Hey, uh, sorry. Aunt's in the hospital and just a bunch of other crap in life. Chapter's here though, more coming. Because of me not traveling for vacation, you can probably expect a 1-2 week gap in chapters until for as long as the story continues. At the rate it's going now, I may not even be done by the time real RWBY starts up. I need to start setting shit in motion.
As always, enjoy the chapter and PM or review anything you have to say.
I returned to the dorm room a few minutes after beating Jaune. After giving myself a final once-over for wounds or rips in my clothing, I stepped through the door. Weiss was sitting at the desk and Blake was on her bunk reading. Neither of them gave me too much more than a passing glance. Ruby and Yang jumped up to greet me.
"How'd it go against Jaune, I hear he's been getting a lot better?" Ruby asked me.
"He has some very unique tactics, and he has shown great improvement since the semester started." Yang clapped me on the shoulder. "Well, there's not a scratch on him, so I guess he won pretty easily. Figures, huh?" She laughed. I shook my head.
"Surprisingly, he got a good many shots in, I just healed with aura." I told them. Ruby cocked her head. "That quick?" I nodded to her.
"Well whatever the case, I hope you're ready for a night on the town." Now it was my turn to question her. She was quick to remind me of my promise to go to a team dinner at some point.
"So take off your sword and let's head out. I know this great club. The owner's a good guy, even if he's a bit of a wimp." Yang told me. A wild smile was curling at the edge of her mouth and I noticed that her normal attire had been replaced by a slightly more vibrant set.
"Alright." I said, resigning myself to the evening. "Are Weiss and Blake coming?" I asked. Ruby nodded. On que, the black and white clad members of the team stood from their positions.
I took more keenly to the small details. Weiss' usual silver hair ornament had been switched for one with a few rubies. Blake had donned a small black necklace and Ruby had put on a touch of eyeliner and had a rose pin on her shoulder.
Despite the displeasing idea of spending a night out at a club, I did rationalize that any club an adrenaline junky like Yang enjoyed must be good. Maybe I could piss off the bouncers for a laugh and drink a few people under the table. Hopefully they had a few poker or pool tables.
"Off we go then." I said, opening the door. The rest of them followed me out of the building. From the front doors of Beacon Academy it was a short walk to the Bullhead launching ground. It was an active night as many of the students intended to enjoy their time on the last of their brake. Despite the crowd though, I spotted something disconcerting.
A few humanoid droids that had wheels for feet and a single lenses for faces we rolling around and scanning people. That could be normal if it wasn't for the fact that they all had the Atlas insignia on them. The black rock and ring stood out on the droids' white armor plating. My mind flew back to the soldiers that I had massacred. Losing a squad (though more likely a valuable piece of tech like that Railgun) would have called reason to look for the person responsible.
As we prepared to board the ship, a single droid came wheeling over and stopped in front of me, looking down from the foot it had on me. A flat white beam of light scanned from the top of my head to my boots and back again. The lights behind the lenses flittered before a mechanical voice droned out a response. "64% match. Cataloged."
"Match for what?" Blake asked and I shrugged my shoulders. I knew exactly what it was matching me to though. The grotesque form that I had taken to terrify the last of the soldiers must have been caught by some hidden camera on their suit. As long as it didn't label me a Person of Interest, that was fine by me.
"Information classified. Clearance requirements not met." The machine droned out in response to Blake's questions. The machine continued to stare at me for a few seconds, probably making the rest my team uncomfortable.
"Can... We leave?" Ruby asked aloud. I turned around and slowly walked into the Bullhead platform that had extended to us. The machine's 'eye' followed my movement, but it made no move to stop me. "I assume so." I said.
Yang and the rest boarded the ship and took a seat. I stayed standing and gripped one of the support bars on the ceiling. Everyone was silent as the bullhead's engines roared and took off. After they quieted and found their rhythm, Ruby spoke. "Does anyone know what that thing was? It creeped me out."
"It's PoI-Bot. Whenever a major crime goes off in an area, usually a murder of some sort, those are deployed into populated areas to compare and contrast people that have similar profiles to any footage caught of the person who committed the crimes, labeling the highest match a Person of Interest." Weiss told us. Everyone was silent once more.
"Who's the closest match?" Ruby asked after a time. Weiss sighed.
"From how long it lingered on him, it seems like Darren is the closest match." Yang's eyes widened and Ruby looked worried. Blake didn't have much of a reaction. I decided to clear the air with a general statement.
"Criminals wear black to hide at night, and you have to be somewhat large to overpower someone. It must have just caught my clothes and body size." I said. Ruby's worry seemed to ease a bit. It seemed she was concerned that I might be wrongly labeled and taken away. How kind.
"Well, let's not think on it too much. We're out to have fun and besides, we're five hunters-in-training. It's not like anyone could get the best of us all, especially now that Ruby's been training in hand-to-hand." That seemed to cheer the mood in the aircraft. Ruby smiled and Weiss sat up a little more. Blake remained as neutral as before.
"Yeah. Let's have some fun and let the police do their thing. With those droids helping them, they'll catch the person in no time." Ruby said. I nodded my fake agreements and turned to look out the window. There was still a good distinct of woods before we would be over the city. At this point there were only lights on the horizon.
The rest of the ride was filled with small talk that I allowed myself to be roped into. Simple questions. Family, friends, goals. The usual conversation of teenagers. The suspicion of murder was forgotten, and good riddance to it. I made a mental note to back off on killing people for a bit. Tensions were getting high and a few too many eyes were looking around for my liking.
Destruction was fun, but deceiving people for extended periods was the icing on the cake. I liked my icing. Maybe if Atlas would stop trying to pick fights with me it would be easier for the both of us. Maybe Atlas Academy could be my next target after Beacon.
The engines on the Bullhead quieted further than the droning hum of flight and I became slightly lighter on my feet. We were descending into downtown Vale. Time had passed a bit quicker than I had expected. The far off lights were now surrounding us from one side. The floor jarred as we touched down and a voice on the loud-speaker told us to get off.
"I always did love Vale at night, even in the pictures." Weiss said as we were walking. Yang chuckled a bit. "Well, the place we're going isn't as flashy and gorgeous as here, but the real fun is on the inside." Weiss cocked her head. The aspect of club districts and slums were foreign to her.
"Wait, is this that club you basically blew up?" Ruby asked in a judging voice. Yang held her hands up. "Only part of it!" She defended.
"Only most of it. How am I going to go in there anyways? 16 years old here." Ruby complained, waving her arms. Yang chuckled some more before donning a tricking smile.
"Let's just say we've come to an 'agreement'. You'll be fine." She reassured Ruby.
"By 'agreement', you mean that he serves you and your friends and you don't blow up his establishment. Blake said, a thin smile on her lips. I chuckled as she was put on the spot. She laughed nervously.
"Ehh, basically." She replied. Weiss mad a judgmental noise and Yang looked back at her. "Hey Ice Queen, don't judge my methods if they work." She told Weiss.
"I didn't say anything." Weiss said tauntingly.
"Yeah yeah, you won't be complaining when you've got a free drink in your hand." Yang told her. Weiss put her hands on her hips.
"I don't drink." She complained. "I'm surprised you do."
"It's because you're no fun." I answered her. She made an indignant 'hmph' noise and crossed her arms. Yang chuckled some more and I got the image of a drunken Weiss stumbling around. She was probably an angry drunk if I had to guess.
"What about you Ruby. You couldn't possibly drink either." Ruby twirled her thumbs together. "Weeelll..." She started.
"Oh come on! You as well?" She complained. Ruby jumped away. "All I did was take a drink from Qrow's flask once... Ok, twice." She defended. I made a note to ask who Qrow was.
"So were they both on accident?" I asked, wanting to hear this story. She shook her head.
"N-No. Neither of them actually. The first time I was just tasting it and the second time was because I spit the first mouthful out. I swallowed that one. It burned." She told us. Yang started cackling and turned around to walk backwards so she could tell us the rest.
"I remember that one. You were only 10 and Qrow had asked why you were stumbling around the house and walking into walls. Once he found out he couldn't stop laughing either." Yang laughed some more and Ruby turned red-faced as she tried to get her sister to stop talking.
"You fell asleep in the dog bowl!" Yang got out between laughs. Blake laughed and Weiss held a hand over her mouth to suppress her chuckles. Ruby's face only turned redder in the cool night air. Despite her embarrassment though, she was smiling. Even in the center of the joke, she found humor in it. The concept of mortal humility was strange.
A few more stories were told, though none as humorous as the first. As they talked and I mostly listened, our surroundings slowly changed from a proper city to smaller stooped buildings. Well-made signs with slogans faded into neon names and changing symbols of the establishment. Well set concrete became dirty brick and more street lamps were smashed out.
None of the members had noticed the change until Yang announced, "We're here.". The rest of us stopped and gazed upon the circular building with an assorted glass and stone dome about five feet inwards of the original roof. Small lights shined out of the panes and music echoed from inside, heavily muffled by the structure. A flashing 'Junior's Club' sign stood out.
"This is it?" Weiss asked indignantly.
"Yep. I know it isn't much to look at, but it's like I said, the fun's on the inside." With that said, Yang bounded her way to the front door without waiting for us. We were forced to catch up as she threw open the door and half-shoved a bouncer out of the way. He seemed about to stop her until he saw her hair and halted his movements.
After seeing that we were following us he stepped aside. That is until I came up last and he stopped me by the shoulder. "Keep her in line, would you? I don't need Junior getting mad about club damage again." He told me. The man was about my height and a bit broader with well-defined muscles. He wore a pair of dark shades and a pair of brass knuckles hung by his belt.
"Yeah, I'll try." I told him as I peeled his hand off my shoulder, giving his forearm a squeeze that told him I could crunch his arm in an instant. Surprisingly he didn't seem the least bit deterred. He simply flicked the knuckle-dusters once with his free hand and took back his arm. I liked the confidence.
Flashing him a douchebag smile, I followed everyone else into the club. As soon as I opened the double doors the music became much louder. Lights spilled from a variety of sources and were outlined by the foot of fog laying on the floor thanks to some well-placed fog-machines. The theme of the club itself was interesting, entirely Monochrome.
The club was fully black with white highlights. The only things that had color was the red ties that the bouncers and other employees wore and the lines of drinks at the center bar. This was where I found the first member of the team. Yang was sitting and talking with a man in a white shirt and black vest. I strolled over to ask where the other three went.
"I'm sure they'll play it cool. Oh, look. Here comes one of them now. Hey Darren, meet Junior!" She called out to me as I approached. The man turned around to greet me. He was another large and burly man with a full face beard that had the cheeks shaved off. I could have mistaken him for another bouncer if his outfit didn't scream 'Owner'.
"Well howdy-do. Name's Junior. You are?" He extended a gloved hand out to me. I shook it and noticed that where my thumb landed on his knuckle was a metal stud hidden under the cloth.
"Darren. We're here with the team for the night." He chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, the other three chicks that walked in with you. I saw 'em." Yang placed a hand on his shoulder and quietly spoke to him.
"Watch your words Junior, one of them is my little sister." He jumped back.
"Little!? How old is she?" He asked. Yang told him that she was sixteen and he placed his head in his hands.
"Agh, its already dangerous enough having underage teenagers in here, but a pre-teen? I'll get shut down if anyone finds out." Junior said exasperatedly.
"Then no one's got to find out, now do they, bud?" I asked, leaning into his face. He leaned backwards but stayed in place. "Yeah, I guess not. But no drinks for her."
Yang shook her head. "She doesn't drink anyway, but why don't you bring me my strawberry-sunrise?" She asked. Junior grumbled some before beginning to shuffle off.
"A vodka too, and make it strong." I called out after him. His shoulders visibly tensed as his steps hitched for a moment. We watched him move the bartender aside and begin mixing the drink himself. The look of damaged pride was painted across his face.
"So, where'd the other three run off to in here?" I asked. Yang threw her hands in the air. "I dunno. Go mingle and find them. Just try not to get into any fights before my drink is done." She winked and I walked off. Within a few steps I began to realize this was your typical dance club, and the one pool-table was filled up.
If there was one game there was more, I was sure at least Blake was trying something for fun. This was the club district after all. So I walked around in search of either a teammate or a dice table. I managed to spot both at the same time. Sitting at a table in between some of the less sleazy guys was Ruby and Weiss at a poker table.
Weiss had a confused and guarded look on her face as both of the guys tried to explain the game to her. She had barricaded her left side with Ruby who seemed more at ease. Either she was used to these people or she didn't care. Both were possible and it could have simply been the fact that neither of them seemed like they would try hitting on her.
Weiss would have a bit more trouble in the night until her prickly personality drove them away and she simply had fun. After mapping their location in my head I began to search for Blake.
Instead of sitting in a corner reading and drinking like I thought she would, Blake stood in front of a slouched man at a Shell Game table. It was interesting that such a low-rate game was allowed within the club. I could also see Blake listening intently as the bowls were shuffled around. This was a trick that few faunas could pull off.
If you had beyond excellent hearing you could make out the faint clicks that the traditional stone makes as it hits the side of the moving shell, cup, or bowl. This trick was also impervious to the age old Sleeve Maneuver in which one would switch the stone into their right sleeve while placing one with the left, or vice versa. This usually tricked people who had excellent motion tracking.
Blake had both because she was a cat faunas. The Sleeve Maneuver was pulled and a small look of confusion crossed Blake's face as the clicking moved to where it shouldn't have been. Regardless of the scanning move though, she picked the right cup. The man was so confident that she had lost that he had even begun to say so until he saw the stone.
"I win, don't I?" Blake asked. The man looked at her before placing the bowl back down. "Double or nothing?" He asked. He was obviously sure that this was a simple mishap. Blake nodded and the sequence began. The man switched the stones twice this time. It didn't matter as Blake pulled the bowl off the stone herself. Reluctantly the man handed over two 100 lien bills, quite a bit for a gamble.
I waved Blake over as she collected her bills. "Isn't that cheating?" I asked her. She shrugged.
"It's only cheating if he wasn't already doing the same. Where's Yang at?" She asked me.
"She's waiting on our drinks. Ruby and Weiss are playing poker." Blake chuckled a bit at that.
"Weiss I could see winning that, but Ruby can't bluff. Let's just hope she doesn't lose too much." Blake said and started to walk to the table they were at. I let her leave and went back for my vodka. Junior kindly handed me the glass. Yang was no longer at the bar, which worried me somehow. I couldn't explain why. She wasn't that chaotic, was she?
"Hey Junior, got any Dart-Boards in this place?" I asked. He set a freshly dried glass onto the bar. "South side."
I made a hat-tip gesture and stood up to go try my hand at it. Anyone could throw things, all I had to do was throw things with more style. Having said things being sharp made it better. I wasn't going to throw them at people, but a drunk person walking in front of the board, accidents happen.
I hoped they would happen. Sadly though just about everyone standing at the boards were mildly sober. Only one man was fully drunk as he focused intently on aiming his dart before his body listed and fell into the lap of another patron, knocking his drink out. I ignored the following punch and screams in favor of the game.
A losing man walked past me and I took his place. A man with a thick and grisly beard sneered at me. "Beginner's board is over there." He said, jabbing his thumb over. The man next to him took a deep draw from his cigar and nodded.
"Oh yeah, what's this one then, first-timers?" I said. The one man choked on the puff of his cigar and the larger one talking to me deepened his scowl. "What're you trying to say, boy?" He asked. 'Boy' was accurate as the man was at least thirty years older than my body's age.
I picked up a trio of gold and black dart up off the table next to me. "I'm simply saying that I can kick your ass at this game now, or you can leave and save yourselves the embarrassment." The man puffing on the cigar seemed to get nervous that I was speaking to this one in that tone.
He sneered at me before grabbing the darts out of my hand and turning around. "Those are my darts. Here." He said as he tossed a closed container of five darts behind him. I caught them easily.
"Starting at 305." The man said as he aimed and threw his dart. Needless to say things went downhill for him fast. Every round he got angrier and angrier as I pulled ahead of him with evening throws, then score-cutters. A good number of crashes were heard behind us and we ignored them. Finally I ended my game with a center bullseye and turned to him.
The cigar-man had left and the grisly man was breathing heavily in anger. "Another game?" I asked mockingly. He shook his head twice before grabbing my neck with one hand and punching me. A sore loser he was, and more so after his knuckles snapped off my shielding. A purple light danced on my skin as he cradled his hand. I wasn't at all surprised by his reaction, in fact I was hoping for it.
"Bastard. Get him boys." No one came to attack me. He looked around and noticed a good many people had begun to fight. His 'boys' were stuck in the middle of the brawl. The fights hadn't reached the dancing area or poker tables yet, but they would soon.
"You still want to try me?" I asked the man. He pulled a switchblade from his pocket with his left hand and jumped at me. "I was hoping you'd do that.
I moved aside and grabbed his left hand, swinging him with his own momentum into a table. I stared around giving a 'who's next' face. in my scanning I noticed that Junior slammed down a walkie-talkie and muttered something. I couldn't hear what he said, but he grabbed a pistol on one hand and a large metal object in the other.
It was at this point that I wondered where the bouncers had gotten off to. Everyone was wearing so much black around me that I couldn't pick one out. All I could assume was that they were in the frey somewhere and were losing. I waited where I was and let Junior try to do whatever he was doing.
He got up onto a table that wasn't turned over and fired his pistol three times. Most people turned to look at him. "Alright. Everyone on this side needs to leave. Now!" He demanded. Yang hopped up behind him and grabbed his shoulder. In a fake sweetheart voice she spoke.
"Aww c'mon. Shouldn't you let them have their fun?" He shook his head.
"Their 'fun' was started by your friend over there. He's going too." He said. I held up my hand.
"Alright now hold on just a minute..." Junior hung on my word and waited for me. I picked up my cup of vodka and drained it, ice and all. Then I looked at the glass like I was contemplating it, and threw it at Junior. The glass smashed off his face and he fell backwards. That was que for the rest of everyone to resume fighting.
Junior stood back up with his metal object and began unfolding it. "Alright hunter friend, I asked nicely."
He fired and a scattershot of rockets leapt at me. Without a weapon I could only put up my hands and project my power into a barrier in front of me. Half a dozen explosions impacted thin air in front of me. Before the smoke even cleared Junior had transformed his missile launcher into a hefty bat. His first blow cracked across my barrier and shattered it. A surprising amount of strength from a simple club owner.
The discharge of his rockets seemed to amp things up as a large group of suits rushed into the room and began knocking people out left and right. I paid them no mind as Junior charged me with his bat again. I blocked with my arms and summoned knuckle-dusters. With him this close I could easily see the blood on his face from where the glass had shattered.
He swung again and I ricocheted his bat off my knuckles before punching him heavily in the stomach. His resilience did not hold up to his strength as he crumpled inwardly for a second. After regaining his stance he struck again. I watched as no aura flickered. He had none.
In that case, he was very resilient. However, he just wouldn't be able to match up. I stopped his bat with my hand and pulled it out of his, casually tossing it aside. "Better luck next time bud, but at least the vodka was good." I delivered a strong cross-chop to the side of his neck and he crumpled to the ground. No more weapons discharged, but people kept fighting.
Yang was taking on a few body-guards on her own while Ruby and Weiss had gone back to back. None of us had our weapons, or at least none to use. Yang's gauntlets were extended but she had told me on the walk here that she had opted not to load them. The metal plating on her knuckles still made her punches devastating. Her semblance wasn't even activated as she mulled about the guards.
Blake was standing on table and fighting people with a bar-stool pole. With the large and continuous influx of suits rushing towards us I decided to get some more action. I summoned a pair of knuckles on my right hand and jumped into the fray.
The guards themselves had weapons ranging from solid steel canes to jagged machetes. Having a jagged blade was not good for practical combat as it couldn't cut well, got stuck on things, and was a pain to sharpen. The first one to try using it on me made his mistake by striking downwards. I slipped around it and punched him in the center of the nose, cracking his head backwards and collapsing him.
No aura flickered on him either. I didn't expect anything more from some obviously cheap wannabe mercenary goons. They were all about intimidation. For a normal person they were dangerous. To anyone with aura they were nothing. I elbowed another guard in the jaw and broke his teeth. A third cut sideways at me and I jumped back, his blade barely missing my clothes.
He swing again and I flicked the blade off my finger before kicking out his leg and punching him down to the floor. Yang and the rest were having similar ease. Everyone had yet to activate their semblances except for me, and that was simply for harder knuckles. Any henchmen that could run were starting to and the rest lay unconscious around us.
I had a higher concentration of those unable to run at my feet than the rest of them, but they paid that fact no mind. Yang was panting with a smile on her face as she looked around for any more to fight. Ruby and Weiss seemed less entertained than her, but they both had the smallest beginnings of a grin.
A slight clank was heard as Blake dropped her pole and walked over to us. "Does this happen every time you're here?" She asked.
"Usually they know better than to pick a fight with me, especially without Melanie and Miltia. Junior must be having a bad day." Yang answered. I wanted to ask who Melanie and Miltia were, but something told me that was who Junior was trying to call before taking matters into his own hands.
"Yeah well, we should probably leave before more show up." Weiss said as she readjusted her hair.
"I second that." Ruby said. Blake agreed and even if I voiced my opinion, which would have obviously been to keep fighting, we were outnumbered.
"Alright alright, the fighting worked me up an appetite anyways. Time to get some eats." Yang said and made for us to follow her out. I was the last in line of us and nobody saw the man who grabbed my shoulder.
"Ohh, leaving so soon?" A familiar gruff voice told me. I turned around just in time to catch a bottle of cheap red wine with my mouth. The glass shattered and splashed across my cheeks in a line. It was a thinner bottle and didn't have as much area, but I could tell what it did hit would stain, including my skin. Without hesitation I decked the drunken and enraged man. He fell backwards with a groan and I spit the wine and glass out of my mouth, rubbing off what little I could before it stained.
"Who was that?" Yang asked. I grunted and told a very brief story of how I beat him at darts. She shrugged.
"Whatever, just wash off at the restaurant so the staff doesn't smell the wine on you." Yang told me. I nodded and we pushed out of the club. The streets were mostly empty until a whirring noise caught my ear. I had heard it before and couldn't place it until I saw it. Another PoI bot rolled up to me and began scanning my face once more. It lingered longer this time and a troubling thought crossed my mind before the machine droned out its response.
"82% Match. Person of Interest similarity requirements met. Please come with me." The thing said to me and a heavy cuff with a chain shot out of its mid-section and latched to my arm. The tether pulled me closer until only twelve inches remained between my arm and the metal surface of the machine. It began wheeling away and Ruby called out to me.
"Hey wait up! We'll help explain things." I shot out my hand to stop her.
"No, I've got this. Go uptown a bit until you reach a place called The Lion's Den. I'll meet you there after smoothing this over." I told them as the machine picked up pace. My lie was feigning interest in keeping their night fun, but I was actually afraid that whoever I was being taken to see might pull up a picture of the occurrence I was being targeted for, and making the connection. It was a long shot, but a long shot I wasn't willing to risk.
The damned wine is the only reason I look close enough to the grotesque figure I created. If I ever saw the dart man again I would kill him slowly. Until then I was forced into a light jog alongside the machine until we got to wherever it was taking me. Sure I could destroy the machine and break the cuffs with ease, but innocent don't run.
I took in more surroundings as the droid took me through unknown back alleys and corridors I had never seen. Rats and dumpsters and homeless caught my interest, but the thing that captured me the most was all the more unsettling than my current predicament. On the horizon when I could see it, gargantuan silver ships sailed in the air in this direction. I could faintly see the same symbol as what was on the bot when I enhanced my vision.
Just what kind of reinforcements did I force to be called in?