You receive: 11k chapter.
I receive: a break to cry over da volume 8 finale.
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Roman Torchwick didn't believe much in gods or higher beings, but if they were real they must've been the ones messing with his heists. How could it get worse than prepubescent pip-squeaks?! Oh yeah, you could put some angsty teen and her boy toy in the way of his very important operation. For god's sake could these animals be any less help! He should've just contracted with another crime family's men. Now he had to deal with an activist nuisance who refused to give up.
"He's mine!" Blake shouted, she lunged toward Roman in an attempt to overwhelm the thief. She started with a string of slashes to completely devastate Roman but had trouble doing so as the thief continued to parry each strike.
Blake went in for another strike and flickered away right after by activating her semblance. She turned on her heel to hit Roman with a clean strike, she used her clones as scapegoats in battle six consecutive times.
Roman managed to stop her from using her semblance by engaging direct combat with her. Ultimately the gap in skill was apparent as Roman landed a devastating blow to Blake and sent her backwards.
Sun came in with a flying back kick, he transitioned it into his nunchuck technique. Roman was having difficulty parrying the lightning fast strikes, more difficulty was had as Sun started firing off multiple rounds of bullets at a time.
Blake charged in and struck Roman with the Gambol Shroud knocking the thief away. Roman needed a second before recuperating, a devious thought creeped into his head. The downed thief aimed his cane at the cable of a crane carrying a shipping container, he fired a dust round at it. The crane's cable snapped almost comically easy, the shipping container began its speedy descent to the ground.
Both Blake and Sun jumped out of the way of the cargo container, they surely would have been crushed had it moved at least a millisecond faster. That's when Sun noticed something, the shipping container hadn't fully touched the ground yet. With the aid of his faunus eyesight, he could easily see there was another cable keeping the container from falling to the floor. Sun's eyes trailed up the cable as it led to the gaps in cranes out reaching arm.
Standing atop the crane was a figure wearing a black long coat, the figure had a cable coming out of his sleeve as he attempted to keep the container from falling.
/-/
1 hour ago.
"The prodigal son returns." Albert Ross declared.
He aimed a nasty glare at the boy who he once commanded. "It's good to see you're doing so well."
"Don't lie." Kaiser seethed out, his hands instinctively clenched. "It's beneath you."
"Well it is quite a surprise to see you back here so soon." Mr. Ross aimed his gaze at Darryl who was cowering behind Kaiser. "It seems you have met our new hire Mr. Bex, he seems to understand our basic security protocol. Our new thumb scanners can send an alert to security based on which thumb it scans."
That must have been how Mr. Ross was informed of Kaiser's arrival, he should have taken that into consideration and just broke past the door.
"You can leave now Darryl." Kaiser encouraged the man to leave. "Just know that stuff like that can get you killed in the long run." The middle aged man made to leave, but was stopped by Mr. Ross.
"Actually, I think Mr. Bex should stay here to reorganize the files you misplaced." Mr. Ross opened the door exiting the data-bank. "Come, we have much to discuss in my office."
The moment Kaiser set foot outside the data-bank, he walked in the other direction. He paused until he heard a snap and two clicks from behind him, turning back he saw the two guards pointing their guns at him. Behind them was a grimacing Albert Ross.
"I refuse to believe you've gone deaf in the time that you left us, now please, follow me to my office."
Kaiser reluctantly stepped forward, he walked past the guards who were now trailing behind him. The boy let them walk behind him for a couple of seconds before jumping into action. Kaiser elbowed the guard on his right making him loosen the grasp of his gun. Kaiser managed to snatch the firearm and pressed on the button to release the magazine, he threw the bullet storage case down the hallway. Kaiser intercepted an attacking arm from the left by pinning it to the wall, the boy head butted the other guard for good measure. Now slumped against the wall, the guard with the loaded gun was helpless to stop the white haired boy from taking his gun.
Kaiser took the colt 1911 in his hand, carefully weighing his options before aiming it at Mr. Ross. He wasn't necessarily going to shoot the man, he was hoping to bluff his way out of the building and get back to the whole Blake situation.
"I suggest you put that down." Mr. Ross' voice changed from its commanding tone to a venomously low sound.
"What if I don't?" Kaiser knew this was a risky bet, but he didn't want to deal with Mr. Ross' games anymore. He didn't even want to fight anymore, but he had no choice. Becoming a huntsman was the most secure path to a good retirement due to his combat related skill set. If he was going to be putting himself at risk to fight for humanity, at the very least he wanted to choose who he wanted to fight under.
"Well then, I can arrange a few documents if you'd like. Actually, I have them all ready. All that has to be done is get them sent out to members of council of the four kingdoms and you can be in front of a firing squad by the end of the week." Mr. Ross grimaced as he turned around, he pulled out his ace in the hole.
That's what was most frustrating about Albert Ross, he was always so prepared. Mr. Ross had documents and photos that were specific to Kaiser in the scenario where he went rogue, the last thing Mr. Ross wanted was for the boy to reveal IPS secrets to criminal organizations if he defected to them. The documents in question were expertly edited to show Kaiser committing questionable acts which could be interpreted as treason by the courts. Kaiser's life now depended on if those documents were sent out, the gun was slightly lowered.
"Perhaps you need a little more encouragement?"
"Huh?"
"I can have your current location and status leaked to the remnants of every organization you've dismantled. Surely at least one of them might be bitter enough to take a crack at you."
Was Albert Ross crazy? He wouldn't normally do something as dumb as deal with terrorist, especially the ones which he set out to destroy. Yeah Ross was multiple things, but reckless wasn't one of them. Having his current locations leaked could lead to an attack on Kaiser and those around him. There wouldn't be a second where the boy didn't look over his shoulder.
"So you have two choices. Shoot me and you'll be on the run for the rest of your life, or lower the gun and we can have a civilized conversation." Mr. Ross turned back around as Kaiser dropped the gun. "Very well, now if you'll follow me to my office."
Once the two were in Ross' office, the spymaster opened a drawer in his desk. Ross had slapped down a cream colored folder, it wore a threatening red stamp on its center.
"I want you to run an operation for me."
"No." Kaiser resisted the urge to break the minimalist-style desk separating him from Ross. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"
Ross stood up and walked over to the window overlooking that bit of Vale that the IPS was stationed in. "The real question is: what is wrong with you? You break into my workplace, endanger my staff, and then hold another hostage. You should know by now that I seek retribution."
"The only one who needs retribution here is you!" Kaiser clenched his fist, blood dribbled out of skin that he broke. "I honestly can't believe that you're not locked up yet, but I get it, you can't technically commit a crime against someone who doesn't legally exist!"
Shortly after Kaiser's induction into the IPS, Albert Ross had every single record concerning the boy erased from any and all databases. All this culminated in Kaiser not being able to apply to certain things like a credit card, the only time he did have anything was through fake identities. Unfortunately, those were confiscated by Mr. Ross when Kaiser decided to leave the IPS. Life since then had been hell for the boy, he couldn't get a job because he didn't have an address or a bank account. He couldn't attain either of those without his social security number, but no record of one existed.
Life was stacked against him from the start, which is what led him to underground fighting. Kaiser fought… and won, he gathered up a bit of lien to be able to keep a motel room before being found by Qrow and Ozpin. Even when filling out the application for admission to Beacon, the boy could only fill out his first name, gender, and scroll number. He was incredibly lucky that Ozpin was gracious enough to grant him a spot in Beacon.
"You don't need me!" Kaiser slammed his fist on the dark wooden desk. "You have an army's worth of perfectly good agents to do your dirty work. Besides, you'll probably only leave me to die the moment anything goes wrong. That's what you've always done!"
"And you became better for it! You come back from every mission with the exact results we need!" Mr. Ross shouted, the man in the gray suit walked over to the window of his office before calming down. "Your name, what does it mean?"
Kaiser narrowed his eyes as he stewed in his own anger. "The old Atlesian word for emperor." The boy spat out, he detested his original role in the IPS. He despised himself even more for once wearing the title with pride.
"That's what you were supposed to be, the emperor of spies. But you rejected that role, a self exiled emperor comes crawling back to his kingdom seeking guidance. I simply won't allow that." The spymaster turned back to what was once one of his top spies.
Kaiser let out a small chuckle, the sheer absurdity of the situation was hitting him. "You know, if you were actually focused on your job rather than getting me back you'd find that Hercules is being produced again."
Mr. Ross let a small grimace adorn his face. "I assure you, my men are on the clock looking for the production line." He poured himself a drink from a decanter that sat under his desk. "We currently have intel that there is a black site in Vacuo producing it."
"Not Vacuo. It's circulating through here in Vale too."
Mr. Ross only set his drink down. "You're saying Gemini has made it into Vale?"
Kaiser nodded, though he didn't think Ross could see him do so. He thought back to the night he told Yang he'd sort the whole Gemini mess out. In a way, that's exactly what he was doing. With Ross now informed about the situation in Vale, it'd be a matter of time before everything sorted itself out. Now… he just had to get to the docks where the Schnee dust shipment was set to arrive.
"My resources are stretched too thin to be able to launch any full scale operations, if you seek any change you'll have to do it yourself." Mr. Ross' was impassive when facing the boy.
Kaiser shook with silent rage. Surely Ross was lying, right? This was just a trap, a plot to get Kaiser to do some work for the spymaster. Even if it was a lie, could Kaiser really take the risk? If Ross wasn't lying there was a chance Vale could be overrun by masses juiced up on Hercules.
"I wouldn't be opposed to offering you assistance on the scarce occasion that I can spare any." Mr. Ross smugly mentioned, his drink pressed firmly against his lips.
Kaiser only sat there silently, he couldn't do much of anything else when it came to dealing with Albert Ross. Both occupants of the office turned to face the clock on the wall when it struck, another hour had passed.
"You were looking to get to the docks around this time were you not?"
Kaiser silently nodded.
"Figures, Mr. Bex sent me a picture of the file you were looking for." Albert Ross pressed a button on his computer. "Before you go, I'll have someone provide you with some gear for your little venture tonight."
"Why?" Kaiser uttered.
A sadistic smile overtook the face of a devil who disguised himself as man. "I can't have you dying before we finish this little discussion of ours." The spymaster only settled in his seat before Kaiser was led away by another office worker.
/-/
Wind whipped past Kaiser as he leapt from rooftop to rooftop to make it to the docks. It had been 17 minutes since he left the IPS building and he had reached the residential areas. His path was lined with apartment complex rooftops, they were very high above the road below. Right on the edge of this district was where the docks started.
Kaiser's streak of non-stop movement had come to a grinding halt as the boy slipped on a loose chunk of roof shingles. The boy was rapidly approaching the concrete below, now would be a terrific time to try out the tool he had equipped to his left arm.
Strapped around Kaiser's arm was a bracer made from flexible carbon fiber, atop the bracer was a small firing mechanism. Clicking a small button on the underside of his wrist resulted in a small hook firing out and embedding itself to the side of an apartment building, preventing Kaiser's fall. Clicking another button on his wrist, Kaiser was swiftly pulled up to the building's ledge where he used it to pull himself up. He was quickly familiarizing himself with the arm mounted grappling hook he wielded long ago.
Kaiser finally reached the entrance of the docks where the dust shipment was supposed to arrive. Three consecutive explosions were heard, the boy surmised that dust shipment had already arrived. Kaiser traveled between shipment containers, he climbed over ones that were stacked upon each other. The spy was given a good view of the battle happening below, Roman Torchwick was manhandling both Blake and a blond monkey faunus.
Blake was currently going into direct combat with Torchwick, it was not a great strategy when the gap in skill was large. Kaiser took one look at an industrial crane holding up a shipment container over the combatants, he quickly shot his grappling hook at the crane's control cabin. With the click of a button, Kaiser was pulled all the way to the cabin.
The spy grabbed onto the ledge of the cabin's window with his other arm to pull himself up, he quickly pulled himself above the crane. Kaiser advanced across the crane, he was carefully keeping an eye on Torchwick's position. The plan was to jump off and catch the thief by surprise to give an edge to Blake and the other fighter. The plan never even stood a chance as Torchwick shot a dust round at the cable holding up the container. It snapped completely, the container was descending rapidly towards Blake. Kaiser wasn't about to let that happen, he aimed his left arm at the container and fired.
The grappling hook shot right through the metal container, allowing Kaiser to try to hold it up. The boy grunted harshly as the container was too much weight for him to carry alone. His arm strained and his face was quickly turning red by the time he was sure Blake and the other boy were out of the way.
Small metallic thumps were quickly sounding off, somebody was swiftly approaching. Kaiser barely had any time to react after releasing the container as he turned around, a thin blade was brutally rammed into his chest. At the end of the blade was a girl diminutive in height, her most glaring feature was her pink and brown hair that was split down the middle. A frown marred her face as she realized that her blade hadn't pierced Kaiser, that was attributed to the other piece of gear.
Kaiser now donned an upgraded version of his coat codenamed: Willow Tree. There were a couple modifications added to this new version, most notably the addition of a large hood to conceal the users full head. Rather than ending at the knees, the Willow Tree went all the way down to the feet. The sleeves of the new long coat were widened a bit, the coat was a lot more flowy. Overall, the Willow Tree allowed Kaiser to move more freely without sacrificing the basic defense against bullets and blades.
Blades just like the one being jammed into his chest that very moment. The petite girl had a sinister look in her pink and brown eyes as she stared down Kaiser. She tried harder to thrust her blade to pierce the boy, only for him to grab the sides of the blade and push it off to the side.
Kaiser was immediately on the defensive, his plan had gone up in smoke right in front of him. His chest hurt a lot as the blade had somewhat pierced the skin below his coat, it wasn't enough for him to bleed violently. Kaiser's aura was already kicking in, and so did he when he threw a roundhouse kick. The short girl ducked, she thrust her sword towards Kaiser's head. Kaiser jerked to the side, his cheek got grazed by the sword. He curiously noted that it was decorated to look like a frilly parasol.
Kaiser cautiously tried a jump front kick on the crane, this forced the girl to jump backwards to create space and a chance to catch his breath. The cut on his cheek was deep, it was quickly sealing itself. Neither the girl nor Kaiser dared make a sudden move on the crane as there was little space to actually move on without thinking first.
Kaiser struck first as he leapt diagonally from his spot and towards the girl, he intended to hit her shoulder. The girl sidestepped on the platform she was on, Kaiser ended up with nothing except a slash at his throat for his troubles. Blood was seeping out from a thin cut across his throat, it was completely healed in half a second. Kaiser caught on to the girl's strategy, she slowly chipped away at his aura with quick little stabs and slashes. Kaiser quickly activated his contacts as he went in for a front kick, the girl jumped towards the jib of the crane.
Kaiser used his mask's user interface to assess his aura, he was at 86%. Kaiser pursued the girl onto the jib, he made it halfway across when the girl turned on her heels to attack Kaiser. The spy narrowly avoided the sword swing, he jumped up to grab the crane's fore pendant and swung himself forward. The girl was hit by a flying kick, she barely lost her balance as she resumed her stance.
Kaiser pressed on with a running strike, she dodged effortlessly. The boy turned around just in time to catch her blade attempting to thrust into his face. He felt slight pressure from her grow harder as she slowly began to advance forward forcing Kaiser to step back. If this continued, Kaiser would be forced off the crane. The spy gripped her parasol hard, he started yanking it while walking backwards. The girl who was still holding on to her parasol was dragged along for the ride. Kaiser and the girl neared the edge of the crane, he forced the both of them into jumping off.
Kaiser was blissfully unaware that Ruby joined the fight against Roman Torchwick.
The girl's parasol was tugged back as Kaiser lost hold of it midair, it was opened, providing a slow gliding descent for the girl.
Kaiser aimed his grappling hook to some stacked shipping containers and fired, he was zipping towards the container. The spy clung to the side of the container as the girl landed on the container opposite of him.
"Can I get the name of my assailant?" Kaiser pulled himself up onto the container, he retracted his grappling hook from above.
The girl cutely put a finger to her chin as if contemplating his question.
Kaiser took advantage of her momentary pause to fire his hook at the container behind her. He zipped towards her at a blinding speed, the boy actually managed to clip her in the arm. He ducked to avoid a fatal swing, he could not however avoid her getting behind him and kicking his legs from under him. Kaiser landed with a thud and now lay on his back, the girl pinned him to the floor by pressing the heel of her boot to the boy's throat. The girl pulled a scroll from her jacket, it was opened to a note with some text on it.
Hello! My name is Neo!
Kaiser couldn't mull over the words as Neo prepared to swing her sword down on his head. The boy retracted his grappling hook from the side of the container, he shot the hook at another container behind him to pull himself out from under Neo.
Neo's sword met the hard steel of the container with a resounding clank.
Kaiser got back up from the floor, he greatly appreciated his hook as it helped enact another great escape like it had done when he was 15.
Great Escape... huh, sounds like a cool name.
Now that the shock of getting jumped by neo was over. The playing field was equal, the fight would now be decided by skill and strategy. Kaiser ran at neo, he missed hitting her with a roundhouse kick. Neo grabbed Kaiser's attacking leg as support to land her own kick at Kaiser's head, it almost missed as Kaiser ducked under it. The top of Kaiser's head was nicked by her attack.
Kaiser tackled her from his position, both went crashing to the floor. Kaiser kept Neo in a tight hold until he could get the both of them to stand upright. Neo frantically swiped at him with her blade, each strike chipped more and more aura from him.
70%, 65%, 55%
Kaiser finally got a firm grip on Neo's arm, he started whipping her around. He ultimately ended up spinning her and using the built up momentum to throw her across the dockyard. Kaiser jumped down from the shipping container to chase after Neo, but he saw something out of the corner of his eye.
Roman Torchwick was running a couple meters adjacent to him, Kaiser didn't hesitate and started charging at him. The boy might get lucky and land a clean shot on the elusive thief.
Torchwick whipped his head in Kaiser's direction, he regarded the boy with an annoyed growl. The thief aimed his cane at the boy and fired off two dust rounds.
Kaiser expertly dodged the first one, he looked back as he ran. It was the wrong move as the second one hit him with deadly precision. The resulting blast launched the spy backwards, the first dust round that Torchwick shot had blown a shipping container wide open. Kaiser was blasted into the open container, he crashed into a lot of the content inside the container.
Kaiser looked around the container's interior, he gasped at what he saw. The inside of the container held multiple crates, each crate was stocked full of chemical vials of strange orange liquid.
Hercules!
This must have been how Gemini was getting Hercules into Vale, they must be somehow submitting the shipments under a fake company. There were so many vials that looked to be enough for an army. Kaiser was frozen in his place, memories of past fights involving Hercules clouded his mind. He just wanted it to stop.
Kaiser shook away his momentary shock long enough to remember he was in a fight. He tried getting up before letting out a pained grunt, Torchwick's dust round did a real number on the boy. Despite the pain, Kaiser still managed to get up long enough to stumble out of the shipping container. Kaiser chanced a look at his aura through his mask's user interface.
13%
Kaiser clutched his right arm, it was primarily where Torchwick's dust round had targeted. The boy was caught off guard when he received a brutal kick to the head, he tumbled and rolled onto the floor. That attack alone drained Kaiser of half his aura.
On the ground, beaten and bleeding, Kaiser looked up at his attacker. The almost charming smirk of Neo filled his vision, she slowly stalked forward with her sword lazily scraping the concrete floor as it dragged along. Behind her by three meters sat a wooden crate, a dangerously risky plan was formulating in Kaiser's head. If he messed it up, all he would end up doing was pissing Neo off.
Still, he was willing to take that chance.
Kaiser supported himself on an arm that hurt to put pressure on, he had his left arm outstretched as if begging mercy from the tiny terror before him. The boy pretended to be desperate and afraid.
"Please! I'm begging you." Kaiser's expression of fear disappeared as he clicked on his grappling hook, it perfectly embedded itself into the wooden crate. In one swift move, Kaiser yanked on the grappling hook while it was reeling in the crate.
Neo was too late in realizing what was happening, the wooden crate collided with her. The projectile broke off into innumerable broken pieces and splinters. Kaiser saw his chance to retreat in that moment, the boy quickly hopped up and made his way around the corner of a shipping container.
He almost made it past a whole container before a crippling pain shot through his arm and torso, the boy collapsed with a thud. Neo was going to round the corner any second now, Kaiser didn't know if he had the strength to fend her off. At the very least he bought himself a couple seconds to breathe, so there was that. His breathing began to steady as a strange refreshing feeling washed over him, he was still tired but he did feel a bit lighter for some reason.
Kaiser didn't get to question the feeling he was having because Neo rounded the corner, bloodlust was visible in the way she was holding herself. She looked around, different colored eyes scanned the area around her.
Neo's gaze finally settled on the shipping container which Kaiser leaned against, she narrowed her eyes as if she knew there was someone hiding.
Kaiser, for the most part, felt frozen like a deer in headlights. He let his head hang low in defeat, all he saw were his hands clenched into fist against the floor. He admired how the black of his new coat blended in with the dark shadow that was cast over him.
Wait… shadow?
Kaiser's gaze instantly shot up to the sky, the shattered pieces of the moon shone brightly above Kaiser. In theory, the moon should be shining light on Kaiser rather than shadows looming over him. That's when it all clicked for him.
"My semblance?" Kaiser softly muttered, the gears were turning in his head. It was the only thing that made sense at this point, it must have been the reason why Kaiser had felt different earlier.
Neo also turned her gaze towards the sky, there was no moon where she was facing. She turned around to see the light source which made it impossible for a shadow to be in front of her. Neo was catching on as well, she unsheathed her sword with calm nerves.
Before she could step forward, a cable shot outwards planting itself into a shipping container behind her. Neo was roughly grabbed by the boy that came barreling out the shadows, she was swept off her feet as Kaiser had the both of them dragged by his grappling hook.
Kaiser threw Neo at the last moment while retracting his grappling hook. The petite girl slammed against the shipping container while Kaiser rolled onto the ground. He was back on his feet in an instant, on either side of him were two large shipping crates casting their own shadow.
Kaiser kept to the sides of one of the containers as Neo got up. The multicolored girl mindfully creeped down the shadow filled passageway, her sword was drawn close to her in case of an attack.
Kaiser meanwhile was standing off to the side content in knowing that Neo couldn't see him. He ran from one side to another, the spy struck the girl in the shoulder on his way to the other side. Neo dropped her sword in response to her shoulder getting hit, a soft frown pressed on her features as she picked it back up. Kaiser rushed to the other side, he avoided her sword while delivering a palm strike to her abdomen, it was then followed up with a front kick.
Neo landed back-first against the container, eyes widened as she tracked the boy's movement. Kaiser used his grappling hook to wrench himself into the air, high above the containers, Kaiser shot his hook at a space near Neo to build up momentum.
"You're through!" Kaiser poured what little aura he had in his right fist, all he needed was this last punch.
The sound of broken glass grated against Kaiser's ears, the feeling of coarse steel pressed against his fist. Neo was gone, nowhere to be seen. The boy let out a pained yell now that the adrenaline wore off, his aura broke and the pain from Neo's stabbings were starting to take a toll on him. The throbbing in his head from getting kicked in the head paled in comparison to the direct explosion he'd taken from Torchwick. Kaiser pried his arm from the warped and distorted metal of the shipping container he punched through, the jagged edges scratched at his arm as he finally pulled it free.
Bullheads roared in the distance instantly getting Kaiser's attention, a legion of the airborne transporters flew overhead. His head immediately snapped up at the reason he was even here in the first place.
"Blake!" he panicked as he stumbled around the docks. The boy clambered up the containers to get a better vantage point to find the third member of team RWBY. Kaiser cupped his hands around his mouth to amplify the noise, "Blake!"
"Kai?"
Kaiser looked down from his higher point, it was Yang and Weiss. The latter of the two looked a lot more calmer than she did this morning, Kaiser looked beyond the two of them to see if Blake was around. Kaiser's mask shifted back into his contact lenses instantly.
"Did you already find Blake?" Kaiser dropped from his spot, he stumbled due to his multiple injuries.
"Uhh… yeah." Yang was dumbfounded to find her friend here all cut up as he was. "You okay?"
Kaiser stretched his arm out to get rid of some muscle spasms, he gave up when he winced too hard from the pain. "Right as rain, why do you ask?"
"No reason, sweet get-up, where'd you get it?"
Kaiser inwardly cringed at the question, he didn't really want to tell her what Albert Ross had planned for him. "It's a long story, you'd probably get bored." The boy nervously smiled at the girl who knew quite a bit more about him than everyone else.
Yang knew that Kaiser wouldn't tell her anything substantial unless he was drunk like the night she found him at Juniors, otherwise the boy was tight-lipped. "Well I gotta talk to the ice queen here, Blake's over there with the others if you need anybody."
Kaiser graciously nodded his head and staggered towards his classmates. Blake spotted him from far away, a look of shock appeared before she nodded in acknowledgement. The boy sat on a wooden crate a couple feet away from everybody, he briefly pondered over his newfound discovery.
Had Kaiser really unlocked his semblance, it sure did feel like it. He read in a book on the theoretics on aura that the semblance was the reflection of one's soul. It made sense as to why his supposed semblance was focused on shadows. He spent most of his life working in the shadows, why not be able to do so in the literal sense?
"Hey there!" A cheery voice rang out.
Kaiser absolutely jumped at that, he was surprised to see it was the faunus boy that fought alongside Blake. His blue eyes shone in the moonlight, Kaiser wondered if that was a result of his faunus night vision.
"Hi?"
"Names Sun, the hottest thing in Vacuo!" Sun jut out his hand to shake Kaiser's
Sun was quite the character putting out his hand to shake like that. Kaiser returned the gesture by shaking his hand, his introduction stood out to the white haired boy. "My name is Kaiser, nice to meet you. While I don't doubt you're the hottest thing in Vacuo, I unfortunately do not find you attractive like that."
The faunus boy blushed in response. "No, sorry! I normally say that to everybody I meet." He stammered out in embarrassment.
"It's alright. How do you know Blake?"
"Oh! I met her a couple days ago. We've been hanging out ever since." Sun turned his gaze towards the boy sitting on the crate. "How do you know her?"
"She's a classmate." Kaiser clutched his right arm as twinges of pain washed over it, he'd need more than a couple of ice packs to help make it feel better.
"Really? Red over there tells me you got a thing for her." Sun pointed over to Ruby talking to a girl in a green blouse.
Kaiser tiredly waved away at Sun, even doing that hurt a bit. "That's just something I told her so she'd tell me what was happening with her team."
Sun looked confused for a moment, he scratched his head. "What does that have to do with anything."
Kaiser nodded before speaking, "You had to be there to understand it." The boy spotted Weiss and Yang walking towards Blake, Ruby instantly dashed towards the Schnee heiress. The orange haired girl Ruby was talking to wandered off after being abandoned.
"Look Weiss, it's not what you think, she explained the whole thing. See, she doesn't actually have a bow, she has kitty ears and they're actually kind of cute..." So went on the rambles of young Ruby Rose, Weiss dismissed her in favor of Blake. The faunus girl stared down to the Schnee heiress
"Weiss, I want you to know that I'm no longer associated with the White Fang. Back when I was with the-" Blake was loudly interrupted by Weiss.
"Stop! Do you have any idea of how long we've been searching for you?" Weiss paused before answering her rhetorical question. "Twelve hours. That means I've had twelve hours to think about this. And in that twelve hours, I've decided..."
Everybody looked with bated breath, worried about what Weiss might say.
"I don't care!" That certainly threw everyone for a loop.
Blake looked pretty hesitant before asking. "You don't?"
"You said you're not one of them anymore, right?" Weiss asked.
Blake was frantic in her response, "No, I-I haven't been since I was younger-" She was silenced by the once cold Schnee heiress.
"I don't want to hear it. All I want to know is that the next time something this big comes up... you'll come to your teammates. And not some..."
Weiss coldly stared at Sun with accusational eyes. "Someone else."
Blake silently agreed to the heiress' conditions.
Ruby took this as a good sign, she threw her arms up in joy. "Yeah! Team RWBY is back together!"
Kaiser found himself smiling when the group moved closer together only for Weiss to reprimand Sun.
The spy turned around as someone tapped him on the shoulder, it was a police officer. Kaiser held his hand up to turn the man away.
"Sorry, they already took my statement." Kaiser politely gestured to the other officers.
"Actually." The officer slapped some handcuffs on the unsuspecting spy. "I'm here to take you in for questioning."
"May I ask why?" At this point, Kaiser had caught on. The stiff posture, wariness, and calm demeanor screamed agent to the boy. More than likely Albert Ross had probably sent for the boy, but he had to do it in a covert way.
"What? Ross decided to send a lackey for me?" Kaiser was swiftly struck across the face for his comment. Blood dribbled out of the boy's mouth, Kaiser cracked a ruined smile. "Losing your temper like that, you'll never make it in the field."
Probably a bad idea to say that if the "officer's" fist rearing back was any indication. The punch never landed though, Kaiser risked opening his eye.
"There a problem here?" Yang asked, she barely acknowledged the man writhing in her grip.
"No problem, Yang." Kaiser spit up a bit of blood. "The officer is just here to ask me a couple questions down at the station. I'll be gone for the night, maybe miss school tomorrow. Tell the teachers I came down with fever."
Yang silently nodded and let go of the man, the "officer" furiously rubbed at his wrist. The uniformed man tugged Kaiser by the handcuffs all the way to a patrol car. After being shoved in the backseat, the car door was slammed shut. What he assumed was one of Ross' agents sped out of the docks.
"Impersonating an officer of the law is a misdemeanor and can get you up to two years in prison." Kaiser indifferently mentioned, all he heard was a tired sigh. The steel cuffs dug into his wrist, the boy desperately wished for a lock-picking set or at the very least a paper clip.
The "officer" pressed a button on the dashboard, the car windows surrounding Kaiser darkened to a degree where he couldn't see. The backseat was quickly isolated from the front seat as the plastic divider was covered with a solid black layer. It was as if the spy was in his own little void away from everything, this was surely one tiring day.
In one day, Kaiser managed to break into the IPS data-bank. The boy had also had an unpleasant meeting with his old superior Albert Ross, also managing to get some gear for himself. He had discovered where Hercules was coming in through Vale, and had possibly discovered his semblance.
The car had noticeably slowed to a crawl, a far cry compared to when they were probably on the streets Vale. Kaiser guessed that he had reached wherever they were supposed to get to. The car door suddenly opened, the "officer yanked the boy out of the backseat. Cold steel dug into the spy's wrist, his broken aura had resulted in him not being able to mute small pains anymore.
The car was parked in a dark and damp alleyway, steam came wafting out from pipes lining the walls of small warehouses. Keys jingling caught Kaiser's attention, the "officer" opened one of the warehouse doors and gestured for the boy to enter.
Kaiser walked into the warehouse, it was a small barren room. The only things in there were a table, a chair, and a large tub full of water. The boy shivered at the thought of what the tub was for, his shoulders were grabbed and Kaiser was made to sit down in the chair.
This was going to be a long night.
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"I presume you already know why I called you up here." Ozpin gestured to a seat in front of his desk.
Blake swallowed nervously, the night before had weighed heavily on her mind. Even if Weiss had forgiven her, there were problems much bigger than that. What sort of deal did Torchwick strike with the White Fang to have them help in his dust heists?
"Yes professor."
"I've reviewed footage from last night's dust heist and I've found some rather peculiar things. Mainly, the fact you're team and a couple other students were present at the scene." Ozpin raised his ever present to his lips.
"I can explain!" Blake blurred out, she was afraid her short time here at Beacon would be cut even shorter because of her past.
"I'm sure you can." Ozpin was as eerily calm as he always was. "But I wanted to extend my apologies personally to you Ms. Belladonna."
Blake tensed slightly at his words, she didn't think there was much of an apology to be offered.
"I never intended for my academy to become an area for bigots to harass you or any other faunus student."
Blake's hands immediately shot up to her bow, she suddenly felt very exposed.
"Please do not worry yourself Ms. Belladonna, I have no intention of revealing your secret to anyone. I personally do not see the point in judging someone by their past, which is why I granted you admission into Beacon despite your past with the White Fang."
"Thank you professor." Blake bowed her head in gratitude to Ozpin, she stood up to leave the room.
"Please wait a moment." Ozpin turned the monitor of his computer screen around. "I have something to show you."
Blake sat back down, curious as to what Ozpin had to show her.
"You see, it is in my best interest as headmaster here in Beacon to keep my students well informed and safe." Ozpin heavily sighed. "Are you familiar with Adam Taurus?"
Blake nervously began to tap her fingers against the desk she sat at. "Yes."
"Do you know him personally?"
"Yes."
Ozpin solemnly nodded. "Well, I'm sure the White Fang are not too keen on defectors." The headmaster clicked on a key from his computer which played a video. "It was rumored that Adam Taurus was operating on the outskirts of Vale, but a couple months back I received footage of him doing business inside of Vale's borders." The security footage showed Adam Taurus walking in an alleyway with five of his followers, each one dressed in uniform.
Blake's blood ran cold, the person she had tried so hard to distance herself from was here in Vale.
All it would take was one accident and Adam would know exactly where she is. The footage cut to around 20 minutes later judging by the timestamp of the recording. She watched as a blur sped into the alley, Blake didn't see it again until it was back in the frame where it had taken a crowbar to the face.
Now that the person who ran in was still, Blake could get a closer look. She quickly recognized the figure as Kaiser, why he was there she did not know.
Blake was sort of shocked to see Kaiser at the docks, presumably to help her with the White Fang. She didn't think much of the boy, but that ended the day Cardin spouted off his secret to the entirety of their year. That was the only thing that really set him apart in her eyes, the fact that he had a past threatening to poke into his present. For a while, she wondered if she could become closer to him by relating to his situation. There weren't many opportunities for them to interact besides the library, and she didn't know if it was a good idea to bring up his past as frivolously as Yang sometimes did. Blake resigned herself to enjoy the amiable silence the days that Kaiser did happen to come to the library, maybe next time she'd offer him some of her tea.
Blake's eyes widened in surprise as she watched the boy literally get kicked out the alley by Adam Taurus. The footage paused as Ozpin turned the monitor back around, he busied himself with adjusting his glasses.
"I felt that you should've been notified."
"Thank you professor."
"Good, well you are free to leave now if you'd like." Ozpin nodded.
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"You can't leave until you've cooperated boy." Albert Ross threatened.
On the table, Kaiser lay his head, a pool of water droplets. Unfortunately, Kaiser had been right in what the tub of water would be used for. The boy shivered in the freezing cold mess, droplets of water clung to his white locks of hair. He'd been too weakened from his fight with Neo to stop Ross' agent from dunking his head in the tub. The agent was asking questions that Kaiser refused to answer out of habit until Mr. Ross arrived.
"Is this even necessary?!" Kaiser huddled his arms together for some sort of warmth. "I don't have any secrets."
Mr. Ross let out a small hmph. "On the contrary Kaiser, you hold more information than you know. You could put the kingdom's councils and the entirety of the IPS at risk if other organizations knew your knowledge. Your innate ability to accrue information is exactly the reason why you were such a good asset." The spymaster condescendingly pat Kaiser on the head. "Now tell me, is there anything else you'd like to tell me about Gemini?"
Red eyes gazed at the horrid old man in front of him. "Gemini is sending in crates of Hercules into Vale through imports of fake companies." The boy tried to wipe some water off his face but failed due to the handcuffs digging into his wrists. "You should find the shipment in lot 14b."
"Well, now that we have that out of the way, we can discuss the conditions of our contract. Concerning Gemini, I may be able to send assistance to clean up the aftermath of your excursions. In exchange, you need to go out into the field on any occasion I choose."
"What about Beacon?" Kaiser was hoping not to miss classes.
"What about it? You can make it work, you always have."
Kaiser glowered at the man, he had no consideration for the boy and the new life he was building. The spy let Mr. Ross continue the conditions by silently nodding.
"I will grant you a weekly stipend of 50 Lien, in exchange for that you have to be ready and willing to participate in an operation of my choosing."
Kaiser closed his eyes considering the offer, his work study program ended in a couple weeks. The boy wasn't keen on relying on anyone's kindness for money, there were loads of supplies he'd need to pay for when it came to huntsmen expenses. The deal was set in stone when Kaiser nodded.
"Only if the operation takes place here in Vale, no out of kingdom flights."
Mr. Ross snapped his fingers, and the agent behind him unlocked the handcuffs binding Kaiser's hands. "That is reasonable, I believe our time here has concluded. I look forward to you being in my service." The door to the warehouse room opened, bright sunlight poured into the dimly lit room.
"Take care of yourself boy, I won't have any use for you otherwise." Mr. Ross said as Kaiser walked through the door.
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Damn it all!
Kaiser didn't have a good perception of the time as he was in a dark room the whole time, but he didn't think it would take all night and day. It was already 3:25pm, class would be ending soon! A migraine sprung up as Kaiser wasn't afforded any sleep, how could he be if every so hour Ross' agent had taken to drowning the boy with the tub.
But that wasn't what was important right now! The 3:30pm bullhead was leaving soon, and Kaiser did not want to have to wait another 30 minutes for the next one to come. The spy rushed his way between streets trying to get to the bullhead station. The entrance came into view quickly, Kaiser ran as he took out his scroll for admission.
Kaiser plugged his scroll into the scanner and passed through when it beeped green.
The bullhead! It was just in his sights! All he had to do was make it past the doors!
Kaiser closed his eyes as he charged forwards.
Only to feel his body crashed into the closed doors of the bullhead.
Kaiser didn't have time to think about the idea he had just had, the boy aimed his grappling hook at the underside of the bullhead just as it exited the station.
In a matter of a few minutes, Kaiser was dangling from a bullhead hundreds of miles in the air. The boy would've appreciated the sight if he wasn't busy trying not to look down. The sun reflected off the waters of the sea and sent those blinding rays right in the boy's face, he was desperately trying to hold steady.
Kaiser pressed the button on his wrist to have his grappling hook slowly pull him up, if he did it too fast he might accidentally have it detach from the bullhead entirely and send the boy to a watery tomb. Just as he was about to reach for a ledge on the bullhead's underside, painful aftershocks rocked his arm and torso. The boy almost lost his grip on the ledge before deciding he should keep his hook connected to the airship.
After around 30 minutes of his whole body hurting, Kaiser and the airship were slowly approaching Beacon academy. Kaiser had to act fast, if not, he'd probably be on a round trip back to Vale. Right before the bullhead lowered itself completely with the boarding platform, Kaiser retracted his hook. Kaiser was quickly approaching the water below, he barely managed to get his hook latched into a nearby lamppost. The spy used it to pull himself towards the lamppost, he was going a little too fast for his liking.
Kaiser careened right into the lamppost, he let out a pained yelp as his body hit the concrete floor. This attracted the attention of one student in particular trying to board the bullhead. Kaiser cracked his eye open to see Cardin Winchester staring right at him.
"I'm too sleep deprived to deal with you today." Kaiser hopped up to his feet and ran towards the academy just as Cardin was taking a deep calming breath.
Kaiser sprinted from the bullhead station all the way to the entrance of Beacon. He somehow heard somebody call to him on his mad dash to the academy, the boy stopped in his tracks. He searched around for the source, the sight of a girl in a beret and black aviator sunglasses.
"Hey! Can you come over here for a moment?" The girl gestured for him to come closer.
Kaiser didn't want to appear rude so he did as he was asked. The girl in the beret wore a long brown colored shirt adorned with multiple black accessories. Kaiser assessed that the girl was really fashionable, her outfit drew attention but didn't outright demand it.
"Did you need something?" Kaiser asked, his vision fell out of focus as he let out a hard yawn.
The girl cringed once she saw the bruises and slight cut marks littering Kaiser's hands and face. "See I was walking across the schoolyard and I happened to see something that caught my eye." The girl lowered her sunglasses giving Kaiser an eyeful of her dark-brown eyes.
Kaiser shuddered under her gaze, all he wanted to do was get to the library to check something.
"You have to understand that anything rarely catches my eye." She closely examined the coat Kaiser was wearing. "I have to say I really love the dashing rogue vibe you have going for you."
Kaiser nodded, unsure if she caught that or not. The new coat did make him look like one of those characters on some video games that Kane tried to have him play on occasion.
"And the way your body is built, It's perfect."
Kaiser silently agreed to that, he made sure that he had a lean figure. Not exactly buff like most of the people in the school, but with just enough muscle to make just about anything hurt. Kaiser prioritized speed and flexibility more than anything, and that wasn't exactly possible if he had large muscles.
Something about that last part that the girl said bothered him for some reason.
"Perfect for what?"
The girl, who was busy squeezing her arm around his sleeved bicep looked up at him with a smirk. "I was wondering if you could model a couple outfits for me." She took a second to pause. "But only after resting, no offense but you look like you've been hit by a train."
"No offense taken." Kaiser winced at the painful memory of actually getting hit by a train once on an operation.
"If you want, I can make it worth your time and pay you for each photo."
Kaiser perked up at that, the more lien he could save up the better. Dust was getting pricier by the day as Torchwick hoarded most of it.
"I accept your offer, thank you for this opportunity." Kaiser slightly bowed his head.
The girl let out a giggle. "There's no need to be so formal, here, let me put my number into your scroll." Kaiser handed her the scroll after putting in the password, she quickly typed in her number. "I'm Coco by the way."
"It's very nice to meet you, my name is Kaiser."
Kaiser shook hands with Coco.
"Oh I know who you are." She smirked at him while readjusting her sunglasses. "You're the guy who mopped the floor with a whole team in the middle of the cafeteria."
Kaiser suddenly felt a little uncomfortable under Coco's gaze. He was shocked out of his perceived awkward tension when she slapped his backside.
"Relax! Somebody had to do it, and if it wasn't you it was going to be me. And trust me, you don't want to be on my bad side." Coco let out a small laugh. "I heard that one of them is even taking therapy after the incident."
"Actually it's just rehabilitative detention, he's just getting therapy over his behavior." Kaiser corrected.
"Potato-Potahto. What's important is that you put Cardin in his place, and for that, you earned my respect." Coco lightly tapped her hand over Kaiser's shoulder. "I gotta run, call me when you have time to set up for the modeling gig. Enjoy the rest of your day!" She said playfully as she walked away.
"Thank you, you too." Kaiser said, but she was already gone.
Kaiser let out a loud yawn as he made his way to the library, many students looked at the haggardly boy stumbling down the walkway towards the library.
The spy grabbed the handle to the library door and entered. There weren't many students waiting about in the hallway leading to the library, probably because the school day had already ended. He barely registered the red figure that came out of the library, Ruby approached the boy with a waving hand.
"Hi Kai!" She cheerfully greeted.
Kaiser raised his arm to return his gesture, his sleeve dropped down to his shoulder revealing his grappling hook. Ruby suddenly wasn't in her spot anymore, Kaiser slowly turned his head to see her right next to him. The spy, as expected, jumped back in surprise.
Ruby excitedly pointed at the bracer wrapped around his arm. "What's that? Is that your new weapon?"
"Ah… no, it's just something I picked up along the way when I went to the docks yesterday." Kaiser lowered his arm to allow Ruby to inspect it closer. "Like it? It's a grappling hook that can pull me towards it or pull stuff towards me."
Ruby gushed over the new weapon. "Do you have a name for it yet?"
Kaiser pondered for a second, he thought back to how it helped him escape from under Neo's heel. "Yeah… it's Great Escape."
"That's super cool! Do you think you could let me try it out?" Ruby asked.
"Maybe later." Kaiser patted her on the head. "Right now there's something I need to check out in the library."
"Oh ok, later then!" Ruby skipped away leaving Kaiser to his own devices.
No matter how many times he'd been there, Beacon's library was a breathtaking sight. Massive shelves lined the walls, the rows upon rows of shelves suggested a near innumerable amount of books to read.
Kaiser quickly picked out a textbook from the anatomy section, he needed to find a nice and quiet place to read. After settling himself in a corner of the library, he cracked open the book to the table of contents.
The textbook "Aura Anatomy" offered a lot of insight on the workings of huntsmen's auras. But more important to Kaiser was the chapter on aura's link to semblances and semblance awakening.
"Tangible projection of one's aura… semblance may reflect on one aspect of its user." Kaiser tiredly rubbed at his eyes as he read some of the sentences from the chapter. "In a situation of extreme stress, the user experiences a comforting sensation upon semblance awakening." Kaiser softly grinned now that he could certainly say that he had unlocked his semblance.
The spy's eyes involuntarily closed, sleep deprivation caught up to him. Kaiser let himself drift off for a few minutes. What he assumed were those few precious minutes passed by when he felt someone tap on his shoulder.
Kaiser violently jolted awake, he scanned the room with bloodshot eyes ready to face whatever had awoken him. His breathing instantly went down to a steady pace when he saw it was just Blake, she stood across from where he was sitting. On the table was a thermos cap filled with tea, it was knocked over and spilled the hot liquid onto the wooden table.
"Oh god, I'm so sorry, that's on me." Kaiser tiredly said as he tried to use his sleeves to wipe away some of the tea.
"No it's my fault, I shouldn't have woken you up like that." Blake seemed embarrassed at the accident.
"No, don't worry, I'm just a bit tired is all." Kaiser reached into the interior of his coat, the advantage of expanding its height was adding deep pockets. He pulled out his uniform shirt from the built in pouch, he'd placed his uniform in it after he received the new coat. The boy used his uniform to wipe away the majority of the tea.
"New gear?" Blake tentatively asked.
"Yeah, like it?"
"It looks... functional"
An awkward silence overtook the two students, both of them realized that they had never had a conversation with the other. Kaiser lightly coughed as Blake built up the courage to ask him something that was eating at her.
"You're a faunus?" Kaiser did a double take after asking that. "I mean, if you don't mind me asking."
"No it's fine, yeah I am a faunus." Blake squirmed in her spot. "What gave it away?"
"Ruby might have let something about kitty ears slip."
Blake grinned at the antics of her leader, that smile left as soon as she asked her next question. "Now, if you don't mind me asking. Why were you at the docks last night."
Kaiser seemed to ponder her question before answering. "Everybody was worried about you. So I decided to help out, unfortunately I got a bit sidetracked into another fight. Sorry about Torchwick getting away."
"It's alright, it couldn't be helped. For what it's worth, thank you for showing up to help."
Kaiser quickly waved off her gratitude. "Don't thank me, I sort of did it out of selfish reasons. Without you, everybody seemed so quiet and bummed out. I already get that kind of silence from my dorm room, I just couldn't handle how lonely it felt." Kaiser quickly shut the textbook he napped on. "But it just goes to show how much you mean to all of us."
Blake silently nodded at that, a smile graced her features. "Yeah… listen I was just leaving and I woke you up so we could head to dinner with everybody else."
Kaiser tiredly rubbed his eye with his palm. "Oh yeah, thanks for that. Let me just put this away and I'll join you." The boy hefted up his book and walked towards the section he got the book from. Kaiser opened up his scroll and found a notification from an unknown number. He read the message along with the picture attached.
The serum is gone, they must have cleaned house.
The picture was the interior of the shipping container completely devoid of any cargo. Kaiser covered his eyes with his palm in frustration, whoever was in charge was probably now aware that their business might be investigated.
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Warehouse several miles away from the Argus border.
Black… that was all that he saw. This was the eighth time the men in suits had moved him, they must've not wanted him to know where they were if the burlap sack over his head was any indication. It's been a year since he started his deep cover mission, a year since he'd been declared dead. A whole year of nonstop risk just to get to this moment, his target was in this building somewhere.
"Alright Kane, times up." The sack was yanked from his head, his vision exploded with color.
Chocolate brown eyes cracked open, they closely examined the room he was in. Many of the men must have left since there was only one person, Kane turned to his left only to see a man slumped over with a bullet in his head. Only one man stood in front of him, he was leaning against a pool table.
"We gave you a lotta chances to spill secrets but you won't cooperate." The man picked up a large bowie knife. "Now the boss ran outta patience. He said we should take care of you, if you know what I mean."
Kane blankly looked on, he silently dared the man to come forward. Unbeknownst to him, Kane was cutting the rope behind him with a razor blade he kept handy.
"You think I care?" Kane huffed out.
"It doesn't matter cause you're gonna die!" The man lunged forward with the knife.
Kane snatched the man's wrist, then head butted him. The man crumpled to the floor soon after, Kane stomped on the man's head for good measure. Another armed guard entered through a door in the hallway, he took notice of the now free Kane and the unconscious man. Kane quickly scrambled towards the pool table and chucked a heavy billiard ball at the guards head.
"Fore!" Kane yelled, the billiard ball hit the guard on the head with a sickening crack toppling him to the floor. "Wait a minute… fore is for golf. What do I say if I throw a billiard ball?" Kane continued this train of thought as he stalked down the hallway.
Another guard burst through one of the shutter covered doors, this one brandished a tactical knife. The guard swung his knife down trying to stab Kane's shoulder, it was stopped by the assassin blocking the arm. There was a bit of struggling, but Kane managed to maneuver the guard's arm into stabbing himself.
The hallway led into a waiting room with a secretary's desk in the corner, Kane stopped short of entering it as somebody with an automatic rifle was there. He patiently waited until the guard was close enough, Kane broke into a sprint to run on the wall. The assassin landed and used his created momentum to spin the armed guard around before throwing him over the desk, but not before removing the rifle from him first.
"Is the 1:00 pm appointment open?" Kane asked before shooting the guard in the leg.
The noise had certainly rustled up more trouble for the assassin as two more guards rushed towards the doorway where Kane was. He let bullets fly as the two men approaching him immediately went down, glass walls shattered behind them.
As Kane exited the doorway he heard the click of a handgun a bit too close to his head.
"You're dead!" The man in black had yelled.
Kane used the butt of the rifle to knock the gun out of the guard's hand, he plunged the rifle's butt into his victims stomach making the guard stumble backwards.
"Speak for yourself!" Kane shot three rounds of bullets into the man.
Through the window, Kane could see that he was pretty high up. He'd have to get down quick to meet his target, or else the past year would have been for nothing. Kane quickly ditched the rifle as it had run out of ammo, he wondered idly if it could still be used as a blunt object.
On his way down the stairs, Kane was faced by a man who already had his gun drawn with the express purpose to kill him. The assassin tightly grabbed the railings before kicking the goon in the head, the henchman tumbled down the stairs and all that was heard was a tired groan.
Kane finally made it to the ground floor ready to complete the mission. He approached a door opposite of the stairwell before it was opened by another guard casually walking out. Kane slammed the door close hitting the guard's head against the wall hard.
Kane let out a small exhale before turning the other way, more abandoned glass cubicles lay there. Standing outside of all of them was a single man lighting a cigarette, that was his target. The target snapped his fingers, multiple people in suits came bursting out of every door in sight. There had to be at least 12 people looking to dispose of Kane! The assassin only chuckled and tiredly closed his eyes before shaking his head.
Just another day at the office.
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An: I'm genuinely excited to write what's gonna go down in vol 2.
I'm out.