We are back with the second to last chapter of Volume 1 of this story. You know, it's strange. Two of my other stories also have just completed Volume 1, and this is going to make three. It will after the next chapter. Let's see what happens here, because man, those of you who like darker RWBY themes, you're going to love this chapter. You'll see what I mean soon enough.
Beta: CrowSkull
Destiny Fated Black
Chapter 11
I can't forget about the annoying little kitty cat that started becoming a nuisance, or the trouble she brought along with her…
Marcus snuck around in the darkness as he circled the building that the two little strays Neo spotted hanging out on the roof of a nearby building. His white hair blended well with the black light and it was just far too easy for him to get around them. Neither of them seemed to consider that they'd get caught before they could do anything. Amateurs. That's what the young, bold, and stupid get, a knife in the back.
To make it worse, the supposed next generation of huntsman started to bicker with each other in silenced whispers. Really? That was no way to sneak around anywhere much less during a White Fang raid that he was supposedly leading according to public opinion. His name was out there, and he's been painted as worse than Grimm, so why were these two acting like they weren't in any danger at all. Danger was literally lurking around them as they spoke in the form of a master assassin.
"Blake don't, please, going down there and making noise isn't going to do you any good. The White Fang aren't what you remember." A young masculine voice said, assumingly the one with the monkey tail.
"And how do you know that? If you were with them at the same time I was, you would know that they would never work with skum like Torchwick." 'Blake' replied. She must have been the girl with the bow.
Idiots. Marcus almost gave himself away when he had to resist the urge to chuckle as he quietly climbed up the backside of the building. It had a flat roof, and very little cover, but he didn't become a master assassin for not being observant. He could see them now as he poked his head up over the ledge, and carefully hoisted himself up. He used the same ladder that they used to get up here, and his touchdown was as expertly silent as he wanted it to be. The two teens didn't even hear him make his way to them.
"Do you not see how many of those guys are down there?" The blonde kid said. Easily having a more useful brain in between his ears than the other did.
"I can take care of them, they won't shoot me." Blake snapped back.
"Are you kidding me!? Didn't you ditch them during a mission or something? They'll absolutely shoot you on sight."
"You don't understand Sun, they'll hesitate, and perhaps I can get them to turn against Roman."
Geez. Just how delusional was this girl? Marcus had half a mind just to stand back and listen to whatever it was that was next they were going to bicker about. But it quickly got annoying as he listened to the two go back and forth with each other. First, the girl actually tried to hop off the building and right behind where Torchwick was standing, who had to know what was going on up here, the guy was way too smart to not be able to tell that they were right above his head. The monkey boy caught her by the arm and pulled her back, which lead to a death glare, and Marcus realizing that he was daydreaming a little too much. He stood with his arms crossed and with his sharp knife in one hand, and after snapping out of his stupor he saw a pair of yellow eyes staring back at him with shocked recognition. After a moment, the blonde kid noticed him too, and they both drew their weapons and aimed them at him in preparation for a battle.
"Who are you? Friend or foe?" Sun asked him with a raised eyebrow.
Marcus was about to answer, but was beaten to the punch.
"He is a foe," Blake told him, her hand suddenly shaking as she took a step back away from the white-haired man.
"Ah, I see you've heard of me." Marcus mocked a boy as he uncrossed his arms and cracked his neck. "The news paint me as some kind of monster? You're practically shaking in your boots." He smirked when she glared at him and tried to get her shaking under control, and to her credit, she succeeded in doing that.
"What?" Sun tilted his head in confusion. "I don't get it, who are you?"
"He is a dangerous man," Blake warned her ally. "He has killed countless officers, hunters, and has caused chaos within the criminal underworld of Vale. His name is Marcus Black."
"Oh…" Sun gulped nervously. "That's good to know."
"Damn," Marcus was mildly impressed with her knowledge. "You really are informed, aren't ya? Well, since you know so much about me," He flashed his knife. "You should know that the two of you are in a place you shouldn't be. I'll give you one warning, and one warning only. You have no hope of beating me. Leave." His glare took a step toward death as he turned his body sideways to the two hunters in training, his stance was full of openings, but neither of the teens were brave enough to prod at any of those two openings. Marcus could have just gone at them right away, he knew he was good enough to beat them both at the same time, and by the looks of it the faunus hiding her features under a bow knew that as well. That look of regret in her eyes told him that. It reminded him of Mercury back during that night…
"How do we know you'll just let us go?" Blake asked him.
Marcus just had to sigh. Again with these types, always thinking they could win an impossible battle. His answer came only in the form of a shrug. There weren't any more words he was willing to waste on them.
"Damn… and here I thought I'd die in the arms of a hot girl at the age of eighty." Sun said with a wavering smirk as he held his ground.
He saw it in a flash, Blake aimed her weapon at him, and while it was still in its bladed form Marcus had enough experience fighting all different kinds of huntsman and huntresses who used mecha-shift weapons. He shot forward like a flash of white and red right as she squeezed down on the trigger once, only for the bullet to wildly miss. She widened her eyes and tried to will her semblance to come and replace her main body, but the man was just way too fast. She felt the barrel of his gun stab into her stomach and screamed out in pain as her black aura took the full blast of a hand cannon point-blank. The chaotic blast sound drew the attention of the White Fang and Roman, and if for some reason that wasn't enough, then the ones below the building on ground level would no doubt witness the way Blake's body slammed into the ground and bounce up into one of the metal storage containers.
"Blake!" Sun cried out his concern, he twisted his body just fast enough to block Marcu's knife from cutting into his shoulder. Marcus holstered his gun with great haste and grabbed on to the red staff. The blonde faunus cursed as he felt pressure on his wrist force his fingers to loosen their grip on the weapon, and after Marcus pushed into him with his shoulder he completely let go. Now disarmed, Marcus threw the staff off the building and rushed the faunus. He was way too fast for Sun to defend against him, and after two slashes to the shoulder and collarbone, he spun around and slammed the heel of his boot into the faunus' torso. Throwing him off the building right near where Blake landed.
Marcus retracted his leg back and casually jumped off the building, landing on his feet and right beside a startled group of White Fang members and Roman. "Having fun?" The criminal asked him as he huffed a puff of smoke into his lungs from his cigar.
"More or less," Marcus shrugged. "These two idiots thought they could have an argument during some kind of stealth mission. I'll handle them."
"Ah, I've been there before. Good times, good times." Roman said as he started walking off. But stopped before he could get anywhere far. "Oh, and don't kill 'em. I know it might be tempting, but I don't need any more heat than what I already got, capisce?"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Marcus rolled his eyes. "You should be telling that to your little pet."
"Oh please, you might have worked with Neo, but I've been living with her. She only kills when she feels like it." Roman laughed, and pointedly did not say whether or not she was going to be helping Marcus at all to handle the two teens. Not that he needed it, but it would have been nice for him to at least make the offer. "Good luck!"
"Yeah, sure." Marcus whistled a boring tune as he made his way toward the two dumb hunters, who had just helped each other stand back up to face him. The girl managed to hold on to her weapon, but her ally was firmly disarmed with Marcus between him and his weapon. Their auras shouldn't be too tanked out, despite his attempts to hit them in points on their bodies where their auras would have to work extra hard in order to shield their bodies from attack, they should be relatively healthy right now. But after that first scuffle, they knew what kind of man they were dealing with now.
That didn't stop them from looking to each other, sharing knowing thoughts, and then nodded their heads in mutual agreement to fight together against Marcus Black despite that huge difference in skill. Marcus expected that hunters were always like that. Always with that 'the good guys always win' mentality. So stupid, he had firsthand experience from both sides that the saying couldn't be any further from the truth.
"Alright," Marcus taunted them by flipping his knife in one hand, and beckoning them to come at him with the other. "What happens next?"
What happened next was a mildly glorious attempt to try and fight him. Sun and Blake certainly did their best, but it was nowhere near enough to beat him. In the beginning, the black-haired one attacked him head-on and used some kind of cloning semblance. It caught him off guard at first when he tried to grab the girl by the face and steal whatever semblance away she had before she could use it, but was surprised when instead his hand went right through her face, and she actually managed to land a scratch on him before he could react fast enough to counter her. That trick only worked once though, he didn't let himself get caught off guard by the semblance a second time and thought of a way to counter it the second time it came around.
When the girl let out a clone to take an attack she didn't want to tank, she would always leave a shadow in the direction she dodged in. She could only go left, right, behind, or above, and with Marcu's natural senses on top of that, he knew where she was going to be every time she used it.
The blonde kid made his job a little harder when he managed to run and get his weapon back. He'd been distracted enough to let it happen. It did little to sway to the direction of the battle, however. Marcus toyed with them. Once he learned the patterns and rhythms at which the two fought with each other, he quickly learned that they did not really know how to fight with each other at all. Their styles were so much different as well, one was more oriented in fast get in and out melee combat and the other was up in your face blitzing form of fighting. Though the latter seemed to have been more self-taught than anything. It was interesting to fight against the crazy mirage of red nunchucks with some kind of miniature shotguns at the end of the rods, but he wasn't able to keep up his streak for long. Marcus made quick work of him and immediately went on to deal with the other faunus.
Now after a few minute battle, if one could even call it that, Sun and Blake were now just barely staying on their feet. One of the monkey's nunchucks was broken into two pieces on the ground, and the girl exhausted herself trying to use her semblance over and over. They both just managed to avoid getting grabbed by him so far though, so they had that going for them. The boy didn't seem willing to use his semblance just yet either, but with how tired he was he didn't look like he had enough power left to even activate it.
"Well, you lasted long enough, I suppose," Marcus said as he crossed his arms. "That semblance of yours is annoying, but in the end, it just wasn't enough. It never is with you people."
"Damn it," Blake cursed through her teeth. "He's just toying with us. He hasn't even used his main weapon that much." Throughout the fight, Marcus continued to use just his hand cannon and fists to deal with them, and Blake had a feeling that once he drew that long knife of his, blood will begin to spill. She wouldn't be wrong of course, if from what she's heard about the man before her then even Adam would have much trouble trying to take him down, if he could at all.
"You're right on the money there," Marcus said as he placed his hands on his hips. "The only reason you're not dead right now is because that would bring more trouble than it's worth. A real pain." He aimed his gun at them and unsheathed his knife from his hip holster, Sun and Blake tensed up but didn't try to retaliate. "Give up and walk away, you can't win and if you piss me off I can't guarantee that I won't paralyze you. I'll give you a few seconds to decide."
His finger slowly squeezed down on the trigger, Sun was the only one to notice.
It was a dirty move, he knew it was. But he pulled the trigger and his hand cannon fired with an explosive boom anyway. It wasn't like he lied to them anyway, he did give them a few seconds before he pulled the trigger. He was aiming for the black-haired girl, since she was the one who had more aura than the monkey boy, but he didn't expect that monkey boy to be fast enough to notice and react in time before the bullet could hit his little girlfriend. Sun dove to the sit and took the bullet straight into the right side of his chest, what little remained of his aura shattered around the impact point of the bullet and it went straight through him.
"Agh!" Sun screamed as he fell to the ground leaking blood from his chest and back where the bullet entered and exited through his body.
"Sun!" Blake dropped to her knees and immediately applied pressure to the wound. "Oh no, please no, hang in there!"
"He'll survive," Marcus groaned as he blew at the smoking barrel of his gun. Blake's yellow tear-filled eyes glared hatred at him. "Kids these days can survive anything, worst he's got is a punctured lung, it entered through the right side of his chest, see?" He pointed to the wound, Blakes eyes wandered to the entry point of the bullet almost against her will. Sun was in a bad shape, he was having trouble breathing and blood was leaking out of his body. He could survive in this state for minutes or even up to an hour. Being a huntsman in training, his body would be more robust as well, giving him even more time. Plenty of time to get him help, and he was already in agonizing pain. Sun was already losing unconscious as it was now.
"Damn you…" Blake said, able to piece together what the man was forcing her to do. "You're going to make me choose."
"Ding, ding, ding." Marcus taunted her with that cocky grin of his. "I was aiming for you, but this works just the same. Granted you could just hang around until helps arrives, but can he last that long?"
"You're a monster." Blake hissed.
"I am," Marcus easily agreed. "I've done unspeakable things, and I've probably been killing longer than you've been alive kid." He chuckled bitterly. "Used to be a huntsman myself once upon a time too, did a really good job at showing me how they fight."
Blake felt an explosion of fear fill her to her very core. This man… this thing… was even more dangerous than the news portrayed him as, and the look in his eyes told her that everything he just said was right. He was a killer, and those black eyes only supported that claim. She and Sun stood no chance against him since the very beginning, that was much more crystal clear now. As much as she wanted to slash that sick grin off of his face, Sun needed immediate medical attention as soon as possible, or else he was going to die. She just met the boy not even a day ago, and he laid his life down on the line for her. Blake wouldn't just let his undeserved loyalty squander like this.
Shakily, she gripped Gambol Shroud in one hand and aimed it at Marcus, his grin died a slow death and his eyes took a dark look. "You'll just shoot me in the back when we try to leave," Blake said. "I can take your word, I won't, and put my friend's life on the line."
"You pull that trigger, I'm killing you both," Marcus warned, there wasn't any sign of bluffing in the way he spoke.
Blake smirked for what she felt was going to be the last time. "If I don't pull the trigger, you'll just kill me anyway."
He actually wasn't, but if she wanted to be an idiot, then so be it. Marcus' knife flashed into his left hand and he dared the girl to shoot him with his glare. She hesitated, obviously, she knew that once she shot her gun her life was over. Marcus wondered why she was doing this, stalling, the White Fang already loaded a few of the containers on some of the Bullheads and they were already off, and they were getting even more. Even if she fired some magic bullet that killed him, it wasn't going to stop anything. So why bother? Why even consider fighting in a position like this? Her friend was dying in her arms, she was exhausted on aura, and she was still fighting him. Why?
"That's what we do." Her voice answered him tauntingly. "As long as there is a flicker of hope in sight, we huntsman and huntresses will always keep fighting. No matter how bleak the situation maybe."
"Tch…" His face scrunched up and he dashed to the side the moment he saw the reflection of green light coming from behind him, some kind of small energy beam cut through the container in front of him, and Blake ducked low and hugged Sun's form as the beam flowed right above her for about two more seconds. He rolled once he hit the ground and swung his knife to parry a sword out of the air. The sword had no wielder, however, and it was pulled back by some kind of force toward some ginger girl off in the distance.
His frustration turned into irritation as he quickly learned that the girl wasn't alone either. A blur of red was zig-zagging toward him while firing some kind of longarm sniper behind them, and it spun like a cyclone as it got closer and closer to him. His knife lashed out and he had to tense his muscles tightly to disperse the force of the strike of a much longer blade. He skid back and bounced himself off the wall of the building the other two were on earlier and held his ground against the blur of red who took on a human form.
He couldn't help but chuckle, it was the same girl from before.
Ruby Rose took a defensive stance in front of Blake and the downed Sun, her large scythe and sniper combo swung around her body and in a diagonal cross across her body. Her silver eyes stared straight into black and her hood flapped in the wind. Across from her at an angle was another girl, this one with ginger hair and green eyes. Neither of them looked happy to see him.
"Looks like the cavalry arrived," Marcus said, smirking despite being outnumbered. "And you, Little Red right?"
"My name is Ruby." Ruby corrected him sternly.
"Ruby? What are you doing here!?" Blake called out to her leader.
"I should be asking you that question!" Ruby shouted at her, her loud booming voice caught the faunus girl off guard, making her click her mouth shut in submission. The fifteen-year-old girl before her suddenly looked much too intimidating, and after what she did there was nothing she thought she could say to her. "You ran off without saying anything to us, and then you come here and try to stop a raid all by yourself!"
"Stay down." She said next, stopping Blake before she could even open her mouth to stop. "Or try and get that guy help, he looks like he needs it."
"Just… a little." Sun groaned with a bloody smile on his face. "Kinda hard trying to breathe with only one lung… I would like to have the other back pretty soon."
"Don't speak, idiot," Blake said as she continued to hold pressure on his wound. "I can't move him like this."
"Good thing Penny called the police before we got here then," Ruby said with a triumphant smirk. "We'll just have to hold out until my uncle and his men get here."
"You can't fight him!" Blake shrieked. "He's too strong, dangerous, you're going to get yourself killed!"
"We cannot defeat him," Penny added, agreeing with Blake. "Marcus Black is considered hyper lethal by Atlesian standards. Being combat ready will not be enough here."
"That doesn't matter!" Ruby said. "We don't need to beat him, we just need to hold out long enough for reinforcements to arrive. The rest of my team is going to be here soon, until then I know we can hold out.
"As you say, friend Ruby," Penny said with a content smile. "We shall fight together." Ruby nodded back, grateful for Penny's support. Blake didn't say anything, couldn't. There was nothing she could say to make this better. She didn't even have anything she could say about Marcus' fighting style, all she could say was be careful, and in a situation like this those words meant nothing.
"You..." Ruby took a step toward Marcus, who raised an eyebrow at being addressed. "Why are you doing this?" She asked him. She wasn't shaking like her teammate was, she stood steadfast against him like he was just another criminal. But instead of attacking him like any normal person would, she stopped and tried to speak to him.
"Money," Marcus shrugged. "I'm retiring soon, so this is going to be my final contract. Gotta make sure I end off with a bang, y' know?"
"No… I didn't mean that." Ruby said, eyes suddenly looking more sadly at him. "You know my uncle, right? He told me about you, about what you used to be."
"Did he now…" Marcus' smirk faded. "Should have expected that, I guess."
"I know you used to be a huntsman, and I know you weren't always like this." Ruby continued. "You had friends, family, and a drive to do good in the world. What happened to that? What happened to the promises you made? Why are you doing this?"
"Life happened, kid." Marcus nearly shouted. "Don't talk to me like you know me, I've been an assassin even during those times. I'm not someone who you can try and make 'see the light'. It isn't happening, stop being so damn idealistic. Nothing good in the world comes without a price." He gestured to himself, placing a hand on his chest over his heart. "I paid that toll a long time ago, and this is a result of living that life."
"It's never too late to change," To his shock, Ruby shifted her weapon back to it's holstered state. "I know I don't know you, but I still think there is at least a flicker of good in you. I could be wrong, and you could kill me here and now to prove that. But I want to at least try to reach out to you." She literally did that much extending a hand out to him, faced up, beckoning him to grab it.
"What are you doing?" Marcus asked, looking at the hand and then back into her eyes. He felt… something. But he didn't move from where he was standing.
"There's still hope for you… I just know it." Ruby said with a smile.
"I know there's good in you, I've seen it."
"I don't think you're really a monster," Ruby added.
"You aren't a monster. You never were, not to me."
"You…" Marcus glared blankly at the young girl reaching out to him. A man like him didn't deserve any amount of sympathy. He's killed countless men, women, people he once cared about… even his own son. Yet she was still claiming that she thought there was hope for him. She didn't even know him. If she knew the things he's done… no, she shared the last name as her, and Qrow most likely didn't hold back on telling her what he is like. He took a step forward, he saw from his peripheral vision that the ginger girl got ready to attack him if he did anything offensive, and the faunus girl behind Ruby was just begging her friend to get away from him with that look in her eyes. But the silver-eyed Ruby Rose simply stood there, hand outstretched, and with wide eyes as she thought he was actually going to accept her proposal. She looked… happy, for some reason.
He got within ten feet of her and stopped. Suddenly, that smile on her face wasn't quite so bright.
Not for him. This wasn't for him. He had it once and lost that chance a long time ago.
"You sound just like your mother." He said once he looked back up to see her face and gauge her reaction.
His gun raised a second later, and Crescent Rose's rectangular holstered form was raised up to defend Ruby's body. The bullet that he fired was hastily parried out of the air, and before he could move in to follow up on his attack he had to back up and defend himself from a mirage of flying blades that came at him. Sparks flew through the air as he slashed at each one and knocked a few of them out of the air. Their edges hit the ground and slashed right through the pavement like butter. He pushed forward and deflected one more before getting up close and personal to the green-eyed girl. She was hardly able to get a hasty defense up before he slammed his knife across her aura, bringing across a trail of green aura that spilled onto the ground before it faded away into nothingness.
Penny didn't cry out, nor show any signs of her actually feeling pain. She simply stared blankly at the assassin as he stared back with a confused expression. Ruby came into screaming, however, so there was no time to think about it when he was forced to dodge away from a large mecha shift scythe that was even bigger than the girl's body. He was too strong for her to overpower, so she shot backward before his hand could grab her face. Despite his lethality, she was still faster than him.
"I don't understand!" She shouted, once again trying to speak to him. "Why are you doing this when-"
"Shut the fuck up and FIGHT!" Marcus cut her off as he shot unloaded his hand cannon in the girl's direction. Ruby dodged and weaved while using her semblance to dodge the bullets, noticing that they aren't dust rounds, they were actual real steel bullets. There was no elemental effect to them, but the physical impact would be enough to leave a bruise even through aura. It had some use against Grimm, but the elemental rounds were much more effective. Which made sense for a man like him who had to have fought many more people than monsters in his lifetime.
Ruby felt the bullets whiz past her head and pierce through the containers behind her. She landed on one foot but stumbled forward, a terrifying mistake when an assassin was charging at you with a knife. She couldn't get her scythe back up in time, and after a glance toward Penny, she could see that the girl was busy herself fighting against members of the White Fang and even Roman Torchwick as they returned to help deal with them. She didn't even know that they were there until she heard the sounds of their fighting.
Crud! I messed up! The girl thought as her weapon was torn from her hands. He was just so strong. No matter how tight she made her hands grip the shaft of Crescent Rose, she just couldn't hold on to it when he grabbed it and pulled. She was going forward with her momentum as well, and after a quick judgment on Penny's fighting style, even if she would have been able to try and save her, she couldn't without accidentally putting her in harm's way as well. All she could do was watch as Marcus pushed into her guard, and the tiny amount of unarmed combat training her sister put her through was nowhere near enough to save her here.
He had her right where he wanted her. Marcus slammed his fist into the girl's face and then made to grab her. If it wasn't for her speed semblance, he would have stolen her that power with his semblance when he tried to grab her by the face with the exposed palm of his hand. Ruby skidded back on her butt and pushed up against a storage container, silver eyes wide with fright as Marcus Black loaded his gun in less than a second aimed his hand cannon at her.
Oh no, I can't get out of the way! Ruby thought as she tightened her eyes and waited for bursts of pain all over her body.
Pain didn't come for her. Marcus had the gun aimed at her, that Penny girl just finished shouting out her friend's name and his finger was on the trigger, all he had to do was pull the trigger and this annoying girl would be dealt with. There was no point in keeping an annoyance like her alive. His finger slowly squeezed down on the trigger, but way too slowly.
Just shoot you idiot! His mind cursed at him.
Those silver eyes cracked open to look at him. They looked pleading, and vulnerable.
Marcus cursed and swung his arm to the right toward the sound of sprinting feet coming their way. His bullets were blocked by two yellow gauntlets and a wall of ice. He unloaded the clip, but found that it was useless against the two newcomers and prepared himself for some close-quarters combat. The blonde screamed angrily as she jumped up and threw a solid hay-maker his way. He caught the offending fist with the palm of his hand and let himself be pushed away. His back smashed against the wall of the building and he bounced off, only to be forced to let his body fall forward so he could dodge a spear of ice lancing toward his neck.
"They just keep coming…" He spit excess saliva out of his mouth with a frustrated look on his face. "I should have just killed them when I had the chance."
Two more girls, one the blonde girl with purple eyes that just punched him, and the white-haired Schnee he instantly recognized as the heiress of the SDC. He was offered a few contracts to kill her a few years ago, but he didn't take them. He'd already given himself a kill on sight warrant by the Atlesian police after killing the girl's uncle for the White Fang, and wasn't entirely willing to head back there after that. By the looks of it, she knew who he was too. Glaring at him with those ice-blue eyes of hers.
"You okay sis?" Yang asked her sister after looking over her shoulder.
"Y-yeah…" Ruby said as she stood up and grabbed Crescent Rose.
"Good." Yang focused all her attention on the man before her. "Weiss-cream, this guy related to you or something?" She griped. "His hair is as white as yours."
"Absolutely not, this man is Marcus Black," Weiss stated. "He is the one responsible for some of my family members deaths."
"Oh…" Yang suddenly looked sorry for her earlier joke. "Sorry about that."
"How many more of you people are going to come by?" Marcus asked with a chuckle. "First it was those two idiot faunus, then it was the ginger and Little Red, and now it's blondie and the heiress of the SDC."
"Silence you!" Weiss exclaimed, pointing Myrtenaster in his direction. "For the crimes you have committed, you will be taken down tonight."
"Hah, I heard that plenty of times throughout my life," Marcus said as he took a stance, looking not at them but through them for some reason. Almost like he was looking past them instead. For Marcus, it was a strategy of using every bit of vision space he had to see multiple opponents coming at him at once, and in situations like these, it really did work numbers.
"Then tonight will be the last time you hear it," Yang said as she slammed her fists together. "Is Blake and that guy okay?" She asked as her semblance activated. This was Marcus Black, the same guy who was apparently responsible for most of the bad things happening in Vale. According to Qrow, he was a hunter killer as well. Which meant there was no reason to hold back.
Blake and Sun put up a thumbs-up gesture to reassure them.
An explosion beside them and a ginger girl blasting out of the smoke averted their attention. Penny withstood the damage and skidded back toward the girls, her glare hardened and some of her blades damaged. Through the smoke, Roman Torchwick stepped out and made to stand with Marcus, and some of the White Fang were at his back.
"Man, since when did this operation become a daycare center?" Roman quipped as he looked toward all of the huntresses in training. "Having trouble Marky?"
"Not really," Marcus groaned. "They just keep coming, and someone told me I wasn't allowed to kill."
"That's my bad, sorry about that." Roman laughed. "To make up for it, here's what I'll do. Think you can take blondie and Little Red on your own?"
"Heh," Marcus smirked. "Yeah."
"Then in that case… Neo! Come down and take care of the Schnee girl already!" Roman called out.
"Look out!" Ruby shouted as she saw shards of glass fall to the ground just behind Weiss. The Schnee heiress turned around just in time to raise her sword in time to deflect another sword of the same size and stature. Neo's pink and brown hair waved in the wind as she continued pushing forward, and then actually took Weiss with her with another use of her semblance, taking her on top of the building Blake and Sun were previously hiding out on.
"Weiss!" Ruby called up to her, but the sounds of fighting were enough for her to know that her teammate was okay.
"I'll go help her!" Penny said as she started running toward the building.
"Ah, ah, ah!" Roman got in her way, aiming at her with his cane once again. "Your fight is with me girly. You're not getting away from me that easily."
He pulled the trigger and Penny was forced to dodge away from her other allies. More puffs of smoke were blown up, and sounds of chaos were heard on the other side as Penny took on Torchwick and the White Fang on her own. Ruby and Yang were left as the only ones still standing up against Marcus Black, who just now yawned as he took a combat stance himself.
"Wait," Ruby said before Yang could attack. Her older sister raised an eyebrow but obeyed, wondering what her sister had planned.
"Kid, you're kidding me right?" Marcus asked her. "There's no reasoning with me, just draw your weapon and try to kill me."
"What you said earlier…" Ruby said, ignoring his demands. "You said I sounded just like my mother…" Yang perked up and widened her eyes with shock, looking toward Marcus to see if this was true. His eyes told her that it was. "What did you mean by that?"
"I mean that you sound like her," Marcus said unenthusiastically. "As in literally. Your voices are practically the same." They knew it was a lie, and he knew they knew that as well. He just hardly cared for it.
"Were you the one who…" Ruby looked at him with sorrowful eyes. "Did you… kill her?" She finally made herself ask.
Marcus shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. That question, those eyes, and her general appearance made him remember what she was like all that time ago. "It's funny," He said, a conflicted smile drawing upon his face. "That's the first time someone actually bothered to ask me that question."
Ruby's breath hitched.
"I'll tell you what, kids," Marcus said as he started walking toward them. "You're her daughters, right? Both of you, I could see a bit of Tai in ya blondie. It's in the hair." Yang clenched her fists tight with anger, her eyes blinking to red as she grew more tense. "If you two somehow manage to beat me, I'll tell you all you want to know about Summer Rose. That's a promise."
"Ragh! Then we'll just have to beat it out of you!" Yang finally snapped, blasting forward with Ember Celica to give herself some bonus momentum as she lunged toward the white-haired man like a missile all on her own.
"Yang wait!" Ruby cried out as she snapped out of her stupor. The man's words were powerful despite being said in such a casual crude way. But the knowledge that Yang didn't stand a chance against him on her own was able to break her out of that. If they managed to beat him, they would finally learn about what happened to their mom… that just added another reason why Marcus needed to get captured.
By the time Ruby began to move, Yang was already three-quarters of the way to Marcus, who by that time already had more than enough time to prepare himself to fight off the blonde brawler. Right away, as she wildly missed her first attack and slammed it into the wall behind him, he knew that she was reckless and couldn't control her power when she was angry. It made her unpredictable, but very countable. He gauged her attacks as he dodged, deflected and ducked under her punches, she threw a kick at him every so often, but he was always able to avoid or block it. Marcus saw a large opening window when Yang threw a punch that was a little too wide to be thrown safely, and countered heavily as he slammed the handle of his knife into her nose.
As the blonde went down like a sack of bricks, the blur of red that was Ruby Rose attacked straight after. There was no time to rest nor really consider what move he should take. But out of trust for his instincts, he was able to block the incoming curved blade with his aura encased forearm, and was able to bear the force of the sniper part of her weapon firing point-blank into his shoulder. Ruby flipped off of his chest and landed on her feet. Yang hopped back up to hers beside her, and together the two sisters charged him down.
Against a force like that most men would have shit their pants, the two girls obviously knew how to fight well together from what Marcus could see. So he would have to try a little harder in order to survive their next attack. He crossed his arms and redirected Yang's first fist, and bent his back in an odd angle to duck under Ruby's scythe. Then the other fist from Yang came, and he was forced to block that one, and as he held on to that hand she aimed at him with her other gauntlet. He grit his teeth and snapped his next to the side to avoid a blast of shotgun pellets that might have torn his face apart, and Ruby kicked him in the side to push him away from her sister before he could grab the exposed part of her arm.
They shouldn't know about his semblance just yet, besides himself, Cinder and Emerald, there was nobody else in the world who knew what he was able to do. He doubted Cinder would have told anyone of her strongest pawn's greatest strength either. He would have liked to end the fight quickly, break their spirits and all that, but anyone related to Summer Rose would never give up, even if they lost their arms and legs.
Steeling himself, he braced his knife arm underneath his firearm and fired four bullets, two at each of the sisters. That split them apart. He aimed for Ruby's feet, and managed to trip her up with his bullets. That left the blonde to come at him all by herself for a few precious seconds. Those few seconds were all that he needed. Yang was the reckless one, so she did the reckless thing and thought she could take him on her own. Knowing her fighting style already, he ducked underneath Yang's fist and threw his own punch over her overextended arm. Cracking it against her face and aura and stunning her mildly. She recovered and tried to throw a roundhouse kick at him, but his late son Mercury was much better at throwing kicks than she was, and so he allowed the kick to strike his guard and then caught the limb between his shoulder and forearm. Then quickly, before Yang could punish him for what is mostly considered to be a foolish move.
He pushed her leg up above his own head, and as flexible as Yang was, she was still knocked off balance with the sudden movement. She fell but caught herself on her hands in a mock handstand. "Let go!" She shouted as she tried to twist her body to force his grip off of her.
"Be careful what you wish for," Marcus replied as he hoisted her up into the air and then threw her into the wall. Yang impacted face first and aura flashed all over her body. He rushed forward to capitalize on her stunned state but Ruby got in his way.
"Get away from her!" Ruby exclaimed as she swung her scythe quickly and without any sign of slowing down. Marcus dodged and backpedaled further and further as she continued her unrelenting assault. She was fast, incredibly fast. Impossibly fast. It had to be a semblance. No human could ever get this fast, no matter how much training they put themselves through, this level of speed was just impossible for human standards.
Given time he could probably tire the girl out or disarm her, but there wasn't time to fuck around with. Qrow was on his way and most likely he had those annoying aura wielding policemen with him. Which meant he needed to end this, and soon. They've caused enough noise.
"Yah!" Ruby squeaked as she felt all of her momentum come to a complete stop when Marcus actually stepped into her attack. His body and near full aura reserves was like striking against a steel wall. Her weapon shook in her hands and sent vibrations up her arm and into her shoulders until it hurt. Then she felt her head snap due to the side to a pistol whip and her body spun in the air as she saw stars in her vision before her eyes. She groaned in pain and then grunted loudly as she felt a boot stomp onto her back.
"No more moving impossibly fast for you," Marcus taunted.
Yang stood up shakily and shook her head to try and free herself from the dancing stars in her vision. She instantly remembered where she was and what she was doing there, and turned around to see Marcus Black forcing Ruby to the ground with his boot centered in the middle of his back. Her hair flamed on and her eyes turned a bloody red as she roared with anger. She practically announced her presence, however, and Marcus stepped off of her sisters back to dodge her most powerful punch. Yang's eyes went wide as she kept moving forward with her momentum until she found her fist stuck inside a metal storage container. Out of fear of igniting the dust from within, she halted her semblance.
"So reckless," The man behind her scolded as she slammed her face into the storage container, she felt her aura waver. He fisted his hand into her hair and got a good tight grip, she groaned painfully as he yanked her back for another go. "If you didn't scream like an idiot you would have really got me good there." He said as he slammed her face into the container again, and then again, and then again. After the fifth strike, her aura finally broke, and she felt blood leak out of her nose, forehead, and lip. "Now go to sleep," Marcus said as he slammed her face into the container one final time.
Yang fell to the ground unconscious bleeding from her face. Ruby rolled to the side and felt her eyes become rimmed with tears as she saw her sister in such a sorry state. She was still woozy from the strike to her head, and before she could crawl her way to her weapon she felt herself get picked up by the back of her hood.
"Ruby!" Blake cried out, aiming her gun toward the man holding her.
"Ah, ah, ah," Marcus held Ruby in front of him. "You wouldn't want to hurt your little friend, do you?"
Blake slowly let her gun fall after a few moments of hesitation. She couldn't pull the trigger, even if she did Marcus would have just killed them all anyway.
"Good little kitty," Marcus said as he drew Ruby's hood off of her head and held her head up by the forehead. The skin of his hand making contact with the skin of her forehead. "Now, since you lost our little agreement. It's time for you to lose something…"
"W-what?" Ruby's eyes stared into his with fear.
"It'll be over quickly, probably."
All of Ruby's body shined a pale red as she felt the world around her start to move incredibly fast, and she felt so very slow. Blake held a hand over her mouth as she trembled at the sight of her leader kicking and screaming in the air as Marcus Black did something to her. The sight was enough for tears to start falling from her eyes. Ruby pointlessly clawed at Marcus' wrist with as much strength as she could muster. But all she could do was just stare up and watch as she felt something get taken away from her.
When he was finally done with her, his aura flickered on and off. Refilled with new strength as Ruby, now drained of all aura and now without a semblance, fell to her hands and knees in a bundle of sweat.
"W… What did you do to me?" Ruby asked, her voice sounded so broken and slow.
"You don't know what my semblance is, do you?" Marcus asked, a cocky grin forming on his lips as he looked down at her. "My semblance can steal other people's semblances."
Ruby felt the tears finally break free from her eyes. "My… my semblance… It's… gone?" She said terrifyingly slow.
"Well, I guess I can give it back." Marcus taunted her. "But it's going to take a lot of convincing."
"No… nooo." She whined. She felt her dreams of becoming a huntress crumble down to rock bottom. "W-why… do… this?"
"You brought this on yourself," Marcus said coldly, suddenly not as boastful as he once was. "This is what you get for showing mercy to bad people. Nothing good ever comes out of being a goodie two shoes. All it leads to is pain. Your mother was the same way."
Ruby incoherently grumbled.
"Shit. I really did a number on you did I? You must have really relied on this power of yours."
"You… monster." Blake said, tears trickling down her face as she saw Ruby writhe on the ground, not in pain, but in an indescribable way, like she lost a part of herself and trying to find it. Wasn't a semblance part of one's soul? If Marcus was able to steal a semblance, did that mean he was able to literally steal a piece of your soul as well?
"It's like I told you that from the beginning," Marcus said as he looked around the battlefield of the docks. Roman and the remaining White Fang were still fighting that Penny girl, though the policemen have arrived so now they were in full retreat. But with the dust containers already lifted away, they had more dust than they knew what to do with. From on top of the roof, he could see Neo playing around with the Schnee girls rapier sword, and a beaten and bloodied barely still alive heiress on her belly partly hanging over the ledge. Her hair tinted a red color. Then to his other side, the ones who started this all, Blake and Sun were all but beaten, one slowly dying and the other in no position to stand up against him. They were helpless. A total defeat on their part. "You had no point of beating me, yet you still tried. Now Ruby here doesn't have a semblance anymore, blondie over there has a broken nose, the Schnee bitch just lost her weapon, and you didn't even get to stop any of these containers from getting stolen."
Blake winced with each thing he said. It was all true, if it weren't for her, Sun wouldn't be bleeding to death, Ruby wouldn't have lost her semblance, and everything would have been so much better. And this was all her fault…
"Hope you're satisfied, girl," Marcus said next, looking behind him and looking out for any birds flying overhead. "Is this what you wanted?"
Blake didn't respond. She couldn't bring herself too.
Marcus took one last look around the battlefield and remembered that he was told not to kill anyone. He beckoned Neo to come down and pick him up to bring him to one of the Bullheads with her semblance, and after a roll of her eyes, she jumped down to oblige him.
Qrow came sprinting around the corner with a White Fang member sliding off the end of his sword, he looked to his right and saw him standing among his nieces and her teammates. "MARCUS!" He screamed with hatred as he charged at him.
Marcus saw him coming, he was fast, but not as fast as Neo's semblance activation. He looked at his old friend and smirked. He would have loved to settle their little grudge match now, but there was no point in doing so now. Qrow got close enough to swing his sword at him, and all Marcus did was raise two fingers to his forehead and salute his old friend before Neo's semblance shattered they're formed into glass.
Qrow cursed loudly and looked at the many Bullheads that were leaving in the sky. There was at least half a dozen of them, and he had time to catch up to one of them and bring it down. But there was only a one-sixths of a chance to choose the correct ship. In the end, he swallowed his hatred and let him escape.
"Damn him." He said as he knelt down beside Ruby. "What happened here?" He asked the black-haired girl, the only one still conscious at the moment.
"H-he…" Blake almost couldn't say it, she was bawling her eyes out. "He said he stole her semblance."
Qrow's eyes widened with sorrow. "No…" He hugged Ruby's crying form, she was shaking all the way down to her core. "No… not you… not you too." He begged, memories of her mother flashing through his mind as he felt tears of his own sting at his eyes. He looked over to Yang, and honestly, she was in a better state than her sister was with a simple broken nose. She'd heal from that certainly. The others were in critical condition, however, and Ruby's spirit was broken.
"I'll get him for this… I promise you…" Qrow swore. "I'm going to make him give your semblance back, even if I have to torture him. I swear it."
Somewhere, in one of those Bullheads, Marcus kept a stone-cold glare looking out one of the windows toward the docks. It was in chaos, and almost all of its dust containers were stolen. Roman was bragging about their victory to Cinder already, and Neo was still playing around with the Schnee girl's rapier. A total victory for them. He was still able to see those dull red eyes of Qrow from so far away.
That should make them hate him.
Sorry it took a while for this to come out. I was just a little miffed and busy for a few weeks. But agh, this chapter was hard to write in the beginning, but man did I do it. Hah, I really like this chapter, and it is definitely a way to end Volume 1. So yeah, Ruby's semblance was stolen by Marcus. That should make them hate him, right?
Please review and let me know what you think of the story!
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