Here we go again, this one is going to be a pretty long one. Some things are revealed and emotions are running wild. How will our struggling assassin manage? Let's find out!
Beta: CrowSkull
Destiny Fated Black
Chapter 31
Marcus wasted no time in wrapping his arms around each of Tyrians after deflecting one of the wrist blades with his gun and bouncing the other off with his hardened aura. Tyrian yelped as he was pulled in until he was practically chest to chest with the assassin and stared wildly into his dark eyes. He laughed and pushed against him, but to his surprise, he was pushed back with some struggle but nearly effortlessly. Marcus used him as a shield and pushed his forehead into Tyrian's nose uncomfortable and ran despite the scorpion faunus struggling and trying to free himself.
Adam held his ground and prepared to use his semblance to slice them both in half anyway, but just as he began to charge up the power a small foot kicked up into his chin and stunned him. Neo appeared out of her semblance, already taking deep effortful breaths but more than willing to fight, and knocked him out of the way of Tyrian and Marcus. The assassin pushed the scorpion faunus into a car with a surprising amount of strength. Folding the car inward somewhat and pushing Tyrian further in. Even though Tyrian had to be in some kind of pain, he was able to handle it easily and literally laugh in Marcus' face as he did so.
"Hah, you've gotten much stronger," Tyrian remarked as his tail slipped out from between his legs. Marcus spotted the stinger rise over his shoulder and he let go of Tyrian's left arm in order to catch it. The tail was stronger than he expected and nearly stabbed into his eye before he managed to stop its assault. Doing that left him open, and Tyrian punished him by pushing the gun barrel part of his wrist blade into Marcus' face. Not willing to taste gunpowder and metal shrapnel, Marcus leaned back and deflected the trajectory of the stinger, falling to the ground as he did so but preventing himself from getting injected with venom and shot at the same time.
He's seen what that venom could do if it got into his body, he was dead. Marcus got back up to his feet in less than a second and held his knife in a reverse grip in order to give himself better strength in his strikes and more compatibility against Tyrian's wildly aggressive fighting style. He aimed his gun over that wrist and pulled the trigger three times. One of those bullets grazed Tyrian and the other two were dodged and deflected respectively. Marcus grit his teeth and jumped back and over a car and into the street. Passing bystanders were already screaming and passing cars swerved to the curb and crashed into one of the buildings in panic.
A flash of red came and the car he'd leaped over was completely destroyed and reduced to nothing but shrapnel. Neo flipped through the ensuing dust cloud and landed next to him. Marcus chanced a glance at her and cursed, she was still tired and exhausted after her most recent mission and this happened too soon, she wasn't going to be fighting at her best and these were two very dangerous opponents for her to be up against even on a good day. He'd have to carry her weight, but it wasn't like he didn't have his hands full already. This was going to be a hard fight, but slightly easier since they were in public.
The next second his eyes flicked back to the dissipating cloud of dust and Adam and Tyrian burst through it. The masked man aiming for Neo and Tyrian very obviously coming after him. Neo widened her eyes as Marcus grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and threw her back into the other side of the street and to the sidewalk.
"Go!" Marcus screamed as Adam and Tyrian both converged on him, Tyrian going high and Adam low. "I've got this!"
Marcus was a good fighter. A better assassin, but good enough to best Cinder in single combat when she isn't using her maiden powers. But he was far from unbeatable. Just better than most. Neo struggled to get back up to her feet, and they both knew that with a simple use of her semblance right now could get her out of there right now, but that would go against the promise she made to Roman. He made her promise to work with Marcus for as long as he needed her, and right now, he needed her more than he probably would ever need her. She didn't know if he could win against the likes of Adam and Tyrian at the same time, and that was enough for her to refuse his order and slip out the thin blade she kept inside of her parasol. Then slipped back into the illusion that was her semblance.
Adam slashed at Marcus' heel, in which his dust infused red blade bounced off the aura and vibrated in his hands as he slid the blade back into his sheathe. Tyrian clashed violently into Marcus prepared upper body, creating a shockwave of strength that shattered the windows of cars and cracked windows of buildings around them. Upon noticing this, Tyrian smirked as Marcus pushed him back into the air. The faunus flipped and landed gently on his feet while Adam took the lead this time. Marcus' knife in comparison to his sword was much smaller and had a major disadvantage in reach. But what he didn't know was that it was dense. This particular knife that Marcus was using was handcrafted himself to be dense, which naturally made it heavier around ten pounds level of weight, but given the time and exercise he already had, he easily got used to it. So when Marcus used that knife to block and redirect Adam's prodding strike, the White Fang officer was mildly shocked for a second before he was punched in the face.
Marcus went low while Adam was stunned and swept his legs out from under him. When the bull faunus landed on his back he instinctively rolled to the side and used that momentum to get himself back onto his feet. To his surprise and anger, Tyrian shoved him out of the way with his tail but he quickly realized that it was for a reason when Neo's thin blade entered the space where his neck had once been. Tyrian went to attack the short and diminutive girl but Neo was faster than him, slipping back into an illusion and disappearing from sight. With the knowledge of her still being in this fight fresh in his mind, he used his sword to block some of the powerful dust rounds that Marcus had fired at him. He was surprised by the force of each bullet, each pushing him back as he blocked it and absorbed the kinetic force into his semblance, making his hair and red accents of his clothes glow as he did so. The caliber of those bullets felt similar to those used in some sniper rifles. He wondered how Marcus' wrist wasn't broken from using the gun with just one hand.
The gun proved to be very durable as well, and it showed when Marcus raised it up to block Tyrian's next strike and then used it as a blunt instrument to deflect the other attacks that followed. Each deflects was followed by a loud metallic clink that rang out through the streets of Vale. It was a piercing sound that made his ears hurt, and evidently Tyrian wasn't all that bothered by it. He continued clashing against it with all his strength.
Marcus grit his teeth as he met each of Tyrians strike with one of his own, negating the force but at the cost at sending harsh vibrations up and down his arm that shook him down to his bones. Tyrian didn't stop even when the same effect was happening to him. Over, and over again, Marcus clashed his gun against one of Tyrian's blades. It was less of a fight and more of a contest of whose bones and muscles would give first. There was little skill involved in simply slamming each others weapons against each other. And Marcus quickly figured out what Tyrian intended after the fourth strike.
Tyrian was used to pain, relished in it. He was a Masochist and a Sadist. He enjoyed the sensation of pain and enjoyed causing it in others. It was part of his psychotic insanity that was he was known for as a serial killer of both normal people and huntsmen. Marcus was an assassin who was greatly skilled and most likely in a straight battle he would win, but in a contest like this, Tyrian had the advantage.
Marcus allowed him to think he was stuck in that contest until the last second of the next strike. He could have let it hit and then just push through it to try and grab Tyrian and steal whatever his semblance was, but while Neo was going against his orders he might as well use her. He smiled when he saw a flicker of light from beside Tyrian and growled as he put even more strength into the next clash as Neo attacked the faunus from the side. For once, there wasn't a smile on Tyrian's face as Neo's thin blade made to try and pierce through his aura and into his ribcage and lungs. But Adam was there to save him before Marcus could land a full-strength attack on the top of his skull.
Another flash of red and Marcus crossed his arms and let the black and red energy disperse against his aura and around his body while Neo ducked behind him. Thankfully it wasn't a charged attack, and before Adam could slip his sword back into his sheath, Marcus charged forward, making the faunus groan and prepare his next attack when his sword was only half-sheathed.
Marcus knew his style from a certain raven. His old sparring partner always used to sheathe her sword between each attack for the most power behind her strikes. Adam was much the same, although he seemed capable of fighting normally but was evidently more comfortable with his own style than anything else. The key to defeating him was to attack while he wasn't fully prepared or when he was in the process of sheathing his sword between attacks. It was how he was able to beat Raven plenty of times back in the day, and he could use that again here.
Adam sloppily parried his knife but the length of his sword soon worked against him as Marcus got through his guard and up close and personal. He had him right where he wanted him, and he made to grab him and steal that powerful semblance of his but stopped when he felt a bad feeling in the back of his mind. His instincts screamed for him to duck and he trusted them. Being rewarded as Tyrian's stinger barely grazed his aura. Some venom leaked out of the stinger and landed on the back of Marcus' neck, but it simply flowed down over his skin and didn't cause any harm except for a minor stinging feeling that would go away with his sweat.
His aura would prevent it from actually getting into his body, but Marcus didn't want to take any chances. He jumped away and back from Tyrian and Adam and wiped it off the back of his neck and flicked that hand to the floor and ripped off his glove just to be safe. It would make him a little less comfortable when using his knife, but it was a minor sacrifice in order to not suffer that terrible fate.
More bystanders screamed as he and Neo proceeded to dodge and take cover from a hail fire of bullets from both of Adam and Tyrian's guns respectively. They obviously didn't care for subtlety, and honestly, Marcus and Neo didn't either. It was only a matter of time when this caught the attention of the police, and then Ironwood and Ozpin, and not for the first time, Marcus was counting on that.
"We just have to hold out, not win," Marcus said out loud for Neo's benefit, she looked like she was going to pass out any second. "But someone is going to die today," He added as he reloaded his pistol. "And it's going to be him. I swear it." At that point, he was talking to himself. Neo noticed but didn't comment, couldn't when they were in the middle of a fight.
What she could do was slap Marcus on the shoulder, her only way of telling him that now was not the time for a mental breakdown. Marcus simply scowled at her in return but nodded his head.
He peeked over the cover that was someone's car and fired back while Neo slipped back into her semblance, waiting for her chance to strike a fatal blow.
"Ozpin!" Ironwood shouted the moment the elevator doors opened.
"I know," Ozpin replied immediately as he held a scroll against his ear. "I have a council member on the scroll right now and I am getting permission for your Ace Squad to enter active combat duty within the city itself. Gather them, and go now! Take Taiyang, Glynda and every fully trained huntsman you can. I want someone captured for this."
"I will," Ironwood saluted his fellow headmaster and made to follow his orders.
Qrow, who went ignored that entire time, sighed loudly. "Damn it…"
"You are still in recovery Qrow, you and Winter Schnee. Sending you in would bring the possibility of your death and we can't have that right now." Ozpin explained as he stood up and hung up the scroll.
"I know, but that doesn't make it any less annoying." Qrow sneered as he took another big swig of alcohol from his flask. "Why are they fighting in broad daylight like this? It's bright and early in the morning rush hour, this doesn't make sense. Marcus should be smarter than this."
"From the panicked call, I just received from Councilmember Snow it is known that Tyrian Callows is to thank for this," Ozpin revealed.
Qrow cursed under his breath. "Damn it…" His fists clenched and he never before itched more to grab weapon Harbinger and fight.
"Don't worry," Ozpin said as he grabbed his cane and started walking toward one of the open windows. The wind was flowing in and displacing Ozpin's white hair as the headmaster stood in front of it and placed one foot on the windowsill. Green magical aura flowed around him as he prepared to leap from it. "I will handle this myself."
Qrow snorted and nodded his head. "About time you got off your ass and did something for once." He remarked.
"Yes," Ozpin took his glasses off and dropped them. There was no need for them now. "It is."
Summer Rose walked beside him, happily chatting away with him like he never left and getting to know everything he's been doing aside from being a ruthless, merciless assassin. For the first time in a long time, he felt happy.
This wasn't the time for a flashback, but Marcus couldn't help it. As he and Tyrian fought all over Vale while Neo winked in a distracted Adam to give him an easier time, he couldn't help but think about it, and let it guide him in his anger and rage… and grief.
"How old is Mercury?" Summer asked him, looking up at him from the side with a beaming smile on her face which matched the beauty of her silver eyes.
Marcus shrugged his shoulders and took a guess. "Four or five, one of those." He replied.
"You don't know when your own son was born?" Summer scolded him, somehow, she was the only one who was able to actually make him feel bad about something. "Agh, forget it. I'll figure it out, when was he born?"
That, he remembered.
Marcus roared as he threw his next attack like a punch, the knife held in the reverse grip cut through the air like nothing was there and Tyrian dodged it by bending over backward. He tried to cut Marcus' heel, but his weapon clanged against metal as it cut through his pants. Marcus smirked and kicked the insane man with his metal legs, and transformed his style into a mirage of kick-based attacks. Throwing off Tyrian for a moment as his scorpion faunus eyesight gave him the disadvantage in reacting to these new body-oriented strikes. Behind them, Neo and Adam went at it.
"Hm. January 5th," Marcus said in a groan.
"Oh, so he's five then." Summer said with a chuckle. "See? You were right even when you thought you were wrong. Oh, how old are my daughters? I'm so glad you asked!"
"I… didn't…" After seeing Summer's warning glare, Marcus sighed and complied. "How old are your daughters?"
"Ruby is two and Yang is three, though Yang's birthday is coming up soon. They're almost the same age as Mercury!" Summer pointed out in a giggle. "How did you get a kid before I did?"
That was a touchy subject, Summer quickly realized when Marcus suddenly stopped walking. His eyes were shut tight and he grits his teeth and shook his head. He looked furious for a moment, but he managed to regain control of himself.
"It wasn't planned but… I met a woman." Marcus finally said after about a minute. "Her name is… was… Olivia."
Neo fell backward and in her slight panic sloppily parried what would have been a fatal blow by Adam. Marcus cursed and kicked Tyrian in the stomach and launched him away and sprinted toward the bull faunus. Adam noticed him from the corner of his eye and turned to face him, charging up his semblance in a hue of black, white, and red. Marcus met it head-on, but instead of blocking it when Adam slashed at him the arc of red and black split into two.
Marcus jumped and twisted his body in the air uncomfortably but in such a way that Adam's attack didn't make direct contact with his body. He landed on his hands and knees but used that position to propel himself toward Adam as his arm was still outstretched. Shocked that Marcus somehow dodged it, Adam wasn't able to react in time as Marcus shot him in the face. The bullet making his head snap back with the force and breaking his mask. His aura saved him, but his one light blue eye stared angrily at Marcus as a trickle of blood flowed down his face and over the hideous brand given to him by the SDC for his rebellious nature. Marcus ignored the reveal and shot Adam one more time in the shoulder before tackling him down to the ground.
"Was…? Oh Marcus," Summer wrapped her arms around his waist before he even realized it. " I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to make you remember that pain."
"It's… fine." Marcus replied as he gently placed a hand on her shoulder, as close as he came to hugging her back that entire night. "It happened quickly, or so I'm told. It's a long story, but I met her and we were instantly compatible. We got married in just a few weeks and before we knew it she was pregnant. Heh…" His eyes darkened with sadness. "We were young, desperate idiots, but we made it work somehow."
"What happened?"
"Hm… You don't need to know the details. She died, and that's that."
"Okay… I won't force you to talk about it." Summer surrendered, though it was clear that she was hurt by his closed-off nature. She would deal with it though, Marcus knew. She was a strong woman. "So, how far are we now?"
"Not that far off, maybe another twenty minutes of hiking and we'd get there. I made sure to put it in an isolated area, fewer people mean less negative emotions. Grimm is scarce around these parts."
"Yeah, I can see that…"
Adam cried out as his aura failed to prevent the tip of Marcus' knife from stabbing into his thigh. It wasn't able to go any deeper then beneath the skin and into muscle because of his aura rejecting the foreign object, but that didn't stop Marcus from at least trying to get deep enough to cut a vein or artery. Adam didn't let him go a millimeter deeper as he stabbed his sword down into Marcus' back, the assassin twisted out of the way and scooped up Neo in his arms and some distance away before Tyrian could catch up with them and take advantage while his back was turned, he couldn't lose Neo, she was the only part of Roman left and she has become a good friend to him. He couldn't handle any more loss.
Which was why he protected Neo and grit his teeth and bore Tyrians bullets as it pelted against his back. It didn't stop him from running, but when he was shot in the back of his robotic knee he cried out and staggered forward. He threw Neo and as he expected she landed on her feet and stopped him from falling himself before spinning him around with her hands and pushing him forward to negate and push back a Tyrian moving so fast it was like he had a speed semblance, but there was something in his eyes that had Marcus worrying as his hand grabbed his. He couldn't steal his semblance. In fact, Tyrian's aura seemed to eat away at his, melting it away and leaving him vulnerable.
Aura negation, a very dangerous semblance that was arguably even more dangerous than his. If it could negate aura, then it could negate semblances as well.
Funny, he always told Mercury that huntsmen relied on their semblances too much, and here he was relying on his and paying the price for it.
"Are you going to come back and see everyone?" Summer finally asked him five minutes after their early conversation. This topic was something neither of them could avoid. There was too much history to be left forgotten and no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't just pretend like nothing that happened ever did happen.
"You know the answer to that question already," Marcus answered anyway, looking away.
"I don't actually," Now Summer was blocking his way, forcing him to stop and look down into her silver eyes with his black. "I don't know what you think because its been a decade since I lost saw you! So please, do tell me."
"I'm an assassin," Marcus pointed out simply. "I've been getting paid to kill people all around the world. I'm sure you've heard the news of some Atlesian councilmembers and members of the Schnee family being mysteriously captured and killed by the White Fang." As he said this Summer looked more and more hurt, but it was the truth, and she had to deal with what she already suspected. "Ozpin wouldn't take me back even if I begged him, and I doubt the others would be happy to see me."
"T-That's not true!" Summer exclaimed. "I told Tai about what I was going to do and he let me go, and Qrow misses you! He lost his best drinking partner." She laughed sadly. "And Raven… I don't know what she's doing right now, but I do know that she respected you and your decision to leave. She actually followed your lead in that department…"
Marcus had an idea of what she meant by that, but it was none of his business. But since this Yang Xiao Long and Ruby Rose were sisters with different last names it was easy to guess what happened. Summer and Tai had to get an opening to get together somehow.
Thankfully he was able to get his hands free before they were cut off by Adam by shoving his shoulder into Tyrian's nose. A satisfying snap was heard as Tyrians' head whipped back as something in his face cracked. When his head snapped back his eyes were glowing a neon purple and he cackled. Still holding on to his arms and negating his aura. Marcus kicked his foot into Tyrians chest and jumped up into the air, using his mother foot to kick Tyrian in the face multiple times while pushing with his other foot, quickly, Tyrian had to let him go lest his aura shatter against Marcus' blows, and just in time soon. Adam just had to stop in his tracks lest he harms his own ally.
Marcus landed behind him and slashed at him with his knife but it was deflected perfectly and he was countered by a vicious slash across his chest at an angle that cut into his aura. He staggered back and held his chest, his aura hadn't been done recovering after Tyrian grabbed him and negated his aura and now there was a line of red and a cut in his shirt. His wound wasn't deep, but it hurt and was bleeding.
What made the feeling worse was when the air began to vibrate as a Bullhead roared over above them. It's hull opened and a squad of five huntsmen and huntresses jumped out and onto the street surrounding him, Neo, Tyrian, and Adam.
"Marcus Black, Neopolitan, Adam Taurus, and Tyrian Callows," The leader of the squad had brown hair and light cyan eyes. Marcus narrowed his eyes at the man, he recognized him as the leader of the Ace Squad of Atlas. He'd often avoid too much heat so he didn't have to deal with them. He wasn't confident in his ability to take them all on at the same time, and their semblances proved to be very annoying from his previous research.
"You are all under arrest," Clover said as he readied his fishing rod of a weapon.
"Under arrest my ass," Marcus sneered under his breath.
"Oh? The Ace Squad?" Tyrian, still with a broken and bleeding nose, looked around in awe of the newcomers to their battle. "I've heard much about you from a nerdy friend of mine! My, this has turned out to be a fun day, a fun day indeed. This is going to be troublesome." He looked to Marcus, winked, and then turned his stance away from him. "There's four of us and five of you, I like those odds!"
"Like hell, I'd fight with you!" Marcus exclaimed as he aimed his gun at Tyrian.
"Tyrian, you can't be serious." Adam voiced his agreement as he turned his blade toward the other members of the Ace Squad. "He's the one we were sent to kill, not help."
"Oh, he will die, just not yet. Besides, how are we going to get anything done with the children throwing a tantrum?" Tyrian looked at Marcus and winked. "We'll finish our business later, Marcus. We won't be able to kill each other like this. Agreed?"
Marcus knew that it was a bad idea, and Neo definitely agreed with the look that she had on her face. He hated Tyrian with every fiber of his being and expected to be betrayed as soon as the opportunity provided itself. But then again, if they didn't team up they would surely be defeated quite quickly. Even if they were able to hold them off, stronger enemies may approach. Neo needed time in order to use her semblance to get them out of their as well, the actual transportation took a precious second they didn't have in order to actually move them from point A to point B.
Begrudgingly and cautious, Marcus gave Tyrian a subtle nod and spun around. The biggest one was also the slowest, so he went straight after who he believed was Elm and aimed his pistol at her as he sprinted toward her, making sure to keep low to the ground as he did so.
"STAY!" Marrow shouted in an odd echoed voice. Marcus felt his body slow down too a crawl and was practically standing in the same spot. There was a weakness to his semblance however, he could only use it on what he was focusing on, and if there was someone out of his field of vision…
"Watch out!" Harriet used her speed and caught Neo's thin sword before it could stab into Marrow's side. She was fast, very fast. Faster than Ruby was before he stole her semblance and she knew how to use it to her advantage. Neo flipped away and her semblance washed back over her body, and he felt his body speed up again. Behind him, he could hear Tyrian and Adam keeping pace. They'd fight together for now, but only for now. It wouldn't last longer than a few minutes. He swore it.
"Why won't you come back!?" Summer screamed angrily as she crossed her arms and looked up at him, never surrendering. "We can get you out of this life, you think you know people? Ozpin probably knows more, and we have the new General of Atlas on our side too!"
"They know more, Summer." Marcus' patience was running out quickly, he could feel the veins in his face bulging as he desperately held back his anger for her sake. "I can't just leave, the last time I tried that they-... Look, it's just not possible, you trust me, right? Best friends forever and all that crap."
"I wouldn't be here if I didn't trust you," Summer said as she gripped his hands and pulled them up. Now she looked sad, which pulled on his heartstrings. Damn Summer… she always knew how to get under his skin and never in a good way. Emotions weren't good for him, he shouldn't have accepted her request to come along with him so easily as he did.
"You'd become a target," Marcus whispered. "You, Tai, Qrow, and your daughters. All of you. Not everyone gets their happy ending Summer, it's best if you just forget about me and move on. Go back to your family, and let me do my thing. At least that way I can assure that none of you will ever become targets. I'm high ranking, I can-"
"Stop!" Summer screeched, crying now. "I don't want to keep hearing that… Master Assassin? Just what kind of screwed up organization is your family roped up in? This isn't you, Marcus, I've seen what you can be!"
If only she knew…
Elm quickly found herself against three opponents at once. She held her hammer defensively and strengthened her stance with her semblance, prepared to take them all on at once.
"No! Don't let him grab you!" Clover screamed as he threw out the hook of his weapon and coiled it around one of Marcus' hands just before he could grab one of Elm's hands that were holding her weapon.
Elm cursed and deactivated her semblance and jumped back away from Marcus and opted to take on the two other criminals. Tyrian proved to be much stronger and faster than she expected, but she was stronger. He crashed into her like a train and she pushed him back and threw him away, but Adam came up to her side and slashed at the back of her heel. She forced him to pull back before he could do any more, and Vine used his semblance to pull him away from her, her teammates effectively pulling two-thirds of her attackers away and leaving her with the most insane one.
"Your fight is with me," Vine Zeki claimed as he stepped in front of Adam and crossed his aura encased arms.
"And me." Marrow said as he came out from behind Vine, a trail of lighting trickled away from behind him and sped back to Marcus who was now engaging directly with Clover. Adam scowled and sheathed his sword, the brand on his face burning as he grew angrier and angrier.
"I understand your pain and suffering under the employ of the Schnee Dust Company," Marrow said, trying to reason with him. His dog tail caught the attention of Adam's eye, and he was granted permission to continue speaking. "I had a brother who worked in those mines. I got him out of there when I became a huntsman, but I know how bad it is down there."
"Yet you betray your race and work for Atlas anyway?" Adam sneered.
"I want to make things better, its why I trained so much to get into the Ace Ops," Marrow said as he aimed his weapon at the White Fang officer. "Trust me, I was close to joining the fang myself, brother. But look at what violence has done for our people? Sure, some humans started treating us better, but it's not for the right reason. It's out of fear. What you're doing isn't going to make anything better for the faunus in the long run. It's going to start a war."
"Don't talk like you know our intentions," Adam growled back. "If we wanted war we would have had all of Menagerie at our backs already. No one wants to be a terrorist by choice, Atlas forced our hand. Were you there at the peaceful protest rallies? Were you there when they threw rocks at children who simply wished to go to school?" Marrow winced and took a step back, intimidated by Adam's passion and flat truths. "Were you there when they branded one of those boys for fighting back for once after constant provoke? No, I think not. Atlas tends to bury any news of innocent faunus wrongly accused of crimes."
"Marrow, there is no settling this with dialogue," Vine interjected. "Sometimes people are simply too far gone to reach with words."
Marrow nodded his head sadly and shifted his weapon it's its throwable and ranged from. Adam took that at his answer and charged in. His hair and clothes glowing red as he slashed his semblance in a wide arc. Vine, remembering his hard recovery that ensued after blocking one of those attacks was not keen on tanking another blow. Instead, his colleague used his semblance to slow down to attack. Even slowed as it was, it was still moving at quite a fast pace. But not fast enough that Marrow and Vine couldn't dodge it.
Adam cursed and sheathed his sword again and met them in the middle. Their battle would be a hard-fought one that could go either way. Adam was very dangerous, though so was every member of the Ace Ops.
As half of the Ace Ops was locked in combat against the likes of Tyrian and Adam, the other half and arguably the most skilled members of their squad stood against Marcus Black and Neo. Harriet Bree stood beside Clover Ebi, and they slowly circled around one another. One wrong move would get them caught and their semblance would be stolen away, which would lead to the domino effect of the rest of the Ace Ops falling as an empowered Marcus went on to demolish them all with the help of the other two.
"You take Marcus," Clover whispered to Harriet through the tiny radio he had on the inside of his mouth embedded behind his front tooth. "I'll take the girl. You're better suited to fight him with how fast you are."
"Yes sir," Harriet said with a smirk as the world around her became much slower.
"I'll take the girl," Marcus whispered to Neo. "Distract the other one, but be careful. He's the leader of the Ace Ops for a reason."
Neo nodded her head and faded away. In the next second, he realized that Harriet had just punched him in the stomach and his eyes bulged from its sockets. Before he could try and grab that hand it seemingly disappeared right as he made contact with it, and something smashed into the back of his head and knocked him down to the ground.
Desperately he swung his leg around in a wide sweep and clipped the girl before she could attack him again. But she didn't lose her balance and instead simply dashed away. As he made his way back up to his feet, she bounced on her feet as a featherweight boxer might. "C'mon I thought you were faster than that mister Master Assassin!" She taunted him.
"Oh," Marcus holstered his gun and clenched that fist, the weapon would be useless against someone like her anyway. "You'll see girl, just give me some time."
"Hah! If you weren't a sociopathic child murderer I think I would have liked you!"
Marcus growled but kept his cool. He knew her type. The taunting type that always had a quip for everything and always wants to make their opponent lose their cool. He held a tight defensive posture and held his ground. She was faster, faster than anyone he'd ever fought before. But he was an adapter. As she literally ran circles around him while punching and kicking him, he was beginning to sense a pattern. She mainly used her fists, which was implied by her choice of weapon in the form of some kind of gauntlets that was powered by the lightning of her semblance. Which made up for what had to be a lack of power, which gave Marcus an idea…
He let her attack him, let her get in close and land critical blows on his chest, face, and neck. He could tell that she was getting more and more hyped into becoming the woman to bring him down as she continued hammering away at him. It went on for around two minutes. He took a constant beating but suddenly started defending himself again despite the battering his body and aura took. Harriet continued her assault, speeding up her pace even further and lasted for another few minutes.
Then she started to slow down. It was marginal and barely visible with the naked eye. But as Marcus peeked through his guard he was able to make out her figure instead of seeing just a blur. He could see her, and therefore he could react to her.
Letting her land a few more strikes, he caught on to her pattern and style and memorized it. One, two, three, and he dodged to the left and caught the girls fist. Harriet's wide eyes of shock and surprise were satisfying to him as he licked the trickle of blood that flowed down his face from his head and down to his lips. If it weren't for her gauntlets covering her hand, he would have stolen her semblance right there. Oh well, Marcus smashed his steel knee into the girl's torso so hard that she was lifted up her feet and thrown into the air and a shockwave exploded from their position in the middle of the street.
When Harriet landed back on the ground her eyes were scrunched shut and she was barely able to breathe. Aura was good for cutting attacks and most blunt force, but it wasn't so strong that it would completely nullify the damage from a steel knee thrown into it at the speed of a car with power behind it. She coughed and hacked, tried to get up, but could only write in pain as she felt like one of her lungs completely collapsed in on itself.
Defeated just in one hit. Typical of a huntress that relied solely on her speed. She sacrificed durability and core strength for muscle mass in her thighs and arms. If she was up against any other person, she would be a force to be reckoned with.
Wasting no time, Marcus went down to one knee and went to place the skin of his hand on Harriet's face.
Clover's hook grabbed his thumb before he could and he felt himself get painfully yanked to the ground by the leader of the Ace Ops. Marcus stood back up on his feet and grabbed the line before it could completely dislocate his thumb. Neo was on her ass against one of the cars, tired and defeated. Marcus cursed and pulled the line hard and Clover was smart enough to let go and not let himself be pulled toward the man who could steal semblances just by touching people.
"Heh, you beat mine and I beat yours, that means we're even?"
"Shut up," Marcus said as he took his gun back out.
"Sounds about right." Clover cracked his knuckles and rolled up sleeves Marcus didn't know he had. Which would make things more difficult to steal his semblance. Marcus had an idea of what his semblance was. He didn't have a whole lot of time to do research on them these past few weeks, but he knew that his semblance was basically just like Qrow's, but was good luck instead of bad luck. If that was the case then it would work against him here. There really was no getting by a passive semblance like that, if Clover had good luck, then everyone around him would too. Including himself.
"Agh!" Before they could fight, Elm screeched at the top of her lungs. Looked to the side, Marcus watched with some disgust as Tyrian dangled one of Elm's hands which were cut off from just above the elbow and gushing out blood. The fact that his hands were flowing with his purple corrupted aura suggested that he used it in order to make her vulnerable there.
"ELM!" Clover screamed and made his way to assist his teammate.
"My, for a big girl you're really easy to beat," Tyrian said as he slapped Elm's face with her own severed arm and then threw it down. "Bah, you're so pathetic I'm not even going to bother killing you. The ones who just scream and cry are the worst, it's so annoying-"
"STAY!" Marrow, now with a bleeding red spot on his side pointed to Tyrian as Vine held Adam against the wall with his semblance, struggling against the bull faunus strength and displeasure in being trapped. Tyrian was stopped on the spot and probably didn't even realize that he was frozen. With Adam restrained and Neo down, he was the only one who could help him and he was currently behind the one who made to attack him. So, he did the only thing he could do.
He pulled out his pistol and shot Marrow in the face. The dark-skinned dog faunus' head whipped back and in a display of a dull blue color his aura shattered and he passed out. At the same time, Elm passed out as well, her own aura flickering off. Vine's was barely hanging in there, but now Tyrian has freed from the time slowing semblance and reared up on Clover.
Suddenly, Clover found himself between an assassin and a crazed man. A joke could be made about that in the future, but against Tyrian and Marcus at the same time, he stood no chance. Especially while he still didn't have his weapon. Right there, Marcus could steal his semblance with Tyrians' help and then continue on. Tyrian was already grabbing Clover and holding him still. All he had to do was touch-
A green explosion sent him flying back and Tyrian with him. After recovering from his spill, Ozpin stood before him. Coming out of the SKU and glaring death in his direction. While the distraction reigned on, Adam escaped from Vine's semblance and overpowered the religious man easily, knocking him out after kicking him in the jaw and retrieving his sword. But he took one look at Ozpin and a bruised Marcus and tired Tyrian, and cut his losses and ran. Leaving them both behind and opting to finish him off later. Marcus shook his head not at his cowardice but at his intelligence. He knew that Ozpin was simply in an entirely different league above him, and admittedly, above his and Tyrians as well.
"Marcus," Ozpin's aura flared and his magic seeped through. Despite being only a fifth of what he once was, he was still as powerful as ever, and as dangerous as one of those seasonal maidens. "Tyrian."
Marcus stepped back as Ozpin stepped forward. He didn't like his chances of beating him while he was already tired. He glanced at Tyrian and Tyrian glanced back, then Marcus kicked out his leg and sprinted away. Betraying him before Tyrian could betray him later. Neo stood up and already knew what he was doing as Tyrian cursed and raised his arms in order to defend himself against the easily more powerful Ozpin.
Neo leaped toward him and grabbed his hand, her semblance flaring as he watched the world flicker around them and turn into an illusion. What he didn't expect was Tyrian to be brought along with them somehow. That somehow became known as he felt his metallic leg get stabbed by a boney scorpion tail. Before he could kick him away, it was too late.
"NO!" Ozpin shouted as he watched three priority targets disappear before his very eyes. "Damn it, no!" He said as he shook his head. Taiyang wasn't going to like this, James and Qrow neither. He looked around and saw the defeated members of the Ace Ops. The best huntresses and huntsmen in the world, all defeated. The only one who was left standing was Clover, who looked just as defeated as he felt.
They'd lost them.
"Damn it… I was too late."
It frustrated him to no end. All this power, and yet still, he wasn't able to stop three exhausted people.
He could only hope that they'd kill each other. They were never going to get a good opportunity like that again.
Marcus cried out for Summer to move but it was too late, she was too into the moment, too into the idea of bringing him back to Vale, and Beacon, and all of the friends that he had left behind. It was only a flash, but he knew what he saw. A man with a scorpion tail burst out of the bushes and slashed at Summer's back with what looked to be a purple aura encased hand. Right after Summer's aura was torn open, the stinger of the scorpion tail stabbed into her spine and pumped a pint of venom into her body before he could pull out his gun in time to shoot at the monster.
The purple-eyed man cackled and ran off and didn't even react to his bullets as it bounced off of his aura. He wanted to chase him down and kill him, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Summer fell forward into his arms and he caught her and gently lowered her down and had her rest on his leg as he sat down. Staring down with shock and sadness and anger as the veins in Summer's face were tinted lightly with purple and bulging painfully.
Summer coughed up blood and he feared the worst. He found himself apologizing for distracting her before he realized his mouth opened.
"I-It's not your fault," Summer choked at him as she held his hand tightly. "I let my guard down after all… heh." Even now, she cracked a joke. Marcus' eyes stung with tears. "Tears? I thought you said you were emotionless…"
"Shut up," Marcus choked out as he held her. "Shut up…" He cried. He realized quickly that she wasn't going to make it. Her expression and the paralyzation of her lower body made that obvious. Venom by faunus was much more lethal than venom by actual insects, arachnids, or reptiles. "Why couldn't you just walk away as I told you too!?"
"Because that'd mean leaving you behind…"
"Yeah, well you'd still be alive," Marcus pointed out. "You stupid, stubborn idiot," More tears streamed down his face and onto Summer's white cloak. "Why do you care so much about me?"
"Y-You're my friend," Summer simply stated as if that was the only thing that was important. "I-I love you, Marcus. Y-You're my best friend. I couldn't just forget about you. D-did you think an n-note was going to be able to keep me away from you forever?"
"..." Marcus was at a loss for words. He just held her tighter.
He remembered everything they did together. From the moment the first met on the Bullhead that was taking them up to Beacon for initiation. They clicked almost right away, and they'd even agreed to become partners if they could much to the jealousy of Maddox and amusement of Marcus. He was older than most in the first years so that immediately set him apart from everyone else, however, not from her. Not from Summer and Team STRQ. Raven became his secret sparring partner, Qrow became his drinking buddy, Taiyang became a friend, and that was not even mentioning his own team. Team MBTR, or Mobster. He didn't know why he was made leader, but he was. He was never happier than he ever was while he was in Beacon. Roman, his partner, fit well with his style and personality despite being a smartass piece of sassy shit. And everything else just fit together, everything was so perfect until Glenn happened.
And now look at them now… With him holding one of his best friends in his arms as she died. Balling his eyes out as she slowly was drained of life.
"It doesn't need… to end here…" Summer croaked to him. The grip on his hand tightened, and she stared up into his eyes with all the strength that she still had within her. "I can live on in you, within your semblance."
"You… want me to steal your semblance!?" Marcus asked, shocked at the proposal.
"Not steal," Summer smiled weakly. "More like accepting a gift from a friend. I think it will help you, one day..."
She was going to give it to him willingly, she meant. Marcus never had that happen before, someone actually willingly giving their semblance away to him. He didn't know what would happen to him in the future, but he just assumed it would be the same as usual. Just another voice in his head. If it was Summers though...
"If that is your last request… I'll accept it." Marcus said, taking off his glove on his other hand with his teeth and placing it on Summer's cheek.
"Just… promise me…" Summer begged as she stared up at him with tearstained eyes. "Promise me you'll prove to everyone that you're not a monster. Prove to yourself that you are not just a tool made for murder. Promise me that you'll become the huntsman you were meant to be, and stop this assassin nonsense. But most of all… promise me that you'll be at peace with yourself one day…" Summer began to fade. "Please… promise… It doesn't have… to be… right away… Ah…"
Marcus didn't say a word, he hated making promises. But the look in his eyes seemed to fill Summer with hope. She closed her eyes and gave her semblance over to Marcus willingly and unbeknownst to either of them at the time, a fragment of her soul as well.
Summer went limp in his arms, and Marcus screamed to the heavens cursing all the Gods that existed. He felt as if it was his fault, but something in the back of his mind helped him recover. It wasn't his fault, he couldn't do anything about it.
But it didn't stop him from feeling guilty all the way up to now.
Neo managed to transport them all up to the roof of a building with the last of her strength. But at the cost of the rest of her stamina and aura. Transporting more than two people at a time proved to be more than taxing on her body than she expected. Then again, it wasn't like she totally expected to teleport three people including herself at once.
Tyrian got up right as Marcus did, both of them seemingly recovering at the same time. Neo struggled to get on her feet, but she didn't even have her weapon with her. Marcus staggered, his thighs were shaking and phantom pains ran up and down his metal legs. All of the punches and attacks on him from Harriet were just now setting in as pain as the adrenaline faded away only for it to come back in a rush. Tyrian wasn't nearly as damaged as he was and handled his own opponent quite well. More than well.
"Hehe…" Tyrian giggled as he noticed Marcus' weakened state. "This is the part where we settle things and kill each other."
"No," Marcus grit his teeth and glared back. "This is the part where I put a bullet in between your eyes and avenge her. Then I kill Cinder, Adam, and save Beacon from her fucked up plan."
"And the only thing to back that up is some silly promise?" Tyrian taunted. Marcus wanted to punish him for it, but he was just too tired. His muscles were so heavy and he felt nauseous. Still okay to fight, but not okay enough to aim a firearm. "Don't be stupid… a repeat of what happened before will happen again," Tyrian remarked as his scorpion tail flexed and stretched out. The threat was obviously clear to him.
As tired as he was right now, this was going to be a difficult battle. But not one that was unwinnable.
Summer's blood was on this man's hands. And now he had the power to finally avenge her.
He wasn't a good man, far from it. But he wasn't a monster either. He was a man with a contract, and Tyrian Callows was his next target.
Much longer than I thought it would be, but the next chapter will finish this off. Do you like crying? I do too. Let's see how it goes!
P a treon . com (slash) Genatools
T w itter . com (slash) genatools