"Hey, Professor. You...You sure you're alright with this?" In the shadows of twilight, two silhouetted figures conversed privately inside the desolate Patchwork Lab. One of them just so happened to be the good doctor himself, Professor Stein.
"Victoria. You don't have to address me as your superior anymore. You're an adult, perhaps act like it." Stein insisted, puckering his lips slightly as he dabbed the cigarette in his mouth.
"I think I liked you better when you were a teacher and not a 'friend', Stein. Seriously, it's creepy as hell. Why are we doing this again?" Although she enjoyed Stein's company, she wasn't one for pointless chit-chat. Victoria heaved as she lugged the thick rope around for the third time, tying it in one large knot.
"Like I said earlier, this is entirely necessary." With his typical brand of stoic confidence, he answered without pause or hesitation. Her head rocked back in irritation, complying with the scheme as best she could.
"You keep saying that. What could be so necessary to do something like...this?" She questioned, growing increasingly distrustful of her superior.
"It's times like these when students grow too accustomed to the peace that surrounds us. We're going to pick the cream of the crop, the best of the best. And we're going to promote those students to EAT status." Stein explained, leaning back in his chair.
"Yeah, whatever. But are we just gonna do it through brute force?" Victoria tried to make sense of it all, eyeing the mad doctor with a feeling of trusting caution she had grown accustomed to in her years under his teaching.
Stein shook his head slowly, having thought over the plans long enough to explain it smoothly. "No. We're going to see which pairs have the strongest bonds."
"Victoria, get ready to make a few phone calls. Marie and Spirit probably want in on this too."
"You know Stein...I'm startin' to warm up to this plan of yours..." The eighteen year-old cracked a devious grin as she snagged the household phone from the wall, preparing to make a select few phone calls to the academy.
The sun burned with a passion that not even the coming fall weather could diminish. It was October now and most students had adjusted to the daily grind of their duties. The gap between the weak and strong-willed soon became obvious, as freshmen came flocking in droves to passing trains leading out of the Death City. Yet to those who remained, in these peaceful times, it was a thriving period, to the point where hunting Kishin eggs had become a casual, if bloody, sport.
The morning bell rang, and students barged through the doors in waves. Dart and Alice got the short end of the stick, stuck in the very very back of the mob of students. After an agonizing ten minutes, they set foot in the building.
"We're ten minutes late for our first period class. That's better than usual." Alice noted, as much as she hated to admit it, she had grown used to the disappointment.
The bush-headed meister shrugged, putting on an optimistic front. "You know what they say, you win some, you lose some."
"Our losing streak's been going for well over a month." Alice huffed and crossed her arms.
He dismissed her with a wave of the hand. "Oh, hush." He strode into the classroom, and surprisingly found it to be all but empty, save for Sid, standing in the classroom's center.
"NOT students are to report to the gym. Sounds like it's important." His head turned off to the side, vague in his wording. It was obvious he was feigning intelligence about something, but what?
"Right away, Mr. Barett!" Dart gave a quick salute as a sign of respect to his mentor. Although Sid was undead now, his high regard for the man had not died in the slightest. Alice followed up with a brief curtsey, not wanting to look impolite. They made a u-turn out of the room, exiting out the second door.
Alice kept an eye on Dart, the way his body stood tall and rigid around Barett, in contrast to his usual lax movements. "You can relax, you know. I'm fairly sure he isn't out for flesh."
He looked downright offended at the statement, blinking in mortification at her. The weapon cleared her throat, regarding him a bit more gently. "Don't be dim, it was a joke."
"Yep. Hilarious." His reply was brief, forcing a stiff laugh. It was the first time Alice felt a shred of something resembling bitterness coming from her partner. It didn't wound her, oh no, she was much too rigid for that. It would take more than a curt remark from a country bumpkin to curb her attitude. Why then, did she feel a burning in her chest? "Oh, would you look at that! Gym door's open!" Dart slipped into the gym, finding a cozy spot on the mostly-unoccupied east wall. He leaned against the wall, staring towards the gym's center with interest. Alice grunted, looking forward bemusedly.
"Ahem!" A feminine voice spoke over the mic in the center of the room. Dart looked above the mass of people to see Miss Mjolnir, or Miss Marie, as she preferred to be called. The gym remained talkative.
"Pay attention, you little urchins! This is serious!" Marie shrieked, flailing her arms. An immediate silence was cast upon the gym. "Thank you all for cooperating." She said with a bow, back to her polite demeanor. "Azusa, if you please?" She looked over at her cohort, Ms. Yumi. With a disapproving sigh. Azusa pressed a button on what looked like a remote-control of some kind. A small portion of the ceiling opened up, revealing a four-sided TV monitor lowered down midway to the floor. Initially, the screens were fogged with static, until the picture became clear enough to look at.
"Hey, isn't that…" Dart tilted his head, biting his tongue. The name had escaped his mind.
"Professor Stein?" Alice blinked. The doctor wasn't one for public appearances, from what she had known of him.
The camera turned shakily to focus on the professor himself, starting to show his age as the video feed was closed in on his face. "Hello, students. I'm Professor Stein, in case you haven't met me already." The lifeless voice droned, echoing through the gym harshly.
"As you can see—hold on, move the camera back a little—as you can see, I'm currently being held hostage right now." The camera person took a few steps back, and the camera panned to Professor Stein, tied to a chair, presumably against his own will.
"Hey, NOT Students! Get your asses in gear!" The camera flipped around to someone wearing a ski mask. "Yeah, I kidnapped the doc. Whaddya gonna do, call the cops?!" The kidnapper's voice reeked of smug, as if she could just tell that the students were quivering in fear, even if the evidence pointed to the contrary.
"I'll give you all by the end of tomorrow! This is mandatory! If one of you isn't man enough to take me on and win, then the doc gets it!" She whipped out a pistol from her pocket and fired three ear-piercing shots in the air. "Meet me at the Patchwork Lab, if you dare." They said, hamming it up as much as humanly possible. The monitors cut to static all at once, leaving the room with a definite unease sure to last with all those present.
"Good luck, you guys! We'll be rooting for you!" Marie quickly waved around a flag with Lord Death's signature skull symbol stitched on it, making a nonchalant exit into the 'Staff Only' room. Then, something yanked Dart's t-shirt and grabbed him aside.
"Dart! We have to get Stein—I mean the Professor back!" Alice's eyes were bulging, giving her meister a minor shock. Dart took a moment to absorb it all in as he gulped. "You're staring at me like an idiot. Why are you staring at me like an idiot?" Her grip tightened on his shoulders, trying to get a hold on him, physically and mentally.
"If y'don't mind me asking...Why are you doing this?" Alice's nails loosened up a bit on his jacket as she calmed down. She composed herself, repeating "okay" exasperatedly until she was a good two feet away from him. "About Professor Stein...I owe him a favor."
"Whaddya mean? Y'know it's his job to teach students, right?" He looked at her slightly condescendingly, although still somewhat confused himself.
"No, you dunce! Not just that!" Her eyes bulged, before narrowing to a state of mild irritation. "Let's just say I wouldn't be where I am now without Professor Stein's aid. Is that sufficient?"
Dart nodded understandingly. "Sufficient as sufficient can be."
The following day, an overcast of wispy grey clouds blanketed the skies the following day, limiting the sun's rays to all but a few patches of light, one in particular shining over the Patchwork Lab. Dart and Alice remained perched at the edge of a nearby graveyard, readying their attack as they passed a pair of binoculars between themselves.
"This is the perfect time to strike. The kidnapper must be tired out from taking down so many students." Alice kept her eyes on the prize, observing as the kidnapper paced around nonchalantly.
"How much did you bring?" He asked, looking to the blonde curiously.
"Come again?"
"Y'know, money. Don't we gotta pay the ransom?" Dart's hand was already shuffling around in his pocket. Alice snatched his wrist, preventing him for reaching for any.
"Don't you understand, Dart?" Her teeth grit, trying to get the message through his thick skull. "We're killers! We've been doing this since day one!"
Dart raised an eyebrow, staring with a look of greater clarity. "Oh." With that, he spun on his heel and walked away. Alice gave chase, trying and failing to drag him back by the arm.
His eyes met hers, halting her with a stubborn glare. "Alice, I'm sorry and all, but ya can't expect me to do this."
"You've killed Kishin eggs before, I don't see how this is any—"
His expression hardened, shutting Alice up in an instant. "I ain't killing a human." He shook himself off, pacing a bit faster towards the DWMA.
"Dart..." Alice groaned, thinking quickly of a way to stop him from leaving outright. "Wait!" She shouted desperately, grabbing his attention. The meister turned halfway around, waiting for her response. "Think about it this way, Dart; if you leave here, you may not have to take a life, but can you go on knowing that someone could die because you weren't there?" She watched as his lips pressed together, his eyes obscured by his strewn black hair.
Dart sighed. She could hear his feet shuffle around, until he was reluctantly facing her. "Aw, hell." He trotted past a satisfied Alice, smugly grinning at her success. "Get movin'."
"Okay, partner! The professor will surely reward us with his gratitude if we accomplish this!" Cassiel hovered about, unable to maintain stillness as she imagined what success would bring.
Julian's nails dug into the top of a tombstone. "If we save his lazy ass, I want a lot more than gratitude."
"Perhaps a thank-you card?" She suggested, still maintaining that air of innocence that bothered him so.
"Yeah. Sure." Julian rolled his eyes as he leaned against a towering gravestone. "The kidnapper said it was mandatory to go, she never said anything about having to fight." He reclined further, yawning as the lack of motivation began to take hold of him.
"Ah! Partner! I spy people!" Cassiel grabbed Julian's shoulder and pointed towards two people; a meister and a weapon. The meister ran along the fence of the graveyard, jumped off, and began sprinting towards the lab at breakneck speeds. "Are they pursuing the reward too?"
"Like hell they're gonna!" Feeling a drastic shift in his mood, Julian transformed into his plasma whip form, landing in Cassiel's capable hands.
"Very well then! We shall engage in pursuit of the reward, but first and foremost, our obstacle!"
"Hey, do you hear someone yelling?" Dart asked, as the lab got closer and closer in reach.
"Pay no mind to it." Alice was wholly preoccupied with the mission at hand, disregarding anything not concerning it.
"You!" For a smidgen of a second, saliva flew from Dart's mouth as a kick to the back of his head connected. Then he tumbled, hardly making sense of things before his body was rolling in the hard dirt. After spitting out a tuft of stale grass, he stood up, getting a nice, hard look at the attacker.
"What's the meaning of all this?" Spurred by anger, he scowled, wincing at the nasty bump the kick had left. Meeting the attacker's eyes, he saw that she had an irritatingly smarmy grin that stretched from one corner of her face to the other, appearing jubilant at her successful sneak attack. Armed with a whip that looked to be surging with blue electricity, she looked about Dart's age, maybe a year his junior, with wide eyes and a petite physique. "H-Hey, now..." It was only a second late that he realized, however, that the student wasn't on solid ground, and she stayed that way, toes dangling off the ground without care for the laws of physics.
"My word..." Even Alice had to take pause at the girl's strangeness, rendered mostly speechless.
The supernatural girl's smile disappeared, clearing her throat before booming "Do not be alarmed, fellow students! We request that you step down, and let us collect the reward for Professor Stein's kidnapping!"
"Yeah, 'request'." The plasma whip piped up, a voice much less innocent-sounding than his meister. "It's fancy talk for 'it's ours.'"
Dart heard Alice scoff from inside her weapon form, and immediately braced himself for the worst. "Glory seekers, hm? If you'll excuse us, some of us actually have noble intentions in mind here." She said, with a false chime to her tone.
"Aw, Alice..." He groaned, getting red in the face as the situation continued to grow worse.
"GLORY SEEKERS?!" They shouted in unison, clearly outraged. "Let's waste 'em, Cass, and make it snappy." Her weapon was raring to go, and his meister seemed to be of one with him. She lashed suddenly, transitioning from slow and graceful movements to fast and jolty. Tiny sparks traveled across the dirt, emitted in the plasma whip's wake.
Dart primed his sword and lowered his head. "Dang it all..." Slowly, he begun circling around her, keeping the blade pointed at her like a viper with its fangs bared. She mirrored him, gritting her teeth in an effort to look intimidating. For seconds, neither of them struck, staring each other down like gunmen in a western. The girl came at him first, lunging forward and nearly catching Dart with a whipcrack to the face had he not arched his back in time. Improvising, he let himself fall, jumping right back up on his hands to return the favor from earlier, landing a two-legged kick to her stomach. She reeled back and wheezed, giving him all the opportunity necessary to move in further. He dashed forward and drove the side of his foot in the grass, sending dirt flying at her face. The girl yelped, trying to scrub out the dirt from her eyes with one hand while Dart moved in for the knockout with a clenched fist.
But, Dart's triumphing fist only made contact with air. His wrist was seized by the plasma whip's sizzling hold, keeping him uncomfortably steady. "A-ha! Checkmate for us!" She was leering triumphantly, while Dart was still trying to put two and two together. "You may have bested me thus far, but round two goes to Cassiel!" He tried to kick away, but she had already moved out of his reach, keeping the whip tied around his arm. "NOW!" The plasma whip left him all at once, the force of which spun him around and 'round. With every passing rotation, he could catch a glimpse of her holding the plasma whip back, ready to strike at any moment. "One-thousand lashes!" Just then, a searing pain across his back had caused Dart to yelp. Then his arm. Then his face, and soon enough, he felt his entire body crying out as no spot became safe from a whipping.
Dart's queasy stomach growled in such a way that he almost assumed he was harboring an angry opossum in his jacket when he heard it. He raised an arm to shield his face while the other clutched Alice's sword form, at the girl's mercy. "Any pointers, Alice?"
She cupped her hand over her mouth, looking quite queasy. "Just...Just stop spinning..." She said, offering the most specific and helpful advice to the situation at hand.
Still, I gotta do somethin'...! He thought, flinching with every strike. "U-Uh!" Everything came to a halt at once; the lashings, the spinning, and his breathing. He clamored for his neck, feeling the whip's tightness around it. His vision was failing him already. "Alice, a little help?!" He choked out. In the gleam of the blade, he could make out her dazed face, still reeling from the sudden stop. In a fit of desperation, he grabbed the whip's electric stream, dragging the student closer to him. She refused to let up, pulling away in the opposite direction. "AAHHHH!" Before he could fall unconscious, he grabbed the whip tighter, despite how much it burned at the touch. With his weakening eyes, he saw a fantastic golden light discharge through the whole whip, flooding into the meister as well. Is that... Dart had recognized that spiritual energy before, if only once. "Soul Force?" The girl fell back, her eyes wide as her breath came in short spurts.
The plasma whip assumed his human form, revealing a skinny boy about Dart's height with slicked blonde hair and distrusting ruby-colored eyes. He seemed equally as tired as his meister, laying his arm on her shoulder for support. Dart tentatively gave them a thumbs-up as a truce, in hopes that they would return it or at the very least acknowledge it. The meister looked hopefully to her weapon, giving her a shrug in response. They moved towards each other, extending their arms for a handshake in a mutual gesture of peace.
In all but a minute, the four of them were sitting beside a bush, having achieved an anxious calm before the confrontation with the kidnappers. After growing acquainted with each other, learning names and whatnot, there wasn't much talk. Julian, the blonde weapon, looked especially nervous, repeatedly peeking over the bush to the laboratory. "H-Hey..." He swallowed a lump in his throat, facing the group with a dumbfounded grin. "There's no other students here!" Dart, Alice, and Cassiel froze, going wide-eyed before quickly creeping over to Julian's position.
"I'll be damned...!" Dart shook his head in disbelief, peering at the front lawn.
"I know, right?! Since nobody else bothered to show up, guess that means the reward's all ours!" Julian's grin was stupidly gleeful, shattering his 'tough' disposition. He looked on the verge of hopping over the bush and charging right in, had it not been for his better judgement.
"Tch! Is it always 'Reward this! Reward that!' for you?" Alice lashed with a sharp tongue, causing all eyes to dawn on her.
"Pardon, but...what are your motivations for this mission, Alice?" Suddenly, the whole group was awaiting an answer from her, putting a sweat on the previously cool-headed weapon.
Alice smiled as naturally as she could and flipped her hair, halfway meeting their gaze. "Excellent question, Cassiel. In fact, why don't we all share our reasons for coming here, hm? Let's start with you, Julian." She gestured, regaining a shred of her previous calm.
He glared daggers at Alice, but continued nonetheless. "I want money. Cash." He paused, before continuing. "...And something about saving lives in there too."
Cassiel rose her hand energetically, wilfully volunteering to go next. "If I may!" The three of them turned their attention to her, and thus she began. "I wish to advance my career as a meister, thereby gaining more status, thereby making more friends!" As she recited her fantasy aloud, Dart and Alice glanced at each other, but said nothing, not wanting to curb her joy. A sense of self-awareness must have kicked in, as she quickly hushed herself with a bashful smile. "Ah, Alice?"
"R-Right." She seemed more equipped to answer the question this time around, clearing her throat with only minor hesitation. "I was under Professor Stein's tutelage for quite some time prior to my formal enrolment, and it would be an insult to my family line if I were to do something as dishonorable as abandoning him." She finished, taking a quick breath. "Satisfied?" Looking Julian directly in the eye, she smirked. He rolled his eyes, putting on a disinterested front.
"That leaves you, Dart." Cassiel said.
The meister jolted lightly, putting his brain into 'think' mode after a long bout of spacing out. "Well now, uh..." His head tilted, closing his eyes thoughtfully. "It'd be pretty bad, if, um, somebody died here." Alice, Cassiel, and Julian all went silent. He shrugged, knowing it was the best he muster.
"With that settled..." Alice scanned the group. "Let's save ourselves a professor."
The 'kidnapper' looked down at the stone tiling on the ground, then to Stein, then to the graveyard. Then to the ground, then to Stein again. She heaved a painfully obvious sigh, begging for someone to inquire.
"What is it, Victoria?" Stein had begun to regret allowing his arms to be tied, desperately in need of a lighter and a pack if he was going to make it through the rest of the day.
"Nobody's. Here." She was pacing in circles, constantly checking for potential attackers. "There's gotta be SOME students who fell for this, right?!"
Stein's eyes drifted thoughtfully to the ground for a moment, before giving her a definitive answer. "Doubtful." He said, with incoherent angry noises coming from Victoria shortly thereafter. She fired a few pistol shots in the air again, hoping to attract some attention.
"This was a dumb plan." She groaned, on the verge of going inside the lab to watch TV.
"Remind me again, why did you join?" Stein snarked back, spinning around in the swivel chair to face her.
"Uh—" She hesitated. "I—" Her eyes narrowed, having to admit to herself that part of her thought it was a good idea in the first place. "You shut your god-damn mouth, that's why." The doctor chuckled, nearly tipping over in his swivel chair. "I'm giving you an hour, professor. ONE HOUR."
"HEY!" Two voices rang out from behind, both unfamiliar to her. Victoria whipped around, facing the lab. On the roof, four students, two meisters, two weapons, stood, looking down at her threateningly.
This is it. Dart stood with his blade poised, side-by-side with Cassiel. They jumped off the roof in sync, having been doing 'practice confrontations' for the past twenty minutes before storming to the Patchwork Laboratory. He stuck the landing perfectly, maintaining a level stare with the kidnapper. Cassiel looked leagues more confident than he did, but nevertheless still attempted to hide the anxiety from his face. "I think y'know what we're here for. A-And just who d'ya think you are? You knew this was gonna happen." He re-clenched the sword's hilt, loosening and tightening his grip.
The kidnapper looked like they didn't know how to react to the students' presence, but quickly adjusted, smiling cockily in the gaps of that jet-black ski mask. "Well then!" The voice was feminine, but very deep, leaving no doubt in Dart's mind that the kidnapper was a woman. Despite having two armed meisters trained on her, she was completely nonchalant, not even guarding herself, let alone aiming her pistol. "Since you asked nicely!" Instead, she grabbed at the fabric of her mask, yanking it off in a dramatic display. Her facial features were rather striking, with slightly spiked, reddish hair that didn't go an an inch beyond her neck, wide and audacious brown eyes, and full lips that only served to emphasize that wide smirk of hers. Her stature was towering as well, just a few inches short of Stein's height, and with broad muscles to match. However intimidating, she still looked quite young, at the very least college-age. She wore a sports-like orange jacket and shirt, as well as a pair of blue shorts. And on her right hand, a scarlet glove was secured, made of hard material that suggested to Dart that it could be something more.
"Meet my protégé...Victoria Brandt."
"Protégé?!" Dart, Alice, Cassiel, and Julian reeled back in shock at the revelation.
"Impossible! Is this ritual of students kidnapping teachers normal for humanity?" Cassiel looked at her companions blankly, which they found themselves returning.
"This is just absurd...!" Alice barely mouthed.
Victoria lowered her head and chuckled a bit like she had just been chewed out for a prank. "Yeah, that's me, in the flesh. Victoria Brandt, three-star meister!" She folded open the right side of her jacket, revealing three star-shaped badges stitched on, verifying her status.
"From freshmen to senior year, I trained her, perhaps a little too well. And now, she's kidnapped me. How terrible." Stein said, trying to balance the frame of his glasses on his nose as he spoke.
Julian gulped the moment he saw it. "...How much do you guys have on you in-cash?"
"'Bout ten dollars, but that doesn't matter now!" Dart swung his sword forcefully, finding real confidence amidst the false. "Victoria Brandt, if you don't back down now... Well, it ain't gonna be good." His hands fidgeted, reluctant to point the weapon at her neck or chest.
"Oi, you're shaking, short stuff." Even Victoria noticed his obvious anxiety, eliciting a sharp glance from Alice.
"Don't be looking like that. I'm ready." A severe redness in the face overtook Dart, agitating him enough to get him into proper shape.
"Are you?!" Victoria charged at them without warning, forcing Cassiel to retreat and putting Dart on the defensive. He blocked, but even that wasn't enough to halt a shoulder bash from her. He skidded back, digging his heel into the ground to keep from flying back completely. She ran forward again, but this time, Dart was adequately prepared. Once Victoria was in range, he countered with a swift kick to her head, halting his momentum abruptly. As expected from a three-star, she parried effortlessly, blocking with the mass of her forearm. "You're quick, short stuff, I'll give you that." In their struggle, Dart noticed a window in her defense: her midsection. He blinked, almost smiling as he went in with the blade.
"HM!" Before he could land the hit, the last thing he saw was her crimson hair as he took a vicious headbutt to the face. He staggered back, dazzled by the sheer pain. His back thumped against the lab's wall, with his own cold blood trickling down from his forehead. In his blurring vision, he could see her drawing close, striding confidently with a menacing smile.
"W-We should stage a retreat, just for now... She's going to..." Alice became scatterbrained trying to form a strategy around Victoria's pure strength, not that Dart could fault her.
"I a-ain't done just yet." Dart pushed himself upward, using the wall to support him as he gripped the sword tighter for another round.
"Good, now that's what I wanna he—ack!" Just as Victoria was about to take another step, Julian's plasma whip had been seized around her neck.
"I praise your valiant efforts, Dart Dekei! But please, allow us to finish it!" Cassiel shouted, bringing a weak smile to Dart's face.
"You think this is enough to hold ME?!" She yanked on the whip, bringing the airborne girl into her range.
"NOW!" Cassiel's eyes widened, and the whip's blue stream flared, sending a shocking pulse through what looked to be Victoria's entire body. Her agonized screams filled their ears, reverberating until the whip ran out of charge. Julian returned to his human form, taking a breath as he turned his back on the meister-turned-criminal.
Dart stared at Victoria's body, black and charred. Her face was frozen in an expression of utter pain, her jaw agape and her pupils upward, leaving only the whites of her eyes. He looked away, shaking the lingering feelings of remorse. No... It had to happen, right? Victoria was threatening Stein with death; if someone hadn't stepped in, then what would that make him?
Julian walked up to her still-standing corpse and almost checked her pulse, pulling away after lightly burning his fingers. "Yep. That's a bona-fide cadaver right there." He cocked his head to Stein, keeping his chin rather high. "She's dead, you got a reward for us or what?"
"For starters, you could untie my wrists." Stein said, not particularly overjoyed at his freedom nor their apparent success.
"Hey, Dart, sounds like a you-job." Julian grabbed the meister's attention, who nodded and went on without a second thought. Alice reverted to her human form as well, standing off to the side.
Dart didn't even ask before he began untying the rope, working through the thick knots with a precision he hadn't really known in himself before. "Rest easy there, professor. A real swell guy taught me how to do these things when I was little." He sucked in a breath, undoing the work that Victoria had started.
"You're Alice's partner, aren't you?" He asked, without prompt.
The young meister kept his eyes on the ropes. "S'pose so. Why do you ask?"
Stein turned his head, halfway looking at Dart. "From what I've heard, the Robinson bloodline is very proud." Dart nearly snorted, confining it to a silent chuckle.
"Well, it's not entirely untrue..." The meister smiled to himself in exasperation, feeling somewhat guilty for doing so.
"You aren't of a particularly strong fortitude, Dart, mentally or physically. Not that I'm implying anything negative by that, of course, but why do you think she chose you?" Dart froze, his fingers still seized on the nylon as the question rattled him.
"...Good question!" He quickly went back to work, dropping the conversation immediately.
Stein shook his head slowly. "Don't think too much of it. At the very least, she sees something in you worth keeping around. Now do that thing with your cheekbones where the corner of lips point upward."
"Smile?"
"Yes, that." Another pause. "Even so, Dart. Do you believe yourself to be capable of killing?"
"Sure." Dart's tone was flat, lacking enthusiasm all around. "Kishin eggs ain't the same flesh and blood as us. Just monsters, nothin' more, nothin' less."
"I mean a human." The coldness in the professor's voice drained the color from his face. "I noticed your hesitance during your fight with Victoria. You're half-assing your movements. You break into a sweat when it comes time to attack. Being the cause of that spilled blood—it terrifies you. Though, I won't lie, I've always been a fan of the underdog pacifist narrative. Besides, even if you could muster the resolve to kill her, I doubt you'd be able to." He smiled cheerfully, dissonant to the situation at hand.
"Julian!" Cassiel's shrill cry brought Dart to his reflexes, whipping behind to find the source of the commotion. Julian's breaths came out in sputtering gasps, kicking and flailing as a large hand eclipsed over his neck, strangling him.
"Victoria...!" Dart gaped, rendered slack-jawed by her survival.
"Speak of the devil..." Stein turned his back to the four, staring disinterestedly off into the horizon in his swivel chair, bound by a nearly-untied rope.
Victoria shook the soot off of her, looking no worse for wear than before. "I won't lie, Cinderella. You and your weapon partner here really did a number on me. Well, not really, but I'm a sucker for the effort." Her strangling hold of Julian wasn't letting up, and Cassiel could do nothing but gaze on in horror.
"T-That mean you aren't going to kill us?" Julian's eyes bulged, able to muster one sentence before gasping for air once more.
The three-star meister tilted her head pensively for a moment, considering the question. "...No." Julian choked out a scream. She dropped his neck, letting him crumple before moving in. Her fist flickered with a supernatural scarlet light, catching the weapon with a shattering uppercut to the chin. He flew, soaring high enough to reach the top window of the laboratory before the forces of gravity began to act on him.
"GAH!" For a moment, Julian's body looked like it was on fire, flinching in midair as if an unseen force had struck him a second time. He crashed against the cement ground face-first, completely and utterly battered after a single blow.
She applied her wavelength at the last moment for a delayed effect...No doubt she's Stein's student. Alice thought.
Victoria turned away without batting an eye. "Soul Force; Relentless Echo."
"JULIAN!" The remaining three stared in horror at his body, but only Cassiel dared to move close to it.
Her small hands grabbed a hold of his shoulders, turning him over to look at his bloodied face. "Partner! Partner, you must awaken! T-The fight has only just begun! Julian, please...!" There was no response. His scleroses had whitened, and his jaw hung open in mute horror. Cassiel gasped. Dart could only look on in grim pity, certain that this was the naive girl's first brush with death.
Alice shot a glare at Dart, her green eyes frenzied and wild. "Dart, we have to leave, now!" She didn't give Cassiel and Julian so much as a second glance, ready to ditch at a moment's notice.
An anger rose in the meister's chest, coming out like soup toppling out of a fiery kettle. "Aw, REALLY? After all that about savin' the professor, you're gonna turn tail NOW?!" The weapon's eyebrows slanted upward through her urgency, showing a very obvious weakness towards his accusation.
"This situation's changed, Dart! If we stay here, we've signed our wills!" Her voice shook, unknowingly having turned her left arm into a blade whilst shouting. "Cassiel isn't going to be budging any time soon. We... We can't win." Her tone was resigned, meeting the ground with a fierce, misty-eyed stare. "Damn it all... H-Hey!" Before she even realized it, her meister was already dashing at Victoria without her.
"HM! HM! HM! HM!" Once he came to a skidding halt, he immediately attacked, assaulting her with a forceful series of kicks aimed at her stomach, legs, and head. She blocked each one consecutively, with only the smallest bead of sweat dripping down her face.
"Damn, short stuff's pissed..." Despite his much smaller stature, Victoria had to acknowledged the strength and speed behind his blows, unable to let up her guard for even a moment's notice. On the next high kick he threw out, she grabbed hold of his leg, bringing him to a dead halt.
"Soul Force!" Her fist glowed a dangerous red, opting Dart to get out of there. He twisted his leg away and collapsed to the ground, dodging a punch by the skin of his teeth. He rolled back, putting a safe distance between him and Victoria. Next to him, Dart noticed, a sword was planted in the ground, and one he had grown quite familiar with.
"You never prefer the easy way, do you?" Alice remarked, bringing a grim grin to Dart's face. He drew the sword, facing Victoria with a fixed gaze. She looked amused at their bold little stand, waving her hands in mock-surprise.
"Oh, don't scowl too much. Keep it up and I'll die of fright!" She taunted, staying in her position. She was waiting for them to attack, not the other way around. If Dart was to attack, it would have to be without flaw, otherwise Victoria would surely capitalize on it.
"Let's go." Alice said, her voice as mild as ever. Her meister nodded, breaking into a dash. He zig-zagged throughout his straight path, trying to keep Victoria guessing while he moved in. "Keep a distance between her! The worst she can do at our range is grab my sword form!" Her words kept Dart's mind sharp, bringing him back just as he was on the verge of panic. He toed back, slashing at her side from about as long as a distance he could manage. To his shock, the sword didn't dig in, but bounced off, repelled before he could even put a dent in her. "What?!" Dart could almost hear the sound of her pride shattering in two, shortly before eating a punch to the gut that deprived him of all breath. He wheezed, clutching his stomach, scrunched inward from the punch alone.
"What did she..." Dart's saliva dripped from the corner of his mouth, panting like a dog while he replayed the brief, brief moment of impossibility in his head. No matter how...how strong she is, she can't just do that! You can't just shrug off a sword! While racing thoughts ran through his head, a rough hand grabbed him by the hair and pulled him up, suspending him an inch or two off the ground. He looked the kidnapper in her eyes, meeting her ferocious gaze.
"Shocked, right? I tend to induce that in people. But I'm a woman of few words, so I'll let your weapon do the talking." Her focus shifted to Alice, suddenly lying on the ground with a bruised face.
She blinked, staring off ahead hopelessly as she spoke. "It was her wavelength... She channeled it into her stomach before the blade made contact." Blood trickled down her mouth, and Dart's pity for the otherwise stoic girl multiplied tenfold, realizing that her pain compared to his must have been far worse. Victoria raised her foot, looming over Alice like a guillotine.
Dart's eyes shot up, fighting against the three-star meister's hold. "Don't you dare!" Before he even knew what he was doing, his fist collided against her face, knocking off that ever-present smirk. She staggered back, immediately letting go of his hair. Her pupils were wide, and her mouth slack-jawed. She felt her nose, before looking down on the palm that had wiped it.
It was bloody.
Victoria Brandt looked up from her minor injury and met Dart with a grin. Not a cocky or presumptuous one, but one of genuine glee, to Dart's further confusion. She rolled her head and spat on the cement with a new energy that didn't seem so half-assed anymore. "Damn, short stuff—no, Dart. That's your name, right? That was a pretty good hit! Sincerely, I wasn't expecting that. As thanks, I'll give you a hero's death!"
"W-What's that like?" Dart cocked his head.
"Painful and agonizing, but you'll probably save someone in the process, right?" She shrugged, apathetic at the prospect of murder.
"Enough of your banter, you scoundrel. Dart, wield me." Alice pushed herself off the ground, waiting patiently for her meister to give her the go-ahead.
Dart couldn't keep his attention off her wound. "But you're..."
"Enough, I said." Alice's body morphed into a blade, letting Dart catch it as she fell.
"Don't do anything stupid, alright now?" He gulped, hoping she wouldn't suddenly decide to do something ballsy and heroic. He came there with a party of four, and intended to leave with four, not counting Stein.
"Tch. I should be reminding you of that." In the time that their brief chat took, Victoria closed in on them. She came crashing in with a flying knee, more excited now than ever. Dart sidestepped, having seen it coming miles before.
"Gotcha...!" He announced, seizing her open leg. "Heck, I'll try it myself! SOUL FORCE!" While Victoria was reaching for a grabbing area, he went for a low blow to her shins, imbuing his leg with the same golden aura as earlier. Her legs leaned one way, on the verge of sending her Atlas physique plummeting to the ground. She grit her teeth and winced, but maintained her footing at the last second. "It was worth a shot!" He made a break for it, but Victoria had already gripped him in an armlock. He writhed and struggled, but his resistance was only met with more pain, his arm bending back further with each push.
"Stay still, Dart, I'll get you out of there!" Dart saw Alice's sword form brighten, and he quickly clasped his hand over the weapon, using all of his willpower to keep her in her that state.
"A-A-Alice! 'Member when I told y'not to do anythin' stupid?!" He bit onto his lower lip hard, fighting back the urge to use his breath for screaming instead of talking.
"Of course! That was hardly thirty seconds ago, I'm not dense!" Her transformation halted as she chastised him, to Dart's slight relief.
He could hear the bones cracking from within. "Y-Yep! 'Cause if you transformed back right now, Victoria'd go for you instead of me! And if you died, you'd be leaving me without a weapon! P-Pretty worthless sacrifice, if you ask me!" Dart's eyes remained wide and fixated on the sword, staring at it until it finally returned to its normal monochrome hue.
"Fine then...But you'd better figure a way out of this." Though Alice's usual coldness had grown easier on Dart's ears, he was surprised to hear a twinge of worry in her voice, or at least he assumed it to be.
"She's right, y'know. You got like, five seconds tops before this arm breaks." Victoria chimed in casually, to neither of their amusement. "Five." She blinked, pulling it back further. "Four. Three..."
"Aw Hell, I get it!" Dart simply elbowed her to escape, dashing away as he put himself out of her striking range. She looked hardly fazed, fixating on him like the last bit of paperwork on a long night shift. "Alice... Before I go on, I wanna say something." He said, looking to his blade thoughtfully. Her face appeared in the gleam of the two-tone metal, maintaining full eye contact, unlike the usual halfway glances shot his way. "We might die here, and now I know that." He said, reaffirming his hold on the hilt. "You've always been the one taking this seriously here. If it'd hadn't been for you, I'd be dead once, twice, thrice, whatever comes after that, and then some. So now, I'll start returning the favor!" He slashed at the air and beckoned for Victoria to attack, holding his weapon high with the tip pointed straight at her. Seemingly unbeknownst to him, the faintest of blue lights had begun to envelop him and Alice, rising up above his head and fading repeatedly.
"Dart, are we..." Alice began to ask, but part of her already knew. It wasn't telepathy, but perhaps something similar, like an unspoken thought shared between the two of them. Her form became unsound, losing some of its solidity but still barely holding onto its form, as if a thought's hesitation would shatter her on the physical plane. And it was exciting. A power far beyond that of a simple sword such as herself, and knowing Dart was to experience it too made her giddy. This...This is Soul Resonance!
A powerful wind brushed the hair out of Victoria's face, looking on with the faintest bit of interest. "Huh." Her arms crossed, discontent with waiting, but curious enough to stick around and see what happens. Even Cassiel had to take a moment to gawk, staring on with such wide-eyed curiosity.
The meister's arms shot upward, brandishing the sword high above his head. "Dragonslayer, let me use your power to the fullest, alright?" The name spilled like water bursting from a dam, unimpeded and flowing. All at once, Alice's blade assimilated a completely new shape, from cocoon to butterfly, a dark-red blade burst from the expanded hilt, as thick as a thumb and nearly six feet in length. Indecipherable runes became burned onto the sword, a new symbol appearing for each word Dart said.
"...How did you learn that name?" Was all Alice could utter after he recited a line only spoken of in stories passed down within the Robinson family.
Dart raised a questioning eyebrow, narrowing his eyes off to the side as if even he didn't know where he got it from. "...Guessed?" He flicked his wrist, bringing down the mighty blade down to the cement in all but a single stroke. "Victoria, please stop." With his voice unwavering, the request seemed like it was more for her sake than his. The three-star remained unfazed, as always, limbering up casually whilst keeping the shiny scarlet blade in the corner of her eye.
"Alright, Dart. Wow me with your special attack." She was now moving onto basic arm stretches, waiting for them to come at her. A part of Alice's anger surged through Dart, shooting one of her trademark glares at the three-star before running ahead.
"I won't let this go to waste, Alice!" He leaped, and found the lengthy sword to be quite light in his hands, arching it upward before bringing it all down onto Victoria's head. She caught the blade with her bare hands, but not effortlessly. Even with her wavelength active, Dragonslayer was winning, forcing her to grind her feet back further with each successive push. "Let's bring it in!" Dart yelled. With just a little more resolve, just a little more sweat, and just a little more pluck, victory didn't seem so unattainable!
Woosh. A dumbfounded look crossed Dart's face, and suddenly there was a space between him and Victoria in the air. He half-smiled, half-grimaced as he realized Dragonslayer was gone, and at the worst possible moment. "...Darn." The meister muttered, shortly before taking a Soul-Forced elbow to his chest, throwing him against the laboratory's fence. He nearly blacked out upon impact, dropping the sword as he fell to the ground.
He saw Victoria's figure draw nearer to him, looming greater with every step. "...Wasn't strong enough to begin with..." Panting, he let go of the blade, his nails grinding into the hard dirt. "Alice...I'm sorry." The aura of defeat had swallowed him completely. "Your family's gonna..." The weight of the Robinson bloodline was all on him, and he had collapsed it. He had long given up trying to escape; Victoria had the both of them dwarfed in every physical aspect.
Light struck his eyes, and Alice was standing in front of him. Her form was stiff, showing no signs of wavering as she faced the powerhouse in front of her with only her arm transformed. "My family's going to what, Dart?" She asked calmly. "You should get out of here. Find a stronger weapon than me. I'll...I'll stay here." She begged, Alice Robinson sincerely begging him to leave, but that only made the decision harder for Dart. He kicked himself up using the fence to support himself, looking to his weapon somewhat angrily.
"Alice, there's no way I'll just sit back and let you—"
Victoria raised an objecting palm. "Ah. I've seen enough. You two pass. Mutual bond's there alright."
Dart and Alice froze completely while they processed the words. She reached for a clipboarded paper and pen stuffed inside her jacket, disregarding them as she scribbled something down. Dart took the first step forward, swatting the clipboard out of her hands in both anger and confusion, moreso the latter. "Hey! Y'can't just be like that when Julian's dead over there!" He pointed to Cassiel, who was still in shock over his apparent murder.
She looked mildly surprised, glancing over at the incapped weapon. "Naw, you're just being overdramatic. Did you even check for a pulse?" Dart blinked. How it had occurred to no one to even examine his body before declaring him dead was beyond him. With Victoria leading the way, they walked over to Julian's side, peering down on him like surgeons at the operating table. "Come on, wake up..." The senior nudged him gently with her shoe, with no response. "Rise and shine douchebag, you're making me look like a murderer here..." She knelt and shook him by the shoulders, until he finally came to.
"Julian!" Still groggy, the weapon was immediately met with a squeezing hug from his meister, making for a decent substitute for a wake-up slap. He mumbled something about lawsuits and it being too early for this kind of thing—in the late afternoon—before collapsing again, this time somewhat more peacefully. "Ah, Miss Victoria, I assume we pass as well?" She asked.
Victoria's expression turned pensive before her lips pursed and nodded definitely, shrugging. "Yeah, sure. You four are the only ones who bothered to show, may as well give you all the credit." She jotted some more notes down, before noticing three glares turned her way. She put up her hands defensively, slightly flushed. "What? If you're pointing fingers, blame Stein over there! It was his damn idea!" She said. Like clockwork, their eyes fell on the doctor, who quickly became aware of the tension and broke off the ropes from his chair.
Stein smiled, brushing it off as if they had been the recipients of a prank. "True, faking a hostage situation and making you think your lives were at stake was slightly excessive, but it was a good learning experience, wasn't it?" A defined silence met his ears, and he lit a cigarette to fill in the awkwardness. "Oh, look a subject-changer. Victoria, take these." From his pocket, he flicked something shiny at his pupil, bouncing off her forehead before she hastily caught it.
"Oi..." A single key rested in her hand, and she had a feeling she knew what it meant. Stein, however, was already walking away. "Hey! I ain't done with you! Is this..."
"Keys to the lab. All yours, just don't touch my research material." He said, rather abruptly.
"Wait, wait!" She yelled, managing to stop him in his path. He half-looked her way, almost impatiently, but listening intently regardless. "You're... You're not retiring on me, are you?"
The good doctor flashed a lazy grin, shaking his head wistfully. "Ah, if only. But no. I'm set to accompany a group of my former students on a large-scale mission for an indefinite time period. I can't say I'll be back anytime soon, so make yourself comfortable." He laughed, dabbing his cigarette in between the cracks of the cement. Victoria considered trying to chase a proper goodbye out of him, but resigned herself to a sigh and gave in, waving back halfheartedly. She turned, and realized that the four were still there.
"Oh, right. You're still here. It was fun and all, but I gotta go. See ya around, maybe." She dismissed herself, running off to start packing her things.
Dart, Alice, and Cassiel looked at each other reflectively, before sort of shuffling back and going silent for a bit. "All's well that ends well?" Dart concluded, not knowing what to make of everything that conspired in the past few minutes.
Just as he spoke, Julian began coughing violently and rose to his feet. "I've lost feeling in my nose..."
AN: Hey, back again with another character reveal, albeit a bit more elaborate this time around. What'dja think of Victoria, or anything else, for that matter? Questions, comments, and criticism are entirely welcome! See ya next chapter.