I'm back already! Let's keep it going!
Beta: CrowSkull
Destiny Fated Black
Chapter 26
Ever wondered how to start a small scale war with just a scroll call? Well, just one or two little white lies to the right powerful people, and you've got yourself a war...
Qrow looked down at his scroll with shock wide on his eyes, stopping in the middle of the hallway right beside Taiyang just before they could enter Ozpin's office to let them know of Tai's recent decision and Qrow's speedy recovery thanks to Ironwoods medics. Qrow was just looking forward to seeing Winter back on her feet again and was ready to release some of his bad jokes just to annoy her in the most compassionate way possible, but that was all ruined and he was mixed with an entire melting pot of emotions. Anger, sorrow, hate, confusion, and many other unexplainable feelings that sent chills and shivers up and down his spine.
"Is that…?" Tai asked the unneeded question. "Who I think it is?"
"Who else could it be?" Qrow said with a low sigh as he looked at the caller ID that read This is Marcus, pick up. He guessed that Marcus had some software technological skill, and remembered his number. Qrow never changed it, it's been the same number since he attended and graduated from Beacon.
"That bastard," Tai snatched the scroll out of Qrow's hand and accepted the call.
"About time-"
"Who the fuck do you think you are!?" Tai shouted into the receiver. Marcus, who was now visible on the other side of the scroll and confirming for them that yes, he was in fact brave enough to actually call them on their mobile scroll.
"Tai, it's been a while." Marcus continued, recovering quickly from his surprise. "How long has it been? Man wasn't the last time I saw you when-"
"Don't you dare," Tai snarled at him through the scroll, staring daggers through the device and wanting to somehow send his fist through the scroll so that he could beat the man on the other side to death. "First you disappear for ten years, then you take Summer away from us, then you come back another ten years later and hurt my daughters? What makes you think that I am willing to listen to any more of your untrustworthy and toxic words that will come leaking out of that wretched mouth of yours?"
"If you let me talk I'll tell you why you need to hear what I am about to say."
"Who do you think-"
"You have one minute," Qrow growled out, cutting Tai off with his own burst of anger. "One minute to explain yourself, and that's it. Now go on, talk."
"Thank you, Qrow." Marcus sniggered as he looked at the old huntsman, just as old as himself. "Sorry about the arm, I got a little trigger happy with those explosions, didn't I?"
"Now you have thirty seconds, stop wasting my time."
"Geez, okay. Fine. Listen and listen closely, right now where I am calling you from is the center of the organization in Vale, the one that trained and turned me into the man you see now." Tai's growl told him to continue. "There are men and women here who are just as ruthless as I am, dozens of them. Assassins trained to kill and fight off huntsman when the time comes. Even if I was killed off, you'd never be able to get rid of them all."
His thirty seconds were up, but no one was keeping count. Marcus continued without skipping a beat.
"And the reason I am calling you now, as unbelievable as it may sound, I want all of them dead."
"Why?" Qrow asked. "After everything, why are you trying to turn over a good leaf now?"
"Hah, Qrow. You misunderstand. This is not me trying to become your best friend again, this is me trying to get revenge on the people that stole my life away from me and turned me into a monster." Marcus said it with a chillingly amused voice but his expression was dangerous, anger constricted down on his features. Taiyang and Qrow for the life of them couldn't see any dishonesty with the way he was acting. "I tried to leave before, and they killed my wife to send a message." Tai widened his eyes with shock and understanding. Suddenly, his anger toward Marcus faded just a tiny amount. Not nearly enough for him to forgive the man who'd taken away his own wife and stole Ruby's semblance and gave Yang a severe concussion, but enough for his kind soul to see it from Marcus' expression, he really had nowhere else to go. And it wasn't of his own volition.
"They killed my wife, Olivia, and then they turned my son against me. As I was training him they ordered me to give him the same legs I had, and I did. All it did was make Mercury hate me even more."
"If you're trying to make us feel bad for you, it's not going to work." Qrow cut him off.
"You should know me better than to try and guilt trip someone," Marcus said with a smirk. "I'm only telling you this because you need a reason, a good reason, why I want to finally get rid of these assholes once and for all. At least away from Vale."
"You mean they're in the other kingdoms as well?" Qrow asked, gritting his teeth with anger.
"Aside from here, there are two other main bases. One in Mistral, and one in Atlas. Anyway, back to my little story. I'll keep it short since I don't have much time before I'm summoned to see the big boss here, but basically I was forced to kill my own son after he tried to smash my head in with a log."
Qrow and Taiyang had no words. They tried to tell if he was lying again, but that brought even worse feelings to their stomachs. Taiyang felt anger again, naturally thinking about his own daughters and not even being able to conceive the idea of ever being forced to hurt them, much less kill them. And the way Marcus said it… his voice was empty, there was no enjoyment in his voice and that honestly put him off. He's never seen Marcus since Glenn and he knew that something was wrong with him, but excluding the time he brought Summer back to him, he never saw just how far he's fallen. Such a basic human function such as emotion was non-existent within the man he once called his friend. Either that or he was just a psychopath.
"Yeah, I can see you're as excited to hear that as I am repeating it," Marcus added.
"I…"
"No, don't say anything. It's done. Now, are you going to get over here or do I have to try and persuade you a little more?"
"What do you mean by 'persuade?'" Tai asked, catching on to that word quickly. "And even with your little sob story, you can't expect us to trust you here. All these years of trying to find you, finding out about everything you've done and been doing, I'm sure I can not only speak for myself but speak for Qrow, Ozpin, and everyone you left behind that we can't trust you, or your word."
Marcus nodded his head with understanding, though he didn't look discouraged. "Oh, I get that, really, I do."
Neo came into vision on the scroll, holding a scroll of her own that had pictures of Ruby, Weiss, and Yang, all aligned in a row with a command button underneath him that simply read Commence. Tai and Qrow felt their hearts drop, and anger return.
"So here is what's going to happen," Without hesitating, Marcus pushed the button.
"What are you doing!?" Qrow screamed at him.
"I've just put contracts on those girls heads," Marcus announced, smirking smugly and victoriously at them as he waved Neo's scroll back and forth. "Every assassin in Vale now knows who they are, where they are, and what state they are in. The reward for killing all three is an instant promotion to the rank of Master. The contract lasts indefinitely, and I am the benefactor."
"You bastard, I'll kill you!" Taiyang screamed.
"I'd like to see you try," Marcus challenged. "I gave you a choice before but now you have none. Get Ozpin, get Ironwood and his shitty little Ace Ops, and track this scroll. We are near an underground abandoned sewer system. I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out once you get here. Don't bother trying to sneak your way in, come in hot and come in hard."
"You planned this…"
"What can I say?" Marcus leaned back and prepared to end the call. "I've always been good at riling people up." He said in a mocking tone. "Now hurry, it's only a matter of time before someone goes out to take care of those girls. Tick tock, Qrow, Taiyang. Tick. Tock."
"MARCUS!" Taiyang screamed into the scroll as Marcus ended the call. "God fucking damn it. Qrow, go to the girls and make sure nothing happens to them. I'll fill in Ozpin and James about this and set up a strike force with the Ace Ops. Go!" Without a second hesitation, Qrow realized that he was still too weak for active duty and sprinted in the opposite direction, ignoring the spear of pain that ran up and down his leg as he did so. Taiyang ran into Ozpin's office, a stroke of luck also introduced him to the Ace Ops along with James Ironwood, and he told them everything that they needed to know.
"And there we go," Marcus said as he threw the scroll into a closet, then through a pair of pants on it just in case. It was beeping lightly, but not loud enough that it was obvious. "I'd say we have about half an hour before shit starts hitting the fan, are you ready to go?"
Neo smirked at him and nodded her head. Her bloody blade was already wiped of all blood. The body that she snuck in there was shoved into the bathtub and the door was locked tight. Everything was according to plan so far. Cinder was coming with an army of criminals and terrorists, and Ozpin and Ironwood were coming with an army of huntsmen and specialists. Perfect. It couldn't have gone better.
Neo certainly looked pleased, everyone she hated was now meeting up in one spot to kill each other.
"E-excuse me, sir?" May the Maid returned to them at the perfect time. "Anon will see you now. He's asked me to return and collect you and Neopolitan."
"Perfect," Marcus smiled at the girl and stepped out of the room, Neo with him with his arm around her waist. "Lead the way, girl."
"Yes, sir." May bowed her head and walked off, expecting them to follow. Marcus and Neo made their way through the compound once more, this time taking in the sight and looking for possible vantage points. The place was built specifically so that in the event that they were found out and invaded there was only one place the enemy could move through. A vast amount of hallways and one-entrance rooms to funnel them all into one chokepoint. They also noted the many secret escape routes that were littered around the base just in case they needed to escape in a pinch. Silently, they agreed to use one of them once they were done here.
Cinder and Ozpin may be coming, but that didn't mean that they would succeed. After this, the organization would know of the betrayal and all eyes would instantly be on him. In order to slow down that process significantly, they needed to cut one of the heads of the multi-headed snake to arouse confusion and shock. That was where Anon came in.
May did her job well and led them all the way to Anon, just as she was told to. The hall that leads to his office was ornate, but not overly so. He wasn't a dictator, just a chosen leader from a higher power. However, that didn't mean that he wasn't powerful. He commanded and directed the Vale branch of the organizations. One of the big three. There is a branch in Vacuo like there is in Mistral and Atlas, but the Vacuo branch was nowhere near as important as the others. The other three all had a leader of some kind. Marcus has had the pleasure to meet all three at least one time, and then there was Anon.
Anon, which was an abbreviation of the term anonymous, was given to him because of the obvious lack of any real name. The other leaders were also Anon, though Marcus just dubbed them Anon 2 and Anon 3 because Anon 1 was the one he actually spent a considerable amount of time with. After he killed his father, Anon took him in and completed his training for him to become an assassin. Showed him on to not waste movements, how to fight huntsmen, and most importantly how to kill without expending a lot of energy. In some weird way, Marcus did look up to him because of what he represented and because of his raw commitment to the organization. But he knew better than to get attached to a man who would easily sign off on an open contract for his head just because he wanted out.
Seeing him again after May opened the door for him and Neo sent chills down his spine. The last time he saw Anon was that night he got ambushed by the android and the two huntsmen. He was afraid that he was just going to kill him right there for daring to step into their territory after being ousted as an excommunicated and open contracted master assassin. Luckily, Anon respected the organization's code so much that he accepted his rite. It gave him a chance to get them off his back and finally get rid of the organizations grasp on his life. Heh, ironic given what his intentions were now.
"Marcus," Anon greeted him with a satisfied and polite smile. "It is interesting seeing you again, I've heard of your most recent achievement and I must say, you impressed."
"Thanks," Marcus said with a forced smile as he sat down in the seat provided for him, Anon was sat across from him and his mute companion took the empty seat beside him. "I aim to keep my word, after all, Roman is dead and those two huntsmen are in critical condition. With any luck, about half of that list you gave me will be taken care of pretty soon. Hell, might be over and done with already."
"I'm aware," Anon put his dark-skinned hands on the desk and intertwined them together. "You riled up the city after your little stunt. Though, I understand that the Daisy twins are to thank for your survival."
Marcus tensed slightly, he knew that they would figure it out anyway but not this quickly. He played off his tensity by scratching one of his more obvious and visible wounds on the left side of his collarbone. "Yeah, it took some convincing but I got them to comply."
"I am glad that they did, it would have been a pitiful end to your story if you died from your injuries."
"Hn," Marcus snorted. "Guess so."
"And you, Neopolitan," Anon turned his head to look at her, smiling smugly as Neo frowned at him. "Are you to thank as well for Marcus being alive and well? My, I suppose letting you go wasn't a waste after all. A shame that you spent your freedom under the watch of blackmail. If you should desire it, I would welcome you back into the organization."
Neo shook her head in the most polite way she could utter. She didn't necessarily hate Anon, but she hated the people that he was in charge of. They did try to make her a Maid at first, after all. All that trauma stole her ability to speak. Made her terrified to speak and hear the sound of her own voice. Anon was the one to give the okay for her torture, but also the one to accept her as an assassin after she broke free and tortured the ones that tormented her in her own special way. She killed two of them but left the last alive after making him a eunuch and making him eat his own parts as punishment.
"A shame," Anon said as he lazily looked back to Marcus. "Your semblance is very prodigal."
"She works with me now," Marcus interjected. "Once my last contract with you is finished, she'll be coming with me as well."
"Of course," Anon didn't look bothered, but Marcus and Neo knew better. He wasn't in the position he was in now by not being a good liar. "Not even I would have the authority to keep you here after you complete the contract. And Neopolitan here has already completed hers. There is nothing I would be able to do to you at that point."
"Is the contract on my head off?" Marcus asked right away.
"Temporarily. I have it on hold, just in case you get a little rebellious again." Anon admitted openly. The fact that he was willing to let such delicate information out so easily spoke volumes of his confidence in himself. Despite being sat across Marcus Black and Neo, both former and current master assassins respectively, he still was confident in himself.
Honestly, Marcus didn't even blame him.
"You know the rules, Marcus. Free yourself, and the contract will be rescinded. That was the deal and your rite."
"Yeah… about that." Marcus said as he leaned forward further onto the desk, staring into Anons black eyes as he held his hands together. "You say that I'll be free after the contract is lifted, and from my very good memory I very specifically remember you stating that I had months to go about it however I need to."
"Your memory would be correct," Anon said with a nod.
"So, I'm asking you because of your seemingly infinite knowledge. How did the headmasters of Beacon and General of the Atlas military both not only know about the train but knew where and what time to strike?"
Neo could tell where he was getting at here, and she glared death into Anon's soul as he met Marcus' stare with a confident grin.
"As powerful as I may seem," Anon continued. "I am not omniscient. However, I believe I've heard whispers of a certain orange-eyed, black-haired woman that we all know you've been involved with before may have had something to do with that."
Marcus chuckled. "Hm, maybe you're right." He said, already finding out the truth for himself. He sat back in his seat and Neo followed his lead, crossing her arms and waiting for something to happen. Marcus had his eyes closed, and he made sure that his hands were still visible. He just waited. Anon raised an eyebrow at him, waiting for him to continue this sudden train of thought.
"Tell me, Anon, how long have you and I known each other?" Marcus began, opening his eyes and looking to the older man with a fond smile. "Fifteen years? Twenty? More? It's been so long I think I'm getting senile."
"Twenty four years." Anon filled in for him.
"Ah, right," Marcus made it look like he just remembered something. "Man, it's been a long time. Hell, my entire family has been part of this organization for about a century. My entire bloodline practically evolved to become the perfect killers. The perfect assassins. Damn near-emotionless, easy to train, and natural predators. I would go as far as to say that I wouldn't be surprised if we underwent microevolutions that made us different from normal human beings, but perhaps that is a little too far fetched. It all started with Nicholas Schnee having a chick on the side, and that chick getting a little angry after he shamed her publicly. I bet he would have never fucked her if she knew she was an assassin that was specifically sent to seduce him and conceive his child. If only she didn't catch those stupid feelings… he might have lived a little longer."
"What's your point, Marcus?" Anon asked. "This is all common knowledge among the master assassins and higher. I was the one who told your father to tell you all of this."
"That me and my entire family line was literally bred to manifest powerful semblances and become the perfect killing machines?" Marcus snickered. "Heh, yeah, what a smart choice by you."
"You were the one who trained me after I killed my father. You were the one who told me to do it in the first place. Encouraged me to continue the cycle of patricide that plagued my family. You were the one who convinced my son to try and kill me, and also the one who ordered the hit on my wife." He shook as he gripped his own arms, stopping himself from lashing out. Anon remained silent, though he continued to glare at him with a constant warning. Marcus didn't care. "After everything you've put us through… after training me and then giving me decades of experience to enhance those skills on my own. How could you ever expect me to not learn and adapt. Do you really think that I was stupid enough to really believe that you didn't try and get me killed in that train?"
Anon eyes widened as a massive explosion shook the entire facility. May, who has been standing behind them for the past thirty minutes or so, fell to the ground with a cry. Immediately after, sounds of gunfire and cursing and absolute chaos sung through the base. Anon's expression turned from calm to the most heated anger Marcus has ever seen in under a second.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?" He screamed as he shot up to his feet, kicking the desk to the side and turning on his aura.
"I've done what every man would do when they have nothing to lose," Marcus shouted back as he kicked the chair he was once sitting to the side. Beside him, Neo disappeared with her semblance. "When a man is pushed to the point of losing EVERYTHING HE LOVES. When a man is pushed to the point of BEING FORCED TO KILL WHAT HE LOVES. When a man is MANIPULATED and BETRAYED over, and over again! That man starts to get a little PISSED OFF." Marcus drew his gun with his left hand and gripped the handle of a long serrated blade in his right. His white aura flared angrily and flowed up into his eyes. Momentarily making his black eyes white.
"Also… I have a promise to keep… Two promises, actually." Marcus grinned manically and got prepared to fight. With no weapon, Anon got into stance and prepared himself. "From one monster to another, I am going to kill you. Anon. I am going to destroy the organization from this part of the world."
"Do that, and you'll never be a free man." Anon pointed out. "You'll never be safe as long as you live and breathe."
"Heh… the best part about that is that I already know." Marcus replied, and then took aim. "And I really don't give a shit anymore."
He fired his gun, right before the bullet could get close, Anon ducked low and charged forward. A knife of his own shining in the light and displacing air as it made way to slash Marcus' neck open.
Cinder blasted through flesh and bone with her maiden powers, not taking any chances with them after meeting Marcus and destroying their aura's and body before they even realized what they were dealing with. If any did get close to her, Emerald was there and desperate to protect her. As well as their new snake faunus ally Tenne, who managed to rally the rest of her gang to follow up on their promise to follow and give loyalty to her. She'd have to reward her for that later, she really came through for her here. The other gang leaders, besides Junior, of course, she'd killed him and most of his gang after he squeaked about Marcus' location and nearly got him captured or killed. They were mostly useless anyhow, they wouldn't have stood a chance against these people. That much became more and more clear as the assassins that she watched get overwhelmed sheerly because of numbers of gang members practically running at them and tackling and pinning them down in order for their peers to take care of them and do the dirty work of killing them before they could break free.
The most terrifying part about that was that there were more bodies of White Fang and the men that Marcus managed to recruit for her than assassins. Many, many more. She let them go first to soften them up for the second wave which would include herself and stronger fighters. Even then, the assassins were proving to be more than worthy opponents.
"Fuck," Tenne tired summed up what it was like fighting one of them. She hissed venomously as she kicked one of the assassin's dead bodies. "These ones are very infuriatingly robust."
"Indeed," Cinder blasted away another with her fire and then finished them off by burning the rest of their aura and creating a hole in their chest with a fireball. "Emerald, you go on ahead and find Marcus. We can't waste time all in one spot. I don't like how difficult it is fighting through this compound."
"Yes mam," Without a moment's hesitation, Emerald dashed ahead alongside a few volunteers from Tenne's gang. They were not able to take on the assassins by themselves, but they were able to overwhelm them with what teamwork that they had. Still, Cinder didn't like their chances of getting through what must lie ahead and all keeping their lives.
"This is crazy," Tenne hissed as she spun her spear with one hand, ridding it of blood. "What kind of training did they go through?"
"The same kind Marcus Black did," Cinder reminded her. "Now come on, I am not sure how long Adam will be willing to accept the losses to save the one who took away his precious girl. We are on a time limit, let us continue wreaking havoc on this paltry organization that has gotten on my first and final nerve. I don't want anything for them to be able to come back to." As she said this her eyes burned brighter with flames, her half-born maiden powers coming to life as she heated up. This angered her. This entire time an organization like this was operating right under their noses. They were too dangerous to be left alone, not when at any moment they can place a contract on her head. As well as her other colleagues working under Salem.
She'd seen what that does to a person in Marcus, the constant paranoia, inability to trust people, and being scared to go to sleep every night and even being careful in broad daylight.
"Lady Tenne! Lady Cinder!" A desperate and bloodied young member of Tenne's gang exclaimed as he sprinted toward them, stopping a safe distance away but with a horrified expression on his face.
"What is it, Tim?" Tenne asked him.
"Huntsmen!" The boy shouted. "Huntsmen are here! They just destroyed my entire squad. T-they looked Atlesian."
"Impossible," Cinder said. "We ourselves were hardly able to find this place even with Marcus' hint, how could huntsmen find this place at the exact same time as us when they don't have such information? You must be mistaken. Do not waste my time."
"I'm telling the truth!" Tim pushed.
"I'll take your word as a warning. Now go rest," Tenne looked to Cinder and they shared a nod. "We'll go on ourselves and deal with these fools. Rendezvous with Rox's men and cover our flank."
"Y-yes, mam… be careful!"
Cinder narrowed her eyes as the boy ran past her and Tenne, and stared down yet another hallway that was littered with signs of battle. Marcus was certainly making it difficult for them to find him, at the start of the raid he should have been able to fight his way out himself and meet up with them. They should have met up already, and together they would destroy the entire compound. Which meant only two possibilities.
Marcus had somehow been killed, or they've been played for fools.
Either way, she was going to be having words with the man.
She and Tenne pushed forward with their best men and women. Eager to see this through to the end now that it's started.
Ozpin impaled an assassin on his cane and pushed him away with a precision pressure point attack. The man that had foolishly charged him head-on found himself urinating himself and spasming and becoming paralyzed all at the same time as he writhed on the floor in pain. Ozpin whipped his cane against his skull and knocked him unconscious, finishing the job and continuing forward. The Ace Ops and Taiyang all around him along with James Ironwood directly at his left.
Clover landed in front of him, letting out a deep breath as he rubbed his left arm. "He wasn't kidding, these guys are definitely trained just like him." He commented.
"How would you know?" Harriet snarkily remarked. "You've never fought Marcus Black before."
"Yeah, and you haven't either." Marrow pointed out. "So you have nothing to be sassy about bleach-hair."
"What was that tail-wagger!?"
"Eep!"
"Enough," Ironwood called to them. "I understand your dynamic and how it is important to your taking missions, but we can't afford to get sidetracked here."
"Yes sir," All of the Ace Ops replied at once.
Taiyang Xiao Long caught up to them and let out a deep breath. His blonde hair was soaked with sweat and his eyes were red from the attack to his eyes by an earlier female assassin. Out of all of them, he was the most exhausted. No one bothered to remind him of that however, he was still a huntsman, and it wasn't like he could rest even if he wanted to. In any corner, there could be an assassin waiting in hiding. Ozpin feared that if he brought anyone other than the Ace Ops, then they would have been overwhelmed already. Thankfully, reinforcements were already among them. Dozens of other huntsmen have worked their way into the compound, and he could hear the constant radio chatter from the scrolls of the Ace Ops.
"We are not far from where Marcus scroll is pinging," Clover reported as he looked down at his own scroll. "Though I think it's pretty safe to assume that it probably isn't where he is actually hiding."
"Your assumption would be safe to make," Ozpin said. Out of all of them, he was the least tired. Even Ironwood and the Ace Ops were breathing heavily while he was simply bored. The assassins were immensely skilled, yes. But they simply couldn't keep up with his millennia worth of combat experience. "We keep moving forward until we find him or signs of him. While doing so, give the order to make sure this compound can never be reclaimed again. Not even by us."
"Are you sure?" Ironwood asked his fellow headmaster. "As much as I hate to admit it, their technology is advanced even by Atlesian standards. We can take this technology and make it our own."
After seeing what these people have down to poor young girls, some of them huntresses in training, and the means of breaking them mentally. Ozpin wanted none of it. He'd seen enough suicides for many lifetimes, but never so many at the same time. It shook them all down to their core.
"Destroy it all," Ozpin insisted.
"I understand," James said quietly. "Relay the order to all other huntsmen in the area, destroy this place by any means necessary." He told the Ace Ops.
"Yes sir," Clover saluted quickly before doing exactly what he was told.
Before they could all move on, an explosion of fire put them all on guard. As a unit, they turned to face the new threat that came in the form of a beautiful woman with flaming orange eyes. The woman looked as shocked to see them as they were to see her.
Ozpin immediately recognized the power she was using as magic and also recognized her as one of the students that recently transferred over from Haven. Not only that, but her power was the Fall Maidens. He could tell just by looking at it. Which could only mean one thing… This woman was the one who helped Marcus Black defeat Amber… and she was the one who stole half of her power away.
"What are you doing here!?" The woman took a step back, shocked to see them. The other people that were around them stepped back with them, including a faunus woman with snake-like features "You shouldn't be here, it's… no…" Her eyes burned harder with flames as she backed away. She knew who they were and knew that she didn't stand a chance against them all as she was now. What's worse, is that she finally understood what was happening around the same time as them. "Marcus… that bastard. That ungrateful traitorous bastard!"
The night became a three-way war as Ozpin charged the false maiden while she responded with her flames. The Ace Ops were ascended upon by assassins at the same time, and both sides suddenly found themselves attacked from both sides. In the midst of all the chaos, both sides also cursed a single man. The one man who caused all of this death and destruction. Marcus Black, a master assassin and all-around trouble maker.
And this was his biggest stunt yet.
Marcus cried out as a blade skidded off his white aura and a wound healed before it could even be opened. He jumped back and his knife created sparks as it ground against another blade equal in strength and sharpness. Anon was stronger than him, it was never more clear as he shoved him back into the wall hard. As his back hit the wall Marcus felt one of his old wounds bruise, causing him to be slower in his recovery as he made to defend himself.
Neo reappeared out of her semblance and slashed at Anon's back while also using her speed to get ahead of him so that she could deflect the strike that was meant for Marcus. Anon growled and recovered quickly before he could fall, taking a stance again as Marcus regained his footing and took his own stance beside Neo. Who pointed her sword at Anon and snarled silently. Another mistake Anon made, he caused the death of Roman with his actions and now he was going to pay for it.
No more words were worth being shared with the man as Marcus and Neo charged forward as a near-unstoppable duo. They've never really fought together before, but they were able to adapt to each others fighting styles very quickly and work together to expertly push Anon back with constant neverending flurries of attacks. Anon guarded well but mainly used his aura to protect himself. No matter how good someone was, they would never be able to defend themselves perfectly against the likes of Marcus and Neo at the same time.
If anyone could come out of this situation alive, however, it would be Anon.
Anon growled and dodged Marcus' attempt to grab his arm, and then threw his knee forward and struck Neo right in the solar plexus just below and in between her breasts. She coughed up saliva and was temporarily stunned. Forcing Marcus to defend her as Anon moved to finish her off. Anon taught Marcus everything he knew, and to his credit, Marcus was still able to put a great fight against him with his own many years of experience. But Anon was just on another level, his speed, strength, and combat strategic mind were nearly unmatched.
The two men fought like blurs, Neo watched with a mild amount of shock in her eyes. Despite being injured, Marcus still fought very well against the leader of the organizations' Vale branch. If he wasn't so injured, he might, might have been able to beat Anon all on his own. But as he was now, he was at a disadvantage. Neo couldn't let Marcus die, not after Roman asked her to work with him from now on. Marcus was a part of Roman's past that he would usually talk about fondly, she couldn't let that memory die.
Marcus let himself get pushed back but not in a way that it left Neo vulnerable as she was catching her breath. Sparks constantly flew across the room as his blade clashed against Anon's knife. He wasn't even able to aim his gun and fire and was more using it like a defensive tool rather than the gun it really was. He also didn't know what Anon's semblance was, but he knew that he had his unlocked. If he could just grab him for a second, he could steal his semblance and disrupt his aura. Which would make him too weak to continue fighting.
A lot easier thought than done, evidently. Anon played around his hands and grabs perfectly. He couldn't lay a finger on him. He used subtle footwork to avoid every single pounce of his hand, he countered with a kick every attempt, and sometimes he pushed him on the back knocking him away as if he was mocking him. Hell, his knife got closer to him than his hands ever did. With grit teeth, Marcus cried out and kicked his foot up. Anon flipped away in the small room and dodged the literally steel-toed foot from clashing into his chin, landing a safe distance away with a chair in front of him.
His eyes widened as Marcus smirked and kicked his foot back down, this time enhanced by a blast of steam or smoke that had the entire floor splintering out wood chippings and making him naturally wince as some of the debris hit him in the face. Stunning him for just a second.
One second too long for him. Neo recovered and made to capitalize on his stagger, thrusting forward sword first and piercing into his aura with her thin sword. Anon grunted but his aura deflected the attack, though it flickered for a moment before acting as a natural shield once more. He deflected Neo's next attack and the mute had to bend over backward at an unnatural angle in order to dodge what might have been a fatal blow. She went as far as to drop to her knees and dive to her side, flexibly stretching her legs out and kicking Anon twice on each side of his knee before flipping herself up on top of the desk.
Marcus took the chance and tackled him down, grabbing the back of Anon's long-sleeved thick shirt and forcing him further down into the floor. He tried to steal his semblance, but in order to do so, he needed direct skin to skin contact. Anon knew that after spending so long training the man. The assassin leader grabbed one of Marcus' wrists and twisted it, causing the man to cry out in pain as he felt his bone shift and fracture through his aura. His other hand reached out to grab at Anon's face. Being willing to let his hand be broken as long as he could take away Anon's aura, but his white aura flared as Anon caught that other wrist with his hand and squeezed down on a muscle that forced Marcus' hand to reflexively stretch out its fingers. From there, it was a contest of strength. Marcus struggled to push his hand down further so that he could try and touch Anon's skin, and Anon was struggling to hold back Marcus' hand while continuously grinding the bones in the other together.
The contest didn't last long as Anon thrust his head up to headbutt Marcus in the center of his nose and propelled him off while he was stunned. Just in time to block the tip of Neo's sword as she tried to stab it in his eye with his forearm. His aura flared and flickered, but it didn't fall. Neo's eyes widened as the aura that should have broken rejuvenated suddenly, giving Anon a boost in strength as he wrenched her sword out of her hand and threw her away with a well-placed kick.
"His semblance is constant aura regeneration," Marcus informed her as he stood back while gripping his left broken hand in pain. "It's how he was able to get so good and strong, he never had to worry about pushing his body too far because his aura was always up to constantly heal it."
"I'm surprised you figured that out," Anon said as he put his back to the wall so that he couldn't get attacked from two sides. "Which means you know that no matter what you do, you won't be able to win."
"Wrong," Marcus countered with a smug smirk, sweat dripped down his face. "You're getting tired, Anon. I can tell with the way you're sweating and taking deep breaths. You may have a nearly endless supply of aura, but that doesn't mean that your stamina would constantly rejuvenate itself as well." He flexed his good hand and smiled wider. "Neo and I don't need to beat you, we just need to outlast you. And if I grab you just once, the fight's over."
"That's assuming that I don't kill both of you first," Anon pointed out.
"Not assuming, knowing." Marcus snapped back. "If you were ten years younger, I wouldn't have even tried this. How old are you? Seventy? Little more or a little less? You won't be able to keep up for much longer-"
Anon whipped out a pistol from a hidden holster and Marcus cut himself off to dodge the incoming bullet, then deflect the other with his knife. Neo charged in with her semblance and when Anon smashed his heel on the top of her head, she shattered into a million transparent pieces of glass. She reappeared to his side and slashed him across his chest. Anon's back smashed against the wall when Marcus unloaded every bullet he had in his own Atlesian hand cannon into his chest. No matter how much aura someone had, no one would be able to come out of that completely unscathed. Anon's aura regenerated quickly and worked on healing his wounds, but it wasn't without its weaknesses. Aura couldn't help regain your stamina, only protect your body and heal your wounds, but when those wounds were substantial it had limits. If Anon fought anyone other than Marcus and Neo he would have won by now, or at least buy himself time to escape.
He was never one to give up, however, even as he grew more and more tired as the minutes ticked by and their battle continued on without even a seconds break. Neo and Marcus fought as hard as they could, and their auras began to dwindle more and more with each scratch, punch, kick and slash delivered to them by Anon. Neo got hit much less than Marcus did since he was the one directly assaulting Anon from the front and even with one broken hand he proved to be a worthy adversary. Only after fighting tooth and nail and Marcus' aura went out, did Anon's old age and energy finally fail him. He moved a little too slow, a little too lethargic, and Marcus dodged his killing blow and grabbed on to his wrist, peeling back his sleeve and pressing the palm of his hand against Anon's skin.
To Anon's credit, losing his semblance and part of his aura didn't affect him nearly as much as it did to every other person that Marcus has touched with his semblance before. Suddenly, Marcus' aura was the one to regenerate in a flash of white, his wounds healed and with his still broke hand he grabbed one of the last knives that he kept stashed away in one of the hidden holsters behind his right shoulder. Then, he threw his armed hand forward and stabbed the blade directly into Anon's heart. From behind, Neo jumped up and stabbed her long thin sword through his back as well, puncturing one of his lungs and causing a splatter of blood to explode from his mouth and onto Marcus' face.
Despite being defeated and dying from his wounds, as Marcus and Neo took their weapons out of his body and he fell to his knees, Anon looked up to Marcus. A bloody smile on his face as he looked at his former apprentice.
"I trained you well, Marcus Black." He said between desperate heaves for air. "You are exactly the man I wanted you to become."
"No," Marcus went down to one knee and stared Anon in the eyes. "I am better than that. Better than you. I am going to destroy the organization down to its very roots. Everything you spent your life building up will be destroyed. The only thing that you've done is to help me gain the skills to do that. Now die, you pathetic old man. Die while knowing that your entire life has only lead up to this end."
Anon couldn't say anything else, though it clearly looked like he wanted to. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell over to his side, dead.
Marcus stood back up and spat on his body. Neo stepped up and stabbed Anon in the side of the head to make sure that he was truly dead and he wasn't going to be coming back in the future by some miracle. The two of them shared a nod, their plan worked perfectly, and with Marcus' newfound power and aura reserves, he felt stronger than ever. Though his hand was still broken and his wounds still needed healing, he didn't need Neo to carry him this time.
He turned around and looked down at the cowering Maid that had brought them here in the first place. May stared up at them with a terrified look in her blue eyes, afraid for her life, emotions returning. Marcus simply nodded at her once, and he refused to pay her any more attention. According to the gunshots, sounds of fighting, screaming, and explosions. The Vale branch of the organization was going to finally die out. Any assassins that weren't in Vale at the time would retreat to another kingdom, or try and integrate themselves back into normal life. But none would dare try to go after them once they hear that Anon has been killed by him and Neo. They weren't suicidal, and no amount of money was worth losing their lives for a contract.
Marcus prepared himself for another fight as he heard footsteps run around a corner. Only slightly relaxing as he spotted a very unmistakable head of mint green hair stare at him with shocked red eyes.
"Marcus!" Emerald called out to him, oblivious of what he had just done. She ran up to him, lowering her weapons. "Why the hell weren't you looking for us? Cinder has been tearing this place apart trying to find you!"
"I had someone to take care of," Marcus looked down to Anon's body. "The leader of the assassins in Vale is dead."
"That's him?" Emerald seemed unbothered at the sight of Anon's dead body. "Hmph, some leader. Alright, I am sure Cinder will be happy to hear that news. Come on, I'll take you to her. All this commotion is bound to draw the attention of Beacon, we should get out of here while we can-"
"No," Marcus cut her off with a shake of his head. "I'm not going back to Cinder."
"What?" Emerald took a step back, suddenly afraid. "W-why not?"
"..." Marcus took a step toward her.
Emerald put two and two together and quickly realized that she and Cinder had been betrayed. She was smart like that, always able to adapt to almost any situation. In another life, she might have been a good friend to Marcus. Had been considered a friend at one point. But now she was on the other side, and she showed where her loyalties lied as she cast an illusion on him and ran in the opposite direction.
Marcus ignored the obvious illusion that was a band of huntsmen coming around the corner and shooting at him, and then shut his eyes and listened to the sound of Neo quickly catching up to the green-haired girl and defeating her quickly. When he opened his eyes again, Neo stood over Emerald's unconscious and bleeding body with the tip of her sword aimed toward her neck.
"No," Marcus stopped her before she could kill Emerald. "We'll take her alive, I have another set of plans for her."
Neo rolled her eyes but listened to him. Marcus picked Emerald up and swung her over his shoulder, and before any more people could find them, Neo used her semblance and snuck them all out of there.
Ozpin, Ironwood, Taiyang, and the Ace Ops worked alongside Cinder and her men unintentionally in destroying the rest of the compound. After the chaos was cleared, neither side was able to find their priority target. Only dead bodies, a broken Maid that threw herself in the arms of one of the huntsmen, and a what remained of an organization that shouldn't have been allowed to exist for as long as it did.
It became clear to them what happened that night. They weren't only tricked to the utmost degree and fooled into doing the dirty work for one man, but war was declared on them.
And that is how one man can declare small-scale war…
Whew, this was a chapter full of stuff from every side and corner of my plans. Instead of stretching on this little arc for a few more chapters, I decided to throw it all into this pretty large piece of writing. Take note that this is probably going to be the fastest pace this story is going to take, and things are going to slow down rather quickly. Especially the next chapter. Weeks and days won't be going by so quickly, that is for sure.
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