Chapter 3
With a sigh of relief Yang put the empty glass back down onto the bar table, leaving only the small fancy pink umbrella left inside. She looked at it with her lilac eyes curiously, for a little prop it definitely had detail. The edges were translucent and riddled with thin brown markings. She smirked to herself and looked over to Junior who was just finishing his own drink. He glanced at her through the corner of his eye with a pause before placing his glass back down onto the bar. "So what can I help you with?" he asked in a casual tone. He didn't at all seem to mind her presence, a far better act than that of his men on the dance floor.
Yang reached into a pocket on her jacket, pulling out her scroll. She placed it on the bar and made a few swipes along its surface before sliding it towards Junior. It was a picture of Blake, one she had kept. It featured her with a soft smile, leaning against a wall besides a window. Yang remembered when she had took the picture, it was back in Beacon within their dorm. She looked calm in the picture, much like she always did. "Thought you might know something" said Yang as Junior leaned in to look at the Faunus, examining the picture.
After a few seconds of contemplation he pushed the scroll back towards her, "What happened to the last person you were looking for?" he asked, gesturing for the bartender that was behind the bar somewhere on Yang's right who kept her focus on Junior as they spoke.
"Well, she's not off the search list so anything new you have on her would be cool too. But I wanna know where the Faunus girl is more right now, so got anything or not?" Yang asked, her voice getting a little more serious as the dark brown glove of the bartender handed Junior his second drink. The sleeve of the bartender was pink and white, a very nice combination now that she thought about it before looking back to the man next to her.
Junior brought his beverage to his lips and started consuming it, all of it. He tilted his head back as Yang watched on in silence, waiting for an answer. It almost seemed like he was intentionally dragging it out. After a second or so more he placed the empty glass back down. The bartender took the empty glass back as he turned to face Yang. "Ain't seen her, or the other one. Nothing new, sorry Blondie" he said before looking back over the bar again nonchalantly
"I don't believe you" snapped Yang, narrowing her lilac gaze at Junior who looked back at her with a tired expression, as if he'd seen it all before. "You know something, I know you do. So start spilling the beans before I start breaking bones again" she threatened, offering a smirk afterwards. She picked her scroll back up and placed it into her pocket.
Junior almost seemed to smile at himself as he looked down at Yang. "Or cut them off instead?" he chuckled, shaking his head. Yang was shocked to find out he knew her arm was missing without barely even looking at her during their conversation. It then ticked over in her head that he was probably still aligned with the White Fang through his contacts and had probably heard about her encounter with the bull Faunus at Beacon. But this only confirmed one thing to her.
"So you do know where she is" growled Yang, standing up to her feet with her fist clenched against the bar.
"Calm down Blondie" spoke Junior, raising a hand at her in an almost pleading manner. "Look, I might know something and I see this is a bit of a sore spot for you, so how about I help you out free of charge just this once?" he asked. "Hey, I'll even throw in some ice cream, how does that sound?" he continued as he gestured for the bartender once more.
Yang started to calm down as she glared at the man, steadily sitting back on her seat but not taking her eyes off of him. "What flavour?" she asked cautiously.
Junior gestured back towards the bar, "See for yourself" he answered casually. As Yang turned towards the bar she was greeted with a woman's face, right in front of hers. That lopsided smile. Those mismatched eyes. In shock Yang fell backwards from her chair with a yelp, falling onto her back with a thud. How could she have been so foolish? She knew she'd seen that umbrella in her glass somewhere before. She had been right in front of her this whole time! She watched as Neopolitan stood up onto the bar, glaring down at her with that smirk of hers. This woman had bested Yang before, and that was when she had both arms. Neo pulled out her umbrella from behind her, idly knocking Yang's glass to the floor to dispose of the miniature copy of her weapon. She leaned the umbrella against her shoulder as Junior stood up to his feet, getting some distance from the two. "I hear you two already know each other, don't let me spoil the reunion" he spoke, moving behind the bar.
Yang crawled back at the sight of Neo staring down at her. The flashing lights of the club came to an abrupt halt, as did the music. All of the lights turned to face Yang before each emitted a bright spotlight. She was the centre of attention, everyone knew where she was and behind her the henchman on the dance floor had brandished their weapons. She attempted to stand herself up to her feet but as she knelt Neo had already hopped down from the bar and sent a sharp forward kick right to her face. The force sent Yang sliding back towards the dance floor. The henchmen moved aside as she came at them, effectively surrounding her when she came to a halt, rolling herself backwards and onto her feet. She opened her eyes as they glared red over at Neo behind the crowd, idly walking towards the dance floor with umbrella propped over her shoulder and a sway in her hips. The lackeys seemed to open up and provide her a direct route towards Yang.
The crowd moved back further, giving the two space. The spotlights lit up the entire man-made ring as a voice came through the speakers, it was Junior. "Tonight ladies and gentlemen we have a special event" he spoke before the lights went out, a singular one shining down on Neo as she held a hand against her hip and posed. "We have our very own lady of smoke and mirrors, the beautiful and deadly, Neopolitan!" continued Junior as the lackeys began to cheer and chant "Neo" over and over again. They grew silent as the announcements continued. The light on Neo vanished, only to be placed on Yang who shielded her eyes from it with her one arm. She was confused and didn't like the idea of being surrounded, she wasn't sure who was going to lunge at her first. "And her opponent tonight is the one armed wonder, the burnt-out blondie, Yang Xiao Long!", the crowd started booing at Yang, some even threw trash at her, plastic cups and paper balls.
"Get out of my way!" yelled Yang, knocking a cup from the air as she prepared to move against Neo who still stood as idly as ever in front of her. The spotlights shined down on the entire ring again as the floor came alive with the colours of white and pink. A jazzy song had even kicked in as Yang lunged her fist towards the woman in front of her. With a loud bang the sleeve on her left wrist burst off into ash to reveal Ember beneath it. The fist collided with Neo's face, only to shatter into a thousand pieces as from behind it a heeled boot came thrusting forward into Yang's gut, and then again against her chest before switching legs and striking her in the side of the head. Yang recoiled from the multiple strikes and stumbled against the crowd that harshly pushed her back into the centre of the ring.
After her vision focused she could see Neo swinging her umbrella at her in its closed form. She leaned back just enough to avoid the swipe past her face before moving in to send her fist crashing against her. Neo twirled a step back before aiming her umbrella at the fist and opening it, causing Ember to rebound from it as if it were a metal shield and forcing Yang to stumble back again before the umbrella closed and lunged forward like a spear. She managed to avoid it narrowly as Neo passed just in front of her. She took this opportunity to try and close-line the shorter girl who just seemed to duck under her arm before sending a sharp kick against her left leg. The attack forced Yang to her knee before another kick snapped against her back and sent her against the ground.
Yang groaned as she felt Neo step onto her back with her heels as she gave her usual crooked smile to the crowd with a wave, triumphant atop her foe. Yang was being made a fool of. Her eyes blazed red and she reached back to try and grab Neo's ankle but the small woman was too agile and hopped off her back, briefly stepping on the back of her head and slamming her face against the ground before landing on the dance floor and turning to face her. Yang got to her feet and with a scream of rage she lunged her right foot backwards and into the chest of one the henchmen with a small jump. A loud bang and a flash of fire appeared as she burst forward towards Neo who gave an almost surprised expression before being shattered into a dozen pieces. Yang's hurling fist crashed into another lackey that was behind Neo and with a scream he was sent flying back into the crowd, clearing a path right through them from the force of the impact. Yang collided against the floor and rolled back onto her feet as she faced Neo who had re-appeared behind her.
Celica. The once gauntlet had been refashioned and fitted onto her right ankle, it was wider now and almost touched the floor. Her baggy pants had covered the weapon and she had considered it her ace but she wasn't as experienced with it yet, it had to do if she was going to beat Neo.
It was then that two women appeared from the crowd and stood beside Neo, two people Yang had fought before. One wore a red dress and held two claws, the other a white dress and with bladed boots. This quickly dawned on Yang as a lost match, but before she could turn to run the opening she had made had been filled with lackeys. There was no doubt in her mind that she was about to receive a deadly beat-down. But just then a loud bang sounded at the door leading outside, the music was killed and all the lights came on. Atlas soldiers rushed in, the sound of their boots almost rhythmic as they started aiming rifles down at the crowd. Yang had never been so relieved to see the military.
"Everyone, stand down!" yelled one of the soldiers as they began rushing down the steps, they seemed to be making a b-line towards the centre of the dance floor. As they pushed through the lackeys they all aimed their rifles at Yang, and only Yang ."Yang Xiao Long, you are under arrest" stated one of the officers as they moved behind her with cuffs.
"Wh- What!?" She yelled as her eyes turned back to a lilac shade. "I'm not the one you want, they're the bad guys!" she continued, pointing her finger at Neo and the twins. The officer behind her grabbed her arm and pulled it behind her back, but in silent confusion began pondering how to restrain a woman with one arm.
Another officer stood before Yang, "You have violated the peace of Vale, you will be detained and brought to the station. Any questions you have can wait until then" he said, seeming to ignore her protests completely. With a shove from behind Yang was forced to walk, the soldier behind her had the bright idea to cuff himself to the woman, and seemed pretty smug about his genius.
Yang glared over at Neo as she was escorted from the club. In response Neo shut one eye and made a kissing motion at her, as cocky as ever. This only made Yang glare more in anger, she couldn't understand why Atlas wasn't putting the boot to Junior and his gang.
Eventually she was pushed outside and the cold air hit her, she hadn't realised how much of a sweat she had worked up inside of the club. A military truck was already waiting for her outside, parked with its back door facing the club entrance. "Hey... That's a bit much ain't it?" asked Yang as she was pushed further towards the heavily armoured transport.
"It's for your own safety" mentioned the guard behind her as two more opened the doors to the vehicle. Inside were an additional three guards sitting down. With another shove Yang stepped up into the back of the truck, the guard cuffed to her following her in and slamming the doors behind them shut. After a short while she heard the engine start up with a rumble and felt the vehicle move. There was no doubt that Yang was terribly confused.
As the truck continued its journey Yang slumped back in her seat and began to reflect on the recent events that had occurred. She knew Junior would know something about Blake, he was an information broker and events related to the Battle of Beacon were no doubt a hot topic. He knew about her arm, which meant he knew the bull Faunus, which by extension led to the White Fang and possibly that would be his link to anything Blake-related. She wasn't expecting Neo to be there however. If any resistance were to appear it would be in the form of his lackeys and the twins, perhaps even himself though he rarely seemed to dirty his own hands. She knew he had dealings with Roman Torchwick in the past, which should have clued her in on Neo since those two seemed to be business partners if the train operation under Mountain Glenn was anything to go by. So in hindsight, she should have seen this as a possibility. But no, as usual she had to storm in unthinking like her usual self. She hated that part of herself sometimes.
She was so focused on getting answers, so intent on finding Blake that she had let her awareness be clouded. The search, for a brief moment, had controlled her like she told herself she wouldn't let it do. She couldn't even take her own advice. Perhaps she felt she had something to prove, like she had to regain her standing now that she only had one arm. But who was she trying to prove that to? Junior? She didn't care what he thought of her. She rested her head in her hand as her long flowing hair draped over her face, spending the rest of the truck journey in this almost crestfallen manner.
When the truck stopped she jolted up into a straight seating position, glancing around with tired eyes. A knocking sound came from where the driver's cabin would be within the truck and as a result the guard cuffed to her motioned for her to stand as another two opened the back doors. It was still dark outside as she was guided off the vehicle and escorted towards a tall building. Moving up the few stairs she entered it. Within was a reception area, it was empty save only a person behind the greeting desk who nodded towards the Atlas soldiers as they guided Yang further into the building.
Through a twist of stairs and corridors she was eventually led to a room that was nothing like a jail cell. Behind the door looked more like a hospital room than anything. With its white walls and bed, the window wasn't even barred but it was high enough up in the building that no one sane would simply throw themselves out of it. A click sounded as the guard behind her undid the cuffs. He almost looked sad now that he was free once more, he was the first to leave followed by a few of the other soldiers. One remained behind and spoke to her, "Stay here. Some one needs to see you. And for your concern, no, you're not actually under arrest. But we couldn't exactly walk you out of that club like you were free either" he said. To this Yang was relieved and she nodded to him in thanks, but before she could ask any questions he had turned on his heel and marched out the door, closing it behind himself.
Someone wanted to see her? And it seemed to be someone regarding Atlas. General Ironwood perhaps? To ask questions about her sister? There was much she didn't understand but she decided her search for Blake could continue in the morning, she was extremely tired by now after all. She moved over to the white bed and lay upon it, staring at the ceiling with tired lilac eyes. She was glad her aura took the brunt of all the kicks from Neo, she'd no doubt feel them in the morning if it hadn't. If anything however she was frustrated she hadn't learnt anything about Blake, save only that Junior knew something. And getting near him now was going to be more difficult since he knew she was back in town.
She rolled onto her side as her hair fell over her face once again, gently she shut her eyes as she lulled herself into a deep sleep.