Chapter 6:
The Diva of Destruction
Or
That's a lot of D's
"Only power is real, and the only real power is the power to destroy. Existence is fleeting. Destruction is eternal."
-Cronal on the One Truth, Star Wars.
It is not a general's duty to keep his men alive. It's a general's duty to make sure they didn't die in vain. That was the cost of leadership, and the harsh reality war. The slaughter of countless soldiers, in a military base and research facility was a pre-emptive attack; an absolute act of war. The very idea was terrifying to any kingdom, especially when the exact identity of the enemy is still currently unknown.
That was a status General James Ironwood was not going to tolerate.
Thankfully for him, a single soldier survived this attack. One out of hundreds. One…just one. One less body bag, one less letter to write, one less medal to give, one less family to give grief…
One was enough.
"Who the hell did this?" Ironwood questioned the bass' lone survivor, a kid, obviously fresh out of basic, a rookie. But after what he must have been through, he's not a rookie anymore.
The survivor doesn't look up to answer, preferring to sit on a large piece of rubble, keeping his eyes on his boots. "It-It was t-two…" he barely managed to say, too many horrors to describe.
"Two hundred." Ironwoods estimated, a base this size needed at least that many men.
The poor kid could only shake his head.
The General was feeling a slight chill at the meaning of this. "Two thousand?" a force that large could be a far more dangerous group than he had just anticipated.
The soldier shakes his head again but not without saying an even more terrifying answer to the general's question.
"Two…just two"
Shocked as well as skeptical, Ironwood had to confirm what he'd just heard. "Two men did all this?" out of fear or disbelief, Ironwood needed at least one good reason to believe that far-fetched account.
The solemn soldier continued sadly. "They had help."
"From what?" The general was anxious to know, what was it, what could possibly cause so much pain, so much death, so much…destruction.
"The Alpha-LI." The name was spoken as if synonymous with death itself. He stares at the general right in the eye, his face covering helmet not hindering the act. "…they let her loose."
An hour ago.
The sound of a gloved hand impacting a cheek meat, echoes through the snow filled building.
"Ask!" the sinister sleuth of stupid tittles gets upright before Adam could even say "wake up."
"What happened?" asked Ask in a dizzy top of the head headache, it only takes a second to realize that his question wasn't the one he should ask "Where's the Cyborg Grimm!"
"Killed it." Adam answered immediately. A brief glance behind he faunus insurgent was the confirmation all Ask needed; a Cyborg Grimm's mutilated half organic and robotic body. The organic part was decomposing while its robotic part sparked ever so often from residual electricity.
"Oh…"
Ask tries to stand, and keyword there is stand as he falls back on his smart-ass from light-headedness "What happened?" was his newest unsolved mystery.
Adam could only stare at him, a mix of emotions ranging from the obvious fatigue and relief from defeating a Weaponized Grimm, to disappointment, disbelief, and irritation.
"You jumped too high and hit your head on the ceiling."
Back At Beacon That Exact Same Time.
"No."
"Aww please?"
"What part of no do you not understand?"
"Come on I promised Ren that I'd double date with him and Nora so he won't feel too awkward with her."
"Still no."
"Please, please, please, please, please, pleeeeeeeeeease?" Jaune's eyes watered as he clasped his hands in front of him in a begging pose.
"Please?" he asked again.
Her reply was a door to his face.
"PLEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEE?"
From behind the door she could practically hear the excessive punctuation marks in his plea/cry/pathetic sob. She slapped a palm to her forehead with a small groan.
On the other side of the door, Jaune intercepted what he belived would be Ren's snarky reply.
"Don't" Jaune said but no "I told you so" or gloat ever came.
Although I told you so would be on anyone's vocabulary, Ren felt sorry for his leader than anything else, even when he was sorta just used as a wingman.
"I'm sure you'll get her someday." Ren assured his fearless leader, too fearless in fact but nevertheless his friend above all else.
Sighing as he gained the much needed encouragement, Jaune would not give up on Weiss.
No matter how futile that quest would be.
"Well I guess we can all go on what would have been a date. I know how much Nora wanted to go."
"Where exactly where we going to go?"
"Oh right, I should have told you, it was an all you can eat 'Sugar Coated Everything' event in the Vale City Mall."
"You did what?!" he turns to his leader wide eyed as if the horrors of the world flashed through his mind.
Jaune took a step back, not completely processing the complete out of character outburst from his normally taciturn friend. "Why what's wrong with that?" he asked with a shrug, completely oblivious to the worry flashing through Ren's Nora-themed eyes.
"Jaune! Where is Nora right now?" he ignored Jaune's question with one of his own, breaking his calm façade.
"She's in the…" Jaune opens their adjacent dorm room door and as fate or whatever malicious being controlling the events of his life, the dorm was completely absent of the bubbly ball of explosives known as Nora. "…dorm."
He stared dumbfound at the imaginary Nora-shaped dotted lines until he felt his scroll beep. Still worried he turned it on, releasing a breath eh didn't know he was holding. "She texted me, see Ren it's not that bad…" the moment Jaune read the message even more worry came.
OH MY GOS SO MUFK CANUY AHH JAIJNE REM YOE HACQ TO COMQ HERE ASDFHJKL
"Can you make out most of it?" Jaune asked Ren, who was warily looking over his shoulder, brows furrowed at the mess of incorrect spelling on his friend's screen.
"Yeah. Just not that last part though."
Ren's expression turns grim."I've seen this before."
"You've seen this before?"
"It happened when she had too much candy. Her keyboard was already covered in chocolate as she typed in a sugar-rush induced hyper speed." He eyes the screen for the last time before turning to Jaune.
"We need to stop her as soon as possible." The tone in his voice made it sound as if Nora was a wanted criminal mastermind out to destroy the world one explosion at a time. And when it came to matters pertaining the energetic redhead Ren was the expert.
'I wish I could have a relationship like that.'
And since it was Nora they were talking about, the chances of her actually making a demolition site out of the world seemed pretty large after she ate five times her body weight in sugar.
"What could possibly go wro-" he paused midsentence as if some unseen entity that binds the universe and all living things together decided to be an asshole and gave them a flash forward of the worst case scenario.
"WE NEED TO GET THERE NOW!"they screamed in unison. What would have been their mad dash to town was prematurely interrupted by a man in sunglasses.
"Excuse me, young man." The blonde stopped in his tracks as the out of place person gestures for him politely. The man seemed too old to be a teenager, much less a student. He could be a professor but Jaune had already been familiar with most of them. 'Maybe a he's a sub?' He thought. All thoughts of the possibility of a replacement teacher disappeared when he saw the badge of the Vale Police Department on the man's waist. That little scrap of embossed metal was enough to tell Jaune that the man in front of him was not a huntsmen but rather a cop. "Always listen to cops." his mother would say.
'Is he talking to me? Is he talking to me?' he looks around the area before answering his own question. 'I'm the only one here so...he must be talking to me.' For some strange reason Jaune's inner voice spoke in a Jersey accent.
"Wha- Who me?" he covered his mouth upon realizing the accent had bled to his actual speaking voice. From the corner of his eye he saw Ren already a good distance away from him but he hadn't moved from his position. 'Probably waiting for me.' The scraggly blonde gestured him to go on ahead. His teammate nodded before continuing in his stride. Jaune turned back to the officer who was still patiently waiting.
"Yes, you." The cop replies with a nod. He straightens the sunglasses resting on his nose before continuing.
"Have you seen this girl?" he reached into his pocket to grab his police issue computer tablet and after a few buttons he shows the screen to Jaune.
On it was a crudely drawn picture of Yang(but surprisingly accurate with the lock of hair sticking out from the top of the head) with the words 'Beware: Fire Hazard' on the bottom of it.
Back At The Cage
Adam walked over to where Ask's weapon laid, nonchalantly evading random pieces of debris, evaporating Grimm body parts and short-circuiting robotic parts. He saw the familiar rod his partner-for-now dubbed a weapon and picked it up from under a severed robotic limb. Noticing that Ask was still far from consciousness he held the weapon up to his face for a closer look.
He stares at it, one of the most dangerous weapons he had ever come across. It was there that he realized that said weapon was not only lethal to the opponent but to the wielder as well. It was also there that he realized what it really was.
'It's a flashlight.'
He felt like an idiot for saying the phrase and for not noticing earlier. This, the most dangerous weapon he had ever come across…was a flashlight.
'It's a flashlight.' He repeated. 'It's a fucking flashlight.'
He would've face-palmed then and there if his has weren't full.
The detective sat up and rubbed the sore back of his head before standing upright.
"You jump a lot better than before." Adam commented as he threw the flashlight at Ask, the recipient catching it with relative ease. Adam watched as Ask decoupled it before setting it back vertically on his suspenders.
"Every day is leg day when you're in a straitjacket." Ask explains morbidly while standing over his winter coat, he crosses his arms over his chest and falls back into the snow, his back perfectly meeting with the interior all that was left for him to do was slip his arms into the sleeves and boom; coat on.
"That's a good quote. Mind if I use it on my next novel?"
"Virgil is going to be treated in a mental health facility in the next installment, isn't he?" spoilers were something Ask typically avoided, yet Adam seemed okay with revealing crucial plot details. Or was he?
"Spin-off." And let's leave it at that.
Now they were back on track, the Alpha-LI holding cell was still more or less intact despite all the commotion from the fray with the Cyborg Grimm, regretfully none of their plans seemed to able to free the teammate they both surely want.
"Can't you just cut the glass with those flashlight sabers?"
Though the correct term to describe Ask's weapon would be a Photon Energy Blade Torch with a Dust Crystal Matrix but flashlight saber does have a nice ring to it.
"Physics won't allow glass and lasers to cut." Fun fact he learned about his weapon; it doesn't completely cut through types of materials that can disperse energy equally, ALON glass was unfortunately part of that rare category. "Besides, this would more than likely cook her in that vacuum." Ask explained, once again going full-on nerd.
"Perhaps we could…no time for that. What about the tube connecting the ceiling and the cage, if we could- No that's preposterous she'd die from lack of oxygen before." Ask conversed with himself, being his own schemer and critic.
"What about the bottom, couldn't we just cut between where they meet and-"
"No, unfortunately for us the snow keeping us here and keeping her from falling to death is also hindering us."
"Perhaps-"
While the two of them over think on how to open the cage, the cage opens by itself.
"Oh, it looks as though the cage automatically opens for a scheduled experiment. How did that escape me?" Ask double-checked the bases security system, unable to find the cause of the sudden anti-climactic release.
"It didn't." a different voice coming from the glass cell announced.
Those words shocked the Adam and Ask from whatever stupor they were in, their guard was once again up, as the origin of that voice was currently unknown to them.
Until she came out.
Her mask removed, letting her asymmetrically cut her loose, exposed to the cold air for what seemed to be the first in years, as it it's length varied from side to side, longer on the right and shaved short on the left, clearly for experimental purposes. She wore a medical full-body suit, with built in heels and a mouth gag attached to the collar, it was also outfitted with spots to allow syringes to inject whatever the scientists who held her seem fit, her entire outfit was sealed in a transparent pressurized full-body straight jacket., only her arms were free at the moment, her feet however were still bound, forcing her to walk or in this case hop awkwardly.
"You would not believe how suffocating it was in there." She loosens some buckles, and pulls out some wires that still connected to her. "I finally know how a dick feels in a condom." She finally takes a good look at who she was talking to, a malicious smirk formed.
"Well fuck me sideways." She opens "if it isn't the Phantom of the Opera and the guy who smells like Pirelli's Miracle Elixir, my least favorite stalkers are here for little old me." The Alpha-LI, the most dangerous life form held in this facility, insulted as she greeted her two friends…
"For the record; it wasn't stalking, I was simply tasked by a client to investigate your extreme cases of m memory loss." Ask butted in, not liking the term stalker used on him yet allowing Adam to be called one. He aids her in removing her full-body prisoner straight jacket, finally freeing her, exposing her medical suit to the cold of an Atlas mountain.
"Desire." Adam says one of her names as her straight jacket falls to the ground. "You're as awful as I remember." Nostalgia was present for once in the tone of his voice. Reunions were always filled with some.
Desire smiles, her mood turning brighter as she hears the comeback. "Never thought I'd be saved by the both of you." She admits happily "I didn't even know you two knew each other."
"Surprising who knows who these days." Ask remarks, detectives aren't allowed to believe in coincidence, but the three of them being acquaintances was enough to make the weaker mind a believer. "It looks as though their steady dosage of sedatives have finally worn off." He notes as she practices walking, then jumping, and standing on one leg. Muscle atrophy is a serious matter, fortunately Desire seemed resilient to that. "Probably your faunus metabolism burning it all off."
"I guess I have you two to thank for that." There was a bit of reluctance in her part.
"Your thanks are of little value, as your sedative intake was simply an unintended by product, tough effective I might add." They planned on keeping her sedated until later, having her awake created a flaw in the plan. Ask activates his weapon, setting it to its weakest energy output, turning into a flashlight, carefully shining it over each of her eyes one at a time, noting whether the pupils contract when exposed to the light.
Desire's mood visibly changes, Ask in all his indelicateness continues to deduce without consent. "Your pupil's dilation seems off." Ask studies a little too close for comfort, figuratively and literally. "Perhaps a side-effect of the sedatives, or from just the long exposure, there's only a few known chemical compounds that have that effect." Ask buries himself in intrigue. "And judging from your lack of other symptoms, it seems to be of an organic origin." Ask visibly sees confused by this prospect. "The only ones that come in mind aren't usually used for sedation; distilled King Taijitu venom for example- as effective it may be as a sedative- isn't used for keeping people asleep but keeping several forms of mental illness at bay."
Not liking where this was going, Desire changes the subject.
"God, you're still unbearable." That was a fact, not a comment. Desire looks around near the general vicinity of Adam like there was something missing in the picture.
"Hey, where's your shadow?" the question was innocent enough, in all of Adam's appearances in her life his little partner was always by his side, to be honest, it felt weird that Adam didn't have her with him, like a defining feature was missing.
Adam refuses to respond.
"Oh you really don't want to go there." that warning from Ask made her more curious than cautious, if something was forbidden then it must be worth knowing. "What's wrong, did she dump him?" was her dead-on guess.
Adam turning around was all she needed to know her guess was right.
"Oh god!" her eye brows nearly meet her hairline as she laughs. "It must've been brutal."
"You have no idea." Ask begins to tell the tale of Adam's harsh break-up. "She left him. On a train. In the middle of nowhere. Full of Grimm. Alone. With no form of civilization for miles." Ask pauses between each line, for dramatic effect, 'She might as well know' was Ask's justification. Desire finds obvious delight in Adam's shitty love life.
"Let's get out of here." Adam scowls back at his…teammates.
"About fucking time, I've had enough of this shit-hole." She agrees too easily.
Walking ahead of them, the two males of the rather unorthodox team are left in the dust. It was expected given the fact Desire might have been cooped up here for the past 3 years give or take.
"She's not at all as I remember." Ask admits, not liking the implication of his perfect memory's record being tarnished by a girls mood swings.
"You don't know, do you?" Adam figures out, knowing something Ask doesn't feels good in the special place where his heart use to be.
"I have several dozen theories on the personality change but still, a bit of advice never hurt."
Already a good 5 meters ahead of the two, impatience was getting to her. "Hey! Grimm fetish and Ass, hurry the fuck up!" Desire calls out to them, not liking her rescuers' slow pace.
"Now one's called me Ass since the 10th grade." Ask recalls, flashbacks of being bullied for being a nerd swirling through his brain. "Delightful, isn't she?" They pick up the pace nonetheless.
Adam in either boredom or an act of friendship offers to explain Desire's…unladylike actions. "You still wanna to know how I know her."
"I usually prefer to look in to it myself but I'd love to finally end this curiosity." Adam proceeds to explain.
"My book's main character: Virgil had- in a sense two souls within him." Ask nods, Adam goes with the 'Use a well-known character to make things easier to explain' move.
"The other man's soul was…Henry Jerkly, right?"
'Close enough.'
"I met her when I was doing research on the idea of-"
BOOM
The explosion launches the three into the air; they land on the debris covered snow but not without damage as Desire is rendered unconscious from the concussive blast and landing, while Ask is on his back, he remains conscious. Adam however seems more-or-less unharmed from the explosion.
As if knowing all heads will turn to him in blame Ask quips. "That wasn't mine."
As it seems, the avalanche failed to kill all the soldiers as Ask had predicted, the survivors must've released the cyborg in order to buy more time for them to regroup and call for back-up.
"It seems I've underestimated these soldiers." Ask admits, standing upright.
"Hmm…must re-evaluate my future strategies."
"Secure Desire." Adam orders "I'll deal with the soldiers." Ask follows, a little too obediently for Adam's liking.
"Fire!" a possible Lieutenant or maybe Captain orders his men.
A volley of bullets fly towards the masked monster of the White Fang, his black and red attire contrasts perfectly with the snow, giving the Yellow Armoured Soldiers an easier target to shoot at, Adam handles them with relative ease, using Wilt for defence and Blush for offense, dodging most shots and deflecting those lucky enough to be able to land on him, Blush makes short work of the soldiers, their state of the art uniforms made useless since Blush's magnum rounds hit the exposed part; the face.
Adam slightly pauses in his onslaught as the distinct sound of airship engines could be heard right on top of them. Clearly they've also salvaged some usable military hardware. The snowy wind makes perfect cover for a close-quarter combatant like Adam, as the snow decreases visibility, Adam like all warriors use this to his advantage.
Adam then launches himself into the larger group of soldiers, knowing Atlesians were too afraid on friendly fire, right now Blush was running low on ammo from his last battle meaning Wilt had more use, unfortunately due to a standard practice for the Atlas Military to unlock their soldier's aura, it would be harder for Adam to cut through them as easy as cutting through the guards in Lamb Asylum, since their auras gave them enough protection to keep them from being minced. Just to make things worse a few armored cars were in the fight, their firepower making things harder for Adam.
Adam jumps on top of the armored car, cutting into the roof and jumping into the car killing the crew inside the tight spot. Having novice knowledge in operating armoured vehicles, he aims the armoured car's main .50 calibre machine gun at a large group of the enemies, locking it in place before he jumps out of the car.
As he lands on the snowy ground, Adam is met with an entire line of soldiers, all pointing their guns' at what's below his horns. They were in a firing squad formation, a formation Adam had wanted to face in a long time.
"OH MY GOD! He killed Kenny." a soldier in the line cries, Kenny must have have been a great guy to cause so much anger from his death.
Adam readies Wilt, prepared to do a move only he could do in this situation; He smiles at them with the biggest-shit-eating grin. After all the lives Adam has taken in a short amount of time, the Yellow marked sentinel soldiers open fire.
"YOU BASTARD!"
They have taken the bait.
Adam performs a feat of implausible swordsman prowess, he doesn't deflect the bullets, no, he catches each bullet perfectly intact, aligned perfectly with the nose of the bullets aimed at the soldiers. The soldiers who lost all will to fight after seeing such god-like skills could only go; "Well, we're fucked."
They will be as Adam then sheathes his sword faster than the eye could perceive breaking Isaac Newton's law of gravity, the bullets stay in place having barely any time to react as Adam strikes the bullets, launching them back at the mooks who fired them. Their bodies fall in sync as a second passes by.
And kids, that's how you shoot without a gun…
On the other(less bad-ass) side of the battlefield, Ask in an overly relaxed manner merely walks towards the Shell-shocked Desire. As he approaches her unconscious body three soldiers- obviously ordered to flank them, Ask concludes the bland tactic- intercept Ask, coming between him and the unconscious new teammate.
They shoot as the soldier in front orders "Drop him."
In those split seconds after the first shot, Ask does what any smart-ass would do; think his way out
'Atlas soldiers, Model SDAR-17 A2 assault rifles…Three-round bursts…9-shots in total'
The first two were simple to dodge. Ask quickly activates and guards with his flashlightsaber. Just before the remaining bullets hit their mark Ask does a simple calculation.
With his calculation, he blocks the first 6 rounds, and for the last three he redirects them back to the shooters, destroying their firearms, simultaneous explosions happen in the chamber of each gun, literally blowing up in their faces. Ask wasn't done, he deactivates the flashlights and points the emitters right against the guards. A flick of the switch later they get launched across the room, with significant burn damage on their armor, and their skin.
'Two down one to-' the last soldiers shots at him point blank, aiming for his head. Ask dodges instantly with a quick neck breaking tilt of the head.
The soldier takes several steps back, survival always comes first, don't listen to what everyone else says about honour and duty, Survival. Comes. First.
The soldier steps back enough to be standing over Desire "Move and I'll shoot her." He threatens, body shaking and trigger finger itching with his firearm's muzzle pointed right at Desire.
Ask can't have that, it took a substantial amount of effort to free her; it'd be a waste if she died. So Ask complies with pointing his flashlight's pummel end at sentinel class soldier.
"Don't do it! I Swear, I'll kill her man!"
Ask weapon shifts into its other form.
Some weapons may turn from melee to firearms or vice-versa, it was a reoccurring theme of most weapons of this generation, a testament from the weapons of hunters from times of colorless TV and actual music on the radio, who's weapons were firearms with a blade attached, now kids these days with their metal alloys and fancy nano technology that made any weapon combination possible, a sword gun, a scythe gun, a fist gun, everything is a gun! But not Ask's weapon, hiss weapon turns into…
"A grappling hook?!" the soldier laughs, not seeing the dead glare in Ask's ever observant eyes, nor the exact spot they were observing.
"What can you even do with that thing?" Ask replies by firing his weapon, launching the hook followed with the cable that connects it. The incredibly sharp serrated hook misses the guard by an inch. The hook attaches at the wall.
"Ha! You missed." The guard taunts. Ask didn't miss, he fired his grappling hook at a piece of the wall behind the guard's head, then pulls it back so it knocks the him out.
The hook reels back into its launcher, Ask follows Adam's order and lifts Desire up from the ground, carrying her bridal style, not really caring how they looked at the moment. "You should be mindful of your surroundings." Ask instructs the unconscious guard as he leaves with the heavier-than-she-looks girl in his arms.
'Huh, is this all muscle?' Ask wonders, knowing he should never comment on a woman's weight.
'Wonder what she would taste like with all this muscle?'
Back with Adam; 45
"AGHHH!"
"GAGGHHHH."
Now 47
Bang
48
Boom
52
If you haven't guessed by now, that was Adam's total kill count for this battle.
The falling snow works well for Adam as he sneaks in front of a soldier, sending him in the air, he then cuts his way through a few more of them, just before the soldier lands, Adam gets behind and slashes him towards the soldiers who were just getting back up.
Making the current total 55
But that barely made a dent in the enemy's numbers, with reinforcements still coming none of this would do a damn thing if they keep coming, eventually even Adam would be beaten, probably from his heart pumping too much blood giving him a seizure.
With all this Adam can't help but feel his attention should be diverted elsewhere, like some unforeseen threat was actually growing larger without his knowledge. Until his mind finally concludes the answer to what's troubling him when an unmistakeable sign of a slap makes him turn; Ask
Ask just slapped Desire.
"Ask!" Adam screams, knowing what hell would await them if anything woke Desire up in this state.
Ask doesn't hear or worse doesn't care, wakes up the unconscious girl, making Adam panic for once.
'If she wakes up now…' Adam visibly shudders at the thought. He sprints towards his two teammates, pushing his way through the Atlas soldiers instead of killing.
Adam gets close enough to hear Ask explain the scenario to Desire, thinking her concussion might have gave her amnesia or something. Adam had almost reached them until a few soldiers open fire on the two, Adam made a split second decision to eliminate the threat before heading back towards them, he quickly kills them, but it's too late, Ask had already fully woken her.
Adam did what he could only do
He warns the suicidal genius "ASK" it falls on deaf ears, as Desire finally comprehends the gravity of this situation.
She slaps him defying all of Adam's expectation.
After taking a second to process that, Adam finally spoke.
"I admit, I didn't see that one-"
The worst possible scenario had happen;
Desire-No the Alpha-LI screams.
It was if the hand's God were scratching the a universe seized chalkboard, harmonized by a million sopranos hitting their highest whistle tones and an eternal bass comparable to Morgan Freeman's smoothest yawn. The sound was so powerful, so loud, it was actually visible. One could literally see the air being bent and the slight hint of aura that spread with it.
To say it was powerful would be an understatement, those close enough to wail were quite literally skinned alive, as their organs ruptured and their brains turned to putty. Those lucky enough to have been farther away were either blown over the side of the mountain or died from having the airships' internal computer systems fried, making the airships on top of them.
Adam wasn't doing much better; it was like his whole body was being subjected to 7gs of force, his ears felt like they'd be bleeding if this continued, and his brain felt like an entire concert was taking place in it.
Thankfully a grappling hook loops around his body, pulling him towards the launcher right after it tightens. After a neck breaking zip across the battle field, he gets to the top of a ledge. Adam finally gets to his feet, untangling himself from the thin cable.
"She's different." Ask, the only guy with a grappling hook comments while he watches Desire obliterate what's left of an entire army with a crooked smile on his face.
"I'm fine by the way." Adam shots back angrily, barely containing the homicidal thoughts going rampant in his mind.
"I'm sure you are." Was Ask's pitiful attempt at tempering him, no emotional depth whatsoever.
Adam let out another heavy sigh, one that perfectly translates to; 'This is going to be my routine for now on, isn't it.?'
Knowing he has more to deal with than another walking disaster, Adam calms down. Ask remains content at watching the carnage from this safe distance, morbidly fascinated by Desire's rampage, Adam reluctantly joins him in watching the horror show.
"How do you think she'll deal with the one trying to sneak behind her?"
"Just watch."
Desire in all her fury, in grabs the soldier trying to take her down from behind, she chokes holds him then as she closes the gap between them, seemingly with a kiss she lets out another burst of her scream, this time concentrated and focused to a single spot; the poor bloke's head.
It had a rather messy outcome.
"She just blew his mind." Ask exclaims pun intended.
Adam gives him a death glare, mask slits glaring daggers into Ask "Ask…" the venom in his voice making the Ask face him.
"I hate bad puns…"
For the briefest moment, a sight rarer than once in a lifetime happened; Ask shows the slightest hint of fear…
After a few good minutes of venting out her anger, Desire finally calms down enough for Ask and Adam to come down from their safe yet freezing cold ledge. Noting how it must've been Desire's burning hatred that has kept her warm. Ask dismisses that notion, citing Adam (who at the moment was currently without a winter coat) was the only one with that much hate in his heart. Or, you know, whatever keeps his blood pounding, for a heart is something Adam has shown in more than one occasional surely lack.
They stand behind her, as if waiting for their presence to be called out, not wanting to interrupt Desire enjoying the view of her…work. "You guys…" she finally spoke, a hauntingly dark chill immediately clear from her lethal voice.
Adam keeps his guard up, ready to eliminate Desire if she showed any signs as a threat, the dark backwards glare she gave would keep any man on their toes, Ask in that very second thought of every possibility and counter measure his mind could generate, hoping the Alpha LI's destructive power wouldn't be used against him, even still, it had a high probability of happening. But what would come next was beyond either of their expectations.
"Thanks for saving me." She said in the cutest and probably girliest way possible, sporting the famous wink and leg flip that would turn any man into a blubbering pool of love-struck mess, prompting Adam and his equally cold hearted companion, to lose their usual grouchy, angsty, and overall withdrawn demeanour, to one that clearly says. "C-Cute"
While Ask was in this mind-set, his curiosity beckoned. "You…have two souls." He finally concludes. If you eliminate the possible, whatever remains must be true. Even if it is a bit of a stretch, it would explain Adam's knowledge of her and his rather unfortunately incomplete investigation of her. "An actual case of a Dissociative Identity Disorder, and it's been under my nose this whole time!" As Ask relishes the scientific discovery, Adam gazes around the plies of dead, recalling an old story he heard a life time ago, a short story as mysterious as it's origins.
"There were once three brothers; the one who died for power, the one who died for love…" Ask steps towards Desire, the blood coating her making her eyes dazzle in the light. "And the one who greeted death as an old friend…"
Ask takes her hand in his, and like all self-respecting gentlemen, he kisses the top of it.
"Hello again old friend." She smiles warmly, innocently, sweetly, and for some reason embarrassed, making her an even more terrifying specimen, in this state her hair shows her faunus traits, it was difficult to see before, but now, her hair being loose made the feathers all but impossible to miss.
"Oh how I've missed you Mr. Orion." She shoots a smile towards Adam, he smiles back. "You as well Mr. Taurus." Adam nods to her out of sheer respect.
She flips her hair, exposing the shaven part of her head. "So…I just destroyed every usable vehicle in this crappy place." Clearly her personality reverted back to its bitch-mode, as Ask would for now on call it. "How the fuck do we get out of here?"
Adam looks towards the idea-guy in the group, Desire follows suit, Ask just realized what peer pressure feels like, he lets out a tired moan, and it's pretty easy to know it means: 'Fine, I'll think of something.'
"Astounding." Was General Ironwood's reaction to the thrilling tale his soldier just told him, he goes into a deep thought, hopefully able to use this information to bring those terrorists to justice.
"Good job, soldier." Ironwood praises "You've done a great deed to your kingdom; with your intel I'm certain we can find those monsters responsible for this tragedy."
The soldier could only nod, too busy shaking from what little warmth his armor and a cheap shock blanket can give.
"We might even find a place for you within my personal forces." You can always trust Ironwood to reward a trauma with a promotion.
This seemed to lighten the survivor up, "T-That's too kind of you, s-sir."
"Nonsense, you risked your life to relay this invaluable information, to not promote you would be an act of cruelty and stupidity. We need more soldiers like you." He's name may mean 'Iron' but his tongue is made of silver.
"I understand, sir." The soldier replied. "Sir, permission to speak freely, sir?"
"Yes, private. You may."
"They got here on foot but they must've wrecked every transport here, I'm just guessing but they might still be-"
"They might be still in the area…Captain!" Immediately a red marked Atleasean soldier appears in front of Ironwood, ready and willing to follow any command.
"Sir!" the captain salutes.
"The ones responsible for this attack could still be here. Have your men search the perimeter, find any sign of them." Ironwood instructs with the clear and stoic voice every great order should be given in.
"Understood, sir." The captain follows the command without hesitation, he orders the rest of the men to spread out, Search not Destroy, Destroy comes when everyone gets a chance to light up those bastards.
'Check…'
And so they're off to follow their commanding officer's every last word, said commanding officer was simply tying up loose ends.
"Your name, what was it again?" the question was a bit belated but better late than never.
"Burns, sir." "Private First-Class Kenny Burns." the private…burns answers, the general checks the name, it matched his database. "Good work, Corporal Kenny Burns." Complimented and promoted, the corporal thanks his new C.O.
The general walks towards the airship, wanting to move out immediately if the enemy was spotted, however a condescending comment stops him dead in his tracks.
"You know, for a general, you really are impressively naïve."
Ironwood turns back to the once traumatized soldier, who just a while ago was stammering but now was speaking eloquently and with a distinct accent.
"What was that soldier?" James tried to sound more sensitive as he addressed the obviously distraught young man, but disrespecting a high-ranking officer was enough to be court marshaled.
"Oh come now, don't tell me old age has deafened you already." The soldier takes off his security blanket as he stands, walking towards the general.
Ironwoods; with all his experience, knows a threat when he sees one. But this time he doesn't see it.
"Men, detain this man for questioning" he orders but with no response.
Feeling a bit embarrassed and disappointed that his soldiers failed to follow his first order, Ironwood turned in wonder as to why his highly trained personal squadron were inattentive to his order. "Men-"
"Hello again, General." Adam greets warmly. To his surprise and horror, Ironwoods turned back to see all his men brutally murdered by the hands of Adam Taurus; Atlas' most wanted terrorist.
'And that's Checkmate…'
Behind a shit-ton of rubble, Desire boredly watches her liberators bully an old fart. 'Ugh…Does he have to be so dramatic?'
'You should be nicer to them, you ungrateful bitch, they are here to save us.'
Back with the awestruck General of the Atlas' Military.
"You! You did this." It was a statement not an accusation.
"And a lot more…" Adam threatens, the days to come shall be hell, just as he envisioned. "Too bad you won't be able to-"
WHACK
The survivor, Kenny, hits Ironwoods on the top of the head, utilizing Adam's overly clichéd monologue as a distraction.
"Ask!" Adam screams, not out of annoyance this time, but due to being cheated off a rare moment in life. It's not every day you can give a Villainous Monologue. "I wasn't done with him yet."
Ask takes of his borrowed helmet, finally able his obvious discomfort in the Atlesean Standard Issue Mk. III Battle Armor, its distinct yellow guard paint giving him unwanted memories. "I'm sure you'll find another world leader you can taunt." he assures Adam while he navigates his way around Ironwood's unconscious body.
The plan was as simple for even the laymen to utilize, impersonate the enemy, call a distress signal to the Atlas command, trick the commanding officer into spreading his forces thin for Adam to eliminate, and take the enemy's airship. A simple plan made easier knowing General Ironwood would most likely be the first on the scene, it was almost too easy to anticipate a general who'd love nothing more than to be a general; War may be hell but peace is boring.
One can always trust Ask to use a person's boredom against them. All the while, you can always trust Adam to kill without a sound or trace.
"The Askhole's an actor, who knew?" The diva of destruction declared, deliberately dissing and damaging the disguised deranged detective, deforming his disinterested demeanor to a dangerously devious dastardly definition of the devil's demon, due to her demeaning description of his dramatic deception and discomfort, he devises a delicious dish to devour the disrespectful damsel, in his defenses, the ditz does deserve such drastic damming. The detective dismissed the delinquent depressing her by deflating her dream of a disagreement. "….You're a dick" the diva not-so-discretely divulged.
"Get in the airship." Adam instructs his increasingly hostile team of the sanity challenged.
Desire asks the question on both Ask and her mind "Where exactly are we going?" It's important for a woman to know where two strangely dressed men wanted to take her. "And more importantly now that you've got me, what are we going to do next?" If letting her kill her captors was just the first stop, the sadist in Desire-literally- wanted to know more of the fun she'll be put in.
"I was going to wait until we've acquired our fourth teammate but seeing as how I've got the both of you, we might as well proceed to Phase 1." Adam explains sheepishly.
"I choose to take that as a compliment." It may have just been in context but Ask still heard it.
"And what's that?" Compliment or not she still wanted to know.
Adam smiles at his Persons of Mass Destruction, and turns away from them looking into the horizon, the cold air blows past and the sun slowly setting, giving him a ridiculous illusion of a divine intervention, he slowly turns his head to face his two teammates and says.
"Take over the White Fang."
Desire had only one way to reply.
"Sweet…"
To sum up Jaune's day;
Got rejected by Weiss
Lost Nora to sweets
Lost Ren while searching for Nora
Helped the police arrest Yang.
For some reason caused Ruby to look for evidence
Accidentally walk in on Blake and Pyrrha changing.
And Blake thinks I'm a pervert
"Someone please kill me"
20 days later
Jaune's hand goes limp; it loses its grip, it falls on to the ground, lifeless on a puddle of blood.
Jaune Arc is dead
And The Indestructible Girl breaks down
"Oh no no, no. JAUNE!" She's screams and cries as she shakes him back to life, her pleads were tragic as they were futile.
" JAUNE!" she keeps calling out his name, praying for a reply that will never come. " NO, NO, NO, JAUNE! NO!"
"Pyrrha! We can't stay here" and hand behind her warns.
"Get off me!" she pushes the hand back angrily, angry at everyone and everything.
End of Chapter.
AN: Thanks for reading, the next few chapters will center primarily on Blake and (like in most works) Jaune, but expect small scenes with Adam being inserted within the main story.
Desire was based of several of my personal favorite singers. Alpha-Li is derived from many real-life singers and performers and a few anime singers, being Casey Lee Williams, and Inori from Guilty Crown just to sight a few.
It's also my protest towards having the split personality troupe being too good-side and bad-side, I wanted a character who was mean and cusses like a sailor who wasn't the homicidal of the two souls, thus her polite and nice side is the murdering psychopath.
Don't worry she has a last name.
And Desire is actually a shade of lipstick, if you were wondering, it's a deceivingly dark shade of red, since it looks darker in the tube than it does on the lips. In short it looks like muted wine or a plummy brown.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, not even my OCs or story for they are for all to use.
Review, Favorite, and Follow, please. It's not really a must, but it always helps to know your work is being appreciated by others.