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Coco's Rematch
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"Hairpin Trigger Complex."
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Yang and Neo peered readily at their opponents. Their shoulders squared, resting on the balls of their feet. Their breaths and heartrates synchronized as one.
On the opposite end, Weiss prepared for the coming fight, but her partner was nowhere resembling. Blake shook with an apparent tremor that all but communicated her hesitation.
The situation was far from ideal Weiss assessed. Because of this, she decided to take the initiative, and at the same time, force her partner into the correct mindset.
"Blake!"
Weiss cast a Time Dilation Glyph beneath her. Ephemeral clock hands appeared on the floor, swinging in fast forward. Right as Blake was about to receive the Semblance's effects, something unexpected happened.
The sound of glass could be heard shattering, and suddenly, Yang appeared before them. The full weight of her body following behind her punch.
On impact, Yang's fist fell through nothing but air. Blake's shadow blurred from existence. The original only appearing further back. But the result was fine with Yang.
The girl snickered as she received the hasting effects of the Glyph instead.
Weiss badgered herself for the miscalculation. Yang was their former teammate and obviously knew their combinations and attack patterns. It was just the beginning of the fight and they were already on the backfoot.
Myrtenaster's revolver rotated its cartridge and Weiss threw a heavy stab, blazed with red Dust. In the same moment, Yang pivoted her feet to throw a straight right. Pointed steel met knuckled alloy, and a great shockwave followed.
The resulting collision sundered the train car in half,
Sending the four combatants flying into the forest below.
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X
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(Meanwhile, in the first train car)
Velvet traded kicks with Mercury. The two darted their legs in and out with rapid speed, like dueling swordsmen. Each vied for the upper hand in the never-ending chain of foot strikes.
"She kicks! You kick! You about to tell me this is going to be a drawn-out match, too?!" Emerald called from the cover of a steel crate. Herself and Coco were trading gunfire, with Coco having pinned her position.
"Nah!" Mercury answered confidently. "This one'll be easy!"
Although Velvet and Mercury's speeds were nearly the same, a significant difference lied elsewhere. Mercury's kicks possessed the greater force. And as the lightning fast exchange went on, victory tipped closer and closer in the young man's favor.
And then, it happened.
One of Mercury's strikes blew past Velvet's guard, hard enough to knock her momentarily off-balance. Right before he moved in for the follow up, a stream of bullets drew a line between them, causing him to back off and retreat to safety.
Mercury bumped shoulders with Emerald behind cover.
"Now who's not holding up their end of the fight?" he complained. "You're not planning to keep your secret weapon a secret this time, are you?"
"Of course, not! She has an idea what my Semblance does! You know it's harder for it to work on people who know about it."
"Should we switch up marks?"
"Nah, you've got the bunny's number. Just take her down already. Then we can double up on miss trigger finger."
Velvet's long ears twitched, as she relayed the conversation to Coco. The mercenary flashed an angry grin.
"Those punks are underestimating you a bit, Vel. Why don't you show 'em what you got!"
The rain of bullets stopped and Velvet dashed forward. Halfway down the car, she activated the Semblance she kept under close secret. The digitized image of Ruby's scythe materialized in her hands. A trail of cubic rose petals trailed behind, as her speed hit a new gear.
Mercury stared wide-eyed at the approaching Faunus and had to stop himself from laughing.
He hopped over the cover and gathered Aura into the soles of his feet. When he built up enough force, he triggered a concentrated Dust ignition that sent him hurtling towards his opponent.
Mercury flipped his body for a full-weight dropkick and rotated like a drill for compound effect. Velvet barely managed to swing her scythe by the time they met.
There was no contest.
The scythe's projection splintered into nothing and Velvet had the wind knocked out of her. Mercury's heels sunk deep into her abdominal, taking much of her Aura with it. Her body flew to the other side of the car, near her partner.
"Velvet!" Coco gasped.
The girl coughed hard, but managed to stay conscious.
"I'm fine. Don't worry," she answered, before standing.
Velvet drew two separate photographs and rushed Mercury again. This time, she materialized Nora's hammer in conjunction with Mercury's own boots. With the maul's raw power coupled with her enhanced agility, it made for one of the strongest combinations in her arsenal.
Velvet pulled back the hammer for a full swing, as she triggered her boots to punch her forward like her counterpart had just done.
Mercury ran through the fighter data in his head and showed a familiar sneer.
The two met for another exchange.
Right when Velvet was about to swing her hammer down, Mercury faked the kick head on, and pulled back out of the way. He then, shot his feet into a spinning double roundhouse kick. The first blow deflected the maul's inertia. The second caught Velvet at an angle from a paper-thin blind spot.
It was a picture perfect counter.
Mercury's heel struck Velvet viciously across the head, causing her to roll hard across the floor.
"Your Semblance is copying other people's moves? That's hilarious! It just so happens, I studied how to beat everybody's moves," he gloated. "Mine's copyrighted, by the way. You're not allowed to use it anymore."
"—Don't let up, idiot. Finish her off!" Emerald shouted from behind the steel crate.
"Yeah, yeah. How about an assist, then?!" Mercury shouted back, as he broke into a dash.
"Alright, silly rabbit. Try and copy this."
Velvet was barely on her feet when she saw Mercury rushing towards her. His image shuffled in and out of visibility.
She could sense Emerald's Semblance alter her perception. Whenever she fought it off, Mercury would appear briefly, but only before vanishing again. It was like watching a stuttering movie film.
Just when he was about to deliver the final blow, another stream of bullets ricocheted around him. Coco's cover fire was unrelenting and pushed him back for a second time. And Mercury was forced to retreat behind the steel box once more.
Frustrated, he tore into Emerald.
"You couldn't hallucinate both of them?! That was our chance!"
"I DID! She shouldn't be able to take those shots!" Emerald held her head in pain. The aftereffects of splitting her Semblance's targets was apparent. "The hallucination should've went through! There wasn't any resistance either, so unless she's just blindly—…?!"
"What?"
Emerald peeked over the top and fired a few rounds at Coco. As if to confirm her suspicions, the gunsman didn't react to the shots. Instead, Velvet deflected the bullets with a projected copy of Jaune's shield.
"Didn't anyone ever tell you it's dangerous to shoot with your eyes closed?!" Emerald yelled.
"Sorry~ My eyes aren't closed, though!" Coco shouted back. "But these new shades block my vision if I change the setting! Had to get new ones after you broke the last pair! Ya' like?!"
"I hate her so much…"
Emerald and Mercury recounted the data on one of Coco's teammates, Fox Alistair. The person in question was blind and extremely proficient in Aura Sense. In addition to acting like sonar, it also allowed him to detect the Aura of others in place of his sight. It wouldn't be farfetched to assume he taught his leader a thing or two.
"You can't deep hack her brain?" Mercury suggested.
"She'll shake it off. Knows too much about my Semblance. Only surface hallucinations work."
"You can still warp the Faunus."
But before they could formulate a new plan, Velvet materialized Coco's Gatling Gun. The two then, unloaded a simultaneous barrage heavy enough to carpet Emerald and Mercury's position. To make matters worse, the spray of bullets was chewing away at the steel crate. It wouldn't be long before the bullets penetrated through.
"Great, so what do we do now?!" Mercury shouted over the gunfire, while plugging his ears.
"I'm so over dealing with this. Time to bail."
"What?!"
Without further explanation, Emerald cut a hole into the floor she was sitting on, and started to lower herself through.
"Oh! Okay!"
Mercury climbed down after her.
"Geez. How is rabbit ears not deaf yet?"
The two spider-climbed upside-down the undercarriage until they reached a break between the cars. After pulling themselves up, they entered one of the train's cargo units, where they found Junior's thugs all armed to the teeth.
Emerald pitched her thumb behind her.
"Two hostiles in front. They're trying to take out the engine. Take care of them, will ya?"
The thugs looked at each other for a moment, before filing out of the room. Emerald and Mercury walked past, making their way to the back.
"They're going to get creamed," Mercury remarked.
"That's what cannon fodder's for."
"So, what's the plan?"
"Regroup with Yang and Neo. Fight our battles 4v2. Or—"
They could feel the train lurch and slow down. The engines were most likely sabotaged.
"Well, that happened sooner than I thought. Don't know what I expected from Junior's guys."
"Bargain bin gangsters. Never worth the coin," Mercury shook his head.
"Might have worked in our favor."
Emerald stared out into the open air of the last train car. In the distant forest, she could hear explosions from their teammates' fights.
She held her hand out to Mercury.
"What?" he wondered.
"You owe me a hundred lien."
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X
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After incapacitating Junior's crew, Coco and Velvet shut off the train's engine.
Once they finished securing everything, the pair set off after Emerald and Mercury, entering the forests below. They surmised the enemy would regroup with whoever was currently engaging Weiss and Blake. Then, they would overwhelm their allies with simple numbers.
Coco spat at the underhanded tactics. More so out of annoyance and possible loss of their paying client than anything else.
The two traversed the woods with mixed urgency and caution. Velvet honed her hearing to track their enemy's movements. It allowed them to run near full speed, while maintaining a safe distance.
Seeing as they always knew where Emerald and Mercury were, Coco turned off her sight blockers. Quick teachings from Fox could only do so much.
The gunsman could detect shapes and rough outlines, which was useful for spraying bullets and tracking behind cover. Otherwise, Coco was very much blind when she reduced her vision.
There was still the troublesome fact that Velvet remained vulnerable to hallucinations. Therefore, they agreed beforehand that wherever Coco fired, Velvet would concentrate her fire as well. This tactic would allow her to perform defensive maneuvers, while the gunsman guided their aim.
With their combined abilities, they formed the virtual workaround of Emerald's Semblance.
"How far are they now?" Coco asked.
"Not too far. We're still within range, but they're closing on Weiss and Blake."
"Alright. We'll speed up and hit 'em from behind right before they reach moneybags."
Velvet nodded and perked up her ears, double-checking the enemy's location.
The change was instant.
Suddenly, Velvet lost track of their quarry. In its place, a sound akin to nails on a chalkboard pierced her ears.
Emerald postured behind a tree, and activated her trap.
All around Coco, chains from Emerald's weapon whipped up from the ground. The metal links circled their prey with a high pitch ring. At its ends, the jade-green sickles sliced Coco up like a meat grinder. Her Aura shredded in an instant.
Velvet panicked at seeing Coco fall. In the window she lost her composure, Mercury dropped down from the treetops. Midway through his descent, he kicked the air for added acceleration.
Plummeting towards Velvet like a silver meteor, Mercury's heel landed with the full gravity of the world on the girl's shoulder. Velvet's Aura dropped to nothing on impact.
The battle was over in a second.
Emerald and Mercury stood over their unconscious enemies. Victorious.
"Thought your eyes were the only things I could hallucinate?" Emerald sneered.
Warping people's minds was difficult for Emerald, if her targets were wary of her Semblance. Especially if they detected inconsistencies in their perception. But in this case, Emerald never effected Velvet's sight.
She manipulated Velvet's hearing, where the hallucination was harder to notice.
So they simply laid their trap, while feeding the rabbit Faunus false locations. And with their opponents' guards down, falling so deep into their ambush—the result was inevitable.
Emerald bent down to snatch Coco's sunglasses. Putting them on, she turned to Mercury.
"How they look?"
"Eh," he tilted his hand in an iffy motion.
"What do you know about fashion anyway."
"So, what do we do with them?"
They both stared at the unconscious pair.
"…Leave 'em," Emerald said, after a while.
"They'll come after us again."
"Then, don't. I'm not your mom."
"You getting cold feet about icing them?"
"I'm the thief." Emerald tilted the sunglasses down. "You're the assassin by family practice. You wanna off 'em? Go right ahead. I'm not stopping you."
The young woman started to walk away.
When Emerald was out of sight, Mercury hovered his boot over Velvet's head—then over Coco's. He grunted to himself.
No reason to keep you alive. All the reason to kill you…
In the back of his mind, something gnawed at him. The words of a certain someone drifted in like whispers in his ear.
"—You kill only who I tell you to kill."
"Hmph," the young man scoffed. "Whatever you say, boss."
Mercury bent down and snatched up Coco's beret.
"Always wanted one of these. Now, if I can just find a mirror…"
He followed after Emerald, glancing back once.
So much for your rematch.
Looks like you're 0 for 2.