Many of the feedback I got goes straight to the start of the chapter or so, the first two chapters. I once asked OC because I started this whole fanfic thing two years ago but left the beginning as it is. So, might as well took care of it then. Thank you, Draconic Reborn and Dur'id The Druid.
Guest: Already decided so..yeah.
Ultimate Kuuga: Thank you, I was almost afraid that people who dislike this approach of mine because I've been starting to like Supernatural, Lucifer and all those movies and shows that links to these angels, demons of any religion. As long as they interest me. It gives a nice kick on greater details of angels instead of just having wings, a halo and they're good or something. Parents always make things so 'simple'. But yeah, I might try to get some of that lemon if I feel that this story affords it.
shadow: Thank you.
Jack Lycan: Thank you. And it's not that avoidable for one to have a family type relationship with the other when they've been through pretty much everything in the dark world together. But, I will bring something into the story to show how weird it is for one to call someone else dad.
ERROR SANS: Okay, I see what you mean. You want me to give Jaune some family ending, where he gets to make sure that he's a father. In the future, you'll see why that's not gonna happen. I have no idea about dem Undertale AU fandom since I stopped, so uh sorry about that.
I don't own [PROTOTYPE] nor RWBY
-:-
Chapter 1: While You Were Gone
The screams, the explosions, the destruction. They kept echoing down the alleys of his ears, ringing him over and over of what their fight, dubbed by the public "God's Blunder", had done. The consequences of the cause. Mercer sat on his four-legged office chair, letting his legs slide around whenever he reeled in or move forward with the chair and staring out of the window, into the beauty of the calm but broken heavenly body. The moon from what else in the blunt, pale, dark sky. His left arm was reformed with his Devil's Pride sticking out of it, his spiked fingers for nails kept scratching and prickling one another impatiently. Mercer wondered about the consequences. Was it worth it?
After their battle, the kingdoms were slowly rebuilding themselves back piece by piece, every window, every restaurant and every company affected by their reckless behaviour. The same goes for Atlas' GRIMM LABS army, thanks to the feeding from the corpses of fewer animals and the majority of Grimms. And lucky for everyone's ability to withstand the monstrosity of Remnant's supernatural climate changes, due to Atlas' defence systems, Mistral's skills, Vacuo's tolerance and Vale's shared yet limited capability of all three, not all were harmed. But what of those who are not replaceable nor reparable? The Dead but not Forgotten? So many lives that could not be saved from falls, debris, floods from waves, opened valleys in the middle of streets. What happens to those close to them? Of course they would not shrug it off, it is in their blood to grieve. And the guilt was always vacuumed by Alex Mercer.
As much of normality Alex had left, he tried to feel for the dead he had diverged from the face of Remnant, but after being bathed in millions of deaths back in his world's Earth to save thousands of truthful, loyal, pure and innocent souls for the intent of peace, he felt so...calm. So anti-social, anti-human, anti-life. His body and mind will not and would never shed a tear for humanity. For what it had done to him and all of the things they did. Truth, trust, teamwork, equality, care and respect. Yet, racial wars went on, win-lose goals accomplished, unbalanced study and employment opportunities, crimes about murder, rape and hell, the sake of evil and demented intent.
The sake of self-centred satisfaction, entertainment and pleasure. Lust, Greed, Gluttony, Pride, Envy, Sloth was what they run on like fuel to vehicles. No. What they actually are. The earthlings he kept finding never deserved Wrath at all, for they had no one to care and avenge for, no one to spoon-feed and grow up with, no one to love and marry, have sex with and bare children. And they were the earthlings he opposed forever, as the gospel of vox populi. The righteous people he fought for, with blood and sweat, those who deserved that 'sin' and much more than humanity. Especially James Heller. And he would risk letting a prodigy-in-combat evolve dismantle him after causing an outbreak that also affected his wife.
At first, it was thought to be a simple understanding but when he was opened to a whole new vision that overcame the deceiving barrier, he knew he was doing something right at a very, very wrong stratagem. A recipe for extinction, rather than disaster. Alex could have killed too many good, which would be what the evil always meant to do. He could have done the villain's job and still fail his own mission. Thus, he had opened his eyes and woke up, with the right intention of killing the correct evil, even the good that had been manipulated, by all means necessary to not save the good, but secure it, and face any burden of mistakes to do better, evolve. So, why does he not share the same warmth as justice and right?
"Guess I stared too much into the abyss where what's behind's just...dust. Least the people in this world here are nicer..or colder. More open? But does that matter now? Still grieving, still enduring the noose. All that really matters now, is the one who shown me the path I've been yearning for. The punk kid who can make a big difference between us. The boy who smiles," Mercer looked down to a cryo chamber-like bathtub next to him, Jaune Arc was floating in it. John sighed to himself, thanking Christ Almighty that it ended with him secured safely.
Jaune's face was more messed up than a burnt shepherd's pie. Bruises, terribly swollen eyes, missing teeth, sliced-off cheeks and a giant bullet hole riddled through his forehead. And it only got worse. All of his veins were just opened for the whole world to see out of his everything, exploded and visually beyond repair, like a burnt fuse. His body was sliced diagonally in-half by the degenerative burns of Alex's vial blade. Crossing down his whole chest and torso, with what seemed to be nail bullets melted and dissolving, the cooling fluid that was keeping him afloat was slowly being vaporised into molecules. Then atoms. If Jaune went on with too much Hellfire, he might just burnt off and died and with that fluid, the seemingly uncontrollable flames would try to temper something else. His right arm cracked like a fragile ornament. What was left most worthwhile in putting him back in place were stitches using the nails. Though worthwhile, was not too constructive. Alex finished off his sentence, "Only to be tormented for nothing."
It was 09:27:PM in Remnant but on his watch was 10:50:AM, which he originated it back at his birth world.
-:-
Three weeks ago, back at the island, 12:33:AM:
The dust had settled. The feathers had fallen, the battle was over. The winner was declared. And all it cost was a half-ed friend to suffer with the monster inside him. Was it all worth it? God, no. Not worth the deforestation, the unhealthy lifestyle of gore and the sound of SIN's weight tumbling down onto the floor, in utter jeopardy. His cracked blade, forced to the core and shattered with an unpleasant, silent 'clank'. The broken shards were erased into atoms, sub-atomic particles, actual light and was just gone for good, into oblivion. Yet, they were both glad it happened anyways. Laughing as always, SIN still was crawling at him with his right arm, "Hahahaha! HAHAHAHA! *inhale* Auuugh! THAT. Was. Glorious! We even reached it! Heaven and Hell had heard us! We felt the POWER we once had, Mercer! We're that close! But so..so far..."
Alex was extinguished out of his Aura flames, dropping dead on the ground, strained and drenched in sweat. The heat from the adrenaline was converted out into literal steam, his cells felt tensed and degraded. It was a torture where death was soft and merciful, "And you still have the teeth and mouth to piss me off..."
"Well, what can I do? Other than to hurt your precious brother. For your QUIETUS. So..anyway to end this? Anyway for Jaune to go back? To what his life was for him?" ZEUS groused at the issuing difficulty of the dirt to clean up, but would do it no matter what. "I have...FOR BOTH OF YOU IMPS. DEAD AND FORGOTTEN."
SIN reached his arm, full-length, to the sky, chanting all sorts of nonsense in a form of phrases. With "May the heavens bring forth", "May power bring smite", "May thunder hush the cries of war" and "May God strike me by the dawn of night", the black skies brightened with white light. White lightning. Within the last few outbursts, the final thunder was more extreme when it hit Jaune's Semblance, the cracks on his right arm was flooded with glorious white electrical energy instead of the compelling yellowish Aura. Mercer did not stand and be at awe, it was not that difficult to tell that the fight was not over so he put his rifle behind him and prepared his juggernaut shields against anything he would hit him with.
SIN pummelled him back with a lightning ray, ZEUS' resistance was demolished within the clap of thunder and the reaction between his back and a boulder was intense. More tissues leaking out of another bigger, terrible wound and the Guardian fisted in the air, going 'Yes!'. Alex was still holding back the stunning force's repugnance, vision blurred and left arm fractured, it was as if someone hit a regular person in the back of the head with a sledgehammer really hard while being wasted, and he was an Evolved.
Once he regained his senses, he tried to get up but noted that only his right arm was still in commission, with the rest left in the same state as one another. He looked to his sword, the blade still completely snapped and faltered. It was a hell of a bad day for him. SIN continued to crawl his way to him like a vicious, dying ghost, will-strived to finish the job just to 'finally rest in peace', "Aw fucking Hell..."
"Hoho, and what do you know about Hell?! Hehehaha-GNNARH!" Jaune's consciousness overwhelmed his darker side, back in control. He ordered John pleadingly, "Mercer! Mercer, quick. He can't use the Brotherly Envy without full control! He'll come back, quick! Shoot my head! Restart my brain! GARGH!-Hhhohoho, now hold on there, Alex! You're a biological scientist, you're like a doctor. Think! That don't work now, does it? Shooting me in the head! CAugh! GRReeh! HE'S FULL OF IT! DO IT! DO IT NOW!"
"When Jaune took over a year to beat you, this victory feels disappointing when you should be ending off on a high note." Alex spat out a tooth while aiming his rifle to dispatch both consciousness of Jaune and SIN. The damage from the shot gave him the future bruises he had a month later, and they would take even longer to be fully restored. Finally, he could take it easy for now. Breathing in relief, he looked back to his blade and thought if the perseverance of both Evolved, an equal amount of physical and mental strength, supernatural weaponry and immense Aura they currently have would be enough to truly stop the entity of despair. With that, Mercer passed out.
-:-
11:02:AM, the end of the flashback:
Alex was awoken from his flashback by a nudge on the shoulder, frightened and got extremely nervous for a second since he slept throughout the whole night with his Devil's Pride out, only to calm his alert when it was just Damien. The dog Faunus was quite different. His facial expression seemed a little more serious but still as perverted and goofy as always. He got a few permanent cuts on his arms and neck, and was wearing full-body armour and holding onto Jaune's Tank Buster. With Jaune's recent incidents before God's Blunder, he traced where he would have went for hiding at the moment and helped get it back. Well, much less of getting it for him, now that he took dibs on it, "Uuh! *sigh* Bloody asshole! *gasp* What is it?"
"Not much. First of all, just visiting my brother again. No sign of life?"
"Not yet. Body ain't regenerating, can't really hear him in the Hive Mind, but his vitals are still stabilised with no spikes. How's your class' preparation for New Year?"
"Waste of time. Meaning I had nothing much other than put up decorations on the ceiling since everyone else isn't tall."
"And your training?" Loosening his shoulders, he took out the Tank Buster. Carefully not to hit his sibling, Damien lifted up and down, handling the 1-ton weapon like any 5 kg dumbbell. "Eh, not too shabby. Thanks for giving it to me. I might want to hold onto it, now that Jaune's secret is out."
"Thank him once he's awake. Your studies?"
"Not bad. Still managing with B's but, Professor Peach ain't liking the frequent C's as well."
"Yeah, she does that sometimes. And she ain't wrong, better toughen up on the books, kid."
"It ain't easy, you know. There's another reason why I came here."
"Yeah, we'll talk later. Could you keep an eye on Jaune for me? Gotta take a quick lunch and come back." Damien clutched onto Alex's shoulder, with a determined look in his eyes. Silence filled the room, indicating the seriousness of his situation, "Okay, I see that it's pretty bad. What's wrong?"
Arc pointed straight at a chest resting comfortably next to Alex's desk. Blocking the sunlight through the advanced-tech windows with a switch on the wall, he removed any form of light shining down on the weapon and with the room nearly covered in darkness, once Damien opened up the chest Crocea Mors was glowing inside of it, which Alex had never realised with it closed for so long, "So, a night-stick mechanic?"
"No," The hound brought it closer to Jaune's damaged corpse-like body, the glow was brighter than before. Proportionally brighter to the gradually decreasing distance between the weapon and Arc, "Destiny."
-:-
Half an hour later, 11:37:AM:
Both sat on stools, discussing it out while Mercer summarised it all, "This was what Julius felt when he regretted about our agreement all these years? That this one Arc, this one boy, Jaune. Is 'destined' to wield the ultimatum that is Crocea Mors? Or so he believes it when the other ascendants have occasionally shown similar symptoms with the weapon?"
"Yes, that is it."
"Then why didn't it do it when both of you were together?" Damien tried to recall what his father told him out of the blue that was before noticing the chest's inner glow through the gaps. "He told me it was when some Arc ancestors suffering a curse, bestowed upon birth. Even the first Arc to ever lived died by this sword within any day, any age. The youngest was, if I remember, Hermes Arc. I had to read up on the history book of the Arcs and found this frightening. And the virus,"
Though he was his brother, he had to get the weapon in direct contact with Jaune and knowing it, Crocea Mors was steaming his body with light. He could go deeper and sabotage his recovery if he had not stopped there.
"Seems to cause this."
"But his Aura, his soul. It isn't really affected by the virus. It isn't something bad! Or at least that bad! How can something this supernatural be convoluted with biology? Here, lemme show you that i-Argh!" Mercer persuaded that the Blacklight could not be affiliated with the Arc family, only to be proven wrong when he tried to hold onto the sword. He, too, was affected by its holiness as Damien picked it up, "Alex, this isn't about his biology or about what it does to the Crocea Mors. Well, now that we're on that matter, it might be more on you two consuming Grimms."
"How do you know that?"
"Tried it on an Ursa Minor, it was sliced up with a heated sensation. We're going off topic, which is that Julius is more focus in regretting your decision because of the edge he's been on."
"What?" He sighed and got up to walk around, pacing himself. He rubbed his face in pressure, feeling too stupid to put his point into words, "He has no idea whether to be on the side of the family and its royalty passed down from generations or the side of father and son."
"I-Isn't that the same?"
"What I'm saying is that he feels Jaune should enjoy more in the modern world and not keep him as proud and honourable as the rest of the ancestors. The weapon wouldn't really be given to the only spawn that carries the name. Even others with the specific surname-carrying gender can be heir. So he felt that he should be something cooler than what was once cool when it was at its peak in history, inheriting Crocea Mors. He feels..that Jaune should be better off with a 'cooler' father."
"Hey, you make it sound like I'm not good at that."
"Never said you're not a good dad. He finds you, in our terms, edgy-to-be-called-cool."
"He has a somewhat fair point. But not siding on edge being cool."
"Like I was saying, dad thought that being this whole heir of the Arcs isn't doing any good. So he let go of Jaune. But dad had done something far worse than turning letting Jaune away from humanity. There won't be a successor for the Arcs. A true successor. And I..sorta..agree..."
"...You just don't want to take the responsibility, don't you? Learning the Arc techniques? I mean, even if I transfer a bloodstream-"
"No! That's terrible! That's the reason why. I knew when dad had an idea of me being heir, it involves you, doesn't it?!"
"It's not actually taking up his blood and putting it in you. Technically, I'll have to encode the DNA structure into a pathogen's sequence, THEN inject it into your bloodstream with the antibodies and biomass to not turn you infected while linking to their bloodline. And it's just a prick, Damien."
"Fuck. NO. No needles! Back to the topic. Even if Jaune's immortal, you guys can still die, right? You were lucky two times. TWO TIMES. A nuke and a father. And Jaune's just resourceful but reckless. He could still get killed. It's gonna take another millennium of generations to find another 'Ender' of this curse or sort. These Arcs who constantly tried to fight off that curse failed miserably! But I've done some digging, Jaune had nearly identical personalities with the first! And the first right arm gave birth to Crocea Mors!"
"Fffuuucck...Your family's just worsening my confidence levels, you know? If Grimm keeps him from doing what's necessary of lifting this dumb curse, how is he gonna hold it if it hurts him?" John spat, chuckling afterwards, weakly and faintly. "I'm just helping him become what he wants, not what he's fated to be. I'm not good with humanity's most advanced sword-and-shield combat. Hell, I don't even know why Medieval Times would think using one hand of different side is meant to be protective with the other hand is meant on the offensive! Claymores are what they truly need."
"Don't blame me. Dad remembered all the pain. All the suffering grandpa told him they had to put up with. The monsters, the villains, the worst terrorists. So, he wants to take back his side of the 'deal' when that deal can go on."
"You mean it can go on as usual? Cause there's no turning back once you are infected."
"Yes. No setbacks. No win-lose or lose-win deals, everyone will be happy. Uhm, besides the burning sensation."
"Huh? That sounds too good to be true."
"It is true. If we could probably remove the Blacklight out of him, he could still be able to help against the curse, if not end it completely. Not continue on with this," Damien tried to slightly braze his brother again to prove his point, only it did not happen. Though Jaune's fragile right arm was twitching a little bit, it had no means of causing anymore damage. Damien thought it was some trickery and did it on his left arm to find that vulnerable. He tried other locations, even his right shoulder pad and it was only not working with only his right forearm and hand, Alex was brightening up at the beautiful music beating onto his eardrums, smiling to the sign of hope. "You know, once you're Evolved, you're already considered dead and alive. Or..undead. It's irreversible. And now, seems we got a possibility on our hands. What is it that Julius thought of?...Damien?"
"Amazing..Wha? Did you say something?"
"I asked what did Julius had in mind."
"N-Now that it was no longer implied that he had to be changed back to human anymore but gives another continuation on the plan, Dad wanted you to get him some experience with a sword and a shield, get him to test me, his 4 years of effort in training me into a reflection of your product. With this, the Ender can finally end the Arc family's beginning-to-present pain. Every loss they've encountered, every hardship can be relieved! Arthur, Constantine, Hercules, Ignatius and all the other ancestors can slumber in peace! I'd agree after seeing a giant silver armour going inside the weapon. And trust me, sword-shield combo's actually decent."
"And this'll work, like you said? Sure, we'll do that. *sigh* I really want to sleep properly."
"Why?"
"Depression."
"Uhuh. But the thing is," Damien sat back down and rested the Tank Buster with its tip to the floor. "What is it?"
"I'm not willing to give it up that easily."
"Oh fuck, I see where this is going. Okay, you don't need to go all dramat-"
"Me. Went through human Hell, compared to yours, for 4 years just to give up that piece of shit I earned? That, nah nah nah, not happening. I ain't going to let it be that easy. That's why I don't want him to fight me, everything pops had done, just for the family weapon. I want him to fight me, everything I, he and you had done, all for the worth. The worth of Crocea Mors!" The Faunus clenched his fist and punched his palm, delightful, instinctive and wild bloodlust flooded the image of his pupils, reflecting a metaphor of a flowing river of blood. Whereas Mercer drifted to another cloud of thoughts, 'What should I do now that he's going on like this for another minute? Listen for once? Or slow my brain down into a second to get to the matter straight? Hey, that doesn't sound bad.'
With a snap, he 'damped down the chemical energy streaming to his brain', specifically controlling it with his metabolism, to fast-forward over 5/6 of a minute and reach to Damien's point without needing to listen. It felt like a swoosh to the future, letting time fly.
"-I've been yearning a whole month for a fight! Yeah, I used to hate it. But after Cardin Mcdickhead made me fire that bullet, after that whole shitshow trip, I can't stop CRAVING for more. And Jaune's gonna relieve in it like any of those porn mags. And you're helping me."
"Ggggaaay-"
"No homo, of course," He pointed out to one of the closest companions he had ever had, right from the beginning. Damien did not really asked, he knew Alex would help out. And that, Alex agreed unwillingly, "Seems you've been growing towards the feeling for a fight too much. Well, can't help it, can we? So, what do you need my help for exactly?"
"I need heavier weights. And I don't speak mass," He pointed his thumb back to the giant sword behind his back, hopping a bit to show off more of his strength that it is easy. Too easy, "I'm sure a few gravitational pulls can meet my desires, no?"
"You spoiled motherfucker. Do you have any idea-"
-:-
At the Mansion of the Arcs, in the basement, 01:37:PM:
"-how difficult it is to find Gravity Dust?! Its source of power comes directly straight from the globe's very own gravitational pull, why you're still pulled down to Remnant! You cannot get something so expensive from me! And even if you find a mine for that, good luck getting the essentials to get close to the planet's magma!" Julius thundered, pointing a wrench straight at Damien's face, who seemed amazed to get the same answer. The basement had a few additions of more technology for Atlas Industries. Androids, energy plasma-based weapon prototypes, holographic images on re-modifying the Atlesian dropships. Alex shouted as well, "Exactly! See!? Gravity Dust is too rare to ever be used often! Like diamonds!"
"Oh come on, it's not gonna be that bad. It won't hurt."
"No, no! No to Gravity Dust! Although I'm getting off ounces of Lien for the family from work, there is no way you can get that stuff from my income. A single canister'll be more than the kitchen renovation." Julius gave his final message. Mercer gave his approval with a point about the Dust mines, "The miners had to dig deeper for more resources that are less valuable than Gravity Dust. Sure, we can make replicates that do the exact same thing such as Fire Dust with concoctions but those non-eco-friendly ingredients are being drained out more than they could be renewed."
"Look, you won't have to be the one affording the Dust. I'll do the findings myself, mining or not. And for the ideal training equipment, how about using rings to my ankles and wrists, that might have to be the improvement as it takes less Gravity Dust for." said Damien, reasoning why Julius should build him his restraints. Until Alex butted in, "No, it'll still take the same amount, if not more, to pull you down as well, if you're going for similar results with body-size weighted Gravity-Increaser."
"Fine, shut up. Like I said, if it's just Gravity Dust, I will find it! If we're sooner or later going to be Just..please help me build the machine. Please?"
"But, how will you get the tech working without the Dust?" Julius easily gave in since he trusted his son to be responsible and be a part of the effort needed. "Hey, Alex. Still have that inside job for me and bro?"
"A job? Oh, that-uh..that one." Mercer nervously hid the truth about the job he offered to the Arc brothers without Caesar's consent.
"I want in. Even though the summer break's over."
"Sure, I guess."
"Inside? What's this about jobs?..Don't tell me-!"
'And here comes another argument,' Damien groaned Mercer grasped onto Arc's shoulder with self-assuring but cold-feet smirk. "Don't worry, Caesar. I do have something that is illegal but, even Ozpin would take the risks. Really though, don't panic."
"Don't panic?! I'd be glad if it were robbery for the money but, killing?!"
"Killing those who deserves it, dirtbags, Julius. Scum on earth-I mean Remnant, worse than worst. *whisper* God, I keep forgetting to call it that. Ahem! And the good thing is that they're tied to assassination jobs because they plan bigger than Roman. All as one crime association to take over a city for each big boss."
"Roman?! Roman Torchwick!? Okay, no! That takes the cake! I can't let you make another son of mine a murderer, Alex!"
"Oh, fuck me. It's still going..."
"C'mon, even the older Arcs would understand why they need to slay the beasts, even kill those who sold their souls to the devil. These people I'm offering for Damien to kill for the convenience of his life are not humans, or 'Faunus', to begin with."
"And those innocents that you couldn't save? That you 'sacrificed'? How about my colleagues? The Atlas Soldiers, the TITANS, I don't believe GRIMM LABS are that freaking terrible to be 'soulless creatures'! What do you say about that?"
"I-..."
"Say 'minor casualties', and I will not forgive you for ALL you've done. You made Jaune believe that there is no evil worth sparing. There are and they are called the guilty. And all they need is a chance to redeem themselves-"
"Fuck me, are we seriously doing this?" The Faunus was now fooling around with the office chair.
"Yes, we are! You thought putting them down for good can truly bring good in this world, you're wrong! Too wrong!" Caesar shushed him before shooting back at Alex.
"Dad-?" Damien reached out for his father, who smacked his hand away with irritation. He glared at both of them, "Forget it! I won't help to build a machine that runs on energy out of the blood of common flesh! Besides, you have Mercer with the brains, no?"
"Come on, pops!"
"Shut it. I'm done here." Caesar nudged away Alex's hand and walked out of the basement, leaving them to help for themselves. Alex mustered a shout from a defeated point, "We'll talk about this, alright?!"
"Go to hell!" Damien was right to feel guilty for turning all of his hard efforts into strengthening, training and improving him as tool of killing, something his whole family was trying to prevent. ZEUS wrapped his arm around his neck and shook him around, trying to cheer him up, "Welp, welcome to the depression club."
"Tcheh! Fucking hell, ZEUS."
"Uhuh. Let's get to work already," He pulled out a black mask for him. The facial wear consisted of three dog faces with short beaks all at once, one being as originally big with two small faces carved on both cheeks. Six red eyes, three sets of jagged, sharp teeth; three pairs of dog ears designed like six horns. Alex moved his eyebrows deceivingly at Damien, who was delighted to join his adventures, "CERBERUS."
-:-
Days passed, back at the White Fang hideout, 03:24:PM:
Alex called for a miniature airship to pick up both of them as he was resting comfortably just next to the exit. Whereas, Arc was all the way on the opposite side, right behind the pilot seat with all controls on auto-pilot. Adjusting his belts and rearranging his coat. The flickering of red light barely could give any shine to the outfit he picked up for himself. But once the doors opened up after they had landed, the glistering light brushed past them, greeted more with the open arms of Roman Torchwick, "Well, well, well. Look what the dog just brought? Another pup into the game-..Um."
Alex and Damien became completely oblivious of his words since they were fascinated by Arc's own choice of style. It was a black highwayman coat, sleeves wrapped in belts, collar covering up to his nose bridge, complete with polished boots. Boots that were no different from black mirrors. To top it all off, he put on the cocked hat with his three-faced mask, becoming the ideal 'CERBERUS'. ZEUS, on the other hand, felt quite envious as he pinched down on his chin, "Whoa, that's a good look on you. And doesn't it really feel warm wearing just plain old military boots?"
"Yeah it does. It's like having school camp giving you a carpet to walk on whenever you leave your tent and onto the muddy grass!"
"That sounds too good to be true. And hey, you can look into it and use it whenever you want to find and pick out food stuck in your teeth."
"Sweet, ain't it?" The two of them were being so engrossed with his boots that they completely forgot about Roman, who sweatdropped, "Really? I just spoke out loud for just a few seconds and now you're looking at foot wear?"
"Oi, you can't deny the new recruit's taste in fashion, right?" Alex lightly punched his chest, somehow becoming quite close to him within the month. Though he treated him a buddy, Roman treated everyone as his servant, coming from him rudely pushing away the punch, "I can deny his contribution if it were to be a waste of my time. We don't really need more animals when we have you and your misfit minions, Ms Fall and her adult-baby goons and that redhead."
"So, like we agreed. He helps out in the missions, he gets the Gravity Dust that surprisingly no one uses and yet you still stole them for keep's sake."
"I didn't even want them to begin with, Mercer. But, if this can get things done quicker, then I don't see no reason why not put those Dust to use. Otherwise, if his help is nothing but useless, no pay and he's dead meat. Literally."
"I'm not that bad! You don't have to threaten me just because I messed up."
"Kid, even if I'm not treating you like the rest of them, you're still going to die anyway. Cinder won't take lightly of letting witnesses go."
"...Excuse me?"
"Yeah."
"REALLY?!"
"I..just said ye-"
"ALEX! What da fuck!?" Damien screamed, picking him by the collar and flinging him back then forth. "Why did you not tell me this?!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Stop that!" ZEUS tried to push him off of him with his hands on his face.
"Why didn't you warn me that my life is in the line now!?"
"Hey what do you expect from a shifty job like this? None of them were able to legitimately kill me when I spilled the beans next to a CCTV camera in a specific Atlas military base."
"The one you and Roman burned down in Anima two weeks ago?! To cover up your tracks!?"
"Ye?"
"And what about me!? I got to get home with the lubricant and tissues! Oh yeah, and homework and stuff."
"Psh, if they suck at hurting me with bullets, I'm sure you'll lose two fingers if you're not careful enough. Also, keep yourself away from me," Now that Mercer realised it, he put away his hands from Arc's face and kept reminding himself in his head to clean his jacket and hands thoroughly with soap.
"GYAAH! OORHH NOOOO!" Arc let go of him and proceeded to drop down to his knees and slam the ground with his arms. Roman's eyes were shaded by his eyebrows, disbelieved that he had to deal with someone even worse than ZEUS, who picked himself up and patted his clothes clean. The White Fang soldiers, men and women, with dignity or not, were snickering through their teeth, preventing fits of laughter from escaping out at the sight of Damien pitiful state. Some first day on the job, "We'll take any mission. I'm sure there are some 'Capture The Intel' operations and back to base or a simple Dust raid for the new soldier?"
"Just..leave for Patch in a rescue mission. Five minutes ago, I got a call that needs an evac. Leave. Please leave with the pilot over at that carrier. I need a drink..."
"Sounds good enough for him. We'll take it."
"We? He's doing it alone. If he finish this mission on his own as the only backup given, that'd prove his worth. That's the deal, wasn't it?" Roman's eyes twitched, he beamed with murderous intentions at Mercer. A background stream of Japanese kanji, stating 'Menacing', was right next to Torchwick in his vision, though he was un-phased and as courageous, "And while Cinder carves your dog's body personally, I too will come after your head. I'm not a patient man."
"Was it? Whoops, didn't know that," Alex simply said. He picked up the wimping hound and threw him straight into the airship. The flight began ascending off and the shuttle was closing, Damien got up and shouted, "H-Hey, Alex! Aren't you coming?!"
"Nope. You heard the man. You're gonna have to do this all by yourself. But he never penalised safety precautions so here," Being thrown two uzis stolen from a random troop, he caught it, still panicking. "Help yourself, yeah?"
"Alex, you fucking arsehole. You arsehole!" He was like a 'witch' strapped to a flaming wooden pillar, burning with fumes and screaming. A true definition, or a bad pun, of a lone wolf. He was on his own to the Sanus continent.
-:-
On the streets of Patch, 03:57:PM:
A gun fight occurred between the White Fang and the Atlas troops, with cars flipped and used as covers from heavy fire, bullets flying across the roads, and everyone getting to safety or ready to die fighting for what they believed in. Control or freedom, there will be blood. The robbery was just as planned and it could have gotten smoother if it were not to be hinged by expecting, unwanted attention.
All of the Atlas soldiers were armed with LMGs, grenades of either fragmental or tactical and three of them had bazookas. That was the half of it. Two snipers were inside the cleaners' closet rooms, aiming through the windows, Atlesian Knights-130 surrounded the White Fang troops' backs as a pincer ambush and they most probably could have a call for their own reinforcements from the GRIMM LABS if things went south.
The only resources they had to get out alive were their racial powers of the cheetah, rhinoceros and bear, Dust-based guns, an impact hammer, a sledge hammer, four hostages, the flipped 'Dust Till Dawn' truck, civilian cars and their own armoured getaway-vehicle. If they were too careless, Atlas military might blow up the truck full of explosive, flammable Dust, killing the innocents along with the White Fang. Both alignments were in a game of chess, and both had been getting Checks on each other for a while. A male, ripped White Fang member with two horns crossing his face shouted, "Where the fuck is that evac?! He should be here by now, giving these asswipes a taste of us!"
"He says he's coming but I don't think one man can just jump straight into danger like this!" Yelled a female voice from their squad, someone who had similar horns as his. "He? HE?! ONE GUY!? Oh fuck me!"
"P-P-Please don't kill us!" One captive, the driver of the Dust truck, begged for mercy when they were already given the maximum amount from their patience. He roared for silence, "SHUT IT!"
What gave them a greater form of stress was that their backup delayed himself by asking the pilot to land him four city-blocks away from the scene. Unwillingly, the ship left him exactly where he designated. Damien took one deep breath, keeping himself calm from the pressure of going solo. He analysed the situation from what he heard from the rescuee, of all the enemies they could locate in their positions.
He remembered that the snipers were inside one exact neighbourhood building but with individual rooms, one being two floors above the other, Atlesian Knights-130 and LMG gunmen on the ground floor and the rocket launcher demolitions were on the roof of a construction site. He decided that the snipers were the alpha targets since they are more accurate and careful with the hostages than the rest. He hopped up the fire exit ladders and smashed through the window entrance, inhaling one more deep breath, "Okay..Okay. Third and fifth floor. Got it!"
(Envy Battle from Dead Rising 3)
He snuck right through the hallways of the fifth floor and took a running start to bulldoze straight into the janitor room door. He blatantly spartan-kick him down which forced him to hit the window edge with his teeth, breaking the front. After toppling down a metal shelf full of detergents and cleaning materials on him, CERBERUS kicked his stomach with his toe when he was down. Final touches were the ripping of his rifle's barrel and the jabbing of the barrel's sharp end into the scout's shoulder.
Unfortunately, although the other did not hear the beatdown on top of him, Damien noticed that the sniper rifle was customised with a laser sight and expected the last sniper to react to the sudden missing laser dot when they had the upperhand on the cornered wolves. Meanwhile, the soldier was way ahead of him, resting his gun on the window edge and a box in a way the laser was still aiming at the White Fang with none of his hands holding it. He moved backwards and pulled out a pistol and knife in ready for combat.
Damien dived right out of the window and used the broken sniper to hook himself on a concrete ledge of the building and swing down, into the third floor, flying towards the army man. The demolition team caught his stunt so one of them called, "This one's mine! Standing by..."
Arc managed to get a simple scratch across the face from the pistol fire, flinching less and enough to muscle through. He backhanded away the gun from his hand and overpowered him in strength to pull down the dagger. He stabbed him with his own knife by the gut before kicking his pistol in ricochet to fly into his hand. Once he gunned him down by the torso, he picked up the sniper that was in perfect shape while setting aside the useless one. He swiftly aimed it at any of the bazooka-armed soldiers but missed with impatient timing, "Shit!"
"Target confirmed-FIRE!" Shouting with an accelerated voice, he shot the missile at Damien, who successfully cocked the sniper and dived back out. In an iconic pose, his brain processed faster at the heart-racing moment where he aimed at him again and fired once more with uncaught breath. With luck on both sides, the bullet landed unintentionally on another demoman's wrist, which caused a karmic twitch that triggered the bazooka. The rocket flew to one of the cars used by two White Fang members, blowing them up and injuring them but not killing them.
Whereas, the other missile meant on him exploded and drifted him off to another direction, crashing down into a bus lane. Two men down and many left, including the barking dog. And all of them still pinned. The female White Fang said to him, "Well, at least late rather than never."
"You got this, Damien. Just pick-unf! Yourself up..Hm?" Damien regained his posture and saw the cheetah Faunus' dual karambits and the bear Faunus' sledgehammer, catching a good moment from a bright idea. "Yo, may I trade those beauties for this sniper? I am suppose to be your ticket outta here if you don't mind complying."
"Y-Yeah, sure."
"Here."
"Thanks. Do help make every bullet count, already wasted two out of the only clip in this thing," CERBERUS looked down to his new bite for paws and spun them around for a bit, karambits were meant for short-burst, quick and powerful reflexes and that was what he was about. "Never get gud with any sniper classes anyway."
(Bad Motherfucker by Biting Elbows)
"Watch it, watch it! One's coming straight to us!" The whole military team was alerted to take caution of him recklessly sprinting down the road at the grounded warriors. Damien guarded his face with his arms in defence mode, rushing in with no regards again. His body might be taking loads of heavy fire, but he shrugged through the bullets as if they were paper to rock, the blood spills were like sparks out of metal being cut by a petrol saw. His first victim was given a drop-kick to the femur, the second and third had their faces sliced from a karambit spin right after the drop-kick. The Faunus grabbed onto the fifth's light machine gun and aimed it at behind, deceiving him to shoot down the fourth.
The second rocket launcher soldier already locked on to him and the other troop who he was having a tug-of-war with over the firearm was giving him the necessary opening. As commerced, the White Fang sniped him down before he could pull the trigger. A shot to the head, eye, face, he might survive it or not but at that moment, Damien was too shocked to get back into action. He might have been told this multiple times. But truly, he just realised what he had signed up for.
Death. Taking away another life. Like some puppet master throwing away his toy, just by detaching away the strings. It felt so easy, but painful as always. Though the distortion from seeing a living being's demise was nothing compared to a Grimm's, Grimms were just machines, inhumane, evil, monstrous machines, right? Wasn't that what the White Fang would go for? Being the same damned beings as the Grimms just for freedom? Alex told him how flawed the new path the White Fang took, much compared to their previous ideals. And he was never wrong about something too wrong. The head spatter included scales, of a crocodile Faunus. With his mind wrecked from awe, the Atlas soldier kicked him down and kept his LMG, "You're done, deadmeat!"
Damien began to lose his edge, still shaken at the sight of loss. But his natural senses, his 'murderous intent-detecting' smell, his instinct flushed away that weakness in his brain and refilled it with adrenaline. The ally sniper roared, which was heard in slow motion from the rush, "What are you waiting for?! Fight!"
CERBERUS(.exe) was online.
(Bad Motherfucker's build up sequence)
He raised his unbent leg and heel-kicked the gun barrel down, temporarily disabling his line and aim. He stabbed him with three hooks of the karambit to the arm before he could even flinch. He carved an 'X' through his helmet and lips diagonally downwards. Arc stepped onto his bent knee and bounced off of his chest, soaring down on another gunner with a deadly pounce.
The blades punctured into his shoulders and he went in for another prey. Screaming like thunder that resonated the whole city-block, he swung, blocked away but still got filled by the rapid fired bullets from not one, not two but four LMGs. Not even phased, he pierced each and every one of their biceps and snatched away a frag grenade from one of them. An Atlesian Knight-130 was running towards him with one arm-blade while firing its minigun-attachment at him. It was followed by two more of its brethren that had their miniguns rolling. They spoke creepily and simultaneously, "Taking heavy losses. Main target focused."
"Come on, then," Damien bit on a bullet stuck inside his forearm, pulled it out with his teeth and spat at them. Unlike the four 700 RPS heats, the five 8,000 RPS were too many for a slow hunter like him. Although he did not find similar numbness to the pain, he still pulled through and timed the grenade right once he hurdled over a vertical slash of the arm-blade like an Olympic to plunge the detonating bomb inside its core. He climbed above it and prepared himself for a rocket jump, being thrown again into the air and at the other Atlesian Knights-130.
He took them down through their robotic skulls, Assassin's Creed dual-hiddenblade style and switched to his uzis. He riddled one Atlesian Knight-130 while getting closer to point-blank range before head-butting it to the ground. He stomped it over and over and over at the head, grinding it down to scraps, glass dust and screws. One of the downed soldiers did not stay down for long and fired at his back with his pistol. A few landed on him, a bunch missed, giving Damien plenty of coordination of where the cheap-shooter was. The surviving rocket launcher and the last Atlesian Knight-130 were still targeting him, firing their missile and gatling guns at him as well.
Unfocused and having another rocket fired at him, he fled behind the 'Dust Till Dawn' truck to recoup his concentration. Too many bullets were still clogged in his sides, especially the place of his femur bone. Damien popped out his claws, lengthening them from his fingers. Due to the previous fight and continuous consumption of Aura to mend it back to his skin, his nails were still unsharpened but mainly broken. Disappointed that the karambits were too wide and thin to pull out the bullets, he sighed, "Still pretty worn out but, whatever."
Every centimetre his fingers got deeper into the wound, all of his nerves shrieked at the sharp talons scratching on his unhealed, opened abrasion, thousand times worse than dropping hot water onto it. He threw away the dented lead and let his Aura treat it down to a few grazes, coughing out all the blood that flowed into his stomach from the bruises on his torso. Getting back into the fight, he ripped out the car door of the vehicle and rushed back towards the Atlesian Knight-130 with it in front. Bullets gazed off of it like a bullet-proof shield until he shield-bashed its aim down, causing it to flail fire everywhere. After punching its knee into robotic amputation, he held onto it with a Full-Nelson which put him in the position of ripping its head off as well, stripping it of trigger control. He had all two guns taking out the downed soldier and aimlessly giving heat to the demolition, "Bastard!"
"Got a shot on him!?" Damien shouted.
"No! He's hiding behind that beam."
"Watch it! Another missile!" CERBERUS roared at his comrades, dropping the computerised soldier and picking back up the car door. Whereas they took cover, Arc timed the projectile's speed and managed how he would be into position. He leaped over it and defended himself from it with a torn-off car door, the knock-back of the explosion thrusted him straight at the last man standing, who tapped onto his helmet's temple that was blinking red. With the explosion eating up the uncontrollable AK-130, Damien pulled out the sledgehammer and smacked the lights out of him with a mighty swing, the sound of the impact could clearly depict his defeat. Panting in both fear and exhaust, he walked to the edge and gave an 'OK' sign, "Got 'em!"
"Thank the gods, that was too close. Now, we'll bag the Dust and guns and get the hell out of here now."
"Right." Damien jumped down safely to them. The group looked back to the hostages, thinking what else to do with them. The bossy Faunus suggested, "They're no longer needed."
"Wait a minute, what's this about?" He questioned the male member of the despicable Faunus resistance. "Kill them. They're just infestations of our whole home. Haven't you been reading up on the history that had been happening over the past few years?"
"I-I know about it, just why kill them when they don't have anything to do with our grief?"
"Y-Yeah, we didn't do anything just let us go-"
"I said SHUT IT!" He stomped on another innocent in the face, a tooth came out and rolled down into the drain. "Do you still think that the rest would be given a chance to walk away?! Do you honestly think so!? My sister had been bullied around by a bunch of jock and cheerleader inbreds, I've never had a clean job with some disgusting slob for a co-worker back in the mines, who kept touching my Faunus colleague anywhere! As though it's a fetish to treat us lower than ants."
"Then, what happened?"
"What happened?! I got fired for punching him off of her! I've let them step on us for too long, THEY will die for Ironwoods' sake. And he will regret being 'friends' with the Schnee..."
"They will pay differently!"
"How so?"
"Brother, he's right. We can't kill them for no reaso-" The only female Faunus tried calming him down but to no avail. "No, no! Let him speak. How so? HOW SO!?"
"Financially. We can just ask for a small ransom from the police for them. In fact, they have literally nothing to do with it! All of them! We can make them suffer more directly. Go for bigger, stronger people connected to Schnee and drag him down to our level. There's no need for this bloodshed of bystanders! He will feel our pain for the past years, from the start of Faunus minority!" Damien argued over and over while still keeping everyone else alive. "And why are you so supportive about them, huh!? Sure you're not human, aren't you the same as ZEUS or worse, Torchwick?! HUMAN!? We can't let Humanity shit on us like this!"
"Do you have any idea what you're blabbering!? ZEUS has nothing to do with Faunus harm. It's the opposite! He isn't stupid enough to kill those that aren't at all in his way. Torchwick's just money. And he's still helping you all! Don't mix them with the wrong people! All you could do; is believe ZEUS. Plus," He took off his hat and wiggled his dog ears, stating his a fellow Faunus, "I may not have went through the same shit as all of you, but there's also no reason to bring more distrust, alert and suspicion. I'm not asking for the White Fang I knew to strive and fight for their freedom without violence years ago...but I'm not asking for a ghost town, a ghost planet of not peace but dead silence, of murderers. Let them live."
"Brother..." A moment of silence aired out the streets, he took a few seconds to think it through, then complied, "...No."
Damien could not voice out anymore because of a loud bang, a bullet drilled through the skull of the driver and thus ending him. The rest were afraid, crawling backwards away from the monster, "The Hell?!"
"You didn't have to do that!" She stuttered.
"HE works for the Dust that SCHNEE. CREATED. Out of fucking labour. Our! Sufferings. Those part of it..now have to be the fools for it."
"And that was foolish of you," A feminine voice threatened him as a GRIMM LABS Evolved ran in with sonic speed, punching him down to the ground and stabbing his bladed arm into the White Fang soldier's chest. Alerted to a rude surprise, Damien and two other allies retreated off to a distance whereas the sister of the deceasing man was traumatised at a larger scale at her brother's blood loss. Two more GL Evolved backed her away while the first to show up pulled him up. He looked to the woman who insulted his action. It was APHRODITE.
The slutty redhead stepped closer to him with black spandex giving a V-shape look on her nude, no-bra body. Her chest and rear so firm tight, they were stealing all spotlights and replacing any emotion and morale to excitement and bliss. She walked on heels high enough she was practically tip-toeing on her toe nails. She poked her polished nails on his chin, giggling mentally to his masculinity. Broad shoulders, tough muscles, sweet ass. Might as well have fun with him unlike the rest. She pulled out his mask, revealing his face. A horn was on his forehead and a larger one below it, close to a rhinoceros. She beamed as well while grabbing his cheek with her sharp nails, "You're pretty cute when you struggle without progress! Besides the new comer's masculine, scary look, you've taken the rank of an eye-catcher. Heheheh, ahh..."
APHRODITE forced out countless of tendrils, wrapping around themselves into limb-thick tentacles for better strain and stress and tying him up in an obscene manner. The tight restraints tore down his clothing armour, exposed into a buff, half-nude Faunus before they scratched on his tough, animalistic skin. CERBERUS saw it as an act of harm and instinctively jumped in to stop her but pummelled down and locked by the tactical strength of the GL soldiers. One of them pointed her blade at the rest of the team, threatening them to stand down.
The ex-convict that punched him noticed the sister going after her leader. Thus, she helped to halt her in a position. She put her in a way she embarrassed her sexually, humiliating her chastity. And Arc could see it all, guiltily stating, "This is very weird of me to enjoy something I don't really like. Also, why are your women like..this? They're like drones, how did you get them to know positions like this?"
"Mind control. I taught them secrets from my old days, my husband's favourite fetish. I got a little bored with the other braindead idiots. No cries of 'Don't stop!' or 'Stop!', and straight BDSM was just sooo boring. So why not change it into a little girl-on-girl action? Ooh~, but I might reconsider with him3" APHRODITE was wetting herself in delight, walking around him and applauding to the delicate toy in front of her. She trailed down the obvious valleys made by his abdominals, massaging the boulders for brawn and slapping his butt for the merriment. A sensation of shameful pleasure thrilled him, "Agh! Fucking..bitch! Get your filthy hands off!"
"Aww~, why the spout, boy? You should be getting into the mood with three girls on you. It'll help your graduation from your virgin life and learn a few new tricks with the ladies~," She wrapped her arms around his neck, leaped onto his waist and tugged around with her soft, spandex legs. Breasts squeezed to his chest, knee rubbing down his crotch as she leaned in for a french kiss and fed down on his mouth. Passionate and loving, she tasted tender and sweet. His sister was moaning in mortifying ecstasy out of masochism and all Damien could think was, 'Wow. So this is the end. The first day on the job, get captured and not be the one losing my virginity when surrounded by two girls that have their uh, crotches..on top of my arms. I'm sure Alex'll get me out of prison, let me back home to cry off to bed in failure and weakness...Oh yeah, I'll die if I don't complete my mission anyway. So FUCK!'
Before he was tempted into getting into it, a sharp clamp to his tongue was pulling it off like a bear trap. It stretched and plucked it out of his mouth, inflicting sour, bitter pain with a letdown, "ARRGH!"
"But you're like any bitch boy would be treated. With 'love'! My deepest 'love'~."
'Umm..iiit's a good thing I'm not him so that's a relief! Hahahaha, ah we're gonna die,' He sweatily laughed on the inside, awaiting to meet his probable late parents on the other side. The siblings cried more in agony, Arc did not find the situation now at all kindling and the last two had nothing else but wait for the inevitable as well. APHRODITE was enjoying splitting his skin and muscles in quarters with her biomass whips. As the nightmare was over, the tongueless sad soul grinned and sputtered blood at her mouth, mocking her at the brink of death.
Creepily, her reaction was not being offended but aroused, licking and slurping his blood and saliva up. She savoured the taste of his tension and endurance. APHRODITE jolted her head to the Evolved suppressing the female Faunus, commanding her into stabbing her bladed arm into the White Fang soldier's chest. She glanced to the female rhinoceros, giving foul smirks before focusing back to him. She muttered for him, shame replaced by shock, "Brother..."
"You're mocking a goddess here. Don't get too full of yourself~!" It was all unfolding before the other three's eyes, an execution. The other Faunus still felt powerless in the midst of the Evolved, the reinforcement of Atlas was just too much and too fast. The whole GRIMM LABS system made Atlas' job so much easier in locking up the White Fang. But Damien had his view on the tragedy. It all looked so ironic. Two similar, tortured siblings, one being powerless and the other suffering the same sense of weakness..but grieving. To the monster that ruined them just by doing it to the sorrowful child. SIN. The name, edged into his brain by Mercer. SIN. The one who caused his brother to go insane. SIN. The Devil we all meant instead of the innocent Fallen Mercer. SIN. The Bastard. He dropped all morales, he ran in to stop it all, not because of saving lives, he just hated the sight of it all and just want someone guilty to die. Hallucinations played with him, the sister was him, the brother was Jaune, APHRODITE was SIN, he wanted to tear it down. Burn it all to hell. The rhino coughed, putting words without a tongue, "*cough*...I-I-I m-musthve b-bae a dtheman th-th-*cough*-..thven!"
"Yes, and demons-"
"BROTHER!"
"DAMN YOU ALL!" CERBERUS roared, confronting her two bodyguards. Pushing them back to a distance, both of them had their blades sawing down onto his torso, which had bullet wounds to began with, like a construction barricade. The pain was excruciating to the nervous system yet the hound was stronger as he elbowed one GL soldier's neck endlessly until he lost his footing. He squeezed the wrist of the other into a twig and roundhouse-kicked him while still holding onto the wrist, ripping the entire arm-blade off. The third Evolved pulled out her weapons to protect APHRODITE by herself then. Though her efforts to stall him was honourable, it did not matter when it was swept away with a humiliating javelin throw of the blade into her chest. The last viral soldier was sent into a shop and he howled some more, sprinting to end it as the goddess of love ended it herself, "-Sin."
"Go ppffuck YOURFFSE-CAUGHMMRRPH!"
"BROTHER!" APHRODITE's back imploded into many Whipfist-like tendrils, one drove into the White Fang's mouth and out, leaving the girl to die inside. The other three were taking on Damien. Specifically, one into Damien's mouth too, another into his left chest and the last to his right kidney side. Tears streamed down her face, her emotional spirit had been erased, unbound to her soul. She was empty and non-functional. The bitch pulled out the Whipfist from his mouth and aimed it at her. She noted the two fleeing White Fang troops and used the weaponised elongated tendril to knock her out first before finishing the job with twenty four more regular tendrils. Just as she was about to clean the mess up, she felt an acute pain pulverising down on the tendrils that were meant to kill Arc.
Damien was still alive, he held back her attacks with his hands and teeth, although his teeth were breaking down into shards of dentine. He was too unaware to feel his nails chipping out once more. His eyes glowed yellowish orange. What she did, though the deadly glare Damien was giving, was laugh as she retracted back her powers, "Ahaha~! Triggered much?"
She gloriously cat-walked with her hips swaying for his rage-blinded eyes to see and stepped on a car's trunk with one leg with her crotch indecently borne. She huffed a puff of viral cloud at him in the same manner as blowing a kiss, "Then come on..Sugar3!"
(Out Of Control by Hoobastank)
She kicked the car she was putting her heel on at Damien, who backhanded it away like a champ. With a loud cry, he ran into a barrage of obstacles to sweet gore. He palm-smacked one of her whips down, kicked away another and crushed two between his feet and the ground. The deflected whips that were not moulded with the asphalt came back from his sheer, unyielding strength to come forth and take him out from the back like boomerangs. He was struck twice to the back shoulders but nothing. NOTHING was felt. Only rage. They might not be strong enough to hurt his wrath but they were strong enough to pull him back as the two other tendrils got out and healed. So Arc grabbed hold of the fixated tendrils and ripped them out, unfortunately the claws of the whips were still attached and swollen to him, "GRRAAAARRRHH!"
APHRODITE giggled more, revealing out ten regular tentacles of Blacklight viral biomass and stabbing them into the ground to pull out a large debris that he was standing on. Leaving a cavity, she flung him to the air and got ten more to a brick wall, plucking it off like a petal from a flower. After he fell back down, Damien was smacked together in-between two brick walls once she hit him. Part of the building's construct fell apart, bricks dropping down and its rigidity weakened. As the tumbling stopped, so did the noise. The moment of silence tricked her to believing she won that easily but no, another rumble from the other side of the building went off and it was falling down with no proper bottom support. Damien pushed it down with his legs while placing his back against another building to secure his position. Once he managed to drop the whole tower of hardened clay on her, he went down after her to carve out her body.
Unfortunately, she was much stronger than that. She got out of the rubble unscathed and choke-slam him by the neck down to her feet. She used her heel to puncture his abdominal muscles and widen the gaps between them. She then strapped his arms and legs together next to leaking water pipes with her small tendrils. Though the fight was unseen to them, growls and grunts froze the air cold, giving shivers down the spines of the two hiding White Fang members. But to the Whip, it was just a daily routine, "How adorably PATHETIC, BOY~!"
She was having so much fun with his efforts, found his anger amusing on his much more daring behaviour. From time to time, her victims were nothing but twigs, so fragile, so sensitive to the pain and so limp. They could not resist against her methods of 'pleasure'. They were all crybabies in the end. But to her, it was just a matter of progress, to practice and, one day, she would make ZEUS bend to her will. Humiliate him in the end, like how he did to her. She exclaimed while still torturing him and tightening the 'ropes', "Oh, it all comes BACK!"
"You alright?! Hey, HEY!" During the time she was suffocating the life out of Damien, half the team were getting the other quarter to come back to her senses and as they found their attempt distressing, the three Evolved healed their wounds made by the dog, one threw back the arm another had lost. Menacing as always, they sharpened their own blades, making sparks fly and their faces sweat. The bear whispered to the cheetah in the midst of them retreating slowly and carrying her, "Psk. You told me it was Mach 14, right? That's your top speed?"
"Yeah? But they're at least mach 11 each."
"Not close to your speed without Aura."
"Haven't had much practice with it."
"Good enough. I need you to get the five bullets in my pocket. Their deka-ton bullets full of concentrated explosive Dust. Expensive but worth it."
"And you've been holding us out on this?!"
"Last resort now that we lost one. We called for 'free' reinforcements, you know? Repeating myself, expensive."
"Argh, you faggot..." The black dotted Faunus snatched the bullets in his pocket and rocketed at one of them. As he kicked down on her and zoomed off to flee and reload, he thanked the heavens that they shared similar weaponry using the same caliber of the deka-ton bullets, 9mms for his Glock. Though leaving the two GL ladies to him, their partner awoke to a rude approach to the end of her dejection, she recalled and would bring death on her wake. With killer intent growing inside her, she repeated the words her brother spoke in battle cry to the bear, "What are you waiting for? FIGHT."
She charged and mauled her horns into one, pushing her into a brick wall and allowing her teammate to deal with the second. The GRIMM LABS soldier tried pulling her horns out but was still being jammed deeper as the bear Faunus was being severed thoroughly like some fish cut down from its bones. He did not let her stay on the offensive, capturing her arms and twisting them constantly to prolong her use of lethality. With arms for blades twined, the Blacklight-enhanced fighter kicked him instead. Smacked in the side chins and heel-kicked in the shoulders, his slow movements and endurance would not get him long but he managed a grip on one leg to cripple. He ran to the impact hammer the rhinoceros Faunus left in forgetting vexation and mushed her face down into the ground with its earth-tremor power, "And stay down!"
Unfortunately, the White Fang members collided and dropped beaten from a throw of their own companion. It was still not a fair fight but a stall for the cheetah to finish his enemy first and come back with what's left of the bullets. A truck full of gasoline hauled ass not on the ordinary streets but the cheetah managed to mount it to the top of the small buildings and between the gaps of other taller structures, with black blood and dust from incineration all over him, "Damn, these fuckers can spill."
Diving out of the abandoned vehicle, he fired his last two bullets after missing two of them that were not really successful on the Evolved he killed. With sizes of hand-grenade explosions, he only deduce the two by burnt ashes and dried blood to a single enemy, who was also eradicated by the truck's explosion of gasoline. The three rendezvous around the burning yet, still-healing GL soldier and began competing against her regeneration rate with a beatdown. Stomping, smouldering, cooking, they were turning her into fried skewer. An exhaustingly waste of Lien led to their assurance of living to tell their stories and they all garnered their safety well, "GAARGH!"
Just then, CERBERUS' body was thrown into the flames of the crash with all of his bruises opened to the bone. She tried to save him out of the fire but was intervened by a Whipfist as it was being held back by the cheetah Faunus, who was fast enough to save the slowpokes. APHRODITE walked out of the residue of their battle and let her fingertips seductively slither from her rear, up her waist and boobs to her silky hair, combing it and moaning. She sucked on her fingertips like anyone finishing up a bag of chips and taking a slurp to vacuum out the stains, replacing stains with Faunus blood. Popping her gloss-full lips like a lollipop, she panted softly, the red-tint on her cheeks expressed her eroticism even further, "Oh, what a treat~!"
The three could not save their kindled hero, it was only a matter of time before she could take them into custody for good. The quickest among them helped deflect away the attacks with the whips being restrained by the two's vigour. However, this was a part of the Father's End, the expert in the team to fight off weaker but substantial numbers of enemies, according to her limitless amount of regular tendrils and the four razor-sharp Whipfists. And to the two brawn Faunus, every strike of a Whipfist felt like an Evolved's Devastator, or dubbed 'GL Suicide Bomber Effect'. It was not some battle against three Evolved and a higher evolutionary that seemed not too different, it was a battle against thirty Evolved instead, and they were clearly defeated. Their last efforts were to perpetuate the inevitable, "N-No!"
"Oh ho, yes~!" The second male Arc, the only Faunus in the family, felt dead. Beaten. Worst of all, a liar. An 'all pride, no walk' wuss. A disgrace. The moment he was tied and given BDSM was not pleasing since he lost it at the mere peep of a familiar past, Damien felt that he had already lost and broke his promise. And made one oblivious to his own conscious. Though said that he would not give up Crocea Mors so easily to Jaune without a fight, the secret was him never wanting to give back the weapon at all. His torment through his four years of training was not 'The Lion Feeds On The Deer', no. It was 'The Lion Faces The Lion', Damien had to spar and train with Julius Arc everyday. It was their father who personally turned him into the man he is.
-:-
Four years, two months and three days ago, in the bedroom of brothers, 10:23 PM:
Sharing the room and going up the stairs the latest, Damien drowsily went to bed for taking much more time to finish up his homework, due to staying up last night for 'a few more peeks' into their uncle's lost porn-stash right after they visited him and his family with his own. The sneaky bastard glimpsed into his work room and noticed an improperly closed drawer of his desk, words of 'Playboy', 'XXX' and an image of a woman's red bikini crotch had tempted him on a more revolting route to walk on, which would explain the argument of husband and wife. Burning the candle at both ends, Damien slept throughout the lessons and had more workload to do. He admitted, it was his sin and he had been punished.
Unfortunately, the peace he intended to enjoy only in sleeping without disturbance was disturbed. Jaune, at the age of 13 and five days away from the CRONUS incident, was still heartbroken in the fact that he lost his girlfriend, dumped by someone dear enough to be a best friend. Sydney Caneton, a deer Faunus, once a hero to Jaune, then a close companion, then a lover. THEN, a bitch. He remembered every detail she did to him a month ago, doing the same wickedness as his nemesis; o' fashion wedgie, bitter 'Dumpster Basket Ball', over-doing 'Wasp Rape' but other more foul and filthy, most importantly, cheating. Every inch of his stomach churned at the mere thought of the whore with one antler, which was given more salt to the wound at the sorrow for his new sibling's grief.
The brothers did have good times, playing Crash Bandicoot, watching Ranger Riders, doing dress-ups with their sisters' clothing in mockery of them and themselves, and loosening their teeth to the neighbours' comedic adventures for the 'Possessed' lawnmowers. And why miss out the pain-staking times of helping old lady Sue Faith in retrieving her kittens, that still managed to slip out of the straps and name collars. Shared their backstories, no escape from that but why would he hate a backstory as tragic as Jaune's?
"And it all happened in a week. Heh, damn," The dog chuckled quietly and emotionally. His brain managed to bring back the truthfully told words about Sydney Caneton, making his tone much more aggressive and almost alien. He wanted a clear image of the slut who would tie his brother's heart with strings; a dirty image of her blood carved on the walls with her terrified face. He wanted her FEAR. At that point, his soul howled and his eyes brightened to a neat yellowish orange night-light, a Semblance was born, "DAMN."
A day later, he asked his father for some body-training lessons and one quick spar when he was about to take a break from his inventions. "You know," He said, "To prepare myself early for hunter-ship."
Julius, amazed, gladly complied in a tracksuit outside their front yard. Purely green, no flowers or gardening, so no angry Cornelia to bring the pain. The Atlas scientist got him a training schedule, while delaying , "So, we'll be doing 30 push-ups, a minute of jumping-jacks, 30 sit-ups, 30 one-legged squats for both legs and 5 pull-ups for a few months before we go on to the dragon flag exerc-"
"Aren't you going to test me out first?"
"What again?"
"You should be notifying if I'm up for the case, right? You know, see if I can get back from the previous wielder of the Crocea Mors' strongest punch? Uncle told me about it when we met him."
"B-But, ahah, you're not the one who's to go through with it and you're just 13, not 15. And I wouldn't really recommend it, even if I fail to overcome my own father. In fact, why start now? Getting the ladies, I presumed? Haha! Ha..." He nervously laughed, trying to earn a sense of humour from the boy's voice. Never heard a single snicker, all he got was a unpleasing, embarrassed glance-away, "Um...How do I-.."
"What's gotten into you all of a sudden. First time with you, I keep seeing your eyes drifted to any woman with their cleavage open to the world to see and now, this whole wanting to be a huntsman?"
"*sigh* Dad, I want to be Jaune's reason to never cry over bullying."
"What? What's this about bullying!? I-I thought he had friends! Why would he-"
"I can handle that, dad. I'll be the one taking care of him. He's now my brother..and my responsibility as his 'replacement for Sydney'."
"Sydney?! Oh no..." Julius was starting to have a heart attack; and all those caffeine really did not help. Damien tugged onto his jacket, kneeling like some desperate beggar, "Please. I can do this. I want him to see rivalry and power, I want him to be strong. He isn't but he's trying, starting with not telling you about this...I want him to NEVER be touched by filth like her...So,"
Wiping away the salty sea on his cheeks, he sniffed with open arms, "Bring it."
"Damien...Best not lose this edge or else I'd be disappointed, whilst quiet to your own 'responsibility'," Julius' right fist sucked up its surroundings with a special effect, as though the luminosity of sunlight was being drawn into something brighter. Once charged to a stationary point, he plunged the sucker into his gut, imploding massive amounts of mighty golden-white Aura. It might not be all strong, least it was not all fatal.
-:-
End of flashback, 04:12 PM:
Funny. The Ironic fist of the Conquerer, Julius Arc's Semblance. To bring in such nostalgia and so much anguish, the burning crisp of his skin. The White Fang continued to survive APHRODITE's array of attacks but was losing their grips to strive. One by one, they fell with tire, only the cheetah was remaining. The hot sensation became cold to the thought and he still remembered the hard times.
But it was no longer the case of the man he was. CERBERUS was crawling up and yelling as APHRODITE noticed and stopped in fear. The adrenaline never dropped, all the way to the end. On that day, at that time, he became a beast of lost humanity.
A Semblance was calling.
A completely black demon with an orange eye, canine ears, jagged sharp teeth and an orange mouth rose out of the pit, the right side of its face melted off and diversified with the inner organs, just like how even the lips, gum and eyelids were moulded together with the black entirety. Its scars were exposing a strange source of orange magma energy, especially out of the amputated right hand and feet. It was not in pain, it was the embodiment of pain, in APHRODITE's dreadful eyes.
The cheetah was unaffected by his power, though he found it quite equally terrifying for the normal human body out of the fear illusion. Comparing to the monster, Damien was still on fire, scalding and deforming down into an architecture of the deceased. Parts of white from his jaw was quite visible through the flames. Skin, meat and blood degraded into black crisp. Pure terror emitting out of his left eye, a true lost man gone insane. Her will to fight was over because of fear, "O-Oh no! Oh my gods! S-Stay back! GET AWAY FROM ME!"
It became a matter of survival.
"RRAAAARRH!" The thing leaped at her, slicing away and literally punching down the tendrils with its claw and actual sliced wrist respectively. Pulling up his legs to dodge the two Whipfists, it then ran down the feelers and ducked under the third. As it ghoulishly got closer, the demon slashed into the third Whipfist and crossed it all the way to her, still frightening her to no ends.
'C-Crazy bastard! He's not remotely alive anymore! So how is he doing this without a single cell of a GL specimen?!' Her fourth and final Whipfist opportunely struck him across his left cheek and animal ear. A quick roar and chomp on her shoulders closest to the fourth Whipfist were a clear indication of his quick retaliation and her mistake. He bit it off of her, along with her limb and whip. Her mind was as weak as human, thus feeling pain and fright, screaming her lungs at the black bloodbath she made.
(I'm spinning out of control, out of control...)
CERBERUS turned around and spotted the impact hammer as he slowly walked away from her and towards the group he meant to evacuate. Instinctively and unyieldingly, he affected the cheetah Faunus with his power to inflict fear, showing the demon he unintentionally acknowledged himself as. Crawling backwards without bothering to save the brutes, he curled up behind a pile of rubber, scared stiff. Damien picked it up and with silent, expressionless, sadistic glee, he bashed down her bottom half off with bone-shattering force of both the impact blaster and his strength, including her two bottom Whipfists whilst breaking the weapon apart.
(I'm spinning out of control, out of control! I'm spinning out of control, out of control!)
Strangling her by the throat to shut her up from anymore bellowing, he pushed her down onto the bladed arm of a destroyed Atlesian Knight-130, impaling her to prevent her from crawling ever again. If her heart was still functional, the redhead would be suffocating in a lightning-quick heartbeat rate. Black tears flowed down her eyes, she was in so much agony and so much dismay. She never believed in a god, thinking she already became one. Now, she was begging for one in her need of saving, mustering her last breath, "Gods, *cough* I pled for mercy!"
Arc growled, he twisted her jaw the moment she opened it far too wide for him, shutting her up. God heeded to no false goddess.
(I'M SPINNING OUT OF CONTROL,)
"GRRAAAAAAR!"
(OUT OF CONTROO-OL!)
With only a fling, he removed her ability to speak and did far worse. He slashed her, stabbed her, bashed her and disintegrated her down to mince meat with only his hand and handless arm. His claw was wearing out, his thumb's already got completely chipped but he did not stop. He repeated his steps of outrage forever, obliterating himself as well with more of his nails being taken off. Red blood mixed with black, he had already killed her ten times, even against her healing factor, but it was not enough. Never enough.
He still pierced down on her corpse with his very fingers and still would not stop. Panting to the point of near asthma, his lungs could give in and he would be in for a stroke of a lifetime yet the force of his own attacks were only getting more vicious. Vicious enough, he was breaking his fingers as well yet he started punching anyways till his knuckles not only bled but also fractured down into the same condition as his other arm. 'DIE, DIE, DIE!' was all in his mind, the amputation of his limbs worsened until he lost both arms. He still continued by grinding her flesh with his teeth. With her intestines in his mouth, the helldog howled in victory and bathed in glory with no end to his wrath. He continued to degrade both of them into a black and red, gory mess subconsciously and as ferocious as ever, oblivious to his surroundings. Like the arrival of ZEUS.
Alex muttered after ordering his pick-up team to get the Dust and members back to base, "Jesus, Damien."
-:-
GRIMM LABS Island, 4:28 PM:
Inside a dark room, it was all the accessories of the prototype idealised by Atlas, with the red holographic computer, the red cryo-chambers and the spare bodies of the Father's End. Four rows of multiple Evolved bodies strapped inside the containers, defined for individual associates. HERCULES had three empty and ITUS only lost one Evolved to a warehouse explosion in attempt to pursue a rampaging elephant Faunus criminal, with a bounty of ten billion Lien. HERMES lost only two, one to Alex and another to some punk with a night-vision gas mask and APHRODITE had already taken over her fourth body, she opened her eyes in panic. She broke through the glass and spilling the liquid all over the floor. The drains thankfully empty them down for further re-usage.
Coughing from having a throat twisted in fear, she picked herself up, still shaken in her waterproof underwear. It might still not be terrifying with their whole 'Nine lives' gig, the experience of his prowess would shake even a mentally ill's wits. The sounds of rolling wheels clanking on the drains' bars took her mind off, HERMES and his bucket of chicken cruised on a wheeled chair and spun around, eating his drums, "Mmm, mm, MM! Now this' justsh delicioush. Wants'h shome?"
The black and red haired scuttled to her while on the seat, touching her nose with a drumstick impolitely. She was about to smack it away, her fear 'cleansed' in anger. Though she did not have the role as the speed of the team, he moved the chicken away, scuttled back to the computer and threw it at her, fried batter ruined her smooth red hair, "Ha! What's da matter, the elderly age actually kicked in?! Or is it period week?"
"Quit it!"
"Nah, look at the time. Ah can't touch this, bam dada bum bada-abaaada," HERMES screwed with her emotions more by jumping up onto the chair and danced with exact moves MC Hammer did in his music video, hopping and landing on the arm-rests and head-rest while humming to his song. APHRODITE began swinging at him with regular tentacles, cautiously not breaking the cryogenic chambers and injuring the expensive empty shells of their teammates. The prankster switched his dancing style to hand-stands and splits to avoid her in the rhythm of his beat, "Still can't touch this!"
"OI!" HERCULES broke his record of annoyance with a thunderclap at the entrance and exit of their spawn room, stuttering the ground to put HERMES off his balance, "Woah, shi-argh, ow! Ah, look at what you did, ya big doofus dickhead. My chicken! Hell's your problem!?"
"Your generation makes me sick, all undisciplined and dissing. Tainted and disrespectful." HERCULES, the gentleman he is, picked her to her feet. "Hey, I've shown respect. She'd be crying if I were to give her a piece of me."
"Want to die, boy?"
"EEP!" Fortunately for him, he was saved from a killer knockout punch by ITUS who called his team to fall in, "Kill him later, that body's necessary for the rest of the day's hunt. We're also gonna need to do our patrol routine tomorrow again. So spare the good doctor some slack."
"ITUS, there's someone else we need to put into the blacklist."
"Oh fuck, who's on the White Fang's side as well?"
"Someone I think they call..CERBERUS. Between an A-tier and a B-tier."
"Aw hell, you can't be serious! Jokes comes out of me, not *eyes at her 'old hag' face, chuckling* you," APHRODITE rocketed to HERMES for saying that. She jabbed him down the shoulders with her thumbs and said, "I've never been more 'impressed' by this one. I don't want another humiliating defeat where the tables turn for them. I want ZEUS to lick my toe..like the dog he is. And for a White Fang ally, he will not stop me with something far weaker but more distressing than ZEUS. Dying is nothing to us and pain is the only obstacle. Some God knows how, he's much. MUCH worse..."
-:-
One Day Later, White Fang Main Base, 8:29 PM:
In Damien's point of view, the void was the only thing he could think of when unconscious. When he had nothing to dream about or was in a phase of endless berserk. Even for some, with not much creativity, they do not imagine much, only left in a realm of black. Though boring, it was still peaceful and rejuvenating, letting him re-energise with no image to inspect and truly let him be in bliss from his nonsensical 'Kill, kill, kill' chants. And like anyway to get out of the dream was an interference. Echoes of Alex shooing off birds caught his grasp to awakening and so he rose. When he woke up, something on his face felt gross and sticky on his face. Alex went on with his rambling, "Get the fuck away from him! Little assholes."
"Alex?" Damien then remembered about his arms getting destroyed in his fight, and to his confusion, they were all attached. His gun wounds, the burns, they were all..gone. Arc was still in awe after a revival from demolition, asking his saviour, "How?"
"Ah, you're awake-OH SHHhit, now that's disgusting."
"What?"
"Don't move your mouth! Don't move your mouth. Just slowly and steadily go to the toilet and wash your face with both bleach and soap."
"What's wrong with my face? And yeah! What's on me? It feels strange."
"Eeeeh..birdshit?"
...
"AWWWGH!"
"Damien, take a moment. Don't freak out! AAAnnd you got it on the bed," Alex grunted as Damien screeched, jumping off of the bed and out of the sickbay tent. He dropped the crap on his face onto the sheets of the tent and some manure was about to seep into lips. He locked them tight, praying not to even taste it at all. A glamour on a bucket of water was all he needed, dunking his whole head in it. Scrubbing it all off and getting out of the pail, Arc spat out any ordure that could have went in his mouth.
Many White Fangs had another laugh at the pup, an encore he had presented. But little did they know that individuals on Mercer's pick-up team and the damsels in distress did not find it funny, or anything else after the blood-curdling incident, especially the cheetah White Fang and the rhinoceros White Fang. Soon Damien then proceed to run to the actual bathroom to kill off the germs, while Alex went in to sustain their conversation, "I should've told you about the way I healed you, or only grow you new arms, even when the twenty to fifty Blacklight cells inside of you died by your Aura immunity system."
"Blaarg..Ack. Go on," Alex took out the same syringe of red liquid from his uniform as Beacon's nursery doctor, twirled it with his fingers, "This! Is a whole syrup full of biomass, swirled with antibodies and parasites. Now, the antibodies are to help two Blacklight parasites, which came out through me. These parasites have been given exact, specific and secured instructions. Very exact that they don't just go inside red blood cells and turn your insides into paste, not like they were meant to do. They inject the biomass of the cure, at the molecular level, inside each red blood cell to turn your insides into paste. The biomass is meant to give enough protein, vitamins, calcium and more for your body to repair. I had to change their purposes myself. You're not listening, are you?"
"Pff, pheh! T-Totally am! AAAEEEKKK!" Damien said so as he was being very busy scrapping on his tongue with a sponge.
"As I was saying, I re-purpose them so deep and far that I even changed parts of my atoms instead of giving massive power boosts into just regular healing enzymes. I also cooked up the antibodies myself by absorbing some of the Whitelight from my home world. The antivirus will help to change your cells back to the way it was. In fact, I made sure that the antibodies react to your gene faster and first before the parasites could, understanding its structure and remember to change you back to your same old self after detecting the virus inside the analysed cells. Understand where I'm going?"
Flushing his mouth with water, another question came into mind, "Zchyeah. Grrglerrgle *spit* But, how will the parasites live for that long in those syringes?"
"Well these parasites don't need much memory space and energy to remember how to re-purpose your gene similar to a Healing Factor and just enough to heal you with condensed biomass inside those needles so, they last long enough for..a year? And I'm pretty sure you're gonna need them," Alex handed him three syringes and Damien looked down on it. The casings were entitled with a strap of duct tape and black markings, 'SAL-81', "81 times?"
"You bet. Despite 80 failures, 'Superlative Accelerated Lazarus' are fucking horrendous to produce out of me. This ain't computer machine technology, you know? This is pure usage of the source's ability."
"I think there's a piece of the crap on your hair that I've smudged on."
"I was in the middle of-Oh, you cunt!" ZEUS pushed away CERBERUS, scratching on the scalp of his head with detergent, "Augh! I hate you so much."
"Gee Mercer. I didn't know you'd be so disgusted by bird-shit than human shit. You know, the manure you would eat whenever you take in humans." Damien playfully chuckled at his flawed state. "The blood hides its repulsiveness so, having the slightest stain's still pretty gross, Damien!"
The word 'blood' caught his attention and it was a hellish trip back to memory lane, when CERBERUS remembered about causing much casualties and few and horrid deaths. It questioned him, and he questioned him, "Alex? You can clearly define humanity and Faunus, can't you? How does it go in your book?"
"Yeah, I can define humans and Faunus as four species. Vile humans, 'humans' like Jaune and his loser friends, stupid Faunus, *whisper* let's keep it to ourselves, the White Fang's way too stubborn, *regular volume* and pacifist Faunus, like you and ahem the 'White Fang'. Though it'd be three since the better of humans and Faunus are exactly the same. What's your point?"
"It's just..As I killed some human Atlas troops, I've noticed that there are..some Faunus working with them. But, don't you think I'm..becoming one of them? The White Fang? I'm starting to regret the constant reminders of miss Labyrinth telling me not to join them..."
"Although I hate vile and stupid, Jaune still wants to be that Saviour. Or more so a hero. And I do see not many reasons to let evil die by their own hands or manually kill them after every wrong. In conclusion, there are boundaries we need to put. I've seen good in you. You want absolute balance. And I've seen Adam. He wants more than that. That's why I can differ three-to-four 'species' in Remnant. Grimms aren't included cause they are, you know, 'emotionless'. And we've been slaughtering a chunk of their population while they're just polishing the surface of ours."
"Is that so?"
"It's all about the karma system. Would you do good for a better future, or tear it down like a psychotic maniac? Would you kill who you are as a person for other's humanity and 'Faunus-ity'? Or be soulless and care for your own future? Every work we do, every action we make will never have a perfect score or complete disaster. It depends on how we can afford the consequences and appreciate the reward."
"So simple, but so difficult. God, you make the most unhelpful quotes ever!"
"Yeah, it sounds like a cleaner punch, doesn't it?" Mercer took notice while brushing out his damp brown hair. "Oh yeah, Roman agreed with the deal of getting you 100 m^3 worth of Gravity Dust. And Caesar finished your shitty idea. I mean, you do know that it's still fucking useless once we've dismantled the abundance of the Dust, right?"
"Oh. Right?"
"Right. You don't sound impressed that it took a full day to successfully produce it. What's more, a compressed weight bag that consist of 10 fucking tons? Don't get cocky that you're that strong. Your body degraded down because of your idiocy. You've decayed your Aura because of the burns, over-stress breakdown, your scars, nails, teeth and you should be thankful I regrow you new limbs. Otherwise, you're done with Beacon. You're lucky Aura can have a temporal effect on anyone's biology."
"About that."
"What now?" Damien patted him on the shoulder, Alex was additionally confused. Not to what he was doing but, more on the fact he knew what he was doing, "Can you not be all the more dramatic?"
"I just want to say thank you for it. And I want to go back home to make up with my dad...Aaand I have no way else to show my affection to you, unless you want a hug."
"I'm actually fine with that. I've known you long enough to see you as a man-child to do it." Ignoring the insult, he held nothing back to embrace him once he was done drying his hair. Alex retracted his statement the instant he clutched him and ill-manneredly slapped his face away, "OK, that is a manifestation of regret there! Never mind, don't do that anymore."
"Making you lose your edge?"
"No, you still reek with more shit stains."
"Awgh come on! Now I have to go with Clorox Bleach?"
"I think I got a better idea."
"No. No, stop that! Kyack!" While Mercer sadistically strangled him and threatened to clean his face red with a wax polisher, Adam Taurus looked through the reflections outside the restroom then to his fellow men. Another glance on Damien's reflection and the cheetah's distress got him to action. He approached him, "Rough afternoon yesterday?"
"Y-Yes sir...I was informed you have finished another mission in killing the higher-ups for secretly enslaving Faunus children? Admirable that it was that..easy. No GLs? Just TITANS and AK-130s."
"Not all of them are easy. TITAN's getting a promotion from their bona fide's growth. AK-200's coming out on a deadline. Genuine question. How detailed was CERBERUS' capabilities?"
"D-Don't really want to put in great details. Just relieved to be not its victim...still hard to watch."
"It?" He looked to him, nodding. "It."
"Is that so? Then here comes a new challenger." Adam glared at Damien as he struggled against Mercer, a new rival in potential.
-:-
The following day, on a cliff close to a beach, 6:53 AM:
Alex sat down on a folding chair next to Julius Arc, who was sitting next to a table with a glass and jar of cleansing water. He offered a bottle of beer for a morning shake out of bed instead, "I'm fine. Better not put my liver in anymore extreme conditions."
"Oh yeah, forgot you're not an Evolved," With one sip, Mercer immediately regretted the brand he chose. Looking back, it was actually a mistaken wine bottle and it was confirmed even further by the glass-clear sweetness he tasted in his mouth. He sighed, "You've got to be kidding me, Junior."
He got off of his seat, arm surged into his bone-spilling Muscle Mass with a touch of Ares' Cry. He took a running start and threw it out to the sky as it pierced a hole in the clouds and almost reached to the troposphere. Changing back and taking his seat, John felt a lot more relieved and was very eager to return to Vale and punch a bearded man's head inwards. That time, Julius gave him the entire jar to compensate over the lack of a beverage, "A healing factor can't beat natural refreshments, you know?"
"You're not wrong." With that, he got an entire glass of fresh water as they relaxed in the moment of dawn. The Sun's brightness and enchantment can seduce any vampire's desire for warmth, even if it would kill them. Damien crossed their view, valued the new gimmick he 'invented' which was then crafted by his father, jogging upon the horizon as being weighed down by an immense increase in gravity. The wrist and ankle cuffs with purplish-black LED lightings hooked him with magnitudes of increased gravity that could sink many trained hunters into the beach and drag their movements to a near halt, clearly pointing out Damien's superiority over them.
Throughout intervals during his jog, he often did front-flips and back-flips to practice acrobatics and faster switching of different directions. Running back into the forest, he stopped by to do handstand push-ups and advance on to regular sit-ups but with his arms on his stomach, one-legged squats, jumping jacks, boulder-throwing, dragon flags, leg-pressing between two stone pillars and last but not least, training with his brother's heavier, gravity-heightened Tank Buster.
The machine strapped around it had tubes for the flow of Gravity Dust, buttons and switches for controls. It seemed amateurish in design but highly effective in the motive he inclined. It dramatically immobilised him to a movement of a slugger, slower and harder strikes. But what could you do? He started getting used to the old but influenced sports, "This is gonna take a while..."
"Hope you two make up well. Otherwise, I'm taking another son of yours."
"Oh, come on. You make it sound like I'm a bad father, not letting my daughter go out in a revealing outfit to a friend's party. Even though, that's the most obvious thing any father would do."
"You are, except more serious and less cringe-worthy. You need a reality check that that reality cannot be maintained as it was in the past. The world's changing, and the same for your boys. Your tactics. Yourself. They'll all be different. Generations, am I right?" Julius gurgled down every litre, as much as eating his own words when being lectured by one of the most notorious faces on the planet. "Heh. You sure say the wisest things for a vigilante-turned-villain."
"And as sickening as it sounded, let them pursue what they think is right, Julius. There's no one parallel to you. No one but a possible doppelganger who is as similar as you completely are, probably only missing an index finger. But that difference can still do so much change. And from my whore mother, no one's a parent if they're shit."
"Okay, I get it, voice of reason. I'm wrong. I can't do be a father. I can't..as a father..." Sobbing, something John did not expect from him, Julius was, his hands shaken, the tension finally got to his pride as a man. Fortunately, his will and pride for his sons' maturity, no matter how awful and tainted to the Arc bloodline, stood strong from wailing. "I wish you didn't come. I wish you didn't stop me from killing myself..And I wish you did at the same time. I'm lost in these choices..."
"*sigh* Look, you don't have to go through this without help. We're all fragile, even God. There's no reason to think this through. Damien thought about it better than I did, getting Jaune to continue what you strive that he would be, an Enderman or something. Damien continues on to a goal that might not seem possible yet, here I am with the resources any of them needs," Feeling guilty for trying to right some wrongs that became much worse in his eyes, Alex comforted the poor man of multiple children. "Immortality, years of experience, cancer cancelation, power! Just tell me what you want, I can help!"
"Last time..when my son was in peril was death, you were hesitant to save his soul. His life. A chance to live and that you unwillingly gave it to him..Why now do you want to help so eagerly?" Mercer's eyes strayed away from Julius, he was not ready to speak of the reason, an answer the Arc desperately needed. "Cause I was scum...When your daughters past by me before I infected Jaune, they made me rethink if my methods weren't 'not right enough' to begin with. Maybe I was a mistake, surviving somehow from a line of fire and a tube of experimental intestines..."
"What?"
"It just hits me. I've thought I cleared it all up with a global trip, thinking I'd reshape it with force, domination, fear. I've learnt so much from martial artists and soldiers I've eaten, gotten so much power I may have been cocky before the last bit! But that wasn't it. I could not focus on being serious with my motives on Penn Station and Heller, haha..he sure was determined to tear my spine out," He looked straight at the blonde father, flaring hotter than the Sun they were experiencing. "And out of all of them, I saw a lot of me within Jaune. The gap, the air, what was invisible between me and him. That was a mirror. I saw his scars of shit bullies, I saw tears of misfortune and hate, I saw a face that would be right in front of destiny and that, he would take it like a man. I may try to at least be kinder, more responsible, surely a hella lot more patient. And I thank you dearly..DEARLY. For all of your children to bring back the heartache. And the nostalgia. Blissful nostalgia."
I'm here to help, Julius. This sentence was the final straw that would bring him out of his zipped up mouth.
"...*inhale* I-I just realised, Alex. How did you mistake me for my son? You and I know I'd decline your Evolution and the only want you had infected within this family boundary..is Jaune." Julius was concerned about the well-being of Jaune, half of him believed that after all Alex did to him, there was still the good spirit that lived on in the Arc and the other half would find that impossible. This was John he was asking. But that half predicted right, "That's...I mean, it maybe possible that I was in some form of phase and had been at that way till now."
"It did start once you gave the news about him running off from a field trip. You had a little bit of panic when you first called me, you stopped helping me in my inventions, which I thank you for. You even sang 'Amazing Grace' in your sleep for some reason when you came back to help again after stopping Jaune. That's his favourite."
"Wow, thanks for embarrassing me, creep," Alex kicked him by the ankle. "Ow, Okay okay but, why?"
"I could try to recall every reason. Jaune's brave, yet careless. He's cunning, and dumb. He tries, and fails. Then tries. And fails, in beating me that is. He still has good blood, after all the anguish, the frustration, the temptation to wanna..kill everything and let it flush out of his system. But he still pushed on to be who he is now. Like a regular protagonist of a good-versus-evil anime. And just like him, I can smell the same loser within you. I'm not in favour of this whole morale thing, since we still have human faults that contradicts our beliefs, and it is impressive he hasn't given up by now."
"...W-Whoa, that's deeper than I imagined, especially for you. And thanks!" And Caesar punched back, harder than he did on his shoulder. "Yeah, screw you too. And lookie here, I'm using the same damn phrase 'The apple doesn't fall far from the tree'. Haha. Good luck getting your lazy ass up to fill up your jar."
"I don't mind," Alex looked at his scroll's clock, school was starting two days later. He had better be going to fulfil Ironwood's debt to Ozpin, "Let's end this on a high note, with you remembering this. No one's exactly like you. But he still does look up to you, Julius."
"Yeah. And don't talk to strangers!"
"I hate you," Julius earned an 'up yours' from him as he patted Damien to get back to Beacon as well before sprinting off to Vale. He held onto the empty glass jar, one last tear streamed. In joy, he said, "My son..."
-:-
Beacon Academy, Nurse's Office, 7:29 AM:
The moment he welcomed himself back to the room of the hospitalised, Pyrrha was found, in the earliest of mornings for her daily routine, providing company to the unconscious Jaune. She was still very worried, of how her partner had been tied up in the wicked situations with the virus ZEUS had implanted and the forced faults of his murders. She knew that Jaune's went through much, and he still would not break and lash out as some deviant. Aching to stay redeeming, he could not help but find taunting her to leave better than convincing her to leave, "If it ain't Pyrrha Nikos. This punk's little friend."
"Oh, Doctor Mercer! It's good to see you early," He sat from opposite end of her, glad to find the wounds are healing at a healthy state. "Course I am, he's like my own spawn. I can't leave him crippling in this chamber."
"Does he..Does he go through this a lot? And was it sleepless nights and waking days that had him suffering this much? I mean, of all things," Pyrrha sighed in disappointment and had laser eyes of raw glaring power on him. "You lied to us, ZEUS."
"Tsk, the only way you'd know my truest identity is if Damien managed to fuck that up or the Schnee was legitimately the smartest among you all, even more 'out-of-the-box' open-minded than this dumbass. He always find cutting his back a reason to lose doubt and act on instinct, if I heard him correctly. Arc always surprises me with horrific ideas I wouldn't want to try. I'll take full responsibility and admit that that'd be my fault..Though, it still works out for him."
"Works out? Works out?! Ruby told me about you. She said you abuse his Healing Factor for your own violent satisfactory. You will punch him for minor issues, whilst having some pride within your training with him. What's your problem?"
"I don't find fun in praying on weakness, if I don't get him suck up over such small things and go good-parenting on him, he'll never let go of insults made by scumbag thugs and get all too sensitive. That was just me teaching him weakness is futile and understanding how insufferable morale-breaking really is. And mistakes? They're unforgivable, I myself hate me because of what I've done in the past. And we both would waste so much time if he stays spoiled and not discipline."
"But that's just as bad as isolation, Alex! That's just wrong! This is all wrong! You can't just keep him as though he is a precious diamond which is what a dragon would treasure and keep!" She was raising her voice, and so was Alex. As calm as he was, he did not make it seem "I never said he's something valuable! He himself accepted my words that nothing on this fucking planet is pure, no matter what alteration, no matter what parallel timeline! Anyone is bad and never all-good! No one's a Jesus-like being without anything to be blamed for, hell Jesus had his detests and he's said to be the purest in the Bible."
"That has nothing to do with-!"
"BUT IT'S A REFERENCE WITH NOT MUCH DIFFERENCE. That's why he will be there with me, getting our hands in the dirtiest of dirt! The filthiest of filth! The most mortality of all diseases, and we will make the cancer personally crumble, Pyrrha Nikos! THIS IS WHAT WE, HUMANS, SO CONTRADICTED OURSELVES AS, WE WERE NEVER IN THE RIGHT..."
His wrath earned a few knocks through the balcony, the professors' offices were right upstairs with Port shutting him up. Alex and Pyrrha were never destined to be good companions to each other. He ordered her out of the room when the clock ticked 7:57 AM. "I've said enough yesterday and half an hour ago. You should go. You have nothing for him to get him awake. And nothing that'll change his vision."
"And why so?"
"He chose it for himself."
"Fine, but out of everyone he loves, you can't just let this go on, Doctor Mercer! This can't be everything or enough! But I've said this countless of times, I'll *sob* let fate decide his recovery."
"Wipe those tears, Nikos. You're a huntress! You can't let emotions get the best of you, no matter the fact you're in training! Jaune heeded these words and he seldom falter by minor emotions. He'll be fine. I believe that."
"Please, just..don't leave him like this. Please!" The concern. Her concern. She was a hurricane made of it, never stopping her heart from beating so fast, her blood streaming too quick, her breath, little by little. She could faint from the pressure of losing a loveable dolt. A dying child. A fallen angel. ZEUS sighed, "The girls he's been with, Ruby, Weiss, you. Even more he may have forgotten to talk to me about. He said you're all cute. And out of all of them, he hasn't told me enough about you. Sure, you're his partner, and he's about to be your stalker."
"-!" Her seriousness and depression flushed away by a wave of guilty pleasure and excitement. That was a new way of confession, telling someone about her crush's obsession with her. The thought of Jaune wanting her so much to follow her forever, oblivious of how wrong it is to have a Peeping Tom, brought out much red to her cheeks. Words became blunt and her comeback was no longer pitch proper, stuttering and whimpering in ecstasy. "Y-You're making fun of me!"
"He's not a fan of smell, touch and looks. And somehow, you got him wanting more with that let down hair unlike your ponytail, the accidents of meeting two hands together gave him a systematic malfunction. Last of all, I'll speak in his position, 'Nice bodywash'."
"Th-That's! You-! He's a-! This doesn't change anything!" Her frustrations towards him were completely overshadowed by the glee of being cared more than her rivals by their major reason to love the squirm in embarrassment. She ran off, left more pleased and angry at the same time than morbid. Plan went well, Alex thought. Eyes back to the healing Jaune, he groaned, "I know you want me to be on good terms with your friends. Like I said, they're annoying, except for that Lie guy. Pretty cool, if you ask me for any cheesy thoughts on him. And I'll try to make them not worry about you. So just do this one last thing before I lose my mind. Wake up."
No response. For two weeks and longer.
"Of fucking course. He won't because of this! God..." Mercer looked down, irritated with his broken weapon. Made through divinity. The divine had done this to them. To Jaune. Looking back again, when he was escaping Heller's Devastator, Alex thought it was some sign of God, mercifully giving him a second chance after the wrongs he made just for the thought of human rebirth. But it was just a child with the issues he found haunting him once more. It was a sign, to remember never to let the creator's world of stone-cold nature run amok. And with SIN coming back, it was all the reason to despise 'Kill or Be Killed'.
Tightening the katana's grip, he growled, "Shouldn't have started this war among thieves and royals."
Hours passed with him still hoping for his pupil to revive.
-:-
Jaune's sub-conscious mind:
A dream built up. In it, a ghost town. Not the same as his old hometown but some dead town he could find familiar but in another places. Vale, perhaps? But at a global view, Remnant was like a body, injected with a pathogen. That pathogen was death, destruction and madness. It infested, it bred, it grew, it corrupted, it killed the body. Remnant died, with Jaune coughing on it. But it was no nightmare. A dream. What kind of evil would find this a dream like any other, when dreams are what people would savour? Was this evil even a thing? No. He shivered in loneliness, 'I've been here for days. Weeks, was it? Months?! And this place keeps getting easier..easier to adapt. Why?'
'Beautiful, isn't it Jaune? *chomp* I was hoping you could suffer a bit longer here, alone with me. Guess I could *gulp* KILL you more another time.' SIN spoke, within the mind of what seemed to be his dreamscape from the 'brightness' of the world. He had to wear Jaune's very skin and face, horrified in pale and black, blood-soaked as well. Black blood ran down from mouth to neck and chest and behind SIN was a still-breathing Grimm unicorn, gasping for life, 'You...'
'Why the pissy face, huh? This is all on YOU. I never asked for this! But you fucked it up anyway. You could've been reborn as any other Arc-cunt with another one of the limitless techniques Michael has to offer yet, it was YOU who got the hand. The actual key to finish what was meant to be done by the first Arc. To END IT ALL. And thanks to everything that you are, the villain of this dumb Harem story, I have to be stuck with YOU.'
'Screw you! This is no joke you can just fool around with. You made me this. And I'll make you WORSE!' Jaune rushed at him, or himself, with his Hammerfist and tried to pummel him down idiotically like a brain-dead zombie. The outcome was never a doubt when SIN twisted the tendrils around and stomped him completely flat on the floor. Both hands dusted off into black skeleton hands, the bones coughed dark decomposition, 'I should just remove you right now, who the fuck cares I'd come along or there won't be another fucking chapter! I can make sure that everyone actually do get a good ending and timeline, no matter if God's Creation has been lied about love, compassion and cocksucker knows what! I'd be the hero!..And not at the same time.'
SIN grabbed onto Arc's face, destroying him slowly like rust on iron. Slurping up every inch of satisfaction from tearing him down to a dry corpse. Growls went off like the trumpets from Heaven, the pain was ignorant bliss to the dark one. He even went to stab him through the chest and was about to dye the heart dead. But the Guardian knew what was his fate and never that, thus stopping. Walking away sated, SIN chuckled away the insanity that was giving him a sore headache, nagging for suicide, 'Still, you're needed alive within the 4th-dimensional boundary of seconds. And when that instance of you gaining power, I. WILL. BE. FREE.'
'*cough* I don't understand..Why? Why show me this place? I just know..this is your dream, not my nightmare! And what's with it, this place? It's..familiar.'
'Oho, this deadman's land? Just a spice of what's coming. And why?' The psychological parasite got closer to him again to tap into his armageddon of a brain. Jaune was shown the entire globe losing its green and blue into brown and yellow, white stars shutdown in the empty space, the universe in disaster, Heaven ruined, a crumbling white mansion with gold pillars then, it all went static, unclear with pure white and black. Lastly, Mercer and him, changing from Evolved to demons, demons to devils, but him. He changed into something else, 'An...'
'Yes. This is why. And I will be there as ONE...o̵̹̣̊̓͂͘f̴̩̦̰̀͑̚ ̶̻̺̪̣͛́̂t̸͎̂͂h̶̟̼̦̘̾̈́̀̈ẹ̸͒ ̷̯̗̺̆͝ẗ̵͈̼́ẃ̸̲͙̫o̴̠͙͆͛͜͝.' SIN then pushed him backwards, to give him a timeout from a quick transformation. When he get back up, he was no longer facing a distortion of himself. He saw a slow sloth, a greedy fuck, a hungry glutton, a perverted incubus, an envious despair, an egotistic pile of gore, an absolute madman. Eyes. Eyes everywhere, green, red, purple and yellow pupils of all kinds. Tendrils shining smooth and in heat, teeth starving and placed all over the place, screaming mouths that will roar out all frustrations. B̴̧̦̀͛ļ̶̓́̀o̴̮͖̓ô̴̯̥̖ḋ̸̹͍̻. So much B̸̡̧͎̱̰̪̥̙͚̳̞̈́͑̂̏̒̑͌̈͝ ̵̼͍͔͓͖̲͓̤̗͙̗̻͍̗͓͇̩̪̓̓̉̿̈́͛̃̃̐͂̑̀̃͒̚͝͝ͅL̴̛̛̦̋̊̾̌̐͊̂̐̎̓̇͘͝͝ ̷̨̧̢̝̰̟̳̻̰̟͖̪̭͈̙͇̝̭͎͎͚̻̠̞̱̞̼̈́̉́̈́̆̄͊̅͂͜ͅƠ̸̢̛̘͇͍̗̤̹̲̹͙̭͖̫͙̮͈̼͋̋̊͌͋̋̈́͆́͐̄̓͛͐̉͊͒̒̓͒͐́̾̚̕͝͝͝͝ ̸̢̢̢͚̹̘͎̝̺̲̤̒̓̓̇͛͐̓͐̀̌̋͆̄́̀́͋̚͘͘͝ͅO̸̡̢̢̬͉͙͕̯̼͙̼̻̼̺̲̙̻͕̗̹̥͖̖̦͍͎̘͎̽͑̇͆̅͋̇̓̎̽̐́̊͂̇̈́̓̈́̕̕͘͜ͅ ̵̨̨̢̧͎͙̤̺̺͙͉͈͉̱̯̳̫̣͖͔̜͍̻͓̳̈̓́̐͑̃̽͂̄̈́̂̽͛͌͒̀͊͂̈́͒͊̓͛̀͂̽́̀͘͜͝D̷̡̡̟̹͉͔̹̖̜̣̠̗̖͕̣͕͖͎̪̜̩̗̪̱͊̾̈́ͅͅͅ.
Beacond Academy, Nurse's Office, 5:54 PM:
John finished up what was left of his analysis on a student's fractured limb, saddened that his SAL-81 was strictly prohibited by Headmaster orders. The last note on the injured's time of rest and intensity of physical training was just before the lights in the room dimmed for a moment. Alex felt what happened, a surge of electromagnetic energy, a rise in Aura, and a distortion in space-time. He knew he had to check up on Jaune. His arm glowed out of the fluid, the clock was about to strike 5:55 PM whereas he curled up a smirk, "After so long, heh! You were starting to make me worry sick!"
And so did the clock reach 5:55 PM, only another wave of power blasted off. That time, it went faster than time, it was greater than the empty vacuum, it warped fate at an exact moment of Gospel. A jumpstart on Alex's sudden transformation, blackened to no visual detail but with flaming, reddish orange eyes and the same on Jaune, blinded by his body's glorious light with holy yellow sparks. Alex was sure he saw something purple coming out of him, and green out of himself. The boy jerked around, revived and awakened, no similar to getting a pulse from defibrillators. Eyes wide-open with rest, Aura rejuvenated to work for hours, it was a miracle to Mercer, "You're back!"
"Y-Yeah, I am! I'm finally-uh." Arc wanted to jump off from his cryo-chamber and hug Alex right then and there, predicting to be smack down to the floor for 'trying anything funny'. But he could not. His body would not respond to his command, he also found out he could not move his legs. Though the Hellfire within him was getting less visible out of his scars and his Healing Factor was removing the nail bullets, repairing the bullet hole, closing his arteries and veins and fixing him back to shape slowly, that was all his Evolution could do. And the issue was, the red glow from his very Blacklight viral organs could not emit symptoms of 'Life', unlike most Evolved and Alex's orange emission, "No..Were you trying to move?"
"I did try. And I don't think I can. I can't move my legs, Alex. I..I can't move my legs."
The clock went static, and it was the same for the complete universe's time, with the screen stating 9:98 A/PM.
Oh no, he can't move his legs. Is he going to be okay? What's going to happen to him now that he may have lost his strength? Find out in the next chapter of..of...Yeah, I'm not got with that Dragon Ball Narrator ending crap. Just wait till the next chapter.
