Now and Forever
The figure in front of Neo lunged, stabbing with his cutlass. She dodged, leaning under the punch the maned man behind her threw. That left the third one to fire his pistol. One shot hit, knocking air from her lungs. Another and she was done for. She had to get to that pistol.
Neo transitioned her lean into a backbend and pivoted to spring up into a handstand. She grabbed the lion faunus's arm between her legs and flipped in midair, inverting him and hiding behind his bulk.
She loosened her legs before she landed, letting the man land on his head. Neo grabbed his foot and swung him around at the shooter. Should keep him busy. The man with the sword sliced again, but stayed far enough away that dodging was easy. He was waiting for his comrades before he reengaged. Smart.
Neo dove under a swing and tackled him, throwing her arms around his waist. He brought his sword hand in, but Neo struck it, knocking his hand away. Turning, she bullrushed him into the other two, knocking all of them sprawling, and kicked each when they tried to rise.
"Match." The referee nodded to Neo and the others on the mat. "Lita is the winner. Belle asked to see you when you finished."
Neo looked at the scoreboard. 23, 19, 7, 16, 91. One hit from a loss. Yesterday, she'd been hit to 86, losing with two opponents still standing. Some white fang officers were better than others.
She retrieved Iris's pieces from the corner of the mat, reassembled her, and took the hallway out from the gym. Blake was just outside the door, holding a bag.
"Lita. Come with me." The pair walked to the building's lot and Blake pointed to a car. Why now? Why me? Neo worked alone.
The only reason Blake would want Neo's company was for protection. Obviously, it was somewhere Shell wouldn't do. Or something came up and Shell had to handle it. "I'm headed somewhere public and you won't look too out of place. Protect me. I'll drive, you need to type."
ᴡʜᴀᴛ ɢᴏᴏᴅ ᴡɪʟʟ ᴛʏᴘɪɴɢ
"Turn on the voice." Blake got into the driver's seat and closed the door.
Neo stood outside her window and crossed her arms.
"Just use the voice, Lita." They were alone in the garage, but Blake was strict with names. "I can't read your scroll while watching traffic."
Neo didn't move. Neo wasn't a true believer. Neo wasn't contracted. Neo didn't owe Blake a thing.
"Fine." Blake pointed to her right. "Just get in and listen to me."
Neo circled the car and entered. If Blake accepted that she would lose battles against Neo, their partnership would proceed much more amicably.
"All right then. We're headed to Haven. I'm meeting some people. Needed someone my age to stay low profile. Are you a faunus?" Blake pulled onto the street.
"I'm hearing rumblings about it, is all. I'm basically sitting on a pile of a thousand career criminals that will blow up if I make any mistakes or push them or try to disband so I figure keeping them happy is a priority. They're not so sure about me having a human bodyguard." Blake turned onto an on-ramp. "Or whatever you are these days. I try not to need guards, but if I get hit on campus, running away will look terrible for me and you can just change your looks until the dust settles."
Neo typed on her scroll and held it up.
"And humanity isn't always a liability. I want to bring Haven in on this fight somehow. Your intel says Cinder's consumed the military, the PD are a joke, we need huntsmen. But this being Mistral, I don't know who at the schools to trust. You're from Mistral. Do you have any experience with the professors?"
At a light, Blake turned to look. Neo was still presenting her scroll. ᴍʏ ᴍᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ᴡᴀs ᴀ ғᴀᴜɴᴜs.
"I assume you mean you're not." Blake sighed. "When were you last in Mistral? Do you know Haven? Which professors to trust?"
Neo typed. Blake didn't look.
"I'm thinking of going to Professor Gintaras."
Neo typed more obviously, slamming her fingers down on each key, and held her scroll up. Blake continued to drive.
"I also like the look of Professor Pirin."
No. No you don't. Neo glared while she typed, then reached out her hand, holding her scroll almost in front of Blake's face.
The car swerved as Blake pushed Neo's arm away from her vision. "Neo, just use the voice, we're on a highway!"
Fine. It needed to be said. "ɪғ ʏᴏᴜ ᴘᴜᴛ ᴍᴇ ɪɴ ᴀ ʀᴏᴏᴍ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴘɪʀɪɴ ɪ ᴡɪʟʟ ᴋɪʟʟ ʏᴏᴜ ʙᴏᴛʜ," Neo's scroll announced in monotone.
To her credit, Blake didn't gloat, realizing that the voice was punishment enough. Rather, she looked worried. "So, you don't think Pirin is a good choice."
He might help, but Neo was far from that desperate. "ᴘɪʀɪɴ ɪs ᴀ ʙᴀᴅ ᴍᴀɴ. ᴛʀʏ ɢᴜʟɪsᴛᴀɴ."
Blake took an exit off the highway. "Neo, I'm going to be honest, I can't tell how seriously I should be taking you."
"ɪ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴊᴏᴋᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʏᴏᴜ. ɢᴜʟɪsᴛᴀɴ."
"I read Pirin's faculty bio, he's been teaching for years. Are you saying that he's dangerous? Hurtful? Mean?" The neighborhood was residential. They were close.
"ᴅʀᴏᴘ ɪᴛ ʙᴇʟʟᴀᴅᴏɴɴᴀ," Neo glared. She'd almost managed to forget about Pirin before Blake went and brought the man up. She might have to go kill the man anyway, on her own time.
"Neo, I trust you. I'm trusting you, but I have friends at Haven. If they're in danger... if there's a problem, I want to confront it."
"ʜᴀᴠᴇɴ sᴛᴜᴅᴇɴᴛs ᴀʀᴇ ғᴀʀ ᴛᴏᴏ ᴏʟᴅ ғᴏʀ ʜɪᴍ," read the scroll.
Neo stared out of her side window.
From the sounds of things, Blake turned her head, but only for a moment. Then she drove for a minute in silence. Neo didn't know this neighborhood. Never had.
Neo typed. "ɪ ᴍɪss ʀᴜʙʏ."
"Me too, Neo," said Blake. "I miss my whole team. I miss being a follower. Leading is just a series of questions with no right answers." Blake turned right. "Ruby left the city while you were in the hospital. She went north." She took a left at the end of the block and stopped in front of a booth, where a security guard looked at the car's occupants and raised the barrier.
Bake rolled down her window. "Excuse me. Could you point me in the direction of Professor Gulistan's office?"
