Once again, Hotaru had underestimated the lowlifes of this world. In the past, he had considered this woman as 'a meaningless anarchist'. With her dust supply cut and her White Fang friends currently in the Kahn wars, everyone thought she would be gone for a long time before trying something again. Yet here she stood; in the middle of his lobby, with her lackeys behind her and with some of his employees cowering behind him. "Get out of my sight, woman". He told her.
"Now, I am no expert, but this is not how negotiations go" she told him with a confident and mocking tone.
Hotaru then walked forward to stand right in front of her. "Get. Out. Now!". Her expression did not change, however.
"Not until we settle a few things".
A few of the guests passing next to them started to notice that he was not having a pleasant chat. "Get out or I'll have security-".
"Security? Oh! You mean OUR security". Hotaru, Ryu and Kollector looked at her with confusion, but then noticed they were being surrounded by their own security guards. "My, my, robot guards? When are they going on sale?".
All three men were willing to attack; but seeing how they were being watched by other guests now, they decided to play along with her intentions. "Maurice!" Hotaru called. "Tell Onyx to prepare the Ram Room". The mouse faunus was shivering, but he then bowed and went into the elevator. Within ten minutes, the room was ready, and everyone entered the elevator after Hotaru ordered Marin to leave his post.
The woman and her goons stood at one side of the elevator while Hotaru and his associates were on the other. Once the elevator was far enough from the lobby, he decided to question their 'guest'. "What did you do to them?".
The woman just smiled and answered him. "Now why would I tell you my secrets?".
Feeling as nothing would be achieved right now, Hotaru and the others remained silent until they reached their destination. Once at the restaurant, everyone then made their way to the Ram Room.
The room was of an overly simplistic design. The square business-like black table and chairs were at the center of the room, the table had an abstract of the front view of a ram's head while the chairs had a side view. The ceiling had circular lights and the sides of the chimney were shaped like spirals. Modern paintings of the animal were hanged on the wall and a vase with the abstract picture of the ram sat in the middle of the table. There were no windows on the other side of the room and the only light source where the bright white lightbulbs.
Hotaru and Kollector sat on one side of the table while the woman and her two companions sat on the other. The silver-haired man then wasted no time putting his feet on the table while the girl checked something on her scroll before whispering in the woman's ear. Like always, Ryu sat on the cupboard close to the door. "Hey, busboy!" the silver man yelled at Ryu. "Be a good boy and bring us some snacks and drinks. We'll be here for a while" he said with a smug tone as he got comfortable on his chair.
Ryu, in return, growled and balled his fist while also severely scratching the table. Hotaru then went on to reprimand the other man. "I would appreciate it if you discipline your children, madam. And I would also appreciate it for you to respect my employees!".
Surprisingly, this seemed to be the first thing they both agreed on. "Mercury; be more like Emerald and behave yourself. Sorry for any inconvenience, sir" she said the last part while looking at Ryu. With the situation a bit calmer, the woman went on to present everyone. "Nice to meet you, I am Cinder Fall, and this are my associates: Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black" she said while the girl ignored them, being more interested in her scroll, and the boy gave one wave with his hand. "We would also like to have your boss here with us; so please, call him".
Hotaru didn't say anything. He just looked at the woman constantly. After a long silence, he talked. "You come here uninvited, you insult and abuse my employees, you threaten us in our territory, and you think you get to order every one of us around? Lord Onaga above all!?" He almost yelled at her.
Cinder's expression did not change after his outburst. She just looked as confident. "It's for the better. I have a remarkably interesting business proposal".
Hotaru scoffed at her. "Really? Last I checked you lost Roman and Junior, your newest associates are rotting in a cell and the White Fang is more interested in their 'Kahn Wars' over at Vacuo. What could you possibly offer us?".
"Mercury?" Cinder said not looking at her goon. The man then took out a scroll and reproduced a random audio clip.
'Faster. Bigger. Better. They know it… do you?
The Zaphyre. From Seido Industries. Your future is better now'.
All three men felt shivers. That was the audio of a promotional video still in development; the tag line was also a corporate secret meant to be used for the launch of the Zaphyre. "You hacked us…" Hotaru whispered.
"Not only that," she said cutting him off. It took us some of your smaller syndicates, but we have a way to blow your network exposed".
"Mere rumors".
"Not when we have financial records of it. Mercury?". The man then threw the scroll up, kecked the air, and fired a gun mechanism that ended destroying the device. "Just in case you think it was all in there".
Hotaru looked at Kollector who just sighed in frustration. He then looked at Ryu who nodded. Hotaru then stood up and took out a scroll. He tapped some options before placing the scroll on his ear. "My lord, would you please come to the Ram Room? It's a matter of most importance. Of course, I'll put you on screen first". He then hung up immediately and took back his seat. "Before he even comes, he has something to tell you. Ko!".
Kollector then pulled a scroll and placed it on the table. A moment later, the screen turned on and Onaga's white table was visible. Then a behemoth of a man arrived at the table and looked at the three guests. He growled, clearly displeased with them, and then spoke with his deep booming voice. "I will go to the Ram Room, but if by the time I arrive my subjects reject you; it'll be over for you!". The screen then turned off.
"It'll take him some time. So, what is it that you want?" Hotaru asked.
Cinder then stood up and began to walk towards the wall. "Hotaru; no need to be so cold. I have an objective and all I need is some dust. We will pay for it. Double? Triple? It can be arranged. Once we have it, we will-".
"No," Hotaru said immediately cutting off her speech.
"We only want dust. We don't need your-".
"No," he said again.
Cinder was now getting annoyed. "I am offering you more money than you could possibly-".
"No".
She was now looking at his eyes. She snarled before taking a deep breath. "And why are you so sure he would refuse?".
It was Hotaru's turn to smugly smile now. "Simple. Why do you want the dust?".
Cinder and her allies looked at each other before she answered.
"Why do you care?" She asked him back.
"For a lot of reasons. First, in case something goes wrong, it could be traced to us. Second, why would you want to give all that dust to criminals like the White Fang? No need to answer Cinder, we know why: You are also a terrorist. We want to build; you want to destroy. An organization meant on destroying humans and you are happy to give them ammunition? You clearly have an agenda against the kingdoms, and that is not good for us".
"Is that why you are so interested in the huntsmen academies, then?" she asked.
"… You could say that… Are… you against them? Are they your targets?". She did not answer, but the silence spoke for her. "So, let me get this straight: You want to destroy the huntsmen academies; the first line of defense against the Grimm? How is it beneficial to us that you allow those mindless beasts to run wild?".
Cinder's serious expression then morphed into a confident smile. She then looked at Mercury and Emerald who nodded in approval. "Mr. Taakoizu; you don't actually care about the money, do you?". All three Seido employees remained calm as she continued. "Sure, I know sleazy businessmen who would die for my deal. Roman only abandoned me because you offered more. All these security projects; you are not giving them for free. No, you want control over them, don't you?". No one said anything, but Cinder and her group did notice their attention was completely on her. "Don't worry, I won't judge you. But I do want to point out you are rooting for the wrong team".
Hotaru then calmly replied to her. "I don't know what you are talking about, madam. We at Seido do that out of the kindness of our hearts".
At that moment, Cinder lost it. Her laugh was so loud and genuine even her companions were surprised. After some time, she was finally able to speak once again. "Still going with that story, I see. Gentlemen, we don't need to do this. I can tell you want something bigger, just like us. So, let's stop this useless grudge; join us, and you will know the truth behind the Grimm, the academies, and even Ozpin".
The last name had finally managed to break Ryu, Kollector, and Hotaru's poker faces. They all looked at each other and nodded in agreement. "This… 'truth'… does it have to do with the maidens… and a witch?" Hotaru asked cautiously.
It was now Cinder and her followers' turn to look surprised. They were not expecting them to know that information. Cinder looked at Emerald who, in turn, looked for something on her scroll before nodding to her boss. Cinder now faced two options: Either keep digging for what they knew; or come clean and get Seido on their side of the secret conflict. Not knowing how long she could keep playing dumb with them, she went with the second option. "Yes," she answered.
"Going back to your hostile intentions towards the academies, and the fact that you spoke about revealing truths from Ozpin… my guess is that you are with the witch".
"Very well deducted".
"So… if you are against the academies… what kind of relationship do you have with the Grimm? They are not just mindless creatures, are they".
Cinder took a deep breath and planed carefully what she would say next. "Under normal circumstances, they are. But my… leader… she can make them into the world's perfect army. The only thing standing between our organization and true power is those pesky huntsmen academies". She then seemed to have regained her confidence by managing to smile throughout her answer. "So. What do you say?" she asked them before extending her arm for a handshake. "Are you in for the power?".
Hotaru and his associates looked at the hand for a long moment before he, too, smiled and answered. "Thank you, Miss Fall, for revealing so much to us". Her smile turned even more confident and even sinister for a moment until he continued. "You have revealed the extent of what you want for Remnant: Plunging it into chaos and destruction if only to achieve your goal of power," he said with spite. "But this is the main reason as to why we reject your deal: You are rivals!".
Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury never saw the moment in which Ryu then activated an alarm hidden on the cupboard next to him.
'Alert! Alert! Guests, please follow the staff towards the kitchen for emergency lockdown. This is not a drill'
An alarm said on a loop. Immediately after, the room's door was shut by a thick metal door with the same ram head picture. Cinder's henchmen got close to her; Emerald got her weapons on gun mode while Mercury raised his left foot. Cinder then spoke to the three other men, both annoyed and enraged. "Do you really want a fight? Need I remind you that we are in control of your security?".
Not one of her rivals answered her immediately or even moved. After a few seconds, Hotaru finally spoke again. "Are you familiar with the semiotics of the ram, Miss Fall?". She didn't answer, but she did raise her eyebrow in confusion. "The Ram is an animal with a strong head capable of stopping its enemies often used as a symbol of further damage to the attacker. Ironically though… It was also used as the headpiece of a battering ram, a weapon used to break defenses. In other words, a strong enough weapon".
As soon as Hotaru was done explaining, Kollector flipped the table to the side making an improvised wall, Ryu then sprinted behind it and they all pulled it towards a corner. Guns appeared from the eyes of all the rams in the room and began to shoot. Cinder's group managed to dodge some bullets, but others made contact and began to deplete their aura.
Caring more about survival, Emerald grabbed her scroll again and began to scream orders at it. "Dammit, Watts! Forget what you are doing and take these things away!".
Dr. Watts was fascinated by the technology available at the hotel. Although it had taken him a week to hack into some of the systems in the hotel and the company, it was all worth it. He was taking his time doing everything right; he had rented a room; he had made a spy-bot to get into the servers and had gained access to the financial records of the company. Everything started to go downhill, however, when Lionheart had informed Salem that he had been invited to speak with the CEO. Immediately after, Cinder, who had been getting incriminating information from low-level syndicates associated with Seido, decided to use that, the financial records and what little hacking into security they had to make them work for her.
Oh, how he hated that woman. They only needed to wait a few more months and that company would have been under new management. Sure, it would take more time than attacking the academies directly, but it would be safer. Sadly, Salem favored Cinder's idea, and here he was now; recently managing to hack into the security robots and trying to get whatever was on that white-haired goody-two-shoes' computer, while at his improvised lab on an abandoned warehouse on Vale.
Everything was going normally until he received a call from Emerald. "Strange…" Watts told himself. "Cinder said she would just text me…".
He answered the call expecting success but jumped back when he heard Emerald's panicking screaming voice. "Dammit, Watts! Forget what you are doing and take these things away!".
"What are you babbling about, child?" Watts asked in confusion.
"We are in the Ram Room! It has automated guns! Do something- Ah!".
Oh, how would he love to leave them to die. But he knew Salem would consider this a failure on him as well, so he dropped the decoding and proceeded to look for said security mechanism. Fortunately, the folders were so well organized it took him mere seconds to locate, and with a few moves from his fingers, he activated an overload on the defenses.
The guns kept firing while Cinder and company kept dodging. More than once they tried to hide behind the table as well, but the guns kept them from it. The three men kept a close eye on them except for Hotaru, who was occupied with the object inside the package he received: A new version of the scarab. The situation did not change for a couple of minutes until the guns suddenly stopped and they began to throw smoke; and a few seconds later they finally blew up.
Cinder and her goons were already marching towards the table, while Hotaru and his group went over a strategy: go one on one, get the scroll and activate the manual walls.
Cinder was ready to blow up the table with her fire powers, but they were all surprised when it was kicked forwards with insane strength, crashing and breaking up on the other corner. Hotaru, Ryu and Kollector then prepared to fight Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald, respectively. "Surrender now," Cinder told him as her eyes were surrounded by fire and her hands lighted up.
Hotaru, in turn, looked at Ryu and then at Kollector. "Get the doors. Get the scroll, no secrecy needed". Ryu then cracked his knuckles while Kollector retrieved his mace while smiling.
"You insolent idiots! No matter how much you beg, your death will-" Cinder began to say, but was interrupted when Ryu roared and ran into Mercury, taking the young man with him, ramming him through the metal door, breaking the railing and finally dropping Mercury to the lower floor before jumping through the room and landing at a roof-edge on the wall.
Cinder and Emerald got distracted by what just happened, and they never saw the medallion that hit Emerald on the back of her head. When they turned around, the girl was then pushed back by a chained-mace. Cinder was looking at the Naknada retrieving his weapon while Hotaru had a digital panel on his wrist. She then made a fire sword and charged towards them, but she was not expecting her initial blows to be blocked by Kollector and his mace; in the same way, he also did not expect her to make a second sword while their weapons were locked.
Her slash, however, was stopped by a hand coming from the Naknada's back that caught her wrist. He was, however, distracted by Emerald who was back on her feet and shooting at him. A well-placed bullet on his forearm made him drop cinder's weapons but she, in turn, was tackled to the ground by Hotaru. "Get the scroll" he ordered the Naknada who then charged at the other woman while turning blue in the process.
Kollector jumped in the air wanting to smash his mace on Emerald. The girl, however, managed to dodge his attack and ran down the hall while shooting at Kollector. Cinder and Hotaru were left alone in the room looking at each other, she then raised one hand and created a bow and arrow which she then pointed at him. "Your upper hand was not going to last. Call off your attack! Now!" she ordered him.
Hotaru raised his hands but his face was still overflowing with confidence. She was then able to hear a beeping sound and saw the pale blue panel had some sort of loading screen almost completed. She fired the arrow, but he managed to evade it rolling out of the way. He, however, was not expecting for her to throw a fireball immediately after which Hotaru managed to block at the last minute with the scarab. A flash of light happened, and Cinder was then able to see Hotaru's upper body covered in a black and turquoise armor while his head and legs were exposed. The man, clearly confused and angry, looked at his wrist and saw a red 'ERROR' message.
Cinder laughed at Hotaru's predicament and his ridiculous new look. "Too bad this will be how you die. Any last words?".
"Your arrogance is annoying," Hotaru said matter-of-factly as the metal gloves he was wearing began to shine with golden light and he fired two potent golden beams on her direction.
When Mercury was finally able to remove all the wreckage over him, he then saw Ryu had gone from one side of the dining room to the other and was now tearing a square shape next to him. Most surprising of all, however, was the fact that he was succeeding. In a matter of seconds, the 7 feet tall stone square fell to the floor and immediately after heavy metal walls with strange glowing blue symbols carved on them. When the last of the those fell into place, Ryun then jumped again and landed on the floor with a loud thud. He then stood up and cleaned some dust as if nothing had happened.
Mercury finally stood up and saw that Ryu's hat was gone and two small light grey horns were on his head. "So, you are a faunus after all…" he said with an air of humor. Ryu just looked at him and charged in Mercury's direction. Mercury shot at him, but Ryu was like an unstoppable train who just covered his face with his forearm before crashing into him.
The impact had pushed Mercury back, but Ryu then grabbed his left leg and smashed his body on the ground. Ryu then grabbed both of his slacks and started to spin him. Mercury, however, recovered his senses and shot him three times in the face. Ryu let go from one side and that caused one of Mercury's slacks to tear. The teen was sent flying, but he recovered midair. He was smiling at first, but then he saw Ryu brushing off the remaining dust from his face and growling. "What… are you?". Their fight was then interrupted by a green vial that fell in their way and they turned to see Emerald fighting Kollector in his real body "What is that!?" Mercury yelled at Emerald.
"Mercury! Focus on- Woah! He was a faunus!? Do dragon faunus even exist!?". Emerald yelled back.
Soon after all four fighters were on the lower level and the shock from Emerald and Mercury was gone. Both Kollector and Ryu then attacked their respective opponents.
Cinder was not one to enjoy the thrill of fighting. She would much rather frighten all who opposed her. Sadly, Hotaru was not one of those easily scared fat-cats, he would much rather go down fighting; worse of all was that he was both a competent fighter and had a powerful weapon on his side. That suit of armor proved to be a severe annoyance.
Hotaru was switching constantly between his energy blasts and physical attacks which she blocked or countered with various of her crystal-like weapons. None the less, he did have superiority over her.
Hotaru managed to corner her on the fireplace and blasted her directly. She dodged the attack, and he immediately followed her moves not caring about how much of the room was being destroyed. She then made a fire kunai which he then blocked with his left arm. She then noticed a pattern during their fight: he was always protecting his right arm. It was the one he shot with the least; he always protected it from projectiles and used it the least when fighting. She then remembered the hand-holder; 'How could I've been so blind!?' she yelled in her head.
Cinder then created a fire-blade and charged towards him. She managed to dodge his blasts and then clashed her weapon with his left armguard. Hotaru was ready to blast her again, but he didn't notice her blasting a fireball to his legs. While his arm was his greatest weakness, she noticed his legs were left unprotected; he was so distracted trying to protect it he never considered her going for his unattended and exposed body parts.
Hotaru fell on the ground but immediately rolled over before Cinder could impale her sword on his head. When he got on one knee, he then saw Cinder's eyes being surrounded by fire. "Your eyes… the power of the maidens…" he said surprised.
"How do you know about them?" she asked with as much surprise.
"I already defeated and killed one; and she was far better than you" he told her. Hotaru was sure that that would scare her; he was not expecting her shock to then turn into pure rage.
"RAAAAHHHHH" she yelled while being surrounded by fire. "You idiot! Do you have the slightest idea of how long it will take us to find the new host!?".
While Cinder lacked the calm and fast thinking mind of Raven due to her young age and inexperience with her powers, Hotaru was also fighting the bandit while on prime physical condition. Cinder might be weaker in the long run, but he was now facing her with a still recuperating arm and now slightly burnt legs. If anything, the risks were now higher for him.
Kollector hated fighting without his backpack. No bolas, no sickle, no knives, no lantern; all he had right now were his mace and a limited number of vials. Luckily for him, however, was that he had managed to keep the girl close to him despite her best efforts to try and get away to then shoot at him, most likely. He swung his mace left and right trying to hit her on the head, but she had good reflexes and managed to dodge his attacks. He then changed his approach and spring-launched the mace, but she deflected the attacks with the sickles on her guns.
Emerald was confident that Kollector would soon get tired and that would give her the chance to shoot, stab, or cut him; but she never expected the next spring attack to be directed at her legs. While her aura took care of the damage, she was still distracted by the blow and did not notice the chain from the mace tying her legs. Kollector then pulled the chain making her fall on her back and slide towards him at full speed. She was stopped when Kollector slammed his foot on her chest, allowing him to recover his mace. He then squatted and began to punch and slash her face. Emerald tried to defend herself, but he grabbed both her arms with his middle hands and was ready to pummel her face with the mace.
Mercury was in a, somewhat, better shape. He had managed to catch both of Ryu's fists, but the pure brute strength of his opponent was pushing Mercury back. He managed to see Emerald in danger, so he let himself fall on the ground and as soon as Ryu was hovering over him, Mercury kicked and shot at him making Ryu float in the air. This gave mercury enough time to spin and shoot at Kollector, distracting the naknada and allowing Emerald to free herself, headbutt Kollector, grab her weapons and shoot at him to allow some distance between them.
Kollector ran behind a table and hid until Emerald stopped shooting. He then saw her in front of him and he attacked with his chained mace again; but instead of evading the attack, she vanished. Kollector was puzzled, but he then felt more gunfire coming from his right; but when he was getting ready to attack, he saw there were two Emeralds. Another shot from behind him made him turn and he was now able to see he was surrounded by an army of Emeralds. Enraged, he attacked one clone at a time, but as soon as it was gone, another took its place and he was shot from a different angle.
Ryu had just thrown Mercury towards a pillar as he saw Kollector attacking random spots around him while Emerald walked from one place to another and shooting at him. He then grabbed a table and threw it towards Emerald.
The girl saw the table coming, but evading it made her illusion fall. She hid from both Kollector and Ryu, who was now helping his associate get up. Before the naknada could thank him, however, Mercury got up and was already in the air ready to deliver a kick on Ryu's back. Kollector then pushed the other man out of the way and shot his mace towards Mercury, hitting the young man in the chest and stopping his attack. "I will take care of the boy. The girl has the scroll, bus she uses illusions" Kollector told him. Ryu nodded and ran towards the last place they saw Emerald. Kollector then gave Mercury a hideous grin before swinging his mace towards him once again.
Ryu got next to the broken table he threw towards Emerald. He then looked around trying to find her or something close to her; and soon enough, he saw her standing not so far away with her guns drawn. "Stand down if you know what is good for you!" She warned him; but instead of charging towards her, he closed his eyes and smelled his surroundings. Her scent was vague but traceable; and the one standing in front of him was, indeed, not the one he was looking for. He would have kept looking for her, but he covered himself when he felt the first set of bullets and heard a multitude of Emeralds taunting him. 'Give up!', 'You can't find me!', 'All muscles and no brain. Pathetic!', he managed to hear some of them say. He growled and ran to take cover behind another table and resumed his labor from before. He traced her scent for a while, ignoring her voices, and when he was sure to have found the source, he kicked the table with all of his strength; and sure enough, the voices stopped and only a surprised yell was all he could hear.
Emerald was not expecting the brute to kick the table her way; and even though she avoided it, her illusion was broken. Even worse; as she was standing up, Ryu was already charging her way. He managed to tackle her and slammed her body on a wall, creating a small crater. He then grabbed the pocket that held her scroll and he ripped it from her pants before delivering a final punch on her face, making the crater even deeper. With the scroll in hand, he then ran towards Kollector.
The naknada saw Ryu coming his way with the scroll in hand. He then raised one of his hands as Ryu threw the scroll his way. Luckily, Kollector caught the device but was kicked and shot by Mercury who took advantage of his brief distraction. He was ready to kick the lights out of Kollector, but he had to jump back when Ryu arrived to slam the ground where he was just standing on. Not wasting any more time, Kollector placed the scroll next to his zaphyre and both he and Ryu ran to hide behind a table.
Emerald recovered her senses after a while and got next to Mercury. "They have my scroll," she told him.
"And I lost my patience!" he yelled. They then refilled their weapons with stronger dust rounds and began to shoot at the other two men. Everyone then froze when they heard loud banging on the metal walls; and sure enough, they were starting to give in. "Here that, assholes! The chivalry has arrived!"
Unknown to them was that Kollector was speaking to someone through his zaphyre. "Find the source of their control! This should be enough!".
"Indeed…" the voice of Sektor said from the other side of the line.
Watts was happy that Cinder and her children had stopped bothering him. He was now able to resume his precious work. But just as he was getting to the juicy files like 'Pyramid Factory', 'Order Realm Rift coordinates' and 'Scarab Remote Unit', his security alarms went off. Not physical security; his computer's security.
"Halt your actions right now, human!" a deep cybernetic voice ordered. Soon after, a strange red symbol was blocking his interface.
"Only now does the firewall activate. Lousy security" Watts said as he managed to move the screen away to resume his work. But then another one appeared, and the same voice repeated the same command. "Halt your actions right now, human!". Watts rolled his eyes in annoyance but noticed how it took him a longer time to clear the screen this time.
Just as he was about to close that warning, a screen behind him then showed the same symbol and the same voice repeated the message. Watts tried to close that one as well, but suddenly all his screens showed the symbol. Watts was growing impatient by the second now. "I'll trace the source of this idiotic defense and shut it down permanently!" he almost screamed.
"You will not!" the voice yelled back.
Surprised, to say the least, Watts then recovered and kept speaking to the voice. "I am one of Remnant's finest minds! An obsolete protection software is not going to stop-".
"I am no software! I am Sektor! And you are finished!". Just as the voice finished its threat, all of Watt's screens showed the face of a mouthless red robot with neon-blue eyes. "Prepare to be finished human!" Sektor told Watts as in record time all the information he had gathered got immediately deleted. Worse of all was how Sektor was now hacking into his systems faster than Watts did to Seido. "Relevant data found. Begin extraction!".
Despite Watts' best efforts, his gloves did nothing. As soon as he managed to get into his systems, he got kicked out. Noticing how even his inventions were starting to be controlled by this 'Sektor', he decided to shut down everything by force. He took off his gloves grabbed one of his dust pistols and shot every bullet he had on the fuse box, shutting down the energy for good.
His panic turned into pure rage; both at Sektor and at Cinder. The destruction of his lab and the moths of gathering was all her fault. But then he realized something: The tables were turning, and now Seido had regained their security robots most likely, and that meant that Cinder was done for, most likely. He was happy for a short while before looking at his handbag and remembering the Seer in it. He could let Cinder be trapped or killed, but Salem would be enraged with him if he did so. "Idiotic brat!" Watts screamed as he threw everything on his table to the floor in rage. His lab was now worthless if Sektor was still in the systems, so he decided to burn everything as he escaped on his bullhead with The Night Beetle as his next destination.
'Systems rebooting and cleaning all traces of malware. Remaining time: 12 minutes. Calls to law enforcement have been made. Estimated time of arrival: 6 minutes'.
The message on Kollector's zaphyre read.
"Humans will arrive faster than our reinforcements!" Kollector told Ryu. They were still hiding behind a group of tables now that both Mercury and Emerald were shooting more powerful dust rounds at them. Kollector had tried to go out, but the number of bullets had hurt one of his arms and he was not sure if he could survive getting close enough to use his mace.
They could let the police see this, but the powerful shots were already breaking some of the wood and both Mercury and Emerald seemed to be far from running out of bullets. Kollector then faced Ryu once again. "I think it is time for them to meet Lord Onaga".
Ryu tried to look over the table and was almost blown away. He then faced Kollector once again and nodded before he closed his eyes and took deep breaths. Meanwhile, the naknada then grabbed one of the tables with his middle hands while he grabbed Ryu's shoulders and waist with his top hands and backhand respectively as if he was a backpack. He then kicked another table intending to distract Emerald and Mercury to give Ryu some time to jump and sink his nails into the main metal wall.
Mercury and Emerald resumed their firing soon after while Ryu climbed the wall as fast as he could. The table was already breaking as Ryu got to the top. Kollecor had raised his legs to hide from the bullets as Ryu placed his left hand on the roof while his right hand was on the top of the wall. He then pushed both surfaces with all his strength while also breathing heavily; and as soon as the table got destroyed, the wall came off the roof, falling to the lower floor and almost crushing Emerald and Mercury.
Both of Cinder's henchmen got away, but Ryu and Kollector fell on top of the metal surface; and as soon as they recovered, they were faced to face with the gun barrels of the invaders' weapons. "Can't say it was fun. But at least it's over for-" Mercury was saying before he and emerald felt small quakes getting stronger; almost if they were steps.
Kollector and Ryu took that moment to get away; and just as Mercury was ready to chase them; he was stopped by Emerald's gasp of panic. "What is it Em?". He asked as the girl went pale and pointed at the door. Confused, Mercury looked at what she was pointing and understood why she was acting like that.
They could just see a silhouette, but that was easily the tallest thing besides some of the Grimm that they had ever seen. The figure also had long horns, claws, a tail, and animal-like legs besides glowing yellow eyes. It took the figure a few seconds to arrive; but as soon as it did, they were now able to see a reptilian monster calmly walking their way. When it saw them, however, it frowned and roared.
Hotaru pulled out his naginata and blocked all the fire projectiles that Cinder threw his way before blocking a double slash from her. The room was now covered with a thin layer of smoke and dust thanks to all the furniture that got burnt, and that was playing to Cinder's advantage.
Hotaru's burnt legs made him a stationary opponent; and while he was still able to block her projectiles and some of her attacks, he still was a sitting target. To his advantage, however, was that his hand cannons were still effective to keep her at bay.
After a moment, Cinder decided to come out of the smoke once again; but instead of attacking with her swords, she just evaded Hotaru's slash. She then disintegrated her swords and created a dagger which she then threw at Hotaru. The weapon got stuck on his wrist's mechanism and it immediately started to sound an alarm. Fearing the worst, he managed to remove the glove-like thing and threw it to the wall before it exploded.
The shock blast made Cinder and Hotaru fall, but she recovered faster than him and created a spear which she then pointed at his neck. "You will do as I say, or-". BLAM! Something heavy outside fell and made everything shake while also making Cinder lose her train of thought.
Not soon after, she heard a roar coming from outside. She was now very confused as to what was happening, but she regained her composure once she heard Hotaru laughing. "You wanted to meet Lord Onaga?" he taunted her as he shot a blast at her with his other hand. She got out of the projectile's way, but Hotaru was already up and leaving the room. He stopped at the door and looked back one last time. "You got your wish" he said before leaving.
Cinder was already following him but was stopped when a small earthquake happened and both Emerald and Mercury fell on her feet. Emerald was hurt and Mercury was missing a leg. "Emerald!? What happened!?".
The girl was terrified and quickly went to help Mercury. "Cinder! We need to get out here. Now!".
"Why would we quit now when…" she then heard and felt the loud and powerful steps; and as the smoke cleared, she was now able to see the form of a human and dragon hybrid with yellow eyes getting closer. When it finally arrived, she was now able to see that it was bigger than the entrance and was already trying to pull the doorframe apart to enter. Cinder and her team were walking back, not sure of what to do until her scroll vibrated. She pulled the device out and saw it was a message from Watts.
'Get away from the wall'.
Before they could question anything, an explosion came from behind them. What little of aura they had left protected them from the blast, and they were then able to see Watts' bullhead which was then opening its cargo door. The dragon beast roared in anger and was now punching the wall apart. Cinder then decided that survival was better than victory and gave the order, "Retreat!" and in a matter of seconds, all three of them got on the bullhead.
"What happened to you?" Watts questioned before noticing the dragon-human thing running towards them.
"What are you waiting for!? Get us out of here!" Cinder yelled as Watts did just that and the bullhead flew away at top speed.
Thankfully, the dragon-thing did not follow, and even though they knew Salem would be enraged that the operation was a failure, they had more things to worry about.