The skyline of Vale was aglow, the brilliant brightness of the open windows bleeding out into the night sky. Power lines hummed, burdened with lightning dust. The vibrant neon of advertisement boards seeped into the city's pallet, accentuated by the holographic traffic lights, signs and signals.
But Jaune leapt between rooftops soaked in the radiance, electric blue sparks dancing at his feet, shining brighter than them all. Standing out was the last thing he needed though.
Not that it mattered anymore.
A fleet of small dust-craft pursued him, pushing the young man forward as he effortlessly avoided another projectile clearly designed to stun him. He was minutely aware of the crew in the largest, no doubt occupied by Torchwick or one of his higher ranking goons. That was the price to pay for 'fucking shit up' as Xavier had so eloquently put it before they'd broken into the organisation's headquarters, subsequently invoking their wrath.
Jaune slowed for a second, pivoting to send an arc of electricity towards one of the craft. The namely ship spun out of control before disappearing below the buildings and into the street. He hoped nobody below was hurt, but that wasn't exactly his number one priority at that given moment.
'Besides it's was 2am or something, who in their right mind is up at this time?' he justified his recklessness to his conscience, shooting down another craft which veered out of control, its control system fried thanks to an EMP the teen had cast a moment earlier.
BOOM!
'SHIT!' Jaune cursed aloud as the fragile warehouse he currently occupied began to collapse thanks to the ship's impact into the framework.
He desperately tried to find a way to avoid falling, surging forwards cloaked in lightning, yet falling short of the nearest ledge. He flashed backwards, hoping to find a power cable to merge into, crying out in frustration at Vale's mainly underground system.
Before he could find another route to escape a netting entangled him before gravity unceremoniously dumped him on the ground in a heap of rope and confusion. Jaune opened his eyes to be greeted the blinding lights of the remaining craft circling him.
Feebly he tried to escape again, charging himself with pure electricity yet watching as his prison didn't melt or disintegrate.
"Yeah, that's the finest rubber in Vytal kid. Surprised? We've had our eyes on you for a while now Arc…caused us a lot of hassle too," a man in a white trench coat leaning on a cane drawled.
"Torchwick," Jaune whispered, frowning.
The criminal reached down to wear a backpack lay a few feet away from Jaune's tangled figure. He smiled upon examining its contents, having achieved his objective.
"Well, nice meeting you kid, but I ave places to be, people to rob…I'm a busy man you know!" Torchwick dismissed him, his slim figure throwing the pack towards a nearby grunt. "Goodnight,"
-THWACK-
And with that Jaune's world faded to a solid blanket of white.
*groan*
"He's awake," a voiced called out.
Jaune opened his eyes only to blink them shut again at the harsh lighting of the room he was in: a white canvas with a mirror clearly designed to keep people from getting out, the room's lack of an obvious hinting at the purpose.
Looking down he noticed that has hands were bound to a chair loosely, Jaune wriggling to a point where he could set himself free.
A panel slid to the left and lights around the door's frame dimmed: a typical SDC concealed vault door he'd found through most of the criminal underworld's hideouts. From behind the door come a women of roughly his age, tall stiletto heels clicking on the hard floor. She wore a fitted crimson dress with golden detail matching her eyes.
"Quick, catch her off guard,"
"I'm sure you're aware why you're here Mr Arc," the brunette began in a silky smooth voice.
"Well, as long as everybody here is as beautiful as you I don't really care," he replied flashing his best roughish smile. He knew it was an awful line, but the fairer sex…yeah, that was still a bit of a mystery to Jaune.
"Uh…" her persona faltered, not really having any idea what to do when it came to a compliment, especially from an attractive member of the male populace, not the crude, generic bunch who made up the crime network.
"Look, while I'd like nothing more than to spend that next ten minutes trying to bring a gorgeous women back to reality, I could really use something to eat," he casually remarked, before watching a tray appear from a wall.
Upon collecting the tray, she made her way to Jaune.
"So, what's your name then?" Jaune asked curiously, as she neared him.
"Cinder, Cinder Fall," she spoke, returning back to the smooth poise she possessed earlier.
"Nice name…you're seriously hand-feeding me..?"
"Protocol," Cinder replied dismissively, leaning forwards to place the sustenance in his mouth, watching the young man begrudgingly chew before swallowing the bland meal.
"Perfect," she remarked before walking towards the door.
And with that Cinder slinked out of the room leaving a disgruntled Jaune Arc tied to a chair, trying to decide the easiest way out of his binds…it didn't take long; he smirked as he flickered out of existence, reappearing a few feet away.
Suddenly the room was alive with a flurry of mechanic whines as the seemingly connected panels slid apart allowing a plethora of objects to emerge; below him was an almost comfortable mattress, raised a few feet above the ground by a basic bed frame. There was a tall wardrobe in the opposite corner with a post-it note stuck to the newly revealed door. His curiosity getting the better of him Jaune stood up and examined it.
'Put these on,' the text read, and Jaune obliged, not overly keen on spending the day in the ruined clothes that made up his current attire. The clothes themselves were simple enough, an armoured white tank-top and a pair of padded jeans and a light strong gauntlet clearly intended to protect his entire right arm.
Next he moved to a single mirror which was no doubt double sided, but Jaune didn't really care, staring into his reflection and ruffling his hair with an electric touch, the static roughly spiking it into the roughish appearance Jaune had recently adapted.
Happy with his appearance the young Arc waited patiently on his bed to be called upon. After all, they wouldn't have dressed him in such a manner if he were to be doing nothing all day, the deduction only reinforced by Cinder's words. As if on cue the doors slid open revealing a dark skinned man with a must most of his body covered in the armour that a become the defining mark of White Fang members. Wherever Jaune was, he knew that he wasn't going to simply be able to walk out.
The man escorted him for what seemed miles, each blank corridor blending into the next, before they arrived at a lift. With a jolt the contraption began to plummet further into the earth, the distasteful music that had become the norm with every elevator ringing in his ears.
At long last they were brought to a halt, the door sliding open to reveal a large expanse of space, padded with thick steel and a metal floor which was no doubt resistant to the highest of pressures. An observation deck was clear to see behind a thick glass wall. Jaune could make out the figure of Cinder, Roman and several other men. Jaune looked closer, trying to identify any of the personnel as high ranking targets but was disappointed. In hindsight Jaune realised the big dogs in crime would never take up permanent residency here, not with Vale's security and strong allegiance with Atlas. No, they'd be holed up on large vehicles in the oceans or in a less secure province where the police forces were too busy with containing the mundane crimes and petty squabbles of the everyday residents, much less deal with an international crime syndicate.
Refocusing on the world around him Jaune noticed a giant blast door open revealing a small squad of medium sized androids, perhaps designed to function as special units in combat circumstances judging by the range of weapons the troops carried. Each was finished with in smooth silver and white almost like a uniform.
The real question was why the criminals were in possession of some of the latest Atlesian attack robots.
"Mr Arc," the speakers boomed. "We are in need of your help…well, not yours specifically, but someone of your skillset is of value to us right now,"
It was the unmistakable drawl of Roman Torchwick.
"Nothing complicated on the surface to begin with, just try and take this bunch of tin-heads out..."
"Wow, that's original," the young man quipped, his voice laced with sarcasm. So he was being used as a testing mechanism for these stupid bots. Fine. He'd give them the test of their 'life'.
The machines quickly whirred into motion, every robotic optic swivelling to meet the teen's sceptical gaze. There was a moment of silence as each machine calculated the best course of action, every variable being replayed thousands of times in the processor.
Jaune didn't wait for them to make first move, flashing forwards in a trail of blue light, before burying an armoured knee into the head of the closest droid, gripping into its shoulders and launching it into the sea of troops with a somersault. Before meeting the punch of a nearby bot that had tried its luck with hand to hand. Jaune twisted sending an electrically charged fist crashing through the bots lower jaw.
The air was thickened with the hail of gunfire, Jaune leaping forwards and disappearing into the circuitry of a nearby robot, which shuddered before surrendering to Jaune's will, the guns on its wrists rotating to leave most of the area's bots dead before they knew what hit them. Jaune temporary host was brought down as the mechanical army recognised the threat and tor it to pieces leaving a metal carcass smoking on the ground.
Mass chaos, confusion and violence ensued: one droid exploded, followed by another, another and another as Jaune jumped between their circuits and overloaded them with his massive pool of aura being released in the form of pure electricity. Despite his abundance of energy, pouring a large amount of energy in something and repeating the process was tiring, Jaune phasing back into existence with an electrical crackle to see that the troop had been decimated, the few remaining retreating back to the safety of the blast doors which closed behind them.
"Smooth kid, really smooth, seriously you might be as good a huntsman as I was. Nearly," an impressed sounding Torchwick commented clapping lightly yet still managing to cast an impression of boredom around the room.
"Really feeling the love Roman. You must have been a great huntsman to get to where you are now," Jaune retorted dryly, rolling his eyes for effect and hearing a silky chuckle come from Cinder, who now stood near Torchwick.
"Woo, two sarcastic teenagers, just what I need…" Roman drawled in displeasure before continuing. "Arc, while we are clearly criminals here, it doesn't mean we expect something for nothing. I know you could have escaped already, I've the 'pleasure' of tailing you over the last year. Yet here you are now out of your own curiosity. Yeah, I know I'm a genius," He didn't wait for a response. "You see, we know that you want to be a hunter, to do your family proud and shit like that: noble shit. So I –we- have an offer: you keep fighting these robots so we can find weaknesses and make them better than stock and we get you into Beacon along with Cinder here,"
Jaune didn't like to admit it, but that sounded like a good deal. He'd been rejected by countless combat schools thanks to his lack of details. An anonymous, recordless yet talented teenager with a history of violent excursions against gangs, mercenaries and the mafia. Just what every respected school wants with all the background checks they have to go through.
Not.
"Done," Jaune responded, realising that the droids would be pretty good training anyway.
"Good," Torchwick replied bringing his arm forwards for Jaune to shake, who did so cautiously, before swivelling on his heels and vanishing, leaving Jaune thinking at a hundred miles per hour as to how he did that.
"Get used to that happening," informed Cinder as she beckoned for Jaune to follow, waiting for him to catch up. "It's nice to finally have some real company,"
They spent the rest of the day roaming the building, taking in the skyline of city from the few windows at the top of the building. The hideout seemed to be located in the expanse of warehouses at the edge of Vale City. Nobody would think to check here. Many gave shelter to the homeless, who were more often than Jaune liked to think, Faunus. He felt a pang of guilt at being so unable to help.
"…Jaune?" Cinder called, noticing the blond's silence. She wasn't about to let the best opportunity she had to actually make a friend around here slip through her fingers by being indifferent and cold. That side of her was reserved for just about everybody who lived in this building. It was easier to get your way when people are afraid of you…and to get them to stop with the so very annoying pickup lines.
"Yeah, sorry, I was just thinking about…uh stuff,"
"Stuff such as..?" the brunette prompted, smirking at the blond's vague description, yet pausing as she saw the expression on his face.
"Stuff like the consequences of things I do. Y'know, there are so many homeless people out here whilst we're living right under their noses with enough food to last a year," he sighed, gesturing to some figures huddling around a campfire in the cold twilight air. Noticing Cinder's gaze fall to them, he continued. "I sent down multiple ships yesterday, all of which crashed in buildings. I'm willing to bet every Lien on me that there were people in there,"
Cinder's eyes widened as Jaune explained, having no idea how to ease the guilt that the teen was trying to get off his chest and distance yet failing miserably to do.
"Jaune, you just brought forwards the inevitable; people don't hire Faunus often, especially if they're homeless. They wouldn't be able to get blankets so they'd freeze to death in winter. Eventually their luck was going to run out and they weren't going to find food and then slowly starve to death," she paused seeing Jaune take all this in, his electric blue eyes shining with the twilight sky. "How would you have rather gone? Slowly and painfully or quickly and not even knowing what hit you..?"
Jaune felt the guilt ebb away as he felt more comfortable, looking out of the window at the beauty of the urban landscape as the lights of the inner city began to flicker on like stars slowly appearing in the velvet of the night.
"Thank you," he murmured softly, touched that somebody he'd only just met actually took the time to comfort him. Not something that he'd had much of while at home.
Cinder on the other hand felt proud of herself for acting out of good and compassion instead of spite and bad. She knew from the sincerity of his voice and the weight of the thank you that she'd earned his respect. And perhaps the smallest of friendships had been kindled to embers. One that would last for eternity.
Since that moment the days and weeks passed; two would meet the top of the building every day after Jaune had wiped the floor with the latest robot. Trust grew between the teens, as each savoured the company free from the worries that plagued the working man. But the stasis they had fallen into had to end at some point. Anything good has to at some time.
The moment had come.
Where the battle for life and death over Grimm returned, yet where dreams could be achieved.
Onwards to Beacon.
Anybody remember me? And no I didn't die.
Anyhow, I'd like your guys opinions on this, I can keep it as a one-shot but I'm planning to develop it a bit more...
OH! And before anybody whines that lightning manipulation was going to be Nora's power I hope it's less obvious kind of like how Yang's semblance produces fire as a by-product rather than allowing her to manipulate it per-se. Then again, RT aren't exactly great at making things subtle *Cough*Penny*Cough*Robot*Cough*.
One last thing BOE is on standby until I get used to writing again, in the meantime I intend to update this.
Cheers!