Edge of life
Chapter nine
A Friend Lost
Solus was floating idly in a tank of thick pale blue liquid, and he was trying his absolute hardest not to scratch his insufferably itchy right shoulder. He had gotten to his little cave/complex near the ruins of his old home town Dorme, and the first thing he had down was head down to the medical wing to get his arm fixed, and oh boy had that been painful, he refused to let his auto doc operate on him without him being conscious, so he had sat there fully awake as the robot had sliced his arm open with a scalpel and started pulling melted and destroyed robotics out. Then to his great displeasure, the useless robotic doctor informed him that his bio gel layer had been completely destroyed.
Bio gel was interesting stuff, costs an absolute fortune for even a few drops of it, but Solus had once been incredibly rich from his time as the Slayer of Independence, and had spent a huge amount of money to get large amounts of the stuff. See, the reason he needed it was because having an almost entirely cybernetic upper right arm was fine for civilians, but for combatants? It would the end of their life as they knew it. Simply because machines can't channel any significant amount of aura, but bio gel can. The gel was organic in nature, and as such aura can pass through it as easily as normal muscle, meaning unlike the cybernetics the gel could be 'healed' by Solus's aura, providing that the damage wasn't too extensive. But, it still wasn't as good as the real thing; the application of the stuff was what most would describe as agonizingly itchy. Also having to float around in a glass tank for a few hours was incredibly boring.
The bullhead that Solus had… borrowed… was long gone by now, Solus wasn't stupid enough to keep the flying death trap, Ozpin almost certainly had tracking devices installed in it. Hell, Solus had a suspicion that the (in his opinion) nutty headmaster had put a tracking device on him somewhere. But that was ok for the time being, the facility that Solus was currently in was originally a laboratory run by one very insane very cruel (and now very dead) doctor Stanis Braun, that vile excuse for a human being had given Solus his very first alias- subject 13, Braun had done all manner of psychological tortures on fifty kids, all just because he wanted the perfect army. Braun had wanted a legion of soldiers trained from childhood to be merciless killers. he had gotten what he wanted, so to speak. The lab was filled with all kinds of jamming equipment, some from Braun, some from Solus. To most people it would be impossible to find the place without having prior knowledge of it, and Ozpin did know about this place, he knew that it had existed once. But he, along with every other world power that had searched for Braun was under the impression that the entire facility and all its secrets had been utterly destroyed.
But even without the twisted memories Solus had of this place he hated it. Every moment he spent in the facility Solus felt like his guts were twisting in an uncomfortable fashion, and every breath of air he took filled him with dread and near terror. All because she was here, they were all here. He could hear the unspoken accusations whenever he wandered the empty lifeless halls. He could hear the screams for help and screams of rage even though silence was all that ever permitted the aging metal walls.
But still Solus came here, to his only refuge. Because he needed to. And Solus always liked to think he did what was necessary. Although if he was being entirely truthful Solus admitted to himself that the only way he could tolerate being in the facility was if he forced his mind onto other things, like that getting money. Or messing with Ozpin.
Solus smirked behind his breath mask when he thought of Ozpin sending people on a likely worldwide hunt for just a bullhead.
Ruby studied the glowing blue map before her intently, she was in a circular room with a large holo projector in the center, currently it was showing a worldwide map of Remnant, and there were one glowing red dot on the screen, it was in the ocean between Vale and Mistral, some tropical island that was too small for any kind of civilisation. The dot represented Solus, and oh boy was Ruby worried about him.
Ruby was concerned about her partner because she was sure that when he left he was hurt and in pain, and thus wasn't thinking straight, he needed help that was for sure, he may not be the nicest of men, but he had saved her, that coupled with what Ozpin had said about him had left the short silver eyed girl feeling quite protective about the grumpy merc.
the sound of a door opening alerted Ruby that someone had entered the mission prep room to see her, with a glance she saw it was Pyrrha, leader of team PRWN walked over to the younger red headed girl then spoke softly "Ruby im glad we have a chance to talk before the mission briefing begins, I wanted to ask you about your wayward partner."
Rubys silver eyes finally left the holographic map and locked with the green ones of Pyrrha "im worried about him, he's hurt and confused and…"
Ruby was silenced when the champion sighed quietly then put a hand on her shoulder "Ruby I understand your concern about your partner, but there are some things you need to know, that look Solus has in his eye, ive seen it before, in my father actually"
"I don't understand"
"well many years ago, my father was a hunter of great skill, he led his teams on many successful hunts, but over time he suffered… losses… of loved ones and family. In the end he was barley a shell of the man he once was. Life had been harsh and unforgiving. It aged him. I think that he was just tired of it all, tired of the constant struggle." The taller red head paused to compose herself "Solus is similar I think. Much more guarded, but when I met him before initiation, I could tell that he was a weary soul. So I think he needs all the help we can give him."
Images of the look in the Lonely Wanderers eye flashed through the younger girls mind, a look of such depression and defeat that it was almost painful to look at. "i… think your right, but I think he's been hurt before, and we both know just how dangerous he can be, so I don't think the direct approach will work."
"you know after we were sent off the cliff by the headmaster I ran as fast as I could toward where I thought he landed, I wanted to be his partner, but im glad you with him now Ruby, I probably would have coddled him too much if I were with him, but I-" she was cut off by the door opening and the rest of teams RSYB and PRWN walking in and sitting down on the rooms many chairs.
Ruby gave Pyrrha a 'finish it later' kind of look then turned to her teammates and friends "right! Umm…. So we have our first mission, we, err, need to track down Solus, he's hurt and probably not thinking straight and we need to find him!"
Everyone went to speak at once, but it was the voice of Weiss that came over top "and why would we want to find that uncivilized brute?! I think it would be best if we just left him out there!"
Ruby and Pyrrha gave the snotty heiress fierce glares that shut her and the others up instantly. "this isn't a discussion" the normally calm Pyrrha hissed "he is hurt and confused, he may be violent, so we need to find him as soon as possible"
Ruby continued the Spartans speech seamlessly "and that being the case we thought it best if we pooled what we know about his fighting style. Any one want to comment?"
It was Blake that spoke first "disregarding the… blasts… that he can create, he seems to favour hand to hand combat."
"oh! And he has those knives attached to his wrists! Those looked pretty lethal!" Yang interjected
Surprisingly enough it was Ren who spoke next "he seems to carry a sword around, but it appears low quality, but I have never seen him use it." And Ren was right, the sword that Solus had perpetually strapped on his back did seem poorly made, it was wrapped in tattered brown leather and almost none of the actual metal was visible.
Pyrrha looked at her partner and gave a slight smile "yes good point Ren, I don't think he ever used it during any point in initiation, Ruby, you've spent the most time with him, have you seen him use it?"
"hmmm… no…when I first partnered up with him it looked like he had just cleared out a pack of beowolves, but I didn't see any large cuts or gashes that a sword would make, maybe he used his wrist blades?"
"I think we're forgetting something here!" said the finally useful Weiss "that power he used to kill the deathstalker and the nevermore, it was… unreal, surely that can't be his semblance?"
Surprisingly it was Blake who answered "no, I don't think it was his semblance, I noticed that whenever he blasted something it came from a small crystal of some sort in the glove."
"as for his semblance, it must be some kind of strength modifier, perhaps speed as well, but I know it should be impossible for any normal man to be stronger than the stinger of a deathstalker." Pyrrha said
Ozpin strode into the room confidently, coffee mug in one hand and cane in the other "enough, we have tracked him to the tropical island of Kysar, its between Vale and Mistral, you seven will need to bring him back here as soon as possible."
The teens all nodded in acceptance then shuffled out of the room.
Glynda Goodwitch walked up behind Ozpin and spoke softly yet sharply "honestly Ozpin, I don't understand what you were thinking when you brought the boy here, he'll cause nothing but trouble."
The elder man took a slow sip of his coffee "what was I thinking? I thought I saw a soul akin to my own, I saw something of myself in him, I saw a means to an end."
1 day later
The girls plus Ren were just approaching the island of Kysar on a bullhead, it was a tiny little island, really it was just a little mountain sticking out of the ocean, it wasn't even a high mountain, just a big hill really. But what was interesting was the boat docked near a small metal structure that jutted out near the waters edge.
Both teams jumped out of the airship when it got close enough, they landed on the small boat, which rocked violently at the sudden weight, and before the student hunters could say anything a loud voice boomed out over the island "hey you stupid kids! Stay right where you are!" it wasn't the gravely rough voice of Solus, the speaker sounded distinctly older.
And soon enough that was proven true when a man who looked to be about 40 with a great big shaggy beard, he was wearing a stained red coat and a tatty leather hat. Flanking the bearded man were two younger looking guys, both had a distinctly seedy look about them, this image wasn't helped by the fact that all three men had several pairs of hand cuffs on their belts.
"well luck just isn't on your side today is it kiddies? Clap 'em in irons boys, they will make fine slaves." The coated man said.
One of the goons drew the cuffs from his belt and moved towards Yang with a lecherous grin, and not once did his eyes ever travel above her neck.
"yeah, no" Yang grunted as she punched the poor fool into the ocean "listen we're looking for our… friend… Solus and we know he's here! So give him to us and we might not tell anyone about your little slave business!" that last part was completely false, there was no chance in hell that she, or the others would let these slavers run free.
"yeah! And if you've hurt him we'll break your legs!" yelled an enthusiastic Ruby
The leader, showing no outward reaction to seeing one of his men flung into the ocean, just stroked his beard mockingly and said "Solus eh? Never heard of him" just as he was finishing his statement, he pulled a small remote from his beard and pressed the little red button.
Suddenly 40 plus men streamed from the doors the other slavers had arrived from before, these newcomers had a motley collection of weapons, ranging from swords to guns. The bearded slaver jumped into the crowd and seemingly disappeared.
"great! I don't suppose we have a plan to deal with this!?" said the snotty Weiss as she and the others drew their weapons.
There was just a beat of silence before Nora screamed out a mighty "NORA SMASH! HEHEHEHE!" and promptly started crushing and hammering at the slavers before her.
"Excellent plan!" yelled Ruby as she to joined the fray.
All the others just sighed then started mowing down the stupid attackers.
Although the pirates had the advantage number wise, they didn't stand a chance against the hunters to be and were thoroughly wiped out by the teens in about 5 minutes of solid fighting.
After the fight was over Yang called out "who got beard face? I wanted a piece of him!"
Nobody said anything, each looking at the others to see whom fought the bearded slaver.
"but… then who got-" Yang started
But was suddenly cut off by the roar of a bullhead coming up behind them. The teens looked at the aircraft and saw the beacon logo "that's the bullhead that Solus took!" Ruby exclaimed her eyes shifted towards the cockpit hoping to see Solus there but instead she saw the grubby beared slaver smirking at her.
"ya stupids kids thought you could catch me? Well think again!" he called out over the airships megaphone.
The pirate waved small silver remote with a big red button at them, and with a smirk he pressed the button and then turned and flew away.
The second the button was pressed a screeching wail came out of the base's speakers. The wail only lasted about 30 seconds, but by the time it was over the bullhead was long gone.
An ominous rumble echoed over the island and gently rocking boat the teens were on each of the hunters to be looked alarmed, but that alarm turned to horror when they saw what sprung from the water.
It was huge; a completely black looking creature that resembled a octopus or squid, except this beast had innuramble tentacles and was far, far worse.
It was an SS class water Grimm
It was a Kraken
A/N
I am interested to see what people think of Solus and the facility he's in, what was it I wrote…? Oh that's right "every breath of air he took filled him with dread and near terror. All because she was here, they were all here."
So yeah, im curious to see what people make of that. Although I will say right now, there is no supernatural element to this story, no ghosts, no spirits or anything like that.
Moving on… finally someone has completed the 'Schnee challenge' as it were, granted they had been trying for awhile and it took a fair bit of prodding on my part, but they managed it. So good for them!
But im still curious to see if other people can work it out, why does Solus hate the Schnee family so much? Go on, guess.
Now onto the reviews…
chronical199:
thank you man, its people like you that make me want to continue this story.
Green Gustavo:
Back story is always fun isn't it? You got even more this chapter, although in hindsight what I've written for this chapter doesn't actually explain anything about the origin of Solus does it? If anything it raise's even more questions…
And yeah, when I first wrote Solus "getting rid of" everyone else last chapter I had a bit of a laugh.
Nik41:
No, Kira didn't die there. But to say she is alive is wrong, equally to say that she is dead would be wrong. Its complicated, really I'd say that her being alive or not is open to interpretation…
And as callous as this sounds (you may not like it) almost everything that ever was 'Jaune Arc' died in Vacuo.
gusbot3000:
the flash back is infact slightly longer, just a few little things, only about 100 words I think. And yes, I fully intend to get to chapter 17 and beyond, if I don't for whatever reason, I plan to PM you and few others the full details of the story and plot right the way to the end.
And oh my god… you have no clue just how funny you are! Yang would love you, your skills at accidently making puns is awesome. "Thank you for responding to my review and giving me an insight as to what could happen in the future." All that punny goodness…
thelastcenturion2015:
yes, that is the story on how Solus got the cybernetic upper arm. But it doesn't explain any of his other injuries does it?
Thank you again to everyone that reviewed, it warms my heart that people read my crap.
so please leave a review, let me know what you think of this new chapter, im want to know what your opinions are.