Chapter 4: Foundations of Teamwork
Sebastian, still awake, stared out the window of his hotel room. Sleep never came easy to him, so this was the closest thing to rest he could think of. Without warning, a loud crash came from outside.
The hell was that? It isn't any of my business, but it may be worth checking out. Besides, I can never get a good night's sleep anyway.
He got up from his creaky bed and put his shoes and coat on, leaving the room to investigate the noise. As soon as he got out of the hotel, a man in a white mask appeared behind him holding his weapon at the ready.
"Lookin' for a redheaded girl with a scythe. You wouldn't happen to know anything about her, would you, kid?" the mobster asked.
"You mean the chick who was causing trouble last night?" Sebastian asked with a smirk.
"Yeah!"
Sebastian shrugged. "Nope. I don't know a thing."
The mobster, clearly angered at Sebastian's response, aimed his weapon at him and would've fired if it wasn't shot out of his hand. He grasped his hand in pain before turning to face the shooter.
It was Damien, perched on a wall with his rifle. And now that he had a good view on the mobster's face, he rolled his eyes and let out a sigh of disappointment.
"Noir? Again?!"
"You know, I would say it's nice to see you Damien," Noir grumbled as he walked back over to pick up his weapon. "But it's not."
"Wait. You two know each other?" Sebastian asked.
"Yes, yes we do. Sebastian, meet Jackson Noir, Roman Torchwick's right hand man." Damien said, jumping down to ground level.
"Doesn't answer how you know each other, really."
"First time in Vale?" he asked. Sebastian nodded. "Yeah, let's just say I'm kind of a vigilante figure in town, and we'll just leave it at that."
"So you two have bumped into each other?"
"On several occasions." Noir responded, his upper lip curling into a grimace.
Damien rolled his eyes.
"I guess you could say he's something of my arch-nemesis. Now, when Axel told me that someone barged into his shop demanding information on the girl who trounced around your boss's flunkies, I was hoping for the big shot himself." Damien started with his rifle, but pressed a button on the side, separating the weapon into two smaller pistols. "Ehh, what the hell. You'll do for now."
Damien launched himself at Noir, firing 4 shots in quick succession. Noir dodge-rolled out of the way and returned fire. Then he switched his gun into a machete and charged at Damien.
If I have to help, I guess I will. Sebastian used Siberia to knock Noir over the head, knocking him down onto one knee. He got up and turned around, fuming.
"Oh, so you want to play too, huh?" he said to Sebastian. Sebastian gave him a cocky smirk and recalled Siberia, hitting Noir in the head again. Noir scowled and sped over to Sebastian using his semblance and unleashed a powerful spartan kick into Sebastian's chest. Sebastian was thrown backwards, flying ten feet back into the hotel's cement wall. He fell to the ground, dazed and confused.
"Ya know faunus like you should stay locked up in their kitty cages." Noir snarled. Suddenly, a fireball came flying in and exploded in front of Noir, knocking him back. Damien came up behind Noir, his weapon split into daggers, and slashed at him. Noir ducked the attack and the two traded blows for a few moments. Eventually Damien ducked around one of Noir's attacks and put him in a choke hold.
Sebastian took this opportunity to approach slowly, pelting Noir's midsection with Siberia relentlessly. Noir's grunts of pain grew louder with each strike as he struggled helplessly against Damien's grip. With each strike he moved closer, eventually standing directly in front of his weakened foe. He grabbed his head and finished with a strong left hook that knocked Noir flat onto the ground.
"And humans like you should stay locked up behind bars," he scathed.
Noir scurried away from the two, holding his midsection.
"You think you're funny, kid?" he said with a devious smile. "You have no idea what you just did, and who you just messed with. YOU'RE. DEAD." Noir yelled as he zipped away.
Sebastian turned to Damien.
"Thanks for the help, man. I'm pretty sure he would have shot me if you didn't show up when you did."
"No problem, man. It's kind of my job, you know. As a vigilante and all."
"Should we go after him?"
Damien shook his head.
"With his speed he's probably halfway across town by now."
Sebastian shrugged and turned back toward the front of the hotel but was blinded by the light of the rising sun.
"Oh shit, have we been out here all night?"
Damien nodded in reply.
At that very moment the boys' scrolls beeped loudly. It was a text from Axel:
Hey. Where the hell are you guys? The ship leaves in 10 minutes!
The two boys looked at each other for a moment then took off sprinting at full speed, hurdling people and obstacles all the way to the station.