Chapter 15: Tick Tock, Feed the Croc.
Roman went flying out the window and landed on the street with a thud. Tock leapt out after him, as a loud ticking noise filled the air, and he noticed her flash a pale yellow colour for a second.
Roman got back up to his feet as Tock came towards him, and he was able to narrowly dodge her first strike, blocking her second, and being pushed back on the third. He noticed Trifa and Ilia fighting out of the corner of his eye, but he couldn't focus on that right now. He swung his cane like a golf club, a hard blow to the temple that should have done some serious damage, but instead bounced off harmlessly, like the golf ball had just hit a wall and bounced right off. He took note of the fact she shimmered that pale yellow colour again when he hit her.
Darn, is that her semblance or something?
Tough skin? Invincibility? There were a few options. Tock spun on her back foot and attempted to roundhouse kick him in the chest, but he was able of bring up the handle of Melodic Cugel to counter it. That damn ticking noise was really beginning to infuriate him.
He tried to smack her again, but once again, no damage was inflicted, and she tanked his shot, head butting him in the chest in response, staggering him, before she planted a boot in his face, knocking him back.
They eyed each other up for a spilt second, that ticking was still going. Then, a sudden thought struck Roman.
What if that stopwatch is connected to her semblance? Maybe it only lasts for a minute?
It was a sudden thought, and probably a foolish one. But with no clear way of hurting this insane crocodile lady, it was his only real option. Turning around, he began to make a run across the nearby road. Nobody had seemed to realise that there was a fight going on somehow. Sprinting straight out on the road, he nearly got ran over by a passing car, but was able to vault over it and continued to run. Tock was right behind him, as a loud car horn told him as she leapt over it. He ran down the path, avoiding a few people who were walking along.
"Hey, watch it-Oof!" Tock was not so kind, simply deciding to run through the people and not around them, knocking several poor innocent bystanders over.
She leaped up into the air and came spiralling down, and he was barely able to roll to the side and fire a shot from his cane and keep on running. His shot had left a huge hole in the pavement, and Tock came charging through the plume of smoke it had kicked up. Looking up at one of the rooftops, Roman caught the flash of Ilia's whip and the sound of guns being fired.
Do What We Do Best
"Stop holding back!" Ilia's whip came crashing down, forcing Trifa to jump back. "Fight me already!"
"Ilia, please, stop-" Her whip wrapped itself around Trifa's arm, pulling her down to the ground. She hadn't even pulled out her daggers that had been made for her yet.
Why is Ilia so angry?!
She had never been like this towards her in the White Fang, never. Ilia had always been rather quiet, but determined to achieve the equality they deserved.
"Ilia, I'm not going to fight you! Just-" She was kicked off the top of the rooftop they were on, but she managed to grab onto a window and swing herself up onto it. Ilia glared down at her.
"You left me all alone!" She leapt off the top of the building, and came crashing into Trifa, knocking both of them down to the ground in a tangle of limbs. Disentangling herself from Ilia, Trifa stood back up.
"Why are you doing this? Don't you realise Adam has corrupted the White Fang?"
"You bloody idiot! Adam has changed, thanks to you and Blake leaving! He's becoming more blood thirsty, more vengeful than he was before!"
"Wasn't he always like that?!" She ducked underneath a whip shot.
"He's taken over the White Fang! He's shaping it, melding it into his own! I'm worried he's going to lead it into ruin!"
"Well, why are we fighting? I could help you take it back!"
"If you truly cared about the White Fang, you would have never left in the first place!" She blasted Trifa in the head with a roundhouse kick, knocking her to the floor once again.
"Ilia-" Ilia cracked her whip against her side.
"You and Blake were two of my best friends and you both left me!"
"We had our reasons! Ilia, please-" She was kicked over onto her back. Ilia leaned over her and raised her whip high, only to be blasted back.
"Stop running like a little coward!"
"No chance Miss Crocodile!" Roman had shot Ilia while continuing to try and wear Tock's semblance down. His constant running was beginning to infuriate Tock.
"Come back-" While sprinting across the road once again, a car had came flying down and rammed into Tock, sending her into the window of a nearby shop, going through it with a almighty crash.
Ilia was getting back up to her feet, and Roman turned around to face her, countering a whip smack.
Trifa raced over to help him, jumping up into the air and blasting Ilia in the face with a kick, sending her staggering, before Roman brought his cane back and swung as hard as he could, but Ilia ducked and wrapped her whip around his legs, bringing Roman to the ground. Trifa grabbed the tail end of Ilia's whip and yanked it forward, bringing Ilia straight into the path of a knee to the gut. Roman quickly hooked his cane around her whip, and dragged it towards him, sending the whip out of her hands and to the side. Ilia tried to make a run for it, and Roman sent out the grappling hook of his cane, grabbing her by her neck, and she went down, desperately clawing at the hook around her throat.
Tock suddenly came out of nowhere, striking Trifa hard in the jaw, and spun her around, driving the hilt of one of her swords into her gut. Trifa was sent sprawling back, and was barely able to bring up her daggers to defend herself as Tock slammed into her. Roman came up behind Tock with a swing, but it missed wildly, and he payed dearly for it, receiving a barrage of strikes to the head and body. Ilia had retrieved her whip and wrapped it round his neck, snapping it back, and if hadn't been for Romans' aura, his neck would probably have been broken. Tock smashed him in the face with the hilt of her sword, and came up high with a kick, which connected. Roman was knocked into the path of a passing car, which crashed into him, and he was left lying on the nearby pathway, motionless and unmoving.
"Roman!" Trifa turned to look at him for a spilt second, and that was the final nail in the coffin. Ilia grabbed her by the back of her neck, and threw her into Tock, who brought her fist down, and uppercutted her in the jaw, which sent her sailing back into Ilia, who planted her boot in her stomach, and she smashed into a nearby building with a thud. Tock came racing over to her and rammed her with her shoulder, before head butting her in the face, and bringing both her swords back, slashed her arms, which cut through her jacket and left a trickle of blood along her arm.
Trifa looked up at Tock's grinning face for a second, before Ilia cracked her whip straight across her face, and it all went black.
Do What Do We Best
About twenty minutes later:
Roman groaned and opened his eyes. He was still lying on the pathway, and several people were gathered around him.
"Is he dead?"
"Should we call the police?"
"Wait, no, look, he's awake!"
Roman looked up at the faces staring down at him. They were young, couldn't be more than teenage age. He sat up and glared at them.
"Would you be so kind and not stare down at a unconscious man?" The group quickly dispersed, still looking at him. He groaned inwardly as he stood up, his back aching.
What happened?
Then he remembered, the fight with those two women, and…
Trifa. Where is she?
He looked all around him, but couldn't see her anywhere. She was just gone. Silently panicking, he took out his scroll. They had exchanged numbers a while back, and he was praying to every god above that she would pick up. He clicked on the call button, and held it up to his ear. The following seconds felt like a century.
Come on, come on, pick up damn it!
But there was nothing. She didn't pick up.
Okay, this is bad.
Where could she be? Did those two women get her? And if so, where did they take her? Were they a part of the White Fang? Some other secret organisation he didn't know about?
No, that's not possible! I'm Roman Freaking Torchwick, I know everything! At least he liked to think so.
Think Roman, think, where could they have taken her?
It was a very likely chance they were a part of the White Fang, and had taken her back to there headquarters. Only problem was, where were there headquarters?
Did Cinder every tell me where they were hiding out, hell, did one of there members tell me where they were hiding out?
Back when he was working with the White Fang, they had set up several warehouses and hideouts, but he had never actually visited there official headquarters, their official base of operations. Mainly because he hadn't been that interested. Now though, he was silently kicking himself for not taking more of a interest in how the White Fang operated. Maybe he would've known then.
Maybe I could have stopped this.
But it was too late now. He was going to have to figure out where she was, and rescue Trifa, or die trying.
Oh boy, I used to really hate Faunus, and here I am deciding I want to go save one.
Had Neo dying softened him up a bit? Is that what it was? Or had he come to the realisation that not all Faunus were a bunch of dirty mutts? Had Trifa made him realise that?
All questions you can think about another day. Right now, you need to figure out where she is and come to her rescue like a white knight in shining armour.
Maybe he could get a radio and play some loud generic hero music while he flew in on a Griffon, crashing through there base and jumping off magnificently, and do a amazing pose-
Whoa, whoa, your getting a bit ahead of yourself here. Calm it down. Let's stick to figuring out where the White Fang are first.
There were loads of people in this town, and one of them were bound to know where the White Fang hid out. All he had to do was look around a little. If he was lucky, Trifa would be saved by the dawn of next day. He did have to act fast though, as he didn't know how the White Fang punished traitors. He would have to hope it wasn't by execution.
Do What We Do Best
Super Roman to the rescue! Well, hopefully. If he can find there headquarters, that is.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!