Finally here we are, The latest chapter, or double chapter. I want to be very honest and say thank you to you all once again for being patient in waiting for this next chapter. this is the longest chapter I have written for Bloodmoon by far and really does put a lot of things in motion. I dont know when the next one will be posted but I know that I will be working on it when I can, the past few years have been trying to say the least, I just hope you all enjoy this I am very proud of how this one came out. Also content warning for extreme violence and situations of psychological and physical torment.
(also let me know if FF messes up the formatting at all, it does that sometimes. whenever I post a new chapter.)
" Mr. Cobalt….Are you listening to me?" Glynda Goodwitch said sternly. Her eyes, burrowing holes in the back of the young Man-Grimm's head.
Beo winced a bit as he gave a tentative nod. Trying to hide the fact that he had been paying more attention to the sound of the ceiling fan for the past twenty minutes.
Beo gave a nod. It had been a week since the interrogation by Ozpin and Goodwitch about what Yang had taken to calling "Junior's 2 the Yanganing." And since then Beo had been spending nearly every waking moment in a lesson of some sort. Language, both written and spoken. The latter of which he made little progress in. As well as a copious amount of busy work in mathematics, history, and geography. Everything except for practical combat training or huntsman work.
When he asked she said that he didn't need to focus on such things at that time. Which confused him given what the place was built for. He supposed it was a sort of punishment for his and Yang's clubhouse brawl. In his own defense he kept saying that the fake ursa DJ started it. But his faculty guardian didn't seem to buy that one bit.
Which led him to this moment. Beo looked at the chalkboard Goodwitch was standing in front of. There was a political map of the four kingdoms projecting onto it, showing dates where battles and conflicts had taken place. Many of them were fairly recent with their pins in Vale and Atlas. Each one showing the insignia of a militant group of faunus called the White Fang.
"Vale and Atlas fight often?" Beo wrote.
Glynda sighed as she walked towards him. The two of them were in one of the main lecture halls that were not in use. Many of the students had been given the week off from classes to allow for the visiting students from the other kingdoms to arrive and settle in for something called the Vytal Festival that was taking place later that year in the fall.
"Mr. Cobalt the question was regarding the reasons for the recent conflicts not their frequency and why they are happening where they are." Glynda said as she sat in the seat next to him. Her hands rubbing her temples.
"Honestly I sometimes think you are doing this on purpose." she said, the older woman sounded like lecturing Beo was akin to carrying a sack of boulders on her back.
Beo felt a slight pang of guilt. While it wasn't exactly enjoyable to be stuck in lesson after lesson. Glynda did her utmost to try and get the Man-Grimm adapted to more acceptable social standards. Beo knew that but certain instincts were hard to break.
Things like hoarding food, blood and raw materials. She had already lectured him a few times about why he wasn't allowed to simply dismantle one of the chairs in the library to collect the wood scraps or break into Professor Port's Grimm Cages so he could gather more blood and bones.
He had been doing it more and more often too, ever since Yang taught him how to pick locks. Which had caused the portly professor a great deal of worry when he had to shift the focus of that day's lecture from Beowulf to boartusk. Which led to even more lessons on etiquette with Goodwitch.
"Is it really that important to know this?" he wrote, sliding the piece of paper to her.
She gave a deep sigh as she took off her glasses and cleaned them for what seemed like the fifth or sixth time that lesson.
"I don't see the problem, in order to survive you need to fight. The strong survive, the weak get eaten. Doesn't matter if its one person or an entire pack. The White Fang are just fighting for their own survival right? Then if they're strong enough they'll survive if they aren't they'll die, simple as that." Beo wrote switching to his new white board.
Goodwitch could feel her headache beginning to grow worse. She had been trying to curb that mentality but she soon realized that to do so would be nearly impossible given what Beo had been brought up in, so she had thought of a different, hopefully more effective tactic.
"Beo, what would you do if, say, Yang or her team were in trouble? Fighting a grimm or being attacked?" Glynda asked.
"I would help them." Beo wasted no time replying.
"Oh? Would you now? but I thought you said that the weak get eaten, if they are struggling by your definition wouldn't that make them weak? And the weak die do they not?" Glynda said.
She knew that turning his repose on its head wasn't exactly fair. But Glynda knew that if Beo couldn't understand what exactly human prejudice was, he wouldn't be able to understand how social groups work.
"Because they are different. Yang is part of my pack, and they are part of hers, making them part of my pack…Weiss too, I guess even if I don't understand why she wont accept Ruby fully." Beo wrote, his face that usual straight forward stare that Goodwitch had been accustomed to when Beo had, in his mind, been stating the obvious.
"Although what I don't fully understand is why humans see the Faunus as lesser, they are far better adapted for survival with their enhanced senses." Beo added.
"If only history shared your sentiment Beo. Humans, well, humans tend to fear that which they do not understand. In the case with the faunus and those early humans, the two cultures found conflict between themselves more important than growing together and fighting the creatures outside their walls. Unfortunately time has not helped any with human ignorance." Glynda sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.
Beo was still for a while after that in quiet contemplation. Before letting out an exasperated sigh and pinching the bridge of his nose.
Beo didn't know what to make of his current situation. The only thing he did know, was that when he had told the others what Goodwitch arranged for today, Ruby's eyes lit up like a firework as she let out an ecstatic.
"Squeeeee."
Before she rocketed out the library with him in tow. Making a B-line straight for Beacon's weapon workshop and forge.
She was so excited that she almost slammed the two of them into the workshop's heavy steel doors.
Inside, Beo's nose was assaulted by the myriad scents of machine oil, and smoldering metals. As furnaces and forges heated the workshop filling the area with the sounds of machinery and metal striking metal as students and craftsmen work on a myriad of weapons and tools.
"Here we are Beo! The bestest part of Beacon! The Forge!" Ruby shouted, her voice slightly overshadowed by the sound of the forge's numerous machines.
"Oooohh this is so exciting you're finally gonna get your own weapon! Well...not that your knives are not good, but I mean think of all the possibilities! You can have a dagger that turns into a high capacity, high caliber pistol or or or maybe a set of dual bladed daggers that shift into a big semi automatic rifle or better yet a high impact sniper rifle!" Ruby continued at a rapid pace.
Beo tried his best to keep up but the younger girl's enthusiasm for weapons was simply too much. And he felt his head spinning at the overload of weapon ideas and potential designs.
"So! What do you think?" Ruby asked with stars in her eyes.
Beo looked at the single bone dagger in his hand, he didn't know how Yang had smuggled it away from the school medic's when he was medi-evaced those few months ago but he was glad, this one he had had for as long as he could remember. Its grip was weathered and fitted perfectly to his hand. It almost felt at times like an extension of himself; he held the blade out towards Ruby and held up two fingers.
"Really? That's all? But you already have another dagger. Don't you want something with a bit more I dunno flash!" Ruby shouted. "Like maybe a longsword that splits into two shortswords on a chain! or or a set of dust infused flying daggers that can be mounted onto a katar! Oh oh or maybe a-"
Ruby's non-stop barrage of bizzare weapon combinations didn't stop at the door, and it had Beo's mind spinning. Was it really necessary to have something so complex? What would he need an eight foot long greatsword that split into eight other smaller swords for? He doubted he could lift that. Or a long spear with a jet propelled tip on a chain that also split into bladed tonfas?
"You, causin a ruckus in my forge again, Squirt?" Resounded gruff gravel-like voice from the back of the forge.
Beo looked toward the voice and saw a tall man with muscular shoulders sitting behind a workbench, his hands were covered by a thick pair of welder's gloves and a toothy grin showed on his grease-covered face.
"What! A ruckus no way Mr. Colt! I'm just here to help my buddy here with a brand spankin new weapon!" Ruby said to the giant man.
"Uh-huh ain't that what you said last time and remind me again what happened?" The man said as he sauntered over.
He stood at almost twice Ruby's height and Beo could now see the massive forging hammers that hung from his belt. He rubbed a mitted hand across his face adding another layer of grease onto his face.
"Are you still mad about that?." Ruby scoffed her eyes darting nervously around the workshop. "It was only a greatsword."
"That happened to shift gears into an experimental rifle that fired electromagnetically charged projectiles at high speeds." Said the larger man. "Name's Jackson Colt. Pleasure Mr.?"
"Oh Beo doesn't talk. He's got a white board though!"
"Well to each their own I suppose so, you know where everythin is squirt so I'll let you be. Just don't go blowin up my shop again." Jackson said before a loud series of crashes from the east side of the forge caught his attention.
"Ah hell." he muttered before walking off.
Ruby took that moment to grab Beo once again by the arm and rushed to an open design table.
The next few hours were a blur of blueprints Beo refusing every idea that Ruby had for firearm implementations into his weapon. Her ideas were creative, that he had no doubt of, but shortswords that burst into blades of flame and frost, or throwing knives that were embedded with small dust grenades that exploded on impact. Impractical at best, dangerous to him at worst. And a weapons test that ended in a ricochet that found purchase in Beo's big toe.
It wasn't until Beo finally stopped her after the rocket powered gun hammer lance and shield combo. And slid the blueprint he had worked up across to her.
"Wait a minute is this? Ohhh this could be cool….no guns though?" She asked.
"No, they are too loud for me, and I also don't want to shoot my foot again." he wrote looking at his bandaged foot.
An unfortunate mishap, a result of the red haired girl's insistence on having him test out a form of low gravity and magnetic dust that caused the bullet to ricochet around the room and bury itself in Beo's foot.
Ruby laughed off his concerns and got a manic glint in her eye when she turned to the second page of his design.
"Well well, looks like we've got some work to do! LETS GO!" she exclaimed as she zipped off to gather the materials.
Beo tensed and sighed, it was going to be a long day, but he had a feeling it was going to be worth it.
Fear, fear was something that when tempered and allowed to fester could create the perfect canvas for revealing the deepest parts of a subject's soul. The man in the pin-stripped suit mused as he looked at the young woman before him. Her legs, thin and graceful, befitting a dancer of her pedigree.
She had been in his charge for almost a week at this point and only half of that had been in the isolation chamber. They had met at the theater, she being the understudy to the famed prima donna Alice Alabaster, it made sense that nobody in attendance that night noticed the young woman's uniqueness and grace as she danced in the ensemble.
It had been easy to gain her attention after the show, while Alice had received a veritable field of flowers from her scores of admirers, his guest however never received anything. Until fourteen days ago, she had received a single white rose on her dresser backstage. Two after the next show. And three the following. She had believed them to be mistakes, meant for the star of the show. Eventually he introduced himself and the two began speaking in person. And not long after that she had agreed to come with him back to his apartment in Vale. Of course this place was far far from his place of residence.
Such long hunts veiled by the idea of courtship had always been a personal favorite of his. The look on his guest's face once they realized that the bliss of romance was not what he had in store was priceless.
"How are we doing today Miss Evergreen?" He said. Speaking into the intercom connected to the isolation chamber.
From behind the one way observation window he saw the young dancer scream a voiceless scream. He smiled, she was almost ready, just a few more preparations to make and she would be perfect. He just hoped the public enjoyed his most recent piece.
"And for our top story tonight, the VPD have found yet another grizzly display left by what is now believed to be the work of a-"
"Boring." Yang said as she changed the channel on their booth's radio.
"I happened to be listening to that." Weiss said. "It's important to be kept up to date on what's going on in the city afterall."
"You can't be serious, you're just waiting to hear about the incoming teams from the other kingdoms for the Vytal Festival next fall." Yang countered. "And you know that that is literally the last thing on the priority list for this trip into Vale."
The young heiress seemed almost taken aback by the statement but Yang knew she wasn't wrong. It has been the only thing Weiss had been talking about for the past week. It wasn't a bad idea per say but when its the topic of every conversation on what their upcoming summer break should be about well, that is when it began to grate on the blonde brawler.
And given their teams last outing into the city ended with Weiss' cold and heartless rant about the fauness people and her partner's revelation regarding her heritage and past. Weiss was lucky that Yang was tolerating her for the past few days. At the very least for Ruby's sake who had been trying her best to keep the team together since Blakes departure.
"And remind me again why we are bringing Him along?" Weiss said, pointing to Beo, who had been occupying himself by polishing the blade that Ruby had helped him design and forge two weeks ago.
"B-because Beo is good at tracking and I thought he could help us find Blake!" Ruby exclaimed.
Weiss looked unamused. While Yang nodded her head in agreement with her sister. Beo was an amazing tracker if anyone would be able to find her it would be him. Beo meanwhile sheathed his weapon and gave a confident thumbs up when he heard his name.
"See, best tracker we know." Yang said. Now all they needed to do was find Blake.
Beo had no idea how he was supposed to track Blake in the city. Especially with the city streets being as busy as they were. He had been leading Yang and her team around the city streets and back alleys trying to find the faintest of trails the black haired girl could have left. But she was most likely similar to him. If she didn't want to be found, she wouldn't be.
So in times like these he found the best solutions were to draw the prey to him, the only problem with that was he doubted Blake would be attracted to the scent of books.
"Is there a particular food she likes?" Beo jotted down.
"Fish and Chips?" Yang said
"She favors the salmon benedict for breakfast." Wiess added
"Ummm strawberry cake!" Ruby exclaimed.
Beo began writing down some things he would need before handing a slip to Weiss and Ruby. Weiss read it and her face simply went blank.
"You cannot seriously think this will work." She deadpanned.
Beo shrugged, not like she was coming up with any ideas. Besides what was the worst that could happen?
Cats...that was the worst that could happen, dozens upon dozens of stray cats. How was Beo supposed to know that cities had an abundance of the furry little creatures. Although he supposed there were more rats in the city than cats given the swarms that appeared first only to be run off by the feline scavengers.
"Not the cat you were hoping to catch, was it? Mr best tracker in the world?" Weiss said with hints of venom.
"Give it time. Cats travel in packs." At least he hoped they did even then, to assume Blakes heritage gave her a weakness to fish was a longshot but he did remember what he had used to bait the trap he had found her in, and had hoped that it wasn't a coincidence.
"Lighten up Ice Queen, we still have other bait spots to check, we spent most of the bounty on those Grimm from our last training excursion on that fist so you can be damn sure we're checking those." Yang said, walking out of the alley and towards the docks.
The sun was beginning to set now, and it was just the three of them left to check the dockside baited traps after Ruby had run into a friend in town and gone off to search for Blake with her.
The walk to the docks didn't take very long, especially taking the back alleys that connected Vale's lower waterfront. Weiss and Yang kept a constant back and forth arguing about why they were doing this in the first place and the subject of Beo's skills constantly being questioned.
Beo was about to respond to another jab by Weiss before his nose caught the familiar scent of the bait they left, they were close and there were two other scents near it, one vaguely feline the other unfamiliar to him. He took a swig of Beowulf blood to enhance his senses.
"I really wish he wouldn't do that, so...casually." Weiss said as she gagged.
"Its necessary" Said Yang.
"Its disgusting is what it is."
Beo shot up a hand to silence the two as he pointed to his feet at the broken trip line that led to the dumpster across the alleyway.
"I cannot believe you fell for that!" A jovial voice laughed out.
"Yes yes its very funny Sun, now please get me out of this?" said Blake clearly unamused.
The trio turned the corner and were presented with quite the scene. Weiss's jaw dropped, Yang couldn't help but stifle a laugh and Beo felt a mixture of pride and disbelief at what he saw.
Before them was the familiar trap they had laid a few hours ago, with the exception of the upside down faunus girl, her foot in a wire snare and a hand stuck in a makeshift jar gripping a fish. Standing in front of Blake was an unfamiliar golden haired boy, with tanned skin and a white unbuttoned collared shirt and cut off jeans, and peeking out from a hole in the back if the jeans was a gold furred monkey like tail.
"You're that ruffian from the docks!" Weiss shouted while pointing at the boy.
All eyes went to the heiress. Beo deflated a little, so much for the calm stealthy approach. Yang meanwhile was between laughing at her partner in the trap and getting on Weiss about her comments.
"Oh! These must be those friends of yours you mentioned eh Blake?" The boy, Sun said.
"Right now I don't know if I would use that exact word." Blake said, rolling her eyes.
"Blake! We have been worried sick about you! Haven't we Weiss?" Yang said.
"Hmph! Worried is a bit of an oversta- Urk!" Weiss began before she felt an elbow in her side. "Yes….worried sick."
Beo meanwhile was busy taking notes on his trap and the various parts that could use improvement.
"Really Beo? Notes? At a time like this?" Blake said dryly.
Beo nodded. before he scribbled something into his notebook.
"I always take the opportunity to improve my traps, I am just surprised you fell for the same type twice"
"Twice what do you mean twi-" Blake began before her face grew red with the revelation. "You son of a JUST GET ME DOWN ALREADY!"
"Promise you won't run away?"
"Why would I?"
"You did before, caused a big divide in your pack. If you run, Yang might ask to hunt you again. Have a better read on your scent now, doesn't matter I suppose"
Blake was hung there slightly dumbstruck; she hadn't actually considered the lengths her team would go to keep her around. Then again she supposed it was partially her own fault for keeping her own heritage a secret.
Blake sighed. And looked over to her partner and Weiss arguing about what to do next while Sun tried to introduce himself.
"No I won't run away this time now would someone please for the love of the gods or dust I don't care which get me down from here?"
"Oh damn sorry Blake I totally blanked on that." Sun said as he ran over to the dumpster and tried to undo Beo's knot work. "Lets see the rabbit went through this hole and…..um i think i made it worse."
Beo grinned a little before walking over to the golden haired faunus and cut the rope with his short sword. Causing Blake to crash to the pavement with a thud. As Sun helped her up Blake dusted herself off she shot a pointed look at Beo as he sheathed his blade.
Yang meanwhile broke off from her argument with Wiess and dragged her over to Blake, putting both of them into a headlock.
"Great! Now you can properly apologize, right Weiss?" She said, As the heiress struggled against the blonde's iron grip.
"Grnn what do you-"
"I said a-po-lo-gize"
"Fine, fine! Blake I am sorry for being so insensitive about your people's heritage going forward I will try and be more….open minded about these things." Weiss said, forcing nearly every word out against Yang's death grip.
"Well….its a start" Yang said. "And now it's your turn Blake."
"Why do I need to-"
"You! ran out on us. For four days we have been worried sick! Sorry partner, you're in the wrong just as much as the princess here."
Blake's eyes went a little wide as her jaw went slack from Yang's words. She honestly didn't know what she was expecting. She supposed this was by far the furthest from the worst case scenario. Was bad enough Beo had already lectured her with a notebook no less.
"Fine, fine. I'm sorry." Blake said.
"Great! Now all we gotta do is call Ruby and give her the good news!" Yang beamed as she released the two from her death grip. And gave the two other girls a firm pat on the back.
"Where is Ruby by the way?" Blake asked.
"Oh she went to get 'stakeout snacks' as she put it."
"I wonder if she remembered the animal crackers."
"Really animal crackers? Are you sure you are not actually a child?" Said Weiss.
"Personally I like the pandas." Said Yang.
"I'm partial to the lions." Blake added.
"Monkeys for me." Sun said.
"Nevermind I am surrounded by children."
"Waaaaaahhhh Blllaaaake I'm so glad we found you again!" Ruby cried on the other end of the scroll's video call. "Where are you guys?"
The small group of teenagers had made their way towards the waterfront following up on the trail of the White Fang that Blake and Sun had picked up on. During her time away from her team, Blake had explained how she and Sun had overheard rumors of masked figures frequenting the Vale harbor at night, and after some snooping in some around the seedier part of town. As well as murmurs of strange noises coming from inbound shipping containers.
"We're following up on some leads by the docks. We're set up on some shipping containers on the eastern side, by dock 13" Blake said
"Okay! Penny and I will start making our way to you then!"
"Okay, wait, Penny?" Blake began before their team leader ended the call suddenly. "Did I miss something?"
"Eh not really, Ruby must have run into her when we split up to look for you." Yang said lounging on the top of the container looking up at the evening sky as the colors bled from orange to a purplish hue with the stars beginning to show as the light of day faded.
Weiss meanwhile was busy reading something on her scroll and making faces of disappointment or disgust when she came across a post or article she must not have liked. While Beo had settled into a comfortable spot near the edge of the container facing the harbor and just stared out at the water. Occasionally throwing a stone towards the edge of the dock watching it vanish into the depths.
"So." Sun began. "Does Beacon allow five man teams?"
"No. Why?" Blake replied. Looking up from her small pocket edition of a pulp novel she bought from a news stand for the stakeout.
Sun shrugged.
"Its just, well you mentioned Ruby, Yang and Weiss, so obviously if your school is anything like mine its four man squads. Just was wonderin bout whose team your friend over there is on." he said as he nodded towards Beo.
"Oh, you mean Beo, I'm not a hundred percent sure about his story. Yang found him so She knows the most." Blake said not wanting to recount her first meeting with the two of them.
Yang at this point had dozed off as the sun dipped fully below the horizon. As Sun's curiosity officially piqued. So he slid next to the blue-haired boy who threw a stone and hit a seagull dead on the wing causing it to fly off. Sun whistled at the display.
"So where, you from dude?" Sun asked nonchalantly. "Don't seem like an Atlas brat or a grassland kid."
Beo looked at the monkey faunus. Reached for his notepad and began scribbling down responses.
"Vale I think." Beo wrote. "Miss Goodwitch said I'm what's called an orphan?"
Sun blinked at the notepad. And back to the blue haired boy. A thousand questions ran through his head ranging from. Why the notepad? To, how does someone not know if they are an orphan or not?
"That's uh pretty rough, you know what happened to your parents at least?" Sun asked awkwardly. By this point Blake had looked up from her book and Weiss too began to pay attention.
Beo simply shook his head.
"Never gave them much thought and had more important things to worry about." It was a question Yang had asked him about once, when he had first arrived at Beacon after the initiation. But he honestly couldn't remember. Sure he had parents, it would be impossible for him not to have them.
However, his parents, whoever they were, were most likely either dead or didn't care about him in the same way that Yang and Ruby had described their mother and father. Then again he supposed it didn't really matter if they were dead, alive or simply off somewhere else after dropping him in the forest. He was alive, he had survived, he had grown strong. And that was all that really mattered.
"Bummer." Sun said before berating the Man-Grimm with a thousand more questions. Many of which were ones Beo had heard before.
Why don't you talk? What's your semblance? Where did you go to school before Beacon? All of which had answers that Goodwitch had instructed him to say to anyone other than Yang and the select few people who knew about his life in the emerald forest. That at least seemed to satisfy the Monkey boy.
It wasn't long after Sun's impromptu interview that Ruby finally arrived with a large backpack filled with all sorts of junk food, candy, soda, and a wide variety of convenience store cookies that were for the most part halfway eaten. Whatever she was saying about her snack run escapades, Beo wasn't paying it any mind focusing on looking for a few specific things in the pile. After finding his quarry and a liter of water, he sat back down on the edge and began to wolf down the shortbread animal crackers. With the others every so often grabbing a handful out of the barrel.
As the evening wore on eventually the teen's conversations and impromptu container picnic came to a close when they all heard from further down the docks.
"No no no! For the hundredth time you morons, those containers need to be loaded before the fruit ones we're not smuggling bananas as much as those of you who are monkeys want us to be, watching gods, why is it so hard to get good help sometimes." a voice rang out.
Almost immediately the gathered teens all turned their heads towards the increasingly frustrated and angry voice.
Ruby, Blake, and Sun immediately darted off of their container and onto one closer to the source. After a few minutes they looked back towards the larger group and motioned for them all to join them.
One by one the rest made their way over to the other set of stacked containers, and looked out over the well lit and overcrowded loading dock. Men and women dressed in black and white armor, with bone white grimm masks were offloading large crates and barrels from a ship that had not been docked there earlier that day. And moving the cargo into large box trucks waiting on the far side of the dock.
"Woah who are these guys?" Yang said.
"White Fang." Blake said darkly, her face growing somber.
Before anyone could say anything else. The ringleader directing the operation began barking orders once again.
"Let's get moving people the longer you take the more likely we are to get caught and believe me, Vale's cops may be a joke but they don't mess around when it comes to huntsman bounty hunters." He shouted.
He was a tall man, wearing a white suit and black bowler that had a red ribbon on the brim. In one hand was a large scroll tablet, and in the other was a large cane. Underneath his hat a curl of bright orange hair peaked out and swept off to the side, a cigar was lit in his mouth as he looked over the tablet and began shouting orders again towards the members of the White Fang.
"Wait isn't that-" Weiss began,
"Ah! That's the weirdo from the dust shop!" Ruby shouted her voice echoing out across the dock.
For a moment, it almost seemed like time had slowed down, as every pair of eyes, from the White Fang, to her own companions turned and looked at the young reaper.
Ruby almost immediately clasped her hands over her mouth, and tried shrinking down out of sight...to less than desired results.
"Well well well, If it isn't little red riding pest. Oh and look at that no huntress to save your hide this time" the man in the bowler hat said.
There was a pause for a moment as he took a puff from his cigar and stomped it out on the ground.
"Well." he said to his White fang entourage as if waiting for them to do something obvious. "Gods above they've seen us, you morons, kill them!"
Almost immediately after the words left his mouth, the shipyard erupted into chaos as the man pointed his cane towards their container, the end flipping up into an iron sight, and a bright red flare soared out of the end, the following explosion blasted the shipping container into pieces scattering the teens across the battlefield as the White Fang rushed in in droves.
Beo landed hard onto the pavement below, and before any of the others had a chance to react he was already in the middle of the fray, weaving between members of the White Fang, he would avoid strikes from one while driving his fist into another's face.
Unfortunately, Beo could only do so much about the sheer number of White Fang. While Yang and her friends seemed to be holding their own near the containers. Beo was in the middle of it all. Blades, hammers, and bullets impacted his armor and flesh.
One of the larger faunus, with tusks like an elephant, wielding a large warhammer, charged into him. slamming him into one of the nearby containers. Beo gasped and glared up at the approaching faunus. As the man brought his hammer up there was a flash, as Beo drew his new blade, A shortsword with a hilt that seemed to be one part Ivory, the other a dark leather, its blade extended out the dark half of the blade curving slightly into a hook with the ivory half making up the other half of the blade.
The razor sharp blade sliced through the man's rather weak aura, into his flesh and split the bone. Cleaving his forearm in two before it did the same to the other arm.
Before the man had a chance to scream, Beo leapt onto his chest bringing him to the ground. His finger squeezed the trigger at the base of the guard, as the ivory portion of the blade detached from the whole, as Beo's free hand grasped around the familiar worn handle of the bone dagger.
A small smile crept onto the young man-grimm's face as he gripped the ivory blade tight and drove it into the elephant faunus' throat silencing him before his cries of pain could echo across the shipyard.
The man's eyes widened in shock as Beo pulled the blade from his throat, as blood began to spray from the open wound. The man tried in vain to stop the bleeding but after a moment or two he was gone as his arms fell limp and the light left his eyes.
It was as if time had slowed for everyone who had witnessed Beo's surgical execution of the larger man. The White Fang around him stood in shock, some of them were used to death, but the newer recruits, the ones recruited from Vale. They had never witnessed someone being killed in combat.
As the shock wore off, the sounds of the new recruits' weapons clattering to the ground mixed in with the battle cries of the veterans as one group charged towards Beo with the other running away.
Beo wasted no time in engaging the charging crowd. He may still be unfamiliar with fighting other humanoids but years of surviving had instilled in him a keen sense for identifying where to strike to take down his opponent.
And so his blades struck out, biting into the bodies of those who were trying to kill him, Beo was like a whirlwind of blood, steel and ivory, each strike he made severed flesh, and cut to the bone. Beo was surprised, given how durable Yang and her friends were with their own aura's but he noticed that some of these people were like him, auraless, which made dealing with them all the easier.
For every one he struck down however, more seemed to take their place, some seemed spurred on by a desire to avenge their fallen comrades while others seemed consumed by a battle frenzy brought on by the bloodshed. It mattered little to Beo, all he had to do was survive.
He had lost count of how many he had cut down, Ten? Twenty? Thirty? Maybe more? The only thing he paid any attention to was the fight.
The strong survive, the weak get eaten, the strong survive, the weak get eaten, the strong survive, the strong survive. Survive.
Beo moved like a beast possessed, he wasn't sure if he was on the offensive anymore, blades cut into flesh, bone's splintered from the impact of bullets, and blood ran like a river over the docks.
Suddenly, Beo was shaken out of his battle trance as a heavy blow from a member of the white fang rocketed him up into the air and atop one of the larger storage containers.
Beo's back slammed into the metal roof of the container knocking the wind out of him. He rolled onto his side and began to cough, watching as blood sprayed onto the container. It was the first time he had even had a second to realize how hurt he was.
His breath was haggard, he could easily tell several if not all of his ribs were either fractured if not broken outright, one of his arms was covered in blood, who's was anyone's guess but his shoulder felt like it was out of place and he couldn't feel one of his legs.
"You're a lot of trouble, you know that kid?" Came the irritated voice of Roman Torchwick from the next container over.
Beo looked at the orange haired man, his vision blurring in and out. Well...that wasn't good.
There was a thud at the end of the shipping unit as another large faunus, A woman with massive arms and what looked like bear ears atop her head. Beo assumed she was the one who knocked him up here. She walked over to the injured Beo.
"What, you want me to do with him, boss?" She asked, picking beo up by his collar.
Pain shot through him as he was hoisted into the air. He thrust his dagger towards her throat as her other hand caught his wrist.
"Looks like there's still life in him." she said.
Roman rolled his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Of course he is, listen I don't care WHAT you do with him, smash him against the pavement, throw him into the bay, Hell feed him to what's in the container I...don't care. Just make it fast and get back to dealing with those brats."
"Got it boss man" she said before looking down to the shipping unit. "Looks like its your unlucky day kid. Oh well"
The bear woman dragged Beo over to a hatch in the roof of the container and opened it up.
"Chow time beasties." she said as she dropped Beo into the open container.
Beo landed with a metallic thud on the steel floor. The air was heavy, and thick with the smell of blood and fur. Crimson eyes looked at the newcomer in the darkness, the grunts and snarls of Grimm echoed in the darkness.
Beo stumbled to his feet, his breath heavy. As he counted one, two, three small Beowolves, moving slowly towards him, a couple of Boarbatusks doing the same and massive Silverback rousing from its slumber.
The other grimm shirked away as the large ape-like grimm looked over the scene. Beo felt a grin come to his face. As his good hand undid the top of his reserve of blood.
The strong survive, the weak get eaten. The strong survive, the weak get eaten.
Beo's eyes went wide as he drank the entire blood reserve. the faint aura flaring as his body adapted to the changes being made within.
"Survive" Beo growled as he charged into the grimm.
If this was the standard that a major militant organization like the White Fang held itself to for its members, Yang couldn't help but be a little disappointed as well as relieved and a little shocked that they were considered to be such a big threat.
Then again, any group is dangerous given the proper motivation and numbers. She was having no problem however, weaving through the crowd, the grunts dropping in one or two strikes each. The few times she did get hit, She had her aura flare to mitigate the damage and added the remaining force to her semblance's stockpile.
Yang ducked under a wild sword swing, delivering a straight directly into the attackers gut, she clenched her fist tighter on impact and fired off a beanbag round, launching them backwards and into a group of their charging comrades.
She looked across the dock and saw the rest of her team easily handling the waves of white fang, Ruby zipping around in a crimson blur leaving a trail of rose petals in her wake, using the momentum from Crescent Rose's shots to deliver body checks or flying kicks to her opponents, Only using either the flat of her scythe's blade to block incoming fire or deal with a wide swath of enemies.
Meanwhile Blake and Weiss were each dealing with their own smaller pockets of white fang, Sun was backing up Blake on the rare occasion she needed it while Ruby would do the same for Weiss. Yang's eyes searched for Beo in the chaos, but the entire dock was silenced by a deafening, besitial and rage filled howl, one that Yang had heard once before.
"Oh no." she said. As she ran towards the far side of the dock. Everyone present seemed to have the same, unnatural urge to investigate.
And what they were met with, was nothing short of a bloodbath, all across the far side of the dock were dead or dying members of the White Fang, those that were still alive were holding onto their wounds and doing their best to try and squirm their way away from the source of that guttural scream.
"GRRRRRRRAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" came the primal roar once again, from one of the shipping units.
Everyone, White Fang, her team and even Roman Torchwick all stared in silence as whatever was inside, was fighting to get out, and if it was what Yang throught it was, they needed to run. All of them.
BANG!
The container door dented outward from the impact.
BANG!
Another strike as the metal screamed.
CRASH! BANG!
On the third strike the container's door finally gave way and flew off the hinges, screeching to a halt as crimson eyes glared out of the darkness of the shipping container.
"What the hell is that thing!?" Roman Torchwick shouted from atop his container.
Slowly the beast stepped out of the shadows, and Yang's fears were confirmed, stepping out onto the bloodsoaked docks, was a beast unnaturally tall, its muscles large, and unnatural, matted with bloodied blackish fur coated by a hard bone plating, protruding from its back were large bone spines that jutted out in all angles, as its face was covered in a bone plating that covered all but its exposed contorted and bloodied jaw. If Yang hadn't already known who this beast was she would have assumed this….creature was some sort of twisted chimera of a Grimm. In its hands were a bloodied curved shortsword and the slowly dissolving corpse of an alpha silverback.
"What is that thing!" Ruby said, "I've never seen a grimm like that before!"
Yang bit her lip, she hadn't seen Beo like this since initiation, she had almost forgotten how terrifying it was, like something out of a nightmare. She watched as in a flash Beo launched the corpse of the silverback into the crowd of white fang, crushing them from the force of the blow. Their bodies twisted and broken as the beast finally dissolved.
"Because its not a Grimm…." Yang said. As Beo let out another guttural scream and dove into the petrified crowd of White Fang.
Yang's eyes went wide as she watched Beo begin to tear into the White Fang, their blades and bullets seemingly bouncing off the armored plates that look almost grafted onto his body. And the blows that did connect, he seemed unphased by the pain they should have caused. Instead he would lash out in rage, cleaving them in two or crushing the attacker into the pavement.
Beo at times moved faster than his body should have allowed, Yang almost lost him in the crowd had it not been for the monstrous glow of his eyes. Gone were the soft wine color of his normal eyes instead what remained were the manic, and bloodthirsty streaks that tore through the crowd like something out of a nightmare.
MOVE! Yang told herself, but her legs refused to budge, her mind raced back to the forest and the image of Beo consuming beowolves contrasted with the carefree boy she had come to know.
Beo let out another beastial roar, as he tore through another swath of white fang, his bloodthirsty eyes looked as if they were searching for something...or someone.
In an instant Yang watched as Beo moved like a black blur, the glow of his eyes leaving a trail behind him as he leapt and landed atop one of the containers and stood across from a large and imposing looking woman with bear ears wearing an ursa mask.
Her eyes were filled with a mixture of shock and horror as Beo roared down at her, she swallowed, and slowly reached for her weapon, in an instant, Beo's clawed hand swung out and grabbed the bear faunus by the head.
In less than a second, Beo had leapt off the container and slammed his victim's head into the pavement below. The white fang member's aura flared to protect her but was quickly shattered as Beo slammed her head once again into the concrete Again and again her head struck the ground, Beo's claws gripping her bloodied head like a vice.
The ground began to crack from the force, Yang took a moment to look at the rest of her team and found them with looks of horror on their faces. Ruby especially looked like she was about to burst into tears from the sheer beastial brutality of it all.
The minute long pummeling feels like it stretches on for eternity. As the impacts on the pavement change from the sound of shattering stone to the wet crunching of bone and pulpy flesh. As Beo lifted mangled and now lifeless faunus by what was left of her face and threw the corpse to the side.
Yang steeled herself for what came next. However, to her surprise Beo just stood there, crimson eyes scanning the
concrete field of the dead for more prey but found that the members of the White Fang and even Roman Torchwick seemed to have taken the opportunity to flee.
She took a breath and swallowed the fear creeping from her core as she stepped forward.
"Wha! Yang what are you-" Ruby began.
"Stay back Ruby…let your sister handle this" Yang said sternly.
She didn't look back, she couldn't, if she did she wouldn't have the courage to move towards the beast in front of her.
Beo's eyes tracked her every step as she strode across the killing field. Her boots, slick with the blood that coated the pavement. Until she stood a few lengths away from the frenzied beast that was her friend.
Her eyes met his, she felt like he wasn't looking at her, but like he was...analyzing her like he was trying to discern any weakness on her body.
"Hey there big guy, you uh, certainly made quite the mess huh?" Yang said, trying her best to put on her usual bravado. "Really bulked out there, what's your secret? Push-ups? Sit-ups? Oh don't tell me its crossfit?"
She winced at that one, seriously? Was that the best she could come up with? She would need to have a serious talk with herself about her banter once all of this was over.
Beo didn't respond, as crimson eyes continued to scan for any weakness, a low growl emanated from the beast, as his eyes looked past Yang and locked onto something else.
Suddenly then blood around their feet was whipped into a frenzy as black and red blur zoomed past Yang and behind Beo, as Ruby raised Crescent Rose, her face showing an expression of almost indignant determination.
"Great plan Yang! You distract it while I take it out!" Her sister shouted as she brought the scythe down.
Just before the young reaper's blade met flesh however Beo instinctively avoided the strike, the momentum of the attack launched Ruby into her sister, Yang's aura went up just in time to protect her from the impact as the two of them went tumbling into the bloody pavement.
"What are you doing!" Yang shouted at her sister.
Ruby looked up at her, her hair and face dripping with the lifeblood of Beo's victims. Her eyes fixed on her sister with an almost rebellious glint to them.
"What am I doing!? I could ask you the same thing! We are a TEAM remember, you don't get to play the sister card here, not when there's a monster to fight!" Ruby shouted with a huff.
Yang's expression grew aggravated. Of all time NOW was the time to listen to her Ruby had no idea what they were dealing with. Not that she knew any better but she at least had seen this one other time.
"I am not having this conversation right now Ruby now get back before- WATCH OUT" Yang shouted.
Her body moved on instinct to shield her sister as Beo's claw rocketed toward the younger girl. Yang braced herself to feel Beo's strike tear into her flesh but in that split second before impact her aura flared and it was almost as if Beo's strike bounced off her skin.
Yang was taken aback for a moment. She had used her aura to mitigate damage before but this felt...different. She felt….good. Really good like she had just been struck by a bolt of lightning as her stockpile felt like it was about to burst from the overflowing amount of energy within her.
"Y-Yang? Are you okay?" Ruby asked from beneath her.
Yang didn't respond, her mind still processing the high she felt from her own semblance. In that strange haze she felt Beo charge in for another attack, Yang turned to face the berserker, and before he had a chance to react she had closed the distance between them and unleashed all the stored energy into a single strike which launched Beo back and into the side of a shipping container. The force of the impact caused the metal to warp and scream in pain before it collapsed onto him.
As Yang felt the energy leave her she turned back to Ruby. Her eyes burning like two miniature suns at twilight.
"Ruby I wont say this again, get back, that's not a Grimm, Its…" She paused for a moment. As the rest of her team and Sun reached the two sisters.
Each of them had a similar look on their face, a mixture of confusion and disbelief.
"Its what Yang?" Weiss demanded.
Yang grimaced. The headmaster told her to keep Beo's...unique ability a secret at least this part of it. But….now wasn't the time for secrets.
"Its-"
"Its Beo isnt it?" Blake said sternly.
Yang almost denied it. But she only nodded.
"Sometimes, his semblance I guess goes berserk, Professor Ozpin thinks its caused by him consuming too much grimm blood in a short time."
"And why were you told? hmm? What makes you qualified to know this? wait no more importantly how long have you known?" Weiss said in a fury.
"Initiation" Yang replied, she didn't care what the ice queen thought of the situation but they deserved some answer all the same. "When we were fighting that Nevermore...Beo was well I guess butchering a pack of beowolves is the better phrase. That was on our tail."
"But what does that-" Weiss began.
"Listen, I promise I'll explain everything…..after. Just not now." Yang said. "Right now I need to get Beo under control."
"We can help!" Ruby said.
"No rubes, you can't. You did good against the white fang and grimm but Beo right now, he's not going to be pulling punches. He's gonna go for the kill."
"Well that shouldn't matter! everything we've fought did that too and I BEAT Beo before remember?"
"Yeah you beat him. In a controlled environment and where he had control over himself. Play fighting won't cut it here. Ruby please just...get back." Yang pleaded.
Ruby looked like she had been punched in the gut by her words alone, Yang knew that Ruby hated being treated like a child, and hated being sidelined whenever things were beyond her skill level. Its part of why she tried so hard to prove herself, but this, this was too much for her.
"We can help!" Ruby said, the commanding voice of a leader had faded to that of a younger sister, desperately trying to stay with her older sibling.
"Maybe you can, maybe you can't." Yang said, turning back to face Beo. "But I'm not gonna take that chance, I need to focus on what's in front of me, and I can't be sure that I can fight at a hundred percent if you guys are zipping around….and besides...look around us...that should be answer enough, no?"
It was only a moment but Yang could hear Ruby gasp from the revelation, the battle high draining away as she saw the field of corpses left in the wake of Beo's rampage. All of which was followed by a whimper.
"T-t-there's so much blood…." she squeaked out. Before Yang heard the others guide Ruby away.
Across the yard there was a sickening cry of twisting metal as Beo clawed his way out from underneath the steel boxes that had collapsed on top of him.
"Alright big guy" Yang said, crashing her gauntlets together. "Let's do this"
Beo roared in response, crimson met lilac and the two fighters charged one another.
Yang knew she had to set the pace, any mistake no matter how small could spell disaster. She fired off two concussive blasts behind her to boost her speed as she drove into the Man-Grimm with a shoulder check followed by a flurry of body blows that ended with an explosive uppercut to Beo's armored chin.
Each strike she landed felt like she was punching iron. barely a crack was made in Beo's blood spattered armor as his head snapped back to position after her barrage. He retaliated with a clawed swipe towards her head, she ducked under it only for her face to come into contact with his other fist.
"Shit!" she thought. She had taken her eyes off the rest of him. She raised her aura to try and mitigate the damage as best she could, but her timing was off and the blow did more damage than she had been expecting.
She felt the bitter tang of iron in her mouth, a cut slowly opening up inside her mouth, she spit the blood onto the ground before she brought her aura up once more to block a few more strikes from Beo.
His attacks were reckless, that much was obvious but damn if they didn't hurt. Each time she was struck she felt her stockpile grow little by little. At this rate she would have plenty of power but with how fierce and constant Beo's attacks are it was almost impossible to find an opening to strike back.
How had she stopped his strike earlier? Was it something with the timing of her aura? Or the force of the blow? She didn't want to experiment now of all times but she felt she had to do SOMETHING at least.
Yang's aura flared as she crashed her fist against Beo's incoming claw as she released all her stored energy into the clash. There was a loud bone splintering.
SNAP!
As Beo's hand shot back from the impact the bone armor on the back of his clawed hand shattered and exploded in a shower of blood and bone. Did she break it? Yang wondered.
Beo shrieked in fury as the bones began to knit themselves forcefully back together. Yang only had a split second to react as Beo drove his still mending hand towards her. Yang brought her aura up once again to shield herself and once again just as her opponent was about to make contact and felt the power surge into her as Beo's attack was deflected off her. And just like last time, she had taken no damage.
Timing. That's what it must have been. Yang had never thought to use her semblance in that way. She had always assumed that it would just passively gather energy until she exploded with force, usually from her literally explosive temper. But with this power she felt in control.
She wasted no time taking advantage of Beo's staggered state as she delivered a series of rabbit punches to his gut each strike growing in speed and ferocity until she released all her stockpile in the final right cross into his chest.
A golden explosion burst out from her fist as the armor on Beo's chest shattered and slowly began to piece itself back together. The Man-Grimm spat blood from his mouth and charged her again. A bone spike shooting out of one of his forearms like some sort of mutated blade. Yang made to block again but fell just short, the blade slashed her across the face. Her aura activating just a moment too late. Blood flowed from her cheek, she didn't take much damage from the strike and she had absorbed some energy from it. Her timing must have been off.
Yang beat him back again with a hard hook to the side followed by a left straight and high impact blast from her gauntlet to Beo'a chest. The bone once again shattered and began to slowly repair itself.
Beo's distorted and monstrous face twisted in pain and if Yang didn't know any better, hatred. As the ivory carapace along his unnaturally large back began to shift and layer itself around his neck and face creating a wolfish mask over his already changed face. The only thing she could see of Beo was the red glint of his eyes as he bellowed out another almost sub-human roar.
"Well big guy I have to hand it to ya." Yang sighed. "You really got some stamina, but as much as I would love to go all night long with you, dontcha think it might be best for you to take a nap."
Yang settled once more into a ready stance and waited for Beo to charge again.
Timing. focus on the timing. She thought to herself.
Beo roared again, the armor around him jutting out turning him into a heavily armored ball of bone like spears and spikes. As he charged and lashed out, Yang's focus was solely on the timing of her blocks. Each strike Beo made Yang's aura flared just before impact and just like before, Beo's strikes bounced off her aura, after each attack she would counter with a release, and the two would immediately charge back into one another.
It was almost like a dance. A waltz of bone, blood, and gunpowder. Beo would attack with the ferocity of a wild beast with the faintest hint of his hunters cunning shining through the frenzy. While Yang would defend, the timing was not always perfect but when her perfect guard went off she would retaliate with a powerful release to capitalize on the momentary break in rhythm.
Time began to blur, as their fists clashed in a no holds barred celebration of violence. Yang felt a smile creep across her face. Was she, was she enjoying this? She was unsure herself, but everytime Beo's claws raked across her face or chest she felt something stir within her, something that added fuel to her fire, and in return every strike, every jab. cross, hook and body shot would drain her stockpile putting her everything onto her attacks.
And in some twisted way. She felt Beo react in the same way, some primal part of him was relishing this, pushing his body far past its limits. She knew that they were both reaching that point.
Yang's eyes had long since turned their furious crimson but she felt more in control than ever before. To any onlookers they would see only the flashes of gold, white and crimson as the two reveled in their macabre dance.
"As-much-fun-as-this has- been Beo" Yang said between strikes. "Its time to end this."
With that Yang performed one more perfect guard, but instead of immediately releasing it, she let the energy build and mix with her own aura and drive for battle.
It all happened, in a split second. Her fist roared skyward like a dragon taking flight, her strike infused with every last ounce of her stockpile, fury, elation, everything. As it connected with the edge of Beo's mask there was a crack and the metallic sound of her weapon firing what until that point had been the strongest punch Yang had ever thrown.
"BURST!" She roared as her fist exploded outward and the mask covering her friend's face shattered into flecks of ivory in the moonlight. As Beo was launched into the air and came crashing back down to Remnant.
Yang's breathing was heavy and ragged, her heart pounding in her ears, and adrenaline high fading, she made her way over to Beo's unconscious form, as she walked she heard the sound of metal clattering to the ground, as Ember Cecilia crumbled off her arms.
"Well, that's never happened before." She said, too tired to really care. She looked to Beo, the bone plating slowly dissolving and crumbling away revealing the beaten and bleeding face of the boy she knew. "Really gave me a run for my money there Beo, let's not make this a habit okay big guy?"
She slung Beo over her shoulder, and made her way away from the blood soaked docks, and back towards her team and friends. With each step, Beo got lighter and lighter as his body returned to normal. It was comforting for Yang to see him recovering from his frenzy, although what she failed to notice was the observer watching the pair leave the killing field from atop one of the distant containers. A smile creeping across his face.
Across the city Roman Torchwick was fuming with rage. Why couldn't anything be simple? A simple job that's all he asked for. All they had to do was offload the dust and grimm onto the trucks to be shipped to the train yards but no, instead his supposedly elite White Fang security force had been utterly dismantled by children. Children! And whatever that monster was. If he was being honest it reminded him of something his boss would send his way. And she would be mad enough once she found out that not only had her grimm been destroyed but they had been eaten by some freak kid from Beacon.
Roman dropped down into his chair and looked out at the massive board he had set up in the center of the warehouse, weeks of plans and future jobs were mapped out on it, with times, locations and guard rotations. Child's play really to someone as skilled as him. He poured himself a glass of whiskey and lit a cigar. Tonight might have gone to shit but he would be damned if he wasn't going to enjoy something tonight.
"Roman, what do you think you are doing?" Said a smooth voice from the balcony above him.
Roman frowned, of all the people the fire witch and her cronies were the last ones he wanted to see tonight.
"What does it look like? I'm having a drink, gods forbid I have something go my way tonight." Roman said, not bothering to turn to face Cinder Fall and her goon patrol. "Besides I figured that you three would be busy getting ready to play make believe at that school on the hill."
"Everything on our end is fine you half wit." Said Emerald Sustrai, the green haired young woman was as far as Roman was concerned nothing more than Cinder's number one fan girl and lackey, never once questioning the flame witch's orders or plans. She was a pretty girl, short green hair and dark skin, the only thing that Roman couldn't stomach was her borderline obsession with Cinder.
"Ohhh half wit very creative Emerald, so tell me what were YOU doing while my men and I were being quite literally torn apart by a monster straight out of the boss lady's menagerie? Getting kicked out of another night club perhaps? Oh or were you being shot down by yet another waitress?" Roman shot back, he enjoyed the jabs back and forth.
The girl wasn't a half bad thief either, when they'd first met she'd swiped the hat right off his head and he had been none the wiser, If only he had met her before Cinder, that was the real shame.
"Both of you, enough." Cinder interjected. "What happened tonight was an unfortunate series of mishaps, but nothing we will not recover from."
Roman scoffed at that, of course that's what she would say, recover? Recover from what? The fact that the VPD were probably going to be all over the docks. The fact that they had left behind millions of lien worth of contraband Dust?
He was about to verbally tear her apart when his scroll began to vibrate. The number was blocked. Meaning only one thing.
"Gods what now." He sighed, before he answered. "Torchwick."
"Mr. Torchwick how nice to hear your voice, always good to speak to a true master of their craft. So sorry that your operation tonight went as sour as it did. But that hardly ever stops men like us now right?" The voice was heavily encrypted, but the way they spoke was dripping with confidence.
"I can't help but feel I am at a disadvantage here, you know who I am but I can't say the same about you. Mister?" Roman began holding his hand up to silence Cinder and Emerald.
"Ah, Where are my manners? You can just call me Mister Locksley."
"Mister Locksley eh? Okay then what do you want?"
There was a chuckle on the other end of the line.
"Nothing from you if I'm being perfectly honest, but I felt I would be doing you a disservice if I didn't at least let you know that you need not worry about the security feeds from tonight's fiasco. In fact there is a message I wanted to pass on tonight."
"Spit it out then." Roman said. This was beginning to get on his nerves. Whoever this Locksley was, they clearly knew something he didn't.
"Oh its not for you, Its for the woman really pulling your strings." Locksley said.
"Gonna need to be more specific there friend. Got a lotta women in my life pulling my strings."
"Please Roman don't be like that, we both know who I mean, a certain white haired witch."
Roman went stiff, whoever this person was, the fact that they even knew about his boss meant they were a big hitter.
"What's the message?" Roman said dryly.
"Just pass on the footage I've just sent your way, and tell her that monsters need no boundaries, she'll know what that means, much as I loath the witch I can't pass up the chance to see her reaction to that beastie from the docks." And with that the line went dead.
Leaving Roman stunned. Without another word Roman reviewed the footage, it was the CCTV footage from the docks that night, how in the world did they get their hands on this?
Without a word to Cinder or Emerald, Roman stood, went to his office and did as he was requested, the last thing he needed was to earn the ire of someone who supposedly rubbed shoulders with her of all people.
Far across the sea, on an island shrouded in darkness, where beasts and monsters roamed free and the world of mankind dare not go, not to say that the island was not without its residents, at the center of the island was a colossal palace built into the side of a massive volcano.
Its black spires rose high into the sky as massive grimm flew around and perched on the spires, Wyverns and Elder class Nevermores battled in the sky across the island. The two beasts vying for supremacy over the skies. Just as their queen would have it.
Salem, queen of the Grimm looked out over her kingdom of monsters, it would only be a matter of time before her children would spread to the world outside and bring about a new age of chaos. Her chambers were filled with charts and maps detailing nearly every step of her grand plan. The muffled sounds of cheers echoed from the colosseum deeper in the complex.
She smiled a rare sight and one she seldom showed to others as she watched the live broadcast, she watched as a masked girl tore through both grimm and elite members of the white fang alike. Her barbed spear showed no hint of mercy. Truly she was an artist of blood. Her perfect killing machine.
A message suddenly popped up on her screen. From Torchwick. Her smile faded; he wasn't the type to contact her unless something was very wrong, or to gloat either way she loathed having to talk to the man more than necessary. Although he did have his uses.
As she opened the message frowned at the name the message's original sender just another headache from the past she needed to deal with however, what played before her was a series of CCTV footage from a dock in what she assumed was Vale, and what she saw brought another smile to her face.
"Well well, where have you been hiding little pup?" Salem said before opening up a comm line to the masked spearwoman. "Kana I have a job for you."