Chapter 42: Demon of the Present

VIEWER DISCRETION WARNING: THIS CHAPTER IS CLOSER TO AN M RATING RATHER THAN THE ADVERTISED T RATING, DUE TO GRAPHIC VIOLENCE AND EXCESSIVE FOUL LANGUAGE. CONSIDER YOURSELVES WARNED.

AN: Here we are, it's time for Volume 1's big fight. Kassidy's in trouble, captured by a Blake that's still loyal to the White Fang. Her teammates still have no idea where she is, and Sun is separated from her. Our friend Mr. Schmidt did say he was trying to push the limits of human mortality, so without further ado let's find out exactly how good of a job he did.

(Perspective: Kassidy)

So it turns out I die from more conventional means than annoyance, or boredom, or other silly nonsense. Nah, it's actually going to be from a terrorist organization filled with superpowered teenagers and such shit. Kassidy's ruminations were brought to a halt by another forceful tug on the ribbon holding her wrists as Blake drug her into the middle of the docks. Now I'm really fucking glad I decided to let Sun stick around for the ride. God knows I need a bit of help now.

"Roman! I've got something for you!" Blake got the gangster's attention before shoving Kassidy forward into the group of White Fang.

"Well, well, well, what have we here? Why if it isn't… really, what do we have here?"

"Forgot me already? I feel neglected. Kassidy Smith, chick in the robot suit, remember?"

"Oh, that's right! How could I possibly forget such a face as that? And hopefully you remember me?"

"Um…" Kassidy pretended to think really hard about it. "Don't remind me, wait, I got it! Captain Eyeliner, right?"

"That… would not be it."

"Damnit! Give me a moment. Oh, I definitely remember now! Byzantine Candleflame!"

"Well, you're certainly more relaxed about the current situation than most people that would find themselves in your shoes."

Kassidy shrugged her shoulders. "Pretty obvious from experience that this is the part where you kill me. Figured I'd get some fun in while I can."

"From experience, you say?"

"This isn't the first rodeo I've been a part of, Mr. Roaring Twenties. I'm not exactly concerned about my chances of survival here."

"You know what, I think I actually like you! Too many of you Huntress in training types are so stuck up these days. No fun at all, let me tell you. Oh, hang on, give me a second?" Turning around, he scolded one of the White Fang members asking him how to connect the tow cable. Wow, this guy is racist. And the White Fang is working with him? Something's not right here. While she was putting on a flippant exterior, on the inside she was sweating bullets. I've been in some close calls before, but this is getting a bit close for comfort. Where the fuck is Sun? So much for honor among thieves.

"She was also carrying this on her." Blake handed her off to one of the White Fang members obviously there to provide muscle, while walking over to Roman with the Garand. Wait… the fuck do they want with my rifle?

"Was she now? Let me see. Oh, ho, ho, this is one fine antique we have here! How old is this thing?"

"Ninety three years." Kassidy was far less carefree in her answers now. "It was my great-great grandfather's rifle in the war."

"That old? Wow, how does this even still work?"

"Quite well, actually."

"I really like you! Such a shame I need to break you a bit. Hmm… I bet this rifle means a lot to you, huh?"

"Well, I mean, apart from being a family heirloom, it's managed to save my life more times than I care to count."

"That's swell, that's swell. So… if I were to do something, say, like this…" Suddenly, he grabbed the rifle and snapped it over his knee. His Aura sparked from the joint as the extra strength shattered the relic weapon with little effort, and the gangster tossed the two halves aside. "You probably wouldn't be very happy about it, would you?"

"You would be right in guessing that…" Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. Five generations of Smith had gone shooting with that rifle. It had been a prized possession by anyone and everyone in the family. It was with her longer than even Bob, and she wasn't kidding when she said it saved her hide more times than she cared to count. And now it was gone, sundered in twain in the blink of an eye.

"Wow, you weren't kidding when you said that rifle meant a lot. Hmm, let's see, what other kinds of fun can I have with you?" Roman began walking around her, like a starved predator drinking in its meal before devouring it.

"Sorry to cut your sadistic tendencies short, but we should probably be packing up soon if we don't want to get caught. Again." Blake walked up and drew her sword from its sheath on her back. "May I do the honors?"

"Absolutely not." Roman seemed disappointed with being unable to play with his food for longer, but nevertheless took to standing a good ways in front of Kassidy again. "Actually, didn't you also say something about a pistol she had?"

"Yes I did. Quite a good one too, from the looks of it." Blake dug around for something before bringing out her 1911 pistol and handing it to Roman.

"You're right, this is a good one. Quite the simplistic styling, no frills… y'know, I think I might actually keep this one." Quickly figuring out how it worked, he slid out the magazine and scowled. "Crappy ammunition though. What, did you make this stuff yourself?"

"As a matter of fact, I did. Don't really have that big an operating budget."

"Well, no matter, can't win them all I guess. Decent ammo should be something I can address easily enough. Well then, Kassidy was it? Tonight's been fun and all, but I really gotta get going here. After all…" Roman paused to look up. Kassidy followed his gaze, and her jaw dropped to see five more Bullheads pulling in. "This isn't exactly a little operation I'm working with here."

"Wait!" Blake stalled her execution. Kassidy wondered what would cause the cat Faunus to save her life, right up until two meatheads came and grabbed on to her arms while Blake retrieved her ribbon that was holding her wrists. "Alright, I'm good."

"Very well, kitty cat. Ahem, as I was saying, bon voyage! Say hi to your great-great grandfather for me, that rifle broke wonderfully!" As he slid the magazine back in the pistol and aimed, she fought the men holding her to no avail. In as slow motion as it was possible for a bullet to go, she watched it leave the barrel and fly right at her. Roman had a wild grin on his face, so sure that the night would go flawlessly.

Whenever you shoot someone, you generally expect one of a couple things to happen. First thing that could happen is that you miss, which ranges from embarrassing to being lethal. If you don't miss, then the person who got shot had a multitude of reactions to choose from. Those reactions typically range from begging to anger, unless of course the shot was lethal, in which case the only appropriate reaction was dropping dead. Which is why whenever Kassidy got shot in the head, Roman was beyond shocked to find that, instead of dropping dead, she instead decided to pick the 'anger' reaction. And what a reaction is was. Even the two men holding her still were so surprised they both dropped her, allowing her to clutch at her face.

"WHAT THE FUCK MAN?! THAT WAS MY EYE! Who the fuck aims for the goddamn eye! MY EYE! You could've aimed anywhere, the temple, the throat, the chest! But no, the cocksucker known as Roman Torchdick had to aim for my motherfucking eye! Do you have any idea how long it takes me to grow an eye back!? THREE WEEKS! Three weeks I'm going to be without depth perception because you shitstains had to aim for MY FUCKING EYE!"

If it weren't for her current situation, Kassidy would've found their reactions priceless. More than one White Fang grunt circled around to watch the execution was having difficulty holding his dinner. Blake looked horrified and disgusted. Roman looked like he was trying to decide which of seven different emotions to wear, before giving up and choosing to wear all of them at once. The two meatheads seemed unsure of what to do, giving the floundering girl some space with their hands raised, almost as though they were trying to say 'they didn't do that'.

For her part, Kassidy was feeling a few things. Frustration that she had to grow an eye back for a second time. Anger at Sun for completely bailing on her. Rage at Roman and the White Fang, terrorists and gangsters that broke her rifle, tried to kill her, and was on their way to making off with hundreds of thousands of Lien in Dust. However, none of that compared to the bloodlust she felt shortly afterwards. Skipping the adrenaline, skipping the norepinephrine, skipping the painkillers, her body went straight for the CPH4 as it flooded her body with what felt like limitless energy. This is what Yang must feel when her Semblance kicks in. Pure, unadulterated power coursing through her veins. No wonder she enjoys a good fight so much, this shit can get addictive.

Noticing the tomahawk strapped to the belt of the guy on her right, she ripped it free and buried it in its owner before whipping around at inhuman speeds and burying it in the other guy to her left. Suddenly regaining their senses, the White Fang that had gathered around to watch pulled out swords and pistols and made ready to charge her. Other plans had been made, however, and Sun picked this moment to finally get his monkey butt in the fight.

"Oh, come on! What the hell is going on here?!" Roman was thoroughly displeased at how the night was going. Spinning around from his goons turning on the newcomer, he brandished his cane as Blake unsheathed her sword. "The hell kind of Huntress do you think you are?! You think you're tough? You're not the first kid to eat a bullet, you know! Nothing but a weak little runt! I'm the real deal here! You're nothing but an offshoot!"

Twirling the tomahawk around, Kassidy let out a low, feral growl. "You are so fucking dead." Without waiting for more words, she strode forward. Blake sprinted up to meet her, taking a swing at her neck. Kassidy took full advantage of every ounce of power her body gave her, and swung for the fences. Blake's sword flew out of her grip and landed several dozen feet away. The cat Faunus barely had time to react before a vicious backhand laid her out, black Aura flaring angrily to absorb the blow.

Roman deigned to involve himself in the fight at this point, twirling his cane around and using the crook to trap her hand and remove the tomahawk from her grasp. Swinging himself around, he used the momentum to try for a golf swing up the side of her head. The blow would've been enough to separate Kassidy's head from her shoulders, if it weren't for her reaching an arm out and catching the bludgeon. One handed, she fought the two handed and Aura augmented grip of Roman before using her other hand to punch him in the face. His Aura couldn't keep his nose from getting bloodied, and a spray of red prefaced his staggering back even as his grip on his cane failed. Tossing the weapon aside, Kassidy stepped forward, more than happy to end this with fists.

She stopped when she felt an odd pinching sensation coming from her stomach. Looking down, Kassidy was more intrigued than anything to see a black sword blade sticking out from her abdomen. Barely even got a kidney, from the looks of it. Whoever stabbed me should probably do some more reading up on biology. She looked over her shoulder to find an incredibly shocked and de-masked Blake Belladonna gaping at first the injury, and second at the pissed off blonde who barely blinked at it. Taking advantage of the situation, Kassidy's left arm reached out and her grip found the Faunus' neck.

Blake dropped her grip on the sword, and reached up to scratch with claw-like nails at whatever she could reach. A finger got dangerously close to her intact eye, but beyond that Kassidy felt nothing. She was wholly focused on the neck in her grasp, trying to use her augmented strength to brute force past the Aura keeping her from crushing Blake's windpipe. But not even Aura can do everything, and as it contracted from the relentless pressure Kassidy could feel the bones in Blake's neck begin to crack under her grip. Just a few moments more. A few more seconds with the Faunus' windpipe, that's all I need. That's all I want.

Those were a few seconds she never got, as the cursed cane came flying down onto her elbow and made her drop Blake. A boot impacted into her chest, and Kassidy found herself flying past a shipping container. As she stood back up and checked for more damage to her body, her gaze snapped back up as a grenade shot from the cane flew out. She tracked its flight path, finding the target to be… Ruby? He just shot Ruby? He just shot Ruby… He just shot Ruby!

The extra motivation was all she needed. Where the CPH4 started to flag, the anger revitalized her mentally, and she could feel norepinephrine making its way into her system to boost her ailing energy levels. With renewed vigor, she stormed past the container and rounded the corner to see Roman and Sun engaged in a fight of their own. Roman beat the monkey Faunus back, only to receive another Remnant-shattering punch that sent a burst of Aura flying to try and absorb the blow. Staggering back, he looked at Kassidy partly in annoyance, but now mostly in fear. "Why won't you just die!?"

Kassidy chuckled, gave as evil a chuckle as she could manage. She stared him down, and took slow, menacing steps forward. "You Huntsmen always think you're so high and mighty. That you're untouchable, that other than the Grimm that you're invincible, only the mightiest monsters able to fell you. But you're wrong, you're so wrong. Because the mightiest monsters aren't Grimm. They're people, and the things they create. And me? I'm all of the above. And it is because of this that you will lose. You lose because you're fighting the biggest monster of them all."

"Wh-What are you?!"

"I am Special Weapons Project 31187 Model 2, and I am not your offshoot. I am your replacement." The color drained from Roman's face even as he vigorously denied Kassidy's claims. His cane was held in a shaky guard, and his footing was uneven. Kassidy wasn't doing much better herself, though. She had lost too much blood, her energy too spent. I need to end this, and now. "Come here, Roman. I'm going to rip your arms off and beat you to death with your own fists!"

Kassidy ducked under a swing intended for her head, before burying her fist into his gut a couple times and being disappointed by the lack of results. Strength's failing. Don't have much left in me. Let's try a different approach. As Roman swung again, she caught the cane and used it to pull him off-balance before driving a knee into his stomach, then kicking hard into the back of his knees. Roman crumbled, but quickly recovered as his cane lashed out and caught her shin, then quickly followed it up with smashing it across her forehead.

"I can appreciate a bit of spunk, kid, but this is ridiculous." Getting back on his feet, Roman flipped his cane around and aimed at her. "For what it's worth – this isn't personal." He pulled the trigger, but Kassidy managed to stagger out of the blast in time. Snarling in rage, Roman started swinging again. "Are you seriously too stupid to know how to die? Fall already!" At this point, between her fading strength and the brutality of his offensive, she could do little more than block the strikes. Ducking under a backhanded swing, she shoulder checked him into a container and connected with a right hook before taking a few steps back.

"You are not the first to have tried to kill me. Nor are you the strongest." Kassidy ate a jab to the ribs, but dodged the next attack and got a chop on his shoulder. "Nor will you be the last. I have survived your predecessors, and I will survive you as well." Roman caught her shoulder in the crook of his cane and dislocated it, but she retaliated with a roundhouse kick before reaching over and snapping the joint back in place. She smirked on the inside – Roman's Aura was almost empty. Even with being almost out of energy, it would only take a couple more good hits before it shattered.

"This is fucking insane. You don't even have an Aura! How the hell are you still alive?!"

"I already told you. The biggest monsters are not Grimm, but people. And when the monsters decided they needed better monsters, they made me." She ducked under a swing, but got hit by the backstroke. She spat blood in his face to distract him from the punches she delivered to his gut. "I'm not going to pretend that I like being some sort of science experiment, but as long as I am… you bet I'm going to take full advantage of it."

Roman looked above him, and smirked. Before she could track where he was looking, he fired up and then used a two-handed grip on his cane to shove her back. Unable to correct the fall she was about to suffer, Kassidy decided to follow into it and took several great steps back before dropping on her back. A shipping container landed with a clang in front of her, separating her from the man she wanted to kill so badly. Fighting to her feet, she could hear Roman talking to himself as he walked away. "Kids these days just keep getting weirder and weirder. At least I won't have to deal with that freak show again. I'm definitely demanding a bigger cut if this is the kind of crap I have to put up with."

Kassidy took a step to chase after him, but couldn't take another. She had lost too much. Her energy reserves were completely spent, and it was only a matter of time before her blood dropped to lethally low levels. Between a missing eye, a stab wound in her stomach, and probable internal bleeding from several dozen bruises and miscellaneous blows, she was a sore sight indeed. Blearily looking around, she looked for the shortest way out of the docks. Bullheads were burning around her, a probable indication that Sun had pulled through after all. Might have to settle for just decking him instead of what I was thinking earlier. She took a few staggering steps forward before her body pitched forward on her, concrete rushing up to meet her face.

"K!" Strong hands grabbed her and kept her from hitting the ground. Turning her head to figure out what was going on, her remaining eye bugged out to see Yang at her side, who herself looked like she wanted to throw up from the view she got.

"…Yang? Wha… what're ya doin' here?" Barely having the energy to make full sentences, Kassidy didn't even bother trying to mimic their Valean accent.

"We heard explosions, and, and… oh Dust what happened to you!?" Yang looked over her shoulder and bellowed, "Rubes, Weiss, gimme a hand here!"

"You dolt, what were you thinking?! Were you trying to take on the whole White Fang by yourself?!"

"Hey, it wasn't just her, I helped out too!"

"Hush, you! I'm still not sure what to think about you. And for you, what could have possibly possessed you to do this, Kassidy?"

"White Fang… enough Dust… blow up a block… couldn't let 'em take it…" Kassidy tried to get back to her feet, but her body felt like it weighed a million pounds.

Yang shot off in a harsh tone, "Well Weiss, if you needed any more proof that K isn't a bad guy, there you are."

"Hey, that's nice and all, Kass isn't a bad guy, but can we maybe save this for later and get her to some help?" Ruby bolted over to her left side, before dropping her jaw at seeing just badly she was off. Yang tried to lift Kassidy up, but Kassidy slipped from her grasp and pitched forward onto the asphalt. She tried to get back up, but her arms weren't listening to her anymore.

Suddenly, a peculiar thought overcame Kassidy. Why am I still fighting to stay alive? Everyone who's ever cared for me is dead. Home's gone. These people think I'm a monster. Why am I insisting on pushing through the pain? It's not like there's any real purpose behind me living. They already have Bob.

Why keep fighting? What's the point? Haven't I tried to end the pain how many times already? And now that someone's been kind enough to do it for me, why do I not want it?

A sudden, overwhelming heat and pressure on her midsection got her attention. Her eyes fluttered open to see a mass of gold. Yang's eyes, filled with tears, couldn't decide between lilac and blood red as she fought to keep pressure on the wounds in her gut. Weiss stood nearby, hands over her mouth as she watched in horror. She overheard something about Ruby having run off to get the paramedics.

Why are they still here? I'm probably a lost cause at this point. Is it… Her thoughts trailed off as she mentally gasped in realization. Do they care? No, they can't, it's got to be…

Surprise gave way to steely determination, a newfound resolve as another revelation made itself known. I care for them too. Damn you all, you made me start caring for you. Groaning, using sheer force of will to ignore the pain and to force her arms into cooperation, she levered herself onto her elbows. I've lost too much. I've been on their end too many times to not know what they're going through.

This is why I fight. I fight for those I care about. I'll fight for you. For all of you.

It was at that moment that Kassidy's body decided to quit on her. Her arms slipped out from under her, sending her back to the concrete. Her eyes closed shut again, and the world turned black.

AN 2: Yeah, more cliffhangers. You're welcome. And you get the long wait to figure out what happened too, lucky you!

Anyway, Reviewer Responses are a nice thing to have. Let's get to those.

Coming up next: The final chapter.

Akshka: Here's some more oh no for ya. Hope it's still up to snuff.

James: Nope, Blake ain't a good cat lady in this. Changing sides? Undecided, but doubtful.

mcd3424: Still haven't figured it out myself, but personally leaning towards Blake staying a villain. Glad to hear you're enjoying it still.

AgentDraakis: Honestly, if Blake and Kassidy wound up on the same sides, I'd be curious to see if they ever did become friends

AndJrew76: I think I saw you put a review down? Saw that I got nine reviews but only eight notifications, and Gmail decided to stop giving me notifications whenever you review for some reason. I dunno, fanfiction is having another episode that I can't see recent reviews on site, so hopefully whenever they get their crap back together I'll be able to reply on the next chapter.

Tykene: Yeah, that would be a pretty big deal. Such a shame Blake's gonna have to share the spotlight. Glad to hear you're enjoying it so much.

Guest: Yup, Evil Blake. Definitely a… crazy cat lady. Eh, eh? Damnit Barb. Anyway, happy you're finding the fic entertaining.

Shake N. Bake Mormon: Err… Kassidy's not a robot. Unless you're confusing her with Bob (her AI computer pal that also isn't a robot), not completely sure where you got that from, but she is 100% human. Well, okay, more like 90% human. You get the point :P.