The night passed mostly without incident: there were a few tense standoffs between what Acier assumed to be rival gangs - untrained hoodlums with poorly concealed weaponry - but a quick display of force by Miltia had them running for the hills with their tails between their legs.
That girl sure could be intimidating when she wanted to be. He thought to himself as he watched the scene unfold.
After a few long hours of shadowing the group, they returned to the club and Acier hopped back into his room via the first floor window. He immediately went to hang up his coat, before unbuckling his belt and slipping out of his jeans to collapse on the bed in a heap - the whole ordeal had really taken the energy out of him - roof hopping was no joke. He stared at the ceiling blankly as he unpacked all the information that had just come to light.
Acier had long understood the grey zone in which the Xiong operated. They might be criminals, but at the end of the day they made good on their promises and the streets were safer than they would be under the control of the common gangs. Their principles were what elevated them above the common rabble. Maybe it made him a bad person, but he wouldn't turn his backs on the people that took him in because of moral principle. Still…
They robbed a dust store? The thought bothered him - he had bought from the store in question before, the owner was a good man. Nothing about the store warranted a smash and grab. He didn't believe Hei would order such a thing - not without good reason.
Did they act alone? Acier still felt unease at the thought. He knew quite a few of Junior's boys, and loyal as they were, he didn't see them having the initiative to plan out a decent heist. Admittedly, they were all caught, but they wouldn't have gone in without a plan. They had self preservation at least.
Acier sighed to himself as he pulled out his scroll and began scrolling mindlessly. New huntsman gear line launching, new album dropping, Roman Torchwick confirmed to be behind latest robbery…
Wait, what?
He tapped on the article and skimmed it. An eyewitness report placed Roman Torchwick at the head of the crime, with several reports verifying he was present and escaped the scene via Bullhead.
Well, that answered one question but gave him about ten more: since when did the Xiong bend over for Roman Torchwick? He shook his head - he knew Hei. There had to be a reason. Or…
Maybe Roman recruited them without his knowledge? Maybe they defected for the promise of a quick payout. He thought to himself - it made more sense to him than Junior stirring up trouble, but still put him ill at ease: Junior's men were loyal if nothing else. For such a large number to defect would require a great incentive.
He thought back to the girl, Yang. Was it really a coincidence she was leaving the police station at that moment? A huntress in training could easily handle some goons, but to be in the right place at the right time like that…
He rubbed his head in frustration - this was proving to be harder to resolve than he had anticipated. For a moment, he thought about asking the boss himself. Confronting him about his criminal empire. Disturbing the status quo he had tread for years, all for the sake of his moral conscience. Would he really jeopardise everything he had for that?
No… I won't. He thought to himself solemnly.
And so, he tried his best not to think about it as he lay there. Hei, Mel, and Mil - they weren't bad people: there had to be some kind of explanation to this.
The thought proved to be little comfort as he felt the pit in his stomach grow larger and larger. Eventually, fatigue took him, and he drifted off to sleep at a late hour of the night.
Over the next few weeks, that dread was pushed into the recesses of his mind, for better or worse, and life continued for Acier as it had before. Before he knew it, it was time to board the airship that would take him to Beacon Academy. He looked to the entrance of the terminal with a small degree of anticipation: it was finally time to make something of himself.
But first, some goodbyes.
"Well kid, it's gonna be strange not having you around. And I'll definitely miss having the extra muscle." Hei Xiong grunted out as he reached out to pat Acier on the shoulder. Acier gave a rare sincere smile in response.
"Thank you guys. For everything. I mean it." He ran a hand through his centre part, not quite meeting their eyes.
"You're welcome, dumbass." Melanie sounded out, before the silence began to stretch out a little too long. "For fucks sakes, just come here." She said bashfully as she drew him into a tight hug. He made eye contact with Miltia during the hug, who looked away at the gesture...
Shit…
Before wrapping him up in a hug of her own after Melanie released him, much to Acier's surprise. He quickly got over it, however, and hugged back.
"Be safe, okay?" She whispered to him in the hug. The words seemed to come freer when she didn't have to look him in the eye. He nodded in assent, breaking the embrace and turning to look at the three people before him.
"I'll miss you." The words came to him easily, and they were genuine.
Junior nodded, Melanie looked away, and the corners of Miltia's lips tilted upwards at that. With great effort, Acier turned around to make his way to the terminal, sparing the trio one last glance before he stepped out of view to give them a small wave goodbye.
The terminal was busy, being a hub for travel between the four Kingdoms as well as ferrying students to and from Beacon. Acier grabbed a seat close to the gate for the Beacon line and took a moment to examine his surroundings: a fair few huntsman in training like himself were present - he spotted Sky and Dove, who looked to be engaged in conversation. Dove met his gaze for a moment, before averting his eyes and continuing his own conversation.
Acier winced internally at the gesture, before continuing to scan the room idly. He spotted Pyhrra Nikos, sitting between two empty seats, who seemed to alternate between glancing at her scroll and giving autographs to anyone who came up to ask for one. Her face was a perfect smile the whole time.
I'm glad I'm not famous. Acier thought for perhaps the first time. Though Pyhrra didn't betray any annoyance at the repeated requests, he couldn't imagine the experience was engaging, or particularly novel for her. Conscious that he was beginning to stare, he let his gaze wonder. It landed on a familiar blonde…
For fucks sake…
She was with the same girl as before, having what seemed to be a lighthearted conversation. Now that he had a better look, he could tell the other girl looked young - closer to a prep school middle year than a Beacon fresher - her eyes were a bright silver, but her outfit carried the red and black motif of her hair.
He noticed Yang meet his eyes and saw her expression morph between shock and confusion, before settling on a scowl as she put a hand around the girl and pulled her a little closer. Acier closed his eyes with a sigh at that, before opening them to look around again. It was of little use however, as he failed to recognise anyone else, and he couldn't gleam much tactical insight when everyone had their weapons deactivated and put away.
The announcement to board the airship couldn't have come sooner, as Acier grabbed his luggage and entered the queue, strategically positioning himself away from any familiar faces. Thankfully, boarding was a fairly painless affair, and before he knew it he had stowed his bags and was free to wander the decks of the airship.
He made little use of his freedom of movement in the end, electing to listen to a news bulletin about the White Fang disrupting a peaceful faunus rights protest, and then to listen to Beacon's assistant headmaster, Glynda Goodwitch, deliver a speech, that was in his view, absolute garbage. Unprecedented time of peace? If you had a room temperature IQ and lost both of your eyes, then maybe, sure. All in all, it just felt painfully sanitised, stripped of nuance for the sake of appeasing emotions and keeping the masses safe.
Just how the Council likes it. The thought came to him with spite and vitriol.
The ride to Beacon itself was actually a fairly short journey, only made via airship due to the impassable terrain that surrounded the academy. Such that it was, that after Goodwitch's speech had concluded, Acier was able to look out the window and gaze upon the campus of Beacon Academy.
As much as he hated to admit it, it was quite impressive - most of the grounds was taken up by a vast circular plaza, decorated with the most frivolous trappings of civic architecture: extravagant fountains, well-kept gardens, and at the centre of it all, a great statue, of whose subject he was unable to discern from this distance. Adjoint to the courtyard, the main building stood - tall and imperial: a reflection of the era in which it was built - several imposing towers jutted out of the construct, and indeed around its extensions which curved around to nearly encapsulate the plaza.
He kept his eyes glued on the campus as the airship came in for landing, as did many of the other passengers. The vehicle touched down with a slight jolt, causing a mob of students to rush to their luggage and exit the craft. Acier followed, albeit with much less enthusiasm.
The familiar rush of wind on his face came as a comfort, and he allowed himself a moment to take in the atmosphere as he walked towards the centre of the grounds.
It was interrupted by a violent explosion.
"Unbelievable! This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about!" He heard a girl shout. A frown worked its way onto his face, as he turned to look at the commotion.
Weiss Schnee? He had heard rumours she was attending Beacon this year, but had chalked it up to misinformation. And the source of her ire… the silver eyed girl from before? He watched the exchange with a small amount of amusement: it nearly made up for disturbing his moment.
Man, the heiress was really chewing her out. Oh Oum, a bystander just called her out - and now she's storming off.
Acier put a hand to his mouth in an attempt to staunch his laughter - Weiss was completely red-faced from the interaction. The black-haired bystander immediately walked away from the girl after the altercation. What he didn't expect was for said girl to drop to her knees, and then lie on the floor with her eyes closed.
He watched for a few seconds. That became ten, then twenty…
Maybe it was morbid curiosity, or concern, but he decided to make his approach.
"Are… are you going to get up?" Acier asked quizzically.
"Uh… yeah?" The girl seemed surprised as she opened her eyes wide.
He waited in silence for a few seconds, until the girl processed what he said and got to her feet with an embarrassed blush. Acier had to suppress a smile at the sight. He let the silence stretch on a little longer until she spoke.
"So… I'm Ruby…" The newly identified girl spoke after another awkward silence.
"I'm Acier." He responded curtly. He honestly got a little too much amusement from watching her squirm as he intentionally stretched out the silence, maintaining eye contact.
"...Uhh… so I've got this thing." Ruby pulled out her inactive weapon from behind her back, shifting it into a scythe and burying it into the ground. Acier had to blink a few times in surprise, before he appraised the weapon.
"Impressive mechashift. Mine isn't nearly as smooth, or as quick." His praise was honest.
"Uh, thank you! Her name is Crescent Rose. It's also a gun!" She exclaimed excitedly. Acier gave the weapon another glance, and indeed did find a barrel, receiver, and a very long magazine.
"Fifty cal?" He established, astonished, that the girl could resist the recoil of such a round.
"Sure is!" Ruby grinned as she pulled the charging handle, ejecting a round that she caught in mid-air, before turning to look at him. "So what have you got?" She asked, excited. Seeing no reason to deny her, Acier reached for the weapon on his belt, activating it into curved sword mode.
"It's less sophisticated than yours. But it suits my combat style well." He inspected the weapon in his hands, tilting it to view each angle.
"What does it do?" Ruby asked eagerly.
Activating another mechanism, the main chassis of the weapon slid down along the blade's mounting rail, as the shaft extended outwards: both movements served to give the weapon extra length.
"It's a glaive too. Sometimes you need the power and reach against Grimm." He slipped another hand onto the grip, twirling it around in the air.
"Cool! Anything else?" The girl seemed really into it.
"There's a small firing mechanism hidden within the main body." He explained, tracing out its location with a finger. " It's not a traditional firearm though." He clarified.
"What is it then?" Ruby seemed a little confused.
"It detonates HE grenades." Acier said with a straight face.
"Detonates? Not launches?" She blinked a few times.
"Yep. Can use it to launch muzzle-loaded projectiles, or…" Acier tapped the exhaust port at the top of the main chassis. "Expel the combustion gases out a nozzle here, to give extra power to a swing."
"... you have a muzzleloader. In the age of automatic firearms." Her voice was emotionless.
"..." He stared back. Someone's getting a railway spike launched at them in a spar.
"That's so cool!" She squealed. He couldn't help but feel a bit of whiplash. "You could use way heavier ammunition, without slowing down your melee at all!" Acier felt his lips tilt upward involuntarily. "What's its name?" Ruby asked, curious.
"Penumbra Ultima." He supplied it freely.
"Awesome!" She nearly shouted. "So… do you know where we are supposed to go?" Ruby asked with a bit of concern.
"According to the e-booklet… we should head to the auditorium for the headmaster's speech." Acier said, checking his scroll. He had a new notification.
"O-oh okay!" She replied: nervous, but excited.
He opened up the message. It was from Yang.
"I don't know how someone like you got in here. But stay away from my sister. Or else." He read silently.
Sister?
Fucking great….
Another one. At the cost of great peril to my undergraduate workflow.