What's up, ladies and gentlemen, it's S-Rei here – finally!
So I know it's been way too long – again – but, as I explain in the notes at the end of this chapter, I had a reason for it. A painful one. Or rather, two.
Anyway, I'm back, and I brought along yet another long installment. 64 pages await you below, so I hope you haven't planned anything for the next two hours, because we're going on a ride! One filled with our favorite brawler, one of the two Malachite twins, Dust, a certain psychopath, and damn, what the hell did I create this time...
Yeah, just see for yourself, I don't even have words for this right now. I'll explain some parts at the end.
But until then, hope you enjoy this, and I'll see you at the bottom, right where I belong...
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or its characters. They belong to Rooster Teeth.
Chapter 9: Fulgur, Part 1 of 4 - 'Electrica'
A sharp click and loud clattering had her jolt up and immediately alert. Sitting upright on a creaky wooden stool, it took her a moment to realize that she was in one of the cold storage rooms of Junior's club, arms resting on an old metal workbench that Junior had once created his weapon on roughly two decades prior – she had fallen asleep there, and accidentally knocked over a box of screws that now lay scattered across the hard and cold floor.
With a heavy groan, Yang slowly sunk down on the workbench again, all of the energy leaving her body, joining the already non-existent motivation. The cold metal felt soothing against her searing skin as she closed her eyes again, her frustration fueling her semblance – that, and she had accidentally hurt herself several times over the course of the evening and night. Most of her left hand was aching, thumb bruised and swollen, more than once having ended up caught in a tool.
But this was worth it – at least, that was what she would've said before the start of the night. Based on the clock that rested at the back of the workbench, which read 2:42 AM when she opened her eyes briefly, that was about eight hours ago, two and a half of which she had spent sleeping. Or at least, based on how tired and exhausted she still was, dozing.
She could faintly hear the music from the main room in the distance, but didn't really care for it tonight. Faintly remembered that the Malachite Twins had said they would retire early that night as well due to a mission the two of them had the next day, and more sleep did sound pretty amazing to Yang as well right then. Didn't care if it would be right there, on that cold metal workbench.
As she opened her eyes once more, and spotted the golden abomination that lay only a few centimeters away from her, not an ounce of the motivation she had felt hours ago was left. Resembling a golden deformed rock more than anything, it looked nothing like the sketches pinned to the wall above the workbench – not that these really were any good. Considering that she was doing this for the first time, both sketching and building a weapon, and this was going to be nothing more than a prototype – one already more expensive than she had planned – for what she ultimately wanted to be her weapon, this was hardly a surprise, however.
Tired and defeated, the blonde brawler rose from the uncomfortable spot and sat up, the stool creaking beneath her. Her gaze came to rest on the sketches on the wall, showing a single gauntlet with a few notes scribbled along it, explaining the few modifications she had thought of.
Which was basically just a half-finished transformation mechanism into an inactive form that she wasn't very content with and a firing mechanism for rounds that she had the feeling was going to be malfunctioning a lot – she didn't understand all that much about them, after all. Hadn't exactly been taught much about them with her not going to Signal, and the bit of information that her scroll, lying on the workbench as well, still displayed – she had once again forgotten to activate the screen timeout, the battery was almost dead – wasn't really helpful at all.
It wasn't that she didn't want more, however. So far, she had mostly clung to Arslan's advice of having a melee weapon as a basis with something to make up for the lack of range – hence the firing mechanism – but the harder she tried to think of something else to add, or to just define these two features, the more did her head hurt and the less ideas did she have. Her head was throbbing, aching, and the dissatisfaction was doing little to help her with it.
Heck, it was the entire reason she had begun actually putting the incomplete abomination into reality, thinking that she'd have ideas while working on it – but that had proven to only make it worse. The golden clump of gold lying on the table before her sure didn't look like the gauntlet she had sketched in the slightest, and halfway through the process of bending the gold into shape, she had come to hate the inactive form it was supposed to transform into – it felt incomplete.
The entire weapon felt incomplete!
Anger took her over and she brought her fist down on the table. The malformed clump of gold was catapulted into the air a bit and the tools on the table shook and shifted, her scroll almost fell right off the edge – but she didn't care much. Was too frustrated.
She had a mission for Cinder coming up, her first one for the fire-wielding villainess, the one that Ruby had told her about. Two days had passed since Ruby's mission at Beacon, and the young mercenary was still recovering from that ordeal – two times did she wake up the night right after the mission to run to the toilet and throw up, nightmares reminding her of what she had witnessed. Of what Neo had done.
And damn, though Ruby only told her about the more twisted side to the little assassin, it had Yang feeling uneasy. She had guessed that Neo was no stranger to violence, but there was a large difference between hurting someone and jumping at them to ram a blade through his throat – and that in cold blood, perfectly stoic about it. It took a lot more to do that, and a lot of previous murders to grow numb to it.
Ruby had begun to recover and had stopped throwing up, but she still asked to avoid the topic for the most part. Which Yang could understand that – Ruby had been innocent in that regard until that night, and in some way, still was. Hadn't killed anyone herself.
Yet.
The thought made the angry blonde shiver, but even she wasn't as stupid as to deny that the day would come. Ruby herself didn't, and though Yang liked to hope that it wouldn't, she knew that there was no way around it. Could only hope that they were prepared for that day.
With a heavy sigh, she reached out to grab her scroll and turned the screen off, wincing as her injured fingers ached under the pressure she put onto the scroll when pressing the button. What a horrible night to have to work on this cursed weapon – but she really needed it. Soon.
As Cinder had promised Ruby, she had indeed called two days after the mission at Beacon – at this point in the night, several hours ago – and had revealed her next mission for Ruby, which included Yang for the first time. And though neither Yang nor Cinder had been very friendly during this call when they had negotiated the terms for the mission – Yang still pissed because of Cinder exploiting Ruby's naivety just like that, and Cinder not taking too kindly at being insulted – they had eventually come to an agreement.
Cinder's mission was no more than 48 hours away, and Yang was far from having a functional weapon for it, and she didn't feel like relying on Cinder to provide her with one, like Ruby did. That, and she doubted that Cinder was willing to do that with how strained their relationship was so far, as Yang distrusted the villainess she had yet to meet in person – and that quite openly. Felt like she had lots of reason to.
And had just as many reasons to have at least a prototype of a weapon ready by then – after how injured she had been after the last mission with the twins, and looking back at the Paladin incident, more so for her own safety than anything else. Anyone who ever got into a serious brawl knows that their own hands will get hurt even if they don't have to defend themselves even once – and with the power that each punch of the blonde mercenary packed, the damage her own hands and arms took was enormous. And only added to every other injury she received.
Especially in the long run, this was dangerous. As she was, she was a fire that burnt twice as bright, but only half as long – she used up everything that fueled her flame uncontrollably in mere moments, was a light fated to die out where others reached their peak. And all just because her own flames licked at her arms, consumed her for she was the very fuel that kept it kindled. In the end, if not countered soon enough, only ashes would remain.
She couldn't go on like this, she needed a weapon. A weapon that would shield her hands and arms – gauntlets, in other words – from the damage she caused to herself, and a weapon that would be able to remove some of the strain she put on her own body by relying entirely on her fists and her semblance.
It wasn't just a desire that she had anymore, it was a necessity. What would she do if she and Ruby were surrounded by enemies that just kept coming wave after wave, and all that was between them and Ruby was herself? If things didn't change, if they stayed as they were – she would fail way too soon. Would fall eventually, and would never be able to forgive herself.
But with the right weapon, one that not only prevented herself from the drawbacks of her own combat style, but would support it – then at least, there would be a chance. A light in the dark to cling to.
Even though even the most brilliant lights eventually flicker – and die. Even brilliant lights will eventually cease to burn. And in their wake – only darkness.
Yes, Yang was aware of how the world worked. Abandoned by your own mother after birth, thrown out into the unknown with everything she knew consumed by flames only years later – oh she knew so very well.
That's why she wouldn't leave it to chance. Nothing, absolutely nothing.
Despite the headache that throbbed in her head, she reached out an snatched the drawing from the wall and slammed it down on the workbench. Had to search for the pencil that had gone flying when she had hammered her fists down on the table before, but finally found it in between some wires and the malformed gold.
It was back to the drawing board for her – quite literally. Start all over again, erase the half-assed transformation and the clearly non-functional firing mechanism from the sketch and think it all through again. A gauntlet – for now, for the prototype, only a single one – would be the base, but everything else – erased. Again. Ignore the headache, keep working – a chant that repeated itself in her head despite the pain. The only thing more stupid would be telling herself to 'never miss a beat', but at least it worked. For now.
In a way, she was glad that she hadn't really begun working on the mistreated bit of gold – it gave her the possibility to use it again, though it hadn't exactly been the most expensive object for the original design she had in mind – now long abandoned – when she had gathered all of the necessary resources and retreated into that stupid cold backroom.
But just like before, as she was leaned over the drawing of a gauntlet, the ideas wouldn't come to her. Again, only had that stupid firing mechanism she didn't understand and that dreadful transformation into an inactive mode she didn't even like in mind.
Why was this so hard? This was the moment she had waited years for, the thing she had dreamed of countless nights – to sit down and design her own weapon. To gather the resources and put it into practice. While not at a school or academy, at least this part was true now. But just as Ruby had countless ideas for a personal weapon when thinking about one, Yang had none all of sudden.
And just like everything else in her life, it didn't want to work when it came down to it. Just like finding a job in the past years that lasted for more than just a few weeks. Just like all the horrible attempts at dating she had started, only to all fall flat once it got serious. Like the fucking attempts at finding her coward of a mother!
This wasn't fair. Life just wasn't fair. It was like bad things sometimes just happened – no reason at all. Life just took from her, and refused to give her anything in return!
It was all just a monstrous, demented gag – everything she had ever hoped for and worked toward.
"You're still up?"
The blonde mercenary cringed madly, the tip of the pencil that she had rested against the drawing scratching over the surface and leaving a long gray line on the paper. She whirled around in her seat and stared at the door, and the person who stood inside it.
Seeing the brawler's shock, Miltiades just frowned. Her arms crossed beneath her chest, leaned against the doorframe in what looked way too much like a red negligee for Yang's taste – although it did spark the question in her head if Miltia's twin wore something as revealing as that when going to bed – and with a frown upon her face that was for once without make-up, Miltia looked nothing like the shy girl she usually was without Melanie around. Surprisingly confident, if anything, something that one would definitely associate with Melanie rather than Miltiades.
Of course, having lived with the twins for a while now, Yang knew that Miltia wasn't as shy with those she knew well as she was with strangers or large groups, both of which robbed her of confidence and trust. While nowhere near as outspoken as her sister and way more quiet, Miltia could be more confident than she let on.
And, as with Ruby, certain topics – coincidentally weapons as well – could bring forth a completely different side to the usually less talkative twin.
"I could ask you the same thing." sighed Yang eventually as more seconds of silence passed, during which she realized that Miltia was waiting for an answer. And having provided her with a lack thereof, Yang turned away and back to the project she was – not so much, actually – working on.
"That doesn't answer my question. But fine, if you want to play that way." huffed the girl in the doorway, before pushing herself off the doorframe and stepping further into the room, "Are you still working on your weapon? Still sketching?"
With a groan, Yang put the pencil down on the ruined drawing – not that there had been much to ruin about it – and brought a hand up to massage her forehead. Leave it to Miltia to hit the nail on the head first try.
"Wish I were. I had a lot of ideas during the last few days and I've heard quite some good advice, yours included..." the blonde leaned back and gestured to the horrible attempt at a sketch on the workbench before her, "...but now, it's like I can barely remember any of them! I've started over two times now and all I can think of are a firing mechanism and some shitty inactive form!"
"A gauntlet?" mused the twin in red upon seeing the drawing, "Can't say I'm surprised, it does fit your style. And it's a good start."
"Arslan suggested using gauntlets or gloves as a base. I've decided for gauntlets because they cover up part of the forearm as well." commented Yang – and seeing Miltia's frown, quickly added, "Arslan is a friend of mine, a brawler I met at the gym. Didn't I talk about that?"
"Not sure. You might have, and I might have just politely listened away."
"Wow. What a way to tell me that I am boring."
"It's not you, I tend to tune out quite often." offered Miltia with a shrug, before leaning over Yang's shoulder to examine the sketch in detail, as well as the objects strewn across the workbench. The brawler herself merely frowned at that, but left it without comment. She did notice something else though, a mellow smell in the air.
"Are you drunk again?" groaned the blonde – and, seeing Miltia open her mouth, intervened right away, "And don't you dare use that word!"
"Relax, I'm not drunk. I'm sober, for the most part." huffed the claw-wielding mercenary and rolled her eyes, "Unless you call someone who had two shots 'drunk'. And I don't drink as often as you may think – on the usual nights, I stick to water. Only exceptions are Fridays and when some friends party in the club, but even then I try to keep it to a minimum." Without a warning, the twin blushed, which had Yang frowning at her again, "...I get drunk quite fast. Doesn't take much for me to be drunk, and for 'drunk Miltia' to surface."
"Y'know, that actually does explain a lot." chuckled Yang, for a moment forgetting about her problems and irritation. And though it earned her a dark glare from Miltia, it did serve to lift the mood.
"Whatever." hissed Miltia in response, eyes narrowed at her fellow mercenary before she turned to frown at the tools on the workbench before Yang, "So you're having problems? And why exactly?"
A frown spread across the features of the blonde as irritation welled up, both because she was reminded of her failed project and because she felt like she had just told Miltiades the answer mere minutes before.
"Is that your way of telling me that you've just 'politely listened away' again?" accused Yang as she turned in her chair to face the twin in red, "I just literally told you that, for some reason, I can't come up with anything tonight and that...!"
"You misunderstand." interrupted Miltia before Yang could really start, "I asked you 'why', not 'what'. I know what the problem is, I'm wonder why it exists."
Yang opened her mouth to shoot something back and complain – but found that she couldn't. That Miltia was asking the right question, the one she had ignored in her desperate attempt to create something, a weapon that was worth what she invested and that fit her. One that would never fail her, that would give her the power to protect her friends and allies, a weapon that wasn't just situational but would be reliable in any situation.
Was this why? Had she been so desperate to create something perfect that she had completely ruled out any other possibility? And that even though she knew better – that there was no such thing as perfection in this world. And if there was, then it wasn't worth anything – for it lacked the ability to improve, was the undesirable apex of existence. Who had it would lack motivation, for there was nothing left for him to do and achieve, everything obsolete.
Even though everyone was aiming to get perfection, in reality no one truly wanted to achieve it. For perfection was only a hollow promise, a laughable attempt of the world at giving someone something to aim for and keep his motivation up. Like the carrot on a stick, always just out of reach no matter how hard one tried.
Something foolish to chase after, and yet the essence that kept one alive and facing the troubles of every new day. For sometimes, one would get a bite of the carrot, as small as it was.
This was her fault though, the attempt of achieving perfection in a weapon. Stupid, outright idiotic – a trap she had fallen into in her zeal.
"I see you understand." mused Miltia with a chuckle, and Yang knew that the realization and frustration at her own stupidity must've been written all across her face. Felt like a gigantic neon sign reading 'moron' was pointed at her, though there was none. Still, she rose a hand and covered her eyes as she leaned back in her chair with a groan.
"That should help you come up with some ideas. You just have to think rational." the twin added with a chuckle, amused by Yang's expression of frustration over her own stupidity, "You know, sometimes the functionality of a weapon comes at the cost of its appearance. Sometimes, you'll have to make sacrifices."
With a movement of the black-haired girl's hands and a mechanical whir, the bracelets began to unfold into the claws that were Miltia's choice of weapon. If only for show or to add to Miltia's words, the blonde brawler didn't know, but leaned towards the first explanation rather than the second – Miltia's weapons, while crude in design because of what they were, certainly weren't hideous. Aesthetically pleasing, if anything, and Yang couldn't remember ever having thought that about another set of claws.
"With some weapons, you'll have to make that sacrifice even in their finished state. Not with these here, of course, but it took me a long time until they were truly complete – a time, during which I've developed the habit of spending nights in which I can't sleep to create weapons and test new functionalities on them. Many of which favor functionality over appearance." continued Miltia – and suddenly frowned at Yang, "And, before you even ask – no, you can't use any of them. Not only are they incredibly simplistic in their design and functionality, but most of them are experimental and were never meant for more than one use. And the majority doesn't fit your style, anyway – and even if they would have, your semblance would most likely destroy them in a single use."
"I wasn't going to ask. I want a custom weapon, one I've created myself – though I'm not disinclined towards advice." shot Yang back – and then, narrowed her eyes, "By the way, I'm offended by that last part."
"The truth is always harsh when we're confronted with it."
Yang felt one eyelid starting to twitch – not only because of Miltia's sassy comeback, but because she knew how very true it was. Still, she watched as the twin in red slowly rose he claws and stared down at them, examining them as if looking for something.
"You know, Yang... Despite how many weapons I've created, I've never used any of them over these. Never aimed to replace them, but always only looked for ways to improve them – these claws here, they're the only right weapon in the world for me." slowly, Miltia turned them until her palms were pointing towards her face, balled her hands to fists – and the electricity of her claws came alive, "Voltaic Claws is the name I've given to them. Electric Projectile Claws – or short EPC – the classification. One of a kind, I'd say. My only true love."
Despite how serious Miltia seemed at that moment, how absorbed, Yang couldn't help but smirk. Leaning back in her seat, rocking it backwards and forwards, she rose an eyebrow at the claw-wielding twin and smirked smugly.
"Should I give you two – or well, three – a moment? Cause, while I'm not judging of what kinky stuff you do with your weapons behind closed doors, I'm not one for watching."
"Funny." drawled Miltia, face perfectly stoic, before she simply moved her foot and put just enough pressure against the closest leg of the stool that Yang was sitting on. Before the blonde had a chance to catch on, she was falling backwards, and a sharp pain spread through her as she hit the hard and cold ground and all air was forced out of her – which only served to add to what her semblance had already built up over the course of the evening and night. A quiet curse from her had Miltia smirking, the mercenary simply watching as the brawler rolled onto the side and held the back of her head with a whine.
"But hardly a surprise that you're not one for watching." added the black-haired girl in sleepwear as she crouched down next to the cursing blonde and sniggered, "Not when you're so desperately trying to get into my sister's panties."
Yang stopped writhing in pain, eyes wide open as she turned her head to stare at the calmer twin above her. An amused smirk had found its way onto the face of Miltiades, mocking her – and that very effectively.
"Oh come on, why so surprised? You can't tell me that you've tried to hide it, Miss show-off." chuckled Miltia, reaching out with a hand so suddenly that Yang flinched and nearly shied away. And yet, she let it happen as Miltia gently began to trace the outline of her upper arm's muscles, the expression of the more experienced mercenary lacking any emotion. "And you know what? You're exactly her type. Headstrong, muscular, someone to whose arm you can cling onto and brag about – a jock, but one that doesn't lack brains."
As the twin retracted her hand and slowly rose, Yang frowned and rolled onto her back, still staring at the smaller girl.
"Melanie isn't just an accessory I plan to wear on my arm to show off."
"I know, and it's not what I was insinuating. I can see that you're honest about it. And even though you bent under her anger and try to please her, you're not very submissive. But you're also not looking for someone you can protect and have hide behind you, though some people would believe it when seeing you and not knowing you better. You're looking for a relationship where you both are equal." The corner of Miltia's mouth twitched, then began to curl upwards as she took another step back and rested her back against the wall, retracted her claws and pulled out her scroll with a last glance towards the workbench that Yang had sat on, "But so is Melanie."
Yang felt new energy spread through her, new motivation pushing away the dark thoughts and the pain and frustration. She used her hands to push herself up into a sitting position, never taking her gaze off the twin in the room.
"Are you saying that Melanie is interested?"
Miltia, who had been in the middle of typing a message to someone despite the hour of night, stopped. She lowered her scroll a bit and simultaneously rose her gaze – just enough to glance over the brim of the holographic display – and slowly rose an eyebrow.
And Yang shuddered.
Miltia didn't even need to say it, all about her spoke 'Are you kidding me?' at that moment.
"I mean, I noticed." added the brawler quickly and rose from the ground, "She, uhm, wasn't very subtle either. Ruby told me how angry she was the other day when I left without listening to her and messed up the plans she had for that day with me... and I guess I did notice the glances she's sent me."
"And yet you've just asked me if she's interested? What are you, a moron? Dense?"
"Hey!" growled the brawler, offended – and, even if that stray thought seemed weird to her, oddly reminded of Neo in Miltia's choice of words. Just that the mute assassin typed them rather than actually being able to voice them. "It was just that I... I wasn't really..."
"You've had, and still have, doubts about it. You knew that Melanie was interested, you are interested yourself – but you hesitate."
In response, Yang rose an accusing eyebrow at her, but Miltia remained ever so stoic. Not even impressed in the slightest, actually went back to typing whatever message she had been working on.
"Thanks for stating the obvious. Whatever would we do if you weren't there to summarize my emotions?" sneered Yang – and rolled her eyes when Miltia just gave her the finger while not even looking up from her scroll in return.
Feeling that there was no point in talking about it any further – partially because she felt embarrassed by the thought of talking with Miltia about her attraction towards the girl's twin – Yang turned away and picked up the stool to put it back where it belonged. And thus, was once again confronted with her failure of that night which still lay on the workbench.
"This may seem somewhat ironic..." began Miltia suddenly, and though Yang turned her head to look the way of the twin, didn't immediately continue. Finished and sent her message, before turning to reciprocate the glance and finish her sentence, "...but again, there's only one question that I have that seems oddly reminiscent of the earlier scenario. If you knew that Melanie is attracted to you and you are just as much attracted to her, then why are you not pursuing it? You can't tell me that you're afraid of the question, you're too confident for that."
As Yang hesitated this time, it wasn't because she realized that she had made a mistake, like with the scenario earlier that night when Miltia had asked a very similar question – it was because she knew the answer this time around, and simply didn't know how to express it. The doubt inside her mind that had nothing to do with timidity or lack of confidence. What Miltia had said was very true, she could've just walked up to Melanie and asked her out the moment she'd noticed that Melanie was very much interested as well – if not for the one thing that irked her. The one thing that had ruined all other romantic relationships she had ever thought about pursuing, aside from the fear of what others would think if they knew she and Ruby lived on the streets. Which, by then, was no longer the case, of course.
"It's not about me, is it?" inquired Miltia suddenly – and for the first time that night, was far off from the truth – and frowned, "If it's me you are worried about, then I can reassure you – I have no sexual attraction towards you at all. Or anyone, for that matter. I'm pretty much asexual."
Yang froze at this bit of information, mind blown for a short few seconds – and then rose both hands to her head and shook it. Her mouth moved, but no words would come out. At first.
"The fuck, Miltia?!"
"What?" inquired the twin ever so stoic, almost as if not understanding Yang's shock. Which, in hindsight, fit the twin's way of handling most things calm and very scientifically – at least, that was the word Yang had for Miltia's demeanor, lacking any better ones – just perfectly.
"I... How can you be so... How can you say something like that, with that face, so..." the brawler trailed off, hands falling to her side with a sigh. It was too late to deal with that.
"I don't see the problem. I'm actually not sure why people make such a fuss about their sexuality to begin with, when it's the most normal thing in the world. We all come from somewhere, after all, and I feel like it's an attribute as normal as a name. And we all have one, right?" Despite continuing, Miltia just went back to typing on her scroll, which had vibrated in her hands and signaled an incoming reply to the message she had sent before, "But maybe that's just something that I can see because I'm not driven by my genitals and drive to reproduce, as well as the excessive release of dopamine, adrenaline, endorphins and cortisol that is clouding the mind of those who are 'in love'."
With a growl of frustration, Yang sank back down onto the stool and facepalmed. Why again was she having this conversation with someone who got all science-y and technical when drunk? Who, and that just fit perfectly into what she had just learned, had shown no signs of any physical attraction to anyone and anything, other than the thrill of battle and weapons?
Deep down, she only hoped that Ruby wouldn't become like that, or she'd be a frustration to deal with. And that was saying something, considering that Yang had never before hoped that her little sister would develop a sexual drive for someone.
"No, it's not you, Miltia." snarled the blonde brawler eventually, frustration getting the better of her for the moment, "It's me."
At this, Miltia stopped typing and glanced over, again rising her eyebrow questioningly. She ignored it as her scroll vibrated and a new message appeared on screen in favor of just staring at the other person in the room – and Yang frowned right back, inquiring whatever the twin thought of as wrong at that moment with her gaze alone.
"I don't understand." mused Miltia eventually, "If it's not me that you're worried about, but yourself..." She shook her head, "Are you more in love with yourself then than with Melanie?"
Yang surprised herself with the amount of self-control she exerted that moment – however she had not picked up the stool to throw it at Miltiades was beyond her. But it served to remind her of just how excruciatingly frustrating it could be to talk with Miltiades alone while the girl wasn't fully interested in the topic or distracted.
Just how did Miltia not get what she was saying? Was she drunk, after all, or purposely trying to tick her off?
"No." she shot back, voice threateningly low, "It's... complicated."
"What is?" pressed Miltia on nonchalantly, ignoring yet another message and Yang's obvious irritation, "Look, I'm good at understanding complicated things. Try me."
"Fine, you want to know what's so complicated about this?" yelled Yang suddenly and burst out of her seat, then surprised Miltia by gesturing at her own body, "Have you seen me? I'm a brute covered in tattoos and scars, and tattoos that cover up scars – and some of them aren't even physical, but all in here!"
The brawler pointed at her own head in her anger, before suddenly turning around and kicking the wooden stool across the room. Miltia watched the display of destructiveness impassively, even as Yang turned to the clump of gold on the workbench and put a hand on it – and Miltia swore she saw how the gold bent slightly as the blonde clenched her hand down o it.
And that was after Yang seemed to have calmed down after the initial violent outburst of fury.
"You know my past, Miltia, and Melanie knows as well. And I'm not even trying to hide it, you can see my tattoos and my scars and my hair – and my character. My tendency towards violence. There's no point in hiding what Ruby and I have been through, how we've lived until only very recently, all these problems we've had – some of which we still have." Yang paused momentarily and let go of the gold to gather up some of the tools that her earlier actions had scattered over the workbench.
"Y'know, this all here is incredible to us, even the most casual things. Warm water whenever we want it, our own scrolls, our own comfortable beds and even all of you. How nice you treat us, how much this feels like... home." The brawler reached for her scroll and activated the screen, if only to see how much battery charge was left, "And now compare that to where you come from. Where Melanie comes from. And compare me to Melanie."
Yang turned her head slightly to glance over her shoulder at the girl in red, and Miltia couldn't help but notice the distress in the brawler's eyes as Yang began to shake her head.
"I'm a dangerous and violent orphan that's spent years living on the street." clarified Yang much calmer than before, "And Melanie, in comparison, is serene and gorgeous. There's no scars that taint her, she's pure in comparison to me. Why would she stoop so low as to choose me over someone else? And how long would this possibly work, anyway, even if she did? I'm not good for her, a constant threat to anyone – even myself! Why do you think I need this weapon so bad, huh?"
Miltia didn't respond as Yang made an angry gesture into her direction. For the third time, her scroll was ignored as it announced a new incoming message, even though it seemed like their importance increased and the patience of Miltia's conversational partner decreased, based on how the interval between them became less.
Eventually, the blonde just turned away again and, leaned over the workbench, shook her head.
"Eventually, I'll just be forced to distance myself from Melanie and leave her." A dry chuckle. "Maybe that's why mother left. Maybe, and just maybe, I will believe it if I keep telling it to myself. That she didn't just leave because she was a coldhearted bitch, but because she had other good reasons."
"I don't think your mother is a coldhearted bitch and may have had good reasons after all, but that's beside the point." replied Miltiades eventually, "Actually, I don't see your point."
Yang whirled around, glaring at the other girl. Hadn't she listened? Had she just ignored all that she had said? Irritation was sparked anew and Yang found herself on the brink of just leaving the room, found that she suddenly had the desire to just climb onto Bumblebee and drive out into the night until all the problems were forgotten and the cold airstream had cooled down the blazing fury of her semblance.
But that was before Miltia shook her head and spoke, finally turning back to respond to whoever she was sending messages to when her scroll buzzed for the fourth time.
"You said it yourself just now – Melanie knows all that. We all know all that." began Miltia, though still typing on her scroll, "And where are we, Yang? How do we treat you and Ruby? The answer is – no different from anyone else. You're here, I am here, we're all here – and you are right in our middle. Because we all do have our dark history and our flaws, and because we can look past all that."
She sent another message and lowered her scroll, gaze finally shifting to where Yang stood confused and frozen to the spot.
"Melanie isn't without flaws, either. Yes, it's true, we may have been born heiresses, but we have abandoned that. We're not all high and mighty, and we're certainly not some arrogant aristocrats that think they're above everyone else. It's true, we've got our egos, I won't deny that – but we're not above everyone else, and don't think of us as such." continued the black-haired mercenary, and suddenly narrowed her eyes as she continued in a low voice, "And Melanie certainly isn't without scars, Yang."
The silence that followed was only disturbed the sound of a scroll, this time Yang's, that wanted to remind its owner that it needed to be charged. But just as much as Miltia's scroll before, it remained ignored, Yang unable to turn her gaze away from the other female in the room. And Miltia shook her head.
"Besides, I haven't heard anything from you that would change what I said before." In a bizarre turn considering the tension in the room, Miltia chuckled in amusement, something that snapped Yang out of her stupor. "You are just Melanie's type."
"Huh?" In retrospect, Yang wanted to slap herself for the unintelligent answer, but at least it didn't fail its purpose – Miltia, who had turned back to her scroll, glanced towards her with a smirk on her lips and rolled her eyes.
"Do I seriously need to spell it out for you?" taunted the twin in red, but seemed to relent after all, "I literally just told you: You are just Melanie's type. You're tall, strong and muscular, but also hot-headed and incorrigible to the point where it's almost frustrating. You stand up for those close to you in an absolute selflessness and don't care about names or backgrounds. Plus, she seriously has a thing for tattoos and couldn't care less about how violent you are in protecting others or how 'dangerous' you think you are. That would probably just turn her on."
Seeing the expression of absolute bewilderment on the brawler's face, Miltia just rolled her eyes. She cast a last glance down to her scroll to read the latest message she had received – and then pushed herself off the wall.
"Grab your stuff, we're leaving." commanded the twin in red suddenly and caught the still bewildered Yang off guard again that way, "Take only the stuff you really need for your weapon – the gold, the sketches, the cables, everything like that, but leave the tools."
"Wait, what?" exclaimed Yang when she saw that the other girl had turned to leave the room, "Where are we going?"
Miltiades stopped just before reaching the door and turned to look back. At first, Yang thought the disgusted expression was aimed at her, but realized relatively quick that Miltia was actually glaring at the workbench just behind her, even before Miltiades opened her mouth again.
"If I see you trying to create something on that workbench with this limited amount of resources and tools any longer, I think I'm gonna pop a vessel. The workbench here is so old and outdated that it's frustrating and humiliating. Maybe it's good for repairing and modifying a weapon, but you won't be able to really create something useful here." explained the claw-wielding mercenary, then held up her scroll so that the other girl could see it, "I just got you a better place to work at."
Lowering her scroll, Miltiades began to type on it again – and this time, Yang's scroll buzzed as the message was sent. The blonde frowned, but picked up her scroll and opened the message that Miltia had just sent her – it contained nothing more than two lines of text. An address.
"Meet me there in an hour." instructed Miltia, "Like I said, bring everything you need. I'll go ahead and prepare some stuff there. Knowing the owner of the place, I'll have to clear space and find a workbench currently not used. But guessing from her text, she's got one."
"And just where is this place?" inquired Yang with a frown down at the address displayed on her scroll, "I haven't really been in that area of the city, other than during the time we fought the Paladin. It's close to the harbor, right?"
"It is. And it's a place where the heart of every mechanic leaps in joy."
The mysterious words had Yang frown, but Miltia had no intention of explaining, neither about the place, nor the owner. Instead, she turned away and headed for the door, was in the middle of putting away her scroll – which vibrated in her hands and had her stop.
She rose the scroll again and frowned at the message – and then glanced back to where Yang still stood.
"I'm supposed to tell you that this 'Arslan'-person is invited as well, as long as you really trust her and think she'll be of help." added the twin, though stoic, "But I think you should know that this depends on what you want this 'Arslan' to know, Yang, especially about our more dangerous and criminal contacts."
Without further explanation, Miltiades put her scroll away and left the room. And just like that, Yang was alone again. Hardly a bad thing, though, as she quickly realized that this gave her the breather she needed to process what she had just experienced – how the whole thing had changed from frustration over not making any progress on her weapon to Miltia – of all people, Miltia – giving her advice on both weapon and love life, and then telling her at three in the morning to grab all the stuff and head to some place at the harbor.
And invite Arslan, given that she trusted the monk-like brawler.
Which led Yang to the problem at hand eventually.
With the nearly dead scroll in hand, the brawler turned back to the workbench and all the stuff that lay scattered over it. The tools were of little importance, given what Miltia had said about not needing them, but there was plenty of stuff she had bought and gathered for the weapon. Enough that she'd need a bag. Which was a given anyway, considering she was going to take Bumblebee to drive to the address.
Not that she had a license, but she hardly cared about that.
Deciding to send a message to Arslan before starting to clean up the workbench and grab the necessary stuff, even though she doubted the other brawler was up at 3 AM, Yang unlocked the device. The message was typed out quickly and sent even faster, just a quick question of whether or not Arslan was awake, but before turning away from the scroll, Yang checked the battery charge displayed at the top right of the holographic screen. Four percent. She'd need her charger, too.
With a sigh, the blonde pushed the scroll aside and quickly picked up the tools to put them away. Despite the fact that Miltia had given her a time limit and that the drive would take roughly twenty minutes, she planned to at least clean up beforehand. Even if she hadn't really been successful, the least she could do was to leave the place as she had found it given that Junior had been so nice as to allow her to use it. She could still grab a bag and her resources then and follow Miltia.
With the first tools put back in the box underneath the workbench, Yang figured that, given that she was crouched already anyway, she could pick up the box of screws she had knocked over earlier, the contents of which were scattered across the ground. Although tedious, the task was over relatively quickly and the box put back onto the workbench.
And just when she let go of it, her scroll rung. Yang cringed and yanked her hand back, having not expected it, but rolled her eyes at her own reaction – she was way too jumpy that night, something she blamed on little rest she had that night.
To her surprise, the message was from Arslan, and not Miltia as she had expected.
"I'm up, but only because Reese returned to our hotel room just a moment ago. She was out the whole night, skating, and unsurprisingly managed to hurt herself and needed some help patching herself up. And wasn't very silent when she entered the room, too, falling over the bag she left in the middle of the room." read Yang silently, before another short message followed, "To what do I owe the pleasure of this late night conversation?"
Although her thumb twitched and went for the virtual keyboard, Yang stopped again. Hesitated. This was the last chance to back out and not involve Arslan in all of this, and Miltia's warning repeated itself in her head again.
She didn't know Arslan all that well, had only met her once. Only knew that the other brawler held honor and tradition in high regards, but knew nothing of how Arslan viewed justice and crime – though she did remember hearing Arslan use the words 'criminal scum' before. What little Arslan knew of her, in return, was that she worked at a club as barkeeper and part of the security, but that was pretty much about it. Arslan had no idea that she was, in some way, involved with the criminal underworld of Vale and the White Fang, going on missions for either of them.
Could she trust Arslan with that information? Would this affect what friendship and respect the two had for each other in a bad way?
She bit her lip as she finally regained control of her fingers. They began to type out a message, apologizing – and then, deleted the entire thing. Started anew. Gave a flimsy excuse about not being able to sleep and making no progress on her weapon, then asked if Arslan was willing to meet her in an hour and help her with the design as the monk-like brawler seemed to know her stuff about weaponry for close combat.
Seconds passed after the message was sent, and Yang found herself confronted with the doubts of involving Arslan once again. But as it was, involving Arslan could make a drastic change on the outcome of the night. Cause even though Miltia sure knew her fair share on close combat, wielding claws was still different from actually using punches.
The decision was made for her, however. The scroll before her buzzed, Arslan had answered. And though clearly wary, one sentence stood out in the answer.
"Just tell me where to meet you, I'll be there."
With a sigh, Yang changed to the last message from Miltia and copied the address – even if wondering who it belonged to – to send it to Arslan. The reply arrived only seconds later, but while confirming that she'd be there, once again announced Arslan's skepticism due to where it was located. Which Yang honestly understood, given that the location seemed pretty shady.
The conversation ended there. Not sending anything back, Yang put her scroll down on the workbench – at least that was taken care of. No chance to change it again, the decision made. All that was left to do was to see if it was the right or wrong choice.
And before that to clean up the room, grab her resources and leave. Her scroll beeped, three percent left.
With a heavy sigh that quickly turned into a groan, Yang sunk down on the workbench. Before she left, she would have to find her charger.
"I should've known."
Although a strange greeting from Yang, these few words fit the situation just fine – she truly should've known. Everything had pointed towards her. From Miltia's warning to the moment she had arrived at the address on Bumblebee and had seen that it was actually a warehouse that had been rented.
Somehow, she hadn't connected the dots just then and simply looked for a way to enter, which she eventually did in shape of a metal door that Miltia had waited next to – no longer dressed in a red negligee, but a fashionable jacket of the same color and a pair of dark jeans that complimented her body. After shortly greeting the twin in red, Yang had been led inside by the claw-wielding mercenary.
Admittedly, the initial corridor beyond the door had not been much of a hint towards who the warehouse belonged to – perhaps that was the reason she had been surprised in the end, after all. In fact, it had hardly contained anything, had been just a little too empty and clean not to be suspicious.
The main room of the warehouse, in comparison, was the very epitome of shady. Dimly lit, it was a mess, with electronics, metal, wires, parts of machinery, blueprints and tools scattered throughout the entire room. Right after entering, Yang laid eyes on a pile of empty pizza boxes on the closest workbench, right next to more empty boxes that had once contained Mistralian or fast food.
That the owner of the warehouse wasn't only fond of takeout, but the Mistralian cuisine, was the first thing that came to Yang's mind. And really liked loud metal music, guessing from what was blasting from the speakers when Yang entered.
Then, she saw rest of the room. The actual projects scattered throughout it, most of them in a clearly unfinished state. Quite a few of the vehicles in disrepair, among them a Bullhead, but Yang also recognized something that was probably meant to be a bike eventually.
And then, there was the owner and the project she was working on. She had been standing on a ladder when Yang and Miltiades had entered, dressed in a gray overall and a welding helmet, and had been welding on what the brawler quickly – and that with quite a shock – recognized to be a gigantic metal arm, almost skeletal in appearance. It easily was the size of Bumblebee, but very crude in design, and in an obvious state of disrepair.
Maybe it had been because of her shock or the clothes that the owner of the warehouse was wearing, but it had taken Yang quite a moment until she recognized her – namely, until the owner of the warehouse had finally noticed them, stepped off the ladder, shut down the music by pushing a button on the white mechanical bracelet with the small screen she was wearing and had pulled the mask up.
And then, everything fit into place, at the latest as the woman with the welding mask had reached them and mischievously smirked up at the brawler – leaving Yang to utter these words.
"I should've known."
And truly, she should have. And had she been able to, Neo would've agreed, smug as she was.
"Welcome to Neo's lair, Yang." chuckled Miltia in response, to which the madwoman before them stepped aside and made a gesture that reinforced the words of the mercenary – 'welcome'. "Neo's probably got the best equipment in all Vale for this – in a way, she made sure of that, most of the equipment here is stolen from labs and mining sites. And of course, you would need the technical knowledge and understanding to really appreciate this equipment, but you will find it incredibly useful anyway, trust me. What Neo creates in here when it comes to weaponry and gear is incredible."
The mute assassin seemed to agree entirely with it, though this was hardly as a surprise to Yang – in a way, Neo was a bit arrogant. And had every reason to be, as far as Yang knew. But there was something else about Neo that Yang had long figured out, and it was what drove her to ignore all the scary and impressive mechanical creations around her – that arm Neo had been working on her giving her the creeps for some reason – and frown at the smaller woman.
"Okay, what's the catch?" she asked cautiously, and saw how Miltia slowly rose an eyebrow, whereas Neo's smug grin took on nearly demonic proportions. Oh yes, there was a catch, just as Yang had expected.
Slowly, Neo turned to the twin in red and began to move her hands in fast gestures that Yang had trouble following – especially because she could hardly tell where one began and the next ended, despite the bit of training she had in sign language thanks to Blake. Which Neo didn't really know of yet, of course, as Yang wanted to keep it a surprise.
Still, she managed to figure out some of the gestures, the more simple ones – whatever it was that Neo instructed Miltiades to say, it contained the words 'I', 'give' and – which Yang wasn't really sure of to take as a compliment or not, or perhaps simply a way that it was easy for Neo to show that the brawler was meant – the word 'boobs'.
And, as Yang realized with a shudder, if you just had these three words, there was a scary implication that she hoped did get lost in the real translation.
"You're right, there is a small catch. And perhaps I should've told you beforehand, as I was the one who negotiated with Neo and accepted the terms." began Miltia eventually, and though she turned to Yang, her gaze did not and remained on Neo to catch the last few signs, "So I guess you can blame it on me. But Neo wouldn't accept any other terms – none that weren't of a perverse nature that involved you, that is. "
A cold chill went down the blonde's spine, and it only got worse as she send Neo a glance – and found the older woman suggestively wiggling her eyebrows. And as if to add to that, Neo added another few quick signs for Miltia to translate. Based on the girl's expression, Yang knew she wouldn't like them.
"Uhm..." drawled the claw-wielding mercenary uneasily, "Neo wants me to tell you that the offer is still up, however. She wants you to know that she is just as ready to accept payment of the... 'physical kind' from you. And you alone, as she urges me to add, she's not an easy lay but you're sending her into..."
Miltia trailed off and frowned at the associate of Cinder. She made a gesture herself, one that Yang could understand as Blake had taught it to her very early, knowing she'd need it – 'repeat that'. What Yang wasn't prepared for was for Neo's grin to grow and for the assassin to suddenly blush – not because she was embarrassed, but obviously liking whatever the next sign meant. The sign that had Miltia shudder and make a disgusted expression.
"Really, Neo?" complained Miltia, but finally turned back to Yang when she saw Neo nod and smile knowingly, "So Neo wants me to tell you that she's not an easy lay or anything of the like and isn't sleeping around or whatever, but you're sending her into..." Miltia stopped and sent Neo a last irritated glance, "...a rut."
Yang didn't even shudder this time, she straight out turned her head and stared at the tricolored woman with wide eyes. Something that Neo apparently absolutely enjoyed, as the shit-eating grin on the assassin's lips told her. But she did shudder as it shifted and grew somewhat sensual, the smaller woman biting her lower lip and batting her eyes at the brawler.
"So what are the actual terms you've negotiated, Miltia?" inquired Yang quickly, somewhat stiffly, "Not that I don't feel flattered or anything, Neo, but I don't think I'm ready for something like that. I've survived on the streets for years without selling my body, and I'd rather not start now that I've escaped that."
The tricolored woman didn't seem offended by that, instead began to grin rather knowingly – again, Yang found herself impressed by just expressive Neo's face was – and wiggled her eyebrows once more. Began to sign towards Miltia.
"She, uhm, doesn't feel discouraged and would like you to know that you're free to take up the offer, after all, even after tonight. Apparently, she'd rather you'd not see it as 'paying her' as much as..." Miltia stopped anew and frowned, sighed in irritation, "... 'playing with her'. Either way, even if you decide against taking up the offer now, it will never be too late." Miltia stopped for a moment to frown at nothing in particular, "Also, I think you should know that Neo replaces your name with the word 'boobs' every time."
At least that confirmed something, though Yang didn't feel very elated about it.
"Anyway, the actual terms are surprisingly simple, considering this is a deal with Neo." added the twin in red eventually and crossed her arms beneath her chest, "Whatever you come up with while you're here – every sketch, every blueprint, everything you've written down, and at the very end a detailed blueprint and written manual of your final product – Neo wants access to for personal use. She swears she won't copy it directly, but would like to use it as inspiration for her own creations. Apparently, she's looking for modifications of an arm-mounted weapon and 'the timing of your problem was impeccable'. She thinks you should be helping each other."
The blonde brawler sent the woman to her right a glance and found that Neo was once again – or perhaps still – smirking up at her, though the perverse hint had vanished and was replaced by what was the same confidence that Yang was used to from her.
"In return, you're free to use the most advanced workbench that Neo has and all the tools that you can find – however, she can't offer you any resources, as she is working on something big currently and will need everything she has. According to her, her project is already problem enough as it is, and she can't currently estimate what it will consume to build." finished Miltia for Neo.
In response to the terms, terms that she found she could work with, Yang's gaze shifted past the smaller woman to where the tricolored assassin had been when they had entered – to where that huge metal arm hung on several steel ropes from the ceiling, a panel opened just next to the ladder that Neo had stood on before to weld whatever was beneath the panel.
The action didn't go unnoticed, and Neo's grin grew once again. She took a few steps back until she was once again within Yang's sight and waited until the blonde brawler focused her attention on her. And waited even longer. Waited for Yang to say it, to address the elephant in the room, and took an almost sadistic pleasure in seeing how Yang tried to not play her little game and wait for Neo to explain it herself.
However, after several seconds had passed, Yang finally grew uncomfortable under the expectant stare of Miltia off to the side and Neo's smirk.
"Okay, I'll bite – what's with the giant mechanical arm? I know your arms are short, but I don't think you'll need a backscratcher because of that." huffed the brawler eventually, and enjoyed it as Neo's smirk actually fell and was replaced by irritation, "Or do you need to compensate for your tiny height, after all?"
Although obviously not taking too kind at being mocked, Neo didn't seem more than slightly irritated by it. She was better than that and Yang knew it, Neo wouldn't allow herself to be controlled by such a thing as anger. She was too smart and coordinated for that, such a simple mistake was below her.
But it didn't mean that she couldn't show that she didn't like being mocked. And the brawler knew that, had she been anyone else, someone expandable, then worse things could've been the result of such a gamble. Even with how Neo seemed to like her – or perhaps just her body, for all she knew – Yang could guess that Neo would only hesitate for a second, and only once, before getting rid of her if she became the assassin's target for whatever reason.
A broken finger, maybe five or ten, could've easily been the most harmless outcome of daring to mock Neo for someone expandable. If there was one thing that Yang had no doubt about after having heard and seen how mercilessly Neo operated, then it was that it wouldn't be complicated for Neo to have someone vanish and never reappear.
When Neo finally moved, she gave a single sign that even Yang understood – and that without the the limited knowledge of sign language that she had thanks to Blake.
Neo was giving her the finger – and Yang rolled her eyes. No sooner than Yang had done, Neo lowered her hand and turned to the only person in the room who actually understood her, and continued right where she had left off before, giving quick and only very short signs that Yang really had no hope of being able to follow.
But Miltia understood just fine, as she eventually confirmed with a nod – even if obviously confused.
"Classified." she translated with a skeptical frown, "Apparently, it's a secret and a surprise, but it is far from finished. And that arm you see – she's merely scavenging it for its parts." Seeing Neo add something, Miltia's frown increased, "And she says... 'Thank you for it'."
The gaze of the other mercenary shifted to Yang, an eyebrow rising in curiosity. "Did you give that thing to her, Yang?"
Mirroring Miltia's expression, Yang rose an eyebrow herself and tried to remember carrying a large mechanical arm around for the assassin, but couldn't think of such a moment that had happened recently. So she glanced towards Neo, but only got a shrug from her and a mischievous smirk.
"No I didn't." replied the blonde, "But I get the feeling that Neo doesn't mean that." Seeing Neo shrug another time, the blonde felt her irritation grow and finally shook her head. This was going nowhere.
They were wasting time, fooled by Neo into being their toys for her amusement, again and again lured into continuing the pointless conversation that only kept them from working on Yang's weapon. And though the thought had Yang's blood boiling with anger, she couldn't be mad at anyone but herself – she'd known Neo for a while now, and was still falling for the mute's tricks.
In a way, however, Yang didn't want it any different. Cause despite how creepy the mute could be, despite the obvious barrier in communication, and despite Neo's mischief, Yang did enjoy spending time with her, in a way. Simply because of how different Neo was from everyone else, how uninhibited and ruthless, there were things that Yang didn't have to worry about when around Neo.
Sure, she did have to have her guard up and be ready to deal with Neo's nature, but she could do that. There was more to Neo that she wanted to find out, but the little time she had spent with the mute woman so far, none of which she really spent with Neo alone, she hadn't really been able to. Wanted to change that, and this was a possibility.
And then, of course, there was still the lack of motivation to go back to building her weapon. Despite the fact that Miltia had opened her eyes to the problem she had had all night along, and despite the change of location and increase in possibilities, these hours of frustration still had happened and she was still lacking ideas.
Hadn't Miltia been there with them, Yang would've most likely not continued to work on her weapon, after all, and would've instead spent the rest of the night just hanging out with Neo – but Miltia was there, and the brawler doubted that Miltia was really willing to sacrifice the few hours of sleep that she got each morning just so that Yang and Neo could bond. After all, Miltia had called in this favor from Neo and drove all the way to the mute's workshop so that they could work on the blonde's weapon.
Still, Yang felt like they could talk a little more – it sure would help getting used to the place that was, admittedly, kind of scary to her with the dim light and all the mechanical abominations around.
"Whatever." she huffed as she saw that no one else was going to say anything, and feeling that the former topic was dead and just rotting, decided to change it, "So this is where you hang out when you've got nothing else to do, eh, Neo?"
She took a few steps into the dark room as she spoke and gestured to the messy room. As if to mock someone – perhaps her, perhaps Neo – one of the lights flickered and a wrench fell from the same workbench that the empty boxes of fast food were stacked on. But if it was, they all ignored it.
Now further in the room, Yang couldn't see the tricolored assassin anymore, but still figured that Neo was already signing away to Miltia so that the twin could translate it. She used the short delay before the answer to have a look around again, shuddering as she saw that there were a few bloodstains around the room – some on tools, some on the ground and some on the mechanical abominations. Wondered slightly if Neo, like her earlier that night, had hurt herself during work, or if some unfortunate victim had been tortured and 'taken care of' in the workshop of the assassin.
For some reason, she didn't want the answer.
"Sleep sometimes, too." translated Miltia finally for Neo, "She's got a bed in the backroom, but she doesn't stay too often. This is only one of the many places she owns under a fake name, but this one is crucial. As you can see, there's some very important stuff here, including this... 'baby' here."
Hearing Miltia hesitate in confusion and interested in what 'baby' Neo was talking about, Yang turned her head to glance the way of the assassin – just in time to see that the mute had once again climbed the ladder and was patting the mechanical arm she had worked on before almost affectionately.
A lecherous grin suddenly spread across the woman's lips before she once again signed something towards Miltia – and guessing by the groan that escaped Miltia, it wasn't something she was going to like hearing.
"Neo, stop it with the innuendos, or I will stop translating for you." snarled the more reserved twin that felt herself being driven towards her limits, "So Neo wants me to tell you, Yang, that she doesn't need that mechanical arm – she's very skilled with her own hands and can make people scream with them. Both in terror or in pleasure, depending on who it is. And she would like to demonstrate the latter to you."
Groaning herself, Yang facepalmed – this was going to be a long night, she could tell, especially if that kept on.
The lunatic herself, however, eventually just gave a shrug – but even as she did, the grin never left her face. To the blonde's surprise, however, Neo gave Miltia a few final instructions with signs – and then, just pulled her welding mask back down and turned back to the large hanging arm of metal right next to the ladder she had climbed.
Though it seemed she had grown tired of her games, Yang doubted it was over for long – if anything, Neo had only stopped momentarily. Probably was behind her own schedule for whatever project she was working on, based on what Miltia had translated for her before.
And as if to add to the finality that this action had, with the simple push of a button on the device on her wrist, the loud metal music began blaring again. Miltia, cringing madly as the music started even though she should be used to the volume with how she worked at a club, looked like she wanted to give Neo a piece of her mind for that, but Yang really saw no reason to.
While certainly too loud, Yang did enjoy 'too loud' music – and metal. Among other genres, of course. Plus, it certainly wasn't so loud that they couldn't talk, they merely had to raise their voices a bit. A problem that Neo didn't have, hence her insensibility regarding it.
"Neo said we can go ahead and start now!" yelled Miltia, fighting the volume of the music, "Said I know where the workbench and everything else is, and that we can 'have more fun talking later' – she wants to get some work done before dawn, as you surely noticed!"
Not that it was hard, but Yang chose not to make any sarcastic comments. Instead, with the choice being made for her in regards of whether to continue a conversation or start working on her weapon again, she simply stood and waited for Miltia to get the hint and show her where and what to work with – and Miltia did get the hint right away.
Giving Yang a gesture to follow – most likely to rest her voice instead of straining it to fight the volume of the music – and simply turning away, Miltia led the brawler towards the back of the large room, away from Neo. And no sooner than their backs were turned to her, Neo turned the welding torch in her hands back on, the two younger females thus avoiding the need for a welding mask or welding goggles – though Neo could've just as easily provided them with some.
True to what she had said before, the claw-wielding Malachite knew where to go and walked straight towards a workbench that did look far more modern than the one that Yang had spent half the night on. Made of metal, it was bulkier than the one Yang had spent half the night on, but it had several buttons and a glass panel embedded in the surface off to the left that the old one had been lacking. Quite obviously, this one featured some kind of technological additions – and Yang liked to believe that not all of them were past the experimental stage yet, considering Neo had stolen it from somewhere.
It was apparent, though, that the workbench had been a mess prior to Miltia's arrival at the workshop, even then there was still a heap of paper on it – most of which seemed to be blueprints, from what the brawler could tell as she reached it. While somewhat interesting, she didn't really understand what they depicted and gave up trying to do so early on – not only were they complicated, but she doubted that they'd help her. At least they weren't in the way, and she had the feeling that Neo didn't really take too kindly at her stuff being moved around without her consent, which was why she didn't touch them, and mostly why Miltia hadn't done so either.
While incredibly messy with her workshop – quite contrary to her appearance, as Yang had to admit – it still seemed like Neo had some kind of arrangement system going on. And for some reason, maybe exactly because of how clean and orderly Neo's appearance seemed, the brawler doubted that all of Neo's hideouts looked like that.
Later, she would find out that she was right, and that Neo simply saw no reason in keeping the workshop clean. Especially when working on bigger projects, some of which lasted months, there was little reason in cleaning up – at the end of each day or night, whichever it was that she found the time, it would look like shit again, anyway.
Yang had to admit, she couldn't really disagree with that mentality.
"Let's start." began Miltia, and the business-like tone in her voice had Yang mentally groan and roll her eyes, "We talked about the basics already, right? Just to get it out of the way – by advice of Arslan..."
Miltia trailed off and and frowned, and Yang saw that Miltia had just connected some dots – though she had no idea which until a few seconds later.
"Wait a second – 'Arslan' as in Team ABRN's leader Arslan? Arslan Altan?" asked the Malachite twin, "You know Reese's team leader?"
"And I know Bolin and Nadir, though I didn't get to meet Reese yet – which apparently, you did, if what Ruby told me is right. Why is that so surprising to you? I told you, I met them at the local gym the other night and..." Yang stopped, chuckled dryly as she understood, "Right, I forgot that you 'politely listened away' when I talked about that."
Miltia's face was void of expression, stoic, as she stared straight ahead – straight through Yang, as the brawler noted – and seemed somewhere else with her mind. Seconds passed in which nothing happened, Miltia lost in her own thoughts – and then, the former heiress huffed.
"I should probably stop doing that, hm?" mused the twin, though without really sounding sorry about it.
"Yeah, that would 'probably' be nice and, you know, polite."
If Miltia heard that, then she 'politely listened away'.
"Whatever, just some trivia I was interested in, I guess." continued Miltia eventually as if nothing had happened, "So, as by advice of Arslan, which I wholeheartedly agree with, the base of your weapon is going to be a gauntlet. That's good, it supports your fighting style, it is resistant and can easily be modified with different things. In a way, my claws are mounted onto gauntlets, though mine differ a lot from what you'll need. In fact, they differ so much that I can admit that I have no idea of actual gauntlets or what we need to look out for when we'll build them."
Yang perked up, even if not disheartened – she hadn't expected Miltia to know much about gauntlets. It was just like Miltia said – while her claws were mounted onto what resembled a gauntlet, they were still claws before anything else, and the focus was completely elsewhere.
"Is Arslan going to show up?" inquired the other mercenary, and Yang nodded in return, "That's good – it's best if you rely on her when it comes to the base of the weapon, the gauntlet aspect. I know that, with my Voltaic Claws, the focus of the chassis and its hardness is where the blades are attached and in the blades themselves – otherwise, they would break off just like that when I slice something hard. Furthermore, most of the 'gauntlet' and – in the Voltaic Claws inactive state – the bracelet are hollow and merely contain the mechanisms for transformation and for firing the projectile, as well as the cable and a Lightning Dust Crystal that the claws drain when I activate the electricity."
The claw-wielder turned to the workbench next to them and began to pull some tools closer, which Yang took as a sign to remove the backpack she had been carrying all along and retrieve the resources she had brought.
"But you? You need something more durable, something incredibly sturdy. With your gauntlets, the focus will have to be the chassis itself and not just a part of it – you punch, and the kinetic energy will have to be distributed evenly through the gauntlet, or it might break. At least, that's my understanding of it, but Arslan will most likely understand it even better." with a screwdriver still in hand, Miltia turned her head and stared at the blonde next to her, "But that's also where it gets tricky, and I'd like to hear Arslan's view on it first – your semblance may be your biggest problem when creating a weapon, Yang."
Not waiting for the brawler to say anything, the twin in red put the screwdriver down, grabbed the closest blank sheet of paper on the workbench and a pencil that lay around. She started to write on it, pencil moving incredibly fast and writing down numbers and letters – a complex calculation that Yang had no hope of ever understanding.
"Quite frankly, the problem is the strain that will be put on your weapon – or rather weapons, two I assume, as you've got two hands - with each hit. We could easily test how much force you've got within a single punch, I've got the equipment for that back at the club in my own workshop, but the actual complicated part is that your semblance, which is surprisingly complex despite how simple its effect is, seems to increase your strength at a fast and nearly unpredictable pace."
Yang watched as Miltia added another part of the calculation onto the sheet of paper, but also noticed that more and more letters found their way in – variables, unknown values.
"It would require weeks of exposing your body to different grades of physical trauma and gathering data until we'd be able to even hope to tell by which formula your strength increases – for now, I assume that it is exponential rather than linear, and that it does have a limit. That's just a theory, however, and we don't really have the time to run such tests." Miltia stopped talking only long enough to put the pencil down and fold up the sheet of paper, "I will see what I can do for you after my mission later today, maybe I can figure out part of the equation and find a value that we can work with regarding the hardness of your gauntlets in hope that they won't break with one of your harder semblance-induced punches."
Yang gave up trying to follow wherever Miltia's rant was headed, she just nodded. Had understood the gist of it – basically, due to her semblance, it was essential that her gauntlets weren't too hard or too soft or they would simply break when she attacked – but didn't even try to understand he complicated equation-stuff on the sheet of paper. She left that to Miltia, who seemed to know whatever she was talking about.
"My advice – don't start working on the base just yet, skip the chassis entirely and focus on the functionality until I've figured this out. The mechanical aspects will be fine if the chassis – the gauntlet in this case – is hard enough to protect it from external influences and the kinetic energy of your own punches." Miltia reached over and grabbed the clump of gold that Yang had just pulled from her backpack and put on the workbench, "Still, you should create a blueprint, or at least a sketch, of the gauntlet with Arslan, so that you have something rough to work with regarding values such as the diameter that you can then base the size of the mechanical parts on. It's easier to adjust the chassis in the end than trying to fit too much into a limited space, trust me."
"I do." interrupted the brawler, albeit pulling an eyebrow up, "It's just – you're talking, almost ranting, and I feel like I just get half of it. I think that some of the dots that you connect either don't leave your mouth and stay just inside your head, or just aren't as logical to me."
"Hm?" murmured Miltiades distractedly and sent her a short glance, "Oh, just ignore the more technical aspects of my rant. I do tend to get like that when I analyze something. Speaking of which – what do you have in mind now regarding your weapon? I do hope you realize that I won't design it for you, I'm merely here to analyze the feasibility of whatever you say and maybe give you some food for thought if you really want me to. Plus, like I said, gauntlets aren't exactly my specialty – I'm versed in physics, elements and Dust rather than that. The scientific aspects, if you want so." She put the gold down and sent another glance sideways to catch a glimpse of the resources that Yang was pulling from her backpack, "So, any design I should know of?"
"You mean other than the shit I had earlier tonight?"
Miltia's left eyebrow slowly rose in response to the colorful question, but she remained surprisingly calm. Indeed, Yang could see that Miltia was thinking rather hard about something, the twin's gaze once again going through her rather than actually perceiving her. It moved away from her rather quick, in fact, and shifted to where the resources that Yang had brought along were piled up – not all of them yet, but quite a few already. And among the pile, the sketch she had drawn earlier.
Behind them, something hit the ground with a loud noise, but both of them turned just long enough to see Neo curse mutely and turned the music off with the simple push of a button on the device on her wrist – whatever Neo had done to the mechanical arm, it had caused a finger to fall off and hit the ground, the source of the noise and Neo's frustration.
"Was it really that bad?" asked the Malachite in red eventually, ignoring Neo's situation as she picked up the drawing to examine it closer, though Yang had the feeling it wasn't actually addressed at her, "The gauntlet does look fine – it's just that your drawing skills are... subpar. The firing mechanism you drew won't work, however – It is almost like you didn't know what ranged weapon you were going for with it."
"That's probably because I didn't know." growled the blonde through clenched teeth, "I told you, I was simply looking up firing mechanisms on my scroll and went with it."
"And then there is..." continued Miltia as if she hadn't heard it, but then did trail off to hold the drawing higher, only to finally tilt it to the left – though she didn't look like she understood it any more because of that, "...whatever that is that you drew in the lower right corner."
"The inactive form." snarled Yang in response, frustration over Miltia's criticism getting the better of her. It wasn't that she couldn't handle it, but that she felt it was uncalled for – Miltia could've simply asked, rather than making a comment about her drawing skills. That was not what the Malachite twin was there for.
It didn't look like it was over, however, as Miltia reached over the workbench to hit a button. In response, lights activated beneath the glass panel in the surface of the table that Yang had seen earlier, and Miltia promptly placed the brawler's sketch on it. Leaned over it and narrowed her eyes as she examined the drawing in the lower right corner of the sheet of paper again.
"...I give up, I can't tell what you meant to show with that." huffed the more experienced mercenary eventually, "Just explain it to me, and we'll see how feasible it is."
"It's not feasible at all." groaned the blonde and slumped her shoulders, "It's probably the most stupid part of the idea I had, and I'd much rather forget about it entirely and come up with something new."
Miltia's expression didn't change, even as Yang waited a few more seconds – the twin wasn't going to give her a choice, but Yang wasn't going to take the bait. Finally, after over a full minute, Miltia got the hint and turned back to the drawing still on the illuminated glass panel.
It was then that Miltia noticed something off about the drawing – a few lines that she could see that didn't match the rest of the sketches made on the sheet of paper. Furrowing her brow, she picked the piece of paper back up – and the lines vanished.
Catching on quickly, she turned the drawing around – and quickly let out a surprised hum.
"What's this?" she inquired and leaned towards the blonde, showing her the discovery she had made. But Yang didn't even have to look, she knew the drawing on the back of the paper – in the end, she had stared at it countless times ever since she had made it.
And that years ago.
Well, not that drawing that Miltia held in particular, but the first one of its kind, the one that had started it an inspired the one in the mercenary's hands. Of course, it had evolved greatly since then, had started off rather simple and in its later incarnations – the first lost in the fire, later ones abandoned whenever she had a new idea that forced her to change the design slightly, to which she drew it anew and added whatever came to her mind.
Drawn on the back of the paper in Miltia's hands was the design for a weapon that meant a lot to her, if not everything. And in a way, it was terribly ironic that she was, in a way, now returning to this design – it was a gauntlet. Two of them, actually – Dual Ranged Shotgun Gauntlets.
"That's..." Yang found herself hesitating as she stared down at the drawing in Miltia's hands, voice wavering enough for the twin to notice and glance over, "... That's Ember Celica. Based them off my dad's weapons, a famous hunter and teacher Signal Academy. He was using gauntlets too. Trained me in close combat when I was young and... Well, he was always there for me before everything went to shit. No matter what stupid thing I had done, no matter the trouble I had got into – he'd always be there to back me up." She bit down on her lower lip. "Can't say the same thing for my mom."
She reached out and took the drawing from Miltia's hands and the mercenary let her – she saw the far away look on the brawler's face, and knew this was the best chance she got at learning more about the history of the blonde at the moment.
After all, it was the first time that she actually heard Yang talking about her father, which she had figured was a sensitive topic. Ironically, as he had been there for Yang, whereas she had never really gotten to know her mother, who had just abandoned her shortly after birth. But it was because of that, and Miltia knew – you can't mourn after what you never had, but that which was dear to you only left a hole in your heart when it was gone that you could never hope to fill.
Out of the corner of her eye, Miltia noticed that Neo was listening. Even though the assassin had her back turned to them, Miltia could tell that Neo listening closely – the mute woman was just standing in front of the open hatch in the mechanical arm, tools and music still turned off while she made no attempt at continuing where she had left off.
"You know, I've always hoped to follow his steps one day and become a huntress, just like he used to be a hunter. He was my hero." Yang gently placed the drawing down on the workbench in front of her, but never averted her gaze, "That's why I designed Ember Celica when I was young. Of course, I've added a lot of things over the years and drawn it so often that I've basically got it memorized perfectly now – and that though I always knew I would never be able to build it. Even now, I have no idea how to build the shotgun firing mechanism, have no idea about proportions or how to create the ammunition or anything else about it... But it's there. Has accompanied me through everything since I've been young. Even with all the uncertainties, the doubts, the problems, this thing has always been in my head – something absolute and constant that I could always cling to whenever I thought that I'd lose my mind if things continued as they were."
"So why not build them?" inquired Miltia right away, thus getting the attention of the brawler, "This drawing is actually very good and detailed, and the weapon is feasible even with the few unknown factors involved. Plus, I'd say it is well-rounded with the gauntlet protecting your hands and increasing the power of your punches, and the shotgun in close to middle range combat. Sure, it's not going to be very accurate at long range, but with the right ammo type I'm sure we'd be able to negate some of the problems that this inaccuracy brings."
But to the surprise of both Miltia and Neo, latter of whom had turned her head slightly to glance over at them, Yang just shook her head slowly – and finally tore her gaze away from the drawing. Pushed it away from her.
"No, I'm not going to build it." muttered the brawler finally and leaned onto the workbench before her, gaze lowered, "Although I really like that weapon and sketching it, I just don't feel like it should be built. It reminds me too much of what I've lost – my childhood, my mind and my father. Let this thing forever be just a figment, Miltia – I think that's the way it is best, and the way it should be. The weapon that I carry to fight all this madness inside my head..."
It fell silent after that for a moment, Yang lost in her own thoughts and Miltia giving her the space she needed. Even Neo waited before going back to her work until she was absolutely sure that Yang was okay – which, after about three minutes, Yang seemed to be, even though she sighed.
"Whatever. Not gonna happen Miltia, I want to come up with something new. It's gonna be using gauntlets as a base, too, but I want something that doesn't reflect all that I've lost, but rather all that I've lately gained when I came to stay with you at the club." sighed the blonde, then turned her head, "You gonna start the music again, Neo? I actually liked it."
The mute smirked – especially as she saw that Miltia's face distorted in irritation at Yang's request – and saluted shortly, before finally pushing another button on the device on her wrist that started the music up again. Only a second later, the lunatic had leaned forward and had vanished down to the waist inside the mechanical arm through the hatch next to her.
A sigh escaped Miltia, even though the sound of it was completely drowned out by the music – the sight still had Yang grinning. And even if unsure what for, she felt like Miltia deserved that.
"So we're gonna start over. Great." growled Miltia eventually, voice once again raised to be heard over the music, "The base is going to be a gauntlet, as we've now established several times – but you have no idea about the inactive form and are conflicted about the ranged weapon to include. That doesn't leave us with much." The mercenary's gaze shifted to the pile of resources that Yang had brought, "In fact, that leaves us with just the elemental Dust to include. And luckily, that is my specialty."
Without asking for allowance, Miltia dug into the pile of resources and pulled a few objects out that she had spotted before, not caring at all as the rest of the pile collapsed and Yang had to jump forward to prevent them from rolling off the workbench. Leaving most of the objects she had grabbed on the workbench in front of her, the younger Malachite twin took two of them – a yellow crystal in her left hand and a bottle of powdered red Dust in her right – and examined them closer with a critical look.
"So fire and lightning, huh?" mused the twin aloud, raising one eyebrow as she glanced past her hands at the objects in front of her on the workbench, "And you've got quite a bit of it. Did you spent most of your money on that?"
"I did, so what?" shot Yang back, "What you said the other day got me thinking - You said these two had synergy with gold, and you talked about this experimental combination you could pull off with them!"
"That's right – that I can do with them. If you've been listening, you'd remember that I warned you that combining Dust isn't something anyone can do, and that it is incredibly dangerous!" scolded the Malachite as she put down the two types of Dust, before turning to her friend and jabbing her into the sternum with a finger, "If you would've attempted that without me here in Neo's workshop, I bet that – if the resulting explosion would've left anything of you intact and alive – Neo would've tormented you for the last few pitiful hours you'd have left before the two of you would've died on radiation poisoning – cause that's the byproduct of uncontrolled combination of fire and lightning Dust!"
Suddenly slapped on the back of her head by Miltia, Yang let out a hiss and flinched in pain – but decided against complaining. She knew that Miltia had a point, and a very valid one at that. And that aside – it probably truly was far from whatever worse fate Neo would've given her.
"And I believe I told you that it is especially dangerous in your case, because your semblance seems to be based on fire." Miltia was suddenly leaned over the sheet with her equations again and started a new one, "Even if you would have – by some miracle – managed to get just the right ratio when it comes to mixing fire and lightning – which you would've never, given you wanted to try it with a crystal and some powder – your semblance would've disequilibrated it the moment it would've activated. And given that you can't control it even in the slightest bit, guess what would've happened, moron!"
"No need to insult me!" snarled the brawler and crossed her arms beneath her chest, "Also, I'd like to inform you that I can control it. Not by much, but enough that I don't run around and obliterate everything that I touch. Or have you seen me do that?"
"No." murmured the claw-wielding mercenary absent-mindedly, continuing the equation that – much like the one before – started to turn into variables the further she got with it, "But the punching bags you've destroyed in the backroom of the club a while ago beg to differ."
As Yang's face started to gain color this time, it wasn't because of anger. Embarrassed at being reminded of what she had done prior and after the White Fang's raid on the Schnee Dust Company cargo train, she quickly fell silent and took a step back to let Miltia just do her thing without interruption. It still didn't give Miltia the right to talk about her and her semblance like that – after all, Miltia had no idea how hard it was to control that semblance!
But that thought had Yang wondering – what exactly was Miltia's semblance? Or Melanie's semblance, for that matter. Despite the time they had spent together and how often the brawler's semblance had been a topic – mostly due to how out of control it was – they had never talked about anyone else much. Not about their weapons, not about their semblances – heck, before that night, Yang hadn't even known the name of Miltia's weapon, and still didn't know that of Melanie's heels! And come to think of it, she didn't know anything about Tucker, and only slightly more about Junior.
Of course, it was up to them whether or not they were comfortable talking about it, and she'd never force any of them into telling her. A semblance was something personal, and Yang would never go further than a simple innocent question – unless the situation called for something else, though she doubted that would happen anytime soon. Or ever. After all, her semblance pretty much was the most dangerous around at the club, based on how everyone reacted.
"I'll see what I can do for you, maybe I can create a mechanism that will balance the ratio of Dust when your semblance activates, but I can't promise anything – your semblance is unlike anything I've ever worked with." continued Miltia, ignoring Yang's sudden passiveness, "Sure, there's been semblances that generate or call upon an element that I have worked with, but these are consistent in it. Yours? It just grows exponentially whenever you suffer from physical trauma, and much like your strength seems to grow, so does the amount of heat around you, based on what I heard and experienced."
"Miltia, can I ask something?" interrupted Yang, though it didn't really seem to disrupt Miltia's concentration much as the twin only let out a soft 'Hm?' and continued writing, "What is your semblance? We've never talked about it, only about mine, and I wonder... Why is mine so complicated in how it works, but so simple in its resulting effect? Are there more like mine?"
This had Miltia stopping, after all. With a surprisingly serious and dark expression, the twin turned her head and glanced Yang's way, although she didn't seem intent on answering just like that – rather than it, she seemed to be thinking about how to answer. Hard.
"Your semblance is by far not the most complicated. Though we can only speculate right now when it comes to the mathematical side that we could use to calculate the full result, at least until we've run further tests, the effect is simple – you suffer physical trauma, gather the kinetic energy in your body which multiplies it by an unknown factor, and then make use of it to fuel your own physical attacks." began Miltiades eventually, "Though I'm eloquent and have an extensive vocabulary, the most fitting word for your semblance would be... revenge."
"Revenge?"
"Correct. You suffer, then punish the one who made you suffer. It's the act of taking vengeance for injuries or wrongs – you retaliate." mused Miltia with a huff, "That's what the definition of revenge is, right? Exactly what your semblance allows you to do – to fight back and avenge what's been done to you."
She didn't wait for Yang to think about it or for the blonde to say anything else, she went right back to her calculation and continued it with the same zeal as before, as if completely possessed by hoping to make sense of it soon.
"As for my semblance?" she huffed, then shrugged without looking up, "There's a lot of things in this world that we have not come to realize yet, Yang. Complicated, outrageous, sometimes so complex that our simple minds fail us in the attempt to understand. Some irreparably. As we realize that we're just specks of dust in the wind, just stains of time, just temporary – it robs some of us of hope and sanity, and encourages others to desperately attempt to either leave their perpetual mark – some good, some bad – as they go down in history or to escape their own mortality."
Not much of an answer, and definitely not the one Yang had expected. She didn't know where Miltia was going with it, but she had the strange feeling that the other mercenary was avoiding the answer.
"But there are other things, Yang." A smile found its way onto Miltia's lips, genuine and amused at something that Yang failed to understand, "Some of which are so simple and so obvious that we miss them, take them for granted. We never waste much thought on them until they are pointed out to us, and that is when we realize just how much they truly mean and how much impact they have in this world."
A sound from behind her caused Yang to turn around. And even though she had at first thought it was just Neo moving around, she found herself frowning as she saw the actual source of it – an empty bottle on one of the workbenches off to the side was shaking ever so slightly, as if gently poked by someone.
That was when Yang realized that Neo's music was not playing anymore, and that she and Miltia had been talking at a normal volume for quite a moment. The mute assassin seemed confused about that as well, as she had crawled out of the mechanical arm and was frowning over to the large speakers installed just below the ceiling in each corner of the room, almost as if not understanding why the music had stopped either. Pushing the button on her device, however, that was quickly fixed, and the music once again filled the room.
"Something wrong?" inquired Miltia, once again serious and with her voice raised, though she had never looked up from the equation, "Something more serious than your own weapon?"
The blonde shuddered, but decided not to address it. Not how sudden the music had ended, not how the bottle that seemed to have started moving by itself – and not how the door ahead of them suddenly burst open by itself. It wasn't that she was superstitious or thought that the place was haunted – but with the atmosphere and the sudden weird events, even she didn't want to tempt fate.
"No, of course not." she muttered, albeit she couldn't shake the weird feeling off that she had just missed something important, "Where were we?"
"Using the combination of fire and lightning Dust and how incredibly risky it is, and outright lethal for you." replied Miltiades in a tone that wasn't any different to how she talked about the weather, "I said I would be working on a solution for you, even though I can't promise anything. But before that, I need to know something – how do you plan on using the new type of Dust I can create for you with fire and lightning? What do you have in mind?"
Not hearing a response, Miltia turned her head and rose an eyebrow – she had figured that Yang hadn't replied too quiet for her to hear over the music, but that Yang hadn't replied at all, and she was right. Yang just stood and stared straight ahead, obviously not knowing how to reply – it had Miltia sigh, having figured that the blonde hadn't wasted a thought on the application of the Dust at all.
"You can't tell me you haven't thought about that at all! Simply wanting something but not knowing what to do with it is a childish concept, Yang..."
"So?" huffed the brawler and, even if only to further irritate Miltia, pouted, "It's not like I haven't thought about it at all. To be honest, I was hoping to use it for ranged combat somehow, exactly because it is as dangerous as you said. Wouldn't want that anywhere near my body, right?"
"Like ammunition?" inquired the mercenary with the claws and glanced down at the pile of resources, "It's common to use Dust in ammo, that's true, but there is other applications for ranged combat... However..."
She picked up a bottle of powdered fire Dust and stared into it, even if she was elsewhere with her mind – namely thinking about the possibilities in question.
"...however, I'm afraid I have to disappoint you. Not only can't you just mix a crystal and some powder just like that, but fire and lightning mix into something that isn't exactly stable. Adding gunpowder or exposing it to verberations could easily backfire and have the product explode in your face – and rip that, and most of your torso, off. I must admit, I haven't really used this combination of Dust much due to how limited its use is, and am still testing it under straight laboratory conditions. Back when I told you about it, I wasn't only drunk, but also merely giving an example of combinations. Steam, which is water and fire Dust combined, and ice, which is water and air Dust combined, are way more stable and less risky to use." Miltia coughed, before sheepishly continuing, "Probably the reason they are on the official market, compared to the creations I am researching..."
The tinkerer ignored the blonde mercenary's groan of frustration and put the bottle of fire Dust back down next to the lightning Dust crystal, letting out a huff as she did so. Not losing her motivation, however, she took a step back and glanced over to where the drawing of Ember Celica lay. She barely noticed as Yang picked up both a lightning crystal and the bottle of fine powdered red and stared at them in her hands.
"But what if..." began Yang with both the crystal and the bottle in only one hand, surprising Miltia and breaking her reverie, "What you said earlier tonight got me thinking – about trying to achieve something that is too perfect and too far out of reach. What if it is the same with this Dust that we're talking about? What if it we're simply aiming too high by desperately trying to add this combination? Rather than together..." The blonde stopped to take the crystal from her right hand, thus holding both crystal and bottle each in one hand, "...what if I were to use them both separately? The power of lightning and fire, both in just one hand?"
"And how do you think that would work?" shot Miltia back, before raising an eyebrow, "And why just one hand?"
"Because this weapon here will be just a prototype, Miltia." explained the brawler, "It would be a waste of resources if I were to build two gauntlets right away and end up with them being either not working correctly, not fitting my style like I had thought or straight out shit. I'm going to build one first, take it on a mission to see if it works, and if it turns out it is just what I've been looking for, I will come back to turn the prototype into a more durable version, and add a second one for my left hand. Maybe give them some nice aesthetics, too, cause it's just like you said before – I'll be going for functionality with this for now, and add a better design later. Maybe completely ignore the chassis for the moment and just throw together the parts into something hideous to put my hand into."
"Don't go too basic. You don't want that thing to crush or straight out amputate your right arm." remarked the Malachite twin with a frown, "Doesn't explain how you want to use both the fire and the lightning Dust separately in the same gauntlet. I must admit, I expected that you'd want one to be charged with lightning and the other with fire when I saw your resources, but it intrigues me where you're going. So?"
"Well, Miltia..." Yang trailed off and put both the bottle and the crystal back down on the workbench in front of them. Slowly, she pulled her hands back, but could already feel it inside her left – and so, the corners of her mouth slowly curled up into a smirk, even before she turned her hands so that her palms faced her. "Sometimes, the answer lies within one's very palm, isn't that right?"
This mysterious answer had the tinkerer frowning, even more so as Yang reached over the desk and grabbed both the pencil the twin had used to write down equations, as well as a blank sheet of paper – and that just with her right hand, never lowering or even closing her left. Within seconds, Yang had drawn the shape of a hand onto the piece of paper, the palm facing her just as much as her own was at that moment – and that was when Miltia caught on, seeing them just for a slight moment as she leaned closer while Yang drew a gauntlet.
Within Yang's palm, running along her fingers, were yellowish lines. Lines she had from holding the lightning Dust crystal, lines that gathered in the center of her very palm to a circle. And it was them that Yang drew next into the palm on the sheet of paper, making sure not to miss a single one or even the circle within her own palm.
And only after adding the last line did she finally curl her hand to a fist and let out a confident and content chuckle. One that Miltia didn't particularly share, even though intrigued by what these lines meant.
In response, Yang opened her hand again and showed her palm to the other girl. Although blurred, the lines were still visible and nearly matched those Yang had drawn onto the piece of paper.
"Let fire rain from the sky, lightning within my very hand."
The mercenary with the claws merely rose an eyebrow at the words, but kept examining the lines for a few more seconds before she tore her gaze away from them and met Yang's gaze. She had missed it before, but with the hand turned to face her, she finally saw them – the tiny bolts of lightning that followed the lines on Yang's fingers and palm, easy to miss but still there. Silently wondered if Yang even felt them, as she didn't seem to react to them at all. Couldn't really believe it, you didn't miss lightning just like that, no matter how small. Narrowed her eyes.
"I don't see the need to get all poetic." commented Miltia simply as she finally reciprocated the blonde's gaze, "But I think I understand what you're trying to tell me. You want to use the powdered fire Dust to create a special kind of ammunition, most likely next to regular bullets, so you can use it in ranged combat – and have electricity running through your hand?"
"Not my hand itself." explained Yang, though Miltia's overly dramatic roll of her eyes told her that Miltia didn't mean that either, "You told me that gold was a great conductor yourself – what if I were to have some wires run down my fingers into my palm and simply energize them?"
"I'm guessing you'd say you'd become a living Tesla coil – or, in your words, you'd be able to walk around and fry everyone's ass with a touch." replied Miltia, which had Yang smiling proudly – though she missed the hint of skepticism in the twin's voice, "I'd say that the electricity would enter your body through your fingers and turn you into a giant living conductor, all of your muscles would convulse within the fragment of a single second and you'd be paralyzed as the electricity cooks all of your internal organs until they either melt or simply burst – though I doubt that you'd even notice that anymore, as either your brain or your heart would stop working before that can happen."
As Yang slumped her shoulders and shuddered at the mental image, Neo emerged from the mechanical arm that she had by then climbed inside after removing most of the implemented weapon, and glanced over to the two mercenaries in interest – while she had only listened with half an ear before, the mention of gore – Miltia had practically screamed it due to the volume of the music – immediately had her listen up.
Instead of a continuation of that, however, the mute assassin merely got to see as Yang angrily threw the pencil she had still been holding down onto the workbench, where it hit the edge, snapped in two, and then bounced off, only to vanish behind the workbench – and Neo doubted it would ever resurface from there. She wasn't going to clean up anytime soon, after all.
"Great. Just FUCKING great!" roared the blonde and slammed her hands down on the workbench – and Neo watched in absolute shock as the top of the workbench not only shook and was pushed forward, but also slightly bent under the force, even though it shouldn't have. A Paladin wouldn't have been able to bend it an inch even if he had jumped onto it with all his weight – and Yang did, just by getting angry. Neo knew she should've been angry as well that her shit was being damaged, and yet she simply found herself amazed and intimidated.
And aroused, as she noted with a slight shudder.
"Trust me to come up with the one idea in an entire night that's going to kill me!" continued Yang in her fury, "Might as well go and buy myself a coffin in advance, because I'll just end up killing myself! It's either that, or regularly going to the next store and buying myself some shitty mass-produced weapon every other week, because they'll just break like that in my hand due to my semblance!"
"Or you could always ask Neo to design something for you – she's good at it and creative, and what she creates is effective and durable. She might even prioritize it over her own project, considering it is you – though you might have to give her what she wants." offered Miltiades with a shrug – and though she hadn't really meant it, the way that Yang glared at her, the blonde meant what her stare promised.
Over in the mechanical arm, sitting on her knees and with her arms resting on the hatch, Neo smirked – what Miltia had said was true. Just one word from Yang, and she'd create the best weapon she had ever made, just for the blonde – and that even for a considerably low prize. She'd be even content if the brawler with the hot body were to just flash her two big somethings for a moment – so far, she had to be content with what she could see and with her own imagination, but she wouldn't mind seeing the actual thing. Maybe be allowed to touch'em. They were begging the madwoman to touch them, considering they were always at eye level for her.
"Tempting, but no – this is my weapon, Miltia, and I will never be truly satisfied unless I design it myself and create it with my own hands. Asking for help with the things I don't understand or that someone is better in than me – like you know more about Dust, for example – is as far as I'm willing to go." growled Yang finally and bared her teeth, "If I fail at it, then I'll just have to do without a weapon."
With a mute chuckle, Neo noted that Yang shouldn't leap to conclusions like that – she was sure she could give Yang true satisfaction. Of course, she kept that to herself and continued to watch, interested where the scene before her was going, but felt like she wasn't given enough credit – and liked to prove the blonde wrong, if only she was given the chance.
And was sure that she one day would.
"You're overreacting." remarked Miltiades simply, "I never said it wouldn't work at all – aside from the proportions of the hand you drew, this design is feasible. In fact, your idea is actually interesting, to say the least, but just like with the combination of fire and lightning Dust, this isn't something a novice should attempt – while it may look simple on paper, it could be complex to pull off. There's a lot of things we will need to bear in mind regarding your safety if this design is what you really want, most of which are regarding your health."
As if Yang, who found that she had calmed down in surprise at Miltia's words, had seen it coming, Miltia reached for a new pencil and began writing a new equation – and this one had merely one variable.
"We can't simply have non-insulated wires of gold running along your fingers, however, or what I said before could become your personal bad end – if we add some kind of insulation between the energized wire and your fingers, however..."
Miltiades reached over and began to draw on the sketch that Yang had made, first making some of the lines – namely, all but the parts that ran along the fingers – thicker and adding a bolt of lightning to the circle in the palm, then drew a second hand next to it – which Yang noted, with a growl, was perfectly proportioned.
"This is just an advice, but I would only have the parts of the wires that actually are running along your fingers to be non-insulated and thus dangerous, but not the part that's in your palm. That's way safer, trust me." continued the twin, before resting the tip of the pencil against the gauntlet Yang had drawn, "Question – is the back of the hand going to be enveloped by the gauntlet down to the fingertips?"
"Yeah. I figured that I could add a layer of something insulated on the back of my hand, and then a layer of gold on it. So that it looks like a full gauntlet with fingers if you look down on it, but if I turn my hand around, it's just wires extending from the fingertips that run along my fingers and connect at my palm." replied the brawler, then let out a gasp of excitement and took the pencil from Miltia's hand, "Wait, if they connect at the center of my palm, all the electricity would run there, right?"
"Logically." huffed Miltia – but let out an intrigued hum as she saw how Yang added another circle in the middle of the drawn palm.
"Shouldn't we able to exploit that?" inquired Yang with a grin, "Like, adding a small device in my palm that not only acts as armor to protect it, but also can use the electricity?"
"Theoretically speaking, yes." mused Miltiades and rose an eyebrow, though she felt excitement spark in herself now that the ideas were flowing, "Not for a laser blaster if that is what this device you drew is supposed to be, but what you just said about the gold on the back of your hand gave me an idea as well – and what you just proposed fits perfectly."
Yang handed her the pencil back and Miltia accepted it, quickly adding more lines to the drawing until more wires were implied to run through the gauntlet at the back of the hand into its center, and the former inner circle at the center of the palm was a flat octagonal Dust crystal – an unusual shape for a Dust crystal, seeing as they were usually shaped like a cylinder. Finally, Miltia added another Dust crystal to the drawing right where the implied wires ended within the back of the gauntlet, although this one looked more like the traditional ones – even if smaller, and surrounded by a rectangle.
"I was going to advise this to you anyway, but you should use a crystal to energize the wires – it's more efficient than adding powdered Dust as the source, you won't need to change it as often. Add a small chamber in the gauntlet that you can put a small lightning Dust crystal in, from which the wires draw energy – and never try any other element, it won't work. Might even backfire instead."
"Wasn't going to." commented Yang – then hesitated, "Probably. Thanks for the advice, though, I'll do that."
"Anyway – what I'm thinking about is using a discharged lightning Dust crystal in the device in the center of your palm, which is charged when you activate the electricity, and in return can charge the gold on the back of your hands to give you electric punches via the device." explained Miltia, "Of course, you can't just use the charged crystal to fully charge the discharged one and swap back and forth between them whenever one is empty and the other full – to explain it to you as simple as possible, because I doubt you want the detailed explanation: some energy will always get lost, and we can't exactly go for efficiency with this design here to decrease this. And if you use it to attack, even more will get lost, so I advise you to exchange the charged crystal after every two or three missions at the latest."
"I'm okay with that." replied the brawler, crossing her arms beneath her chest and leaning against the workbench. Miltia regarded this with a nod, having expected it, and continued her newest equation – though Yang didn't really know what that one was for, and somehow didn't want to ask to avoid a long rant.
"Two more things." continued the twin, then frowned, "Well, actually three. First, and we should've probably established this before – If you really want this to be part of your weapon, you'll need to be ready to be shocked by the electricity a lot during the first time after you build it – at least, until we find a way to protect your fingers from the charge. Probably won't be before it is out of the prototype stage, which is why I advise you start with only a low voltage. Which, in turn, means installing resistors until the charge is definitely non-lethal."
"Not a problem, I'm ready for that." shot the brawler back, "I expected it, to be honest. The part about getting shocked, not the resistors – I don't understand much about complex circuitry. I mean, I know what a resistor is and all that stuff, but don't trust me to be able to build you anything complex."
The tinkerer gave a short nod and a hum as she continued writing, not particularly surprised. Not that she thought of Yang as unintelligent or anything of the like – if anything, she was positively surprised by the brawler so far, especially after how down and unmotivated Yang had been earlier that night.
"That's okay, I'll do the equation for you anyway, so leave it to me – I'll include it." murmured the claw-wielding mercenary with a shrug, "Second thing on the list – the new inactive form of your weapon, which I'm sure you haven't thought of yet."
"Nope. We just shot the old one down a moment ago, you can't expect me to have a new one."
"I haven't." replied Miltia, then glanced to the brawler, "And I was hoping that you hadn't, to be honest, because now there's things you'll need to be aware of when trying to come up with one. What I mean is that you need to remember that the wiring, the two crystals in each gauntlet and the device need to retract into it and fit inside somehow. And the ranged weapon, whatever that is going to be, of course."
"Shit, I totally forgot we haven't made any progress on that yet." groaned the brawler and threw her head back, "Whatever. Thanks, I'll keep it in mind, though I think I already know what I want it to turn into while it's not active. Though it's not very original and you will most likely..."
"Bracelets, huh?" interrupted Miltia, but shrugged as Yang rose an eyebrow at her, "I can't think of anything else that the parts fit into, and I doubt you want to have the inactive form to simply be a deactivated version of the active weapon – full gauntlets, that is."
"Yeah, although it's not exactly regular bracelets." replied the brawler and quickly snatched the pencil back to draw a third hand onto the sheet of paper between them, "Rather than simple bracelets, I thought that I could maybe keep the part of the gauntlet that covers the back of my hand extended and have the fingers be telescopic and retreat into them."
"That's actually kind of smart." complimented the short-haired girl and watched Yang draw, then suddenly snapped her fingers and pointed at the bracelet Yang had just drawn, "Have the bracelet rotate. That way, it can pull the wires in and extend them again by rotating the other direction, and if you actually attach the device positioned in your palm to one of the wires permanently, it can be pulled in as well around the side of your hand. An open slot in the bracelet could have the device attach itself to it, and if it ends on top of the bracelet, and thus your wrist, with the final rotation..."
"...then the device and the discharged crystal would look like an innocent gem in a regular golden bracelet. Safe for the plate covering the back of my hand, of course, but that does hardly give the weapon away." finished Yang for her with just the same amount of motivation, "That's really is genius! We're making progress!"
"We actually do." agreed Miltia, smiling as she took the pencil back, "Still far from finishing, of course, but there's only one thing left to discuss about the electricity you want to use – the fire is something to talk about when you've come up with a ranged weapon to install, since you want to use it for that."
"Yeah, thought as much." Yang rose a hand and began to scratch her upper back and the back of her neck while pondering, "So what's the last thing we need to talk about regarding electricity?"
"Simply put, it's..."
Miltia didn't get to finish, interrupted when something fast shot past Yang and hit the workbench just to the brawler's right, brushing along her right arm. The entire workbench shook and Miltia froze up – and then, body perfectly still, stared at the long line she had just accidentally drawn across her equations. Still readable, but a blemish on the otherwise neatly written calculations.
"Neo, what the fuck?!" bellowed the brawler, glaring at the assassin that had just jumped onto the workbench at full speed out of the blue, and now sat elegantly on the piece of furniture so close to Yang that their legs were touching.
The mute gave a shrug, revealing just how little she cared, and instead offered the blonde mercenary that had momentarily forgotten about her being in the room with them her trademark smirk. When Yang opened her mouth to further complain, the madwoman simply rose a hand and put her index finger against the brawler's lips, effectively stopping whatever the blonde had been about to say – and with her other hand, which she slowly rose, simply presented Yang and Miltia her scroll.
Both mercenaries were silent as Neo slowly put her scroll down on the workbench in front of Yang, and only then revealed that she had typed in a message prior to jumping on the table by activating the screen that had timed out in between.
"Did you invite your friend, Yang?" read the message – nothing more, nothing less. No emoticon, as Yang would've expected it from Neo, and no innuendo or joke, and no ulterior motive that Yang could see hidden in it. It was a genuine question, however unlikely that seemed when it came to Neo.
"I did. She should be here any moment now." confirmed the blonde and glanced towards the one behind the question, "Though I'm no longer sure if that was the right choice. Not with where this is, not with what this is..." She gestured to the room around them, arms wide spread – but ultimately focused back on the assassin herself and slowly shook her head just a little bit, "Not with you around."
The mute lunatic saw that as a compliment and made no attempt at hiding it, mockingly bowing forward as far as her sitting position allowed her to and leaning in so close to the brawler that Yang could feel the older woman's hot breath and could smell the pleasantly sweet hint in it – but there was nothing romantic about it, nothing sensual. Pure longing lay in Neo's eyes, but the smug grin on her lips was one of absolute mockery.
She leaned closer and closer, began to slowly close her eyes and tilt her head – but Yang remained as she was. Lips tightly pressed together, she stared with judgment in her lavender eyes at the assassin – albeit she had to admit, she wasn't disgusted by the idea that Neo was creating inside her head, which became more and more vivid the closer Neo leaned. But didn't like it one bit at the same time, being toyed with, just a plaything for Neo's whim and libido.
As she was at that very moment, as Neo proved only a second later, when their lips were about to meet and no more than an inch separated them – by pulling back, smug grin gaining nearly Grimm-like proportions, the longing in her eyes turning to unbridled sadism.
The lunatic wasn't holding back her laughter at all, and though Yang couldn't hear it, she felt just as mocked as if the madwoman hadn't been mute at all and laughed at the volume of her music.
But Yang wouldn't bend to the woman's will, no matter how many advances towards her Neo would make, no matter how intense they would be. Cause no matter how genuine, affectionate or possibly romantic they would seem, Neo only wanted one thing – her body. To claim and mark her, to add her to the collection of things she owned, just plaything or a tool like everything in the room with them was.
Neo didn't love her, not one bit. The only attraction Neo felt towards her was based on physical craving alone, it wasn't Yang affection she wanted or someone to come home to. No, what Neo wanted her to be wasn't a girlfriend or any kind of attachment – the assassin wanted her to be a fuck buddy, to call it by its name. Possibly not even an equal, as far as Yang could tell.
That was why Yang wouldn't submit. Because she had her own free will, a powerful one, because she was like a flame in the dark of the night – though the darkness was all-encompassing and trying to suffocate it, it burned ever bright and fought until the morning came and its reflection rose in the sky.
No matter how sweet the night beckoned with its hollow promises of pleasure and how fulfilling giving up and throwing oneself into the blackness of the void seemed, the flame – Yang – lived on and remained strong, even as its resistance and fuel began to run low.
All that, Yang made sure to tell and show Neo – and that with her hard gaze alone, not blinking once as she stared into the mismatched eyes that hovered just in front of her. But just like Yang's resolve wouldn't waver, so would Neo's determination to break this will and extinguish and swallow the flame.
A seemingly endless cycle, that was what the two were – but they couldn't continue on without another, either. Yang didn't want Neo to vanish, didn't want her gone from her life, and Neo would question her own insanity – which she fully embraced – if she wanted Yang gone all of sudden.
Other than of course by her very own bare hands, the gloves removed before she'd choke the last bit of light from the lavender eyes – an honor she hadn't bestowed on anyone before, as she had made it a principle to never remove her gloves without a sound reason. But it wasn't time for that, far from it – yet.
Silent as she was, the lunatic picked up her scroll and began to type at speed that Yang was sure was the limit of human capability. Just a tad slower than as if one had spoken it, Neo had the message all typed out and presented it to the two younger girls in front of her – although Miltia took little interest in it, leaving Yang to read it silently.
"There was no right decision to begin with." read the first sentence of the message, "Involving her or not was entirely up to you – I merely extended the invitation for two reasons: I saw what value she'd have for creating your weapon, and out of sheer curiosity."
Spotting that Yang's gaze wandered to meet hers, Neo knew that the brawler had finished reading and turned the scroll around to scroll further down to reveal the rest of the message. Almost passively, never tearing her gaze away from Yang's, she turned the scroll back around – and yet, they kept eye-contact for a few more seconds. And though it wasn't one, it felt like a contest to either of them, a silent battle for dominance.
At fault for that was the tension in the air that had arrived with the psychopath and the bad taste in Yang's mouth at how Neo handled the topic of Arslan. Now, Yang simply dared the woman to reveal her true colors, the real reason she had invited the leader of ABRN despite only having learned of her – it was hidden behind the cover of the word 'curiosity', and Yang knew it. Whatever Neo's ulterior motive was, she had hidden it behind that word.
Not for long and not intentionally, as Yang found as she finally glanced down at the rest of the message. It had been the technical limitations of their only method of conversation – other than involving Miltia or anyone able to understand sign language – that was at fault for it, Neo was – for once – transparent with her words.
"I'm curious as to what threat she's going to be – for you, and for us. How much do you truly know about her? How much do you truly trust her?" Yang stopped reading to glare Neo's way, wondering what was going on inside the lunatic's head, but ultimately considered it to be better that she didn't want to know unless she wanted to go crazy as well, and returned to the message, "You're calling her a friend, but if you were to see the world with my eyes, you'd realize that alliances and friendships are fragile. You'd probably grow paranoid, would sleep with one eye open and a knife always hidden where no one can..."
Yang reacted just in time. Spotting a sudden erratic movement from the assassin on the workbench, the brawler reached for the malformed chunk of gold on the table and swung it towards her – just in time to block the incoming blade of a knife that Neo had pulled from behind her back, where it had been hidden beneath the belt of her gray overall.
She didn't know what the sudden attack was about – just the other second, Neo had been friendly and had even tried to get in her pants, and the next, she tried to stab her with a knife – but didn't feel like allowing Neo to keep the upper hand.
But there was one thing that Neo didn't know about, the ace up Yang's sleeve – the left one in particular, and that literally, as she could feel it pressing against her forearm. Neo thought she was smart and the only one with a hidden weapon, but to think that should be her mistake.
All it took was the shake of her left arm, then Yang had turned the situation around. She had never been happier that she hadn't gotten rid of her brown coat yet and that she had decided to wear it due to how cold the night was – even though she now had the money to replace the piece of clothing that was easily a size too small for her. Had she replaced it, she wouldn't have had the old rusty knife with her, the very same one she had defended herself and Ruby with while they had lived on the street.
Just like in the past, it fell from the tear in the sleeve and slipped down her forearm into her hand, an old familiar feeling, like an old friend returning. Neo must've spotted it from the corner of her eyes, as her gaze moved down to Yang's left hand – and in a single blink, the mismatched eyes had both turned pink, mild surprise on Neo's face.
Yang exploited it. Although first and foremost a brawler that preferred her own fists and knew what devastating weapon they could be, a knife could do what a fist couldn't do as fast – and it was a nice way of giving foes the feeling of safety when they disarmed her, thinking she was no danger anymore until she revealed just how much damage she could do with her bare hands alone. And that without the semblance she had only recently discovered.
The situation turned around with Neo's knife pushed away, Yang pushed her non-dominant hand forward to stab the assassin instead – aimed at the woman's leg, wanted to hurt but not kill, despite the sudden assault on her.
Had a feeling that there was more to it, beginning with Neo aiming for her shoulder with the initial strike – had Neo wanted to kill, she wouldn't have gone for that. Someone as skilled as her, someone who had made huge amounts of Lien with assassinations for years, wouldn't make a mistake as simple as that. Even someone as crazy as Neo. Who, for a reason Yang didn't understand just at that moment, had never stopped smiling even as the situation had been turned around in her target's favor.
The reason was simple, as Yang learned just two, maybe three, seconds later – it never had turned in her favor.
As sudden as she had pulled the knife on Neo, the resistance that the clump of gold had met in shape of the knife suddenly faded – for a reason the brawler couldn't understand, Neo had dropped the knife all of sudden. It caught Yang off guard and she stumbled, hit the edge of the workbench with her hip and bit back the curse.
The knife missed Neo, but not because Yang had tripped, but because the nimble assassin had caught the incoming hand by wrist and had twisted it out of the way painfully. But it wasn't that pain that Yang felt most prominent – way more painful was a sudden itching sensation along her now exposed left arm, which she had no longer been protecting with her aura in surprise.
Neo's knife hit the floor, Yang let out a hiss despite the fact that it had never touched her – and the assassin's expression turned to full obsessed madness.
Along the brawler's left arm was a long thin line, a scratch only very delicate and on the surface – at least that was what it seemed like, until just a slight bit of scarlet began to leak from it. It was a cut, not deeper than mere millimeters, felt just like paper cut – just as painful and just as itchy – but that was not what it was. There was no paper in Neo's gloved hand.
It was a switchblade knife with a blade so sharp that it may as well been a proper katana. From what Yang could tell, Neo had carried and hidden the second knife in her overall's sleeve similar to how the brawler herself had done it with her own knife, and had merely cut her with the tip.
Anger began to well up in the blonde as she pulled both arms back and quickly increased the distance between her and Neo by falling back a few steps – but Neo's smug grin never changed, even though her eyes had changed to the regular mismatched colors of pink and brown.
Over to left, Miltia looked up without any real interest, boredom in her gaze even though of what had just happened only three steps away from her. Almost like it was a regular thing. Almost like Neo lashing out randomly was normal.
Dropping the rusty knife into the pocket of her coat, Yang glanced down at the damage Neo had done. The sleeve of her coat was cut open from above her elbow down to almost the wrist, something that Yang remained indifferent about, having planned to get a new coat anyway, but the biting sensation of the cut had her wincing and placing a hand to cover up part of the wound. Not that it did much.
"Congratulations." spoke Miltia with boredom all of sudden and had Yang glaring over to where she stood, but the twin's gaze was glued to Neo's hands that were moving at a fast and fluid pace, which had Yang realizing that the tinkerer was once again translating for the mute, "For the hidden knife. You're smarter than you look. Neo admits not having expected it."
An angry glare was sent into the direction of the mute assassin by the blonde, although it only served to further fuel Neo's amusement.
"But she advises you to take better care of your weapons, and hopes that the poor state of that toy you have just pulled on her better not reflects what horrible fate your weapon after tonight will suffer eventually." continued Miltia for the assassin, "Plus, while she thinks it is best to always carry a hidden weapon to turn things in your favor, something you did right, you only had one."
"So that's what this was about?" hissed Yang and let her glare shift between the two, "A lesson you wanted to teach me, you lil' shit?"
Neo quickly signed something to Miltia, still smug about herself.
"That's what it was."
"Well shit, guess I did learn something from you, you lunatic." Yang trailed off as Neo suddenly slid down from the workbench and approached her, pulling a single handkerchief from her breast pocket. She froze up, to which Neo stopped as well, but eventually just relaxed and let it happen, allowing Neo to take care of the cut.
And though she felt smart for getting Neo within range that way, the smaller woman proved her experience by simply leaning her head out of the way as Yang attempted to get revenge with a punch.
"Fine." huffed the brawler finally and gave up, "Go on, bask in your success and feel all high and mighty. But don't expect me to fall for it again."
"I think that was the purpose of this lesson." commented Miltia, who had once again turned her back to them to ponder over some equation that Yang was beginning to think was no longer about the brawler's weapon.
"Whatever." Yang found herself surprised as Neo reached into the space below the closest workbench and pulled a first aid kit from it, complete with bandages that she began to wrap the brawler's arm in, "Out of sheer curiosity – and not about how you timed that attack with me reading, I know you followed my eyes..."
Neo suddenly pulled on the bandages very hard and Yang winced – the smaller woman didn't like having her 'magic tricks' explained or seen through. Still, the blonde mercenary didn't do anything to push Neo away, even as Neo began to bandage her hand as well – she'd rather have that cut taken care of properly due to its size. That, and she had caught on as to why the hand as well – it was going to protect it, simply put. Not just from the tools she'd be using that night, but from the damages it would take in the upcoming mission, seeing as the prototype weapon would be one-handed – the mission which, by then, was just a little more than 36 hours away. Although she'd probably need a new bandage for that.
"...how many weapons do you have hidden on your body? Aside from the two knives you've just pulled on me, you ass."
Ahead, Miltia turned her head to see if she had to translate anything in return, but Neo – who had just finished bandaging the brawler's hand – surprised Yang by simply shaking her head and then pulling her hand up to put a finger onto her own lips.
The message was clear – the exact number was a secret. And yet, feeling 'generous', Neo made a few signs into Miltia's direction to translate, wanting to reveal at least something so that Yang wasn't entirely without an answer.
"More, and not just knives."
A single glance down Neo's body – something the older woman obviously enjoyed – had Yang shuddering, simply by wondering where these weapons could've been hidden. With the usual outfit of the assassin, there were lots of places that Yang had to admit a weapon would fit and be hidden, but with the gray overall?
As if Neo had read her mind, a lecherous grin spread across her lips and she leaned ever so slightly forward, right index finger pulling a little at her collar – and thus didn't only give Yang an eyeful of the top of Neo's ample cleavage, but what was right between the pale breasts of the assassin. A pistol, or perhaps a taser, it was hard to tell due to the angle and with just the grip visible.
Realizing she was still staring down Neo's cleavage – even if offered by the older woman – Yang quickly tore her gaze away and shuddered. And Neo erupted into mute laughter, but finally gave the mercenary some space and returned to the workbench where Miltia was still at – which Yang was incredibly thankful for, if she was being honest. While flattered, she didn't really like the predatory gaze Neo was showing her much.
She was just about to step closer to the workbench again as well – even if intending to keep some distance to Neo – when she realized that she was holding something in her bandaged hand, something she had definitely not held before. And glancing down, she found what it was that Neo had placed there – the assassin's scroll, the message still open on it and waiting for the brawler to read the rest of.
"...and a knife always hidden where no one can see it just like that. Better yet, more than one, just to be safe." Feeling the sudden need to punch Neo even though she knew she'd never land a hit, Yang glared over to where the tricolored woman sat, "Trust this Arslan if you want, but never turn your back to her just like that – especially if she knows your true colors after tonight."
When Yang glanced up this time, Neo was no longer looking at her. Instead, she had picked up the sketch that the two mercenaries had been working on and was inspecting it with one eyebrow raised. Although based on the small smile on her lips, she was liking what she saw.
Seeing a chance for revenge with Neo distracted, Yang reached back, aimed and threw the scroll. And with Neo not reacting, excitement welled up and the mercenary bit her lower lip and balled her fists.
Watching Neo catch it without looking up, Yang didn't know what she even got excited for, as she should've expected it.
"Are you two done now?" inquired the more experienced mercenary with a clearly irritated frown towards the other two females, though Neo was too busy to reciprocate it, "Can I finally ask that final question regarding the lightning Dust now?"
The annoyed tone in the claw-wielding mercenary's voice had Yang raise an eyebrow – and quickly remembered exactly what Miltia was talking about when she retraced the events and realized that Neo had cut the twin of Melanie off when she had jumped onto the table.
Miltiades had any reason to be irritated, and Yang didn't like it much. Because of that, she quickly hurried back to the table and glanced over Miltia's shoulder at what the girl was working on – which was, aside from some even more complicated equations, a few drawings that looked like advanced wiring to the blonde.
"Ah, shit. Forgot about that because of someone..." Yang sent Neo yet another glare – and though Neo didn't look up, was promptly flipped off by the assassin, "Go ahead, Miltia. You were saying?"
"Before we were so rudely interrupted..." began Miltia, almost like they had never stopped, though Yang begrudgingly noticed that Neo did not react to that in any way, "I was going to ask you about the last aspect of this idea you had with the 'electric touch' – the trigger."
Miltia flipped a seemingly blank sheet of paper around and revealed another drawing of a hand that she must've made sometime after Neo had interrupted them. What really seemed off to Yang about the drawing was the addition of some skeletal-like extensions on the back of the fingers labeled 'reinforcement, finger' with a different number for each finger following. Additionally, there was something resembling a bracelet at the wrist of the drawn hand, which Yang figured was bracelet for the inactive form – but just above it were a few chambers that seemed to surround the wrist as well based on the sketch, simply labeled 'cylinder, ammo'.
"The trigger?" repeated the brawler, finding it hard to tear her gaze away from the detailed drawing, "What do you mean? I thought you said we were going to work on the Dust, not the ranged aspect?"
The response was an incredulous stare from the brunette that had Yang take a step towards Neo – and considering the assassin that was still immersed in the first drawings was the bigger threat and had just tried to cut her before, this meant something.
"We are working on this 'electric touch' you wanted to include, as I just said!" growled the twin in red, patience running short, "But unless you're going to tell me that you want to run around with permanently charged hands and incinerate and electrocute anything and anyone you touch, perhaps just accidentally, you'll need a trigger for this to activate and deactivate it. Like I need to drag one bracelet along the other to charge my gauntlets, for example, just like a matchstick."
"Oh."
"Ugh." Miltia rolled her eyes at Yang's sheepish expression and ignored it as the brawler sent a glance towards Neo for help, which was of course in vain, "Look, let's just get this over with. I'm tired, Yang, I haven't slept well lately and Melanie and I have a mission coming up in a few hours. I need to go to bed and get some rest before that."
"I know. Sorry." sighed the blonde, "But that's why I'm really grateful that you do this. I'm not taking this for granted, and I really owe you – and Neo, too, I guess."
The response from the mute didn't only surprise Yang, but Miltia – who had known her for a longer time – found herself just as caught off guard: Neo waved it off, not insisting on Yang owing her a favor that she could exploit in the future for her personal, perhaps even perverted, gain.
"I have to agree with Neo on this, Yang – while I'm glad that you don't take this for granted or abuse our willingness to help, you're not owing me." replied the Malachite twin as she turned back to the drawing before them, "Although if you really want to make it up to me..."
She twirled the pencil between her fingers, then let the sharper end come to a rest on the piece of paper and glanced her fellow mercenary's way.
"...then finally sort things out with Melanie. I'm not going to force you to pursue a relationship just yet if you don't feel comfortable with it, but I have the feeling you two both are looking for that." finished Miltiades, "Also, I'm not going to give you all this 'don't hurt her feelings or I'll hurt you'-shit. We both know it's in the human nature to hurt others by accident, and we both know there is no way to tell if a relationship is going to last. In the end, it could very well be that she hurts you. As everything, affection is temporary. It could last no more than a moment, but could also last a life long."
The nihilistic words of the tinkerer had Yang blinking in surprise and Neo glancing over with a frown, but Miltia merely shook her head – there was no explanation to this view, no story to tell. It was just the way she viewed things, distanced and as they were – there were no pink glasses that she saw the world through, no sugarcoating the things around her. Where others were looking at things in a subjective way, Miltia had distanced herself from that – not completely, for that was impossible – and tried to explain them. Find logic. Preferred its definition before her own personal view on it.
Not that she'd always rely on that – most of the time, one wouldn't even notice. But it was in moments like then – either when she was drunk or tired – that this very distanced look at the world and the things in it would surface and become more noticeable, when she didn't feel well and drowned herself out.
It was almost like she was in autopilot in these moments, though it was easy to tell apart whether it was because she was shitfaced or simply tired.
But perhaps there was a story, after all, even if no more than a theory that Yang had – in the end, she hadn't know Miltia for long, and not before she and Melanie had escaped their family's clutches. If anyone knew how such a grave life-changing event could affect and alter you, then it was Yang herself, who had lost everything she once had aside from her sister in a fire, and who had never had something like a real mother – the closest thing to the latter had been Summer, and she too had been lost to the fire.
"Now focus on the things at hand – how to start the electricity?" continued the Malachite twin, "This is a bit more complicated as this weapon will envelope your hands. We can't connect it to the mechanism to activate and deactivate your weapons, and we can't use most movements – including balling fists and any sudden movements – as you could accidentally trigger it, and most sensors I can currently think of wouldn't last long due to your fighting style and strength – and of course, the strain your semblance will put on them as it increases your strength. Heat won't be the problem this time, most of the sensors I have in my workshop can withstand it, although we can't use it as a trigger either."
As Miltia ranted on, the brawler slowly rose her hands and stared down at them in wonder. At first, she experimentally moved her fingers, but then began to act out the actions that Miltia mentioned – she balled her hands to fists, swung them in punches and jerked her hands back, and finally shook them. Miltia was right, neither of these would work, were too casual or included in her fighting style to not accidentally trigger the electricity.
"And we can't exactly have the electricity time out, either, we need to connect it to a trigger as well – the risk is too great that you'd need to touch something, but simply can't because of the electricity, or that the electricity would time out when you need it the most." mused Miltia further, but then let out a content hum, "That, we can connect to deactivating the weapon, though, and it is probably for the better, as the electricity isn't supposed to work while the weapon is in its inactive state. But I think it should be better if you have an additional way of deactivating it, one that doesn't include shutting the whole weapon down."
Although listening intently, Yang continued with some experimental movements. She wriggled her fingers, wondered if they could somehow be included in the mechanism to activate the electricity. For a second, she thought she had it as she moved only her thumb and attempted to touch the center of her palm – and although she didn't manage, it was so close that she would be able to touch the device that would rest there once the gauntlet would be active.
Thinking of how to use that, she figured she could have the uncharged crystal react to pressure like a button – and realized the flaw of her idea right then. If she were to ball her hand to a fist, she'd touch it as well, would apply pressure with every successful punch, and with every touch.
So much for that idea.
In frustration, she clenched her fists and rested them on the workbench – this time, she avoided damaging the table. And as she leaned forward and glared down at the workbench and her fists, everything just fell into place.
Neither Miltia, nor Neo noticed it as Yang slowly rose her fists and took a step back, turning them around until they were facing her – and then, suddenly, before she'd doubt the idea, swung both fists.
It hurt as they hammered into another, knuckles cracking as they collided – with her semblance semi-active and energy stored inside her, this hadn't been the smartest idea, and she knew that. Counterproductive for it, if anything, as the new pain – or rather, the physical trauma, as Miltia had said – triggered her semblance into adding new energy to the one already stored and begging to be released.
But this was it. This was perfect.
"I've got it." she called out, and both the other mercenary as well as the mute assassin glanced towards her. Rather than immediately explaining, Yang repeated the action – even if softer and slower this time – and let her fists collide. "We can make this the trigger, right? Letting my knuckles collide like this, I mean! If you can have something like sliding your claws along each other be a trigger, this has to work!"
Although Miltia frowned, especially as Yang repeated the action several times – not hard enough for her semblance to feed on it, of course – to show her, the more experienced mercenary slowly began to nod.
"That could work. It's not a completely random action, but not one you'd make just like that with your gauntlets active. The only problem would be that it'd require special pressure sensors that only react when they're slammed into another and that your strength could potentially damage them, especially in the long run – but we can work with that." Miltia stopped to scratch her neck, then turned back to the drawing and began to add something, "Yeah, we could definitely work with that."
Yang – and Neo, although she remained ignored – leaned over to watch as Miltia began to draw again, adding the sensors in questions to the drawing near the knuckles, as well as some wiring that only made sense to her and Neo, and not so much to the brawler with the limited technical knowledge.
"Like I said before, the biggest problem would be your strength and how it increases exponentially over the course of a fight. I do have an idea how to work around that, however, and it uses the second aspect of your semblance – the heat. While we can't have that be a trigger for the electricity itself, we could exploit it to detect the power your semblance currently adds, as it increases along with your strength. If we track the heat you radiate and have a mechanism increase the protection of the sensors accordingly with it so that the pressure exerted on them as you slam your fists together never goes past a certain point, we could minimize the attrition on the sensors and thus increase the time before they need maintenance."
Yang listened closely as Miltia explained, knowing that she'd need this in the future. She studied the drawing before them, as did Neo, though the assassin only followed in hope to find a solution to her own problem.
"Not going to delude you, however – whatever the final design will be, whatever weapon you will use, it will need to be maintained much more than any other weapon because of your semblance. Luckily, I can provide you with much more pressure sensors and parts than you will ever need – though I can't do it exactly for free. It's cheaper than at any store, though."
"Even if you would've provided me with them for free, I would have paid you in some way. I'd feel bad if you'd just give them to me like that." commented the brawler, "And I had figured that my weapons would wear out much faster long before tonight. Remember, this is my semblance we're talking about. The same one that has allowed me to punch a hole through a Spider-Droid – yes, I know, not an arachnid actually – and that has given me enough strength to throw a fully loaded shipping container at said Droid, as well as obliterate the right arm of a Paladin Prototype."
They both ignored it as Neo shuddered in excitement – every new bit of information about Yang's strength and semblance had her crave to dominate the blonde more – and wordlessly let it sink in, well aware of what it meant for the gauntlet.
"You know, you really should skip the chassis for the weapon entirely for now, at least until I had some time to think about it. Unless you want to come back with an arm encased in a cube of gold and metal that has penetrated most of your flesh." mused the tinkerer, "The prototype will probably not last much longer than this one mission with all the strain that'll be put on it, but I'm positive that I will have a solution for that afterwards – a chassis made from simple gold won't protect the mechanisms, but I'm positive I can create an alloy from this gold here and the same sturdy material that Melanie and I've been using for our weapons that should offer enough resistance to not bend all the time and do exactly that." Miltia's gaze shifted from Yang to Neo, who had leaned closer, "And no, Neo, I told you I won't share anything I create with you."
The mute turned and blew Miltia a raspberry in return, but didn't attempt convincing Miltia any further – from what the blonde brawler could tell, she had tried quite a few times already in the past, and had failed before.
"If you can't, Miltia, then I really don't know who."
"Flattery won't get you anywhere." huffed the twin with the short hair, "Staying focused on the thing at hand will. I suppose that you want the same move of slamming your fists together to be the trigger for deactivating the electricity again as well?"
"Seems reasonable to me. Don't want to accidentally activate them, but don't want to do the opposite either."
"Good. That's entirely feasible, and you've got most of the necessary stuff lying around here already." concluded the tinkering twin, before she wrote down a final line beneath her calculations – just a note on what was left to work on – and folded the piece of paper, "I'll take care of the most important calculations and will give you the necessary sensors later, after I return from my mission. But allow me one question..."
Yang rose an eyebrow at her, but Miltiades remained stoic and simply waited for an answer.
"Alright, go ahead." Yang sent a glance to Neo, which the assassin reciprocated but let pass without comment, "What's it?"
"Do you really plan to have this prototype ready by the start of the mission? In 36 hours?" inquired the twin, "Excuse my skepticism, but it's not going to be easy – you barely have the design for one of three aspects ready, and are still missing the aspects of the ranged weapon and the chassis. Even with me taking some of the work out of your hands, you'll need to spend nearly every moment that you're awake working on it until the mission."
With a grunt, Yang's face scrunched up at the thought – yet, she had known this would be the case when she had picked all the things up for the weapon. Not exactly a choice she had made, considering it was more of a necessity, but she had already come to terms with it. Didn't mean she had to like it any more.
"Yeah. Pain in the ass, but I'll do it. And hopefully succeed."
This had Neo perk up again. Before the other two had a chance to continue the conversation, something easily done with a voice, Neo quickly put the first drawing down and waved a hand to get Miltia's attention – and seeing that she had, began to sign away, leaving Yang to just watch and wait.
At least Yang could tell something based on their expressions – Neo was excited about whatever she was signing about, and Miltia was questioning it with a raised eyebrow.
"Neo would like to offer you to stay here and work on the prototype until the mission – if you're not bothered by her working on her own project during your stay, that is. She said you can use the bed in the backroom if you need some sleep. It's not the most comfortable, but it'll do." translated Miltia, and watching Yang skeptically raise an eyebrow added, "No innuendo or perverted implication this time, as weird as it may sound. She even signed your actual name."
Some more signs from Neo were quickly added, which had Miltia suddenly chuckle and try to keep a straight face.
"She promised not to call you 'boobs' again, and actually apologized for reducing you to such a thing – you're clearly more than that and have other striking features, even if she really likes your 'knockers'. Her words, not mine." giggled the tinkerer, which had Yang roll her eyes, "She said she'll find a new sign to replace your name with, one more charming and fitting."
"I'd love that." huffed the brawler with a glare into the direction of the assassin, but then let out a sigh and relaxed, "But... I accept. Can't say I'm really comfortable sleeping so close to someone who first tried to get into my pants and then tried to stab me just a few minutes later, but I guess I don't really have a choice."
Neo's smile grew into a self-pleased smirk – just as Yang had suspected – and she leaned closer, but Yang had already turned back to Miltia and ignored it for the sake of her own sanity.
"So you'll be staying here then?" asked the Malachite twin, even though she had already been provided with the answer, "I'll inform the others, though Junior probably won't like the idea of having to take over as the barkeeper for another night – with Tucker still in hospital and you here, he won't have much of a choice though."
"Tell him I'm sorry. And that, if I'm feeling up for it after the mission for Cinder, I'll take the shift tomorrow night."
"I will." confirmed Miltia and picked up the folded piece of paper with the equation, showing it Yang a last time before pocketing it, "But you shouldn't count on being able to. The mission didn't sound too easy."
"Infiltration and sabotage." mused the brawler aloud – which the associate of Cinder to her right confirmed with a nod. Seeing Yang furrow her brow at the assassin possessing additional intelligence, Neo blew her a raspberry, but still finally signed something to the mercenary in red.
"She's going to be piloting the Bullhead that will take you to the site the mission will take place at and will pick you back up after you're done, but she won't join you. The job is entirely up to you and Ruby." translated the tinkerer – but then, after thinking for a second, added her own opinion, "Cinder has quite some trust in you if she sends you two on a mission without any of her own associates."
Neo answered that, having already typed the message while Miltia had translated, apparently having had the same thought. While it still took her a few seconds until after the tinkerer had finished, when she finally turned her scroll around to show it to the two mercenaries, the text displayed had the answers they were looking for.
"Cinder's trust is one you earn – and you and your sister did with your actions. Ruby has proven her worth to us in person, showing remarkable skill and promising potential. It's mainly due to her that Cinder is willing to trust you so much, despite that you haven't worked for us directly unlike her." Neo scrolled down so they could see the rest, "Also, it's your reputation – the amount of destruction you leave in your wake and the things you endure, they're unique and unheard-of. Most of all, that you took the hit of a Paladin prototype and then just got up and struck back, even completely destroying an arm with your bare fist, impressed Cinder. And has most of the White Fang goons scared of you."
Yang found herself surprised at that, but Neo merely gave a shrug and pulled her scroll back. It was evident that she didn't want to add anything to it, even more so when she simply deleted the message and placed the device face down onto the workbench next to her.
Not sure what to say, the brawler turned to face her fellow mercenary in hope that Miltia would say anything to break the silence and change the topic, but she seemed about ready to leave and go to bed. Which Yang really couldn't blame her for.
The first one to move was Neo, however, this time not to sign anything, but to reach over the workbench and grab the more recent draft for the blonde's weapon – and as by the terms that Yang had agreed to, Neo had any right to do so. Of course, Yang hadn't expected that the mute would take a look at them just then, had figured that she'd do so after the prototype was built and tested, but didn't do anything to stop her. Probably for the better.
But Neo was stopped, fingers mere inches away from the still incomplete sketch – it was still lacking dimensions, the ranged weapon and a customized chassis as it only featured a very basic gauntlet design so far – by such a simple thing as a sound from the other side of the room. And not a single second later, Neo had shut the music off once more.
Letting out a confused hum, Yang turned her head and glanced to the direction it had come from. She silently wondered if it was another weird phenomenon or simply a result of Neo's mess collapsing from the haphazard stacking, but didn't spot anything that seemed different than before.
Suddenly, Neo shot past her, lunacy in her mismatched eyes right before she pulled her welding mask back down. Catching on as to what was happening, Yang jumped forward in an attempt to stop the madwoman, but the assassin proved to be too quick for her and so she ended up stumbling into another table and knocked the pile of things on it over. Tools, gears and garbage hit the ground, but the brawler couldn't care less and quickly pushed herself off it.
"Neo, wait! Don't you dare...!" she bellowed after the tricolored woman – but remained ignored entirely. She attempted to dash after the woman once again, but the mess on the floor proved to make quick navigation of the room nearly impossible for anyone but the nimble mute, and before she knew it, Yang found herself stumbling over a cable. At this point, catching Neo was absolutely impossible, and she knew it.
Instead being forced to watch as Neo crossed the large room in mere seconds, jumping left and right in a display of grace and agility, Yang could only bare her teeth – and gasp as she saw Neo grab the welding torch.
It was then that the door on the other side of the room began to open, the same one that Yang and Miltiades had entered through earlier that night, and a bandaged hand of dark complexion appeared in it.
"Yang? Are you in he...?"
Neo slammed into the door at full speed. And despite her lithe frame and little weight, there was more than enough power behind it – the door that had begun to open was slammed close again, and the fingers that had appeared in the ajar door got caught in it.
A sharp hiss of pain from the one who got his fingers caught in the door had Yang cringing and nearly close her eyes at the horrible mental image of fingers snapping or being completely cut off by the door – and thus, she nearly missed the next event, which had her eyes go wide instead.
It wasn't even a second after Neo had charged into the door that the new arrival had caught on as to what was happening, as the door burst open in perfect synchronization with the hiss.
And yet, Neo avoided the door that would've slammed into her face. Even exploited it, falling into a graceful backflip, feet planted against the door for the slightest moment to make use of its momentum and use it in her own action.
Arslan burst into the room, expression serious and eyes narrowed dangerously. She locked onto Neo immediately and charged forward – a move Yang would've seen herself do, not Arslan who had done the exact opposite last time – but the nimble assassin just avoided the left punch that the taller girl threw, just by leaning her head ever so slightly to the side.
Neo's foot swung forward and kicked Arslan into the side of her shin, but the monk-like brawler barely even reacted and instead swung the elbow of her still extended arm into the direction of Neo's head.
The assassin leaned back and avoided the attack that way, falling into another backflip she apparently meant to end with a kick down on Arslan's arm, but the brawler never stopped her own momentum and twirled, the other arm extended in an attempted clothesline.
It ended up going over Neo's head, but still didn't end in Arslan stumbling as Yang was sure she would have herself. The assassin dove past Arslan and twirled on the spot, aimed a kick at the monk-like brawler's back, but the leader of ABRN caught it behind her own back and pushed it to the side as she turned to face Neo herself.
The rope dart shot out of Arslan's sleeve as she did, going straight for Neo's foot, but it missed when Neo let herself fall to the side and dove behind a workbench. The younger fighter pulled her weapon back and narrowed her eyes at the piece of furniture, not falling for the bait. Which she didn't have to, Neo hadn't expected her to.
In a move that some would've deemed unfair – not in Yang's eyes, who saw it as something that spoke for Neo's experience and awareness of her surroundings and all the possible weapons that this provided – the mute emerged from behind the workbench, slid over it, and threw the object she had grabbed along the way.
The empty bottle shattered as it hit the forearm that Arslan had used to protect herself, the Mistralian's aura taking the brunt of it. Shards hit the ground after momentarily obscuring Arslan's vision – exactly what Neo had counted on, appearing before her just as the monk-like brawler pulled her arm down, another bottle in hand.
Team ABRN's leader let out a growl as the bottle slammed into her face and shattered, stumbling backwards blindly. Her aura still protected her from the shards, but it was limited and would eventually run out if such brutal attacks continued – and that was what Yang, still standing on the other side of the room, paralyzed in shock of what she was witnessing, was afraid of.
After that attack, however, Neo was within the hand-to-hand combatants range, and Arslan once again proved to recover quicker than others. One moment, her eyes were closed and she was still stumbling backwards, the next she was charging back towards Neo and swung her hand forward.
The palm connected with the mute's chest, a powerful roar accompanying it. Remembering the power that Arslan had within her palm – more than most had in a fist – and that it had been able to fling her through a room, Yang winced and expected the inevitable shockwave just before Neo would be thrown through the air.
The shockwave came, smaller objects close-by being knocked over and sheets of paper whirled up into the air – but Neo wasn't carried off her feet. Instead, she shattered.
Arslan caught on to Neo's semblance quicker than anyone had expected her to, whirling around and pulling a leg up – it met the kick of Neo, who had appeared from behind her. And was still grinning smugly.
Neo wasn't just anyone, she had expected Arslan to catch on that quickly.
That was when the mute stepped up the game. The assassin twisted her body in a way that seemed to be beyond the limit of human flexibility and twirled on the spot, her own foot hooked beneath Arslan's extended leg.
She pulled it up and had the platinum blonde losing balance, but followed right up after a quick rotation by grabbing the foot and pushing it up to ensure Arslan would not recover right away. Suddenly falling forward, Neo managed to put the hose of the welding torch around the one leg Arslan was still standing on – and pulled.
Arslan fell backwards, gasping – and recovered, much to Yang's relief, by falling into a backflip. Dark hands touched the little bit of concrete ground visible through all the stuff that was lying around, but no such thing as satisfaction found its way onto Arslan's still serious face – if anything, the brawler was alerted, more cautious.
And defeated.
Just when it seemed that Arslan had recovered some ground, Neo – insanity having taken over, her face behind the welding mask reflecting it with teeth bared in a grin of a Cheshire cat and the wide eyes that contained small mismatched irises – charged forward anew. Slammed into Arslan before the brawler could've finished her backflip, and sent them both to the ground.
Pain spread through Arslan's back as she landed on top of a pile of spare parts, all air forced out of her lungs from the impact. She growled, even more so as she felt the weight on top of her stomach and the knees that were digging into her hands and pinning them to the ground – but as she opened her eyes to snarl at her attacker, it suddenly became very silent in the room.
The only thing audible was the sound of the welding torch aimed at Arslan's face, the flame ending mere inches from right in between the platinum blonde eyebrows.
"Neo!" roared Yang from the other side of the room, hoping to stop the lunatic from whatever it was she was intending – but the only response was that Neo, turned from Yang and Miltia, simply rose her free hand to gesture them to stay out of it.
And then, Neo pulled her scroll out of her pocket and began to type with her thumb – all while never lowering the hand holding the welding torch. In fact, it didn't even shake in the slightest, evidence of a steady hand. Fitting for Neo, a mute assassin – she had to be skilled with her hands to replace her voice, and for her profession that didn't allow much room for mistakes.
Realizing how she had phrased it – 'Neo had to have skilled hands' - in her own mind, Yang shuddered, suddenly reminded of Neo's advances earlier that night.
"She's mute, Arslan." explained the blonde mercenary quickly, mainly to distract herself from where her thoughts were taking her, and hurried to cross the room, navigating through the mess on the floor, "And not really all that sane, as you can probably tell by how unpredictable she behaves."
The mute in question sent the approaching mercenary a dark glare through the window in the welding mask, but if it was meant to do more than shut her up, then Yang didn't get it, as she never stopped advancing. Yang had to admit, it certainly did look creepy with how slowly the assassin turned to glare over her own shoulder while cowering over the fallen Arslan. But Neo eventually just turned back to the girl she was still sitting on, and finally turned her scroll around to show her it.
And from how Arslan's already serious expression only grew even darker, Yang could tell that the message was anything but a friendly welcome.
"The only reason you are here tonight is to help Yang, do not have any delusions about that – it's the only reason I invited you." read Arslan aloud, so that both Yang and Miltia knew the contents of the message, "You will forget everything and anything you see here tonight, including me, my name, and this address. Not just for my safety, but for your own as well – I know what you look like now, and should this location get compromised somehow, I know who to look for. And you should know that I never miss my mark."
With Arslan having finished reading, Neo suddenly rose from her position atop the monk-like brawler. She turned her scroll's screen off and slid the device into the cleavage of her gray overall, but remained where she was, standing above Arslan – and crossed her arms beneath her chest.
Arslan understood, as did Yang, who had reached them. Neo was waiting for Arslan to agree – well, there wasn't really anything to agree, it was more that Neo wanted the platinum blonde to confirm that she had understood the threat, especially the underlying one.
And, to everyone's surprise, Arslan did confirm it – in sign language. Even added something that Yang figured meant 'I have seen nothing' based on her limited knowledge.
Only then, after a nod, did Neo pull up her welding mask to reveal her face – the smug grin, the sinister but very satisfied spark in her mismatched eyes. She offered a hand to Arslan, who – even if hesitant – accepted it and allowed the smaller woman to help her up.
That was as friendly as Neo would get. Albeit surprised and satisfied to see someone else understanding her signs, she turned away the moment that Arslan stood and walked off towards her 'latest project' – the large mechanical arm hanging from the ceiling that she had been plundering for parts.
That was how much she truly cared about the platinum blonde – not at all. Arslan was just a tool for her that she needed to resort to in order to achieve Yang's happiness – in this case, Arslan knew about hand-to-hand combat and could help with the creation of Yang's weapon.
The end justifies the means – that was a rule that Neo lived by. Willing to exploit and abuse every possible chance at reaching a selfish goal, no matter who got hurt or worse for it – no matter if enemy, innocent or ally.
And yet, despite having realized that, Yang still couldn't get herself to blame Neo for it or come to hate her. In another life, one in which they would've perhaps been enemies, this would've been only one of the many things she'd resent her for, but as it were – as acquaintances, perhaps even allies or 'friends' – it was not the case. Even if the mute assassin wouldn't stop even at her to reach a selfish goal, be it as small and insignificant as it could.
Neo knew no limits.
The blonde brawler tore her gaze away from Neo before the mute would get any weird ideas again and instead turned to face the new arrival. While looking somewhat confused at what she had stumbled into, Arslan seemed surprisingly calm – and serious. Really serious.
Hoping to escape the stare of her fellow brawler, Yang let out a sigh and rose a hand to massage her temples. This really wasn't how she had imagined the night to turn out, starting with the conversation with Miltia about Melanie everything had truly gotten out of hand and taken a turn for the weird.
"Just..." Yang stopped, hesitated as she realized that this probably wasn't the best way to start things off, but eventually still decided to go with it, "Just follow me, Arslan. Ignore Neo."
The monk-like brawler didn't do as much as nod, yet set into motion as Yang did and followed the request. Still, Yang could feel the platinum blonde's stare at the back of her head, could imagine the thousand questions that had to be on Arslan's mind at the moment – the most prominent of which, without a doubt, was the doubt of whether or not Yang could be trusted after what Neo had just done. After having seen what people Yang had contact to.
And Yang couldn't even blame Arslan for it. Had she herself been in this situation – a fleeting acquaintance, texting in the middle of the night and asking you to come out to a shady warehouse, where you were attacked and threatened by a madwoman with a welding torch – she would have questioned if she could still trust this acquaintance as well.
As such, she was incredibly thankful when she was provided with a chance to change the topic and distract herself from it, even if this chance was provided by Neo, who had turned a last time before returning to her work to give Miltia a last few instructions in the shape of signs.
"So you know sign language?" inquired the brawler, though she never turned her head to see Arslan's reaction to it, "I didn't know you did. And kind of didn't expect it, though I must admit that it really doesn't seem all to weird now."
"Mom's mute." explained Arslan brusquely, wary reflected in her voice, and Yang felt like the glare she felt at the back of her head only increased, "Everyone in my family knows sign language because of that. And Bolin has a deaf friend, so he knows it too, and he actually taught Nadir – we sometimes communicate that way. When it comes to my team, only Reese doesn't know sign language."
"I see. That's handy, I guess." mused Yang off-handedly as she navigated the mess on the floor, "I mean, I can't speak sign language at all, so I can only make assumptions about it."
A blatant lie, in a way, as Blake had been teaching her a bit, but neither Arslan, nor Neo did need to know that just yet. After all, it was supposed to be a surprise for Neo, and she wasn't going to ruin it, her most likely only possible chance at seeing Neo truly surprised for once when she was going to tell her that she learned sign language just for her.
Until then, though, she'd keep silent about it. Oh, the irony.
Arslan suddenly caught up to her and walked at her side, apparently tired of having to stare at the back of a head. The glare she sent Yang had the blonde shudder, and she knew that delaying the inevitable wasn't an option – Arslan wanted answers, and she wouldn't accept a 'no'.
Before that, however, there was one last thing that was on the mercenary's mind, a feeling of guilt striking her as she saw Arslan wincing as they pushed past a table.
"How's your hand?" inquired the club's resident brawler, nodding to the hand that Arslan had just pulled back rather quickly when it accidentally touched the table they had pushed past, "Neo jumps at every opportunity she sees that could possibly give her an advantage – and most of them include something brutal."
Across the room, past Arslan, Neo flipped her off, but Yang didn't care – they both knew she was right, and they both knew Neo wanted that hand somewhere Yang wasn't quite comfortable with, which meant that Neo would have to keep herself in check if she ever wanted to have a chance. Which, at this point, Yang didn't completely rule out, but deemed unlikely. After all, there was Melanie, who she actually felt something for, whereas Neo was barely more than an acquaintance.
And though unintentionally, she couldn't help but being reminded of Miltia's words from earlier at that, which she really disagreed with – 'affection is temporary'.
"I've noticed." shot Arslan back with a growl and a shake of her injured hand, "But it's fine, I'll recover. Absorbed most of the impact with my aura, and I pretty much caught the door before anything worse happened. Give me a few hours and it'll be back to normal."
Yang still winced at the idea, but accepted the answer. Arslan seemed honest about it, and if that was the case, then she wasn't going to question it. Still didn't mean she had to like it, or feel less guilty because of it.
"I'm sorry." she sighed eventually, and saw Arslan's eyebrow rise in question, "For having dragged you into this, I mean. I didn't know it was Neo who invited us when I texted you and had no idea where we would be going."
Arslan kept frowning her way as they continued to make their way to where Miltia was waiting, even though they had slowed down considerably to finish this conversation before reaching the tinkerer.
"It's fine."
"No, it's not!" hissed Yang back, surprising Arslan slightly, "I really shouldn't have asked you to come here, there is a part of my life that you shouldn't become involved in for your own safety – it's exactly what Neo just mentioned!"
Yang's hands curled to fists involuntary and began to shake, angry as she was at herself. This had been a stupid idea, she should've been skeptical about it when Miltiades mentioned the invitation. Should've called Arslan and told her not to come after all when she saw Neo standing before her.
Whatever part of her had thought that it was wise to allow anyone who didn't have any connection to the club or the shady side of Vale to come close to Neo was beyond her – and had to be just as mad as the mute assassin that the workshop belonged to.
"Neo isn't exactly the best person to be around. Not only does she tend to brutality and is definitely the most batshit insane person I know, but..." Yang stopped herself, didn't want Arslan to know more. Didn't want her to know that Neo had made killing people her profession, that Neo was a criminal and that she had connections to people like Neo and did jobs for them, didn't want Arslan to think wrong of her. "Whatever. That all may be the case, but I still cherish her friendship. I still like Neo, I guess. And she isn't just like that, she can be nice and I enjoy her being around – it's fun and very refreshing, in a way. It's just... you'll need to get used to it. And she certainly is not someone that just about everyone can deal with. You'll need to turn a blind eye to some things."
Like her cutting people's throats for a living. Not that she'd say that.
For a few seconds, it was quiet between them, and they had stopped moving entirely. And as Arslan stood and stared, Yang took a deep breath and averted her gaze. She made a silent note that Neo hadn't started the music again and seemed to have no intention of doing so at all, and that Miltia hadn't moved at all in the last few minutes.
Disbelief washed over her as she realized that Miltiades had dozed off and was now sleeping while still standing upright.
"I see." replied Arslan finally, though not sounding very convinced, a kind of hostility in her voice as she continued, "Is that what the final line of her message is about? She 'never misses a mark'?"
A knot formed in the mercenary's throat, had Arslan figured it out? How much did Arslan really know? How much was she willing to tell Arslan? How much should she tell her?
The answer, as surprising as it was, was simple, and just about exactly what Neo had referred to when she had talked about truly trusting the leader of ABRN: Not everything, but everything Arslan deserved to know.
And yet, she hesitated, before she finally said the few words she'd rather not have told the other brawler.
"Neo is an assassin for hire, Arslan."
The assassin in question perked up and turned her head, having listened intently the whole time – the true reason she hadn't turned her music back on and hadn't crawled back into the mechanical arm, instead pretending to weld something on the outside. She flipped the welding mask up, but there was no irritation on her face at being exposed, no anger – no, it was amusement. She had waited for this, for the threat to be even more effective.
Miltia nearly fell over in her sleep, but woke up just in time to avoid that and caught herself. Yang paid that no mind and instead kept focused on Arslan to see her reaction. But Arslan's expression never changed, stayed hard and serious, unreadable. Her breathing didn't change at all, her eyes didn't twitch, nothing hinted at what Arslan was truly feeling or thinking. And Yang really didn't like it.
Especially as Arslan slowly began to shake her head.
"Just how did you get connections like that, Yang? I knew something was up with how sudden you vanished the other day at the club and how you avoided some topics, but I didn't guess that it was something like this."
"It's complicated." sighed the blonde mercenary, "Before you jump to conclusions – I'm not a criminal, and I had to leave the other day to get a friend out of some trouble she had gotten herself into. But I wasn't completely honest with you the other day either. Yes, I do work at a club and I am a barkeeper, but I don't work in the security there. Miltia and her twin sister do, but I'm actually a mercenary. As are they."
"And that's how you meet people like..." Arslan glanced over her shoulder to Neo, who reciprocated the glance with a mad smirk, "...Neo."
"Kind of." Yang hesitated anew, having reached a point where Arslan didn't need to know the truth, lied as she continued, "I've met her on a job and found out she was working for a mutual client. And some of my clients just happen to be a bit... shady."
"We probably all know some shady people." mused the other brawler as she closed her eyes, arms crossed beneath her chest, though she didn't seem entirely convinced of that. At least, even though her stance seemed to contradict it, she had relaxed somewhat after getting that explanation.
"Look, I know you probably distrust me now after what you've just learned. And you most likely already figured out that this is bigger than what I've just told you." Arslan opened her eyes again as Yang began anew, "But I swear, I'm not a criminal even though I might know some. And even though we haven't known each other for long, I trust you, Arslan, and I don't want this to endanger the friendship we could have. Even though I will have to earn your trust again, I know that."
"I must admit, I am wary now. But considering I've just been attacked after being asked to come to a warehouse in the middle of the night by you, only to learn that you're friends with criminals, one of which is a skilled assassin, I'd say that this is a healthy amount of skepticism."
"Most likely." agreed Yang with a sigh, then remained silent for a minute as she found herself stumbling over how to phrase the next request, "I know this is asking a bit much of you considering what position I am in now, but... could you keep this to yourself? I'm not going to threaten you like Neo, I'm in no position to, but I'm asking you. As a potential friend."
They made eye contact, soft lavender meeting olive green. And seeing that Arslan's expression remained unreadable, Yang put all her resolve into her gaze, all of her hope. She had no right to ask this of Arslan, but still wanted to try.
And seeing Arslan heave a sigh, wasn't sure if this was good or bad.
"While skeptical, I guess I will trust you with this." spoke the monk-like brawler eventually, but then, just as Yang relaxed in relief, narrowed her eyes at Yang, "Don't make regret it, Yang. While I'm disappointed in a way that you didn't trust me enough to tell me this, I can understand it – we've only met recently, and this isn't something you share even with close friends. But now I've learned it in what could be considered one of the worst ways, and I don't like being lied to. So from now on, I want you to be honest with me, or I don't see a future for our friendship."
"Thank you, Arslan." sighed the blonde mercenary, then chuckled, "Would it help if I trust you with helping me design my weapon? Miltia and I already made some progress, but we both only know so much about actual hand-to-hand combat, and from our past fight and your advice, figured you were the best choice at helping with the actual melee weapon."
Seeing Arslan's eyebrows slowly rise at being reminded of what she had actually come to the workshop for, Yang let out a chuckle. But Arslan recovered quickly from being caught off guard and her face returned to the same serious expression she had shown most of the night.
"Gauntlet?" she inquired simply and, before anyone could stop her, started to approach Miltiades and the workbench again. Letting out a groan, Yang quickly hurried to follow, ignoring Neo attempting to make eye contact with her.
She knew what Neo wanted to tell her, anyway – a reminder of who to trust and just how much. 'Don't turn your back'.
"Gauntlet." confirmed the blonde brawler as she joined Arslan and Miltia – who had just introduced themselves to each other politely – at the workbench, "I've been considering that before our conversation, but it encouraged me to actually go for it."
She watched as Arslan reached past Miltia and picked up the last drawing they had made, examining it closer. Her eyes scanned the other drawings on the workbench, momentarily came to a stop on one of Miltia's calculations, but eventually moved on.
"What you've got so far is pretty good. I can see where you're going with it, and it looks like you've already decided on how to make use of Dust." commented the monk-like fighter as she handed Yang the drawing, "Do you already have some dimensions for the gauntlet?"
"No." replied Miltia before Yang could, reaching over and taking the drawing from her fellow mercenary's hands to place it back on the table and place a finger on it to point out the mechanism, "This here – the mechanism, the wires and the Dust crystal – will need to fit inside, so it'll have to be wider than Yang's arms and big enough for that. The length won't be the problem, however, and is based entirely on how much Yang actually wants the extended gauntlets to cover of her arms."
"So no final dimensions until we've got a working mechanism to base them on?" Arslan nodded to herself, as if answering her own question, "Which, in return, we need to measure Yang's arm for so that the mechanisms fits onto it."
Even though she opened her mouth to say something, Yang quickly found herself ignored as Arslan reached past her and grabbed her right arm, only to force it down onto the workbench so rough that Yang let out a hiss of pain. Meanwhile, Miltia had snatched a measuring tape from the pile of tools that Neo had lying around, and handed it to the leader of ABRN.
This night really wasn't turning out how she had expected it – to have her arm held down onto a workbench and measured by her fellow brawler and her crush's twin sister hadn't been among her expectations, that for sure.
"What material are we working with?" asked the platinum blonde as she frowned at the measuring tape that she had laid around Yang's arm, "For the chassis, I mean. While we can't build it, we can at least design the chassis. Saves Yang the trouble of doing that later."
"We were thinking about gold, but figured that would be no good for several reasons." replied Miltia and nodded to the clump of gold on the workbench, "I'm going to create an alloy with it. Should have the same, or at least similar properties."
"Got it." Arslan pulled the tape back, even if only to place it along Yang's lower arm, "That's a good choice for the gauntlet. Especially if you somehow manage to remove some of the minor flaws it has in your alloy."
"That's the plan."
As Arslan removed the measuring tape anew and finally let go of Yang's arm, the blonde mercenary quickly pulled her arm back before anyone else got any funny ideas – after Neo's earlier behavior, that wasn't out of question, after all.
"While I'm not one for wild guesses..." Yang rubbed her arm as she spoke, "Why do I get the feeling that your knowledge about gauntlets comes from personal experience?"
"Most likely because I used to wear gauntlets for a few years, back when I started training. Before attending Haven. Before I started wearing these bandages." replied Arslan as she began to write down the measurements on the drawing before her, "It were just regular armored gauntlets to protect my arms, though, not weapons."
She rose her gaze and glanced the way of her fellow brawler as she finished writing, one platinum blonde eyebrow rising a bit. Yang reciprocated that, even though more because she didn't understand Arslan doing it to begin with and was simply questioning it.
"To be frank, I was actually considering to make gauntlets my weapon for a while. At least, it was among the possibilities I considered going for." Arslan shrugged, then let the rope dart fall from her sleeve into her hand to show it to Yang, "That was before I decided that I wanted something more simplistic. As in, my rope dart."
"Can't go much simpler than that." commented the tinkerer to their left, frowning, as if not comfortable with the idea of such a weapon, "Nothing mechanical about it, just a bit of Dust."
"Exactly why I decided for it. Call me boring, but this is what I wanted. And it is effective."
The three of them were surprised by an object flying past them and hitting the table right then, but it was Yang who caught on the quickest – for all she knew, she was already getting used to Neo's shenanigans.
Lying on the table was Neo's scroll, message already typed in.
"I can confirm that – it is effective." read Miltia aloud, after which Yang already stopped reading along to glance towards Neo standing just behind them, "You don't always need a weapon focused only on brute strength to defeat an opponent or to overcome a challenge."
Behind the backs of the others, never breaking their eye contact, Neo rose her hand and showed Yang a little slip of paper that she had written on after throwing the scroll. Written on it was a single line – 'Though I find brute strength much more attractive'.
The blonde shivered, especially as the mute gave her a seductive look and suggestively wriggled her eyebrows at her. Someone was feeling frisky tonight, that for sure, and because Neo had little shame about it, Yang couldn't help but feel a little creeped out.
Flattered, but definitely creeped out.
Deciding that ignoring it was probably the best course of action, she turned away from the assassin – who promptly just pushed past her and hopped back onto the workbench and silently giggled to herself at Yang's obvious irritation.
Seeing that she remained ignored by Miltiades and Arslan, however, Neo decided to use the moment to pull the arm with the device on it up to quickly input some commands. To Yang, it was just the lunatic pushing some random buttons, but she had no doubt that whatever Neo was doing had some actual significance.
Especially as she heard the sound system shut off for good and some of the lights on the other side of the room turned off.
Neo must've noticed that she had Yang's attention, as she perked up and rose an eyebrow in curiosity, telling the brawler with her gaze alone that all she had to do was ask to get an explanation. And Yang really wanted to know. It was more interesting than all the mathematical stuff that Arslan and Miltia had began to discuss, something she let the two handle – after all, unlike her, they knew what they were doing when it came to that. They had experience and knowledge, the thing she lacked.
"Okay, again, I'll take the bait." chuckled the brawler finally, something Neo was immediately in glee about as she heard it, "What's up with that device on your wrist? What can you do with it?"
In response, Neo quickly grabbed her scroll and began to type like the madwoman she was, eager to share whatever it was her device could do. And although Miltia glanced over to her for a second, she turned away just fast again, most likely already aware of it. Before seconds, Neo had finished the message and turned it around to show her.
"Hooked up nearly everything in here to a network when I set it up, so the question actually is 'what can't I do with it?'." Neo smirked proudly as Yang read that line, "I can practically control the entire workshop with it. Music, lights, some of the tools and machines in here – and that's only part of it."
"And what for?" Yang rose an eyebrow at the psychopath, to which the lunatic quickly began to type again, "Simply because you're lazy as shit?"
Neo stopped typing for a second to send her something that was neither a full glare, nor a full frown of skepticism – and then, typed the rest, before showing it to the blonde, "I'd call it 'convenience', more than anything."
Dismissing it with the roll of her eyes as she knew she wouldn't get more out of the assassin, Yang focused back on the conversation between Arslan and Miltia, which by then had calmed down a bit. At least, they weren't using terms anymore that the blonde mercenary didn't understand.
But Neo wasn't done yet. As with everything that she had her mind set on, there were no boundaries for her, no limits. She did what she wanted and meddled with things that she clearly had no right to, and being prohibited or clearly told to keep out of it was only the more motivation for her.
As Yang reached for the drawing they had made, thinking about adding the first design for the chassis, the mute just quickly snatched the sheet of paper and put it down on her lap. At first about to complain, thinking Neo just did it for her own amusement, Yang reached for the stolen drawing and opened her mouth – and quickly got stopped when Neo rose a hand and put a gloved finger into the blonde's mouth, pressing down on her tongue.
Shocked, the brute mercenary jumped back, almost fell over some of the junk that was lying around, but Neo just absentmindedly lowered her hand and kept looking at the drawing on her lap as if she hadn't just done something that could be considered disgusting.
And then, grabbing both her scroll and a pencil, Neo surprised Yang anew. While typing on her scroll with one hand, the assassin began to draw with her right, adding something to the drawing that Yang couldn't quite see. She meant to ask, wanted to know what Neo thought she was doing, and quickly hurried toward the mute – and was stopped as Neo threw the scroll at her head, where it bounced off and landed in the brawler's hands.
"Take a shotgun." read the message displayed on it, "Only effective up to mid-range, but definitely your style. And if you trigger it when a punch connects, it would be even more effective."
Yang rose an eyebrow at the lunatic that had been drawing the entire time she had read, and Neo reciprocated it – before, wordlessly, she presented Yang and the other two younger women exactly what she had been adding to the sketch.
A very detailed shotgun firing mechanism, modified to fit the gauntlet.
"I second that." mused Miltia suddenly, examining Neo's work, "Though that means that Yang has a very limited range."
The remark was nothing but amusing to the silent assassin, but neither Miltia nor Arslan seemed to notice with how focused they were on the sketch. But with eye contact made with Yang, Neo let out a mute giggle and – with a silent, more than just obviously fake cough – turned away from her, acting like she wasn't even aware of what she was doing at the same time.
Namely, 'accidentally' pulling a single sheet of paper from the stack of blueprints that Yang had pushed away before, and putting it right in front of Yang.
The blonde brawler sent her a skeptical frown, but accepted this weird behavior – just another one that Neo portrayed, after all, and probably the least weird one that night – and pulled the blueprint closer than Neo had just offered to her.
Recognizing the weapon on it wasn't hard at all – she had experienced its effectiveness herself not too long ago. Faintly remembered having escaped being set alight and suffering severe burns, which she didn't doubt the weapon could dish out with ease.
It was a blueprint for Melodic Cudgel, Roman's hybrid of a cane, flare gun and a grappling hook – though she only learned of the third aspect it incorporated just then. At least, she was sure she hadn't seen it before.
The question as to why Neo was showing her this remained, however. A cane certainly had nothing to do with gauntlet, and she couldn't really see anything that Roman's cane and her gauntlet shared.
Yet, Neo seemed to insist that this was important, watching her from the corner of her eyes, grinning like the psychopath that she was.
Unable to shake the feeling off that she was missing something, that she wasn't making the connection that Neo wanted her to make, Yang's eyes kept roaming the blueprint in search of it, the fine detail she wasn't seeing.
But what was this detail? It certainly wasn't the cane itself, nor the firing mechanism – she had both a melee weapon and the firing mechanism now, thanks to Miltia, Arslan and Neo. It couldn't be the grappling hook either, she didn't want her weapon to be similar to Miltia's. Wanted something unique, something more powerful. She had that now, a gauntlet with a mid-range shotgun and the ability to energize the fingers. In a way, the design was finished, only lacking the shape of the gauntlet itself now, but the blueprint for Roman's cane wouldn't help with that.
So what was Neo really playing at? Was it connected to Miltia's comment of still having limited range? If so, how? Roman's cane wasn't using a shotgun.
Seeing that Yang was having trouble connecting the details, Neo rolled her eyes. An elegant, gloved finger suddenly slid into Yang's view, tracing one of the lines on the blueprint – and then, vanished again.
Just as the brawler rose an eyebrow and opened her mouth to ask, the hand returned – and slammed a bottle of red Dust down on the blueprint so hard that the bottom of the container cracked, and that both Miltia and Arslan glanced over.
Still, it wasn't until Neo – now grinning smugly again – rose the broken bottle and some of the fine red powder rained down on the blueprint that Yang saw what the assassin was playing at all along.
The red Dust landed on a few words close to the right edge of the blueprint – which explained that the flare gun was utilizing volatile red powdered Dust in shells, which it primed upon ejection.
Having caught on, Yang exchanged a glance with the assassin – and with a smile on her lips, nodded in appreciation.
And then lashed out, grabbed the assassin by the collar, and pulled her in until their faces were mere inches apart.
"You're going to replace that bottle of Dust, you got me?"
Neo didn't answer – she shattered like glass, an illusion, disappeared. And Yang shuddered as she felt the change within her hand, felt how the psychopath's collar escaped her grip when her fist suddenly became numb as a tiny hand applied pressure to her wrist – even though, according to her vision, nothing like that ever happened.
Her own hand had been part of the illusion, and the thought freaked her out.
At least she understood a lot better how Neo's semblance worked now, after she had been exposed to it directly – she had felt the cold sensation of the wall of glass, or whatever it was, just above her wrist as it had appeared, light refracted in a way that a lasting image was created, soon to shatter as Yang moved her hand.
Wherever Neo had vanished off to in the few seconds that the semblance had been active remained a mystery – at least, until Yang heard the welding torch activate again, and glanced over her shoulder to see the flickering light inside the open hatch on the mechanical arm.
A snort escaped the brawler – Neo was fast and efficient, she had to give her that.
As Yang glanced down at the blueprint and took in the details on how to create the ammunition, she didn't fail to notice that Neo had left her scroll on the workbench where she had sat. And that the scroll, just before the screen timed out, had a new message on it that read 'A bottle of Dust, I can spare'.
"I think that little shit has the right idea." chuckled Yang eventually, before sliding the blueprint over to the other two girls to her left, "By itself, the shotgun has limited range and is highly inaccurate at anything beyond close range, but with the right type of ammunition, we could technically counteract that at least a bit. And I do have all that red Dust lying around, now that I can't use it with the electric Dust."
"It is feasible, and we wouldn't have to change the type of firing mechanism that Neo just proposed." commented Miltia with a shrug, "Actually, the idea is rather smart. Instead of having to change the element of the weapon, we could simply equip you with different types of ammunition, and you'd be able to keep the electricity as we've planned. I was going to suggest that you'd prepare some non-lethal rubber ammunition, anyway, to use in sparring sessions, but I didn't think on how to make use of that further than it."
Yang gave a single nod.
"So a shotgun with different elemental shells, it is." concluded Arslan, turning from Miltia to Yang, "And based on the way it's drawn here, I'd say it won't be a problem when it comes to the gauntlet itself. Only question I have – what ammunition do you want to use, Yang?"
"Basic one." the blonde mercenary crossed her arms and frowned down at the outcome of the night so far, captured on paper, "But also this flare-type ammunition for longer range – for once, I'm actually thankful that Torchwick is being so detailed about everything."
"Just don't let him know you stole his idea for ammo." chuckled the other mercenary, "Plus, I doubt that he gave this blueprint to Neo. He may be the one with kleptomania, but Neo has a tendency to hoard things that may be useful later on – and not all of them are acquired the legal way."
"Roman Torchwick?" Arslan rose an eyebrow, but then quickly shook her head, "Wait, don't answer. The less I know, the better."
Whether or not she had felt the stare she had received from Neo, who had emerged from the mechanical arm for a moment, neither Yang nor Miltia could tell, but decided against asking. And it probably really was for the better if she didn't know that Neo was Roman's partner.
"Anyway – basic ammunition, flares, and rubber." finished Yang after making eye contact with Miltia, who nodded in return to confirm it, "Maybe experiment a little with other types later on, but that's really just an idea for now."
"Got it." Miltia quickly scribbled down a note, which she then slipped into the pocket of her jacket, "I'll prepare some shells for you to test the different types of ammo. Experiment a little with the concentration of the Dust to see what's the best compromise between power and recoil."
"Start with a high concentration." threw the leader of team ABRN in, surprising both Yang and Miltia, "I've fought Yang, experienced her both with and without her semblance's power. Even without it, her body seems to be able to absorb most impact. She can definitely withstand a lot of recoil even without her semblance active."
"If you say so." mused Miltia, but still pulled the note back out and added something to it, "Anyway, we're mostly done here. There's nothing left for me to do here."
"If you stick around for a moment, we can leave together, which is probably safer given the hour night. There wasn't a lot for me to do here to begin with." added Arslan with a shrug, but didn't seem upset despite her words, "All I can do right now is help Yang with the design for the gauntlet's chassis, and we can do that relatively fast."
"Sorry about that. We only realized that we couldn't create the gauntlet after we got here, and by then you were already on your way." sighed the blonde mercenary, but allowed it as Arslan grabbed another blank sheet of paper and put it down in front of her, "Although I guess 'sorry' doesn't cut it, considering that I called you out here in the middle of the night for nothing and that you got attacked by Neo, when you could've been in your warm bed all along. And of course, got you involved in this."
"We'll see about that when I learn what 'this' really involves." Arslan handed her the pencil and then nodded down to the sheet of paper, "For now, I can assure you that you don't have to apologize for anything. I was already awake because of Reese, and your 'friend' attacking me isn't your fault. Plus, I was the one who offered help. Just show me that my trust in you isn't misplaced, that's all I am asking for."
With a sigh, Yang began to draw – she had the feeling nothing she'd say would change Arslan's mind, the girl was pretty resolute and level-headed. And she didn't want to change that, in a way, this was Arslan's decision. She had made up her mind, and that shouldn't change.
The first few lines were the hardest, they decided the rest of the design and could ruin everything. She decided to start with the fingers, went for a rough and somewhat spiky design. Had a sudden idea after drawing the second digit of the firs finger and layered plates atop another rather than making it one single layer of gold to surround the entire back of the hand – not only would she be able to move her hand inside a lot easier if the gauntlet consisted of several plates, but that way, she could have them telescope into the bracelet that was the inactive form, and extend from them when she activated it.
Arslan pointed a mistake out, a location where two plates would lock up if the mechanism would be activated, and Yang corrected it. Was absorbed into drawing this weapon before she knew it, barely even aware any longer that she wasn't alone, that Arslan was there and not just a hand that pointed at certain areas that needed more work.
Proportions aside – she could faintly perceive Miltia rolling her eyes – she really liked where it was going, though she felt like it was still too basic after she finished, and began to change a few things. Erased the edges of the plates and made them rougher, the corners sharper.
There would be no mercy with this weapon active – there wasn't supposed to be. Mercy would be when she wouldn't activate it and use her fists alone, cause in the end Miltia was right.
Her semblance was all about revenge, and so would her weapon be.
"On an unrelated note, Yang..." Arslan's word pulled her back into reality, reminding her of where she was, "Did you practice meditation to learn to control your semblance like I recommended?"
The pencil came to a stop as Yang suddenly remembered, cursing her memory. After everything that had happened – helping Blake, the mission with the twins, and all the smaller things – she had entirely forgotten about Arslan's advice. And now felt stupid for it, because every advice from the platinum blonde brawler so far had actually been useful.
"I forgot about it. Sorry. It's just that a lot happened lately." she admitted with a sigh, but if Arslan was upset about hearing that, then she didn't show it, "I still want to try it, though. If it really helps me to control my semblance better, or at all, then I will need it."
The other brawler didn't say anything in return, she merely accepted it with a nod and that was it. Yang had to admit, she didn't really like how brief and to the point Arslan was that night after how friendly she had been the other day, but couldn't blame her – after all, even though she didn't blame Yang for it, Arslan still didn't seem too happy with the events that night. Yang would've.
"Speaking of 'needing things'..." began Miltiades finally when no one else said anything, "If you want to build a second gauntlet, you will need more material, Yang. Especially more gold for the alloy I'll create. You've got enough Dust to last for a while, but I'd advise you to stock up on that too, especially if you plan to make use of the shotgun a lot."
"Got'cha." the blonde brawler sent a glance to her fellow mercenary, thus didn't fail to spot the girl's state, "But you need something too, Miltia, and that's sleep. I've kept you away from it long enough, so go ahead and get some. And tell the others that I'll stay here."
The brunette's right eyebrow rose, but Yang could see how much it took Miltia to do a simple thing as that – she had reached her limit, was already way beyond it, and mere willpower was keeping her from falling asleep.
"You sure?" inquired the more experienced mercenary, "I could..."
"Miltia, you already dozed off once, and you look like you're going to fall asleep any second now. And that's ignoring the fact that you've got a mission later today with Melanie – and that I'd rather see her work with someone who can back her up, rather than fall asleep when it matters." sighed Yang, for once unable to believe how stubborn Miltia could be. In response, the Malachite twin present rose her other eyebrow as well, but finally relented.
"I'll make sure she gets home safely." offered Arslan suddenly, taking a step away from the workbench, "We're done here, anyway, I can't do much more right now." she turned and sent a glance to Yang, "Call me when you're ready to forge the chassis, however. I'll help you with that."
Although the brawler that lived at the club immediately opened her mouth to agree, Arslan had already turned away by then and was facing Miltia. So instead turning to where the mechanical arm was, Yang exchanged a glance with their host – who, unsurprisingly, was lazily lounging in the open hatch of her project and just watching them.
For a moment, lavender and mismatched pink and brown met – and, as if Neo had said something to remind her, Yang suddenly remembered that there was still one question left that they hadn't even considered at all.
By then, Miltia and Arslan had already turned to leave, both obviously tired – something that Yang, to her own surprise, no longer felt. If anything, despite all the frustration and failure earlier that night, she now felt wide awake and motivated. Wanted to start working right away, wanted to hug the others and thank them for all the help – whether or not anyone but Neo had enough energy left to appreciate it was another thing, though.
"Wait a sec!" she had called out before she knew it, and both Miltia and Arslan turned to frown at her, "There's still one thing we forgot! What do I even call this weapon, I don't have a name for it!"
To her surprise, the reaction was quite different from what she had expected. Arslan's frown disappeared entirely and her expression returned to the serious stare that it seemed to be most of the time, Miltia's expression shifted into what was an obviously fake confusion with how she struggled to keep amusement of out it, and Neo outright burst into mute laughter.
Unsure what this mixed reaction was for, what they thought was so funny about her question, Yang rose her arms in a shrug – and Arslan turned away entirely without any kind of comment, while Neo dove back into the hatch, vanishing from sight.
"Whatever do you mean, Yang?" chuckled Miltia, still with the fake confusion on her face, "You do have a name already, you told me earlier. One that at least fits the fiery aspect of this weapon. Think about it."
There was no further word spoken, Miltia obviously feeling that there was nothing left to be said. She turned away and waved a last time, neither her nor Arslan stopped to actually say goodbye. And for some reason, Yang felt like there was no actual need to. Perhaps because of how late it was, perhaps because she could understand that the two were too tired and only wanted to leave.
What she felt, however, was that she wanted Arslan to stay so that they could talk about everything that had happened for real. Even with everything that had been said, she still had the feeling that this night had damaged the girl's trust in her, though she couldn't tell how much. It was the things that weren't said that Yang was actually afraid of, the things Arslan had just brushed off.
But maybe, in a way, this night had done the opposite – or would do, in the long run. Maybe it had reinforced or would reinforce this trust, in some way, as she had shown ABRN's leader another aspect of her life and had revealed the truth behind the lies she had told her the other night.
Maybe. But that was a thing she would have to worry about in the future, something she couldn't resolve just now.
Now, there was another thing to worry about, and it were the last confusing words that Miltia had said before she and Arslan had left her alone with Neo. And knowing that she wouldn't get any help from the assassin that she was alone with now – at least, not the kind of help she wanted – the brawler turned back to the workbench.
Everything she needed was lying on it. The sketches they had made, the resources she had gathered, the tools that Neo had provided. It was up to her now, this was the part that Miltia, Arslan and Neo could no longer help with – 36 hours until the mission, some of which she would have to sacrifice for sleep, were left to create at least the mechanisms that made up the prototype and hope that it would work.
It wouldn't be easy, but when had anything ever been?
Still, as she pushed everything away to make room so she could work, she couldn't help but wonder what Miltia had meant. It bothered her, even as she reached for the first tool and pulled the sketch they had started closer.
Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted it, partially covered up by some of the other sheets of paper – that one drawing that had been there most of her life, the one constant she had always been able to count on. Ember Celica.
Even though part of the name was now covered by another drawing, leaving only part of its name - "Ember".
She caught on, realized what Miltia had meant, smiled widely – and reaching for it, turned the drawing of Ember Celica over.
Cause although it had been there all along, her support as everything came crashing down around her, she had to move on. Had moved on, just like she had promised Summer at her grave only weeks ago.
But there was one last thing that this old friend could do for her.
Picking up the pencil, she turned to the sketch of the weapon she was going to create – and, under the watchful eye of a woman on the other side of the room, wrote down two words. A name.
She turned, made eye contact with Neo, saw the expectant and amused expression of the lunatic. Smiled, before she finally opened her mouth and spoke this name for the very first time, couldn't believe how natural it felt.
"...Ember Electrica."
So there we have it – the first part of chapter 9, Fulgur. Which, as a side note, was actually named in reference to Yang's prototype weapon "Ember Electrica" - Fulgur is latin, and means "lightning".
Before we move on to some notes – which, in a way, is unusual as I always do that at the very end of a chapter, and this is only the first part of two – I guess I want to apologize. On one hand, because it took so long until this was uploaded, and on other hand, because I feel like this part doesn't live up to the usual quality. And these two things are actually connected.
See, earlier this month, I was quite sick. As in, one step away from hospital. And yet, mainly because I felt like I had to do something other than lying around and suffering, I wrote part of this. And though I recovered from that, something else followed right away, and as I re-read this chapter (because Time96 couldn't beta, after all) and at this very moment as I upload this, I am suffering from maxillary sinusitis, which means that my face hurts like hell.
But still, here we are – and despite the length, this is only the first part of chapter 9. And like I said, there's some notes about that which I'd like to mention.
So there's isn't that much action in this part of the chapter, other than the short fight in between Arslan and Neo – but we can't have that all the time, the budget is limited. God, I always wanted to make that joke.
No, but in all seriousness, we can't have it all the time, and I deem chapter like this just as necessary as any action-filled chapter (though I highly suspect that you won't see too many chapters as 'technical' as this one). In the end, we made progress, and it's often chapters without too much action that advance the story more than one that's filled with fights and explosions.
The truth about this chapter is, however, that it was never meant to be separated into two parts. However, it at first also wasn't meant to include Neo's workshop or Arslan at all, and as you can probably guess by now, it once again escalated in the typical SorrowfulReincarnation-way: what was once meant as a single scene now fills the length of an entire chapter.
See, this chapter was actually meant to include two important aspects: The creation of Yang's prototype weapon, and the mission for Cinder that Yang and Ruby are sent on as decided by the poll at the beginning of summer. And it was meant to fit into the length that this entire part is.
But there is one thing I always aim for, and it's making things believable. And it just didn't seem believable to me at all that Yang, who had no experience with weapons or Dust as she never went to a combat school or hunter academy, could create a weapon just like that. So I sat here and was like – who could provide Yang with ideas that fit the aspects of the weapon, which are Dust, ranged and close combat. And the answer was simple – Miltia, Neo and Arslan respectively, who I had introduced to each know about these aspects before. Arslan was introduced to be very experienced in close combat, Miltia was said to tinker in her spare time and experiment with Dust, and Neo – as recently revealed – has added a shotgun to her own weapon. And has been tinkering as well, as revealed this time, though on much larger scale and with different machines.
And well, this is where all this above comes from. Just that simple thought.
So what does this mean for the chapter? Basically that I had to separate it after one aspect, and focus on the other aspect in the second part of chapter 9, which is what I'm probably working on as you read this. I can't say for sure when you'll get it, but I currently estimate in a week or a little more after this is uploaded, considering that it's what I'm going to focus on now.
Yeah, things happened, what was once planned to be a very brief scene of Yang and Miltia in the backroom of the club changed to involve Neo and Arslan, and I separated this chapter into two parts. And still, I really like how it turned out when it comes to the content. Because this not only feels much more believable than what I had originally planned, but because it opens up quite a few possibilities in the future and makes them believable.
This way, I could go into the creation of Ember Electrica in detail (which you'll see in action in the second half of this chapter, during the actual mission), but I could also have Yang bond with Neo, Arslan and Miltia in new ways, and I could hide some teasers for future chapters of Dreams Crushed in this. Some of which I actually hid down here. As in, already. You just probably didn't think about them, if you even read this.
Wonder if anyone will find all of them? There's quite a few implications which I'm sure don't seem all that important, but will have people go like 'Oh shit, I remember this!' when other related things are introduced in the future. Trust me, as I've planned things, it will soon all fit together like a puzzle. You have the parts lying around, maybe without even knowing, you just don't know where they belong yet.
By the way, as I've mentioned in the past, different influences will have different outcomes – and here, you can see the influences for Yang's weapon, which has a different outcome than in canon. And one of them actually was Ember Celica itself, though it has a different purpose here, and it's only a design that, due to the past looming over her, Yang can't get herself to build. Different influences.
Speaking of it – did somebody spot it? Hm, what I mean with that? Oh, don't worry, you'll see soon if you didn't.
Anyway, before this here escalates as well – I'm off, wait for my face to stop feeling like it was hit by a truck, and then'll write the second half of this chapter, which you can look forward to! Featuring the mission, more action and some more surprises, you can expect it within the next two weeks.
So, until then, as usual...
So long~!
