"So what's the prognosis?" Cobalt asked.
"Diagnosis, dumbass," Tawney corrected as she moved her foot around and watched it.
"The diagnosis was nerve damage, but the prognosis is looking quite positive," Ren told them as Jaune finished up on her for the day.
"She'll be back to normal?" Cobalt inquired excitedly.
"Probably even better than normal," Jaune jested.
"Great! Now I'll have no problem kicking Neela's ass!" Tawney declared.
"That's really all you worry about, isn't it?" Cobalt pointed out.
"Why would I worry about anything else?" Tawney questioned with a smirk.
"Bed rest for all of today and some of tomorrow will be necessary to complete the healing process," Ren instructed her as he finished up and left them in the room with Jaune.
"No funny business while you're in here," Jaune teased.
"With him? No thanks," Tawney replied, her face turning red.
"Thanks," Cobalt said dejectedly. As Jaune opened the door, Lykos and Bái met him with a smile and stepped into the small treatment room.
"How are you holding up?" Bái inquired.
"You know me, good as new!" Tawney declared.
"I wasn't so sure that you were going to make it," Lykos told her. She smirked and nodded.
"Whatever that weapon was, it wasn't natural, that's for sure," Tawney pointed out.
"What happened by you guys?" Bái questioned.
"Nothing about any of those people was natural," Cobalt stated. "Titus and I were in some kind of pseudo Dragonball fight with as fast as Crimson was moving."
"Nobody knows what that means," Tawney grumbled.
"We fought a girl from Menagerie," Lykos explained. "She had some kind of magical item or something on the end of her staff. It was like we were being gripped by death itself."
"I thought that the Maidens were the only magic that remained after Oz and Salem died, and even so, they gave their powers up to make sure that Salem's realm was sealed off for good," Cobalt offered.
"Maybe it wasn't magic, but it was powerful," Tawney interjected.
"The staff worked great by the way," Bái chimed in.
"Great! Glad to help," Cobalt smiled.
"Yes, thank you," Lykos added.
"Knock knock," Titus said as he approached the door.
"Can we come in?" Ilia asked.
"If we can fit anyone else in here, sure," Cobalt chuckled.
"We can just stay out here," Titus noted. "How's it going?"
"I'm fine, thanks," Cobalt replied before Tawney punched his arm.
"I'll be fine according to Ren and Jaune," Tawney answered.
"Great to hear," Titus declared.
"Are you two ready to go?" Ilia asked, her mind still preoccupied with images of their effort to save Beacon.
"Sure," Lykos told them.
"Everything okay?" Bái questioned.
"Not exactly," Ilia sighed.
"She's still stressed about the other night," Titus explained.
"Aren't we all?" Cobalt inquired.
"I'm not," Tawney bragged.
"She is," Cobalt corrected.
"Speak for yourself," Tawney grumbled. "You didn't almost get yourself killed by… whatever the hell that thing was…"
"I can't even describe the feeling," Lykos explained. "I have to imagine it's what death feels like."
"What caused that?" Titus inquired.
"One of the Faunus had some kind of staff," Tawney noted as she moved her foot around again.
"Interesting," Titus noted.
"You seem to be taking this well," Bái pointed out.
"I'm not happy with how close we cut it, but this is hardly the first fight in which I could have lost my life," Titus told them. "Atlas Military Academy really put us through the wringer."
"Welp, I'm good to go for our mission," Tawney insisted as she tried getting off of the bed.
"No, you're not," Jaune informed her, making her sit back down. "Besides, it's not even your mission."
"Should we stay here with Tawney, just until she feels better?" Bái asked Lykos.
"I think it'd be best if I request an extension to start the mission tomorrow. We could all use a day to digest what happened during the attack. You can go stay with Vin, I'll find a place to stay for the night," Titus said looking at Ilia who nodded.
"Okay," Ilia agreed.
"Sounds like a plan," Lykos said. Titus smiled and nodded at them.
"Then it's settled," he announced.
"What do we know about the bandits that we're looking for?" Ilia asked as they walked through the heavily wooded area, trying to appear as travelers or hikers, sporting unnecessary gear and equipment as they traipsed about aimlessly through the area.
"Not much," Titus informed her. "It's probably safe to assume that they don't have semblances or aura according to Coco's intel, so we'll need to be careful when taking them down. However, that doesn't mean we can be reckless because I'm going to assume they have Dust based weapons or have weaponized it in some form. What's a little loss of product as long as you don't lose all of it."
"Someone is coming," Lykos stated. Titus looked up from the map Ilia was clinging to, noting that a man who looked to be wearing light armor under his clothing walking towards them. He greeted them with a smile.
"Can I help you kids out?" He requested.
"We're just out on a walk this morning," Bái told him. "We were told that there are some pretty good hiking trails out this way, so we decided to come find them for ourselves!" He nodded and rubbed his face, pointing in the direction that they were heading.
"They are nice, but you won't be able to get too close," he explained.
"How come?" Lykos pried. The man sighed again and shook his head.
"The Vale military is down that way, they have it completely closed off at the moment, apparently there was some kind of Dust robbery going on this morning. Train overturned, all of that, the usual. They say the area is pretty unstable and one wrong move could set the entire thing off. So naturally, they kicked us out until they could get things cleaned up," he informed them.
"Us?" Ilia asked, confused.
"The rest of the guys are straggling a bit," he assured them. "We were assigned to the train as guards. Schnee and Strakh shipments alike are being attacked by bandits. I'd hate for you kids to get tangled up in all of that."
"Right," Titus said, nodding and removing his scroll.
"What are you doing?" The man asked.
"Calling my superior," Titus said, holding a finger up to him. "Can you put General Branwen on the phone? I can wait."
"Is he serious?" The man questioned.
"Why wouldn't he be?" Lykos replied. "He's a Lieutenant General in the Atlas Military. And we're Huntsmen in training from Beacon. We can help with clean up efforts." Bái watched the man fidget out of the corner of her eye, turning quickly and forming an ice wall as she removed the staff in its shortened form from the holster on her belt, telescoping it quickly and forming an ice wall between them and the man's fire Dust grenade.
"Thank you, Bái," Titus replied, putting his scroll away and cracking his neck.
"You going to be as effective with one blade?" Ilia teased. He smirked.
"I can make do for now," he assured her. Lykos got in the man's head, chasing him away with an illusion, allowing them to proceed down the path. Ilia grabbed Titus as they moved forward, focusing hard and feeling the link form as she scouted ahead. "Ilia!"
"Learned something new!" She called back. "If I get into danger, you'll see!" She moved ahead, leaping into the trees and slowly moving towards the camp. It was primitive considering the size and the amount of money that the men must have been making from the Dust. Tents littered the area as far as the eye could see from where she was perched, a mound of Dust crates was stored at the far end, kept away from the living quarters for obvious reasons. "Well, there's no train, but we might need one to return all of this Dust."
"See anyone that we need to worry about?" He asked over his scroll. She peered around.
"So far the place seems pretty empty," Ilia noted.
"Stay alert," Lykos informed her.
"Right," she agreed.
"Interested in what you see?" A voice asked behind her. She turned quickly to see the man but instantly linked back to Titus from the shock, leaping out of his body and rolling across the ground. Titus glanced around in confusion before moving to her.
"What was that?!" Titus questioned.
"The… new thing… I learned," she explained out of breath.
"What happened?" Bái wondered.
"There is no need to fear me," the man said now standing before them faster than they could blink. He wasn't very built and levitated just slightly off of the ground, Titus assumed it to be some kind of propulsion system. The more shocking part was that the man was entirely naked and the front of him was in no way anatomically correct. Instead of reproductive parts, he appeared to have metal plating, causing Titus to fear the worst.
"What are you?" Titus inquired. "And what is your designation?"
"I have been trying to decide that for myself, but I have had no luck," He informed them. "And I am known as DAMU."
"Did you steal all of this Dust?" Bái pried, trying not to shake in fear.
"Collecting Dust is the only directive that I was given by my creators. Whether or not it was stolen or given to us willingly was not something that I was instructed to consider during the collection process. I can also sense that the four of you have Dust on you as well," he declared.
"Were you built by Atlas?" Titus interrogated.
"The kingdom of Atlas has no control over me, though the processes and technology from which I was built do belong to the kingdom of Atlas. My existence, as it is, was stolen from Atlas in this way," the android noted. Titus could see that he looked similar to the Penny models, but before they were discontinued there had never been a male model, nor had any of them been this menacing or incomplete. The Penny's were built to appear warm and friendly, but the android before them wasn't dressed, and Titus couldn't quite see around him, but there seemed to be Dust crystals extending from his back. "If you give the Dust over to me, I shall not have to harm you."
"Is that what happened to all of the bandits?" Lykos stammered.
"They have all been placed in a sleep that they will wake up from in a few days," the robot explained. "I was not programmed to kill if that is what you're fearful of."
"I don't think we can take him," Ilia spoke quietly to Titus as she used her link to phase into his body.
I don't think that we can either, but we'll need to tell Coco about this for sure.
"Who is your creator then?" Titus requested. The humanoid stared at them for a long moment.
"I do not have access to this information," he explained confused. "Nor have I been given a reason for this inaccessibility."
"Give him our Dust," Titus instructed. They all collected the Dust up and Titus walked to the android, giving him the canisters and crystals. "That's all of it."
"That is inaccurate," it computed.
"What?" Lykos retorted, confused.
"That woman beside you," he told them. "Her body is giving off a reading that is similar if not almost identical to that of the Dust crystals that I have been tasked with collecting. To be more specific, I can tell that they are ice Dust."
"You can't take Bái!" Lykos shouted.
"I must. It is my directive." He informed them.
Titus, this is bad!
"Is there any way that we can work around this?" Titus requested but the android shook its head.
"I am afraid that I cannot leave without the girl," he explained.
He hasn't picked up on the fact that I still have Dust on me, but once we burn through it, we're out unless we can get to his stockpile on the far end of the camp.
"I can't use my semblance on it," Lykos muttered looking at the ground.
"Is that your ultimate decision?" The robot asked as the creases of where his body was put together began to glow a soft white color.
"I guess it is," Titus declared. "Bái!" Damu ejected the sleeping gas immediately, ice covering their mouths and noses, leaving them little time to act, but they were prepared. Titus had taken to his stone form, rushing forward before Damu could react, grappling him hard as Ilia leapt from Titus and sprinted hard for the Dust. Lykos had scooped up Bái and was heading for Ilia.
"This will never do," Damu informed him. He reached back with the Dust they'd handed over and shoved a canister into each of the four open slots in his back, similar to those found in dispensing mechanisms in Dust shops. They injected the Dust directly into him. "I must have the girl." A wave of gravity Dust removed Titus from him and tossed him back down the path, leaving him to tumble away before finding his feet and charging but the robot blinked away. It grappled Ilia, blasting sleeping gas in her face but she caught herself in time, linking back to Titus and jumping out.
"How can he be so fast?!" Ilia inquired.
"It's going to be tricky, but we need to remove the Dust canisters from his body," Titus explained.
"Sure! Yeah! No problem!" Ilia noted.
"Resisting will get you nowhere," Damu insisted as he caught Lykos's whip and pulled him in.
"And here I thought we were just in for a typical run of the mill, bandit camp mission," Titus joked as Ilia fired gravity shots at Damu, stopping him from putting Lykos to sleep as he looked back, amused at her.
"How is it that you still have Dust on you?" Damu demanded.
"I guess you couldn't tell when I used my semblance," she informed him.
"Bái, the Dust on his back," Titus said into his comm. She nodded, freezing him with everything that she had and he slowly came to a stop as his servos were coated in ice.
"Interesting," Damu made note of before using fire Dust to release himself. He tossed Lykos at the two running for him, Titus snatching him out of the air as Damu turned his sights on Bái.
"This is insane," Lykos growled.
"We've got this," Ilia said grabbing his arm for a moment before winking at him. "Go give him hell." Lykos smirked and nodded at her. He charged in, using his whip to pull himself in as Bái's ice shards glanced off of the humanoid.
"You must return with me," Damu kept insisting. He turned quickly, snatching Lykos from the air. "I may have not been programmed for killing but I am allowed to assert force if it is deemed necessary by my sensors."
"Ilia!" Titus commanded. She linked to Lykos, leaping over the robot, and prying out his gravity canister with her blades. Earth and fire blasted out of him backward, slamming her into a series of tents before coating her in stone. He rushed past her, kopis in hand as he slammed the blade into the open slot, forcing the android to land before using his strength to pull out both the Fire and Earth canisters. Three more… a sudden narrow blast of air Dust smashed Titus's rock armor off of him.
"Freeze him, Bái!" Lykos yelled. She did so, slowing him once again as he tried to crush Lykos's arm but failed.
"Improbable!" Damu declared. "Do not flee!"
"Time to leave," Ilia noted after she'd broken free and helped Titus up.
"You are not permitted to leave, you must not!" Damu demanded. Bái coated him in a second layer of ice to ensure that he wouldn't be able to follow them.
"Titus?" Lykos began.
"Stolen Atlas tech, but the designation wasn't one that Atlas ever would have used, so I have no idea who built him. If I had to guess who stole the tech, however…" Titus trailed off.
"Admon?" Ilia inquired as they kept running. Titus nodded.
"I can't think of anyone else," Titus admitted. "We'll let Coco know as soon as we get somewhere safe."
It had been two months, hadn't it? Eliana had to keep herself busy and distracted until school started back up and working at a pub and grill seemed like the optimal choice considering the fact that she was living with her Uncle Corrin and Aunt Grace who lived in Haven just a few blocks from the place. It felt like home despite the fact that it was far busier than anywhere that she'd go to in Vale with Nee… busier than the places in Vale anyway. It was a nicer place than The Inferno and busier too, but late at night, it was a bar just the same. The same crowds came in, she began to recognize the regulars and they knew her by name, some of the officers would come in on occasion at the end of their shifts and recall memories of her and her father fondly. It brought her comfort on her new journey, knowing that her father's legacy was far from dead.
This day was easily the slowest they'd had since she'd started working there though. She wasn't scheduled for the morning shift, but she was told it had been quite a bit slower than it usually was due to one of the best street fights they'd ever had running a bit later than usual. Eliana smiled thoughtfully at the information, it was probably the same kind of fight that Tawney was always bragging about. She asked the manager who told her about it if he remembered the Maniac and the stories he told her lived up to her namesake. She really was as crazy as she thought she was at one point. The rest of the day was entirely uneventful, only the regulars came in and Eliana wondered what would have driven off the rest of the crowds but it was rumored that Sterling was in town for the first time in a few weeks, and the scum and villainy had all been driven into hiding until he passed through. The man had quite the air about him.
She occupied most of the day with cleaning and reading a few chapters of Ninjas of Love, only blushing slightly when one of her coworkers caught her with it in the cooler before grabbing a handful of fruit and leaving. It was a bust, she made less money than she'd hoped this week and would have to wait to buy the next book in the series, needing more Dust so that she could keep training on the weekends and after work until school was back in session. It was boring. She couldn't even tell Neela about… about the… huh. She wanted to tell Neela about everything but she couldn't bring herself to do so. Neela didn't deserve the hurt of being reminded of how stupid Eliana had acted! Eliana finished cleaning the cooler and stepped back out into the kitchen to make small talk with the cooks and dishwashers, noting that they'd be closing up in a few more minutes.
"Nobody else was at the fights last night?" The dishwasher asked as he sprayed off one of the plates and placed it into the dishwasher.
"You know I usually go, man, but with the news that Sterling was gonna be around today? What if he had shown up early? Can you imagine the number of people they would have arrested?" The cook replied as he scrubbed the top of the grill.
"You gotta live a little man, that made it even more exciting when it went into a sixth-round!" The dishwasher exclaimed, drying his hands and starting the washer.
"Six rounds? Is that a new record?" The cook inquired, chuckling.
"Nah, the Maniac went eight rounds once before she disappeared," The dishwasher informed him as he leaned back against the counter.
"Eight? No shit?" The cook stuttered.
"She was something else man. And she never lost once," the dishwasher assured him.
"Maybe I should start going more often again," the cook noted.
"Bring me with if you do, we all know how you get after you've had a few drinks," the dishwasher jested.
"Yo! Elli!" The bartender shouted, throwing the doors open.
"Yeah, what's up?" Eliana asked him.
"One last customer!" He declared before leaving abruptly.
"I just shut this thing off!" The cook grumbled.
"We've got five minutes left, man…" The dishwasher joined in.
"Calm down boys, I'll go talk to them," Eliana soothed them as she left the kitchen and stepped into the dining room. She spotted the person, sitting with their head down and looking at the menu, wearing a light robe that had a hood to assist in concealing their identity. Great, Eliana thought, some creep or thug who is on the run from the police came in here to get away from them and is going to want a coffee and cause trouble. She nudged the bartender on the way through, motioning for him to keep an eye on them and he waved her off, shaking his head as he went back to drying steins. "I'm sorry to inform you, but if you're hoping for food it's going to be quite the long wait. Can I maybe offer you something to drink instead? We have a pretty good lineup of alcoholic beverages, and the coffee here… actually, maybe just stick to the alcohol."
"I've never really cared much for the food here, but I'll gladly take a chamomile tea," the voice said causing Eliana to take a step back. The person sounded familiar and Eliana sat in the booth across from her, watching the figure remove their hood slowly from their head to reveal Violet. Eliana felt a panic and anger overflow from her veins and spill out of her.
"What are you doing here? Are you insane?" Eliana asked.
"I'm not allowed to come visit my daughter?" Violet asked, sounding hurt.
"That's not what I meant! Irving nearly killed you and Oum knows what else he would have done!" Eliana yelled at her. "It's dangerous for you to be back here since it sounds like only the police force cared much for dad."
"I'm not as weak as you might think that I am Eliana," Violet noted. "Besides, I called in a favor from a few friends because nothing was going to keep me from seeing you on your eighteenth birthday, or have you forgotten that was today?" Eliana looked to the door, noting that there were several cops waiting outside for her mother. "There are more out back just in case."
"I've been crazy busy," Eliana sighed. "I guess it hadn't crossed my mind that today is my birthday."
"Have any wishes to make?" Violet asked. Eliana stared out the window.
"I can think of one in particular," Eliana mumbled.
"You can always come back, Eliana," Violet insisted. "You're the only one keeping yourself away."
"I don't want to talk about coming back, mom," Eliana debated as she stood.
"Then tell me what happened at the very least," Violet pleaded. "You left so quickly after they released you, I don't know what happened on your end."
"Athena made it very clear that they were going to hurt you if I didn't bring Shadow to her," Eliana explained sitting back down. "So I devised a plan to kidnap her and swap her out with a double before I'd come and rescue you that night. Things were going far too well, and Neela is the one that caught me trying to take Shadow, in that Oum forsaken White Fang mask."
"Sounds like Neela had just as rough of a go at it," Violet offered. Eliana put her head in her hands.
"You think I don't know that?" Eliana asked, refusing to cry. She looked back up at her mother. "Then they locked me up and Irving found me on the day of the attack and would have had his way with me if Neela hadn't shown up."
"I always knew she was meant to save you in more ways than one," Violet whispered to herself. "Nothing else happened?"
"Not that I recall…" Eliana trailed off wondering what her mother was getting at as she shifted in the booth.
"Blake and Yang told me that Neela told you something while you were under the tower," Violet reminded her.
"Why?" Eliana asked, staring at her mother now. "Why did she choose to tell me then of all times?"
"You'd be surprised, but she wanted to tell you for quite some time, but never knew how to put it into words and was afraid that she was going to lose you if she did. None of us could tell if you felt the same about her or not. I'm guessing after you 'betrayed' her trust, she did it in a last-ditch effort to keep you," Violet explained. And then you left her.
"I need to sort things out," Eliana told her mother. "I don't deserve forgiveness from Neela or myself, especially when I'm not even the kind of person that dad would be proud of."
"Elli!" Violet replied sternly and took her daughter off guard. "You cannot base whether or not you deserve someone's forgiveness off of what someone else thinks about the situation, especially your father. He would be proud of you as long as you made the decision that you felt was the correct one to make at the time. You need to decide if you think you deserve that forgiveness. It was a tough choice, things aren't always black and white, your father knew that better than anyone else. Your father and I spent endless nights up late, discussing the best course of action for him to take. You did the best you could with the time you were given."
"I know… I just… wish I had done it differently…" Eliana told her.
"You can't regret something you couldn't have changed," Violet explained. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair.
"Are you going to try and convince me to come back and fix things with Neela?" Eliana pondered. Violet shook her head.
"No, I'm not. You're a grown woman now and your decisions are yours to make. All I ask is that you don't rip yourself apart with guilt, and be happy no matter what you choose to do. You're all I have left, Eliana, and I want to see that girl I raised become the hero she always dreamed of being," Violet informed her. Eliana hugged her mother before returning to the kitchen, on the verge of tears. It's not that easy, Mom. I can't forgive myself for what I've done.
Next week, The Final Chapter of Year One! Chapter 142 - Learning to Cope
A big thank you to AG_Nonsuch, Helihi, Cadhla182, Carlomontie, Nliast, Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. The artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
Until next week, stay safe, stay healthy, and stay classy!