Chapter 21: Criminal Versus Criminal

Criminals and Mentors

"So, is this the place?" Daniel drew the car up outside the old rickety building. It was in quite a remote place, sealed away behind other buildings which populated the area. Roman and Neo came up behind them, in a old truck which wasn't really supposed to be on the road due to the state it was in, but luckily, they hadn't crashed, so that was a good thing.

"Yeah, this is it." Luna stepped out, followed by Lucy.

"How are we planning to sneak into here?" Roman asked. "Or are we just going to walk in, knock him out, and leave?"

"We aren't just knocking him out. We're killing him." Lucy's voice was firm. "I'll be damned if I let him live." She looked up at Daniel, who was studying the old building.

No visible other way to get in aside from those doors... The doors were a black colour and huge. The building stretched up pretty high, but since it was down a narrow alleyway, they couldn't see the sides or back of it. On the door, there was a fingerprint scanner.

Walking over to them, Luna stepped forward, and looked back at all of them.

"Are you ready? There's usually guards standing here, and this is the only way in."

Daniel took Death's Grace off his back, Lucy pulled out Poison and Venom, and Roman and Neo got there own weapons ready.

"Ready."

"Okay then, three-" She put her hand on the scanner. "-two, one..."

Access Denied.

She blinked. "Huh? Let me try again..."

It didn't work the second time.

"Well, that's rather anticlimactic." Roman helpfully commented.

"That's strange. Usually they only remove your touch ID when they think you've died." The realisation struck her.

"Gale must have thought you both killed me."

"That's rather stupid." Roman said. "Sometimes jobs can run over and last longer than anticipated."

Lucy suddenly stepped forward and kicked the door as hard as she could. It made a loud banging noise, but didn't break.

"If there are any guards on the other side, that's sure to get there attention." She was right in that regard, as several hushed voices could be heard from behind the door, before a loud beeping noise could be heard, and they came sliding open.

"What is it you-Oof!" Lucy spin kicked the poor man into oblivion. They stepped inside.

It seemed to be a network of doors. There were several different ways to go, along with staircases, winding tunnels which lead who knows where, but luckily there were several helpful signs around the place to help you identify where you needed to go. Not that they had time to look at those things, as several more men came rushing out to block them off.

"Hey, stop right there!"

Those men were dispatched rather quickly, as Lucy and Luna both rushed them, and these men were not well organised or well in sync at all, as Luna whipped her chain around one of there guns, and he just stood there blankly, not having a clue what to do, as she disarmed him and booted him in the face. Lucy ducked underneath a easily predictable shot from one of them, grabbed him by the arm and kicked him in the shin, before throwing him over her shoulder. Two other thugs rushed around them and sprinted for Daniel, Neo and Roman, knives drawn, but Neo cartwheeled her way over there heads, leaving them to turn around, confused, before Roman smacked one of them in the back of his head with his cane, and Daniel punched the other one in the back of the head, knocking him out almost instantly.

Don't they have aura? He looked down at them, dressed in pretty flimsy clothing, mostly t-shirts and jeans.

They must be the members of ShiverBane… Gale wouldn't have dressed his men in such tattered clothing, he took after Magnus that way. Appearance was very important.

With those men now down for the count, they quickly ran up a flight of stairs before anyone else came. They came to a hallway, a hallway of more doors.

"Now then, every movie ever has taught me that in the big bad base, the big bad boss is usually at the very top of the base." Lucy said. "Therefore, we ignore all these doors, and just look for another stair-"

Several more men, who had obviously heard the commotion from downstairs, opened up the doors and jumped out.

"Or maybe not."

The men came sprinting towards them, these ones also appeared to be ShiverBane ones. Daniel was the one to make the first move this time, hitting one of them with the hilt of Death's Grace, before sweeping out the legs of another, knocking him to the ground. Another one came running, but Lucy jumped over Daniel and grabbed one of the doors, swinging it forward and knocking another one unconscious. Roman and Neo had used a quick decisive team attack to take out one that had tried to sneak up on them, with no success, as he found himself blasted back into a wall.

"And that's another group down. Score one for team Smooth Criminals." Roman held out one of his fingers. They continued to race down the hallway and up another flight of stairs, this place seemed to have a lot of them. This time around, they all came to a open room before they were jumped.

Criminals and Mentors

Gale was sat in his office, and upon hearing that there were people in the building, taking out the ShiverBane men with relative ease, he demanded that all his top trained men were to stay with him while the "rabid dogs" delayed whoever was here.

Although Gale had a very suspicious feeling he knew who it was. He quickly took his weapon out of his coat pocket, a revolver with dust capabilities built into it. Taking some dust out of one of the drawers, he walked forward and out of the door into the main room of the upstairs part of the building, almost like a living room with a television and a few couches.

"Everyone, follow me and we will eliminate these intruders!"

One of his men rushed forward and stood guard in front of him, gun pointed at the nearby door. They stood there in silence and waited for what felt like a entirety. The door didn't move, didn't even show any signs of opening for several seconds. That was until the sound of footsteps charging up the stairs was heard.

"Get ready!" Gale aimed his gun at the door along with everyone else.

The door flew open with such ferocity it was nearly ripped straight off it's hinges. A hail fire of bullets was rained upon whoever it was there that had just opened the door. However, the bullets didn't kill them. Instead, the deafening sound of bullets meeting metal filled his air as nearly all the shots they had just fired were easily blocked. All of a sudden, Gale was blasted back with a kick. All of his men rushed forward, forcing whoever it was back. Gale stood back up and got a good look at who it was.

"You!" He glared at Daniel and Lucy, and didn't even look at Roman or Neo or pay them any heed. His men were looking back and forth, unsure of what to do.

"You both have a lot of nerve coming here after what you did to Magnus." His voice, while remaining relatively calm, held a dangerous tone to it.

"And you have a lot of nerve returning to this city with your fancy crew, and hiring ShiverBane to serve you."

It was only then that Gale noticed Luna. "Ah, so this is the little rat who told you where to find me."He looked to her for a brief second, and then looked back at Daniel. "Zane thinks she's dead you know. But that doesn't matter now. What does matter is that I am going to kill both of you and your little friends if necessary."

"You and those guys? I don't think so." Lucy said.

Suddenly, the two elevators either side of them opened up, and several more men came pouring out.

"I have many more, so don't get so cocky Lucy Locke." The men readied themselves to charge, and the stage was set for the duel of a lifetime.

Criminals and Mentors

Alan came to a stop in the main courtyard of Beacon, and turned around to see his three teammates rushing after him.

"Alan, Alan…" Bethany was in front of Damion and Samantha, her arm outstretched. She repeated his name. He stared at her, and slowly, very slowly, smoothed back his hair away from his forehead. It had been covered, and for a very good reason.

Two goat horns, very small, poked out of his forehead. He didn't pay attention to the sudden gasp that he heard, didn't say anything, didn't respond, that one action was all the explanation they needed. Amy had came up behind them, and she had skidded to a halt, and was looking at his horns.

"Your… you're a Faunus?" Bethany said.

"It took you long enough to notice. I had thought that after everything I have done, you would be smart enough to figure out why. But you are just humans after all. Pathetic humans."

He took a step forward, and Amy noticeable tensed, putting her hand to her weapon, ready in case he tried to strike any of them.

Look at them. Standing there in total shock and horror. As if they've never seen a Faunus before…

"What…how… I don't understand."

"You don't understand?! How stupid are you?! Humans have treated our kind like dirt, thrown them into dust mines, forced them to slave away for years upon years, and your saying you don't understand?!"

"No, no, I don't mean it like-"

"I don't care how you mean it. I've never cared about you, or Damion, or Samantha. And if you think that there is anyway to make me care, then I'm afraid your deluding yourselves. This is who I am. I am a Faunus, born into a life of hatred and suffering. And I have no reason to stay here, at Beacon."

"Well then why did you come here?" Damion said. "Why would you come here to simple brood on your own, and to treat your team like trash?"

"That is none of your concern. You have no right to question me. Be grateful I don't feel like killing you where you stand." He turned around, looked back at them for a brief moment, and then began to walk. Slowly, and deliberately, his head held high, he walked towards the gates that would take him out of Beacon. He had no remorse, no regrets, he should have never come here, and cursed himself for thinking it was a good idea.

I should have never taken up this assignment... What is Adam going to say?

Criminals and Mentors

Lucy ducked underneath a blow that would have taken her head off, and followed it up with a elbow to the face of the guy who had tried it. She cast a quick glance towards Gale, who was standing behind all of the men, firing potshots.

Coward. Absolute coward.

She was going to kill him when they were done with all these men, quickly, brutally, and efficiently.

Another guy came up behind her, knife out and ready to strike, and she lowered her back slightly so it went right over her head, grabbed it, and slashed him in the stomach, breaking his aura, and she then booted him in the head, knocking him out.

She caught a glance of a parasol being unfolded as Neo took out several of the men at the same time with a quickness and agility that only she was capable of. A chain wrapped itself around the neck of another one, as Luna choked out another one.

Sprinting towards them, Lucy grabbed a guy who had tried to sneak up on Roman by his neck, and hurled him to the side with strength that even she didn't realise she was capable of. She couldn't see Daniel, but she could hear the familiar sound of his guns, the familiar sound of Death's Grace banging off weapons, the yells of those he dispatched. Stepping to the side, she spun her foot around and roundhouses kicked another unfortunate soul in the head.

A sudden shot from Gale forced her to roll to the side, and the two of them locked eyes for a moment before she rushed towards him, jumping up into the air and bringing down her knives, intending to stab his eyes out, but a sudden brute of a man came charging in from the side, catching her by the leg and slamming her down into the floor, and all the breath was knocked out of her as he spun her around and threw her into a nearby wall, and she could hear the wall cracking as her body met it. Looking up, she saw the man was massive, easily seven foot at least, wielding a massive battle axe.

"Ah, so you are the girl who helped kill Magnus. It will be fun-" He didn't get to finish his sentence, as Daniel struck him in the face with the hilt of his sword, staggering him for a second. Lucy jumped back up to her feet and slid beneath his legs, holding both her knifes out, and the man was brought down to his knees, and Daniel jumped over his head and brought his fist up, uppercutting him in the face, and he fell back, right into Lucy who stabbed him in the back, quite literally, and the man fell over with a massive thud.

"Incoming!" Both Daniel and Lucy ducked as Roman fired a shot at Gale, and it struck him square in the chest, sending him sprawling over the couch's.

More of the ShiverBane men from other areas of the base had heard what was going on, and had came racing to help, so it was proving very difficult to isolate Gale out.

Two men came up behind Daniel, and he took them both out by backhanding them in the face. Lucy looked to the side to see more men coming towards them.

I wonder where Zane is? Wasn't he supposed to be the leader of ShiverBane? Shouldn't he be here too?

There was no time to dwell on that though, as these guys weren't just going to take themselves out. Lucy ran towards them, and a chain whipped itself around the man in front, as his weapon was disarmed and Luna kicked him in the stomach, and Lucy ran past her and swiped her daggers around in a circle, knocking everybody down, and Luna finished most of them off by either kicking them in the head or punching them in the face. Lucy turned herself around and kicked one more in the face, and she lowered herself down as Luna whipped her chain over her head, jumping over her back and taking out another one.

Looking behind her, Lucy noticed that Neo and Roman had managed to get the jump on Gale, and with no one around to protect him, this seemed a perfect time to strike.

To give credit where credit was due, Gale was doing a fairly good job at evading most of there attacks. However, he couldn't dodge forever, as shown by the fact that Neo cartwheeled over his strike, followed up by a strike to the face by Roman, and Neo sliced him in the leg, causing him to fall over. Lucy then noticed Daniel walking towards him with a whole row of unconscious bodies behind him.

Time to kill this douchebag.

She sauntered over towards them.

"It's over Gale." Daniel put his sword to his throat. "Give up now and I'll spare your life." Lucy stared at Daniel.

Oh hell no. We are not sparing him. She fidgeted with her daggers for a second, and knelt down next to Gale, who appeared to be chuckling.

"Oh Daniel. You have the body of a adult, yet the mind of a child. Sparing me will do you no good. I will simply break out and come after you again."

"Well, guess we'll just have to take you out again." Daniel shrugged. "It's not very hard."

"Daniel, me and you, we aren't so different you know. We are both criminals, sought after by the police-" He suddenly starting biting his lip extremely hard, as Lucy was forcing her daggers down into his hand, drawing a thick line of blood.

"He is nothing like you." She whispered into his ear. "And he may be willing to spare you, but I'm not."

Daniel looked towards her. "What did you just-"

The next motion happened so quickly, Daniel couldn't have stopped her. Standing up straight, she bent over and slashed him in the face, right over the eyes.

His resulting yell of pain gave her great pleasure.

"Lucy?! What the hell?!" Daniel backed away in shock as he stared down at Gale, who's eyes had just been gouged out. She ignored his startled look, and bent down over Gale.

"You bitc-!" He didn't get to finish his statement, as she put her daggers to his throat, cutting him off.

"I can't exactly say it's been nice knowing you Gale." She raised her daggers up, preparing to stab them down into his throat.

"Whoa, whoa, Lucy, that's enough!" Daniel grabbed her by the arm and began hauling her away. She didn't fight back, didn't try and resist him, she simply stared down at Gale, who was crawling away, his hand over his now non existent eyes. Roman, Neo and Luna were just standing there, looking at him.

"That's the least you deserve." Lucy said. Daniel was still holding her back, worried that if he let go, she would just attempt to do the same thing again.

Gale had managed to stand up, and was backing up, closer and closer to the back window of the building. Without another word, he lost his balance, tripping and suddenly went flying out the back window with a almighty crash of glass, and he was gone from sight within seconds.

"Well, that's that problem sorted." Lucy wrenched herself free from Daniel's grip and walked away, with Roman and Neo following her.

Daniel was staring out the window that Gale had just fallen out of, and Luna walked over to his side.

"Why did you look so… shocked that she did that? I mean, Gale was a associate of Magnus, and I'm sure your aware of how she feels about him. And why did you pull her away?"

Daniel wasn't really listening, too caught up in his own thoughts. Without saying anything, he turned around and walked away. Luna followed after him.

Criminals and Mentors

Welp, out goes Gale. I shall refuse to comment on whether he is truly dead or not, although it would be extremely difficult to survive going out a window. But then again, this is fanfiction, anything can really happen.

Oh, and in other news, Alan is a faunus. Give yourself a pat on the back if you theorised that.

Thanks for reading and have a good day!