Mint slid across the ground with his katana drawn, his Semblance allowing him to reduce the amount of friction his body is affected by. It was like ice skating, Mint liked his Semblance, it allowed him to cheat at party games, and that's good enough for him. Before the two targets can react, Mint pressed the detonator button, detonating the small bomb attached to Mercury's leg, taking out a small chunk of their Aura and knocking them off the rooftop.
He followed them down, sliding off of the roof and diving after them, his katana pointed at Emerald first. Taking a swing at her to which she deflected with those twin sickles of hers, Mercury shot at him using his leg-guns, most of the shots missing but the blast did move him farther away from Mint, which was pretty annoying. Emerald then swung the sickles at Mint with the chains attached, dramatically increasing their range and forcing Mint to slow down by stabbing his katana into the side of the building.
Mint watched as the two disappear from view the moment they neared the ground, he clicked his tongue in annoyance and dropped down too, must be Emerald's Semblance, they're either running away right now or preparing for a sneak attack… Mint waited with his katana out… he waited… yep, they've ran away.
He was about to spend the next several hours searching for the two but his Scroll buzzed, grabbing the device, he noticed that his Acting Commander was calling, "Yes, sir?" he said in his most professional tone. Gotta make a good impression if you want your superiors to respect you.
"Change of plans Mint, make your way to the front of the Beacon tower now!"
"Understood, sir!"
His Acting Commander then hung up. Mint looked around the area for a bit, making damn sure those two don't just jump out and attack him from behind. Mint sheathed his katana and slid away, his Semblance was not passive, but he liked keeping it on for as long as possible… even though it chips away at his Semblance because despite reducing the friction, it doesn't reduce the friction burns, which hurts without Aura because duh.
Skating across the empty street, Mint felt a surge of adoration towards his Acting Commander as he saw dead Grimm after dead Grimm disintegrating out in the open. What a great man he was, capable too, Mint would even say that he idolized Acting Commander Courrier. After reading through the plans that that thief Roman made, he was sure that he was going to get arrested because really? Spreading bombs all across the train cars? Was he serious?
Then Commander Taurus made some revisions, said that they were from Courrier, Mint then read through it again and almost damn near teared up from the plan. It was concise, clean, and just so… peak. All the bombs were concentrated at the front and the White Fang were pushed down towards the train cars without bombs. There was even a moment where he signalled for all the White Fang to bail, just to make sure no loss of life would occur on that train! Even for the unconscious ones way in the back! Courrier decoupled the car, which saved lots of people from those Huntresses negligence!
Seriously! What were they thinking?! Just leaving all of those White Fang members lying there unconscious like that? Did they want them to die?!
He heard the speech from that Cinder woman, and he kinda agreed with some of the points but Acting Commander Courrier didn't like her so neither should he! Or Johan for that matter, she's always been weird about the whole 'the Academies are private armies for the elite' conspiracy theory. It was funny the first time but it got annoying real fast.
Well imagine his surprise when that girl turned out to be an Atlas robot! Guess Johan's insane ramblings had some credence to them after all.
Not like he's going to believe anything that comes out of the mouth of that crazy woman though. She tricked him into fighting an Ursa bare-handed once, bastard. He scratched his neck, grimacing as he felt some scales fall off, that's the main problem with being a snake Faunus, every week or so you'll just start to moult! And not the cool kind where you crawl out of a shell of your previous skin, it's more like the annoying kind where your scales start to flake off since snake Fauni are too large to moult the same way normal snakes do…
Johan did say that she was jealous because moulting was like getting the best skincare money could buy on Remnant but she never had to clean up dried scales off the rug and couch every damn week!
Mint fumed, he has a habit of ranting to himself whenever he's alone or travelling somewhere, sometimes he'd even talk to himself or say things out loud as if there's a live audience hanging onto each word that comes out of his mouth. He waved to a few soldiers and locals as he skated by, past the disintegrating Grimm and towards the destroyed Beacon tower inside the Academy.
He looked up to see an Atlas bullhead pull into the Academy, looks like its landing at the centre of Beacon, Mint guessed it might be Johan and Greenhorn in the bullhead. Mint skated past the rubble and destroyed buildings as he pulled up to Beacon Academy, skating through the courtyard and past the destroyed school buildings as he grinded to a halt in front of the bullhead.
"Mint!" Acting Commander Courrier waved at him, "I told Johan to bring Lavs somewhere safe, so it's just you and I for now."
"It's just us?" Mint skated towards the Atlas bullhead, "So Johan and Greenhorn's out of the city then?"
Courrier shrugged, "I hope so, they're integral to my plan," he motioned to the bullhead, "C'mon, let's go-" "Wait!"
Mint pulled out his katana and pointed it at the voice, which came from some random blond haired kid who looked like he got smashed into a wall or something, the Acting Commander seemed to know him though, "I- Mr. Courrier I…" Mint noticed that the boy had his Aura up, "Please! Can you take me up to Ozpin's office too?"
Mint glanced at Courrier, who had a blank expression on his face, the boy continued, "P- Pyrrha's up there and she's in danger! I- Please! Help me do this!" his Acting Commander then smiled, although it never reached his eyes.
"Sure, Mint, get on board, you too Jaune, don't mind Mint, he's a… friend?" the boy, Jaune, nodded in thanks as he climbed aboard, Mint got on too as he watched Acting Commander Courrier expertly pilot the bullhead, truly a man of many talents. He also preened at the fact of being called a 'friend' by, who might as well be, the Faunus hero that the White Fang needed. He'll have to take the man back to Menagerie and throw him a celebration after this crap.
As the bullhead takes off towards the top of Beacon tower, Mint glanced at the boy Jaune, who was bouncing his leg up and down nervously. Whoever this Pyrrha was must be really important to him, Mint could see where the motivation was coming from, "Alright! Here we are!" Acting Commander Courrier's voice blared through the bullhead speaker; Mint pulled the door open to see a destroyed, roofless office. A man lay dead on the ground with a blade sticking out of his chest, and a red-headed girl fighting that Cinder woman.
Jaune quickly jumped out of the bullhead and down towards the office before Mint could register what he had done, "Looks like Ozpin kicked the bucket!" Courrier cackled, "Jump Mint! I'll follow soon!"
"You got it, boss!" Mint jumped out of the bullhead too, just in time to watch Jaune intercept Cinder with no weapon. Guess the boy must've lost it somewhere, but then again, he was trained by Courrier so hand-to-hand was definitely a viable option.
Mint landed on the floor as Jaune elbowed Cinder in the stomach, dodging fireball after fireball as the blond boy screamed in rage. The red head girl, Pyrrha, also went in to attack as well, delivering a combination of thrusts and drives with her spear and shield combo. Honestly, Mint probably wasn't needed here; looks like those two got it all under control already.
Cinder shot out a jet of fire from her hands as she blasted herself towards the corpse at the centre of the office; she quickly yanked out the dagger from the corpse's chest and held it in front of herself. Jaune rushed in again, performing a jab at Cinder's face, to which she deflected it with the dagger. The boy ducked under a slash and spun around, sending a hook towards Cinder's face which connected surprisingly enough.
The girl attacked from behind with her spear, thrusting the sharp edge towards Cinder's lower back, forcing the woman down on her knees as the two took turns beating the shit out of her. Jaune punched Cinder in the cheek, knocking her head over to the side where Pyrrha kicked her head back, this back and forth went on until Cinder's body busted into an explosion of flames, knocking the two kids back as she snarled, wiping some blood off her mouth.
The two kids ran in again, Pyrrha throwing her spear at Cinder as Jaune continued with hand-to-hand, Cinder expertly dodged the spear and blocked one of Jaune's punches… that is until her head was launched forwards from the spear being pulled back by the girl's Semblance. Cinder stumbled a bit, allowing the boy the kick her knee and force her down to the ground again, Cinder covered her dagger in fire and swung at Jaune, the blade hitting his Aura as he winced from the heat.
Cinder grinned as she dug the dagger deeper into the boy's arm, causing him to grit his teeth in pain while Pyrrha ran in and stabbed Cinder's arm away from the boy, she then turned to the flat of her shield and smacked Cinder in the head with it before dropping it down on her forehead using the sharper edges. Cinder spat out some blood before Jaune kneed her in the nose, causing her to reel back before Pyrrha drove her spear into her chest, Cinder's Aura shimmered violently as it blocked the heavy blow.
She ducked under another hook from Jaune as she retaliated. Weaving under his armpit and clotheslining him with the crook of her elbow, sending him to the ground. She clutched the dagger tightly before throwing it at Pyrrha, who blocked the projectile with her shield, causing it to shatter into shards. Cinder dashed forwards, grabbing a shard with her bare hands and ducking down, dodging a strike from Pyrrha before she stabbed the shard into her ankle.
Pyrrha yelped in pain as she was forced a step back, Cinder continued her attack. Grabbing Pyrrha's spear as she thrusted it at her head, she then yanked Pyrrha closer and headbutted the girl violently. Jaune appeared behind her, arms hooking around Cinder's neck as he pulled back harshly, causing Cinder to let go of the spear. Pyrrha then drove the spear into Cinder's abdomen, causing her to cough violently before she threw a hook at Pyrrha, knocking her to the side as she struggled with Jaune.
She jerked her head backwards quickly, headbutting Jaune in the nose and causing him to let go of Cinder, she then engulfed her hand in flames and delivered a flurry of jabs at Jaune. Each hit causing the boy to recoil as the heat intensified around her fist. She then spun around and spin kicked the boy, leaving a trail of flames behind her as Jaune was launched back. Cinder dashed towards Jaune before he could fall to the ground.
Snarling with uncontrolled rage, Cinder grabbed Jaune's head and ignited her hand into flames, engulfing the boy's head in flames, Pyrrha yelled out and jumped at Cinder, who held the burnt Jaune in front of her as a hostage, a manic grin on her face as she wiped away the blood. Mint whistled at the tactic, Pyrrha jumped back before glancing at Mint and yelling, "Why aren't you helping us?!"
"I'm not gonna ruin you guys' moment!"
"What?!" Pyrrha turned back to Cinder, who was breathing heavily while her hand held onto Jaune's head, fire danced from her elbows, slowly making its way towards her hand as she smiled at Pyrrha, blood trailed down the side of her mouth as she laughed. Jaune, in a show of bravery, grabbed Cinder's hand while it was still on fire, taking a hold of one of her fingers and twisting it the other way. While it didn't break because of Aura, Cinder did let go of Jaune as he scrambled his way back to Pyrrha's side.
The boy looked worse for wear; burn wounds littered his face as he stared down Cinder with intensity in his eye. His fingers twitched as he got into a combat position, Pyrrha glanced at the boy with concern before shaking her head and turning her head back to Cinder. Jaune winced as he felt the wind brush against his burns…
The two began their assault again, Jaune going in for a grapple as he dodged a punch from Cinder before tackling her. His bodyweight bringing hers to the ground. Straddling the woman, Jaune clasped his hands together and brought it down on Cinder's face, Aura met Aura as Cinder's head was slammed deeper and deeper into the concrete floor.
As Jaune lifted his hands up again, he was knocked to the side as Cinder swung her fists at his cheek. She covered her other hand with fire and jabbed the boy in the face, pushing him off of her as she tried to stand back up. Pyrrha then swung her spear down on Cinder, causing her to be knocked right back down again. Jaune then stomped on Cinder's stomach; Pyrrha kicked her in the side as Jaune crouched down and slammed his fist into her face before grabbing her head with both of his hands.
His thumbs inching closer and closer to her eyes as he snarled. Cinder turned her entire right side into flames as she stabbed her hand into Jaune's stomach, making the boy recoil as she grabbed his arm and twisted it the other way, but before she could break the thing, Pyrrha knocked her upside the head with the flat side of her shield.
Cinder then screamed as a shockwave of flames emanated from her centre, Pyrrha pulled Jaune close to her as she held out her shield, the heat wave blasting into the metal as she saw it slowly deform and melt. Quickly letting go of the metal, the kids, and Mint, felt their skin singe a bit as Cinder stood up. Cracks lined her skin as bright orange seeped through the cracks, her entire right side was now covered in flames, and her eyes glowed a bright orange as she stared them down.
A loud rumbling nearly knocked Mint off his feet as he watched the Grimm Wyvern, which he thought Courrier killed already, climbed its way back onto the tower. What's even more surprising was that Cinder held out a hand towards the Wyvern, seemingly taming it and converting the thing to her side…
So the crazy fire lady can now control Grimm, wonderful.
Cinder grinned at the two, glancing at Mint before disregarding him completely, how rude! "WYVERN! FIRE-" Acting Commander Courrier's bullhead then crashed into the Grimm, burning a chunk out of its face as he dropped down to the office as well.
"Thought that thing died," he craned his neck, glancing at Jaune but his eyes lingered on Pyrrha, he then turned his head to Mint, "Go keep these two alive; I got a date with the crazy fire lady who has the powers that I want."
Mint noticed that Pyrrha stiffened at the mention of this 'power', he walked to the two kids, "Hey, hey, it's okay, I'm not gonna hurt you or anything," he pointed at himself, "My name's Mint, I'm Mr. Courrier's… hehe… friend," he turned to Jaune, "Don't worry, he'll take care of things."
Mint was never good at interacting with children, so it was no doubt that they just grimaced at his words and clenched their fists nervously, Jaune breathed out heavily before nearly collapsing onto his knees, "Is… Is- Is Prof. Ozpin de- dead?" he asked shakily.
Mint turned to the very obviously dead guy, "Yup."
In other words, Jaune gets a new facial makeover, and the Courier might kill Pyrrha too because he doesn't know that Amber's already dead.
For clarification, Mint is a snake Faunus while Johan is a uh... something Faunus, you'll find out later.
Speaking of Faunus, I find it fascinating how unfair some of the Faunus traits are. Like Ilia can turn invisible AND have a Semblance?
This might suggest that Faunus-on-Faunus racism is a very real thing... although you could call it something like Speciesism or being a speciesist.
Also, how do Faunus crossbreeds work? Like if a Donkey Faunus have a baby with a Horse Faunus then will the baby be a Mule Faunus or a chance of being a Donkey or a Horse?
Oh my god, ZEDONKS! Zebra and Donkeys!
Thanks for reading everyone! I hope I didn't make the Courier too edgy.