Chapter 10

Belly of the Beast - Part 2

The sound of a bird' wings flapping, the sight of the trees, mountains and rivers all swarmed from underneath me; this is what it's like to fly! I'm currently on the neck of a Nevermore, firmly gripping its feathers so I don't fall off.

The bird lets out a loud shriek and exits the clouds; swooping down to an elevation that is above the trees. The sun is still rising because it's only 7:10 but in the distance I could see Vale.

I check my scroll to make sure I have the exact location of the Precinct.

"Okay birdie, fly me to the Precinct in the residential District!" I say while gently caressing the Nevermore neck.

"Kaawwwww!" The Nevermore lets out a small shriek and speeds up. With seconds, we arrive over the city; below me I could hear people screaming and yelling.

"There it is!?" I yell out and point to the Precinct. I equip my bow and arm it with an arrow. The Nevermore slows down as we get closer to the Precinct; eventually coming to a halt and allowing me to roll off.

I land hard on the sidewalk about 5 feet away from the front entrance. The hard landing sends a shock up my legs, causing me to cringe. In front of me are 3 police officers drinking coffee; they looked at me with complete shock.

I take aim and shoot an arrow into the police officer in the middle. Upon impact, the two other officers drop their coffees and attempt to draw their firearms. But it's too late, I quickly equip another arrow and fire it into the left eye of the police officer to the right, followed by drawing another arrow from my quiver and attaching it to my string, then releasing; sending it through the last police officers chest. Then the Cups of coffee smashed into the ground; shattering and releasing black liquid all over the pavement.

I grab my hood and raise it over my head. It's time to save Cinder.

I approach the Precinct and look through the window in the door. All I could see is a man at the front desk, followed by a couple officers that are behind him to the right. My aura's still activated; it's been the longest I've ever had it going but it means I'll have enhanced strength, precision and agility. Anyone inside this building are going to die... including the innocents. I grab an arrow from my quiver and attach it the string; taking one last deep breath, I close my eyes and focus as much Dust into hand as I could. I open my eyes and breach the door; savagely kicking it creating a loud noise to echo throughout the large room.

This is where the slaughter begins.

The man at the front desk stands up; I quickly fire an arrow into his chest and cause him to be sent flying into the wall behind him. I then reload the bow and ignite an arrow. I shoot the man behind the desk to the right and pierce his chest, causing the arrow to cut right through him; nailing the other officer behind him in the heart. Looking to the right and left I see helpless, scared people. I split my bow in half and transform them into sickles. "I'm sorry..." I whisper. I nimbly launch myself forward begin to butcher them by slicing them in half or stabbing then in the chest or chopping at their necks, head and limbs. After I successfully kill the last civilian in the room, I divert my attention to a hallway, in which the sound of guns being loaded is heard.

In the room, I walk along the wall that separates the hall and the room I'm currently in. I slowly walk, each step I take, I sniff the air to see if someone is on the other side of the wall. If I pick up on a scent, then I carve a "X" into the wall using an arrow so I know where they are. When I get to the end, I count a total of 11 "X's."

This part will take complete concentration.

I get my bow ready and equip an arrow. I jog along the wall, every "X" i pass, I release the string of my bow and reload it, and continuously doing it until all there is no sign of an "X." After seconds of jogging, I listen for sound of body's hitting the floor. *Thump Thump Thump Thump * ... *Thump Thump Thump* I continue to listen to make sure all 11 body's hit the floor. *...Thump Thump Thump Thump ... Thump* Yes! Eleven bodies in total. I storm around the corner with my bow ready and aim down the hallway.

Nothing but the sight of corpses fills my peripheral vision. I run down the hallway, occasionally jumping over a dead body and pass multiple doors; some open, some shut. When I reach the end of the hallway, I hear a door being kicked open from at least 3 doors behind me. Two officers circle from around the corner in front of me, pointing their guns in my face.

"Put your hands in the air cock sucker!" The Officer screams.

From behind me the officer at the door fires his gun. I turn around and quickly separate my bow into two, creating my dual sickles. I use my right handed sickle to cut the bullet in half, causing the two halves of the bullet to penetrate the skulls of the two officers behind me.

I then connect the sickles and form my bow. Before the officer could fire another bullet, I shoot an arrow at him in which travels through his mouth and exits the back of his throat. I've killed over two dozen people within 5 minutes... 'What am I?' I release the thought from my mind and run around the corner.

There are no more sounds or signs of any police officers still alive, so I sniff out Cinders scent and make my way towards her. It's not long before I reach her.

She's locked in cell #3 with a ginger haired guy named Roman. "Coming to save the damsel in distress?" Cinder says with an arrogant tone. "I'm here to get you out." I respond looking around the room.

"Really? I thought you came for the doughnuts?" Roman says sarcastically. I glance over at Roman and let out a soft gasp. His face looked like it had been hit by a claw hammer multiple times. I pay no attention to his comment though and continue to look around.

"Where are the keys to unlock the cell?"

Cinder points to a desk that has a lot of papers on it and a cup of coffee with doughnuts. 'I guess these are the doughnuts Roman was talking about.'

I look around and notice multiple orange buttons that are concealed by a glass case in which needs to a key to be opened.

I look over at Cinder and Roman. "Listen, when I open this, keep your distance because I can't exactly control my actions... okay?"

Cinder rolls her eyes then places her palm on her forehead, "Just press the button." she says impatiently.

I elbow the glass case and press the orange button that has #3 on it. A red light turns on above their cell and the door slides open.

"Lady's first." Roman says while holding his hand out as if he's holding a door.

"It feels nice to be out of that Cell. Can you believe they put some kind of Dust barrier over it... it disabled the use of my..." Cinders hands light up with small flames.

I pull an arrow out of my quiver and slice my other palm, causing a small river of blow to gush out, "Okay I'll call the Nevermore to pick us up. That'll give you time to get your cane Roman."

"It's not a bloody cane you-" Cinder cuts him off by waving her hands around in a circular motion.

In a blink of an eye, Cinder fires a ray of fire that completely incinerates the wall.

"Shall we go?" Cinder says.

I nod and run through the disintegrated hole in the wall with Cinder behind me. Roman scurries off looking for his... weapon.

In the distance I could see the Nevermore; just in time too. A lot of Police Reinforcements are showing up and they don't look pleased.

Roman runs out carrying his cane. "Holy hell, there's a lot of dead people in there." Roman says while catching his breath.

I look down with sorrow blazing in my eyes, "Don't remind me." I whisper.

Police cars speed towards us and stop a block away. Hordes of Police men swarm the vicinity; hiding behind their cruisers or anything that will provide cover.

"Put your hands in the air! Any sudden movements will resu-"

A police officer interrupts the Sergeant and gets up; pointing at the Nevermore, "What the hell is that!"

Another police officer gets up, dropping his gun and taking a few steps back, "Oh my god... it's a NEVERMORE! RUN!"

Some police officers take aim at the Grimm but most run. The Nevermore swoops down and comes to a halt; raising its wings, it fires multiple large feathers in which impale the officers like a shish kabob or pierce the engines of the cars, resulting in large explosions.

"Land Nevermore!" I call out, gesturing it to land.

"Uhh, are you sure it's safe to ride?" Roman asks sounding nervous. The Nevermore lands and Cinder and Roman quickly climb onto its back. I run up the wing and jump onto its neck.

"Hold on to its feathers tightly, this bird goes fast."

"Well it's a darn shame I left my sunglasses at home... whatever." Roman says jokingly.

The Nevermore takes off and releases a strong gust of wind; sending mail boxes, dead bodies and other things to go be sent flying.

After a few flaps of the Nevermores wings, we're in the air and going at full speed back to the White Fang hideout.

The whole ride home is silent.

We arrive on the landing pad; dismounting from the Nevermore. I gently rub the birds' beak,

"You know, they're kind of cute when they're not trying to rip the skin off your back. What do you guys think?" I turn around and see that Roman and Cinder have vanished. 'I wonder where they've gone.' I look back at the Grimm and stop rubbing its beak.

"You can go now birdie." I say while walking backwards.

"Kaaaawwwwww!" The Nevermore shrieks and flaps its wings; sending me flying into the wall behind me.

*Thump* "Ahh Damn that is powerful." I put my hand over my eyes to stop dirt from entering them. Once the Nevermore takes off and leaves, I get up and make my way into the Main Command building.

I have to tell Amber about what happened. I needed to get it off my mind. On my way to Ambers' tent, I remember that my semblance is still activated.

I rush to the nearest bathroom and look in a mirror.

I'm back to normal; black hair, no fangs, no red eyes. 'When did it deactivate?' I wonder.

It must've been after I got off the Nevermore. I'll worry about it later; this gave me an opportunity to go see Amber.

When I leave the bathroom, a familiar voice is heard on the P.A system, "Ulysses Strider, report to the interrogation center."

Inside my head, a voice said, "Deception."

Liana opens the door, gesturing me to come into the room. I give her a confused look and walk in. That's when my heart stopped.

Amber is trapped in a chair with a split lip and a bruised left cheek.

"What the hell is going on!?" I say angrily.

"It appears your friend isn't who you think she is." Cinder replies and winds up her hand to slap Amber.

I grab her hand tightly and give her a death stare, "Get Out!"

Cinder doesn't reply. Instead she withdraws her hand form my grip and leaves.

I bolt forward and kneel beside Amber, resting my hand on her cheek. "Amber! What the hell is going on!?"

Amber pushes my hand away from her face and remains silent.

I tilt my head in confusion. "Amber...?"

Tears slowly start building up in her eyes. "I'm an undercover agent from the Vale Police Department."

"What!? But... Why!?" I lean forward and try to lock eyes with Amber but have no success.

"Huh, my mission was to shut down the Genesis Program and destroy anything it created." Amber fully breaks down in tears.

I'm shocked. My body begins to shake from the anxiety.

Amber starts to sob and starts sniffling. "I was supposed to assassinate you."

I reach out and gently wipe the tears from her face. "Why didn't you?"

She finally turn her head towards me and grabs my hand. "Because I knew you were different. I knew that inside was a man who's going to end a war. I was wrong though."

A strong furious rage builds up inside me, my self control isn't enough to detain it. "NO! Why didn't you tell me the truth!?"

"Ulysses, I was going to but you ran off and... and you went and murdered people."

I turn away and hide my guilt.

"How could you? Roman said there were kids lying dead inside the place."

I rise to my feet and turn my back to her. "I had to save Cind-" Amber cuts me off.

"No you didn't. Revenge isn't worth the lives of children, or even the innocent. You're vendetta drove you blind and now look in the mirror... You're a monster."

I pull an arrow out of my quiver and turn around; throwing it to her. "Then finish your mission. Kill me."

Amber's lips quiver and she gets up, firmly gripping the arrow. But once more, tears flow down her face.

Full of anger and resentment, Amber stabs the arrow into the desk inside the interrogation room. "No. You don't deserve to die."

My emotions drove me to the edge. "I just wanted to prove my worth, to show everyone that I can be a leader like Adam."

Amber took a seat again and rested her hands on the table in front of her; letting out a loud sigh. "You're fighting under the wrong flag Ulysses. If you think that butchering people will achieve peace, then you've fulfilled you're goal. You've become Adam Tauras."

"You're right Amber. I have." And every piece of me regretted it. Every man, women and child I slaughtered made me realise that I'm not meant to hurt people. But I've come too far to allow regret to consume my judgement.

I turned to the door and left.

At first I thought I heard Amber mumble something under her breath, but I decided it could only be a curse, so I shut the door behind me.

If I wasn't blinded by assumption, I would've realised what really said was, "Don't go."

Upon leaving the interrogation room, I'm greeted by Cinder and Liana in which I notice Liana carrying a familiar mask and Cinder holding a mirror.

"Are you ready to become a real leader?" Cinder asks me while sneering.

I nod my head and say in a blissful tone, "I am."

Liana raises her hands and attaches the mask to my face. Cinder then hands me the mirror.

I slowly raise it to my face, anticipating the moment when I see myself as a White Fang leader. The reflection reveals Adam Tauras! No I'm mistaken, it's me. Upon my face was the very mask Adam wore.

I look at Liana. "What's the next part of the plan?"

Both Liana and Cinder smirk at my response. "First we kidnap Blake Belladonna, luring the student here. And then we kill the man who took Adams' life."

"No... 'We' don't kill him. I do."