Professor Peter Port was many things but an outright liar was not one of them, tall tales excluded, when he promised Jaune a fight with a Bicorn he personally went out into the Emerald forest and wrangled up the finest specimen he could find just for his student. Though perhaps he left out a few details about the majestic death machine, for example, he had described the Grimm as being an evil bloodthirsty unicorn and he was technically telling the truth however he had neglected to mention that Bricorns was not actually a species of Grimm; They were an Alpha version of a horse-like Grimm called a Diomedes. What this meant was that Jaune along with the rest of his team was now standing in one of Beacon's outdoors sparring fields and across from them was a hard light cage containing a horned horse-like creature, covered in boney armor, had eyes burning with hatred and malicious intelligence, was the size of a two-story house, and whose skull and hooves seemed to have dark reddish splatters on them, That's definitely blood.
"Is there something wrong Mr. Arc?" Asked the professor.
"I, um, is that a Grimm that I should be fighting on my own?" Jaune asked while taking a nervous step away from the still caged powerhouse of a monster.
Port gave him a hearty laugh and a smile brimming with absolute certainty and confidence, "Oh Mr. Arc! I can personally guarantee you that this Grimm could kill everyone here, except myself, in a one-on-one fight." No one was offended by his statement, they knew that he was right and they weren't ashamed to admit it but that did raise a very important question that needed to be addressed and fortunately Jaune was more than happy to ask it.
"THEN WHY THE FUCK AM I FIGHTING IT BY MYSELF!?"
The Professor then gave the boy an odd look, it was the sort of look that you only gave to someone who had just said something so mind-numbingly stupid that you were having a hard time believing that they actually said it, "Alone? Having you fight this thing alone would be tantamount to murder. This is my boy is going to be a team fight, PRAN vs the Bicorn and even then I suspect that you'll lose. In fact, I'm so certain of it, that I even made a rather substantial wager against you-!" He stopped when he saw that team PRAN and even a few other students were now glaring daggers at him, "Um... oh, and I won't count this loss against you when calculating your final grade. In fact, I'll be awarding points based on how well you do so as long as you participate in this battle, your grade will improve." One day my big mouth will be the death of me.
The guarantee of an improved grade would have been a tremendous boost to many teams but it did nothing for PRAN. Every single one of them already had passing grades for this class and as well as all their other classes, but even if they needed the extra credit they wouldn't have felt any better about the situation. Right now what they wanted was to throw their Professor's prediction in his face by winning but they understood that their chances were about as low as their current opinion of the professor but they had more important things to do than futile protest. So while they had the chance, the Team gathered beside Jaune and began eying their opponent, looking for any weaknesses in its armor and blind spots in its senses. Pyrrha then addressed the Professor, "How did you capture this Grimm?" Truthfully she didn't care about the story, But this fool could spill important information, or at least that was how her former coach would have put it, I may not like their methods or really anything else about them but this isn't a tournament and that monster doesn't deserve a fair fight.
Professor Port didn't even look at her when he answered, "Don't think I can't see what you're doing young lady," he then turned to face her before giving a smile and a thumbs-up, "I love it! It is vitally important for Huntsmen to acquire as much information about their prey as possible or as my old mentor liked to say: Knowing is half the battle!" He then pulled out a scroll and sent her and the rest of her team an image of the field where he found the creature, "I wasn't easy, Bicorns have eyes in the back of their heads." He tapped the back of his own head as he said this before adding, "But don't let that discourage you! Go ahead and examine its habitat, ask yourself why it would choose to restrict itself there. Take all of the time that you need, in the meantime, I'll start my lecture on habitats but don't be afraid to interrupt if you want to ask questions. "
The team huddled together and began to look over the photo with the first thing that they noticed was that the field was remarkably flat and free of any debris, unnaturally so. "The Grimm is much like a real horse as it prefers flat gentle terrain, maybe we can create unfavorable terrain by damaging the field?" Ren suggested.
Pyrrha considered it, "That would also make it harder for us to move around but it is an option, assuming that we're allowed to damage the area like that."
"Let's find out!" Nora declared before calling out to the Professor, "Do you mind if we damage the field a bit? Make a few craters here and there?"
"Well if you think that you'll be able to gain some kind of tactical advantage by doing so, then by all means go right ahead. Just be aware that you will be required to assist with the clean-up but, that's just one of the less glamorous parts of being a Huntsman."
"Sweet!" Nora then began examining the arena to best decide how to break it should things come down to it. The place was perfectly flat and the floor was made of concrete tiles placed together with little space in between each tile, Maybe with a good charge I'll be able to pick up those tiles but I don't see a source of electricity besides my lighting grenades and the others could get caught in that blast. This would be a lot easier if I had some kind of portable power source… eh, I'll figure that out later. Her eyes then wandered to what was easily the most important feature of the arena and was located just outside the stony stage, there were four heavily reinforced pillars placed near the four corners of the arena. Inside each of the pillars was a hard-light generator that would create a wall thus keeping the fight and all the damage contained within a transparent box.
"Do you think we can somehow use those pillars against the Bicorn?" asked Jaune when he saw what Nora was looking at.
Pyrrha shook her head, "Maybe if it was still a Diomedes but a Bicorn is too smart to fall for something like that however, there is a bit of a difference in elevation between the stage and the ground so maybe it can throw the Bicorn off?"
Jaune then interrupted the Professor who was in the middle of describing the many wondrous features of a grassy plain, "Excuse me Sir, but do we have to remain on the stage, or is it enough to stay inside the hard-light barrier?"
Professor Port looked at him for a moment with a confused look on his face, then his eyes widen as he realized that he had forgotten something vitality important. "I'm sorry dear boy, I seemed to have forgotten to lay down the ground rules for this match." He then turned to face the rest of the class, "You will all want to pay attention because this is will be the rules for future fights of this nature." He now had everyone's attention, "The fights will go by the same rules as my classroom fights."
Ruby then raised her hand.
"Yes, Miss Rose?"
"No offense Sir but... um, I wasn't aware that there were any rules."
He gave a hearty chuckle, "I know that it may seem like a chaotic free for all but there are exactly three rules: The first is that the fight ends when you win or if your Aura falls below red or I feel that there is no point in continuing the match. Second, the only outside help I allow are words of encouragement and advice just like how you gave advice to your partner Weiss when she fought the Boartusk at the start of the semester. And finally, as long as you keep the fight inside of the barrier, I don't care what you do or how you win as long as it is within reason."
Satisfied with the answer, Team PRAN huddled up again to discuss tactics and Jaune opened with a suggestion. "The Gimm won't target me unless I attack and Ren can achieve the same thing with his Semblance so I say we take advantage of that."
"So you want Nora and me to distract it while you and Ren try attacking from behind?" Pyrrha asked just to make sure that everyone understood what was being suggested.
Ren shook his head, "I don't like this plan, we don't know the weaknesses of that thing, and hoping that Nora and Pyrrha can hold out long enough for us to find it is dangerous."
"Then how about I do alone?" Jaune then suggested. "Without Aura, there isn't much I can do in a straight fight against that thing but with an opening, I could take out one of its legs."
Pyrrha smiled in pride, "That is an excellent idea, Ren and I will keep its attention, Nora will use her Grenades to corral the thing towards a corner-," She then turned to face her fellow ginger and pointed at one of the pillars, "-let's try to force it up against that, limit its ability to move."
"You got it Mon Capitan!"
Pyrrha then turned back around to face everyone else, "The Bicorn will do everything in its power to avoid being cornered and we need to do everything in our power to trap it so no holding back." And with one unified cry, they took their places and charged right into the battle!
Dr. Gris skimmed through the four medical files in front of him, rubbed his eyes, took a drink from a nearby beer can, and then asked the burning question on his mind, "Wut da fuck happened?"
Jaune who was lying back on the medical bed and covered in bandages just sighed, "We had a plan, my role was to lay low until I saw a chance to try and take out the Bicorn's legs from behind… turns out it literally has eyes in the back of its head."
Nora was lying on the bed next to Jaune and had an arm and a leg in a cast, "Port should have warned us! I demand a rematch!"
"But he did warn us," Pointed out Ren who was in the bed next to Nora and was wearing a medical eyepatch along with a neck brace. "Remember? He warned us about those eyes when he sent us the pictures of the Bicorn's habitat, he even tapped the back of his head when he told us."
"At least we ultimately won!" interjected Pyrrha who was noticeably not on a medical bed nor was she really injured saved for a few bandages on her face and arms.
Gris shook his head before pointing right at her, "I thinks dat wat you means is dat youse were da one dat won. Jaune was out of da fight da moment the Bicorn spotted em, hammertime here got went below da red trying to save his ass, and mister dual-wields barely put a scratch on dat thing. And finally, youse only won cause youse semblance is stupid not because youse had a plan. If I was youse professor, you'd all woulda gotten an 'F'." He then walked away before any could debate on the subject, not that there was really any point in doing so.
His words stung and each and everyone one of them felt an immediate urge to say something, to argue with the doctor but none did. They remained silent not out of shyness or any fear or reprisal but rather because deep down inside, they agreed with him.
The sun was beginning the latter half of its journey over the planet of Remnant, over time the blue sky would change into a beautiful array of colors that many couples rightfully considered romantic. Among those couples were a pair of Huntresses walking side by side, though most people would have never been able to guess their careers based on the uncharacteristically simplistic clothes that both Yang and Coco were wearing with the only exception being Coco's beret. In their hands, they held nearly empty cups of coffee and were engaged in small talk as they made their way over to the homeless shelter.
"Hey, can I take a moment to ask you something that has been bothering me for a while?" Yang asked the fashionista.
"Of course you may, I even have a few questions of my own that I'd like to ask."
"What's the story behind that beret?"
"Well for starters it used to belong to Velvet and she'd use it to hide her ears."
Yang tried to imagine those long ears being shoved underneath that hat, it wasn't impossible but it would be far from comfortable and maybe even a little painful. Does it hurt Blake when she hides her ears in that ribbon? Are there any other secret Faunus in Beacon? How about Vale? How many feel like they have to hide their appearance just to be left alone, what about the ones who can't?
"Looks like you got something on your mind."
Yang took a moment to just observe the area around her, there was a small but still noticeable taste of salt in the air as the pair walked toward the harbor area of Vale. Specifically, they were heading to the area built around a dock that was frequently used by ships carrying mass passengers which almost always included refugees from failed settlements. And amongst them are going to be Faunus with nowhere to go and a little desperate, perfect for the White Fang to swoop in and offer them what they need. It was an upsetting thought but she wasn't sure who she was more upset at, the White Fang for taking advantage of people like that or the flawed system that made people desperate, to begin with. Funny, not too long ago I would have never thought too hard about any of this… "It's weird," she finally spoke.
"What's weird?"
"It's weird thinking about how sheltered I really was growing up in Patch, over there nobody cared who or what you were, it was one big and welcoming community."
"Patch?" That was a name that Coco had heard in the past, in Doctor Oobleck's history class. "Isn't that island popular amongst retired Huntsmen?"
"That's the one! And you better believe me when I say that I have many crazy stories about growing up there!" replied Yang who was eager to move to a lighter subject.
Coco saw a twinkle in Yang's lavender eyes, she could almost hear the unspoken desire to share some of those stories and she was more than eager to hear them, "There is still some time before we get to the shelter, how about telling me a few?" Yang was more than happy to accommodate and together the two women began to share various stories, small stories of their lives up to now, none of the stories were anything remotely serious or revelatory about the storyteller but they didn't have to be. They were enjoying each other's company and this was beginning to feel like an actual date, rather than a prelude to a stakeout.
The buildings around them began to slowly change as they continued their walk, it was small things at first such as a building painted differently from the others or another displaying decoration that came from some of the other kingdoms. Eventually, they walked by buildings whose architect was inspired and sometimes were replications of buildings found in the other kingdoms creating an eclectic display of all the different cultures of Remnant that wouldn't be possible without the open borders between all of the kingdoms but, at the same time it was a reminder that Humanity as a whole were not the dominate species on the little planet that they called home. But that was what they were there for, to try and make things better for everyone trying to live their lives.
"Hey! Over here!" up ahead they could see Velvet waving at them while another woman silently stood next to her and watched them approach.
"Hey, Velvet! What are you doing here and who is your friend?" Yang asked as she glanced over to the other woman, she was an older stern-looking woman who gave off the vibe that she was all business.
Before the woman could introduce herself Coco gave off a little laugh before gently patting Yang on the back, "She's here to help! And it's not just her and Vel, the rest of my team is here as well and even Cardin and his boys are going to be there to lend their eyes and ears."
"It's not just them, I brought some cops with me," the woman added before extending a hand to Yang. "My name is Dews."
"Dews?" The name sounded familiar to Yang though she wasn't sure why but, there was an inkling of an idea starting to form, She definitely said that she had brought cops with her so does that mean…! "Wait a second, I saw you on tv! You're the woman that was in charge of that police raid! But, why would you be here of all places?
To her surprise, the captain gave a cute little smile that almost seemed out of place on her face, "Coco invited me."
"She did?"
"Of course I did! Given everything that been going on lately I figured that we needed all the help we could get, the police are a natural choice especially with how they and Beacon are cooperating." Coco then saw that Yang seemed to have another question on her mind and it was not hard to figure out what it was, "We met last year due to an assignment, we've been keeping in contact ever since."
Yang then gave her date a flirty smile, "Well you sure know how to impress a girl." Coco would have flirted back but Velvet was not about to let her partner spend the entire night flirting and began to unceremoniously drag her team leader the rest of the way towards the homeless shelter as Yang and Dews watched in amusement... that feeling of amusement ended the
The moment they reached the shelter.
The shelter was a large unassuming building that at one point decades ago had been a warehouse but circumstances beyond anyone's control led to changes that resulted in what it was today, a place of shelter for those who had none, and there were many. Judging by their clothes it was safe to say that the majority of the people who were at the shelter came from Vale or rather it would be more accurate to say that most of them came from failed settlements started by Vale. The others came from all over Remnant, mostly Mistral but there were those who came from Atlas judging by their thick turtle neck shirts with sleeves that went down to their wrist. And there were even a few from Vacuo if their bright loose and airy clothing was any indicator, however, there was nobody from Mangerie…
Dews just paused for a moment and stared before whispering, "I can't ever get used to this."
Neither Coco nor Yang had heard anything but Velvet with her large ears was able to pick up but not quite make out what their older companion had said, "What was that?"
For a moment everyone was confused about who was Velvet talking to but Dews quickly answered those questions, "I was talking about this," she motioned towards the crowd gathering at the entrance of the shelter. "There are just so many of them and I know that they didn't all come together at the same time." She pointed at an old man in the crowd dressed in an old blue hanfu and worn-out jeans, "That guy came here eight years ago but he still needs to stay in the shelter because he can't get an apartment, space is limited which makes housing an issue which leads to settlements needing to be built which leads back to this." Her stern facade was starting to crumble, "I- I don't know how you Huntsmen are able to handle this cycle of bullshit."
"With well-paid psychologists," Coco said in an attempt to lighten the mood, It's pointless. Everything that you are doing is pointless, just quit and live the rest of your life ignorant bliss with designer clothes and a girlfriend in every town. Just quit before you get another family ki-!
"COCO!"
The fashionista was shaken out of her thoughts by Velvet and quickly saw that the other was looking at her with concern, "I'm fine, I'm fine, it was just a bad memory."
Yang wanted to ask but the distant look in Coco's eyes was one that she had seen before in her father, her uncle, her mom, and in every huntsman that lived in Patch. The trigger was usually something different for everyone as were the external symptoms but many shared a similar root cause; A mission that had gone wrong in an oddly personal way. "You don't have to do this you know? You got me here, got more help than I ever would have thought possible, and none of this would be happening without you so-"
"I'm fine." Coco began walking towards the shelter, "I want to do this." She didn't look behind herself but could hear that two people were following her, turning around she saw that Dews was the odd one out, "Is there something wrong?"
"I was on TV remember? If I go in there someone from the White Fang might recognize me and where will that leave us? But don't worry, I'll be sticking close by." She looked towards a building up the road but they weren't sure which one and it didn't matter, she was right and so they went inside without her. What they found was a wide-open space filled with beds that were being quickly claimed by hopeful occupants as shelter workers and volunteers tried their best to keep everything in order. Over the course of the next 30 minutes, they found a supervisor, introduced themselves, got signed in, and were given assignments. Velvet was sent to the kitchen to help prepare meals alongside Sky of team CRDL while Yang and Coco were given two large carts filled with blankets and pillows and were to hand them out to whoever needed one. While they were doing that they spotted Cardin and Dove doing the same thing, Russel helping organize, while Yatsuhashi and Fox were assisting security.
"Okay, Yastsuhashi I understand and I know about Fox's semblance but, most people around here wouldn't know about that so why is he a guard?" commented Yang as she handed a blanket to a woman.
"Imagine for a second that you are up to no good and then suddenly you notice that a blind man staring at you and I don't mean that they are looking in your general direction, they are looking at you. Are you going to go through with it?"
For a moment Yang imagined those blank milk-white eyes unblinkingly following her every movement and it sent a shiver up her spine worse than that of any Grimm she has encountered or heard of, "Point taken."
Coco chuckled, "Don't let him find out you thought that, otherwise he'll tease you about it for the rest of the year, perhaps even until the moment he graduates."
"I won't," Yang then returned to handing out blankets but then she turned back to face her date. "Look, I'm not complaining but… this doesn't feel like we're really going after the White Fang."
"Welcome to the boring parts of the job," Coco then sighed. "It doesn't matter how many times you've been warned or how long you've done it, it is still borning, and yet one can argue that it's not-"
Yang finished the sentence, "Necessary… It's funny in hindsight how I was raised by huntsmen who told me everything to expect from this career and yet I'm still being blindsided."
Coco scratched her chin as she gave away her last pillow and the two began to make their way to the supervisor at the supplies closet to either get more or to be reassigned, "If I remember correctly your father was a Huntsman and a teacher at Signal."
"So was my Uncle but my mother was a full-time Huntress."
"Huh, so you came from a family of Huntsmen?"
"That's right though I hope you don't think that my sis and I are just trying to continue the family business."
Coco just laughed, "Oh please, like I have any room to criticize when two of my reasons were the outfits and hitting on girls!" The pair reached the supervisor who spotted the empty carts they were carrying and got on his walkie-talkie to find out what was needed before assigning anything to them, in the meantime, they kept talking.
"And wanted to drive around the world on my motorcycle and becoming a Huntress was a good way to do that while also being able to keep an eye on Ruby. Now don't get me wrong, being able to help people is great but for me, making a difference in the world is a perk rather than the main draw."
"I'm pretty sure that the people you'll save aren't going to care, they'll be too happy that they're still alive to ponder much less criticize the motivations of their savior. Especially if she's a drop-dead gorgeous Huntress on a sweet set of wheels!"
Yang would have returned the compliment but, the supervisor finished his conversation on the walkie-talkie and now it was time to get back to work, "Alright, both of you take another load and head over to the east wing," He pointed where they needed to go, "Afterwards you can head to the kitchen to help serve dinner."
Together the pair got the supplies and quickly fell into a steady rhythm of work, conversation, and observation. Soon the hours began to slip by and the moon crawled in to take the sun's place in the sky and by the time night finally settled in, the two girls had yet to find what they were looking for. However, they were not worried, with all the help they had brought it was all but guaranteed that they would get the information they were looking for. They were proven right when Fox through the use of his Semblance skimmed through the minds of everyone who passed him by and pointed out suspicious individuals to the undercover cops.
However, there was one operative that went undiscovered and she had her eyes on Yang, That girl… I've seen here before but where? Sitting on her bed for the night the woman scratched her scaly chin, thinking back to every location she had been before… The Docks! Blondie was one of the Huntsmen that showed up when we were trying to steal the Dust but if she's here… Fear began to form in the woman's mind, it was baseless but at the same time it was persistent and it was demanding action, I need to warn the others.
The shattered moon was high in the sky offering a beautiful sight for anyone who took the time to look up but instead, Roman Torchwick was sitting inside a small yet cozy office located in the storage facility turned fake tech company that was serving as the White Fang's temporary base of operations in Vale. Resting on the desk in front of him was a bottle of Gin, an empty shot glass, and a multitude of notes filled with talking points that he and Neo brainstormed together for the sake of the next and final recruitment drive before everything transferred to the main operation on Mount Glenn. I swear, nobody except Neo seems to appreciate all the work that goes into making a con job work, especially one as big as this. Seriously, I'm basically creating a cult of personality around a guy who'd love to put my head on a stake and then act like he accomplished something for the history books. He grabbed the bottle of Gin and was about to pour himself a drink when the door to the office swung open letting in a White Fang grunt who all but stumbled inside, Roman then proceeded to ignore the man in favor of the drink in his hand.
"Sir, we have a situation with the shipments!" The grunt spoke with a noticeable nervous tremble in his voice
"And you're telling me instead of Adam or Lieutenant What's-His-Face because?"
"Because neither of the two is present at the moment making you the highest-ranking person here besides Neopolitain who sent me to fetch you."
That last part was all that it took to convince Roman that whatever was going on really did need his immediate attention and within seconds he was pushing his way past the grunt and marching toward down the hallway as the grunt chased after him, "You said it was a problem with the shipment right? Then would it be safe for me to assume that Neo is waiting for me in the loading bay?"
"Well yes but, sir the situation is-!"
"Zip it!" Roman snapped at the man which quickly shut him up, "The only person I trust to give me the facts of any situation is Neo, and the last time I checked there was only one petite ice-creamed themed mute master thief and she isn't here." The grunt said something else but Roman wasn't listening anymore, Normally Neo would have texted me instead of sending a grunt. The fact that she didn't can only mean that whatever is going on there is something that requires her full attention.
He arrived at the loading bay just a few minutes later and quickly found his partner standing in front of what appeared to be an unusually large steel box with several small holes on all sides, Are those breathing holes? Is this some kind of cage? More importantly, he noticed that she was on the verge of drawing her weapon on whatever was inside that box. He slowed his pace, pulled out a cigar, lit it, took a puff, walked up next to her, peered into one of the holes, and took a good long look. There was no real light source inside the cage except for what came in through the breathing holes but by using a little Aura he was able to make out a figure huddled in the corner. He tried using a bit more Aura to see better but it didn't do much good, however, he did notice three things.
The first was that whoever was in there was tall far taller than a person ought to be and the second thing was that the person had what in the darkness appeared to be a crown of some sort, Most likely horns which would make them a Faunus but then why send them to us like this? Does it have something to do with that? What he was referring to was the third and perhaps most important thing that he noticed, inside there were two small faintly glowing orbs located on what he was assumed was the face, Are they eyes? But why would they be glowing? Is it a Faunus trait? No, it can't be. A Faunus can only have one single animal trait which means that either horns or eyes are the results of cosmetic surgery. Despite his reasoning, he could not get rid of this weird feeling in his guts that kept telling him that whatever was in there was dangerous. Stepping away from the cage he returned to his partner's side with more questions than answers, What the hell is going on? He then put out his cigar and asked Neo the big burning question on everyone's mind, "What am I looking at here?"
His partner then relaxed a little bit and snapped her fingers, then another White Fang grunt stepped forward holding an odd-looking scroll that he offered to Roman with an explanation, "This cage, a case carrying an injector along with numerous syringes, and this scroll came with the usual deliveries of our... benefactor."
Roman frowned at the mention of the mysterious benefactor and instinctually took yet another step away from the cage, I don't know who or what is in there but if it's from the same sicko who made Rage, there can be nothing good about it. He then examined the scroll, This is a burner scroll and it seems to have been modified in some way. Turning on the scroll and looking through its options revealed that the device had been optimized to store and show data at the cost of communication, But then why use a scroll when there are specialized devices for this? Are they not available wherever they are or is this some roundabout way of telling me to destroy the device when I'm done?
Picking a random file revealed a dossier of some Faunus woman that he did not recognize nor did he care to find out who she was, another file was detailing a medical process filled with jargon that he could not decipher but he could tell was detailing a painful surgery, and yet another file seemed to be instructions on how to care for whatever that thing was, I wonder if it has any connection to that Faunus woman or… no way. A terrible feeling began to pool in his gut as it finally dawned on him why Neo wasn't comfortable making this call, This is fucked up, we're thieves, not goddamned psychopaths! Sadly the reality of the situation cared very little about his or Neo's personal feelings on the matter, even if he felt like he was slowly digging his own grave.
"Sir?" One of the grunts finally worked up the courage to speak up, "What should we do with this?"
Roman looked over to his partner who moved her hands to indicate that she wanted to dispose of the cage with whoever was inside and it was a feeling that he shared, not even his greatest enemies deserved a fate like that. However, Neo also added that it probably wasn't a good idea as there was a possibility that this was a shipment that Cinder was expecting, and right now wasn't a good time to make their getaway. With a sigh, he turned his attention to one of the grunts standing nearby, "What can you tell me about all of this?"
"I don't know anything, sir."
"Yeah, I figured that would be the case." He turned his attention back to the scroll and found a document titled: Read me First. Is this for real? Naturally, he opened the document and squatted so that Neo could read it alongside him though reading was too strong a word. They were both busy people and whoever wrote this document was clearly an intelligent but rather wordy person, Possibly a scientist of some kind. An idea began to form in his head as he considered the possibility of using the files contained on the scroll to search through a research database and possibly learn the identity of their benefactor, But then what? How does learning that helps us in any way? He shook his head and dismissed the idea, they simply did not have the time to waste chasing flimsy leads down twisting roads leading to the unknown destinations where they may get nothing out of it except finding themselves on the bad side of a flaming bitch.
"Sir!" Roman snapped out of his thoughts and turned around to face the grunt who had spoken and saw that the man was slowly backing away from the cage. "It's moving! Whatever is in there is moving!"
"What!? That thing was docile just a moment ago!" He began angrily marching towards the grunt, "What did you do?"
"Nothing! All I did was take a peak, that's it!"
"That thing was still calm when I was the on-!" Suddenly a noise emerged from the cage that almost sounded like a person imitating a growl but it was off, it was far too animalistic to have come from the throat of a person. The more they listened to it, the more certain that everyone become that what they were hearing was something trying its best to replicate a sound it had heard long ago but lacked the proper vocal cords to do it. But even worse than that awful sound was the fact that Roman and a couple of others could see the creature's eyes staring at them through one of the cage holes. Its eyes almost seemed to b made of fire, utterly devoid of a soul, and yet there was a mind behind those pupils. It was a savage intelligence, one who dedicated almost every single thought on how to best inflict as much harm as possible but first it needed to leave the cage.
Unfortunately for it, Roman had no intention of letting that thing take one singular step out into the waiting world, "To Arms!" Without needing to be told the grunts drew their weapons, surrounded the cage, and awaited the order to fire. Then the creature began to thrash as though it could somehow sense their intentions and the cage began to tremble due to the strength of the monster held within.
"Sir?" One of the grunts nervously spoke as her finger hovered over the trigger of her rifle. "Permission to open fire?"
"Do you want to be hit by ricocheting bullets?"
"No, sir."
"Then I strongly suggest you hold you fire until I give the order, understood?" The grunt mumbled something in response but he wasn't listening, his focus was on his partener who was still reading the files on the scroll. "Neo! Can we sedate this thing?" She nodded and started work on preparing the injector as the creature's struggles intensified resulting in a terrible ringing noise echoing throughout the facility as the monster's fists began smashing against the walls of the cage.
"It's going to break free!" shouted a different grunt.
Roman could sense that he was beginning to lose control of the situation, "If one of you animals start shooting before I give the order then I swear on the Brothers that the thing I will do to you will make that thing look like a goddamned kitten!" Despite his threat, he didn't really blame them for being on the verge of doing something stupid, it was taking all of his willpower to keep himself from trying to blow up the cage with some of the Dust awaiting transport to Mount Glenn.
*CRUNCH*
A large outward dent suddenly appeared on one of the cage walls causing all the grunts to take a fearful step back as they all raised their weapons, panic was starting to take hold in their minds. But before anyone could act on it, Roman grabbed their attention by shouting as loudly as he could "Everyone gather behind me!" The thief then walked in front of the dented wall just as another outward dent appeared next to the first one, he then pointed his cane at the cage "Listen up! We are going to let that thing make a hole big enough for us to get a good look at it and then, we are going to light it up. Understood?"
"Yes Sir!"
They could hear the thing moving around in that cage, in their minds they could see it trying to decide where the next strike should go, and they held their breath as they imagined the thing pulling back its fist as it licked its lips in hungry anticipation of the meal trembling on the other side. "Steady! Don't lose your nerves just yet." Roman reached into his pocket and pulled out a large shard of Fire Dust, A shard this big is going to trigger a massive explosion. I got the Aura to survive but most of these fleabags are woefully lacking in training, a least a couple will bite the bullet should things come done to this. Then from the corner of his eyes, he saw a flash of bright pink quickly move right past him and continue towards the cage as his stress began to melt away.
Neapolitan held in one hand a fully loaded and primed injector and in her other hand was her parasol. She ran right up to the cage and swung her parasol hitting a spot near one of the air holes, a snarl was heard from within followed by the sound of shuffling feet as the beast tried to get a good look at whatever was hitting its home. Meanwhile, Neo dropped her parasol, held the injector in both hands, used Aura to enhance her vision, and waited for the beast to linger in front of one of the air holes. Then she saw her opportunity and rammed the injector into one of the air holes and pulled the trigger causing a needle to extend and bury itself into the flesh of whatever was inside there and pumped it full of whatever concoction was contained in those vials.
She then put the injector on the ground, picked up her parasol, drew the hidden blade, and took several steps away from the cage while carefully listening for any trouble, everyone inside the loading bay was listening. They were listening to sounds of an unseen threat to their lives struggling against the drugs now coursing through its body, struggling to stave off the onset of drowsiness, and struggling to remain upright but in the end, it fell asleep and brought forth blessed silence. Then after a few seconds, everyone gave a collective sigh of relief and returned to their duties in an attempt to get the incident out of their head as quickly as possible but neither Roman nor Neo had that luxury.
"Okay, give it to me straight, did you find anything on that scroll that about this mess?" Neo gave him an odd look before typing out an answer she knew he wouldn't like, "Wait! Are you seriously telling me that-!" Roman looked around to see if anyone was listening and then stepped in close and whispered, "That thing was once a person!? Okay… we got to get rid of it."
"Um, Sir?"
Roman turned around with a sigh and look right at the nervous grunt, "What?"
Well, um, don't be too upset but…"
Roman's patience was nearly at its end, "But what?"
"One of our recruiters saw some undercover cops talking to some potentials... they know about the rally, should we cancel it?"
Under normal circumstances that would have been a no-brainer, walking into a police raid was always a bad idea unless you could somehow spin it into a PR boost. But that was something that took time and planning, something that they had neither of had at the moment… then a light bulb went off in Roman's head and quick glance at Neo only galvanized him as it was clear that she had the same idea as him. He then looked at the grunt, "Do we still have the medical supplies from that temporary hospital we made?"
The now confused grunt pulled out his own scroll and checked the list, "Most were transferred to Mount Glenn but we still have a few."
"Good, gather it and prepare two transports, load the supplies into one but leave the other one empty."
"Alright," The grunt glanced at the cage, "Shall I also bring a crane to help load the cage into the other transport?"
Roman flashed a wicked smile, "You catch on pretty quick, keep it up and you'll be sitting pretty no matter what happens or how they play out." Assuming that any of us are able to get through this and whatever comes afterward unscathed…
Arthur's Notes: This was a really interesting chapter to write as I ended up writing each third separately, in fact, the final third with Torchwick was the first one I finished while Yang's date was the last one. The reason why things turned out this way was that I kept changing and rearranging things, for example, I originally was going to include the Bicorn fight but that ate up too much space. Then I had the idea of showing the entity of Yang's date but that also ate up far too much space while being mostly unnecessary. That being said, both events will be talked about in future chapters: This entire Chapter was used to set up future events.
Coming up next is the White Fang rally and it is going to be fun and more importantly, it's going to have consequences. I'm going to take the lessons I learned writing the Raid and I will apply them here.
Also, My work schedule changed to something inconvenient so it's going to take some time to adjust.