Chapter 44 - Raven
"Raven, the witness of mankind's destruction... Raven, black symbol of death in the sky..."
"What do you mean you're not doing anything?" Weiss hissed, scowling as she crossed her arms. "A boy was murdered an hour ago and you're not even going to report it to the police?"
Nex rolled his eyes under the mask. Fat chance the police would actually get off their asses and help some faunus in the slums.
Adam chuckled. "If only that were possible." He clicked his tongue. "The police would sooner arrest us than help us. No. We're alone in this matter, and I ask that you be patient while our officers discuss this string of attacks."
"That's-"
"Fione," Nex said, nudging her hip.
He grinned at the others in the chamber. Some officers and henchmen probably, along with the watchman who returned his grin.
"Let's just go home." Nex squeezed her hand. "I'm sure we all need some sleep."
"Fine," Weiss said. She scoffed and practically dragged him up the maze leading to the surface. "I can't believe no one is doing anything."
Nex hummed. Pitter-patter - the tapping of water dripping down his arm. There had to be some reason why no one was particularly in a hurry to do anything. But it was neither here nor there. Weiss was right. Someone had to do something before every faunus kid in the slums got their entrails ripped out.
"Who says no one's doing anything?" Nex said, smirking. "I think B wants to help, and I'm sure we can give R a quick call."
"Are you sure?" Weiss asked. "About involving more people, I mean."
"I happen to have carte blanche on this mission, so yeah," Nex said. He shrugged. Ironwood never really mentioned anything about it either. "Besides, there is that saying about using every avenue at your disposal."
Weiss smiled at him, looping her arms around his neck and resting her head on his shoulder. Vanilla flitted through his nose. His footsteps dragged on the sewage, her weight pulling him down.
"You know, a few nights ago, I never thought you'd ever let me in on anything." Weiss giggled. "What is it about men and trying so hard to be macho?"
Nex grinned. He cupped her cheek, his palm gliding like silk over her skin. Her warmth seeped into his hand, staving off the chill. "What can I possibly say? I like to maintain my aura of mystery."
"I don't think your aura of mystery survived last night," Weiss said, blowing on his earlobe. "Unless you're hiding more skeletons in that closet of yours."
He shivered, placing his foot on the first step up the winding stairway.
"I..." Nex sucked in a lungful of the bitter air. "Yes. I'll be honest. There's some... stuff I'm not ready to tell anyone yet."
More like some stuff he could not tell her yet, seeing as he still had some things to do as the Artificer. But maybe when it was all done. When the business with Roman's virus was over and Cinder's cloak and dagger conspiracy was dealt with. Then he could bury his skeletons six feet in the dirt. It would not have been fair for both of them otherwise.
"You know that's not fair, Nex," Weiss whispered, pecking the corner of his lips. "But I guess I can wait. Don't keep me waiting forever though."
"Don't worry," Nex said, his eyes narrowing under his mask. "I don't think you have to wait very long."
The watchman wrenched the door open, his face twisted into a scowl. "The commander say anything?"
Nex shrugged, moonlight flitting through the slits of his mask. "Nope. Just want us to wait."
"Damn it!" the watchman punched the wall of the hovel, the door creaking in the wind. "Two kids are dead and we're still not doing anything?!"
"I feel you, man," Nex said as they climbed into the surface, the cool breeze blowing at his hood. "I feel you."
When they arrived at the hotel, Blake was already standing outside their room. She crossed her arms over her yukata, her knee hugging the door frame and the tip of her foot tapping the carpet.
"So?" Blake said. "Did Taurus bother to do anything?"
"Nope," Nex said, swiping his scroll over the terminal. They slipped into their room, the ghost-ninja included. "That's the thing, right? He should be doing something."
After all, actions spoke louder than words ever could - more than the supposed planning the higher-ups of the White Fang were doing. Plus, there was that connection between Cinder and Adam that Ilia let slip-
Wait.
"What if, and hear me out," Nex said.
He slipped off his jacket, tossing it on the couch. His semblance cackled at the back of his skull as it connected the dots - and they had always been there.
"Adam not doing anything, the murders supposedly by the Resolutionists, the White Fang's new goals for the future, the rampant dust thefts and the collaboration with Torchwick - they all point to one thing."
"And what's that?" Weiss asked, plopping down on the edge of their bed.
"War," Nex said, breathing a sigh. "The White Fang's gearing up for a second Faunus Rights Revolution. But this time, they're not playing for keeps."
Two pairs of eyes blinked, darting towards him.
"What?" Blake hissed, leaning against the wall. "That's not just another one of your crazy theories, right? Like Ruby having the ability to time travel?"
"Maybe we should hear our team leader out," Weiss said, shooting the ghost-ninja a glance.
Nex raised one finger. "First. The dust. According to Ironwood's confidential data, they've stolen enough to equip a big-ass army."
"And depriving our own in the process," Weiss mumbled.
"Yep. That, and I'm pretty sure a metric fuckton of dust can blow up the walls of Vale," Nex said, frowning. "Which, in turn, would definitely be an open invitation to a metric fuckton of Grimm."
More since Vale and Mountain Glenn were neighbors, just one dust bomb away from each other.
"The White Fang wouldn't do that," Blake said, her lips pursed into a thin line. "Faunus live in Vale, too."
"I don't think Adam gives a fuck," Nex said. He chuckled, cracking his neck side-to-side. "Also, he's probably letting a cult of humans kill faunus kids in Vale, so their families have an excuse to hate the humans even more, and then take up arms for the White Fang's stupid revolution."
It was... ingenious, admittedly. Like something he could have been doing had he been the brains behind the White Fang's operations. Letting a human cult wet their knives on a bunch of faunus children - children that would not be of much use when it came to open war.
No.
The psycho bull probably thought their families' rage was worth their lives. It was definitely something Adam Taurus could do, judging by his files. Maybe it was what Ilia meant when she said the psycho bull was involved with something more. And if it was, then the Resolutionists - if it even was the Resolutionists - were also working with Cinder Fall.
"Damn it," Blake said, her hands clenching into fists. Like the time she and his girlfriend argued about the White Fang. "What happened to the White Fang?"
"That's... evil," Weiss said, glaring at the far wall. The signature Mt. Weiss glare, even. "We can't let them get away with this."
"We're not. Open war between faunus, human, and Grimm isn't very good for anyone's health," Nex replied. He nodded, snatching his scroll from his pocket. "I think I've figured out where the dust is really going. Now, I just need to use my semblance, give the good general a call, and..."
"Here," Blake said, chucking a flash drive at him. "The data I promised you. From an old friend inside the White Fang."
Nex smirked, rolling the length of metal between his fingers. "Now that's more like it." He shoved the flash drive into his scroll, his personal antivirus marking it as safe. "Time for some little Artificer-magic."
Nex pulled up the documents, his screen flashing. Every little bit of data he had. From Ironwood's down to Blake's. He closed his eyes and dumped a metric fuckton of aura into his semblance. The spiderweb formed in his mind, cables linking like wires crawling with electricity. His limbs tingled, his aura manifesting its true purpose.
Pareidolia. His semblance. What made Nexus Shade who he really was. The essence of his very being. His very soul. To see the world in abstract possibilities instead of concrete actualities. Eyes that did not see so much as intuit.
And then, in a spark of the midnight sky, he just knew.
But still. One question remained.
What the hell did Cinder Fall have to gain from everything?
Unless...
Unless she wanted to raze a kingdom to the ground.
But that one was probably overthinking it.
"We'll need time to mobilize the military," Ironwood said, sipping on his coffee. Again. "The information you've delivered on the White Fang and Torchwick is beyond what we expected from you, and it will save hundreds of lives."
Nex shrugged, smirking as his date lifted the croissant to her lips. "I do my best work from shadows."
He told Ironwood everything of course - except for his less-than-reputable involvement.
"Indeed," Ironwood said with a short chuckle. "In the meantime, we've assigned some of our... off-brand ACD projects to you. At your discretion, of course."
"I'll take a look," Nex said, the chatter of the cafe filling his extra pair of ears. "After I track down the murderer in the slums."
"The unknown faunus in your report, I presume?" Ironwood asked. "Best of luck then. Dismissed."
His scroll beeped off.
Nex shrugged, shoving it in his pocket and taking a big bite of his bagel - the last of its kind. "Ready?"
Weiss nodded, wiping some crumbs from her cheeks. "As I'll ever be."
It was approximately forty-four minutes past eight when Nexus Shade and Weiss Schnee arrived at the quaint little hovel the White Fang used to disguise their recruitment drives.
They did the usual - get some supplies and hand it out. Quicker this time, as there were two of them, and the ghost-ninja and her partner were already off shadowing a gaggle of kids in the dark.
Playing some tag.
And, well, when else could they play but in the dark? Playing in daylight was definitely riskier, as humans passed through the slums during the day, some of them with bigger spears up their asses than the others.
His earpiece vibrated, Ruby's voice rising over the static. "R here. Go for N."
"N here," Nex said, dropping the empty bag of supplies into the trash bin. "We're done with charity. How're things on B's end?"
"B's found someone suspicious," Ruby hush-whispered. "Someone with a hat, a mask, and a spy coat like yours."
Nex rolled his eyes, even as his girlfriend shot him an amused glance. "This isn't a movie, R. Besides." He patted his grey jacket. "I'm not even wearing my trench."
"We'll check it out," Weiss said, tapping her own earpiece. "We can't risk anyone even slightly suspicious slipping past the radar."
They slunk off towards the ghost-ninja - a purple dot on his scroll. Tied to their earpieces, it made finding each other easier. Supposedly, huntsmen and huntresses made use of it in the field, only with some of them installing it on their scrolls instead of earpieces.
Well, Ruby Rose was unsurprisingly eager to go on a spy mission, as she called it last night. With Team AXRN off on a team-building exercise - or a team vacation according to Nora - somewhere in the wilderness of Mistral, she really had nothing to do in Patch other than watch some Mistralian cartoons and play with her video games.
To be fair, helping stop a killer in the slums was definitely more productive than whatever it was she had been up to. And undoubtedly more exciting, if not a little riskier. Still, it was a risk they all had to experience eventually as huntsmen and huntresses in training.
"So," Weiss said, her eyes glowing red through the slits of her mask. "What led to you working for you-know-who?"
Nex smiled, keeping one hand on Oathkeeper. It wasn't the worst conversation starter he heard from his girlfriend, but it certainly wasn't the best either. "Well, it all started with my semblance."
Well, it did. Just probably not in the way Weiss was definitely thinking.
"I take it you're not going to say anything more, Agent Nightshade?" Weiss asked, chuckling. She fidgeted with her nano-tech rapier - the one clipped to her waist. A cute little wolf dangled off its hilt. "I'll just ask my sister then."
Nex shrugged, his smile dying on his lips as Pareidolia nudged the back of his skull. "She'll probably say it's classified."
Weiss huffed. "Probably. But you can't fault your girlfriend for trying, can you?"
His earpiece vibrated. Again.
"Snowbear!" Blake screamed, steel gnashing against steel. "I hate to be the a little help girl, but, a little help!"
They exchanged glances. And sprinted across the street, blurring around the bend straight towards the lines of fleeing children. Their screams roused the faunus inside the hovels and the tents, the doors of the former whining as they hinged out.
For fuck's sake.
Everyone should have let the kids in and locked the doors, instead of peeking at the fight raging over the sidewalk - the ghost-ninja in her purple hoodie versus a tall man in a brown long coat.
The same man as last night, his eyes glowing amber behind the slits of some sort of black mask.
The ghost-ninja held her ground, dagger flashing as she weaved around the would-be assassin's kick. She raised her dagger and brought it down on his back.
Only for the man to twist on his heel, lashing out with another kick. The man's boot slammed into the ghost-ninja's midriff.
Weiss gasped, drawing her nano-tech rapier.
Blake Belladonna crashed into a brick fence, fizzling into shadows - nowhere to be found. But Pareidolia had about twenty-seven guesses as to where she really was, and more counting by the second.
Nex rolled his eyes and brandished Oathkeeper, the gold glinting in the dark.
Of course she just had to show off.
Roses swarmed, a broadsword whooshing.
The man cackled, his high-strung voice cutting through the night. He ducked under the sword. Once. Twice. And thrice. He leapt over Ruby's mass-produced sword, planting his feet into her face. He flipped away, landing on the fence.
Ruby stumbled, tugging her hood back over her face.
"You!" the man yelled, his eyes burning as he pointed at the silver-eyed girl. "Oh, how my dearest queen will delight when I present your head!" He cupped his masked face. "On a silver platter!"
"Queen?" Ruby mumbled, raising her sword.
Nex rolled his eyes even more, reaching into his pocket and swiping at his VPD speed-dial. "Right. Crazy. Keep talking. Give the kids more time to run and the parents to lock up."
And the police more time to respond to a huntsman-in-training's distress signal - like that one time in the alleyway and just like they planned now - but their would-be assassin did not need to know that.
"And you!" The man's glowing eyes darted to his mom's sword. "That blade. The Oathkeeper..." He gasped. "This is most unexpected!"
Nex shifted his foot, his lips twitching. "How the hell do you know my mom's sword?"
Unless the man in front of them really was a member of the Resolutionists - and if Ironwood were to be believed about his mom's history.
"Ah! Uh! Uh!" The man clicked his tongue a grand total of three times. "Where, oh where, is Vigilance the old wolf, I wonder?" He cackled. Again. Even more. "But it doesn't really matter, does it?"
He leapt off the fence, the blades on his wrist flashing.
"Spread out!" Nex said as Oathkeeper parried the man's first slash, gold sparking as it clashed against steel. "Don't let him escape!"
"Escape?!" the man screamed, his slashes a storm. Chaos. Raw chaos. "I don't need to escape!"
He deflected another slash, Pareidolia humming.
There!
Nex tilted his sword to the side, where the man would strike next-
Pain exploded in his shoulder. Another one in his gut sent him crashing back-first into the pavement.
"Shit," Nex said, rolling away.
A tail crunched through the cement and sent specks of mud up where his head was a second ago.
A faunus. Scorpion. The venom from last night.
He funneled more aura into his semblance.
"Pareidolia, work with me a little here," Nex muttered.
Weaknesses. Some hole in the man's form. There had to be a pattern he could exploit-
Roses. Whoosh. Ruby slashed at the man with her new toy, the broadsword a blur of red in her deft hands.
It distracted him long enough for Nex to slink away, nursing the bruise on his shoulder.
Apparently, the man's fighting style was chaotic enough - even more chaotic than Yang's - that Pareidolia was having trouble keeping up.
Fuck.
It was going to be a little harder than fighting against a bunch of goons then. Especially since Weiss had no access to her glyphs and the ghost-ninja was ill-equipped for open confrontation, wielding only a flimsy dagger. Even worse, Ruby had no night-vision like the three of them did, and it was doubtful she was used to using a sword instead of a scythe.
Ruby yelped, her hood blowing in the wind. She smashed into a hovel. Metal crunched in the dark.
The damned tail clicked, slithering back into the man's long coat.
Weiss rushed at their would-be assassin.
Blake fizzled out of the shadows.
The man weaved around rapier and dagger, spinning on one hand like a top. His boot sliced through Blake's clone. The other dug under Weiss' chin.
A wrist-blade darted to her sword-arm. The other to her chest.
Weiss stumbled, gasping as her rapier flew from her grip-
"Son of a bitch." Nex charged, his boots rasping over the pavement.
Oathkeeper caught the man's arm, arcs of thunder crackling over the golden blade.
Pale blue eyes widened as she hopped away, chasing after her sword as it clattered over the street.
Lightning.
Oathkeeper spouted lightning, silver runes blazing from the hilt down to the tip.
The man cackled, ducking under the thunderstorm. "Amariss Shade taught you well. But she didn't teach you everything." He spun into a kick. "Or I wouldn't be standing here without a scratch!"
Nex raised his off-hand, the man's boot locked against his forearm - against muscle and aura. "You talk and yell too much."
He batted away the man's leg, countering with a slash of his own. The man's wrist-blade darted towards Oathkeeper's guard. Probably in an attempt to disarm him like Weiss.
Steel flashed over the man's shoulder, his coat ripping as silver-eyed girl yelled.
The man screamed and spun away, roses scattering across the street.
His tail deflected Ruby's nameless sword with a sharp thwack.
"Ha..." the man panted, giggles bursting through his mask. His tail peeked out the hem of his coat. "You'll die for that. You'll all die!"
With a wail, the man rushed Nex, his eyes burning.
The assault came faster this time. Kicks, punches, and blades clashed against Oathkeeper, the golden blade unyielding.
His heart pounded in his temple. Sweat raced down his cheeks, the fire consuming his stomach. This was it. A fight. And it was even better than the fight against the White Fang goons and his fellow thief.
Pareidolia screamed, even as he brandished his sword into another trade.
"Die!" The man twisted, lashing out at Weiss as he cackled. "Why won't you all die!"
She parried it, the wrist-blade locked against her rapier.
Purple mist burst from the man.
Pareidolia shrieked. His limbs dragged, heavy as lead.
"Shit..." Nex said, his aura flickering.
The man blurred, stomping on her chest.
Weiss flew, crashing into the brick fence. She slumped. Unmoving.
The man cackled, stretching his arms as he trotted over Weiss.
Ruby growled, her broadsword whooshing.
Red petals swarmed.
A shadow leapt at the man.
Purple. And the man sent Ruby and Blake careening over the street.
Nexus Shade tightened his grip around Oathkeeper, even as the entire world wobbled, a motherfucker of a migraine stabbing his head.
No good. He had to keep fighting. Only until the police-
"I think..." The man hummed, tapping his chin. "I'll take the wolf's head first!"
Shit.
Nex raised his mother's sword.
The man darted towards him, sharp laughter ringing in his extra pair of ears.
The wrist-blade flashed.
Black feathers burst.
Like his father. That night ten years ago.
A katana. Red as blood. It tore through the gap.
Steel clanged against steel.
"Hmph."
A huntress stood there, red and black swirling behind her. She was dressed the same color as her sword, black feathers clinging to her neck. A bone-white mask concealed her face, almost like the visage of Grimm. But it did little to hide the contempt in her voice.
"Pick on somebody your own size," the huntress said, the sneer on her face practically audible.
The man gasped, holding a hand over his face. "A raven descends from the sky. After so long!"
Nexus Shade's knees shook as he propped his weight against Oathkeeper, the tip screeching over cement.
"I didn't expect you to be this foolhardy, scion of Shade," the huntress said, flicking her katana. "But then again, unlike Mary, you are half Branwen." She chuckled and strolled towards the man as he radiated more and more of the purple stuff. "That might explain it to no fault of yours, godson of mine."
"Oh! A family reunion!" the man said, his tail clicking as it hovered over his shoulder. He crouched over the pavement like a tiger stalking its prey. Half his ripped coat fluttered in the breeze. "How exciting!"
"Godson? What? Who the hell are you?" Nex croaked, the purple mist blanketing the street.
Bodies upon bodies of wide-eyed faunus thudded over the sidewalk.
"I... His semblance... be careful... it's..."
The huntress sliced into the purple cloud, the miasma parting before her blade.
The wind howled, caressing his flushed cheeks. The huntress' mane whipped behind her back.
Darkness. The clanging of steel. Boots shuffling over stone.
Nexus Shade dropped like a feather, his lungs embroiled in fire - like ants stinging every inch of his chest.
Author's Notes:
Here's, like, chapter seven of book two. Action, foreshadowing, and oh my! Auntie Raven!
What I've been up to, you ask? Well, on the fanfic-side, I've been working on Maiden (that's Artificer's sort-of sequel, featuring Granny Raven, Penny's disembodied head, and a band of post-apocalyptic oddballs on a road trip to oblivion). Also, thinking (read: plotting) of where I'm really taking Guardians of the Unknowing as a way to channel my procrastination into something productive. Endless possibilities there, people. We all know I write something 'cause I enjoy it (and I don't particularly care about conforming to any standard when it comes to storytelling). Anyways see 'ya whenever the next update rolls in, and don't forget to leave some feedback or something.