Here I am again and here we go, nothing else to say.

Beta: CrowSkull

Destiny Fated Black

Chapter 25

Cinder was nervous. On edge. Emerald was able to see it in her eyes and the way she carried herself not with her usual pride and prance. But with caution, as if she expected a shadow to jump out at her. It only got worse when Neo didn't come back as they all expected her to. With Roman dead, which was something that was not part of the plan nor was it intended, she would have thought that the next person she'd go to would be Cinder. It was one of her contingency plans just in case the master criminal made a mistake and lost his life as a result. Which could only mean one thing when Marcus didn't call back either.

Marcus wasn't dead, that was just a fact. If he died in that ambush that not even Cinder saw coming, the news would have been made public and even then it wasn't like they'd be able to hide it if they could. Marcus was a powerful villainous figure in Vale. Someone that all of the citizens hoped would be brought down eventually. The fact that no such news has come out means that Marcus was still alive. Which was the prime reason for Cinder — and herself — to start worrying about what he could be doing…

"He still hasn't called or texted," Emerald reportedly in as soft a voice as she could. Cinder rounded on her with angry flames in her eyes and she flinched, almost prepared to be slapped just for speaking without being spoken too first.

Cinder looked away and let out a low growl as she continued pacing back and forth through their Beacon dorm room that they were given as transfer students. Hearing about the ambush was shocking. At first, she thought that Cinder intended to get rid of Marcus since it was obvious that he didn't really want to be around them or help them with their plans, and was only doing it for the reward that came out at the end. But when she looked to see how Cinder would react to the news of a failed breach and the one who was behind it, her eyes were wide and for the first time since Emerald met her in that alley, she saw the genuine shock in her eyes. Maybe there was some fear as well, fear for Marcus and him thinking that she just tried to get rid of him right then and there, and honestly, she wouldn't blame her. It was made clear after their little sparring match that Cinder would lose against him if she didn't have her maiden powers. He was just that good. That dangerous. That skilled. Cinder respected him for it, and honestly, she did as well.

Respected him enough to worry about him as a potential threat, it seemed. Even in Beacon, they knew that they weren't really safe from him if he wanted to kill them. He was the guy who went into Atlas and into the Schnee Manor itself to assassinate members of the Schnee family, politicians, relatives of council members and was able to escape multiple times. Emerald made a safe guess in assuming that was why Cinder wanted him to join them so badly, his skills were not something that could be overlooked.

It was why Ozpin was tearing up all of Vale and used his power as the headmaster of Beacon and as a member of the council of Vale to use his authority in recalling most of Vale's huntsmen. Or at least the huntsman that weren't already on a mission and were preoccupied for the time being. More huntsman meant more people to look out for. One, two, or even four didn't pose that much of a threat to a maiden. But a dozen? Two dozen? More? And even a full-powered maiden Cinder wouldn't be able to beat them all by herself. Their plan to let Marcus take all of the heat for Cinders actions backfired on them, and it backfired hard. The students weren't allowed to leave their rooms unless it was for classes, and if they really needed to go somewhere they needed to be watched. A tracker would be placed on their scroll. Since she and Cinder were currently posing as students, they were forced to abide by their rules.

"C-Cinder," Emerald hesitantly called to her. "What do we do?"

"We can't do anything right now, girl." Emerald winced at her tone. "We can't leave without drawing attention to ourselves and after what happened we very well may have lost Marcus as an ally and gained a very dangerous enemy." The fact that she sounded more worried about Marcus more than the headmaster of Beacon spoke volumes.

"What about the White Fang?" Emerald asked. "Adam, we just spoke to him the other day. The Vytal Festival is starting soon, even if Ozpin managed to get it delayed it was only by one day. We still have half a dozen backup plans that we can use."

"I am aware," Emerald praised herself internally when she saw how Cinder took in a deep breath and relaxed. "Adam called us to complain that Marcus killed off the one girl that he's been hunting down ever since she abandoned their cause. He seemed to be angry, but not with us. After calming him down, I was able to come to another agreement. If Marcus became an enemy, he'd be the one to destroy him."

"Do you think he can win?"

Cinder laughed. "Absolutely not." She shook her head. "Only if he managed to catch him off guard with that semblance of is. He is good, I admit, but he is two decades too early to try and take on Marcus Black."

"So… what do we do?" Emerald asked again. "Do you still want Marcus to be an ally? Or is he considered an enemy at this point?"

"Of course I'd like for him to be an ally." Cinder said, looking to her as she spoke this time. "He is an invaluable asset that should not be lost. However, I am not as daft as to not think of some ways he can be taken down if the need had arisen. Of course, you stand no chance against him and I don't want to take any chances myself. But there is someone I think would have a good chance to take him down." She smiled as she stroked the underside of her chin, apparently pleased with herself. "He is just as old and perhaps just as skilled and if what Salem told me about him is true, he is one of the very small amount of people which the organization absolutely refuses to accept a contract on."

Emerald widened her eyes. "You mean-"

"Yes, child. I do mean Tyrian." Cinder confirmed, her smug smirk returning as she faced her. "Though I will not get hasty just yet. There is always a chance that Marcus and Neo are simply resting and recovering from a train crash. I can't expect them to come out of a train crash completely unscathed can I? I'll give them two more days to be generous, after that they are declared neutral unless they make it clear that they are no longer under our control."

Emerald nodded her head. Accepting Cinder's word as law. Marcus was the closest to… well, she didn't want to say, friend. But it wasn't like he was completely unbearable all the time. She was reluctant to work with him at first, but after living up to everything she's heard about him and saving her life multiple times, she felt that she could trust him at least a little bit. Even if he did beat her within an inch of her life. If only for a decent enough reason.

"Keep trying to get in contact with him through your scroll," Cinder demanded as she sat down on her bed placed in the corner of the room. "In the meantime, we will abide by Beacons rules. I'll speak to Adam later, and once this petty curfew is lifted and the Vytal Festival is among us, we shall enact our plans."

"I will get the rest of the maidens powers, and I don't care who I have to get through or how many people need to be destroyed in order to receive it."

Qrow stretched his arms over his head and winced as a stab of pain lanced down his side. Still not a hundred percent, he guessed correctly. But he was in good enough shape to move around his hospital room without the help of one of the nurses. He just wanted some booze to help the time go by faster, but the stupid little nurse just had to confiscate it and feed him bullshit on how it's for his own good and all that crap. Fuck, he hated being sober.

He was only able to rest once he'd made sure that Winter and the others that were with him during that botched raid on the train in Glenn were all okay. Amazingly, no one died. Only that the kids were still charing their auras and that Pyrrha and Winter were still knocked out from the crash. Though Winter was making a speedy recovery. He was still worried about Pyrrha. She was unfortunate and unlucky enough to cross blades with Marcus himself, and he saw that she got grabbed after being absolutely destroyed by him. He wondered if that did anything to slow down her recovery, but he doubted it since he didn't see any aura flash besides Marcus being kicked in the balls. Heh, he was looking forward to bringing that up as much as he could if he ever saw that guy again.

He cursed and scrambled back into his bed when he heard the door handle to his room jiggle as someone made to open it. By the time it was opened, he was already lying back in his bed with the sheets pulled up over his lower half with the pillow just above his back as he sat up straight. He relaxed when he saw that the person visiting this time was not the nurse that stopped him from drinking all the time and took his flask away.

"You don't need to hide from me Qrow," Taiyang said with a shake of his head as he stepped into the room and shut the door behind him.

Qrow's eyes widened upon seeing him. "Tai!?"

"In the flesh," Tai said as he spread his arms out to the side, presenting himself as he made his way toward his old partner. "I'd ask how you've been, but I've already heard all about it from Ozpin."

"Heh," When he got close enough, Qrow bumped his fist against Tai's and let him take a seat in the chair beside his bed. "I haven't seen you in almost a year, I knew you were at Beacon but…" He looked away and frowned.

"I wasn't about to not visit you after you nearly died, Qrow," Tai said with a shake of his head. "No matter how or what I feel about you, you're still my best friend."

Qrow looked back his way and nodded his head. After Raven abandoned the team right after Yang was born, and after Summer died, Tai and he had a strenuous relationship at best. Qrow felt sorry that he couldn't convince Raven to stay after she told him about her plan to leave and he also felt sorry for letting Summer go on that stupid personal mission of hers by herself which lead to her death by the hands of someone they shouldn't have held up faith on. After hearing of both occasions, he was not only angry that both his wives went to Qrow rather than him about something so serious without even letting him know about it until they were already gone. And it got even worse when Raven never came back and when Summer came back dead in the arms of an assassin. Qrow was only able to stay around for Ruby and Yang, if it weren't for them, Team STRQ probably would have broken apart for good.

"We're the only ones left…" Qrow sighed to himself quietly.

"What happened?" Tai asked, hearing him but electing not to comment on it just yet. "I heard the whole spiel from Ironwood and Ozpin, but I'd rather hear it from you."

"Still not on good terms with them?"

"Ever since I lost Raven and then Summer from being employed by him, I'm not afraid oo be frank about that," Taiyang said honestly. "And now almost you," He added gruffly. "My entire team has been picked apart because of this shitty war, I left because I couldn't imagine leaving Yang and Ruby alone in a world like this. I hoped that you'd retire soon too…"

"You know I can't do that, Tai," Qrow replied gruffly. "I may have done that before, but I can't now. Not with Marcus back and Vale in the shitter."

"I know, which is why I'm not going to disrespect you and ask you to retire now. I would even come out to fight with you but…" Tai sighed and rubbed a hand down his face.

"Yeah," Qrow nodded his head, understanding what Tai meant. The girls weren't in that good a shape after what happened to their other teammate. They needed support, and Tai needed to be there for them lest they break under the mourning of the loss of a teammate. Something Tai and Qrow knew understood better than most after losing Raven and Summer in two different ways. "I get that."

A tense moment of silence reigned on for about a minute.

"I found the train underground in my bird form during one of my patrols," Qrow began, answering Tai's earlier question. "I patrolled every night trying to find if there was anything that the White Fang was hiding, I didn't expect to see Marcus there, but I found him and his fucking eagle eye found me. After that, we had to rush over there as fast as we could and dig our way through one of the subway entrances. Long story short, we had to attack the White Fang while we had the chance and Marcus was as much of a bitch to fight as he was twenty years ago. He's better than me, Tai, better than me and Winter. We might have been able to beat him under normal circumstances together, but he was good at fucking around with us. Tricked us into attacking him and thinking that we were about to take him down right before he blew up one of the train cars right underneath us." Qrow gripped the blanket that was over him and ripped it in his anger. "Damn near got the entire team killed because I wanted to get revenge on him… A group of kids are all in critical condition because of me… All because I was too stubborn to notice how his partner who was just as good as he is tearing apart the kids right under our goddamn noses!"

"Qrow," Tai reached out to his partner and caught him before he could fall off the hospital bed. "Calm down, you told me this once and I am going to throw it right back at you now, you can't always control what goes through your head. I would have done the same thing if I were in your position. Even then, at the end of the day, those kids are alive." He gestured toward his arm, being held together by a cast. "You damn near destroyed every bone in that arm to keep it that way. And for that, I respect you more than I ever have before."

"Wow, that hurts and makes me feel better at the same time," Qrow said as he steadied himself.

Taiyang laughed. "Heh, you know me. I was never good at making people feel better…"

Memories flashed through his head. He was in a hospital room, right after the events of Glenn. Amazingly, he and his team managed to get through it without any major injuries. He couldn't say the same for others. Others like Team Mobster. Roman had never returned to Beacon, so that left Marcus completely by himself, missing both of his legs, and after watching two of his teammates dying and being torn apart by the Grimm. They tried visiting him, not even Raven was able to stay cool upon seeing him. He was like a completely different person. Never replied with more than two words, always dodging questions or just remaining silent and even asked them to leave a few times. Not even Summer was able to get through to him.

He had a chance though. Had. He found Marcus' note before he left and tried to confront him about it, but he was never good with words, and nothing he could say would have convinced him to stay. He felt guilty about that, especially when he had to break the news to Summer and Raven, the latter being fairly close to him and the former being very close to him.

And now look at what happened…

"This is the second team he is tearing apart," Taiyang said, feeling ever so tired as he sat further into his seat. "I hoped that Ruby would never have to feel what I felt. Team STRQ was the best coming out of Beacon out of any other, we were the best at everything. Then… he happened."

"And now he's doing it again, I'm sure Ruby and Yang's team would have followed in our footsteps but this time he nipped the bud before it could even grow to become strong. And this time I know for sure that it's his fault. I can't sit around and let the world evolve around me anymore. I can't just sit back and be an observer. Qrow, I am going to come back as a huntsman." Qrow widened his eyes at the declaration. "At least until I know my girls are going to be safe in Vale to continue and finish their training in Beacon."

"A-are you sure?" Qrow asked. Tai once swore never to become an active huntsman again, so hearing this from him was shocking. Especially since it most certainly meant that he was going to have to fight Marcus at some point or another if the Ace Ops couldn't get to him. "No offense man, but you are out of practice. Like, hard out of practice."

"Hey, I've been keeping up on my training." And it wasn't a lie, despite being in his mid-forties, Taiyang was as fit as any huntsman fresh out of Beacon and in the prime of their life. Most men would dream of having a body like him if they could choose. "I'm not about to be a burden on anyone, and unlike most, I don't have a semblance to steal in the first place."

That was what made Taiyang so amazing. He didn't ever unlock his semblance. Oh, he was sure that he had one and could unlock it if he wanted to. But one of his things that were just a part of his character was refusing to ever get it. All the other students had one, super speed, super strength, elemental energy control, all sorts of stuff like that. Him? He was just skilled, and his strikes were precise and planned. Still, the lack of a semblance held him back and he was never the best of their year much less of the school or Vale, but he was still up there. Maybe, just maybe, a person without a semblance could really catch a certain semblance stealer off guard... That is if he didn't already know Tai beforehand.

"Heh, well then I'd love to offer you a drink in celebration, but I'm afraid that the nurse stole the flask Summer got me," Qrow said as he indignantly crossed his arms and pouted like how any normal grown man would. "The perfect occasion for it too, you finally started talking to me again instead of just glaring."

"You insult me, Qrow," Taiyang smirked and reached into his coat, pulling out a long yet subtle bottle of wine. It wasn't booze, but any amount of alcohol was welcome at that moment. "You act like I don't already know what goes through your head, or like I'd forget."

"I humbly apologize," Qrow said as he took the offered bottle and drank straight from the neck. The bottle was a quarter empty by the time he handed it back. Tai made a mock cheers gesture with the bottle before downing the other quarter of it just as fast as Qrow did. Which earned a chuckle out of the old and tired huntsman.

"I brought your scroll back to," Tai said with a hum. "Just in case you want to stay in contact with the girls, and for me to easily update you on what happens. Before you bother me about it later, the Specialist you were with is okay, just still unconscious. And those kids are as well, though the champion girl is still asleep. Internal injuries, they say."

Qrow winced and gestured for the bottle back, drinking another quarter of it in just a few hungry seconds.

"I also talked to the nurse," Taiyang continued. "One of Ironwoods nurses if you know what I mean. They say that you should be back up on your feet and ready to continue huntsman duty by the time the festival starts."

"Ungh," Qrow burped as he set the bottle down. "Sounds about right. So now what?"

"Now what?" Taiyang laughed and got comfortable. "How about you and me catch up on a few things. I feel like I've been neglecting you."

"I feel like a kicked puppy," Qrow and Taiyang shared a laugh. Despite everything, they were still each other's best friend. Nothing would change that. Not Raven. Not Marcus. Not Ozpin and not any Grimm monster Queen that lives out in the Grimmlands scheming every day of her life. They were there for each other for Glenn and in other hard times, and they would be there for each other now.

Marcus winced and walked with a small limp. After spending all of last week sleeping and recovering, his aura and most of his wounds were healed. But not every wound. He still felt pain run up and down what remained of his left leg. The bionics made it so that he could move by himself, but his thigh and hip still felt hurt, strained, and tight. He had Neo at his side just in case it became too much for him to walk by himself normally, but he wasn't going to be relying on her anytime soon, especially not when the two of them were traveling underground through those same tunnels he took with Emerald after Cobe attacked him and her while they were sleeping.

He explained to Neo where they were going to go and she didn't seem all that excited for it, and to be fair he wasn't either. The assassins would have killed him off had he not made a truce with Anon, and he could imagine that Neo left them for a reason. But this had to be done, and they both knew that. The organization in Vale was underground and in order to get to it you needed to go through an abandoned sewer system. This sewer system wasn't always abandoned. But no one thought to fix it up to be operational again after what happened in Mountain Glenn. It just made it all the easier for the organization to remain hidden. And any little prick or teenager could find a way in there and fuck around and do whatever they wanted. However, in order to actually get into the organization, one needed to know where to look.

After walking for what felt like hours through tunnels that stank of shit and piss older than himself, he rounded the corner with Neo at his back and after walking about two-thirds of the way down this particular tunnel, he stopped. Neo looked at him with a questioning glare but stopped herself when she saw Marcus hope over to the other side and place a hand against one of the bricks. The brick itself didn't move or make any indication that anything was happening, that would have been too easy for some idiot to get lucky and find the place. But Marcus knew what he was doing, and he kicked a second brick with his new boot that Daisy provided him. Only then did anything finally happen.

With his foot against the wall on the bottom and his fist on the other up top, an opening slid open from the stone brick near his face and Marcus peered into it. Neo couldn't see exactly what it was from her perspective, but after seeing a blue light scan Marcus' eye back and forth, she was safe to assume that it was some kind of retinal scanner.

"Marcus Black," The wall seemed to speak to him as soon as the scanner turned off. "What is your reasoning for returning here?" The voice asked him. "You should also know that bringing someone from a third party here is against the rules…"

"She can be trusted, Mourn," Marcus said, speaking back to the soft voice coming from the wall. "I'm sure you've heard the news as well. I'm in a bit of heat and I need somewhere to stay so that I could wait it out. Tell Anon if you have too, I'm sure he wouldn't want to waste my talent by letting me rot out here in the sewers."

"One moment please," Mourn replied, the sound of a microphone clicking off was heard.

Marcus looked to Neo over his shoulder and shrugged. Neo crossed her arms and silently huffed. Neither of them expected to be let in, and so they now had to get ready to force themselves in. Marcus' hand slowly reached around to grab his gun, and in turn, she reached to the hidden sword hidden inside her parasol. Both stopped when all the bricks on the wall in the shape of a long vertical rectangle seemingly pushed inward, then slowly slid open.

"Anon has authorized your visitation," The man that Marcus spoke to through the wall came into view. He was apparently called Mourn, but that was an alias. His face wasn't visible because of a tight black mask that covered everything but his eyes, and the rest of his clothing was just about normal. It was scary in a way, that an assassin could look just like a normal person. Except for the mask, of course. If it weren't for that Mourn would have been any average Joe on the side of the street. "A Maid will come by and escort you to your rooms, are you in need of any relief?"

"No," Neo guessed what that 'relief' entailed when it came to regarding a maid.

"Very well," Mourn accepted easily. "You are welcome to enter then. Welcome back to the organization, Marcus Black, and Neopolitan."

"Thanks," Marcus said as he gestured for Neo to follow him into the hidden compound. She did so with some caution, watching Mourn from the corner of her eye as she stepped past him. Almost immediately, the piss and shit she smelled earlier became much easier to breathe in. Then became nonexistent as Mourn shut the door back behind them with a push of a button. The air in there was much cleaner, and by the soft humming sound she could hear from the ceiling, she could tell that it was ventilated as well. It's been a long time since she was part of the organization, but the Vale branch was much more advanced than the Mistralian branch that she resided in for many years before she quiet and Roman found her.

"Stay close," Marcus whispered to her as he pulled her closer with his hand on her shoulder. She nodded and disregarded just how close they were, practically rubbing up against each other. "A maid is on the way to pick us up, remember the plan. Let me handle it."

Neo rolled her eyes and nodded her head.

They stood there waiting for several minutes, Marcus knew the rules and remembered them. They weren't allowed to go any deeper within the compound without an escort, or a Maid, as the organization has come to name them. The Maids were all young women, who were bred and groomed to specifically serve their purpose as caretakers of the compound and to serve any who required their services. Some of them were born here, fathered by other assassins, most were homeless women or a very desperate girl who was fooled into being lead here by either another maid or an assassin who drew the short straw in having to take them and break their will. They had no will of their own, they just listened to whatever they were told and did anything that they were told. Which included fucking whoever needed fucking, whether they were a woman or a man. Slaves.

Marcus himself never required that kind of service from them, but he was guilty of using them from time to time just as any other assassin would for other miscellaneous tasks that he was too lazy to do himself.. He was curious. The worst thing about it was that there was no saving them. They were groomed to the point that they'd rather commit suicide rather than get treated and saved from this place. It was terrible, really. Even the most terrible man like him could see that. But it wasn't like he could do anything about it now, they were already dead.

He kept his face blank as one of the maids finally came by to take them. This one's name was May, a young, dark-skinned girl who was a huntress in training according to the name tag she had over her left breast. She wore a tight black one-piece outfit that covered her from her neck down to her feet where it entered into shoes. She wore nothing else underneath, Neo winced as she looked at her. She even looked broken even through the makeup that was forced on her. Marcus recognized her, unfortunately, as one of the girls who were supposed to enter the Vytal Festival from watching TV with Emerald one time. He didn't know her backstory, but she must have gotten mixed up with the wrong people and now here she was, a husk of her former self. Broken.

"Marcus Black and Neopolitan?" She greeted them with a smile, pushing back her dark brown hair and acting like she wasn't tortured and groomed into becoming what she was now.

"Yes," Marcus and Neo nodded their heads in reply.

"Fantastic. Follow me please, if you would. I will take you to your rooms-"

"We share a room," Marcus demanded sternly. "We will not be separated. No exceptions."

"I- Y-yes sir." May bowed her head submissively. "As you wish. Follow me please."

"Lead the way," Marcus said as he flicked his chin to get her going. May nodded her head and gestured for them to follow her, which they did. It was mostly a straight walk, but it felt like a very slow one. Marcus and Neo looked around with their eyes as they followed the broken Maid. Passing room to room full of other assassins, some of whom recognized Marcus as a master rank and were shocked to see him, some Marcus himself recognized as old friends or people that he saw when he went to speak to Anon after the ambush that nearly got him caught. Some completely ignored him, and others were busy with Maids like May. Using them however they wanted.

Marcus started to get nervous when he noticed one of them tailing him and Neo. It wasn't hard to spot, especially when it was just one hallway full of four people, and him being the fourth person. It was expected, he knew. Maybe it was just some kind of sick fan who enjoyed his past work, maybe he was jealous of him. Whatever it was, he stopped following them as they rounded the corner, and Marcus forced himself to look forward and ignore the shocked looks that he got.

The underground compound itself looked like any five-star hotel as they went deeper into the facility. The walls didn't look like they were made of stone and it honestly looked like a comfortable place to live on the surface. If he ignored everything like what happened to the Maids to make them the way they were now, and the fact that everyone here was a murderer who would stab him in the back at a moments notice, he could live here the rest of his life.

There were arsenals as well, which was obvious considering that some people needed weapons from somewhere when their name got too hot on the outside world. Then there were computer rooms and phone rooms like in the old times. People were assigned roles and they couldn't say otherwise. People were set up to watch cameras in a given sector, watch and observe assassins, and send out and receive contracts and also distribute rewards for those who did a great job. There were also training rooms as well where assassins in training could learn their craft. Marcus remembered all the blood, sweat, and tears he spent in that room and did his best to ignore it as he walked past.

"Here you are," May said as she came to a stop and twisted on her heel in a one-eighty. She presented the room with one hand, smiling the entire time. "This room is big enough for the two of you. You can stay here until further notice. Now, is there anything else that you need Sir~? Mam~?"

Marcus let go of Neo as they stepped into the room. It was big, more than big enough for the two of them. Though Neo scoffed at the sight of a single bed, it was obvious that they were assumed to be lovers of some kind. Though that was far from the truth. Marcus looked around the room and nodded his head, turning back to the Maid who was waiting patiently at the entrance of the door with her hands intertwined in front of her and pushing her chest up to make her breast look bigger with her arms. She couldn't be older than eighteen years old. Barely old enough to be legal.

"Go tell Anon that I want to see him," Marcus demanded. "He should know what for. We have some things that we need to settle between ourselves."

"Of course, sir." May bowed her head once again. "Is… there anything else?"

"Don't lose hope."

"E-Excuse me?"

"You're a new one, right? You look new." Marcus said. "Don't lose hope."

He stepped up to her and placed a hand on the Maids shoulder, squeezing it gently. "You're not going to be here forever." He whispered for her.

"I…" May kept smiling up at him, but the tears were overflowing and trickling down her face already. "Yes, sir." She replied brokenly. "Is there anything else?"

"Clean yourself up and go tell Anon that I want to speak with him," Marcus said, taking his hand away and stepping back further into the room.

"Yes, s-sir." May did as he asked and used the sink in the bathroom directly to her side and washed her face with water. When she came out, she looked as good as new, though the tear stains were still a little visible, it was normal for a Maid to have tear stains. She made to leave, but before she could shut the door behind her, she stopped and peered back in. Her dark blue eyes locked onto Marcus' from behind her dark brown locks of hair. "Thank you." She mouthed to him silently. Marcus simply nodded back and she scurried away. Moving the door shut before she did.

Neo mocked him as soon as the Maid left my placing her hands above her heart, sticking her tongue at him before she slapped him on the side of the head.

"Hey, stop that," Marcus complained. "No matter what I may seem to you, I'm not heartless."

Neo huffed and crossed her arms.

"Yes, I know." Marcus sighed and gave her to okay with a nod of his head. "Go deal with that. I'll be making that call to Cinder now."

Neo got serious again and nodded back at him. There was no grin on her face as she faded away with her semblance again, disappearing and leaving the room invisible. When Marcus knew for sure that she was gone and dealing with a certain issue, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his scroll, then reached into the pack on his side and pulled out a signal booster that doubled as a signal blocker so that no one could pick up on his call and know who he was talking to or what he was saying.

Daisy really came through with the upgrades on his outfit. Instead of going sleeveless, Marcus now wore a red shirt with black sleeves that reached to his shoulders. The black parts were much tougher than the red and could deflect bullets even without aura. The red parts could deflect a knife but had to sacrifice toughness for mobility. His gloves were fingerless and exposed his palms, protecting the back of his hands but allowing him to activate his semblance if he needed too. The pants were pretty much the same, except all black this time, and were loose enough that he didn't need to worry about flexibility. His boots were brand new and had a little trick that involved using his legs that he would use later down the line. It also came fitted with many secret pockets so that he could hide ammo or knives, and in this case, he used one of the external and more obvious packs to hide these pieces of technology he was able to make thanks to Neo sneaking out and grabbing some things for him the other night.

Marcus put everything together and triple checked that the door was closed behind him. It was unlocked and couldn't be locked, so he had to choose and pick his time carefully. Now was that time.

He dialed the familiar number and called. Cinder picked up in less than five seconds.

"Marcus," She sounded relieved to get a call from him suddenly. "Dear, I was actually worried about you."

"Thanks for the concern," Marcus replied quietly.

"Would you mind explaining where you have been all this time? I am afraid that I have grown suspicious of some things over the time you have spent hiding."

"I assure you, I wasn't hiding from you," Marcus explained. "After the train crash I was injured, Roman died, and Neo managed to get me out of there. We hid in one of the safehouses and she helped me recover. Turns out that Roman had some blackmail over her and she was a really great actor. He had enough dirt on her to send her straight to the death penalty. She's working with me now, you see. And by extension, us. I thought you'd like to hear that."

"I certainly do," Cinder smiled at him through the scroll. "You continue to impress me, Marcus Black. When can I expect your return?"

Hook, line, and sinker. He got her. He was counting on her eagerness to keep him on her side.

"That's the hard part…" Marcus said as he looked around.

Neo returned out of sight of the scroll and wiped the blood off of her sword. Giving him a thumbs up. Good, the guy that was tailing them earlier and keeping an eye and ear on them was taken care of.

"The organization found us," Marcus told Cinder quietly. "I had to play nice and let them take me, but I have a nice suspicion that they were the ones who tried to get me killed in that train crash by telling the headmasters about it. Since I survived, one of two things might happen. They want me back, or they want me dead. I had Neo overhear them considering sending me out to assassinate you."

"... Is that so?" Cinder looked angry, pissed off. "I should have regarded them with more seriousness. I thought that they would leave us alone as long as we didn't attack them directly, but with this, they seemed to have declared war. Are you absolutely sure of this?"

"Considering I'm still alive and they haven't tied me up, yes," Marcus told her. "I won't be able to keep up this call for long, they're going to notice soon. But I need your help. I won't be able to get out of this one myself. If you still want me, I'll be in your debt." That got her attention. "I… don't know what to do here. Honestly. You're my only hope right now." Make it look like you're desperate, it makes you seem easy to control once your loyalty was 'earned'.

"Worry not, darling." Cinder smiled at him seductively. Her eyes flamed with her maiden powers. "I will be there soon, I will call all the favors that you have collected for me in the past month. Tenne, Emerald and I are on our way."

Marcus put on a show of sighing out of relief. "Thank you," He said. "Track this scroll, I have a signal blocker to prevent the organization from tracking it and only the organization. I'll leave it here for now, but I won't be able to keep this call active."

"Not a problem, we'll be there soon."

Marcus clicked the call off and smiled, that was easier than he thought it would be. He utterly played Cinder there and he didn't have a doubt that she was on her way to get him. She felt like she needed him, or wanted him for some of her own carnal desires. Marcus used that against her, ever since he saved her life against Amber she admired him. He knew that. She might feel like she owed him. Playing the desperate man in need of help was trained into his mind and he made it convincing.

Marcus looked to Neo and nodded his head. "And that's one army on the way," He said with a smirk. It quickly faded as he looked back to the scroll. He knew that the Maid was probably on her way back already. So he only had a few precious minutes to use this available time that he had. "Time to call the other one…"

Being betrayed over and over again made it easy to expect it, and to find out how it works. I'm surprised Ozpin doesn't know how to use it wisely, or maybe after all those years he actually managed to keep his morality. I, on the other hand, am not such a good person. Once my mind was made, that was it. I called one army, and then I called the other. It pays to have a good memory after all… and Qrow never did change his number.

With a sigh, Marcus dialed a number he just couldn't forget.

Hello sir, thank you for calling Digornos- Nah Lol. Imagine that though? Maybe in an alternate timeline, Marcus calls a pizza restaurant by accident. It would make for a pretty funny scene if this wasn't a serious story. I put the little usual quote down here at the bottom because obviously if I had put it up top it would have spoiled this important moment in the story. It was pretty well placed, I suppose.

T w i tter . com (slash) genatools

P a treon . com (slash) Genatools