the road from that old warehouse without any way to pay for schooling. How tragic. Guess this works even better for me since the only apparent issues is the girls voice being gone from too much Dust inhalation while they were buried in that building for so long after I trapped them. Why the boy didn't have any persistent issues, I don't really care. This just means that once they get let out I can enact my strategy to reel them into our circle of thieves. Hopefully that formula we stole can be of some use now other than collecting Dust until someone shows interest in it.

"Formula?" Frost wondered as he stepped away from the book for a moment to think. "What's that supposed to mean? The whole thing about the lack of injuries was weird to me too a few years ago, but the doctors explained that apparently the energy bursts I'm capable of also act as some sort of booster for the average healing rate that people with Auras are capable of. So I can get how Torchwick wouldn't know about my body pretty much refusing flus and such." Frost returned to the open book in an effort to learn more. "Guess I'm gonna have to keep reading if I wanna find out."

Frost then turned a few pages further and noticed that the next entry seemed to be from the night of the White Fang rally that Torchwick had brought Neo to. He then steeled himself for what he may possibly find in Torchwick's thoughts from that night.

Well…aside from the interruption we had from the same kids plus a few others tonight, we've got our new manpower to finish our operation in the southeast. Hopefully this time we can go without these kids somehow finding us again…I think I'll prepare just in case they do happen to find us somehow. Either way, Neo's progress is going along excellently. The formula seems to be doing its job of opening her up to suggestions given her and the boy's previous aversion to heavier violence or more public criminal activity. I wish I could same about that Frost kid though. Aside from the annoying snark since he still has a voice, his fighting skills are pretty good, all things considering. It's too bad that we'll likely have to find out he died in an accident while we comfort Neo and continue to administer the drug. His abilities seem to be nullifying the all traits of the drug, especially the Grimm ones.

Frost could feel his hands shaking as he stepped back and fell onto a nearby chair after reading the last few lines of the entry. "A…drug?" The pupils of his eyes contract as he takes in the new information and reflects on the last few months. His throat suddenly feels dry and his pulse starts to accelerate as he looks back at the book, afraid of what else there is but at the same time knowing he needs to read more before returning to Neo as fast as possible.

…I always found it so amusing when I first found out that some crazy scientist decided to take Grimm remains and do tests with it. Turns out that aside from removing the normal inhibitions and increasing violent tendencies in the target of the drug, it also makes them more prone to suggestion by those around them by removing the effects of their own individual thoughts. Hopefully we can find some way to make it last permanently though. Having to apply dosages into their food every few days is getting to be annoying, as well as taxing on the amount that we still have left. At least after the boy is out of the picture we can ration the remainder out to keep Neo sedated until we find a permanent solution. That should work in the meantime.

Frost stumbled away from the desk, while managing to keep his balance this time, before turning towards a nearby trash can and dry heaving over it. After falling to his knees and staring at the bottom of the canister for a small time, his expression hardened as he stood back up with a light glow encompassing his arms and legs as he strode over to the desk in a few steps and pocketed the leather book inside of his coat. He then leapt over the desk without any apparent effort before slamming the metal door open on its sliding hinge as he began to run down the hallway back towards his and Neo's space in long strides, his Semblance carrying him along in a sudden burst of adrenaline-fueled speed.

"I'm coming Neo. Just hold on a few minutes longer."