And here we are, sorry for the wait. I had some things to do and I barely had time to write this chapter but on the bright side I did get plenty of time to plan it. Work and Finals week does that, and I hate it. Sigh… if only I could just not need a job. In a perfect world maybe, and very ideal where nothing goes wrong but hey, that's life for ya. I'll just continue this and we can get on our way. On another bright side, this chapter is going to be pretty long as a way for me to make up for lost time.
And yeah… the warning from the last chapter remains the same.
Beta: CrowSkull
Destiny Fated Black
Chapter 17
The dance came and the dance started right after classes ended. From what she was able to hear, a team by the name of JNPR lead by some scraggly blonde kid were the ones who orchestrated and set up everything. It was supposed to be Team CFVY and then it was supposed to be Team RWBY when they were called out for a training mission, but after Marcus tore apart the team and left them all in the hospital for a few days another team had to be called up and fill the spot.
It was alright, Emerald supposed. She was one of the first ones to arrive thanks to Cinder's orders, and the woman herself was supposed to come around once the bulk of the student body started to arrive. Emerald was perched on the second floor, which had a balcony of sorts looking over the entire dance floor, band stage — and yes, there was a stage for a band that was supposed to be coming in to play a song themselves. Which was actually great for them, considering it was going to be a nice loud distraction for all the students and teachers and even some of the guards outside.
As the students started to come in bulk, Neo was amongst them in her Beacon disguise, her black hair put up in pigtails was very easy to spot, and the dress she chose to present herself in was nothing short of adorable for a girl in her twenties that looked like she was in her lower teens. She spotted her after a few moments and winked at her, tapping a finger against her temple to let her know that her earpiece was in fact in place and that she would hear anything that Emerald or Cinder had to tell her. Emerald nodded back and reported to Cinder that she arrived.
Cinder didn't reply, but she didn't need to. She knew that she heard her. There was an issue of finding a fourth teammate to form up an entire team but after Marcus declaring himself too recognizable and overall risky for him to fill that role, Cinder pulled some strings and made up a story that their fourth teammate died on a training mission long ago. It was a story that made people stop questioning them about the fourth member of their team almost immediately, and they wouldn't dare to try and call any of them out for lying after they put up fake looks of painful thoughts filling their minds.
The annoying ginger girl Nora was the one letting people in alongside the guy that she honestly thought was a girl at first sight. Once the other students started entering in bulk they both handled the entry themselves. The blonde idiot was running the punch bowl and keeping an eye on it to make sure no one was going to spike it or something, while also awkwardly trying to keep up some conversations with some of the single girls that came up for some drinks, and lastly, the champion herself Pyrrha Nikos was on stage speaking to the band themselves. They apparently were fans of her and were asking her loads of questions. So that kept her distracted until further notice, and her role tonight wouldn't be that important.
Minutes passed up to ten, and most of the students arrived with only some stragglers and last-minute deciders coming in right before the entry point would be closed off. But that wasn't what Emerald was in charge of keeping an eye on, she was supposed to be watching for any key figures that could pose a danger to the entire operation if they didn't have someone watching them. Eventually, she found them as Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon walked in with a slightly more pampered up dark green suit on. Beside him was Glynda Goodwitch in a long purple dress that covered just about everything but her arms, and after some tense moments later General Ironwood arrived, then Winter Schnee, then Qrow and Yang's father who came to visit her after hearing that her and her whole team were nearly killed off by an old friend of his.
"The headmasters and their circle are here," Emerald reported immediately to Cinder.
"Good," Cinder replied at once. Emerald kept an eye at the entrance and was happy to see that one of the last to enter was Cinder herself. Fashionably late, not part of the plan at first, but a necessary sacrifice in the grand scheme of things. She wore an all-black dress that had the long skirt cut on one side to reveal her long smooth silky legs. As beautiful as ever, Emerald thought. None of the girls around her even compared to her beauty. "Are the other concerning members here?"
Emerald snapped herself out of her stupor and pushed a finger up to her ear. "Yes," She replied as she spotted Ruby and her two other teammates. "Ruby, the heiress, and the blonde bimbo are all present. But their faunus teammate isn't, the ex-White Fang member."
"No matter, she will not be a problem this night and if she is she will be handled." Cinder replied as she started making her way to the dance floor. The blonde guy saw her coming and immediately began to gawk, Cinder smirked back but she had no real interest in him. That kid, John or whatever, was apparently a good friend of the leader of Team RWBY, which meant that he probably knew what was going on with their missing fourth teammate. "Stick to your assigned roles ladies. If all goes well, we will all go home happily…"
Emerald preened and immediately locked eyes onto the headmaster and the people around him. He spoke to some students as he walked around, and Qrow, the man who prevented the previous Fall Maiden from truly dying kept trying to offer Winter Schnee a dance, who kept on rejecting him over and over until eventually she was pushed to accept by the General, who unexpectedly found their relationship amusing. With the two of them stealing the dance floor, all that left was Taiyang, Professor Goodwitch, and the three present members of Team RWBY all in relative proximity to one another. Yang was in a wheelchair still, but she was dressed up in a frilly white dress anyway. Beside her was her sister, who spoke to some other ginger girl that was being flanked by two Atlesian guards for whatever reason, and the heiress to the SDC was sitting in a chair beside them. She still wore her cast on her injured arm, and from the corner of her eye, she could see Neo staring right at her with a certain hunger that a predator would have for an injured prey.
Neo then turned to Emerald and stared into her eyes, and despite being so far away Emerald knew that she was demanding her attention. Neo reached up and tapped the microphone in her ear three times. She heard three beeps, and that alarmed Cinder and her to know that it was time.
As that happened, Cinder made her excuses and got away from the blonde kid and made a show that she was looking down at her scroll. As she did so, she spoke to them. "It seems like the B of Team RWBY will not be present tonight. I will call Marcus and let him know it's time, as soon as he is out. Find a partner and dance with them." She ordered.
Emerald sighed dramatically and accepted her order without pause and saw Neo roll her eyes from across the ballroom. Whatever, she could stand to deal with some idiot for a few minutes, and hopefully it would be just that.
"On my way…" Marcus' voice rang out through her ear, sending a chill down her spine at the sound of her voice.
The night has only just begun.
Marcus climbed up to the roof beside the CCT and across from the ballroom to his left easily. The brick wall looked impossible to climb, but after an aura enhanced jump and some scrambling he made it up silently. There were no guards on the roof, which was mistake number one for Ironwood and Ozpin. Marcus kept to the dark and dashed across the roof. His white hair flowing with the wind as it blew against him. He looked around as he came to a window and looked left and right, making sure that no one saw him. He did have to hide a body or two that got in his way, but speed was of the utmost importance here.
After double-checking the immediate area, he nodded and cracked open a window after using a little trick of his to unlock the window from the outside. He peered into it, counting at least a dozen guards and a few cameras. He let out a sigh through his nose, it was dark in there but the Atlesian guards had to have some kind of night vision, and while he knew he could very easily take them all out, he didn't know if he could do all of it quietly. Even then, he tapped the radio on his ear and reported in.
"A dozen guards, a few cameras, I could go in loud and fast, or take it easy and go around to be more incognito."
"Stay hidden for now, we wouldn't want you to be caught so soon." Cinder replied quickly.
Nodding his head and accepting her judgment, he shut the window and slid down the darker side of the roof and jumped down onto the grass. The dirt muffled the sound of his landing, and he crouch walked silently and kept to the dark as he made his way around the building in search of any kind of entranceway. The vents would be much too loud and get him caught very easily, this wasn't like the movies. The windows might be a good way to get in, but could be loud and draw attention. A dozen ways of getting into this massive building the lead into the CCT tower, but ironically as he snuck around, the easiest way to get in was through the front door.
Making his decision, he stepped out from behind his cover and stepped into the wide empty courtyard that lies in front of the huge building. They only had one guard patrolling the outside. One. It was like they wanted the CCT to get hacked and for some virus to get planted in their systems. That or this guy really got unlucky and stepped out to take a piss or something.
The guard didn't notice him until a red and white streak sped off to the side. He readied his weapon and looked around suspiciously. His yellow and silvery metal armour clanking around as he took a few cautious steps backward.
He reached his hand to radio in and report, but a knife found its way into his neck instead. Silencing and killing him immediately.
"Sorry, nothing personal," Marcus said as he threw the bleeding guard into a nearby push and then kicked his weapon into it right after. The poor guy was dead before he even hit the ground.
Flicking his bloody knife to the side to clean it of the blood, Marcus cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders as he got ready for what was going to come next. He could hear the music from the ballroom all the way here, and the CCT building was far from the ballroom. Not incredibly far, but if he could hear the music from all the way over here, then the people at the dance wouldn't be able to hear anything from him.
"And now for you…" Marcus said as he pressed a button on his scroll, an app that was available to assassins like him popped up, and he pressed down again on another function, sending out an electromagnetic pulse and rendering all nearby cameras and radios offline for the next twenty minutes. He could have used it earlier, but the music wasn't as loud as it was now and he might have been too loud. Now was the best time, and he had more than enough of it to do what he needed to do.
Smirking cockily, he stuffed the scroll back into his pocket and drew out his gun in his left hand. He walked into the building casually, keeping a calm persona on display for the few guards that would spot him in just a few seconds. With the cameras and radios off, the music loud, and plenty of distance between him and the ones who could actually stop him, there was no need to take this slowly anymore.
"Hey, you!" One of the guards spotted him as he calmly walked into the building, smirking and armed. "No one is allowed in this area at the-"
The man choked on his words as he realized who was walking in.
"Yeah," Marcus aimed his gun at the dozen dead men who all formed a half-circle around him. "I know."
It wasn't as much of a fight as it was a slaughter, bodies littered the floor and blood splatters were all over the place. They didn't even manage to scratch him as he danced around their bullets and destroyed those foolish enough to try and take him on in close combat. Now they were all dead from slashed necks, stabbed hearts, gunshot wounds to the most vital areas, and from plain idiocy. Their best bet was to run, but they thought in this case that quantity would beat over quality. Idiots.
He pressed the button to the elevator to save himself some time, but was pleasantly surprised when the elevator was already on its way down. He heard two men having a conversation on the other side of the doors and chuckled as he aimed his gun at the doors. Their last thoughts before they found themselves with bullet holes pierced through their skulls was about the wifi password to Beacon. Somehow, that was hilarious to him as he stepped into the blood elevator and pushed the button that went all the way up to the control room.
"And that's the hardest part out of the way," Marcus said as he holstered his weapons and began to wait. The elevator ride up to the top would take a few minutes, so he had some time to practice his whistle singing.
But first. "On my way up now," He said into the radio in his ear, which he specifically designed himself to not be affected by any sort of EMP. "At this point, it shouldn't take any more than ten minutes."
"Good," Cinder said immediately, she was clearly pleased. "You continue to please me."
Yeah, he'll pretend that's what he wanted.
"Hey there, what's a cutie like you doing sitting here all on your own?"
Emerald did her best to ignore the foolish boy beside her, she had a duty to keep an eye on and it wasn't time for her to take a dancing partner just yet. Not that it would stop the racist that was Cardin Winchester from constantly trying to woo her despite her constant signals for him to get the fuck away from her. Seriously, if this was how his bloodline was able to get this far, then it would soon die out.
"Awe, come on." He pushed his shoulder up against hers and she refrained from stabbing him for it. "Don't give me the silent treatment, you must be lonely coming to the dance all on your own. Looks like even your team won't give you attention, but I'd be happy to fill that role for you."
"The only role you're filling is being an obnoxious idiot." Emerald hissed as she pushed him away hard with one hand and kept her eyes firmly locked on the adults. "I didn't come here for the attention of boys."
"Oh really," If Cardin was upset by being pushed, he didn't show it. If anything, the weirdo must have thought it was some kind of sign for him to keep trying. That or he liked being pushed around by girls, which just lowered her opinion of him even more if that was the case. "You say that but I can see that you're just playing hard to get."
No, she really wasn't. In fact, she wasn't interested in boys at all. Or girls. She wasn't interested in any kind of relationship that didn't involve Cinder and what she wanted her to do. As much as she would have liked to slap this idiot around for assuming otherwise, she had to make sure she kept an eye on the girls and the adults just as Cinder told her to.
"Go away." She said instead without even looking at the boy.
"Your names Emerald right?" Cardin ignored her of course. "I'm Cardin, I saw you kick some ass in Good-Bitches class. What school did you go to before coming here?"
"..." Emerald narrowed her eyes as the metaphorical steam started seeping out of her ears.
"You know, I am trying to be nice about this…" Cardin said as he inched his way closer to her. "But now I'm thinking about taking a different approach."
His hand wrapped around her waist and lowered further. Finally, Emeralds eyes widened with rage and she slapped him across the face and knocked him to the ground. "Don't touch me!" She shouted at him. "And get the fuck away from me! Take a hint you fucking weirdo." She huffed and stomped away from him, leaving the humiliated boy to get stared at by bystanders and made fun of for doing what he did. He finally left her alone though, and after finding a new spot, she locked onto the adults again.
Only someone was missing.
"Oh no…" Emerald felt her heart drop as she failed to spot Ruby among the crowd. The girl is short as well, she wasn't able to pick her out from the rainbow of hair colors down there on the dance floor.
"What's the problem, Emerald?" Hearing Cinder's voice made her whimper. "I heard you shout."
"Some horny idiot tried to touch me, distracted me," Emerald said scornfully. "I can't find Ruby, I don't know if she left or not."
"Neo, find her and bring her back." Cinder said immediately. The girl beeped her radio once and was on it. "And Emerald… be more careful."
"Yes, mam…" Emerald whined and nodded her head. Returning her focus back onto the headmaster and the other adults around him.
Ruby knew she saw something, someone even, dash across the rooftops. It was only a flicker, but there was just something off about it that she couldn't put her finger on it. It made her anxious, and despite not having her speed anymore, she was still a huntress. So that meant it was her job to go and investigate. She had to make her excuses to her dad, Yang, and Weiss, saying that she had to go to the bathroom. But she didn't know if she would be back in time. Hopefully, after checking the area where she saw that figure, she would find out that nothing was really wrong and could get back to the dance and stand around with her friends like she planned to do the whole night.
Stupid heels though. Stupid! She hated Yang and Taiyang for making her put them on for this stupid event.
"Sorry… Excuse me… Coming through…" She weaved her way and gave her excuses to the people she had to push through in order to get to one of the exits. Her mind was on to something, she just knew it was. She didn't want to bother her uncle and dad about it because tonight was supposed to be a relaxing night with some fun sprinkled into it, and her uncle finally seemed to get a woman for himself. About time! She didn't want to ruin that based on just a hunch.
"Woah!" She yelped as she bumped into someone who somehow just appeared in front of her. And not only that, when she looked down — down, at the person she just bumped into, she looked up at her and smiled cheerfully.
"Polly?" Ruby called out. This was the girl that was Emerald's partner that she met after one of her training sessions with Qrow. The girl was a mute from what Em told her, some kind of accident that the Grimm caused took away her ability to speak. Poor girl, and she still wanted to become a huntress!
Polly nodded her head happily and took her hand, getting closer to her than she expected. Close enough for Ruby to smell the perfume and scent of the slightly shorter girl.
"I-I can't dance right now," Ruby said, somehow understanding what Polly meant when she practically pushed her body up against hers. "I have to use the bathroom." She lied desperately in an attempt to push past her and get outside.
Polly instead spun her around in a twirl and sent her away from the exit. Ruby just barely caught herself but stumbled, before she could fall however Polly lunged forward and caught her, spinning her around again and dipping her in some kind of dance move. Before Ruby could realize it, her hands were taken and the girl was pressed up against her body. They were dancing, and people were watching them already, some were even recording.
"Polly please… people are watching." Ruby felt her cheeks heat up as she found herself thrown into the center of attention. She looked over her shoulder and tried to telepathically call her father for help, but both he and Yang seemed to look so happy for her. Mistaking her cry for help as a yearning for positive feedback.
Polly giggled silently and lead her on to dance further. She didn't know what she was doing, but nonetheless she tried. At least to try and get this over with as fast as possible in order to save herself embarrassment and judgment from the people around her. Though she had to admit, as the seconds ticked by she was having more and more fun, and at that time went by, she realized something. What if Polly was just trying to have fun with her? And in turn for her to have fun as well? The thought of taking it easy for one night and having fun was definitely appealing… and she has been training desperately every morning and night in an attempt to try and reform her entire fighting style.
She could let loose for one night… just this once.
Polly smirked at her as they danced once she saw Ruby begin to giggle and go along with their dancing.
Outside the ball-room, it was a very starry night. All by herself, Blake looked up to the moon and sighed. She almost was convinced to go to the dance by Sun, but he just didn't understand what was going through her mind. She didn't deserve to have a fun night, not after what she drew her only friends and teammates through at the docks not too long ago. She didn't deserve to laugh, drink punch, dance, and have fun. Not until she made it up to them somehow. Luckily, she knew exactly how to do that.
Hearing those gunshots and sounds of fighting was almost impossible and likely wouldn't have been possible if she didn't have a sharp sense of hearing with the two extra appendages on top of her head. She saw him. Him. The man who did her entire team wrong and nearly killed Sun. He just walked into the CCT like a one-man army and killed everyone who got in his way. She followed, but she would have only gotten herself killed if she helped those Atlesian guards. She wondered why the cameras in the building hadn't called for any kind of help, but she quickly realized why when her scroll was offline as well. Having no signal despite being in the one area of Beacon where you had to have some kind of signal. With an explosive sigh, she drew Gambol Shroud and crept into the building. Jumping when two more gunshots were heard, along with bodies slumping to the floor. She saw him walk into the elevator while whistling a tune and pressed a button that shut the elevator doors behind him and started sending him up.
The control room, she immediately assumed. There's no other reason for why Marcus Black of all people would even consider infiltrating a school of trained huntsman and huntresses. It was the only probability.
She could easily call for help, run back to the ball, get Ozpin and the teachers, and they would go back to deal with him. But would Marcus even still be there by the time they got there? He's already on his way up there even as she considered her options, and decided that she was going to have to be the one to stop this once and for all. And she wouldn't have it any other way.
"I'll make you pay for what you did…" Blake swore under her breath as she broke Gambol Shroud into its two forms, prepared to take on the hardest enemy she has ever faced. "I'll kill you and avenge my teammates and friends. Only then can I ever live on truly content."
Determined, Blake walked into the building and immediately took to the stairs. It was a long way up, but she was a trained huntress and an ex-officer of the White Fang. If she rushed, she'd be up there around the same time he did. And then…
Revenge.
Marcus pinched his nose shut as the stench of blood filled up the elevator slowly as he ascended the tower. It wasn't anything he wasn't already used to, but it was a nasty smell nonetheless. It was a mixture of iron and rust, and as the oxygen in the blood escaped into the condensed airspace that was within the elevator it made it even worse for the master assassin. Until finally, he was able to take a nice deep breath of fresh air as the elevator dinged a second time and opened its tightly closed metal doors. He waved at the space around his nose and let out an indignant sigh.
"About damn time," Marcus groaned as he stepped into the control room. "You'd think by now they'd have faster elevators by now. That shit's the same it's ever been." He said with a scoff as he made his way to the many rows of computers. Usually, this would be full to the brim of members of the staff of Beacon. Now it was more empty than a village destroyed by the Grimm. Most likely because of the dance they were given the day off, but even if they were here they wouldn't have the training or any hope to stand against him, and he wouldn't have been able to just let them go. Good on Ozpin then for making that decision, a few less people were going to die tonight because of that.
As Marcus made his way through the control room, a wave of memories flooded his mind. He's been there before, a very long time ago. In fact he's been to all of Beacon. He's spent so much time held up in that secret cave of his and intended to never leave until this little mission began. It was part of a way to hide himself from the rest of Beacon and a way to prevent himself from remembering things he didn't want to remember.
Unfortunately, that was just not possible given his experiences and those who he was close with once upon a time. He had to make his way through almost all of Beacon to get to the CCT anyway, and on the way he may have passed by memorable buildings. Like the dorm, the cafeteria, classrooms and lecture halls, and how could he ever forget the combat arena? It all looked slightly different in the twenty years that it's been since he's been there, but all the same it was. He called this place his home once, and he felt like he'd still be here if half his team and brother weren't slaughtered in the Mountain Glenn tragedy.
And now look at him, stopping at the main computer panel to the entire CCT of not only Beacon, but all of Vale, and planting a virus he didn't know much about into one of the open Scroll Ethernet Ports. Immediately, the scroll flashed on. Automatically working to his wonder as a loading screen popped up. Starting from 0% and working its way onward at a reasonably fast pace. Above the little loading bar was a logo of a black queen, and in the corner of it was even a digital signature belonging to an 'A. Watts' character.
He ignored the unimportant name and stared at the black queen piece. Salem, the Queen of the Grimm, was still ever-present in his mind, memories, and thoughts. Ever since he met her, everything in his life was flipped upside down and changed. For the better? Worst? He didn't know, she was the fucking Queen of the Grimm and yet she was ordering around humans like Cinder and Emerald to do her bidding. Very unlike what he imagined what a Grimm Queen would do.
Salem had to be powerful, even more so than Cinder and her fall maiden powers. Maybe even more than Ozpin and every huntsman and huntress who has ever lived. The very personification of evil.
He couldn't say he was any better. He's killed so many people, innocent and guilty, children even. Even his own son was among that list. And he was likely going to continue to grow that list as time went on. Freedom was the thing that he was fighting for at the moment. His wife was killed, he murdered his own son, and every person who ever cared for him was either dead or now hated every part of his being.
But, considering what Salem was… was freedom even possible anymore?
Ozpin wanted him captured or dead, Ironwood wanted him captured or dead, and he could imagine the people of Mistral and Vacuo would be the same. Honestly, he might as well be better off just taking his own gun and offing himself right there and now, maybe then he might get the freedom he's been yearning for. His life had no meaning anyway, so why did he keep fighting and doing everything Cinder wanted him to?
'Promise me…' Her voice echoed within his mind, she sounded like she was on the verge of death. His breathing choked at the memory of her voice. His hands balled into fists as he watched the loading bar become half full.
'Promise me… I don't care what you think you are, but I need you to promise me just… Ack… One more thing…' He remembered the way she coughed up blood as she said those words, there was a deep stab wound in her chest which caught a major artery that lead directly to her heart. She was going to die, and he had no way to stop it even if he wanted to. He remembered just holding her as broken weapon laid meters away, tears streaming down her face as a bloody hand reached up to caress his face. 'You still have a chance… to make things right… I don't know when, but…' Summer coughed up more blood and heaved hair into her lungs. 'But… call it a gut feeling. Hehe…' She tried her best to laugh, but it just caused her more pain.
'Promise me… that you'll know when it's time… When it's time for Marcus Black, the huntsman, not the assassin, to return… And do what he knows is right.' She waited for his response. Waited for his confirmation, but all she saw was tears. But even in her dying moments, she smiled at him with a bloody mouth.
In the end, he said nothing. And that was exactly what she needed.
Because it wasn't a no.
Tentatively, Marcus reached his shaking hand toward the scroll as the percentage reached up into the high eighties. He wrapped his fingers around the device, two massive parts of his mind clashing against each other as a decision was struggled to be made.
He took a deep breath and made it. Tightening his fingers around the device and steeling himself for what was to come.
A bullet pierced through his shoulder and out through the other side right before his decision could be made. His eyes widened as a splatter of his own blood-soaked the control panel before him, and before he knew it the virus was 100% installed and he was diving behind cover and pushed his aura up to his wound. Wincing as the burning pain shot all the way up his left arm.
"Fuck!" He scolded himself for being caught off guard like that, and for his aura to be down along with it as he struggled with a part of his mind he shut away the moment he left Beacon.
A pair of feet landed on the ground right in front of his cover, and instinctively Marcus flexibly threw his foot up over his head and caught someone right in the leg. A feminine yelp was heard but she corrected herself mid-fall and landed on her hands right in front of him. He shot at her wildly as she made to flip, but her aura deflected his bullets while others missed. When she landed, her bright yellow eyes glared death into his black ones.
Enraged at not only being caught off guard but being caught off guard by the same girl he nearly killed back at the docks injured his pride. "You fucking bitch!" He spat as he pushed himself back up to his feet, the adrenaline running through his body and nullifying the pain he felt in the shoulder that was shot. "I let you live at the docks but now you've really pissed me off. I hope you're ready to get your ass kicked a second time."
"I won't make the same mistake a second time, monster." Blake hissed as she got into a majorly defensive stance. "You stole my friend's semblance and heavily injured the others. I won't let you get away with that and do something to Beacon!"
"You're here for revenge then?" Marcus laughed bitterly. "Cute. Let's see how far that gets you..."
Blake wasted no time and used her semblance to get away from Marcus as soon as he dashed toward her. The clone she left behind was completely decapitated as his long knife flowed right through its neck. She winced at the sight as it faded away, but had no more time to think about it as he was on her again at speeds that shouldn't be possible for the human body. Wildly, she dodged and weaved through her attacks, leaving behind dying clones and refusing to let herself get grabbed by the man. She didn't know how he did it, but she knew that if she let him grab her she would lose her semblance, and right now that was the only thing that was even giving her a chance to survive against him.
Even that might not be enough, she realized as she tried to go for a counter-attack in an opening that was open for no more than half a second. But the moment her weapon even got close to his body, a blade flashed and parried it away. He was so strong, stronger than Yang and even Nora. Her arm was blasted back with its weapon and she was forced to use her semblance again to get away from him. But as she reappeared again, he predicted her movements and shot at her with his gun.
She deflected the bullets and dashed backward, sending a stone clone of herself to distract Marcus for even a second so that she could figure out some way to catch him off guard. What she didn't expect was for him to simply kick the stone statue of herself into non-existence.
He was faster, stronger, more experienced and more skilled. That showed in the way that he fought, he was mad, but followed her with determined precise strikes and cuts even while enraged and with a bullet wound in his shoulder, he was beyond anyone she's ever faced before. She felt like even Miss Goodwitch would have trouble with this man, if not lose herself.
This was a mistake, she very quickly realized. He was just too much for her and she was blinded by a selfish need for revenge. Any kind of determination and will she had in her body was filled with a sense of fear as she felt her body become more and more tired with each dodge and with each attempted attack. She couldn't optimally counter-attack, chances were at the time she did, he would make the second strike, and even if he was injured she guessed he could take far more hits than she ever could. Her aura was being strained and despite not being hit once just yet, her aura was rapidly draining away with each use of her semblance. He didn't even need to steal it in order to beat her. He was just too much for her.
"Ack!" She shrieked as her legs finally gave out as she landed, her own bodyweight crumpled her backward and she landed on her back and felt the wind burst out from her lungs.
Her eyes bulged out of her head as he stabbed his blade into her stomach. Her aura's last reserves protected her from being stabbed, but still left a massive bruise on her belly. Marcus snarled at her as he brought his knife down a second time to try and break her aura.
Blake used her semblance and soon he stabbed his knife in the ground all the way up to the hilt.
She appeared behind him and aimed her gun to the back of his head in a desperate attempt to kill him before he killed her.
Her gun was batted away by the back of his hand just as she shot, and she choked as she felt her throat being squeezed tightly. She cracked open one eye and realized that she was caught, he was too fast and finally caught her. She was now completely at her mercy.
"P-Please…" She begged desperately.
If he heard her, he ignored her. She let out a choked scream as she felt something within her get pulled out of her. His hand glowed white and her aura glowed it's dark black, but then turned a mid-tone color as her semblance was stolen from her. Her lungs finally ran out of air as she nearly passed out as her aura was broken and eyes rolled to the back of her skull. He was strangling her to death, and she kicked weakly at him in a desperate attempt to free herself. He had none of it, and just squeezed harder.
She opened her eyes and stared at her would-be killer. He stared back at her with murderous eyes. She didn't want to die, not like this, not after everything she's been through. It's too soon, she was only seventeen!
"P-Plea... ssh." She choked out to him desperately. Tears naturally dripping out of her eyes as her lungs burned and her vision began to darken and see stars.
His grip on her didn't stop at first, and she feared that her pleas fell upon deaf ears. But then his eyes widened slightly, and she dropped to the ground coughing and gasping for air. Falling to her side and clutching at her throat in an attempt to try and open up her trachea once more. Once it did, she took a ragged gasp of breath into her lungs. She continued to cough for several more seconds at the feet of Marcus Black. She was completely vulnerable to her.
Marcus looked down at her and clenched his fists. He really wanted to kill her, he really did.
But at the same time, he didn't. She attacked him for a very good reason, he was the bad guy here and there was no other way to look at it.
At the same time, however, his mission was already complete. He planted the virus in the CCT and the twenty minutes of the EMP from earlier were now up. Which meant he had to get out of there, and quickly.
"Try that again, and you're dead." He told the crying girl below him in a dark voice. He stepped over her and made for the windows, by now, the cameras were back on and an alarm would ring the moment he was revealed. Which he was. All the cameras in that control room were on and all staring right at him. Recording his every moment. He was willing to bet that Ozpin and every teacher in Beacon were on their way, and he did not want to wait to reunite with them.
Blake watched as the man who actually heard her pleas to let her live walked over her and toward the windows. He was going to escape now, and she knew no one would be able to catch him. Her breathing was still ragged and labored as she looked across from her and noticed that Gambol Shroud, which she dropped when Marcus caught her and stole her semblance, was right in front of her just two feet away.
The pain she felt all throughout her body was inhumane. But she willed herself to reach for the weapon anyway. It would be so easy, his guard was down again and this time she wouldn't miss his head. Though her weapon shook in her hand as she tried to raise it to aim it at him.
She was terrified of him, he took her down effortlessly despite being caught off guard so badly. What would happen if she missed?
But… what would happen if she killed him right there? Just one shot to the back of the head, and it would all be over. He was supposed to be the leader of everything going down in Vale and was controlling the White Fang as well. If she cut off the head of the snake right here… then could Vale be saved as well?
It took a lot of thinking in a very short amount of time. But the reward heavily outweighed the risk. What was her life compared to the thousands upon thousands of innocents?
She had to try.
Doing her breath to take in a deep breath and let it out slowly, she aimed her gun at the back of a head of white hair and pulled the trigger.
The bullet pinged off his aura, and he stopped on the spot. His head, which was snapped forward from the force of the bullet slowly raising back into the same spot..
Blake's heart dropped.
In a flash, he turned around and the deafening sound of a gunshot echoed throughout the control room. She stared into wide black eyes as she felt a piercing pain in her chest. Blake felt her lung fill with blood, and for that blood to rise up her throat and burst out her mouth in a mist of red. She fell to the side and clutched her chest, tears pouring out of her eyes as she felt the life within her slowly fade away.
Marcus' hand shook as he holstered the gun back into his pants. He stepped forward with a shocked expression on his face. His breathing increased in pace and he snapped out of it and rushed forward, falling down to one knee to check on the girl he had just shot.
"I… I didn't mean to…" He said in his own skewed way of apologizing. "You shot me, and I just… reacted."
She had just enough time left to look up at him with depressed eyes before she expired. Marcus felt his own heart drop. He killed her. He just killed Blake Belladonna, a huntress of training from Beacon. He watched as she took her final breath, and went limp beneath him. Lifeless amber eyes looking up at him as if accusing him, and rightly so.
He stared at the body of the young girl, who had to be even younger than his own son. Her life just ended by his own hands, and for the first time since he fully became an assassin, he felt sick that he had taken a life. Years and years of training and experience enabled an almost automatic reaction. If you were shot at, shoot back, was what he was taught.
The elevator dinging in front of him shocked him back into reality. He had to leave, and he to do it now!
"Oh my God!" He heard Ozpin cry out as he saw his dead and bleeding student at the feet of Marcus Black. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?" Powerful green magic burned around his body when he easily put two and two together and figured out who had murdered his student.
"Surround the building!" Ironwood called out as he ran out from behind the headmaster, Glynda Goodwitch coming around the other side and both of them aiming their weapons at Marcus. Not only that, but Qrow and Winter burst through the doors as well, forming a half-circle around Marcus and the dead student of Beacon academy that he had just killed.
"Surrender now Marcus Black," Ironwood demanded as he glared at him. "You are surrounded and there is no escape. This is going to be your final and only chance to be brought in alive."
"Fuck!" Qrow screamed in anguish as he looked at Blake's body. "No, no! That's Ruby's missing teammate, isn't it? God dammit..."
Ozpin, in his anger, looked down at his lifeless student. Sadly, he shut his eyes and nodded his head.
"No," Ozpin said as he stepped forward, and for the first time in a long time, released the ancient magic from within him. Marcus stepped back all the way back to the window. Here, he stood no chance. Not against Ozpin and all of those around him. Not by himself. "I have waited for you to come to your senses long enough, Marcus." The headmaster said as his eyes shined green. "I've made many mistakes, and I must admit proudly that you are one of them. I should have never let Summer try to bring you back, and now you have killed one of my students. In turn, I will now end your life once and for all."
Marcus took one look at Ozpins power and had nothing to say to it. He sprinted toward the nearest window and crashed through it. He heard Ozpin and everyone else try to catch him, but they were barely too slow. He threw himself out into the windy sky and was now falling at terminal velocity back down to the ground. From all around, he saw that Beacon was a warzone and everyone was looking for him, and he didn't like his chances of surviving a fall from all the way up there. Even if he did survive the fall, he'd be quickly overwhelmed.
He had to go to either the Emerald Forest or the large body of water that lay in between Vale and Beacon. The forest was too close to Beacon and could lead to him getting caught, so that left only one option.
He was lucky that the tower was so high that he was able to angle his fall in such a way that he would dive directly into the water. As he approached the water he threw whatever weapons he had left except for his gun in a desperate attempt to break the surface of the water so he didn't break every bone in his body diving into it at terminal velocity. He dove so violently into the ocean that he actually saw the bottom before he came to a stop. He swam up to the top and let the tides take him.
Hours later, there were alarms ringing all around Beacon and Vale, and he was dragging himself onto a rocky shore under a dock, coughing up water and curling himself into a ball to try and keep himself warm.
"Fuck…" He cursed to himself as the guilt washed over him. He was so tired, so tired of everything! It was like fate wanted him to suffer, and the voices in his head of everyone he's killed and stolen the semblance of were torturing him right now. And somehow worst of it all was that she wasn't even trying to help him anymore like she usually would. Among those voices were, of course, Blake's, the girl he had just killed. Taking her semblance took a part of her soul with it, and now she was never going to leave his mind.
To think he was actually going to do the right thing, like he promised Summer all those years ago. He should have known that it was too late, he should have known that the girl was behind him. It would have saved him a lot of trouble if all he did was stay on his guard. He wouldn't have gotten so angry, and that girl wouldn't be dead right now.
"I-I didn't mean too…" He whimpered as he fell unconscious, the exhaustion of mind and body finally catching up to him and rendering him in a comatose state. His dreams continued to haunt him even as his body rested. The thoughts of everything that has transpired throughout his entire life torturing his mind as always, and this time, there was no suppressing it.
Neo found him some more hours later as the sun was rising high into the sky at noon, unconscious and exhausted. She yawned and kicked at his body lightly in a light punishment for making her come all this way looking for him. Then took him right back to where he didn't want to be.
Yup, that happened. This was a part of the story that I constantly re-thought and planned many times over until I eventually came up with this. It was hard, very hard to actually go through with killing Blake. I could have made her go out in a much more heroic way, spitting at Marcus at every turn and putting up a decent fight. But there is a very clear difference between Marcus and her. He is just way too much for her, and realistically she never stood a chance against him in the first place. He only let her live at first because Roman told him not to kill anyone, and he did it again a second time because he remembered what he promised Summer all those years ago. Sadly though, Blake would make the mistake and go on to try and take him out while he turned his back on her, which earned an automatic reaction from Marcus which lead to her death.
I told myself that this was going to be a serious and realistic story from the first chapter that I wrote. Or as much as I could make it anyway. Sadly, that meant that Blake had to die here, and die in a sad way. Because that is how life is. It crushes hopes and dreams, and unfortunately, Blake was a dreamer in this situation.
Please review and let me know what you think of the chapter.
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