Here we go again, Marcus Black returning with another chapter. Y'know, a reviewer PM'd me between last and this chapter saying that this really stood out from the ocean of Jaune stories and other kinds that are based around… fandom enjoyments. When I do look into some of the other stories, I do see what they meant and can very well understand my own admitted frustration that no matter how hard I can try making this story as good as it can be, I cannot shift what people like. With that said, even if this story is never going to be as popular as those stories, I'm going to continue and finish it anyway. I shall break away from the norm! This Dark driven story shall reach at least a 100 follows before it's over!

Also, for those who have not seen Volume 7 of RWBY just yet, I implore you to at least look up the Atlesian Ace Ops that have just been revealed. That is important for understanding this alteration to some plans for this story.

In all seriousness, I am grateful for the audience that I do have. Because at least it is still an audience to begin with.

Beta: CrowSkull

Destiny Fated Black

Chapter 14

Made some interesting choices after that, definitely not the smartest in the world but… at least I made them...

"Where is he?" Cinder asked Roman as she grabbed him by the collar the moment he stepped into the same room as him. From the corner of her eye, she could see Neo obviously having a problem with that, but far too concerned with what would happen if she were to step in. It would be far worse if she actually tried to stop her. "Did you find out where he is?"

"H-hold on a second there," Roman said in a frantic and surprisingly calm tone considering the situation he was in at the moment.

One of Cinder's eyes flamed with impatient anger.

"He said he was in Southern Vale! Near the Locked Gate!" Roman spat out as quickly as he could. He knew it wasn't true, going off of what Marcus implied when he called him on the scroll, but it was the only thing he had right now and he was afraid that if he gave Cinder nothing that she would have given him something for it.

"Southern Vale?" Cinder dropped Roman and took a step back, thinking to herself as she scratched the area underneath her chin. Her mood took a complete one-eighty, and Roman remembered one of the many reasons that he was afraid of this woman. At any second she could lose her temper and patience with him and kill him however she wanted, and Neo wouldn't be able to do anything about it besides desperately dying with him in an attempt to defend or avenge him. Most likely the latter when it came to Cinder. "That's impossible, he was ambushed in Eastern Valeand more North, how would he be able to get from there to the South?" She chuckled at a thought. "He must be more skilled than he let me believe. Interesting, very interesting."

"Yes, it is very interesting and Mark is a very dangerous and skilled guy," Roman agreed easily, too easily, and more sarcastic than he really had the right to be considering Cinder was just about to kill him a moment ago. "Last I heard from him he made it sound like he was on his way back," He lied through his teeth, the lie came out as smooth as air went into his lungs. "Though he sounded pretty tired, so don't expect him to be back so soon. Guy went up against a whole squad of people who were chosen to specifically go after him."

"I see," Cinder nodded her head with understanding. "All men have their limits, very well. Roman, keep me posted on anything you hear about our dear Marcus. I must speak to him in person before I move on to infiltrate Beacon." She looked to Neo next, who shrunk under her stare. "Be ready to return to Beacon Mute. Emerald is running out of excuses to why her partner has been late and absent to so many classes."

Neo huffed and rolled her eyes. Might as well giving Cinder a sarcastic yes before she blinked out of existence using her semblance. A curious ability, Cinder thought. But not one that couldn't be handled. She didn't know how it exactly worked, but glass-breaking visuals aside, it seemed like some sort of teleportation semblance. A rare one certainly, and in the hands of an assassin like her, it was little wonder how the tales she's heard about the 'Quiet Assassin' came to be.

"You sure you don't want me sending her to go find Marcus?" Roman questioned. As long as it has been since he and his old Beacon partner parted ways, and ignoring all of the killings he has done, Marcus was still considered a friend. Not a friend that he trusted per se, but he looked after his friends. He was one of the only people he knew from Beacon who didn't want to arrest or attack him, and the only one he left on good terms with. Saving someones life would do that.

Cinder thought about his question for a moment and considered it. With Neo's skills, she would probably be able to find the Black quickly. "No," She denied calmly. "Neo has other things to concern herself with, Marcus can handle himself to come back here."

Roman refrained from sniggering. She says that but she very nearly revealed herself by almost attacking the squad that was put together to find and capture Marcus. He's never seen her actually worry about someone, if nearly killing one of her own subordinates could be counted as that. But her worry was more warranted by necessity. Which put Marcus in an interesting spot. Cinder felt like she needed him for something, what that something was isn't something he knows or cares enough about. As far as Cinder goes, Marcus can worry about her all by himself.

"Alright," Roman said picked up his cane that he dropped when Cinder grabbed him by the collar. "I'll go back to doing my dust robbing thing, see if we can get any more than we already have." They had all the dust that they needed already but he wasn't going to try and stay in the same room with Cinder any longer than he had to.

Cinder barely regarded him with a murmur as he turned and grabbed the doorknob of exit to the room, but before he could twist it and push through, he found himself being pulled forward slightly as the door seemingly began to open it by itself. Roman felt himself jump out of his own skin as he suddenly saw a bruised white-haired man with black eyes pull the door open so hard that it slammed against the outer wall.

Roman's shock turned into a distant feeling of concern as Marcus looked him up and down, realized that he was an ally, and then let himself fall forward in his exhaustion. Roman caught him instinctively and gently let him down slowly, letting the larger man lean into his arms for support.

Cinder didn't even realize what was going on before Roman called to her saying that he found him. She was by his side and next to Marcus in an instant.

"Marcus? Are you well?" She asked as she placed a hand on his chest.

"Trust me… Trust me…" Marcus muttered, not even acknowledging Cinder's words. "Just trust me… I know what I'm doing."

"He's delirious." Cinder said as she waved for Roman to take him to the couch.

"He's exhausted," Roman said as he tapped the tip of his cane against Marcus' back. "And out of aura. Man, what the hell did you do to yourself."

"Trust me…" Marcus murmured. "Shorty…"

"Hey!" Roman exclaimed with an indignant pout. "I am not short at all!"

"He'll be fine, good." Cinder said as she stepped out from behind him. Roman winced at her presence, momentarily forgetting that she was there in the same room with him by mistake thanks to his ill friend. "You have something to do now Roman, make sure that he gets well and stay with him until he is recovered. We have more than enough dust thanks to your very successful raid on that SDC freighter ship."

"Yeah, sure, why not…" Roman huffed as he stood and sat in the other chair beside where Marcus was lying. "Not like I got anything better to do, like run the entire Criminal Underworld."

"I'm sure they can live without you for a few days." Cinder said while still looking at Marcus. Something about that rubbed Roman the wrong way, just why was she so interested in him? When she looked away and started leaving the room, Roman let out a relaxed exhale of air for once. Looking down at his ex-partner as he shut his eyes and finally went to sleep.

He must have managed to get from the South, somewhere in the South, or wherever the hell he actually went, all the way here with drained aura and exhausted muscles and through a city that had put a manhunt bounty on his head.

"Man… you really are more trouble than you're worth," Roman said as he rested the back of his head on the cushion behind him, and tilted his hat forward to cover his eyes. "Don't wake up screaming or else I am going to kick your ass."

Marcus groaned and rubbed his forehead as he slowly willed himself to wake up. No dreams this time, that was good. He was wondering if his own mind was trying to drive him insane ever since that night in the bathroom when he actually started to hallucinate. That didn't mean that those thoughts were gone, however. They were going to stick with him as long as he lives, and while he once had a chance to rid himself of that pain, that chance was long gone now for over a dozen years.

The memories of everything that happened the previous night ran through his mind. The ambush, that damn android girl that nearly got him caught. Doing what he did to getaway was a heavy risk, but it was something that needed to be done. It would be a piss poor ending to his story if it ended with him getting tortured to death my Ironwood asking him for information. He knew what happened to high priority prisoners like that, he's been to Atlas enough times to know that and he's seen it on one of his missions. Atlas was not the kindest to its prisoners, and it showed. Oh did it show… One time they did the assassinating for him when he had a contract to kill one of the prisoners.

A snore from his side made him instinctively reach for his knife, but he stopped himself once he realized that it was Roman. Right, he forgot about that. His old partner, unfortunately, had to deal with his lethargic and exhausted self. That must have been surprising, he hoped that Cinder didn't see him that way.

"Your first target is the last living member of Team Mobster, Roman Torchwick." Anon's words flowed through his mind like lava down a volcano. Burning and full of hate. With a narrowed eye, he looked back toward his last teammate.

Roman Torchwick was right there, asleep with his cane in a spot where it would be hard to grab and use to defend himself, and here he was. A master assassin with knives and his own two hands as weapons. It would be so easy, pitifully easy. He's killed people in their sleep before, sometimes huntsman since that was the easiest way to get them off their back. He was more than quiet enough and at an arms distance, he didn't even need to stand up to slash his neck with the knife he already has in his hand.

Marcus shifted in his seat and stared at the sleeping Roman with a knife in his hand. Thankfully, he always had one hidden somewhere on his body. Whether in his boots, a strap on his side or arms, or a special pocket sewn into his pants. Roman snored away peacefully and he could practically see the Z's coming out of his mouth as he exhaled.

So easy… it would be so easy…

"Wake up," Marcus demanded as he kicked one of Roman's legs hard. The master criminal woke up with a panicked yelp.

"Ah, the hell?" Roman said as he fixed his hat. "I thought you were supposed to be the sleepy one mister pass out, what are you doing awake so early?"

Marcus hummed. "Men of my profession learn to live off of relatively little sleep."

"That so?" Roman raised an eyebrow as he leaned on one of the armrests of his chair. "Do they also mutter to themselves in their sleep?"

Marcus widened his eyes slightly, he wanted to bring them back down to size but the damage was already done. Roman picked up on it the moment he opened them. "What did I say?" He asked, unable to remember what he might have said and was fearful of the value of those words.

"You kept saying 'Trust me'," Roman harumphed with an amused smirk. "Like you did something wrong and you're trying to convince someone to believe that you're doing the right thing. It was pretty weird, not gonna lie."

Marcus nodded and openly let out a sigh of relief, it would not have been good if Roman heard anything he wasn't supposed to hear.

"Nothing else?" Marcus asked, just to be sure.

Roman shrugged his shoulders. "Not really. Cinder said that she hoped that you got better soon, so you have that to look forward to."

"Hmph," Marcus internally rolled his eyes. "And I'm guessing she made you look after me in the meantime?"

"Got it in one," Roman smirked cockily and winked at him. "So, how's that aura looking so far? I'd check it myself, but our team link was sorta terminated about twenty years ago."

Marcus closed his eyes and looked within himself. A novice would have to rely on a scroll to check their aura percentage, but once you've trained long enough and gained experience you would be able to tell just by focusing just a little bit harder. That was what he did to figure out what state his aura is in at the moment. "About thirty percent," He said after a few moments. "Give me a day to rest and I'll be fully recovered."

"I'll say," Roman huffed. "Some fast aura regeneration you got there, all those bruises and little cuts on your body are already gone. Since we're on that, how the hell did you manage to escape all that? And where'd you go?"

Marcus looked away as he spoke. "Made a risky choice and it paid out, and I already told you where I was."

"If you expect me to believe what you told me, you don't know me very well." Roman pointed out.

Marcus simply shrugged his shoulders.

"Whatever, I know as much as anyone that trying to force anything out of you is suicide. Only one person was ever able to get under that tight shell of yours, and she is long gone."

"If you're going to do nothing than try and force a conversation, then leave," Marcus replied.

"Is that how you're gonna treat me after I saved your life back in Glenn?" Roman laughed as he stood up, more than willing to accept Marcus' request to not sit around and do nothing. "You still owe me a favor for that you know."

"You really going to rely on an assassin to pay back a favor?" Marcus countered.

"Nope, but I'll keep bugging ya until you give up," Roman remarked as he made his way to the exit.

"As if anything would stop you…" Marcus said as he lied back down in the soft cushions, if Cinder wanted him to do something then he would rather do it at full strength, besides by going what Roman has said so far she already knew that he wasn't at a hundred percent at the moment, so she'd understand. They had plenty of time to do whatever in Vale, she could wait a little longer.

"Actually, before I go, there is one more thing I guess I should bring to your attention," Roman said as he leaned on the doorframe, looking at him.

"What is it?" Marcus asked.

"You were muttering 'trust me' over and over again. At first, I thought nothing of it. People say weird things when their brain is full of shitty mush because of exhaustion. But, there was something you said that made me think. You said, "Trust me, shorty."

Marcus kept his face blank and emotionless.

"I played it off like that was an old nickname you had for me," Roman continued. "But we both know who you really used that nickname for."

"You're overthinking it," Marcus said. "It's like you said, I was delirious and didn't know what I was saying. It was nonsense."

They stared into each others eyes for a good long while.

"Well, if you say so," Roman said in a much more uppity tone. "I'm gonna go make sure that the animals haven't decided to kill all my men, you rest up and let Cinder know you're okay. Something big is coming up pretty soon, so you better be ready for it."

Marcus waved him away and his chance left with Roman. He sighed heavily as he lied back down and kicked off his boots with another relieved sigh at the sudden cool sensation that he felt all around his feet. One problem at a time, he told himself. If he killed Roman right there, then Cinder and everyone would ask questions, and they would know that he was going to be to blame for that. Neo would have came after him, Cinder would have been bitchy about it, it was more trouble than it was worth.

So Roman got to live for a little while longer, to the benefit or peril to him. It looked like he got a little mouthy while he was half-asleep last night, but thankfully Roman decided to play it off like it was an old prank. That was good, maybe he would pay back that favor after all. The longer that Cinder doesn't know about what's going on in his head, the better.

But he knows. Marcus' mind pointed out. He's smart, he already figured out that something is wrong. And yet he wasn't going to do anything about it unless it became a recurring problem. Roman was already destined to die anyway, if not by his own hands than by the hands of some other huntsman or huntress or maybe even to a Grimm. Everyone was fated to die someday, even him.

Shutting his eyes closed, he had to force himself to relax before he was able to go back to sleep. Hopefully, he would have another dreamless rest.

"I see," General Ironwood said as he finished listening to Winter's full report on the attempted capture on Marcus Black. The woman before him looked like she had a scarce amount of resting the previous night, but she was determined to follow up on the report that she was required to make. "Penny is severely damaged and has been sent back to my ship for repairs. As for Qrow and his friends, what of them?"

"Qrow has assured me that the official story was a routine raid on a found White Fang operations base." Winter recited. "As for him, Penny, and I, we were never there."

"And so our confidential manhunt for the assassin continues," Ironwood said with a smile. "And how are you, Winter? Seeing him must not have been easy, considering what he's done, and what he is."

"Marcus Black is an assassin, and a stain on my family's history," Winter said with genuine hate for the man. "He nearly killed my sister and tore apart the pride of Team RWBY. Apart from all the atrocities he has committed, he will never be a man that deserves any kind of penance."

"I couldn't agree more," Ironwood said with a determined look in his eyes. "How is Qrow taking all this?"

"As well as one could expect," Winter said with a roll of her eyes that had Ironwood smirking out of amusement. "Most likely he is drowning his failure in alcohol as usual, as is the friends he brought with him."

"Could you blame him? He was so close to catching him, and he fell right through his fingers, through all of our fingers." Ironwood amended. "With someone who has more right and cause than any of us to go after that man, I'd do the same thing if I were him."

"Hm," As much as Winter wasn't on such great terms with the drunkard, she still felt sympathetic for him. Not that she'd ever let him know that. It's because of the things she's learned thanks to the General trusting her enough to let her in on the knowledge of what would mostly be considered as personal information. Team STRQ was torn apart by that one man that they'd failed to capture due to a mysterious ability. Their leader was assumingly murdered by that man, and before that one of them abandoned the road of becoming a huntsman. It was depressing to think that the one team who rose above all others years ago at a time where even Winter was a young girl who looked up to them ended up as the way they are now. One reverting down to a part-time Huntsman, another a bandit, and the last one a drunkard man desperately trying to keep himself together. It was part of the reason why Winter let Qrow get away with more than he knew, if he was amused by teasing her like he annoyingly liked to do so much, then so be it. She'd dealt with much worse being the former heiress to the Schnee Dust Company.

"I suppose you are correct."

"Indeed. In fact, I have been considering calling in my Ace Operatives to come deal with this threat." Ironwood revealed.

Winter felt her eyes widen ever so slightly. "They would be enough to do more than capture him, sir."

"I know." Ironwood looked her in the eyes. "If the opportunity to capture him arrives before I make that decision, then so be it. But you and I both know that Marcus Black will not simply let himself be defeated, and with the training his must have received… I hardly believe we'd be able to get anything out of him anyway."

"Sir…?"

"I am asking for your opinion, Winter." Ironwood clarified. "Marcus is too dangerous to be left alive, for decades he has terrorized the world with his assassinations and his semblance to steal other semblances makes it so normal huntsman won't be enough to take him down. So, what do you think I should do? Call in the Ace ops, give the order and have them hunt down this man with the intent to kill, or give capturing him alive some more faith and allowing your secret mission to continue."

"Sir…" Winter began, she didn't know what to say but years of discipline and training made it so that she could push through those restrictions of shock. "A part of me wants to say bring them in, but another part is sympathetic to my sister… I apologize for letting my personal emotions get in the way, but I ask for some more time in order to capture this man. If we manage to do so, we can potentially make him return the semblance of the leader of Team RWBY."

"I see." Ironwood nodded his head in understanding. "I will hold back on calling them in for now, but just in case I will brief them on what we know about the assassin and I must warn you, with the paladin we found and redistributed back to Atlas, our enemies may become more active. Especially during the Beacon dance, which is happening in just a few days."

"I have already made plans for that night," Winter said with a confident demeanor. "I also recommend that you further bolster the security of the CCT. It will be especially vulnerable with the staff in hardly less than a skeleton crew."

"I shall," Ironwood said. "Now, with that out of the way. I now have other things to concern myself with, after being named head of security for Vale for the duration of now until the end of the Vytal Festival, there is much work to be done."

"Understood," Winter said as she saluted and made to leave.

I better not regret this, Qrow. Winter thought as she left the room. Don't let me regret doing that for you… Please...

"Yang?" Ruby said as she nudged her sister in the side. The blonde was conscious, but barely. The concussion was severe and she needed weeks of rest before she can even be allowed to stand on her own. She can eat and drink well, and her wounds were healing well as well. The broken nose reset and the swollen bruises and cuts on her face were almost invisible now thanks to her aura. As far as the dance went, it didn't look like any boys were about to ask Yang out with her in this condition.

"Ruh?" Was all Yang could exert as a response.

"Dad is coming to Beacon to see you," Ruby said, smiling. Yang rolled her eyes and huffed through her nose, Ruby giggled at that. "You know he worries a lot, and especially after what happened I'm surprised he isn't here already."

"Ugh…" That, Ruby understood.

"At least she is still herself," Weiss said as she sat in the chair opposite of Ruby and on the other side of Yang's hospital bed. She sported a broken arm and had multiple lacerations on her body when the paramedics got to her. Her outfit was actually ruined after that girl nearly killed her, she had to wear an alternate outfit she apparently saved up for a casual day out. A white dress with buttons that looked similar to her normal outfit, but with no blue or red. "It seems like not even brain damage could fix that… how unfortunate."

"Scu yu," Yang snapped back.

"Hey, do you know where Blake is?" Ruby asked her partner. "I haven't seen her since we got back to Beacon…"

"Blake is…" Weiss huffed and shook her head. "I don't know where she is. I would be mad at her not being here, but she thinks this is all her fault since we came to the docks solely just to find her."

The worst part was that Ruby couldn't even deny that. It was Blake's fault that they were torn apart by Marcus Black and his allies. If she didn't run away, they would have never gone to the docks. Sure, the bad guys would have gotten the dust, but they got the dust anyway even with them there to fight them. But she would have still had her semblance, Yang wouldn't be concussed, Sun wouldn't have gotten shot, and Weiss wouldn't have lost her weapon.

"I hope she tries to talk to us soon." Despite all that, Ruby still wanted to see her friend. No matter what Blake was in the past, White Fang or no, she fought and bled for them and was defeated along with them. It wasn't like she didn't try to do anything, she was out of aura before they even got there in time to help her and Sun out. "How is Sun doing?" Ruby asked next.

"He's recovered, last I heard," Weiss said. "It was a simple gunshot and the bullet went all the way through. All that was needed was bandages, rest, and aura boosters."

"That's good." Ruby smiled. It was more than what she heard about Penny. There was nothing to go off of to see how her new friend was doing…

"And you?" Weiss suddenly asked.

"Huh?"

"Your training you dolt, didn't you hear what I just said?" Weiss asked with obvious irritation in her voice.

Ruby chuckled nervously in response, she must have been zoned out.

Weiss rolled her eyes and opted to repeat the question. "I asked how your training is going so far. Fighting without the use of your speed must be a… learning experience."

Oh. That. Ruby fidgeted in her seat. It's been weeks since she lost her semblance to Marcus Black, and during those weeks she has been training practically nonstop to try and learn how to fight without having to rely on her speed like she always did before. And honestly, little progress was being made. She had to drop and forget her entire fighting style to try and learn Uncle Qrow's scythe style, and she was also afraid that she would have to try and learn a new weapon since learning how to fight with a scythe was such a difficult task. It was so much different than a normal sword-like Jaune's or Pyrrha's. With her semblance gone, she wasn't just average, she was below average in terms of speed. Her muscles always had this strange tingly feeling and even her perception of time slowed drastically. What felt like an hour before now felt like two hours. It made classes horrible, she was glad she was able to have this break.

"It's going," Ruby half lied. "There's not much else I can do except train as much as I can. Thankfully headmaster Ozpin waived my work for the month so I can try and get back on my feet." She forced herself to let out a cheerful laugh that seemed to fool Weiss.

"That's good to hear," Weiss smiled. "I lost Myrtenaster, but my sister was kind enough to let me borrow one of her saber's when my arm fully heals. So all I'd need to do is just get my conditioning back up to par."

"I'll help you with that," Ruby promised. "Or maybe we can get Pyrrha to train us alongside Jaune. I hear that she sprints around Beacon every morning."

Weiss winced at the thought. "Yeah… sure."

Ruby let an amused smirk creep up her lips at Weiss' uncomfortable face. Pyrrha really was a monster in the sense of a champion. She definitely earned the title. The only one who ever came close to beating her was that Emerald girl, and only because she actually managed to get Pyrrha down to the yellow on the aura counter. The only time Pyrrha ever went that low before.

She wondered how good Pyrrha would do against Marcus Black, if the Invincible Girl could stand up to someone like him.

"H-hey, Weiss…" Ruby said as her thoughts instantly wrapped around the topic of that man. "What do you think of that… man that we fought at the docks."

"You mean the one you and Yang fought," Weiss corrected. "I never fought him, his ally distracted me. But… I don't know if I would have even helped against him." She shrugged helplessly.

"He tore us apart like we were nothing," Ruby said, balling her hands into fists at the memory. "Is that the difference between a true huntsman and a student? Did he even really try against us? He looked so… bored while fighting us, the only time he only showed any kind of react was when…" She couldn't bring herself to say it.

Yang reached over and placed her hand on hers, Ruby wrapped her fingers around it and squeezed. Yang knew what she meant, that man knew their mother, and he implied that he knew what happened to her. If he was the one who killed her…

"It's okay," Weiss came around and wrapped her up in a one-armed hug, Ruby didn't even realize she had tears coming out of her eyes and leaned into her touch. "You don't need to say it."

Team RWBY was in shambles, but even though these impossibly hard times, they did their best to stick together. Ruby, Weiss, and Yang all got hurt in many different ways, and Blake blamed herself for it all. But Ruby knew that this was what the life of a huntress would bring.

She wouldn't give up. Couldn't give up. Not when she was so close to finally finding out exactly what happened to her mother that lead to her depressingly early death.

Marcus stood up in front of the same mirror he did some nights ago when he first met Salem and realized that there was definitely a Queen of the Grimm. His white hair flowed down to block some of his vision, but he brushed it aside with his hands to give his eyes some vision of his own face and body. The burn scars were still there, and likely would stay there as a permanent reminder that he can't defeat Cinder in a one on one. Among the entire list of people he had to kill, she was someone he didn't know how to approach. Magic was magic, and he didn't know how it worked. For all he knew, she would notice him the moment he tried to sneak around her.

Water splashed against his face and he felt a relaxed sensation. His eyes shut to let the water slide down his face and drip down into the sink, and when he opened them he jumped backward when he saw her face staring back at him over his shoulder once again. Once he realized that the ghost he saw was just another one of his hallucinations, he cursed and shut off the water flowing out of the sink.

"Shut up," He said to no one. "Just shut up and let me do my work."

Nothing replied to him and he mentally slapped himself for being so damn paranoid. He wasn't crazy, it was just a side effect of his semblance. Taking the semblances of others lead to taking a tiny piece of their soul with their powers, which of course lead to shit like Summers sad smiley face popping up every now and again. Out of all the voices he heard every once in the while, hers was the most prevalent and was heard the most often. She always was a chatty bitch, the damn shorty didn't know when to shut up sometimes.

He looked to his side at the feeling of a tiny breeze blowing into his side and saw Neo with an indignant pout as she worked at trying to untie the pigtails at the sides of her head. Marcus raised an eyebrow and smirked out of amusement when she gave up and used her semblance to make it look like her hair was all back to normal.

"Cinder's in Beacon now?" Marcus asked just to make sure.

Neo rolled her eyes and nodded her head in response.

There went his most powerful target. Gone for a time, but he would see her again soon. He knew it. "How's Beacon?" He asked as he picked up his shirt and stuck his head through the opening. "Enjoying yourself as a student over there."

Neo stuck up her favorite finger at him. It was the middle finger.

"Sounds about right," Marcus understood. "Well, you can tell your leader that my wounds are in fact healed, and yes, I still have that virus that she wants me to stick in the CCT." He brought out the same bugged scroll from before and waved it in front of Neo's face.

Neo batted his hand away and scowled at him.

Marcus smirked at her in response. Neo was certainly a treat, and he really didn't look forward to having to deal with her after he eventually killed Roman in order to take the first step to freedom. When she wasn't trying to murder you, she was a fun person to hang out with and tease. For obvious reasons, he preferred her that way.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll get there soon." He said when Neo tapped a spot on her wrist.

Neo shook her head and signed to him.

Being a much more cohesive way to communicate with him, Marcus widened his eyes as he understood what Neo was trying to tell him. "Tomorrow? She wants you to take me to Beacon tomorrow?" He asked.

Neo crossed her arms and nodded her head. Giving him exactly what he needed to know.

"Well, shit." Marcus sighed and made sure his gun and knives were all back in their rightful places. After being ambushed he lost his main knife, so he had to procure a new one. Thankfully, after being reinstated as an assassin, albeit temporarily, he once again had access to the endless amount of secret hideouts and weapon lockers that the organization had scattered all around the world. And so his long sharp knife he mainly used for intense combat was back, along with a refreshed stock of all of his other equipment. "I get better just this morning, and I'm already being thrown literally into the lions den." He shook his head. "What is Cinder thinking? I won't be able to hold up there forever. My face is everywhere. Someone sees me or even my hair, and the whole operation is a bust."

Neo shrugged her shoulders.

"Fine, whatever." Marcus huffed and threw on the rest of his clothes to complete his outfit. "Whatever happens, it ain't my fault."

Killing kids wasn't something he enjoyed. He still did it when he was paid too, but he didn't like doing it. Hopefully, none of those kids would find him.

Because if they did, then they would have a really bad time.

One more chapter before we get to some of the more… risky plans that I have in store for this story. Hopefully Volume 2 will be over around the early 20's in terms of chapters, and hopefully Volume 3 after that will be over by the mid-thirties. Those who read my other stories know that I'm probably not going to manage that, it's just something I do. Never forget the time I made a prologue 32 chapters. Never forget.

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