Chapter 18, Escape from Beacon
Time slowed down dramatically, as Hakke evaluated his current predicament. He had encountered several dangerous individuals over the course of his time on Remnant, all of which had been criminals. Most of which had been highly skilled, more so than he was. Huntsmen, one and all, in skill if not in name. Now however, he was facing down someone who not only was a Huntsman, or Huntress, or whatever, but she was in charge of actively training the next generation in combat. That told him several things.
One, she was a veteran Huntress. No one outside of the very desperate put an inexperienced combatant in the role of trainer. It was a waste of resources and of time, and only made more casualties for the trainers to deal with. Two, as she was in charge of teaching the next generation, that meant that she was guaranteed to be very competent, much for the same reasons. Even more than usual, as to ensure that no freakishly talented students could best their teacher during their tenure at the school.
Of course it was her car.
Of course they had stolen her car.
He glanced at his coat, currently draped inside out over the terminal chair, and then back at Goodwitch. Did she recognize him? What the hell could she do? Seeing the recent revelations about Semblances, it would make sense that she possessed one herself, which then begged the question of what hers was. Murex was sensing air currents or heightened reflexes or something, Magenta could cut things better than most, or maybe she just had a really sharp sword. Tank Top's 'Semblance' had been drugs.
Without so much as moving a muscle, she suddenly looked significantly more annoyed, and impatient. How the hell she had managed that was beyond the Warlock. Some skill developed over many, many long, irritating hours corralling super powered teenagers no doubt.
Traveler's Light. That was her job. A moment of pity ran through Hakke's bones. He had encountered more than one batch of teenagers out where they weren't supposed to be. Getting them to do anything had been a struggle, and they didn't have Aura to back themselves up.
Still, she needed an answer. One last glance between his coat and the Instructor, and Hakke gave her one.
"Yyyes?" He dragged out the word, instantly regretting it.
"I take it you are not yet done with this terminal? You are aware of the etiquette of this place, right?"
Oh. Oh, thank the Light. There was no flare of recognition, nor any indication that she knew who he was. Just the run-of-the-mill irritant of some normal interaction she didn't want to have right now.
"Yes to the first, no to the second, I'm afraid. I'm guessing I'm supposed to stay seated until I'm done, aren't I?"
"Correct."
"Ah, well, my bad then." Hakke looked around the spacious room. The other terminals were filled up, some had several people milling around singular ones. Families, or siblings talking to the rest of their family, if he had to make a guess. "Well, if you need to get on one of these things, I don't think I have long to go. Should be able to get a move on pretty quick."
Hakke walked back over to the terminal and checked on Callie's progress. She had downloaded a majority of the files she had marked, leaving a handful of minutes left. He leaned down and made a show of typing on the keyboard, flipping between several pop ups like he knew what he was looking for. That, and he sent a ping to Callie to hurry up.
"Those are banking records." Goodwitch stated. "And unless you have more than one account, not yours."
Oh wonderful. She had been watching, and more importantly, observing the screens that he had brought up; close enough to see that they were all from different personal and business accounts.
"That they are. I've got a hell of a fun day ahead of me to go through them all." He admitted. Once again, the ol' truth and a lie strategy kicked into play. Or at least, truth and a half-truth. "It's for a case I'm working on. I'm a PI."
Hopefully that would be enough to get her to lose interest and go literally anywhere else than directly behind him. As he sat back down and entered in several commands that Callie instructed over his earpiece, he was proven wrong. She wasn't moving.
"I would think it would be better to get files like that directly from the bank, instead of from a side portal like you are doing."
Oh, that was an accusation.
"You'd think that." He said awkwardly. He was drawing a blank at the moment. There were plenty of lies he could attempt to spin in order to get things back on a more beneficial path, but there was a very high chance that he would stumble over himself and expose what he was really doing.
There had to be an out. It was looking more and more like she was going to properly accuse him of hacking and stealing client information from one of the central banks in Vale, a slanderous claim if there ever was one. Even though that was exactly what he was doing, which even Hakke knew was highly illegal just about anywhere with laws.
"I don't think that. I know that." She said, tone turning icy.
Once again, Hakke was incredibly glad he was a Guardian, and most of his bodily functions could be suppressed. If they weren't he would be sweating right now.
"It's not as bad as it looks," Hakke began, "seeing as my client gave me permission to access their stuff here. It's just more efficient for me to do this here, than going down to the bank itself. Weird situation."
The download was nearly done, then he could leave and never look back. Something about this woman was sending his instincts into fight or flight mode. Which was odd, as he had defended Callie as she did something similar, but while under fire from a small horde of aliens that were actively trying to kill them both, and he had been far more calm then. Probably something to do with how new this situation was to him.
"Look, I know how shady it looks. But it is above the board, and believe me, I'm not a fan of this either."
Agonizing silence followed.
Right as Hakke's patience and capacity to not act was about to run out, and as Goodwitch just started to say something else, there was a ding as the download completed. Hakke snatched his Scroll out of the terminal, grabbed his coat and immediately began to leave.
"Oh thank the Light good talk see ya terminals yours." He hurriedly said as he tried to find the least conspicuous mix between normal walking and speed walking. He didn't look back, as even he knew that would be as easy a way to declare he was suspicious as anything would. He reached the elevator and put his coat back on, adjusting it to his liking as the door opened, letting out two people.
"Sir."
Hakke got in the elevator and hit the close door button, finally looking out back into the CCTS terminal room. Goodwitch was glaring right at him, eyes wide with recognition, and was beginning to approach.
"Sir!" She demanded, striding forward towards him. Hakke responded by spamming the close door button with one hand as the Instructor angrily stomped towards the elevator. Gradually, the doors finally closed, sealing the angry Goodwitch off from Hakke, and the elevator began to move down. Once the elevator had descended a fair distance, he let himself breathe a sigh of relief.
Just as the elevator jerked to a stop.
"Uh."
"I think she has an override. She is the Deputy Headmistress here." Callie said in his ear.
"Of course she is." Hakke grumbled as he looked for a way out. He saw a slightly mismatched panel on the ceiling of the elevator cab. "Callie? Could you…" He began as the elevator began returning up. She hit it with a beam of blue light, and the automatic system kicked into gear, and the access panel slid open, with Hakke pulling himself through as soon as the gap allowed. One more blast of light from the Ghost, and the hatch slid shut once again.
The elevator neared the top door, the Warlock riding on top. The shaft was fairly standard for an elevator shaft, albeit with Vale's signature cleanliness. Looking down, the other elevators were either at the top, or on their way up, no doubt due to Goodwitch's override. That left him with not too many options outside the less intelligent.
Thankfully, those were his specialty.
He leapt off the elevator, plummeting down to the base of the shaft while looking for a maintenance door, the one that any well made elevator would have. Once he spotted it along the bottom of the shaft, he glided over and forced it open. Somewhere above he could hear a harsh slamming sound as the elevator doors were thrown open.
The Deputy Headmistress of one of the most important places in Vale. They had stolen the car of the Deputy Headmistress of one of the most important places in Vale. As he darted through the maintenance halls looking for a way out of the CCTS Tower, he once again was hit with the all too familiar desire to curse Lady Luck. If Goodwitch caught him, it was almost guaranteed he would be handed over to the cops, which would only make his already hectic life even worse.
He wished it wasn't the case, but it was where he found himself. Anyone associated with the police Hakke needed to consider an inadvertent associate of the Syndicate, at least until Cerulean and he were able to actually figure out who the real moles were. Not to mention the fact that, outside of Vale Intake, he flat out didn't exist in any real capacity for any government here on Remnant.
Finally, he found a door that opened back into the main lobby of the tower. He sped out of the tower, gaining more glances than he wanted to, and made a beeline for the air dock. Hopefully, there would be a flight ready to go back to Vale in the last minutes of prep for him to board. Hell, even if the thing was called back by Goodwitch, he could always just jump out and walk his way back into the city. Falling wasn't much of a problem for someone who could float, after all.
It was just getting there that was the issue. At the very least the crowds that had been scattered along the various boulevards seemed to have almost entirely dispersed, which meant that most of the students were probably now somewhere in a building, and the parents had left. He hoped at least. He had no idea how that stuff was handled here. The CCTS Tower was at the heart of the campus, which meant he had a good ten minute walk just to get back to the air dock.
Ten minutes that he had to make sure that one angry teacher didn't find him during.
He didn't want to get in a fight, not here. Not surrounded by Huntsmen. A fight would bring every capable fighter out of the woodwork to either see what was happening or to join in. Even the ones who were just starting would prove to be an insurmountable problem simply due to sheer numbers. If a fight broke out, he would not be able to get away.
He knew the Syndicate would eventually figure out he wasn't dead, but that was something he wanted them to learn much further down the line, after he caused them more damage, not right now.
Definitely not right now.
He continued speed walking down the boulevard, making it a fair distance down to some variety of teaching hall before he peeked behind him. He could barely see Goodwitch at the base of the tower, scanning the various paths for him, before she very obviously noticed and began making her way towards Hakke.
"Ooh, that's not good." He said to himself as he let himself into the building before him. It opened into a sort of entrance plaza, the sort of entryway one would find in the more fancy amphitheaters back home, complete with twin staircases leading up to the second level of the building. He hurried up one, looping around to weave deeper into the building, hoping to draw the Deputy Headmistress on a wild goose chase.
The more time wasted hunting for him here, the more time he would have to get to the air dock.
Far sooner than he was hoping, he heard the door slam open, soon followed by the aggressive clacking of high heels storming their way through the building. How any human being was capable of moving anywhere in the vicinity of fast in high heels was completely beyond Hakke. Not even Aura, hell, not even Light would help in making that practical.
He worked his way over to the opposite side of the building and to a window that was secured with a mechanical latch. Incredibly, it wasn't even a robust model, and Hakke set to work unlocking it.
"Just Hakke!" Goodwitch angrily announced, her voice bouncing through the polished stonework of the building incredibly well. "I know you're in here!" He paused mid lockpick.
"How the hell," He began quietly. "does she know my name? Or the crappy Vale version?"
"I did upload a fairly basic profile for you with the city to get a Private Investigator license." Callie admitted sheepishly. "I figured having an official license would help give us legitimacy, for the bargaining power."
"Wonderful." He grumbled as he returned to picking the lock.
With a light click, the latch came free, and the Warlock threw open the window and prepared to vault out. Unfortunately, the clicking of heels on stone rounded the corner and stopped.
"Halt!"
Hakke sucked in a breath through clenched teeth, before turning around to face Goodwitch. She was down the corridor he had come down, glowering at him with what looked like a riding crop in her hands. He… he really hoped that was her weapon. Traveler's Light he hoped that counted as a weapon.
It took him a moment to formulate a sentence. "Is tha-wha-why… Can I help you?" He finally managed, his exasperated confusion bleeding through with every word.
"Just Hakke, You are to come with me." She stated, slowly making her way towards him.
"Okay. And why is that?"
"You know why."
"If this is about the car thing, well, in my defense, I was being chased by the mafia at the time."
She stopped, her previously stoic and determined demeanor being replaced with shock, then rage. "It was you."
"This… wasn't about that, was it." Hakke said weakly, emphasizing with his pointer finger.
"It is now. You are under arrest." She growled.
Hakke jumped out the window.
Behind him he heard Goodwitch shout something, but that took significantly less of his attention than how the window slammed shut on its own, clipping his head on the way down hard enough to break the glass. He hit the ground running and holding his head, shaking the broken glass out of his hair as he sprinted across the manicured lawn towards the air dock.
So it seemed he had a fight on his hands, or at least a fighting retreat. The exact thing he needed to avoid.
Fan. Tastic.
He had very limited options. He couldn't outrun a Huntsmen, he had learned that the hard way one too many times, which meant that he needed to either stand his ground or find a way to lose her. Lose the person who probably knew this campus like the back of their hand. Doable, just not ideal.
He made a beeline straight for the air dock, focusing his Light into his legs to gain whatever extra speed he could. He was aiming for a cluster of trees that he thought he could use as makeshift cover from whatever fresh hell Goodwitch was preparing to launch his way. The trees were moderately spaced and large, plenty of room for maneuvering in between their trunks. Doubled up with the fact that there were largely only a few people between him and his objective, and he may just pull this off, even if he needed to hijack the last departing airbus.
The actively departing airbus.
Hakke hated this city.
He turned and backpedaled momentarily to get a sense of what his opponent was doing. Goodwitch had followed him out the window and was swishing her crop in the air like some sort of stage magician. His confusion soon gave way to comprehension, as a coil of either wire or rope flew out the window and formed a spiral in front of the instructor, its pattern following the swishes of the crop.
He believed he had her Semblance down: Telekinesis. Now the question was how the hell did he fight that?
She flicked the coiling material forward in an angry twirling mass. Hakke responded by throwing his own hand out and launching three orbs of Solar Light to meet it, the orbs detonating and disintegrating the majority of the mass. She was not happy with that, and with a scowl brought a multicolored cloud of Dust to bear from behind her. Some sort of carrying case on her back, if he had to make a guess.
She began raining elemental artillery at him, large enough gobs of the stuff to take him out, but neither large enough or potent enough to kill. With enough focus, he managed to dodge or absorb the worst of it and get to the tree line. His Light was key for him, now more than any of the other fights. Getting killed was fine. Getting captured was literally the worst case scenario. As such, he was forcing more and more Light up against the Barrier, desperately trying to claw whatever paracausal energy he could through its unknown membrane.
The barrage had been unique, every detonation bringing something new to bear. One had buffeted him towards Goodwitch with hurricane like winds, another had caused a classic fireball that had set the tail of his coat on fire. He couldn't keep this up. Getting close would be disastrous for him for the same reason every close quarters fight tended to be on Remnant. Staying at a distance wasn't working either, unlike his earlier battles with Murex. He also didn't want to draw his gun.
An escalation like that would just make things both more painful and more difficult to escape from.
He Dashed in a burst of flame behind a tree, just in time for the telekinetically controlled ball of Fire Dust to impact his cover, sending flames rushing past on either side. He charged through the vanishing inferno and watched as a ball of Ice Dust followed its fiery sibling at him. In desperation he launched a palm strike at it, the kinetic force shattering the Dust and coating both the Warlock and the surrounding greenery in a sparkling layer of frost.
It seemed he could detonate these masses of Dust with a palm strike. Combine that with the fact he had learned back at Cerulean's apartment, namely that his Light could supercharge the effects of Dust, and he was getting an idea. It wasn't a good one by any metric, but it would work. Probably. Or it would kill him.
Either outcome would solve this particular crisis.
Now to bait out the result he needed.
"Bit of an overreaction, don't you think?" Hakke shouted at Goodwitch. If his first impression of the woman was correct, it probably wouldn't be that hard to rile her up, and get her to launch another ball of fire his way. He was still too far away from the docks to make any real escape attempt, the tree glade he was taking shelter in situated almost 30 meters out.
He needed Fire Dust to make his plan work.
Hakke left the glade of trees and bolted just off to the side of the air docks, making sure that he was far enough from a small cluster of students who had gathered to watch the fight. Not like they were too much of a concern, there was still a considerable distance between himself and the gaggle of teenagers filming the fight with their Scrolls. All in all, he didn't care about them. It was the cliff the air docks were built on top of, and directly behind them that he was interested in.
"I don't believe so." Goodwitch responded icily, and flicked another ball of dust towards him. Unfortunately it wasn't the variety he wanted, but it might still work.
Hakke watched the unnatural arc of the telekinetically controlled Dust as it continued on its path to land behind him, and began to focus on gathering enough Light to cast his Dawnblade. The Dust descended, and Hakke moved, shunting some of his Light into a fiery dash that carried him out in front of the ball. At this point it was on top of him, moments from detonating.
He jumped, angling himself to be slightly above the ball of what he guessed was Wind Dust, and stretched a hand out to touch it, his Light pouring down his arm and directly into the ball.
When he had dumped Light into the Electricity Dust back at the apartment, it had amplified its power by an order of magnitude, creating an explosion powerful enough to deafen and stun everyone involved and nearly kill Hakke. Dumping Light into Wind Dust had a similar effect.
The ball exploded with terrifying efficiency, as winds that wouldn't have been out of place in the storms of a gas giant erupted out in all directions. The ground and grass directly underneath the explosion vanished, blasted into a microscopic smoothie of fine particulate. The leaves and several branches of a nearby tree were torn off and sent hurtling deeper into the campus. And Hakke was sent flying, thrown like a ragdoll clean over the students, the air docks, and over the edge of the cliff.
His ears were ringing, all moisture from his eyes was gone; blown away in the phenomenal wind gust, but he was alive and largely unharmed. For once things had worked out better than he had expected. A Fire Dust explosion would have provided more energy to send him further out past whatever limit Goodwitch's Semblance had to have, but it would have also set him on fire.
He subconsciously set his Light loose in a glide, momentarily hovering over empty space as he blinked his sight back. The cliff had to be over 200 meters straight down, the water docks below barely visible.
Standing along the edge of the cliff stood several students, thankfully with Scrolls instead of weapons drawn, although being filmed was far from ideal. They seemed to have enjoyed the show at least, judging by the giddy looks on their faces and the fact that one girl with a mane of bright blond hair seemed to be actively screaming how she thought the whole ordeal had been awesome.
Up until Goodwitch appeared, parting the crowd with a few sharp words. The two combatants locked eyes as the gaggle began to realize that the fight may have been more serious than they had thought. She raised her riding crop once more, loose debris pulling itself off of the cliffside for another attack.
Hakke meanwhile simply gave the woman a two fingered salute, before reaching up and focusing his Light once more, feeling the force of gravity begin to slightly bend before increasing in strength as he cast a Phoenix Dive.
The debris flew at him in an attempt to knock him closer to the cliff edge, or trap him a crush of rocks, but for once, they were too slow. Hakke plummeted at a breakneck pace down the length of the cliff, past the docks below, into the waters making up the head of the Vale river, and out of sight.
Well, I now get why Glynda never got used for any fights outside of the first episode. Her Semblance is absurdly powerful, to the point where I'm going to need to add some weaknesses or something, like she can't toss around people/the crap on their person directly. Otherwise every fight would just be: Pin arms, hoist in air, done. And that is the opposite of fun.
- RangoTango
It do be that time again.
Schmidget - Darn glad to hear that, and thanks for the kind words!
Al the Obsessive - The encounter is essentially plot foreshadowing for the RWBY side of the story, which I find hilarious. Future encounters are definitely going to be wack.
DarkMegatronXX47 - Pound for pound, I'd probably say the average Guardian is more powerful than the average Huntsmen, as long as there's no external force suppressing their abilities (IE the Barrier for Hakke.) The deck is actually pretty well stacked in the Guardian's favor IMO, Their abilities tend to be almost entirely based around killing things, and even stull as weak as a melee ability is good enough to outright disintegrate enemies.
The Baz - Warlockanic. Oh absolutely. I'd go so far as to say I'm obligated to go full noir at least once, start channeling some Humphrey Bogart.
Athenasia - Glad to hear it. The slow burn has its advantages, although it should hopefully pick up some more momentum from here on out.
Fearless leader Bart - I feel ya. This story has definitely been slower moving in regards to plot advancement. I'm aiming to turn that around in the upcoming chapters.
TheKazooBirb - Well, damn. Thank you. It's encouraging to see my neurotic need to explain and detail every little possible detail is going down well. Originally, I was going to have Hakke interact a hell of a lot more and way earlier with the main RWBY plot, but that fell apart as I figured out where and what I wanted the plot to be. Now, he's a minor character in their story, and they're minor characters in his. For the time being, at least. As for Silver Eyes being Light based, it could work, but I personally like the idea of it being some weird, Remnant specific thing, the same with Aura, Semblances, Grimm, etc. I feel it helps make both of the worlds that are getting mashed together feel distinct from one another; concepts that coexist instead of being variants of the same thing.
