"I don´t understand, why would he do this? And why would Roman of all people support it?" Emerald asked, turning back to Cinder.
"Their plan is to break him, make him their little instrument. Hes attitude does not help." Cinder answered.
"But you agree with keeping us away during this? Leave him all alone?" Emerald said, sounding more confused than anything else.
"If he is alone, his hope leaves faster. His will breaks faster." Cinder turned, tapping absent mindedly on a pad. For the past week Adam had had Alessandro locked in a tiny cell, having him beat by fang members or sometimes himself. He was being starved as well and hurt in many ways. Electrocuted, near drowned and choked, cut up, stabbed, burned. You name it. The idea was to, as Cinder had said earlier, to break him mentally so he would be more obedient, less confident, less like a person and more of a machine. So far he was holding up surprisingly well, he kept talking back to the person who inflicted damage on him, kept yelling, smiling widely and humming tunes of unknown origin. Of course he had bled, yelled and cried, but so far he hadn't given in or given up. Cinder knew he must be breaking mentally, there was no way he couldn't be suffering. But he was much more resistant, or rather, stubborn than anyone had expected. To furthermore his mental damage anyone and everyone nice to him, or that he trusted, was kept far away from him.
"So, when are we moving on to our phase of the plan?" Mercury asked. "We won´t need these fang mutts much longer." He sounded bored, reading a comic book.
"Not much longer, after the tournament we have permission to move on." Cinder replied. "The Mistral council of war wants to hurry up."
"And why are we working with them again?" Emerald ask, to which Cinder glared at her, basically forcing her into silence.
"Wheres Neo? I haven't seen her in quite some time." Cinder said, putting the pad away and turning to Mercury.
"She likes to watch the show, and no one can ever find her so no one can ever stop her." Mercury replied, putting his comic down.
How nice...kinda lame, but a good touch. To bad its on him... Neo thought to herself, watching from the air vent how the fang dealt with the boy. She was laying, stomach down, in the air vents, if Alessandro would look up he´d even see her face.
Poor thing...he can´t take much more. Then again...i said that yesterday. No! Today i´m sure, its obvious, he will give in. She thought to herself as the fang thug stuck his cigar on the boys chest, making a short yell escape from his lips. Normally this kinda thing would get Neo´s heart pumping, she always enjoyed a good show. But this time she just felt...bad? She shook her head lightly.
I´m just being silly. Why would I feel bad over him? I´ve been planning to do worse after he fell for me. She thought, though she felt another spike of guilt hit her heart as the man began drowning Alessandro. He would take him close to drowning, but pull his head out before he could die.
"Now, what are you going to do?" The man asked. He remained silent. "Your never going to fail again, always listen to us and will suffer more if you don´t." He said.
"I...i..." Neo began to pay closer attention, would he really give in? "I´ll kill you first...when I get out...your the first one. Your already dead, believe me buddy, your already dead." He had, at first, tried to keep acting like his normal self. As the torture went on and on he became more cold and angry, more silent and...evil? Yes, Neo liked it quite a lot. The thug punched him once more, than headed out of the room. So what now Ale? Should I go in? Or will you act on your own...? Neo thought. Much to her surprise, almost as if he had heard her, he reacted. He smiled widely, a wild look in his eyes, his wrists glowed with aura and he pulled on the bonds, breaking them without much effort.
Why wait to do this, hmm? Did you just think of this plan now? No...you just haven´t been alone. Now that your finally alone its your chance. Good thinking. Neo thought to herself. He untied his legs and got up, stretching a bit he grabbed a pipe from the wall and pulled, breaking it off. It was rather thin and worked well as a bo staff. He froze, hearing someone approaching. He pressed himself against the wall and waited, the door soon opened and the two fang members rushed in, wondering where he was.
"Hey guys!" He said before swiftly using the pipe to hit each on in the head, making them both fall down unconscious. He dropped the pipe and took one sword from each person.
Better, you have something more to your liking. Now what? Neo smirked, very focused on his every move now. He walked out, looking both ways before proceeding down the hall. Neo used her semblance to follow him, always behind but well hidden. He made his way through the hallways without much resistance, but then he entered the main dust deposit area.
"Hey! Hey the boys out!" Neo heard some heavy voice say, followed by a crash then a groan of the same voice. Neo teleported again, sitting on the girders of the roof and watching from up there. He parried a blow, countering it with a deadly arc. Another thug came up and tried to grab him, he dropped his swords and grabbed the poor guys arm, flipping him over his back and smashing him against the floor. He grabbed the fist of another enemy, spinning to be behind him and then smashing his palm into the mans elbow which bent into the wrong direction and a crack was heard, followed by a yell of pain. Alessandro finished him off by grabbing his throat and throwing him against the wall. But the fang members were to many, the began to charge blindly, jumping on him and trying to hold me down. He let out a blood curdling scream and broke one of the mans neck, then quickly beating the rest back, they stayed back, eying him warily. He had the look Neo loved, the one she wanted to see. The look of an animal, cornered and scared, but now more dangerous than ever. He was breathing hard and he actually seemed to bring fear to the other men. One beat up tortured supposedly weak kid, unarmed, was scaring these men. Ha.
0h wow~ Neo thought with a smile. He actually killed someone, he has come a long way. The other fang members had stopped charging, warily watching but forming a circle around him so he wouldn't escape.
"Told you you´d die first." He smiled at the rest, picking up the two swords. "Now that hes gone, I won´t hold back. Who wants to be the next, to go to hell, eh?" He had picked up Roman and Neo´s tendency to act threatening or confident as well. He didn´t wait for them to answer, throwing one sword right into an enemies skull with such speed no one could stop it, or had even foreseen it. He must really be desperate, or mad, or both.
"Stop!" Uh oh. Adams here. Alessandro turned, his smile fading.
"You´ll pay for that." Adam said, gripping his swords hilt.
"Fuck you Adam..." He said, getting into his fighting stance. Adam charged and it was really no competition. In two minutes Adam had him beaten, cut up and on the ground. But he wasn't done, oh he wasn't nearly done.
"You will obey, understand?" Adam asked. "You will pay for those two!"
"Go to hell." Alessandro groaned. Adam simply raised his boot and brought it down on Alessandro´s right leg, snapping it. He let out a yell of pain which lasted a few minutes and started to get mixed with quite a bit of cussing. Adam then grinned and did the same to his left leg. Alessandro had tears pouring down his face from the pain, yelling like crazy. Neo felt the weird urge to stop Adam, kill him for doing this. She hated seeing Alessandro like this.
Wait, did I just think that? Neo asked herself, momentarily confusing herself. Meanwhile Alessandro still denied to obey and this time Adam brought his foot down on the boys arm, breaking it as well. He grabbed his neck and threw him to a wall. Neo turned as she heard a door, seeing Em and Merc running to Adam and Cinder not far behind, walking though.
Well, time to stop this for good. Adam ran to Alessandro, about to finish him off, but Neo let herself fall and when she landed she deployed her parasol, blocking Adams blow. He frowned, the frown growing into a sneer as Mercury and Emerald went in front of Neo and Ale with weapons ready. Adam jumped backwards as an orange symbol appeared beneath him, erupting into a pillar of fire right after he moved.
"W-what the...?" Ale mumbled before his head slumped, his wounds catching up to him. Neo kneeled next to him, holding his undamaged arm and his waist.
"Take him to the hospital. Make sure he is ok. We will handle this." Cinder said to Neo, turning to Adam. Neo left in a flash of pink, reappearing in a small hospital lobby. The person on duty immediately knew what was going on and in a matter of minutes Alessandro was put on a stretcher and rushed to the Emergency room. Neo watched with a sad face as he left. Broken and bloodied. She felt bad for him, and confused for actually feeling bad. Why was she like this? She huffed and plopped down on a seat. At least now she had time to think.
"Good job Adam." Cinder said. Emerald and Mercury looked at each other confused, then at Cinder. Adam nodded at her, then at the rest of the fang members and they dispersed.
"What just happened here?" Emerald asked.
"Well, now we are sure Alessandro will truly fear the fang, yet by saving him we know he shall be loyal to us. He will now start to be very useful to us." Cinder smiled at the two before turning and leaving, after another moment they followed.
"So it was all a setup?" Mercury asked.
"Of course, Adam wouldn't just do that out of anger. Especially when the boy did such a good job last week. He will be Alessandro´s fear...and we will be his heroes." She smiled again at the two, obviously pleased. Mercury nodded, understanding and Emerald also smiled.
"Does Neo know?" Emerald asked.
"No, not yet. You two go to the hospital, the hospital. Make sure all is good and inform Neo." They nodded and left. Cinder now went to follow Adam, who would be with Roman. It was time to discuss what they would do next. She was very confident that the plan had worked, Alessandro would listen with fear to Adam and trust to herself. Perfect. And Adam didn´t suspect a thing yet.
"Ok guys! Hurry it up! Last time...uh..." Alessandro tried to remember what had happened last time at the docks. A team of hunters had come...he kept finding it harder and harder to remember whatever he knew of the RWBY world from what he had seen on Earth. He remembered RWBY and JNPR, though he had no knowledge of ever meeting them. He had little bits and pieces of other people. Glynda fighting Cinder, Ozpin and Ironwood talking...but it was so fuzzy.
Doesn´t matter. He said to himself. Ever since the torture had finished he had been arguing less and changed drastically. He never smiled, and barely talked. He just did what he was told and trained, occasionally heading to the forest with Neo. He didn't like this but she took him anyway. He had been pretty much the opposite of his old self, which was worrying. Not that he noticed. The other fang members rushed around following orders they already had been told before departing. He just kept and eye on them, ready to fight should someone come. In total there were fifty men and women, not counting himself. They needed to steal what they had failed to last time: Schnee dust company dust containers. He sighed, thinking for a moment of Weiss, of how it would be to meet her. This had been his biggest dream back on Earth, meeting team RWBY if they existed. So it still appeared from time to time in his mind. He frowned as he saw something in the shadows.
"Marco, Lori! Right side, in between the Mistral shipments. Check it out." He said into his earpiece. They looked at each other, then at him and nodded. As he thought, when they went to check he heard a yelp in the radio then there was no answer.
"Ok everyone. We have hunters. Get ready, i´ll draw them out." It had been a two months since his torture session, his abilities had grown considerably in this new way of being. He trained even harder than before. So he walked right up to where the other two had gotten ambushed, not even bothering to take his weapons out. The other forty eight fang members watched for what felt like an eternity before they heard an explosion...from behind them. Before they knew what was going on Velvet and Fox had appeared, using their well known martial arts abilities to beat up the fang. They hadn´t gone far before they met resistance and to be completely honest, the only thing hampering the two was the amount of people. But that changed as Yatsuhashi jumped from the crane above, landing with so much force the ground rumbled and most of the others had fallen down, disoriented the other two had taken the chance to take even more out. There was now very few, but the tables changed. A figure was thrown out of the shadows where Alessandro had gone, everyone froze as they saw it. It was Coco, looking only angry but still. Alessandro walked out, sheathing his swords.
"What are you looking at? We can´t fail! Take them out! But don´t kill them!" He yelled. They smiled at each other and charged four hunters, strength renewed. The ones previously beaten up got up again, engaging the enemy. Alessandro watched their progress, they were doing better now, but still battling a losing fight. He sighed and blasted himself forward, tackling Coco into a more secluded area. She had managed to land on her feet, glaring at the boy with her briefcase in hand.
"Kid, stop this! You can come with us, we can help you." After the first sentence her voice had gone soft, she took her glasses off, her eyes pleading. When he didn´t react she continued. "We know the Fang kidnapped you, we know you´ve suffered. Please Fall, come with us." She could tell he was reacting now, he looked curious and confused, yet fearful.
"Your team misses you." She added. He hardened at this comment, taking off his mask which had been repaired and throwing it to the ground. She felt hopeful now, but it only lasted a second.
"You know nothing...i have no team." He fired a flurry of fire dust bullets at her, she flipped backwards multiple times and as he stopped she let her mini gun come out. He ran to the side, hiding behind one container. She grimaced and switched back to brief case. With a yell the boy fell from atop, blasting himself down with wind dust. She lifted her brief case to block his feet, he pushed himself off and, once he landed, she charged, he raised his own weapons but underestimated Cocos arm strength, her blow sent his swords out of his hands and hit his chin, sending him several feet into the air. He spun mid air and landed on his feet, charging her un armed. He was a flurry of punches and kicks, mainly kicks, but he also under estimated Cocos speed. For such a heavy weapon Coco was surprisingly fast and agile. She blocked or dodged most of his attacks, finally he jumped, spinning in the hair and kicking her right in the face, sending her back several feet. He yelped as someone grabbed him from behind, putting him into a wrestlers hold. He flinched as she tried to counter attack but couldn´t. Fox had one arm around his neck, the other firmly holding Alessandro´s arms against his own body, not letting him move. Before he could try kicking Coco aimed her mini gun at him. He stopped, knowing he couldn´t do much...yet.
"So...you guys took out the rest?" He asked, trying to look back at the other three. Velvet walked in front of Ale, Yatsuhashi staying behind Fox, sword ready.
"Yes, they weren´t much of a challenge." Yatsu answered.
"Well, they are cheap labor. I can take them out myself." He sighed. "Idiots."
"Fall, please, why don´t you come with us?" Velvet asked, taking a step closer. "You would be safe, taught good. See your teammates." At this last remark he began struggling again, glaring at Velvet.
"Will you all shut up. I have no teammates! No friends! No family! No one here knows me or cares for me!" He yelled, his voice echoing in the nights silence. A small part of his mind thought this was a lie. Cinder cares...she cares for me.
"You don´t remember them?" Velvet asked, putting a hand to his cheek. The rest stayed ready but silent, they knew Velvet had the best chance at talking than the rest.
"I can´t remember...what I never had..." He flinched as she caressed his cheek, but stopped struggling. He flinched again when she raised her other hand, only to bring it down on his chest. Natural reactions the body had when its used to abuse. Velvet could tell because she did the same sometimes.
"Your heart is pounding...why are you so afraid? What have they done to you?" She asked, barely a whisper. "Please, tell me. You can trust me...us. Nothing will happen to you." She gave him a smile, her hand still cupping his cheek. It seemed to be working, Coco almost couldn´t believe it.
"I...they..." A tear fell down his face and Coco grimaced. Something was wrong, his seemed sorry, yet decided.
"Velvet move!" Coco yelled, readying her gun. Before Velvet could react Alessandro jumped, using Fox´s tight grip to his advantage both his feet were now glowing in aura, Velvet let out a yelp as she was sent all the way back to Coco, wheezing. He then stood straight and, much to Fox´s surprise, flipped forward, falling on his backside and therefore squishing Fox. He spun, grabbing his swords and lifting them just in time to block Yatsuhashi´s blade. They glared at each other and Yatsu swung again, Ale flipped back then charged, both swords coming down, Yatsu blocked and spun, forcing Ale to back up or get cut, he spun and smashed the ground where the boy had been moments ago.
"Huh?" He said, looking around. He looked up to see the boy falling back down to him, Coco firing at him but to little avail, poor Fox, as he began to stand up the boy landed on him full force, using his wind dust to blast down with even more force. Fox groaned, throwing up as most of the pressure hit his stomach and made his dinner come out. Alessandro turned and raised his arm, blocking a kick from Velvet. But something was different, he began backing up, dodging and blocking but not attacking the faunus. But he had forgotten Yatsu, who grabbed his neck from behind and threw him straight at Coco, who had her briefcase ready. Think of baseball, Coco was the batter and Alessandro the ball. As he neared, disoriented in mid air, she swung to the left, hitting him dead center and smashing him into the container. Leaving a big dent, he cried out in pain and fell to the ground. The other three walked over to Coco, looking down at him. Fox seemed upset, Yatsuhashi as normal as ever. Coco and Velvet looked worried.
"Please, stop fighting and come back with us, to Beacon! We´d love to have you." Velvet crouched and gently stroked his hair and, for some reason, earned a shudder from the boy. Odd. She frowned, an idea coming to her head. She looked at Fox who nodded. He also stepped on the boys side just to keep him on the ground. She scratched his head, behind where a cat faunus would have ears. After a bit hes body relaxed and she heard a purr. Coco and Yatsuhashi looked at each other surprised.
"Wasn´t he human?" Coco muttered. He now seemed to come to his senses, shaking around. Velvet stood up, not knowing what else to do. Plus, what had just happened had left her...perplexed.
"What do we do now? Fox asked, pushing the boy back to the floor.
"Lets take him back to Beacon. Hopefully he´ll be better there." The leader said. But inside his mind something had clicked.
If I fail...they´ll come get me...Adam will come...no no no no no... As they stood him up he tried to run, but Fox grabbed him, holding him easily. But his goal was done, he had managed to slap his own elbow and , unknown to most, a tracker. Neo was nearby and if that sounded she was supposed to get him. He let out a bloodcurdling scream and broke Fox´s hold, stumbling forward. Fear was pushing him beying his limits. Fear of torture. Neo smirked and teleported from her hiding place, in front of CFVY. They paused, weapons ready. He got up, picking up his swords and sheathing them. He grabbed his mask and put it back on.
"Please Fall...don´t." Velvet said, reaching arm out. Neo smiled widely, putting an arm around fall and pulling him a bit close, giving him a pet on the cheek. He sighed but Velvet now seemed confused.
Jealous? Neo´s stare seemed to say. They froze like that until Coco fired at Neo and the two broke like glass.
"Up there!" Fox said, pointing to the crane. The two were there, a bullhead right next to them. Neo took Ale´s hand, waved at the group of four and entered the bullhead, Coco regained her senses a bit late, firing at it as it left and doing almost no damage.
"God dammit!" Coco practically yelled, punching the container. "We were so close. SO CLOSE!" She gave it another punch. The other three said nothing, Fox looked annoyed, still. Yatsuhashi a bit sad and Velvet was tearing up.
"I was so close...i could feel it...he was listening, he was just so scared. I could tell, whatever they did to him. Are doing to him. Its bad." She muttered, Fox patted her shoulder, giving a reassuring nod, and the four began walking back to the main part of the docks. As soon as the police came, took everyone and interviewed them they would head to Beacon and go meet Ozpin and Ironwood. To discuss yet another failure.
I´M BACK!
Things have been a bit hectic for me lately, sorry for not giving a warning. But now i´m back and ready to continue! I may have stopped posting but not writing, I did a ton more for one or two more long chapters!
But, i´m doing to many stories to keep track of, so soon I shall finish the one of Weiss, which is hitting a road block for me, maybe pause B.R.N.N.
But I will start leaving links to some ORIGINAL stories on my wattpad account for you guys, so far I have two stories.
Thanks for the support, I just got on and was like OMG WOW because to me it was so great and made me so happy ;3;
As always, fav, follow and review because YOUR opinion always matters! See you guys on the next one.
