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Chapter Five: New Friends, Old Habits
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All in all, Alex took the story pretty well. He'd had a few questions here and there, but past that, he was perfectly open to the idea of other dimensions. The next few days passed by pretty quick, and before long, it was Saturday.
They woke up around 7:00 and went to the cafeteria for breakfast. When they arrived, a quick look around revealed Teams RWBY and JNPR were already there. After getting their food, the pair went to their friends.
"Sup guys!" Delsin said.
"Hi Delsin!" Nora said cheerily.
"Hey, man," Jaune chimed in.
"How ya doin' D?" Yang asked.
"Yang, for the twelfth time, please don't call me that," Delsin replied, holding his face in his hands.
"You got it old man," she beamed.
"I'm 24!"
"Like I said, old man."
"Ugh," Delsin moaned as his friends laughed.
After that, the conversation carried on quite nicely, though with more than a few jokes at Delsin's expense. As the meal dragged on, people stated to filter out, ans pretty soon it was only Ruby and Delsin talking.
"So, are you liking Beacon?" Ruby asked.
"Yeah. It's a big change from where I'm from, but so far it's pretty good." Delsin replied.
Ruby looked perplexed.
"Where are you from anyway? You never told me."
"Just a small town I'm sure you've never heard of," he replied. And it was the truth. He was absolutely sure Ruby had never heard of the Akomish.
"Hm."
They sat in silence for a moment.
"Delsin?"
"Yes Ruby?"
"I noticed something."
"What?"
"You've been wearing the same clothes for a few days."
Delsin looked down at himself.
"So I have."
Ruby looked at him quizzically, and he sighed.
"I didn't have a chance to grab any clothes when I came here."
"Huh?"
"I'd rather not talk about it if you don't mind."
"Uh, ok."
Another awkward silence descended, but Delsin forced his way through it.
"So, do you know where I could buy some clothes? I don't exactly know my way around here."
"Uh, I can ask Yang?"
"That works."
She pulled out her Scroll, and sent a message. A moment later there was a response.
"Oh, here," Ruby said, "She sent me a map, I'll send it to you."
Delsin's Scroll buzzed as he received the image.
"Thanks. Like you said, I need clothes. See you around Ruby," he smiled.
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Delsin caught an Airship ride into Vale later that day. True to his word, he was going to buy some clothes. Unfortunately, Yang apparently had no idea how to use a map, and the one she sent made absolutely no sense. After several wrong turns, Delsin quickly found that he had no idea where he was, and that he was probably nowhere near where he was supposed to be going.
After twenty minutes of being lost, he gave up and started parkouring up a building. When he reached the top of the three-story building, he looked around. He could see Beacon, and the Airship station, but with those as his only landmarks, he still had no idea where he was supposed to go.
He pulled out his Scroll and checked the map again. No help. From his surroundings, he knew he was in the Commercial District, but that was about it. He was about to give up and go back to street level to just start asking around when he heard a cry for help.
He smiled and turned on his Neon power. At his top speed, he bolted to the source of the cry. When he arrived at the scene, it was almost identical to the last one he came to. He sighed, hoping for a little change, but still, he got to work.
This time, there were four guys, all of which absolutely reeked of alcohol. He couldn't see their target, but at this point it really didn't matter. He switched to his Smoke power.
"Hey!" he called from a rooftop.
The four turned to him, and he jumped down, not even bothering with his thrusters.
"Maybe you should pick on someone your own size," he said, his inner child cheering at his cliché.
As he spoke, one of the men threw a whiskey bottle at his head. Most people would dodge, but Delsin just stood there. As the bottle was about to hit him, Delsin turned into smoke and the bottle passed right through him.
"The fuck?" one of the guys slurred.
"You know what, forget what I said. Maybe you guys should go home before someone your size picks on you," he said, smirking.
The biggest guy shoved one of his buddies, and that one charged him. Again, Delsin just stood there. As the drunk closed in (it took longer than normal since he was wobbling) Delsin raised his hand and blasted him in the face with a sulfur-infused headshot. The man started to cough violently, and Delsin subdued him with a little extra smoke.
The big guy, who was apparently the leader, growled at him.
"So that's how it's gonna be? Alright."
The other two rushed him. Or rather, they tried to. When they ran forward, he returned the action with a Smoke Dash. With a little extra power, he subdued them both just like the first. At the end of his dash, he was face to face with the only remaining guy, a smirk on his face.
His smirk didn't last long. The man apparently wasn't as stupid as he looked, and had managed to guess where Delsin would end up. Delsin didn't see the chain hit him, but he felt it as it knocked him back a couple feet. Lucky for him he'd been practicing with his Aura. He'd come away with nothing but a rapidly healing split lip.
He wiped his mouth.
"Get lost freak," the hulking mass of alcohol drenched flesh spat, unfurling the rest of his chain.
"Hey, I've got one of those," Delsin replied, revealing his own. For added effect, he wreathed it in fire and smoke.
The man didn't seem to care, but with his eyes locked on Delsin's face, he didn't notice the Sulfur Bomb at his feet. As the two squared off, Delsin smiled, and the bomb went off. The man was caught off guard, and with one swing of his chain, Delsin smashed the man in the face and subdued him. As the man fell, Delsin looked at his unconscious and smoke-bound body with a very smug and satisfied look on his face.
"Delsin?" an accented voice asked quietly behind him.
Delsin turned around.
"Velvet?" he asked, a touch exasperated.
The rabbit Faunus smiled shyly. Delsin sighed, but kept up a smirk.
"We really gotta stop meeting like this," he said.
Velvet laughed.
Just then a woman rounded the corner to the alleyway.
"Velvet!" she yelled.
"Coco!" Velvet replied.
Delsin only barely managed to catch a glimpse of her general coffee-based color scheme before it hit him.
"Stay away from her you Faunus hating creep!" the woman yelled, as she hit him upside the head with her disturbingly heavy purse, knocking him out cold.
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He woke up a few minutes later. He was still in the alley, but now he was sitting up, leaned against the side of a building rather than laying down.
"Mm, my head," he moaned.
"Delsin!" he heard Velvet say.
"Ow. Quiet please," he replied, his hands on his head.
"Sorry," she whispered.
Delsin managed to open his eyes. The coffee girl was there, wearing an outfit that, now that he could see it clearly, absolutely screamed fashionista.
"You ok now?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he responded, before turning to her friend, "Lady, what do you have in that purse, a cinderblock?"
The girl, whom he remembered was named Coco turned to him, a guilty smile on her face.
"Yeah, sorry about that. Got you mixed up with those creeps," she told him, motioning to the bound and now unconscious group of thugs behind him. Delsin shrugged.
"It's okay. I'll be fine in a second."
He stood up, the pain already faded.
"So what brings you here?" Velvet asked.
"Well, I'm kinda wearing my whole wardrobe. I was on my way to change that but Yang, apparently, has no idea how maps work."
Velvet and Coco laughed.
"Well, it's a good thing you ran into us then," Velvet told him, "Coco is an expert on that kind of thing."
Delsin perked up.
"Really?" he asked.
Coco smiled.
"I wouldn't say expert, but everything you see here?" she said, motioning to her outfit, "I designed and produced myself."
Delsin nodded.
"Nice," he replied smiling, "So, you help me find clothes that I like, and I'll forget that you hit me in the face with a two-ton handbag."
Coco laughed.
"Sounds good. C'mon."
They left the alley. With Coco and Velvet as his guides, he quickly found himself at his destination. Starlight Outfitters.
"Are you sure this is a clothing store?" Delsin asked.
"Yes I am," Coco replied.
She was about to open the door, when Delsin cut her off, making a show of gentlemanly holding open the door for the both of them. Coco looked at him with a suspicious grin, and Velvet smiled. The store looked like your average medium sized clothing store, though with a much better organizational structure. The whole layout was probably about 3,500 square feet.
As Delsin closed the door, an entry bell rang, and a man emerged from what he guessed was a back office.
"Ah, if it isn't my favorite customer! Coco, how are you?" the man asked.
Coco walked up to him and gave him a quick hug.
"Doin' great Mr. H. How's life?" she asked.
"Excellent. Those new designs you gave me have practically flown off the racks!"
"And your husband?" she asked in reply.
"George is off in Mistral right now, working out a deal with a new fabric distributor, and helping set up our new branch."
"Great! New material's for me to work with."
The man called Mr. H looked over her shoulder.
"Aren't you going to introduce me to your new friend?" he asked, looking at Delsin.
"Uh-huh. Mr. H, meet Delsin Rowe," she said, gesturing, "Delsin, Mr. Johnathan Halbridge. He's an old friend of my dad's."
"Well, it's nice to meet you Delsin," Mr. Halbridge said as he strode forward, a hand extended.
"You too Mr. Halbridge," Delsin replied, shaking his hand.
"Velvet, always good to see you," Mr. Halbridge said to the rabbit Faunus.
"Likewise Mr. H,"
He stood there for a moment, a small smile on his face, before turning back to Coco.
"Not that I don't enjoy your company my dear, but what brings you by?"
"Well, my friend here is in need of a new wardrobe."
"Oh? But he looks fantastic the way he is. I bet it took months to perfect that look."
Delsin threw up his arms.
"Thank you! Somebody finally noticed."
Mr. Halbridge laughed.
"Normally I would trust your judgment on this, but seeing as he is wearing his entire wardrobe, I think he needs a little help," Coco said.
"I see. Well young man, have a look around. I'm sure you'll find something you like."
At that, Delsin started searching. It took him a lot longer to find stuff he would actually wear, because Velvet and Coco had him trying on practically everything in sight. About an hour later, he came to the register with two hoodies, one white and one black, a new jean-jacket, three new pairs of jeans and a small collection of other clothes, some of which the girls forced on him.
When he went reach for his wallet, Johnathan stopped him.
"No need for that," he said with a smile.
"I'm sorry?" Delsin responded, a bit confused.
"With all of the money Coco brings to my store, I can afford to give away a few things, especially to one of Coco's friends."
Delsin was a bit taken aback at this. But, with a sincere "thank you" and a few bags, he and his friends left the store. On their way back to Beacon, they passed a hardware store, and Delsin got an idea.
"Hey, can we stop in there for a sec? I need to get something," he said.
"At a hardware store?" Velvet asked.
"Yeah. I'll be right back," he said, already back-pedaling.
"Uh, ok. We'll be here," she called after him.
He went into the store and immediately gravitated to the spray paint. He got a few colors, but mostly his selections were black, blue, white and yellow. He smiled, happy he'd be able to get back to his "art projects."
He went to the register and paid for his supplies, very grateful he didn't have to pay for the clothes. When he left, Velvet and Coco were still there, just as they'd promised.
"So what did you get?" Velvet asked.
"Oh, just some art supplies," he said with a smirk.
Velvet looked at him suspiciously, and Coco smiled.
"Is that a food truck? I'm starving," Delsin said innocently.
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After getting Delsin a taco or five, they started walking. Delsin would have been fine just heading back to Beacon, but Velvet insisted that they show him around a bit, so he would actually know where things were if he needed come back.
Over then next couple hours, the three of them had explored most of the commercial area, giving Delsin a passable knowledge of the city. It was getting late and they were on their way back when it started to rain.
It was slow at first, but it started to pick up the closer they got to the Airship station. After a few minutes, they decided to give up and wait out the rain in a nearby bookstore.
"Man, it's really coming down out there," Delsin said.
Velvet nodded in agreement.
They walked further inside, and three eventually settled down with something to read. Even Delsin did, though he made sure to stay close to the door. He and bookstore's didn't exactly get along from his point of view.
An hour had came and went, but the rain seemed to have only barely let up. Delsin also noticed that the sounds of thunder seemed to be getting closer, but he didn't pay much attention to that. He was in the middle of trying to read the first book in an apparently popular mystery novel series when Coco came up to him.
"Hey Delsin?" he heard her ask.
Thankful for the distraction, he looked up.
"What is it Coco?" he asked.
"Can I talk to you for a minute?"
"Sure," he replied, putting the book down.
She brought him to an aisle that he noticed was out of Velvet's sight line. Without a word, she shoved a book and a Lien card into his hand.
"Use that card, buy this book, and give it to Velvet," she said hurriedly.
"Whoa, slow down! What?"
"Buy that book for Velvet!"
"Uh, why?" he asked, growing more confused by the second.
Coco sighed and pinched her nose.
"You really can't see it, can you?" she said quietly.
"See what?!" he asked, exasperated.
Coco sighed.
"You are one of the first humans in Velvet's life to treat her nicely without any kind of incentive, and that makes her really happy. She likes you a lot, and she doesn't have a lot of friends, so I'm trying to help. Now get on with it, buster!"
Now it was Delsin's turn to sigh, only this time in defeat. Without any further resistance, he went to a register and bought the book. After he bought it, he looked around for the rabbit Faunus, yet he was unable to find her.
He finally found her standing outside. Just as he was about to approach her, a thunderbolt rocked the area. Most people are lucky enough to never learn this, but thunder is actually very loud when you're right next to it.
Delsin burst out of the store and frantically searched the area, though he nearly knocked over Velvet in the process.
"Delsin!" Velvet shouted, pointing down the street.
Delsin turned and followed her finger. What he saw was nothing good.
At the end of the street, a three-story apartment building was on fire. The fire department would later discover that the contractor had used sub-standard materials in its construction, and the grounding mechanism had failed at the first lightning strike.
But Delsin didn't care about any of that. All he cared about was that the people were still inside.
While he was standing there, Coco had rushed out alongside him. The apartment building was maybe thirty feet from them, and he was done waiting.
"Take this," he said, throwing the bag to Coco, "I'm going to help those people."
He started to dash off, but Velvet grabbed his arm.
"Are you insane?!" she screamed, "You'll get yourself killed!"
He shrugged her off.
"And if I don't go, they'll all die! I'm not going to let them!" he yelled back.
She pulled back her hand when she saw the desperation on his face, and with a quick nod, he ran off.
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In front of the building he switched to his Water power, and doused the area around the door as he ran inside. A bunch of people, maybe a little more than half the building's occupants, barreled past him as the fire died. He barely noticed them.
He couldn't see or hear the others in the building over the sound of the fire and the smoke, but still he pressed on. He quickly used up his Water powers dousing what he could of the fire, but most of the water evaporated immediately after he threw it. He switched to his smoke, and drained all he could take, making a visible path for more of the residents to pass through.
After the first floor was clear, he moved up to the next, blasting Smoke at everything he safely could to make room for more. The moment he got to the second floor, he found a room with people still inside. The doorknob was burning up and they couldn't get out. After telling the occupants to back up, he Cinder Missiled the door off its hinges, giving them a way out.
The occupants, two little kids who'd been at home alone, ran past him. As he kept moving forward, he did his best to drain the Smoke, but it was getting to be too much. He was taking in way more than he could handle, and it was getting to be painful.
He cleared the second floor relatively quickly, all things considered. He'd had to Cinder Blast through a lot of debris from the floor's above, but at the moment, conservation of power was a non-issue. By the time he'd gotten to the third and final floor, almost all of the building's residents were out of the building. Only problem was, he simply couldn't take in any more Smoke. His body wouldn't let him.
Nevertheless, he persisted. On the top of the stairs, he abandoned all restraint. Since there was little that could fall on whoever was left, and with time becoming a bigger issue, he simply started Cinder Blasting down all the walls that he could, including the ceiling so the smoke had somewhere to go.
Surprisingly, it worked. He'd soon cleared the almost the entire floor, only a few rooms remaining. He'd almost fallen a few times as the floor started to give way, but as the last occupants he found fled he turned to leave the building through the window.
Just as he was about to leap out onto the pavement, something stopped him. It was a sound, only barely audible over the roar of the fire. At first he couldn't tell what it was, but as he focused on it, it became clearer. His eyes, blurry though they were, widened.
It was the cry of a child, not much more than a year old from the sound of it. He turned back down the burning hallway and tried to determine where it was coming from. Eventually, he focused in on the sound, pinpointing it to a room he'd thought he cleared.
He dashed back down the hallway, only barely skirting over the gaps in the now decrepit floor. When he got to the door, he wasted no time. Instantly he Cinder Missiled the door and burst inside. He only barely managed to make out his surroundings, the smoke hampering his already blurry vision.
What he saw might have made him throw up, were it not for the massive amount of adrenaline in his system. The child was indeed there, off to the side in a crib, still very much alive. The father was not so lucky. Apparently a roof joist had fallen in the initial lightning strike, and the man had not been able to dodge it fast enough. He'd been impaled, straight through the heart.
While he gathered up the crying child, a young girl still crying for her daddy, Delsin spared only a moment to mourn the man. He knew what the child in his arms was feeling. He'd felt the same when his parents had died. After the moment passed, Delsin ran out of the room as fast as he could.
He couldn't dash anymore. Not because his powers weren't working, but because if he did, he couldn't bring the girl with him, dropping her through his would-be immaterial arms. As he got back to the second floor, debris blocked his descent. He knew his options were limited, and his time was running out. The floor above him, and beneath his feet was almost completely gone, and the rain wasn't even making a dent in the flames.
He was about to start firing off Cinder Missiles to make a path for himself, but the smoke inhalation was catching up with him. His Conduit healing could only do so much, and his consciousness was starting to fade.
Fortunately, he had made a few friends that day.
Delsin could recognize the sound of a spinning minigun anywhere, having faced more than a few in his time. The high speed rounds tore through the wall to his right from him, leaving a giant hole. Barely awake, he stumbled over to it.
Below him on the street were several people, including the residents of the apartment building as well as Velvet and Coco, who he saw was the source of the minigun fire. Gathering his the last of his fleeting consciousness, he switched to his Neon power, and flung himself from the building. As he was falling, he threw a Stasis Bubble just below them, and to be safe, turned his back to face the ground, making sure to keep the girl safe.
He passed out before he hit the ground.
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He woke up ten minutes later, but the next hour passed in a blur. His trick with the Stasis Bubble had succeeded, as evidenced that the child in his arms was still alive, though only barely. Before too long, the Fire Department arrived, and the girl in his arms was taken by the paramedics. Her mother rode in the ambulance with her, though she cried the whole way.
As the girl was taken from him, he rose, still hazy. Coco and Velvet supported him, and he managed to stand successfully. Then he began to drain the water out of the air and assist the Fire Fighters by blasting what was left of the fire. He wasn't a whole lot of help, seeing as he couldn't maintain a steady stream, but with a near endless supply of water, he managed to help a fair amount.
When the fire was out, he did his best to use his powers to heal the wounded. All the while, the building's occupants, as well as Velvet and Coco, looked at him in awe. He thought nothing of it at the time, but in recollection he would think he was probably overdoing it. The people around him had never seen powers like his before.
After a while, the rain stopped, and the only wounded people left were the ones beyond his ability to heal, and as such had been taken to a hospital. When all of the work was done, Delsin sat down against the burned out wall of the building. He drained the water out of his clothes and all around him. As the last of the adrenaline in his system burned out, his haze lifted.
With a smirk he looked back over the people he had saved. Slowly, the ambulances came, or cars drove off, and all of them went to the hospital for emergency evaluations or in search of a place to spend the night.
Velvet walked over to him.
"You really are amazing," she said.
"Can't help that, it's just who I am," he said smugly.
Velvet laughed. After a moment, he joined in.
"I have to ask, how do you do that? Are you infused with Dust or something?" Velvet asked, quelling her laughter.
"Something like that, I guess," he replied, looking up to the sky.
"Hm?"
"It's a long story. I'll tell it to you later."
"Ok."
For a moment, they just sat there, saying nothing. Soon, Coco approached, carrying his shopping bags with the help of one of the remaining residents. After a casual thank you and a wave, the resident left. Once he was gone, Delsin stood up.
"Ready to go?" Coco asked.
"Nope. I've got one thing left to do," he said with a smile.
"What?"
"I need to indulge an old habit."
The two girls looked at each other confused as Delsin pulled out three cans of spray-paint from his bag, one white, one black, and one blue. Their confusion grew as he shook them, but still they watched. He removed the tops of the cans, and began his work, spraying on one of the clean sections of building left. Over the next several minutes, his design took shape, and when he was done, he took a step back.
"A man, a plan, and an aerosol can," he said to himself.
"What is it?" Coco asked.
"My mark," Delsin said.
As the three looked at the image of two hands holding a city, Delsin smiled.
The Banner Man was back in business.
CHAPTER END
Well that was intense. And also a great deal of fun to write. As always if you have any questions about this fic don't hesitate to ask, and don't forget to review, the positive feedback really helps me get motivated to write this.
Also, just checked the traffic report on this again. Almost 1300 views in a mere two weeks! It may be comparably trivial to some, but hey, I think it's awesome.
Anyway, thanks again for your support, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
