You ever just play guitar so long your fingers start to bleed so you have to bandage them and not write for a day while you sit on your ass trying your best to not scream in a furious rage that your only free time to write has been stolen away because of your stupidity? Yeah, happened to me too.
"Man, I know the girls are our friends and all, but it feels good to just have the night to ourselves." Sitting on a pile of pillows on the ground, Jaune Arc of Team JNPR sank into his platform of relaxation even more while flipping through an issue of a comic book that Ollie couldn't quite remember the name of. The girls had promptly decided that tonight was a 'girls night' and had all gone out on the town, leaving the men of the two teams alone at the dorms. They had taken full advantage of the situation by enjoying the peace and quiet (discounting Ollie's soft guitar playing, which was emanating from his hammock attached to the ceiling.)
"You guys hungry yet?" Asked Lie Ren, the other man of JNPR, who was currently warming up his hotplate to warm up some leftovers from lunch for dinner. They didn't have many options for food, and they also didn't have much motivation to get out of the room just yet, so they decided to use what they had on hand.
"Eh, not really," Ollie replied, disinterestedly. He had been thinking about Cinder's proposition. He knew where she was implying to meet up. There was an area in the Underground that was cordoned off to everyone but the most equipped parties from the most established gangs. There was an unspoken rule to never go in there. It was an area on the outskirts of the eastside that was known as "Death's Domain" or simply "The Domain." Some time ago, the wall of the cavern on that side had caved in and several high-level Grimm were released. They began to multiply, so that area of town was quickly evacuated and sealed off from the rest of the Underground and placed under constant watch by the major organizations. No one was allowed in without the proper authorization, which only came from the bosses of said organizations. This meant the place never had more than one group roaming around at a time, and more often than not, none at all. This made it a very good place to meet with people in total privacy without fear of being watched. And while the Grimm patrolling the district were a threat, if you could get past the barrier surrounding the Domain, then you could probably evade the Grimm as well. Ollie had ventured in a few times, but he never really got a grasp of the geography of the place. Alas, now wasn't the time for second-guessing. The prospect of information was too great at this point, and if he could get the opportunity, maybe take out a high-ranking member of the opposite side.
Going alone is a death wish at this point, and Atlas doesn't need to know about the ins and outs of the Underground just yet. He thought as he started to absentmindedly pick away at another riff. Just going into the Domain is dangerous enough. But with Cinder's strange powers and possibly other enemies of her calibre, things won't end well.
"Oh yeah, Ollie?" Jaune asked, nursing a can of energy drink from his pile of pillows.
"What is it?"
"I've been meaning to ask you this, but why don't you have an Aura?" Huh, why hasn't anyone asked this yet? Good thing Ollie had gotten himself tested on this before because otherwise even he wouldn't have known the answer. It was probably for the better.
Some time ago - Sammy's Super Syringes, Vale Underground
"An Aura awakening? Ya sure kid? Ya told me about those augmentation things ya got, and I'm not sure if those two things are supposed to mix." Asked a gruff, middle-aged man from behind a counter, going about his daily routine of cleaning his syringes.
"Just give me a basic idea of what I'll get Sammy. I'll be the judge of whether I do it or not." Oliver Auburn replied, grabbing a roll of bandages off of one of the shelves and tossing it into a bag. Sammy's was his one-stop shop for all of his medical needs, and one of the only places in the underground he felt comfortable out of his armour. Most normal medical shops didn't have military-grade dressings sitting on the shelf next to the cough syrup. Those shops also don't have bliss-cooking vats in the back but that isn't what's important here.
"Look, kid, mixing superpowers might not be the best idea. I ran that blood sample of yours through some tests by trying to awaken some little bits of soul energy inside," Sammy began.
"And…?"
"Those chemicals you got inside o' ya? They started to bubble and boil before the blood evaporated." The 'doctor' finished, placing his tray of clean syringes on the far side of the counter. Sighing, he began again. "Even if the results are different inside of your body, we shouldn't run the risk of killing ya by burning ya to death from the inside out. Believe me, it's painful."
"And why would you know this?" Ollie asked, concerned for both his own health and the health of his doctor.
"Some idiot decided to fill his bliss with fire dust."
"Ah."
Walking over to the counter, he dropped the bag full of medical supplies onto the surface and pinched the bridge of his nose. "So no Aura?" He asked one final time,
"No Aura," Sammy confirmed. "Sorry, kid."
"Dang it."
"Yeah… you know the whole debacle about the child soldier stuff?"
"The stuff that Ruby told us? Yeah."
"Truly horrible." Ren threw in his two cents from over by the hot plate.
"Yeah, but during the process, they experimented with different chemicals and augmentations in an attempt to create something along the line of a super-soldier."
"Not to be insensitive, that actually sounds pretty cool," Jaune interjected, his mind completely captured. "I mean, that's the stuff you only find in those old Sci-Fi novels or whatever."
"Yeah, pretty much. This was the more reliable version too. The previous group suffered some failures, but ours turned out better. Anyways, the chemicals they used don't exactly mix with whatever energy signatures used to awaken Aura. A buddy of mine tried a small scale experiment and apparently the mixture boiled so much it actually melted the beaker it was held in, so… yeah."
"Well, that sucks."
"Yeah. To be honest, me having super spirit powers along with my augmentations probably wouldn't have worked out well anyway. The thing about Aura is it runs on the strength of the soul, whereas most of my ability comes from practiced skill and strength of mind. Someone like me, who had never really bought into that stuff, and thus never trained for it, wouldn't have had a very strong Aura. At best, it could probably stop a single gunshot." Ollie finished.
"Cool, cool," Jaune said before looking up at the time. "Come on! We've been talking for forever, and it's only been half an hour!"
Looking at the clock himself, Ollie also saw that they had quite a bit of time to kill. That's when it hit him.
"Hey guys, wanna head out after dinner? I've got something to do and I need your help. It's pretty dangerous, but I think if the three of us watch each other's backs, we could pull it off." He asked in a nonchalant tone.
"What do you mean dangerous?" Asked a now curious Ren, "Is it even legal?"
"Oh yeah, it's legal. At least, I hope it is…"
"Doesn't exactly reassure me."
"Look, this isn't a one-man job. I understand if you don't want to do it, but the least you could do is keep a secret about this, ok? This is a very risky business and you guys are the only ones I can trust to keep tight-lipped about it."
"..."
"What's the job?" Jaune finally asked.
"There's somewhere I need to get inside on… official business. Once we get in, I'll need some backup. I'll tell you guys on the way, but if we want to do this, then get suited up and ready for a hot one, because we aren't leaving unscathed." Ollie explained.
"This seems pretty suspicious, but I'll trust you on this," Ren said, "If you need help, I'd be happy to lend you a hand."
"Same here, buddy. Us guys gotta stick together, right?" Jaune added. Ollie smirked.
"Alrighty then, let's get to work!" He said, leaping off of his hammock before he was stopped by one thing. It was past curfew time.
"Damn, we don't have a permission slip." He noted, taking a look at the time. "Looks like we'll have to do this off-the-grid."
"How do we do that?" Asked an apprehensive Jaune.
"Bud, you're talking to a veteran mercenary of two years, and while I've done things I'm not proud of, I know how to a lot of things really well. Getting past surveillance is one of them."
"Ah."
"Come on, let's go now. Security won't be as tight if we leave earlier."
"Yeah, let's."
"After dinner." Ren interjected.
"After dinner."
After dinner.
Fully suited up in his Mjolnir armour, Ollie stood in his room configuring his active-camouflage kit when Jaune and Ren walked in, all suited up in their respective uniforms. With nods of acknowledgements from both of them, he shut off the lights and locked the door before he clambered out of the window. Activating the Paino, he adjusted himself so that he could walk on the side of the wall. Creeping down the vertical surface, he was lucky that these walls were sturdy because otherwise, his half a ton set of armour would've just plowed right through the side of the building. After a moment, a rope unfurled itself and extended all the way down to the ground, and Jaune and Ren quickly climbed down. Taking the rope with him to remove all evidence of their little escapade, Ollie quickly followed them. Motioning silently for the pair to follow him, they made their way unnoticed through the backstreets of Vale before they came across a familiar manhole cover. Slipping down into the dark tunnels, they wound their way through and eventually reached the large open cavern that is the Vale Underground.
"We'll make one stop before we head out," Ollie said simply before making his way towards the large shantytown. "And try not to stare too much."
Shrugging, the two boys followed him.
Following a familiar route down into a familiar neighbourhood, the group stood in front of a steel door at the end of an alleyway. A few swift knocks later, and they were greeted by a voice coming from the other side.
"Who's there?" Came the voice.
"It's me, Ollie."
"And how should I know it's you?"
"Because I'm the one with the half-a-ton set of power armour, dumbass."
"Fair point. Get inside."
Walking inside, they were met by a lanky individual wearing a well-worn white t-shirt and a pair of dirty glasses. He held a nasty-looking revolver in one hand and wore a headset around his neck.
"Alright, let's get to business." The man said, closing the door. "To the new guys, I'm Roberto, but Robbo is fine. I'm this idiot's partner-in-crime. The guy in the chair, you get me? Anyways, I assume you're both here to help him on his valiant quest to punch a witch in the face, so let's get down to the nitty-gritty."
So they went on to explain the situation. Cinder had contacted Ollie in that decrepit warehouse and they were to meet in the Domain. This was more than likely to be a trap, but it was a chance they couldn't pass up to either take out a high-end individual or obtain information. The only big challenge was getting in.
"The entirety of the sector is walled off and guarded to ensure that nothing happens. Our job is to get in, but that'll be hard to do if we get caught on a bad rotation. The good thing is, I have a couple inside men who can let you slip on through." Robbo said.
"Hold up, inside men? You never told me about this." Ollie said in surprise. "You don't usually plan for this type of shit, bud."
"Hey, it pays to have some guys on the inside, doesn't it?"
"Yeah, but you'd probably make that money in an instant by just cracking their bank accounts." He shot back.
"It's about investment, my man. Long-term stuff." Came the reply.
"Oh please, the only investment you have is in coffee." Ollie hit him with the retort. All the while, Jaune and Ren looked on. A collective sigh escaped their lips as they realized what this meeting had devolved into.
"Let's go guys. Robbo, give your boys a ring. We'll be down at the wall in 20." Oliver said, grabbing his helmet off the floor and slipping it on, before walking out, flanked by the two students. As the door shut behind him, Robbo went over to his desk. Sitting down, he quickly dialled a number on his Scroll.
"Hey, Jay? Gonna call in on that favour you, pal."
After being rescued by Oliver and Roberto, Jay was quickly indoctrinated into one of the local gangs in the Underground that Robbo had good relations with. As such, he was quickly put to work. As a former shooter with good accuracy, he was put on a rotating team of guards for the wall. Usually, he would walk up and down the length of the wall with his buds for a couple of hours, looking on both sides, take a smoke, then head back to base to relax before heading home. Today was not a normal day. Taking a drag of his cigarette, Jay looked out to his left, the outside, and saw what he was waiting for. A gray-armoured man followed by a boy in a green tunic and a blond boy with white armour. Nodding at them, he looked the other way and motioned to the fellow guards that he thought he saw some movement that way. They quickly turned around and rushed off in the opposite direction. Sighing, he turned around to see the three already on the wall.
"I'm really sticking my neck out here, fellas." He let out a puff of smoke. "Only this once, 'kay? Now go do your job. And you never saw any of this, got it?"
"Totally. Thanks a bunch, Jay." The armoured man said before leaping off and into the darkness of the Domain.
"Yeah, yeah," Jay muttered. He took another drag. "Don't get yourselves killed."
Present Day - The Domain, Vale Underground
Weapons were drawn, eyes were peeled. Creeping along the abandoned side streets, Oliver, Jaune, and Ren worked their way through the ruins of a once populated shantytown.
"There was always a popular meet-up place here. It was near the garages on the east side. There are a lot of buildings over there, making it a great place to hide and meet up, or station snipers." Ollie said, hugging the wall as he made his way down the street. Without warning, he stopped, pulling the boys into a nearby shop. Outside, a Deathstalker crawled down the road where they were walking. It made some chittering sounds before turning around and moving in the opposite direction.
"You know, I'm starting to think this wasn't such a good idea." Jaune shakily commented.
"Well, we're in too deep now. Oliver, this person is nearby?" Ren asked.
"I don't know, but something tells me…" The Deathstalker reappeared and looked right into the store and into the three boy's eyes. "That she'll find us." Making a gesture with its pincers, the Deathstalker moved back down the road.
"I think it wants us to follow it." Oliver slowly rose from his place.
"Are you crazy? That thing's big enough to snap us in half!" Jaune exclaimed.
"Well it clearly isn't doing that right now, is it?" Ollie shot back, clutching his rifle. As if it would do him any good against this thing. It could probably take a rocket to the head and keep on swinging like it was nothing. Sighing, the two boys followed after him. After about 15 minutes of walking, they reached the end of the road. Scuttling to the far-side, the Deathstalker settled behind a woman in a tantalizing red dress with golden accents. Standing beside her were a girl with turquoise hair and a boy with silver hair and what appeared to be robotic legs. Floating beside him was a jellyfish-like Grimm, with spiked tentacles which Ollie only knew as a "Seer" from what little entries there were in the catalogues.
"Alright, what do you want?" Ollie said. Clean and clear, because as it stood, they were at a severe disadvantage. Even so, he let his finger slide inside of the trigger guard.
"Easy, we just want to talk." Cinder said in a smooth voice.
"Ok, and what do you want to talk about? Music? What's on TV?"
"A man with the courage to joke, even now. I respect that." Cinder smirked. "I want to talk about our current stance of the world."
"Ah, politics. Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful."
Behind him, Jaune and Ren both wearily observed their location. As if on autopilot, they both reached for their weapons in case things got nasty. Jaune's hand rested on his sheath and Ren kept his hands behind his back, wrapping his fingers around the grips of his pistols.
"Well? You invited, so you start." Ollie said. "Why do you want us here?"
"Well, I expected you to come alone, but I see you are as smart as our reports say. Prior to your work here with Beacon, you were wanted on several counts of murder and assault, along with multiple charges of illegal business." Cinder started, gesturing to his friends and then to him.
"What does my past have to do with politics?"
"That's what we were getting to. As a man with a very… impressive track record, I have to admit that I was surprised when you decided to align yourself with that old geezer Ozpin as a 'protector of the realm' and even go along with his plans."
"Well, I am a man of many talents. I decided that I would try to do something meaningful with it."
There was a small moment of tense silence before Ollie started up again.
"Alright, I'll ask a question now. Seeing as you're pretty friendly with Grimm, I would guess you're with Salem, am I right?" He asked, adjusting his grip on his rifle.
"Right on the money. I assumed that you would guess that." Cinder confirmed.
On the sidelines, Jaune and Ren were having their own side conversation.
"Salem? The Queen of the Grimm? I thought she was just a legend!" Jaune whisper-shouted fidgeting slightly.
"Evidently not, as it seems she's been the one behind all of this," Ren replied, keeping his eyes on his surroundings. "It would be like her to remain in the shadows through all of this."
"*Sigh* We should've just gone to bed." Jaune sighed before returning his attention to the conversation at hand.
"And so, I have called you here to… negotiate the terms of your contract with Ozpin." Cinder said.
"I'm… not sure if that's how legality works, lady," Oliver replied, cocking his head to the side quizzically. "What does it matter anyway? The details don't matter here. I'm on this side, and you're on the other, therefore making you my enemy."
"And that's what we're here to discuss. Why are you working with someone like him, in a world that's done you no favours? There have been some rather… unsavoury circumstances that have occurred during your life here, and I wish to give you an opportunity."
"For what? A raise? Not interested lady." Ollie shot back.
"A chance to make real change." Came the response.
"And that is…?"
"Right now, you are a lackey. Someone doing the dangerous work for someone bigger than you. A pawn. If you seek to protect, then I can allow you to do so on your own terms. If you seek to rectify things in this world, then I can allow you to do so as well. All you need to do is join us. You don't even need to fight, all you need to do is give us everything you know." Cinder proposed, crossing her arms. "It's easy, and you will be allowed to carry out everything you've ever wanted to do. You'll have everything. Money, power, the ability to carry out whatever you wish." She smirked. "So?"
Loosening up a little bit, Ollie appeared to ponder this for a little bit. Behind Cinder, her compatriots appeared to be tensed up, waiting for his answer, as with Jaune and Ren. Eventually, the Spartan looked up to face Cinder.
"I can do… whatever?" He asked, letting his grip on his rifle go lax.
"Yes, whatever you want." Cinder said in return, smiling. The tension in the hair was thick like butter. The underground air was chilly, but the sheer amounts of aggression and apprehension were creating a sort of psychological friction that made them sweat. Finally, Ollie gave his final answer.
"Then be a dear, and hold still." Raising his rifle, he fired off a quick burst, directed right at her forehead. His shots fired straight and true and impacted her right on target. She stumbled back a little bit but didn't fall. Knowing that her Aura would've been up, Ollie proceeded to empty his entire magazine in her direction. About halfway through, it appeared she had used one of her latent Maiden abilities in the form of a shield, as the AP Rounds impacted and splashed harmlessly against the air around her. As he emptied the last of his bullets, Jaune and Ren saw this as their opening and quickly rushed forward to attack her. Sweeping in from the side, Ren released a spray of light-green Dust bullets at Cinder, who quickly shifted her shield to compensate for this new attacker.
She didn't see Jaune, though.
Coming in for a heavy-handed swing, the swordsman crashed his blade into her Aura with all his might, throwing her backwards. Coming in with a flurry of attacks, he forced Cinder to fall back some, but due to his close proximity and a two-pronged range assault, she was cornered. At least, she was. Letting loose the remainder of her power, she forced the two huntsmen-in-training back a few steps. Giving her the chance she needed. In a scream of rage, she threw a fireball right at Jaune, who raised his shield in a split-second panic. Taking the hit, he flew backwards at an extreme speed, skidding to a stop on his back behind Ollie.
Ren, noticing he was out of his depth, quickly jumped back, covering himself by spraying shots in the opposite direction.
"Alright fellas, this would be a good time to run!" Jaune yelled at his comrades, who both turned with him and ran, but not before Ollie primed and threw a grenade behind him, further annoying Cinder and showering them in rubble.
"Robbo, you get all that?" Ollie asked over the intercom.
"Heh, got it all." Came the response.
"Looks like that's a success. Let's book it."
But as the three ran from the scene, a deafening roar echoed throughout the cave and resonated through the buildings.
"SCRREEEEEEEEEEEE!" Looking behind them, Ollie could see the massive Deathstalker rushing towards them. Above them, Mercury and Emerald were also attempting to gain ground on them on the rooftops. Thinking on his feet, Ollie quickly moved to the buildings and activated the Paino. Gravity reversed and he quickly flew upwards. Several feet above the rooftops, he deactivated the contraption and grabbed a Dust grenade from his belt. As he reached the apex of his "fall", he pulled the pin and dropped it.
Sensing the danger, his pursuers leapt off of the rooftops and onto the road, giving up their high-ground. Seeing the advantage, Ollie positioned himself to land onto the roof under him. Luckily for him, the ceiling below him didn't shatter on impact, but his landing did leave a sizable crater on the structure. Sprinting along, it didn't take long for him to catch up with his compatriots.
"Oi, meet me at the next junction!" He yelled, to Ren's nod. Plodding to a halt on the roof of what appeared to be a corner store, Ollie quickly reloaded his rifle before taking aim once more. Peering through the scope of his BR55, he took aim at the big Deathstalker before taking the shot. With practiced precision, the three-shot burst found itself buried one of in the scorpion Grimm's eyes. Screaming in pain, the Deathstalker whirled around to face its assailant, only to find nothing but thin air. In reality, Ollie had simply activated his Active Camouflage and was moving to regroup with Ren and Jaune. Dashing along the high ground, quickly met up with his comrades.
"Starting to have second thoughts now?" He asked the pair, jumping down to meet them.
"Yeah, definitely," Jaune responded with obvious fatigue. "I honestly wish I had stayed in bed."
"Well, it's too late for that now, so let's get out of here." Said Ren, carrying a voice of reason.
"Agreed, we have what we came for, so let's go." The Spartan nodded his head, and the three ran down the road. Soon they approached the outer regions of the Domain. What they didn't expect, was Cinder.
"What the fuck? How did she get in front of us?" Ollie cursed. He was about to look behind him, but he didn't need to as he heard the skittering of eight boney legs at his back, followed by two thump sounds, which he would assume would be Emerald and Mercury. Gritting his teeth, he raised his rifle, with the two boys beside him taking the hint and raising theirs as well.
"Guys, take the opportunity to run. I'll hold them off for a bit." Ollie whispered to his friends, who both tentatively nodded. Like it or not, he was the only one who could keep up in a fight with them for now. It was best they all got out rather than throwing it all away in a suicide rush. Within the next 30 seconds, several actions took place.
First, Jaune and Ren took the opportunity presented to them and they rushed at what was the weakest link; Emerald and Mercury. Firing off a burst from his pistols, Ren was able to force the two to scatter and Jaune moved in front of his friend and blocked their incoming attacks with his shield, the bullets pinging harmlessly off of the defensive plating. Pushing through, the duo escaped down the side streets.
Second, Ollie decided to give his friends the cover they needed and proceeded to swap out his rifle for his SMGs and reverse his gravity, sending him "falling" straight up. Using his newfound elevation, he took aim with his twin weapons and opened fire, raining bullets down on his enemies. He was too far up to do any real damage, but the distraction tactic did its job as the two boys got away.
Third, Ollie directly followed up by altering his movement so when he inevitably fell, he would land right on the head of the Deathstalker with immense force. Which he did.
Fourth, Cinder made her move. Cocking back her arm, as if ready to throw a ball, she released a vial of Dust and hurled it at the Spartan who whirled around too late to find it exploding into a wall of flames. His shields flared and sparked before they gave way and the shockwave threw him into a nearby wall.
Fifth, in dying defiance, the Deathstalker staggered over to the fallen Spartan and slammed its claw right into his arms. Swinging over right in the nick of time, Ollie raised his arms up to block the Grimm's final offensive, and he could feel the strain of being struck by a gigantic claw. And damn, it hurt. Nothing broke, but he could tell he was in for some serious bruising. Gritting his teeth, he shoved the dying scorpion off of him and grabbed one of his combat knives. He then proceeded to drive it into the underbelly of the monster, giving it one last nudge off of this mortal coil. Needless to say, it tumbled right off. Target down.
Sixth, having regained their bearings after being pushed through, Emerald and Mercury had rearmed themselves and charged Ollie while he was still getting up, and therefore, were able to land a few hits. A kick to the gut sent Ollie crashing back down, and Emerald didn't let up on her assault either, as when he tried to stand up, he was met with a barrage of magnum Dust rounds. The bullets didn't have the piercing power to puncture his Mjolnir armour, but they did explode on impact, knocking the wind out of him and scorching the surface of his armour. The liquid crystal underneath bubbled and boiled as his suit attempted to control the temperature. Coughing blood onto the inside of his helmet, he could only attempt to block the relentless attacks.
As the attacks stopped Ollie maintained his defensive state and slowly rose to his feet, coughing and hacking. He clutched one arm around his body, feeling an area of pain on his left side. More bruised ribs. Fun. He thought morbidly as he readied himself for the next offensive. He was instead met by Cinder.
"I will give you one last chance, Oliver Auburn. Join us. Become powerful." She smiled.
"Sorry, I'm gonna have to pass on that one." Activating the Paino one last time, he dropped back through the wall behind him and into the road out behind the house they were in. Ignoring the throbbing pain in his side, he sprinted down the road after his two comrades. With each step, a spear of pain shot through his body and it wasn't long before he was panting and biting his lip in order to not shout in agony with each step. Why didn't he just alter gravity to fly down the road? The Paino was dependant on Gravity Dust to function, and it used some up with each and every use. As a result, with how much he had been using it during that last fight, he was all out. He could vaguely hear the gunshots coming from behind him. Swerving to throw off his attacker's aim, he leapt off a nearby wall and rolled behind a pile of decrepit old crates and continued running. At this point, the closest point where he could safely activate his Active Camouflage and run was 3 blocks away, and that was more than enough time for his enemies to catch up. And with Cinder chasing him as well, that would be very soon. The best he could do was hope for the best. Bigger people have tried to kill him in the past (figuratively and literally). He wasn't going down so easily.
The Domain Border - Same Time
Panting, Jaune and Ren had reached the wall and were hiding behind a pile of crates, waiting for Oliver to show up. It had been 5 minutes since they had hunkered down, and he had yet to appear.
"Where is he? You don't think they got him, did they?" Jaune nervously whispered to his friend, who merely shrugged.
"I don't know, but worrying won't help him," Ren muttered back. This statement was followed by a large explosion, which shattered the silence. Some of the guards up on the wall looked a little unnerved, but it was the norm for an overly large Grimm to destroy a building on its way from point A to point B, so they thought little of it. However, the two boys knew better.
"Dammit! I hate sitting around like this!" Jaune bitterly exclaimed. If only he were stronger! Then he could help hi-
"Then what do you propose we do?" Ren cut through his thoughts. "We either sit here and play it safe, or we go in and risk our lives and try to get something better out of it."
"Are those are only two options?"
"Well, is there anything else but fighting them?"
Thinking for a minute, Jaune responded. "Yeah, we can."
A few minutes later.
"You want me to WHAT?" Jay exclaimed at the two students in front of him.
"Shhhh! Please, we only need three." Jaune pleaded with the guard, who shook his head.
"Sorry fellas, but I can't. The next audit's in a month and the Capos'll flay us if anything's missing without reason. If three smoke grenades are 'missing' then they'll have our hides!" Jay fired back.
"Come on, there has to be something you can do!" Jaune pleaded once more. "If we don't get out there soon, Ollie's as good as dead!"
Gritting his teeth, Jay gave a reluctant sigh. "Fine. I'll put in a requisition for three smoke grenades. They'll be requested, then they'll disappear since they 'fell out of the bag' on the way to the location."
Jaune's face lit up. "Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
"Oi! You said it yourself! Be quiet. I'll grab the 'nades, so shut up!" Jay angrily said and left before returning a few minutes later with a disposable paper bag. Inside were three canisters.
With a nod, the two leapt off of the wall and back into the Domain.
"Those crazy kids… They're gonna get themselves killed one of these days." Jay muttered to himself. "Let's just hope that isn't anytime soon."
The Domain Sidestreets - Present Time
Stumbling as a fireball blasted the spot by his heels, Ollie tried to avoid the deadly onslaught. Firing off a burst from one of his SMGs, he was quickly shown that he was heavily outgunned by the massive projectile of flame that was screaming towards him. Continuing to run, he kept trying to move towards the wall, but each time he tried, he would be routed by one of his three adversaries. Fighting would be pointless, and would only tire him out more than he already was. Seeing another threat, he slid under a veil of bullets from Emerald's revolvers, and then side-stepping a kick from Mercury and elbowed him in the back to throw him off balance. Ducking into an alleyway, he climbed up the side of one wall and then leapt up to the rooftop on the opposite side. But once he reached the top, he was greeted by Cinder herself.
"Look,*pant* I know women can be stingy on their periods, but *pant* this is pushing it, don't you think?" He remarked, his razor wit not leaving him in the face of death.
"Still making jokes, even on your deathbed. I applaud you." Cinder just gave her cocky smirk. She wasn't expecting him to be this much trouble. He had even scratched her with a surprise knife strike. Not that it mattered anyway. Another thing she wasn't expecting was Ren. Appearing out of nowhere, Ren and Jaune both proceeded to kick the now flat-footed Cinder, who tumbled off of the rooftop. Without a second thought, Jaune grabbed a paper bag and grabbed three canisters. He then pulled the pins on all three and chucked them down to the floor, where they exploded and released their contents. On the ground Cinder merely frowned with an annoyed tone. Did they really think a couple of paltry smoke grenades would really make a difference? Throwing another vial of dust, they hardened into shards of ice and were sent downrange… and found nothing but air and stone. Looking around, Cinder didn't see any traces of them on the rooftop or around it. Chuckling to herself, she turned and left. They would be allowed to live this time. But only today. The next would they meet, mercy would not be on her mind.
Now, one would expect the trio to have left the rooftop, but in all actuality, they had barely moved from their spot. They were all laid prone in the center of the roof and were all invisible, thanks to Ren's semblance. As Cinder turned her back and walked away, the three slowly crept back, and with Ren placing one hand on both of their shoulders, they sneakily made it out of the Domain and reappeared in a nearby alleyway. Beat and panting, the three looked amongst each other and laughed. Perhaps staring death in the eye was a changing experience.
"Sorry I dragged you into that guys. You shouldn't have needed to save my ass." Ollie said apologetically. "I got thirsty. None of this would've, or should've, for that matter, happened if I wasn't so cocky."
"What's done is done, dude. You said you got what you came for, right?" Jaune said.
"Yeah, but still…"
"At least we're alive. That's the good part." Ren interjected.
"But we can still agree we're never doing that again?" Jaune asked.
"Oh yes. Definitely."
"Never again. Nope. Nuh-uh."
Meanwhile - An Unknown Location
Sitting atop her massive chair, Salem watched the whole ordeal through the lens of the Seer Grimm.
"Playing hard to get, are we now, Mr. Auburn?" Salem said to herself. "It will only be a matter of time. Soon the world will fall around you, the sky will rain fire, and you will realize how small you really are."
And so she took a sip of wine and laughed. This man was truly proving to be fun. Hard as nails men like him were always the most fun to break.
Something else I'm never doing again? Going on a break like that. For the love of all that's good I was gone for a while. The main problem was that I became really disenchanted with this story. I fell into a state of almost apathy concerning it because I felt like so much could've been done better but I'm in too deep for a rewrite at this point. The main point of my disappointment is Ollie. He really hasn't progressed as a character since the beginning of the story, and he really feels more like an SI at this point with me doing what I want with him. I'm gonna try to change that, and I'm going to get a lot more chances to do so as school's over to the year, so I can update a lot more regularly. But I really have no excuse for being lazy, do I? Looks like I have some catching up to do. Thanks for sticking by me, and I'll see you all in the next one.