Emerald stood outside of Junior's Club, feeling the bass course through her body as if it was trying to take control of her and she stared at the building for a long moment, wondering if she could really bring herself to going inside and speaking to Mercury once again. She had no good memories of this place, she had long moved on from thinking that Cinder's saving her from living on the streets had been a selfless act, the woman had only manipulated her to get what she wanted, and it took Cinder's 'death' for Emerald to realize that it was time to get out. Serving Salem wasn't what she wanted, she'd only stolen as a means to survive at first, and the horrors she witnessed in her time with Salem and her crew were far worse than she cared to admit she'd partaken in or caused. Emerald remembered all of it as if she was living a nightmare or watching a terrifying movie. She was effectively immobilized.
"Emerald," Coco's voice spoke over the comms unit in her ear, startling her as she nearly jumped out of her skin, peered down the road both ways to make sure that no one had spotted her. Her hands were shaking and she swallowed the lump in her throat, ashamed to admit how she was feeling about the plan to Coco. Coco was giving her a second chance much like Cinder had, but this time it was different. The woman really wanted to help her, didn't she? Emerald owed them at least this much, if she could infiltrate the ranks of Stardust, she could help put an end to the crime syndicate once and for all. She placed her hand over her ear.
"I'm here," she stuttered quietly, breathing slowly. "I just need a moment."
"Take as much time as you need," Coco replied. "I know that you can do this. Just remember to breathe and don't take any shit." Emerald chuckled as she shook her head, recalling deceiving Coco during the Vytal Festival. She had always spoken her mind, and the woman didn't seem afraid of much. Every time that they'd met after that the strategist always had an air about her that commanded the room. She was the center point of attention, but it was because she wouldn't allow it to focus elsewhere. Coco wasn't just confident in the decisions that she made, she gave them as gospel.
"Easy for you to say," Emerald replied as she turned back to the building and prepared herself mentally to enter. It was apparent that they had recently rebranded, where it was quite obvious that Junior didn't want the place being found and only a select group that knew about it could enter in, the twins were quite the opposite, or so it appeared. Flashing in large neon lights that were probably visible from space, or atleast the freeway, was the silhouettes of Miltia and Melanie, one on each side in their signature colors with the words 'Club Malachite' in the middle in a rich blue. It was easy to see how this almost seemed like a better option, as bringing in the general public would not only make it harder for the cops to find someone they were looking for, but it was also likely just a front.
She made her way to the building, debating on whether or not she should use her semblance to disguise herself, but deciding against it because she wanted to maintain trust with Mercury. She pushed the first door open, finding a rather lengthy queue line that was waiting to be okayed by the bouncer to enter the dance floor. On occasion the doors would slide open, giving Emerald a glimpse of the crowded room, moving to the beats that deafened the building, the bar a little more crowded than Emerald remembered it ever being with Junior running the show. The few minutes that she had to stand in line and wait caused her to doubt again.
"Have you ever been here before?" Asked one of the girls that was standing directly in front of her.
"No, but my brother said that it's one of the hottest night scenes in all of Vale, so I thought we should give it a try," the second replied as she grabbed the first girl and kissed her on the lips.
"The hotter the better," the first replied out of breath as they approached the bouncer.
"You sure you girls are 18?" He asked with his arms folded, preparing to show them out. The second girl flashed him for a long moment before putting her shirt back down and laughing as her girlfriend wrapped her arms around her waist from behind.
"Do those look like the kind of tits you'd find on a younger girl?" She asked him with a devious smile. He cleared his throat before looking towards the doors and letting them in. Emerald stepped up to the man and he looked her over.
"You can go in," he said without a second thought. She walked to the doors, wincing and blinking hard as they opened the spotlight shining on her and it felt as if the entire room was watching her, though she knew it was nothing more than paranoia. The spotlight was shined on everyone who entered, and the people that were there were far too busy getting drunk or grinding on each other out on the floor to care about the nearly middle-aged woman who had entered the club. She spotted the twins quickly, both of the girls were busy hanging all over a patron who was dressed to the nines, doing as much as they could do make him stay longer. Miltia rubbed his shoulders as her sister laid a hand on his chest, flirting with the man and offering him another drink at a discount.
"Emerald, are you in?" Coco asked, stopping Emerald short of the bar.
"Yeah," Emerald told her. "I'm going to go silent. I feel like it'll help me concentrate better."
"I don't think that's…" Coco managed before Emerald turned the comms unit off, removing it from her ear and placing it in her pocket. She took a deep breath before watching Cinder, Mercury, and herself walk by. A flashback? Emerald breathed slowly, closing her eyes and looking at the ground. She had to be careful. Her worst memories brought her trauma and if she let it get the best of her, she'd recreate the scene with her illusions, giving away what was on her mind and risking enough strain to effectively render her unconscious. She opened her eyes again, finding that the memory was gone and she anchored herself, thinking about the hell she'd gone through the first time. Not again, never again.
"Miltia," Emerald called out as she approached them. She girl peered over the man's shoulder, saying something to Melanie who turned around and noted Emerald. She turned back to the man, fixing his tie and whispering something to him that caused him to blush hard before she shoved him back into Miltia. Miltia whispered something as well, directing him towards a back door that Emerald had to assume, despite being marked as one, was not actually an exit. The girls approached Emerald and in her head, despite the noise that swallowed them whole, she could hear their heels clicking off of the floor.
"Emerald," Miltia stated as they stopped a few feet short of her and folded their arms.
"We always knew that you'd be back one day," Melanie insisted with a smirk.
"We probably would have done the same thing that you did," Miltia added.
"They were going to kill you otherwise, right?" Melanie asked. Emerald nodded. She wasn't sure what they had heard, but it was best to let them believe it instead of correcting them.
"It really was my only way out at the time," Emerald agreed. "Is Mercury here? I'm told that he frequents your establishment on occasion."
"Did you see him tonight, Miltia?" Melanie asked. Miltia nodded as she glanced towards the 'exit'.
"Aurora isn't here though and if she finds out we sent someone back to see Mercury without her approval we might not ever hear the end of it," Miltia stated.
"This is Emerald we're talking about," Melanie reminded her sister as she motioned for the ex-thief to follow her. "I'll take you back to his room and make sure that he's free to talk." Melanie led her past the bar, most of the people there ignoring her with the exception of a wolf Faunus who sat on the very end, eying her up with a shit-eating grin on his face, stepping down from his barstool to follow after them, Emerald could smell the alcohol on him from several feet away and Miltia took the bottle out of his hand.
"Hey!" He shouted at her as the door closed behind Emerald. The concrete hallway had very little going for it with the exception of an ATM at the end of the corridor, doorways lined both sides, nothing more than beads hanging from the frame concealed what was going on inside, several of them containing nothing more than rich men receiving lap dances, and a few of them sat empty. Melanie approached the ATM, entering something on the keypad that opened the wall behind it. Music that was somehow louder than in the actual club slammed into them, the room was roughly half the size of the dance floor, and in the middle sat Mercury with two women hanging off of him.
"Mercury!" Melanie yelled out to him. He looked up from the files that were strewn across the table, his eyes meeting Emerald's and she forgot how to breathe. What if this was all just a trap? She should have asked the twins what they meant by saying it was the only way they would have let her live. Melanie was undoubtedly going to leave the room and lock her in, and even though she had her weapons on her, she wasn't sure that she could take on Mercury and the three others in the room with him. The door opened and the Faunus stumbled in with a shove from Miltia, crashing into Emerald who shrank away from him, shoving him away from her as she took a step to the side.
"Cut him off," Miltia scolded as she glared at the new arrival. He gritted his teeth before wobbling towards the couch.
"I didn't even have that many, fuck off!" The wolf shouted before flopping down next to the other unnamed man.
"Emerald," Mercury uttered as he stood with a smile and made his way over to her. He sighed softly as he maintained his smile, pulling her in and hugging her. "And here I thought that you'd never return, but you just can't run away from a past like yours, can you?"
"We'll let you take it from here," Melanie stated as she left with her sister. The door closed and Mercury moved to Emerald's ear.
"Why are you here?" Mercury scowled.
"What are you talking about?" Emerald asked as she separated herself from him.
"You didn't really think that you were just going to come waltzing back in here and act like nothing happened," Mercury noted. He took a swift step forward, driving her back until she found herself in the corner.
"Hey, boss…" The Faunus mumbled.
"Not now, Sirius," Mercury shouted without taking his eyes off of Emerald.
"You know that she was just using us as much as I did," Emerald managed.
"That's why you betrayed us?" Mercury asked quietly, moving even closer, leaving her no space to move. "Because you were feeling scared? I always saw the look in your eye, that wondering whether or not you were making a mistake. I tried to warn Cinder, but she insisted that we keep you around. Pathetic." He frowned. "And now I see that same look in your eyes now."
"Mercury, I… I really got to…" Sirius murmured, trying to find his feet.
"I said to wait!" Mercury yelled once again.
"I made a mistake giving them that information. I was in hiding because I didn't know how to get back to you. I'm here now," she explained taking a step forward which he allowed her by backing up. "You know that I could be useful to your cause. I was afraid of that power at first, but now I want it too. Please, let me back in."
"She's got a bug on her," Sirius spat out angrily. "And she's also…" Mercury kicked through the illusion Emerald and she disappeared, revealing the real Emerald on the far end of the room.
"Even as a drunk asshole he's more useful than you were," Mercury scoffed. "You think you can pull the wool over my eyes? You think you're a hero now?" He chuckled. "Just remember, the people that died at Vytal was just as much your fault, if not even more than mine. You were the one that caused Pyrrha to kill Penny and draw all those Grimm in. Did they tell you it could just be swept under the rug? Did you believe them?" Emerald's body shook as she recalled the events.
"I didn't want to!" She shouted at him with tears in her eyes.
"But you did!" He replied. "It doesn't matter that you 'didn't want to'. Those people are dead thanks to you."
"Shut up!" Emerald yelled. The girls removed their swords and stepped towards her.
"Ladies!" Mercury cut them off. They turned and looked at him. "That won't be necessary." Mercury grinned. "She always was the weakest out of us."
Coco had told her that it was all okay and that they wanted her on their side. That she could right the wrongs that she'd committed. But was any of that true? Was it all just another lie from someone who suggested they could give her a second chance? She glared at Mercury.
"Cinder and Salem are dead!" Emerald shouted. "There's only one thing left that I can do to fix all of this!" Mercury opened his arms.
"And then you'll kill yourself?" He asked. "Didn't you hear a single word I said?"
"I can't make you give this life up," Emerald informed him. "But I've made my choice."
"Well then," Mercury happily contended. "Let's dance!"
"Mercury…" The shirtless one began.
"I can handle her!" Mercury noted as he sprinted past the man before he could stand. He kicked at Emerald, preparing for her defensive stance as he crashed through her illusion and glancing around the room. "Fun trick, but where are you?"
"I've gotten stronger you know," Emerald noted. He glanced around the room. "Not only can I deceive more than one person at a time… I can make multiple illusions at once."
"Sirius!" Mercury shouted at him.
"You don't think we did our research?" Sirius asked as he disappeared. Orion stood and concealed the papers on the table.
"You're still scared, nothing can change that!" Mercury informed her. He glanced about the room, still unsure of where she was.
"It would seem that you are as well," Emerald said. Mercury felt everything shift as the door slammed shut and locked from the outside.
"Get her!" He yelled at the Gemini sisters. They nodded, kicking the door down as they tore through the passageway, slamming into one of the strippers.
"Move!" Asteria demanded as they paid the woman no mind. The stripper entered one of the side rooms before appearing as the man that the Malachites had been hanging all over, leaving immediately and heading back to the floor as she put her earpiece back in.
"What the hell was that?" Coco asked. "Something happen in there that you don't want me to know about?" Emerald sighed as she moved through the crowd.
"I…" Emerald stopped as she saw a flashback of her and Cinder moving through the crowd back towards the bar. "I can't have you holding my hand every step of the way…"
"Junior, was it?" Cinder asked as she flirted with the man, causing him to become flustered. "I need a little information on the assassin Marcus Black, and I'm guessing you're just the man to ask." Emerald left an afterimage behind Cinder, picking his wallet off of him before returning to her original position.
"Uh… Yeah, sure," Junior agreed, swallowing hard.
"Good," Cinder offered with a smile before reaching back and snatching the wallet from Emerald. "This man is going to be assisting us, best not to piss him off. Do I have to tell you everything?"
"Emerald…" Coco's voice flooded back in.
"There!" Melanie shouted pointing to the middle of the floor. Miltia sat Sirius down in a booth as he glanced past her.
"What's going on?" He questioned puzzled.
"Get out of there!" Coco demanded snapping her out of it. Emerald glanced back at Melanie who was quickly gaining on her, using hand motions to stop the DJ which brought attention to her actions, causing a panic and clearing the floor. "I can send back up if you need it, but it might be a few minutes."
"I'll be fine for a moment!" Emerald replied loudly as Melanie entered the fight with a few flashy flips before her heels met Emerald's sickles. Melanie kicked several times with her right foot, Emerald defending before the girl landed and offered a hard kick with her left but Emerald expected it, maneuvering swiftly and managing to use her kusarigama to catch her foot and toss her through one of the glass pillars. Melanie bound across the floor before digging her heels in to slide to a stop, finding Emerald to be gone when she looked back up. She slammed her fists against the ground, swearing under her breath as Miltia came to check on her.
"Emerald, talk to me," Coco instructed as the woman ran from the club. She'd reply to Coco as soon as she was sure that she wasn't being followed and that they weren't going to find her. She couldn't be caught, if she ended up under Salem's power again or against it, she wasn't sure she'd make it. She held her breath cloaking herself as both sets of twins sprinted past her down the alleyway. Emerald tried to anchor herself as she released and began breathing erratically.
"This was a bad idea," she explained to Coco.
"You're okay, just breathe," Coco reminded her.
"It's like it's pulling me back in because it's the only thing I've known," Emerald told her. "Even though I know I was miserable and it wouldn't be any different this time, I feel like it's where I should be."
"That can be a hard feeling to shake," Coco said quietly. "But after taking a second look at my life, I realized that as much as I loved being on the front lines, my family came first. Now I know that you don't have a family, but you have to do what's going to be best for you in the long run, even if all you can see in front of you is rejoining Mercury."
"I know it's the wrong choice," Emerald confessed as she began heading back towards the other side of the underpass. "I would be just as afraid and contemplating joining you if I was with Mercury but… I need to fix what I've broken. That's what keeps me going."
"Was the information we were given good?" Coco asked her. Emerald looked over the few files that she managed to snag.
"It looks like they're planning for something during the Technology Expo," Emerald explained as she entered the back of the van that had dropped her off and she nodded to Sun to give him the go-ahead to drive.
"During the Expo?" Coco double-checked. Emerald took a deep breath.
"More accurately, at the Expo," Emerald corrected. "The night of the Expo it looks like they're planning some kind of heist."
"Alright," Coco replied distantly as she checked something on her computer. "You can come on back and I'll talk to Glynda in the morning about what we should do."
"Right," Emerald agreed as she stared out the back window and watched the club disappear from sight. I'm stronger than last time, Mercury. I will make up for my mistakes.
"What just happened?" Mercury asked as he kicked the table across the room, sending drinks and papers everywhere and leaving Orion in silence as he grasped at the folder as it slid away from him across the floor.
"It would seem you were outsmarted by Emerald," Orion offered in a bit of honesty as he gathered up the contents.
"No shit!" Mercury shouted at him as he ran a hand through his hair and flopped back down onto the couch. He groaned. "She was never that strong before. She was just a scared girl that barely had enough confidence in her smoke and mirrors to fool an idiot, let alone a room of people with multiple illusions." He rubbed his face and shook his head. "Just because she was a scared little girl that Cinder had pity on… and actually, it wasn't even that! Salem told us to go get her! We could have pulled it off without her!"
"You sound a little bitter," Orion noted finishing cleaning the documents off of the floor, thumbing through them to determine what was missing.
"Cinder's gone and Emerald's a traitor," Mercury explained. "I should have been the one to lead the attacks at Beacon and Haven. My father was an assassin. I killed my father. I have a raw determination that those other two didn't. Cinder just wanted more power and Emerald just wanted to belong. I knew what power tasted like until my father took my semblance from me!"
"You're awfully whiney tonight, aren't you?" Sirius asked, chuckling as he stumbled into the room.
"Do you ever stop drinking?" Mercury inquired angrily. Sirius smirked.
"Not until I'm ready," Sirius told him.
"We couldn't find her," Astra admitted.
"It's like she disappeared," Asteria added.
"I think they know that we're attacking the Expo now," Orion noted. Mercury nodded his head and stood back up.
"Good," he told them. "Let them know we're coming and be devastated when they fail to stop us."
"How will we stop Emerald the next time we cross her?" Orion questioned. Mercury covered his face and laughed.
"Are we worried about her?" Mercury shouted at them.
"Your level of irritability would suggest so," Sirius laughed before crashing to the floor on his own. The twins ran to him quickly.
"I think you confuse concern with annoyance," Mercury noted. "If they were interchangeable all of you would concern me." Mercury left the back room and headed towards the dance floor, leaving the Stardust gang on their own in the back.
"Anyone else notice how he is being more of a dick than usual," Orion asked.
"He's under a lot of pressure from Abigor," Astra explained.
"The last meeting didn't go very well," Asteria noted.
"How so?" Orion inquired.
"Mercury said that he was yelled at for the mess we made at the power plant," Astra told him.
"And Abigor was kind of upset about Athena failing," Asteria reminded her sister.
"It'll be our time soon," Sirius mumbled. Orion shook his head.
"As soon as Aurora is out of the way, Mercury shouldn't be a problem," Orion said.
Emerald is on board with taking down Stardust but can shake the feeling of her past? Next week, Chapter 4: Fantasies!
A big thank you to AG_Nonsuch, Helihi, Cadhla182, Carlomontie, Nliast, Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. The artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
Until next week, stay safe, stay healthy, and stay classy!