Chapter 2: First meeting
There is a bit of a timeskip between the Roman/Trifa scene, and the Adam one.
Do what we do best
"Well, Spider Girl, that's certainly one way to make a entrance. What's the occasion?"
"My name's Trifa. Not spider girl."
"I'm aware, but Spider Girl has more of a ring to it, wouldn't you agree? Same as "Perry" and "bull boy, and my personal favourite, "big hulking man with big chainsaw."
"They have names you know."
"Enlighten me then."
"I know Perry's real name is Anthony. No one knows the Lieutenants real name."
"Anthony? Perry sounds better. Same way as spider girl sounds better than Trifa."
"I hate it. Don't call me that."
"Unless you would rather I shorten your name even further and call you Tri or Fa?"
"Just don't give me a nickname."
"Everyone needs a nickname. Mines is Candlewick. My previous sidekick, Neapolitan, she was called N-"
He stopped suddenly, and took a deep breath.
"Never mind that. Anyway, if you plan on sticking around, I need to call you something."
"Trifa."
"But that's so uncreative. How about-"
"I don't want a nickname."
She didn't mind the idea of a nickname. It was just due to his discriminatory nature, she was worried he would pick a really racist one.
"Come on now. I even called my enemy "Red". If you don't want something relating to your Faunus heritage, how about the colour of your hair? How does blue sound?"
"Uh, I hate that even more."
"Well, what do you expect me to do then?"
"I except you to call me Trifa!" She snapped at him.
He raised his hands in defence.
"It's only a nickname, no need to get so mad. Why are you Faunus so sensitive about everything?"
"Decades of being tortured will do that to a race, Candlew-" She stopped herself.
Roman grinned.
"See, you were just about to call me Candlewick, weren't you?"
"Wasn't."
"What is your problem? Why can't I just give you a nickname?"
"Why can't you just call me Trifa?" She shot back.
"I've already told you! It's standard protocol for me to give people a nickname."
He began looking through some of the drawers.
"Pen and paper, pen and paper, aha!"
He found some paper, and took the lid off the pen.
"So spider girl is a no. Blue is a no."
He began thinking.
Trifa was beginning to get annoyed. Was it really so hard just to call someone by their name?
"For the love of everything Roman, why can't you just use my name?"
"You do know I'm not giving up here, don't you? I will call you something other than Trifa."
She sighed. What a waste of time.
"Oh, how about spider women?"
"No."
"Tarantula girl? Wait, aren't spiders and tarantula's the same thing?"
"They come from the same family, although tarantula's are usually bigger."
"Right, thanks for clearing that up. So, yes or no?"
"No."
He began tapping his foot.
"I can't really think of..."
Then he seemed to straighten up a bit.
"I've got it."
"What?"
"Archane."
"Come again?"
"Because, a arachnid is a spider, but we add a e to make the name."
Trifa had to admit, it was pretty catchy. And she was getting tired of this...
"That'll do."
"See, did that hurt anyone?"
She rolled her eyes.
Roman was actually surprising her a bit. No discriminatory comments, no racist remarks, nothing.
Maybe he wasn't so bad.
"So then, why did you follow me exactly?"
"I needed to get away. From the White Fang. I'm sure you heard about what happened to Yuma."
"A shame, he was actually one of the more competent members of the White Fang."
She stiffened a bit.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"The White Fang are certainly not the best workforce I've ever had. I've had worse, Junior is a good example of that. But some of the White Fang are absolute morons. And I promise, that's not me being racist, but surely you must have noticed. I remember at the docks, one of them asked me if the tow cables were leashes. Can you believe it?"
Trifa didn't respond. He sighed.
"Look, I know I'm probably the last person you want to be with. And I know I've called members of the White Fang, some pretty harsh things. But I swear, I'm not that racist. Maybe a bit, but definitely not to the extent of someone like Jacques Schnee. I can just, get a bit frustrated with them sometimes."
Should she believe him? He might be telling the truth.
No one had every reported Roman openly attacking a Faunus.
But then there was Adam. His influence might have scared Roman into not attacking them.
Adam wasn't here though. And Roman hadn't hit her, or ordered the 'dirty animal' out. He was probably treating her the same way he treated all his contacts.
She took a deep breath.
"Alright. I'll believe you. For now."
"Now we'll get along fine."
Trifa stared out the window, and she saw Beacon in the distance, the Wyvern still on the very top, continuing to bring Grimm to Beacon.
Rest assured, we will find you...
That kept playing in her head.
Adam had threatened to come after her, and he usually stayed true to his threats.
She and Roman needed to get out of Vale.
Just when she was considering where they could go, the bullhead lurched to the side.
"Watch where your-"
Then she realised.
There was a flock of Grimm flying after them.
"Now, those are animals!" Roman said. "Hold tight, I'm going to try and lose them!"
The bullhead was brought into a dive, as Roman swerved left and right, trying to throw the Grimm off their tail.
They were persistent though, and refused to let up.
He went in between two buildings, the Grimm still right behind.
"You won't catch me this time, feather faces!"
"LOOK OUT!"
"Oh no!"
He brought it up into a steep climb, barely dodging a house.
They continued to go up, until they were above the clouds.
"Did we finally lose-"
Two Griffons and a Nevermore came into sight.
Unfortunately, the Grimm seemed to be faster than the bullhead.
The Nevermore shed it's feathers, sending them flying into the top of the bullhead.
The two Griffons smashed into the side of it, sending it to the right.
The Nevermore dove into the top of it, pushing it down.
"Trifa, can you-"
He was cut off by a alarm sounding.
She didn't have her knife, so she wasn't going to be much help.
She could still try though.
"Roman, can I borrow your cane?"
"No chance! If you need a weapon, take this!"
He threw a knife to her.
She jumped onto the roof, and opened the hatch.
Climbing onto the top of the bullhead, she shot a web over to one of the Griffons, latching onto it's face, and she jumped off and swung over it to it.
Landing on it's face, she stabbed the knife into it's necks, and it writhed about in pain.
Jumping onto it's back, she continued to stab it, until she leapt off and swung to the next one.
Repeating the process, she eventually made her way to the Nevermore.
It seemed ready for her though, and it ripped her web in half, sending her falling back onto the bullhead.
"Mayday! We're going down!" She heard Roman shout.
She was able to slip back into the bullhead, hoping that the exterior would provide some protection.
That proved futile, as the bullhead went down nose first, causing them both to go flying out the window that Trifa had broken, and out into the open sky.
They were both skydiving now.
But neither of them were screaming, for most people, this was a near death experience, but for Roman and Trifa, a crime lord and a ex-member of a terrorist organisation, this was a Tuesday.
Trifa pulled Roman over to her with her webs, and they both held on to each other as they spiralled through the air.
They seemed to be heading for the top of a mountain.
The bullhead had already crashed, creating smoke and fire.
Luckily, they seemed to be a fair distance away from it.
They weren't too far from the ground now. Just as they were about to become a stain on the floor, Trifa slowed their descent by webbing two trees either side of them, but they broke and they continued to fall.
They both hit the floor, gasping for breath.
"That's certainly one way to land." Roman said. "Man, those webs of yours are useful. Spider Faunus are now officially my new favourite type of Faunus."
Trifa held her left arm. She had landed on it pretty hard.
"Ouch." She winced.
"You alright?"
"I've been better."
Roman surveyed their surroundings.
"It would appear we are on the top of a very, very high mountain."
There was a fierce wind up here too.
"How high are we talking here?"
"See for yourself."
She peeked over the edge.
Suffice to say, it was extremely high.
"How do we get down there?"
Do what we do best
Adam was standing with the White Fang, after the Fall of Beacon.
"Sir" The Lieutenant said. "You are aware that our high leader Sienna Khan is not going to be happy? We lost a lot of men to both the student's and the Grimm."
"Sienna Khan has lead our people for many years now. And she has lead them well. However, she does not believe we can win a war against the human's. That is where she is wrong. We can win a war against the human's. We have everything they have and more. She will not be pleased, but I assure you, we are doing what is right for the Faunus. "
He smirked.
"I believe it's time a new high leader took her spot."
"You plan to overthrow her, how?" One his men asked.
"There are already people who believe that I am the true high leader. All we have to do is spread the message a little."
"So, are you going to kill her?"
"Now, why would I do that? She will remain loyal to our cause. The only difference being, I will be the one leading it."
A couple of airships who were taking them back to their base of operations.
"We will depose of the feeble cowards. The traitors of the White Fang will be cut down."
"It's time we got what we deserve."
Do what we do best
Thanks for reading and have a good day!