Chapter 33: No Time to Explain
Mercury's entry into this unfamiliar, new lecture room had been fairly graceful, considering the abrupt nature of the sudden breach through the exterior door by these unknown huntsmen. It was the horrible screeching sound accompanying the three pointed tips of a trident piercing through a solid metal barrier that caused him to snap into action so quickly. If there had been more time, he probably would have made a break for Emerald, further down the hall. All things considered, he didn't know who was outside, or how much time he had.
Once he crossed the threshold into the classroom, Mercury quickly, but quietly, pushed the door closed behind him. After an abbreviated scan of the area, he found that there was nowhere he could position himself that would give him a tangible advantage against anyone who might follow him in. No corners, closets, or other closed in areas. As he looked around, his attention was constantly drawn to the trophies and weapons adorning the room on mounts all around him. He quietly muttered his distaste for them. "What kind of self-righteous egomaniac keeps this much crap mounted on his walls?"
As he refocused his attention on the tactical realities of his situation, he recognized that his best option was to hide in plain sight. Instead of moving down into the half-bowl shaped room, he stepped to the right, and waited against the wall, just inside of the doorway. If someone were to open it, the door itself would shield him from view.
To him, it seemed like a good plan, which is to say that to someone who hadn't slept in far too long, attempting to hide in what was essentially plain sight seemed like a sound strategy. The worst part, well… one of the worst parts of this turn of events, was not knowing. There was no way to tell if he was being hunted, or if these people were coming for someone else, or if they wanted anything at all. So Mercury stood, silently, just inside of the room and waited.
After a few moments, he heard their voices. They were muted somewhat by the door between Mercury and their source, but audible nonetheless. From the words he could distinguish, the topic of discussion seemed to be whether to split up into groups to search for something. One voice seemed to be much more boisterous than the rest, almost enthusiastic, but yet familiar in its muffled tones. Then there were footsteps, slow and heavy in their cadence, that seemed to be coming nearer.
The door briefly shook as pressure was applied to it from outside, before the handle began to twist, and the doors swung open. Mercury stood motionless, and in absolute silence, waiting for someone to enter. As planned, he was now hidden from view. The footsteps slowly marched into the room, stopping just at the top of the stairs. Another few paces, and a great number of questions would be answered. The seconds passed in agonizingly slow motion. Mercury peaked his head around the door that was now ajar in front of him. Then, things became very clear.
The rotund old man eagerly surveyed the room. He seemed satisfied with the condition of the relics that were mounted on the walls. It was almost as if through all of the misfortune that had befallen Beacon, his greatest concern was his trophies. Mercury couldn't understand it, he hadn't really been much of a collector. He did his job, did it well, and moved on. There was no sport for him. The fact that he injected a certain level of sick pleasure into it was just his way of breaking the monotony of his grunt work, which was typically unpleasant. So if he could manage to get a laugh or two out of it, it was a good day.
With respect to the identity of this new, veteran huntsman entering the room, Mercury could clearly tell that it was Professor Port, despite having yet to see his face. The boisterous enthusiasm in the voice he'd heard earlier, the familiar muffled tones… He knew them. During his standoff in the hallways underneath Amity Coliseum opposite of Ruby, he could hear Port's voice echoing through the halls. This revelation also meant that in front of him stood a man who would most certainly find his presence here to be particularly dubious. After all, Mercury was supposed to be back home with his family, nursing his injured leg. He smiled wryly, Family… Broken Leg... Right…
The obvious solution, then, was to attack with perfect timing and precision. A single attack would be enough to leverage an advantage out of this situation, assuming that it was undetected. In his estimation, a quick burst of acceleration followed by a flying kick to the neck or head accompanied by a blast from his gun-boots would take just about anything down. The shot might alert the other members of his group, but Mercury considered the time he would buy himself to escape or hide. Even if that failed, a potential fight would become two versus two, and he'd take those odds. With Emerald nearby, he was confident that there would be no problem in either circumstance.
The formation of Mercury's devious plot was interrupted by Port's jovial humming. Idiot, he thought. He really doesn't have any idea what's about to happen to him… Oh well, sucks to be you. With all of the power he could muster into his toes propelling him, Mercury began his charge. The old man's melody left him completely oblivious to the strike. He never sensed his attacker leap into the air. He never saw him extend his leg to deliver the knockout blow.
Mercury's timing was precise, his form was nearly perfect. Everything was going according to plan... until it wasn't. The impact of his boot connecting with Port's head was exactly as he expected it to be. By contrast, the hollow click of his boot's built-in weapon failing to fire was immediately the most horrifying sound he had ever heard. As he recoiled from the kick, Mercury glanced down at his malfunctioning foot, and let out an aggravated growl. Without thinking about it, he had attempted to fire the shot from the leg that had been damaged by Neo's umbrella. He cursed the day that he met that two-toned miscreant.
Regardless of his misfire, the impact sent Port twisting through the air, landing on his back at the bottom of the stairs, on the floor of the classroom. To Mercury, time seemed to stand still. He had to consider if the kick could have been enough, on its own, to do the job. There was almost no sound. It would be an incredible stroke of luck, and just the kind of break he needed to compensate for his previous oversight.
Without missing a beat… and much to the dismay of the young man standing at the top of the stairs, Port sprung to his feet. It was an impressive sight considering his physique, but also disheartening, as it dashed Mercury's hopes of a silent knockout. He looked back up at his young attacker. For a moment the Professor stood in shock, contemplating what had just happened to him. When he settled himself, and took a moment to review the events of the previous thirty seconds, he frowned, unslung his blunderbuss, and leveled it at Mercury. He said one word, ripe with anger. "Explain."
It was in this moment when Mercury recognized that quiet and quick were no longer feasible options. With regards to the demands made by his foe, nothing sarcastic or witty immediately came to mind. There was no contingency plan. There was no turning back. There was, for him, only one option. "I… uh…" He sighed, knowing that a huntsman who could boast several decades of experience stood in front of him. With a shrug, he lobbed a cryptic response to his opponent-to-be, "You're it. No tag backs."
Port lowered his weapon slightly, staring inquisitively toward Mercury. It wasn't much, but it was an opening, which Mercury immediately attempted to exploit, charging his opponent. His plan was to test the old man's resolve, hoping that he didn't have the fortitude to open fire on a "student". Port remained steadfast for as long as he dared, hoping for something, anything that might defuse the situation.
Mercury's weaving approach brought him most of the way towards his target. He began to consider that his bluff, for lack of a better word, would go unanswered. That is, before his window of opportunity closed abruptly. With a single twitch of the finger, Port's weapon unleashed an enormous burst of fire, followed by a projectile, followed by more fire. In an instant, Mercury realized the recklessness of his tactics, but it was too late. There was no time to parry or dodge the blast. When it exploded in his chest, the force altered his course straight back to the direction from which he came, into the staircase. By the time he was able to piece together what had happened, he was lying in a small crater.
The veteran wasted no time in closing the distance to his downed attacker. He steadied his weapon, ready to fire again, should it be necessary. Any sensible person would stay down after absorbing a blast like that. The young man in front of him appeared to be squirming a bit, apparently in no small amount of discomfort. A distinct wince was prominent among Mercury's facial features.
Port had been forced to classify Mercury as an enemy. But he still didn't understand why any of this was happening. Based on the severity of his aggression, he knew that there was not much room for forgiveness in this situation. "Mr. Black, I'll give you one more chance to explain yourself before I make the rest of your night excruciatingly unpleasant."
Mercury opened his eyes slightly. He located Port, who was much closer than he had expected. There was still a firearm trained on him. With no desire to absorb another shot from it, he raised his arms in surrender.
Port did not welcome this concession warmly. Considering that Mercury had launched a sneak attack, with the apparent intent to incapacitate him, simply ducking out of the fight was not an option. He lived for the hunt. Whatever game this… kid… was trying to play, it was for cowards. An honorable individual in the same situation would not just… give up. In a calm voice, he repeated his demands. "There is no surrender here, Mr. Black. You made a choice, which you will now explain to me, before we finish this childish game."
Mercury coughed, and mumbled something incoherent under his breath, while grimacing towards Port.
He took a step closer, and prepared to demand that Mercury repeat himself. In the blink of an eye, Mercury's grimace disappeared, revealing his signature smirk. From his position lying on his back, he straightened one leg, and simultaneously fired his one functioning boot into the shin of Professor Port, effectively knocking his leg out from under him. Fortunately for Mercury, his masterful performance faking an injury had instilled a false sense of security in the otherwise vigilant professor.
The impact to his shin was easily enough to throw him off balance, and spun him slightly. With the energy he had left, Mercury used his other foot to kick the hand that Port used to hold his blunderbuss, sending the weapon flying several feet. The weight transfer that accompanied the swinging of his leg for the kick caused Mercury to end up on his hands and knees. From there, it was a simple, quick movement to hop to his feet. Without any hesitation, he made a brief analysis of the man that had stood over him triumphantly only seconds before. Still off balance, and recoiling from the kick to his arm, there was realistically no way that Mercury could botch this attack.
For once, things actually went according to plan. He fired one more shot right into Port's face, at what was effectively point-blank range. The blast sent him to the ground in a heap. For the first time since launching his attack, calmness overtook the room. Mercury cautiously walked towards the downed huntsman, watching carefully for any signs of deception. When he got close enough, a few complimentary kicks to the midsection ensured that a counterattack would not be coming any time soon.
He took just a moment to revel in his victory, before remembering his manners. He cleared his throat, and repeated himself, "I said... no tag backs..." Adrenaline flowed through Mercury like he hadn't felt in quite some time. This had been a real fight, not a staged spectacle designed to influence people as part of some grand scheme. As the dust settled in the wake of his duel, he remembered that there were two other intruders lurking somewhere nearby, and they had most likely heard the shots that had been exchanged.
The skirmish left the two combatants in the open at the bottom of the stairway, on the lecture floor. Port was on the floor in a much more literal sense than Mercury, who was at least still on his feet. He made a decision to attempt to hide Port's body from the other two huntsmen, of course, but also from Emerald, who probably wouldn't be pleased with his 'fight first, ask questions later' approach. As he began to drag the heavyset professor out of sight behind a row of desks, he took note of the breaths that he was still taking. Still kickin' big guy? Then, he realized how that could become advantageous. Good, I might need you for leverage later.
The distance that Mercury dragged his victim was no more than a few yards, but when he released the weight from his hands, he put his hands on his knees and huffed loudly, drained from the mounting strain on his body. The lack of sleep, damaged foot, his recent fight and dietary deficiency left him with significantly less energy than he was used to having. Once again, he was forced to remind himself that there were other potential threats roaming around. Slowly, Mercury straightened himself out, and stood completely upright.
He felt several pops in his back as he stretched it out, and groaned at his own physical condition. Nonetheless, he made the determination to try to find out what the status of the other people in the immediate vicinity was. Before he could even turn toward the exit to the room, a voice called out to him. "Mercury!"
He knew the voice, and without turning around, began offering assurances to appease what he thought might be a concerned partner. "Don't worry Em, everything's okay in here. I took care of it." Mercury was sure that if Emerald was confident enough to call out with such a loud volume, then surely, his choice to match it would be acceptable.
As he began to turn around to address Emerald more directly, another, completely unfamiliar voice called out from somewhere within a reasonable proximity to his partner. "Took care of what?" Neptune's voice combined with his unexpected presence in the room, although not exceedingly intimidating, caused the majority of the color to drain from Mercury's face.
Emerald stood in the doorway, clearly bewildered, and lacking any idea of how to defuse the situation that Mercury's ignorance had just created. Alongside her stood two others with similarly confused expressions on their faces. For a moment, the room fell silent again. The brief interlude gave Emerald enough time to slowly move into the room toward Mercury, which was her way of subtly creating more space between herself and the two members of team SSSN, in the event of a confrontation. As she moved away, Sage and Neptune both scanned the area for any sign of their fire team leader.
There was no trace of him. The room looked like it had been the scene of a fairly aggressive physical altercation based on the cracks that ran along the staircase and one large crater in the middle of it. Turning his attention back to his new acquaintances, Sage noticed Emerald casually drifting further and further into the room. Mercury remained completely still, almost frozen in the same position he had been in since he turned around. Something was wrong, but Sage didn't know how to address the suspicions that he had about the situation.
His words seemed to startle both Emerald and Mercury. "So uh… where's Professor Port?" A brief pause that elicited no response followed. "I literally watched him come in here not even five minutes ago. Did you see him?" Still, there was nothing from either of them, only a mutual exchange of shrugs and bewildered expressions. Sage found their lack of information to be even more suspect. He took two steps, officially entering the room. At the same time, he wrapped one of his hands around the hilt of his sword, which extended over his shoulder. His intention was to make it abundantly clear that he knew something wasn't quite right with this situation.
Emerald gave her partner a worried look. She didn't anticipate things going so badly as quickly as they had. She knew, without even having seen what Mercury had done to the old man with her own eyes, that the two men near the entrance could not be allowed to see it either. She wished there was some way she could have thirty seconds to talk to Mercury, to come up with a plan, or at least generalize a strategy. As things were, any whispers or quiet conversation with Mercury would invite questions… questions for which there were not favorable answers.
As Sage prepared to descend the staircase, he felt a hand stop him. He very quickly shifted his head to find Neptune staring at him with a very stern expression. A quick glance at Emerald confirmed that she was far enough away that a hushed conversation would remain between the two of them. He spoke quietly. "Something's not right here. We've gotta get away from these guys." In contrast to the other pair of people in the room Neptune wasn't concerned with what sorts of negative signals he was sending by essentially whispering.
Sage responded with an angry-toned whisper. "We can't just leave… Port's here somewhere. He has to be. The guy's impossible to lose track of. They're hiding something."
They briefly exchanged contemplative looks until something clicked in Neptune's mind. His eyes opened wide, and a smile briefly formed on one half of his face. "You're right." His expression became much more serious. "Get ready, this could get ugly really fast." He turned his head toward Mercury, who had now been joined by Emerald at the base of the stairs.
"Slow down Nep, what are you talking about?" Sage's concerns fell on deaf ears as Neptune drew his weapon and took aim at the gray-haired man. "Neptune? Jesus, stop! Think before you do something you're gonna regret!" He didn't get a reaction from his teammate. "Listen to me!"
Neptune remained focused on Mercury. His finger moved from a safety position to the trigger of his weapon. He applied pressure to it, which caused the fusion coils in his rifle to hum and glow as they charged. In short order, a single energy blast shot across the room, which Mercury easily jumped out of the way of. Neptune waited a moment for the room to return to its previously quiet state. There was no counterattack, because his target, as well as Emerald, was still trying to maintain a facade of innocence.
"How's the leg?" Neptune asked in the wake of Mercury's evasive acrobatics. Sage, who was now aware of the point that Neptune was trying to make, drew his sword so that he would be ready for whatever came next.
"Aw, shucks. Looks like ya got me." Mercury broke out of his recent vow of silence. "This must be the part where I go on a long-winded monologue about how you figured out my diabolical plan. Except… I don't have a plan. I'm a renegade. And you attacked me? Not a great idea." He laughed, somewhat maniacally. "You have… NO clue about the world of pain that you just stepped into. But don't worry, you'll see soon enough."
Neptune checked to his right, making sure that Sage was on the same wavelength. He was. His weapon was drawn, and his attention was very clearly focused on Mercury and Emerald. Although there was still no way of knowing what their motivations were, it was quite clear that they had played some role in the chaos that had unfolded at Beacon. If there had to be a fight, at least they could take solace in the fact that they were fighting for the right side.
One final assessment of his new foes showed that Mercury was beaming with hubris. Emerald stood silently alongside him with what could only be described as a look of complete surprise on her face. Neptune assumed that he would take the lead, and thus prepared to give the go-ahead to commence their attack, but Sage lurched forward very prematurely, and very unexpectedly. His form was inexplicably poor. In fact, he didn't seem to be using any identifiable combat discipline. It looked a lot like he had simply flung his body towards his enemies.
Then, there was a jolt to the back of Neptune's right leg, just below the knee. The impact dropped him to a half kneel. A sudden, intense pain in his calf, followed by a distinct inability to get back to his feet was an unmistakable indication that something had gone tragically wrong. From his knees, he watched Sage fly directly into a boot to the face from Mercury, and fall to the ground like a ragdoll. As he helplessly watched the scene in front of him unfold, his view became obscured by the appearance of a petite young girl passing slowly in front of him. Her most prominent feature was her distinctively two-toned hair.
She walked towards Emerald. Mercury just watched her, frowning as she came nearer to him. But after a moment, he turned back to Neptune, and resumed his laughter. "Do you have any idea how long she was standing behind you two? She hits like a truck too, as your friend here found out."
Neptune removed his steadying hand from his weapon, and reached around behind himself, searching for the source of his pain. He didn't dare take his eyes off of Mercury, but still managed to find the accursed umbrella. There was no time to consider the most medically sound ways to handle a puncture wound, so he gritted his teeth and pulled it out as quickly as he could. For a moment, Neptune was thoroughly disgusted with himself for being incapacitated by something he had held in his own hand mere minutes ago. He hurled it away from himself in frustration.
He knew he had to get up, but standing was an… interesting… proposition now. The vast majority of his weight and balance were being handled by his left leg. He was able to manage it, but he was forced to transition his weapon into its trident form to support himself.
Mercury began to step closer to the hobbled Neptune. "I've gotta give you credit, without little Neo here, you might have been able to actually win… as much as it pains me to admit it. I haven't slept in days. But once I'm done with you, I'll rest assured that nobody's going to mess with us."
Neptune limped backwards, one hop at a time, towards the door. The thought of leaving Sage behind was devastating to him, but what else could he do? Standing and fighting was practically the only option, except that he could barely stand, and fighting was loosely based on the ability to remain upright. He took another hop back, but this time stumbled over something on the ground behind him, and fell backwards. Mercury laughed again, but was interrupted this time by the short yelp of a tiny gray and black Corgi lying under the weight of Neptune's legs.
With an understanding of what Zwei's presence meant, he almost cried. Thank you based Corgi.