AN: Here's the next chapter! It'll feel a little odd at first because I'm introducing a brand new character through the first half, who happens to be a huge favorite of mine now. I hope you guys like this character as much as I do. Read on!
*When the Lioness wasn't getting her body sold to the highest bidder, she was reading in her hotel room. She had the book Violet's Garden open to the last two pages before going back to start at the beginning. She liked to know the ending in order to know what kind of story she was getting into.
She was on the next-to-last sentence of the book when there was a soft knock on her door. The Lioness shut her eyes and sighed.
"It's unlocked," she called out. The door opened to reveal her only friend Auburn, a Faunus with a panther's ears. He wore round glasses and carried a nervous smile and a long dress with him
"I picked this out for you myself and your boss approved it," he announced.
"Stop it Auburn, your smile is going to make my heart stop," the Lioness remarked, shutting her book after reading the last sentence. Auburn carefully laid the dress out on her bed.
"You're meeting with a potential client in fifteen minutes and you're spread out reading again," Auburn commented.
"You should know me by now Auburn, I don't give people my best."
Auburn snorted and shook his head. "Just get dressed."
The Lioness looked down at the dress and the evening gloves with it and shot them a dirty look, which she was able to do in a unique way because of her resemblance of a lion. Her lion's nose twitched in revulsion. She hated wearing dresses.
Her real name had been buried in the back of her mind where she couldn't reach. Her nickname 'the Lioness' had actually been given to her by a past client of whose foot she crushed with one of her high-heels. If someone was treating her beyond what she signed up for, the Lioness would crush his foot. The nickname stuck and that was the name she signed on any agreement papers. The last six bosses she had never got to know her real name. Even Auburn didn't know it. Most bosses she had referred to her as 'animal' or 'mutt' anyway, including her official owner Collus Torchwick, who got her through a trade with the Schnee Dust company. With all the trouble she caused, she wondered why Collus didn't send her back, but Roman said it was because when Collus made a trade, a deal was a deal. He didn't want his reputation hurt.
It was hard to be a Faunus. Especially a seventeen-year old female Faunus.
One of her former clients got the Lioness pregnant, and she never got to see her baby daughter beyond the day she was born. She tried desperately to find things to be grateful for or thankful about. The hotels she got to stay at were nice. Though he wasn't really a friend per se, Theodora had Roman Torchwick's private number, which he graciously gave her in case she needed something and his father refused to provide it. And though he annoyed her, Auburn was a good friend. He genuinely cared about her and never once tried pushing her into any kind of relationship she wouldn't want with him. She enjoyed giving him a hard time, but it wasn't because she disliked him. She felt it was one of the key elements to stay human. Only thing is, she's not human, so when others talk about the qualities that make people 'human', how is it for Faunus?
Shaking herself out of her thoughts, she reached down to pick up the dress. It was a purple one-piece sheath dress. Though she hated wearing dresses, she loved how she was always required to wear a sleeveless one. She loved the freedom her arms had if she needed to slap somebody.
"Turn around," the Lioness said to Auburn. Auburn rolled his eyes but he relented and turned around so that his back was facing her.
"Have you been paying attention to the news at all? Vale was hit hard by Faunus terrorists. I'd like to know what pushed those Faunus to do that," Auburn said.
"Don't talk, I'm trying to concentrate," the Lioness shot. In truth, she just didn't want to talk about the Faunus terrorists. They had declared themselves as a 'new' White Fang. But the Lioness knew what the real White Fang was. She paused for a second to reach behind her and feel the spot on her upper back that bore the tattoo of the White Fang's emblem, which was the head of a wolf dog in a blue circle. She wasn't part of the White Fang, but she got the tattoo so that perhaps one day she could join them and the tattoo would be a symbol of her loyalty to them.
She finished changing and ran her hands down the front of her dress to smooth it out while wearing the purple evening gloves that came with the dress.
"Alright, it's safe to look," she said. Auburn turned around and his eyes widened and his panther ears perked up.
"I know this won't make a difference in how you feel, but I think you look exquisite in that dress," he complimented.
"You're right, it doesn't make a difference," the Lioness said with her hands on her hips.
"Don't forget your high-heels," Auburn commented.
"Ah, my favorite part of dress-up." She wasn't joking about that.
The Lioness slipped her feet into her high-heels and took a few practice steps. She hated wearing high-heels, but she loved what she can do to people's feet with them.
"Let's get this over with," she remarked.
"That's the spirit," Auburn said.
The Lioness and Auburn went down to the first floor and entered the restaurant and cantina connected to the hotel where they would find the Lioness's next potential client. The place was dim, and the lights were a pure white that would slowly transition to a crimson red and then back to white.
What was it with Vale and its obsession with the same colors?
The Lioness always had Auburn scan the place for the would-be client. The Lioness liked to get as few looks at her client as possible.
"Got him," Auburn finally said. The Lioness looked in the direction Auburn was pointing and spotted her client. She groaned when she got a good look at his appearance. He was a young but rich-looking man wearing a white dress shirt with a black vest over the top, a red tie, and black dress pants. He had long hair that was neatly combed. Impatient gray eyes blinked as the man glanced at his watch.
Fancy. Way too fancy.
The Lioness apparently was making too many disgusted sounds, because Auburn shot her a warning glance.
"Please do me a favor and don't stomp on this one's foot. Collus would not be pleased," he said. The Lioness didn't answer. She touched a passing waitress to stop her.
"Can you bring me a glass of champagne, the strongest kind you have?" she asked. The waitress eyed her in confusion.
"You look underaged," she said.
"I work for Collus, I should have my rights," she hissed. The waitress fidgeted and nodded.
"Of course, I'll bring our finest," she promised and hurried off before the Lioness could do anything else. The Lioness then took a deep breath and walked over to the client's table.
"Hi, I'm the Lioness," she said reaching her hand out. The man glanced up and took her hand to shake it.
"Hei Xiong, it is a pleasure to meet you," he said.
"Not likewise," the Lioness muttered.
"What?"
"Nothing. Let's get on to business," the Lioness said, sitting down across from him. She stole a glance at Auburn, who was shaking his head in his hands. He must've heard her comment. Go figure, he had four ears. She felt around a little bit and couldn't help but allow a small grin to slip when she was able to feel the tips of Hei's feet. Just in case. Her stiletto heels were sharp enough to pierce through Hei's shoes.
"I don't like long meetings, so we should keep this brief," she remarked. Hei's eyes brightened.
"Ah, I like that. Straight to the point," he said. "I think you'll find my own place to be fairly comfortable. You'll be expected to follow any of my orders or my father's, and anything we don't tell you to do directly will be written down on a list first thing every morning."
"So the position is 'maid' then," the Lioness said.
"That's right."
"And what about a room? Is there an empty room for me?" The Lioness asked.
"You won't need that."
"Why not?"
"I am graciously allowing you to be in my room," Hei explained with a mischievous grin. Everything came to a dead standstill and the two of them didn't say a word for several seconds. The Lioness positioned her feet underneath the table.
"That wasn't at all in the agreement I was given about you," she pointed out.
"Exceptions can be made. The way I see it, once you sign the papers, you're my property," Hei replied.
"Your drink, ma'm," the waitress said. The Lioness reached up and took her glass without looking at the waitress.
"I only do what the contract states," the Lioness said. A lion-like growl began to rise up through her throat.
"That's not how it works young lady. I can have a chat with your boss and make revisions. You have no say in the matter," Hei insisted.
That did it.
The Lioness stomped her stiletto heels onto Hei's feet. Hei let loose a painful cry that drew everyone else's attention around them. The Lioness kept her feet on his own and took a long sip from her glass. She could already feel the alcohol surging through her system.
"You humans are all the same. Greedy, lustful, and selfish," she said. Hei yelped as the Lioness's feet bit further through.
"It was the humans that whisked me away from my parents while we were living on the street. Your kind took from them the very last thing they had that they held dear. It was the humans that got me pregnant and then took my daughter away from me," the Lioness claimed.
"Listen you furball, I'm going to call your boss and you'll be sorry for this," Hei groaned. The Lioness laughed, making Hei shiver, which she loved to see.
"Collus knows that I'm dangerous. That's one of the reasons why he's desperate to sell me to someone who will keep me, but guess what?" The Lioness leaned forward, putting even more force through Hei's feet.
"No one can tame me," she hissed.
"Over here!" A voice yelled. The Lioness turned to see several men filing into the restaurant holding long scarlet swords. They each wore black suits with matching hats and boots, with red ties and sunglasses.
"Do something!" Hei yelled. The Lioness grinned and lifted her feet up from Hei, who released a relieved groan.
One of the men came at the Lioness with his scarlet sword. The Lioness tipped her chair back with the rim of her champagne glass in her mouth as she drank the last drops. Immediately after landing, she leaped up onto her feet and threw her empty glass. The glass flew into the man's face and shattered, tossing him to the floor in a crumpled heap. Another henchman lashed out at the Lioness swinging his red sword at the Lioness's midsection. She grabbed her fallen chair and raised it up so that the blade cut through two of the legs. The legs fell to the floor and the Lioness swung the chair at the henchman, throwing him into a booth against the wall.
"What am I paying you for?" Hei shouted.
"You don't pay us at all sir," one of the henchmen pointed out. But the rest of the henchmen each took turns trying to take down the Lioness, who was ready for all of them. She snatched up the two chair legs and struck the next incoming man in the chest and tripped him by swinging one of them across his legs. Delivering a final kick to knock him out cold, the Lioness continued on to the next henchman and delivered a swing that smashed his glasses. She finished him off with an elbow to the side of the head.
There were two more henchmen left. One of them held an automatic rifle and when he saw that the Lioness was coming for him, he pulled the trigger. Dozens of bullets lit up the room more and the Lioness could hear tables crumbling and silverware flying as the bullets found random places behind her. She leaped up onto one of the tables that was in her way, then leaped again with the chair legs in her hands raised to strike.
One bullet found her upper thigh.
The Lioness cried out and a fire erupted inside her leg when her feet landed on the ground. She stumbled forward trying to keep herself up but she failed and fell on her face, still clutching the chair legs.
"Finally. I'm going to need more men," the Lioness heard Hei say.
Where's Auburn?
The Lioness felt rough hands grab her legs to start dragging her away. Pain like being licked by flames coursed through her wounded leg. She could feel the blood sticking her skin to the floor.
This can't be happening.
What about my daughter? She has to see me someday. She has to…
A cry of pain that didn't come from her burst above her and she heard a body hit the floor. There were several gunshots, another cry of pain, and the sound of another body falling over. She heard someone smash a window.
When she uncovered her eyes and looked up, she saw Auburn standing in the middle of the mess. He had a weak, pained smile.
"Hei got away," he said. He attempted to get to the Lioness, but his footing betrayed him and he fell forward onto his hands and knees.
"Auburn, what's wrong?" The Lioness asked. Then she saw the string of blood coming from her friend's chest.
"No. No no no," she said. She pushed herself to crawl over to him as he finished his fall onto his back. She looked down at the bloodstain on Auburn's shirt that was growing bigger.
"Don't do this to me. You're all I have," the Lioness pleaded. It was true. Auburn was all she had for as long as she could remember.
"You're so stupid Lioness," Auburn remarked, but his eyes said he was just giving her a hard time. How dare he? At this moment when his life was draining away!
"Oh yeah? Well, you're even stupider, and I already thought you were pretty stupid," the Lioness replied between tears.
"I know. I am pretty stupid. Go. Get that wound healed and find your daughter," Auburn said. He opened his mouth as if to say something else, but all the color left his face and his eyes stopped blinking.
The Lioness got herself onto her feet as best as she could and limped over to the shattered window. She had to get out before the police arrived. The pain. The pain in her leg was so bad. She needed to see a doctor. A Faunus doctor.
She looked back at the body of Auburn before leaving.
"The dress is beautiful, Auburn. Thank you."
I'm so sorry.**
*Across the street from where the Lioness was limping away from the hotel and cantina, the noise inside Collus' night club was louder and wilder than ever. Almost everyone was having fun, but that didn't include Collus Torchwick.
"Didn't I hear that you stole a red cabbage from Port's Cabbage Shop?" A customer would ask him every five minutes. No one had really asked him that until after Port died during the Faunus terrorist attack. Some of the customers were also trying to get a closer look at the disco ball above them to see if there was anything hidden inside it.
At least Roman was nowhere to be seen. Good riddance to him.
Despite those feelings though, Collus couldn't help but feel a tug of guilt for leaving his son out during the Faunus attack.
Claudia would not have approved that.
Claudia was Roman's mother, and Collus' dead wife. Collus took a swig of ale as if the one gulp would expel unwanted thoughts of Claudia. It didn't work.
Ah well, it was worth a try.
He tried to be the best husband he could be. He was sure of that. Best father? He wasn't sure of that. He left his son out after all. His grief for the loss of Claudia punished Roman.
Collus didn't even so much as twitch when customers started to panic around him and scurry further to the back of the club. He must be getting drunk. That was the only possible explanation for the fact that he didn't budge when the leader of the Faunus attack from the other day stepped up to the counter accompanied by several other Faunus armed with automatic rifles.
"Collus Torchwick," Jasper said.
"I thought Ozpin killed you," Collus said with no shock in his voice. He was really out of it.
"It takes a lot more than what Ozpin has to kill me, I am more powerful—."
"Security, drag him and his friends out," Collus called out in a drunken slur. When several security guards came towards Jasper with their rifles, Jasper raised an eyebrow, and the rifles flew out of their hands. They drifted in the air with the barrels aimed directly at the guards' heads.
"Boss? Help," one of them squeaked. One rifle went off and the guard crumpled to the floor. Collus then noticed something glowing behind the skin of Jasper's forehead. That got his attention. He put his bottle of ale down.
"You have one of the Schnee Dust company's newest chips," he said. Jasper nodded.
"I was the one that gave them the blueprints for it. It was a trade for a young Faunus slave," Collus explained.
"Yes. I want to make an offer to you, human. You help me kill Ozpin and his friends, and I will not kill you when the rest of the human race is enslaved," Jasper said. Collus gulped. He eyed the rifles that were still drifting in the air aimed at his men.
"That is a good offer. I'm always up for a good trade," he said.
"Ozpin did this to me," Jasper said, pointing out his cybernetic legs. They made an ominous whirring sound as they moved.
"He lied about even knowing me, after being kind to me," he continued.
"Ouch," Collus commented.
"And I know what he did to wrong you Collus. If he thinks he can frame you for one crime, what makes you think he won't decide to do it again? He may put you in prison next time for a crime you did not commit," Jasper said. Collus thought about that. He remembered one of the last things that Ozpin had told him after the cabbage incident.
You haven't seen the last of me.
He had lost men thanks to Ozpin, and then Ozpin mistreated Jasper, which had pushed him to take drastic measures. People had died because of Oz. There was no doubt about it. Ozpin was dangerous.
"Do we have a deal? Have I convinced you enough?" Jasper asked. He leaned forward and put his hands on the counter. As carefully as he could, Collus reached for two glasses and poured the remaining ale he had from the bottle into them.
"Let's drink on this," he said. Jasper grinned and took up the glass that Collus pushed towards him and downed it in one gulp through yellowed, disjointed teeth. The other Faunus behind him hooted and cheered for him. Collus raised his own glass to his lips with a shaky hand. He was happy to help Jasper deal with Ozpin. After humiliating him with the cabbage and interrupting his search for crystals in the Emerald Forest, he realized it was time for payback. Forget Roman.
Forget Claudia.
"Where would we find Ozpin?" Collus asked.
Jasper grinned. "I know where. I followed him there once."**
AN: As a fun fact, Hei Xiong is Junior from the Yellow Trailer and an episode of Volume 2 in RWBY. Hei is his real name according to the RWBY wiki.
