Chapter 7: Saiyan Warrior

"All teams, prepare to go." James took the stairs to the commentator's booth two at a time. "Move on my signal."

He burst into the booth and issued quick orders to the pimply technician in the corner to cut the broadcast while surveying the arena floor from the elevated vantage point. Mato was still standing where he had landed, but James didn't expect that to last long. He didn't know what the terrorist's plan was, issue threats, make examples of the students down there with him, and he didn't intend to find out.

"All teams, g-"

"Hold."

James turned at the voice as calm as still water to see Ozpin standing in the corner, his hand gently restraining the technician's and preventing him from cutting the feed. James opened his mouth to object, only to be stilled by Ozpin raising his other hand. With infuriating slowness, the older man led the young technician from the room and shut the door behind him. Finally, he spoke.

"If we treat this as a commotion, there will be no way to calm the public after. This is the Vytal Festival, if they aren't safe when surrounded by your soldiers and drones they will never feel safe in the relative defenselessness of their own homes."

James glanced at the two Huntsmen teachers still seated at the announcers seats. Apparently Ozpin trusted them enough to let them in on this conversation. He wouldn't challenge that decision, he had other ones to get to first. "Are you serious? They won't feel safe when a terrorist murders people on global television without anyone raising a finger to stop him either. We need to stop him, now."

Instead of responding to him, Ozpin turned to face one of his teachers. "Bart, what do you think?"

James recalled that the man in question had been the one to fight Mato as he answered Ozpin's question. "This man is clearly dangerous, and allowing him to act as he pleases would most likely end badly. He is liberal with violence and has a clear disregard for the lives of others."

"Does he?" Ozpin asked quietly.

Ironwood was rapidly losing his patience. "He participated in a violent terror attack on the city." He reminded Ozpin.

"He also went out of his way to save the life of his enemy." Ozpin turned to look down into the arena. "He has proven benign in the past. We should not be so quick to judge him a threat before he even does anything."

James was not convinced. "So you think we should just watch and wait. Do nothing, just like at Mountain Glenn. Not happening. I will not risk innocent lives on nothing but your hunches." His hand went to his comm piece, to issue his orders.

Ozpin turned back around and looked him dead in the eye with utmost seriousness. "James. Please. Trust me."

James's hand paused on the talk switch. For a very long moment, he weighed his options.

Cinder's face was calm now, with an expression of mild confusion and concern, but for a split second there she had been absolutely seething with rage. Mato couldn't help his predatory grin; she knew she was cornered now. Truth be told this colosseum wouldn't have been Mato's first choice for a battlefield either. The ring itself was fine; the scenery had dropped below to leave nothing but a flat surface. However, they were currently surrounded by lots of people in all directions, people who would no doubt have all kinds of opinions about what Mato was here to do.

"What are you doing here?" Emerald demanded of him. For half a second the fury returned to Cinder's face before she caught herself. Mato's eyes flicked up to the crowd behind the four of them, Cinder's cohort standing relatively close together and Neo on the outside as if she was debating making a break for it. Emerald had just admitted they knew him and Cinder wasn't happy about that. It seemed she was more concerned about the crowd's opinion than Mato was. Interesting.

"Why do you think?" Mato spread his hands in a questioning gesture. "The train was your plan and it was a suicide mission. Which means when you sent me there, you were trying to kill me." As if from far away, he heard the sharp crack. Mato banished the memory and shrugged. "It's only fair that I kill you in return."

"I'm afraid I have no idea what you're talking about." Cinder said, obviously not trusting the others to speak. "Perhaps-"

"I'm about to kill you." Mato cut her off. "You should stop worrying about what they think," he made an expansive wave to the crowd. "And be a lot more worried about me."

Mercury started to walk forward with his usual cocky swagger. "Why should we be? You're nothing but a dumb animal we picked for our plan. And if you're going to get in the way, there's only one response to that."

Mercury lashed out with a kick. Mato drew back and it passed through where his head had been, but his counterattack was stalled by a distinct sense of wrongness. He couldn't say what, but something was definitely not right. Mercury attacked with another kick that Mato dodged as well but this time he figured it out. There was no wind, no disturbance in the air currents that Mercury's kick should have generated. Fighting against years of ingrained instincts, Mato let the third kick slam into his head. It didn't, however, and instead just passed right through him.

Mato scowled. This shouldn't have surprised him one bit. "More tricks and deception? Do you even have a shred of honor or pride?"

He thrust out his hand and hit Mercury's chest with a satisfying thump. The cocky little shit was thrown backward to join the other three. Mato's hand glowed with energy and he released a ki blast. Not a strong one, but enough to rattle them up. They moved fast, at least, three of them did. Emerald was oddly sluggish and the blast clipped her shoulder. Having made contact, it then exploded.

Even before the dust had settled, Mercury charged out of the cloud and attacked, this time for real. Mato bent like a reed in the wind and avoided all the kicks without moving from where he stood. He would have kept it up a little longer but Cinder was making a break for an exit. He kicked Mercury back, taking care to send him flying into Emerald who had just gotten back on her feet, and body flickered over to cut Cinder off.

"Going somewhere?" He challenged.

She met his challenge by whipping her hand around and unleashing a blinding flash. Mato recoiled from the pain in his eyes, but he recovered quickly and even though his vision was shot his nose worked fine. He punched at the center of her scent and was rewarded with the still bizarre feel of the human energy barrier as he knocked her back to join her subordinates. The spots from his vision slowly cleared and he saw the three of them regrouping in the center of the arena. Neo had vanished from sight, not that Mato particularly cared about what happened to her.

Their many many faults aside, Mercury and Emerald were not cowards. They both rushed him, Emerald firing from her weapons as they ran. Mato met their charge with one of his own, closing the distance and seizing the initiative. He opened with a quick punch to Mercury's face, throwing the acrobatic fighter off balance. Emerald's guns changed into blades, but before she could do anything with them Mato drove an elbow into her gut. Mercury recovered and kicked at Mato's head. Mato ducked under the leg and kicked Mercury's other leg out from underneath him, knocking him to the ground. Mato caught Emerald's wrist as she tried to slash at him and hurled her up and over his head to slam her down onto her comrade. Before the two of them could get up, He blasted them with enough power to make them feel it.

Mato was spared having to beat on the fallen by a trio of odd, crystalline arrows fired at him. He smashed them with a few quick blows before turning his attention to Cinder, who was now holding a bow.

"Still not willing to get your hands dirty." Mato said mockingly. He swept a wave of ki ahead of him, one wide enough that when she tried to leap to the side she was still caught up in it. He would have pursued her further, but his attention was grabbed by Emerald staggering to her feet. Her earlier confidence and fierceness had evaporated, leaving behind fear.

"How's it feel to be the rat?" Mato asked her as he stepped forward. Emerald withdrew from him a step. Mato stepped forward again and she matched him with yet another step back. Her nerve finally broke and she turned to run, but Mato cut her off with a body flicker. A punch to the gut forced the air out of her lungs. She didn't even try to avoid the second punch aimed at her face. When Mato hit her, there was that odd shimmer Mato remembered from his fight with Bartholomew and she dropped to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. This time, she didn't get back up.

Mercury, on the other hand, was back on his feet though he was staggering a bit. His eyes burned with desperation just as Emerald's had, but instead of fear he showed rage.

"I'm not gonna die here." He spat. "I'll kill you first."

"Keep telling yourself that." Mato replied.

Mercury launched a clumsy kick. This time instead of dodging Mato caught his foot with his right hand, the explosive shell detonating against his palm. He yanked, pulling Mercury in. Mato's left hand came down on his ankle, intending to break the leg. But instead of the crack of breaking bone, there was a metallic crunch. Confused, Mato struck again and severed the leg entirely, Mercury falling onto the ground. Mato pulled the remains of the pant leg off to see he was holding on to a cybernetic ankle and foot.

"Mercury, you should have said something." Mato admonished the stricken young man hoisting himself up with his arms. "If I had known you were a cripple, I'd have been more gentle." He flipped the leg in the air and caught it by its end. He swung it around and slammed the foot into Mercury's head like a hammer, knocking him unconscious. Like with Emerald, there was that shimmering around his body. Mato discarded the metallic limb with distaste.

Cinder was all that was left. Mato body flickered to once again cut her off from the exit she was making for. He had slipped into flight while he moved, and remained in the air so he could quite literally look down at her.

"Running away again? There's a limit to how shameless a person can be." Mato lectured her.

For her part, Cinder once again tried to look blameless. "I'm telling you, I never did anything to you. There's no reason for this violence." She held her hands out like she was pleading, though Mato noted they were also positioned so she could guard her face and torso in a snap if needed.

Mato shook his head. "You're a shit liar." Cinder began to say something but he spoke over her. "If you were really so innocent, you'd be more angry or worried about your friends I just worked over. 'Course, that would require compassion and you can't even fake that, can you?"

He darted in and threw a punch. As expected, her arms blocked his fist. Unexpectedly, she was also smart enough to loose her footing and let the force behind the blow harmlessly propel her backwards instead of having to weather it. She skidded to a stop in the center of the arena, unharmed. Something occurred to Mato.

"Is Cinder Fall your real name?" Names were important to saiyans, Cinder liked to lie and deceive, it was a valid question.

"I'm done talking." Cinder answered.

Mato ignored the scornful reply and explained. "Where I'm from, people give their names before they fight. It's so the loser knows who to seek out for a rematch, or at least knows who sent them to hell." He feigned a realization. "Actually, scratch that. I don't need to know your name; you just need to know mine."

Conscious of the eyes of everyone in the colosseum on him, Mato pointed a thumb at his chest. "I am Mato, the saiyan warrior. And I came here to give you an express trip to hell." The lie slipped so easily between his lips that for half a second Mato believed it himself.

"Enough." Cinder said, her voice low and dangerous. Her mask of innocence had been completely abandoned. "I've had it with your posturing and your arrogance. I'll show you what real power is."

Her right eye burned with power, flaring into a spike that hung on her face. Mato's instincts hissed a warning, she was more of a threat than he had guessed. He readied his ki to shift around his body as needed and took a fighting stance. Cinder thrust a hand at him and a massive blast of fire shot at him. Mato could dodge it, but behind him was… Screw it. When your feet are wet, might as well jump in, right? He raised a hand, his fingers forming a blade shape, and flooded the arm with ki.

"Oni Gun." Mato said, as he fired a blast of ki that collided with and exploded Cinder's fireball. Cinder's eyes widened in surprise, but it was quickly overtaken by rage. She waved her arms about and a flurry of burning arrows fanned out through the air and closed in on him. Too many targets, too fast to shoot down one at a time. So… "Cleaving Sky." Mato swept his hand in front of his body and a wave of invisible rippled outward, the arrows exploding as they ran into it.

With a snarl, Cinder pressed her hands into the floor. Fire pulsed under her palms and shot off along the ground towards Mato, resembling lava more than anything else. Instead of directly attacking him, the lava formed a circle around him before surging up to engulf him from all sides. It would have been child's play to evade it by taking to the air, but Mato had gotten oddly invested in standing his ground. "Bell Barrier." He clapped his hands together as if in prayer and a bubble of ki surrounded him. The lava swelled and surged all around him, but it could not penetrate the deceptively sturdy barrier. He twisted his hands and the bubble exploded outward, blowing away all the lava as well.

Mato stared down the increasingly incensed Cinder, grinning. So this is what fighting with twenty weapons was like rather than four. He should have started using all these techniques ages ago. His ki flowed around him as he readied himself to repel Cinder's next attack.

As James watched the fierce battle, some dispassionate part of himself was impressed at both the immense power each combatant wielded and the wide variety of abilities and techniques they used that power for. Mostly though, he was preoccupied with self-recrimination.

"I can't believe that after all this time she was right here under our noses." He said, careful to remain vague due to the presence of Professors Port and Oobleck. Though James understood them to be loyal and dependable Huntsmen, secrets did not remain such if you babbled them out around other people.

The wisdom of his discretion was proven by Port quickly divining the significance of even the little he had said. "You mean to say she really was responsible for the recent breach?" He asked, referencing the "Saiyan Warrior's" accusations.

"I would say it is abundantly clear that this is no ordinary student." That was a classic Ozpin answer. It sounded like he was contributing, but when you thought about it he wasn't saying anything that wasn't blatantly obvious. James didn't mind the tendency here, where preserving the secret of the Maidens was a high priority, but it got pretty grating when he did it during inner circle meetings where they were supposed to all be cooperating.

"Indeed." Oobleck said. The normally hyperactive man had been staring intently at the White Fang member for the entirety of the fight. "Mato did not use any of the wide variety of techniques he is using now against me in our battle, yet I was defeated anyway while she is still holding her own."

"Not entirely." Ozpin said, giving James a significant look. "I would say she is slowly being overwhelmed."

Now that James thought about it, that was true. Cinder's attacks were getting more and more wild and the strain was beginning to show on her face. Mato, on the other hand, gave no indication his store of power wasn't endless. The significance wasn't lost on James. A Maiden's weakness had always been the fleshy body underneath the titanic, landscape altering powers. For someone to get into the equivalent of an energy arm wrestling match and be winning, even against only half a Maiden, was unbelievable.

"You still think we should sit back?" He asked Ozpin sharply. That kind of power, from either of them, couldn't be allowed to run around unchecked. The entire colosseum and everyone in it could be destroyed if their battle got too out of hand.

But Ozpin just looked at him with his usual calm expression. "I'm curious as to what you think we could do to stop them." He made a placating gesture with his free hand. "We only have one chance to make our move, it would be best if we waited until they have tried each other out first. Then we can move in and bring them both into custody."

Still, despite what he said James noticed that the hand holding his cane was clenched so tightly the knuckles had turned white.

"Caro Cannon!" Mato shot down another fireball. He was burning through ki at a somewhat alarming rate. The advanced techniques he was using had all been invented by people with much more ki than he had and he was using them rather liberally. He was overpowering attacks that would easy to evade for no reason other than stubbornness. This wasn't sustainable, he knew. Luckily, Cinder was tiring even faster than he was. Mato had been expecting her other eye to light up and her to begin fighting back even stronger with a renewed supply of energy, but it seemed this really was the extent of her powers.

And Cinder knew it too. The more the fight dragged on the more her composure crumbled. Not only did her attacks become more and more wild, her expression had a similar deterioration. At one point she was growling at him, like an animal. In other words, she was ripe for some mockery.

"I can keep this up all day, Cinder!" Mato shouted as he blasted away a lasso of fire. "So why don't you spare us all this pathetic display and just give up and die already!"

Cinder snarled, unleashing a river of flames. "Oni Gun." Mato raised a hand and fired a beam of ki. The two blasts collided and struggled against one another, a direct match of his power and hers. As they struggled, Cinder seethed.

"Who do you think you are!?" She demanded of him. "You think you matter? You don't! You're just some idiotic thug who punches his way through life. You have no idea who you're messing with, the plans you're trying to interfere with. How dare a meathead like you get in my way!?"

"Even if any of that were true," Mato flooded his arm with ki. His blast surged in power and drove Cinder's back, forcing her to dive out of its path. Mato smirked. "I'd still rather be an idiot than be dead."

Cinder got back on her feet. "I'll make you both." She held her hands out in front of her body, palms facing each other and about six inches apart. Fire began to coalesce between her hands, streams of flames flowing into an ever denser fireball. Mato watched Cinder gather her power with interest. He could quite easily zip around behind her, kick her in the back, and let the compressed flames explode in her face. But he had been meeting her blast for blast their entire battle and he didn't feeling like stopping now. Instead, Mato pointed his index and middle finger of his left hand. A ball of ki spun into existence above his fingers. Unlike for every other technique he had used thus far, Mato didn't say its name. It was his own technique, and he had never given it one.

Cinder's fireball was ready. "Die!" She thrust out her hands and the compacted ball of flames shot towards him. Mato drew back his hand and whipped it forward, sending his attack to meet it. The two orbs of energy shot towards one another, only for Mato's ki to pass over Cinder's flames by about a foot.

The fireball slammed into Mato and exploded. His corner of the arena became a raging firestorm. His own ball of energy passed over Cinder's head. She permitted herself a grin, enjoying her enemy's defeat. A noise made her turn, and with what little was left of her Maiden powers she rocketed into the air. Mato's energy ball, having changed directions midflight, slammed into the ground where she had been standing. The explosion knocked Cinder out of the sky and she tumbled onto the ground.

She lifted her head off the ground in a hurry, peering over at where Mato was. When nothing stirred or moved within the smoke she slowly picked herself up and stood. She had feared for a second he had impossibly survived a direct hit of her strongest attack. But looking now, she could see a dark blur lying on the ground within the cloud of slowly clearing miasma. No, his attack must have preprogrammed to turn around, explaining why it didn't home in on her, and the fool had simply overestimated his durability.

Cinder let out a long, slow breath as her eyes wandered up to the audience. She allowed herself a second to catch her breath and gather her thoughts before addressing the real problem. She had just publically outed herself as a Maiden, and while most people wouldn't realize what that meant, everyone who mattered would be gunning for her now. That left with her a choice to make. She could spin a story about being the poor victim of a mad Faunus, let racism do a lot of the work for her there, and stay in the public eye for a while. That would keep her protected from any attempts to recover the Maiden powers through public attention making it impossible for her to "disappear". That would also make it impossible to complete the plan in any meaningful way. Or she could vanish back into the shadows and try her luck with avoiding Ozpin and Ironwood's reprisal.

Either way, she should probably tend to Emerald and Mercury. The sheep would find it strange if she didn't seem to care about them at all. Whatever she decided to do, it would be important to preserve her public-.

"Reaping Claws."

Cinder had about half a second to defend herself. It wasn't enough time.

Mato's hand tore through Cinder's side.

The woman collapsed to the floor, blood pooling beneath her. Mato straightened up out of his crouch; he had attacked at such a high speed, it had taken him a bit to stop. He turned around to look back at Cinder. She was laying there, one hand pressed into her wound, the other vainly trying to pull her along the ground.

Mato scowled. The Reaping Claws technique was done by concentrating ki into the tips of your fingers, forming little "blades", and using them like, well, claws. He had intended for his attack to tear her body into two. Her aura must have blunted enough of his strike to let her survive it. Well, whatever. This just gave him the chance for some parting words.

As Mato walked over to Cinder's limply struggling body, he noticed a change in the crowd. For most of the battle they had been watching with excitement, treating the brawl as if it had been just another match. Now, however, their murmurs were cowed. They looked worried, some looked sick, others were hurriedly making their way to the exits. Mato blocked them all out. He was almost finished. He hooked a foot under Cinder's body and flipped her over onto her back. She let out a gasp of pain and stared up at him. Her rage was gone, replaced with incredulity.

"How?" She forced out between pained breaths.

"How?" Mato repeated. "You're a witch that lies and twists people to do your dirty work. Your kind can only ever live in the shadows spinning your webs, and you stepped out into the light. It's only natural that a thug would tear your web to shreds and make short work of you."

Blood dripped down from his hand to the floor. Mato half glanced down at it, then raised his other hand to point down at Cinder. A ball of ki formed in his palm.

"If you get another time around," He said, words laced with disdain, "remember to know your place and you might live a little longer."

"That's enough." A firm voice declared. Mato looked up from his victim to see he was now surrounded by men and robots, all pointing guns at him. All but one, that is. The speaker stood with his hands behind his back, dressed in a far more ornate uniform than his dozen some odd soldiers. Something gave Mato the impression that even unarmed this one was more dangerous than all his minions put together.

"Surrender." The speaker said evenly.

Mato considered that, his hand and ki blast still pointing at Cinder. "No?" Beneath him, Cinder made a move to crawl away. Without looking away from the leader of the soldiers, Mato stamped down on Cinder's chest and pinned her to the floor.

The commander narrowed his eyes. "You will stand down. Your violent altercation is over."

"I disagree." Mato replied. He waved his free hand. "I believe I mentioned she and her pawns tried to kill me. The way I see it, this isn't over until I return the favor."

The soldiers were beginning to look nervous, hands clenched tightly around their weapons. Their leader, in contrast, remained cool as a cucumber. "We've heard your accusations. They will be addressed in a court of law, not settled through some vicious grudge match. You and she will both be taken into custody and tried for you crimes. Now stand. Down."

Mato was about to retort when he noticed the image of himself on the large screen display overlooking the arena. Clothes torn and burnt, standing in a slowly spreading pool of blood, and about to vaporize a completely helpless enemy. The noise of the crowd filled the air, hesitant, nervous, worried. Mato looked down at Cinder and saw that her anger and smugness were both completely gone. The only emotion left on her face was fear, fear and pain. Another drop of blood fell from his hand, this one landing on her skin.

"Fine." Mato spat the word out. "Take her sorry ass." He slipped his foot around Cinder's body and kicked her at the commander. The older man easily caught her with one arm and handed her off to a pair of his soldiers, who quickly carried her away. He returned his steely gaze to Mato. "I'll have to refuse your generous offer of imprisonment." Mato continued. "You can do whatever you want with her, I don't care anymore. But I've got better things to do than hang around a lockup, even if you could hold me." He gave a jaunty wave. "Bye."

Mato took for the sky, pouring all of his power into pure vertical velocity. As soon as he cleared the edge of the colosseum and was back in the open air, he turned and gunned for the city. He cut off his ki as he neared the building, dispersing the flare of energy that would make tracking him a cakewalk. He retained just enough to land safely, then he set off on foot. He zigged, he zagged, he juked all over the city at high enough speeds that passerby couldn't even see him. Eventually he reached the industrial district and his headlong flight petered off. He finally came to a stop in a deserted alley and sank behind a dumpster, panting. A full out sprint after a taxing battle was a little too much exertion for him.

After he had caught his breath, Mato checked to make sure he was alone. No one was visible from his spot and the windows of the buildings on either side of him were dark. Satisfied that he was indeed alone, Mato took a look at his right hand. His blistered, burned, and bleeding right hand. It looked worse than it felt. Speaking of how it felt, Mato let out a low hiss of pain and tried to flex his fingers. They responded well enough, his hand didn't have any serious damage to it. It still hurt like a bastard though. Blocking that massive fireball solely with his right hand had not been a great idea, but it couldn't have been helped. He needed his left to control his technique. That had almost gone badly when the initial pain from Cinder's attack had almost made his lose his grip on the ki ball.

Mato leaned back and rested his head on the wall behind him. He sighed. After all the ruckus he had caused, it probably would be best if he holed up for now. When the cover of darkness was on his side, he could move about more freely. But for now, he could do with a bit of rest.

Mato closed his eyes and settled in for a nap and tried to ignore how his stomach was growling.

AN: Welp, there you have it. It's simple math when you break it down, Saiyan Maiden/2.

Reviewer Responses: Jackalope89: Boy was she.

Kaioo: About that...

Shadow Joestar: Oh he definitely made an impression. If by impression you mean grievous injuries.

spurlinpatricksean2: The good guys know Cinder's true nature now. As for what the general public thinks, you'll have to wait for the next chapter.

KINGREADER: Keep in mind that the main reason people live in the wilds is they already don't like kingdoms and those who live there. As for expecting Huntsmen to drop everything and protect people from Grimm, that is kinda the whole point of them in the first place.

Raos: Remnant's moon has a weird orbit. Unlike our moon, the face of it isn't always the same side. As it orbits it turns, meaning it gradually looks less shattered until it looks full, then looks more and more shattered as it keeps coming around. I'm not 100% on the science behind that, but that's what it is.

SuperSaiyajin4Vegeta: It's Speedfor, I mean, Dust, I don't have to explain shit.

shadows being: I'd like to think I would know, but so far I've had my share of surprises. I would have said Neo would have gone down against Mato like the rest, but she was outta there.

Guest: There's easy and there's "it ought to take less than two weeks".

Other Guest: No one did, no. The White Fang warcamps are pretty far from the eyes of the kingdom, so no one from Vale spotted up what happened. Though the pilot that flew JNPR to Mist Village did notice a lot of knocked down trees.