Today is a special day as the young girl is taken to a white room. Her parents grip her hand reassuringly, walking her through the procedure with x-ray images of skills and spinal segments. While the child is nervous, she feels a sense of pride. Today she'll officially be in line to eventually become head f the family. Today, she'll belong to them. All it takes is one simple operation. Once the chip has been implanted, they'll always know where to find her. She'll always be safe in their captivity.
No. This is wrong! I don't want to. Why is mother smiling?! It- it hurts! It hurts so much! Why are you doing this to me?!
And with that, it is done. You will want for nothing. Your life is already planned out for you. There will be no surprises, no fear or uncertainty. You have been chosen. Please, enjoy this incredible gift we've given you, our new precious little princess.
Chapter 2: U'la
How long has it been since then? Another sword sliced through the air, forcing the woman to dodge as she hopped backward a few steps to gain distance. A thick vein crossed the fair skin of her forehead as she shook her head, the long twin tails of her pink hairstyle swinging as she did so before she opened her yellow eyes. It would have been so easy to stay with her cushy old life and not get roped up in all of this! "Wes..." the woman huffed under her breath. "I swear to god, if we get out of this, I'm going to MURDER YOU!"
As the armed samurai surrounded her with spears, she raised her arms, holding a short messer-style blade in each hand. Long white gloves covered her hands and arms up to the bicep, with her shoulders being exposed. Her purple dress flowed in the wind, going down just above her knees with a plain white trim running vertically across the front. Black tights covered her legs as she dug her heels into the ground in preparation with another four blades hanging off her belt, two on each side. "Fine." the woman muttered, crouching over as she raised a black scorpion tail behind her, priming it to attack when ready. "I've distracted them long enough, now's time to start showing them what true genius looks like!" A gleam of light shone off of the metal dome the woman wore like a backpack as a mad smirk crossed her face.
"I might not look like it..." U'la began. "But I'm just as strong as he is, in my own ways."
Suddenly, one of the samurai rushed forward from the crowd, thrusting wildly with his spear as the scorpion Faunus parried his blows before swiftly striking his arm guard. A surge of electricity sparked from the sword the instant it made contact, forcing the man to convulse before he suddenly fell over, seemingly unconscious. The other soldiers subtly backed up, now weary over the scorpion's new trick.
"Two millimeters." The woman said, plainly. "That's the thickness of the average Rounin Syndicate armor. Against even my Aura, that could be a problem, but that's nowhere near enough material to delay 70% Conduction from my Empress Stingers!" Another set of three warriors charged forward, now intent to stay out of her range as they began spearing at her arms. "Trying to disarm me?" U'la asked as she effortlessly began to deflect the attacks, parrying spear after spear from multiple directions at once. "Sorry, but this is where I excel." As another attack came, the scorpion managed to duck under the strike as she tossed her right sword into the air! Then, suddenly, a robotic arm emerged from the top-right section of the device on her back! It grabbed the airborne blade with pinpoint precision before striking a soldier in the collar armor and knocking him out with another electric charge!
While not a Semblance, U'la had always been gifted in parallel processing, the ability to take in multiple routes of information simultaneously. While she had never been as physically skilled as Wes or as athletic as Fang, this talent had always been her greatest strength. In terms of situational awareness, she was easily the strongest on the team, which lead her to develop her own unique niche in combat. Using her gift while researching technology allowed U'la to hack the Neural Implant Chip her family forced into her long ago. This allowed her to control a set of mechanical arms, letting U'la swap between manual commands and pre-set programming! As long as she could get the right info beforehand, U'la could easily outshine most rookie huntresses with a fraction of the effort!
Man after man fell before the woman as she brought out a second mechanical arm, now wielding four blades at once as a crazed smile crossed her face. "Curious?~" She muttered in an almost song-like tone. "This is my prized possession! The U'la Special EX-04, or the SP-04 for short! It doesn't matter how many guys you throw at me, my Empress Stingers are just as effective with them as they are with my own two hands! Arguably more so, actually. Aren't you just dying to know what they can do when I don't play nice...?"
Despite her outward confidence, someone perceptive enough could the woman's hands shaking, just barely hard enough to notice. Sure, the Faunus thought, her inventions were incredible. But there was still just a limited charge to each of her weapons. Same for her extra limbs, as well. If her opponents didn't start backing off, there were only so many people she could reasonably take out. And once the power goes out... well... probably best not to think too hard about that part. She stared at the five-floor tower in front of her for a moment. If only Wes didn't blow their cover grandstanding as usual, the sooner they could get the drive they were after and escape, the better. Why can't that jerk ever stick to the plan?!
Another set of four samurai was knocked out as U'la glared off into the distance before turning her focus back to the task at hand. "And for my next trick!" come on, Wes, please hurry up already... "Did you think my other two swords were just for show?" The Faunus tossed her swords into the air again as another pair of robotic limbs emerged from the bottom. Now grabbing the blades with the new robotic arms, the woman drew the last two swords, arming herself with six weapons at once!
Damnit... Empress Stinger 1's been doing a lot of work. At this point, the battery's probably almost dead! And using all four limbs at once takes a lot of power, but I'm not sure how much I can really push the Neural Link Chip, either! Worst-case scenario, I break the stupid thing. Then what?! It's not like we can just buy this crap, it's custom-designed tech! Renting an airship to drop Wes and the others on the higher floors already put us in the red. That stupid idiot! If I die here, I'm going to haunt those dumb skates until he dies eating asphalt!
Suddenly, the samurai seemed to stop fighting. One of them raised their hand to signal the group. "Are you positive?" The man asked, seemingly getting a message. "Kage agreed to the terms? ... Understood. Ground floor suspect won't interfere, will return to Floor 3 after mop up." A hushed murmur fell over the crowd at the news. "Kage?" one of the guards whispered. "Wait, he agreed?" another added. "That's the boss," the first samurai said confidently. "Nothing he can't accomplish."
Wait, who? Did they make some deal to get reinforcements? Wait. Mopping up floor 3? Oh no. Lyn! U'la's eyes shot open in shock at the revelation. Wes isn't going to make it in time! If they have some form of new Huntsman, then Lyn and Fang could be trapped in the top floors with no escape route!
Why does today keep getting worse and worse...