A.N. (8/19/20) - Another chapter, if slightly shorter than usual! Also, make sure to read the author's note at the bottom since I have some kinda important news.
Chapter 18 - Unforeseen Outcome
-10 Months Before the Fall of Beacon-
"How do I look?" Rin asked her invisible Servant.
"You look like not Rin," she replied through their bond. Although phrased awkwardly, that was exactly what Rin was going for.
Rin had mixed a modicum of makeup, illusion magecraft, and a few other tricks to disguise herself to look like someone else. Wearing a wig cap to keep her tied hair in, she had a black wig covering her head to change it's length to a boy's cut. Her clothes changed from her usual red top and black bottoms to a full black suit with a red tie just like what Junior's men wore. Her clothes were filled with various padding, changing her svelte bodyline to a more muscular build fitting that of a male. Her shoes had changed to a bland black color that had shoe pads that increased her height by around three inches. Black gloves covered her hands, with one hiding her Command Seals on her right hand.
Yes, Rin had completed the transformation spell known as crossdressing.
Admittingly, she could've just created an illusion using magecraft. But this was more fun this way. If anyone else asks, her excuse is that she didn't want to enter a potentially hostile situation without peak od reserves.
"Still, somehow your appearance seems... familiar."
The unkempt short black hair. The blue eyes. Ana had no idea why this appearance invoked such strange feelings, but Rin had a funny feeling why. Rin hadn't just randomly dressed as some random male.
For her appearance was based on the character Ritsuka Fujimaru himself. Not that Ana was aware of who that was.
"Okay, let's do this." Placing the bowler hat and glasses on to complete the full uniform, she started to walk down the ramp of the Bullhead.
Rin got off the Bullhead and made her way to the club, Ana trailing behind her in her Astral Form. As far as she knew, there was no possible means for anyone to detect a Servant in their Astral Form, save for some esoteric magical mean unique to Remnant that Rin wouldn't be aware of.
And while it was enjoyable acting like a male again, there was work to be done.
She tried calling Roman for a while now but didn't receive a reply. Same for when she tried Neo, Junior, the Malchietes, a couple of other guys that worked for Junior, and even Mrs. Hale who lived across the street from the club didn't pick up her home phone.
Now it is important to note that Beacon is not within the city limits of Vale, but rather on the outskirts in the middle of the Emerald Forest. Thus, when the Bullhead landed in Vale, it landed closest to the commercial district of Vale. Junior's Club was located in the industrial district, but it bordered the commercial district. Even taking public transportation, it took about ten minutes for Rin to reach the road leading to the club. With the time it took for the Bullhead to get here as well as the time Rin took to prepare, it was almost half an hour since Roman had called her.
So it was an annoyed and slightly pissed Rin that found herself looking at the blockade preventing her from entering the street leading to Junior's Club.
A man was leaning against a wall nearby and noticed her. Now normally, Rin wasn't a racist. But she couldn't help but notice the fact that the man was a Faunus. Nor did she miss the large dagger strapped to his belt.
"Sorry, this road is blocked up for today." The man waved his hands to tell Rin off. "You'll have to come back another day."
"Can't you let me pass," Rin asked in an annoyed tone, slightly changing the tone to sound like a guy. "I have to get to work. I'm already late as it is."
"Sorry, man. We're doing some construction work right now."
The unexpected sounds of bullets rang in the air, coming from the street being blocked off.
"...very engaging construction work."
"Uh-huh." Rin gave him a very unimpressed look. Okay, so very likely that this was a White Fang plainclothes guard. And looks like there's already trouble going on past here. Great.
"Look, I work with Roman and Junior. We both know what's going on on the other side of this blockade." Not really, since Rin's kinda out of the loop at the moment. "Just let me pass so I can meet up with them."
"Tough luck Human," the man sneered as he said that. "The White Fang's working out a deal with your bosses right now. I don't think they'd mind if they miss another one of their lackeys."
Rin sighed and started to crack her knuckles. "Suit yourself."
The school of Yang did teach her a thing or two on dealing with grunts.
Twenty-two seconds later, Rin tossed an unconscious body into a nearby dumpster and forced her way through. Ana kept watching for any other White Fang guards while Rin finally came upon the building in question.
For some reason, several White Fang grunts littered the area near the entrance. All of them were unconscious and lying around with a few bruises and injuries that matched those who just had their Aura depleted.
"Huh, did they start fighting already?"
Judging by the sound of gunfire a while ago, it must have been a pretty quick fight. There were signs of a large bladed weapon being used based on the damage to the surroundings. Strange, since that kind of damage didn't really seem like any of Junior's men could've caused this.
The door suddenly opened and a large group of White Fang members poured out of it. All of them suddenly stopped as they caught sight of the scene before them. Rin was suddenly aware of what this must've looked like. Her, disguised as a mafioso, amidst a bunch of unconscious White Fang grunts.
"The humans betrayed us!"
"He took out the guards!"
Suddenly drawing their weapons, all of them started to point their guns at Rin, who was panicking at the sudden situation.
"W-Wait, stop!" Rin cried out. "T-This wasn't me! I only knocked out one of you guys."
In hindsight, that was probably the worst thing to say in this situation. Rin made a mental note never to subscribe to the school of Yang again.
"Kill him!"
As they were about to attack, another group of men started to pour out of the entrance. This time, they were some of Junior's men. The White Fang grunts moved and were now pointing their weapons their way instead.
"Look! His friends are here. Kill them too!"
"What the heck is going on!"
Ignoring the mafioso who asked that, the White Fang opened fire on Junior's men who all started to panic and take cover behind whatever they could. Immediately after finding cover, a couple of Junior's men pulled out their own guns and started firing back. Suddenly the entire street turned into a battlefield of bullets with both sides trying to move around each other.
Rin took the opportunity to enter the building while the others were distracted. A few bullets scraped past her, but luckily she reinforced her uniform to protect her from the worst of it.
"Die! Human scum."
"Eat shit, Faunus trash!"
Rin sweatdropped as she heard the ensuing fight behind her. While she was curious why the White Fang guards were taken out, she had more important things to do.
}-{
The sound of gunfire grew quieter as she made her way into the bar. It made sense since Rin knew that there was at least some level of soundproofing in the walls for when the music got too loud. But not to the extent that the inhabitants couldn't hear the sounds of fighting outside, so it was possible that everyone inside the building knew that trouble was brewing.
Rin opened another door and saw a large group of people gathered around in the middle of the room. It was a bit hard to see through the men lingering at the perimeter, so Rin moved closer.
A few people gave her a glance or two, but for the most part, they ignored her. Everyone was brandishing weapons at each other and were getting ready for a fight. Walking through a gap, she finally saw Roman sitting down with Junior and Neo standing nearby. Junior had his weapon ready to deploy while Neo was playfully tapping her parasol on the ground next to her.
Finally, she looked to who Roman was talking to. Sucking in her breath, she saw the woman herself.
Cinder Fall. The proof that Vale was in danger, and the agent of the Queen of Grimm herself.
"—ving this meeting to another time." Cinder got up from her seat as Rin caught those last few words. Quickly looking to Roman, she made a few frantic signs to draw his attention.
Roman looked to her and didn't notice at first until Rin raised her glasses. His eyes widened slightly but calmed down quickly as his face sported a smirk.
"Yeah, sounds rough." He gave her a quick wink before turning his attention to Cinder. "But I have a better idea."
'Hurry up! Do your thing.' Was the unspoken message he sent her.
Erasing the noise of her body moving with a simple spell, Rin started to slowly walk behind where Cinder was. Another mental interference spell made it hard for the White Fang guards around her to notice her. Not quite useful in battle, but for simple minds, it worked enough as a perception filter to hide her presence from them.
"So this is something to do with you, Torchwick." Uh oh, gotta make this quick. Cinder's arms began to glow. "Then I believe that we have nothing else to speak of."
Alright, I'm directly behind her now. Once I make my move, the spell will wear off and everyone will notice me. So I gotta make this one attack count.
I can't use anything that can tie me back to my identity. Roman knows to keep quiet, but if the White Fang or even Cinder get a hint at who I really am. Well, Tukson still isn't quite safe yet after all.
So her options were limited. She couldn't use her Jewel Magecraft. A sword won't do her good at the moment. But there is one option she has.
Rin kept her cards close to her chest. Throughout her years at Signal, she rarely showed others the true might of her abilities. At most, she's showed off her Reinforcement and her affinity with Dust casting. Except for that one time she threatened Tukson a few years ago, she's never shown anyone her Gandr spell.
The Gandr spell is actually a curse that affects the target's physical health, causing paralysis or vomiting. The simple version is known as a Gandr Shot. A Gandr with excess Magical Energy concentrated into it becomes capable of causing physical damage and is called a Finn Shot. Normally, Rin's Finn Shot was only as strong as a good bullet. But there were ways to go around that.
"Ana, don't do anything yet. But stand by in case things go wrong."
"Alright," as she said that, Ana summoned her scythe to her side. Knowing that Ana would help her in case Rin messed up, she began to concentrate.
Rin slowly raised her hand and discretely pointed it towards Cinder's back. The glove in her hand started to slightly glow since it also acted as a simple Amplifier Mystic Code to increase the power of her spells. Her arm slowly started to glow as her Magic Crest began to stabilize and improve her spell. Focusing the energy and condensing it into a single powerful strike, Rin estimated that the spell's output would equal to a high C or low B Rank attack.
A black and red orb of energy formed in front of her hand and Roman saw it. Smirking, he spoke to Cinder. "Why not? There are tons of things we can talk about. After all, I do make for a wonderful distraction." Before Cinder could react, Rin fired the spell point blank straight into Cinder's back.
The effects were immediate.
Cinder's body flew in the air and the woman's Aura was almost completely disrupted. Roman and the men behind him quickly moved out of the way as Cinder's body flew past them. As Cinder's body landed, the woman tried to get up only to begin to vomit all over the floor uncontrollably.
For a moment, Rin was shocked. That's it? Was that all it took? Only one spell?
Then Rin thought about it. No one on Remnant except for Ozpin and Salem had any knowledge on Magic. So no one would know how to resist the effects of Prana in their body. Without any Magic Resistance, and the fact that Rin not only took the time to prepare her attack but was also boosted by the fact that there were so few magic-users drawing their powers from the Root.
Also, it might have to do with the fact that Amber's still alive, making it clear that Cinder wasn't a half-maiden. Who knows?
Quickly, Rin vaulted over Roman's seat to the shock of everyone else and ran towards Cinder who was still trying to recover from the attack. The sounds of people shouting and moving didn't distract her as Rin honed in on her target.
"W-Wha?" Grabbing Cinder's head and kneeling down to her height, Rin immediately stared into Cinder's eyes and started to utilize hypnosis on her. Cinder's mind began to resist, but Rin slowly blew past her mental barriers and slowly started to subjugate her mind. Once she got far enough, Rin immediately commanded Cinder to SLEEP.
Sighing, she got up from her kneeling position and looked around her. Junior's men were pretty competent because while Rin was taking control of Cinder's mind, Roman and everyone else had managed to either take out the White Fang or chased them out of the club.
"We won." Holy cow, it's still a bit unbelievable how much of a success this was. Even Ana was a bit shocked at how easy this was. Rin was honestly expecting to have to reveal Ana's identity if needed to fight against Cinder and her goons. Actually, now that she thought about it, where are Emerald and Mercury? Or for that matter, where's Adam?
With the White Fang and Cinder together, there's no way she hasn't met Adam yet. Why would he lend her men to meet with a human criminal? Actually, how did they even team up in the first place? In the show, Cinder forced him to work with her after demonstrating her half-Maiden powers. But Amber's still alive, Ozpin confirmed that. Even if her location is currently unknown to Rin, it's not possible for Cinder to have killed her in the past week and afterwords form a partnership with the White Fang.
Ugh, this is making her head hurt.
"Wow, didn't expect that?" Roman came to stand next to her. "You know she killed a couple of our guys earlier today? The damn bitch gutted them like fish before she made us have this meeting with her. That's kinda why we didn't want to try anything yet. But damn," he whistled. "Guess she wasn't so scary after all."
"I'm shocked myself," Rin honestly replied. "Did she come with anyone else? Other than the White Fang of course."
"Nope. Just her and the morons. Thought she was supposed to have an entourage or something."
"Same. Guess we're just lucky." Really lucky.
Roman laughed at that. "Right, lucky. Can't wait for the other shoe to drop. Nice look by the way. But what's with the outfit though?"
"I'm not exactly eager for the White Fang to know my identity."
"Huh?" After Rin gave him a look, he finally got it. "Oh, yeah. Your old man, huh? Gotcha. But wow, it sure does work on you. Even changed your voice. If you hid amongst Junior's men, I probably wouldn't have spotted you out from amongst them."
Rin smirked. "Now you're just flattering me."
"Too obvious?" Rin gave a quick laugh at that. "So what now?"
"I guess we clean up. I'll get rid of her discreetly, make sure she doesn't cause any more trouble." Maybe she could keep her in some kind of prison? Ozpin wasn't using his underground vault after all.
"Gotcha. Do you want me to—"
And of course, that was when someone snuck up from behind them to attack them.
So I have a bit of important news that needs to be said. School is starting soon and that means I'll have less time to write compared to the greatness that is summer break. Thus, it is to my regret that I have to inform you that there may be a change in my posting schedule soon.
I'm not sure when, but eventually, I'll have to switch back to a bi-weekly posting schedule. I'm not a writer that can keep up this kind of pace without losing focus on my academic career. So yeah, just a fair warning now.
But back to the chapter. I'm sure some of you are wondering where Emerald, Mercury, and Adam are. Well, let's just say they're busy with another mission. One more inclined with the White Fang's wishes instead of just Cinder's. Honestly, I had more written out for this chapter, but I realized that the part I cut off made a better opening than an ending. So sorry, but you'll have to wait a few days for it to come out.
Now, who is this mystery assailant? Is it someone from the White Fang? Emerald or Mercury? Another one of Salem's agents? Or maybe even Neo on an ice cream diet rebelling against Roman. I don't know why I'm ending the chapter like a cartoon episode, but find out the next chapter in... Magus of Dust.