She awoke with a start, rolling out of bed in a panicked frenzy, swinging her arms around as she fell. A warm hand grabbed her arm, halting her fall inches from the floor. There were sounds of struggling behind her as the hand and its twin worked to pull her back onto the bed. Ruby let out laboured breathes as she recovered from her sudden awakening. He had appeared. After the eyes had faded and the world had turned black from the vine's embrace, he had emerged from the darkness, chuckling as he approached her fingers twitching and flexing as he approached. He had reached for her just before she had awoken. She turned to see who had helped her, only to be greeted by Ilia, whose freckles where rapidly switching between dark blue and red as she led down breathing heavily from exertion.
Ilia noticed the girl's attention and instinctively her skin began to blend in with the sheets of the bed they lay on. She bit back her reflex after a moment when she noticed the pain in the other girl's eyes. The girl was pretty now that she really looked at her, she was younger than her, but Ilia could tell she would grow to be beautiful one day. She had desirable features; a soft face, dark hair, large eyes, pale flesh… Ruby noticed Ilia's freckles flash bright pink as the girl suddenly turned to face away from her, letting out a high pitch yelp as she did so. She watched confused, not understanding.
"Are you okay?" Ruby's voice was hoarse and strained, but she managed to speak the words. Ilia looked around slightly concerned by the state of the other girl's voice, only to immediately turn back around at the sight of her. How could she be so clueless? "I'm sorry if I…" Ilia cut her off before she could blame herself.
"No, no, no it's just… you may want to put something on or cover up." Ruby looked confused at the other girl's words before realising what she had said. She hurriedly looked down to realise she was she was stark naked save for a bandage wrapped around her stomach. She blushed furiously and dove under the covers of the bed she had been sitting on. She let out a small cry as she realised her state of undress.
"I-it's okay to look now… sorry" She muffled from under the duvet. Ilia turned to see a pair of eyes and a head of hair peeping out from the edge of the duvet. She giggled slightly at the girl's antics before crawling over to the girl and kneeling in front of her. She let one of her hands slowly wander over to Ruby before speaking letting it sit in the air in front of her for a moment.
"Ilia Amitola, nice to meet you". Ruby was hesitant to reach for the hand, before eventually deciding to trust the girl. She had no idea what was expected of her, so she settled to let her hand float in the air in front of the other hand.
"Ruby, Ruby Rose, nice to meet you too." Ilia giggled again as she saw Ruby awkwardly attempt to figure out what the extended hand meant. After a few more moment she decided to end the girl's confusion and gripped her hand with her own before shaking lightly. Ruby looked just as confused as before but seemed to loosen up a little at the touch as Ilia pulled away. It made Ilia wince slightly as she realised that the girl wasn't used to affection, or even friendly gestures. What happened to her? The other girl interrupted her thoughts.
"Umm, do you know where my clothes are?" Ilia smiled lightly before pointing to the heaped, torn clothing on the floor beside the bed.
"The lady that helped you last night said she had to cut them off to make sure she didn't miss anything." The girl nodded slowly before seeming to think deeply on what she was going to do. Ilia pulled her from her worry. "Don't worry Melanie said they were going to take us to get some clothes today and that you can borrow some of Miltia's old clothes until then, though they may be a bit big." Ruby seemed equally confused as to who and what she was on about but decided not to speak up. Ilia resigned to letting Ruby find out through experience rather than try and explain it to her.
There was an awkward silence for a few moments before they were rescued by the creaking of the apartment door swinging open. The sound caused Ruby to withdraw beneath the covers afraid of who might come in, what they would want, what they would do. Ilia looked on in pity; she had grown more used to her new 'family' over the last week, whilst Ruby had been in her short coma. To prevent her from dying due to lack of nutrition they had to use Joy's semblance every other day to repair and replace the energy and decaying cells in Ruby's body.
Ilia turned to see the twins walking into the bedroom, Melanie covering her mouth as she yawned, exhaustion clearly plaguing the two. Ilia knew that they had struggled to get a full night's sleep since meeting Apep, the encounter dredging up old memories they both wished would remain buried. The twins stopped in sudden shock as they realised that Ilia wasn't the only person awake this time. Small, sad smiles pulled at the edges of their mouths as they beheld the nervous girl, who occasionally peeked out at them from under the covers before retreating again after realising that they were looking at her too.
The Faunas girl watched as the twins exchanged a few knowing glances at each other, a tell-tale sign that they were talking mentally to each other. Silently Ilia wondered what it was like having someone else in your head all the time, being unable to lie to that person, understanding them completely, she couldn't decide if it would be a pleasant feeling or if she would hate the lack of privacy. She shook herself out of her pondering to see them exchange on last concerned look before slowly creeping over to the mass of duvet that hid the form of Ruby. As they drew close, they both released a calming breath before addressing the girl.
"Ruby, it's okay, we aren't going to hurt you." There was no response as Miltia spoke. Her eyes seemed to sadden slightly as the younger girl didn't emerge from the covers. Several minutes seemed to pass in silence before the duvet slowly shifted, revealing the dark hair and eyes of the eight-year-old. She sat up, pressing her back up against the headboard and pulling the covers up to hide her nakedness from the room, revealing just her head and her hands holding the covers. The twins smiled as warmly as they could at the sight of the girl's trust, they knew better than anyone how hard Apep's work could be to recover from. Luckily, they had each other, the presence of the other always setting them at ease, she didn't have that.
Their experiences with the trafficker had shaped both in various ways. In a way, one they hated, he had a key hand in making them who they were, for better or worse. Melanie often came across as being a self-obsessed brat that gave very few people the time of day. This wasn't the case in reality, but her fear of Apep's ministrations had made her slow to trust and easy to piss off. Miltia had been affected differently, whilst she was also slow to trust new people, she maintained her control over her temper a lot better, but also struggled to act forcefully if she needed to. That is unless her family was at risk. Hell, hath no comparison for the fire that would drive her to protect them. One time, about a year ago, a young club-goer in his early twenties had decided to take it upon himself to spike Melanie's drink and try and force his way on the teenager. He had belonged to a small local gang, the members of said gang had only received a medical bill with an extensive list of injuries, including forty or so broken bones, and a hand written note from Junior suggesting they stay clear of his establishment, or risk the wrath of a particular red-clad teenager.
Melanie decided to speak first. "We bought you some more clothes and a few essentials. We were going to wait for you to wake up so you could tell us what you would prefer, but when you were still asleep on Friday we realised that we weren't going to have much free time in the next week or so, so we went without you. Sorry if you don't like them." Ruby tilted her head slightly confused. She looked over to the paper bag containing a few articles of clothing, about six outfits in all. She looked back up at the anticipating twins perplexed as to why they thought she would be upset.
"Thank you." The words were said carefully and quietly but the twins seemed to light up slightly at the small voice. Ilia watched the exchange and felt a small smile pull at her features as she beheld the scene. She hadn't been used to the affection the twins showed a few days ago but had quickly warmed up to her new lifestyle throughout the week, she knew Ruby would take a lot longer to make the transition, but the gesture before her gave her hope. A small pale hand slid out from under the duvet, staying just in front of Miltia who was the closer of the two twins. "Ruby Rose, nice to meet you." The words were broken up with pauses in between the odd syllable but otherwise she seemed comfortable with the phrase Ilia had used before her. Miltia smiled kindly before shaking the hand gently in the same manner Ilia had.
"Miltia Malachite, nice to meet you too." The red twin gestured to her sister before nudging her slightly, prompting her to also extend her hand towards Ruby. The girl didn't seem to realise she was supposed to let go of Militia's hand to shake Melanie's and instead used her other hand to shake it instead. The other girls averted their gaze, out of courtesy for the girl, who simply looked on confused before realising once more that she was naked. She let out a small yelp before pulling her hands back and pulling up the covers again. The others giggled and laughed at the girl's blushing face.
"Melanie Malachite, a pleasure." The words were squeezed out between chuckles and giggles but had the desired effect as Ruby nodded quickly, blush fading slowly as she did so. Melanie decided to explain the situation to Ruby, as she had to Ilia a week ago. "So, welcome to the family Ruby. This is your room now, well yours and Ilia's. You'll get your own rooms when you reach thirteen if you want one, Miltia and I still share but we could use different beds if we ever wanted or needed to." Ruby nodded not fully understanding but rolling with the explanation. Miltia picked up where her sister left off.
"Every day we are trained by Jax between ten a.m. and one p.m., you will join us in doing so from now on, Ilia has already started doing so, don't worry you two are starting from the beginning." She looked over to the younger girls to make sure they were still listening, they were. "After that you will have to study until four p.m. with various people, mostly Bart but he is busy a lot so others will often fill in where they can. After that you have free time for the rest of the day where you may do as you like, you can train some more, read, sleep, play. Whatever you need to pass the time. Junior will likely buy you things to help you pass the time, but I would say you should ask when he returns from his shift at the club." She winked at them, mischief glinting in her eyes as she spoke "He tends to be more… persuadable when he comes back." She decided not to say because he'd most likely have had a fair amount of alcohol by that point. The younger girls nodded, but Ruby looked confused again, the twins decided to let the confusion play out until she asked them about what was bothering her. Melanie finished the explanation.
"We'll be around most of the time, but we have occasional shifts at the club so won't always be around. You'll get to know everybody soon enough so don't worry too much. Anyway… why don't you get dressed Ruby and then come and have some breakfast?" as if on que a loud growl filled the air as Ruby's stomach protested to the lack of food it had been given over the past week. There was another fit of giggling from the twins and Ilia, whilst Ruby looked down in confused horror at the sound her body had made. Melanie spoke between stifled laughs "Sounds like you need it."
Breakfast had been quick and uneventful, each of the twins had poked fun at the other or at one of the other members of their 'family', each one drawing a laugh from Ilia and a small smile from Ruby who seemed too shy to express anything further. The twins tried not to be disheartened; a smile was progress and progress wasn't always fast, or easy.
After the meal the twins led the younger girls to a small room on the bottom floor of Junior's apartment complex. The club owner owned most of the nearby block and so they didn't encounter anyone as they winded through the halls and stairwells; most of the staff either on duty or resting. After a few minutes the room opened up into a large, wooden tiled floor. Various contraptions and benches of different shapes and sizes filled the room with a large space being left open with a raised blue and red platform protruding in the centre with identically coloured rope dividing it from the outside space. Various chairs and benches lay about, facing the platform.
In the pen, Ruby made out a man. He was large, very large. Not as large as Junior had been, but a close second. Whereas Junior had been a mountain of muscle this man was more like a well sculpted statue one would find in a history museum, depicting the peak of physical fitness. The man was ignoring them, sweating as he performed fast, explosive moves that awed the small child as she watched. His routine ended, his blurred form slowing down after he finished a round-house-kick on his invisible foe. His form was drenched with sweat but he seemed otherwise unfazed, breath only slightly irregular. He wore a white, sleeveless tank top that, due to the sweat, was practically transparent, and a set of knee length black gym shorts. He finally acknowledged them entering the room.
"Hey, I see we finally got the little one to wake up." He extended his hand, pulling off his sweaty hand-wraps before doing so. The small girl was careful, but after an encouraging nudge from Ilia took the hand and gave it a small shake. Jax smiled at the gesture, aware of her caution. "Well, it's nice to finally meet you. Mil, Mel go warm up; we'll give the newcomers a show." He wore a smug grin causing them to roll their eyes and complain quietly as they headed over to the ring to stretch and warm up. Jax turned to Ilia "You remember the routine I taught you?" she nodded quickly her enthusiasm obvious. "Good, think you could run Ruby here through it?" another happy nod. "Good, in about fifteen minutes come watch me and the Twins" she nodded one last time before gently dragging Ruby over to a couple of blue crash mats and demonstrating the basic exercises he had taught her.
Jax turned to look at the twins again, they too doing the routine he had taught them, a memory of a pair of struggling girls failing to do one hundred push ups floated into his head. A fond smile graced his lips as he reminisced. Shaking himself out of his trace he pulled on the ring's ropes before jumping over them in one swift movement and adopting a stance in front of the twins. Shortly after they adopted similar stances. A rustling behind him confirmed that the younger girls had pulled up a bench to watch the fight closely. The twins shared a glance, they were implementing a strategy, good.
"Ilia count down from three for us okay?" she hummed in agreement before doing as she was asked, excitement and anticipation in every number she called.
"3… 2… 1… FIGHT!" she shouted a little too enthusiastically.
Miltia rushed the much larger man, a broadcasted right swing aiming for his jaw. Jax smirked and raised his left arm to block the strike. It never connected instead Miltia was replaced with Melanie who brought an overhead kick from his right side. Instinct kicked in and he dropped and catching the leg as he did so, he leaned in to counterattack with a strike to her thigh only for the twins to once again switch places. Miltia drove an elbow into his gut causing him to step back a small cough escaping his mouth as he did so. Miltia showed a cocky grin at landing the first strike. The fight proceeded the twins would fight Jax by flanking him and swapping places to land surprise hits and change the direction of their attacks.
Ruby leaned over to Ilia. "Can he really beat both? He isn't doing so well." Ilia only giggled and placed a hand on her shoulder. Ruby looked up at the girl to see that her eyes were a bright orange from the excitement taking over her.
"Oh, you don't know Jax. He's testing the waters right now, seeing how much they have improved. Besides even if he wasn't, he hasn't used his semblance yet and that is what earned him his street name after all." Ilia was thrumming with energy as she watched Jax dodge and block the intricate attack pattern of the twins. She was like a fan girl watching her hero in anticipation for their next moment of glory.
"Okay, if you say so." Ruby thought for a bit before asking. "What is his street name?" Ilia positively glowed at the question. She smiled wholeheartedly as she spoke the name.
"The man of steel." Ruby looked confused before a grunt of pain drew her attention back to the fighting ring. Her eyes widened as she beheld the same man now pushing the twins back, his legs and arms practically a blur as he chained together hit after hit forcing the twins on the defensive. The twins switched places and Miltia grabbed Jax's outstretched arm and silently signalled for Melanie to attack from behind. She did so and the axe-kick would have caused some serious damage to most opponents, but Jax didn't even shudder as the kick connected. Ruby watched in shock as his skin seemed to shift and meld into metal, clanging slightly from the impact of the twin's foot.
The man was quick to capitalise on the hesitation of the twins, reversing the hold that Miltia had thrown around him and throwing her over his shoulder to slam into the ground winded. He immediately dropped below a follow up kick from Melanie and used his own leg to hook her feet out from under her and deliver a rolling kick to her now prone form connecting with her stomach and forcing her cough and splutter for a moment. Jax stood up brushing of his shoulders as if the fight had been nought but a warm-up.
"You two have gotten better, if I had been anyone else that manoeuvre at the end there might have hurt. Though, I must say, I can't say I'm enthralled by idea of self-sacrifice in order to hold an opponent still, but hey whatever works right?" he offered a hand to each of the twins, both gave him a slightly venomous glare before switching to a small smile and accepting the hands. He saw them smile and returned it before turning to all of them. "Anyway, today were working on endurance, so all of you do laps around the room, you don't get to stop until I say so got it?" he didn't receive an immediate reply. He switched voices, this time much more force behind his words. "Got it!?" they all jumped slightly before starting to jog around the room. He chuckled after they had gotten far enough away. Damned kids.
Ruby had practically collapsed, breathing heavy and form slick with sweat. She had been surprisingly durable, the twins making around twenty more laps than she had made before collapsing beside her on a bench. Ilia was the worst when it came to stamina having struck out an entire fifteen laps before Ruby had. That's not to say the number of laps she had managed was normal from a ten-year-old girl, but the others seemed to have her beat when it came to long distance.
It had been a completely different story when Jax had made them balance on a thin beam for as long as they could, incrementally throwing tennis balls at them to try and disrupt their balance. Ilia had come second with Melanie edging her out by a few minutes. Next was Miltia who had balanced for a while but eventually crumbled from a ball hitting her abdomen head on. Ruby had struggled with balance; barely managing to stay on the beam without projectiles being thrown at her, the very first tennis ball had knocked her off balance placing her way behind her competitors.
Next had been strength testing with a set of dumbbells and a punching bag. The two younger children had clocked in at way lower weights than the older girls, puberty and training being a deciding factor in this event. Jax had decided to show off a little bit when Ilia had asked him how much he could lift. He proceeded to dead-lift three hundred kilograms without breaking a sweat, he would have lifted more to continue showing off, but a disgruntled Melanie made him get back on topic. Miltia had managed to lift the most out of the girls, lifting around eighty kilograms to Melanie's seventy.
Jax proceeded to take the younger two through the basic physical routine they would perform daily and then taught them a basic few self-defence moves. This consisted mostly of teaching them how to put their weight behind their punches and telling them where to aim to get someone to back off or let go of them. They were no warriors yet, with years left to improve, but they were learning quickly, and he felt a pang of pride swell in chest as he looked on at the new two taking each other through the routine and the twins sparring off in the distance. He felt old in that moment, he wasn't really; only being thirty-two, but god did he feel it.
His train of thought was halted as he heard the clacking of boots on the wooden floor behind him. He turned to see a mop of ginger hair atop the head of a young woman. She looked to be in her early twenties, possibly her late teens and stood at just under six feet tall. Even from the distance Jax could make out her toned legs as she walked down the corridor. The girl was wearing a similar attire to the girls who were still training behind him, wearing a white gym top with a logo for a local sports team on the front, The Vale Vikings, and knee length shorts. Her feet were clad in heavy black boots with slightly raised heels to add a little extra height to her stature. Set into her face were baby blue eyes that regarded him with confidence and light mischief as she drew closer. What caught his eye the most however, was the thick metal choker that wrapped around her throat and similar looking decorations on her wrists. She didn't seem to mind their presence, but he could imagine they had to be uncomfortable, from each hung small silver crosses dangling on short, thin chains.
"And who might you be?" Jax questioned, sounding to most to be carefree, but closer inspection would show his wariness at the sudden appearance of the unknown person. She didn't reply, instead walking closer, her smirk turning into a full-blown grin as he frowned at her. He decided to play along. "Look sweetheart, club's that way." He gestured with his index fingers to the front doors. She ignored him and walked up to the ring, sliding under the ropes as she did so. He sighed and followed her to the ring before warning her. "Lady, you can't be here; this is private property." She finally turned to him and he realised that they were standing in opposite corners of the ring.
The twins were sparring beside them, but she gestured for them to stop and step out of the ring. They looked at her confused, turning to Jax to for an answer he simply shrugged and nodded for them to step out for a moment. They slowly complied and sat next to Ruby and Ilia on a nearby bench. The mystery woman adopted a defensive stance that Jax recognised from his years of fighting. She was trained then, perfect. The burly man rolled his shoulders before adopting his own stance, this one a little more offensive. He looked her up and down, admiring the tensed muscles like a coiled spring, she had trained hard and, whilst he wouldn't admit it aloud, he liked it when women put up a fight.
"Can I at least get a name darlin'?" she simply smirked at him before beckoning for him to attack. He sighed to himself, hardening his gaze at her, fine, he would oblige. He leapt forward, halting his momentum just before he reached her allowing all the force to translate into a low uppercut to her stomach. She reacted in time, stepping to the side before attempting to deliver her own heavy hit to his face. His left hand shot up to the balled fist, forcing it to turn to the side and ending with him inside of her guard. She looked surprise in that moment at his reaction speed and she didn't see the knee he brought to her abdomen. She stumbled back a few steps, coughing lightly.
He watched as she wiped the spittle around her mouth away and donned an amused grin. Her eyes seemed to light up at the idea of a challenge, one he himself seemed excited to offer. It had been quite a while since someone had taken a hit from him that well. She met his eyes and moved to speak.
"Nora." He looked confused, if a little enthralled. She continued. "My name." he nodded adopting his own grin, this might be rather fun.
He rushed her, again stopping just in front of her before unleashing a flurry of jabs. She blocked them all, conceding a step under the pressure he was applying to her. She grit her teeth and set her feet as he attempted to sweep out her legs from under her. She smirked and rolled to the side, striking his left shoulder hard as his leg went wide. It was his turn to stumble back. He rolled his shoulder wincing slightly as it clicked. He shot her a look, a smile clear on his face. Off to the side Melanie and Miltia rubbed their temples at his childish glee.
"Okay, how about we go all out? What do ya' say? I'll show you mine if you show me yours." She quirked her eyebrows bemusedly at his comment. She moved to pull off her jacket but paused to look at Ruby as she did so. Everybody looked at her confused as she walked to the edge of the ring and winked at the smaller girl.
"Watch and learn gem." She threw off her white and pink jacket to reveal a black sports bra that descended to her belly button. She turned to Jax giving, noticing as he stared a little too long. She shot him a challenging smirk. "Alright tin man, show me what you got." The girls on the benches gasp as she turned her back to them displaying the moving tattoo dancing along the length of her back. Ruby's hand subconsciously moved to her own mark as she watched in amazement. Jax was thrilled at the prospect.
"Now we're talking my language." His skin began to shift into its metallic form as he adopted his stance once more.
Nora's tattoo depicted a horned white tiger roaring, surrounded by lightning that flashed incrementally across the stormy night sky behind the creature before striking just beside the beast. Rain gathered in small puddles at the tiger's feet before seemingly falling of an invisible cliff at the bottom of the mark.
The woman looked up at Jax as she spoke. "I can't go all out, but I'll try not to disappoint." Jax looked slightly disappointed but nodded and set his feet again. She grinned at the opportunity presented to her. She reached to her wrists and tore of the chained crosses from each of the bracelets, causing them to fall off. The others looked on in shock as they realised the bracelets had needles on the inside of the band. The ginger woman rubbed her wrists at the feeling of release and let out a relieved breath at the sensation. Her tattoo also seemed to shift, the rain growing heavier, the lightning flashing more frequently. She levelled a keen gaze at Jax, hungry. "Get, ready."
Ruby's gut seemed to twist at the sentence, as if her very being was trying to retreat from the warrior woman in front of her. She shuddered at the overwhelming sense of dread that swamped her thoughts, she had to get away, it wasn't safe, and she was in danger… Her decent was stopped when Miltia put a hand on her shoulder, Ruby looked up at her.
"Ruby? You okay?" concern laced her eyes as she beheld the trembling girl beside her. She had noticed Ruby shrink and slowly edge off the bench they were sat on. The smaller girl thought for a moment, swallowed and nodded. Miltia looked on suspicious, but before long they both looked back towards the ring.
Nora stood side-on, one arm in front of the other, fingers flexing as she bobbed up and down on the spot. Meanwhile Jax was looking at the barbed bracelets on the floor deciding to probe further.
"That's some heavy metal jewellery right there, I don't know how much of a difference taking it off will make though. But hey whatever works for you." Nora's cocky smile widened, he returned it but felt concern pull at the edge of his mind. She was different, but how? She didn't give him time to think.
She launched forward, closing the distance way faster than he had anticipated. She landed a strike to his shoulder, he stumbled but reversed the situation driving an elbow into her stomach and throwing her over his shoulder. She stuck the landing and snap-kicked his chest forcing him to take a few steps back, giving her space once more. She rolled her neck and cracked her knuckles before raising her guard again. The twins knew that it hurt to punch Jax when he used his semblance, yet this woman had just shrugged it off as if nothing had changed. Jax hadn't taken any real damage either, but something was off, not much had changed since she removed her bracelets and yet she made a big deal of getting Ruby's attention. That's when they saw it.
There, dancing along the woman's fingertips was what looked like tiny sparks of electricity. Jax rushed her, deciding to end it whilst she was setting her footing. He blurred forward appearing next to her and aiming a right hook for her chest. As the strike connected Jax's world flashed white and he was thrown against the ropes behind him. He shook his head to clear it and looked up to see electricity arcing repeatedly between the palms of her hands. He groaned, standing up as he did so. Okay… so that's new. Jax grit his teeth and let out a slight snarl at the challenging look she pointed at him. He wiped his mouth of spit and the coppery taste of blood, a hardness overcoming his eyes. No more playing around.
Jax's hands seemed to melt and reshape before eventually shaping into two new forms on the end of his arms. His right hand had taken the form of a dull mallet, the air making a whooshing sound as he gave it a few practice swings. His left hand had become shield, which covered most of his upper body as he raised it. He bent his knees, crouching behind the shield his hammer-hand behind him slightly. Nora opened her mouth to speak, but he charged her forcing a stifled noise to escape her throat as she fought to control her panic.
He swung high with his shield arm, forcing her to duck underneath, only to be met with the mallet on the upswing. She twisted her body, making minimal area for it to impact, it still hurt. She caught his overextended wrist and forced electricity into his body. He cried out in pain but raised an iron foot to her gut and kicked her away causing her to sprawl across the floor from the force. His breath drew short as he gathered himself. He couldn't afford to get caught like that again, unfortunately his metal form wasn't able to protect against the energy she forced through it. Luckily for him she looked equally as dazed as he did and struggled to regain her balance.
One of her hands subconsciously travelled up to her choker, fiddling with the last cross. The clearing of a throat interrupted the motion. All eyes in the room turned to see Roman slowly walking towards the ring, clapping slowly with his cane dangling off one arm.
"Bravo, bravo. I must say, that was quite the shocking performance." Both Nora and Jax levelled a glare at him as he walked up to the ring like prize peacock not showing any hint of being sorry for the pun. He pulled himself up to the ring and stood beside Nora but leaned on the ropes beside her and peered over at Ruby. "Ah, you must be Ruby, it's a pleasure to meet you." He tipped his hat towards her and chuckled slightly at the confused look she donned at the gesture, she pulled on the front of her hair in an attempt to mimic the action. "Well, I guess introductions are in in order. This here is Nora Valkyrie and she will be teaching you how to reign in your soul manifestation." This caused Nora to tiredly wave to the smaller girl, smirk still plastered on her face.
"Where the hell did you find someone with a Grimm mark outside of a Branwen child?" Roman's smile never faltered as he looked at Jax as he picked himself off the floor. "And stop using your semblance to sneak up on people, it's fucking creepy." Roman feigned hurt at the words.
"Are you suggesting that you don't trust me? That you don't feel safe with me using my semblance how I wish. And here I was thinking that the man of steel feared nobody." The mocking in his tone was clear and his cocky smile had returned quickly.
"Fuck off, just tell me where you found lightning lady over there." He pointed to the ginger woman who winked at him before turning to her 'boss'. Roman paused to chuckle taking in the slight victory over Jax.
"Alright, alright, if you insist. Well you see Nora here heralds from a nomad tribe that lived out on the outskirts of Mistral. They, like the Branwens of old fed on the Grimm in order to survive and like the Branwens have adapted to be able to resist the effects of the blood. It turns out the Branwens are pretty attached to the exclusivity of their power and so when they caught wind of the tribe fifteen years ago, they decided to slaughter the whole tribe in their sleep. A particular six-year-old girl managed to escape the carnage, and I'm sure you can piece the rest together yourself." Roman's smile faltered for a moment as he beheld the dark look that crossed Nora's features, likely remembering the scene she had fled. For a moment he considered reaching out to her but was beaten to it.
Ruby and Ilia had practically run to the girl's side both hugging her around the waist as hard as they could. Her eyes brightened slightly at the affection and she left her hand drift down to ruffle their hair. Her tattoo was roaring at the closeness of another marked girl, yelling at her to kill her, to make sure she wouldn't ever try to do what her family had, to survive. She bit it back, the emotion fading into the back of her head as she wrestled away the Grimm that dwelt within. She froze however when it returned in full, this time ordering her to dive to the side, she had no choice but to do so, grabbing Ilia and diving to the edge of the ring. Only for the spot she had been stood on to shatter and break under the force of something she didn't see. She stood up quickly and looked back to the centre of the ring.
There stood in the middle of the ring was Ruby, eyes blood red as she snarled at the older girl. What drew her eyes however were the black, serrated vines that wove around her form as she stood. They protruded from her shadow, splashing out into the world like a writhing mass of sentient tendrils, consuming all that came near. Nora looked at where she had previously stood, a hole had opened in the floor where several thick vines had slammed into the ground. Shit; I forgot she doesn't know. Nora threw Ilia to Roman who looked confused as he beheld the stare down between the marked.
"Run! Get everyone and run!" Nora's voice held no playful tune, no cockiness, and no room for denial. She reached up to her choker and tore off the last cross causing the glorified collar to clank to the ground. Jax moved to question and protest only for Roman to run up to him and the pair of them and Ilia to disappear. The twins heeded the warning and ran for the glass door of the room, leaving in a hurry.
Nora struggled to contain the ecstasy at the removal of her last limiter. Her mark allowed her to generate huge voltages of electricity and bend it to her will, the problem being she couldn't turn it off completely. After years they had come up with the idea of having her where the limiters which would absorb some of the electricity, lowering the amount she output to unnoticeable levels so touching people didn't kill them. With all three removed, she could produce enough energy to power an entire city. Containing the power was uncomfortable, she would describe it as walking with a brace forcing both of your legs to remain straight. She flexed her fingers, jolts of electricity arcing almost happily between each digit.
She looked up to see Ruby's vines lashing out towards her.