Chapter Fifteen: Queen's Pawn Opening.
Things were lining up just as Neo had thought they would. Or, more specifically, just as her memories had told her that they would go. About a week had passed since her unusual tea party with Ruby, and preparation had already begun for this year's Vytal Festival. She'd seen the banners in town and the various ships docking to drop off various participants for the upcoming tournament at the latter half of the year. Honestly, though Neo knew the gravity of the celebrations, she didn't understand why it took so long to get prepped. Any good organisers of a bi-yearly event could easily have everything organized within a month if they wanted to. However, preparations and celebrations were already beginning to get underway, despite it only being the beginning of the first semester.
It made sense that combatants would want to be training months, maybe even years, in advance for the tournament. But importing goods, hiring services, organising events, and setting up decorations shouldn't take more than a month or so, right? Neo hadn't decided if she wanted to participate yet and, even if she did, she wasn't really too appealed by the idea of winning it all. Sure, she probably could if she had wanted to, but what purpose would it serve? It certainly wouldn't make her life any more peaceful, that was for sure. Then again, being popular would also be quite enjoyable. She'd figure it out, later.
What was more exciting was the fact that it was rapidly approaching a certain key date which Neo had been patiently counting down the days to. Was it a new clothing shop opening up in town? Nope. A new ice cream store? Nada. No, no, she was referring to the Big Dust Bust. What, pray tell, was this 'Dust Bust' which she was referring to? Well, it was none other than the day which a certain Roman Torchwick happened to get his butt bumped by a group of Beacon Academy students down at the warehouses by the docks. She couldn't quiiiiite remember the specific date which it was meant to happen, but she knew it was occurring soon.
In other news, something strange had been going on with her semblance, recently. It seemed to be activating without her really trying to use it. It appeared to be tied to whenever Neo thought about her lost memories. The past had come to haunt her, metaphorically speaking. The most notable time it had happened was when she was sleeping and began to have a nightmare. When she had woken up in a cold sweat, she sat up to see Ruby standing at the foot of her bed, crying black tears. Her silver eyes glowed faintly in the night, like a pair of stars in the night sky. Her skin was incredibly pale, and her red scarf hid away some kind of fatal-looking neck wound. When Neo rubbed her eyes in disbelief, the animated corpse had lunged forward and grabbed her by the shoulders, before whispering with a distraught, broken voice.
'…Was killing me really worth it?'
Thank the gods she was mute, else she would have woken everyone with her screaming. Instead, she simply shoved the false Ruby off of her with quaking hands. The image began to crack and shatter, before dissolving away into nothing. She did not sleep a wink after that, and people kept asking her if she was okay the following morning, much to her annoyance.
Fortunately, this kind of phenomenon only really occurred when Neo was alone. Or so she hoped, else stories about the halls of the academy being haunted by the souls of dead students would spread like a wildfire. She just tried to keep thinking about her past to a minimum, especially when she was around other people. It was just very irritating that it was happening at all, though. She'd never had this problem before, even though she knew of other people who had similar quirks with their semblances. This had better not be a permanent feature. She would rather not be plagued by her past in her head and in reality. All in all, it was taking quite the toll on her mental health, and she was considering seeing some kind of psychiatrist about it, but that would only open up a can of worms sooner rather than later.
But it had finally happened, today. Dragging Ruby into an illusionary room and bribing her with desserts had finally paid off. Because she had upheld her promise. At the early hours of the evening, she received the text she'd been hoping for.
'Contact Name: Little Red.
Message: HE'S AT THE DOCKS BY THE WAREHOUSES! COME QUICKLY!
Attachment: Co-ordinates enclosed.'
Neo raised a fist into the air before it dawned on her. How was she going to get over there from her dorm room so quickly? Motorbike? Too slow. Aircraft? Too difficult to obtain. Luckily, there was a third option. And so, the rest of her team watched in horror as Neo jumped up from the board game that they were playing together, only to suddenly open the window and hurl herself out of it.
"…It would appear that Neo has autodefenestrated." Oberon sighed, before playing two cards from his hand as if nothing had happened at all.
"At this point, I'm not even that surprised. She does have some interesting tendencies. Like, I caught her eating an entire tub of ice cream at one in the morning a few nights ago." Thea replied, holding back a chuckle. Rylee had no idea 'autodefenestrated' meant but was too embarrassed to ask.
Not to worry, of course, Neo had this all planned out. Well…mostly. Sort of. Okay, she was totally winging it, despite having ample amounts of time to plan for this exact scenario. After unfurling Hush, she began to glide peacefully downwards, allowing her to reach into her pocket with her free hand and procure her scroll. With a few taps, her locker came flying out before her, and she clung to the side of it as it hovered in the air for a moment and spun around wildly. She wrestled the door open and flung herself inside before closing the door tightly. With the locker still spinning around with her inside of it, she inserted the co-ordinates which Ruby had provided her with and immediately felt her weight double, then triple, then quadruple as she rapidly began to gain speed, whilst being completely blind to where, specifically, she was flying off to.
Okay, this was a horrible idea. Why in Remnant had she decided that this was a good idea? She should have just gone out every night and hung around near the warehouses until the text finally came. Alas, here she was, stuffed into her locker, flying at great speeds towards, assumedly, a thief's hideout lay waiting. She lifted her hands to brace herself against the walls and ceiling of the locker, preparing for whatever may come next.
In the meantime, Ruby was dusting herself off from taking a direct blast of fire from Roman's cane. The blast had originally sent her flying whilst she was preoccupied with trying to send Neo a message and distracting Roman from firing point-blank at Sun, who had unfortunately rolled towards him in order to dodge a falling shipping container.
She had spoken to her team members about Neo and her request to be informed if they encountered Roman again. All three had agreed that Neo was definitely up to something and should not be trusted, but Ruby could not help but believe her. The ice cream girl reminded her of herself, and Weiss, oddly enough. Fun-loving with a sweet tooth, but sassy and unafraid to be blunt when needed. Plus, she was pink, the combination of both red and white. It was just too perfect.
"So, this 'Neo' person dragged you into a room, offered you cookies, apologised for no reason, began to cry, and then asked you to tell them if you see a criminal?" Weiss had said.
"How do you know that they're not somehow connected with Roman? They might show up and attack you from behind whilst you're focused on him. It seems too shady to be trustable." Blake continued.
"I heard that sign language comes in handy." Yang had… wait, that's the wrong quote. "You've always gotta look out for the silent types. They're the ones with the most to hide, y'know?"
It was just something about her. She seemed so… familiar. But also…so very distant. Either way, it was Ruby whom she had come to for help, and she did not intend to let her down, even if it meant accidentally taking a long-ranged explosion to the face.
But then imagine her surprise when Penny, the strange girl who Ruby had accidentally befriended a few days ago, turned out to be an absolute machine on the battlefield. Several floating blades emerged from her backpack, which she seemed to somehow be moving with her mind…or…strings? Either way, it effortlessly sliced and diced through the various members of the White Fang who stood to oppose her. Even when a pair of Bullhead aircrafts flew overhead and began firing at her, she was able to deflect the incoming bullet fire, pull herself to a safe distance with her blades, and then somehow begin charging up some kind of incredibly powerful beam weapon by spinning the blades around and channelling some kind of power into it.
A menacing green beam shot out, splitting two different aircraft down the centre, and causing the four split halves to plunge into the sea of the docks, fortunately causing only minimal damage to nearby buildings and cargo containers.
As for Roman, it really was not his day. There he was, just trying to make a dishonest living when all these problem children came flying out the woodwork and began attacking him and his…subordinates. When would these kids just learn to go home and leave things to the adults? That being said, it was infuriating when your team of outlawed terrorists are being beaten up by school children.
Nunchaku shotguns, gun swords, laser beam floating swords, oversized gardening tools capable of hitting a fly at a range of a thousand metres during a hailstorm? It honestly felt like he was in the middle of some kind of whacky cartoon series where the power of friendship is always enough to topple anything. Except it's the power of friendship and insurmountable quantities of violence, apparently.
With every passing moment, he could feel his wallet beginning to drain. With every lost cargo container filled with dust, his heart sank. With every White Fang member defeated, his credibility plummeted. Eventually, he decided that this just wasn't worth the hassle, and he had ought to cut his losses and just go back to headquarters with whatever he did have left over. Besides, it's not like this was everything. No, this was just a small portion of what he had been collecting.
"These kids just keep getting weirder…" He angrily murmured to himself, as he stepped onto his Bullhead and began to evac before that crazy-powerful laser beam could power up again.
Ruby suddenly paused and looked behind her. Why had the night sky suddenly become illuminated? It was too early and foggy for it to be stars and the wrong hue to be the moon. Was it a comet? An asteroid? It was impossible to tell until it was too late. Something shot past her and smashed into one of the few remaining Bullheads. Wait a minute…was that… a locker?
"…Neo?!"
Now Ruby wished she had given more precise co-ordinates, since she hadn't been expecting Neo to be delivered via overhead locker rocket. In her defence, however, she had been under threat of gunfire at the time of sending the message.
The ship shuddered from the sudden impact as the metal object burst through one side of the hull and got partially stuck on the inside of the Bullhead, with the jets on the underside of the locker still flaring for a few moments, before flickering away into small, harmless embers.
"Uh…sir, we have a problem." One of the White Fang members murmured.
"Oh, DO we?! I didn't notice!" He sighed. A little less conversation and a little more action would be nice. "Well, are you going to deal with it, or are you going to just sit around?"
"But…I'm piloting the Bullhead, sir."
"Then why are we losing altitude?!"
"That…missile has damaged the left wing's thrusters. I'm trying to-!"
"Urgh, excuses excuses! Hand over wheel and you go deal with…whatever that thing is."
As Roman took the helm and began to keep the aircraft stable, the small team of White Fang members approached the strange-looking metal object which was currently lodged in the wall of the ship. An air of apprehension ran through the crowd, as they were unsure as to the nature of this strange box. Was it a bomb? A random bit of debris which was flung at them? Some kind of tracking device? Each pointed their weapons at it, as if they could somehow scare off the inanimate object whilst they formulated some kind of plan to deal with it.
However, before any strategies could be made, the front panel swivelled open, and a little girl rolled out and flopped onto the floor. They had a pair of black ponytails at the sides of their head, emerald green eyes, black clothes and white accessories. She wore a short skirt, long heeled boots, and otherwise had rather minimal covering for her arms and legs. In one hand, she held a simple, black parasol and the other clutched her head in pain.
"Uh…sir?" One of the White Fang members called to Roman, whilst the others pointed their weapons at the intruder, who simply raised their hands in surrender.
"Little busy at the moment! I hope you have good news!" Roman called back, having managed to stabilise the ship, and begin getting away from the danger below.
"…There was a girl in the missile?"
"…What?! What do you mean there was a girl in the missile? Who puts a girl in a missile?!" He exclaimed, before sighing. Sometimes, he wonders if he was the villain or not. Not even he would use a child as a cannonball, and he intended to be the greatest villain known to Vale! And then the world by extension!
"…What do we do with her?"
"Just…tie her up or something. I'll figure it out later." He sighed, just wanting today to be done with.
This had not gone to plan, Neo thought to herself. Just crashing into anything was painful enough, let alone into an enemy aircraft. She had at least managed to keep the door closed for a while whilst she assessed her wounds from the impact. Fortunately, the locker had managed to endure the hit quite well, so there were no worries there. However, the sudden stop from the collision had definitely overwhelmed her bracing and threatened to give her some kind of concussion. Had it not been for her aura, she'd probably be dead upon impact. Instead, it had sapped about half of her gauge, definitely putting her at a disadvantage for when she got into an inevitable scrap.
At least she could still rely on her semblance for protection. Speaking of which, she should probably use some kind of disguise, just in case Roman recognises her. She didn't have long to think, so she just threw something together which felt natural. And then, the door opened, sending her plummeting onto the floor in front of a bunch of goons waving guns around. Great. Just great. Why did the door of the locker have to end up being on the bottom?! Hastily, she made an illusionary surrender whilst she looked around.
And then, as her eyes darted and dived between the members of the crowd, she saw him. Thanks to the reflection of him in the window, she could see him from the front and instantly recognised that hat and neck scarf combo. Because they were hers. Just like Ruby said, they were almost identical. The only exception being that hers were more weathered and his were more…pristine and well-maintained. That fiery hair of his which swept over his eye like flowing magma. The whiteness of his jacket. The golden buttons which glowed like the moon. The crimson inner layer to his suit. The blackness of his gloves and outfit beneath the white coat. It was all so…familiar. It was like she knew him inside and out, despite only just having seen the man for the first time.
However, she was so lost in thought that she couldn't even begin to focus on what they were saying. Instead, her mind was elsewhere. Memories flooded back, like an ebbing and flowing wave upon the shoreline. Thoughts and feelings ran through her mind, constantly changing between utmost elation and utter despair. Inside her head was a boiling feeling which she couldn't describe, overwhelming her senses to the point where they could not tell if her boiling innards were hot or cold.
She remembered the feeling of achievement when she had saved his life when they first met by using her undeveloped semblance to distract his oppressors. The feeling of bliss when they had sat down for tea. The dissolution of her loneliness when they exchanged such meaningful gifts. Him, the very attire he was now sporting. Her, her beloved Hush. The feeling of sheer despair when she had realised that she was now the reason that his life was in danger again. The familiar burning feeling of wanting to do whatever it took to make sure he was safe once again. The triumph she felt when she had saved him, but the sadness which took over when she remembered that she had been the reason for his peril. The bittersweet feeling of returning home for the first time in ages. The rage she had felt upon being locked in her room again. And then…the grim satisfaction of watching it all burn to ashes. The euphoric feeling of knowing that her abysmal parents were dead and gone and that there were no longer any strings to hold her down. She could do whatever she wanted. And that was what he promised to her: freedom of choice. And she had picked being with him.
Whilst she now had some closure for her past, it gave no insight into the present. Why had she woken up in that alleyway, with no recollection of her past and only a handful of knowledge? Where had her partner been, if the two had been so inseparable? It was clear that he worked somewhat alone, aside from the myriad of nameless, useless goons which she was presently surrounded by.
She intended to get her answers to everything. But first, it was probably time to deal with the gun which was being pointed at her face, and the growing frustrations of the White Fang grunt who had been trying to handcuff her illusionary wrists for the past few seconds and wondering why it wasn't working. Looks like terrorist groups will hire just about anyone, these days…
