"Can you hear me?"
"Loud and clear," Sun answered over the earpiece, though his voice was a bit crackly. "We're recording all this just in case though, right? I mean… having so many people patched through has gotta make for some problems."
"We are," James confirmed. "Kali?"
"We're patched in. Ilia?"
"Cradle is patched in. Good luck."
"That's everyone," Roman informed as he looked across the back of the transport vehicle to Glynda. The sky was clear in the late hour, allowing the moon and stars to somewhat illuminate the open road. It was light enough out that Roman could see the apprehension on Glynda's face as she offered him a nod. "We'll handle this, one way or another. If she's not alone, or if she tries to start shit… we run. No hero nonsense tonight."
"None," Glynda agreed before letting out a sigh. "Do you think anything she said was true?"
Roman let out a frustrated noise and swept back his fringe before cracking his neck.
"…maybe I'm a fucking fool, but… yeah. I do. No matter how far down the rabbit hole I went with Salem, or just crime in general, the guilt was always still there. I liked to pretend it wasn't. Used to go all-in on my asshole persona and just step on the necks of anyone trying to stop me in order to avoid thinking about it, but… I had trouble sleeping. A lot. I knew it wasn't what I should've been doing, but I also felt like I was too far gone to stop. I think it's very possible that after helping Salem fight off the God of Light, she might've started having similar feelings. She saw what Salem really is. Hell, she knows Salem a lot better than we do."
"And that may be the problem," Glynda warned as the truck went over a bump in the road.
"Hey, Ilia here- Roman, we've never met, but… it gets better, the longer you do this kind of thing. The guilt, I mean. I still feel it too, from my time with the White Fang, but… we can choose to be better. We might even succeed at it with the right company."
"Can Astrid?" Roman asked to the voice in his earpiece. "Someone born into Salem's care?"
"I… I don't know."
"Don't think any of us do, kid," Roman considered. "Still- thanks, Ilia. We'll have to talk, sometime. Might help both of us with getting over who we used to be."
"Yeah. I think so, too."
"We're nearing the mall," Glynda called. "The structure is in sight, and… the lights are on. The parking lot is bright, and so is the entrance. Would've been easy to kill the power and set up an ambush before we even got out of the vehicle. She's trying to show us that there aren't grimm hiding just out of sight."
"Or she's just pushing back that sightline," Roman countered. "Don't go in trusting her. She hasn't earned it, and quite frankly… I kinda don't care how she feels, even if she is being honest. The amount of damage Salem's done…"
"Agreed," James replied. "Just remember- no matter what she says, do not let slip what we know. We need to maintain our one advantage over her regardless of how this interaction ends."
"We won't," Glynda reassured. "We're pulling up now."
"Got it," Sun said. "We'll shut up and let you focus. Good luck, Professor."
"Thank you," Glynda returned as the truck rolled to a stop just before the entrance to the mall. "There she is…."
"With an easy escape route right into the building," Roman muttered. "Could be crawling with grimm by now. Stay frosty, and if she runs, we run. No theatrics."
"Right," Glynda said in a hushed voice as she hopped out of the back of the truck and onto the pavement. The woman cleared her throat and raised her voice, calling out to the lone figure leaning against a wall beside the large glass doors at the front of the mall. "Astrid…?"
The woman waiting up against the stonework did look familiar to both Glynda and Roman from Jinn's vision- enough so that they both immediately knew that it was really her. Astrid looked like she hadn't aged a day since her initial 'death'- she appeared to be in her early or mid 20s at most, and her face was more or less the same down to the light violet eyes. The woman's perpetually wet-looking dark orange hair still hung in piecey strands with one running over the center of her face at a slight angle. Though her natural color had held, the bottom six inches or so of the hanging strands were ghost white, only a shade lighter than her complexion. Her expression was edging on perpetual annoyance in an echo of what the hunters had seen before… but all of that is where the similarities abruptly ended. Everything else about Astrid was somewhat less than human.
What first appeared to be manmade armor was instead a clearly organic material covering most of the original Summer Maiden's body. Plates of chitin overlapped along her flesh, providing Astrid with a flexible suit that left no skin below her neck exposed. Familiar, twisted spikes of bone echoing those found on most grimm jutted up and out from the pauldrons and curved up and alongside her head, while smaller protrusions lined with red scour marks dotted the plates of armor haphazardly in other seemingly random locations. Astrid's chitinous gauntlets ended in long, gently curving claws that looked sharp enough to tear flesh with ease. Even so, she held a long, spiraling spear made of bone marked with subtly glowing scarlet patterns etched into the material. The implement stood taller than the woman herself and was notched and scorched along its length, suggesting that it had seen its fair share of conflict. Astrid looked every bit the frontline soldier… and almost as though she was ready to fall asleep. All the same, she pushed back against the wall beside the door with her heel and stood upright, looming over both Glynda and Roman by a few inches as she regarded them with a look of disdain.
"Headmistress. Roman. So good of you to join me," the woman offered with a small bow as she touched her free hand briefly to the center of her chest. Her voice had an echoing, gurgling quality, almost as though she was speaking directly into the hunters' skulls as well as from her mouth. "Shall we take this inside and get out of the cold?"
"And walk straight into a trap?" Roman asked, only for Glynda to put her hand up.
"We will not," the woman asserted, keeping a distance of ten feet or so between the two parties. "We have absolutely no reason to trust you or believe that you are alone. I don't even know who you really are, though… that armor does suggest that you work for Salem."
Astrid heaved a sigh as she straightened herself back to her full height and leaned her spear up against the nearby wall. The Maiden brushed her hair out of her face before folding her arms over her chest and slowly shaking her head in disappointment.
"…insufferable, joyless assholes, all of you," Astrid accused. "If I saw a point in killing you as a first option, it would already have been done. We could be sitting inside, negotiating over a bottle of wine at one of the liquor stores in this abandoned building… but of course you'd rather do things the hard way. If you insist on speaking out here, then so be it… but I'm not happy."
"You expect me to believe you drink?" Roman asked. "Some half-grimm general is just frequenting bars and doing little sit-downs with her enemies?"
"You expect me to believe this entire situation doesn't make you want to drink yourself into a stupor, right about now?" Astrid returned. "It's a moot point, anyway, thanks to your friend. Straight to business, then?"
"Please," Glynda nodded. "I'm in no mood for games, o-"
"Oh, just shut up!" Astrid snapped, throwing her hands up as the corner of her eyes alit with violet flames signature of a Maiden.
The display was enough to make Glynda take a step backward and tighten her grip on her riding crop as Roman did much the same with his weapon. Astrid, however, made no move to reach for her own or begin casting spells despite her obvious anger. Her voice was dripping with venom as she continued, the flames retracting as she lowered her arms to her sides and balled her fists.
"It's always the same with all of you, on both sides- 'no mood for games.' 'We have no reason to trust you.' 'The fate of the world hangs in the balance.' Is there any scenario in which we can drop the pretense and posturing and just talk? The war will continue no matter what is decided tonight, but not a single step will be made toward its resolution by refusing to try something new. My guard is down and my full hand is on the table. Are you even willing to look at it, or is this just a colossal waste of time?"
Glynda took a long, slow inhale as she stared unblinking.
"…we are here to talk, but please- we aren't stupid. You don't need that spear to do us harm. Performatively setting it aside and talking about a new approach means little, especially knowing now that you're the missing Maiden. If we're dropping all pretense, then let us just begin, if it's to be a fight."
Astrid's eyes flared once again and she raised a claw, aiming it directly for Glynda as a swirl of flames manifested within her palm. The Maiden was entirely stone-faced as the temperature of the surrounding air immediately heated to uncomfortable levels, and then, there was a deafening roar. Glynda and Roman whirled to look for the source of the noise, only to find that the pavement some distance behind them had opened up into a wide crevasse big enough to swallow half the lot as the stonework started to melt. The very earth roiled and bubbled like black tar as it began to swirl and steam rose from the ground. Seconds later, the black substance collapsed inward on itself and shot up into the night sky as a superheated geyser of burning tar that splattered back down into the lot and ate through the surrounding blacktop near immediately. All the while, the pair of hunters remained totally unharmed, the powerful display staying well out of reach of them.
"I could kill you before you were able to even react," Astrid boasted. "I am not Cinder, nor am I the fledgling Maidens in your employ. Your every breath from this point forward should be seen as a mercy from me, and you're beginning to test my patience. Setting aside my spear and meeting you in the open, alone, is a symbolic courtesy… and one that neither of you deserve. I am annoyed. I am tired. I am your only remaining lifeline… and yet, you continue to question me and delay rather than letting this meeting be anything useful. Why did you even come here tonight?"
Glynda could feel herself beginning to sweat, and not just because of her enemy's magic. Her mouth was dry, and she knew that she was suddenly in very real danger. That, however, wasn't her primary concern- they were all in danger with the woman before her in Salem's employ, and another Maiden standing against them.
"…because I, too, am annoyed. Tired. Searching for some way to end this," Glynda admitted. "Unlike Salem, we can only do this for so long, and I am hoping that somehow, there might be something to gain here. It may have been foolish to even try, but I've watched Ozpin negotiate with demons before. We're here tonight because I want to trust that you're being honest with us, and because honestly, I… feel something other than grimm in you. I can hear it in your voice and see it in your eyes. You have something more human about you than even Salem's other fully human subordinates. You're the first to ever try something like this, so… I wanted to know what you have to offer. It's that simple."
Astrid let out a soft, almost painful sounding chuckle as she lowered her arm and let out a sigh.
"…you poor, desperate fool. You think I'm anything more than twisted grimm, now? That I have some shred of your precious humanity left somewhere deep within? I do still have something to offer you, but… it's too late for me to be anything but a monster. You would never understand."
"I can try," Glynda offered. "That's all any of us can do."
"Then stand by your word and do so, if you're going to insist on wasting time with such an effort," Astrid suggested as she turned her back on the pair, pulled the door to the building open. "I've been insulted enough by the two of you. If this bullshit is to continue, then we're getting that drink. Otherwise, the urge to incinerate you out of sheer frustration might become overpowering. Make your choice."
"Glynda…" Roman warned as the Maiden stepped through the open door and into the darkened entrance, leaving her spear behind.
The headmistress didn't hesitate as she stepped forward and caught the heavy glass door before it could close. Glynda engaged her Semblance and summoned Astrid's spear into her hand before she hurriedly stepped through the entranceway, following the dark silhouette ahead of her into the mall.
Author's Note:
Direct continuation next week.
-RD