Cid Abellio eyed his fellow patrons cautiously. His contact wasn't the only one looking for him. Then again, he had enough friends to get him out of tight situations. All he needed to worry about was business.
He looked over to the door, finding one of the bar's employees gesturing his way to a brown-haired man and a blonde woman, who immediately started approaching. Cid was about to make a run for the nearest door when he realized the woman was the contact he was expecting. He examined their equipment, assessing whether they'd be well equipped for the job he was planning to hire them for. Both of them were armed with pistols, and the man had a rifle slung over his back. Perhaps they weren't what he was looking for, as he was expecting more grandiose weaponry from what he could only assume were rogue Huntsmen.
What was most intriguing to Cid, however, was their attire. The woman had clothing typical enough for a Huntress: gray leggings, a brown holster on her right thigh, and a green jacket covering what seemed to be yellow-orange armor that could be seen where the sleeves ended. The man, on the other hand, wore armor that could only have been standard-issue armor worn by Atlas soldiers painted green. Cid knew immediately that these individuals would be trouble.
The pair finally reached the table where Cid sat waiting. The woman motioned towards the other chair, as if asking if she may sit down. Cid nodded, prompting her to pull it out and take a seat.
"Pleasure to make your acquaintance," Cid said, flashing the woman a smile, "I'm sure we can find a job for someone of your talents, Ms…."
"Saffron," the woman answered.
"Saffron," Cid repeated, realizing his situation, "Is that your first name or your last name?"
"First. Unless you're giving me and my friend a long term job, I think it's best we know as little about each other as possible."
"Of course. I understand the value of being discreet," Cid said, "Speaking of which, I would advise your friend to avoid wearing that armor while the Atlas military has set up shop here in Mistral. Might cause some sort of misunderstanding."
"I'll worry about my people," Saffron replied, "The only people you need to worry about is yourself, and whoever you need dealt with."
"So you do understand the situation. I admire that in a woman, Ms. Tractus."
"Excuse me?"
"Saffron Tractus. Born here in Mistral, graduated from Atlas Academy, and, unless you've deserted within the last 24 hours, is currently serving with the Atlas military force currently occupying this city."
"Dammit," she hissed under her breath before recomposing herself, "I suppose you understand why we're here, then."
"I do, and you would do well to be a tad more careful with choosing the location of your poor attempt at apprehending me." As Cid spoke, a handful of his men leapt into action, drawing their weapons and holding the two Huntsmen at gunpoint. Saffron's partner, who Cid knew to be one John Steele, drew his rifle and pointed it at one of the henchmen, but there were too many to survive a firefight with. "The Nebula Syndicate isn't foolish enough to leave a high-value target such as myself unguarded," Cid added.
"Certainly has a high opinion of himself," Saffron whispered back to John, holding her hand against her mouth in an intentionally poor attempt to hide her comment.
"Probably connected to the size of his belly," John remarked, nodding to Cid's gut.
"If I were you, I would lower your weapons and surrender while you still can," Cid snarled, irritated by the comment.
Saffron noted a pair of cat ears on one of Cid's henchmen, as well as a few others with other animal traits. "You certainly seem to have a preference for Faunus bodyguards, Mr. Abellio," she said, fighting to remain calm, given the circumstances.
"What can I say?" he replied, "Their enhanced senses make them hard to escape."
"Ten, two, seven, and nine," John whispered towards Saffron. Cid began searching for the relevance of the clock positions, since they all had henchmen standing there, but there were more henchmen than positions. He glanced around the room one more time before putting it together: the positions John stated all had the Faunus henchmen standing at them.
"I couldn't agree more," Saffron said with a smirk.
"OPEN FIRE!" Cid roared as the room was plunged into the dark. Gunshots and arrows made of Hard-Light Dust lit up the room as he bolted for the nearest exit. Among the gunshots, several crackling noises were heard as he reached the door. He didn't intend to find out why, throwing the door open and fleeing into the streets.
"Abellio's making a run for it!" he heard Steele shout into his Scroll, "He's getting away!"
Cid felt something strike his back, knocking him onto the ground. He looked behind him to see a young man with blonde hair and wolf ears on one of the rooftops carrying what vaguely resembled a bow. Sure enough, a hard-light arrow was lodged in the stone pavement. Cid's Aura was still active from the firefight and was able to deflect it. The Faunus grabbed the Scroll from his belt with his left hand and held it up to his face.
"Not yet, he's not" he said before returning it to his side. He dropped down into the alley and advanced towards his target. Cid grabbed the sidearm in his holster and fired at the Huntsman, but his bow became a shield and deflected the shots without breaking his stride. Cid tried to get to his feet, but his weight kept him lying on the ground as the Huntsman drew near. A sword appeared in the Faunus' left hand and he charged at Cid, jumping up into the air as he prepared to deliver the knockout strike.
Cid flinched at the sound of a shotgun firing next to his ear. The Faunus Huntsman flew backwards and his Aura flickered as he slammed against a box and went still. Cid looked over his shoulder to see a muscular man with black hair and a double-barrelled shotgun in each hand, the left of which had smoke coming from one of it's barrels. The shotgun in his left hand possessed a underbarrel chainsaw, while the one in his right had a pincer-shaped attachment, which Cid couldn't determine the use of.
"Get up," the man growled, grabbing Cid by the shoulder and lifting the large man onto his feet.
"I knew it!" Cid said, "I knew Shiva would send someone to protect me!"
"Shut up and run," the man barked as he holstered the shotgun in his right hand and held out a map. Cid leaned in to get a closer look, noticing that the map had a part of it marked with an X. "Meet me at this location." the man ordered, "I'll handle the Huntsmen."
"Don't have to tell me twice," Cid said, snatching the paper as Tractus and Steele darted out of the bar.
"Check on Lux!" John said, nodding to the Faunus sprawled on the ground, "I'll handle this guy!" Cid ducked as Steele fired off a burst from his rifle before sprinting off into the night, an impressive feat considering his size. As he looked over his shoulder, the left shotgun's undermounted chainsaw came buzzing to life as his mysterious savior charged to meet the Atlas team.
Cid stumbled, panting, inside the warehouse the man had marked on the map. He had checked four, no, five times to be sure that he wasn't being followed, not trusting the man, impressive as he was, to handle three Huntsmen at once. But it would seem that he had done his part, whether he got away or not. Even if he had been arrested, Shiva certainly wouldn't let someone with that skill rot away in jail.
The slam of a door caused him to jump, almost falling over. He turned to see the man who had come to his rescue locking the door behind him. He turned his gaze over to Cid, his glare almost causing Cid to abandon all forms of decency and wet himself on the spot. The man turned to lock the door before approaching Cid.
"Were you followed?" the man asked.
"N-no."
"Good. Even then, we don't have much time. You have hideouts outside of Mistal, correct? Where are they?"
"Why don't you know where? Shiva sent you to protect me, didn't he?"
"He didn't give me a list of locations. All I needed to know is where your sorry ass was. We can't stay here, so I need their locations. Now."
"Alright, fine." Cid retrieved his Scroll from his pocket, swiping through files until he found the folder he was looking for. "Here, transfer this information to yours and let's get out of here."
The man took Cid's scroll and moved over to a terminal. He plugged in both devices and began the download. After a few seconds, he removed the Scrolls and tossed Cid's back to him. Then he drew his shotguns and pointed them directly at the large man.
"Wait, wh-what are you doing?" Cid stammered.
"Placing you under arrest," the man replied.
A groan drew Cid's attention to a shadowy corner of the empty warehouse. "That was a nice shot, Blaze," the Faunus Huntsman from before said as he stepped out of the shadows, clutching his side where he had hit the ground.
"B-but he shot you!" Cid blubbered, reaching for his pistol only to find it had vanished.
"We wouldn't have been able to get into your scroll's files without a passcode," Steele said, fading into existence in front of Cid as he began disassembling the criminal's pistol, "But if we tricked you into surrendering every file you had willingly…"
Cid turned to the only option he had left, turning and running for the door. Before he could reach it, though, the ground at his feet froze solid, encasing his feet and holding him in place. The sound of a transforming weapon prompted him to turn his head to see Saffron brushing frost off of her pistol before returning it to her holster.
"Now, let's get you to the authorities," Steele said as he grabbed a pair of handcuffs from his belt, "You're not going to run, are you?" Cid glanced back at the man that they referred to as Blaze, then rapidly shook his head. "Good," John said as he gestured for the others to gather around, "Now, let's get you out of that ice."
Hey, guys! Look who's back! Sorry it took so long. I had a mixture of distraction, work, and writer's block keeping me from having something ready. But now I'm back, and I hope to have new chapters up more frequently. I've had a lot of fun coming up with these characters, especially their Semblances and weapons. Admittedly, it's part of the reason it took so long. It all started when my brother and I began to think up RWBY versions of our favorite video game characters, and it just snowballed from there. I hope everyone enjoys it! Stay tuned!
