An: I got this chapter to 7000 words. Epic writing moment.
"Don't worry Kaiser, Ross will send someone for us." Kane had said reassuringly, although it wasn't clear who he was trying to reassure. The assassin tucked his long dirty blond hair behind his ear, his flowing locks were matted with dry blood.
The reality of the situation had barely hit them: there was a leak in the IPS. That leak was the reason why capture was practically imminent on this high-stakes assignment. They were practically doomed from the start, it didn't mean that's how it was going to end though. For now, they were just two people, stuck in a cell, waiting for someone to "interrogate" them.
"Hey kid." Kaiser looked up to face his companion, he didn't look any better either. His scalp was caked in blood, it turned the roots of his normally ivory white hair into rusty brown from dry blood. "Whatever happens, don't make a sound." Kane tried to rub his face but was unable to due to the chain that connected his hands to the wall. "They're less likely to take you in if they don't notice you." Kaiser looked ready to object but was cut off by the blond. "Don't! Just… let them keep the heat on me alright."
Kaiser's eyes widened, this idiot of a man was willing to keep him from getting hurt?
"No." Kaiser softly croaked. "Whatever happens happens. There's no need to put yourself in any unnecessary danger." Kaiser dragged his knees up to his chest, he shivered as a flimsy leather jacket he wore for his cover failed to keep him warm. The floor was covered in dirty water, Kaiser hoped to keep from wetting his hands.
Kane seemed to readily agree with him, which was definitely out of place for him. He'd normally argue immediately and make sure Kaiser knew who was "right" in every situation.
They're cell door opened and in walked a wiry looking man, he wore spectacles and held a clipboard. "So, which one of you fine specimens will I have the pleasure of-" the wiry looking man tripped and crashed to the ground, muddy water splashed the moment he collapsed.
Kane, who retracted his leg with which he lashed out with, gave a manic grin. "Sorry doc, I forgot you're supposed to use the rubber mallet on me before my leg moves."
The doctor slowly got back and began patting himself dry. "Very well," the doctor snapped his fingers, one guard struck Kane with a baton. The sickening crack of rubber coated metal against skin reverberated throughout the cell. "we have a volunteer, take him away."
Kaiser watched wordlessly as they dragged his friend away.
Roughly two hours passed when the cell door opened again, Kane was shoved inside. Kaiser faced the blond assassin, his head was pressed against the floor.
"Are you a-alright?" Kaiser didn't want to imagine what he'd been through. The hitman simply sat up against the wall, he flashed a bloody grin at the boy. Taking out a small flask, the man took a swig of his drink.
"Right as rain Kaiser… right as rain."
It had been a full year since Martin Kane had been declared missing in action. Every day since then felt like a bigger challenge, one that Kaiser had to face alone. He refused to believe that Kane was actually dead, no, Kane was too much of an asshole to die. Kaiser had seen the man fight like the devil against any opponent that had been put up against him, there was no way Kane died in a fight. He just wished there was a sign that Kane was still out there. Kaiser downed another drink in the name of his friend.
The boy had wandered aimlessly throughout Vale after fleeing from Beacon, he ended up in downtown Vale. As night fell, he felt a strange compulsion to follow a couple crowds of people who were heading towards a nightclub of some kind. Kaiser was led to a large staircase that pointed towards a massive dance floor in the center of the area, off to the left side was a lengthy bar at the end of a drinking area riddled with black stained-glass tables. Due to the nature of the day he'd just had, it was only natural for Kaiser to head towards the bar.
Making his way past the dancefloor, Kaiser pulled up a modern looking chair to the bar. The bartender pointed at him, gesturing for Kaiser to order.
"Donnie Talker Black Label over ice please."
Kaiser was rewarded with a whiskey glass filled with a dark amber liquid, ice cubes were stacked to the brim of the glass of whiskey. Kaiser had never willingly indulged in drinking, but today had already been a rough day so it was going down the hatch. The cold drink burned at the back of his throat, the flavor was intense and smoky.
A couple drinks later and Kaiser was already down 43 lien, he still hadn't been able to feel a buzz. That could be attributed to the many times interrogators had gotten him drunk to lower his inhibitions for questioning. It truly stuck with him when one of them had coldly said "Fine wine makes for loose lips, boy." Before jamming the neck of a wine bottle down the boy's throat.
Kaiser laid his head down on the bar as he contemplated what drink to try next, he felt his scroll buzzing in his pocket. He quickly pulled it out to check the contacts, it was Yang. He accepted the call against his better judgement and was met with the fiery gaze of Yang Xiao Long.
"Where have you been?" Yang looked to be out on the streets of vale, street lamps were the only thing which illuminated her face on the scroll.
"I'm just here… in Vale." Kaiser numbly pressed a drink to his lips.
"Ok, so then what the hell happened at the cafeteria." Yang seemed to be getting in a more populated part of Vale as her screen showed that she was not only lit up by street lamps anymore.
Kaiser pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't know, I was just… tired."
"Man, imagine being tired and then wiping the floor with a whole team." Yang snarked, she let out a long sigh before continuing. "At least tell me where you are so I can pick you up."
"Honestly I don't know how I ended up here myself." Kaiser raised his head above his forearm which was resting on the bar. "Go back to Beacon, you don't have to worry about me."
"Wait don't ha-" Kaiser hung up on the scroll just as a girl in a red dress entered the frame. Yang probably saw the girl in the frame, Kaiser undoubtedly did. He turned around in his stool, facing the girl.
"May I help you?"
The girl politely bowed her head, a dark red feather on her head was shown on full display.
"Sorry, I was just wondering if I could see your ID."
That made sense, they wouldn't want civilian minors to drink. Huntsmen in training on the other hand were allowed to freely partake in drink so long as they had proper identification. Kaiser quickly procured his Beacon ID to the girl, her eyes widened once seeing the school logo. The girl in red had shifted into a defensive stance, not quite expecting but ready for a fight if one broke out.
"Is something wrong?" Kaiser's voice was muffled under the sleeve of his coat as he was still resting on his arm.
"You're from Beacon?" The girl's green eyes pierced Kaiser's bright red eyes.
"Yeah, is that a problem?" Kaiser continued to keep his head down. His glass was filled without him having to ask, it was quickly emptied.
"It will be if you start trouble here." The girl crossed her arms, she was clearly annoyed. "Last time a Beacon student came here she trashed the whole club."
Kaiser's gaze was focused on the bar in front of him. "Don't worry about me, I don't really plan on doing much of anything tonight."
The girl softened at this, probably at how defeated the boy before her looked. Kaiser immediately took notice when she took a seat next to him.
"What are you doing?" He didn't need any sort of judgement right now, he had enough of that from himself as it is.
"Just making sure you won't be starting any fights." The girl motioned for the bartender to serve her a drink. She was presented with a vodka spritz, she took a sip before facing the boy. "My name is Miltiades by the way."
"Pretty name." Kaiser received a nod from Miltiades. "So… you work here?"
"You could say that, mostly just make sure nobody tries starting trouble." She caught sight of a bruise forming on the boy's cheek as he shifted. "Did you get in a fight or something?"
"Or something." Kaiser finally sat up and stretched his limbs out, it felt really good after being still for so long. "Do you want to play a game?"
Caught off guard by the question, Miltiades sought for Kaiser to elaborate. "What kind of game?" She watched as the boy slapped down a handful of lien.
"Two kamikazes and a blue strip please." The bartender dutifully went about preparing the drinks. "The rules are simple. I drink my beer, after that we both take our shot." Kaiser began gesturing to his glass of beer. "We can only drink our shots the moment I finish my beer and put the glass on the table. You can't touch my glass for any reason" Then he started pointing to the two shot glasses sitting idly by the pair. "I can't touch your shot and you can't touch mine, whoever finishes their shot first wins. Cool?"
"Yeah." Miltiades held a grin, her hand sat near her shot prepared to down it after Kaiser finished his beer.
"Alright." Kaiser lifted the glass to his lips, he started chugging the bitter ale. He finished his drink quickly before inspecting his glass. "Hmm…" Kaiser hummed to himself before flipping his glass over and placing it over Miltiade's shot, his glass now perfectly encased her shot glass.
Miltiade made to remove the glass before being stopped by Kaiser.
"Can't do that, remember you can't touch my glass." Kaiser had picked up his shot glass and downed it in one go. "Guess I win."
"You cheated." Miltiades accused, her finger jabbed into Kaiser's cheek. The boy in turn only smiled.
"No, I played by the rules, I was just being creative." Kaiser fiddled with his shot glass, it was bone dry compared to how it was just a few moments ago. "When you can keep your mind flexible, you can outsmart just about anybody."
"But you had this game already set up, no? You didn't need to think about it much." Miltiades pouted, her arms crossed in a huff. A faint smile threatened to take hold when she noticed her previously somber patron lighten up. She decided to leave him for now. "I have to go patrol the rest of the club now." Miltiades stepped towards the staircase to the next section of the nightclub.
Once she was out of sight, Kaiser slumped back over the bar. Thoughts were swimming around in his head at the moment, Militiade's company had been a welcome distraction from his situation at Beacon. Currently, his entire year knew that Kaiser was a spy, worse yet that Cardin had accused him of murder. While it wasn't technically untrue it was really the only option left at times, incarceration sometimes wasn't enough to stop the worst of people.
How do his friends perceive him now though? Did they resent him now, Kaiser wouldn't blame them if they did. Did they regard him with disgust? Perhaps they didn't even like him in the first place. What if he was only close to them for convenience? What if he only trained with Pyrrha because he was at the gym early? What if Cardin exposing him gave everybody a reason to hate him?
But then, why would Pyrrha invite him to their table? Why would Weiss offer to help him on the matter of dust? His friends truly cared about him, It should have been more obvious. Yang herself was breaking Beacon curfew to look for the former spy. Kaiser's head only sunk deeper into his arms resting on the bar. His mind became hazy as he tried to think harder about his situation, he resigned himself to keeping his head down and letting the sounds of the nightclub surround him.
"C'mon sweetie, why don't you hang out with us?" A whiny voice called out.
Kaiser's attention piqued as he listened in on the scene behind him.
"I already told you I'm not interested." A girl, who looked to be in her 20's had said before trying to get away, only for the whining man to end up grabbing her by the wrist.
"Why not? How about instead of going with those losers, you come hang out with us huntsmen." The man, who sported a crew cut, had referred to two other men at a nearby table. Both occupants leered at the girl, Kaiser paid attention to one of them in particular who was bald.
"I make it a rule not to talk to strangers." The girl was led to the table against her will.
"We're not strangers c'mon, I'm Des, those two are Ivan and Tank. The bald one- Tank had raised his drink in acknowledgment.
"Just let me go please."
Her plea was ignored, instead Des just clamped his hand over her shoulder. "C'mon, just a couple drinks alright? Then you can go."
"I don't want to." She said. Des just looked at her uncomfortably.
Kaiser took out a single lien and scribbled something down on it. The spy hopped off his stool intending to get the girl out of her situation. He felt parched, no doubt the alcohol was finally doing its job. He stumbled his way towards the table, Des was already pressuring a drink on the poor girl. Kaiser closed in on the whiskey glass that was being pushed in front of the girl. The boy "accidentally" stumbled hard enough that he used the table to stand, he ended up swiping the drink off the table causing the glass to shatter.
"Hey!" Des shouted.
"Oh I'm sorry." Kaiser slurred. He then slung his arm around the girl's shoulder. "Heyyy…" he gestured to her with his index finger, he shook it while contemplating his next words. "Julie, you left us on the dance floor!" Kaiser hoped that the girl would catch on.
"Yeah, I'm sorry about that, but these guys wanted to talk to me." She returned with a nervous smile.
Jackpot!
"You guys you're… huntsmen right?" Kaiser squinted at the bald one in particular, light reflected off the chrome dome.
Des saw an opportunity to showboat. "Yeah, been one for about four years now." He flexed his bicep for emphasis. "I fought some tough battles, but nothing could really keep me down for long."
Kaiser faked an expression of awe. "I'm really sorry about the drink, let me get you a new one." He handed "Julie" the Lien from before, he tilted the note so she could see the message scrawled on it. "Can you get these fine gentlemen a drink please?"
Say yes and go
"Julie" took the note and scuttled away, she quickly left the nightclub soon after.
"Yo Des, she left man." Ivan had not so helpfully provided.
Des' expression did a complete 180, he was clearly not happy. "The fuck did you do?!"
"So you come in here thinking it's okay to prey on the people here?" Kaiser was growing increasingly annoyed with Des. "You're a disgrace to huntsmen everywhere, you should be ashamed of yourself." Kaiser was about to leave but was roughly grabbed by the lapels of his coat.
"Why the fuck should I let you go? You messed up my mark!" Des' nostrils were violently flaring.
Kaiser in a moment of great stupidity, still acted like he was in control of the situation. "If you promise that you and your cronies won't be doing shit like this anymore, we can forget about this whole situation." The grip on his coat had only tightened exponentially, Des was probably using aura at this point. "Relax, I'm not looking for a fight!"
"Oh yeah?" Des uttered very calmly, it seemed the situation had resolved.
"Too bad you already found one!" Des yelled, he whipped Kaiser around, yanking him by his coat. Des lands a haymaker that Kaiser barely blocked, his next haymaker landed in Kaiser's ribs.
Tank grabbed a fistful of Kaiser's jacket when grabbing him from the back. Kaiser narrowly avoids a third haymaker from Des while landing a back-kick on a quickly approaching Ivan. Tank let's go of Kaiser and seemingly backed off.
Kaiser managed to block another punch from Des using an outward block, the spy pushed Des' arm away. Des pushed forward with another left haymaker which Kaiser ducked under. Kaiser raised his leg quickly in a sloppy front kick to block Des' right haymaker.
Ivan tackled Kaiser from the side effectively separating him from Des. The huntsman kept charging Kaiser until he hit the rim of a glass table. Kaiser was gut-punched as soon as he was able to steady himself against the table.
Tank comes in with a swift overhand right that lands square in Kaiser's jaw, his face whips the other way from the sheer force of the strike. The two huntsmen let go of Kaiser, only to allow Des to charge in and drag the spy across the table.
Kaiser was yanked off the table against the angered huntsman, his back was firmly planted against Des. The older huntsman snaked his right arm around Kaiser's neck, the boy struggled to get himself free. Des landed more punches against Kaiser's ribs, the boy's cries were drowned beneath the club's blaring music. Kaiser tried once more to break free but was promptly slammed into a nearby wall.
Des finally released Kaiser by throwing him against the table he first dragged the boy across. Kaiser tumbled over the table and fell to the ground. Des ran up to him and delivered a nasty kick to Kaiser's stomach, the boy did his best not to wail out in anguish. Ivan soon came around and stomped on Kaiser's shoulder while Tank made sure to kick him in his lower back. All three huntsmen were stomping on Kaiser. The boy knew for a fact that no matter what he would've lost this fight, he was outclassed by these graduated huntsmen.
Kaiser really had no other choice but to take his beating.
This was probably the most stressful evening of Yang Xiao Long's life, and she had a seven page essay done a week ago! One moment everybody was laughing, the other her friend was getting accused of murder. After all that the same friend had gone on to slug it out with a whole team in the middle of the cafeteria! There was no way someone as mild mannered as Kaiser would freak out like he did. Needless to say she needed answers pronto.
Yang's only lead was the video call that had transpired 20 minutes ago. He was in a club setting, but that could be anywhere in Vale. Luckily she didn't need to think too hard where to start looking for him, thank god for Miltia showing up!
The cool city air passed by her as she drove bumblebee through the streets of downtown Vale. Yang slowed her bike to a stop just as her destination came into view. Junior's was a popular hangout for most, but it sold more than just mixed drinks. A fight had ensued the last time she came around looking for some information. Yang parked her bike right in front of the door, she was about to open the door before she heard something not too far off.
'Standing on the Riviera one day'
Singing? Well really crappy singing for that matter. But Yang couldn't blame the guy as he was probably drunk out of his mind at the moment.
'Then layin' in the Bombay alley next day'
Aw shit that voice sounded familiar, Yang neared the alleyway next to the club. Sure enough, Kaiser was sprawled out on the floor belting out verse after verse of some obscure song.
'Odds are you won't live to see tomorrow
Secret Agent Man'
The boy before Yang had caught himself in a fit of cackles, he made sure not to rattle a half empty bottle of wine too much. The boy had caught sight of Yang and instinctively clutched the bottle to his chest.
"Hiiiii Yang!" Kaiser sputtered out. Now realizing he wasn't in any danger, his grip on the bottle loosened. "What brings you here?"
"Came here looking for you." Yang had crossed her arms. "What are you doing here?"
Kaiser looked thoughtful for a second before responding. "Oh you know, just yanging out!" The boy had burst out in a fit of drunken giggles once again. "But for real, this place is crazy! The moon was shining above me but my shadow was next to me! Is that not crazy?!" Another bout of giggles escaped the boy's throat.
Yang was not amused, she took the boy by the coat and sat him up by the wall. She gently raised Kaiser's face, there was a huge black bruise running from above the boy's left eyebrow down to cheek. "You look like a mess Kai."
"I feel like a mess." Kaiser flinched before Yang poked at the bruised parts of his face. Kaiser gingerly pressed the bottle to his lips, the wine despite being among one of the most expensive bottles on the shelves, was left terribly guarded enough for Kaiser to swipe it from the bar before leaving.
"What even happened to you?" Yang had finally stopped touching his face, she sat down next to him.
"Just got in a bit of a scrap." Kaiser closed his eyes, he pressed his hand to his ribs where a dull throbbing pain resided. "And then I got kicked out for fighting."
An awkward silence surrounded the two classmates. Kaiser was openly staring at the starry sky, Yang was quickly sneaking glanced at the boy next to her. After a couple minutes, Yang seemed to have found the words needed to ask her question.
"What Cardin said today. That was a lie right?" Yang had snaked her arm between Kaiser and her to grab the wine bottle when he put it down. Once in her possession, she poured out the remaining contents onto the concrete floor.
"I wouldn't have reacted the way I did if he was lying would I?" Kaiser retorted. He reached for the bottle only to find it empty, to which he promptly let the bottle fall on the floor.
"So you're a spy?" Yang was ready to fight Kaiser if he was going to wail on her as he did to Cardin, but she stayed her hand believing her friend wouldn't hurt her.
Instead, she watched silently as a couple teardrops fell. He quickly wiped his tears away before facing Yang. "Yeah well, used to be actually." He softly confirmed, Kaiser kicked the bottle at his feet.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"They started using me when I was 14, but they have been training me since the beginning…"
That leak was what led to the dam of secrets to come gushing out, more tears erupted from him as he regaled her with the things that he'd been through, the people he's fought, the people he's slain. All throughout, Yang had listened to him and offered words of encouragement to go on.
"-and then Headmaster Ozpin just shows up to offer me a spot in Beacon! I didn't know what to do so of course I said yes." Kaiser had finished up, Yang had left her arm on Kaiser's shoulder.
"That wasn't you though, it was those people telling you what to do." Yang rubbed Kaiser's shoulder as he shook from the cold. "You never really had a choice in the first place. You probably wouldn't have killed those people if you weren't told to."
Kaiser just looked back at her with a solemn smile, she didn't understand that it was a kill or be killed situation. Despite that, she was slowly making him feel better. Kaiser carefully wiped away the tears with his sleeves, he couldn't show weakness to anybody else.
"But getting into Beacon, you can think of it as a fresh start. You make your own choices from now on alright." Yang stood up from her sitting position and offered Kaiser her hand. "All that starts with you coming back to Beacon."
Kaiser accepted and took her hand, she pulled him up with ridiculous strength. "Thank you." Kaiser was led back to where Yang's bike was, he wasted no time getting on behind Yang. Yang was ready to start before she realized Kaiser wasn't grabbing anything.
"Don't be shy Kai, go ahead and hold on." Yang teased.
Awkwardly, Kaiser wrapped his arms around Yang. The pair started rocketing through the streets of Vale on their way back to Beacon. Kaiser took in the sights of the city as it blurred by, Vale truly was beautiful at night. They were ten minutes away from arriving before Kaiser resting his chin on Yang's shoulder so she could hear him clearly.
"Do you think we can stop here for a minute?"
Yang had started slowing down near the sidewalk, then came to a stop next to a 24-hour bodega. Kaiser quickly hopped off of Yang's ride and stumbled towards the bodega.
"I'll be right back."
After passing through the door, Kaiser was immediately drawn to the soap section. Kaiser contemplated which hand sanitizer to get, he decided on the lavender scented as it had the most sanitizer for the lowest price.
Kaiser took his prize to the counter, a small lighter behind the counter was pointed at by the boy. The store owner added the lighter to the countertop along with the sanitizer. During his time at the IPS, he had to make do with what he had. Most of the time what he had was materials to start a fire, either for distraction or for destruction. It was comforting knowing he now had a portable arson kit should the need for a fire ever arise. Kaiser quickly added a couple of energy bars to his items. The store owner quickly scanned them to show Kaiser the final price. The boy handed over the last of his spending money, the rest of his money he had saved in a small box to help with huntsmen expenses.
Kaiser emerged from the bodega with a small bag in tow, Yang was leaning on her bike waiting for him. The boy dug through his bag of loot before pulling out the energy bars.
"Thank you… for helping me." Kaiser said sheepishly. The boy had never had a bad outburst like the one he had today, he was very unsure how to handle his emotions. It meant a lot to him that Yang had gone through the trouble of looking for him. "I don't know if you had dinner so I got you one." He held out one of the bars to her, she accepted the treat with a content smile.
"Aww don't sweat it Kai." Yang playfully punched the boy in the arm, she didn't notice him flinch when she did. She tore into the bar, oats and chocolate had been ripped off and eaten by the ferocious blonde.
Kaiser had started nibbling on his own energy bar. He was glad he had a friend to share this moment with. Kaiser stuffed the empty wrapper into the plastic bag he brought with him and waited until Yang was ready to go. There was something still bothering the boy.
"Did I miss anything important in class today?" Kaiser forgot that he skipped both Professors Goodwitch and Peach's class.
"Not anything too big, just review what we did last wee-"
A loud crumble of brick and wood had sounded off in a nearby alleyway. Kaiser dashed towards the noise without a second thought. The origin came from a damp and dirty alleyway, crushed brick and dirt littered the wet floor of the backstreet. Kaiser's attention was drawn to a demolished hole in the brick wall to his right side.
On his left was a badger faunus beaten half to death, Kaiser rushed to the man.
"What happened here?" Kaiser shouted at the man. The beaten faunus just stared back with empty eyes, fear and tension was present in the air. "Shit!" Kaiser whipped out his scroll to dial medical dispatchers.
"911 what's your emergency?"
"Sal's 24-hour bodega! I've got a man here barely breathing. Hurry!" Kaiser quickly clicked off his scroll and inspected the demolished wall, the room beyond the wall was near pitch dark.
Kaiser took one step towards hole in the wall before a meaty fist crashed into him.
His back hit the coarse brick wall as he barely caught sight of the bulky arm retracting back into the dark. Through Kaiser's alcohol addled mind, there was one thought that went through his head.
Looks like work followed me home.
More bricks burst out of the wall as a large imposing figure came charging out of the building. The figure had a huge and imposing form, grotesquely overdeveloped muscles were attached to every available area where muscles could develop. It looked human but had an animalistic behavior that was akin to a rhino. The hulking monster charged at Kaiser, the boy was frozen in shock. Kaiser shut his eyes and covered his torso from what was to be a devastating blow, except it never came. Upon opening his eyes he saw the bulging muscle monster knocked backwards, Yang was in front of him with her arm extending in a punching motion.
"What the hell is that?" Yang asked.
Kaiser immediately ran to Yang's side, "It's a junkie." The spy sped towards the muscled freak leaving behind a confused Yang. Kaiser jumped when he was in striking distance to hit the target on its head with a flying knee kick, the junkie got up at the last second resulting in Kaiser's kick landing in its chest. The spy fell off from the junkie's chest before being roughly grabbed by the muscled freak's meaty hand. Kaiser let out a howl when he was slammed against the concrete by the monster. The junkie quickly moved its hand from Kaiser's head with intention to crush it, his aura worked overtime to prevent that from happening. Kaiser kicked at the freak's wrist now that his torso was free, the junkie let go after his third strike. Kaiser rolled backwards away from the wall of muscle that attacked him, he launched a nearby garbage can lid at the monster.
"How do we beat that?" Yang had caught up to the fight in the deeper part of the alley.
"Blunt force, bullets and darts won't pierce the skin. Try to hit the head as hard as you can, make sure that you don't get hit directly by it. A direct hit can put you out of commission." Kaiser quickly rattled off what he knew about these monsters. The boy removed his coat to tie around his waist revealing a simple white T-shirt, his coat restrained his movement and he couldn't afford to be slow against this monster. Kaiser's contacts quickly shifted into its sleek steel mask, giving the boy access to its user interface.
"Sorry about this Yang."
The girl in question did not know what was wrong until Kaiser charged after the monster, Yang activated Ember Celica only to find that one bracelet was missing. The pieces clicked in her mind as she heard the sound of a shot from Kaiser.
Kaiser used Yang's pilfered weapon to launch himself upwards to strike the junkie's head, he was unfortunately swatted out of the sky by the muscled abomination. The monster took the opportunity to use both its fists to smash the grounded boy into broken pieces, the attacker was intercepted by Yang punching away the large fists. Kaiser quickly recovered and jerked Yang away from another swinging fist, Yang rushed forward by using her gauntlet to rush forward.
Yang and Kaiser attacked in tandem, Yang struck from above by jumping off the walls while Kaiser was working his way beneath the monster. The moment Yang created an opening was when Kaiser went in for the kill. With both arms occupied, Kaiser ran to spot diagonal from the bulked up figure. Kaiser shot off Ember Celica to hurl himself at the monster's legs, Kaiser spun in mid air to create momentum as he hit the junkie's knee with a stomp kick. A grotesque fracturing noise signified that the strike landed right. Normally, stomping the knee and forcing it to the side could break the leg at the knee and incapacitate the victim, but these people like the junkie were more resilient than that. The muscled abomination worked through its broken leg, but it was noticeably slower than before.
Kaiser ran at the wall, he sprinted along the brick wall before pushing off with his legs to strike at the junkie's head. This time however, he was unlucky as the junkie punched Kaiser directly. The sheer force of the hit stopped the boy mid-air, Kaiser hit the ground too fast in his opinion. His vision blurred as he tried to stand up once again, he witnessed a yellow blur get punched away from the massive creature. An alert popped up on his mask's user interface: a vehicle was fast approaching.
Yang wasn't having much luck as the giant wall of muscle had struck her with a force unmatched. Her aura wasn't going to last much longer, she didn't think Kaiser's would either. Some gunshots from Kaiser's direction fired at the monster, she followed the trajectory of her missing shot gauntlet.
"Hey! Asshole!" Kaiser threw another garbage lid at the junkie. "Come and get some!"
The monster started on a rage-fueled rampage against the white haired boy who aggravated it. Kaiser's response was to go on a mad dash out of the alleyway. Kaiser slipped on a barely visible puddle, he grabbed a nearby empty glass bottle and chucked it at the Junkie. The bottle shattered against its face, it was enough to momentarily slow it down allowing recovery time for Kaiser. He was practically out of the alleyway, the boy sped up when nearing the sidewalk. Kaiser's plan came to fruition once he heard sirens, he leaped before stepping off the curb. Kaiser ducked into a roll when landing on the other side of the street, he dared to take a look behind him. The monster burst from the alleyway in search of the boy, it charged at him when it spotted Kaiser.
The monster barely made it off the sidewalk when the ambulance Kaiser called earlier rammed into it.
The muscled monster was sent careening into the wall of another building, the force of both the ambulance crash and the wall had knocked it out cold. It would be a while until the monster woke back up, that was enough time for him to get Yang and get back to Beacon.
"Where's the injured?!" One of paramedics grabbed Kaiser believing he was one of the injured, he wouldn't blame them though, he did look like the one half-beaten to death. Some of the paramedics went to the monster, but Kaiser quickly waved them off.
"Injured is down the alleyway, badger faunus, you can't miss him!" The paramedics rushed into the alleyway carrying a stretcher, Kaiser neared the alleyway entrance to find Yang. He took off the gauntlet he currently wore and returned it to its rightful owner. Yang had slid her gauntlet back on and shifted it back into a bracelet, Kaiser shifted his mask back into contacts as well. Kaiser grabbed Yang's hand beckoning her to get them away from here.
"Can we go? I'll explain on the way."
Kaiser and Yang panted as they finally rested on the seats of the bullhead, they had to book it onto the airship before it took off. Kaiser caught his breath for a moment, unsure of how to approach the topic of an explanation.
"A couple years ago some people developed a drug for combat enhancement."
Yang looked up at the usually quiet boy, he was busy using his coat to wipe away the blood on his face.
"They were supposed to be used by the Atlas military in the case of war, but they were scrapped because of chemical instability." Kaiser folded up his coat and set it on his lap. "They scrapped the whole thing in favor of the Atlesian knights-130. Somebody decided that they like their super steroid idea better and decided to mass produce the stuff, they called it Hercules."
"The guy who ended up mass producing Hercules got acquainted with a criminal organization and was given his own branch called Gemini. Gemini was sort of a narcotics division, but they mainly dealt with making Hercules."
"Two years ago, I took down the biggest supplier. Then I took out the Gemini's leader a couple months later."
"Then why was there some roid monkey here in Vale?" Yang had been very attentive to Kaiser's words, she was right to ask that question.
Kaiser assumed that the IPS would've dismantled Gemini's production line once they got coordinates from the leader. It made absolutely no sense as to why the drug seemed to be resurfacing now. What's worse was that in having Hercules return, it made Kaiser's fight against the leader rather pointless. Kaiser unconsciously put a hand near his temple in pain when he remembered the leader injecting Hercules into himself as a final gambit.
"I don't know…" Kaiser gestured for Yang to face him. "The reason I'm telling you all of this right now is because I trust you." Kaiser gently grasped Yang's hands. "Please, keep this to yourself. If anyone asks you what happened tonight you can make up whatever you want just please keep this between us. Yeah?"
"Alright… what do you plan to do?" Yang asked.
Kaiser didn't really think about that, what was his plan. Could he really put this off and just continue on like normal? If the IPS hadn't already done something about this, then it's likely they haven't caught wind yet. "I'll try to get this sorted out, don't worry about it Yang."
"Okay, just be careful alright?"
Kaiser only chuckled in response, he flexed a bicep. "It's Hercules that needs to be careful when some badass huntsmen like us are knocking on their door." Kaiser's attempt at lightening the mood was met with laughter and playful jab at the shoulder. The bullhead came to a stop, they must've finally reached Beacon. Kaiser picked up his folded coat and caught up with Yang who was already exiting the airship.
"Listen… I know I keep saying this but thank you for all you did tonight, I don't know what I would've done if you didn't. Also I'm sorry that you got mixed up in the fight." Kaiser bowed his head in gratitude.
"Relax Kai, I know you would've done the same for me. We should probably get back to the dorms and hit the hay." Yang checked her scroll, it dictated that it was two in the morning.
With all the excitement wearing off he'd forgotten that he had to wake up early in a few hours. Sleep sounded heavenly right about now, he'd have to lay in bed the moment he returned to his dorm. He walked Yang back to her dorm and wished her a good night, she returned the gesture.
Kaiser wondered what challenges he'd face later on, but none of that mattered now, he had a bed to get to.
Reviews are welcome, I'm just vibing thinking I'm doing nothing wrong.