And we're back. This chapter is going to be a long one, I can already see it. The last few have been golden gems and this one probably will be the same way. If you guys wanted to see more action and plot development, than this is the chapter you're going to remember for a while. Also as a warning, in order to spice up the story and change some events, some OC's have been created. But don't worry, things are going to happen by the end of this volume or the beginning of the next. Trust me on that one.

Beta: CrowSkull

Destiny Fated Black

Chapter 13

And I was right, nothing ever was easy. It only got harder and harder, and I have an old friend to thank for that…

Going to sleep that night was easy enough when it consisted of him kicking off his boots and falling into his bed. The moment his eyes closed, the voices finally stopped and he was able to drift off to sleep. Only to continue to haunt him in a different, more dreamy way.

Marcus groaned and slammed the bottom of a glass cup onto the top of the bar. Burping lightly as the alcohol burned it's way down his throat and into his stomach, giving him a warm sensation in his core that was more than welcome considering all of the stress he has had building up for so long.

It has been nearly ten years ever since he left Beacon behind, and in doing so metaphorically buried his dead brother and teammate. He also killed his dad, but that was less stressful than it really out to be. The asshole had it coming, especially when he insulted his dead son because he got trapped under rubble and couldn't possibly defend himself from the monstrous Grimm that came up to attack him. Marcus shook his head and tried to rid the memory of his brothers ripped apart body by downing another glass full of his favorite beer. The kind that he didn't know the name of, but had the greatest effect that he desired. The amnesic kind.

"You're going to end up getting drunk at this rate," Brett warned him. This cheeky bastard was the one that mainly handled his assassination contracts, and he was always annoying with his stupid rules and stupid morals. He wouldn't even blink an eye if he had to make a choice between him and himself. Marcus supposed that was part of the reason why he liked the guy.

"Well, what do you expect when this next contractor wants to be a dipshit and insist that we meet up face to face to talk about whoever they want dead?" Marcus asked with a scoff. "In all my years of killing people for you guys, not one of them ever wanted to meet me face to face. Not one!"

"There is a first time for everything as they say," Brett replied in a tone that suggested sarcastic boredom. "You know the rules, Marcus, they're the one paying us, so we have to oblige to whatever it is that they want. If they want to meet us in person, they can meet us in person if they understand that we cannot disclose our real names. If they want to stay as far away as they want and deal with us at a distance, then we must respect that."

"And if they want to fuck us, the girl assassins have to spread their legs for them?" Marcus cut him off with a sneer. Then ignored the way how every female assassin in that bar with him glared at him. It was true anyway, he didn't know why they had to be such brats about it.

"Well, we do have a service line dedicated to such requests." Brett pointed out. Also ignoring their glares. "Must I remind you that this is what you signed up for? We didn't have to take you in after you left Beacon, we only did so because-"

"You only did so because my last name is Black," Marcus rolled his eyes. "I've only been hearing that for the past decade, you don't need to keep reminding me."

"Also because of your far above average skills," Brett added. "You passed our initiation test quite easily, beating all the assassins that we sent to beat you down."

"I was in a bad mood." Marcus shrugged. "You chose a bad time to test me."

"And we learned our lesson not to screw with you after that." Brett chuckled. "You know, you never did tell us how is it that you were able to become so dangerous. If we knew what you did to train, then perhaps we could train other generations of assassin to be even better."

"Yeah, I'm not falling for that." Marcus sneered. "Once I teach a few dozen of these idiots, then what use would you have of the Black family anymore?"

"Ironic of you to say that, given that your family has a long history of patricide that goes as far back to even before the Great War. And it all started with Nicholas Schnee fucking the wrong woman and fathering a bastard son. How close you were to becoming what is considered royalty in this day and age."

"I don't care about that shit," Marcus said as he downed another glass of beer. "The Black's and the Schnee's can slap their dicks against each other again after I'm dead, I'm not involving myself in a feud that started over a hundred years ago."

"I don't think your ancestors would have cared to take your words as fact given that you've killed many Schnee already," Brett remarked.

Marcus shrugged. He didn't have anything to say about that. It was part of the job and with his convenient hair color and a spazzy looking suit, it was all too easy to infiltrate Atlas' upper city. He imagined that would be a story to remember for a long time.

"Ah, I hope you're not in a bad mood any longer," Brett said as he flicked his chin toward the person who had just entered the bar, her eyes immediately locking onto Marcus' back. "It seems your contractor has finally arrived."

"About damn time," Marcus finished his drink and turned in his seat. "Alright, lets cut right to the chase, who do you want… dead…"

Silver eyes stared back at him. His mouth was left open and his black eyes slowly widened as he instantly recognized that white cloak and black-red hair of a woman he hasn't seen in a very long time. Summer looked sad to see him, her hood was over her head and was covering the rest of her body. Anything that Marcus was going to say to the random person he expected to see died in his mind before it could reach his tongue.

"You…" Marcus said quietly, flatly and with emotions that have long been dead. The assassin around him looked at the two of them with a curious eye. There was obviously history behind them. The way they looked at each other, the way the great Marcus Black looked like he had nothing to say for once when and the way that the woman smiled brokenly at him spelled all kinds of things. Assumptions were made, and with the added sight of the huntress' weapon they came up with an average thought that these two were either old friends, old lovers, or both. Faced with that, all eyes started moving toward the huntress, inching their hands toward their weapons.

Marcus glared back at them for a split second, and that was enough to scare them into retracting their hands and going back to what they were doing. Minding their own business for now.

"I finally found you." Summer said as she raised her head slightly to get a better look at him. She looked like she desperately wanted to smile, but it turned out brokenly and she shook instead. Tears just beginning to form at the corners of her eyes. "After all this time… I finally found you."

"I told you not to look for me," Marcus said, clenching his fist not with anger, but an unknown emotion. "I told you to forget me. Why didn't you…?" He couldn't finish the sentence, he clenched his eyes shut and took a deep breath. Something burned from behind his eyes.

She was on him in a second. He knew she was approaching him, and if it were anybody else he would have shied away or killed them for it. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders and she pushed the side of her face into his chest. She was hugging him. Him. A man who abandoned all of his friends during the darkest day in Vale's history and became an assassin. A killer. A monster. He often considered himself worse than the Grimm, because at least they had an excuse in killing so many people throughout the years. They couldn't feel remorse or think about what they were doing, they were mindless creatures. He was human, and he had no excuse other than greed. He needed money and it was the only thing he was good at after half his team died and the last one became a criminal.

"How could I stay away?" Summer asked him with broken sobs. "I made you a promise, remember? No matter what, I'd be there to drag you out of whatever hole you dug yourself in. Because no matter what you think about yourself or the things you've done, you're my friend."

Marcus didn't hug her back, he couldn't. He was showing enough weakness as it was. Despite that, he instinctively leaned into her touch, feeling the heated glares of Brett and every other assassin in that room. There was no hiding this remnant of his past that obviously still had an effect on him.

"I-"

Marcus woke up with a groan that borderline a scream in terms of how loud it was. Sweat was pouring out of the poor on his face. His gun instinctively scanned the room for any intruders, and after deeming it safe he fell back down to the bed and on top of his blaring scroll. Reluctantly, he rolled off of it and picked it up, seeing the name Cinder blinking on the screen along with a blank profile picture. Steeling himself after remembering what happened the night before, he pressed the accept call button.

"Cinder, you-"

"Marcus, I've been trying to call you for over an hour!" Cinder cut him off, sounding more frantic than she has ever been. Her face on the scroll scrunched up with concern and worry, and there was a splatter of blood that he knew wasn't hers at the corner of her forehead.

"What?" Marcus looked at the time in the corner of his scroll and cursed. He slept for much longer than he really wanted too, it was almost evening already. That dream really kicked his ass and kept him in bed. "Dammit, there's never a time for me to rest. What is it?"

"Junior talked." Cinder said. Marcus cursed again.

"That explains the blood on your face," Marcus said as he set the scroll aside on speaker and started putting his boots back on. Tying them taught with a snap.

"Never mind that, I simply had to deal with a few loose ends." Cinder said with a scowl. All as well confirming that Junior and whoever he was working with were dead. Which involved those two twins that Marcus remembered trembling at the sight of him. Disappointing, but necessary. They couldn't be trusted after apparently ratting them out already.

"So what happened?" Marcus finally asked.

"Qrow Branwen, Winter Schnee and a band of misfits invaded the club and demanded for information on certain hideouts. Junior apparently tried to fight them off, but he was far outclassed. He quickly talked and revealed three locations, and one of those locations are where you are right now." Marcus cursed yet again and worked faster to get himself ready. "Roman warned me about it the moment he found out after giving up on contacting you directly. You need to get out of there. Now."

If the situation wasn't so suddenly dire, Marcus might have tried to tease Cinder about worrying about him. The White Fang sharing this small warehouse hideout with him was as oblivious as ever and he wouldn't trust them with his life. "I'll escape," He told Cinder as he peeked out of the corner of the door, watching for any of the terrorists. "Thanks for the warning, I'll get out of here and meet up with you as soon as I can."

"Good. I know you will. I wouldn't have put so much time into you if I didn't have faith in you." Cinder smirked at him through the scroll. Marcus looked back for a moment and nodded before he thumbed the scroll off and stuff it back into his pocket. Without a moment to spare, he snuck out of his room and made for nearby darkness. The sun was beginning to set, and the season currently being autumn meant that the night would soon be upon them, maybe in an hour or two. Too long of a time for Marcus to be confident in waiting to have the cover of night to help him in his escape. He also didn't trust in the White Fang to not squeak when Qrow and his guys showed up with the intent to get something out of them.

Avoiding them was easy, they weren't looking for anyone and he was more than good enough to avoid them all. Marcus snuck his way throughout the building using the darkest spots were available to him and to where he knew lights weren't working. This was a mostly abandoned building after all. He got past them all and made way to go up and to the roof. The streets were definitely going to be watched, and in all honesty, the roof's probably would be too but it would be easier to get away from up there than it would be going down there on the ground into traffic with more obstacles in his way in the form of people getting home from work around this time. With his decision being made, Marcus got passed the final oblivious White Fang member and escaped to the roof of the building, inching his way out and making sure it was clear before he full stepped out. Being caught here wouldn't be good, given on how the roof was flat yet uneven with hardly any cover to hide behind or protect him.

The only option was to make a break for it. He got a good thirty feet away from the door before a sword stabbed into the ground in front of him. A sword with a power-on symbol on the hilt and attached to a thin cable that came out of the pack of the same ginger girl he saw at the docks.

"Ah, you again," Marcus said as he got into a ready stance. He beat her once, he could do it again. "What was your name again, Tenny?"

"Penny Polendina." The girl told him as a dozen more swords started hovering around her. "You are Marcus Black, the man who hurt all of my new friends at the docks. The same man who stole friend Ruby's semblance."

"So what if I am?" Marcus asked her as he unsheathed his knife and pointed his gun at her. "I'll give you the same warning that I gave them, get out of the way, or I'm going to hurt you. Only time I'm giving you this chance."

"Your offer is declined." Penny's face was as flat as her tone as she started walking toward him. Her green eyes flickering with light for a few moments before she came to a stop. "You are going to be stopped today Marcus Black, your reign of terror ends, and I will be the one to begin your downfall."

"Charmed." Marcus sighed as he got into a stance, prepared to fight. He wouldn't be able to get away with her on his ass, her swords had long reach and she would make his life very miserable if he just tried to get away from her and he's seen what she could do at the docks weeks ago. Which meant that she needed to be dealt with. Just another target for him to eliminate.

"Stop fighting." The voice in his head stunned him, Marcus couldn't raise his knife up in time to deflect the first sword that manage to scratch him as he leaned back just in time to save himself from a big blow to his aura. "Just rest." Marcus grit his teeth together and forced his arms to move the way he wanted them too, shooting back at the girl with one hand while the other with the knife worked to defend himself. There was no talking his way out of this, not after what he did at the docks. He knew that look in her eyes, she wanted revenge for what he did, and rightfully so. "Don't kill her." He nearly tripped over one of her cables despite already seeing it and preparing himself to duck under it. Once he recovered he cursed and kept moving.

"You are under great stress," Penny helpfully told him something he already knew. "I know it isn't because of me, but in any case, it will make my job easier in this operation."

She wasn't alone, Marcus knew that and as he pushed himself back up to his feet and hid himself behind the only cover that was available on the roof they were fighting on he knew that Qrow, the Schnee girl, and a bunch of other people who knew how to fight like a huntsman were coming after him, and he would be willing to bet that they were on their way and getting closer with each passing second that he wasted on this girl with the strange abilities.

As a response, Marcus rolled his shoulders to loosen them up. He was still a little woozy and stiff after just waking up, and if worst comes to worst Penny would be great to warm him up for the real battle to come.

Shaking his head of the voice, Marcus narrowed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Now." He told himself as he threw himself around the corner of his cover and unloaded the entire magazine at the ginger girl. Two of them managed to hit her body, bouncing off her light green aura and ricocheting into the ground and the other into the air respectively before she was able to block off and parry the rest. Marcus sprinted forward, the metal half of his legs slamming against the roof of the building with each step creating sounds that could probably be heard down the block. Penny matched his glare with equal ferocity as she dashed backward in an effort to get away from him. Her swords flew through the air and tried to stab and slash at him as he continued his charge at her, and managed to slow the assassin down when he tried to not let any of the blades touch his body.

Marcus flipped back from the last one after cutting one of the cables off to disarm Penny of one of her swords and landed on one knee. He shot forward like a bullet right after Penny before the cable could fully retract and reached toward it. Penny yanked the cable back and tried to whip it against him. Marcus sensed the danger and jumped to the side, watching with concerned eyes as the cable whipped against the roof and ripped a hole in the sheet metal roof. He wasn't going to try and grab it again.

One of the swords tried to stab him while he was down but he used his metal leg to deflect it. Sparks flew between the two objects and Penny found herself surprised when half of one of Marcus' pant leg was cut in half, revealing a bionic limb through the clothing.

Marcus sneered and ripped the rest of the pants off on that side just below the knee so it wouldn't get in his way. Then before Penny could fully process that Marcus had bionic legs, charged for her once again. Penny came back to her senses just in time to retract all of her swords back and shape them together to form one big long sword. It reeled back and swung for Marcus, but he brought up his exposed leg to block it. The clash created a shockwave that destroyed some of the glass windows on the buildings around them.

However, as strong as Marcus was, he had stamina while Penny's swords were carried by an unknown and potentially limitless source of energy. In order to bleed off some of the force, rather than wait until his leg gets cut off again he lifted his other leg off of the ground and allowed himself to be thrown back. He bounced off the roof once before he landed on his hands and knees while sliding down a slant, and slowed down the rest of his momentum by stabbing his long knife into the roof.

A green blast of energy followed him the moment he lifted his head to see what was coming at him next, and he abandoned his knife to get incinerated by the blast. When the green blast went through the knife, it left it white-hot. Marcus was not willing to see how far he could push his aura to see how long he could hold that knife before it scalded his hand.

With a determined look in his eyes, Marcus loaded his gun with blinding speeds and fired at the ginger girl. Penny was ready for it this time, however, and fired off more of those green blasts that rendered his knife useless. That wasn't the only knife that Marcus had on his person, but that was one of his favorite knives.

The next time he had to dodge one of Penny's blasts, he leaned back so far his head nearly touched the roof, and on his way up he gripped the handle of another spare knife in his right boot and yanked it out. It wasn't as long or as dangerous as the other blade, but if used correctly it would be just as lethal. He considered throwing the knife at the girl, but if she could react this quickly to his bullets and learn to adapt to his style after just seeing him fight once, then he didn't like the thought of wasting one of his precious blades. He only had scarce few left and it was a pain trying to find more.

I have to get up close. He repeated to himself as he continued to dodge the energy beams while fighting off the swords at the same time. He could do this all day, and probably even outlast the girl. But without her needing to say if he knew that she wasn't trying to beat him here, she was just trying to stall for time for Qrow and them to get here and outnumber him. Marcus was confident in himself, but against Qrow, Winter, and whoever they bring with them all at the same time was something he was not entirely willing to test his skills against.

But he couldn't get passed these damned blasts and swords. Marcus sneered as he was forced to continue moving and waste energy trying to get closer to her without losing his precious aura. He would need every drop of it that he could. This girl was obviously much more experienced than she looked, and her stone-cold expression never shifted or even moved the entire time they fought. It was like she was possessed or something. He had to wait for her to make a mistake, to run out of energy and drain herself of aura. All these blasts had to be powered by something, and that pack on her back seemed way too small to actually fit those small swords in it. Which meant that her aura had to be powering these abilities which had to be some kind of semblance. Unless she was a maiden like Cinder, which she isn't because she didn't have the same flaming eyes, then she had to run out of power some time.

Minutes later, he saw it as her eye twitched and flicked on and off with light. Her arms fell slightly before she forced them back up. The blades were being flung at him a little slower, and the green blasts were growing dimmer in light and the final nail in the metaphorical coffin was when her light green aura flickered on and off, threatening to break down entirely. By this point, Marcus was heaving for air, he still had most of his aura, but his stamina and mind were nearly exhausted with how long and fast he needed to keep up a pace in order to outlast her.

Finally, one of her arms dropped with her exhaustion.

Marcus snapped toward her in an instant. That arm was dropped for just a second, but that second was all he needed to get halfway to her and throw caution to the wind as he threw his smaller knife at her. Penny widened her eyes and raised her arm to block it, but the blade pierced through her weak aura and all the way through her arm, a shocked expression was on her face as Marcus was suddenly in her guard.

A metal knee slammed into her gut, bending her over double before she was forced down to her knees after Marcus pistol-whipped her across the top of her skull, being out of bullets and not wanting to waste time reloading.

Penny weakly held up an arm to defend herself, but it was far too slow. Marcus raised his other heel up and slammed it down on the top of her head with a loud metallic clang. Penny's face was smashed against the roof and the metal warped and wrapped around her head. Marcus had to wrench his own foot out in order to free the limb before taking a few steps back. Watching her just in case she decided that she wasn't out of the fight yet.

After a few seconds, Marcus was sure of himself and turned to run off into the inching darkness of the city.

The moment he turned around, the obvious sound of metal being ripped and thrown threatened to deafen him, and he turned around just in time to catch a sword between his hands.

Penny had some of the skin on her forehead ripped off, and her hair was out of its style and frizzled every which way. She was clearly out of aura and had have felt some pain, but she just kept coming at him! And for some reason, she wasn't bleeding at all. It was like she was made of metal.

Marcus roared as he pushed the hand-held sword to the side and grabbed Penny's bare shoulder and forced her to the ground. It had to be some kind of semblance keeping her going at this point. Her wounds weren't bleeding and were instead crackling with green electricity. His bare fingers gripped her shoulders tightly, and he waited for the familiar sensation of a semblance being stolen away.

Instead, he felt nothing. There was nothing to steal from this girl.

"What the hell are you?" Marcus asked in his shock, his semblance never had nothing to steal before. Even if someone never unlocked their semblance, he would be able to steal it. It's what he did with Mercury and others who tried to fight him unprepared.

Penny turned her head over her shoulder at an unnatural angle and smirked at him.

"I am Combat Ready." She said in a staticky robotic tone.

Marcus blinked his eyes twice, suddenly realizing what he has been dealing with. There was no flesh or bones underneath her skin when he looked at her open forehead. Instead, it was pure metal.

"You're a fucking android!?"

Right before he got shot in the side. His aura went up just in time to protect himself from any damage, but the bullet still forced him to get off of Penny and roll onto the downward slope of the roof. Marcus groaned and loaded his gun as fast as he could, but couldn't lock it in fast enough before a hail of bullets fired into his hand and shoulder. White aura flaring desperately to protect his body.

After letting himself tank some more bullets. Marcus gritted his teeth and fired back for once. He saw who was shooting him, and it was that same guy that Qrow bossed around back when he was recruiting Tenne. His bullets also didn't get near him, two guys out of uniform blocked them with riot shields.

Marcus let out an explosive frustrated sigh and realized that he was too slow in defeating the android girl. The cavalry has arrived.

A bird flew into the moon above them and Qrow turned into a human the moment it disappeared into the night. The old huntsman landed on the roof in front of Mackie and Verdant, his sword flipping out to its full length immediately. Then lastly, Winter Schnee herself appeared helping the android back up to her feet. Penny, despite being an android was still capable of becoming exhausted, leaning bodily against the specialist as she made her way beside Qrow, looking down on the Black.

"Marcus Black," Winter called out, allowing Seth to take her away.

"Isn't this supposed to be a secret or something?" Seth asked Mackie and Verdant as they continued guarding him and the injured girl.

They shrugged helplessly in response.

"Cousin," Marcus taunted with a knowing smirk. Winter sneered at the very thought, but could not and would not hopelessly try to deny that they were distantly related. Not after seeing the proof with her own eyes. "I haven't met you in person before little Schnee, you sure this is the way you want to meet an old relative?"

"Like you care for who is and who isn't related to you," Qrow growled at him. Ending the back and forth before it could even start. Marcus felt a stab of guilt at the thought of his son, Qrow hit closer to home than he really thought. "You have nowhere to go, Marcus, you can't hope to defeat us all at the same time. Especially with the energy you wasted fighting a teenage girl."

"That thing isn't a real girl Qrow, no teenage girl would ever be able to hold me back like that." Marcus snapped back. Qrow glared hard at him, but made no motion to deny it. The grip on the handle of his large sword tightened, and his red eyes burned with anger.

"You're coming with us, Marcus." The huntsman said. "And you're going to tell us all you know, and give back Ruby's semblance."

Marcus perked up at the sound of Summer's daughter's name. "Little red?" He chuckled darkly. "Of course that's why you haven't tried to kill me yet. That's good to know, you're not going to kill me until I give that annoying little speed semblance of hers back, are you?"

Qrow glared at him.

"While that is an objective, that is all but secondary," Winter said as she stepped forward, aiming her long saber at him. "Our primary objective is to eliminate you as a threat, we were only obligated to tell you to surrender before we attacked you."

Marcus' smirk slowly died. "That so?" He took a step back, it peeked over the ledge of the roof. It began to rain as he stood off against many skilled opponents by himself. Running in this situation was nearly impossible, and since Cinder wasn't here yet, she was going to be too late before she got there in time to save him. He'd either be killed or captured here. The latter still leading to his inevitable execution even if he surrendered.

Which meant there was only one other option.

"You still wish to fight?" Winter asked as Marcus got into a ready stance. "I see. Do not blame yourself for what happens next."

Something wasn't right, Qrow knew it. He thought he knew Marcus back then, and that Marcus was smart enough to surrender in the eyes of obvious defeat. But this was clearly a different Marcus, he was even smarter and even more dangerous. So there was no plausible way that he thought fighting them was a good idea. He'd lose. He had to know that. He might stand a chance against him and Winter by himself, albeit small, but with Seth and his crew here as well, that chance was zero.

He grew extremely suspicious when Marcus smirked at him, specifically him, and slowly raised two fingers up to his forehead. It was his signature way of saying 'so long' or 'see you later'. But why was he making it now?

They stood off intense silence as both sides waited for the other to make the first move. Marcus kept standing there with a smirk on his face and two fingers to his forehead as if he was saluting them, but that didn't make him any less dangerous. He still had a live firearm and blades hidden on his body. Appearing unarmed didn't make him any less dangerous.

Qrow and Winter looked to each other from the corner of their eyes, and then looked back to Marcus. The rain was in full force at this point, dripping everywhere and making the roof slippery to the step. It was upcoming to be a full-blown storm, and the scene was getting more and more tense with each passing second.

Like a flash, Qrow and Winter fired off their back feet to attack him. Marcus' eyes softened and a sigh escaped his lips as they grew closer. But right as they made contact with his body with synchronized attacks, lightning blasted through the sky, and their blades struck nothing.

"What?" Winter widened her eyes with mass confusion. He was there and then he wasn't. From behind her, she could hear Seth and his friends were just as shocked as she was. "Where did he go?!" She asked Qrow.

"I don't fucking know!" Qrow screamed, angry with himself and his hesitation. "He was in front of us and then he just… just…" Qrow's eyes slowly widened more and more as a realization came to him. He was staring at something.

Winter followed his gaze and did the same.

In the wake of Marcus' disappearance, what was left behind was a single glowing white rose petal, slowly evaporating away.

Hours later, Marcus walked out into an open street in the impoverished side of Vale. The people there saw him eyed him suspiciously and he knew that they recognized them, but at the moment he really couldn't care less for that. The storm got more intense and his body shivered from the cold and his drenched clothing. His white hair stuck to his face in places and with each step a lot slap could be heard. His white aura continuously flickered and steamed as it borderline active and inactive. He was running on fumes as it was, and what he did to get away took a lot out of him.

"You did good." The voice in his head spoke. Marcus sighed through his nose as he kept walking, his aura finally breaking as he took his next few steps. "You could have killed that girl, but you didn't."

"Shut up, that thing wasn't a girl at all." Marcus snapped in his irritation. "Now's not the time to think- to speak to me right now."

The voice seemed to obey him there, and soon he felt his scroll vibrate for what had to be the twelfth time, it started minutes after his escape, but he never bothered to pick it up. Again, Cinder's blank profile picture and her name flickered to life on the screen, and this time he stopped walking and held it out in front of him.

Sighing, he dried one hand from the inside of his pocket and selected the accept call button, hearing the voice come through on the other side the moment he slid it across the screen.

Roman's voice was heard before his face appeared. "Mark? The hell have you been up to? Cinder's going crazy looking for you, for a sec there I thought they actually managed to get ya."

"I'm fine," Marcus said flatly. The reflection in the scroll's screen showed a very tired man. "Why are you calling me from Cinder's scroll?"

Roman snickered. "She left it behind when she went to try and help you at that warehouse Junior squealed about before Cinder offed him. I just happened to give it a few tries myself just in case you weren't captured or anything."

"Heh," An inkling of a smirk curved up from his lips. "Well, you can tell Cinder that I'm fine. I escaped using a little trick of mine."

"Yeah? Unless you suddenly gained a second semblance like Neo's, I think there's more to this little trick of yours." Roman pointed out, but didn't try to pry to get more information on that. He knew better than to agitate his old partner. "So where are you now?"

"Southern Vale, near the Locked Gate."

"You mean the one district that the council doesn't care about enough to govern properly? Hah, you really like making things difficult, do ya?"

Marcus shrugged his shoulders and looked around himself. The homeless people that were sitting around him all stood up and started to encircle him. He let them, there was time to deal with them later. "You know it's one of my special charms." He said.

"You can say that again," Roman laughed. "Alrighty, I'll send Neo to go tell Cinder you're fine. Stay put, I'll get one of my guys to trace your location… Wait a sec, that doesn't look like southern Vale."

Marcus looked away from the screen, just as someone stepped out of the darkness before him and into his visible vision. "Where are you, really?" Roman asked him. Marcus didn't bother to look back.

"I'll talk to you later, Roman."

"HEY-"

Marcus thumbed the scroll off and shut it off. Dropping it onto the wet road beneath him as he kept his gaze forward. Looking toward one of his fellow assassins, the one who recruited him in the first place.

"Welcome back, Marcus." The shadowy man said as he rubbed his hands together. "What possessed you to return to us when you have a bounty of millions on your head? You either have plans to try and overthrow me or you are here to surrender yourself."

"Neither of those, actually," Marcus said as he kept a hand on his gun. His knives were gone, left behind back on that rooftop and as useless as the White Fang that resided in that building. He was out of aura and surrounded, which meant that considering the novices that were the assassins around him now, it was an even fight. "I'm here to bargain."

"Bargain?" The assassin leader laughed. "You are hardly in a position to bargain with us, Marcus. You've been declared excommunicated after-"

"After you tried to get my son to kill me?" Marcus cut him off with a scoff. "Don't make me laugh, I was getting old and you wanted to start training the next generation. Little did you know Mercury was nowhere near ready to work with you all, especially when Brett foolishly gave him the reward of freedom."

"Still just as prickly as ever," The figure sighed. "You haven't changed ever since I recruited you over twenty years ago. I still remember training you myself, to think you would have become the man you are now…" Lightning flashed and lit up the entire area. Marcus was able to see in that split second the dozens upon dozens of other assassins just like he was all around him and the supreme leader. There was no chance of fighting out of this one. The leader himself had dark brown skin, black hair and just as black eyes, and if the rumors were true then he was also the headmaster of one of the academies. Rumors. He had no name, he never revealed it and it was known that he cast it aside years ago as a teenager to become as anonymous as possible. So he's been unofficially been nicknamed 'Anon' as a way to refer to him. He was also still the man that had trained Marcus alongside his father, and he grew off of those training lessons to become as dangerous as he was today. But even then, he didn't know if he was good enough to slay the leader in a fight by himself. He might be, but he never tried, and now wasn't a good time to see if he really was good enough.

"If I had known you would have come this far. I would have put a knife in your belly instead of in your hand."

"Would have saved me a lot of trouble if you had," Marcus muttered. "I'm here to envoke the ultimate rite of all master level assassins," Some of the assassins around him gasped as they heard took out a rectangular piece of metal. Engraved on the metal with red ink were the initials M.B. Marcus used his strength to bend the metal, and then tossed it to the leader of the assassins who caught it in one hand. "I hope you remember what that is, old man."

Anon, as is what Marcus is going to refer to him from now on. Sneered at him with obvious annoyance. "I assume you wish to envoke your rite to attempt to earn yourself freedom from this organization?" He asked. "I hope you know that the Felada I am now obligated to give you will push you beyond any limits, physical or no, you may have built for yourself up to this point."

"I've already killed hundreds of people," Marcus smirked emptily. "I'm okay to kill a few more."

"Very well," Anon bent the rectangular coin the other way and snapped it into two pieces, then let the pieces fall to the ground. "As Felada dictates, you are now required to assassinate five targets of my choosing. My authorization level infinite gives me the right to choose anyone anywhere all over the world. But, because of what you've done for this organization, and the respect that you have earned from me for coming this far, I will be lenient and give you five targets that are within Vale as of this very moment. There is no going back beyond this point."

Marcus felt himself tense up. He nodded in acceptance.

Anon smiled. "First, the last living member of Team Mobster. Roman Torchwick." Already, Marcus started feeling his breath hitch. "Second, the one who assisted you in killing Cobe, another Master assassin. Emerald Sustrai." Marcus shut his eyes tight and let Anon finish the list. "Third. Winter Schnee. Fourth. Qrow Branwen." His teeth grit so tightly that he could feel them get stressed to the point of near fracture, but he calmed down before it could chip. "And lastly… the one who whipped you into a lost puppy, Cinder Fall."

"What? Did you expect me not to keep tabs on you?" Anon laughed when Marcus' eyes continued to widen with shock. "I know what you've been doing, and coming back to Vale where our main operations are located was a foolish mistake. Those are the five final targets for you to assassinate, and then and only then will you finally be free from us. Marcus Black, do you acknowledge these terms?"

Marcus shut his eyes and ignored the voice that screamed at him to tell them no. But the will within him churned up, and his survival instincts kicked in. He held his head up high, black eyes narrowing into a tense stare as he looked at the leader of the assassins.

"I, Marcus Black, acknowledge these terms."

Thunder bolted loudly above them. The contract was officially sealed.

"So be it," Anon said as he turned and began to walk away. One by one from the darkness, all of the other assassins began to disappear as well, leaving Marcus Black alone with scarce a word or thought to care for.

Job done, and contract sealed. Marcus walked off in the opposite direction, the darkness around him only growing more and more lacking of light as he continued moving forward, as he always has.

"Trust me…" He told the anguished voice in his head. "Just, trust me…"

Marcus Black the master assassin was back, and he had plans to make.

Yes, I've done a lot of research into the John Wick assassin organization and opted to borrow an idea or two from them. Obviously here this organization that I have not yet revealed the name of is different and isn't exactly the same, but there are some undeniable similarities between the two. The assassins that Marcus abandoned were never just something that was going to go away, and something like this needed to happen. And all the stress that has been accumulating within Marcus kept growing and growing ever since he returned to Vale, and even more so after Salem. A man gets desperate for freedom, especially when he does not have it.

However, what is Marcus Black planning? Only one person knows, and spoiler alert. It's me.

Please review and let me know what you think of the story!

T w itter . com (slash) genatools

P a treon . com (slash) Genatools