Where do I go from here?
That thought crossed Kaiser's mind more often as the days dragged on. It had been a couple months since he renounced his role as a spy, it came as a surprise to Kaiser that it had actually worked.
Now a vagabond, Kaiser wandered the streets of Vale. He always took small jobs, enough to pay for a room and a meal. Many times he had gone out to fight in an underground arena, only to decimate his opponent. He'd long since ditched the black hair dye pellets and turned off his contacts' color tint, ivory white hair and crimson red eyes were shown to any random passerby.
The night air had breezed past the boy, he dug his hands further into his coat pockets. The coat being one of the few things he kept in his time as a spy, upgrades were made to it soon after his 17th birthday. Now the coat was strong enough to withstand multiple rounds of bullets, not to mention it's increased resistance to blades. The long coat, his mask hidden in his contacts, and his tanto sword were among the few things he managed to salvage from the storm that was his resignation.
Albert Ross had seen fit to confiscate his bank account(both official and offshore), his compound key card, and his apartment. The spymaster truly did not take Kaiser leaving well, "waste of resources" and "ungrateful twit" were among the insults he heard thrown at him as he left Ross' office.
At least I'm free. Kaiser solemnly thought, kicking a pebble. The numerous storefronts passed by him in a blur as he briskly walked past them. He stopped a couple feet just short of an alleyway, grunts and hushed words were exchanged.
"We got all the dust?." A man in a white mask inquired.
Another man similarly dressed had taken a drag from his cigarette before responding. "Yeah, let's book it before Taurus gets mad."
Kaiser's blood ran cold, had he heard right? He inches closer to take a better look at the surrounding men. Faunus, as he had recently learned, was another race of humans with animal traits. It baffled him as to how he had not encountered one before on an assignment from Ross. Now though, he had come to see five of them loading crates of dust onto a truck. Kaiser was almost sure that they had mentioned Taurus, If that was the case he needed to dispatch the workers.
As soon as one of them- a burly man with polar bear features- had turned around, Kaiser dashes towards him and kicked his legs out from under him. The loud thud of the bear Faunus had alerted the other members of the loading crew. Kaiser turned his attention to them just as he drove his elbow into the stomach of the man he knocked over.
Kaiser was immediately charged by two more masked faunus. The boy sidestepped and tripped the man with a pig's snout, whom fell face first into the concrete. The pig's partner was swinging a crowbar wildy at Kaiser, to which Kaiser avoided by stepping back. The boy unstrapped his sword from his side, he used the sheath to stop the crowbar from swinging downwards on him.
The iguana Faunus swinging the crowbar quickly retracted it to swing it at the boy's face, he closed his eyes as he felt the bar hit something. He cracked one eye open with manic anticipation. Any expression he had at the time dropped at what he saw.
The crowbar did connect, however it was wedged between the boy's face and a mask made of some sort of silver alloy. The boy front kicked the stunned worker, the force of the kick caused him to fall backwards whilst letting go of the crowbar. The bar had hooked onto the mask as it broke skin on his left mid cheek. The blood had seeped through the wound onto his chin, the bright red was a stark contrast to his pale white skin.
It took a fair bit of prying to remove the crowbar from under the mask. As he did he was soon knocked forwards by somebody. This Person had no discernible feature, they looked proud of themselves that they managed to knock him over.
Kaiser used one hand to push himself off the ground while pressing the back of his other hand to the wound on his cheek. The fight was beginning to wear on him, dragging it out with the person in front of him and the dog faunus not too far off would lead to Kaiser's loss.
Kaiser gave a deadpan stare to the person in front of him, although he thought it wouldn't matter anyways since he didn't think people could see too well through the tempered glass on the eyes of the mask. The boy waved his hand, gesturing to himself for a simple taunt. Simple proved effective as the masked person charged toward him before being caught in clinch. Kaiser punched the side of his opponent's head. He pivoted on his heel to hip throw his aggressor. There was one person left, a dog Faunus who seemed stunned by the action.
Kaiser stepped towards him, he had the mask retract into contacts to look him in the eyes. Before the canine could do anything he was shoved against the brick wall of the alley, pinned under Kaiser's arm, he waited for the attack.
"What is Taurus?" Kaiser paused momentarily as he felt the Faunus shiver under him. He knocked off the mask on the faunus, vibrant blue eyes stared at him. Under the mask the dog couldn't have been any older than Kaiser was. His weight shifted so as to not hurt the boy before him too much.
"H...he.." the faunus tried to point a finger out behind kaiser.
Kaiser seemed to get his message, he dove forward to push the boy and himself out of the way just as he heard a trigger click. Looking up he saw the hilt embedded into the brick wall in front of the both of them stood a man, even in the dark Kaiser could make out his blazing red hair. Kaiser could barely make out bullhorns accenting his hair. This man's mask was a variation of the others except it had red markings that seemingly glowed in the moonlight.
"You are?" Kaiser asked, he used the man's sword to prop himself up. The boy lightly tapped the dog faunus on the leg, indicating that he should leave. The faunus scrambled out of the way.
"Taurus, and you human?" The man named Taurus spoke while aiming a rifle at Kaiser.
I think I got the wrong Taurus. Kaiser lamented his actions tonight as he didn't expect at all for Taurus to be a person.
"Kaiser." He responded.
"I can only assume you did this, am I right?" Taurus gestured to the several bodies, they were barely moving as their pained grunts emanated throughout the alleyway.
"How could you tell?" Kaiser asked sarcastically, Taurus snarled at that, Kaiser was glad that Taurus had obvious anger towards him, it would make it easier to exploit.
"What's wrong, seeing red?" Kaiser knew riling him up wouldn't be too good in the long run, he was running through different ways to try a quick takedown. He'd need to be able to dodge that rifle above all.
"Humans are a plague, I'll make sure I become the cure." Adam growled out.
Kaiser picked up his own sword which was dropped in the scuffle and scoffed as he did so.
"Pff.. edgelord!" As if I'm one to talk.
That seemed to do the trick though as Taurus started charging at him.
Kaiser leapt backwards, he kept Taurus in his sight. He stood back as Taurus stopped where he was to shift his rifle into a sheath.
Taurus yanked out his sword out of the wall, he sheathed his sword. He dashed towards kaiser, jumping at the last second into a flying kick. His foot landed squarely into the boy's chest.
Kaiser was sent flying into a parked car by the alley. He groaned from the impact as he straightened himself out. Kaiser raised his hands in combat stance, now ready to face his enemy.
Out of the shadows of the alley came Taurus, he stopped two feet short of kaiser with his hand at the hilt of his sword. Taurus unleashed three devastating slashes too fast for kaiser to see, he sheathed his sword in the same instant.
Taurus fully believing he won had turned around to leave, he stopped as he heard a pained groan from behind.
"You'll find I'm a bit harder.. to cut than paper." Kaiser was using the heavily dented car to prop himself up, one hand was placed on his rib. His coat had prevented Taurus' onslaught from cutting the skin, but it still pained him nonetheless.
Taurus looked unamused as he turned back around. "Then I'll just have to swing harder." Taurus moved forward to slash once more, his blade aimed at the neck of the white haired boy. Unfortunately, the other combatant predicted Taurus' attack. Taurus' sword met Kaiser's blade, small sparks bouncing off the crossing weapons.
Both combatants stood struggling to push each other's weapon towards the other.
Taurus looked at the boy in annoyance, the dust operation had been delayed and four of his men were injured. He would make sure the boy would pay with his life, he grit his teeth as he pushed onwards.
Kaiser was livid about the situation, although he wouldn't let anyone see that. Normally he'd retreat and not bother to look back, but he was in too deep by this point. If the fight was going to happen, it was going to happen his way. Kaiser gave a slight smirk before he made his next move.
Taurus's eyes widened as a heavy kick had been placed on his torso, separating him from the boy.
Taurus regained his bearings and thrust his sword towards the boy, the boy in question sidestepped and trapped the sword between his right arm and torso.
Kaiser chose that moment to headbutt Taurus, the shock of the blow threw off the bull faunus causing him to let go of his sword. Kaiser quickly shoved the man off, he dashed toward Taurus just as he snapped out of his daze. Kaiser threw quick jabs at Taurus, they were blocked without a single thought. Kaiser threw a cross elbow strike which connected with Taurus' face, Taurus threw a heavy punch at kaiser. The boy stumbled backwards, he took notice as the elbow strike cut Adam on his cheek just under his mask. The cut began to seal itself as soon as blood began to seep out of it.
Taurus ran forward into another flying kick, Kaiser caught it before it landed. This caused Taurus to fall to the ground while Kaiser trapped his leg. Kaiser lifted Taurus off the ground by the collar, his leg was still trapped by Kaiser's left arm. Kaiser promptly slammed the older man to the ground, it didn't seem to be working much to his chagrin.
Taurus however grabbed the boy by the throat, limiting both options and air for Kaiser. Throwing Taurus seemed to be a good idea at the time. Kaiser swung the masked bull with all the strength he could muster. Taurus crashed into the already dented car. Without thinking, Kaiser ran towards Taurus.
The fight had ended in that instant.
In hindsight, it wasn't a good idea to toss Taurus back to where his sword was. Even worse was charging at him without a proper plan. But there he was, pierced through the stomach. It didn't even register that Taurus was glowing whilst waiting for Kaiser to approach. The numb feeling from the shock of impalement was much more preferable to the scorching sensation he now endured.
Taurus pulled his sword out of the boy, the tip of the blade glowing with Kaiser's blood. Taurus gave the boy a light shove, to which kaiser instantly collapsed.
"May the brothers judge your soul." Taurus left without another word.
The streetlights blinded Kaiser, it didn't matter anymore as he would be consumed by darkness soon enough. Blood trickled onto the sidewalk, kaiser wondered when it'd be cleaned up. His fist unclenched as he saw the silhouette of a man, the man in question reached for his belt. Kaiser stiffened up until he realized the figure above him pulled a flask out.
Taking a drink, the man stared at the boy with intense eyes. "Geez kid." was the only thing he heard the man mutter.
Kane? No… Kane stopped drinking a long time ago. Those were Kaiser's last thoughts before the world went darker than it already was.