OoOoOh obligatory Author's note with nothing to important to say. So scary.
Chapter: 2 Open, shall the others.
The radio sling to his shoulders buzz to life with a crackly voice with it Jaune immediately recognize as Fontaine he spoke. "You know," He huffs.
"I remember when me and that Mistralian put you in that sub. You, uh, used to be a hotshot private eye. Then you met me all those years ago, said that Ryan was getting a few of his screws loose and became paranoid. Lend us a hand to help the poor schmucks at Neptune's bounty. I saw how you acted and I knew you were something special. You were my ace in the hole, but you were also the closest thing to a son I ever had in my miserable life. And I'm just sayin' this one is gonna hurt. Betrayal, kid. I've done more than my fair share of it, but I'm gonna be feeling this one for the rest of my time. Life ain't strictly business."
As Fontaine's monologue reached its conclusion, the doors abruptly slid open, revealing a chilling sight.
"Oh, my gods…"
The sight of the room filled with an eerie red glow of the crimson liquid from several enormous vats. There are numerous metal pillars towering high to the ceiling, carrying a larger glass container with countless spiraling tubes of flowing Adam, each leading to a syringe.
The air was thick with a pungent, metallic scent, and the sound of machinery hummed loudly in the background, adding to the sense of foreboding.
The sight was both mesmerizing and terrifying, and Jaune felt a shiver run down his spine as he took it all in for the first time in a while.
There he lay in the middle. Strapped to a vertical operating table by metal restraints with syringes, Fontaine was dosing himself more with Adam. The crimson liquid had a profound effect on his body, causing it to adapt and absorb the substance continuously. As a result, he grew taller and his muscles became more refined, transforming him into a hulking figure.
However, this physical transformation came at a steep price. The skin of his flesh turned ash gray, and his veins pulsed with a brilliant gold glow coursing through his body, all the way to his head.
The literal richest man in Rapture. Yet resembled like a freak would on the surface.
If Jaune was a bit shaken before, then he's deathly afraid now of his former ally, turning the once human into something more; Grotesque.
The blond heard him speak through grunts and stutters as he painfully mustered through. "You… Y-you'll understand soon enough. Mother Goose is just using ya'. If you're a-actually going to believe her… you're even more gullible than I thought. He H-he-he…" Ending up a chuckling fit.
Jaune hastily made his way to Fontaine and ascended the stairs towards the operating table. With the needle gun gripped tightly in his hand, he plunged it deep into Fontaine's chest.
"ARGHHHH!" Fontaine yelled and squirmed as the device struck to his heart, sucked out and filled the attached bottle with the red substance.
It worked! A tired smile grew on Jaune's face as he retracted the needle out.
There was no time for a celebration as the metal restraints on the operating table unlocked, their sound echoed through the room. Suddenly, Fontaine sent Jaune flying across the room with a sucker punch. Jaune crashed into the wall, leaving a pile of debris in his wake.
Jaune laid on the ground, groaning as his visions saw Fontaine just jump out of the table and landed on the ground with a resounding thud, causing almost the entire room to shake at him. Then his body turned to almost resemble like a magma with large gaping cracks around his body filled with glowing red and orange liquid.
At that time, the room felt hot as well, the temperature just risen.
Aww, crapbasket… His pupils shrank at the sight before going for another hasty scramble to get up and went to upholster his revolver with his hand.
The other gradually became enveloped by the expanding ice as it crept up to his hand. He could hear the sound of the freezing water crackling and popping as it took hold of his skin. The sharp icicles pierced out through his flesh, causing blood to splutter out of his forearms with small stains as if it came under his skin.
"Come and get it, Mook!" the garbled voice of Fontaine taunted with a sly tone as readied his stance.
Alright, basic Pocket creatures rules… Ice beats fire… Or was it water? Oh, what the hell, it's basically the same except it's solid, it'll turn to water eventually. Butterfly effect or something...
As fireballs and wisps of flames fly across the room, a battle finally ensues between a greedy megalomaniac and a supposed washed up private eye. The latter can't even remember his past. A barrage of icicles counter the fiery attacks, while cold, thick air breezes past and gunshots follow.
Fontaine began rushing in like a devil out of hell towards Jaune, leaving a trail of flames as the blond just by lady luck's embrace, barely jumped out of the way, but not before getting the upper hand on the hulk as he opened his palm and a thick, visible cold air came out, causing the giant's body to stop frozen on his tracks along with shards of ice began to form and grow all around him as he froze still.
Just as the time was right, Jaune went all out and unleashed a series of powerful swings with his trusty wrench with all his body could manage, caused Fontaine to fall to the ground. "After everything you saw, you're still gonna trust that whore?"
Now for the needle…
But then he realized he only had one bottle given…
Oh, what the heck. There simply isn't any time to contemplate to let Fontaine's weaken state to recover. Jaune just stuck the needle to his own chest and pull the trigger, causing the Adam to enter his own body.
Was it a good plan? No, not really, but he really isn't seeing any other option on the table, as they designed the device to require a bottle attached to sip Adam. He ultimately picked his first inclination.
And so the vicious cycle went on. It was a battle of attrition with both attempting to one-up the other with everything they have. As long as the other falls.
As Fontaine continues to exhaust his body and its resources, the Adam that replaces his blood takes a toll on his body was now becoming apparent in his struggle to keep the battle going. As bad as it is, his vital fluids are rapidly drained and replaced in a matter of minutes, while he sees the blond replenish himself with even more from his Adam as well.
There was no taunting from the sly business man as the blond noticed.
No evil monologue or sly remarks, there are just grunts and frustrated yells that could be heard.
No longer that snark that Fontaine always spews, as the effects of the second batch that blond mook drained from him are now starting to cause him pain. Enough to realize the actual threat Jaune is becoming the longer the fight drags on.
It was until then Fontaine tired, fed up by the multiple underhanded tactics of Jaune - which is just basic counters using chemical reactions- finally caught the blond with [Telekinesis] as he held him in place.
All bloodied, bruised and battered all over, covered in burns all around, Jaune was visibly struggling, being suspended in the air, and unable to move his arm to activate his plasmids or so much as flair his limbs. It was honestly harder than he anticipated.
The darkness was starting to set in. It is getting harder to breathe the longer he struggled in the air. The light was fading away. It was becoming harder to see, as an attempt to push through is starting to look suicidal.
He had no choice but to use his last trick up his sleeves.
As he closed his eyes, a small but intense wave of energy rippled through the air. The force was palpable as it slammed into Fontaine, sending him hurtling through the air with a sickening crunch. The sound of Fontaine's body colliding with one of the pillars of the machine reverberated through the room, echoing off the metal walls. The acrid smell of burning ozone filled the air, the result of the energy discharge.
Jaune just used his [Telekinesis]. That was his plan. Yeah, now it's not that impressive explaining it.
From the surprise attack rendered Fontaine's inability to maintain control of his own powers as he had propelled Jaune through the air. Unintentionally or not, it has Jaune ultimately colliding with a vat of Adam and crashing inside.
The final recollection he had was the gurgling sounds he made as he drowned in Adam, fighting to orient himself and expel the substance flooding his lungs in a faint attempt, to no avail, as blackness crept in and he lost consciousness.
…
"I had you built! Helped gave you a second chance at life! I cared about you like you was my son! I sent you topside, showed you what you was, what you was capable of!"
Gods, that was the first time he felt like drowning in a long while…
"Even that life you thought you had, that was something that I dreamed up and had tattooed inside you head."
Jaune felt like utter shit, if he's were to be honest. His head was spinning as it was somewhat a miracle he can make out what he's seeing. A figure of Fontaine threw the needle device that almost landed on his head by a few inches as he approaches closer, practically looming over the downed blond.
So this was it. He couldn't even save someone, not even in a stupid dream. His exhausted body feels numb from the fight and he realizes that he has already used up his remaining supplies for the evening, so even if he wanted to, he could not continue on fighting.
Then his head was burning like a match lit inside.
Heh, life can be so cruel.
"Now, if you don't call that family, then I don't know what is! And now-"
He was once again held up with a firm grip around his neck that made it hard for him to breathe. Practically wheezing for air that couldn't come. As It rendered Jaune helpless, and was too tired to even put up a struggle as his vision grew dark.
"There is another way… use this, free them from their torment…"
One last ditch effort.
The veins on Jaune's hand glowed a divine white light after he scraped up the last drops of Eve he had left in his body. With every last bit of strength he had, he stretched his arms up towards Fontaine, his fierce determination unwavering.
Let lose his one last trick. The [Little sister antidote]. The same thing he does to cure the little sisters by taking away their Adam and the substance induced brainwashing along.
"ARGHHH!"
His ears were filled with a deafening scream as the force around his neck vanished, and he landed on a shallow puddle of crimson liquid with a pained grunt.
The remaining energy he had watched Fontaine stumbled back, hands gripping on his face as a small figure… No, multiple figures climb around the weakened giant and started stabbing him mercilessly.
"Get him!" "Get the bad man!" It was the little sisters!
Despite being brought to his knees, Fontaine uttered a final bloodcurdling scream. "You little monsters!" As he was being stabbed endlessly by the army of little sisters, he fell on his back.
He wasn't sure why the girls would risk the wrath of Fontaine, but after seeing them gang up on the giant with ease, it didn't matter now. Both of them are tired and beaten. Couldn't even fight back and finish their score if they desire so.
They don't need him now… Tenenbaum could take care of the rest now…
He did his part.
His vision still slowly darkens. However; he didn't mind it this time. He chose not to fight back and accepted it.
He allowed the light to keep fading until it eventually went out, surrendering to the darkness and understanding that it was part of his journey. He no longer felt the need to resist and instead embraced the inevitable.
He felt the knot in his chest finally untangled itself, the weight on his shoulders lifting away, that anxiety since arriving here vanish. His labored breaths slowed in silence. He felt his limbs grow weak and his vision blurred. One last time, he closed his eyes, trying to fight back the tears that threatened to overflow. He knew the darkness was inevitable, and he had to accept it.
His fight was over.
As for Jaune, a pained smile crept to his face through the cuts slashed across or the bruises. He paid no mind, as he felt partly of joy.
The only thing left was that glimpse he caught of the glowing crimson liquid sliding on the ground to cover his body before he finally succumb to his wounds and finally slipped into unconsciousness.
He could finally rest easy...
He did it.
I won.
…
"No, ma'am. You must have been mistaken; we don't have any rare dust in stock or anything you claim to be looking… If you can't find it on display, then we don't have it."
Wanna know anything more excruciating? Here's one: working in retail.
"Surely you might have some in the back?" Some girl in a strange outfit pointed it out, as if it wasn't already obvious.
But here's the thing, does she really know more than the person working here? It was like an insult that the workers weren't doing their job properly enough to check inventory. Then she, someone who never even worked here, had the gull to say that.
"Ma'am, I've worked here for six months now. I think I have enough experience to check our storage room and to know we don't have some rainbow wacky crystal, you kept saying."
Heading cash register stood is Jaune, answering as polite as he can muster, but the monotone in his voice, the dead eyes, the lifeless expression were unmissable as he draw a deep breath in sigh.
Right, he still has a shift tonight. Honestly, it's not much of a pain besides a few customers' shopping supplies, but most nights are quiet enough to relax. Maybe read a comic later or watch soap operas…
Jaune's darkened cerulean eyes studied the woman, typing on and on to something on her scroll. He chuckled, possibly about those stupid dusts that don't even exist. Though, she couldn't be just a few years of his age… Then that stupid outfit she wore… Eccentric, really out there. A beacon for attention.
Remember when he said he rarely gets costumers at night?
Well, uncommon to those that come are just civilians buying dusts for machines and whatnot…
Although the majority of the individuals entering are licensed huntsmen or students from Beacon…
Way to salt the wounds, faith…
So, what he's got turned down by Beacon? Is he really going to let some grudge turn him into a petty asshole and try to get a rise out of her to fill some sadistic hunger for rejection at the expense of somebody else who might not even be a huntress at all?
Probably, if she takes too long and likely much of his time wasted on his own business. Then he'll consider that prospect.
What a life.
He then slammed his head onto the counter with a loud groan.
He sat back in his chair, about to let the hours float by. Right when he was about to drown another hour on his soap opera on his scroll, on how a side character who had previously died on screen somehow by the magic of writing miraculously survived for another plot twist, something caught his eye.
By the magazine rack sat beside the multitude of cosmetic and lifestyle magazines, with their models posing with various products or just posing their bodies in general as eye candy to get the attention of anyone passing by sat one in the bottom row.
Not with fancy mansions or expensive eye-liners. No, it was printed in various settings, such as jungles, deserts or small towns with buff men and women and their gruff appearances like of battle-hardened fighters can be seen wielding large weapons alongside even more guns and soldiers.
Mercenary work, huh?
Chapter: 3 Opening a new opportunity