Chapter 22: When [CENSORED]...
BRAZEN
Saturday Morning
The door to the warehouse creaked open tentatively. He shot a glance over at it and noted that it remained closed.
His little friend was back.
He nearly rolled his eyes at the flagrant waste of her semblance; instead, he closed his eyes and listened, trying to put himself in her shoes. The warehouse was generally empty since its desertion by the human corporation. Every little sound and echo was his to hear. He heard her heeled shoes make a 'clack clack' sound as they softly lighted down on the cement sidewalk. About now, she'd be peering in through the door after using her semblance on it to make it appear shut. Perhaps she'd hoped he had stayed awake all evening waiting for her to return and was tired.
As per their new custom, Dominic and he had watched over each other while they took their necessary short naps.
Neo must have decided that coming back at night would not do her pathetic dark-blind eyes any favour, so she'd prudently come back after daybreak. Sadly for her, Dominic had been keen to keep that special species advantage over her; his solution had been to take the various blankets and pillow casings, those that had been brought in to wrap Neo up in an effort to keep her warm, out from the product testing prison room for use to cover up the windows below the vaulted ceiling. He'd stolen some nails from the other nearby warehouses, and now Neo must be dismayed to find herself straining to see anything in the large room.
On one hand, Brazen had wanted to make her feel welcomed back and comfortable. Plus, the darkness always reminded him of the mines of Solitas no matter how much he tried to push those feelings down - damned if the darkness is my element, I detest it so sometimes! On the other hand, having Neo kept off-balance kept Dominic happy in case she tried any tricks. Dominic had a point in that he still didn't have solid evidence that she wouldn't try any tricks, so here they found themselves.
'Clack, clack, clack'. Tentative footfalls entering the darkness, heels on warehouse floor softened by the dust. Showtime!
"Welcome back, Neo." He let his voice ring ominously through the room.
"Welcome back." His echo sounded from the spacious and dark rafters.
He heard Neo stumble backwards a bit. Dominic would be pleased at that. In a glimmer of pink, her camouflage crumbled off of her and he could make out her figure standing by the entrance.
"A waste of your semblance, of your aura, is it not?"
"A waste." His echo chimed in from above softly.
Brazen turned on his scroll and let the light illuminate him, showing her where he sat in the middle of the room. He gestured to a box of breakfast bagels beside him that Dominic had fetched along with the aforementioned nails. "Hungry?"
With her hands gripping the handle of her weapon tightly, she scurried over to him and grabbed a whole-wheat number.
"I guess you'll be wanting this." He took her scroll out from his pocket and held it in front of her. Her eyes widened - yes, she wants it. Her hands snapped away from where they had been - forcing the pastry into her mouth - and toward him to snatch her property. He let her take it, releasing it the moment her fingers reached forth and touched it. "As promised."
Neo narrowed her eyes at him, then diverted the entirety of her focus to her device. Clearly checking it for signs of tampering. A wise thing to do - I did tamper with it - but fruitless. All he'd done was removed all evidence of his own use of her scroll, deleting conversations with himself and records of his spying sessions of team RWBY. All she would know is that 'Adam' used her scroll to call his own scroll, then went through the transcripts of her text-to-voice interrogation a few times. If he was better with technology, or had more time, maybe he could have prevented the latter part. Hopefully she doesn't think to much about why I'd be so interested in reliving her time with Bedlam.
He looked up at the rafters while Neo went through her files.
[Get on with it.]
"How have you been, Neo?" He asked, slowly rising from the ground and standing beside her as she searched her screen for the trick she must suspect was hidden therein. "Did you have a good evening? Find anything on Cinder's current whereabouts?" She glanced up at him for a moment as he rose up, but seemed to decide that he wasn't an immediate threat to her. Having had her tied to a table for several days, he'd certainly had ample opportunity to harm her.
Mouth still full of a bagel she couldn't eat whilst her hands were preoccupied with her scroll, Neo simply shook her head and let his hand comb itself into her hair. "You smell different." Touching her didn't break an illusion, though - it was her, and not some decoy sent in to take her place. That had been a situation for which Dominic had prepared several contingencies.
Neo looked up from her scroll and scowled at him. She conjured a floating illusion of a bottle, and he vaguely remembered seeing it in the kit of stuff she'd purchased at the store the prior day. Perfume?
"It smells... nice?" He tried to say it as a compliment, but it came out stilted and awkward. He tilted his head back and looked up, a pained look of exasperation at himself on both of his faces.
[Nice. Real smooth.]
It's not like I have much experience with this sort of thing!
"Did you have any luck with the information broker?" He asked down at her; she shook her head again negatively. Well, it has only been a little while and she would have needed to sleep a bit longer since she didn't have the benefit of magic .
He took a few steps away from her; as their scrolls lit up their bodies, they seemed to drift about in the dim room. By now even her human eyes should be adjusting to the light a bit. I need to keep her focus on me or her scroll, or perhaps the food, for the time being."If it's true that the broker is not fond of my kind, you'll have to do most of the legwork on that angle. Of course, you're pretty adept at that side of human society, aren't you." He paused; it hadn't been a question so much as a statement. Her attention moved back to the food hanging in her mouth, one hand moving up to address it. "I think I might take a walk up to the Academy today. Look around through their files for information about Cinder there. I didn't find anything last time, but maybe the headmaster's files are kept somewhere besides his office." Neo didn't need to know he also wanted to look up anything the school had on aura theory. She didn't need to know that he desperately wanted to understand more about how his aura being stretched over three bodies worked and, more importantly, how it could work in his favour like it had when they needed to liberate Bedlam from her petite clutches.
She stole in for another bagel, letting her scroll drop in between her breasts for safekeeping. Brazen looked up and away from how it lit up her feminine features from underneath the cloth.
[An appetite on this one.]
And for more than just food, I think. That sort of thing would have to wait, though. They had to get through business, first. His self needed to know that he could trust her enough to keep working closely with her. Introductions were overdue.
"There's not much left of my White Fang; fewer still that want to keep having anything to do with me. Ghira Belladonna took most of my people away by boat, to the purported safety of Menagerie. My leadership of my people hasn't really gone as I'd hoped it would. I'm a pariah to most, now." He sighed. "I guess we share that: working with Cinder has cost each of us what was important in our lives. Her plans, our losses. Even the victory at Beacon for the White Fang came at heavy cost in my followers. There's... not much left."
"Not much left." The echo was subdued, pensive.
Neo's mastication of the second bagel slowed. Probably remembering the loss of the man whose hat now graces her head. Probably ruminating over our arrangement to not kill Cinder outright.
Brazen moved forward and put his hands on Neo's colder shoulders, his fingers dangling down her chest. She swivelled her head around at the contact. "Not all, though. I still have a few that are loyal to Adam Taurus."
Neo turned around, letting his hands shift around her neck until she was staring up at his eye.
"Time for you to meet one of those. Dominic!" With a loud thump, his echo came down from the rafters. Brazen's hands felt Neo tense up as Dominic rose from his landing and moved towards the pair. "I trust him completely."
Neo looked back and forth between the two, seemingly perplexed. Her mouth fell open, but she had nothing to say - dumbstruck at what she was seeing.
He realized that he was relishing the moment a bit too much. Dom shot him a quick sign to get on with it, so Brazen conceded that an explanation was due to their new partner. "Dominic is my long-lost twin brother. We were separated by the human cruelty commonly inflicted upon my people. We just recently managed to find one another, after so many years without one another to rely on. We share our faunus trait, among other noticeable physical characteristics, which helped ascertain our shared bloodline. I wasn't quick to accept the arrival of a long-lost brother at such a... crucial time in my ascendancy within the White Fang."
"Yeah, considered it more likely I was just some pathetic wretch looking to latch onto his success or an Atlesian agent." From the stinging tone that Dom used, Brazen knew he had meant the words to apply to her rather than to the brothers' description of an initial reunion that never actually happened.
"He's no robot." Brazen assured.
Neo wrested herself out of Brazen's grip and moved towards Dominic, her hand outstretched. Dom looked at the hand like it was a bloated toad for a second, rolled his eyes, and offered his own for a stiff handshake. "Nice to see you standing and feeding yourself; helping brother with his quest to find that troublesome other human female." Dominic said neutrally.
A Neo-sized replica of Cinder appeared beside the three of them. Brazen stifled a laugh at seeing Cinder depicted as no taller than Neo. On closer inspection, Neo seemed to have made several modifications to how Cinder looked. At least in his memory, Cinder didn't have protruding buck-teeth. Nor did she stoop forward slightly with a hunchback. Her skin had also been smoother, not pockmarked. Why, if I didn't know better, I'd say Neo is trying to make my brother think Cinder is some variety of unsightly ogress. Wait, he did know better!
"Oh, is that how Cinder disguises herself in Mistral?"
Neo turned around, stuck her tongue out at him, and fixed the illusion. It was still no taller than Neo, but at least it was a fairer representation of his target.
Dominic took a step towards the illusion, looked at it for a moment, then waved his hand back-handedly through it to disperse it in a riot of pink sparkles. "No, no. Like I said, it is Br... my brother's quest to find Cinder. Despite my complete happiness at being able to see my twin and will for it to be otherwise, our time together is fated to be short; I have my own business elsewhere to which I must attend."
Brazen noticed that Neo straightened up, trying to appear taller, after Dom stressed the word short in his retort. Hah, like she'd ever come anywhere close. Maybe with stilts? "Don't worry, Neo. While Dom and I share a certain view of the world and authorities, I've let him know that you're on our side. Right?" He patted her arm.
She nodded her head and retrieved her scroll. At the sight of her hand dipping into her bust, both faunus shifted uncomfortably. Noticing that, she made sure to fish around a little for it, pulling her cleavage up by the bra to emphasize it, before drawing her scroll back out.
Behind her, Dominic's hands moved. [She does not speak much.]
It was becoming somewhat worrying, Brazen had to admit. Adam Taurus had always loved the sound of his own voice - it's true, I freely admit to being slightly egotistical at times! - but for the past couple weeks he'd only heard his own voice (with a few exceptions), and it was starting to make him notice the lack of variety. When Neo had fought for her equal status as a partner in their schemes, he'd hoped that she might have some helpful tidbits of advice or insight for the variety of issues he was dealing with.
Dominic knew all that, too, after their earlier talk where they had planned out how to deal with the possible ways Neo would return for her scroll, and how they would prepare and react.
"How are you feeling, Neo? Fully recovered from being laid out for a few days?" He'd been concerned that her ongoing silence might be a signal that she was still recovering or sore; her semblance seemed to be working fine, though, and aura tended to keep most illnesses in check. Honestly, if everyone had their auras unlocked, doctors would only have use as surgeons and nutritionists or such.
Neo shot him a thumbs-up with her free hand. So much for that thought. Maybe humans are different, heal differently with aura than I do? It wasn't like he was a doctor or aura-theorist. He was only barely able to read!
"So don't go thinking I'll get roped into your little revenge schemes." Dominic said aloud, but his hands said something else. [Maybe there is another reason why she is not speaking? Something you did earlier despite how reckless it was?]
Okay, so maybe testing out my semblance on her a few days ago by ramming myself down her throat wasn't the best idea - but I honestly thought Moonbright might have healing properties! He felt like his twin was somehow punishing him for what he had tried to accomplish with Neo, in an attempt to understand Moonbright. He knew so little about his semblance's latest ability that there was still a lack of evidence that it did not, in fact, have such wonderful healing properties. Brazen was confident that more exploration of his abilities was a necessity - it fell into his choice-route's ambit quite succinctly.
Neo moved back to the box of bagels, snagging another one. She nibbled away at it slowly, rather than continuing the ravenous pace with which she had devoured its two predecessors. The sun began straining through the blankets Dom had affixed to the upper windows, and the room became lighter - still dim, such that if a force of human authorities burst in the faunus duo would have a few moments of sight-advantage.
Neo noticed something that piqued her interest, now that her sight wasn't so heavily impaired. She went over to the desk and began ruffling through the items Brazen had removed from Toys 'N Us.
[You might not be as interested in figuring out all this magic stuff as I am, but you have to admit the thought of being serviced by a human doesn't appeal to your core character.] Brazen signed back at his clone. "So we'll meet back here in the evening again?"
"Sounds like the plan, same as ever." [There is an appeal.]
"DID YOU WATCH THIS?" The mechanical, feminine voice sounded from Neo's scroll where she loitered at the back of the warehouse.
"What is that, a video?" Dom asked.
"Oh, um, I was actually going to destroy that..." Brazen said, realizing that Neo was holding aloft the pornographic parody. "It's just a thing I saw at the shop yesterday that got me upset." He moved towards Neo and made to take it away from her, but she spun away from him - holding onto it like it was some precious thing. "Hey! Give that back!"
She bolted off, smirking, trying to stuff it down her shirt as she went, but Dominic suddenly appeared beside her. In one fluid motion he lifted her up by grabbing the back of her neck with one hand, relieving her of the video with the other. He let her drop back down to the ground. She crossed her arms and pouted, but then grinned wickedly as Dom began slowly reading the title of the piece.
"Adom Tear-Ass?" He asked in a bewildered tone. "What is this supposed to be?"
"An insult." Brazen accused the item.
Dominic shook his head angrily. "Add it to the list, I guess. Who did this?"
"Some local production company. Why? Planning on changing your plan for the day for a bit of retribution?"
His counterpart took a moment to mull it over. As he did so, Neo sneaked up underneath his arm and slid the tape out of his grip.
"Hey! Give that back!" Dominic shouted, his exclamation a note-for-note replica of Brazen's own earlier command. Just like Brazen's had been, Dominic's order was ignored by the petite porn pilferer as she scrambled away to a safe distance. As he grabbed at her he stumbled, his hands passing through the illusion she'd summoned. "Fine. Have it. Whatever." He walked over to Brazen, hands waving as he approached. [I'll stick to my plan. See what's left of the district after yesterday.]
[Alright. Guess the video studio lives another day.]
[If I wasn't already so busy, not to mention trying to keep a low-ish profile in the city...] Dominic made a little, deep growl.
He's taking that movie's content worse than I did. It must be because he cares so much about our reputation. He must be thinking about how his standing in the Fang would fare if stuff like that filth became distributed through the ranks. Would any of our followers fight for us when such slander is levied by humanity to disgrace me?
[If Bedlam hadn't run off, we could make another clone and he could deal with this shit.] Dominic signed, resigned to the fact that that personal vendetta was impossible now that their relic was inaccessible. Neo circled around to stand beside Brazen, the tape now beyond the reach of polite hands. [So you're going up topside? Try not to get caught.]
"Neo, what are you doing today?" Brazen asked her, returning his gaze to meet her heterochromatic eyes as he realized that she hovered nearby. He noted that her mood had shifted - she'd been cautious and reserved at first, then curious and concerned at Dominic's introduction; but since she'd gotten the video her spirits seemed to have swelled and she wore a smile. He tried to convince himself that it was just because their plan to make her comfortable with her position on their team had worked, and that she wasn't devising some new means of infuriating him with the obscene video or something. "Anything you think you can do to track down the information broker or Cinder?"
Neo shrugged noncommittally.
"Alright, well, if you're up to it, Br-" Dominic sputtered as he fumbled his words. "My brother here could use your assistance getting into Haven Academy without arousing too much suspicion." [And without arousing you, either.] He added on to Brazen as he walked past Neo towards the door. Neo's toothy smile grew wider, and she latched onto Brazen's arm to signify her willingness to come along for his adventure.
Hooray, she'll be useful today, Brazen cheered mentally, while also struggling to not let the feeling of her chest pressing against his forearm instantly make him fail to follow Dom's departing dictum. What's the worst that she could be planning to do with the video, anyways? Our reputation is garbage now so it can only get better. It's just an actor or something mocking us.
He got her to relinquish her embrace long enough for him to toss on his new clothes. As he walked out of the warehouse with the adorable multicoloured human girl hugging him, his will failed and Dominic would - if he were still around to see - be disappointed. It wasn't his fault! Does she have to jostle and press against me like that? He wouldn't shove her away since he wasn't sure how her semblance worked. He considered, maybe it needs physical contact, or touching me reduces the effort required to maintain it? He had to keep her happy and content, too. It was the easiest way to keep her in line for the time being. Dominic had seen the reason in that approach when Brazen had proposed it during their brainstorming session last night. A classic bit of good faunus/bad faunus: an easy way to make sure she confided in him. The inherent downside of her not being fond of Dominic would be resolved whenever he inevitably took off on his own.
Well, at least neither of them tried to kill the other. As far as introductions go, that was probably as good as I could have hoped for.
NEOPOLITAN
Still Saturday
She walked beside Adam down the street as he guided them through the maze of side-streets, avenues and cluttered pathways; he seemed to know where he was going, so she figured that he must be familiar with the route. To any onlooker, she was just a nondescript brunette girl walking with a stony-faced thuggish human fellow. If, by chance, someone from Vale were to have made the trip to Mistral parallel to her own, and if such a person had chanced to visit Junior's bar, that person might wonder why one of Junior's thugs was in the mountain city. Neo hadn't really had much time to think up a better disguise for him, but the necessity of the illusion was obvious. It wouldn't do for him to get thrown in jail before we can accomplish anything; that would just screw everything up. The doorman from Junior's was clear enough in her mind to not require much exertion on her part, which was really the most important thing. It was a lengthy walk up to the huntsman academy, so thrift was best. The more complex her illusion, or the more hard to conceive, the more it drained her aura.
"Like things aren't complex enough already?" Roman's voice haunted her mind, evoking her internal storm of conflicting emotions. Hope, confusion, anger, and a touch of self-deprecation. Her mind fell back into the cosy rut of replaying her latest advance in dealing with Adam.
Roman! How is it that this faunus knows the sign language you invented for me so that we could talk? She'd been astonished to see Adam and - more surprisingly - Dominic using Roman's super special secret hand-language to talk.
At first - for one brilliant, happy moment - she had dreamed up a contrived plot where Roman had somehow foreseen his own absence from Neo's life approaching and instructed Adam to take care of her. Or if he knew enough to do that, maybe he's still alive, she wished. That dream had fallen apart once she realized the stark truth of the situation. The boys didn't seem to understand that she had been taught hand-language by Roman. They used it to talk as if she couldn't see, trying to conceal their plots from her!
Naturally, her reaction to that wasn't to use sign language to demonstrate to her faunus allies that it would be an easy means for communication between them. That would just lead to questions about what necessitated her knowledge of signs. A better plan let her use it to spy on them: it would be like she could read their minds! If they were using sign language to talk between one another, thinking that they were excluding her from their underlying conversation, then their secret, private thoughts and communiques were hers for the stealing! She'd probably missed a lot of what they had been signing to one another in the dark, but now that she knew about it, she could keep a closer eye out for it in the future. She'd even allowed the scheme to relax her - she had been so tense about how to deal with the whole Adam situation! With this advantage, she could ensure his loyalty; or at least, perfectly predict any plans between him and his brother that conspired against her. She could make sure that things went according to her will: a nice, dead Cinder to avenge Roman. No authorities, no chance of Neo getting tossed into prison. Maybe a nice, tall faunus with a propensity for not wearing a shirt around her to sleep adjacent to regularly? Yes, at first glance she'd thought it to be an unexpected boon to keep it a secret. Admitting to her ability to understand it would just bring Adam closer to knowing about her flaw.
Her weakness.
But as she walked alongside Adam, her confidence wavered: what if this was all just a set-up? What if they did know she could understand them and were testing her to see if she would admit to understanding them? She decided to wait on it for a bit - there's no sense in giving up a weapon so readily, she told herself.
So, for all she cared, communication could continue cumbersomely. Telling Adam that she was pathetic and weak was not going to happen. She had to appear strong and capable. She was, thanks to the little voices in her head, growing evermore certain that the moment he discovered her disability he'd laugh at her for it. Mock her. Then begin to belittle her - just like the girls at school. Then he'd begin to wonder if she would be any use, just like how her parents had asked themselves why they should support her when other girls born to people of their social strata were so much better behaved than Neo was!
Adam would think, 'even if you convince Lil' Miss Malachite to help track down Cinder, how will you be my mouthpiece when you can't speak?'
Her semblance was her way around all of that! She could just conjure text bubbles. There was nothing a girl with a voice could communicate that Neo couldn't! Adam didn't need to discard her... but she wasn't going to give him a reason to think about it. Faunus only respect strength, falling into their primitive, animal mindset, right?
Roman would have agreed.
So, even if she could talk to Adam with hand-language, she decided that she wouldn't. Mustn't. She'd been dealt a good hand, and she had to play it just right or else she'd get busted. If it was a set-up, if Adam knew she understood what he was saying to his brother, then she could just deal with the repercussions of that IF they ever came.
Maybe I can pretend to learn hand-language from him starting now? Not a terrible idea, right?
"No, that'll just be like admitting you need to use it to talk and that leads to him turning on you." Inner-Roman reminded her. "Better to continue to let them think you're just not talking to them as an oddity."
And if I don't admit to knowing it now and he starts spilling secrets... if he ever finds out I know more than I should then he'll have to kill me. Unless Neo could somehow earn his complete trust so that her little charade didn't end with him trying to chop her up.
Neo had to walk the tight-rope. She couldn't let Adam know that she knew the content of his secret conversations with Dominic, or how she knew. She couldn't let Adam know she couldn't talk. Talk about a bad position to be in!
"Don't fret, Neo. Just be helpful to him and keep your distance, act subservient and fulfill his assumptions about your infatuation with him, and you'll be fine to bide your time until a good situation arises." Inner-Roman comforted her. His lessons and teachings lived on in her. "When Cinder's been flushed out into the open from her hiding place, let Adam torture her for what information he wants and then convince him to let you have her for our revenge. All you need to do is stay at his side long enough without spooking the beast."
Assuming Adam and Cinder aren't still in cahoots, playing me for a chump!
"Alright, Neo." The real-voice of Adam came out of her illusion, shaking her out of her reverie. "We're here." They'd made it to Haven Academy's gates. "Thanks for the disguise - it is a lot faster getting around this city when I don't have to sneak around in the shadows. Now let's get in there and see what we can find in their archives, shall we?"
Luckily, Adam didn't care about her ongoing silence during a stealthy break-in mission. If things keep up like this, he'll never find out I'm mute.
One Inconspicuous Infiltration of the School Grounds later...
Adam perused the school's archives at the librarian's terminal, having spliced into it with his own scroll. Neo had to admit Adam had a peculiar advanced bit of technology in his scroll, with a few unusual functions that must help him with his terrorist agenda. She hadn't been able to break into it when she'd first captured him; now it seemed to be adept at breaking into a huntsman academy's secured system. Where do I get something like that? It must be recently-developed Atlas tech or something that he stole.
Well, that wasn't being fair. He probably hadn't stolen it. Some other faunus had probably stolen the entire batch of scrolls from upstanding humans somewhere, and the plunder had been divided among the faunus criminal cell like how a wolf pack divided a carcass. Neo's mind imagined a pack of Adams latching onto her, stretching her clothes until they ripped. Exposing me to their hungry gazes. Their mouths descending to feast on her, licking tongues attacking her neck, suckling onto her breasts, trailing down her stomach...
Biting her lip, Neo glanced over at Adam. He'd been reading on his scroll for the better part of an hour, now. With his difficulty reading, he appreciates my silent vigil. Her job was to make sure he wasn't disturbed, but there was nobody around to disturb them. Just the two of them, alone in a school library on a weekend. Whoever still attended this school didn't have homework so quickly after the first classes of the semester that necessitated spending time in the library, and the staff knew it. So her job was sort of redundant, but what else was she going to do? She didn't care to read any of the shelved books, and her scroll couldn't hack into the academy's archived files.
Her glance at Adam continued into a full-on stare as she studied him, thinking about the shape of his muscles under his sleeves, wishing his attention was focused on her instead of painfully struggling to read. With a quick visual scan around the room, she began creeping towards him; her focus slid away from her task of keeping watch in favour of coming up with some catalyst to incite a reaction from Adam that didn't make her come off as too desperate. There's got to be something I can do to convince him to have some fun with me here, she assured herself, while admitting to her own desires that had been simmering since she'd shown off her body for Adam at the store yesterday. As she'd walked beside Adam to get here, she'd occupied her mind with her concerns about how to deal with the sign language issue so that she could ignore how the simple motion of walking had pressed her inner thighs against one another near where they joined the rest of her body. Excitement and sweat, lubricating and exacerbating each rhythmic grinding sensation.
With a flash of pink, her outfit changed into a Haven schoolgirl outfit. Well, technically the official school uniform skirt isn't this short... She sauntered over to where he stood at the librarian's desk. With a thought, glowing pink words appeared on the desk. "I MUST BE A LIBRARY, BECAUSE CHECKING YOU OUT INCREASED MY CIRCULATION." She hoisted herself up onto the desk and let herself slump down onto it carelessly, sending what may well have been the librarian's schedule clattering to the floor. With her hair fanned out around her head like a halo on the desk, and her schoolgirl skirt flashing him her panties, she was confident that his male urges would quickly compel him to give her what she desired immediately.
"Neo?" Adam's attention rose away from his scroll to regard her seriously. Her heart sped up: watching his eye widen as he took in the sight of the lithe girl offering herself up to his carnal cravings; shifting to scan the cheesy pick-up line that framed her body on the desk.
There's no hope against it, she crowed to herself. Time to see how my favourite dick is doing since I saw it last!
"Aren't you supposed to be on watch?"
What?
"Is someone coming?" Adam looked towards the door, then around the room - somehow looking away from her!
What?
"What's all this? Circulation?" Adam read off the desk. "What's that mean?"
Ugh, she sighed. Stupid faunus was too uneducated to grasp the sensuality of the situation, the comedy of her library-pun. Does he not realize it is time for sexiness to occur? Here she was, hot and bothered and ready to deal with those issues, and he couldn't figure it out. Maybe Neopolitan was asking too much of him. He had, until recently, been a virgin. Perhaps the fault for that condition rested as much on Blake's shoulders as on his. It certainly wasn't the library pick-up line's fault - that had been golden. Maybe this boy was just woefully oblivious to a woman's tells.
Adam's infuriating responses continued. "What are you wearing? Are you burning your aura on your semblance to change your clothes?"
She reasoned it was just a matter of Adam's faunus nature. His blindered, bullish brain that ignored everything aside from his current goal. So all I need to do is refocus his attention, startle him out of his current process. She provocatively pulled up the hem of her shirt, digging her fingers under her bra as they rose up her chest, to reveal her bare breasts to him. Even a beast as thickheaded as Adam couldn't ignore something this straightforward, Neo concluded, so now we can get to the part where we have fun with something else of his that is thickheaded! She licked her lips at the thought.
"Oh? Oh. Not the time for that, Neo." Adam's whispered words had the force of his blade, slicing through her hopes and her heart. "We're on a mission here, and rule number one is that you never let yourself get distracted on a mission or people end up hurt." He paused for a moment thoughtfully, then added onto that sentiment. "Blake thinks I made that rule up to keep my comrades alive, but I'd just as much prefer to avoid having to harm any civilians that come upon us while we're inattentive. So while I appreciate your gesture, please go stay by the door and keep an ear out for anyone coming. The download should only take another ten minutes or so, and then we can get back to base to sift through what I've taken for clues."
She wanted to argue against what he was saying. She was lying exposed on the desk, ready for fun! Adam turned his back to her and returned to looking at his scroll. Jealous of it, she concealed herself with another illusion of herself pouting on the desk as she stood up on the desk - taking a brief moment to enjoy their skulls being at the same height - and peered over his shoulder to glare at the piece of technology that he apparently needed to look at more than he did her.
"AURA THEORY" by a list of authors whose names meant nothing to Neo. None of it seemed to have anything at all to do with finding Cinder. That's what he'd rather be doing than paying attention to me? She hopped off the desk, pulled her shirt down and let her clothes resume their true appearance. Sporting an actual pout on her face, she stomped over to the door and sat down beside it. She began consoling herself with the hope that once back in the privacy and safety of the warehouse Adam's inhibitions would decrease to a level satisfactory for passionate physical exploration of their partnership. Such thoughts did little to relieve her in the here and now; Neo pulled out her scroll and searched the local news for something to take her mind off of her body's yearning for the coarseness of Adam's scarred flesh pressing against her sensitive places.
Instead of a nice article about how Cinder had been captured and taken to a low-security prison that wouldn't miss her if someone broke in and stabbed her a bunch of times - the only possible news that could make her feel happy after striking out with Adam - all she found was boring things about faunus and the local government. Apparently it was all anyone in Mistral was talking about today, the so-called exodus of the Menagerie Militia with a pile of local beast folk. Ugh, politics. My least favourite thing. So boring! She began reading it; either it would bore her enough to dull the ache radiating from her loins until she could get Adam back to the warehouse, or she would learn something about Adam's faunus freedom fight. With subtitles on to keep stealthy, she watched a trending live broadcast.
A stocky man in military uniform with a nicely shaped jawline filled the screen. A floating bubble caption identified him as the Crown Prince Jupiter of Mistral, while the scrolling news ticker ran underneath. "Crown Prince addresses Kingdom as chaotic mass exodus of faunus devastates local economy already hurting from Atlesian dust restrictions," "Local businesses outraged at secret agreement with Menagerie chieftain," "Queen remains silent as Crown Prince continues to be public face of monarchy," "Protests erupt throughout city."
Subtitled text appeared at the bottom of the screen, barring Neo's view of the zoomed-in jaw of the handsome Prince.
"Citizens of Mistral: it is no secret that these have been trying times. We understand that recent tragedies are fresh in our memories, yet Mistral is still strong, stable, and resilient to these hardships and will emerge stronger and more stable. Today, the news of the departure of many of our friends and peers, aboard ships headed for Menagerie, has created confusion among those who call this city home. The ability for a person to travel to any other continent, Menagerie included, has long been a dangerous affair. Even current technologies do not ensure total safety. Storms, logistics, and the ever-present threat of violence forces many to live disadvantageously. The timely arrival of the Menagerie militia in response to a terrorist plot, and its subsequent departure, was an opportunity for many disenfranchised faunus to leave Mistral to live new lives with – their own kind. While Mistral respects and acknowledges the important role these individuals have played in maintaining the local economy, it would have been unconscionable to deny those citizens the freedom to choose their futures. After several meetings with the leadership of Menagerie's delegation, it was agreed that any faunus living in Mistral city be offered the chance to stay or go as they please; their transport afforded from the royal treasury. In return for this boon, Menagerie has accepted a treaty that installs Mistral as their primary trading partner. These talks were kept confidential until now in order to allow those involved time to process the nuances of the arrangement - and to keep foreign parties from interfering. Mistral will profit from this new treaty, and once again will be a haven for art, culture, and prosperity known throughout the world for grandeur and power. We will resume our lofty place in the world that the outcome of the Great War made us stumble from."
The scrolling ticker continued flowing beneath the subtitles. "Checkpoints established around faunus district," "Heightened security to protect faunus loyalists from retaliation?" "Industrial sector predicts to be reeling from unprecedented labour shortage."
The Crown Prince continued to speak. "To ensure the ongoing safety of the citizens of Mistral, armed soldiers have been deployed to police the faunus districts. These measures are to ensure the protection of those faunus who decided to remain with us, as well as any who would otherwise have considered taking drastic measures to express themselves. These deployments will continue until the suddenness of this departure loses its severity."
Neo peeked out the library door into the empty hallway, then shot a wistful look over at Adam. Totally could have been getting it on without interruption. She wanted to think that the lack of loving was just as hard on him as it was on her: if he looked like rejecting her had been an excruciating struggle, maybe Neo wouldn't feel so angry at Adam. Instead, he looked completely nonchalant – rapt with his screen.
The news broadcast suddenly flickered and changed away mid-speech from the Prince's ongoing address to a scene at a blockaded street; the camera was shaky, probably taken by someone's handheld scroll. City guards in riot gear held a tight line between a grimy looking shanty town and a surging mass of humans wielding torches, Mistralian flags, and firearms. It looked like most of the people were yelling and screaming, but it wasn't captioned and she wasn't going to risk changing the volume.
Neo nearly rolled her eyes disdainfully at the display of humanity, but then caught her breath. She looked more closely at the screen, but it was already gone. I thought I saw... on that rooftop...
Well, at least now she had a suspicion about where Adam's brother was.
It looked like none of the humans at street level had spotted him, and his shabby disguise wouldn't immediately evoke viewers' concerns about the notorious faunus terrorist. She'd only recognized his silhouette because she'd had him and his brother on her mind for the past several hours.
She looked at the streets of the faunus district. They were disgusting, poorly maintained. Other than the human mob's torches, there didn't seem to be as many street lights, which sort of made sense. Pathetic animals, so barbaric. City life wasn't for them - no wonder so many of them yearned to sail off to live where the wild things went with Blake's father at their head. She wondered how well she would fare if she ever went to visit that forsaken land: would they even have plumbing there? She thought not. From the looks of the news feed, they could barely manage to keep their roads clear of filth. The government was probably secretly eager to be rid of them, despite what it meant short-term for the local economy that benefited from the bottom-feeders' contribution to the city.
Mini-Roman appeared, balancing effortlessly on the rim of her scroll. "Mistral has always had a comfortable relationship with Atlas. As Atlas' technological marvels continue to impress the world, it is only a matter of time until the need for faunus labourers can be replaced entirely with mechanical instruments. This treaty with the beast folk ensures that Mistral will remain a world power, no matter what changes come."
Neo's mind travelled back in time to her last moments with Roman, as the pair of them had taken control of Atlas' robotic arsenal for Cinder's schemes. How efficient those soldiers had been: no qualms about working conditions or morality of their orders. A perfect program. Tall, strong, lean, and cold. Adam is warm. So faunus might have one single advantage...
"I always wondered how the faunus district could be so dirty when it rains so often in Mistral. I think they actually enjoy living in the filth, like pigs in a sty." Mini-Roman sneered, tapping his cane on the screen at a dilapidated structure. "You'd probably be better off not touching Adam until you're sure he doesn't have fleas."
Yeah, she agreed. After all, it was probably from being so close to him that had gotten her so sick! She put up an illusion around herself so that Adam couldn't see her sticking her tongue out at him, making rude gestures. Who needs your shitty faunus dick, anyways?
Adam rolled his head in a small circle, resting his eye and stretching his neck.
Neo wished she could have been licking it while in the throes of passion, threat of fleas forgotten.
Dammit!
Maybe the faunus don't like living like that - maybe that's why they wanted to leave. She started to wonder if Roman was really the best source of insight into the faunus. His family had used faunus as test subjects for their product lines... Neopolitan didn't really have any experience with the state of faunus-human affairs outside of dealing with the terrorists milling about Mountain Glen and Vale. They had been clean enough - some of them had even spent an inordinate time bothering to sweep up the abandoned cavern and tidy up a few of the remaining residences in their downtime. She hadn't really given them much thought at the time.
"Careful, Neo. You're just trying to think of them as better than they are to justify your hormones. Don't forget your mission, and don't forget he's still an enemy fully willing to kill you if you inconvenience him."
That wasn't entirely true, she began to argue, but then, Adam hadn't even been willing to give her a bit of attention. Since she'd gotten free: no kindness at all. What kind of man was he that he could resist a girl presenting herself in front of him? Maybe he was upset about how she'd tried to trick him into getting free. Or maybe he was just really uncomfortable going shopping with me. She tried to reassure herself that he was just taking a little while to adjust to the new situation, to his feelings about her. Perhaps he really was just that focused on his boring literature.
"What's he done for you lately?" Mini-Roman snapped before she waved him back into nothingness.
The news feed went black for a moment, then returned to the speech of the Crown Prince. He'd apparently continued his inspiring speech despite being overridden by the interruption of the vantage shots from the faunus district. "... that normalcy will return, but for now: know that Mistral's stability and strength have not changed. Law and order will continue to prevail, and humanity will continue to enjoy peace and prosperity within this Kingdom. Mistral is more secure now than it has ever been. We are working with dignitaries from Atlas to reopen the northern borders and recommence trade at that side, too. Winter is soon upon them, and we all know they need our food shipments more than we need their dust." The gathered reporters got in a small chuckle at that. "Local mines are being reassessed with impressive results already. We open the floor to the newly appointed Headmaster of Haven, Professor Beige, to field any questions."
A thin man in elegant robes - who seemed like he had never lifted anything more dangerous than a pen in his life - emerged from the side of the screen, shook the Prince's hand, and began explaining how Haven Academy would continue to produce the finest, best-trained huntsmen and huntresses in all of Remnant in response to a question about the headmaster's recent appointment to his position. Neo, having beaten several of the previous crop of Haven's students (without breaking a sweat) while acting the part of team CEMN's fourth member during the Vytal Festival, had to have a silent guffaw at that. Well, whatever this pencil-pusher trains to defend this kingdom can't be much worse than what they had beforehand.
"I've gotten it all!" Adam called out in a stage-whisper. "Time to head out."
Finally. Neo quickly checked her aura status from her scroll and used her semblance to disguise Adam.
DOMINIC
Saturday Evening
The streets outside TorchQuik were empty. It did not surprise him - it was the weekend, and so many faunus who would have been given the late, weekend shifts had gone to Menagerie with Ghira. As much as the entire affair seemed like a retreat from the struggle, rather than a real victory, he did have to admit that he was looking forward to seeing the humans suffer to go on without their undervalued faunus slaves. Workforce. Same thing, really. The faunus district was a slum - people who are properly paid for their labour tended to not live in such conditions. The government clearly didn't devote any resources to the infrastructure there.
His mind went back to the sight of angry humans being kept out of the slum by a line of other, better-armed, human soldiers. The increased scrutiny had made him withdraw; there was no need for him to get caught for his curiosity. He felt the weight of his body as he lifted himself up to the support beam, doing pull-up exercises that allowed him to peek out the window each time his chin raised up above the beam. Waiting for his duplicate's return was boring, so he had decided to do something productive in the meantime. His clothes hung beside him; no sense in getting them all sweaty, so he'd taken them off except for the belt that kept his weapon at his hip. Having it on his spine while in disguise was a bit unsettling; having Wilt at his waist was so much more reassuring after so many years of always knowing it was there.
Lift up. Lower. Lift up.
Dom wondered what Wukong thought of the human's reaction to the exodus, to the police around the district. Neither Dom nor Brazen had been able to pin down what the huntsman-in-training's goals were; they were both convinced that Dom's disguise was working to some degree, but there must be some amount of suspicion in Sun's mind about Dom's identity.
"If he is willing to let you pretend to be Dominic rather than Adam, he must have some reason for doing so. Keeping up the ruse keeps both of you happy." Brazen had said last night as the pair talked to themselves while preparing for Neo's eventual return. "If he truly believes you're Dominic rather than Adam, then the ruse is working as intended. Your bit with Bedlam to make sure nobody noticed him getting aboard that train to chase after Blake sort of depended on some level of suspicion about your original identity, but at some point we should orchestrate a way to confuse him about it again. If anything, he suspects you of being Adam and doesn't realize Blake is being pursued."
"Or he just doesn't know where Adam Taurus is at all and he is just somehow that carefree?" Dominic had shrugged. "You planning on making an appearance?"
"Unless you think it would cause more problems than it would solve." Brazen had replied.
"I'll have to figure out when the next time I'll see him will be, and how to have you, as Adam, appear - without leading to your capture. If nothing else, giving him some doubt about my identity would create new opportunities to pump him for information."
"Maybe Neo'll be able to help with that?"
Putting a lot of faith in the human; but then again, that's sort of Brazen's whole deal - isn't it? It was a good thing Dominic was around to make sure that the three of them stayed on target, to make sure they remembered the big picture: humans bad, faunus good. Dominic had shaken his head. "If Neo's involved, then for all he knows it could all be an illusion. Makes me fully suspect again."
That had taken the wind out of Brazen's idea, and they'd gone back to discussing other contingencies to prepare to deal with Neo's eventual return.
Neo's return hadn't gone poorly - she seemed to fall in line easily enough. Dominic understood that she was biding her time, looking for a chance to strike the pair of them when they were weak, but for the moment they had strength enough to force her submission. Our literal duplicity adequately prevents her duplicitous nature. It begged the question: what would Brazen do once Dominic left to head to Vale? The trio slept less, individually, but they still needed to sleep. Neo would eventually have the chance to capture 'Adam Taurus' again; neither Brazen nor Dom had been able to agree on a way to prevent that, though each had suggestions.
Brazen had suggested that Moonbright, along with jabbing into her a few times in a couple of certain places with his fleshy faunus weapon, would temper her human abhorrence for the faunus with lust for further pleasure. Assuming our new ability even actually works as he suspects.
Dominic had suggested that Moonslice, along with jabbing her a few times everywhere else, would permanently prevent perfidy on her part.
Lower. Lift up, hold position to look out at the street for a few seconds. Lower.
Nobody on the street. Nobody on the rooftops of the other warehouses. He'd been sort of worried that one of Sun's teammates might have tracked him; mixed with the constant concern that local authorities may have located him. Ghira may not have intended it, but having public focus shift from 'hunting Adam Taurus down' to the exodus of the faunus had given the freedom fighter a bit of breathing room, a break.
The reaction of the regular humans to their government's decision had showcased the darker side of their species: so quick to riot, to pout when things didn't go their way, to become violent. The faunus had put up with human oppression for unrecorded centuries. He wondered if, given the state of things, would he be able to convert Sun to see things his way? He'd spent time with Blake, sure, and learned her perspective. Maybe now he was having second-thoughts about that point-of-view. Maybe the Belladonna belief system's inherent flaws were becoming more obvious to him, now that the battle was over.
It wasn't like Adam was advocating for the total eradication of humanity or anything drastic. I just want them to suffer a little bit, then take their place as secondary citizens of a new, better world. A world where the leaders' eyes aren't afraid of the darkness.
Darkness like this Salem creature. If the grimm were intelligent (or at least, commanded by a creature that was) and motivated by something other than mindless destruction, couldn't they be reasoned with? Why were humans like Hazel and Cinder so rare, why didn't the rest of humanity think to use something other than violence to make the world work as they wanted?
Well, there they are at the faunus district's borders, demonstrating exactly why they're incapable of accepting change for the better. A faunus-led world would be better, he knew. Brazen would work the Salem angle, ensure that the faunus had the right esoteric bargaining chips for that table. Bedlam would make sure that Blake's blasphemies against the new order were silenced.
Relics, Blake... Dominic didn't really care about those things. His job was to lead the revolution, to rally his people and make sure that none of their children would ever have to suffer the hardships he had endured. Still endured.
Lift up, peek out at the darkening street. The lamps were on out there, but the warehouses were silent. Lower.
I tried to rally the faunus of Mistral, but now they - with few exceptions - revile me for my methods or have left to follow Ghira to safety. At least they were safe. Even his own followers, who had surrendered so quickly. His grip on the beam tightened as he remembered how the humans had exploited the division between the faunus, how it had been the arrival of his own brethren from Menagerie that had cost him a second victory. That's why I need to rally our people. We have to have a single goal, a single vision, so that I can protect them. The brand over his eye itched, but he ignored it as he kept exercising.
Mistral was, so far as he could tell, a lost cause. A hollow pursuit: what was left here to achieve? All I can do now is leave like the rest.
Atlas was... well, the faunus there played a more subtle game that Adam's abilities had never been well-suited to. Even now, years later, being chastised for raiding an SDC warehouse with some like-minded Atlesian faunus still stung his pride. On the plus side, that little breakout break-in performance is what got me shipped off with Sienna when she snuck in from Mistral. If he hadn't done it, he would probably have found himself stuck in Atlas forever. Sienna had seen his potential, brought him to travel through Mistral with Ghira... the good times, when it felt like they were all on the same side.
The sword on his back seemed heavier. Coated in Sienna's blood long after being vigorously cleaned. He strained to lift himself up, then let his chin rest on the rafter support beam. He wiped at his itchy eye with his right hand.
He wasn't sure what part of him had killed Sienna. Was it Bedlam, wanting to seize control so that he could exact his revenge against Blake for her desertion? Or was it Brazen, in order to ensure Hazel's master would find the faunus as an ally rather than a footnote?
Or was it me? Her weakness, her contempt for my victory at Beacon... chastisement... the familiar sting to my pride...
"I guess it was all of me." Dominic admitted to himself and the sight of the sun setting through the towering structures of the city.
Mistral and Atlas weren't suitable for Adam Taurus. He had to go back to Vale, the place where he was suited for.
What about Vacuo? What about staying with Sun? A voice asked from the back of his mind.
Vacuo was just a dream. A place, like Menagerie, where he imagined that he could have been happy; happy, but not useful. Is it the magic of the relic that drives me to strive forth? Could I actually stop? Retire from this life that I've seemingly committed myselves to?
Not while the humans went on thinking themselves inexplicably superior. Not until the humans suffered for their crimes. Not until his pride was sated by the adoration that was his due.
A pair of humans came into view, walking down the street. A man and a woman, side by side. He had to give Neo credit for her illusionary tricks: nobody looking at them would recognize them. Only the fact that they would be the only ones he would expect to be there, now, gave them away. He lifted himself up onto the beam and waited until he heard the door of the warehouse creak open. Once it closed shut, the pink shatter of her semblance ending revealed them for who they were. Neo rushed towards the bathroom, using her scroll as a flashlight. Brazen sauntered in, taking a quick look around until he spotted Dom hanging up above him.
Dominic climbed up onto the beam so his hands were free while Brazen gave him a wave and a nod. He slipped his pants on as they passed underneath.
"Guess I'll see if I got anything useful in these files." Brazen shouted to Neo. Dominic witnessed her semblance: it was like a shimmering curtain between herself and Brazen, that showed her slowly walking towards the bathroom, while in reality she had turned around to rudely stick her tongue out at him before continuing away. The bathroom door slammed shut, followed by the sound of the sink beginning to run. Brazen, who only saw the illusion, went over to the desk and sat down, pulling out his scroll. Dominic realized he was aiming Blush at Neo, having instinctively drawn his weapon the moment he saw the human using her semblance; he resheathed Wilt and put the pair back to his hip.
Dominic dropped down to the ground and rolled over to his peer. "Trouble in paradise?" He asked with a knowing smirk.
Brazen looked up from his scroll to look confusedly at Dom. "Hmmm?"
"I just watched how her semblance works. She hid a rude little slight at you before going in there, but she didn't know I was here so she didn't waste aura making the illusion field wrap up to block my view of her actual self." Dominic sat down beside his duplicate on the desk. "Anyways, everything went smoothly?"
"Got the data." He waved the scroll around. "It should keep me busy for a bit. Looks like you've been back for a while." Brazen gave Dom's sweat-matted brow a glance.
"Yeah, they had the entire district surrounded and blocked off. I decided it wasn't worth the risk. Unless I hear anything about the faunus in there being victimized, I don't see any reason to go back." Dominic peeked at Brazen's screen, which was just a block of text. "Anything useful yet?"
"Who knows. Not yet, I guess, but hopefully there's something. Got their entire collection of stuff on aura and semblances, so maybe this whole-" he gestured at the pair of himselves sitting together on a desk in a dark warehouse, "thing might not be so mysterious. It'll take a long time to slog through all of it, though. A week or two at least. It's an entire bookshelf of everything that might be useful, taken from an entire digital library."
No chance of a spar, then, I guess, Dominic thought, suddenly disappointed that Bedlam wasn't still around to offer him a chance to tie things up. "So Neo didn't give you any trouble?"
A strange look went over Brazen's face, for only a second, that Dominic couldn't identify; it reverted to his bored attendance to the text on his scroll. "Her illusions made travel a lot easier. Perfect stealth mission, in and out nice and quiet-like. We weren't detected once."
"It is the weekend; not really the busy time at any human school." Dominic replied. Faunus education was far different in Dom's experience, of course. Wake up at four in the morning, work a full ten-hour shift to secure the daily ration allotment, then a few hours of being 'taught' by a hungover human who'd gotten the job after retiring early as a crew boss. Reading and writing weren't in the curriculum, nor were arts or sciences or mathematics. History was, but it hadn't been honest - it was more of a chance for the teacher to denounce the faunus for their lacklustre tendencies and savagery. Still, it had been a nice interlude to be in class, since afterwards it was back in the mines for another couple of hours before they were allowed to sleep. Technically, those couple of hours were spent by most of his coworkers to spend time with their families, but since Adam hadn't had a family to spend time with, the company had 'kindly' decided to put him to use rather than let him loiter.
Brazen had been quietly reading while Dominic stewed in his memories, but after a minute he looked up. "Thinking about childhood education?"
Dominic nodded. "Yes. Just thinking about the difference between how faunus were raised in Atlas, compared to Salt's experience. Or Ilia's experience, I guess."
"Even for the weekend, the street out there is dead. No faunus to do the late shift." Brazen noted. "Up topside, around the school on the summit, it's business as usual. Just goes to show that faunus representation is heaviest at the bottom."
"Especially since Lionheart is gone." Dominic pointed out. "Anything in those files about how he ended up working for Salem, or how he died?"
Brazen shook his head. "Not that I've found, yet. I'm well aware of the risks of my path, brother. She called him a coward, pretty much admitted to killing him. 'Be useful and loyal', she said. She claimed not to be human, but what is more human than demanding faunus to be 'of use' to them?"
Dominic gave a wry chuckle at that. "Well, we played the part for the humans long enough to be strong enough to overcome them. How much worse can the grimm be? We will win through this."
Before Brazen could speculate on the answer to that, the bathroom door opened. Neo strode out, clad in boots and corset, with her purse dangling off her shoulder and something else dangling behind her legs. Dominic was dumbfounded for a moment, then reacted with more alarm at the thought that, despite having watched Neo closely during her confinement, he may have missed a faunus feature. She had been laying on her back the entire time, so it was plausible that it had just been tucked up.
Brazen, able to see Neo and Dominic's reaction to her (re)appearance, must have understood Dom's sudden tense silence. "It's not real." Brazen whispered to him from the side of his mouth. "She picked it up at the store."
Understanding, Dominic's face found his palm. Why did I ever, ever think that anything about having her around was a sane plan?
Neo let the light from her scroll slowly pan over her exposed skin, then spun it around so that she could see the path towards Brazen. In so doing, she dimly illuminated Dom's figure and gave a little gasp of surprise. For a moment she covered herself up as best as she was able with her hands, then suddenly she was clad in her regular clothing again as her semblance took effect.
Not like it is anything any of us haven't already seen, Dom thought, then wished he hadn't as his mind returned to the image of her tied down to the table.
"Neo." Brazen called over to her as if nothing was amiss. "I was just starting through the data files. Dominic is here, too."
She walked over to them and placed a hand on her hip and cocked her head sideways with a look that said she really didn't want Dom there. "DON'T YOU HAVE ANOTHER NEWS CAMERA TO STAND IN FRONT OF?" With her illusion up, Dominic could almost have believed that she was actually talking rather than using her scroll's text-to-speech, minus the bizarre appearance of her mouth not moving. It was like she was a very skilled ventriloquist or something. I keep meaning to bring that up. He shot a look at Brazen. Maybe that's more up to him than to me? He felt protective of Brazen, but at the same time he knew that he wouldn't want to be protected himself. His ego wasn't fragile, but it also didn't want to feel coddled. Dominic decided that if Brazen wanted him to interject his own concerns about Neo into their relationship - whatever relationship it was that they had - then he would ask. "OR DID YOU GET TIRED OF HOPPING AROUND ON ROOFTOPS IN FAUNUS SLUM?"
Her mention of him being in the faunus district made his mind fumble - he hadn't told her where he was going today, had he? Neo's face, whether real or an illusion, wore a little sneer of triumph.
"You got caught on camera?" Brazen asked, looking at Dom and not seeing the face the human was making.
"Show me." Dominic demanded of the human, transforming into damage-control mode. She slid closer to Brazen, holding out her scroll and looking through it until the Crown Prince's address came up on the media site. She blitzed through the video stream for a minute. Her disguise started to flicker a bit, faster and faster until it broke - leaving her exposed to him again, but she seemed not to notice that as her concentration was diverted. Dominic filed away that it seemed her semblance required constant attention to maintain. Could be useful at a later date.
With a scowl on her face, she typed into her scroll. "IT WAS ON THE LIVE NEWS, BUT IS MISSING FROM THE REPLAY." She seemed genuinely disheartened to have misplaced her evidence, leaving Dominic on the fence about believing in its existence. She'd clearly been hoping to cut him down a bit in front of Brazen to wedge herself into Adam's confidence. If the pair of them were actually brothers, the wheedling manoeuvre might even gain traction; sadly for Neo, there was a bit more to their trust than blood.
"Are you sure about that, Neo?" Brazen asked, moving around to her side to peer over her head at her scroll screen. Dominic followed suit, so that both of them sort of hovered over her while she frantically searched through alternate posts of the video. Each time, all she could find was the pompous human prince's uninterrupted speech. By the time she eventually gave up, Brazen and Dominic had had watched the pertinent bits of the address several times over, allowing them to consider the official declaration fully.
"Trade deal? That and help clearing out the base was the cost of the exodus?" Dominic said. "I don't buy that for a moment. Has to be more to it than that." Neither version of Adam believed that reciprocal goodwill and basic morality had motivated the humans to bankroll the cost of mobilizing so many people on such short notice. That just wasn't how humans operated, in his experience.
"Ghira... is a good negotiator? Any time anyone actually listens to him rather than ran us out of town, things always went surprisingly well back in the day. He even managed to get whatshisname settled as a blacksmith in that one town out west..."
While the pair of them pitched ideas back and forth, Neo became aware that she was standing in between the two of them. In the light of her scroll, her head turned about to regard each of them. Dominic wasn't sure if it was just because of her natural height, or if it was the focus of her interest, but her gaze didn't rise above his visible abdominal muscles.
"Alright, maybe." Dominic bit the inside of his cheek worriedly. The idea that he'd gotten sloppy irked him. There was something about being surrounded by mirror images of oneself constantly that made one very aware of personal flaws. It's not like Brazen has gotten caught on camera, despite living up to his name and going into the upper echelons of the city so often. At least if Dom had gotten caught on tape as Blake's train had left, that had sort of been intentional; if eyes had been on him, Bedlam's gambit would bear fruit.
"Anyways, do you think they pulled the video down to hide evidence that... hmmm... someone who looks similar to me is in that area?" Brazen asked. Then he pointed at the scroll, which was now playing an analysis review of the speech. "There! A split-second of something there, a bit of a static, after he announced the deployment of armed forces. Might be evidence of tampering."
"Why else would they pull down the video?" Dominic replied. "If they're trying to ease citizens' concerns about human-faunus relations, having me front-and-centre in their broadcast would sully that up." Dominic said. Then, remembering Neo was there, he added: "since I look so much like you, wearing the mask." He pulled the mask out of his leg pocket and put it on. "Or maybe it was just the rest of what was in that road, the human protesters, that they were trying to cover up."
Neo was no longer paying any attention to the video, which was now looping through another playthrough. She was staring up at his concealed face with big, round eyes because of the dark – not because she was in awe of his appearance, right?
"If they're trying to make the humans happy, then showing images of protests wouldn't really work well. The best way to make people accept whatever line the authorities are feeding them is to convince them that their thoughts of rebellion are deviant, unusual. Like how in Mantle the faunus workers were taught that the life forced upon us was the natural order. If the White Fang had never whispered otherwise to us, most of us would have grit our teeth and accepted it."
"Ghira again." Dominic noted. "Well, the footage doesn't show me. For whatever reason, if it even caught me to begin with. I guess the commentators don't notice the cut footage - if it existed at all - because they're more concerned about praising their government or slandering the faunus as traitors." Dominic couldn't strongly argue that an image of himself hadn't been aired; Neo seemed far too well-informed and initially confident in the evidence she'd tried to present to have been bluffing.
Brazen's arm descended to wrap around Neo's shoulders. "I trust that you saw what you saw. Mistral's government has always had a bit of a focus on control of the media, more than any other humans." He said, reassuring her.
"Running on the idea that if they pretend everything is better than it is, then it will be better. 'Mistral Magnificent', and such hogwash." Dominic spat out the mantra.
Neo leaned her head back against Brazen's arm. Her arm closest shifted, and Brazen swallowed. She took a glance down her body and seemed to finally realize that she had lost concentration on maintaining her semblance while she had searched for the video. With a shrug and a smile, she quickly typed into her scroll. "I HAVE NOT PROPERLY THANKED YOU FOR TAKING SUCH GOOD CARE OF ME WHILE I WAS SICK."
Didn't she already thank Brazen yesterday after getting free? Dominic was wary of the lack of any accusatory notes in the message; she couldn't have forgotten that they'd essentially kept her prisoner for days. She wouldn't have forgiven them. The human was plotting against him somehow, as humans do, and it was up to him to make sure her plans fizzled out. With his wary eye closely on her, Neo strode over to the desk and propped her scroll up so that it was in the corner of where the desk met the wall, its light letting her see while freeing up her hands.
Which she immediately used to tug down on her corset, dropping it to the floor over her offensive 'tail' and past her boots. She picked up the garment and stowed it under the desk, giving the boys' nightvision a clear view of everything the restraining table had concealed from them as she bent down facing away from them.
Oh. You, plural.
While Dominic found himself at a loss for words, Brazen must have acclimated faster to the sight. He had had some experience with this sort of situation with her before. "If we're going to keep ahead of our enemies, we'll need to work together. I think a little team-building exercise is in order."
Dominic wanted to protest. The building was hardly secure. His brain wanted him to offer to climb back up to the window to keep lookout. The police could be on their trail, ready to set upon them at any moment.
"I still need to test out Moonbright." Brazen said. He reached into his shirt and took out his own copy of his signature mask, donning it. He grinned at Dominic, restoring a bit of confidence in their control of the situation. Brazen made a gesture towards Neo; Dominic tentatively nodded. Neo stood up and put her purse on the desk, ruffling through it eagerly as she squinted at it in the dim light.
With abating trepidation, Dominic moved up behind Neo and gently grabbed at her soft, plush prosthetic. "Yes. We should all serve the faunus." Feeling the slight tug, Neo looked up at him with wide eyes and a hollow gasp. "Unless you have other allies in the city you've left unmentioned, that you would rather spend time with?"
Neo stuck out her tongue and made a rude snorting sound. Her hands pulled out of her purse, each one holding a prophylactic as answer to how she wanted to spend the evening with her two faunus friends.
"Well, okay!" Brazen said, stepping forward, removing his shirt and casting it aside. "Then lets-"
[CENSORED][CENSORED][CENSORED][CENSORED][CENSORED]
Holding his pants in his hands, Dominic looked down at where Brazen lay on the floor. Neo lay sprawled against his side, her head nuzzling into his shoulder. Brazen met the look and, signing slowly so as to not disturb the girl on his arm, confirmed what Dominic was thinking. [Looks like you're on first watch]
After putting on his pants, Dominic sat down beside his prone twin and the human. "So did we figure out everything you wanted from that?"
"Still more to learn, but it will have to wait." Brazen hissed. He began rubbing his free hand along the small of Neo's back, making her coo in her semi-conscious state of post-coital bliss. Her left leg shifted so that it lay over his, making her entire body turn to press itself against his side like a faunus-shaped pillow.
Dominic waited for him to continue; when he didn't, he gave him a toe to the hip and a questioning look.
[Didn't figure out what happens when we - or if we can - charge up Moonbright and Moonslice concurrently] "I thought it might have when she bit me a few days ago - by accident, so don't make that face!" Brazen added, as Dominic had begun to roll his eye. "So we still don't know what it would be like if I blocked a strike with Wilt while projecting aura against Neo's attentions down there." [Additional: if two of us are charging up each facet of the semblance independently. Or if there is a range to the shared semblance thing.] They hadn't yet explained - or even given any thought about what to say about - what Dominic's semblance was to her; family-based semblances weren't uncommon, but they both implicitly understood that neither of them had ever heard of two people sharing aura like they did.
[Range is at least from here to where we were at house, when brother was caught and we were looking for him.] Either Bedlam hadn't been charging up their semblance since he left, or it was limited by distance. Dominic replied. "Alright, well, we can always try that another day. I'm always willing to hit you, but we're out of condoms and Neo's out of being-awake-today."
Neo made another soft little groaning noise, making him wonder how aware of their conversation she was.
"Still, we confirmed that Moonbright charges up like 'Slice: it charges up when energy is blocked using a sheath or blade. Discharges the stored energy in a similar wave - easy to hit with at point-blank range, though." Brazen listed. He emphasized that by patting the girl's rump lightly. "Energy can be stored up and held, or released immediately in smaller doses. Doesn't seem to take much aura to hold onto it, but it's non-negligible so it can't be held indefinitely."
"Just like Moonslice. Storing it up seems to have a much greater effect." Dominic said, gesturing at the example of what happened to someone who experienced a large cache of stored pleasure energy, now cuddling on his twin's arm.
"Finally, I confirmed that Bright and Slice are non-transferable." Brazen finished.
Pain could not become pleasure, nor vice versa. Dominic found the entire suitability of his semblance, now confirmed to the pair of them, mildly amusing. When people try to hurt me, my semblance makes them hurt themselves; but if someone tries to please me, it lets me reward them. It is like the universe wanted to let people know that the only way for them to be happy is for me to be made happy. It wasn't just a defence. It promoted others to be kind towards him. Despite that, humans have always given me nothing but hardship and pain. Clearly, it is what they want. Or they're too stupid to respond to potent stimuli-based classical conditioning techniques. His eye focused on Neo. Well, most humans. At least one or two might be salvageable. If nothing else, she had at least proven herself as a worthy pet, not needing to be killed. His vision for a new world had a spot for her in it.
The entire exercise had at least instilled in Dom some confidence in Moonbright. Whether or not Neo was worthy of being elevated to the status of a partner... well, that's Brazen's business and I'll let him sort out his own path. For the present, it was enough that she accepted her defeat by Moonbright.
"Haven't tested out how it reacts with dust, either." Dominic noted.
"Yeah, well, I only ever really ran Moonslice off of the fire dust in Wilt anyways. Wouldn't it just make the reflected energy into dirt or ice if I used another kind of dust?" Brazen mused. "Great, now I have another thing to test and I think I pissed off the best store in town to find dust-infused condoms."
The problem of more ideas to test didn't seem to bother his twin that much, Dominic thought. He rolled his eye and took a few steps away. "Anyways, I'll be up on lookout duty." Dominic parkoured his way back up to the rafter beam, doing another pull-up to lift himself up onto the perch. The street outside was dead silent. He looked back down at Neo and Brazen. Knowing Brazen could still see him in the darkness, he signed, [I guess she isn't terrible to have around.] Brazen closed his eye, and was clearly trying not to wear a winning smirk at seeing the concession. Life's not so bad, I guess. Dominic looked back out through the window and pulled his scroll out of his pocket, ardently wishing to focus on something other than what was below his waist.
There was a new notification. He opened it up.
His ship was in radio range. It would soon be docked, and then he would – with SSSN, if they could manage to get their hydrophobic human aboard – be here no longer.
What a shame. Here I was, just starting to have a little fun, too.
PITER, CROWN PRINCE OF MISTRAL
Saturday Evening
He handed the list of names back to Beige, making a small hum of approval as he did. "You've done well, Headmaster. The roster for your inaugural semester seems to have filled in nicely. Though... couldn't you have done anything more to persuade team SSSN to remain?" The Crown Prince tried in vain to force the unpleasant notion – his relative being led around the desert by Lionheart's literal golden-boy – to not irk him. There was a lot that was wrong with it, but at the end of the day Neptune was his own man. Cut from the same cloth as his parents, seeing how they moved away from the capital and gave up the bulk of their birthright for a simpler life by the coast.
"I assure you, my lord, all efforts were made. The man's mind is set on expanding his horizons."
The thought of Neptune in a desert almost made him laugh out loud in front of Beige. Are you that afraid of your element, cousin? Piter wondered. Or does paranoia run in our family? Neptune being beyond the eyes and ears of the kingdom's spies unsettled him. At least his family was still living in Mistral, despite what distance they'd put between themselves and the royal seat. Neptune was not at the top of Piter's list of rivals and threats to his title; yet Neptune had always been diligent, intelligent, and perceptive. Jupiter wondered how well Neptune understood his own popularity in certain political circles. Parading his strength in the Vytal Tournament had caused whispers, which had only stopped when more concerning events occurred in Vale. "Very well. We will contact you soon; thank you for your speech today, it was received well."
"You are too kind, my lord." The man bowed, reaching a respectful ninety-degree angle that threatened to topple him off balance. He hovered like that expectantly, then asked a question that Piter would have preferred to consider the answer to later. "What of... what of the interruption?"
"A visit to the broadcast station tomorrow to discuss further necessary corrections with the manager seems prudent. A couple of soldiers shall be enough to impress upon them the seriousness of the visit; the Retinue has more pressing things to attend to." It went without saying that something had to be done about whoever was responsible for cutting the prince off in the middle of his speech to reveal the military cordon around the animal's district, but overall it had just been a minor bump and quickly covered up. "Certainly all just a miscommunication. Now if you would excuse the departure, the Empress awaits."
Headmaster Beige scurried away, his thin legs well acquainted with palace protocols. The Empress of Mistral rarely saw visitors these days, and never liked being kept waiting when she did. She's cloistered herself since the death of my parents, they say. When he was younger, he remembered better times. Playing with his cousins in the fountains, games, fun parties. Daylit revels on the top of the mountain's peak, blissfully ignorant of his looming life of duty and responsibilities.
He walked along the hall, looking through marble pillars down upon his sprawling city. He was met at the entrance to her personal chamber by her majordomo. With a silent nod, the door was opened and he stepped into the candle-lit room.
"Piter? Is that you?" The warbling croak of his aging matriarch carried through the splendidly appointed room, her voice absorbed by the lavish silk drapes, velvet cushions, and other luxuries the ruler of the largest human Kingdom was wont to have. "You're early..."
"I would hate to keep you up waiting for me, grandmother." He strode over to the side of her bed and knelt down beside it, so that his face was level with her own where she lay. "I made the speech for the people, but a technical malfunction-"
"I saw."
Of course she did.
"Tomorrow I'll go to find out who was responsible. The people shouldn't have had to see that." Jupiter apologized. More than anything, it was the responsibility of the rulers to ensure the placidity of their people. Hopefully Ghira and his people were far enough along the coast to have not been privy to the broadcast. The placidity of the faunus was important, too.
"It is done." The words sounded like a sigh. She wasn't wrong – despite the immediate response of his technicians to wipe the records, the initial broadcast had still been tainted. Hopefully the palace's team of social media influencers would focus attention away from the interruption, onto the important speaking points of the speech. The benefits of the trade deal, the emphasis on stability, letting the masses see that the exodus was a victory.
"What would you recommend I do now, to maintain the peace?" Jupiter asked hesitantly. Lately he had begun to think that he should make more decisions himself, rather than relying on the advice of his grandmother, wife, or courtiers.
His withered relative seemed to have been thinking along similar lines. "Jupiter, my precious one. What do your instincts tell you?"
Jupiter thought for a moment, then decided to seize the opportunity to drive the conversation towards a discussion he'd longed to have with his grandmother. "My instincts tell me that you've kept things from me, despite my work taking on the duties of the Crown."
The room was silent. Her glazed eyes stared vacantly up towards the ceiling, making him wonder if she could see it all the way past the candlelight.
"Fetch me a glass of water, from the stand by my vanity mirror."
Jupiter complied and watched quietly as she took several sips from the porcelain cup before handing it back to him.
"I'm old, Jupiter." She waited a moment before continuing, as if the revelation of her venerability might have caused him shock. "I've seen many things in my life. When I was a girl, Mistral was the strongest human kingdom. So many people, so productive. We expanded rapidly. Too rapidly, some historians might argue."
Jupiter held his tongue, not wanting to mention the Great War to his grandmother. It was still a sore point for her.
"My father let me sit upon his lap on the throne as he attended to matters of state. Ah, for days of youth..." She beckoned for the cup again, and a minute passed as she took several more sips. "I remember the pets I had as a girl. Lovely, unique specimens, each of them. I delighted in their company. Who would have thought that my favourite would come back to me like this? To save the academy - that Vale's king forced upon us - from destruction from the ferals?"
"Ghira Belladonna." Jupiter said. He remembered the fear he had had a week ago, upon telling his aged matriarch of the events at Haven Academy, that she would expire then-and-there from the sheer shock of hearing his name and involvement. "You mentioned that after the Revolution he had left you to travel the world, seeking to better his people's lot."
"I also told you to ensure that you and your entire negotiating committee drank the tatarian honeywood extract tea before meeting with him."
"Yes. We did. His semblance did not affect us, if he tried to use it at all." Jupiter said firmly. "He seemed to be no more compliant to our initial offers... he must have built up a tolerance to the drug..."
She continued on, ignoring Jupiter's muttering. "Many things I have seen since my time upon my father's knee. Our kingdom's fall from grace at the hands of Vale's king, and his mercy as a victor towards my father. Some things that my father meant me to know, some things that I was not meant to know. I'll tell you now one of the things I was certainly not meant to know. The king of Vale came to Mistral – I don't know how, it was done in secret. He met with my father, late in the night, and they spoke of things that only kings should be burdened by. I was a young girl of but ten years, scared of a howling wind that had knocked a shingle loose near my room. I had gone to find my father, and instead found him preoccupied." She beckoned again for the water, pausing as she sipped. "I wonder if he had looked less terrified then as he did when news of his armies defeat in Vacuo had reached him. I heard what Vale's king told my father."
She reached out and strained to reach Jupiter's wrist; latching onto it, she feebly drew him in towards her – as if afraid to tell her secret in anything above a whisper.
"The grimm are led by an intelligence, a creature dark and malevolent. It seeks to destroy humanity. Its name is... Salem." She released Jupiter, and breathed out heavily.
Jupiter sat in shocked silence. No huntsman has ever spoken of such a thing. The grimm are monsters, creatures of darkness, of evil, of destruction. Not thought. Not intelligence. He wondered how – and why – such a thing was kept secret. The answer came quickly enough: if the grimm were led, then humanity's existence was more precarious than anyone could have believed. The knowledge of that would have sowed chaos, panic... despair. A horde of grimm was a terrifying prospect for any settlement. An army of grimm, though?
Unstoppable.
She looked at him knowingly as his mind struggled to comprehend what she had told him. He found himself unable to understand how humanity even existed, if such a force aligned itself against them. She must know exactly what I'm thinking. She's had eighty years to think the same thing, over and over again. "You understand the implications of your speech today?" She brought the conversation back to its prompt, deflecting his impending slew of questions about the grimm leader.
His brain shifted gears, away from the scared child he'd reverted to at the idea of a grimm general, back to the capable leader he had to be for the sake of humanity. His long hours of training and instruction returned. "The media is responsible for public knowledge. The media has to be regulated tightly, or else too much knowledge will... destroy us. Destroy everything."
She nodded. "Good. You see, and you know what must be done."
"I'll take the entire Royal Retinue to the broadcast station tomorrow. Remind that oaf about the importance of discretion and appearances in his line of work."
She continued to nod. "I'm old, Jupiter. It is good to know that, when I am gone, Mistral will find itself in capable hands."
"Thank you, grandmother. That means a lot to me to hear you say." After several long moments, he decided to ask: "do you think convincing the faunus to leave with Belladonna was what was best?"
"It was necessary to preserve our purity. The financial cost is negligible in the grand scheme of things. At the end of the revolution, after my husband was defeated at Fort Castle, I had to make a tougher compromise. Releasing our pets, giving them equal rights, after their kind had fought so ruthlessly against us in service to Vale and Vacuo less than a decade before... it smarted something awful. But like that, our people will accept this and move on; like you said in your speech, Atlesian technology may be the better option for humanity's future." She yawned, an action that barely registered as more forceful than her laboured breathing. "Even if an old woman like me can't figure out how to use all the apps on her scroll..."
Jupiter managed a small smile. Humanity's time having to tolerate sharing space with those animals is coming to an end. Technology has finally advanced to let us replace them.
"I've kept you awake long enough for tonight, I think. Thank you for your advice, my Empress." He bowed low.
"The coming days will see Mistral change. Make sure it changes to suit your vision of our future, my Prince-Heir. You have my permission to leave."
Jupiter ended his bow and left the room, nodding to the dutiful majordomo as he left.
Everything made a lot more sense, now. He wished it didn't.
Lionheart, working with Cinder Fall, working with the terrorist faunus. The grimm, led by a monstrous intelligence known as Salem. He walked past the marble pillars, their long shadows cast into the hallway, and his mind reverted back to the nightmares he had had as a child: every shadow containing a monster, every night a feral faunus lurking under his bed or in his closet.
The headmaster of the academy, the institution installed by the leader of Vale nearly a century ago to stand against the grimm, working with faunus terrorists to overthrow human dominion. The terrorists, allied to the person who had fed Vale to the grimm and destroyed intercontinental communications.
Lionheart served the grimm.
The faunus serve the grimm.
Monsters and monsters, turning their fangs against humanity's flickering flame. Atlas hoarding their dust. Mistral stands alone; so lonely at the top.
What was Ghira's real reason for coming to their aid? Jupiter trusted his grandmother enough to believe that he and his compatriots had been immune to the faunus' frightening semblance, but that didn't mean that they were not susceptible to more mundane deceits.
What if Ghira and his old terrorist faction never really had a schism? What if that was all just a long-term plan to have all this happen a decade later?
Were faunus capable of long-term planning like that? He would have said no: such conspiracies were just paranoid fantasies of the materially dispossessed. But I'd have said the same about the creatures of grimm an hour ago; now look at me.
He shook his head, trying to scramble his thoughts to clear his mind. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
Focusing, he prioritized his objectives. Tomorrow, he would spend the day with Junie to calm himself, then visit the broadcast station before it closed for the evening – less likely to cause a scene that way. Best to keep his visit as quiet as he was able. He'd have Beige look through Lionheart's files again, for anything about his dealings with other faunus. He'd have those names cross-referenced with a list of anyone with known ties to the White Fang. Let's see what sort of contact there was between Lionheart and his people's dissident faction. If there were any matches, then he'd look up whether or not those names were now on Ghira's ships. If there were no names that matched, that just meant that Lionheart had been especially careful to hide his communications with his brethren. Either way, Jupiter couldn't see a way that exonerated the former treasonous headmaster of collusion with terrorists and monsters.
However, if Lionheart's people had gotten onto Ghira's ships... or if they had stayed behind... what did it mean?
Jupiter leaned against a fountain as he approached his residence, a mist of water sprinkling his leg.
What does it all mean?
He stripped off his uniform and prepared for sleep. Junie was already there; she hadn't waited for him to get home. He stared at the bed. No. He stared at the place underneath the bed. As a child, he'd feared the monsters that he believed hid under there. I've grown beyond those fears, haven't I?
He pulled out his scroll. Images from the report detailing the survey of the White Fang terrorist headquarters. Faunus body parts, grisled remains. Not particularly settling visuals to prepare for sleep, but he had to see them.
If the faunus had allied with the grimm, why had they suffered such heavy casualties?
Maybe because they failed? The thought gave him hope that, perhaps, Ghira and his people had been honest when they said that they wanted to show the world that they did not share the ideology of their terrorist counterparts.
The sight of the cavern seemed to give credence to that belief. Yes, Jupiter thought. This was punishment for their failure to destroy my kingdom.
He knelt down by his bed and used his scroll's light to peek under the bed. Nothing there; not even a speck of dust, thanks to the attentive palace servants. He let out a breath he didn't realize he had been keeping in, and the released zephyr swirled around him. Satisfied that he had made the right choice in his dealings with Ghira, he put his head down on the pillow as he turned off his scroll.
A nagging thought, though: if the White Fang had been punished for failure, what punishment had Salem selected for their leader?
What had become of Adam Taurus?
NEOPOLITAN
Sunday Morning
With her appetites sated, Neo unceremoniously left the warehouse. The Taurus twins, acting awkward around her after being so forward with her body overnight, had buried themselves in their own business. Dominic was brooding up in the warehouse's ceiling support beams and Adam had put in an earpiece to listen to the documents he'd copied from Haven's library. Free, fed, and freshly fucked, Neo decided to do some work of her own. Using her scroll to get directions, she made her way to a nightclub Roman had told her about: The Luck of the Mountains. According to her mentor, it had been a hotspot for the local underworld.
At least It had been, a decade ago when Roman had been working for the local gangs.
Now, the place was showing its age. Chipping paint on the facade, broken windows covered with taped-on cardboard sheets, and a scruffy old drunk laying in the gutter in front of the door spoke of the establishment's fall from its days as a trendy hangout into disrepair and disrepute.
The barkeeper had initially refused to serve her alcohol so early in the morning. Rude! A fist-shaped indentation in the bar had changed his mind. Now she sat in the corner booth of the establishment, staring at the bottle of Mistralian rum and her empty glass. Is the bottle half full, or half empty? She thought whimsically as she poured herself another shot. Her unlocked aura made getting the alcohol, as well as fighting and fucking, that much easier for her. On the other hand, an unlocked aura made her alcohol tolerance higher. Getting a simple buzz was no easy feat.
It was possible that her habit of drinking at Junior's bar, rather than her increasing aura pool, was responsible for that, but she would rather blame her aura than herself, for whatever that slight distinction was worth.
It looks half full, she reasoned. Lots of alcohol left. She had a lot to celebrate with a nice drink. Adam and Dominic had accepted her into their clique. She'd had a fun night. Everything seemed like it was on track. She downed the shotglass, swishing it around in her mouth for a moment to let herself experience the full gamut of its flavours, then swallowed it all down. She poured herself another glass.
Well, then again, it's nearly half empty. Unlike her performance after getting free of her confinement, she didn't feel victorious after last night. Perhaps taking on both of them at the same time had been too ambitious an undertaking. She'd had to do it, though. It was the only way to make sure that she'd have loyal backup when it was time to undertake Cinder's trip to an undertaker. She took a sip of the refilled glass and let herself think happy thoughts about what Cinder's corpse-face would look like. Surprised? Terrified? Remorseful? Furious? She downed the rest of the glass. It would feel so good to finish this job. The knowledge that the person responsible for what had happened to her life in Vale still was out there, un-stabbed, was like an insatiable itch in her heart.
She looked at the empty glass. Everything's on track, she thought again, confident that once she figured out where Malachite's gang was operating out of they'd be able to help her track down Cinder.
"So what's the plan for after Cinder's dead?" A voice in her head asked, shaken out of its usual timidity by the influx of alcohol.
Lazily, she considered going on a date with Adam to a nice noisy dance club. With loud music playing, he wouldn't notice not being able to hear her – he wouldn't be able to hear anything except the rhythm. It would just be the pair of them communicating with body language: her body grinding against his on the dance floor...
She frowned. She couldn't really take Adam dancing, though, could she? The bounty on his head and everything, that ruined that beautiful vision's possibility of becoming a reality.
"Knowing our luck, his faunus hearing wouldn't be keen on the loud music."
Regardless, the thought of planning a date with Adam had gotten her heart thumping in her chest. We might not be able to go dancing, but there are other activities you can do on a date. Like going to watch a movie. She imagined sitting beside him in a theatre, eating popcorn and watching a romantic comedy. Holding his hand in the dark. Heck, she thought, we don't even need to go to a theatre to watch a movie. She imagined the pair of them hanging out at the warehouse, cuddling up in blankets watching movies on a scroll. Comfy.
Taking another drink, Neo had another, naughty thought. She reached into her purse and drew out her scroll and the video she'd taken from the boys. We could always watch something racy, to get him in the mood. I should see if this movie is any good beforehand – you know, to make sure it doesn't ruin the right 'moment'.
With that in mind, she loaded the pornographic video onto her scroll, taking time to analyze the actor's attempt to imitate Adam's appearance on the cover. Certainly Adam's actual features were much more enticing; the actor lacked the training to hold a proper stance with the sword. His chest lacked the myriad scars that told of a lifetime of suffering. The White Fang mask was an exaggeration, clownish and absurd, evoking no fear akin to that of the real deal's. It doesn't make my heart race to see it, doesn't make me afraid that the man wearing it can hurt me if he wants to. It looked more like a Mistralian masquerade ball mask, complete with little tassels and a hint of glitter. Neo fondly considered the blueness of Adam's eye, and how the production studio – and all humans besides herself – had nothing but masked wanted posters to go by when it came to knowing Adam's true face. Adam won't hurt me, though. We're partners, now, she tried to reassure herself.
Credit where credit was due, though: the actor was a bit more masculine down below the belt. They hired him for this for a reason, I guess. She curled a lock of her hair around her finger as she thought about her latest conquest; I'm almost disappointed that they don't have a secondary animal trait down there... but she wasn't going to complain. Despite her nagging doubts and inspired imaginings, the reality was that Adam was very appealing even without having a big bull phallus.
"Do you not enjoy being able to walk around this morning?" The small, rational part of her psyche muttered.
Alright, maybe them having cocks that aren't bigger than my arm isn't that big a downside. Adam was a catch, right? If it hadn't been for the whole thing between him and Blake, he certainly would have gotten snatched up by some faunus hussy in the White Fang. I'd almost feel compelled to thank Blake for keeping him off the market for me for so long, Neo considered generously.
Speaking of Adam's ex-partner, 'Adom Tear-ass' on the cover was locked in a grapple with his counterpart, 'Bloke', their hands locked together to symbolize their conflicting ideals as they struggled to garner faunus support to their ideology. Neo wondered what Blake Belladonna would think if she saw herself depicted as a transvestite... or how the recent talks between her father and the local government would have gone if her old man had seen this thing. She felt like the discourse would have been a bit more strained. In fairness to the production company, Blake had been a wanted terrorist for several years. Wait, Neo thought as that fact ran through her mind, isn't she still sort of a wanted terrorist?
Can a person just choose to discard that sort of label? Can society absolve such a person so easily?
If Blake could do that, could Adam?
Neo admitted that she didn't really see Adam's goal of overthrowing human hegemony in Remnant as something that he would live to see; if it were even possible (or desirable). She'd never done a headcount, but she knew that there were a lot of humans. Many more than there were faunus in the world. If she kept close to him, would the pair of them ever be anything other than terrorists? What kind of life could they have, living on the fringe?
Roman had operated in the social framework; he was no revolutionary, just a famous criminal. He could have retired, settled into running a gang of his own to rival Junior or Malachite. After the events leading up to the Fall of Beacon, his bridges would have been burned. That's what Cinder excelled at: burning things down.
"Better to grow up from the ashes than to burn to a crisp." The miniature figure of Roman said from the rim of Neo's drink.
Adam had never really had those bridges to burn; he was literally branded as an enemy of humanity for all time, wasn't he? Everyone knew his face – well, most of it – and knew what he had done. Aha! Neo thought, I can just conceal him with my semblance! The thought of herself and Adam, living in a nice comfortable penthouse condo in... hmmm. Vale was gone, Mistral was a mess... maybe Atlas? Did Vacuo even have penthouses? She wouldn't be able to keep the illusion up all the time, so they'd need a nice private place to rest. The warehouse, while deserted, wasn't quite as secure as she would prefer her living situation to be. The door didn't even lock, and she was pretty sure that Dominic had broken the upper window at some point. That would make the approaching winter cold, even with a warm bunk-buddy at her side.
Blake seemed to have gotten a get-out-of-jail free card by joining Beacon. Wasn't it just a matter of fairness that Adam get a similar chance, through Neo? At least he had seemed to give up on Blake, so there was a chance her father wouldn't harbour as much of a grudge against Adam if they wanted to move south. They could be happy together... once Cinder was dealt with. Ghira certainly wouldn't dislike Adam for helping take down Cinder, right? None of that would even matter if she could keep her illusion up on him. If Neo could give Adam an option for a happy and content life, then maybe he would forgive her for lacking a voice. Her hand trailed down her side and unbuttoned her pants, allowing a few fingers to sneak down as she thought about what life with Adam could be like.
The video finished loading and began going through the title sequence. She turned the volume down when the barkeep glanced over in the direction of her booth, but didn't mute her scroll.
The actor playing Adom brandished his super-fake sword. Neo cringed a little as it flopped around as it moved. "I am Adom Tear-ass, awesome faunus rebel and evil mastermind! Muahahahaha! All shall bow before me!" A group of burly 'faunus' men and scantily-clad 'faunus' women stood behind him, all wearing white masks adorned with provocative racial slurs over their eye slits: WEINER DOG; HORNY GIRL; CAMEL HUMP; TROUSER SNAKE. They cheered at Adom's declaration. One of the horns on Adom's head jostled as he moved, revealing the shoddy craftsmanship of the imitation.
They didn't even make them look right, Neo bemoaned. Adam's horns were smooth obsidian ridges, sweeping back handsomely to frame his mussed hair above his face. The costume designer for this misrepresentation had gone with a more traditional set of ox horns that curved out to the side and forward from Adom's head... like an actual ox's horns.
Neo paused her fingertips' ministrations. Hold up a moment. A city girl like her might not know much about animals, but what sort of bull had horns like Adam's, anyways? None that she knew of. Honestly, they looked more like goat horns. Taurus meant bull, but maybe that was just his parent's name? Neo knew a bit of biology; she knew that faunus-human and faunus-faunus relationships sometimes produced faunus with different bestial traits than those of the parents. Despite that, this video was basing its depiction of Adam (Adom) fully on the nuance of his last name without any thought. It is a parody, I guess? The video kept playing, though, and Neo's attention snapped back to her scroll.
"Wait!" A shout came from off-screen. The camera panned away from Adom, to focus on the arrival of Bloke. The tight leather top, long black hair, and feminine makeup contrasted by the slight bulge in the front of his pants, Bloke rolled into the scene with some grace, standing to point accusingly at Adom. "I am the true leader of the White Fang, Adom! I will lead them to a new future, full of freedom, idealism, and as much lube as we can buy from Mistral's local Alpine Sheen Inc.: now in raspberry-cream flavour!"
Neo rolled her eyes at the flagrant product-placement, but her hand returned to its diligence.
The camera spun around, revealing a group of guys in plain clothes, representing people attending a rally like the one she and Torchwick had gone to in Vale to showcase the stolen Atlesian PALADIN suits. One of them stepped forward. "Oh. If only there were. Some way. To determine with whom. Our loyalties should. Lie?" The line was delivered with such lack of emotion or constancy that Neo fervently wished that that actor, rather than herself, had been struck dumb by fate. It almost sounded like he was reading his lines – slowly – off a teleprompter, but it was clear that he was just an awful actor.
Another faunus stepped forward from the haggard crowd. "Which of these prime examples of faunus sexuality will lead us to equality?"
"A test!" Exclaimed another. "We demand a test!"
"Show us your moves!"
"Very well!" Announced Adom to the crowd. "Bloke, I challenge you! Whoever brings more of these new recruits to come... to their faction... will be appointed ruler of the White Fang and get the royal rod!" He gestured to a dildo on a stick, jazzed up with copious amounts of glitter and fake jewels, sitting on a pedestal.
"I accept your challenge, ha-ha!" Bloke replied, slipping off his top to reveal a sports bra. "My methods are undefeatable, for I have trained with the Masturbatory Monks of Menagerie and learned all of their sensual secrets!"
"Fool! My skills were honed by master Seed-Anny Khuck herself!" Adom's muscles tensed as he ripped off his flimsy costume outfit. His body was suddenly glistening with oil, shining in the spotlight. Neo shook her head – that doesn't look like Adam at all!
For ten minutes she watched the lurid actions on the screen until she couldn't bear to watch anymore. She pulled her now-aching hand out of her pants bitterly, having barely gotten anything going at all after all that effort. The video was just that bad, she concluded unhappily, or maybe I just wasn't in the mood. She had hoped that watching it would be a bit enticing, something fun to occupy her thoughts, yet the cheesiness of the dialogue and poor performance of the actors led to nothing but a strange anger in Neo. Is this what the faunus have always had to put up with? She wondered, is this what discrimination is? For the first time she noticed the sign in the window that declared that no faunus were permitted in the establishment. It looked like it had been recently restored to the window; beside where the rumpled parchment was placed, a faint dried outline of old glue remained on the window. They had taken the sign down, and then put it back up. She finished off the bottle and staggered to her feet.
The news had said that not all the faunus had left for their continent; Neo suddenly felt a twinge of concern for those who had elected to remain in Mistral. What had they done to deserve this hate? They hadn't asked to be born with horns, or tails, or scales... she hadn't asked to be born without a voice. From a strange mixture of sexual frustration and being bombarded by injustices bestowed upon Adam's people, Neo felt something frighteningly close to empathy.
Thankfully for her conscience, it quickly transformed into a furious outrage.
Neo tucked her scroll away, did up her pants, and hopped over to the bar. The bartender watched as she came up to him and pointed at the sign.
"Yeah. No faunus allowed. Fuck 'em. If so many wanted to leave out of the blue without giving notice, then I don't want to serve any of 'em, even if they decided to stay." He said with a snarl. "Screw all of those beasts and let the grimm eat their bones on the sea floor!"
She held up Hush, its appearance modified to that of a placard with easy-to-read letters demanding he get her in touch with the gang that owned the joint. In effect, she demanded an audience with his manager.
"What do I look like, a rat-faunus? You've had your damn drink, now bugger off 'fore I call someone who won't hesitate to throw at a woman." The bartender grumbled, leaning down under the bar. He kept staring her down over the bar, but he didn't know he was staring down an illusion. The real her was already circling around the bar, looking at how he was dialing someone on his scroll.
Neo sauntered back into her illusion, reckoning that if this place had been owned by Malachite, this doofus was probably still paying for a 'protection' racket by the Spyders. Neo put her boots up onto the bar, sticking her tongue out insolently at the man. Whether he intended to or not, he was going to get Neo in touch with someone from the gang.
She didn't have to wait too long.
"Brick. Mortar. This is the little troublemaker." The bartender gestured at her as two thugs entered the establishment from the backroom.
"You afraid of a little girl?" One of them chuckled. "That's pathetic, even for this place."
"Yeah, well, I figured I may as well get something for my money for once this year."
The thugs ignored Neopolitan as they rounded on their pigeon. "Keep talking, and you'll have an entirely different sort of Lil' Miss to worry about in this dive."
"Place has barely been worth our attention for years." The other one complained. "Come on, let's just deal with this and get back to the shack."
They looked over at Neopolitan.
"Alright. Get out of here. Happy hour's long done, and we ain't got time for your dreck."
Neo, smiling icily, merely held up Hush-disguised-as-a-sign.
WHERE IS MALACHITE
"Malachite who?" Said Mortar, playing ignorant.
"Yeah, more like who're you?" Asked the other.
Neo spun the sign around to the other side.
FRIEND OF MILTIA AND MELANIE
With her other hand she held out her scroll. The projected holographic selfie she'd taken, while not totally drunk with the Malachite twins, hovered in the air over her hand; even if these two weren't high enough up the foodchain to know their boss that well, they'd hopefully mention the picture to someone smarter.
Brick groaned when he saw the picture. "Alright. Doesn't answer who you are, though."
Neo tapped Roman's hat on her head, but that didn't seem to resonate with them. Oh, right, Roman wouldn't have worn the hat in Mistral, since it was a present from me in Vale...
Brick took out his scroll and pressed it a few times; it began to ring. After a moment, he began to whisper into it. Neo was able to make out the words 'the old nightclub', 'Vale', and 'twins', but couldn't read his lips as he walked away from her.
Mortar came up and loomed over her. "Don't matter who you are or what you want. You still need to get out of here."
Neo shrugged. Keen for a brawl as she was, she didn't really want to upset the locals by killing these stooges without adequate cause. She put her scroll in her pocket and moved towards the door, until Brick held his hand out to block her route.
"Boss wants to see you." He held the scroll up, and though the screen was blank, the scroll was transmitting video to the other end.
Neo gave a polite little curtsy, a relic of her days at finishing school – a school that had been a cover for Malachite's infiltration of the Vale social scene.
"So you've managed to stay alive." The feminine voice drawled. "No surprise there. You didn't take well to murderous intentions, if I remember right. Did Xiong send you?"
Neo shook her head.
"Well then, Trivia Vanille, did you come to Mistral to show me a picture of my daughters, or are you just a tourist?"
Neo summoned an image of Cinder in her hand, holding it up in front of her for a couple of seconds before violently crushing it with her fist.
"Well, well, well. I didn't take you for a bounty hunter. Not really the line of work you were educated to fill. This is the sort of job I give to my most trusted agents..."
Or the ones you don't want coming back from a job alive, Neo knew. Roman had had a lot to say about his old boss from Mistral. Cunning, well-informed, and even though she valued loyalty and information more than lien, she had plenty of that, too. After the Empress and the headmaster of Haven, Malachite is the most powerful person in Mistral. Her years of successful power-plays and coups against rival gangs had made her the unspoken law of Mistral Below. Now that the school was broken and its scores of huntsmen missing-in-action (presumably dead), and the Empress was getting old, it seemed like it was ripe time for Malachite's gang to take even more power.
Maybe spending so much time learning about politics at school hadn't been wasted on Neo as much as she'd thought...
"...but it seems like this is a job you've got a personal motivation behind, so I'm not sensing you want to just outsource it to me. You wanna get those little hands dirty."
Neo nodded. After spending so much time struggling to get through Adam's thick skull, it was nice to be interacting with someone smart. If Malachite hadn't tried to kill her and Roman a decade prior, Neopolitan might even consider the possibility of a longer lasting relationship with the crimeboss. The implicit understanding of what I want might be there, but there's an ocean of difference between the trust I had in Roman and the caution I have around this formidable woman.
"I think the only fair thing to do is for you to do something for me, and, in return, I'll put my network to the task of finding your errant playmate." Brick's screen changed to a still-shot of Team CEMN, a promotional image Haven must have put out to garner local support for the (fake) representatives of Haven Academy at the Vytal Festival.
Neo scowled at the sight of herself, not so long ago, not so distant from Cinder. She'd been close enough to kill the woman, back then. If she had known how much Cinder's scheme in Vale would cost...
The scroll was silent for a minute.
"I'll need some time to find a job for you. I think we have a general idea of what your semblance can do, from your time at school. Presumably you picked up some of Roman's skillset, too. Hopefully not too much of that attitude of his rubbed off on you."
Neo put her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes fiercely. How dare this woman act like Roman had been anything but a valuable positive role model!
"So much for that, then." Malachite said. "Well, give Brick your scroll contact info so he can forward it to me, and I'll message you later. Unless you plan to stay at the club here?"
The bartender made a derisive snort at that thought. "This isn't a charity. Although... her body isn't terrible. Does the girl know how to dance?" He gestured to the nearby stage.
"Well, dancing was one of the things they taught her at school." Malachite commented.
The memory of how Malachite had put together Lady Browning's Preparatory Academy for Girls as a means of ingress into Vale's underworld rankled. Neo was not going to get up on a stage!
Using her semblance, she demonstrated what she felt would be a better crowd-draw for the establishment. A smile grew on her face as she watched a replica of the bartender appear, and for good measure she gave him representations of Brick and Mortar as back-up dancers to shake and shimmy, sneering as she watched her creation as it began twirling around the pole clad in lacy white lady's lingerie. Her amusement faded, though, as her taunt yielded strange results.
"Oh, man, that makes me feel old. I couldn't ever bend my back like that now." Brick lamented, watching his illusionary-self teasing the paltry audience.
"I couldn't even move like that back when I tried to take the Academy's entrance exams." Mortar agreed sadly, "and it really hurts to think that I think I'm pulling that look off."
"Definitely, bro. You're rocking those thigh-highs."
Neo silently groaned and dispelled the illusion, then sent her contact info to Brick. This place was boring and she wanted to leave now. Even if Adam was a dum-dum, at least he was amusing.
"On second thought, I think I may just have a job you are perfect for." Malachite said. "A… let's say a rival of mine, yes, needs to learn who is in charge of Mistral. If you can use your semblance to do for her what you just did for these three men, and make a video recording of it, I can make sure every available eye is watching for sign of Cinder Fall."
Neo raised an eyebrow. She was intrigued by the offer, but wasn't quite sure what it required.
"Unless you have some moral qualms against slandering a pampered princess' reputation by using your semblance to create a pornographic deception…"
Neo thought of the video paused midway through playback on her scroll's screen. Qualms? No. No, she had no qualms about doing to some random human what society had done to Adam.
She flashed a thumbs up, since she couldn't exactly shake hands to cement the deal.
"Excellent, darling." Malachite replied, "I'm sending you some photographic references for the target presently. Make it nice and salacious; I don't care particularly about the particulars beyond that. I'll trust in that imagination of yours to pleasantly surprise me."
Once she had gotten some distance between herself and the club, she pulled out her scroll again. The video was still paused, freeze-framing the image of Adom and Bloke in the midst of a sweaty attempt to out-endure the other in their contest.
With a thought, she used her semblance to 'fix' the image of Adom's horns on her screen; the awkward ox horns were replaced with graceful, jet-black replicas of the horns she had clung to the night before as he'd held her in his arms. The image of the fake White Fang recruitee was overridden by the image of herself, her face showing the bliss her brain had drowned in as she relished the touch of his body inside hers. She had a soundless, naughty giggle as an idea ran through her mind; I should have become a media editor. Really, it surprised her that Roman had never thought of using her semblance for something as straight-forward as this. We could have made so much more blackmail this way! Lil' Miss Malachite really was a criminal genius, to have come up with such a devious way of making use of Overactive Imagination.
Why should she actually have had to seduce a city councillor to get information about police detachments or sensitive data, when a realistic video of the councillor doing absolutely shameful acts in front of a camera would get the same results?
"Well, there are the physical benefits of seduction..." The remnants of her old, timid life, the voice of Trivia Vanille that hid away deep inside of her, reminded.
The fact that the video was a forgery didn't even matter! The mere existence of the illusion-crafted fake would threaten their precious reputations, and that is what blackmail thrived on.
"Well, at least being experienced in the real-thing prepared you for what happened last night with the Taurus twins." The voice of responsibility offered.
She could scarcely conceive of how a virgin would handle being subjected to the brunt of Adam's semblance... they'd break. Their mind would become a slave to the feeling. Not Neo, though. Sure, she adored Adam for it, but she'd kept her wits about her. For a while. She'd regained them eventually – faster than some virgin would have! She wasn't lying on the warehouse floor (anymore) in a benumbed state, drunk on the taste of his love. Sure, the way he reflected the energy hit her hard, but like with alcohol, years of experience had given her a bit of a tolerance.
"Of course, Neo. You're stronger than some faunus, no matter how powerful his semblance happens to be." Roman's voice soothed her.
She switched over to the new files loading onto her scroll. Pictures of some woman Neo didn't know and didn't care to know. Neo could be fabricating a video of them getting ravished by animals to put on the local network by the end of the day.
No, she corrected. Not animals. Faunus. She'd make a nice sex-tape showing the fancy-pants engaging in debauchery with faunus. With one simple job she'd pay for the Spyders' services and strike a blow for Adam's people all at once! She grinned diabolically. It's a perfect plan!
"Neo, you're sounding a bit radicalized there." Roman's voice cautioned. "What's next? Attending a pro-faunus rally in Vale?"
She ignored the voice. She was fine. She was doing this for herself, after all. Adam was her partner! To slander him was like slandering her. All of Mistral was guilty!
"This is fine. May as well just have some fun." Trivia's voice sighed resignedly.
Obviously she couldn't use Adam's likeness... his reputation had to be protected... what other faunus' appearance could she use? Perry from Vale, or Adam's lieutenant – the one that had wielded that big chainsaw, might do the trick. The lieutenant had certainly had a minacious air about him that might work well. Sun, Blake's rebound boytoy, was too pure to work well, but maybe that could be used to her advantage?
She racked her brain – a task made difficult with the fogginess of drink still letting her nearly-forgotten demure past-self pipe up – for an answer to the question of who to make the star of her video forgery.
Inspiration came to her. The perfect subject to both ruin Malachite's rival and also strike a blow against Adam's greatest opponent for the loyalty of his own people.
Ghira Belladonna.
It was perfect – it wasn't like anyone really trusted the official reason for his arrival. The leader of the faunus, the symbol of Adam's most recent pain, would be the perfect stooge for her plot.
She settled for only making a single, short video of Ghira fucking the mystery woman. If Malachite wanted more, then she could ask; this was at least proof of concept, and Neo was still a bit tipsy from drinking and headaches made using her semblance difficult. She sent the finished video to Malachite while she sat at a bistro, enjoying a tasty soup and bread roll for her reenergizing dinner, a smile on her face. There was an eager prance in her step as she made her way back to the warehouse, thinking about seeing Adam again. Should I tell him right away about how I struck a blow for him against the humans, or should I wait to see the fruits of my scheme? She stole a look at her scroll, grinning as she saw the stranger 'serve the faunus'.
ADAM TAURUS
"Argh!" Adam made a gutteral scream of exertion, of pain.
You are doing well. Keep it up - and I mean that literally. Dai said nonchalantly, watching Adam struggle from the comfort of her sofa chair.
"Are you-" Adam grunted as the weight threatened to come down again. "Are you sure you can't, oh, I don't know, HELP with this?" He exclaimed.
Very sure. This task is all for you.
Adam had doubts about that. He had doubts about the task itself. Still, Bedlam's window had begun sinking and Dai said that it would not end well if it touched the ground, so here Adam was. Trying to keep a magical window to one of his split selves from touching the magical ground until Bedlam woke up. "Do you at least have any idea how long this will last for? Or what's causing it?" Adam personally imagined this was just a prank by Dai to keep herself amused, but she had seemed adamant that Bedlam was in danger.
Adam couldn't take that chance. Also, what else was there for him to do? His wager with Dai wouldn't progress so long as his awareness wasn't merged with a clone's window, leaving this the only thing to do.
"Why is it so heavy?"
Despair makes the hearts of men falter, makes their ability to choose wither.
Do I look like a human to you? Adam seethed. His heart would not 'wither'. "What am I even lifting with? Do I have a body here?"
Of sorts. You are represented by the strength of your spirit, which is what you are using to- Dai made bunny-ears quotes with her fingers - 'lift' Bedlam. Once he awakens from his sleep, he will hopefully be able to deal with whatever is causing it.
Bedlam hadn't seemed to be falling into despair when he'd gone to sleep. Why did he suddenly seem to be struggling so much? Adam wondered these things as he continued to fight against the object's descent. "Bedlam wasn't on the verge of giving up. He was on the cusp of victory! What is making him do this, if what you're telling me is true?"
The God of Darkness' power to destroy is my primary suspect in this, or at least something that has that boon. Perhaps the Relic of Destruction is being used, or a type of grimm?
"So odds are there are grimm trying to eat Bedlam while he sleeps. Great." Adam sighed, then grunted as the window slipped a centimetre. You're not dying like this, Bedlam! He gave a mighty heave and regained some footing against the force. You still have a mission to do! I won't let me die to some wretched nightmare, right as your hunt for Blake nears its climax!
Neopolitan is short and has very nice breasts, while Blake has ample hips and is the same species as you. Which one do you prefer, Adam? I can shrink myself to Neo's height, and I am not a human...
Adam tried to tune out the daemon's chatter as he focused everything on keeping hisself alive. Who would have known not existing would be so much work?
