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Neo and I waltzed up on Aurum. I had my pipe clenched between my front teeth and was taking a pull on it long enough to make my head spin. Damn, it felt good. Silence, apart from the soul rending music. True peace with the bugs behind my face.
Cobalt and Obsidian were there and they were armed. Obsidian had a hatchet, red and black, and Cobalt had a machine gun. I could only guess who they were for. They didn't really concern me. I was a tough cookie and Neo was no slouch.
"Well you busted my boys out. I owe you for that," Aurum told me. "Join me. Have a seat."
I did, carefully maneuvering the harness of tools on my back. Neo plopped down beside me, kicking one leg up over the other. I watched Cobalt's eyes watch her legs and snorted a little. Maybe he hadn't seen any action in a while.
I took another long take on my pipe and made sure to blow it away from Neo out of a sense of politeness and professional courtesy.
"You got my information?" I half asked, half demanded. "I want to know about that facility."
"Easy champ. Relax. Have a drink." He poured one out for us. Neo obliged him but I was already cruising. The ceiling and walls were doing a decent rate in my head. It felt awesome but I didn't need to add to that in case things went sideways.
I tapped my pipe out on an ashtray. "You better not fuck around with me. I'll rip your party pad apart to find what I want and I'll hand you over to Neo. She'll chew into you."
"Don't be like that. I was just going to offer you more work. You did a good job and you're quite the badass from what I'm told." Obsidian shuffled, a touch nervously. Perhaps remembering coasting by guide wires thousands of feet above the ground as I flew him and his pal around. Or maybe he was remembering the way I ripped the roof off his prisoner transport. "I have no intention of pissing you off. I just wanted you to know that there was more I could offer you."
"Like what?"
"Money, for one."
"Not interested," I disagreed quickly. I had millions in digital currency and a few dozen grand in cash.
"Maybe so." He went with it easily. "How about information on the General. I can put you in contact with a group that will let you know what he's really up to. I don't have the details myself."
I reclined. He had my attention. I packed another bowl from my grinder.
"Let's hear about the Schnee and her facility first. Then we can talk about the General."
"Very well. She visits the Sinovial Bunker everyday. It's near the academy. All she does is visit this old lady the whole place is built around. Your guess is as good as mine as to why. I have a few eyes inside but they're not allowed close to the woman. The only person she's allowed to see is the Schnee, which death might be preferable to."
I nodded. It was the summer or winter maiden. It had to be. That made Winter the next maiden if the General's plan went well. Something to keep an eye on. I could set my trap for Cinder around the place.
"Or maybe your guess as to why is better than mine."
"Maybe." I took a toke, keeping the place spinning at an appropriate rate. Not too fast, not too slow. Indica tended to wear off fast.
"Well don't share everything all at once now." He laughed and poured himself another drink.
"I had no intention of doing so. You'd be the one owing me after that."
"So are you ready to talk about the General?" He asked.
"And a few other people. What have you heard about a man named Merlot?" I asked. He frowned and shook his head. "How about Tyrian Callows? Or Hazel Rainart? Or Cinder Fall?"
"The first one rings a bell. He's in Atlas if nothing else. A scorpion faunus, yes?"
I nodded. "He's incredibly dangerous. I have a bit of a vendetta against him. He tried to kill me once."
"He tried to kill you."
"I wasn't always such a badass."
"Well if he comes up, I'll leave him to you, shall I?"
"That would be best. He might kill you and torture you for fun. He's a bit of a psycho."
"Well I'm willing to pass on information about all four. In exchange for a favor."
"What do you need me to do?" That's what I was. I was a doer. I got things done for people now.
"A rival gang is moving in on my territory. I need you to stomp them out. It shouldn't be a problem for somebody of your talents."
"You need them dead or just hurt?" I asked.
"Either or. I need them out of my way."
"Tell me more about them."
"They're called the Blue-Hats. You heard of them?"
I shook my head and exhaled smoke. It was quickly lost to the energy of The Den.
"They've got this big hang-out in Cerebri-Plaza. I'll show you." He pulled out his scroll and flicked open a map of Atlas. "They're fucking annoying."
"What do they do?"
"Run drugs mostly. Occasionally they do killings and beatings but mostly drugs. They're my main competition when it comes to hyper."
I nodded along. "And you want me to bust their skulls. Burn their supply, maybe."
"I like where your head's at. I'd rather you steal it for my boys but if you can't do that then go for it and burn it. Sure, why not?" He swallowed some of his drink. "My own boys haven't been able to crack at them, not since they were in prison. But now we have you. And I'd rather things didn't devolve into shooting in the streets. Try and keep it indoors. You get this done for me. And I'll find out about those four. All you want to know. Plus the General's secret project. What do you say?"
I chewed on my pipe and looked at his projected map of Atlas. "Send me their location information."
"What? You going to do it now?"
"I've got nothing better to do. I'll be back before the night is over. Keep my seat warm." If it was just this then it would be easy. Too easy. I sometimes forget what life was like for non-hunters. Considering how long I'd been a hunter.
I'd been at it for nearly my whole life. Practically my whole life. It's just that I was only three years old or so. I've been out of the tank that long, I guess. I was maybe four depending on how you wanted to cut your definition of life, which I realize was a discussion most people didn't have to have with themselves.
That's how long I'd been grown in that incubator to adulthood. Then I'd immediately gone to Beacon, had my aura unlocked, and started fighting.
It was a matter of relativity, I suppose. I'd been at it for arguably longer than Ruby or Yang had been. If it was a matter of ratios rather than time, that is.
"Well you do work fast," Aurum said in his tacky suit.
I stood up and Neo bounced on her heels behind me. "Yep." I told her. "We're off to smash some heads in. Get excited."
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It was a three story building and I took my time scoping it out. I'd had to pocket my pipe once I got outside of The Den. I was sure I had an earthly cologne, besides.
It was getting to midnight and sure enough a bunch of boys in blue hats came in and out of the building. The closest thing to gang uniforms that really existed besides the Malachites' gear.
It had nice glass windows and music and lights radiated from the inside. It sounded like as much of a party was going on inside as was taking place at The Den. It was too bad Neo and I were going to pop this joint.
I pulled a few red dust crystals and squeezed them until they shattered like I practiced. Then I waved a hand and blew out the windows on the top floor with fire. Screaming poured from the inside. I had told Aurum I was going to burn it and he made it clear he didn't care enough for me to not.
I palmed a yellow crystal and crushed it in my hand. I waved a hand and lightning struck the upper floor and shook the building.
I was going to shake and batter the place with my magic first. Then I was going to strike with Neo beside me. She had her umbrella leaning against one shoulder and was standing next to me, watching me cast my bolt against the building.
The building was all silver greys like much of the Atlas skyline. And it had been built to code with enough distance between it and the nearby buildings that the fire now burning inside wouldn't spread. It was an isolated target.
I activated my semblance. I felt the power flood over and throughout me. I focused my will, my very essence on holding onto the power as long as I could. I glowed blue and hummed with energy.
I reached over my shoulder and drew the bronze and white longsword with the foot and a half long red handle. I spun it in one hand with ease, leaving my shield on my back. The broadsword would only be hampered in doors and I was fast enough that the shield wasn't necessary for these sorts of goons.
I walked up to the burning building and kicked the front door down and in. People came running out screaming and I let them. It was those staying behind to save the product from the burning building I would need to deal with.
A kid with a blue hat turned a pistol sideways at me and shot with atrocious aim. He had red hair and dark eyes. Another blakc haired kid added submachine gun fire to the mix and I rushed forward, hovering inches above the ground.
I slashed Mr. Gangsta to the ground. He fell screaming. Then I cut the submachine gun into pieces and reached my free hand out and grabbed the man still holding the butt of the weapon. I threw him behind me into a wall hard enough to crack it. Both him and the wall, that is.
There were people trying to save boxes from the upstairs fire. Boxes which I could smell were full of greens and it made my mouth water a touch. Unfortunately I couldn't have any of that and I raced at them and sliced the boxes out of their hands.
A knife came up at me which I blocked with my free hand and turned with incredible strength against its user, a brown haired kid with blue eyes. It sank into his stomach and he fell gasping to the stairs. Slumping to the side. Red smeared across his hair and face.
I snatched a pistol out of one of their hands and shattered it by squeezing it. I kicked him down but left him alone otherwise so he could carry the others to safety.
The last man had aura. It was blue and crackling.
I kicked him with both legs and he fell to the side. I bashed him with the pomel of Crocea Mors. I claimed the stairway to find Neo already fighting on the second floor. There were nearly fifteen Blue-Hats up here. I readied my sword and slashed the barrel of a rifle in two and throw the man behind it to the ground. I kicked him in the chin afterwards.
I slashed at another in the gut and he went down holding his chest and letting the blood fly free. I stepped past the dying man and onto the next. I stabbed with the tip of Crocea Mors and met resistance. More aura. I stabbed again and cut once and eventually made my way through it and he fell to the side bleeding.
I came up on a woman in a blue hat and long blonde hair. She was pretty enough with bright blue eyes but I cut her aside anyways with the diagonal edge of Crocea Mors' longsword.
I slammed the hilt of the blade into the skull of another and I pulled out another dust crystal. Yellow. I squeezed it and it turned grey as it broke and the energy came rushing up my arm. I pointed a hand forward and the bolt struck behind where seven of them were forming a foreign line and tossed them about like rag dolls.
Just because I was mostly immune to small arm fire didn't mean I wanted to go up against a firing squad. There were heaps of brown boxes in the corner and I watched the still growing fires consume them.
Neo wrapped her legs around one poor soul's head and flung him back into the flames where he screamed in real pure agony. Getting burned hurts. A lot. Getting burned all over probably hurts a lot more.
I grabbed a blue hat by the collar and picked him up with a casual strength and slammed his head into the ceiling then I tossed him aside. All these guys the fire would probably consume. I went back and stabbed him in the chest. It just seemed more merciful.
I could see plastic packets of hyper, some drown out on tables others still in their boxes. I palmed another fire crystal and let the fire burst forth from it. I was using dust raw. In its most destructive form. I'd heard of sewing it into clothes as Cinder did, I'd also heard of consuming it into the body to be used as a bit of an amplifier. This was either of those. This was the caveman's version of using dust. It was simple and raw.
I was strangely good at it. I consumed a crystal and cast my sword at a group of boxes and let the fires wash forth from the blade. I wasn't even sure I'd be able to hold onto the power very long. Better to use it before it hurt me and let it out.
I was still holding onto my semblance and I glided forward and front kicked a blue hat out of a window. He tumbled through the glass violently and fell the two stories.
The building was starting to cave in on us. Beams from the third floor where I'd sent my first blast were descending onto the second. And I'd set this floor ablaze a plenty.
"Neo! Let's bug out. Jobs done." I told her. The place was falling apart. I slashed at the wall and bounded out into the street and landed in a single massive leap.
I sheathed my sword and brushed ash from my dark clothes. I slapped at my cape where the lamp hung by my side. We made this look easy too. It would have been much harder if I'd been respecting the sanctity of life but who had the time and the power to do that. It would take a near god to go around sparing life in the sort of combat I was in. I could kill, that was abundantly clear.
But how could I minimize the loss of life in a burning building I was attacking? I couldn't stop time or manipulate space. My semblance just made me stronger and faster. And I wasn't sure that Neo would have been on board if I was trying to avoid death all the time. I wasn't sure I could keep her on my side if that was the case.
I released my semblance. Letting my power evaporate into nothing. I'd held onto it for a long time in there. I was sure that with enough practice I'd be able to hold onto the power indefinitely. I might even be able to combine different dust types with it and do all sorts of nasty things one day. For now all I was capable of was raw destruction with dust. I might be able to eat it one day with enough practice. And I had the money for dust and I was in the dust capital of the world.
I'd make time to practice magic. People like Aurum would give me all the targets I could ask for and one life was as inconsequential to me as another. I'd have my share of practice to use the power against.
But when I ran into Tyrian again I wanted to be ready to squash him like the bug he was. And when I fought Cinder again I wanted to have all the tools I could possibly have at my disposal. That meant practicing dust eating. That meant practicing using its raw form and perhaps using it with my weapon to bring out the greatest effect like Raven had done.
In a moment she had turned the tide enough in that fight to escape from me. When I had her dead to rights she'd used dust to leverage enough of an advantage, just enough, to win. I couldn't remain ignorant about dust any longer. I had to learn how to use it for magic.
For now that meant these little things against people like the Blue-Hats. But one day it would mean taking dust to that next level against monsters like Cinder. With enough dust, I could overcome the power of a maiden. I had literally no excuse to stop improving and stop getting better. So in the weeks Neo and I had traveled I practiced.
Yuma had been right to say I was loaded with the stuff. Now I could do minor destruction magic with it. It wasn't enough. It may never be enough but I had to use every resource available to me if I wanted to defeat Cinder. She was two maidens now. I wasn't sure there had ever been such a thing in all of history but she was now.
She also knew how to use dust and glass and gods only knew what her semblance was. She was dangerous. Probably more dangerous than me and more dangerous than ever. I need the edge dust could bring if I ever wanted to defeat her. That was why I brought Neo on board.
I needed to seize every edge.
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-WG
