A lot of you figured it out, but for those who don't understand the reference, Lord Sir Virulet the 13th is inspired by the rouge AI Omega/O'Malley from Rooster Teeth's other series Red VS Blue.
Following the tradition of RWBY characters being named after colors, his name is a merging of Violet + Virus + Violent. The color comes from the shade of armor his host Doc wore in RvB, of course.
I originally didn't want to introduce a character that wasn't originally from the RWBY canon, but then again this was always meant to be an unpredictable story. The best kinds of twists are the ones I myself don't even see coming, IMO.
Apologies for the longer author's note this time, but I just felt the need to explain my justification for introducing Virulet. I hope you all come to enjoy the antics he brings to the table, and I hope you all enjoy this chapter too!
Day 19/30
"So, how's it feel to be a celebrity Velvet?" Coco Adel asked her teammate from her end of the webcam. Velvet laughed at her claim, waving it off as Yatsuhashi and Fox struggled to fit into the shot behind their team leader.
"Oh, it's nothing like that at all!" Velvet waved her off, leaning forward on the couch to pick up her cup of coffee, "Everyone here is pretty much the same as they were at Beacon. Just because I'm on the Internet doesn't mean I'm famous!"
"Still more famous than us right now, so I beg to differ…" Coco shrugged. She slid her chair back to let Yatsuhashi ask questions.
"We noticed you slept on that couch last night. Are you not planning to share a room with anyone?"
"Oh, heavens no! Four people is already enough for one room. Since they were told I'd be staying on such short notice, I insisted to sleep out here. I just don't want to be a bother, that's all."
"I see your kindness hasn't dwindled," Yatsu smiled, noticing someone enter the room behind her with a pile of blankets in his hands, "Wait a minute… Isn't that Him?"
"Huh?" Velvet turned around to see the Lieutenant drop her sheets on the floor, then wave at the figures on her laptop screen, "Oh, thank you for bringing those down for me!"
"No problem-o!"
Seeing the fabulous big guy, Coco shoved Yatsu out of the way to get a better look. "Holy shit! That is Him!"
"Who are these people?" the Lieutenant asked Velvet, "Is this one of those cam sites? Should I take my pants off?"
"No, no!" Velvet quickly assured him, "This is my team from back at Beacon. They just wanted to check up on me, that's all. They watch the live feed of you guys online, and they're big fans of you in particular."
"Really? Huh. Guess Ruby's uncle was right about the whole popular thing then." The Lieutenant took sight of one of her teammates, and felt a strange feeling of familiarity come over him. "Hey, you. In the back. Tall, dark and handsome."
"…Me?" Yatsu said, pointing at himself for clarification.
"Yeah, you. Do I know you from somewhere?"
"I… I don't think so."
"You sure?"
"I'm quite sure. I've never met a member of the White Fang in my life, let alone have a conversation with one."
"Ah. Well… Okay then. I'll be back, Velvet. Gotta grab you a spare pillow, then you should be all set down here."
"Thank you!" Velvet said as the big guy headed upstairs, "I better start making my bed then. You guys mailed my belongings out already, right?"
"Of course," Coco nodded, tipping her shades down, "We wouldn't want you to walk around naked there… Unless you want to ~!"
"Oh, stop that Coco!" Velvet huffed in embarrassment, to which her team leader laughed.
"Just messin' with ya, Velvet! Take care of yourself, and know were here for you if you get lonely."
"And let us know if you need any sort of help," Yatsu added, with Fox giving a thumbs up in support, "We'll be there in an instant to bail you out of trouble if it comes to that"."
"Sounds good," the rabbit saluted her teammates, "See you guys in eleven days!"
Shutting down her camera, Velvet stood up to grab her sheets. She was completely unaware of the strange distortion of violet pixels on her screen, having traveled across the inner workings of the web to reach this particular exit point to the penthouse. The AI's form literally stepped out of the screen, its human shape darting behind the laptop's screen when Velvet turned around to escape detection. The moment her back was to him again, Virulet made a break for it.
"Blast this simplistic form!" the AI cursed, watching as his body began to dissolve around him, "Why must I rely on an inferior host body to keep form! I shall damn that vile wench for designing me with this fault! Perhaps bathing her in acid will- Ah, there we go!"
Spotting a suitable mechanical object to possess, Virulet phased into the Roomba carelessly left in the middle of the lounge. A purple glint shined from it for a brief second as the AI made his way into its circuitry to take control.
"Mwah-ha-ha! Success!" Virulet shouted, unaware that his voice was projecting from the Roomba as loud as a normal person's might. His raspy cheer caught Velvet's ears, and she looked for its source.
"Hello?" she asked aloud, confused by the sudden voice from nowhere, "Anyone here?" The rabbit soon spotted the possessed Roomba, slowly moving away as it searched for its prime target. "Now what's this doing out here?"
"No, no!" Virulet whispered as Velvet picked him up, "Put me down this instant, you sorry excuse for an Easter Faunus! I will eviscerate you and watch as you- No, not in the closet! Not in the clos-
His ramblings were cut off by Velvet shutting the door on him, humming to herself as she went back to work. Unable to exit the robotic sweeper in fear of dissolving away without a host, Virulet decided to damn the entire world to a fiery oblivion until someone came to remove him from this mothball scented prison.
In life, we all have things we regret doing. Maybe it was not asking out that one girl you had a crush on in high school, or not buying something one day then going back to see it gone on another, or even filming a video that you post online and immediately regret doing so.
Sun Wukong fell into the latter scenario.
It was a silly thing, really. He and the rest of his team had a crazy idea one night to film it, but Sun had to be a smartass and upload it to against Neptune's begging. Only when he realized just how cringy the video was did Sun start an online purge, eliminating the video and all links to it ever created.
But there is one fact to be known: if it goes on the Internet, it never goes away. Someone was bound to find it eventually.
Today, someone did.
"What's this?" Blake asked herself as she spotted a video entitled 'Bye-Bye-Bye' tagged in her search results for Sun Wukong online. To clarify, it was never her idea to look him up online; blame Yang for that. The two of them had been discussing the monkey, and the blonde was trying her best to make Blake confess her true feelings towards him. When she said she didn't want a personal relationship due to the trouble she had with Adam before, Yang urged (forced) her to search Sun's name online to prove Blake's fear wrong that there was a second side to him that she didn't know about, as was the case with Taurus.
Apparently Sun did have a second side to him: a hilarious one, at that.
"Oh, my God…" Blake breathed as a huge stupid grin spread across her face, watching the video showcasing the entirety of Team SSSN dressed in boyband-esque outfits with Sun front and center.
"Remember guys," the recording of Sun instructed, "Its left-left-right-left, not left-right-left-left."
"Tell that to Neptune," Scarlet followed, "I'm not the one with two left feet."
"Doing the best I can over here!" Neptune snapped back.
"Can we just get this over with?" Sage asked, "These pants are really tight."
"Yeah, yeah," Sun said, putting a fedora on his head, "And a one, and a two, and a-
"WHERE DID YOU FIND THAT?!"
"AH!" Blake nearly threw her scroll across the room at the sound of the real Sun's voice, scrambling to hide it as he approached, "I, uh… I just kind of stumbled on it..."
"Dang! I thought I got rid of every copy!" Sun pinched his brow, frustrated that she of all people was the one to discover his shameful secret.
"…So you're into boybands, huh?"
"We were bored, okay!" Sun defended, "And I was the only one who knew how to choreograph something like that."
"Seemed pretty enthusiastic about the whole thing."
"Blame Scarlet for that," the monkey sat down beside Blake on her bed, "If he didn't have the costumes we probably wouldn't have done it in the first place."
"Probably wouldn't have?"
"Okay, maybe we were going to do it anyways. Thought it'd get us some girls, but wasn't long before we realized we'd get laughed at instead."
"Yeah, I guess."
The two sat there quietly, the audio still emitting from Blake's scroll. Blake clutched the sheet beneath her, feeling the need to say something bold. If she said it though, it might just take her on a path she wasn't sure she was ready to take again. Maybe she should just run the other way like all the times before, avoid the pain and the trouble…
But then she realized there wasn't any of that in sight. This video had shown her otherwise. All that lie before her was someone that understood her and cared about her ever since they became friends.
There was no reason to run away this time.
"…I thought it was cute."
"Huh?" Sun looked at her, astonished. This couldn't be Blake talking. Had to be a clone or something.
"Your dance thing… It was dorky, but it was cute too. And I guess… that's what I… like… about you."
"…Who are you, and what have you done with the real Blake?" Sun smiled softly as the cat pulled off her bow, her ears curled down in embarrassment, "What're you so nervous about? It's just me."
"That's just it... I don't know how things will go. When it was with Adam, I felt this same way, but then things went horribly wrong… I don't want that to happen again."
"I would never hurt you, Blake," Sun put his hand on hers, scooting closer to touch his shoulder to hers, "Why would you ever think I'd do that?"
"He said the same thing to me!" Blake cried out, "I can't help how I feel about things like this when the only relationship I had was with someone who hurt me! How do I know you won't change like he did?"
"Because I'll make sure of it."
"Wha-?" Blake and Sun's eyes widened at the person leaning in the doorway. "Adam?!"
"I've been contemplating something recently…" the leader of the White Fang said, looking at the floor. It was clear that he was struggling with his words; rarely did he have to speak this way to anyone, let alone Blake. He gritted his teeth, forcing out what he had to say. If he wanted to truly be powerful, if what Ruby Rose had said to him the other day was true, then he had to admit defeat as a man if he wanted to discover that original side of him buried away underneath years of violence and ruthless aggression.
"You're still mine, Blake. I will always tell myself that. But there comes a day when a man has to… let go of something they hold dear to themselves. All I want, my darling, is you. But clearly… it is not a mutual feeling anymore."
Adam turned his back on the two, a strange feeling in his gut. These next words were the ones he dreaded the most.
"…So I will tell you this. I will do whatever I must for you to be happy. And if me not being a part of your life means exactly that… then so be it. Wukong. I wish to switch rooms with you, if possible. If your roommates do not wish to share a space with me, then it shall be given to the newcomer. I'll be back for my stuff later."
Taurus took a step to leave, but froze at the sound of two words:
"Thank you."
He didn't look back at Blake's face, the one he had dreamed of at night for so long, one he knew not why he caused so much pain for years. There was only one thing he could say.
"Don't thank me. Thank this house."
And with that, he was gone. Blake and Sun looked at that doorway for what felt like an hour, putting together the miracle they had witnessed.
"So… that just happened," Sun said, ruining the somber moment, "What now?"
"I don't know," Blake answered softly, her hand turning up and entwining her fingers in his, "But I just got really tired all of a sudden…. Maybe we could talk about things later?"
"Yeah, I guess I can wait," Sun sighed. He got ready to stand but Blake's grip told him otherwise.
"I was hoping… you'd be a little tired too…"
"Oh… Well, now that you mention it," the monkey faked a yawn, laying back on the bed, "A nap doesn't sound too bad right now."
Laying back beside him, Blake placed her head on his chest, his heartbeat so close to her face. She closed her eyes as he did and snuggled up close, feeling a burden that hovered over her for what felt like a lifetime just float away, like a dream she never thought would come true…
"Hey, Blake."
"Yes?"
"Do you hear some buzzing outside the window? Like, really angry buzzing?"
"Probably just a bee's nest. We'll have Yang deal with that later. Ruby says she loves fighting those things."
Two long hours had passed, and Adam had settled into his new room with Jaune, Pyrrha, and Merc. At first, the three were reluctant to have him take Sun's place, but when Jaune and Pyrrha realized how long they had put up with Merc for (a point the 5-star man wasn't too happy to hear), they decided there was no harm in giving him a place to sleep. Even though the Lieutenant begged him not to leave the bunkbed above his, Adam ordered him to accept it. He was still his commanding officer, after all.
Now, he sat alone in the room, the others all out doing their own things he could care less about. There was a more important matter on his mind.
Adam gazed at his laptop screen, finally logging into a website after attempting to put in the password sixteen times (damn caps lock was on, of course!). He never thought he'd be checking this site on his own free will, but it was only out of curiosity. Definitely not because he felt lonely. That'd be ridiculous.
"Two messages?" Adam muttered in shock. One was from 15 days ago, sent by a Sexy_Chainsaw#069.
Yeah, not going to click on that one.
The other, however, was only a day old. "…ImTheRedOne2by2?"
Adam opened up the message, instantly seeing a profile picture of the sender and a line of text. "Hi there," Adam read aloud, "We have some things in common, and I thought that mask of yours was cute. Want to hook up?"
He read it again, and looked at her image. Black hair, red and black clothes, quite the edgy look to her… He would lie if he said she wasn't the least bit attractive. Plus those claws of hers must mean she was a Wolverine-breed of Faunus. Those kind were savage fighters, just how he liked them. The respond button beckoned to him, and he couldn't help but fulfill his curiosity.
"Greetings. My name is Adam Taurus, and not this ridiculous username you see on my profile. Contact me in at least 24 hours if you want to speak with me… And send."
He hit respond, not realizing he had actually typed 'and send' in his message. Folding his arms, Adam sat back and prepared to wait hours for her to-
*BING!*
"That was fast," Adam said, opening the new message, "LOL you're funnier than you look. What do you do other than clubbing?"
Adam stroked his chin, thinking. If he responded back, he may actually have to keep contact with this individual, perhaps even having to meet them in person one day…
Ah, what the hell. Now that he didn't have Blake, he didn't have anything else to do.
"I shall answer you then," Adam spoke as he typed, "I wage revolutions as a shadow of the night…"