The music blared as people danced on the square dance floor. White headlights shone down on the floor, which was surrounded by a few pillars changing colors to black, white and red, along with walls reflecting those said colors and holograms of trees before an octagonal walkway. From the entrance, at the top of the octagon, was the DJ's turntable. The left side of the octagon lead to a bar. The right side of the octagon was a few tables and a small restaurant to get food. The whole floor space area (not counting the hallway people walked through to get here) was about the size of two basketball courts put together. This dance club/bar was known as the Black Loophole, run by by Junior Xiong.
As people danced and drank the night away, a certain young lady sat at a table with a basket of chicken wings, which were barely even touched. Next to her chair was a pink umbrella with a lace design, and a tall glass with a pink beverage and a little white umbrella was clinked back down on the table.
What do I do now? Neopolitan thought to herself.
She imagined what Roman would tell her to do. A miniature version of Roman with angel wings and a halo over his head appeared by her right shoulder.
"I know it's hard, but you must move on. Rob a bank, run away, and try to live a normal, happy life..." he said.
A miniature version of Roman with red devil wings appeared nearby her left shoulder. "No, don't listen to him. He's lying. You must carry on my legacy and become the queen of the criminal underworld!"
The two imaginary mini-Romans disappeared. The thought of her being the 'Queen of Thieves' made her smile briefly. Who knows? Maybe if she carried on his work, maybe she could also get revenge on that thrice-damned Ruby.
"Why is she here?" Melanie asked.
"Yeah, totally weird." Militia added.
"Well, she used to work with the best criminal of Vale, the King of Thieves, Roman Torchwick." Junior answered as he polished a glass. "But however, when he fell in battle..." Neo threw her umbrella at Miltia's plate, breaking it and her slice of pizza into several pieces. The owner of the club sweated a little and laughed nervously. "Hehe... She's... still rather sensitive about that."
"My pizza!"
"You!" Junior pointed to one of his henchmen. "Get her another slice of pepperoni."
The man walked off to fulfill his order.
Well, it could be worse. Neo thought to herself.
"Hey, you!" a voice screamed. A girl with a black bow in her raven hair seemed to be pointing towards Junior. "You have some intel that I want."
Junior looked terrified. "Who told you that I...?"
The girl dismissed him. "No, not you. You!" She pointed closer to her target, Neo.
Hmm... I remember her. What was her name again?
Meanwhile, the two criminal underlings of Cinder were back in the palace. As the black portal faded, they found themselves in the hallway. Mercury still held onto the folder of files and smiled as Emerald breathed in steadily, trying to calm herself.
"Alright, we made it." Mercury said.
"Yeah, but we were this close to being caught and apprehended." Emerald used her right thumb and index finger less than an inch apart. "Hopefully I'll actually be able to sleep after this mission."
"Now to find Mistress Salem and give her what she requested."
"No need to go searching for me." she said, stepping out of the darkness. "I see you have found the necessary files."
"We have reviewed the information and we believe you will be most pleased."
She took the folder out of his hands and began to read some of the information. "'Name: Ruby Rose. Age: 15. Birthdate: October 31st, 63 AGW. Address: Xiao Long-Rose Family Home, Patch, 7513 Thunder Road.' " She closed the folder and looked at the remaining members of Cinder's faction. "You guys got even more information that I thought you would be able to acquire. Very well done."
"It certainly helped that the scrolls Emerald stole from the guards just happened to be one belonging to a former faculty member at Beacon Academy." Mercury mentioned to highlight his partner in crime's success.
Emerald smiled nervously as her face warmed up, dismissing Mercury. "Oh, stop it."
Salem smiled maliciously. "How fortuitous."
Blake Belladonna had been searching for Neopolitan for three days. Now she had found her. She approached the ice cream colored criminal with a look of pure anger and hatred. "You have something I want."
Neo pointed to herself with her index finger as if to say, Me?
"That's right. You have some information I want." Blake swiftly pulled out her blade and held it to her neck. "So start talking! What do you know about the Vale Branch of the White Fang's current location?"
Neo shrugged, the universal gesture for I don't know.
"Don't try that with me!" Blake commanded. "I know you're not mute! I heard you gasp!" Neo stepped on Blake's foot and kicked her down. She laughed at her as she tumbled to the ground, crashing into the dance floor. As people evacuated the floor, Blake moaned and got up, seeing Neo covering her mouth with her hand and attempting to be cute. "I knew it! You just laughed!" Neo stood there in silence. Blake retrieved her weapon and broke the silence. "Fine then. If you're not going to talk, then I'll just make you speak!"
Neo backflipped, grabbed her weapon, swung her hips to the right and put her brella on her left shoulder. She then taunted Blake with her right hand as if to say, Bring it on.
Blake charged towards Neopolitan, slashing at her with a blur of shadow afterimages visible as she continuously attacked with her weapon and Semblance, followed by Neo's retaliation of defending herself with the form of her closed umbrella before whacking Blake in the head with it, knocking her down. As she slid back, Neo used the opportunity to create illusions of herself. As Blake stood up, there were ten different versions of Neopolitan on the dance floor, which by now was completely deserted save for the two fighters. She growled under her breath as the illusions came forth to attack her, with Blake striking down the first two false images, shattering like glass. She propelled herself towards the third one, striking down the third with her blade.
She got out her sheath and used it in simultaneous action to strike down the fourth and fifth 'clones' and as the last few went towards her, she hooked the ribbon to the nearest leg of DJ's turntable and used it to swing herself to the side as the clones ran into each other with their umbrellas, and then coming back full circle, taking out the remaining illusions. She was then kicked down by Neo. The ice cream girl chuckled at her, further irritating Blake.
She creates illusions of whatever she desires, I create these shadow clones. Blake mentally noted, getting up from the ground. I have to outsmart her, but how?
She then remembered she had a small amount of dust left from the vials Weiss give her during the events of the White Fang train fight. She needed to think of a plan, and quickly. She hadn't landed a single hit on Neopolitan, while Blake had been knocked down a few times. As she tried to formulate a plan, Blake swapped her katana for her kama gun and began to fire to at her. As Neo ran towards the one of the pillars, she continued to fire, causing the upper left pillar to collapse and crumble into pieces. Neo continued to run as she fired at the walls, the upper right pillar and at some holographic trees at Neo tried to camouflage herself in, only to rush and evade Blake's gunfire. Eventually, after dodging Blake's low roundhouse kick by jumping into the air, Neo punched her in the face, knocking her into a glass structure.
Neo, using her brella, scaled up one of the remaining pillars and placed herself on the top of circle of headlights that shone down on the dance floor they battled on. Blake used the ribbon to hook it to a light and then swing herself upwards to reach her adversary on top of the lights. The two fought each other on top of the circle of headlights, Neo's closed parasol clashing against Blake's katana. She used her Semblance to create a fire shadow clone of herself, and Neo struck it, not realizing it was a trick.
She gasped and raised her eyebrows as if to say, Oh fuck!
The fire clone exploded, knocking her down and part of the circle collapsed. Neo stuck her brella into the metal bars, keeping herself from falling. She pulled herself back up and opened her brella, shielding herself from Blake's katana strikes. Eventually, she closed her umbrella, catching Blake's sword within it, and knocked her down, only to have Blake grab onto the bars and hoist herself back up, then kicked Neo down, retrieved her weapon and shifted from katana to her gun. Neo ran around the circle, destroying all the headlights and Neo jumped at the gap, causing Blake to fire upwards and she inadvertently fired at the ceiling before hitting Neo, who fell to the ground on her butt. Blake smirked briefly before part of the structure started to come down. The sounds of terrified screams filled the air as the club was being destroyed.
"This is place is going down!" someone exclaimed in fear.
"Evacuate the premises immediately!" Junior ordered.
The crowd of civilians and Junior's henchmen ran out of the room. Junior, and the twins, Miltia and Melanie Malachite, soon followed everyone's else lead and Neo smirked at her opponent. Beneath her feet, the metal circle crumbled, and Blake screamed as she fell to the ground.
Neo stood there with her parasol open and the rod on her shoulder, as if to say, Nice try, bitch.
Getting up, Blake growled, determined to get answers no matter what.
"And that is the end of this tragic tale."
As the three stood in the hallway right outside Weiss Schnee's room, the young huntress finished explaining the Fall of Beacon to Klein and Estelle, both of whom were in tears. They stood there, tears falling down their cheeks. Weiss wanted to join them, but she had no more tears left to cry. After a moment of silence for the lives lost in the Fall of Beacon and to come to terms with everything, the somber silence was broken.
"Man... that truly is a tragedy." Klein spoke. "Enough to make any man, woman or child cry."
"Oh man... That is too sad for words..." Estelle sniffed and got out her handkerchief and blew her nose into it. "I'm such an ugly crier. This always happens when I start to bawl my eyes out."
"It's alright, Estelle. We don't judge." Klein turned back to Weiss. "Are you... feeling any better?"
"A little I suppose." She turned away and pressed her hand to the wall. "It's just... where do I go from here? What should I do?"
Unfortunately, neither of them had an answer.
Back at the Black Loophole, the battle continued. Blake focused on her intentions and created an ice clone, in which Neo had her parasol caught in. She tried to pull it out, without luck. Blake used the opportunity to kick her down, causing her to roll right into the wall. By this point, everyone save for Neo and Blake had fled the club. The few that remained were outside either surveying the battle or waiting around anxiously.
The rubble that fell down broke the ice, allowing Neo to retrieve her weapon. Blake moved rapidly, slashing at Neo's parasol ceaselessly, and after doing this for roughly then seconds, her katana cut through part of the brella, creating a huge slit in her weapon. She then kicked her in her wrist, making her drop her damaged weapon and knocking her down at the same time. Neoplitan retrieved her weapon and glared at her with pure anger in her eyes.
She charged forward and Blake kicked her into the lower left pillar, shattering it. Neo knew she was about to be beaten, she needed a new plan and quickly. She created more illusions, this time of White Fang members charging towards her. She looked around for Neo as they charged towards her and found that she was right behind her in mid-air, and Blake used the ribbon to tangle her up and then threw her into the last pillar, breaking it into pieces and dispelling the illusion as Neo's aura broke. She was surrounded by pink energy before it all vanished in the blink of an eye.
Neo sat up, holding her head in pain. Blake grabbed Neo by the collar and pulled her closer to glare at her defeated opponent. "Alright, you mute bitch, start talking!" she commanded. "What do you know about Adam Taurus's current location?"
She felt a tap on her shoulder, turned around and gasped. Adam Taurus? In the flesh?
For a moment, she was too shocked to move. But that moment was all her foe needed for Blake to subconsciously let go of her opponent. She screamed as she was knocked back by Neo's parasol as the illusion shattered. She ended up hitting her head against the wall, causing pain and dizziness. She tried to stand, but as she rose her head was spinning. As Neopolitan laughed mischievously and ran away, she collapsed to the ground and everything faded to black.
Meanwhile, in the dark of night, Sun was running through the city, looking desperately for Blake.
"Blaaake! Where are you?! Blake!" He stopped as he heard a soft cry. He followed the sound, and saw Blake in the ruins of Beacon Academy, sobbing softly on her knees. Sun ran to her. "Blake!" He knelt by her side. "What's wrong? Talk to me, please!"
"Sun..." She sobbed into his chest. "I'm so sorry..." She threw her arms around him and he returned them in a loving embrace.
Suddenly black shadowy mist surrounded them. "You can't run forever, Blake." a voice Sun didn't recognize spoke (Adam Taurus). "You will suffer for what you've done!"
A shadow of the man who spoke to him manifested a few feet away from them. Sun got up and turned to face the shadow. He charged towards him, but he kicked him down and grabbed Blake's wrists after she tried to run, chaining them behind her back. "Sun!"
"Blake!"
He dragged her away from Sun with a chain. She tried to fight back, to get away from him, but her efforts were futile. "Stop it!" she shouted.
"Leave her alone!" Sun ran after her, but she was dragged into the darkness. Sun fell to his knees, panicked and tormented. "Blake! BLAKE!"
He woke up, gasping for air. He sat up and tried to calm himself. He groaned. "Damn it... Not again..." He spoke as quiet as possible.
Nearby the wall, Neptune, Scarlet and Sage looked on as their leader awoke from his nightmare and started to sulk. The blue-haired warrior sighed. "This is the third time this week he's woken up because of a nightmare. We gotta do something. Guys, huddle up." They huddled together in a circle.
"This ain't good." Scarlet started the conservation. "I'm worried about him."
"His sleep pattern is becoming stranger and more out of sync." Sage commented. "Also he's barely eaten, snapped at one or more of us at least four times a day, and now the nightmares. I can't believe this is all happening because his love interest left him."
"This is bad." Neptune said. "But what can we even do, if anything?"
"Maybe take him back home? Shade's planes have come and gone, and Atlas's bullheads are loading up right now." Scarlet added, before they looked at team FNKI, dragging along their bags. Neon Katt looked really worried, but Flynt Coal was trying to reassure her as best as he could. "Haven will be here before we know it."
Sage sulked. "But how are we going to get through next semester with a broken and devastated leader?"
"Is it just me, or do I have a feeling that Sun doesn't want to come back with us?" Neptune asked.
Scarlet raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"
"I can't help but get the feeling that he wants to go after Blake and to try and aid his crush in any way that he can."
He dismissed it. "There's no way he'd do that. Would he?"
"I don't know, but what would be worse? Trying to operate as a team with a crestfallen leader who can't get over some girl? Or trying to function without his presence?" Sage asked.
The other two shrugged in response. Although they didn't realize it, Sun overheard their every word. As he listened to their conversation, he felt even worse now. Guilt gnawed at his heart. He felt torn between his team and his crush.
Why can't I make up my mind?
Her head spun. The police sirens were the first thing Blake heard as she slowly regained consciousness. She groaned, slowly opening her eyes and arising to see the full extent of the damage done to the club. The place had part of its walls crumbled into pieces and part of its roof collapsed, the DJ's turntable, pillars, lights and dance floor had been smashed and the whole place was dark. No lights, no electricity, no sound. One could walk this place and fantasize about how people once danced to music, drank and hang out here. Now there was nothing left here but ruin. As this was the second floor, she was amazed that the rest of the building didn't tumble down in the wake of her destruction. She then heard the sirens getting louder.
"Oh no..."
And then the consequences of what she had just done hit her like a ton of bricks.
What have I done?
The police sirens stopped as the cop cars parked on the side of the street. From the first car emerged two policemen, and from the second car came a policewoman. The men glared at her while the woman gave her a leery look. All the while, Blake looked really nervous and scared.
The first man surveyed the damage and then asked, "Oh good gods, what in the world happened here?"
"I don't know, but I think that girl," the second one motioned to Blake up in the remains of the Black Loophole, "might have some answers."
The color drained from her face. Blake held up her hands. "Look, officers, I can explain!"
"Come down from there!" the woman demanded.
"Are you going to arrest me?"
"Just come down from there!"
Reluctantly, she jumped down and looked at the officers uncomfortably. She then noted the female officer had a pair of handcuffs on her belt before taking them off and holding them in her right hand. Blake tried to reach for her weapon, which was camouflaged by her hair. The female officer saw this out the corner of left eye.
"Don't even try to reach for a weapon or we'll get out the handcuffs now." She slowly took her hand away and held her hands in surrender. "Now then, if you're not going to attempt to murder us, tell us what happened. And don't even think about running."
Blake sighed, looking down in sorrow and regret. "It's a long story."