Benitotite, hidden in the shadow of her lineage
Though the school year was only a few weeks away, many of Beacon's students - both newly accepted and returning – weren't getting ready for school. Instead, the city of Vale was abuzz with excitement and anticipation for the most gossiped-about new DJ and student; Brandeis Morgan, only daughter of the Founding Family, the Morgan's. Word spread quickly about this young woman; her talent for both music and magic, combining the two to create a new never-before-seen way to fight. But that was what the Morgan's did; create new, more powerful ways to use Dust while the Arcs created new ways to fight.
The bulletin boards the young woman passed were practically plastered with the same glowing black and blue flyer; 8 PM, downtown Vale, upper Industrial District. Bring plenty of water and dress casually - weapons not preferred. Passerby's could not see her face, hidden as it was by a black, non-descript hoodie which covering her thick black hair and mocha-colored skin. With the addition of dark gray baggy pants and black flat-heeled boots – with little, azure blue hexagonal designs running along the cuff of her boots and on the backs of her smooth black fingerless gloves – no one would have guess this young woman was whom the flyers were posted by, whom everyone talked about, whom everyone either disdained because of her lineage or praised her for it. But not tonight. Tonight was all about her and the music.
Students gossiped, chatted and milled around outside of a repurposed warehouse in the Industrial District, just as planned. The Founder protégée looked quickly at her headset, making sure she wasn't late to her own party. 7: 55 PM. She nodded to herself, satisfied that she was not late and was actually just in time. The workers that had been here 2 hours earlier were just about finished setting up and a couple of them waved to her as she entered.
"Miss Morgan, we got the stage set up for you like you asked."one of the males said, keeping his hat pulled low over his eyes. Brandeis looked up, brushing her hair out of her face, as she offered a cocky smile in return, the small, bright white brow piercings sharply noticeable against her tan skin.
"I got the rest from here. If ya wanna get into the party, ain't nothin' stoppin' ya." A lazy, laidback drawl emanating from her voice. No one was quite sure if it came from the influence of some kind of illegal substance on her or simply how she spoke.
"Yeah, but… we're not students,"the other worker, a female with the same strange habit of covering her eyes, admitted. In response, the 17 year old shrugged.
"Still ain't mean I'ma stop ya. Enjoy yourselves. Have a drink at Junior's, I 'unno. Just gonna need ya after the party's over of course."
"Yes, ma'am!" the two workers said in unison before turning back to the van parked out back that was marked clearly with "Morgan Mechanics." Brandeis couldn't help but chuckle darkly - if anything, brand recognition was helpful, she supposed. She did a quick double-check of everything before glancing at her headset again and saw she only had 15 seconds left.
It's showtime.
The doors of the warehouse were thrown open and everyone rushed in, screaming and yelling in excitement and pent-up energy, ready to celebrate the end of the summer at the hottest party of the year and measure up the heir of the Morgan's all at once. A young woman with a very full bust and perfectly thick and wild blond hair quickly found Brandeis, much to her joy, and quickly entrapped her in a tight and powerful hug.
"Brand!"Yang nearly squealed, picking her up and twirling the slightly smaller of the two around for a second before putting her down again. "Unexpected, huh?"Yan Xiao Long was a constant partier at Bandeis's DJ gigs and her recently become friends with her.
"Well not entirely,"the ravenette confessed, brushing the hair out of her face to tap at her headset. "Social networking's a hell of a thing, and you've always been one to stick to it."
"What can I say, I'm a social butterfly,"Yang responded with a grin, batting her eyelashes in a pseudo-flirtatious manner before she grew more serious. "So far most every student here's followed the rules, but you know the ones who stick with their weapons for whatever reasons. " She shrugged. Brandeis nodded, taking off her hoodie and putting it down next to her case, revealing a white and black wrap-around sleeveless top with various azure blue hexagonal designs along the back and shoulders. Yang left, allowing the premiering DJ to set up and start.
Okay, breathe, focus. You've got your set list, 808's working fine, are the speakers up… c'mon, connect… okay there. 808's connected, max battery charge. Dust? She stopped. Brandeis wondered why she was considering Dust right now, there weren't any enemies anywhere but decided to shake it off. FOCUS. With one final exhale, she turned on the turntable-like device in the case, shivering in happiness a little bit as it thrummed to life under her fingertips. The holographic computer in it winked to life, reading off all the technical information as all green and nominal. With another hum, it started floating in the air, right at the perfect height for her fingertips to scratch or play. With a simple command, it floated out onto the floor by itself, starting to play the first song on the set list for tonight over the speaker system. She could hear the crowd going wild at the first riff.
I live for the night, I live for the lights
I live for the high till I'm freefallin'
She strode out to the stage in the middle of the warehouse, on the same level as the rest of the students on the dance floor.
The party was going absolutely perfect in Brandeis's eyes; everyone was jumping, screaming and she was losing her nervousness. But just as the new beat dropped, her ears had picked up upon shots that were being fired outside of the makeshift club; shotgun shells. The sound of gunfire at a party where weapons were not supposed to be in attendance caused the unarmed students to panic. A few of the older students ran out of the front door to join in on the fight. The door opened revealing that the one fighting was Yang. As Brandeis watched in panic, unsure of what to do, her thoughts were cut as she felt two pairs of eyes staring at her from behind. Without even turning around, she saw the other students starting to give her a wide berth. Turning around revealed the two workers who had helped her set up earlier.
"And somehow I'm not surprised,"she bluffed, her voice still amplified via the speaker system. "Ya couldn't have tried a little harder? Maybe given more of a challenge?"
"We took you up on your offer," the female retorted, holding what seemed to be a sword larger than her. "We enjoyed ourselves, and now we're back to finish the job."
"You've got to be kidding me right now," Brandeis responded, her voice on edge and sounding like it would become a laugh of ease at any moment. "Who the hell sends two lackeys to try to break up a party like this? A debut party? For a fucking student? Seriously?"
"Not just any student," the male, holding a mace, sneered. "Daddy's little girl over here needs to come home. Her … family, misses her." Brandeis stopped dead in her tracks, a wash of cold shock and then hot humiliation drenching her in succession.
"We're stalling, let's just fuckin' get her," the female ordered, starting to rush at Brandeis with a warlike scream. However, the young raven-haired girl was faster, leaping backwards towards the crowd, grabbing onto the top of the floating turntable device and hitting a slide. The turntables split off and immediately fastened themselves to the metal holsters on her hips, and the main power source flew to rest on her back as well. The platters on the turntables popped off smoothly of the turntable decks, floating to her hands and widening into chakram-like rings, with a straight handle and two buttons.
During the whole process the music didn't stop, not even after the chakrams made contact with the broadsword of the unknown assailant, easily absorbing the hit.
"I don't think you're gonna get away with tryin' to get me. Just sayin'," Brandeis' tone mocked the female. "This is gonna be over quickly." With a cry, the male entered the fray, and within seconds, the dance of blades and cudgels began. Brandeis effortlessly flowed through blocks and strikes, dancing and even seeming to have a sense of easy glee - the same kind a natural athlete would when performing in his favorite sport. It took little to no effort, it seemed, on Brandeis' part, even though the battle seemed to be at a constant stalemate overall.
The flurry of action slowed down to the three parties bouncing away from each other - the two unknown attackers clearly winded with the swinging of their clunky weapons, untrained and most likely equipped with whatever their employer had lying around. As the fight continued, the makeshift club started flooding with full-grown adults in smartly-fitted suits, black and charcoal gray, with red ties, red sunglasses, and black derby hats, all of them armed with red-painted melee weapons. The students at this point had fled, afraid and not wanting to be involved in the fight. Only Yang still stood, quickly moving to her favorite DJ and friend's side. As the suited men surrounded them, Brandeis felt Yang's back press against her own.
"Bastards. I barely got to dance!" the golden-haired beauty complained bitterly as she re-filled her gauntlets with a new set of shots.
"Let's see how good they are at dancing." Brandeis replied, smirking as she poised, ready to fight. The circle parted to allow the leader of the attackers in; a man in a white shirt and black vest, carrying a large metal rocket-launcher like weapon, the same red tie as the thugs behind him wore around his neck. Brandeis knew immediately who it was from the rumors on the street.
Junior.
"Good playing. Good location too. It's a shame I'll have to take it from you." Junior said, smirking a bit as he spoke. Brandeis glared at him, her blue eyes skewering him with hate.
"Over my dead body. I bought this fair and square." was the biting reply. Junior laughed.
"Even YOU aren't good enough to win this fight. Back down and save your pretty little face from being permanently mangled." As he said this, the circle seemed to tighten, the members poised to attack as one. Crap, he's right. Yang's good and I'm good, but we're not THIS good. For a moment, Brandeis considered giving up and leaving. But then she felt her blood boil at the thought.
"NO! FUCK that! I bought this with MY money that I earned on MY own. Go find another hideout old man!" Brandeis yelled in fury. Yang snickered behind her at the "old man" jab. Lame as it was, it seemed to work. In a flash Junior came down hard on the Morgan successor and she earned a solid bash to the head which was mitigated only by instinctual blocking.
"Get the blond and throw her out. I'll discipline this one personally." Junior practically growled the last word. Brandeis tried to get up but was dizzy from the force of the blow; she hadn't expected him to be that strong. As she reached over towards her weapon, 808 Crescendo, Junior stepped firmly on her hand, making the mocha girl yelp in pain. "You may be a Morgan but you're weak." The bat slammed hard into Brandeis's stomach, causing her to curl up in pain, almost throwing up. "Daddy's little girl needs to learn what the REAL world is like." Junior reached down and grabbed her hair, pulling her face forcibly up so that their eyes met. "In the REAL world, your name means nothing. Only power and money means something. You've got none of both." The music kept playing in the speakers despite the owner not able to access her instrument.
Junior let go of Brandeis's hair and hit her with the bat again, this time with enough force to make her skid a few feet on the concrete floor. Brandeis gasped for breath, sick and dizzy from the mix of harsh blows and pounding beat. I'm not losing.. not losing… She took a painful, full breath, before getting up and sprinting towards her weapon. She was able to grab onto it just as Junior switched from bat to bazooka and fired at the raven-haired girl. Brandeis barely had enough time to cast a shield of sound to soften the blow before she was catapulted out of her own hard-earned club into the street. Yang quickly caught her, softening the landing.
"And don't come back!" the male worker who had helped Brandeis set us yelled before the doors closed.
"Are you all right?" Yang asked, looking pretty beat up herself. Brandeis gritted her teeth.
"No. No I'm NOT." Brandeis looked at the warehouse that she'd thought would finally be her safe haven. You say I'm weak? FINE then. I'll get strong and then kick your sorry ass out of MY club. "My dream's not finished just yet."