Tyrian flexed into a long, satisfying overhead stretch upon exiting the passenger side of the stolen truck that he and his companions had been using to get around the countryside of Sanus. His tail curved dangerously behind him as he flexed, very nearly jabbing Mercury in the stomach before the younger male swatted it off to the side.
"Watch where you're pointing that thing," Mercury warned as he walked forward ahead of Tyrian and toward the massive building in front of him.
"I'll put my tail wherever I want," Tyrian cooed with a manic grin. "You watch how you talk to your superiors, little boy."
"Enough," Hazel ordered with a threatening tone as he slammed the driver's side door. In his other hand was a black briefcase, and he looked entirely fed up with his traveling companions. "We've got a job to do. I'm not listening to you two bicker the entire time we're here."
"What are we doing here, anyway?" Mercury asked as he stopped before the large entranceway of the building to take in its features.
The structure stood five stories tall, and wide enough to block out the view of whatever was behind it. Red bricks gave way to opaque blue windows that glittered in the midday sun, and white painted balconies jutted out from the building in front of each of them. A large sign in looping script reading Whispering Pines sat atop the building, seeming to almost glow.
"Simple. We're make sure it's unoccupied, and then setting it up as our home base. Lots of huntsmen and huntresses used to use this as a meeting place," Hazel explained as he joined Mercury's side. "Salem doesn't want complications."
"Looks abandoned to me," Tyrian pointed out as he moved to stand at Mercury's other side while keeping his mechanical tail slung up and over his shoulder. A drop of purple venom slipped from the tip of the device, which he made sure to keep in the boy's peripheral vision. "No other cars in the lot. We're not seriously going to do a stakeout here, are we? That sounds dreadfully boring."
"That's the plan," Hazel said as he shook his head. "We've gotta sweep the building. No telling who could still be hiding here, and Salem wants her agent installed and ready to go before she arrives to strike at Beacon. Come on, you two."
Hazel led the way up the cobblestone path laid out between rows of well-trimmed hedges. A bubbling fountain with a statue of a cloaked huntresses wielding twin scythes in its center waited just before the doors, and all three men moved around the left side of the structure in a line. The large glass doors shifted apart automatically as Hazel approached, allowing the men into the spacious and immaculate lobby. A vacant reception desk awaited at the far side of the room, while the majority of the floor was taken up by plush couches with floral patterns and circular wooden tables.
"Well… electricity's still on. That's a good sign," Mercury said flatly as he slowly walked his way through the lobby. "If the TVs are still connected, we won't even have to actually pay for porn, with no one here to check us out before we leave."
Hazel rolled his eyes and approached the reception desk. Without a second thought, he placed the briefcase down upon the wooden surface and braced a hand atop it before vaulting the barrier with a grunt of effort. He landed with a heavy thud and then walked over to a set of keys upon the far wall. Just as he began to reach for a particular set, he cringed and gritted his teeth at the shrill sound of a bell shrieking behind him.
"Service!" Tyrian cried as he slammed down on the receptionist's bell a final time. "Honestly, I thought this place was supposed to be five-star!"
"…you are such an asshole," Hazel mumbled as he swiped a set of keys from the waiting wall and turned around. "If Salem hadn't ord-"
"Above you!"
Hazel saw the panic in Mercury's eyes as he snapped his attention to the younger man and managed to look up just in time to take advantage of the warning. A multicolored blur descended from the balcony above and behind Hazel at blistering speed. Just as the man got his arms up in front of his face, a blade raked across his forearm and caused his aura to flicker dangerously with the force of the blow. Before Hazel could tell what exactly had hit him, his aura rippled again as he felt an odd pressure against his spine, and he whirled with a spinning backhand to try to catch his attacker. Again, there was nothing in the space where the weapon had hit, and he looked all around in a panic as he raised his arms in a boxer's stance.
"What the hell is going on!?" Hazel demanded as Tyrian leapt up onto the counter, crouching low with his tail primed over his shoulder.
"All I saw was a pink streak," the faunus replied, his tone uncharacteristically serious. "Someone naughty is here…"
"So much for a vacant building," Mercury sassed as he turned in place, scrutinizing his surroundings. "Make the call, Hazel."
"We stay in this room, for now," Hazel replied immediately. "Someone with a semblance that makes them slippery would want to divide a group of three and lead us on a chase throughout the entire property. Nobody m-"
The sound of shattering glass interrupted Hazel as the trio's borrowed truck barreled through the doors and straight into the lobby. Mercury barely managed to leap out of the way of the vehicle in time, firing off blasts of air from the heels of his mechanical legs to propel himself out of the way. The truck continued onward toward the reception desk, from which Tyrian flew forward as his katars extended and locked into combat mode. Hazel grabbed the briefcase and dived into a connecting office and out of the way of the vehicle as it tore straight through the desk and hit the wall, while Tyrian landed atop the truck and plunged one of his weapons straight through the roof on the driver's side.
In a sudden flash, Neopolitan appeared upon the roof of the truck and landed a spinning kick into the side of Tyrian's face while he was busy trying to yank his katar back out of the curved steel. The faunus let out a brief cry of pain before stabbing forward with his other arm, which Neopolitan parried with a flourish of her sword. Tyrian's mechanical tail darted out from behind him toward her torso, only for Neopolitan to burst into hundreds of shards of illusory glass and disappear entirely as the deadly appendage made contact with her. The tail's stinger very nearly continued on to impale Mercury, who had leapt onto the truck and made an attempt to grab their assailant from behind.
"Well, well," Tyrian said with a grin as he slowly pulled his tail back. "Wouldn't that have just been tragic?"
Both of the men's attentions were drawn down to the office behind the reception desk as the door flew open, slamming into the wall beside it while Hazel charged through the open doorway. The massive man had Neopolitan held aloft by the neck as he ran forward, and her blade had been plunged deep into his shoulder. He lifted the much smaller girl and slammed her down hard onto the remaining part of the desk, pinning her to the wood as she struggled to remove her sword from his flesh. Tyrian was the first to reach the ground, sharpening his katars against each other as he made a slow approach toward the pinned girl.
"Should've listened to Mercury and tried to split us up," Tyrian taunted as he leveled his stinger at Neopolitan's eye. "Who are you, little huntress?"
As if to answer, a second truck entered the lobby, its tires squealing before it began to tear straight across the room. The vehicle raced forward for Hazel and Tyrian, and the former released his grip upon Neopolitan before backpedaling to the wall of keys while the faunus leapt straight up and grabbed for the balcony railing. Neopolitan scrambled to a standing position as the truck collided with the splintered reception desk, and the phantom vehicle exploded into thousands of tiny shards. She hopped off the desk and began to sprint for the ruined entranceway, only for Mercury to stand directly in her path. The teen swiped a thumb across his chin and cracked his neck before beginning to bounce on his feet, hands raised in a fighting stance.
"Didn't think I'd ever be seeing you again," Mercury said as he narrowed his eyes. "Big mistake, getting in our way. Your aura's probably pretty close to shot after pulling a bunch of stunts like that in a row."
Neopolitan took a moment to steady her breathing as she leveled the remaining, empty shaft of her umbrella before herself like a short club.
"Oh?" Tyrian asked as he dropped down to land upon the desk once again in a crouch. "You know this girl?"
"You could say that," Mercury answered. "Leave this to me!"
Hazel rose slowly from the floor, Neopolitan's sword still embedded a few inches into his shoulder. Without a second thought, he yanked the blade up and out before grabbing a fire dust crystal from his belt and cauterizing the wound. He kept a firm grip upon the hilt of the blade all the while, staying well out of the girl's reach. Neopolitan drew in a deep breath and focused solely upon her target, waiting for Mercury to make the first move.
Mercury dashed in, ducking low and weaving to one side to watch Neopolitan's movements. The girl juked to the other side and circled opposite of Mercury, taking a cautious approach. The moment Mercury threw out a front pushing kick, Neopolitan thrusted her umbrella forward and pushed his foot backward, sending her opponent off-balance. Neopolitan made a mad dash for the door, only for Tyrian to land in her path from parts unknown. He immediately began a slow approach, wagging his finger all the while.
"Ah-ah, little girl. You're trapped, now…"
Neopolitan just barely managed to duck Mercury's spinning kick as he tried to blindside her. The diminutive girl reached up and grabbed the boy's leg to pull him toward her before crashing her elbow into his nose. Mercury flinched and grunted at the contact before he flung his grounded leg up and around Neopolitan's neck. With a quick twisting motion, he dragged the two of them down to the ground and moved to put the girl into a headlock.
Just as he grabbed for her arm, Neopolitan burst into another shower of shards, appearing near the truck as her entire body flickered a cool pink. She briefly opened the door and grabbed something from the driver's side seat before scrambling atop the roof of the truck and beginning to sprint. More quickly than Neopolitan could leap for the nearby balcony railing, Mercury threw out a kick and fired a gust of air from within his mechanical legs. The projectile caught Neopolitan in midair and sent her crashing to the ground, her aura shattering entirely as she rolled toward Hazel in a crumpled heap. The gargantuan man lifted her into the air by her wrist, holding her like a particularly large trophy fish as she flailed her legs and tried to kick him to set herself free.
"You sure you wanna do that?" Hazel warned as he gave the girl a cold glare. "You've caused enough trouble already, you're unarmed, outnumbered, and without aura. Give it up."
"You rolled the dice, and lost," Tyrian mocked with his best manic smile as he approached the dangling girl. "Let's see what you thought was worth risking your life to go back for."
Tyrian reached up and snatched the object from Neopolitan's hand before looking it over. In his palm was a rumpled black bowler hat with a red band encircling the accessory just above the brim. The unremarkable article of clothing was stained, slightly worn on one side, and seemed a bit too large for the girl.
"…wait," Mercury called as he jogged over to the other men and their captive. "That's what this is about? Revenge?"
Neopolitan locked eyes with Mercury, her expression one of utter defiance as she again tried to kick for Hazel's side.
"Explain," Hazel ordered as he continued to hold the girl out of range.
"That's Roman Torchwick's hat," Mercury began. "I'd know that stupid thing anywhere. He was Cinder's contact in Vale, leading up to the fall of Beacon. She's Neopolitan, his right-hand woman."
"I've heard those names before," Hazel acknowledged as he turned his attention back to Neopolitan. "So, you're a rabid dog looking to take out the people responsible for getting your master in over his head. Is that it?"
Neopolitan breathed out heavily through her nose, refusing to look at Hazel as he spoke to her.
"Too bad for you that you failed in that little endeavor," Tyrian cooed as he ran his metallic stinger along Neopolitan's cheek. "I met Roman, once. He seemed rather… incapable to me."
"Wait," Mercury said with all of the authority he could muster. Hazel and Tyrian turned their attention to the boy, though neither looked particularly interested in his words. "If you're attacking us, then you're probably after Cinder. She's as good as dead, after failing at Haven Academy."
"Salem will do with her as she sees fit," Hazel replied as he cracked his neck. "What's your point?"
"My point is that there's probably only one target left- Ruby Rose." Neopolitan's head snapped to meet Mercury's eyes. "Our target."
Tyrian let out a groan and put his face in his hand, looking incredibly annoyed.
"…you are not suggesting what I think you are…"
"Does Ruby know you're here?" Mercury asked, narrowing his eyes at Neopolitan.
The girl didn't hesitate before shaking her head from side to side.
"…then it would be stupid to throw her out when we could both benefit. She's dealt with Ruby and her friends, and unlike Torchwick, she's actually capable. I've worked with her before."
Tyrian made a loud, agonized noise of disgust and lashed out with his tail, scouring the wooden surface of the reception desk with his stinger.
"The last thing we need is an outside party!"
"She's survived this long in Sanus, during a grimm invasion, so we know she's capable," Mercury countered. "Not only that, but she's got every reason to put her all into working with us. Am I the only one a little concerned that the plan is for three people to isolate and lock down Beacon Academy for what might turn into a year or more? Atlas isn't falling tomorrow, and we're not going to Vacuo..."
"This is not in our goddess' plan!" Tyrian spat, raking another mark into the desk.
"Enough!" Hazel boomed, gaining the attention of both men. "I have the authority, here."
"Tch," Tyrian clucked before retracting his katars and beginning to walk toward a large wall of glass beyond the circular tables. "Do what you want. I'm going to check the rest of the area behind the building, and the perimeter of the lake."
Hazel watched silently as Tyrian stormed out through the door at the side of the wall of windows. The massive man shook his head in annoyance before locking eyes with Neopolitan.
"Semblance like yours could be useful for recon… and you've got some moves on you. If Mercury would vouch for you even after that attack on us, then maybe you're worth sparing. Are you willing to follow orders, if we're willing to give you a shot at Ruby Rose?"
Neopolitan swallowed hard and gave the man a firm nod. A moment later, Hazel released his grip on the girl's wrist and allowed her to drop to the ground.
"Then welcome aboard," Hazel declared. "Time to get you up to speed."
Author's Note:
This scene is one I've been waiting to do for a while, and there's no better place than here. Next time, we'll get back to Atlas.
-RD