Alex woke to the abrupt sound of the single alarm clock.

Alex hadn't slept that night, but Nogla and Terroriser had, and getting up was, like, the worst thing ever to those Irishmen.

He moved up from his spot, grabbed a can of soda, and drank it, hopefully, the energy boost would wake him up.

Alex then left his dorm, going into the men's bathroom at the end of the hall, rubbing the remaining tiredness from his eyelids. He was probably the only man to use makeup. It worked well, hiding the bags under his eyes easily.

Alex figured it was best to go down and actually eat something. He desperately needed the extra energy.

Finishing up his morning duties and went back to the room, threw on his uniform, and went down to the cafeteria.

----

"Remember what happened yesterday, Delirious?" Vanoss asked the Masked Murderer.

"What, me getting completely owned by the lightning ball?"

"Yeah!"

"What are you two talking about?" Ruby asked.

"We were messing around with a giant slingshot...don't ask." Wildcat began.

"Then when we launched Delirious, Alex zapped him with an electricity ball in mid-air." Terroriser finished.

"Alex found his Semblance?!" She asked.

"Pretty much." Alex responded, still tired.

"Congratulations, man, good job completely wrecking Delirious's ass." Vanoss said.

"Shut up. You don't know my life." Delirious retorted.

Alex ate his remaining scrambled eggs in silence. Gulping down more chocolate milk.

"Alex, you okay? You seem a little tired." Yang said.

"What? No, I'm fine." Alex perks up slightly.

"He's always like this." Wildcat agreed.

"Oh, look at the time, I have to go train. I'd love to stay and chat, but I really have to go!" Alex said as he ran out the door.

-Later-

Alex was a complete mess in training. So what if he was sleep-deprived? That was no excuse for twenty robots to shock him awake.

He stumbled out of the training room, tired and bruised from today's session. At this rate, Sigma would still wipe the floor with him.

"Hello?" A voice said behind him, Alex had been so tired, he hadn't noticed someone tapping his shoulder.

Stifling a yawn, he turned around to find Yang standing right behind him.

"I saw you in training today, I have to say, you're the first person I've seen sleep through a fight." She teased.

"Yeah, yeah, I haven't been sleeping so well lately, sue me." Alex retorted.

"I also noticed you hardly ever talk. Nobody even knew what your Semblance was until today."

"So I'm also anti-social."

"And you always seem afraid of something." Yang said.

"... And I have my fair share of phobias, so?"

Yang pulled him into the bushes, just out of sight.

Alex was trapped. Yang was probably going to demand some answers.

"What's going on? You can't hide forever." Yang said.

Alex was legitimately afraid to answer, Ruby already knew everything, well, almost everything. So why the hell didn't Yang already know?

"You can tell me, nobody else will ever know." She insisted in a softer tone.

"I can't, I'm sorry, Yang, but this is beyond you." Alex bluntly replied.

"You can, there's no reason to be scared." Yang reasons.

"No means no, if I don't want to talk about it, then I don't want to talk about it, just leave me be!" Alex almost pleaded.

"Alex! You have to trust me!"

"And why?! So the second I turn my back, one of you will see it fit to end my existence?!" Alex bursts out in anger.

"None of us would do that!"

Alex was actually at a loss for words. He didn't want to say anything, but he didn't want to shove the girl away.

"Alex, whatever happened to you, I'm sorry, but please, tell me." Yang pleaded.

"Fine." Alex relented. No more secrets. No more lies.

Alex began his story, purposefully keeping it short, as he told this story like 30 times already. Yang listened intently, occasionally wincing at Alex's descriptions of what had transpired.

"...We had another mission, escape Equestria using another Die Glocke, I was about to get the last of our group out, but we were attacked by an Inquisitor-" Alex said before Yang interrupted him.

"Wait, Inquisitor?!" Yang asked, shocked.

"Yeah, to the best of my knowledge, that was an inquisitor." Alex responded.

"Alex. You don't understand what's going on. The Inquisitors are really dangerous. Whatever you did must have made them really mad." Yang said.

"Tell me something I don't know." Alex huffed.

"Alex. This is serious. I need you to come with me somewhere. Secret mission." Yang said.

"Where?" Alex asked.

"Patch." She responded.

"Why there?" Alex questioned.

"I know someone who can help."

"Can I send someone with me, Vanoss maybe?" Alex asked.

"No, just you and me." Yang replied.

"I'm...not sure about this." Alex said doubtfully.

"I'm going to go find a pilot, you get your equipment. We'll talk on the way!" Yang says before running off.

"Okay, just tell me what the hell is happening! Ms. Xiao Long!" Alex yelled.

Not getting an answer, Alex ran for the locker room.

----

Alex was at the locker room, looking for his locker.

He repeated the number in his head, '221'. Searching high and low, he eventually found it.

Alex opened the locker quickly, grabbing his armor.

His own craftsmanship was impressive. This latest project had been an up-armored variant of the Goliath Mk. VI. It was large, bulky, but still highly maneuverable, the helmet had a slightly smaller visor than the Mk. VI with a purple tint to it. He called it the Scarab Mk. I, because it was slightly different from his previous armors, and it was massive.

Alex then grabbed his weapon, a broadsword almost a meter long. The sword could also turn into a revolver similar to the .44 Scratch, but with a lot more firepower. The sword form had one more extra feature, the two blades could separate and spin at a very high speed, using this in combat would mean shredding an opponent's armor, or ripping a person to bits.

This death tool was called, in honor of his Semblance, Electric Fury.

Putting Electric Fury in revolver form and putting it in a holster, he put the .44 Scratch in a separate holster, Alex figured he could always use both revolvers in tandem.

Good, Alex just needed one more thing...

----

"Evan, can I borrow a gun?"

Vanoss looked up from his latest project, appropriately named 'The Delirious Cannon'.

"Well, what kind of gun, an RPG, a Combat MG?" He asked.

"Maybe an all-round type weapon, good handling, doesn't weigh too much, with a good mag capacity." Alex responded.

"How about the Carbine Rifle that I lent you last time?" Vanoss asked.

"It's good, but I need something concealable."

"The PDW? I hardly ever even use it, I put extended mags on it last time I used it." To Vanoss, it seemed fair.

"Sure." Alex said.

Vanoss went to the weapon circle, got to the PDW, and pressed 'Y'

"Thanks, Evan!" Alex said, running out the door like he missed the bus.

----

Alex got over to the landing pad, where one airship sat in the pad, sure enough, Yang was nearby.

He was very unsure about this secret mission, what had gotten her so worked up about this to where they had to hide in some obscure island.

"Alex! You're just in time!" Yang waved, Alex quickened his pace a little bit.

"Remind me again why this is so damned important?" Alex groaned.

"You'll find out. before that, why not tell me everything else before I went and called for this secret mission?" Yang said.

Once they got inside, Alex sat across from Yang, only for her to move over to his left.

"Okay, The inquisitor's code-name was Sigma. Karis and I held her off while the others got to the machine. Sigma killed her, and for some reason, she gave me the choice to run." Alex sighed. He felt like a coward, he was a coward.

"Then why aren't any of them after you?" Yang asked.

"Sigma blew up the machine trying to kill us." Alex replied.

"You're lucky. It's a rare moment when an Inquisitor misses their target."

"Don't need to tell me twice." Alex bluntly replied.

"Why is that?" Yang asked.

"Luck is pretty much all I have." Alex sighed.

"Don't beat yourself up about this, I'm trying to help." Yang chided.

"You just proved my point, with the scores of people who want nothing more than for me to die, very few people actually wanted to help."

"How about Vanoss?" Yang asked.

"Oh, please. I had to pay them so they wouldn't turn me into Swiss cheese."

"What about us?"

"It's simple, Ms. Xiao Long. You pity me."

"There's more to it than that."

"That remains to be seen, what exactly is this mission?" Alex asked calculatingly.

"We're meeting up with a...friend...of mine who happens to know all about this stuff. She asked me to come whenever somebody mentioned the Inquisitors." Yang replied.

"'She', huh? So it isn't Discord..." Alex said to himself.

"I'll tell my friends I'm investigating The White Fang, you better tell your friends something so they won't be worried." Yang said.

Crafty. He had heard about their investigation against the terrorist cell.

"Got you. I'll tell them I'm looking for more leads on the Task Force being here."

----

Vanoss and Delirious were having another heated discussion.

"Where do you think Alex went off to?" Delirious asked.

"I don't know, he said he was looking for the task force, but I find it suspicious that Alex and Yang disappear at the exact same time." Vanoss said.

"Maybe. She probably went to protect his ass or some shit." Delirious said.

"Or..?"

"I told you he was a ladies' man!" Wildcat said, walking into the room.

"He's sneaker than Hoo-dini!" Vanoss joked.

"Haha! 'Vanoss doesn't know that Alex and Yang are hiding here doing that thang'!" He joked.

"Tyler, you just can't rhyme shit!" Delirious said laughing.

"Off topic, I have a funny idea for tomorrow, Delirious..." Vanoss said, doing an evil grin.

"Oh, no! We are not switching bodies again!" Delirious yelled.

"Yes we are...Vanoss!" Vanoss said evilly.

"NOOOOOO!" Delirious screamed.

Author's Notes:

More developments in the story!
Recycled jokes and secret missions!
Six-to-eight like/dislike ratios!
All next week (for that last part, right now).
On Blood-Red Shadows!