Auras and Alibis

Chapter 12

For a few days after the cooking class, everything was relatively normal, with the exception of Cinder being more willing to try her hand at cooking with his assistance. The class had been a good move, in that it had undoubtedly led to them getting even closer, in a way much deeper than merely being physical.

And then, four days later, the overdraft notice had arrived in the mail.

Jaune stared at the letter in his hand, frozen in shock. He'd known they'd been living basically paycheck to paycheck, but he hadn't expected their finances to be in dire straits such as this. His eyes scanned over the letter, and he let out a grunt before setting it aside and reaching for his scroll.

"There must be something wrong…" he muttered. "Account activity shouldn't have been that different from previous months…"

"Jaune?" Cinder asked, causing him to freeze. He turned and watched as she stepped out from down the hallway, having clearly just woken up. Her hair was frazzled, she was rubbing the sleep from her eyes, and she was dressed only in one of his shirts, which was oversized on her.

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

Jaune bit his lip. He was tempted to lie, if only to save face, but he knew that would get him nowhere. He gave a heavy sigh, then offered her the letter from the bank.

"...Overdraft notice," he said quietly. "We're out of money."

Cinder turned to him in shock. "Out of money…? What happened?"

"I don't know. I'm reviewing the account activity now – must have been some kind of extra charge I forgot about, or maybe the rent's gone up again, or I just didn't hand it in on time, or…" He sighed irritably. "...I'm sorry. This is my fault."

"No, it isn't," Cinder said harshly. "I know you, Jaune. You don't make frivolous purchases on anything. You're good with money. Whatever caused this, it's something out of your control."

"How can you be-"

"Jaune," she repeated, "it's not your fault. Don't argue this with me, please. Instead, let's sit down and figure out what we need to do. You putting the blame upon yourself doesn't help us at all."

He hesitated, but then nodded. "...You're right. Okay, let's… let's see what's up."

They both crowded around the table, with Jaune taking his scroll and looking through his bank account. It didn't take them long to figure out what the problem was. When he realized it, Jaune let out a heavy sigh, burying his head in his hands.

"...They raised the rent," he said, his voice coming out muffled. "And they did it without telling us."

Cinder scowled. "They can do that?"

"Probably not, but what recourse do we have? We're not exactly well-off enough to hire a lawyer and take them to court over it." Jaune let out a tired sigh. "So I guess now we're going to have to find a new place to live, and on short notice."

"What makes you say that?"

"Cinder, we were already operating pretty deep in the red on a monthly basis," Jaune pointed out. "We had just enough left after rent and other expenses to afford groceries, a night out with friends, and occasionally a way to treat ourselves to something. But with this kind of price increase, we'll be lucky if we can stretch our money enough to cover food on a weekly basis. I don't know about you, but that indicates to me that we're going to have to find somewhere else."

"But you like this apartment," Cinder reminded him. "You're only a short bus ride away from the hospital, and all your friends are nearby. If we needed to find new housing, you'd be apart from them, and your commute would suddenly be much longer."

"I know," Jaune lamented. "But we'll make it work, I promise."

He went in and hugged her, but the entire time, Cinder was scowling.

She'd gotten used to taking time off over the past few weeks – spending it with Jaune instead, and also her new… companions, so to speak. She'd grown soft, and that had blinded her to the reality that Jaune's financial situation was a house of cards, through no fault of his own; honest work simply didn't pay that well, at the end of the day. And sure, she had the money to help him pay the rent, but the price increase was going to be permanent, at least until someone intervened on their behalf legally.

More than that, it wasn't about the money. She'd gotten used to resting on her laurels over the past few weeks, and had forgotten who she was. This was a reminder that at the end of the day, she was still the most powerful supervillain in Vale.

And perhaps it was time to make the city fear her once more.

Jaune suddenly sniffed, then looked to her in surprise. "What smells like something burning?"

Cinder hurriedly hid her hand behind her back, hoping that he wouldn't notice the small wisps of smoke curling upwards from it. "Nothing in here. Perhaps the neighbors doing a poor job of cooking breakfast, as usual."

He stared at her for a moment, then nodded. "Makes sense… Anyway, I've got to head out for a bit – see if I can't get work to give me some extra shifts, or maybe find some new housing, or something."

Cinder was about to protest, but he rested a hand on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring grin. "We'll make it work, I promise. Whatever it takes."

Cinder looked him in the eyes, then nodded.

"Yes," she said softly. "Whatever it takes."

As it turned out, Jaune's attempt to temporarily get extra shifts ended up benefiting them both. He'd managed to find a way to make a bit of extra money for the time being, and it also got him out of the apartment.

Which meant that she was free to cut loose.

The lock on the warehouse door was easy enough to break through – one quick application of her Semblance, and it was little more than a heap of molten slag on the ground. She threw the door open and stepped inside, looking around as she did so. By her estimation, the silent alarm would give her just a few minutes to rifle through the place and see what she was dealing with.

"Let's see…" she muttered, approaching a locked shipping container. "What do you have for me today?"

She melted the second lock, then opened the container. Inside were several large wooden crates. Cinder broke one open, then peered inside, a wicked grin crossing her face as she did so.

"Well, well," she noted. "Can't say I've dealt with too many of these before, but they certainly look expensive."

Inside were several handgun cases, the weapons no doubt intended for either the military or a police force somewhere. Obviously, she wouldn't be able to take them all – that'd be far too heavy and bulky for her to carry. But she could load up the bag she'd brought with enough cases to at least temporarily offset the increase in Jaune's rent.

More than that, though, this was a good, low-risk job to prove to the world that she was still around. Not the most profitable, of course, but at this point, that was secondary to reminding the people of Vale who was really in charge.

Cinder finished loading up her bag with gun cases, then threw it over her shoulder and went to leave, checking her watch as she did so. Three minutes, meaning she still had some time before the police got here. By her estimation, she'd made off with merchandise worth several thousand lien; after Junior's cut, she still had enough left over to offset the increase in rent for a few months, and that was before factoring in her personal savings accounts.

So, all in all, a successful heist. Cinder grinned to herself as she stepped outside and prepared to take off into the night.

Her happiness faded when something large and heavy suddenly struck her in the side of the head, sending her flying backwards.

Cinder landed in a heap on the other end of the warehouse, the bag of guns slipping from her grasp. She recovered quickly, however, her Aura having shielded her from sustaining any kind of major damage. Leaping to her feet, she turned to look at who her assailant was, only to freeze in shock at what she saw.

Across from her stood a young woman dressed in a pink, white, and blue jumpsuit. She had on a pink domino mask, and was wielding some kind of warhammer. But through it all, she was still unmistakably Nora.

"So we finally meet," Nora said, her voice only confirming what Cinder already knew. "Queen Malevolent."

The two stared each other down, Cinder saying nothing for fear of Nora recognizing who she was under the mask. Nora shifted across from her, her grip on the warhammer turning white-knuckled.

"Not gonna say anything, huh?" Nora challenged. "Well, no worries – I'm not planning on talking much, myself. After all, actions speak louder than words."

And then, before Cinder could think deeper about what to do, Nora charged at her, far faster than any ordinary unpowered human would ever have been able to.

Cinder's eyes widened as Nora brought the hammer in for a swing; it was only a quick draw of one of her swords to block it that saved her from sustaining more damage.

The two traded blows for a moment before Nora got in a sneaky jab to her side, one that had far more power packed into it than Cinder would ever have expected. She reeled from the hit, which left her open to yet another blow from Nora's hammer. She was sent backwards into a maze of shipping containers, and hurriedly picked herself up off the ground, gritting her teeth as she did so.

Jaune liked Nora, and so she wasn't willing to hurt him by possibly injuring her. That left escape as the only option.

"Still not saying anything?" Nora asked from somewhere inside the pile of shipping containers. "There's no point in hiding, you know. I'm finding you and taking you in myself. I hope it was worth it in the end, because you'll be going away for a long time. Or perhaps you're just afraid of me? I mean, it has been a while since you were spotted in Vale. What changed, hm? Finally decided to retire, only to come out for one last job? Sounds like you've lost your edge."

Cinder's eyes narrowed dangerously. Nora was taunting her now, apparently having grown confident after their initial bout ended in her favor. That was bad, and not just because it was irritating to her – no, Cinder had a reputation she needed to uphold among Vale's criminal underworld, at the very least. If word got out that she'd been beaten by a Hero – and a low-level, new one at that – then her reputation would be in shambles, which she couldn't afford.

Fine, then. Nora wanted a fight? She'd get one.

Cinder peeled herself off the side of the shipping container she'd been sidled up to, then drew both her swords and began to hunt. It wasn't hard – Nora kept taunting her the entire time, calling out challenges to try and get her to come out.

When Cinder finally did, Nora was completely unprepared for it.

Cinder's first blow struck Nora in the back of the head in a surprise attack – fatal for an average person, but she already knew Nora had Aura, judging by how hard she'd been hitting earlier. Nora was stunned by the sudden attack, and that left her open to several follow-ups before she was able to recover and leap away. She turned back to face Cinder, and the two of then began to circle one another, staring each other down like a pair of predators.

Cinder made the first move, launching herself towards Nora; she was prepared for the sudden move, but was unprepared for Cinder to reach into her pocket for a glass vial of Dust and crush it, then superheat it in the same motion, causing a large cloud of smoke to fill the area. Nora took a step back, looking around for where Cinder could come from, and that was when she struck from off to Nora's side. Cinder's swords bit deeply into Nora's Aura, and Nora lashed out in a blind attack, desperately trying to fend Cinder off, though it was pointless, as Cinder had already disengaged and retreated back into the cloud of smoke.

Nora grit her teeth. "Okay… you want to play that game? Fine. Let's do it, then."

Cinder, meanwhile, had perched herself on top of a nearby shipping container, her black outfit allowing her to blend in with the night and the smoke. She watched from above as Nora's weapon began to shift, turning from a warhammer into a grenade launcher. She couldn't help but cock an eyebrow at that – clearly, Nora wasn't a normal Hero; they would have never used something quite so destructive as standard equipment.

"A vigilante, then?" Cinder muttered. "Very well… let's end this."

She jumped off the stack of containers, landing a short ways away. Nora must have heard her land, because she immediately whipped around and began to fire off grenades. Cinder sprinted through the cloud of smoke, grenade explosions going off all around her, before finally getting caught in one that launched her into the side of a nearby steel container. She struck it back first and fell to the ground, her twin swords slipping from her grasp. Before she could spring to her feet, Nora closed in on her, grenade launcher at the ready and leveled directly at her.

"Stop," Nora commanded, causing her to freeze. "Unless you want me to blow you sky-high, that is. Put your hands up."

Cinder paused for a moment, racking her brain for an idea. In the meantime, she complied with Nora's request, raising her hands above her head in surrender. Nora hesitated for just a moment, then began to close in, shifting her weapon back to its warhammer configuration just in case, her other hand reaching for a set of steel-reinforced zip ties in her pocket.

As she drew within just a few feet, Cinder struck. She pulled out another glass vial, this one of Fire Dust, and superheated it, then tossed it at Nora's feet. Nora's eyes widened, but it was too late – as the heated vial hit the ground, it shattered, and a split-second later, it detonated. Nora was blown backwards, her Aura completely shattered; Cinder sprang to her feet and closed in on her, kicking her hammer away. Nora was still alive, but she was wounded, covered in myriad scraps and bruises, her outfit blackened and burned in places. Her eyes were scrunched tightly shut in pain, and a low groan escaped from between her lips as Cinder drew closer.

It was pathetic. She thought she'd be able to play Hero and go toe-to-toe with the deadliest, most dangerous villain in all of Vale? Pure overconfidence. And now it was time for her to see what happened to overconfident Heroes who picked a fight with the wrong person.

Cinder crouched down and took Nora's head in her off-hand, then raised her other, her palm already glowing red-hot. She stared down at the younger girl with malice. All this time, Nora had done nothing but bother her and compete for Jaune's attention, and now she finally had a way to get revenge on her and get away with it. And she was going to be sure to savor every second of it.

Cinder's hand drew closer to Nora's face, but as she did so, Nora's eyes opened, the heat emanating from Cinder's palm having disturbed her. She stared up at Cinder, and their eyes met.

And for some reason, as she stared into those eyes, all Cinder could think about was that night at the bar.

Cinder immediately froze as the memories flooded her mind. It shouldn't have meant anything to her – the only person she'd ever cared about was Jaune, after all – and yet there was something there, something that was screaming at her not to do this, that she'd regret it in some way.

Oh yes, that was right – Nora was supposed to be at their wedding. And how sad it'd be, if Jaune saw that one of her bridesmaids had been horribly disfigured.

Jaune…

How would he react if he saw what she was doing to one of his best friends? Even beyond the memories she had of Nora with her at the bar, that idea weighed heavily on her. Maybe he could forgive her other crimes, assuming her ever found out about them, but hurting Nora? Jaune would never forgive that.

Slowly, Cinder pulled her hand away from Nora's face, the heat dissipating off it as she deactivated her Semblance. Nora stared up at her one final time before giving a shuddering cough and then passing out. Cinder spared her one final glance before gently lowering her head to the ground, then turning to gather up her fallen equipment and bag of stolen guns. Once she had everything, she took off into the night, sirens echoing behind her the entire time.

Cinder jumped from rooftop to rooftop, her breath coming out ragged from stress the entire time. After several minutes of running, she finally stopped on a roof about halfway to her safe house, then doubled over, breathing heavily.

The fight with Nora hadn't exactly been physically demanding, but it had weighed on her mentally in ways that she was still trying to figure out. Jaune being disappointed in her was obvious, but the memories that had surged forwards in addition… those, she wasn't sure what to make of.

A tired sigh escaped her, and she stood back up, dusting herself off in the process. It didn't matter; she needed to drop the guns off at her safe house for now, before the police shut down the whole city trying to find her. In the morning, she'd begin the process of ferrying them all the Junior for payment. Until that was done, she'd lay low and bask in the feeling of a job well-executed.

Or at least, she would, so long as those damn memories stayed away.

Cinder let out an irritated grunt, then went to go pick up the bag, only for a sudden noise to catch her attention. She barely had time to question what it was when another figure jumped up on her rooftop. And this time, there was no questioning who it was, not even from the start – Cinder would have recognized the flowing red hair without issue anytime, anywhere.

Pyrrha stood across from her, dressed in a set of ornate bronze armor and carrying a sword and shield. She had her shield raised to defend herself, but she wasn't moving. Cinder stared her down, her hands drifting to the twin swords sheathed at her waist. Pyrrha saw this, and shook her head.

"It doesn't have to be like this," she urged. "Come quietly and I won't have to hurt you."

Cinder couldn't help but give a small snort of amusement. Pyrrha was renowned for her skill, sure, but she was still a newcomer in Vale, and that meant she had no idea who she was dealing with. She needed to be taught a lesson.

Pyrrha, seeing that Cinder wasn't about to back down, took a step forward, and in that moment, Cinder drew her swords, the steel obsidian-black blades gleaming in the moonlight as they left their sheathes. Pyrrha eyed her swords with caution, shifting to put more weight on her support foot.

"Well? Come on, then," Pyrrha said. "You're supposed to be some amazingly powerful villain, right? Don't keep me-"

Cinder moved before she had a chance to finish. Pyrrha tensed, but made no attempt to dodge. Cinder grinned wickedly as she closed in – this was going to be too easy; Pyrrha was clearly focused on tanking hits rather than avoiding them, which meant she would be easy to wear down with sheer aggression. All Cinder needed to do was bombard her with enough small hits that they'd up over time, eventually causing her to slip up and drop her shield enough that the fight could be ended in one fell move. She'd fought shield-using Heroes before, and none of them had ever posed much of a challenge to her; Pyrrha would be no different.

Cinder's blade came soaring through the air, getting to within millimeters of Pyrrha's flesh, but at the last minute, something happened – an unseen force suddenly deflected the blackened steel sword, seeming to completely push it away from Pyrrha's body. Cinder's eyes widened in shock, and in that moment, Pyrrha struck, landing a powerful blow against Cinder's midsection. The wind was driven out of her, and she fell to her knees, just in time for Pyrrha to follow up with a shield bash that sent her skidding across the roof. Cinder hurriedly picked herself up just as Pyrrha shifted her sword into a rifle configuration and began to fire off shots at her. Rounds pinged off what was left of Cinder's Aura, and she forced to scramble for cover, which she found behind a small concrete structure atop the roof.

As she hid behind cover, Cinder's thoughts raced. What the hell was going on? Pyrrha was fighting like a woman possessed, not to mention that mysterious force that had saved her from what would have been the start of a devastating string of attacks.

Cinder didn't have much time to dwell on it, as that same forced suddenly began to pull on her swords. She looked to them and was shocked to see some kind of thin black Aura had surrounded them; she barely had time to think about what was happening when something yanked on them hard enough to cause her to stumble out of cover, and the moment she did, Pyrrha lit her up with the few rounds left remaining in her weapon. Three shots impacted against Cinder's weapon, the third punctuated by Pyrrha's weapon automatically ejecting its spent en bloc clip with a loud ping, indicating she was out of ammo. There was no time for her to capitalize on that, however, as Pyrrha suddenly shifted her weapon to a third configuration – this one a spear – and threw it at her. Cinder managed to avoid it, but she was completely unprepared for the spear to come at her from behind, impacting against her spine before returning to Pyrrha's grasp. The force of the blow sent her sprawling, stars filling her vision as her Aura flickered and faded, and pain blossomed across her spine.

Cinder gasped for breath and grit her teeth as she picked herself up off the ground, stumbling as she did so, her back screaming in agony. Pyrrha was proving to be a difficult opponent to fight. She was fast and strong, sure, but most importantly, she was crafty. Every move seemed to flow together in a way that made it impossible to properly fight her, and even if she was able to get an opening, that black aura, whatever it was, kept her from actually landing a hit. Cinder looked around, her eyes landing on the bag of guns, which was now between her and Pyrrha. Slowly, her eyes narrowed.

She wanted to teach Pyrrha a lesson, yes, but that wasn't going to happen so long as she was still tired from her fight with Nora, and moreover, didn't even know how to properly fight Pyrrha yet. Besides, defeating Pyrrha wasn't the objective here; she'd already downed one Hero tonight, and she still needed to get the guns back to her safe house. So, much as she wanted to defeat Pyrrha, it was going to have to wait for now.

Pyrrha drew steadily closer to her, and as she did so, Cinder reached for another vial of Ice Dust and superheated it, then threw it at her feat. Smoke filled the area, and in the confusion, Cinder dashed forwards, grabbed the bag of stolen guns, and jumped off the roof. She landed on the street below, then took off running as fast as her legs would take her. There were no footsteps behind her; she could only assume that meant she had gotten away.

Cinder ran through the night, aiming for her safe house, the whole time anticipating the city's reaction to her sudden return.

It was good to be back.

Special thanks to my good friend Ickbard for the help with writing this chapter/story! And speaking of which...

Man, that'll leave a mark! -Ickbard

Indeed it will. Stay tuned for the inevitable after-action patchup, I suppose lol.

I don't really have much else to say beyond that. Like, for real, I'm sitting here and trying to think of something I can say, but I'm really struggling to find anything. So I guess I'll call it here. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and I hope to see you again next time!

I have recently launched my first piece of serialized web fiction. It's called An Angel's Retirement, and you can read it over on Spacebattles, Royal Road, or r/HFY. In each case, it's been posted under my name, Obsequium Minaris. I'll try to link it here, but FFN's wordfilter may make that impossible. In any case, let's try it (remove the spaces):

www . reddit r/HFY/ comments / 18xythv / an_angels_retirement_chapter_1/

forums . spacebattles threads / an-angels-retirement.1137358/

www . royalroad fiction 79445 / an-angels-retirement

And the synopsis:

Captain Eric Anders thought his time in the military was over when the war with the Iprenians ended in a ceasefire. He was content to sit back, collecting his monthly pension and drinking his sorrows away. But everything changed when the government saw fit to drop one of its very own super-soldiers into his life. Suddenly, he finds his retirement interrupted by the need to babysit a socially-maladjusted killing machine who has known nothing but war for almost her entire life.

As it turns out, the war itself may be over for the two of them, but the wounds it left behind are very much still present...