Chapter 9: Violent Cancer Treatment
Or
"You know what they say about the crazy ones..."
Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY
Cinder Fall.
Her name as captivating as her appearance. As manipulative as Ask, as dangerous as Desire, as driven as Adam, and far more sinister than anything that awaits them in the base.
But all Desire could think of was "Did she just walk all the way here in heels?" she pointed out.
Adam looks down to Desire's footwear, irony abounds.
"It's been far too long, Adam."
Cinder breathes, walking towards her nice piece of asset. Adam lower's his gaze to meet hers; she teasingly lifts his head up by the chin, her dark red nails slightly scratching against Adam's naturally pinkish skin. Clearly she prefers not being looked down on.
"A few days aren't that long." He shot back, bantering is a good sign. A sign that implies a million suggestive thoughts as well as intrusive in the matter regarding the two's…relationship.
"It's all a matter of…" she pauses for emphasis, like how a well-trained master of seduction would usually speak; low and slow. "…perspective."
"We're still here by the way." Adam and Cinder slightly crane their necks to the generally ignored Desire and Ask, and, yes they were still in fact there to witness the implied ungodliness of the exchange. Clearly such open displays of…whatever that was- didn't sit well with the the recently released prisoner.
"I like your friends…" she finally notices the duo oddly doing their best not to gape at their exchange.
"Go on, Music of the Night, introduce us to your-" What would have been an immature tease regarding the nature of Adam and Cinder's relationship, was interrupted as Ask, who was silent at the time, walks past Desire, heading straight towards the vixen with a clear goal in mind.
"I'm sorry but we can't rely on you or your obviously impressive abilities." Ask apologizes, his voice turning serious.
A dangerous tension is in the air, Adam nearly cringed, he had to defuse this situation quick or there will be a far worse fate that would await him.
Cinder was no means incapable, hell she could very well out-class either and in the right of the three. Curiosity however got the best of her. "Excuse me?" it was steady, hinting nothing of the danger that was very clearly there.
Ask looks her dead in the eyes, sharp blue met cruel amber in a battle for dominance. "It would be irresponsible to let someone with your injuries enter into combat with us." Ask's soulless look prevails, however, briefly.
That statement made more questions than answers. Could Ask's powers of observation see an injury? Or was that a threat towards the crimson sweetness that was Cinder?
"What injury?" A menacing tone was in there somewhere, how she said each of those four syllables told a great deal of horrendous torture she could concoct would come sooner if not later.
Ask who seemed intentionally ignorant of the growing danger not a mere feet in front of him continues. "The injuries you received from your fall, of course." He said as if the most basic of facts.
"Fall?" Cinder feels a joke was coming in, being named Cinder Fall was enough for a steady supply of jokes.
Ask moves a tad bit closer, the gap between them seemed a far too close at the same time too far.
"When you fell from heaven, of course."
"…" was the general sentence that Adam, Desire, and even Cinder could annunciate. A mixture of varying reactions both subtle and well-hidden adorn their faces, Cinder had a surprised look hidden by a flattered expression, she had heard about the infamous detective before, like a good chessmaster she made sure to know what all the pieces in the boards were.
But this was entirely unexpected- no, underestimated. She knew her allure was impressive, but even she never thought her looks alone could have a such an instant effect on a proven sociopath.
Desire on the other hand had a more pronounced look about her, one of visible disgust, the very thought of Ask flirting left a bad taste in her lethal mouth, and to see it first-hand nearly made her violently ill. Freaks like him shouldn't even live, let alone want to fuck the first pair of legs he sees.
It was only after the not so little voice in her head made her avert her eyes to the sickening display.
"Check out, Adam" she turned first to the source of that sound and saw a near identical image of herself standing beside her and pointing a finger at Adam.
Desire followed it to see a sight that brought a smile to her face, Adam was scowling more than usual, as though someone gave him a beef burger even though he order tofu.
It was hilarious, in a mean sort of way.
Was this what Ask wanted? To hit on Adam's latest conquest to get him pissed? Desire expected the two were in bed together in the non-sexual sense of the term. But by the look of things, it could be possible both meanings could be used.
"She does look a little bit like Blake." Her hallucination like doppelganger noted.
Which was true considering the girls shared traits, black hair, pale skin, golden eyes. And Adam always did seem to be the kind of man to have a type.
"At least we know he has a type."
"Or at least a fetish" Desire added.
Finally the silence was broken by Ask, as he let out a groan.
"And here I stand, my hypothesis proven completely wrong." He admits after a coy smile. "By the reaction- or lack thereof- in Adam, I can safely assume neither of you are sleeping with each other."
"Sorry, to have offended you, but you do share a considerable amount of traits with Adam's former significant other." It was then Adam's rage truly spiked, sending a clear sign of aggression around the four of them.
"Too bad, I'm sure you two would make fearsome- if not powerful offspring." he very nearly rambled, reminding the three Ask wasn't entirely sane.
There was no romance or teasing in Ask's mind, only a pragmatic idea that two dangerous people should breed for the benefit of their species. It made perfect sense, besides, he always wanted a chance to study an offspring between a faunus and a human.
"As well as intelligent, given that 80% of a child's intellect is from the mother." He then added, directing it to Cinder specifically, both complimenting her while insulting Adam.
"Oh, I like this one." She purrs back. Her lips curl into a faint, almost modest, smile of flattery.
Ask all but smiles boyishly. "I like you too, Satan." Ask chuckles at something funny, which to him was his own joke "You know, since you're a fallen angel."
She just giggles. Cinder Fall just giggled. It was fake, obviously, but it was still unsettling."I choose to take that as a compliment."
She pulls out her hand to shake his, every action indicating she found Ask as amusing and nothing more. "Cinder Fall. But feel free to call me Satan. But The Devil isn't so bad either."
Ask being a gentleman, properly accepts the hand, even though every instinct within him kept warning him of the danger in front of him.
It was only after his hand touched hers could he understand why; right then, something within him sensed darkness, overpowering, and contagious. Like a sensation that seemed to counter everything good in the world. Like emptiness…A hunger…And it burned.
And to Ask, unbearable.
"Something wrong, Ass?" Desire's voice brings him back to reality, only then he could realize how much time has gone by, he must've been standing there blankly for minutes, as introductions have ceased, and they were now headed out.
Ask's eyes leave of a glow similar to that of his weapon as he looks at the monster in human form, instantly his eyes observe her, seeing the closest thing to truth as all details are clear.
He focuses on a specific spot; above the neck. With so many sense organs, it was a treasure-trove.
Slight discoloration of eyes; nutrition deficiency
Shaved hair
Full factories
Twitches, uncontrollable jerks…Moody.
Short-sighted
Protruding hip bones.
Lack of pupil dilation
Perfect pitch
Violent
Nervous…misses weapon
Pale lips; low blood pressure
Deduction: Hungry
He shifts his attention to downward, like most men often do, but he had more interests than simple mounds of useless fat.
Skin Tight Medical Suit…Tight
Itchy
Subjected to biological experimentations
Evasive experimentations
B-cup
Collar bones visible
High aura levels
Skin Tight Medical Suit designed for aura use
Deduction: Desire was subjected to aura based experimentation by the Cage Scientists and fed intravenous.
Finally, he casts his gaze downward ever so slightly, seeing everything he could and knowing everything in the same amount time it would take someone to comprehend what it is their eyes were seeing.
Weight 65kg
Overweight
Thin as a whip?
Out of shape
Strong legs
Drugs have worn off
No underwear
Tramp stamp
No. Underwear.
Comfortable in heels…rare
Skin Tight Medical Suit is underwear.
Deduction: Be a gentleman and pretend you didn't notice.
Side Notes.
Porn Preference: Orgies
After less than a second of her question of concern, Ask finally answers her, searching the very depths of his vocabulary to find the appropriate verbal reply.
"It's nothing."
The classic answer was enough for her, and Desire walks with a steadily increasing pace to catch up with the two masterminds of the little operation of theirs.
Speaking of those two, Ask flexes his deductive muscles once again, this time aimed more accurately at the man trying desperately to be a monster and unfortunately succeeding.
From this distant, even his attuned eyesight had some difficulty in observing, yet he managed, he could always manage.
Adam was now under his scrutiny, and it saddened him at what he sees with his full clarity.
Porn Preference: BDSM
Vegan
Anti-Social
Walking oddly...nursing hangover
Weight loss
Signs of depression
Violent
VEGAN
Sleep loss…working hard for next novel
Clever
Arm in bad shape
Honest with himself
Pessimist
...Cold?
Sensitive
Self-Destructive
In pain
That one deduction floods, making everything clear.
PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN
Deduction: …Heartbreak?
"Hmmm…" goes Ask, not exactly sure what was wrong and why seeing Adam in such a way made a strange feeling well up in his chest, it couldn't be an injury, other than his head, he practically got out of their previous battles unscratched.
So why was deducing Adam in such misery…strange?
He stopped caring and focused on something more important.
And that was even the infamous Adam Taurus had no defense against his deductive reasoning.
It was his bread and butter, his greatest weapon, something far more powerful than his semblance, and had even greater use than his flashlights.
It was his pride and joy.
It was his gift and his curse.
It has never failed to show him the truth.
Until today
Ask turns his analytic gaze to the mysterious woman walking beside Adam.
'The woman' Ask thinks grimly for there was no better way to describe her as anything less…or anything else. For all Ask's powers of deduction could only see was.
?
?
?
?
?
She was immune to his deductions, to his observations, his senses. Which should be comforting to him considering one of his many possible disorders is sensory integration, but wasn't in this case.
That does not bode well with him. In his head he feels a pull, one that gave him the image of him making sweet, sweet love to her chest with a meter of blue plasma, the strangely specific "KILL HER NOW!" plastered boldly on the image.
Out of Desire's perfect earshot, Ask gives a much more accurate answer to her question. "Nothing I can prove, at least."
Ask found himself having a sudden, unexpected, overpowering, morally crushing, and entirely bad feeling about this…
Atlas…
The most hated kingdom in all of Remnant.
Literally.
Being perfectly candid, if you ask any leader of the other three kingdoms which kingdom they hated most, they'd probably say Atlas.
Who wouldn't?
Who wouldn't hate a kingdom that controls most of the world's dust? Who wouldn't hate a nation who prides itself in military might during a time of peace? Who wouldn't hate a Kingdom so full of corruption, that its very government was being controlled by a privately owned corporation?
And let's not forget their decades long atrocities against faunus.
Everyone hates Atlas.
Other Kingdoms hate Atlas.
The Kingdom that Atlas overthrew hates Atlas.
Even some citizens of Atlas hate Atlas.
The White Fang hate Atlas.
And I hate Atlas, because my parents were from Atlas.
They didn't have a name. It was taken from them and replaced with a few numbers before being put into camps then shipping them off to Menagerie.
Numbers like the ones they tattooed on my arm.
Now I'm in Atlas, all because of one boy.
"Adam Taurus…" his name tasted like a mix of black ink and iron as it left. The boy, as I'll always calls him, was soaking wet, after forcing his way into the Leviathan- my Leviathan.
He was a commanding officer, yes, but even he should know his place. He just sits there on his chair, looking more and more like a child being scolded.
If that's what he wants, I'll give it to him.
"The prophesized leader of the White Fang" Taurus tenses at this, I always figured even he knew what many of the White Fang speculate, the calm but dull look of hatred he shoots my way only prove it.
"Soldier you put every man, woman and child in this sub in jeopardy with your little distress call!"
Calling it a distress call is calling a proximity alarm a rape whistle. Taurus issued an Omega-Level threat under our most secure channel. We weren't here because of the call, we were here because how in the world could he have accessed to our most encrypted line?
But that also forced us to think. What could be so important that Field Commander Adam Taurus had to bring it himself?
"Why in the hell did you bring us out here?"
Here, at the Atlesian border, every active officer of the only organization left who can bring freedom to the faunus is in enemy territory for what one over-rated field commander has to say.
Taurus stands, disorientated, and searches his pockets for something. At the sight of his poor coordination, I ask.
"Have you been drinking, soldier?"
He replies accordingly "I was a child-soldier, it's justified, sir." He didn't forget to put the sir with his dark joke, only to jest, even at a time like this, he could still manage to retain some sense of humor.
If there was one reason why I don't want to have kids, he would be standing right in front of me.
"I intercepted a kill-list." He slurred and after a display of drunken coordination, he finds what he was searching for and shows it to everyone in the room; a document "From General Ironwood."
For an eternity, none of us moves. I shouldn't be frozen in place, but I am. Oh God, I am. The entire leadership under the same spell of helplessness, in just a single sentence Adam Taurus just plunged our minds to distress.
Only my second-in-command, Executive Officer, Romanovna, had enough resolve to ask "What did this…kill-list say?"
As though in reply, Adam hands me the document, wordlessly letting me recite it.
"When the war of the beasts brings about the world's end" It said, and I kept reading.
"The goddess descends from the sky"
"Wings of light and dark spread afar"
"She guides us to bliss, her gift everlasting"
And that was it…
"Loveless, Act 1." One of the most influential works of fiction within a fiction, and just that. No names, no secret code, not even a secret message in the note, just the opening line to a play.
After a second it dawned on me, I just recited poetry during a military briefing.
"Sorry, wrong document." He says as an apology and explanation. My God he is drunk.
But I'm partly to blame, I've grown to use of having to read whatever it is that Adam hands to me, he always did have a way with words that I could never hope to have.
Which is why he have him write all my speeches, cause only he could make what it is we do sound…less like genocide.
He hands me another folded document, I open it up and just from the texture of it, I could tell it was real. As I scan through the piece of paper and skip through the military bullshit, my heart sank as it said.
"Everyone in this room will be dead."
I hear a chuckle from the corner, I look to the source, and there in the dark corner, where the shadows draped around him, I see Adam, looking at me as though I were an enemy, or worse a Schnee.
"Not everyone."
Before any of us could ask him what he meant by that, he pulls out a small radio, he gives it a simple push and static fills the air.
For the longest moment, I thought he'd lost his mind. He knew he shouldn't activate a channel during an active briefing. Who could he be calling at a time like this? Clearly it had to be inside the submarine considering we were already leagues below the sea by this point.
"Desire, do you have it?" he asked a person named Desire, probably one of the women he brought with him. By her name alone, it sounded less real and more of a stage name, if you caught my drift.
With his Lieutenant reporting his partner had deserted him, it wasn't surprising he needed that kind of company. I could understand, we all find ways to cope, yet I expected more of him than that.
But two beautiful women and one man?
Ugh, kids these days and their explorations.
I feel the need to scold him for taking a private call during a meeting, but a few of us were more than curious, what exactly was it is that this Desire was supposed to have.
The mind numbing static stops and came the answer.
"I've got it, it's a little too deep, but I can hold the note." Desire said…
…in my voice
"Good, good. Now we can start."
KUN BO TIR
The lights go out.
I keep calm knowing the emergency power will turn on any second.
Before I could do anything, my field of vision goes from total darkness, to the sole of a boot impacting my face with something resembling terminal velocity. The impact was like a blast of white fire, a literal and single star in my eye that sends me flying; I crash against the metal wall with such force, I could feel the metal bend.
Before I lose consciousness I could here two distinct sounds, the sound of Executive Officer Knitely choking gasping for air and one big crunch.
Darkness is an invaluable ally.
Even the most noble of heroes can give it that much credit.
It holds many advantages.
Firstly it conceals even the darkest of secrets, the most treacherous of plots, and the sickest of desires, and most importantly, it protects us by concealing not just the lies we tell, but in hiding us from the truths we dare not know.
Secondly was its comforting illusion, pay no heed to the fools who believe the light is the kindest, for they only delude themselves. We sleep to the comforting night's embrace not the morning's harsh awakening. The dark is a haven for imagination, easing our gentle dreams.
Humans find comfort in darkness, for it is their true selves no longer needing to hide from the light's harsh scrutiny.
A faunus is this and more, for in night can they truly pride in what brands them. For most faunus see better in night than they do in the day, or at least in comparison to the so-called superior race.
Adam will take that comfort and defile it into an instrument of horror.
Thirdly, the darkness, like the subservient slut that she is, is always willing. It never shuns, and willingly let's any use her freely, no matter how sick or sinister the request.
Shutting the lights out was simply all that was needed to coax the dark, while the leaders of the White Fang were all caught off guard, Adam pounces on them like a predator prowling through the night, hitting them hard before their eye-sight could adapt to the instant blackness Adam had practically been born in.
It didn't have to be this way. Adam thought sadly as he tore a crater of red into the unsuspecting Officer Nikrat's chest.
If only thing s were different, if the utopia they promised was still a possibility.
Even now as he stood far beyond the point of no return, as he sheated his blade into the Lt. Col Bopelsnoop's torso, he wished things were different- that he was different
But he wasn't…and so was the White Fang.
The White Fang will never be a symbol of peace let alone a bringer of equality.
So long as we are seen as radicalized terrorists who use fear and force to get our message of equality across, they will never have the full support of the faunus across the world.
We can no longer be separated by those who are with us and those against us.
Only by our entire racing coming together as one can we truly achieve our right full place as humanity's equals.
And one day, their betters.
A cult of violent extremists who would do anything for the pursuit of more power and revenge, that was the White Fang's legacy; a cancerous cell that could destroy the faunus completely.
This left Adam with only one option; the eradication of the malignant tumor the White Fang has become.
It was as the great philosopher of Ask's people once said "Only through destruction can there be a new beginning."
A new beginning.
It was the idea Adam held on to as he gunned down Major Perry with his own weapon and gutted Commander Kellogg.
The idea let him understand- and condone- the evil he was performing; this was not massacre, nor a purge, but an act of cleansing.
"My God, what are you doing?!"
"Cleansing" he answers, uttering the phrase he repeats over and over in his mind as he struck down one White Fang after the other, their bodies like breadcrumbs on his trail of destruction.
The White Fang's ashes would be the perfect foundation for the vision he was to make a reality.
And so the disease must be culled, that was the purpose of Desire and Ask.
Both had reasons to be here that matched his.
Desire was the perfect weapon, not against a single individual, but against an entire organization. Her semblance gave her a unique variety of uses, the first was the ability to imitate any voice she heard.
Alone it wouldn't do much, but with the literal voice of the White Fang within her vocal range, all transmissions, distress calls, speeches, orders, all of it is now in her command.
A face was just that, but having the voice that represents thousands could have so much more potential.
If he gave her the order, she could have all active members; every active man, woman, and even child affiliated to the cause launch a full on attack on every location.
The perfect weapon against any opponent, even without her weapon, he had doubts she could beat her in a fair fight, seeing as she will never play fair with that bothersome semblance of hers.
Currently she was performing a less violent task, she was broadcasting messages, all clear signals, to reassure the unsuspecting faunus leaders not within the submarine that they were only having minor engine problem, only to shrink the battle down before it could spread, in a matter of perspective she was the chemotherapy.
If Desire was chemo, Ask was the disinfectant, to destroy all traces of this ever taking place, a variable that will be of use in a later date.
For how else can you possibly get away with killing possibly hundreds of faunus if not without the help of a forensics expert?
The man could get away with murder, if not for his sad devotion to his ancient religion. Though, Ask was not the perfect fighter, depravity aside, he was by far the most competent mind Adam had the displeasure of crossing at one point.
They first met as opponents with contradicting goals. Ask was one of the very few who survived him.
Their battle wasn't grand, or even necessary but it was in fact one of Adam's favorite. To actually have his weapon go against a real lightsaber in actual combat was a rare honor in and of itself. Seeing as the weapon and their users were a dwindling population- an endangered species on the verge of extinction.
Now that lightsaber and its user were surprising under his command. He didn't dwell on why, he never does when it came to Ask's reasoning.
His only concern was Ask's results, he couldn't care less about anything else, much less the groveling of one deck hand pleading for her life.
"Please, please no. We are on the same side- Can you not understand that! We are on the same-AGHHH!"
The submarine rocks triggering a fire alarm, reminding Adam of the other party in play, the unmistakable smell of burning flesh overpowered the pressurized filtration of the air.
"Damn, woman." He spat out in modest distaste, leaving an odd flavor of hate and acknowledgement in his breath.
Cinder Fall… by far the most dangerous woman he'd ever met. And he's met more than his fair share of the lethal side of the fairer sex.
Ask called her Satan. Adam found it entirely too fitting.
He loved the fictional stories, so the Bible was one of his favorite as it was full of them, and in the Devil people often associate with a guy in a red suit with a beard poking the damned was in fact God's favorite angel- his most beautiful creation. He's not ugly, monstrous, or even red. To us petty mortals, he's everything we want, that's why we can't say no to him…or her.
That's why it was fitting Ask called her the Devil, because she's everything Adam ever wanted…and more.
She wasn't here because of blind insanity like Ask, or petty revenge like Desire and unlike him, she was committing a massacre not for an ideal or anything illogical like that.
She was here for the most appropriate of reasons; business.
The very idea of the lengths she would go through sent a chill up his spine and brought some humor in all this.
It was that terrifying way about her that caused all this, she was the reason for him needing to recruit those two freaks of nature, all because she came into camp one morning and laid waste to it with her own underlings.
What bothered him most was the ease she had, making his men look like drop-outs from mall security.
Desire and Ask were his response, his defense against her posse of psychos, fire with fire.
It almost made Adam laugh, if it weren't for the stream of blood temporarily blinding him.
If Cinder was anything in this metaphoric operation, she'd be the one paying for everything.
As for Adam's own involvement, being a writer he found it more symbolic ad respectful. For it was fitting that he should be the one to be the scalpel that cuts the tumor where it grows. He was their sword, their attack dog, their insignificant pawn in their chess game with the world governments.
Now he is scalpel- no the doctor performing the surgery, removing the the malignant cells that was slowly killing a species.
There in the screams, and tears and pleas of mercy that it all became clear. The choice was simple; kill a hundred or doom a million.
"Go! Call for help! I'll hold him off." Major General Ashton told his companions who scampered off, nearly tripping themselves on the severed limbs and other body parts scattered across the floor.
Adam counted four heads, no doubt they'd call for help and tell of the new leadership positions Adam just made available. He was in no hurry to chase them down, they were headed, as the saying goes, to a dead end.
Ashton approaches him, calling the man by is tittle would be too generous, Ashton was like many other's in this council, a relic from the Faunus War.
Ashton unsheathes his sword, actually believing that it would do him any good.
The man was as clumsy as he was stupid, a poor tactician at best and a deliberate saboteur at best, his operations cost many good faunus their lives, all he really had was the PTSD to back-up his claims of being a battle-hardened man.
Ashton attacks, Adam boredly steps out of the way, he didn't deserve Adam's complete attention. With a single kick the obese man falls hard, Adam cuts him in the legs, so the coward won't run away.
"No, no, no, please you can't..." once again the fool presumed he could tell him what to do.
"You're a one of us, you're a faunus!" the once proud officer cried.
"You started a war to save the faunus." Adam stood above the shivering Walrus faunus, before the blood drenched blade cut into and out from his skull, and his fat body falls.
"I'm finishing it."
As per his orders, the lights turn back on, giving Adam a rare moment to see his handy work. All around him, the leading body of the White Fang lay in literal pieces across the small room.
Limbs everywhere, the walls painted red with blood, and the look of pure betrayal shown on their dying faces.
Adam lets it all sink in. "I did this…" he forces himself to acknowledge that fact, if only to prepare himself for what was to come next.
"I did this." He lets every emotion flow, letting it all out now and be done with it. Hurting his friends, killing his comrades, murdering his lords and masters, and destroying the only real life he'd ever known, he let's all that sink in under a single minute.
For a brief moment, he allows himself the humanity to let his deeds take its toll on what was left of his soul.
After the single minute, nothing really changed.
There was no conflict in him, what he expected to finally break within him only strengthened his resolve. As though the caged beast buried deep within his chest had be awoken from his self-imposed comatose state, now it roam freely and it called out to him, begging him to keep going.
Adam chuckles at the implications "I really am a monster."
If there was any doubt, it was gone now.
An unexpected hitch occurs on the other side of the submarine, Desire, out of impatience, shots the communications room up, hating the idea of not joining in on the symphony of mass murder.
"Boring conversation anyway," she mused impatiently. Screw Adam's orders! There was a free-for-all and she hadn't killed anything in hours, and that was too long for her, girls have needs after all.
Release was necessary for a healthy life.
With a cheap assault rifle she ripped out of a faunus' hands, she sets out to find some more screams of pain, grabbing extra ammo from the corpses, she makes her way to the exit, only to stop at the sight of herself blocking the way out.
"Adam won't like that, you know." image of herself says, she ignores it and walks right into her, they collide and the image blurs out of existence, now she was free to go into the fray, letting herself gorge in the screams of her victims, the sweet melody she could barely hear.
Making her way to the hallway she stops at the sight of Little Miss Booty Shorts with eyes glowing like a firefly's ass illuminating the darkened hall way.
"You might want to tone down that eye-liner." She should save some for clowns. Honestly, make up like that doesn't come cheap.
Cinder just smiles and walks past her, not even giving her a sideways glance, the clicking of her heels on the metal floor creating a noise Desire found even more annoying than her smug face.
"Cunt." The derogatory term sparks a reminder in Desire "Speaking of Ask. Where the hell is he in all this?" it's odd not hearing a peep from the whacko that could make Adam look like a fucking saint in comparison, she wasn't worried, the only concern in Desire's mind was if he was actually fighting someone, she'd hate to miss seeing that clown get killed.
If there was anyone's scream she'd want to collect, it would be his.
From the hallway, Cinder answers "Armory, on your left."
Cinder lied, it was on actually her right. And she didn't even know where Ask as to begin with.
But she did know what awaited the faunus test-subject at the end of the hall.
Adam left White Fang leader as the only living thing behind when he walked from the main control room. Casually, carelessly, he strolled in a steady pace of death along the hallway, enjoying the taste of salt in the filtered air of the steel submarine.
One would expect the salty taste to be that of the endless sea water they were traveling in, but in reality that would mean there was a catastrophic leak in the main hull.
In reality the salt in the air was from another phenomenon Adam discovered.
It is well known that blood tastes like iron, but that is only when the blood has been left out for too long, when blood is fresh however, it tastes salty.
And thus Death tastes salty
And so does the Leviathan.
With one swing, he eliminates several annoying soldiers, poor excuses of thugs thinking they are warriors. Disappointment filled him in regards to the class of soldier the White Fang had, it was embarrassing.
A head he decapitated rolls across the hallway as if guiding him to his next target.
The conference room was his destination, for he knew that the face of a coward was the back of his head running away from a battle.
He stops at the sight of the vanguard , the White Fang's defensive units. Meaning he'd already killed the the offensive units.
These units were equipped with riot shields and stun batons that was also a gun. One brave soul among them steps forward, challenging Adam, addressing him as "TRAITOR!"
He tosses away his shield and transforms his weapon from its gun form to its stun baton form in a spin, the weapon charges up, and the electricity coats the weapon's business end.
Being called out, Adam agrees to the challenge.
He puts his riffle aside, choosing to face this brave yet foolish soul the honorable battle he wants.
The vanguard charges at him, baton above his head, going for a vertical attack.
Adam parries the blow before it could gain full momentum, with his balance lost the vanguard moves back, going immediately to defend against Adam's lightning fast slash.
He was lucky he brought is weapon up, if not, Adam would have cut him in half.
But Adam doesn't stop there, he brings sword's hardened handle to strike against the vanguard's abdomen, expecting weakness he was met with strength.
The blow did nothing.
The vanguard swweps with his baton, forcing Adam to dodge instead of defend. An arc of electricity is between them, right before it could dissipate completely, the bvanguard swings again, Adam blocks this time, energy from the baton sparking- crackling against the blood hued blade.
The vanguard follows up with several more strikes, Ada blocks the attacks effortlessly, it was the kick the made him stagger.
Adam springs back just as quickly, dashing forward and relentlessly slashing his opponent who he sends into the ceiling above, and falling back down.
Now their original positions were reversed.
Adam approaches his opponent carefully, and with good reason too as the vanguard springs back, baton swinging as he does, nearly hitting Adam in the face.
The blow was came close, too close to be taken lightly, he could almost feel the electricity from the weapon. Holding back was no longer an option. Adam steps to the right, the vanguard positions himself to met the blow, hidding behind his weapon like he was taught.
Training meant nothing now.
He gets hit from his blindside, it was impossible, Adam was striking so fast it looked as though he was flickering in and out of existence. Unable to defend, the vanguard strikes at Adam where he stood.
Adam meets the blow with Wilt's edge, the locking the two weapons in place.
Adam found his weapon's weakness and exploited it, the range was too close for a long baton to be used effectively, the vanguard pushes back to give himself more room, then attacked in a stabbing motion, the butt end of his going in for a hit.
Adam moves his his weapon in a series of tight effective movements, blocking the stabs, he then twists his body to give his slash momentum, exposing his back temporarily.
The vanguard sees an opening. He takes it.
Adam gets hit, he stumbles back.
Finally, finding the perfect moment to end this, the vanguard seizes the moment, raising his weapon high for a kill stroke- exposing his midsection in the process.
Adam regains the footing he never lost, he feigned weakness, he plunges his sword deep into the vanguard's gut, then as he falls, Adam pulls out his blade to maul his opponent further; an honorable death.
It was the least he could do, for the best fight he had in a while.
Not wanting to waste anymore time, Adam slashes through the rest of the vanguard squad, cutting everyone in half, and leaving a large gash on the door.
Adam steps over the useless sacks of flesh, and continues where he left off.
The conference room greeted him with gunfire, knowing the White Fang missed 80% of the time, he just stands still, swatting only a handful of bullets. Adam replied warmly with his own barrage. His actually hit.
Adam looks down at a familiar sight.
Feld Sparr, a man with so few talents but a surplus of lien, and in the eyes of the White Fang, that made him eligible to lead logistics.
It brought Adam some satisfaction to see him cowering beneath the large table.
And even greater satisfaction as his deadly blade helped his body meet the floor.
The rest of the logistics team hug the walls in fear, each one knowing full well this wasn't a dream, that Adam Taurus wasn't a traitor out to kill them all, that they could survive. They knew they were goners; all in all, Adam was only slightly deflated at their lack of effort.
"On to the next one."
And the next one
And the next one
And the next one
Adam was now a storm of emotion, of cloudburst, simply waiting for years to finally unleash fury upon the land. Each swing was like a bolt of thunder, furious and instantaneous, each gunshot was thunder, as though marking death with every sound
A sound that makes the ache in Desire spike.
FUS RO DAH
Her shout sends a hallway of faunus flying. The fools deserved it, all them deserved her wrath, he want and needs.
It's been far to long since she was able to release a worded shout, screams were fun, but it was the words that truly gave them power.
The churned Desire was now finally indulged. Instant gratification is over rated, she agreed to Adam's passive orders on her, but as her burning need to commit atrocities became too great, it surprised no one she left her post.
Adam was stylish in his gratification, Ask denies his appetites- literally- than gorges himself, and as far as she could tell, Cider had none to quell.
Desire tried to imitate both of her teammates styles. Adam's care and Ask's restraint all in one.
And it worked wonders.
Just ask the White Fang- Oh, wait.
As a group made a small blockade and tried to surround her, she tries out a less direct method.
ZUN HAAL VIIK she shouted, and suddenly all the White Fang who thought to trap her were now without a weapon.
"Who's first?" she asked.
"Get her!"
Apparently the answer was all of the above.
Desire was enjoying this, it was the one thing she and her counterpart/s could agree on, they were at home in battle, at peace in war, safe in danger, and more alive when surrounded with death.
Her blood lust was almost limitless, unlike Adam's whose by this point was already over indulged.
"...monster...monster...monster...monster..."
What was once nothing but an image he tried to keep no longer seemed that way. As a voice kept calling him, taunting him in his head. It was amorphous, unidentifiable, raw. Pure guilt in auditory form.
Adam's lungs called for breath, what he was doing constantly sent his heart through an impossible ordeal.
His bottled up rage and pain that he called upon to achieve his goals now had no use to him here.
Contrary to popular opinion, Adam Taurus does not excel at killing.
Only destroying those he hates.
That is why it was so difficult.
"Commander Taurus...why?..." Adam looked away, having no answer. Cinder gives the dying man the mercy of her flames.
Adam stands there, finding himself wishing he gave the faunus a cleaner death, the kind he should have done, instead of the sloppy wound he inflicted.
For he cannot kill, what he cannot hate.
The incompetent leadership is one thing, they deserved a more fate than Adam gave them.
But this was just overkill.
Now he was clinging to his weapon for dear life, he couldn't keep doing this. Even with Cinder there, only the feeling of Wilt's handle and a Blush's trigger truly kept him tethered.
His resolve was shaking, somehow weakened by his evil actions.
Slash he drowns the weakness with his the scarlet blades' movements, if only to block the sound of suffering he was creating.
Head gets cut open, Wilt gets caught in the faunus' hair, Adam thinks on his feet and decides to just blow the head off his sword.
Bang he focuses on his riffle's boom noise, finding it pretty or at least entertaining.
"Surround him!"
Slash Bang
Cuts a faunus' body in half vertically, right side makes a weird mess on the ceiling. Left becomes a cover against machinegun fire.
Good, he was getting the hang of this again.
Slash
"Please no! I have a daughter-"
Bang
He loves his people. He loves his fellow Faunus. He is willing to throw away his own life it meant they could have liberation.
Adam hears a chorus of screams and a barrage of footsteps as he takes a single step and blows through them like a powerful wind of dismemberment.
Slash Slash Slash.
The sad flute* blows in all their throats.
The two partners arrive at a fork in the road, one lead ahead, the other head right.
For the sake of it, Adam decides to invoke the cliche' of horror movies and decides the two should split up. Cinder goes on ahead and he takes the turn.
He was met with opposition, and he greeted them with a sword to the neck. It was sicking to him but he was actually starting to get better at this; they didn't even have time to scream before Adam took the life from their eyes.
He didn't have much time to admire his handiwork, like an ironic gift from the jerk watching the universe; a challenge finally arrives in plain view.
Two high-ranking members come at him; one man of age, Tea is his name if Adam recalled correctly, the combat instructor of all aspiring members.
Adam remembered sparring with him once. And he wasn't as bad as his students, that much was certain.
Behind them was a student of one of his, shaking with a raised practice sword, obviously too distraught with what was going on he failed to be of any use to his masters.
The other was a woman two ranks below him in hierarchy and two decades above him in age, all he knew from her was the tragic backstory, her husband and daughter both died in the service of a certain energy company no one liked.
As he effortlessly replied their attacks and dealt his own, more effective blows, his mind wanders to how he can remember her tragedy, yet neglect the memory of her name.
It didn't matter now, as his blade left a long gash across her neck.
Tea screams as he lunges, Adam parries, this time holding no reservations on his speed, looking like a shadow flickering out of existence to the young initiate on guard.
To the aged battle master, however, all he could see was the edge of his own blade before his vision becomes pools blood and agony.
Adam steps back and watches as the poor old man violently try to remove his sword-the extension of himself- out of his bleeding eyes.
As the man screams in every octave possible, and as he approaches Adam in a violent spasm, Adam only steps aside and lets his elder pass unopposed.
Adam only had to wait for the sound of his body falling lifeless on the ground before moving forward.
The initiates shaking puts a leaf to shame, he could at least die with dignity, Adam is more than happy to give him that, yet he seemed rooted in place, no sign of ever charging at the killer of his master.
It was then Adam realized he was ordered to protect the door behind him, with his very life if necessary.
In a single soundless movement, Adam made it necessary.
His world was crumbling around him, he made it so, this is by his design.
He felt something tug at him, painfully pulling at him to millions of pieces, shattering him and grief poured into the cracks and holes, the rest was just alcohol in his.
He knew he loved his people.
Deep down in the barren wasteland he called his heart it was the smallest and most delicate sprig of life that never really died down.
But even it knew.
It knew right from the very start that it couldn't compete with one simple fact; Adam Taurus, despite being the monster that he is, loves Blake even more.
And he would earn that love back, even if he had to spill more of his people's blood.
Both guilty…
"Commander Taurus." said young faunus initiate no older than five, behind him was his group of initiates, all no older than Blake was when she joined. "Are you here to protect us, Comander Taurus?"
…and innocent.
Adam looks at them sadly…
'Oh, you have no idea.'
…and draws his weapon.
A shot of pain rips through Ask's right eye. The pain was so sudden and unbearable, he could barely even stand, clutching his eye he stumbles forward, after a few seconds of agony, he could comprehend the feeling surrounding him.
"I feel…"
From his weakened state he hears cries he could never get used to, it was the distinct sound of children screaming.
And his very being could barely understand. And unknown to him at the time, was a felt by another party a continent away.
"Professor Ozpin? What's wrong?" Glynda asked worriedly, her speech gone, replaced with genuine concern over the Headmaster's sudden paleness.
"It's nothing." He quickly responded, then returning to his cryptic neutrality, whatever ailing him hidden well underneath practiced nonchalance. A practiced nonchalance Glynda was in no mood of having today. So Ozpin made a decision to tell her, only to be spared from her arctic gaze.
"All of a sudden I just feel…" he began, not really able to make what he was sensing into words.
"Feel what?"
The headmaster grips the handle of his weapon, as though finding support from his faithful companion.
"Cold." was all Ozpin could describe, like a frozen arrow pierces your heart and leaves an open wound only for the ice to travel through your veins and arteries, as though an unspeakable evil suddenly destroyed something pure.
"…cold." Ask engulfed by it, like the 9th gate of hell, the freezing winds like a hundred needles stinging everywhere, as though something made the very universe cringe and rage on.
"Hmm…cold." Cinder mutters at the breeze of air she felt. To warm up, she slightly increases her own body temperature, she felt the cold but the cold never bothered her anyway.
But the hundreds of Grimm swimming in the ocean loved the cold. They were drawn to it, molded by it.
Now they were coming for the source.
"Taurus..." Ask picks himself up from his fetal position yet still clinging on to his eye as though it was a wound. "What have you done?" he asked in horror as he sensed the oncoming danger.
"Damn, Adam." The voice that was clearly Desire's voiced. "All I had to do was follow the sound of screaming children and utter betrayal and I find you."
"You okay?" Cinder asked, not all concerned, more interested in his handiwork.
"I just felt emotion." Adam shakily replied "I'm not okay with that." After this fight, alcohol must be mandatory.
Fittingly, Desire thought his moment of emotional instability was the perfect opportunity to bring up some older scars to go on top of the fresher ones. "Oh, Raven would be so proud."
At the sound of that name, a name synonymous with a past Adam longed to both forget and relive, Adam immediately- angrily, turns , no one should ever say her name in his presence. "Don't…" the somberness within him is replaced by a storm cloud of not-so-tranquil fury "…say her name.
Cinder looks around, confusion clearly on her face. "Adam…" she began delicately, similar to how you converse with a man who had a gun aimed at their head "Who are you talking to?"
She asked, as she was the only one there besides him.
"Before you think you're going crazy, my body needs some help…" the voice that was clearly there says as though she was right in the room with them. "She's found one of your old teammates." she supplies.
End of Chapter
If you ask me how I would describe Adam's relationship to Blake, I'd say Kanye West would be a fairly good example.
"A jerk to the world but not to your girl."
That or Kill Bill which is so much more canon than I ever predicted.
Here's a hint of some banter for the next Chapter.
"You're starting to remind me of a teacher I had in Signal."
Adam proceeds to down an entire bottle of rum, making the resemblance even more clear.
"Hmm, he is your uncle. Family resemblance and whatnot."
Adam wipes his mouth and stores the bottle back into his riffle's handle before saying "I'm adopted you idiot."
"Where are you going?" Adam asked.
"To get some popcorn, seeing you make your own decisions should be one hell of a shit show!"
"Wow, that must be soul crushing."
"I don't have any soul left to be crushed!" Adam(maybe)
"So I heard you found yourself a girl who doesn't call the cops when she sees you approach. How's that going for you?"
"I actually want to hang out with her with our clothes on. That's a big step for me." Mercury replies.
"How did you know sand could subdue him?"
"His sensitive."
"GAY!"
"I mean Force Sensitive."
"Oh...NERD!"
"IT GETS EVERYWHERE!" Ask reasoned, feeling the bane of his fucked up family lineage.