Episode 3 – Cold Throne
"It is the responsibility of a parent to tend to their children, and when they grow old, it is the responsibility of the children to tend to them. This is the foundation of the company and I do not mean this as some… empty sentiment."
"As there was once a time we were taken by greed, and we abused our fellows as if they were lesser. For their ears, for their tails, for their status, for their birth. For their wealth, for their modesty, for their piety, for their love. Judged, all of it, because they were not like us. We did not have such sympathy."
"That must no longer be true. We must be kinder than we were. Tolerant. Patient. Open."
"Look to those who lead you and look to those you lead. Like parents you must master that sympathy, and like children you must foster it."
"For when a parent abuses a child, they must be cast out. Made publicly unfit to never again sire children, to never again lead. For when we are old, we must be worthy of the love of our children. So when I die, and I leave a legacy behind, it must be one I leave with pride. And I pray you do the same."
"For in the end, we are all but ash. So be scattered with reverence."
~The late matriarch Willow Schnee on her reforms in the SDC after her bloodless coup to take the company from her father with the aid of her now widowed husband, Jacques █████. This quote is memorialized on what is now known as Sire's Rally.
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A relieved sigh passed through his lips. The weight of Jaune's sheath – a hefty backplate that stretched to his shoulders – was an artifact of a different time, back when huntsmen thought armor could compliment their training. It was no longer true. At least, not as true as it had once been. Huntsmen nowadays were agile, dexterous, even the heavy ones. Armor only served as utility with minimal weight.
Though he normally would have lamented not bringing Crocea Mors into his new job as a personal bodyguard, his replacement – an extendable electric rod with a cross-guard – was a welcome sight.
"I could get used to this," he said as he swung the lightweight piece of polymer and steel. "Sure it's got the one dust setting but you can't go wrong with a lightning core."
"I know what you mean," Yang agreed as she spun her twin tonfas. Electricity crackled along their surface. "Too bad dust cores are so heavy. Renewable dust could be a huntress's dream otherwise."
There was a tap on the door but she already let herself in. May Marigold, their boss for the foreseeable future, walked into the locker room with her eyes closed. "You two decent?"
Yang snorted. "We look good with or without clothes on."
"Xiao Long…"
"I'm kidding! Lighten up a little. We're all friends here."
May sighed. "That remains to be seen."
"I mean, it would if you'd opened your eyes."
Tossing caution to the wind, she opened her eyes to get a good look at them. Her brow crinkled. "Why aren't you two dressed?"
Yang tugged on her tank top. "We're not naked."
"I mean your armor," May groaned.
Jaune opened his locker and pulled out a white and gold armguard. "You mean this?" he asked. "I thought these were optional."
May sighed. They were coming to realize that she did that a lot. Not that they minded it much. It seemed she was like this with everyone but Henry. "Look," she said, "I can talk to Henry about making an exception but you're at least putting the plating on by piecemeal. You can customize it down the line but you need to be in uniform."
"Hey, it's okay," Jaune said, placating her. "We can put this all on. We've carried worse." It at least wasn't the furnace that was his sheath. "It's just that we're not used to carrying all that weight. It'll take some getting used to."
"You mean your performance will take a hit?" May asked. She wasn't annoyed. Staring at the ground, it was clear she was weighing the options in her head. It made her look shorter than she already was and thought that was kinda cute to them. "Ok, I've got a tailor – named Tailor, if you can believe it – who can look into fittings with his brother."
"You mean his brother Shop?" Jaune asked. He was happy to know he was well known, even here. "We know him. We knew most of their brothers back when we were kids. They used to live up in Glenn."
"Most?" she asked.
"Keep, their eldest, lived here in Vale," Jaune explained.
"Oh? I've never met him."
Jaune scratched the back of his head. "He's, uh… no longer with us."
"Oh."
Silence.
Yang quickly filled the room with the sound of her locker rustling. "Can I lose the breastplate and the helmet?" she asked.
May eyed her up and down.
Yang felt a little exposed but, then again, she always had a pension for loose clothing.
"Just don't wear that top or those shorts," May said.
"Alright!" Yang cheered as she grabbed the hem of her blouse. "Birthday suit!"
"What!?" May guffawed. Her eyes widened further when Jaune's shirt hit the floor.
May stumbled away and covered her eyes. She opened them again when they started laughing at her. They weren't actually going to do that in front of her. "Ugh," she groaned, "are you two always like this?"
Yang came away from the locker with everything ready. Seemed Yang already owned a black, white, and gold jacket that blended with her armor.
Fully trained huntsmen dressed quicker than May was used to. Yang was only adjusting the full arm plating now.
"We're just lightening the mood," Yang said. "Your decorum doesn't work on us. We're already plenty disciplined and will do what you'll ask. Hell, we'd put on the whole uniform if you just said no. We'd have given you no trouble."
May grimaced. "Maybe I'm used to the decorum."
Yang chuckled. "I don't believe that," she said gently. "I don't know where you got your training but you're all ragtag. Your phalanx back at the siege should have had two lines, not one. Alternating your frontliners would have reserved your energy. But you didn't know to do that."
May's voice took on an edge. "You criticizing me, Xiao Long?"
Yang raised her arms up. Her smile stayed soft, placative. "Nothing like that. You just seemed more like an ambush predator than a turtle. I mean, cloaking us till the Vipers' lieutenants got close so we can get the drop on them in an open battlefield? That's inspired."
May's cheeks turned a touch pink. "Ahem, thank you…" She sighed again. "I guess it's obvious I didn't take any formal training…" Doubt seeped into May's skin when she wrapped her arms around herself. It wasn't clear of what but she swallowed it with practiced ease. "We'll talk more later. As promised. For now, Henry needs you two for his trip into the city."
Jaune lumbered in wearing everything but the helmet. Judging from this white with gold trimmed collar, he likely had the same kind of jacket Yang did.
May nodded approvingly. They more or less distinguished themselves from the rest of the guard. This could work out.
"Not coming with us?" Jaune asked.
"Fringe is my responsibility," May said. "Yours is Henry."
When she was at the door, she turned back to them. "One…one more thing," she said, her voice turning innocent of all things. Vulnerable. "Keep Henry safe. Please," she said. Her cheeks warmed and she couldn't bring herself look them in the eye. "He's very important to me and I'm trusting you two with his safety. I would be there in your stead but he won't let me. So do better than I could, alright?"
"We swear," Jaune answered, brimming with confidence.
Yang slapped him across the back before saying, "We'll even let him outlive us if that's what you want."
May chuckled. "You know what? You two are alright."
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Whitley stomped along a metallic corridor. Guards winged either side of him, matching his pace effortlessly.
"Is father secure?" Whitley asked.
One of the guards nodded. "Windows are on lockdown, door is biometrically sealed, we've guards on doubled patrols, and we've got belugas cloaked and circling up in stratos."
"Good."
They stopped at an immaculate double door. Jacques Schnee was carved into a plaque over the left door. There was the faded shadow of another plaque beside it. It had felt like a lifetime ago when his mother used to roam this office.
Whitley pulled out his holo-pad and quickly shut it. "Glade, Leif, Revere," he called.
"Sir!" those men answered.
"My sister has arrived in the lobby. Take her and her entourage to the office."
Three men pulled away and ran down the corridor.
Whitley waited. Their footsteps echoed in his ear as they fell away, each stomp like a heartbeat as he breathed in and out slowly. "You can do this," he thought. "Pyrrha would have said as much."
When he opened his eyes, the rest of his guards watched him patiently.
Whitley held out a hand to one of them. "Sandman," he commanded.
The guard quickly pulled out a sleeping gas grenade and placed it in his waiting palm. It was an oddly shaped thing. A tube with rubbery, yellow-painted caps on either end.
"Sir?" the guard asked him.
"Get ready," Whitley said.
He turned back to the three guards sprinting away and glared.
Twisting the grenade, the rubber caps bulged as the sleeping gas was primed with a quiet click. White dust particles drifted off his sleeve before he froze the entire grenade in a sphere of ice. Green gas funneled darkly against the translucent surface.
Whitley was a dust mage, a huntsman who siphoned elements from the dust that he weaved into his clothes. He hadn't touched on this talent of his since he and Weiss had to freeze bodies back at the wedding. Pyrrha came to mind, encased in a cold slab that resembled a coffin.
He shook the thought away.
Whitley crouched then swung the grenade to roll along the floor. A trail of ice followed after it, pushing it with speed towards the three guards in the greater distance. It exploded in a violent, sickly green plume. The guards coughed and wheezed as they stumbled out of it before collapsing to the ground. With his holo-pad out again, Whitley activated the ventilation system in the corridor. It quickly funneled the gas away from the three now unconscious guards.
"Ganymede," he said. One of the guards saluted. "You and your squad will lock up those traitors. Get them to tell you everything."
They saluted before running off.
"The rest of you, man the door," he said before pushing into his father's office.
When the doors shut behind him, they froze over. A cool layer of ice grew thicker and thicker until it turned from transparent to a misty translucency.
Above him, Weiss floated down from the ceiling as her hands swung smoothly with her ice dust particles. Layers of yet more frost formed over the door at her behest. She settled onto the ground with practiced ease, hands together, as if her posture was primed for a curt bow.
Whitley had to remind himself that they shared the same training.
"I fathom the traitors are taken care of?" Weiss asked him.
Whitley nodded. "Ganymede and her troop are putting them in isolation. She'll handle the interrogation."
"Perhaps a more practiced hand is in order, hm?" Weiss said. "Roman and Neo would have their information before midnight."
"You put too much faith in them, dear sister."
"I think she doesn't put nearly enough," said a voice from across the room, accent twined with the gravitas of an Atlesian noble. Stood against the window was Jacques Schnee, his silvery hair firm and sparkling against his head and over his lip on the line of his neatly trimmed moustache. "Roman has an excellent track record, my boy," he said against unmoving hair of his lip. "It would be a shame not to use such a valuable resource so easily at hand."
Jacques's desk stood on an elevated platform passed some steps. It was tall enough for him to look down at everyone who sat across from him. Always placing him above all else. It was a rule that he'd never step down from his perch.
The rule didn't apply to family. He stepped down from that platform, those steps, that perch, and stood with his children on equal ground. His arms opened and, despite their age, came close like the family they were.
"It's good to see my children again," Jacques said warmly. "Vale is at a loss for good company." He gave them both a good look. The normally hard lines on the man's face stayed gentle and fatherly. Pride swelled in his cheeks as he chuckled softly to himself. "Now, please, tell me what I've missed from my children's lives."
They both spoke. "Father, we–!"
Weiss touched Whitley's arm. She tapped two fingers against her lips – silencing herself – before she stepped back.
"Father, now is not the time," Whitley said, speaking for both of them. "Your life is threatened. I know you think yourself invincible but clearly someone has made themselves bold enough to sneak traitors into your personal security detail!"
Jacques traced a hand over his desk. The wide and glassy surface collected dust against his gloved fingers. He hadn't even trusted his janitors with his office, opting to clean it himself. He hadn't done any cleaning in a while, Whitley knew. Far too busy running the company.
"Is that how you see me?" Jacques said. "I suppose it is a credit to my farce if it can even fool my own children, but you should see it for the lie that it is." He laughed bitterly, eyes back to the window behind him. It was just a projection of the city behind the mech steel plating. A window invited the world outside to witness him. A steel wall was a coward's shield to that world. To have had both meant a vulnerable man was pretending to be open.
How Whitley had missed it till now was bewildering. "Father…"
"Hush now," Jacques smiled. "I may not have my children's aura but I'm careful. Careful enough to know that my office is secure and what guards of mine that remain are loyal." He sat down on his chair, a tall thing that towered nearly to the ceiling. More a throne than an office chair. "That should mean I have time enough to hear my heirs speak freely," he invited, gesturing to the available seats beneath the short steps. "Regale me. If nothing else, it will calm my nerves." And yours, he meant.
From below, Jacques warm smile didn't frame him like a tyrant at his throne. No, to Weiss and Whitley, it was like a father casting his shadow to protect his family underneath it.
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Politics was hardly the riveting adventure they thought they'd find.
Yang and Jaune stood together behind Henry as they shuffled through a crowd of other businessmen and their own bodyguards in a hotel lobby. Like human flags, it seemed each business tried to stand out in some splash of obscure colors, matching combinations from head to toe with varied patterns.
"It looks like fashion vomit in here," Yang said. "I don't think white and red works in leopard print."
"Really?" Jaune asked. "All I'm catching is that most of these people don't get their armor custom forged. Are they all just buying from the same retailer?"
Henry chucked between them. "I hope they hear you two. Maybe then they'll think this fad is fading and come to their senses."
"This is a fad?" Yang asked.
"Some upstate fashion designer tried to end her own career by splashing random colors on her worst dresses. Made her even more famous, incidentally," Henry said, amused. "Personally, I've opted not to change anything at all, and in this sea of 'color vomit' as you say, we're the ones that stand out."
He was right. They were getting some stares. With Yang and Jaune in gold-white armor (over some comfortable jackets they bought to match last year) and with Henry in a simple red-white suit and a blue tie, they might have stood out on contrast alone. Everyone else was trying to match colors on top of everything else.
"Henry!" called a towering man. He had sideburns and hairy arms that were exposed by – not a suit – but a rolled up, long-sleeved polo. His bodyguards were similarly casual. They looked more like friends.
"Tukson," Henry greeted him. "You're a sight."
"A welcome one, I hope."
"I remember you!" Yang said, looking up at Tukson in awe. He and his guards were confused if a little startled. "You owned that bookstore way back when! Me and Jaune here snuck into the city with a friend of ours to buy at your old shop."
"Oh! A former patron!" Tukson laughed heartily and even his size seemed to shrink. "Didn't think I'd find any more of my old bibliophiles. Most of them ran off when things got dicey around here. Had to start selling digitally. I mean, it worked out in the end," he gestured to the high-class crowd around them, "I'm here at a fancy business summit instead of begging in the streets but I missed the smell of a fresh page."
"Eheh," Yang scratched her cheek. "I actually never bought any of your new stuff. I grabbed used manuals so I can pick up being a mechanic for cheap. I doubled as a freelancer back in Glenn after all that."
Tukson shared a look with his bodyguards. "You lived in Glenn? We go there on vacation! Why'd you come down here of all places?"
Yang paused. A few lies filtered by and tested at her lips, but none of them felt right. Honesty seemed out of place. Besides, you did not normally advertise your vengeance when anyone could be an enemy in waiting.
She tilted her lip. "Same as anyone," she said diplomatically, "to get what I want."
Tukson smiled as broadly his shoulders. "And what, little lady, is that?"
"I don't just give that away for free." She laughed. "Besides, a girl tends to be more interesting when she's got a few secrets."
"Ha!" Tukson cheered with his guards. "I hope Henry actually keeps you around. The gala next week could use a little spirit and a whole lot more subtlety this time." His guards nodded and some passersby even paused and glanced their way.
"Subtlety?" Yang said, turning to Henry. "What are you doing at those things to grab that kind of attention?"
Henry didn't answer. He actually seemed embarrassed.
"If you're his security, you're bound to find out," Tukson laughed. "I'll see you at the podium, Marigold. I'm counting on your vote."
"You'll have it," Henry said to him before crossing his arms at Yang. "You're unnaturally friendly," he said, amused.
"That's actually her default state," Jaune said, laughing.
Henry rubbed the shallow scar on his nose. The light bruise had gone and left that in its place. "I wouldn't have guessed."
They walked together into a function room where table with a single seat was left for Henry. Jaune and Yang stood beside him and scanned the room.
Shifty eyes dotted the summit floor. Some paranoid, some jittery, and others seemed well and truly high on bliss or spacemen – two of the most lucrative drugs on the market – and that made their guards cautious. Seemed it took all kinds to be a successful businessman in Vale.
Somewhere amongst the crowd, Yang spied a peculiar little woman sat alone. The shape of her was familiar but she was dressed in black, head to toe, and she only ever knew Blake to dress that way. Then that woman turned to Yang, smiled snidely and winked.
It was Neo. And though she was a welcome sight, it was strange seeing her alone. She didn't even have any guards with her. She could protect herself, surely, but everyone else had at least two.
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The banking district was where most of the white collars went to work. Jaune had wanted to work here when he started Uni. Even had a preferred spot in Bukman Medical. As a huntsman to boot, he filled a niche only Oobleck largely filled. Hardly any doctors were familiar with operating with aura. It could have been lucrative, a means to walk away from the huntsman life but still help huntsman.
It didn't matter now though.
"Remind me to call Professor Ozpin," Jaune said as they were stood outside on the street. He was behind Henry, his back to the only blindspot.
Yang went around the limo they rented to the automated driver's seat. Henry's personal luxury transport was in the shop getting repairs. Which was a shame cause it was bulletproof.
"Getting another extension?" Yang asked him.
"No," he sighed, "I might drop out."
"What!?" Yang spun around from across the limo. "Is this cause you missed three months? You caught up, didn't you? They sent over the material and everything!"
Jaune hadn't. If he was being honest, he hadn't much cared for it anymore. It was as if his wants had changed overnight. Being a civilian doctor no lingered seemed like the lifelong prospect he dreamed of. It was more like a memory now and was equally tossed into the background. "We can talk about it at home," he said, sighing. "Sorry. Should've kept my mouth shut."
Yang gave him a concerned look. "I'm not giving up on you," she said.
Henry looked at Jaune from over his shoulder. "I didn't know you were working towards an education," he asked conversationally.
Jaune shrugged. "Not everyone in a huntsman family wants to only be huntsman."
"Hm…" Henry intoned, "if only I'd known that sooner. Might not have walked up to you with so many nerves."
Jaune laughed. "You were nervous?"
"A little. I thought you all typical among huntsman families. Lost to the past and never forward thinking. I was… wrong, evidently."
"About huntsmen?"
"No, about you," Henry said, shoulders slumped. "Most anyone born as a huntsman gears their life towards violence. If I loved anyone as surely as your sister does her wife, I wouldn't wish that life upon them."
That gave Jaune pause. Henry might not have known that his sister lost her wife but it felt right saying she loved her in the present tense. Despite their disagreement, Jaune felt he could trust Henry a little more.
Something was blooming red down the road. Jaune tensed. Someone was mad. "Wait, why is the street empty?" he asked, scanning the largely barren road. The banking district even had limited self-driving autocar traffic, which was normally frequent, and even they were gone.
"That is strange…" Henry mused. "We were out of the summit late but that doesn't mean the traffic should have slowed down any."
"Weird," Yang said as she stood up from beside the limo's driver side. "The limo lost contact with the server. We might have to chill here for a while till it reconnects."
The red streak in the distance was getting closer. Jaune made out the shape of a bike with two riders. One of them was looking their way but, more than that, he saw an orange glow over the arm of one of them. That glow wasn't some emotion he was seeing, that was just fire dust.
"Yang!" he cried as he pulled Henry behind him, "Incoming drive-by!"
"Shit!" Yang kicked the hinge off the limo door and it came loose. She tossed it over to Jaune. It spun in the air. "Catch!"
Jaune leapt up, caught the door, and slammed it into concrete. What civilians were still on the street quickly vacated back into the hotel (Jaune briefly considered tossing Henry in with them but couldn't risk it). Grabbing Henry and crouching him under the door's shadow as well as his own, Jaune prepared for impact.
The bike quickly neared and, sure enough, a hail of molten steel shrapnel sang through the air before violently crashing deep into the car door. Were Jaune not bracing it with aura, it would have torn straight through.
The bike zipped by and watched Jaune and Henry as they did so.
Another steel volley.
Jaune ripped the door out of the ground and swung it, batting the shrapnel away.
Just as the bikers were passing by the limo, Yang burst out from the gap of the limo's missing door and slammed her feet into the bike's base. The mighty steel clang of the bike rippled through the air as it crashed into the opposite brick wall. The bikers themselves skid along the floor before it.
"Henry," Jaune said, grabbing the man's shoulder. "Hide in the limo and call us if anything happens." Jaune whipped out his baton, the lightning dust that ran along its length cast a menacing shadow along the side of his face.
Jaune slid over the limo to stand beside Yang.
The bikers slammed their arms into the ground. Fire dust propelled them from the floor to stand upright. Despite their red, bulky race suits and tinted helmets, one was unmistakably a woman, and the other a man. The helmets were sturdy and vintage. Most people – even Yang – had hard-light helmets coded into their jacket collars so this was unusual.
"Judging from the look of you two, I'm guessing Cinder sent you?" Yang asked. They tensed. "Don't need to answer that. But I will give you the chance to just walk away." Not that she wasn't itching for a fight or that they deserved it, but Henry was vulnerable and they didn't have backup. Anything could go wrong here.
"Stuff it!" the woman-biker said. "You lookin' down on me? On us? Nah, you don't get the gen pop anymore. You get the Vipers' best!" She snaps her fingers and large molten steel claws form over her arms.
"You want a repeat of last night? Fine," Jaune snarled. He swung and scraped his baton along the ground, sending sparks in their direction. "Get ready to flatline! The cleaners are gonna have to scrub Viper off the wall!"
They clashed. Fire and lightning scarred the street, flashing under the night sky.
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Yang's opponent was a heavy hitter.
He hadn't used his fire dust to form weapons at all. He'd swung with propelled strikes like his arms were rocket-powered and Yang felt every impact. It was fortunate that she could redirect force but there was a limit to how much she could take at a time.
The male biker showered her with blow after blow – each an explosive ring in her ear mixed with the heady scent of ash. Though she'd made an effort to absorb some of those blows, he didn't give her breathing room. She needed an opening.
Yang blocked an overhead strike and counter struck his jaw.
He staggered back.
Yang swung her tonfa into his gut, pouring her collected force into it. It sent him high into the same brick wall she'd broken his bike on.
Plastered to the wall, he blasted off of it. He soared overhead, encased in flames like a falling comet. Then he crashed, suddenly and violently as wind and a wave of heat poured forward like a tidal wave.
Her arms went up to shield her head. The heat casted over her, but the force she absorbed bloomed over the rest of her body. The pain in her veins held before they pooled in her chest then down to her feet. Holding all that force made her legs stiff, almost paralyzed. She hoped her stance was steady enough not to show her trembling.
The biker came again, fist raised.
He hadn't expected Yang to dash backwards. She shot back into the limo and came out crashing through with the now unhinged passenger door. She grabbed the door before she hit the wall. She pushed off the wall with her feet, leaping off of it, and threw the door spinning at him.
It caught his arm. "Ah!" he cried as he was thrown off balance.
Yang leapt back into the limo but before she could emerge from the other end, there was a blast from outside and the limo was thrown spinning into the air. Her world spun with it.
Henry was strapped into his seat in a panic, already bleeding from the side of his ear.
Yang grabbed onto the ceiling and her legs pushed down onto the floor. She felt the hard surface of the limo and willed her body to absorb all of its momentum.
The limo landed onto the sidewalk almost without a sound. Its suspension squeaked but it hardly bounced.
The sound of Henry's labored breath filled the interior. Yang could only focus on it as she listened in. He was largely unharmed but now she had all this force and it was crippling. Her entire body screamed for release but she snarled and wouldn't let it out without using it on the same bastard who put her in this position.
A hand reached in to grab her by the collar. She was thrown out with small blast to her chin and sent skidding along the street. Yang coughed the soot out of her lungs.
The pain coiled her into a ball. She had to release the force and get back into the fight, but she couldn't let it go. Her semblance was debilitating, more than all the biker's attacks so far, but she couldn't waste it.
Rough hands grabbed her by the hair and arched her back.
"Shame," said the biker, "you were a lot weaker than I thought you'd be. Already writhing in pain?" He raised a fist. "You huntsman families are a joke."
His fist pistoned back and forth, a jet of flame pushing into and away from her. The impact and the heat sent her mind reeling in uncontrollable disarray as her dizzied gaze saw nothing but fire. There was a ringing in her ear. Her body felt numb. Aura held but she felt it slipping.
Instinct took over. One hand grabbed the biker by the collar, the other clenched a fist over her tonfa. She jerked him toward her. Before he knew what was going on, she'd struck him in the helmet with all her pent up force.
He was thrown back into a different car with enough speed to crack a normal person's neck. His helmet fell away, having been completely split in half. Shocks were sent wave after wave over his forehead. It was bleeding. Reaching up to grab the wound, he found the shattered end of Yang's electrically charged tonfa embedded into his forehead.
He ripped it out with a growl.
Yang unfurled and rolled her shoulders. She held up her tonfa, eying the broken edge of it that was still sparking. "You can keep that one," she said with a grin, "consider it a parting gift."
He refused to fall, stood in defiance even as Yang slowly recovered. Her aura bloomed over her body, and all her aches ebbed away in increments.
His teeth grit. Reaching into his pockets, he pulled out two air-powered injectors. Gene mods. He struck them both into the sides of his neck. Air sucked in his skin before the gene mod flooded its contents into his system.
The smell of medical alcohol dispersed from his skin – Yang's nose twitched from it.
"No pain, no fatigue," he breathed as he stood straighter. His spiky black hair shot up and his eyes went manic. "You can't keep up with me." His growing grin revealed fangs quickly jutting from his canines.
He was turning into a beast.
"What kind of mod does that?" Yang thought.
He roared as fire dust wove onto his body like thick, infernal fur. He roared again and a jet of flame shot in Yang's direction.
She hopped back and away. She gripped her tonfas tightly. "Alright, an on-fire werewolf. Great. Perfect." Fuck Vale.
The biker roared again. He swiped with none of the speed he had but twice the force as it struck Yang's raised arm that nearly buckled on impact. The heat was so intense that it was turning the steel of her armor a bright red. She struck his jaw again but her hand burnt uncomfortably. It even hurts to hit him?!
Yang ducked and weaved but she couldn't keep this up. Her recovery was outpaced and he'd win on attrition alone with the way her body was begging her to stop.
A shot rang in the air. It the struck the wolf-biker in the back of the head.
Yang capitalized on it, slapping her tonfas together and uppercutting with a surge of combined lightning dust.
He flew up and over the car Yang had thrown him at earlier.
Henry leaned out of the limo window with a revolver in his hands.
"Nice shot," Yang said.
"Compliments later!" Henry shouted. "He's still not dead."
As if on cue, the wolf-biker leapt onto Yang. His weight sent her crashing to the ground. Her already thinned aura shattered on impact.
Henry's shots struck his back but he ignored them. The flames over his body grew hotter and hotter, actively reddening Yang's skin. She screamed.
There was a crackle in the distance, like a lightning strike with the hefty boom of thunder.
The wolf-biker turned to the source of the sound.
Jaune tackled him.
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He'd heard Yang scream. Something in Jaune's mind snapped at the sound, but he didn't dare look. He already had an opponent and turning his back to her would have only given Yang two instead of one to deal with.
All sounds were muted for him as the bursting red of anger from the biker before him came full tilt with her molten steel claws at the ready. Her right arm was exposed and covered in bruises, spindles of lightning dust scarring her flesh.
His own heartbeat thrummed in his ear. Echoing loudly, pulsing from his chest to ripple across his body.
Grabbing his baton, he twisted parts of it that he wasn't supposed to. The cross-guard fell away, the hilt and tip came loose. He knew that the weapon, unwound as it was, would shatter on impact. So he raised his baton to the claws that came screeching down, the sound of burning steel sang through the air as they collided with his weapon.
He stepped into the blow, letting the biker glance by him as he stepped passed her, missing him entirely. His weapon came undone in his hands, her blow had shattered the steel and polymer frame. All that was left was the lightning dust core, a small steel ball with lightning dust sheathed in its interior.
His fist clenched around it, lightning sparked along his arm and further scarred the already loosened armor.
The biker came back around with another lunge.
Jaune crushed the dust core his hand. Lightning exploded off his arm, over his body, surging around them like a grounded a storm.
A bolt of lightning bounced off his shoulder then struck the biker in her cheek. Before she could scream, he'd struck her square in the chest.
Thunder slammed into the air with the boom of megawatt payload.
They both flew off in opposite directions.
Jaune skid along the floor as he landed. Pain struck against his spine but he grit his teeth and rolled back with the momentum.
He pivoted quickly and found the other biker – somehow on fire – pinning Yang against the road. Henry was desperately firing shots at his back but they hardly deterred him.
Jaune sprinted into the biker and tackled him off of her. They slammed into the ground but Jaune wouldn't give him breathing room. Hoisting him up, Jaune felt his hands catch fire as they were buried in burning fur. Jaune threw him into a brick wall.
Yang ran into the burning biker and caught him by the waist before he could recover. She slammed him into the wall again, stunning him.
Jaune threw his forearms up and closed them over the wrists and neck of the biker. He snarled and roared but their pressure kept him pinned.
Henry even fired a few more shots at the biker's head to keep him from reorienting.
Jaune knew they had finish him off before he got a foothold again. So, he clenched his fists and the cybernetics under his armor rattled against the steel trapping them.
More growling, snapping from fanged teeth. The beast was tireless.
Yang sucked in a breath beneath him, using her semblance somehow. She squeezed his ribs. With the sound of painful crack, his aura broke.
Jaune ducked as his hard-light shield finally tore through the bindings in his armor and slammed through the brick wall.
A bloodied head rolled down the shield. Two severed hands fell to the side.
Jaune and Yang pulled away and the body fell with the rest of it in a meaty splat on the sidewalk.
»»⋅.⋅««
Yang breathed slowly. He was finally dead. They weren't kidding about sending their best. Cinder had only been so relatively trivial because she was surrounded on all sides by an ambush. She dreaded to think how differently that fight might have gone if they were all on even footing.
"No!" the last biker shouted in the distance. "No…" She lifted her helmet's visor. Yellow eyes quaked as she stared at them and the body at their feet. Her lip quivered. Choked. "Heith? Heith, baby, no…" Hissed. Snarled. Her eyes narrowed angrily. "You…You motherless bast–Ah!"
She was shot in face and stumbled back.
Henry was out of the limo and kept firing, punctuating each shot. "Shut. The Fuck. Up!"
The biker ripped off her helmet. Fire dust coalesced around it. "Eat it, upstate!" she shouted as she threw the helmet at him.
Jaune ran to Henry's aid and threw up his shields. Both melded together into a larger one. The impact surged over them.
The biker ran.
Yang went after her.
"What are you doing!?" Henry shouted.
"Sending a message!"
She nodded at Jaune who nodded back. He stayed back with Henry. She had to deal with this herself.
Barreling into an alley, the biker up ahead leapt into the air with a burst of ejected flame that swirled at her feet. She landed on a fire escape and leapt again toward an opposing roof.
Yang's feet gathered force, landing silently as she did so. Pain lanced up her legs as she held them there before dispersing them in a titanic leap towards the rooftops. A gust of booming wind followed after her.
The biker, unaware, was caught mid-leap between buildings. Wind was knocked out of her as Yang crashed into her gut, stole her momentum with her semblance, then threw her back into the ground below.
Yang landed on her feet beside the biker who got up to swing a molten claw at her. Yang ducked then threw a haymaker, slamming her into the wall. Yang grabbed her by the collar and pinned her there.
In a panic, the biker threw frantic blows that exploded over Yang's body but they did little more than singe her jacket or leave scuff marks across her armor.
Yang's semblance pooled all that force from her skin and sank them deep into her core. The force pulsated like a second, violent heart. It traveled up from her neck, constricting her like she was choking, before it traveled over her forehead.
Yang shook from all the pain her semblance bloomed over her head like spindly pinpricks that stung at her temples. Her snarl held fast though, enduring on sheer spite alone.
"You think this changes anything!?" the biker screamed. "We'll rain down on you fuckers till you drown!" The look in her eyes was manic but fearful. It looked familiar.
Yang remembered the desperate look on Amlan's face. The bastard who helped take her family. The dead man who might walk back into her life like Watts did and finish the job. There was no room for mercy here. "Jaune was right," she thought. "You all deserve it," she said, an air of unnatural calm to her that unsettled the biker long enough to give her pause.
It seemed a fitting face to make in her last moments. Bewilderment. Confusion. Just like a sudden, violent death.
Yang shut her eyes and slammed her head forward. She hardly felt the biker's own head make contact with her own, but she felt the blowback from the wind and the weight in her fingers as the body went limp.
She dropped the corpse and stepped back. A streak of blood ran down the wall into the mess below. Somewhere in that was a white orb that was probably an eye.
Focusing on it made it more real, made her reconcile with it. Her thoughts were swirling at the sight. She'd killed before. A few bandits in the past on jobs with her parents, even countless cryptids who were always a gory mess in every aftermath, but those were to protect people. She was asked to do it by defenseless people.
Last night she'd split a truck in half, likely killing its driver, but that was at a distance. And the corpses that scattered the courtyard were cleanly killed, turret fire through the head, or Whitley's spear sheering throats. But here, now¸ she'd killed out of spite with her hands.
Up close and personal because she didn't want to take any chances. They don't just get to walk away.
Her stomach lurched. She swallowed the bile.
A ping from her scroll. She fished it out, stared at the name. "Yang?" Jaune said through its speaker when she answered. "You alright?"
Her entire body felt like it was ready to collapse under the weight of her own bones and every vein pulsed from all the pressure she put on them. "I'll live," she said wearily.
"Let me heal you when you get back."
"Yeah. Please?"
»»⋅.⋅««
When she emerged from the alley, sirens blared through the air. "Why are they only out now?"
Jaune and Henry were huddled by the mostly ruined limo smelling char. They were laughing.
"What's going on?" she asked.
Jaune pointed a thumb at the driver's seat. "Servers are back up. We can drive home!" Then the tires deflated and the boys laughed again. "What a day…"
Yang slumped beside them. Jaune craned over her. Their auras shimmered. Her body relaxed as a steady warmth slowly buried her aches.
"Not as good as Dad's but it'll do, right?" Jaune asked her.
"Your dad cheated," she laughed. "His semblance did all the work. And with you studying medicine, maybe you two should have traded semblances."
Jaune smirked up at her, he'd griped about the irony of it before. "There's medical value in empathy," he said, perhaps more to himself. "Seeing how people feel could have been invaluable. Never need to ask where something hurts either."
"Oh? And where do I hurt?"
"All over," he said slowly. "I recommend bed rest and a bubble bath."
"Run it for me?"
"Only if you want to smell mint."
"Pick a different scent every once in a while," she said, crossing her arms. "Lavender or something."
"But I like mint."
"And I like strawberry but even I have to switch things up sometimes."
The sound of a truck honked loudly down the road. It looked familiar, like the ones the Vipers drove. Potential trouble.
They got to their feet, unsteady and uncertain about another fight even if it was just canon fodder. But then the truck careened into a wall. Steel scraped against the concrete as the smoking engine threw smog into the air.
There were screams and a lot of cursing somewhere behind the truck.
Yang steadied forward; her aches dulled but not fully gone yet. Still, her fists clenched at the ready.
Someone was thrown high into the air passed the billowing smoke. A row of blades, long and black and arrayed like a set of jagged ribs, swung into the victim. Their two pieces fell away.
Jaune and Yang shared a look. Those blades looked familiar.
A robotic wolf ran by and stopped to look at them. Its teal eyes shimmered as it blinked and tilted its head. It ran up to them, sat, then opened its mouth. A speaker crackled in its throat. "Glad you three are safe," came a woman's voice, chipper and sweet. "My kids will be with you shortly. We're just clearing out a Viper signal blocker. District's not getting any help with that around."
"That explains the limo stalling," Jaune said. The wolf ran off. "Wait! What kids? Who are you?"
Someone clambered onto the toppled truck. It was one of the Ghost Vipers, manic and fearful, and covered in dust bombs. "Don't come any closer!" he screamed behind him, "I'll fuck us both up if you get close!"
A black android emerged from the smog above him. It swung its leg that extended like a whip. It struck him in the head. He barely managed to yelp before the android fell on his head and stomped on his skull. The viper was either dead or unconscious.
Another android, built slimmer than the other, hopped onto the truck.
"Not very quick on the draw, are they," said the first android, his voice maintained a familiar yet sarcastic quality to it. "Would you like to do the honors?" he asked, gesturing to the viper at his feet.
"Oh, what a gentleman!" said the other sweetly. Her voice was also familiar. "It'd be a pleasure!" She grabbed onto the body and her arms stretched then unwound into steel ribbons. The bladed teeth they saw earlier peeked along the length of them. The steel flexed before she tossed the body high into the night sky.
The dust bombs exploded in an elemental shower.
Yang felt no fear as she ran up to the truck. "Merc? Em?" she asked, hopeful.
The face plates on the androids pulled away into the back of their heads. Mismatched eyes stared back at them. One a misty grey with glowing green, the other with a vibrant red and a bright pink.
"Oh, hey!" Emerald greeted as she sat at the truck's edge, her pink and red eyes glowing warmly with a welcome smile. "Mom said you two would be around here."
»»⋅.⋅««
Yang followed Emerald into the dining room of Ren and Nora's restaurant.
"So, you have to tell me what you two have been up to," Emerald said.
Yang couldn't contain herself. Not even enough to answer. Giddiness bubbled up her chest till it was overwhelming and pushing up her cheeks. So, she grabbed Emerald in a tight hug and spun them around. She sighed warmly. "I'm so happy to see you! Ha ha ha!"
Emerald, still held in her arms, hugged her head in turn. "Aw, I can't believe I've missed you as much as I have without trying to see you either." Emerald's metal cheeks warmed. The red was visible. Seemed her body was programmed to react as humanly as possible. "If you're like this with me, I'd pay to see how you squeeze Blake and Sun."
Yang sighed as she put her down and they hugged evenly. "They're lucky their spines are made of metal," she said.
Outside, Yang spotted the boys hugging, too – they stayed outside to grill dinner. "Oh! Look!" she called. "Guess our boys are still as soft on the inside as ever." Which was a relief for her. She didn't know how to feel about Jaune going hardline all the time now, even if it was helpful in a fight.
Emerald frowned.
"Em?" Yang asked.
"Sorry," Emerald laughed sheepishly. "When Dad saved us, my body got some imbalances in the transfer." She stepped away. "I can get irrationally jealous now."
"Where'd that come from?" Yang asked. "You were never like that before."
"I know." She shrugged. "Uncle Oobleck says it might be all the chemicals keeping what's left of my body alive. He's still looking into it."
Yang didn't like to see her old friend frowning like that. "C'mon, sit. I'm assuming you still like coffee?" She started coffeemaker, the bubbling accompanied the fresh earthy sent of ground beans.
"Still got taste buds," Emerald said. "This chassis is just meant to experience things though. My real body's still at home getting nutrient paste." She mock gagged.
Yang paused. "Oh, are you all safe there?"
Emerald waved a hand. "You worry too much. This district is in more danger than my house is. Oh, speaking of which, gimme a minute." Emerald sat still for a moment. The light in her eyes vanished.
Outside, Jaune panicked. Seemed Mercury was similarly on standby and Jaune was saving his half of the meat from burning.
Emerald's eyes lit up again once the coffee was slid between them.
"What was that about?" Yang asked.
"Genee and An tuckered themselves out back at home. Had to put them to bed and shut the lights."
Yang smiled at that. The kind of smile that didn't go down very easily. Genee Sustrai was Emerald and Mercury's daughter who they had before their bodies were burnt by Cinder. In spite of everything, the happy little bundle was clearly still at the center of the couple's lives. And it warmed the heart to know that Genee got to grow up with Ren and Nora's own daughter.
"So, the eyes are new." Yang said conversationally.
"Oh, these?" Emerald pointed at her eyes that rapidly changed color when she repeatedly blinked. They laughed. It was trick Neo used to pull when they were teenagers. Then Emerald's eyes settled back to red and pink. "Ha ha, they were Mom's idea but Merc thought it'd be cool that we borrow some colors from our folks! So, I've got pink for Mom, and Merc's got green for Dad."
"It's still gonna take some time for me to get used to anyone calling Roman and Neo that…" Yang mused.
They were a comforting sight. Despite what Cinder did to them, the fact that they were here as spry as they'd always been was something Yang didn't know she needed. There's always a chance to come out the other end even stronger than before.
She clung to that hope. Perhaps they all did.
Yang spared a glance at the boys outside. Grilling was how they bonded years back and it was nice seeing them going at it again. Still, the smell of freshly sizzled meat almost made Yang want to join them. She wasn't like Jaune in the kitchen but she could grill with the best of them.
Emerald gave her a knowing look. "It's been too long," Emerald mused, her metallic cheeks pulling into a smile. "Normally I'd let you go out there but I'm not letting you leave me in here. I miss you both. Merc does too, even though he'd never admit it." Because some things never changed.
"We should have planned more visits," Yang admitted. Her hands knit together in shame. "I… I have a lot of reason to hate this city and I've avoided it and everything in it. It's made me forget that I've still got people here."
Emerald sat closer and took her hand on the table. Even if it was cold, it was still hers. "Hey, no, it's not your fault. Vale took so much from you. It's a wonder that you've come here at all!" Emerald sat back, hands retreating into her chest. "I wish we'd have met again under better circumstances. This city? That wedding? Match made in hell." Emerald shook her head. "Should've taken you to ClifFace Hotel and sat it in the hot springs. Went on a trip to the old preserve and went diving in Crystal Lake. And gods know I still need a dress for that wedding that has to happen, am I right?"
Yang nodded and sipped her coffee. "Do you even want that anymore, Em?" she asked. "You're already legally married. The ceremony is nice and all but you've got a kid now and with Cinder still out there…" Yang shut her eyes, dreading the idea of a repeat in the making.
Emerald swirled her coffee gently in her hand. She'd been through a lot but she was always a wishy-washy type. For a time she even thought Cinder was the mother she always needed until Roman and Neo saved her and showed her what real love was. And that Mercury had been giving it to her all along. Maybe risking any of that again was foolish.
"Maybe you're right," Emerald said sadly.
Yang took her hand. "No, nevermind. Forget what I said. This world doesn't have enough of the nice and simple things anymore. When this all clears, lets walk you down the aisle and marry your husband again."
"But!"
"No, buts, missy. You gotta get your happy ending."
Emerald laughed, and it rumbled in her chest. Truer in her voice even under layers of molded steel than most people under their own skin. "Okay, Xiao Long. You win. I'm not calling anything off. But how about you? Gotten back with golden boy yet?"
Yang rolled her eyes. Normally she'd have been a little frustrated, but not with Emerald. "You and everyone else tryin' to set me up with my ex again, huh?"
"C'mon, you two were cute. Dope even got your name on a tattoo."
"Sure," Yang said. She was actually blushing this time. It was probably from all her physical trauma in the past twenty-four hours. Probably. "I shouldn't have told you that story."
The door behind them shook. It led to the service hallway where Ren and Nora sent platters through to serve all the simulated living rooms. One of them was probably having trouble with the door.
"Ooh, a change of topic!" Yang cheered. "Perfect." She welcomed it. Maybe either Ren and Nora could steer the conversation away for her sake. It was a little funny that they were officially Mercury and Emerald's aunt and uncle since Roman was Nora's brother. The reveal back in high school was still a pleasant memory. One of the many she held happily.
But then Roman stumbled through the door. The room stilled.
"Hey, honey," Roman greeted Emerald sheepishly.
Emerald got up slowly, stunned at the sight of him. "D-Dad?"
The sliding glass door opened in a thud. Mercury stepped in. "…Dad?"
Yang traded a look with Jaune who came in. Something was wrong here and they knew it.
Roman stepped steadily into the room, switching gazes between his kids. His hand twitched, wanting to reach out to them. He looked so vulnerable.
That was so unlike him.
A growl at the glass door. One of the robotic wolves with teal eyes stepped snarling into the room, eying Roman.
Yang stood in front of Emerald, protecting her from Roman. Jaune did the same with Mercury who looked just as hesitant as his wife.
Roman stepped back carefully as more wolves poured into the room.
One of the wolves opened their mouth. "Kids, that's an imposter," a woman's voice said. "Roman just ran out of the room. He's on the way."
"Don't believe her! That isn't your mother!" Roman cried frantically. "That's just a synthesized voice through a speaker! We were hacked, alright?"
Emerald and Mercury panicked, mumbling to themselves.
"A breach?" Jaune asked, eyes hard. "Hm, that sounds pretty urgent."
"The real Roman would have led with that, actually," Yang said, face twisted in a snarl. "He doesn't tiptoe. He bursts into the room, business first." She turned back to Emerald. "Doesn't he?" she more told than asked.
Emerald's gaze narrowed too but she kept it at the floor. "Dad never makes a show of being weak," she said. "He keeps a brave face to protect us."
Mercury stepped passed Jaune. "Dad's no coward," Mercury said, spite latched onto his tone. "Marcus Black was. Not Roman Torchwick."
Emerald's hand spring out and grabbed the imposter by the collar and threw him at Mercury who roundhouse kicked his head off.
Synthetic liquid sputtered out of the stump, oozing a sickly blue onto the body as it fell and stained the floor.
The wolves tackled and licked Mercury and Emerald. "Mommy's so proud of you two!" said the voice.
Jaune stood next to Yang. "That's Neo, isn't it?" he asked.
"Nice of you to notice!" Neo replied. "Roman had this cooked up for me! I'm still expecting you to learn sign, though." The wolf winked.
Jaune and Yang scratched the back of their heads nervously.
"Ha! Ha! Ha-HA!" came a glitchy laugh. It was coming from the floor.
The severed head of the Roman imposter rolled against the glass door and stopped. His jaw jittered as his face twitched. Then he stared back at them.
"FEARFUL," it said. "STILL THE SAME SNIVELLING LITTLE CHILDREN THAT CRAWLED INTO MY LAP! AND YOU THINK YOU CAN HIDE HERE, AWAY FROM ME!?"
It was Cinder. Even in Roman's voice – bastardizing it – it had to be her underneath all that bile.
"NO ONE WALKS AWAY FROM THE VIPERS! I WILL BURY YOU IN THE–" A foot stomped the head flat in an electric crunch.
"Ick," Roman blanched as he shook away the synthetic liquid off his dress shoe. "Why does innovation always have to be so messy?"
They stared at him.
"What?" he asked. "No one's allowed to talk shit about my kids." He smiled warmly and – for a moment – it seemed that they might reconcile right there and then. But then he frowned and looked away. Fist clenched, tightened over his cane.
He glanced up at Emerald and Mercury. His children, forced to walk the world in synthetic bodies because he couldn't protect them from Cinder. From the Vipers. From the life of crime Vale threw them into. Shame weighed in his chest, tugging him down till his ribs strained and his scowl deepened. Defiance defined him. He did not show weakness but the fury he buried it under.
Emerald and Mercury clearly wanted to approach him – they flinched when he looked up at them – but he wasn't ready. Still wasn't. "I should go," he said, but he smiled for them anyway. "I'm glad you're all safe."
Then he left the room.
Emerald and Mercury held hands tightly as the wolves filtered out the room. Jaune and Yang closed around them both.
»»⋅.⋅««
It was quiet in their room. Jaune and Yang hadn't even gotten a good look at it yet. They'd only really familiarized with the beds they were lying in. They hadn't even seen their bathroom! They'd only showered in the locker room so far.
Their bag was still unpacked, sat open in the center of the room with clothes hanging out of it. Yang's father would have scolded her for leaving a mess unattended for so long.
Her father…
Yang fished out her necklace that was tucked into her bosom. It was a wonder it wasn't damaged in the fight but memory chips were built to be resilient and…
Gods, why was she so concerned with something that wasn't human?
Unlike Emerald and Mercury who were still alive, her dad was most certainly dead. Memory chips didn't have aura, after all. That meant there was no soul there. Right?
"Yang?" Jaune's voice cut through the dark. Yang was in bed by the window with the only light in the room. Jaune was on the opposite end, completely in the dark.
She glanced back into the inky blackness. Something shuffled out of it and, sure enough, Jaune stepped into the light with her.
Yang turned away. "It's nothing," she said.
He sat on her bed. "You know I can tell that's not true."
She didn't answer. Didn't need to.
Jaune scooped her up by the torso. He slid against her pillow and laid her on his lap.
He glowed, his aura warmly mingling with hers.
"Jaune…"
"Shh… it's okay," he whispered gently. "I didn't take any hits nearly as bad as you did. Let me take care of you. You did well out there. Better than you should have."
Yang snuggled up against his stomach. Her body felt numb but in a good way. Comfort tingled across her skin.
She yawned. What torments there might have been had fallen away. "Mmm… Thanks."
"Good night, Yang," he whispered in her ear, gently tickling it.
Another voice whispered in his.
G͡ o ͡O ̵D̀ ͜ ̕N I̕ ̧g҉h̷t,͘ s ̷o ͢N
Before anyone asks, Roman only officially adopted Mercury. Emerald married Mercury and made them officially a family after that (cause that was the plan) but they both already had the father figure dynamic with him. This'll get properly explored later but I wanted to nip this one in the bud for now because of the following reason:
Story is on hiatus next week till May 9. Lancaster Week is coming up and I've got an idea for a 7-part story I wanna challenge myself to do. It'll finish by the time May starts and that's when I'll start working on this story again.
And I know Kaleidoscope Heart still has faults. I'm still editing the previous chapters to make sure they're cleaner and read better. But it's ultimately the story I've always wanted to write. KH might turn out to be a passion project that stays niche, but to anyone here reading it, thanks for your time. : ) It's worthwhile, at least, when I know people are giving it a shot.