Chapter 7: Ms. Dutch
"Would you mind telling me why we're spending our Friday afternoon at the stupid docks?" Asked an irritated Yang to know one in particular.
Solaris smiled and patted her on the shoulder.
"Because apparently we don't anything better to do" He half-joked. He didn't have anything better to do. Well, other than be with Yang, but she was here as well.
"Ugh, they smell like fish!" Ruby complained, in between pinched nostrils, making her voice sound unusually high pitched. Solaris smelt it too, the strong smell permeating the air, causing him to tighten his mouth in way of reaction. He grabbed onto the railings and looked down into the water, regarding its pale blue beauty as Yang leant next to him.
"Whatcha thinking about Sol?" She asked, smiling that bright, brilliant smile of hers that Solaris enjoyed so much, while in the background Weiss made some preamble about welcoming people from Vacuo. As long as it's certain people from my past I am fine.
"Nothing, really, just…well…I've never really spent much time around this much water before, aside from the trip from Vacuo to here, of course" He said, prompting Yang to frown, some question building on her lips.
"Can you swim?" She asked suddenly, a half smile on her face.
"Er…swim? No. Not at all. Never learnt that skill" He said, causing Yang to smile wider.
"I'll have to take you to a swimming pool then, Sol. Teach you how to swim. Also, to get you into bathing shorts" She said, only half-jokingly. Solaris sighed internally. Yang could not be deterred once an idea formed in her head. Yet before they could continue their conversation, Ruby interrupted them.
"Woah…" She whispered in hushed tones, gesturing conspiratorially down the street to a Dust store with smashed windows and police tape, complete with actual police, outside. The group gravitated over as many people tend to when they see something big, smashed, and covered in "Do not pass this point" warning tape and signs.
"What happened here?" Ruby asked of the policeman writing on his notepad.
"Robbery. Second Dust store to be hit this week" He replied gruffly before walking off. Odd, thought Solaris, as the policeman muttered something about this place turning into a jungle.
"Ugh, that's terrible" Yang said, looking at the broken windows and ransacked store inside. Solaris grunted in response, narrowing his eyes as he looked for any telltale signs of what could've done this…gun shots, blood stains, even claw marks…anything to give some sort of inkling of what happened.
"They left all the money again!" Complained a second policeman, whilst the first one nodded in agreement about how this didn't make any sense, and theorised who could be behind it, with the White Fang coming to mention.
"Hmph. The White Fang. What an awful bunch of degenerates!" Weiss said, in an (un)usually stuck up manner, which caused Blake to frown sternly at her.
"What's your problem?" She asked her, leading to Weiss saying how she doesn't care for the criminally insane. Solaris, meanwhile, not being up-to-date on current politics, was slightly lost.
"Uh…the White Fang…who are these people?" He asked the no one in particular.
"Their a bunch of misguided Fanuas" Blake said, to which Weiss shook her head in anger.
"Misguided? They want to see humanity wiped off the face of the planet!" She said in indignant rage. Ah.
"Oh, so they are one of those sorts of groups" Solaris said, emphasising the those. Blake seemed displeased with this.
"And what do you mean by that?" She asked, rounding on him. Solaris felt he was missing something important here.
"Ah…I meant that they are the type of group that doesn't really…you know…think things through properly. Fails to see the big picture?" He said unhelpfully. Blake seemed to get angrier, but then Weiss distracted her with yet more statements about the degenerates of the White Fang. They started getting quite heated until Ruby interjected with the statement that it could've been Roman, the person with whom she had fought at another store several months ago. Solaris nodded. It seems that there was some sort of conspiracy here.
"It still doesn't change the facts that the White Fang are a bunch of degenerates. All those Faunas know is to lie, cheat and steal" Weiss declared, to Blake's outrage.
"That's not necessarily true" Yang added, trying to skew the conversation away from a political debate, which Solaris felt that he would have little to say in, when, as if by some cosmic joke, someone shouted "Hey! Stop that Faunas!"
The group charged back to the pier to see a blonde haired monkey Faunas barrelling down the side of the ship, jump over the edge and display numerous advanced acrobatic feats whilst casually exchanging banter with the annoyed crew on the boat and the police beneath him. After flinging a banana at one of the officers, he leapt into the air, ran up the stairs off the pier, and down the road towards the stunned group.
Solaris watched as he passed Blake, and saw the slow wink that he gave her before continuing on as if running from the police was a perfectly normal exercise, as was winking at random pedestrians on the side walk. Solaris watched as he sped off down the street, pursued by the police. He turned back to the others.
"Uh?" He managed, as Weiss shouted "Quick! We have to observe him!"
This prompted most of the group into action, save for Blake, who stood stock still, trying to process what happened, before she recovered and then went after them. Solaris waited for to run past him before he, too started to follow…until he heard the voice in his head.
"…Solaris…turn around, dear…" Came the soft, feminine voice, unlike the hard toned ethereal voice he had heard some months earlier, unlike that of Aaron. He knew who this voice belonged to. The one whom he really did not want to see right now, not today. The one, by some infernal chance, was right behind him. Solaris slowly turned, and looked down the road.
There, walking towards him, was her.
Ms. Dutch.
Her long, vibrant orange hair flowed gracefully from her head, trailing down to her back, her deep green armour half hidden under her orange cloak. She had her jewel placed within the chest plate, its soft green glow giving her what might be considered an angelic visage, matching her mint green eyes. Standing a little over 5 feet, she wasn't exactly winning awards in the height department, so when she finally reached Solaris she stood at least two heads smaller then him.
"Ms. Dutch" He said formally, to which she tilted her head and smiled.
"Mr. Potentia" She replied similarly, a faint smile on her ruby lips.
"Apparently Aaron has something against me calling him Aaron. He prefers Entropy. Hate always liked Hate and Death…well, you and I both know Death better than the other two, but neither of us know his name. So…I imagine this thing about titles was something he put into place after I left…something he could tighten his stranglehold on the group with?" Solaris questioned, as he begun to walk off in the direction of his team, prompting Ms. Dutch to do the same.
"Well, come on, you can't begrudge him that. He was always very particular, but in public I still like to be called Ms. Dutch. Mr. Autumns does not like to go by 'Mr. Autumns' anymore, well, at least not in public. And you?" She asked him, a question Solaris had a very definite answer to.
"I'm not Suffering. Not anymore. I am, and always will be, Solaris" He said to her, which seemed to put her in a downcast mood. She looked down at the ground as they walked together in silence.
"So…you're fine right now?" Solaris said after several minutes of strained silence. Ms. Dutch smiled. "For now? Yes, yes. No need to kill, no need for Ms. Crazy Dutch to take over and do her thing"
Ms. Dutch was, in actual fact, a literal psychopath. Despite being a mere seventeen years old, she was rightly feared by the underworld of sadistic killers, mercenaries, and assassins, all of whom would prefer not to encounter her, no matter what the circumstances were.
"And when was the last time that happened?"
Ms. Dutch slowed, before smiling slightly.
"It was two weeks ago. Some issue in our citadel. Both the perpetrators found that breathing became quite difficult when your jugular is removed with a knife and your throat is filled with blood."
Solaris shuddered to think what else she had done before that.
"You seem…awfully talkative about that stuff, Ms. Dutch. Is it that your losing grip on reality?" Solaris wondered aloud, to which she frowned.
"Losing my grip? Nonsense! I've always been a passive psychopath outside of combat and an active one within! I thought that was my trademark!" She sputtered at him, and Solaris nodded sagely. She was indeed always like this.
"I mean, you usually try to at least blend in with your surroundings. Not mention the bit about being a psychopath aloud, nor the sadistic serial killings you enjoy so much" Ms. Dutch appeared to slow at this thought.
"Well, that is a granted. But, Mr. Potentia, there isn't anyone here who can stop me even if I were to be forced into action, is there?" She toyed. Solaris straightened up.
"I can" He said simply. Causing her to laugh aloud.
"You? When did you beat me?" She said in between gales of laughter and tears. Solaris waited patiently. He watched her until she subsided, and then fixed her with a glare from his blue eyes, her own mint green eyes glaring back.
"I've won 23 times against you in training matches. You've won 17. Those are odds I can be content with. Can you?" Solaris knew that, when it came down to fighting, Ms. Dutch/Agony was a perfectionist. A hardcore, small, deadly perfectionist. Losing to him even once was an outrage. Being reminded of those 23 losses was something she could not abide.
"Watch it there Mr. Potentia" Her voice grew terse and the jewel in her armour radiated a strong, green, light. She stepped closer to him, her hands on her sheathes. "You're not infallible. You or your little girlfriend" She added. Solaris regarded her balefully, and was about to respond when someone came racing around the corner.
"Solaris, there you are! We were wandering where you we-"came the voice of Yang as she barrelled around the corner with Ruby in tow. Yang stopped when she saw Solaris talking to a small, petite girl of their age, with orange hair to rival the length of her blonde mane and mint green eyes the same hue as her lilac.
"Ha. Who's this Solaris?" She said slowly, making sure to use his full name to make sure he understood he was on thin ice here. Solaris looked from Yang to Ms. Dutch, and back again.
"Yang, this is…Ms. Dutch, who happens to be an old…associate of mine. We've met before as kids, and several months ago, after I left the wilds but before I came here. She is…well…she is my cousin. Regrettably." Solaris said, hastily fabricating a complete lie out of thin air. "Ms. Dutch, Yang, who is my team member and, yes, girlfriend."
Understanding dawned in Yang's eyes as she turned to Ms. Dutch, shaking her hand vigorously. Yang smiled brightly as she did so, completely unaware of Ms. Dutch and her…disturbing tendencies. Ms. Dutch, however, was having a jovial time talking to Yang and Ruby.
"So, his cousin, huh?" Yang asked, smiling. "What's your name?" She said.
Ms. Dutch smiled brightly back. "Ashley Dutch, but most people who know me simply call me Ash, and everyone else calls me Ms. Dutch. Solaris here is one of the few people who calls me both." She added.
"So…what are you doing here in Vale?" Yang asked of her, and Solaris looked at her, eyebrow raised, thinking. That is very much what I want to know.
"I'm here for the Vytal festival. Well, specifically the tournament." At mention of the tournament Ruby interjected.
"You're here to fight? What's your weapon? Semblance? Style? Trainer? School? What are your signature moves? What's your team? Who are they? Whataretheirweapons? Whataretheirsemblances?" She launched a barrage of high grade, Ruby classed, question broadside missiles at increasingly high speed at Ms. Dutch, who stood there, turning her head to one side and smirking faintly.
Ms. Dutch shook her head at the assembled group, before looking directly at Solaris.
"Well, he can tell you. I really shouldn't, you know…advantage to the enemy and all that. But…" She stepped closer to Solaris and slipped a note into his hands, looking up at him "I think my good cousin would remember this little joke from our childhood, eh? Maybe you can enlighten one of them to is…significance" She said jokingly, leaving Solaris with the resolute opinion of not introducing anyone to anything Ms. Dutch had thought up, interacted with, mentioned or even looked at.
"Possibly. I think you'd best be on your way, Ms. Dutch. But…before you do, was it you or Aaron who lost a bet?"
Ms. Dutch seemed shaken, just for the slightest of moments, at this remark.
"It was…it was him. But who could you know? How could you possibly know that?"
"The matching capes. Wearing the others colour as a sign of defeat, or a losing gesture, to see your colours in the hands of the winner. Seems like the sadistic thing you'd do. Plus, you always did like the colour orange"
Ms. Dutch regained her composure, and smiled icily.
"Indeed? Well, the others are too blind to see it. I had forgotten you were better. That always freaked me out, that trick of yours" She gave him a mocking half-bow, the same that people see Solaris do before a fight, except this one was with a bigger flourish in the hands and more…feminine. She looked up and winked at Ruby with a smirk before pirouetting on the spot and strutting off down the street. Ruby seemed oblivious to the connotations but Yang sure as hell wasn't.
"Solaris. Did she just…you know…" She leant in and whispered into Solaris ear "Flirt with Ruby?" She finished. Solaris whispered back a hushed "Ayep"
Yang straightened up and looked at the small, lithe figure strutting away, her orange hair blowing in the wind with her similarly coloured cape.
Ruby then said something that may or may not be taken out of context.
"I like her. She seems cool" She whispered as Ms. Dutch vanished around a corner. Solaris felt ice form in his stomach at the prospect of Ruby getting to know Ms. Dutch. He then felt even greater dread when he thought of something much worse…Nora meeting Ms. Dutch.
Yang, however, was not aware of her background and said something that Solaris did not wish her to say.
"Well, perhaps Solaris can arrange you and her meeting sometime, hey?" She said, giving Solaris a wink of her own. Ruby, once again, failed to grasp the social connotation of the wink. She might've asked after it if Blake and Weiss came around the corner, still locked in the same argument they had been for almost an hour.
"Uh…is that still going on?" Solaris asked, and Ruby and Yang nodded despondently. Great. A team dispute. Because these are always beneficial for the team as a whole.
That night, in the RWBYS dorm, the argument still continued, Ruby and Yang still waiting for a lee way into the argument to break it apart, whilst Blake and Weiss were getting more and more political and thus more and more out of Solaris understanding. Or care.
His attention was instead focused on the letter that Ms. Dutch had given him, which read as follows.
We wish to see you returned
I want to think words might sway you
But I know they never will
Autumns may believe what he will
But you won't be talked into this
So let us show you
It will make everything clear
Come to this address, tomorrow
Needless to say, alone.
All in all, Solaris knew it was a trap. The address was for an abandoned warehouse, and he was supposed to go there alone for something that was definitely not going to be a group talk. Yes, indeed. They may as well have said "Oh hey, Solaris, come to this trap here! It will be ever so much fun!"
Yet Solaris knew he had to go. He wanted to know, damn it, he wanted to know what they were so fanatically devout about all of a sudden that they needed him back now. He knew of members of the order that had gone on solitary missions for years, decades even, yet after a few months they come rushing after him. Granted, he did desert them without any real explanation, but that, too, was not unheard of for their group. It had also happened before. But it was not like they changed anything. So why did they want him specifically back? All they had to do was wait for him to die naturally so they could retrieve his silver jewel, the only thing that really mattered to them. Unless…unless they couldn't wait.
Solaris was pulled from his thoughts abruptly as he heard Weiss petulantly shout "I'm a victim!".
Sighing, he climbed out of his hammock and shouted at them both.
"QUIET! THIS DOES US NO GOOD! ARGUING NEVER DOES A TEAM GOOD. ALL IT SERVES IS TO DESTROY AND UNDO ALL THE GOOD WORK OF TEAM BONDING! WOULD YOU HAVE THAT? WOULD YOU!" He roared in anger, his patience for such antics broken, pointing to both Blake and Weiss in turn. They seemed stunned, but Weiss recovered faster, and shot back a statement on how the White Fang had hunted her family for years, leading to her harsh upbringing and violent outburst. Solaris was about to focus on her for not seeing the bigger issue when Blake suddenly blurted out "Well maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!"
Silence.
Fucking shitballs on a stick, Solaris thought. She was a Faunas of the White Fang. Shit Mc. Nuggets.
Silence still filled the air as these thoughts raced through Solaris mind, and everyone else's (Although probably far cleaner and less inclined to breaking the fourth wall with references)
Blake suddenly ran from the room and out into the hallway, gone before anyone could stop or pursue her. Ruby was about to go after her when Yang put her hand on her shoulder to stop her. Solaris sighed. Something had once again gone wrong with a group of people he was with. The story of his life.
"Sorry, Weiss" He apologised, and she nodded wordlessly. Solaris went back to his hammock and pulled a book from his shelf, and opened to the first page. No sense in following her. She would come back. Hopefully. If not, it wouldn't be the first person he had seen leave his life. And it probably won't be his last.
A/N: Just so you know, Ms. Dutch/Agony is about the same, or similar, height to Nora, and is in no way at all some weird fusion of her and Neo.
Also, remember to review if you liked a particular aspect. Aside from Solaris and the four Villains, his relationship with Yang, and the ultimate outcome of the story, I would be willing to write in some background things, like maybe some gaming sessions with the team, more JNPR, maybe they watch Dust and Fire together (Without Ruby, for reasons of age and uh…sexual content), or maybe some people want some background White Rose. If any of these things sound good, please say so, and I shall try to put them in.