I've gotta say, getting such a strong response in the form of favs, follows, and reviews is an AMAZING motivator to keep on writing; I literally started, finished, and edited this chapter over the course of today, simply because I was proud that I'm writing something that other people enjoy to read. So thank you all, and for being so amazing, here's a new chapter at least a couple of days earlier than I expected! :D
Volume 1
Chapter 6
Networking
Part 2
The Axe Gang of Vale was a relatively infamous group back during those days; in the years following our visit to their club and lair, not so much. By the time of the Vytal festival at Beacon, the Axe Gang's reputation had largely diminished to that of mooks... But it pays to have friends in low places, and while a large swath of Hei Xiong's empire was comprised of untalented mooks, a few of the more competent were capable of compiling all of the rumors and hearsay, and loyal enough to report it up the chain of command, resulting in Junior becoming the best information broker in Vale, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Back when I first met him, however, he was still just a lieutenant, not even his boss's right hand man...
"How do I look?"
Lee was currently sporting a black suit, with matching fedora, shoes, and gloves, as well as a red tie and sunglasses. Neo, currently busy washing her hands in the sink, paused to look over at him, thoughtful expression in place; Lee braced himself for an insult.
"You look like a cheap thug."
"In other words, perfect." Lee sighed; it was the insult he expected, but she also was not wrong; they wanted him to look like just another Axe Gang mook. Which just so happened to mean he also looked like a cheap thug.
"Good... I suppose I'd better go find Merc and Em then. You need a hand with anything before I go?"
A blank stare was all he received to that question.
"Excuse me for being polite."
Neo actually smiled then, before turning to look at the unconscious goon. The briefest flash of a grin followed, before she daintily stepped over to his prone form and placed a booted foot on the small of his back.
"See you in a bit!"
Lee simply shuddered while turning around himself; whatever Neo planned on doing with the guy, he didn't even want to think about how humiliated he would be upon waking; better him than Lee. A quick fwoosh signified that Neo had left, taking both the goon and the clothes Lee had been wearing before. The latter back home for him to change into later, the former to Neo knows where...
Lee quickly shook that thought; it wouldn't do to be distracted on a mission like this, undercover in the lair of the beast... Or, more aptly, in the Bear's Den. Either way, distraction could easily prove fatal, so Lee did his best to merely focus on the mission... which required him to leave the restroom right about then. Preferably with the ear piece that was currently in his pocket, actually in his ear. Lee started setting the ear piece up while he walked.
.
..
...
"Messenger, Gem: this is Sky. Come in. Over."
"Sky: Gem. What took you so long? Over."
"Sky: Messenger. Seriously, man, the hell? Over."
Behind the red lenses, Lee winced; he was hoping they hadn't noticed.
"Messenger, Gem: Sky. Get bent, I'm barely a minute behind. You want to know why, you can ask Soft Serve when we're done. Over."
Quiet snickers could be heard over the line as Messenger and Gem, or, rather, Mercury and Emerald, processed just what exactly Lee had just said.
"Sky: Messenger. Really? Soft Serve? You know you'll never hear the end of it if we stick with that. Over."
"Messenger: Sky. Again, get bent; if you come up with a better idea, let me know. Over."
"Messenger, Sky: Gem. Alright, boys, let's settle down. As... Entertaining as that conversation will probably be, let's try to stay focused, alright? Radio silence from this point on, unless it's pertinent to the mission. Over."
"Messenger copies. Over and out."
"Sky acknowledges. Over and out."
Now that he'd checked in, Mercury and Emerald would begin moving towards their positions. As experienced as they were, even at the tender age of 16, Cinder had not been worried in the slightest as to their capability to subtly move through the crowd without raising suspicion, so Lee felt no reason to worried either. However, he himself was a novice, and while the path to his position was mercifully simple compared to either of his two teammates ('Thank you, Neo!), he still had to pass through the DJ booth, without the DJ realizing he wasn't the mook he appeared to be. Granted, it should be relatively simple, seeing as the DJ should be busy, well, disc jockeying, which thus meant that the odds of him looking away for more than a brief glance were slim; combined with the bear's head mask that he allegedly wore on the job, that meant that he shouldn't be able to identify him with such a small window of opportunity. Still, if he happened to know all the mooks by name, and could reliably identify their voices too? Lee was just going to have to hope a grunt would suffice.
.
..
...
It did. Lee had walked into the booth from the rear (which led to storage and all the employee-only facilities, such as the restroom Lee had teleported in to), and taken a right out onto the walkway, having not even been noticed by D.J. Deadbe4, who did in fact wear a cartoon bear head on the job. Crazy bastard. But with that minor obstacle out of the way, Lee's path to his post was now clear... And short. His post was literally just immediately below the DJ's booth, on the landing the stairs led to, on the left side of the room if looking from the main entrance.
"Messenger, Gem: Sky. In position."
"Copy." "Acknowledged."
Lee sighed; he may have gotten the easy part in this plan, but it also meant it was the boring part: a whole lot of waiting. He had to wait for Emerald and Mercury to reach theirs, then he had to wait for Cinder to arrive... (Ugh. I'm starting to sound like Merc).
The next hour or so passed uneventfully; any other patrons who might have wanted to start a commotion were discouraged by Mercury's earlier show, so he didn't have to worry about pretending to be on over watch for the Axe Gang, while Merc and Emerald had reached their own respective positions down on the main floor without incident, so he wasn't really having to play over watch for his own side at the moment either; he'd spent about 20 of those minutes simply browsing The Archive (Remnant's version of the Internet). Currently, he was reading an article about The Tale of The Four Maidens. Basically a fairy tale talking about the four seasons and how they came into being... Interesting reading, in Lee's opinion, but it was approaching the time Cinder was due to show up, so he simply bookmarked the page for later reading before stowing his scroll back into his pocket. Eyes were turned out towards the main entrance.
A few minutes later...
"Messenger, Gem: Sky. The Queen has entered the den."
"Copy.""Roger."
With that brusque exchange, Lee's mind was fully back on the mission, and his eyes watching Cinder as she strolled directly to the bar, where she seemed to order a glass of red wine before being approached by an absolute bear of a man, who must have stood right around seven feet tall (at this distance, Lee was just guessing, using Cinder's known height of 5'11" in her heels as a reference) and had dark brown (but not dark enough to be called black) hair, with matching full mustache and wild beard. The button up shirt and vest did little to conceal his broad, muscular build.
Lee would still place his money on Cinder if the two were to get into a fight. Of course, that didn't say much since he would bet on Cinder over just about any single combatant... But the man was not alone. Approaching from the other side, another man joined them, who looked remarkably like the other man, and of similar height, but with black hair and a much tamer beard. Which would make those two Da Hui Xiong and Hei Xiong, respectively.
"Messenger, Gem: Sky. I've got eyes on Grizzly Bear and Black Bear, but no sign of Polar Bear. Over."
"Sky: Gem. Copy, just keep an eye out for him. Messenger and I have eyes on the bar now as well, we'll let you know if anything changes. Over."
"Gem: Sky. Copy that. Over."
With a frown, Lee tore his gaze away from the bar, and began to scan the rest of the club, looking for the illusive head of white hair on an absolute bear of a man... Neo was never going to let him hear the end of it if he managed to approach Cinder and Co. without Lee spotting the man first. Because he should have stuck out like a sore thumb!
.
..
...
Still nothing, and Lee had scanned every visible person in the place thoroughly to make sure that they weren't The Polar Bear in disguise... but still, nothing.
"Messenger, Gem: Sky. I still have no joy on Polar Bear. Either he's not here or he's just not out there on the floor. What's the situation down there? Over."
"Sky: Messenger. Looks like it's going to be a fight; The Bears are tensing up. Over."
"Sky: Gem. Stop searching for the Polar Bear and keep your eyes down here; Messenger is right, this is about to get violent. Over."
"Gem, Messenger: Sky. Copy that. Over and out."
With that, Lee brought his attention back towards the bar... Where he could see for himself what his team mates had been talking about; Da Hui and Hei seemed to be bristling, and a swarm of mooks were now circling Cinder. If Lee had to guess, Cinder had just made some sort of threat, and the two Xiongs hadn't taken kindly to it. Lee surreptitiously fished his gloves out of his jacket, and had them on and secured just in time for the Black Bear, Hei, to grab Cinder roughly by the arm.
"Aiiiiieeee!"
In little over a second, the man was on the ground, howling over the music as he clutched his badly burnt hand. In the following ten seconds, several things happened:
The DJ, startled by the loud sound, jumped, causing the records to come off of the turn tables and the music to stop with an ungodly sound.
The patrons of the club, startled twice now, cast their eyes around for the source of the commotion, and upon seeing most of the club's bouncers surrounding a single woman, with weapons drawn, didn't look twice and fled the scene, stampeding en masse out the front door.
While that happened, the Brown Bear took a swing with what appeared to be an unholy combination of a maul and a chain gun. Cinder blocked the attack with conjured swords, but was sent flying out of the circle. Most of the mooks followed her out onto the recently vacated dance floor... but one remained behind. Grinning, he tossed his coat and shades to the side before rushing at Da Hui Xiong, whom, to his credit, saw Mercury coming and was successfully able to defend himself from Mercury, though their battle quickly took them away from the bar and towards the steps leading up to Lee's position.
Lee, recognizing the opportunity presented by Mercury, began to cautiously make his way down the steps, creeping up on the unsuspecting Da Hui, shedding his jacket while he did. While he approached, he also took the opportunity to really watch the fight between the two; Mercury, as a result of his kick-based fighting style, tended to be a highly technical fighter. Da Hui, on the other hand, was very much a battering ram, a little slower than your average aura-trained fighter but his massive size and colossal strength more than compensating for it. The resulting match up was thus relatively even... But beyond that, Lee's eyes were capturing every move the two made, his mind both committing it all to memory to review later and formulating a strategy for how to take the big bear dow-
There!
Da Hui, who had seen a mook with axe drawn coming down the stairs, spun to the side to allow the mook to attempt an ambush against Mercury... But that was no mook.
"Surprise, motherfucker!"
For Lee, time had once again seemed to slow to a crawl when Da Hui began his spin. Sounds were more distinct, images crisper and clearer, colors more defined. When Lee leaped, he had the Axe Gang's eponymous weapon drawn behind him, as if to bring it down in an over hand blow. He was most of the way there when Da Hui saw him, and raised the haft/barrel of his monstrous weapon to block the attack... But what Da Hui had seen did not match reality. Lee had leapt, but rather than hefting a pistol-axe, it was Lee's fist that was drawn back to strike. Thus, Lee's lead weighted, titanium plated knuckles completely passed Da Hui's guard, raised to catch an axe haft, and slammed directly into his patella.
For the second time that day, a Xiong screamed as he was injured, in this case due to a broken knee cap. But to Lee's ears, the scream quickly morphed into one of rage, and Da Hui rather quickly proved him correct; while he was down, he was far from out, and with a sweep of the chain gun maul both Lee and Mercury were forced to abandon any attempt at a follow up attack and jump back out of the way. Unfortunately, that was exactly what the bear wanted, for even as he made the attack, the weapon began to transform, all of which Lee was still experiencing in slow motion. It was the only reason he had time to see that it would transform in time for Da Hui to fire before having to correct the trajectory. And while Lee and Mercury both had better than average capacity for aura... He was not keen on testing just how many 50 caliber rounds it would take before one managed to break through. So when Lee landed, he rushed forward and executed a baseball slide, while at the edge of his vision he saw Mercury forced to roll to the side, out of the chain gun's line of fire. Both of them managed to avoid the majority of the fire, though Lee did feel the impacts of a couple of bullets grazing off of him. However, he was in prime position to unleash one of his glove's surprises.
"Shoryuken!"
With a concentrated application of Aura, Lee ignited a pocket of Burn Dust that had been stored in his right hand glove, and sprang out of his slide into a leaping uppercut, which landed clean under Da Hui's chin, and actually succeeded in lifting him a few inches up into the air before he fell back, knocked senseless from the blow. Lee took a moment to make sure Da Hui wasn't getting back up, and once he was sure...
"Hell yes!" Time resumed it's normal pace, and Lee pumped his fist. The battle was far from over, however, as Cinder was still fighting a large number of goons.
"Lee!" Lee turned his attention from the dance floor back to his temporary partner, who was pointing up towards the D.J.'s booth, where Deadbe4 was firing down onto the dance floor with what appeared to be a Tommy gun.
"I'm on i-"
All fighting stopped when the front doors were sent flying off their hinges, straight into the mosh pit that the dance floor had become. Most of the mooks were able to dodge it, as was Cinder, but an unfortunate few were hit with the heavy wood doors, crushing them underneath. All eyes turned to where the doors should have been... and Lee was met with the sight of the biggest, scariest man he had ever seen. Standing around 7'2'' and wielding a pair of full sized war hammers as if they weighed no more than broom sticks, Beiji Xiong had just entered the building. And he was not happy.
In unison, three mouths uttered: "Oh shit..."
And there we have the full functionality (though perhaps not the full capability) of his weapons revealed, as well as what appears to be his semblance. I'll explain it more in either the next chapter or the arc's conclusion, depending on whether or not the action is resolved quickly or not, but for now, the whole wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff going on there is part of his semblance. Also, I apologize for the one liners, but as an (exaggerated) self insert, Lee's gotta do and say what I would do, assuming it occurs to me, and I would take the opportunities!
-CS
