The Phantom Nevermore

Prologue

Coco Adel wasn't one for flights of fancy.

She prided herself on being a cool-headed, even tempered leader who could keep herself grounded when she needed to be, but wasn't afraid to relax and let her hair down metaphorically. To even suggest that she was the type to let stress get to her, even to the point of hallucinating was laughable to not only her, but to her team as well. However, as she and the rest of Team CFVY stood staring in disbelief at the scene before them, Coco was forced to admit that it was a possibility.

Either that, or one of her teammates had put acid in her morning oatmeal again.

A side glance to her partner, Velvet Scarlatina, told her otherwise. Much like herself, the rabbit Faunus looked like she couldn't believe her eyes. Behind the four Huntsmen who Coco led, a smattering of concerned murmurs and titters could be heard passing back and forth between the opulently dressed crowd who made up the party-goers on this particular evening. All eyes were on one person, one strangely dressed figure who stood above them, standing upon the crystalline chandelier which hung in the air, its fixtures throwing rainbows of light every which way.

"Oh my god…" Velvet murmured, her expression torn between bewilderment and shock. "He...he's real…"

"This has got to be some sort of joke…" Fox added, shaking his head. He might not have been able to see the thief, but his declaration and sudden appearance was absurd enough, even forgoing his physical qualities. Coco couldn't help but agree; the entire thing seemed too surreal to be actually true. The four of them had been tasked to protect a particularly large gathering taking place at the manor of one of the most prominent Vale Council members. A week prior, there'd been a great deal of concern over the appearance of a mysterious note, promising to, "Take the guest of honor," signed by a person known only as, 'The Phantom Nevermore.'

Most considered it a prank, but the wife of the Council Member had been so concerned, so worried, that she'd insisted upon having extra protection for the party to celebrate her acquisition of a particularly rare cut jewel known as the Crimson Heart. She'd feared for her safety, believing the figure to be a part of the White Fang, and that said figure would attempt to kidnap her. So with some pressure from the Council, Ozpin had allowed Team CFVY who'd been staying in Vale at Beacon over the summer break, to take the mission.

Yatsuhashi stepped forward, towering above the rest of the team, arms crossed. He looked relaxed, but Coco knew better. He was gearing up for a fight. "I'm afraid not, Fox. It appears as though the warning given was genuine…"

Coco started to speak, but was interrupted by a laugh from above. "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen! Thank you so very much for joining me tonight on this most momentous of occasions! You have the honor, the fortune and privilege of witnessing history in the making! As I'd promised you a week prior, I, the Phantom Nevermore, have arrived to abscond with the guest of honor this evening." The crimson red eyes of a Nevermore-styled, domino mask gleamed in the soft light. He was dressed in an ankle length, black long coat with a feathered collar, black crisp slacks that'd been ironed to perfection, shined black dress shoes, and from what Coco could tell at a distance, black anti-ballistic body armor. Someone who wasn't very fashion conscious might have called him sharp, or charismatic. Coco would have called him cheesy.

She didn't waste a minute. Collecting her thoughts as quickly as she could, Coco hefted her stylish looking handbag, bringing it before her as she hit a hidden switch. With a loud series of grinding gears and sharp clicks, the handbag transformed in less than a minute into a sizable minigun. Behind her, the murmurs of the crowd grew louder. "Velvet?"

"Yes?" Velvet murmured, not taking her eyes off of the blond haired, black-coated man who stood staring confidently down at the crowd.

"Stand by Mrs. Slate, make sure she's safe." Coco ordered, her tone quite business-like.

Velvet didn't answer, instead making her way behind Coco to seek their employee. "Excuse me, ma'am, please don't worry. We won't let anything happen to you." Coco could hear her teammate try and comfort the fairly heavyset, older woman while the crowd around spoke in scared, hushed whispers.

"What? D-don't touch me, you filthy fau-" Mrs. Slate began in an offended tone of voice. However, a sudden movement from above cut her off, and the crowd gasped as the Phantom Nevermore gave a flying leap, sailing gracefully in the air over not only Coco, Yatsu and Fox, but Velvet, Mrs. Slate, and the entire gathered party as well. Coco swore and tried to turn around on her heel, the weight and heft of her gatling gun making the movement much slower than she'd have liked.

There was a clink as the Phantom landed behind them, the sound coming from his shoes hitting a glass case, below which sat the Crimson Heart itself, resting atop a red velvet pillow and lit up from below. With a wide smile, and a bow, the thief proceeded to hop down off of the glass case and pedestal, landing to the marble flooring below, and reached into his coat, pulling something out from within it, swiping at the case. The case shattered, sending glass all over and causing the back of the crowd to gasp and step back. In the man's hand, a particularly large, sleek, matte black hand cannon was held, its grip inlaid with ivory and crimson, reminiscent of a Grimm's coloration. His other hand reached forward, grasping the Crimson Heart and holding it up into the air, letting the light shine through the jewel's crimson colors, smiling from ear to ear.

"Well, well, well. I was expecting much more of a resistance." The Phantom murmured, his smile only growing. "It's almost like you don't even like our beautiful guest. Fair enough, I'll be more than happy to take her off your hands…"

It was then that the truth of the matter hit Coco like a sack of bricks, her eyes widening behind her sunglasses. "He's not here for Mrs. Slate…"

"...he's here for the Crimson Heart!" Fox finished, rushing forward, tonfa blades extended. Yatsuhashi followed close behind, brandishing his sword. Coco waited, not wanting to start firing until she knew she wouldn't hit her teammates. As the two men of the team approached the thief, his smile grew to maximum smugness as he stowed the jewel into his coat and took a step back. Coco saw him withdraw what looked to be a high-tech canister, the look of a grenade registering, but before she could shout a warning to her teammates, the Phantom had already tossed it gently to the ground, causing it to bounce once, twice, three times between he and everyone else. There was a loud fwhoomph and a sudden and painfully bright light filled the room, causing the party goers to cry out.

Coco swore under her breath, even as the crowd fell over themselves in their terror over the flashbang. Her vision was the least effected as she was protected by her sunglasses. Even still, the light had been incredibly bright, preventing her from being able to see what was happening for a second or two, and when she was able to rub the spots from her eyes, she noticed with a panic that the Phantom had vanished. Yatsu was blinded and while Fox would have been fine, he'd been close enough to the flashbang for the sound to have caused him to drop to a knee, clutching his ears and wincing in pain. It was the sound of Velvet's cry of surprise that had Coco wheel around once more, bringing her gun to bear.

During the flashbang, the Phantom had somehow ended up behind them all yet again, this time having put himself next to Velvet. She was held up on one of the Phantom's arms, as though he'd caught her from falling. "C'est magnifique...you're quite the beautiful jewel yourself, my lovely faunus Huntress. Maybe I should steal you instead? I've always had a thing for bunny ears…" The Phantom spoke in a low murmur, smiling the entire time while Velvet, unused to being flirted with, especially by the enemy, could only sit blinking, cheeks burning red.

"Hey! Hands off the bunny!" Coco shouted, her command punctuated by the whine of the gatling gun's barrels starting to spin.

The thief seemed nonplussed, instead turning to Coco for a second, then back to Velvet. "Oh, you're taken? My apologies." With that, the Phantom proceeded to simply let Velvet go, causing her to fall to the ground with a thud, the thief already moving away with Coco's weapon still trained on him.

"I'll thank you not to mis-handle my teammate. She's sensitive, you know." Coco quipped.

"Hey!" Velvet's indignant shout could be heard over the sound of the revolving weapon. She quickly got to her feet, cheeks still burning, but this time with an expression of anger on her face, embarrassment from having been caught off guard like she'd been. "And you! Hands off the jewel and in the air!" Velvet dropped a box onto the ground, and from it, a blue light shined, tracing the image of a gatling gun into the air and in Velvet's hands, aimed at the masked intruder.

The thief gave a 'hmm' of thought for a couple of seconds before shrugging and raising his hands. "With a weapon like your friend's, there, I suppose there's not much I can do. C'est la vie."

Coco blinked. "Huh. I was honestly expecting something more. It's nice to actually have someone smart for onc-"

"He's got another grenade!" Velvet cut her off, shouting in surprise. Coco's eyes flickered upward to see the Phantom's empty hands, then down to his feet, seeing only too late that balanced on the top of his foot, was a black canister. Her eyes flickered back to his hands, noting that one of them had a silver ring hanging on it. The grenade was tossed forward, and Coco began to open fire, the crowd behind her now screaming even moreso, blinded by the flashbang and now terrified by the sound of gunfire. Not that it mattered as the grenade itself had exploded in mid-air, sending a cloud of blinding white smoke in between the thief and the two girls. "No!" Velvet shouted, starting to open fire. Two streams of gatling gun fire crossed over each other as both girls blindly tried to fire upon the thief. After a few seconds of sustained fire, both girls paused.

"Is he…?" Coco murmured. She tried to listen for any signs, but it was hard to hear anything past the crowd behind her, who in their panic at the proceedings had begun to rush out of the room out the side door to the garden outside in an attempt to vacate the area. At once, both Velvet's and Fox's voice cut out through the noise though, having shaken the disorienting effects of the flashbang.

"He's getting away!" they yelled simultaneously.

Coco swore under her breath and hit the switch again to transform the unwieldy gatling gun back into its compact form, while Fox rushed forward past her, trying to catch up to the thief. Trusting in her two teammates to follow him, she paused to turn to Yatsuhashi. "Hey, big guy, you alright?"

"Y-yes. Forgive me, Coco." The larger man was blinking rapidly, still disoriented by the afterimages and swaying from the loud bang having thrown off his sense of balance.

"Hey, not your fault. This guy's a nuisance. Come on, if we don't hurry, we won't be able to get our licks in once Fox and Velvet's done with him." Coco grinned, got behind him and slapped him on the ass, causing the large man to jump slightly.

"Coco!" He chastised.

"Up and at 'em!" Coco's tone was playful, but her gaze over her sunglasses was serious and Yatsu hefted his blade, rushing forward with Coco on his heels, the two trying to catch up to their teammates and the mysterious thief…

[***]

They caught up with their two teammates further inside the mansion, standing at the center of two intersecting hallways. Hearing their footsteps, both Fox and Velvet turned to face them. "Well, whoever he is, he's quick." Fox muttered with a touch of irritation in his voice. "Velvet and I thought we were right on his heels, but he's been leading us on one hell of a wild goose chase."

Velvet puffed her cheeks out and sighed. "We're getting nowhere. I've been listening out for him, but I'd swear he was in multiple locations at once."

"Relax, bun," Coco replied gently, "There's no way he's getting past us. Now let's all pick a direction and-"

"Giving up so soon? That's an awful pity…" A smug voice chimed in from the right and everyone turned to see the Phantom Nevermore standing arms akimbo at the end of the hallway, his ever present smile still etched onto his lips. "I was so hoping we'd have a chance to play a little longer."

Everyone turned to him in surprise, and without so much a word, all four of them rushed at the thief, who gave a short, mocking bow, and disappeared around the corner. Team CFVY rushed down the hall and stopped at the end, looking both ways, only to find the hallway empty. "What the hell?" Coco breathed. The doors of the various rooms looked closed, and no footsteps sounded to direct their attention toward his method of egress.

"Going somewhere?" The Phantom's voice rang out behind them, and Team CFVY turned to find that The Phantom had somehow ended up on the complete opposite side of the hallway, all the way at the other end, smiling and waving as though he'd always been there.

"What?!" Velvet shouted, eyes widening. "How-"

"What part of Phantom do you all not understand? Still care to try your luck?" The thief gleefully taunted.

Coco's gaze narrowed, her expression mirroring that of her now incensed teammates. A loud bang from nearby clued Coco in that Velvet had decided upon a faster form of ranged weaponry to reproduce, and a puff of drywall exploded nearby the thief's head as a recreated revolver bullet slammed into the wall. "This is your last warning!" Velvet shouted. "Drop the jewels and come quietly!"

This only served to amuse the thief further though, and he chuckled. "Feisty, aren't we? I do so enjoy a girl with some spirit. The night is young, however, and I'm afraid as much as I'd love an evening with you, my dear Huntress, I'm afraid I've other plans. I hope you understand?" With that parting shot, the thief vanished behind yet another corner, leaving the entirety of Team CFVY in various states of frustration, the four of them once more giving chase.

Yatsu growled as they were led through hallway and corridor, past large stain glass windows and priceless antiques, all the while the thief continued to keep ahead of them, laughing gleefully. "Coco! He's heading for the roof!"

"He's probably got a Bullhead! We've got to stop him before he gets to it!" Fox added, rushing forward even faster than before, pushing himself to try and catch up to the thief.

Hallways turned into a staircase, with the thief leaping and swinging onto banisters, flipping onto landings and bypassing large sections of staircase as he made his way up to the top floor. Hot on his heels, Velvet and Fox kept on him, matching acrobatic parkour move for move. Fox managed to get just ahead of Velvet and with a push off of the banister, leapt at the Phantom, ready to strike at him with his tonfas. The thief, leaping backward off of his own railing, pulled out his hand cannon and took aim, the weapon roaring as he pulled the trigger. Fox's reflexes protected him from the shot, blocking it with the tonfa, but the force of the shot was enough to send him backward, sprawling across the marble staircase and hitting the landing hard enough to make the team collectively wince, then grow angrier.

"Ooh, bit of a nasty spill, that," The thief winced in mock sympathy, shaking his head. "I hope you didn't think things were going to be that easy, did you?"

Yatsu's eyes narrowed, and he crouched down, then with a heave powerful enough to crack the marble flooring of the landing he was on, jumped up two flights of stairs, swinging his massive sword in a wide arc. A gust of wind from the sheer force of the swing issued forth, and even the Phantom found himself having to crouch down to withstand the force of the blow. This gave Velvet just enough time to catch up as well, one of her long legs swinging outward in a lightning quick roundhouse. The Phantom ducked, then brought his arms up to catch her axe-kick that forced him to one knee.

Velvet raised her leg once more to continue her barrage, but the moment she'd let pressure up off of the thief, he sprang forward and grabbed her by the waist, flipping her up over his shoulder and behind his back, causing her to fall down the center of the staircase. "Coco!" Yatsuhashi cried out, leaning out to catch the Faunus in mid-fall.

"Oof! Thanks, Yatsu." Velvet replied.

"Need a leg up?" Yatsu asked. Velvet nodded and Yatsuhashi, with a slight effort, tossed the rabbit Faunus back up into the air, letting her grab onto the railing another couple of flights above them and flip back onto the staircase, once more hot on the heels of the Phantom, who'd already started moving. The sound of a door being thrown open alerted the entire team to the fact that the Phantom had reached the rooftop.

Moments later, CFVY spilled out onto the rooftop into the cool, Valean night air. Standing before them at the edge of the rooftop, the Phantom stood, smirking smugly as usual. Coco noticed with relief that no vehicle had been in wait for him, but she'd found quickly that the thief was too tricky to take lightly. "End of the line, thief!." Yatsu intoned, dragging his sword across the rooftop and bringing it around before him. On either side of him, the rest of CFVY prepared their arsenal as well, the action punctuated by the whine of Coco's gatling gun starting up.

The Phantom, however, shook his head. "Oh dear, oh dear. You know, it never ceases to amaze me, really. I haven't been doing this very long, but you'd be surprised as to how often this becomes an issue…"

"Captured often?" Coco replied, just loud enough to be heard over her weapon.

Her answer was a laugh. "Oh no, no, mon cherie. The issue is just how many people seem to forget the definition of Phantom Thief. It isn't just a fancy title, mes amis. Like a ghost, I am not simply stealthy, nor can I just appear wherever…" The thief grinned and gave a little hop backwards to stand on the edge of the roof. The mansion itself was a sizeable building, standing at an impressive five stories, plus the raised platform for bullheads to land upon. Wind whistled and blew the thief's coat around him dramatically as he spread his arms and finished, "...but much like a phantom, I too can vanish without a trace…"

Fox, Velvet and Yatsuhashi started to rush forward, Coco pulling the trigger of her gatling gun to send a spray of gunfire in the thief's direction, but it was all for naught. The thief fell backward off the ledge and into the Valian night air. Fox and Velvet arrived at the edge at the same time and peered over the edge.

"He...he's…"

Fox finished Velvet's meek reply. "He's gone!"

Coco and Yatsuhashi caught up, Coco's gun still spinning. "Fox, are you getting anything?"

He shook his head, turning to Coco, his expression filled with disbelief. "No sounds, no Aura, nothing. He's not there anymore…"

Coco began to speak, when the sudden sound of rotor blades caught their attention, and she turned around to see a black Bullhead rising from the other side of the roof, and hanging from a rope ladder was the Phantom himself, smiling widely. "Ta-da! I do hope you all enjoyed tonight's show! Don't feel quite so bad, I'll take very good care of the Crimson Heart. For now though, I must bid you all adieu. Au Revoir!" the thief cheerfully crowed.

Coco growled and aimed her gatling gun up at the Bullhead, but the thief threw his arm in her direction, and when she pulled the trigger, there was a loud whine as the barrels suddenly froze in place. "What?!" Coco looked down the length of the gun to notice that sticking in a manner that had locked up the blades, was a long, thin throwing knife, forged in the shape of a feather. She reached forward to try and pull it out, but the blade had become bent due to being lodged in the inner workings of her weapon. "Damn it! Velvet?!"

"I'm sorry, I only had the one picture, Coco!" Velvet lamented, watching as the Bullhead pulled away from the mansion, quickly flying away into the distance and leaving the team atop the roof, defeated.

There was silence, broken only by the wind. A few moments later and Coco sighed. "Great. Just great. Just who was that lunatic?"

"His identity isn't the only concern, Coco." Yatsu's deep voice cut in. "I can only fear that this may be only the first of his crimes here in Vale. We should count our blessings in that no one besides us had been harmed during this heist."

"He's got a point, Coco." Velvet added.

Coco raised her glasses up her nose, the tinted lenses hiding her glare as she stared up into the empty night sky. "Bastard. Come on, guys. Let's…" she groaned. "Let's give 'em the bad news…"

A/N: Hey folks! LaughingLefou back with the introduction to our avian themed Phantom Thief, and what better way to start things off than with a heist! I'm going to try and keep a few things under wraps, and reveal them as the story goes on. What's his Semblance? Why is he a thief? Etc. Hopefully this will satisfy a few cravings, and when we start next chapter, we'll be jumping into things proper with one Jaune Arc's first day at Beacon Academy, but things are just a little different this time…

Stay tuned, same Nevermore time, same Nevermore channel! Signing off for now, this is Laughing Lefou!

(P.S. I know some of you really wanted me to keep Moonlit Sonata around, but I'm afraid I just really can't bring myself to keep an unfinished work sitting around that I'll never get back to. If you insist on having it around to re-read for some odd reason or another, PM me and I'll try to throw you a copy.)

B/N: Guess who's back? Back again?

That's right my friends; LaughingLefou, master of all things feathered, freakish, and fabulous, has returned! (Don't take the 'freakish' too close to heart, bb, I just wanted the alliteration.)

The Phantom Nevermore has returned, with more forethought and forward planning than ever before! More heists! More drama! More romance! (Or at least, flirting!)

From what we've talked about, this is going to be a very exciting ride.