Team MACE was out cold for the rest of the day. The only reason they even woke up was because the door to where they were being held slammed shut.
Flinching awake, Kagami looked around quickly.
Walking up towards the cell doors, Asher narrowed her eyes. Holding two plates with crab steaks on them, she sat down. "Hungry?" She raised an eyebrow.
The four girls stared blankly at her.
Scoffing, the fiery redhead went to eat her dinner. And then team MACE's dinner. Once she finished, she placed one hand on her knee and leaned forward. She slowly breathed out while letting out a low and quiet hiss.
"Listen." Kris finally broke the silence and took a deep breath. "If you're going to start shouting, just start shouting." She shook her head a bit before laying back down with the palms of her hands against her eyes. "I already got a headache. Let's just get this over with."
"Tch." Asher bared her teeth. Suddenly, she kicked the bars holding them. "I'll start shoutin' when I wanna start shoutin'! Ya hear me!"
Elise couldn't help but quietly laugh. Reaching up, she placed her thumb and forefinger across the bridge of her nose and over her eyes. "Someone please tell me how these idiots still have us locked up?"
"Because we've been super unlucky since we left Vytal." Cheyenne chuckled softly as she replied to the rhetorical question.
"You think you're funny, don't you, Deerskin!?" Asher quickly shifted onto one knee and reached in and grabbed the Faunus' collar. She stood while pulling her up against the bars. "I can show you funny, if you'd like..." Her voice lowered as she narrowed her eyes. "I can make you tremble and fall to your knees just by looking at you." She flashed a smile and light flickered off her teeth.
She stared blankly at her for a moment. Her look of annoyance then began to dissolve.
Cheyenne stared at Asher with a much different look. She suddenly noticed the way her eyes glowed in the dim light and the way her fiery hair swept back behind her ears. Her smile was bold and full of confidence. Not only that, but her belt with holsters tightly rested over her hips. Her young body was incredibly curvaceous.
She tried to say something back but her voice quietly cracked instead. Slowly, her face began to turn a deep shade of red.
"What's wrong?" Asher smiled. She loosened her grasp on the Faunus and leaned up against the bars. "You aren't looking so good anymore." She teased with a chuckle. "Bear got your tongue?" She pressed her cheek against the bars. She was close enough now her breath was trailing across Cheyenne's neck.
Cheyenne couldn't move as their eyes met. She tried but the only thing that happened was her hands began to tremble. She tried to speak again but nothing came out. Her face began to burn as sweat began to trail down her body under her clothes. She couldn't even think with how loud her heart was pounding inside her head.
She took a shaky breath before heavily grunting as she was pushed back.
Stepping between the bars and her friend, Kagami narrowed her eyes at the fiery redhead. "Why don't you pick on someone else?" She squared her shoulders. "Or just leave us alone. I like that option better."
Asher scoffed and glanced around. "Really? You got a lot of nerve demanding things from me." She leaned her shoulder up against the bars. "You're lucky I didn't stomp you into the dirt."
"Let me out and we'll see who's on top." She bared her teeth.
"Why don't you go ahead and try?" She flashed a smile as the light flickered off her teeth. She even leaned her cheeks between the bars. "I dare you."
Without a second of hesitation, the jadette sent her restrained fists straight into her face.
Asher let out a shout as she stumbled back. With both hands over her nose, she glared up with fire burning in her eyes. "What the fuck?!" Her aura protected her nose from being broken but it still stung.
"What? You dared me." Kagami narrowed her eyes while softly shrugging back.
She stared back at her with wide eyes. "What?!"
Blinking, she raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"What do you mean what?!" The fire in her eyes burned brighter as she stormed back towards the bars.
Quickly stepping back out of arm's reach, Kagami furrowed her brow at their captor's rage filled confusion. This only made her confused in return. "Wh... what?" She let out in a breath.
Baring her teeth, Asher gripped the bars and jerked on them slightly. She didn't dare take her eyes off Kagami. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"
"I um..." She swallowed and glanced at her friends. Kris gave a shrug back. "Uh..." Kagami looked forward again. "Could you be more specific?"
"Be... more specific?!" Her temper flared as she kicked the metal with a heavy clank. "I can make everyone fall for me! EVERYONE! What's so special about you?!"
While Kagami stared in confusion, Elise blinked a little before it suddenly dawned on her what happened. "Ohh." She eyed Cheyenne. "Ohh!" She quietly scoffed before dropping her head and shaking it softly. "Yeah, you're barking up the wrong tree if that's what you're trying to do here."
"Don't matter!" Asher flashed her a glare. "I can do it to dad and pa!"
"No, no." She chuckled while waving her hands for extra emphasis. "There's something there with them for your semblance to manipulate, but there's nothing there." She gestured towards Kagami.
She glanced between the brunet and jadette a few times before loudly scoffing and harshly pushing herself away. "Whatever! Y'all will be out of here in no time! Don't matter!"
With a small laugh, Elise leaned back. "I know. It's annoying, eh?"
"Shut it! I already said whatever!" She snapped back.
Completely bewildered, Kagami stood still for a minute. She furrowed her brow and blinked before eventually looking over at Elise. "What just... What's annoying?" Her head tilted. "What do I do that's annoying?"
"Oh..." The brunet's shoulders dropped a little as her face became flushed. "Heh, okay, um, long story." She nervously smiled.
"Well we definitely have time." She waved her restrained wrists before gesturing towards the bars holding them.
"Yeah but..." She trailed off. With a sigh, she dropped her head. This wasn't the kind of place she had in mind.
Eating dinner with his six other men, Black hunched over his meal while quietly thinking. His hat was resting on the table next to his plate. Glancing up, he eyed Hori who was more quiet than usual. The swordsman hadn't even touched his food. Taking a deep breath, Black shifted back. "Hori." He calmly let out.
Blinking, he looked up and over at him. "Yes?"
"What are thinkin' 'bout?"
Hori shied away from the question and exhaled. "Nothing." He picked up his fork. "It is not important. It is nothing."
"Don't sound like nothin'." McCree quietly let out a chuckle.
"He's probably frustrated over those girls like the rest of us." Hawkes looked down the table at his leader.
"Ain't that the truth." Holland grumbled while poking at his crab steak. "I oughta send that Faunus into next week."
"Tch." Smoke shook his head. "We should have done a lot more to keep them contained."
Taking a bite of dinner, Snape wiped his mouth before looking up. "Black wasn't asking any of you." He eyed his allies as they grew quiet.
With a smirk, Black turned his attention back towards Hori. "What's so not important you don't wanna talk about it then?"
Taking a deep breath, the swordsman reached up and rubbed his face. "Do we know why Madame Sanguine wishes for them?"
"Not a clue. Didn't ask." He crossed his arms while leaning back. "Why? Should I be concerned?"
"No." Hori quickly replied. "It is just... usually enemies of hers are... more like us." He gestured towards himself. "Those girls... no, the one with green hair," he took a deep breath. "My ancestors could not harm her."
"Your ghost family?" Holland raised an eyebrow.
Silencing him with a finger, Black leaned forward and narrowed his eyes. "So what are you saying then, Hori?"
He grew quiet. After a minute, he slowly breathed out. "Nothing. I am saying nothing. I am simply wondering how someone bound by honor is wanted by Madame Sanguine and if it is the right thing to do to hand them over." He paused for a second before quickly adding on. "Wondering. Not considering it."
"Hm." The bounty Hunter pulled away and sat back in thought.
With a scoff, Smoke rolled his eyes. "Maybe your semblance was having a rough time. You were tired. I doubt any of them are actually like that."
"I wouldn't keep thinking of them to be so little." Snape glanced up at the Faunus. "You've been doing it this whole time and they've nearly escaped twice on us."
"Then let us make sure there is no third time." Standing up, Smoke grabbed his empty plate and stepped out.
McCree shook his head a bit before adjusting his hat. "So what are you thinking now?" He eyed his husband.
Black looked back at him before exhaling. "Dunno. But a job's a job. And I already took it so it has to get done. Miss Sanguine wanted me to capture them. That's what I'll do." He picked his fork back up. "That girl's not the only one bound to a code."
Back with team MACE, Asher groaned to herself as she laid across the table. The conversation happening was killing her. Almost literally. Or it at least felt like that
"What... are you trying to say?" Kagami blinked a few times in confusion. Elise was the rambling type, but she was going off on more tangents than even she could keep track of.
The brunet bit her lip hard and closed her eyes. Her face was as red as Kris' jacket. "Okay. Okay." She took a deep breath and waved her restrained hands. "Kagami. I like you."
"Well, I like you too?" She raised an eyebrow.
"No. Not what I mean." Elise shook her head. "Listen, I know you're not... I know you won't ever feel the same, but that's okay." She shifted a little closer. She smiled. "But I like you. Like, like like, like you." She blinked a little before dropping her head. "Oum, that still sounds stupid."
Finally catching on, Kagami softly smiled as she leaned back. "Well, I'm flattered you think of me like that with all the other guys I've seen you fawning over." She let out a chuckle.
Rolling her eyes, the brunet grumbled before leaning her head onto her leader's shoulder. "Yeah, well, none of them are like you. No one else will ever come close to being like you. You're smart and caring and kind and beautiful and always thinking ahead and calm no matter what's going on." She began to smile again. "You're perfect. You're different from everyone else, and that makes you perfect."
She smiled back at her before her smile turned into a grin. She shifted a bit and leaned her head forward. "Did you just call me beautiful?"
Elise froze. A second later, she was hunched in the corner grumbling with a deep blush.
"No, no! No, I'm sorry!" The jadette couldn't hold in her chuckle. "I didn't mean it! I won't do it again!"
"Shut up! I hate you!" She hissed back while hiding her face.
"Weren't you just confessing your love for me though?"
"I never said love!!"
"Well you just did." Kagami grinned more as the brunet let out an irritated and frustrated groan.
Watching from the other side of the cell, Cheyenne smiled with her hands in her lap. "I know things aren't going very well, but this is cute." She whispered.
"It is." Kris quietly agreed as she watched her leader pull Elise away from the corner. She softly smiled. "It really is."