Chapter 17: Manipulation

"Daddy, why do the humans hate us so much?" Trifa hung on to her father's arm like he was the last thing connecting her to this world. "Did we do something wrong?"

"I don't know sweetie. I really don't know."

"What about Mummy? Is she going to be okay?" Heart attack, that is what is the doctors had said. Her father didn't reply.

The hospital smelled of death, it's white walls looming over the top of her. And with so many humans walking about, she felt extremely vulnerable, especially when the humans would throw a disapproving look at her.

A tall man wearing a hat and his family walked over to where they were sitting. "Move, Faunus." Trifa stared up at him. Her father sighed.

"Come on Trifa, let's go." He said, standing up. But Trifa didn't budge.

"Did you not hear me Spider Girl? Move." The human said.

"Trifa…" Her father's tone held a note of warning in it. But she didn't care.

"What, are you deaf or something you little brat? Good for nothing Faunus! Move it!" He reached out to try and force her off, but she drew back her hand and slapped him in the face as hard as she could. He recoiled back, and stared at Trifa, who had realised that she had made a very big mistake, and was now shielding herself in case he tried to hit her back.

"Alright then little missy, if that's how it's going to be-" Her father came to the rescue, putting himself between his daughter and the man.

"Sir, I apologise for my daughter's behaviour, but please-" The man struck her father, knocking him to the ground.

"Dirty animals! Faunus like you shouldn't even be allowed to come into places like these!" He kicked him. "The very nerve of-"

"Leave my dad alone!"

The man spun around as a web latched itself onto his arm. Trifa didn't have any plan for what she was going to do with said web, it was a action performed in a outbreak of anger. The man stared disgustingly down at it, ripped it off his arm, and keeping a hold of it, yanked it towards him, sending Trifa tumbling to the floor, and she stopped right in front of the man, who punched her in the face.

"Useless! Absolutely useless mutts! Animals who should be our slaves! No wonder your kind gets thrown in dust mines! You will never amount to anything!" His fist came slamming down once again…

Trifa woke up, gasping. She had been crying for so long last night that she must have just fallen asleep from exhaustion. When she looked to the cell door, she noticed that someone was standing there. A certain crocodile Faunus.

"You were crying in your sleep." Tock said. "Bad dream?"

"What do you want? And how long have you been standing there?!"

"About five minutes. See, I've been told that I need to keep an eye on you to make sure you don't try and get out."

Great. Now I have to spend the last few days of my life listening to the Tick Tock Crocodile waffle on.

"You know, you and that Torchwick guy put up one hell of a fight. I must admit, I was kind of impressed."

Trifa turned and looked at Tock. She was standing just outside the cell door, looking in, with that bloody smile on her face. It was pissing Trifa off to no end.

"Look, if your just here to taunt me, then stop wasting your time."

Tock threw her hands out in front of her in a over-exaggerated gesture. "I just complimented you! I just said you put up one hell of a fight! If your going to be all grouchy and moody, well, fine then."

"I think I have a right to be grouchy and moody, considering I'm going to die when Adam gets back."

"So negative. Who knows, he might skip his way in because he's in a really good mood, and decide not to kill you! He might even decide to let you back in to the White Fang! Wouldn't that be great?"

"No" Trifa put her back to the wall and slid down to the floor. "It really wouldn't be great. It would be terrible actually."

"Speaking of which love, why did you leave the White Fang in the first place? You wouldn't be in this situation right now if you hadn't left."

What's the point? I'm going to die anyway, might as well tell her.

"They were becoming far too violent. At one point, I would not have minded that, but it was when we jumped onto a train and began to kill people, and I let a young boy escape because I just didn't have the heart to kill him. Then, my friend Yuma, he decided to try and run away, but the Lieutenant tracked him down and brought him to Adam, who then killed him."

"Sheesh. And I thought I was bad in terms of killing people, but Adam just sounds like a psychopath."

Trifa let out a choked laugh. "You can say that again."

"You know, I'm not really in this for Faunus equality, or to strive for a better world for them, I just think the money's good. Bounty hunter code and all that."

"Wonderful. I don't care."

"Dearie me, so rude. I suppose it's understandable, considering you are going to die in a few days."

"Thanks for reminding me. I just love knowing that I am going to die in a few days."

"And so sarcastic too. You're a bit like me."

"I am nothing like you. I am not a crocodile Faunus, I am a spider Faunus." Trifa began counting it out on her fingers. "You've unlocked your semblance, I haven't. You're a bounty hunter, I'm not. You have a really bad taste in hairstyle, I don't."

"Alright, alright Little Miss I'm So Smart, I get it." Tock rolled her eyes. "You don't need to try and prove that your clever or anything."

Trifa didn't say anything, and began tracing her finger up and down the wall.

"If your really bored, then we could play Tic Tac Toe." Trifa looked at Tock.

"What?"

"There's a couple of stones lying about in there." She motioned to the floor. "And when you scrape a stone against the wall…" She picked one up and scraped it on the wall. "There's a white line that is formed on the wall. See?" There was indeed a white line on the wall. "Now, if you don't want to, that's fine as well. But trust me, I'm as bored as you are. Gives us something both to do."

Playing Tic Tac Toe is not something your supposed to do with your captor. Oh, why not?

"Fine then. How do you plan to get in here?"

"I've been given a key. I can get in there. So long as you promise not to try and knock me out and steal the key. Not that you would get very far if you tried that."

"Alright. I promise."

Why am I doing this?

"Good stuff." Tock unlocked the cell door and stepped in. "So, who is going first?"

Do what we do best

Found you. Roman had managed to find what he thought was a few members of Lil Miss Malachite's crew.

Spider tattoo on there arms? Check. Weird purple clothes? That wasn't on the agenda, but check anyway. They were standing outside a parked van, laughing and talking with one another. Roman had managed to sneak some more lien off a unsuspecting local in case the price for information was a little higher than he anticipated.

"Yeah, so you know what he said to me? He said that-"

Now, how do I do this?

He essentially had two options. He could either politely walk up to them, ask if they could take him there, and see what they said. Threatening them wouldn't earn any popularity points with Lil Miss, but if they refused to take him there, it may very well be necessary.

Alternatively, he could try and sneak into the back of the van when they weren't looking. A much more fun option, but also a higher risk of getting caught.

Guess we're going with the first option then.

He came out from behind the building he was standing behind, and began whistling loudly as he walked over to them. They turned around and looked at him.

"Can we help you with something?"

"Greetings gentlemen. Ladies. I have but a small favour to ask of you."

They shared glances with one another. "What… kind of a favour?"

"Not much. I just need you to take me to Lil Miss Malachite."

They were definitely on edge now. There hands went to the various guns, knives, that they had on them.

Why are they getting so violent? I'm only asking!

"What do you need to speak to her about?" One of them asked.

And now there sticking their noses into my business. Absolutely fantastic.

"Just a little something. I do not mean to be rude, but it really isn't your business."

"Should we take him there?" One of them muttered. Roman inwardly sighed.

I'm I going to have to bribe them? He really didn't want to, but it appeared he may have no choice. Just as he was about to whip out some lien…

"Okay, we'll take you there. But there's no room in the front, you'll have to sit in the back."

"Oh, really? Come on, can't you spare a seat?"

"Sorry, either you sit in the back, or we don't take you there."

"How about I drive? Will that work? Just tell me where it is and I'll drive us there." All of a sudden, he began to get a tingling feeling throughout his entire body. It caught him off guard.

What, what is that? Why I'm I…

"Well, I suppose we could do that. Don't see a problem with it."

But he just said a second ago…

"But didn't you just say…" It appeared the other's were confused as well.

"Alright, we'll do that then. Hop on in."

"Who's going to sit in the back then?"

"I will."

What? Why? Then again, why was he complaining?

"Alright everyone, jump on in." Roman said, climbing into the drivers seat. He looked down at his hand for a moment, and could have sworn he thought it was glowing slightly.

"Okay, so tell me where her place is then?"

"Pull out onto that road there-"

For once in his life, Roman actually listened to the instructions he was being given and didn't just do his own thing. A regrettable sacrifice, but a necessary one if he was going to save Trifa. He was still wondering why he had suddenly managed to convince the guy that it was a good idea for him to drive. And why did he think his hand was glowing slightly?

Was it my semblance? Did I literally just unlock it? Would have been handy to unlock it the thousands of times it could have been useful before this one, but sure, no big deal. What even was his semblance then? Manipulation? The power of "Don't care what you want, do what I want?" One thing was for certain though, it would come in very useful.

The people sitting with him didn't seem to want to have a chat, so they drove on in silence.

Eventually, they told him to stop. When he got out, Roman immediately noticed that there was a symbol of a spider on one of the pillars outside.

"This way." They lead him through a alleyway and into a room. It was your classic gang hideout. There were people sitting, talking, drinking and laughing.

"She's at the front there." The man next to him pointed at a…

Oh dearie me, what species of whale is that? Little Miss? More like Little I like to False Advertise Miss.

The women was quite big, and considering she was currently eating a small ice cream with a spoon, it wasn't hard for Roman to figure out why. He began walking towards her.

Alright then fatso, let's talk.

Do what we do best

Thanks for reading and have a good day!