The 'Lone' Hero of Vale - Chapter 21
"Link?" Pyrrha stands up and reaches out to him
"Sorry." Link's head snaps up, "Its just been a while since I thought about the entire day."
"Which one?" She asks
"The village..." Link nods
"You don't have to-"
"May as well get it out of the way." Link cut her off, "It goes with the Atlas military, and it exposes how they are far from perfect. Hear that Weiss? Atlas, not perfect."
"Let's hear it then." Weiss crosses her arms
"OK." Link nods and takes a seat on the chair by his desk, "White fang first, I joined them about a year ago, like 2 or 3 months after I turned 15, I was "accepted" as a mercenary."
"How?" Blake asks, "The White Fang never accepted mercenaries, and if they did they had to be faunus."
"There's where we begin." Link nods again and slowly begins to tell the tale of the escape from his "home"
(Are you really going to tell them about that woman?)
(Amber... No, I will mention her but I doubt any of them know about... her significance)
Flashback
Only an hour after being helped and treated by Amber, both realize they must go their separate ways
"Will I ever see you again?" A young 14-year-old Link asks Amber, who both at the time had no idea what each other possessed
"... I want to say yes, but I have many responsibilities. I fear this is the only time we will speak"
"O-oh." Link put his head down
"N-no I didn't-!"
"Heh! No problem!" Link's head sprang back up as he gave Amber a nod of approval "Go do your thing Amber, I will find you myself, I don't care how long it takes, I know you're a busy woman and I will be busy soon as well, but one day, I will partake in my own personal mission to find you."
Amber said nothing and simply smiled
"I wish you luck on your journey." Link smiles back at her
"As do I." Amber nods and extends her hand
"Thanks." Link shakes Amber's hand, gracefully using both of his, he got no response except another peaceful nod as they both departed, and Amber continued to walk along the lakeside while Link retraced his steps as best as he could, his amnesia had become an issue, though he did remember much more than he let on.
Present time
"She sounds cool." Ruby nods
"She sounds made up." Weiss shakes her head
"Hey!" Link frowns, "I know I'm brash and a bit stubborn but I am not crazy."
"You said you hit your head right?" Coco mumbles
"I did, what of it?" Link asks
"Umm..." Velvet shakes her head in a very confused way
"I'll make you believe then, by not hiding the fact that I saw her again."
"You did?" Ruby's eyes widen, "How was that reunion?"
"It wasn't an innocent one... we were on different sides."
"N-no, you..." Blake shook her head
"I was tricked AND blackmailed, but that's for later... ANYWAY, after I was rudely interrupted."
"Sorry." Ruby chuckles
"I didn't immediately enter the White Fang, it's not a typical point and choose process, they need your loyalty and they need use out of you. Not to mention it's not like I was on their radar nor was I looking to join them."
"Then why become a mercenary?" Blake asks
"Money obviously, the pay is really good and surpasses your usual 9 to 5 job. Besides, if I was ever going to find my mother, brother or even father, I needed to STAY on the move, I could not settle down anywhere... for the time being. I retraced my steps and eventually chose to climb back up the cliff I blasted from. I went back home... or what little was left"
"Your father... he..." Pyrrha begins but almost immediately stops
"He burned it down." Link nods "The home he built for us... he's the one who destroyed it, it's almost fitting too. Only one positive came from this, that my mother and brother are still alive."
"Question." Weiss politely raised her hand, "Where exactly was your home?"
"Right where Vale and Vacuo connect."
"Really?" Weiss nods in amazement, "Ok, go on."
"OK..." Link shrugs, "I started off the way any low life scumbag would start, stealing... it was easy at first, I never even had to swing my sword, and all I had to do was point it at victims of mine."
"As if little 14 year old Link could hold a sword." Coco smirks
"I could actually... though I needed both hands." Link shakes his head and continues, "Eventually I did have to fight, my first few encounters were... rough, I got beat down and could've easily died, but instead they chose to steal what I had on me... in terms of money, for whatever reason I managed to hold onto my weapons. It must have been the initial looks, there was no crossbow-rifle combination in my regular bow, it wasn't even a steel bow either, back then it was wood with light stone arrows."
"So the almighty and powerful Link was a bum at one point?" Coco speaks again
"Not exactly... keep in mind I was still 14, I had nowhere to stay that wasn't a cold floor or wet grass, saved my money, went days without eating and spent no time trying to think of different strategies, my approach was a straight forward one. So even back then I was below a mercenary."
"Yeah you said that already, you were just a little thief." Weiss frowns
"OK!" Link shouts, "ANYWAYS! I did eventually get a grip and realized that if anything, I was regressing as a fighter."
"Fighter?" Yang asks
"Yes..." Link nods "A fighter. Regardless, I was traveling west into Vacuo, during that time it took me a while, a few months to be exact for me to admit that finding my family was going to take time, months, years, who knows? Nevertheless, wasting my time by robbing innocent people only to lose the money when facing a tougher adversary was getting me nowhere. I used the money I had on me to get myself together, I was growing in height, by the time I turned 15 I was five foot eight, my clothes were torn up from fights with casual civilians to farmers and wannabe hunstmen. I had to stop and stay put in a village in order to plan my next step. So I made my own clothes, which I am currently wearing at the moment." Link stands and turns, showing off his green tunic with a black undershirt long sleeve and pants
"You would be such a good mom." Yang gives a thumbs up
"Umm... thanks? Sowing isn't just a woman thing." Link shrugs, "My weapons stayed the same, I eventually learned how to use my sword with just one hand, making it easier to hold my shield with the other, leading to a better fighting style of course.." Link grabs his sword and takes practice swings with his left hand "Here's where we get into me being a mercenary. I wanted a new bow, since the one I had on me couldn't handle firing steel arrows... and well stone arrows don't get the job done unless my opponent is A. Inexperienced B. Has no armor and C. Is a fool."
"I see... your first job was to get money for the bow."
"Close to but close enough my blonde hot headed friend." Link nods, "I got my sword examined and sharpened, bought throwing knives and smoke bombs, then chose to save my money and stick with the bow I had... someone from the shop was keeping an eye on me and clearly stalking me since I told the blacksmith I was doing... 'Work' for a price. Let's just say I wasn't too kind to my stalker..."
Flashback
"I can always drop the bow and hone my craft with the sword." Link nods as he exits the blacksmith shop, and paces around, trying to think of what to do "His bow looked amazing, I don't think I can find another one like that-!"
"Freeze!" A man shouts very loudly, luckily it was past midnight, and there is nobody outside to hear the commotion "Stop right there criminal!"
"Criminal?" Link turns and quickly figures it was him being talked to
"DIE!" The man charges at Link with a sharp and medium sized dagger in his hand
"NO!" Link only had mere seconds to make up his hand on which weapon to grab, and chose his shield, gripping it with his right hand and blocking the incoming dagger which was aimed for his abdomen
"You're quick! I'll give you that!" The man smirks and swiftly backs away
"Thanks." Link mumbles as he reaches for his sword
"But you're not quick enough!" The man launches the dagger at Link, who did not get his sword out in time and resorted to defending with his his shield again, but then noticed...
"He missed?" Link frowns
(YOU IDIOT! TURN!)
"Pay attention and learn newbie!" The man was already in Link's face, he sprang up in the air and in mid air he roundhouse kicked Link's shield to the ground, while also kicking Link to the ground with another spin-n-kick
"A diversion huh?" Link frowns again as he quickly kips up to his feet
"Hm..." The man nods in approval "Agile for a frail boy…"
"What?" Link asks
"Nothing... nothing at all." The man chuckles and continues charging at Link
"Damn! He got me again!" Link once again was unable to grab his sword and resorted to the classic hand-to-hand combat.
The man was no pushover as he went at Link with fast jabs and quick kicks, forcing Link to stay defensive and dodge every one of his attacks
"Is that all you can do?!" The man taunts as he reaches behind him and pulls out a metal staff, he then quickly swings it at Link's head
"I'm just getting started!" Link instead of grabbing just his sword, he pulled it off his back and blocked the impact of the incoming staff with his sheath, which was brand new and steel
"Ah, you replaced your leather sheath after all..."
"Who are you and why are you following me?" Link acted fast and landed a straightforward kick to the man's gut, and with a quick motion unsheathed his sword to slash the metal staff out of his hand.
"Good..." The man nods, completely ignoring Link's question
"Grr..." The triforce on Link's left hand began to glow as his opponent was quick to pick up his staff and back away, he notices a faded triforce forming behind him
"Alright! Alright!" The man raises his hands in defeat "You win."
"Huh?" Link raises an eyebrow
"I was merely testing you." The man chuckles "Daggers aren't even my thing; I needed a prop weapon to make you think differently of my fighting style."
"I could tell as soon as you threw it since daggers aren't-! Ok never mind, I get your fighting style was different, but why are you following me?"
"I heard you in there. You are doing jobs. For payment? You're obviously a lone mercenary looking for 'work'... you get me?"
"I get you, and I'll be honest with you, I lied to the blacksmith. If I told him what I really do he would've beaten me to a bloody pulp, stolen MY weapons and then thrown me out."
"So what is it then?" The man asks, still intrigued by Link
"I'm a dirty thief, I rob helpless people, I take cheap shots at people I know would beat me in a one on one fight, you name it, I may as well be worse then a prisoner."
"I see, and is that your end game?"
"No way!" Link shakes his head walks over to where his shield was, only to quickly put it away; he did remain armed by keeping his sword in his hand
"Hm... name and age?"
"I should be asking you that." Link aimed his sword at the man
"Sure thing, though keep in mind, I shed my armor for this fight to look more unprepared and stupid, I'm Carter, I am 25 years old, and I'm the leader of a small band of mercenaries."
"My name is Link, I'm 15 and I've been traveling around ever since leaving my home that my father burnt down."
"Jeez, that's rough man, none of us were forced away from home, we chose to leave and do our own thing, but let's get back on topic, you're pretty damn good for being just 15."
"Really? You took me by surprise many times there."
"Well you still are a kid, but take it from someone who has fought real hunters and huntresses, you're already better than somebody who'd be in a developmental academy getting prepared to go off to the pristine academies like Beacon, Shade, Atlas or Haven."
"Thanks, I guess. I've never fought a hunter or huntress, but if I'm getting stronger, I consider it a positive."
"You've never fought one before?" Carter asks
"Just wannabes." Link shrugs
"I get you there; I've beaten many of those losers. Anyway, I followed you and decided I was going to test your strength tomorrow, but assumed you were leaving today and eventually took my chances by simply charging at you."
"You heard I was short on money for that steel bow huh?"
"Exactly. So I, Carter, leader of the Black Hawks, officially invite you, Link, to be a part of our organization."
"Here's were we're headed huh?" Link chuckles, "Sorry Carter but I-!"
"Think about it kid, you'll be taking on people who deserve it more than civilians, sure you may get tasked to do jobs that you either don't want to do or aren't strong enough to handle, but they will strengthen you up AND... the pay is way better than robbing an old hag coming home from the market."
"What's the least amount I'll earn?" Link asks
"Perfect." Carter nods and claps his hands together, "Money isn't an issue." Carter pulls on a bag clipped to his belt, medium sized, thick leather, clearly full of money "See for yourself." He tosses the bag at Link, who catches it with his right hand and slightly opens it. Finding the bag to be completely full of money.
"Wow." Link nods "All of this would take me two months to get... you know, robbing people."
"See?" Carter nods "Usually we have new recruits do three jobs for free in order to get in but I'm making an exception for you... mainly because you've got a lot of potential to be the best mercenary and hunter ever. Just keep in mind we'll be giving you the tough jobs any other person would get."
"I..."
"You need time to think it over? No problem kid." Carter nods and walks up to Link, taking back the bag of money but also giving him a handful in the process, "Here's a small token from us, think about it, you'll be the real deal one day, but not by continuing to do whatever it is you do." Carter nods again before trailing off, "Peace."
Present Time
"Two criminals getting along, how convenient." Weiss rolls her eyes
"Well I'm sorry that we weren't handed credit and debit cards stacked with cash, I'm so sorry we had to fight for survival." Link frowns
"I was not handed-!"
"Shhhh..." Coco shakes her head, "Let him continue."
"Hmph!" Weiss turns her head
"Thanks Coco." Link nods, "Anyway, I used that money to buy the steel bow, and could've easily departed the next day... but I listened to Carter's words and trusted them, robbing helpless people was going to get me nowhere. So I joined their small mercenary crew... and believe me, it was small."
"Did you fight lots of criminals and hunters?" Ruby asks
"Huntresses too... and luckily for me I didn't have to carry the burden that is mercenary disadvantage." Link nods
"Mercenary disadvantage?" Yang raises an eyebrow "But don't you guys scout the person you're after or whatever it is you guys did?"
"Blake, care to explain?" Link looks over at her
"Me?" Blake looks around with a confused look on her face
"Yes you, after all, you've had mercenaries AFTER you."
"How did you know-!"
"You think Adam would let you of all people walk away?" Link chuckles "He sent one after me too..."
"Who's Adam?" Ruby asks
"Nobody!" Blake shouts, and draws all the attention on her, "I mean... yeah, nobody." She sighs and shakes her head "Most mercenaries as used to taking on people on their caliber, like let's say a mob boss or your typical criminal, but dealing with a hunter or huntress is on a whole different level. You can scout someone, stalk them and find out all their weaknesses, but if you are not even close to their level, you will lose. Mercenaries have their own fighting style, which can be a good or bad thing..."
"How come?" Sun asks
"Well..." Blake thinks, "Some of us went to academies before applying and entering schools like Beacon, Shade, Atlas and Haven." Blake looks at Pyrrha, Ruby, Yang, Weiss, Sun, Neptune, Coco and Velvet "Some of us didn't." She points to herself and Link "You guys were taught the basics, and essentially given a process; you could then build off of that and do your own unique fighting style if you chose to do so… we had to learn from scratch. So our pattern of learning took a different path, I did not become a mercenary but I can say from watching a few trying to kill me, they are generally underestimated. Weiss tell me, if Link wasn't attending Beacon and you two suddenly had a run in that turned into a fight, would you take him seriously?"
"Why of course-!"
"Lies." Link scoffs "Her initial thought would be 'He's in leather with a plain sword and shield, this should be easy' seeing as how much hunters and huntresses are dressed in their own unique way, Pyrrha has armor and Weiss has exposed skin."
"Hey!" Weiss frowns
"It wasn't an insult towards you; I'm just saying hunters and huntresses choose to look unique, meanwhile us mercenaries..." Link stops himself and shrugs "I hate saying that."
"Why?" Velvet asks as she finisher her coffee
"Because I'm not a mercenary anymore, but here I am defending them and speaking as if I'm still one. My point is I chose to keep the look while adjusting it a bit, so you can say I'm both." Link turns for everyone to examine him
"I get you there." Yang nods "You do look like a mixture of both."
"Eyes up Velvet!" Coco snaps her fingers
"Huh?!" Velvet shakes her head
"Ok then…" Link chuckles, "Thanks Yang." Link nods but also rolls his eyes at the same time "Blake summed it up better than I could've, most mercenaries I knew had never even seen a hunter or huntress let alone had to fight one. I was a quick learner and was already good enough to match the skills of one luckily, otherwise I wouldn't be here right now, and I'd be in a ditch and probably dead."
"..." Velvet's eyes widen as she looks down at her mug
"Shi-! Sorry." Link sighs "I just... I still can't grasp how all of this happened to me."
"Continue." Coco nods "So you joined a bunch of mercenaries, how did you cross paths with the White Fang?"
"The group I was in was associated with the White Fang, but we were merely seen as amateurs so anytime they needed something from us it was always a small job in which none of their guys could do... That was the process for them, but not for me, aside from joining the Black Hawks, I took all kinds of mercenary gigs, hence why I rather surpassed all my comrades within a month, even Carter. This also got me on the White Fang's bad side..."
"Did any of your mission's involve taking out White Fang members?" Blake asks
"No." Link quickly answers, "I was the reason the White Fang worked with us more though."
"But don't Faunus..." Velvet hesitates, almost forgetting she is one "Don't 'we' hate humans? Why would they work with human mercenaries?"
"Adam noticed we had skill his 'soldiers' could never match so he hired us... as silenced and masked mercenaries."
"Wait a minute..." Blake closes her eyes "Your mask... it was metal, but painted white?"
"Yes." Link nods
"Red tribal stripes on each cheek?"
"Mhm." Link nods again "My masked look the silliest, but it was also difficult to take off, hence why I was the last one figured out."
"How were you found out?" Pyrrha asks
"White Fang leader Sienna Khan unmasked me."
"W-what?!" Blake's eyes shot open "B-but how, she would never allow humans near her or even around any white fang sector."
"I don't even know what I am nowadays." Link chuckles "I was going to relay my jobs when working for the White Fang but I assume you want to know of my encounter with Sienna." Link smirks
"Of course... wait but how did you ever meet her, she was in-!"
"Mercenaries travel a lot Blake, this why Neptune always wonder how I have so much endurance and stamina, I never stopped moving after I left my old home." Link sighs and looks around his dorm
Silence...
"Before you tell us about seducing the white fang leader." Coco chuckles "Tell us how YOU got on the White Fangs radar, and bad side?"
"Got it." Link nods and sits back down "W-wait what? Seducing who?!"
Flashback
(Kid...)
(My name is Link...)
(I do not care, but listen to me, I can tell that you are getting better, but the mission you just accepted, you will run into white fang members. Just because your main group is associated with them does not mean they will spare you if you get in their way.)
(...I know I didn't think this through, but did you hear the amount of money that old man offered? It's clear he needed someone reliable for this job.)
(So he chose a walking dead man... or boy in your case)
(I've been practicing with my aura... but I read that it had to be activated somehow, the thing is I don't know when it-!)
(If I were to take a guess, it was the day your father tried to kill you... your aura was activated thanks to your rage and me.)
Link stops and thinks back to that day briefly before shaking his head and completely ignoring the demon within him
"Here we are..." Link quietly scaled a tree and kept his eyes on the railroad tracks
(I see, you're going to let the White Fang do all the work then take them all out...)
(Nope.)Link shakes his head as suddenly a loud screech was heard
(Ah, cargo train is already being hijacked)
(Better, my guessing, waiting and predicting came true...)Link chuckles and noticed the train come to a full stop
Link carefully jumped across to another tree, getting slightly closer to the cargo train, noticing white fang members coming down with loads of crates, fifteen members, each with three crates
(What were you tasked with again kid?)
(Destroy all the cargo and anyone trying to stop me)
"HALT!" The voices of many men were heard
"Hm?" Link looked down, carefully eyeing the White Fang member who began to speed up, they were being chased... by Atlas military
"Where's the backup?!" One of the white fang members shouts at his fourteen accomplices
"Adam and the others should be here anytime now..." He replied and drew out his gun, aiming and firing at the Atlas soldiers
"What are you doing? We're outnumbered!"
"Running will only get us killed anyway. A lot of our brothers have gone down INSIDE the damn train, we can't die out here!"
"Screw it I'm going down fighting then!" The same white fang member who drew his gun first drops all his crates and takes cover behind them
"They could use some backup..." Link thinks
(They are going to cross you as soon as you are done helping them... assuming these Atlas puppets do not kill you first.)
(If I back them up they can take out more Atlas military, leaving me less casualties to cause... after all I'm only here to destroy the cargo in their hands right now.)
Link notices all fifteen white fang members taking cover behind their crates, at a stand off with the Atlas soldiers, who in themselves are a big group as well, at minimum it must have been over thirty-five members
"...Here goes nothing." Link reaches for his belt, grabbing a small white ball, lightly tapping on the top of it, eyeing the Atlas soldiers closely, and memorizing their firing patters along with reloading time
"Wait for it..."
The soldiers continue to fire at the White Fang members
"Wait for it..."
Link cocks his arm back, aiming for the middle of the skirmish, but then directing it more towards the Atlas soldiers
"NOW!" Link nods to himself and launches the ball right in the middle of the battle, choosing to stick with equally...
"BOMB!" One of the white fang members shouts as all of them drop to the ground
... Are blinded, as the ball Link threw was not an explosive bomb, but it was a smoke bomb
BOOM!This was no ordinary smoke bomb; there was no specific direction, smoke spread everywhere, just as much as it covered the sky and clouds
"..." Link said nothing else as he grabbed his sword and eyed the Atlas soldiers, targeting them specifically as he took off and jumped right in the mix. He lands on his feet and holds out his sword, waiting patiently...
"W-we! g-got! o-one!" The atlas soldier coughed his way through his sentence as no more than ten soldiers surrounded Link
"Big mistake." Link smirked and spun in place, holding his sword out, slashing anyone within inches of him, clipping and slicing through armor
"Ugh!"
"Ahhh!"
"Rrrk!"
The smoke soon cleared, the white fang members remained put behind their barricade of crates with valuables in them, only one observed Link taking on the entire herd of Atlas soldiers
"Is that our backup?" He mumbles
"A kid in green by himself? No way."
Link backed away to assert his situation
"Fifteen down..." He pants, slowly gaining back his composure
"Surrender now and we'll spare you!"
"..." Link smirked "Atlas? Sparing people? You're a funny guy." Link gripped his sword and shield and charged ahead, leaping over the commanding soldier and targeting the back of his platoon, easily taking out one of the soldiers by simply swinging at him, colliding his sword with the soldiers gun, knocking it out of his hand and following up by slicing at his chest and midsection, all this within just five seconds, and like that, another soldier was down and incapacitated.
"This kid's no pushover, we should retreat."
"No! Our orders were to take back the stolen product from the train, eliminate all opposing targets was listed in the description."
"Nothing personal guys." Link frowns and gets in a defensive stance
The White Fang members watched Link as he went from one to all fifteen, they inspected him closely as Link valiantly took on the rest of the Atlas soldiers, staying defensive most of the time with his shield, deflecting and blocking bullets, while also taking hits that his aura managed to fend off. As for offense, he used his bow, mainly targeting the shoulders of each soldier, as his pricey steel arrows lived up to their price and pierced through the soldier's armor like a hot knife cuts through butter. One by one, more soldiers began to drop, whether they were dead or alive was up to Link, who purposely missed vital spots and major organs.
"You're the last one." Link said with fierceness in his voice as he missed a sword swing but landed a front kick to the main soldier in command that foolishly let his guard down. Link then kicked the gun far away from his reach and aimed his sword right at him, still breathing heavily
"Please! Have mercy!" The soldier sat up and began to scoot away
"Hm..." Link smirks "Relax and look around, none of your comrades are dead." Link planted his foot on the soldiers chest, forcing him down "My mission wasn't to wipe out Atlas military soldiers; it was to destroy that cargo over there." Link aims his sword at the crates now turned barricade
"Then why not help us cease the White Fang?" The soldier groaned
"I couldn't take my chances on you people, see them? They're cowards, but you're not, you'll fight until you die, and them? They'll do what it takes to survive. Let us say I did help you people, but then when you realize I'm a wanted mercenary AND your backup shows up, I would be outnumbered and certainly captured. So instead I took my chances on the White Fang." Link releases the pressure on the soldier and gives him a nod "My mission isn't over yet." He turns to face the white fang members, who were not hiding anymore.
"STAY THERE WITH YOUR HANDS UP!"
(You were right after all.) Link shrugs
(Predictable.)
"No can do." Link raises his voice and reaches for another smoke bomb "This payment is too much to just give up on it now." Link covers himself with his shield and launches the smoke bomb right over the crates
"N-not aga-!" Before the white fang member could finish, another explosion of smoke went off, completely
"Stay alert! He's a dangerous one!"
Silence... only the aftermath of the smoke bomb could be heard, until suddenly...
"Ahhh!" The scream of a white fang member was ear piercing but also very faint as it dropped to the ground
"One down..." Link mumbles as he carefully steps around the smoke, no pressure being shown by his footsteps as he approached another White Fang member... soon realizing they all huddled around each other, forming a circle, each member was back to back "Perfect..."
Link puts his shield away and steps back, closing his eyes and concentrating, and within seconds, the triforce on the back of his hand glows bright, send a ray of light to all of the white fang members
"What the-!" He's cut short as he stuck in place, stunned and helpless
"You're finished!"
Link frowns as a dark gold triforce appears behind all of the White Fang members while a faded one appears in front of them. He opens his eyes and like a flash appears right in front of the trapped White Fang members, wasting no time to slash and cut them, with the same variety of slashes, two handed, one handed, spinning, full power and light. All with precise power and speed, the final blow sends all of the White Fang members crashing through the triforce and even out of smoke, each member lands in a different position, one sent against the tree, another on a tree branch, to the ground etc.
"I did not expect to use my semblance here of all places..." Link shrugs and then sighs as he waits for the smoke to clear out in order to approach the crates
"Anything of interest?"
"Hm?" Link turned and what he saw was a man wearing all black with a red undershirt, a white mask with designs in red and red hair. This man was no ally as he was right in Link's face with his dark red sword out in a swinging motion, and it almost slit Link's neck, but his instincts managed to make him leap off the ground and flip right over the crates while also getting both his sword and shield out "What the h-! What's your problem? Who are you?!"
"Why did you attack my brothers?"
"What?" Link looks around "They're not de-! WHOA!"
Link backs away once again as Adam continued to charge at Link, showing off his usual pace and speed, but he was matched, Link was able to block the straightforward lunges and avoid the critical slices
"Two in one night... it will drain me but I have to do it..." Link sighs as he manages to get away from Adam long enough to hide behind a tree and regain his composure, making sure to limit his breathing and soften his footsteps
"Come out kid! You're only delaying the inevitable" Adam slowly walked around the area, his eyes never looked back for even a second
"I'm right here..." Link steps out from behind the tree, sword in his left hand, tightly gripped while his hand held his shield firmly
"Well at least you've got guts..." Adam let out an evil chuckle as he unsheathed his sword, and aimed his 'sheath' at Link
"I'm not stupid!" Link is quickly to barrel roll out of the way as Adam fires a bullet from his 'sheath'
"A huntsman?" Adam mumbles
"A mercenary." Link corrects him, glancing at his left hand, paying close attention to the triforce on the back of his hand; it was glowing, but very faintly "With huntsman tendencies..."
"W-!"
"MY TURN!" Link's left eye glows gold as he is now in Adam's face, launching a direct attack for Adam's cheek, which is dodged, the hit was just as close as Adam's hit on Link in the beginning of their fight "That's not even close to my best!" Link charges Adam and rams his shield into Adam's chest, and taking note of Carter's footwork by heel kicking Adam's sheath away from his grasp, leaving him with just his sword.
"Then show me your best and MAYBE I'll spare you." Adam with just one hand on his sword stared down Link; no attempts were made to get his sheath back
Link and Adam charged each other, colliding swords once again, both using sheer strength to push each other, and both eventually chose to break apart at the same time. Link pulls out his bow and begins to fire his steel arrows at Adam, who blocked ALL of them with ease; his red sword was glowing all of a sudden...
"His semblance must have to do with his sword... I need to keep my distance, but my arrows won't do the job, I have to finish him, and now."
Link and Adam continued to clash head on, with Adam's experience finally showing it's colors as he managed to figure out and capitalize on Link's weaknesses... he's too careful, and instead of focusing all his energy on one set of attacks, he used it to up his defense as well. Adam suddenly got faster, forcing Link to block and dodge, eventually finding another weakness, which was used to slash at Link's shield so hard it flew out of his hands, leaving him with just his sword
"Crap!" Link frowns and with two hands, he holds his sword
"Big mistake kid." Adam shook his head "One hand swordsman should stay that way..."
Adam within the span of a second was right back in Link's face, they both collided swords again, with Adam letting up the amount of strength he put into the sword grinding battle, fooling Link into putting all power in order to back away and in another powerful slash send Link's sword out of his hands
"For a human you're not so bad, but say your goodbyes!"
Adam frowns and charges at Link, who chooses not to move and takes a slash from Adam's sword to his chest, which broke through Link's aura and made a deep wound in his chest, sending him flying back in the process
"NOW!" Link reached for the brown pouch in his back pocket, revealing three throwing knives, as he is falling back, he aims two for Adam's right arm and the other for his throat, and he launches them all with pure power and velocity behind them
"A last ditch effort to take me with you!" Adam holds up sword, but does not take notice of the knives direction until the final second, and is only able to block the one aimed for his neck. The other two throwing knives dig into Adam's right arm, both breaking through his aura too, one seeped deep and hit bone while the other one completely shred past the skin an severed most if not everything vital.
"M-my arm!" Unexpectedly, Adam dropped his sword as his right arm went limp "What did you do...?"
"Paralysis my friend." Link chuckles as he struggles to sit up, pressing down on his chest "It's not permanent but it's clear that your right arm is your dominant arm." Link pointed to Adam's sword "I never saw it even graze your left..."
"You're no fraud..." Adam shrugs as he grabs his sword with his left hand, all while paying no attention to his right, which dangled down "Time for me to finish this!"
"Feelings mutual!" Link reached for his sword and carved into the tree to lift himself back up
Adam and Link stared each other down; both were looking to see who would make the first move
"Boss they're here!"
"What?!" Adam shouts back and takes off, completely ignoring Link
"Who's here?" Link quickly sprints over to grab his shield before making his way back
Atlas Military... just as Link predicted, backup was eventually going to show up
"That guy only brought a few white fang members with him..." Link then immediately noticed more Atlas soldiers appearing behind the White Fang members as well "Behind you!" He shouts
"What the-!" Adam turns to see Link, but then actually looks behind him "Damn..." He looks at his sword and his expression quickly changes
"He's going to kill them... I cannot let him-! But I don't really have much of a choice, what do I do?!" Link sneaks around the tree, taking a better look at the opponents in front of him "I could take out the soldiers on either side, but I only get to pick one side, chances are this guy is going to kill the rest."
Link pushes himself away from the tree and sprints in between the two opposing parties, and picking up something close to Adam, his 'sheath'... and tosses it right to Adam
"I'm not one to say thanks ever..." Adam shrugs
"Whatever." Link shrugs as well and charges straight at Adam
"S-sir!"
"What-!" Adam quickly throws his sword in the air and quickly catches it with his sheath, his clothes, hair and sword began to glow, but suddenly stopped when Link leaped over him and instead ran for the Atlas soldiers that tried to ambush the white fang members
"Stop right here kid!" The small pack of soldiers aimed their guns at Link
"Too late!" Link smirks and aims the back of his left hand to the soldiers; the trifoce began to glow profusely as a beam of light shot out at the soldiers, and in a sequence seen before, the two triforces lit up in front and behind the soldiers, leading Link to do what he did to the earlier white fang members. Nonstop slashes, stiff hits and deadly slicing, until the final blow that sent the soldiers flying and crashing all around the forest
Link frowns as he lands on his feet and examines the pack of soldiers he took on... all human "They're all humans... why didn't they send some stupid robots!"
"Hehehe..." Adam chuckles as his clothes, sheath, hair and sword began to glow again, and aimed at all of the Atlas soldiers in his path
"No!" Link turned and ran towards Adam, but was stopped as White Fang members stood in his way
"He helped Brother Adam!"
"But he's a human!"
"No he isn't look at his ears!"
"What is he then?"
Link ignores all of them as he manages to push past them, but by the time he was through, all of the soldiers in Adam's vicinity were gone... they weren't down... they were gone.
"His semblance... it's a powerful one, holy crap." Link stops in his tracks, and almost shows a bit of fear
"No witnesses." Adam keeps his sword and walks towards the Atlesian soldiers Link took out before he even arrived, he spotted and targeted the man in charge
"Y-you're-!"
"Shhh..." Adam shakes his head and raises his sword in the air
"N-no!"
"STOP!" Link in able to run past Adam and stand over the soldier, and with his sword is able to block the incoming hit that surely would have killed the soldier
"What are you doing? Atlas hates you mercenaries just as much as they hate us." Adams points to himself and the rest of his crew
"I don't care!" Link growls "He's just following orders, as am I, but I know you... you give the orders, so of course you'd see us as inferior pests."
"Wrong. Mercenaries are the type who should take the money and shut up, but you're different. Give me one reason why I shouldn't let a human, part of the atlas military, who are directly controlled by the Schnee's, who discriminate and kill my brothers and sisters on a day to day basis?"
"Look, just because I'm 15 doesn't mean I don't know what's happened, I've done my research, the Schnee's and White Fang has been in a blood war for ages, you both do despicable things to each other, but does it have to stay that way? You may think this helps the White Fang but all it does is give Faunus a bad rep..."
"Not good enough." Adam begins to push back, slowly overpowering Link
"Tell me what I should have said then..." Link drops his shield and uses both hands to match Adam's one-handed strength
"Pledge your allegiance to the White Fang." Adam smirks as he leaps back
"W-what?" Link shakes his head
"I know who you are; you're part of that small mercenary group we occasionally contact to do small jobs for a price. What did you call yourselves, the black hawks?"
"Hey! Carter chose the name, not me." Link shrugs
"Regardless." Adam shakes his head "You're skilled and clearly can do damage if necessary..." Adam's gaze moves to his arm, in which his fingers are finally showing movement by twitching "If there are mercenaries of your skill or even close to it, we would contract you for more jobs, and higher pay of course."
"I thought you hated hu-!"
"Exceptions can be made... on MY terms." Adam nods
"So you're the White Fang leader?"
"No." Adam shakes his head "I intend on taking the position one day though..." He shows off an evil smirk and then points at his group "Take the crates."
"Yes sir!"
Link frowns and reaches for his bow, quickly feeling that he only has a few arrows left, he fires one in the air, intending to miss in order to get the attention of Adam and his crew
"My mission isn't over yet!" Link smirks
"What is it? Spill it kid!" Adam growls
"To destroy whatever that is..."
"We can't let you do that..." Adam shakes his head "These supplies are crucial..."
"45 crates and they could contain anything, dust, guns, money, etc." Link looks at Adam and then at his group, clearly seeing he's outnumbered once more "Damn it, Adam alone can kill me..."
"Who is paying you?" Adam asks
"A shady old man, lives in Vacuo, runs a huge-!"
"I got it; say no more, I know exactly who you speak of." Adam nods and looks at the crates "You give the old man any of your information?"
"Not at all." Link nods "I was masked, spoke little and changed outfits"
"Good." Adam nods and signals a white fang member to bring a crate
"What are you doing?" Link asks
"Something I shouldn't, I should just kill you right now but you'll be more useful when working for me. That crate..." Adam points to it as it slams right in front of them "Is full of money, take it and go."
"Full huh?" Link frowns and kicks the crate open, finding it full of briefcases "I can't carry this many, so here..." Link grabs two briefcases and straps them to his back using his sheath, while grabbing another one to take by hand "Keep the rest."
"Done." Adam nods as the white fang member takes the crate away, and soon the entirety of White Fang members move out, right as backup arrives
"Took them long enough..." Link smirks as he turns his back, puts his sword and bow away then walks towards his shield
"How did it go...?" A female voice was heard as she stood right next to Adam
"Success." Adam nods again, his gaze was now on Link
"Who's he?" The woman's voice takes an aggressive tone as she stares at Link
"An ally Blake... an ally."
Link does not turn to look at Adam or Blake; he grabs his shield, puts it away and takes off sprinting
Present Time
"I knew your semblances shtick was just nonsense" Weiss smirks
"I was trying to sound cool okay?" Link shrugs and rolls his eyes "The triforce slash is my semblance, kind of lame if you ask me..."
"Lame?!" Ruby shook her head "I've seen it in action, it's awesome! Why would it ever be lame?"
"Because it is just a move... your semblance is speed, now that's awesome, Pyrrha has polarity, also awesome, my semblance is one and done, it isn't long lasting nor is it special."
"Lies." Pyrrha smiles as she is now shaking her head "You are lying, the triforce slash is not your semblance."
"Huh?" Link's eyes go wide, shocked that his bluff was bought by almost everyone... but Pyrrha
"The triforce slash is merely just a combination of your semblance..."
"R-right..." Link nods and looks at his 'audience' whom all were still staring right at him "Half way through..." Link sighs
"I can't believe it." Blake shakes her head "I didn't even recognize you when we met, I saw you as a stranger."
"Now we're better friends because of it." Link nods
"..." Blake says nothing but the nods back "Y-you're right."
"What's left?" Weiss asks
"Sienna Khan, the reunion with that woman, White Fang fallout, trying to escape mercenary life, and the small village..." Link suddenly begins to hyperventilate when mentioning the village
"L-link?" Velvet rises to her feet and approaches him, awkwardly looking at him before giving him a hug
"H-huh?" Link blinks multiple times before snapping back into reality and hugging back "Sorry, I just... reliving all of it in one sitting stresses me out, and this room is a bit cramped now, can we go somewhere else?"
"Courtyard?" Sun asks
"Yes monkey boy." Coco nods
"Don't call my friend-!"
"You say something?!" Coco takes off her shades to stare down Neptune
"N-no ma'am." Neptune chuckles
"You guys head there I better give this back to Ozpin." Link grabs the tablet and makes sure there's no dents to it
"I thought he let you borrow it?" Yang asks
"Well... not exactly." Link shrugs
"I knew it was stolen!" Weiss smirks
"Shut it, I could've returned it in time before he noticed but you people had to come in and raid my room..." Link frowns
"What do you mean by you people?" Coco does her best to hold a smirk as she points to Velvet and Blake
"Shut up." Link sighs and shakes his head "It'll only take like five minutes tops, just go..."
Link parts ways from the group as he follows through with his promise to return the tablet and immediately head out to the courtyard, though the moment he enters the elevator to head up into Ozpin's office, he begins to break down... the memories of the small village alone were enough to make him have a panic attack
"I-I'm sorry... I knew I should've stayed away."
...
...
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To be continued...