Chapter 8
In the back parts of his mind, the same parts that had told him charging a demon-wolf-bear with an axe was a bad idea, he reminded himself that this chick had kicked Yang's ass.
But like always, he ignored those parts in favor of the much louder parts that screamed "WHAT WOULD NATHAN DRAKE DO?!"
So he threw his fucking gun at her and charged her with his fists.
Would anyone believe him if he said he actually had a plan?
Regardless of the answer, it didn't change the opening salvo. He came charging in and threw a powerful right Superman punch Neo's way, but she danced out of the way, holding her umbrella and her hands behind her back as if taunting Aldric. Aldric spun into the momentum of his punch and came around swinging his shield, but Neo kicked her foot up and absorbed the blow, before kicking off of it and sailing away, briefly unfurling her umbrella to float back to the ground, Princess Peach style.
She wasn't surprised when she saw Aldric's shield hurtling towards her, and nor was she stupid enough to try and bat this one away. She swung her umbrella around and opened it wide, but when the shield slammed into it like a speeding car, sending her skidding across the dusty warehouse ground, her silent grin faltered a moment. She thrust her umbrella to the side and the shield went sliding away, but Aldric was there, using her momentary distraction as a means to get in her defenses, three long, sharp claws of dull blue light protruding from his knuckles.
She tried to dance out of the way of these attacks as she had done before, but found that something was off in her movements - a sluggishness, so faint that she confused it for a lack of balance on her end. Aldric was applying a light pressure to her back and knees with his semblance, the result being like moving through grass - a negligible difference, but one just present enough to throw her off.
With this, he was able to swing his left arm around and bury it into her stomach. Her shields blunted most of the attack but she was still sent skidding backwards again. A less skilled fighter wouldn't have heard the thrum of the air, but she did, and with widened eyes, she ducked down, Aldric's shield sailing straight over her and back to its owner, as his claws vanished. He raised it again, and banged on its front, the sound similar to that of glass striking glass. The first thing he had to do was get her away from her umbrella, and to do that he had to get it tangled up in his shield.
With a sidewards jerk of the head, she gave him an impressed nod, before the blade popped out of her umbrella, and she surged forward. Aldric's reflexes, while better now than most people from Earth, weren't nearly good enough to get his body to react to her in time. Fortunately, he didn't even have to - the moment he saw her closing in on him, with a pulse of aura he skidded to the side. She blinked and changed directions on a dime, still as silent as the night as she charged him.
She rammed the tip of her blade onto his shield, he parried it and thrust upwards, but this proved to be what she wanted, as she then thrust her knee forward. Aldric, however, swung his right hand downwards, and with his semblance, slowed what would have been a vicious attack to his stomach down to a halt. His hand shook from the effort, but it managed to work. He then brought his shield sailing back downwards, slamming it onto her thigh, before he bodily lunged forwards. He smashed the shield into her core, using his semblance to increase the force of his impact, turning it from a powerful tackle into a small wrecking ball. Neo was again sent skidding backwards, but as Aldric lowered his shield he, with the radar pulse, felt the air change around her.
Lowering the shield, he found that there were now three Neos.
Illusions... If he remembered correctly, they were very fragile clones.
Another radar pulse, and he let out a slow breath. Just a little longer, but splitting his attention like this was costing him. The clones, in unison, opened their umbrellas and swung them over their shoulders, spinning them and smiling wide. Aldric would give her credit for trying, but he could feel her through the radar pulse. She'd used her illusions to create three clones, while the real Neo turned invisible, intent on attacking him from behind.
This plan was scuppered when, with a telekinetic push, a small shockwave blasted outwards, shattered her clones and her cloak. She, however, took it in stride, and swung her leg up in a wide, sweeping high kick. Aldric took the blow with his shield, but the moment he felt the leg make impact, he dissipated the shield. Neo didn't predict this, and as such Aldric had just enough time to wrap his arm around her leg and use that as an excuse to hide him immobilizing it with his semblance. Neo, however, took this as leave to hop up with her other leg and swing it around - ramming it into the side of Aldric's leg. It took all he had to keep the leg locked to his arm, but he was stunned nonetheless, and she took this as an opportunity to lock her free leg to his shoulder, and swing her whole body in a downward, arcing motion.
Her weight and momentum dragged Aldric to the ground, he slammed down home with a grunt of pain and a loud 'thump'. A moment later he felt something cold and sharp penetrate his shoulder. He bit back a shout of pain, but seized his chance, letting go of Neo to make a grab for the umbrella. Neo realized what he was doing, but he used his semblance to blast her backwards and wrench her grip free of her weapon.
Blood leaking out of his shoulder, Aldric labored to his feet, the tri-haired mute's umbrella clutched in his hand. He tore it out of his shoulder as Neo leapt back to her feet, an ecstatic grin on her face as she looked at him from across the warehouse. His shoulder burned from its wound, but he'd gotten her weapon, so he counted it as a win. With a heavy heave, he threw the umbrella to the side, it burying halfway to its grip in a large metal shipping crate.
Neo gave him another impressed nod, before she charged forward, splitting into two, to four, to eight, to sixteen clones as they filled the floor and sprinted towards him. Aldric gave an exhausted sigh, his shoulders briefly slumping, before he charged forward. A several foot long, curved blade appeared around his right arm as he swung in a wide, circular motion. Dozens of the Neos shattered like glass, the others hopped back from the sweeping attack, but Aldric sensed her sailing in from above - she having climbed the crates and deciding to try an attack from the air.
Unfortunately for her, his shield took the brunt of the attack and left him unharmed. She knelt down, her feral grin wrinkling her face, and her pink and brown eyes locking onto his gunmetal gray orbs. His next choice certainly wasn't the smartest, but intelligence hadn't been what had saved him from the Beowolf. With that reasoning in mind, he switched off the shield, and as Neo fell those few inches between her and him, his right hand surged forward - a thick spike of dull blue light protruding from his palm.
She, however, palmed it away and danced around his counter swing. She landed on the ground like a dancer, and then buried her foot into his back. Aldric stumbled forward, sensing more than looking for her next attack, and rolling out of the way to dodge her downward kick. She tried to punt his stomach as he scrambled back to his feet, but a powerful telekinetic shield slowed this attack long enough for Aldric to grab at the leg. However, this time he was able to capitalize it as he yanked downwards. Neo was brought down to the ground, and Aldric scrambled over to straddle her.
She, however, didn't stop smiling, and a moment later, he felt cold steel penetrate his back, poking just out of his ribcage. One radar pulse later, Aldric realized that he'd failed to realize those few clones he'd missed had gone for her weapon. They were solid, they had mass - of course, if given the chance, they would go for the damn umbrella.
Stupid... He affixed Neo with a fierce glare, and formed a shield in his free hand, whilst blasting the three behind him with his semblance.
He rammed the shield downwards, into her face, and pulled the blade out of his back with his abilities. He managed to smash her face in three times before her legs swung up and wrapped around his throat. However, where she expected to put him in a choke hold, she found her legs forcibly wrenched open and Aldric once again beating her face. He, however, then felt his back throb painfully, and the momentary stun wiped away any momentary advantage he had gained, and with a heavy shove, he was thrown from his position over her.
He groaned in pain, feeling the blood leak out of his back and chest. He saw Neo was breathing heavily, but unlike him, she still had her shields - aside from some bruises and soreness, she was fine. If he wanted to keep this 'best defense is a good offense' strategy, he'd have to change it around a bit, work some kind of constant telekinetic barrier into it, or perhaps a never-ending radar pulse, so shit like this couldn't happen again. He shook his head, burying those thoughts. With another grunt, Aldric raised himself to his knees, and then his feet. Despite weighing functionally nothing, the circular shield hanging from his left arm slowly felt as if it were attempting to disobey him and begin to obey Remnant's gravity.
Neo once again had her umbrella over her shoulder, twirling it around. Another radar pulse, and Aldric nodded.
"Yeah... You're doin' good there, Neo." He swallowed through a dry throat, "but uh... You're forgetting one thing."
She arced an eyebrow.
He pointed over her shoulder, up to the cat-walks "what the hell is that?!"
Expecting another telekinetic attack, Neo quickly skated forward, turning her head and using her peripherals to find his attack, but nothing came. Not from that direction, anyways - with a grunt, Aldric used his semblance to charge forward and right into Neo's defenses. He swung at her, smashing his fist into the side of her face and using his semblance to spin her around. With her back to him, he threw his arms under hers and then wrapped his hands around her head, catching her in a headlock.
"Look closer." He grunted through a tight chest.
Without even a huff, she tried kicking her foot up to nail Aldric in between the legs. He, however, used his semblance to lock her foot in place, and then used his Power Glove to immobilize his hands around her neck, keeping her stuck fast and unable to escape his grasp.
"You're not looking!" He now shouted, looking up to Roman and the Legion, making eye contact with the orange-haired gangster. "Let me try this."
And then, Roman's head was briefly pushed forward, as the barrel of the very gun he had chucked at Neo pressed against the back of his head. Roman stiffened up, as did Neo who, from her vantage point below and to their side, could clearly see the dark metal object pressing against his head. The entire fight, Aldric had been dragging that thing across the ground, and up into the air, constantly turning on and off his hardlight to ruin everyone's night vision, so they wouldn't notice it as long as they were focused on him. Now with it pressed against Roman's head, he was in checkmate position.
"Well..." Roman called down, "we seem to be at a standoff, don't we?"
A lot of guns were then pointed at Aldric, from the cat walks above.
Oh god damn it... His head was starting to hurt, from keeping Neo's legs where they were, and keeping the gun where it had to be. He had his chest clenched so tight that his face was beginning to redden.
"I do believe she was to judge your character, my good sir. Not I." He called down.
Aldric buried his knee into the small of her back. She was nearly able to steal his balance out from under him, but more telekinesis solved that problem. His head was really beginning to hurt.
"Yeah?!" He croaked out from behind a light scowl, it set in deep shadows thanks to its position above a dull blue light source. "Well here's our parley. We'll agree I'm a badass, you walk out without ruining that real nice coat." Neo was trying to slip her arms out from Aldric's grasp, but his hardlight filled in any gaps that she could do it in.
He also noted her hair didn't smell like any of the ice creams from which she was named, but rather like mints.
"Oh please, my good sir. You wouldn't -" The gun was then pressed to his shoulder and fired, the bullet grazing him but drawing blood all the same. Roman howled out in pain, and one trigger-happy thug, in his surprise, let off a round.
This was the straw that broke the camel's back, as to keep up the shield to halt that bullet, he had to let go somewhere else - and he didn't necessarily pick where. So when the bullet stopped in mid-air, Neo sensed she had control over her leg back, and promptly buried her heel in between Aldric's legs. He croaked in pain, hardly even able to articulate his pain, as he doubled over, practically sliding his head down Neo's back. Neo, as his arms slid down with him, hopped out of his grasp and kicked off of his face, before landing on her feet with a flourish.
Fortunately, Roman took this moment to curse him out. "Oh!" He gasped, "do you know how expensive this damn coat was? And you shot me!"
"Tis but a flesh wound..." Aldric croaked, as he unsteadily got back to his feet.
"Yes, but it's the principle of the thing!"
"Yup..." He groaned, raising his arm and forming the shield again. "Sure." He felt his semblance's grip on the gun go slack, and now there was nothing dragging at his concentration.
That had probably been his best, perhaps only shot at winning this without seeing how well Neo could match Cubone in the 'carve up Aldric like a Thanksgiving Turkey' department, and now without Neo as a hostage of sorts, the entire thing had been thrown out. He'd hoped to get Neo to surrender by holding Torchwick hostage, and Torchwick to accept it by holding Neo hostage. With both of them now aware of these plans, he couldn't try it again, and now the only way he could win was conventionally. Considering the bruises and cuts covering his body, those chances weren't high.
Okay... Now what do I do? He thought, a frown forming on his face. I could try pulling a Darth Vader, smash her around without touching her... Might work now that I'm not splitting my attention ten different ways, but it's a lot harder to hold something that's struggling than it is to pick up an inanimate object.
His thoughts were interrupted when Neo gave him another nod, this one accompanied by an impressed smirk, before she to charged forward.
"Oh crap." Aldric grunted, as he raised his shield and intercepted a quick swing from Neo's umbrella.
He parried and deflected the blow, lunging forward and slamming his fist into her stomach, but she latched onto his arm and, in a flurry of movement, managed to turn the backwards momentum into circular momentum, climb onto his back, and begin beating at his head with her umbrella. Aldric launched himself backwards with a telekinetic push, but Neo slid off of him before he could bury the both of them into a shipping container. Now with thick metal pressing at his body and stars swimming in his vision, Aldric decided that the best solution here may very well be the easiest one.
So as Neo charged him again, Aldric dissipated his shield, and thrust both hands forward. She was halted wholesale and he was pressed further into the metal, but with her frozen in place, he had the time to wrench himself free. He then lifted one hand, slowly clenching it into a fist, before bringing it on down in a sharp, slashing motion. Neo was lifted into the air and then smashed onto the concrete floor with a loud crunching noise, but her shields blunted most of the attack. Aldric then thrust her to the side, burying her into a shipping container and causing a large stack of them to fall to the ground, but again, her shields held.
Now with her actively struggling against his hold, Aldric found it more and more difficult to keep her in the air, so he instead tried a different approach - throwing her through the air like a baseball, and sending her flying to the other side of the warehouse. With few other ways of catching up to her, Aldric then pushed himself at a higher speed - with his shield held firmly in front of him. It took him three seconds to cross to the other side of the warehouse, and were it not for his shield absorbing the force of impact, with how hard he hit the wall he would have shattered his elbow.
Aldric whipped around just in time to see Neo catch the bottom of her umbrella on a thin metal pipe, using it as a fulcrum to swing around, now flying at him feet-first. Aldric didn't like this, but he also knew that she couldn't do much else about her being in the air, so with a mighty heave, he spun around in a wide circle and threw his shield at the tri-haired mute. It soared through the air with the sound of ringing glass, but Neo thrust her unfurled umbrella forward, her momentum and its speed meeting and the resultant impact cancelling eachother out, causing her to fall straight to the ground. Aldric hadn't planned this at all, but she was still high enough up in the air that he could sprint underneath her, which he did, but she snatched his shield out of the air and flung it at him.
He thrust his hand out and halted the shield with his semblance, slowing it down enough for him to catch it. Neo landed a foot away from him and rolled into the landing, using it to lunge straight for him. He batted aside her straight thrust with his shield, but she followed it up with a savage roundhouse, causing him to stumble to the side. He sensed her attempting to kick him again, and used his semblance to send it careening off in the wrong direction, but she rolled with it and used it to spin around into another kick, burying her heel into his shield.
Fortunately for Aldric, this left her back wide open - and with but a thought, he formed a large battering ram around his right arm. He slammed it into her back, and she stumbled forward. The ram and his shield disappeared in a flash of blue embers, and Aldric charged, managing to get inside Neo's defenses and wrap his arms around her abdomen. He managed two heavy punches to her ribs before he locked one hand to the other and, with a loud bellow, he lifted her over his head and slammed her onto the concrete in a textbook suplex.
However, knowing how well she'd proven to be on the ground, Aldric quickly pulsed his semblance and escaped her before she could wrap her legs around his neck and get him in a chokehold. He landed several feet away, and watched as she spun both of her long legs around and sprung to her feet. He could see a bruise marring her right cheek, but it did nothing to her smile, as she again hefted her umbrella over her shoulder and spun it around.
No... No, I can't try Darth Vader again... She'll expect it. Can't try flinging her around anymore, she knows how to break my concentration. Clearly can't match her hand to hand... Aldric frowned. The only time I had the upper hand and had her on the defensive was when that damn umbrella was taken out, but she's not going... He blinked, as she arced an eyebrow, wondering what it was he was planning in this brief pause.
He wondered if it would be that simple.
With a swallow through a dry throat, Aldric stood to his feet, dropping his shield and slumping his shoulders. Now her arced eyebrow raised higher, interest sparking in her eyes. Aldric clenched his chest, and threw his hand forward. Neo instantly felt his telekinetic hold on her umbrella, but all of her strength couldn't keep him from tearing it out of her hands and bringing it to him. He caught it by its middle, and with an angry grunt, again heaved it to the side, this time hard enough that it careened through two thick metal shipping containers, before being buried inside of a third.
Just like last time, Neo tried using her semblance to distract him, such that she could make a run for her weapon, but Aldric wasn't having that, and used his radar pulse to eliminate her shell game and keep her firmly within his sights. He used minor telekinetic blasts to shatter her illusory clones and a tight hold on her legs to keep her pinned to the ground.
Aldric then launched himself forward and slammed the edge of his shield into her chest, bowling the both of them over. He had her upper body pinned to the ground with his weight and the shield, but she only had one hand struggling against the shield. He sensed her other hand reaching down towards her knee-high boot, towards something he hadn't sensed before - a gun just barely the size of her fist. It took a great deal of effort to use his semblance to struggle against her hand as she tried to aim the gun at his gut, but she'd long since figured out that as long as she struggled, he couldn't hold her nearly as well, so she fired the gun anyway. This shot the gun up a few inches, and the next bullet grazed against his back and shot the gun up another inch, now pointed right at his ribs.
However, before she could fire again, Aldric used his right glove to make another shield, blocking his core with it and causing her next bullet to bounce right off. He had a deep, open-mouthed scowl on his face as he struggled against her on many fronts. He was croaking with the effort of keeping her pinned, but it was becoming very clear to him that even if he kept her like this, he wouldn't be able to concentrate enough to actually attack her - he could only keep her pinned against the ground, and he wasn't even closing her airway, with her other arm struggling against his shield.
So he did the only sensible option: He dropped both shields, and his telekinetic grip on her gun hand. This caused her gun hand to fly up once its resistance was lost, and him to surge downwards. He buried his head into hers with the cracking sound of bone striking bone, and then locked his left hand to her right, and caught her right hand with his left. Now with both of her hands locked, Aldric had the available effort to -
He heard the sound of metal springing outwards too late to realize he'd lapsed in concentration. One of her legs had gotten free, and she'd smacked her heel onto the ground. In a frightening display of flexibility, she kicked upwards and buried a boot-knife, hardly even two inches long, into Aldric's back. She managed another kick before Aldric twisted out of the way and tumbled off of her.
I... I really need to figure out this offensive defense nonsense, or else I'm going to die. He thought, with a deep scowl on his face as he hauled himself to his feet. He looked over to Neo, who dug the toes of her boot into the concrete ground, sliding the knife back into her boot. How much aura does this chick have? He thought, gasping for air, his hair plastered over his sweaty face. It... It can't be much more. He thought, looking at how she was trying to make it look as if she wasn't breathing heavy.
With a light flourish, she lifted her gun with one hand, posing briefly like a spy as she racked the slide with another - a small dust cartridge flying out as a result.
She may be playing... But I doubt she would have reached for that gun if she thought I was easy. He slowly turned to face her fully, and straightened out his stance. But what next? He wondered, as he squared his shoulders.
Considering that she'd been struggling like mad once he'd had her immobilized on the ground, and now she was clearly putting in a lot more effort since she didn't have her umbrella, Aldric formed a theory. If he could just keep her hands occupied again, and her legs locked again, he could bypass her defenses and hit her hard enough to break her shields. The question now became how, and an idea was already forming in Aldric's head.
Neo decided to take the initiative, but she stumbled forward when she tried sprinting ahead. When she regained her balance, her gaze flickered down to her legs, both of them once again immobilized, before shooting back up to Aldric, who matched her smile with a savage grin of his own.
"Ah..." He shook his head clear of the unfortunately familiar fog of blood loss. "Now." He breathed, and grabbed at his shield with his right hand, sliding it off of his arm and raising it high like a frisbee. "Try this." He threw it as hard as he could, putting a great deal of strength, from his aura-augmented muscles to his fully unoccupied semblance, into the attack.
She, in response, just bent over backwards, reaching a full ninety-degree angle at the knee. The shield flew straight over her.
Aldric's shoulders slumped and his head hung low. "Oh come on..." He sighed, though, in all honesty, he really should have seen it coming.
When she straightened up, he felt her legs strain against his hold, but they remained firm. Nevertheless, she silently giggled, covering her mouth with her gloved hand as her shoulders quivered. She raised her pistol, but Aldric ripped it out of her hands with a telekinetic backhand. Despite this, her grin didn't falter.
"Yep..." Groaned Aldric, as he stretched his back. "Laugh it up." She heard the thrumming of the air, and leaned over to the side, dodging the shield as it came rocketing back towards her.
Aldric caught it, and raised it again. This time, he'd throw it at her feet. Hopefully, if he put everything - everything! - he had into this, it would break her shields, and then he'd have an advantage, defensively speaking. He may hurt her, break her legs, but wasn't that the point? So, without further thought, he hurled the shield at her again, all of the strength of his muscles, and all of the blood-boiling power of his aura behind it.
He might have fucked up.
He didn't know how or when he blacked out, but when he woke up, the entire warehouse had been torn from the ground and all of the shipping containers were piled onto the ground where Neo had been locked. He couldn't have been out for more than a few seconds, considering it was still dark outside, shipping containers were still falling from the sky, and there were still a lot of groans and shouts of pain.
Though, despite the gravity of the situation, or perhaps because of it, he couldn't help but let out a chuckle, which soon grew into full blown laughter, as the image of what just happened manifested in his mind. How must this have looked to everyone else? One moment he's throwing his shield at the tri-haired mute, clearly expecting it to slam into her umbrella, next - everyone's flying through the air, the warehouse is being torn apart, and she's getting buried under thousands and thousands of tons of metal. Really, it wasn't the image itself that amused him, but the fact that it had happened so suddenly, and without warning - even for him. A part of him wished he could have seen it, but he'd had to black out for it.
With a long groan, he hauled himself to his feet. "Sweet black fucking sabbath..." He groaned, ambling over to the massive pile of shipping containers. "I didn't kill her, did I?" He reached the containers and leaned his hand up against one of the more mangled, rustic red ones protruding from the small crater in the ground.
It took a moment of concentration to pull up his radar sense, but to his chagrin, she wasn't down there. On the plus side, there was no body, or parts, but on the downside, that meant she was still running around. Or she was unconscious - he was lucky enough to think that was an option, right?
"Ah... Man." He groaned, pressing a hand against the wound on his chest. "Cinder's gonna be pissed." He muttered, looking around.
Feeling out with his radar pulse, he felt someone moving behind him. Turning to look, he actually was surprised when he saw it was Neo, using her umbrella as a crutch. She was covered in her fair share of bruises and her left leg looked swollen to hell and back, Aldric may have broken it.
He cleared his throat, "we'll call this a draw, yeah?"
In response, she pulled out his pistol.
"Or not." He sighed.
But instead of shooting him, she grinned, and chucked it at him. Unlike her, however, he was in too much pain to try to dodge it, and with the adrenaline having drained from his system, he wasn't still operating on his combat high, so that pistol smacked into his face and split his nose open before bouncing off and landing on the ground with a light metallic clack.
"Thanks..." He groaned, leaning down and snatching the gun up.
More people coming up on radar, he turned and saw the Legion approaching, with Roman in tow.
"Okay... I may have fucked up." He called out, as Neo descended her container pile.
Cinder sighed exasperatedly, nursing a cut on her arm, but otherwise showing no emotion or even pain - even her dress was still immaculate. Roman, however, shook with rage. "May have?" He repeated.
Aldric nodded, "yeah..." He looked up at the mountain of shipping containers he was leaned up against. "Just a little." deadpanned.
Emerald and Mercury, however, exchanged money, with the former grinning victoriously.
"You bet on me?"
"I thought you'd throw the shipping containers at her." Mercury responded.
"I thought you'd bring down the house."
"Do you realize what you've done!?" Roman demanded, as Aldric began to sense more and more of his thugs unearthing themselves. "Do you?!"
"Uh..." Aldric frowned, "extreme makeover. Warehouse edition."
"You - are you serious?!" He demanded.
Aldric shrugged. "As a heart attack." That the first words out of his mouth when he'd woken up had been a Hellsing Abridged joke definitely should have been indicative of that.
Roman seethed with rage, but when Neopolitan finally joined him, she stole his attention with a shake of the head. Then, to make her point, she swung her arm around Aldric's neck. The seventeen year old being a good foot taller than her, this led to her practically hanging off of him, but this didn't take away from the effect, as she hopped up on her good leg to give him a peck on the cheek. When she landed, she smiled and nodded, still as silent as the night.
Uh... Wait, what? Aldric gave Neo a curious frown. The fuck just happened? Have I already lost so much blood I'm hallucinating, or did that just happen?
Roman sighed, "fine." He shook his head, holding his hand out for Neo, who took it and gingerly hopped over to him, keeping the weight off of her bad leg. "You send me the things you need me to get, tell me what you need to do, I'll get it done." He assisted Neo in keeping her balance, "now, if you wouldn't mind... I have to set this place on fire, make it look like a White Fang attack." He mumbled.
As they stalked off, Neo looked over her shoulder and waved to Aldric. Aldric, numbly, waved back.
Once they were out of sight, Cinder's gaze melted into one of cold fury. "Really, Aldric?" She asked, an eyebrow arced.
"In my defense..." He groaned, as he stood up straight. "I'd only really intended to throw the shield. I think I just... Pushed a bit too hard." Same way how things would go flying is something ran by really fast, Aldric assumed much the same thing had happened here - he'd gotten the shield going so fast that he'd torn the entire building off of the ground.
He was surprised that they weren't standing in a crater, if that were truly the case.
"So... How much of that was bullshit, and how much genuine?" He asked, as he limped alongside them.
Cinder surprised him by offering a steady hand, which he took after a moment's thought. "We'd seen him the day after we arrived. Told him enough of you to peak his interest. Said we needed a test. He volunteered Miss Neo."
Aldric grunted, "and... You couldn't have... I dunno... Done that without the show?" He'd burned a Star Wars quote for this, damn it! "Just said - oh, Aldric, you're doing good so far but we need to see how you'd do against someone who hasn't trained you, so here's this ice-cream chick, beat her up."
"The 'show' was as much a part of the test as the fight was."
"Well I certainly failed the shit out of that, didn't I?"
"On the contrary, you stood still capable of fighting. Had she kept going, you would have been able to kill her." Cinder said, "the collateral damage was merely a side effect of your poor control."
"Build me up to tear me down, why don't you?" Aldric deadpanned. "What'll happen now that I tore the place apart?" He asked, feeling more pain lance through his chest.
"Torchwick will handle it. He's men in many places, the White Fang among them. They will gladly take the blame once it is suggested, they've been getting violent enough for it to be believable, as of late." She explained.
"Oh?"
"Armed train robbery." Mercury supplied.
"Sounds fun." Aldric groaned, "I'm gonna pass out, now."
"Sweet dreams, destructo." Said Emerald, as Aldric fell forward, only saved from a faceplant by Cinder's grip.
There were several moments of silence, as Cinder was joined on her other side by Emerald, who supported Aldric's other half. "So... I don't doubt him anymore." She finally said.
Mercury hummed in agreement, "gotta admit, I'd always sensed his aura, but I never really thought he'd actually be capable of doing something like that. Pulling down a building? Beyond Glynda Goodwitch I don't think I've seen a TK capable of that. We sharpen his technique, get him more used to that weapon..." He gave Cinder a teasing grin, "I think he may be able to out-fight you."
Cinder hummed in response. "He needs to work on his control. He took a great deal of unnecessary hits, during that fight."
"In his defense, he's still working on that." Mercury responded, turning to face them and walking backwards as they did. "Something about the best defense being a good offense." He shrugged, "to his credit, if he'd focused on self preservation, he probably wouldn't have been able to damage her enough to take her down." He pointed out.
"Regardless. His power isn't in question, and never was." Cinder said, ending the discussion. "But rather his ability to control said power." She gave Mercury a commanding look. "I want you to begin looking for the White Fang's location."
He shrugged, "it'll take a couple weeks... I won't be able to train him while I do." He said, giving Cinder a look, as if to warn her whilst simultaneously ensuring that such a thing was okay.
She nodded, "that will be fine. While he can benefit from continued hand to hand training, there is only so much he can learn outside of a pitched battle. We will instead divide his time between refining his technique and honing his focus. When you return, we will test him again before leaving for White Fang."
She felt Aldric dip, and looked to Emerald, whose shoulders had slumped. "Am I going to have to take him over?" She asked, a frown on her face.
"Yes." Said Cinder.
"But he asks so many questions!" She argued, "and I can never tell when he's being serious... Like, he communicates in snide remarks and references to his home."
"Now tell me how you really feel..." The man to whom they were referring groaned, as Cinder felt him begin to use his legs and rouse to consciousness. "How long was I out this time?" He asked, shifting his gaze around. "Not long enough. Fuck did I miss?" He asked, clearing his throat.
"Discussing our next moves." Cinder said, still supporting him. "How are you feeling?"
"Like I got stabbed by an umbrella." Aldric deadpanned, "what is it with your world and weird weapons? I wasn't out too long this time." He hummed, as he looked around and realized they were still surrounded by warehouses. "Uh..." He cleared his throat, "as long as my aura hasn't switched off, though... I should be fine in a day or two." He always found it somewhat miraculous, the healing abilities aura provided. Not Wolverine-style, more like Old Man Logan, in that they did heal, and fast at that, it was just that they needed time to do so. "What's our next move?"
"We do not want you pulling down another warehouse, Aldric." Said Cinder, "so while Mercury hunts for our next point of contact, we will focus much of your training upon your control."
"So I'm not going to be beaten to death every day?" A haggard smile lit up his face.
"Oh, that'll still happen." Emerald said, "you were decent, but damn if you don't need more training and experience."
"Well crush my hopes and dreams, why don't you." Aldric deadpanned.
For the Record
I've got Kung Fu Fighting playing right now.
'Cause my ass survived!
I fought Neo - lady who basically one shot Yang - and... Well, I won, but only technically.
What I tried to do was get something of a beam struggle going, by forcing her to focus all of her defenses on keeping my shield at bay, so I could flank her and get her in another choke hold.
Instead I dropped the whole goddamn building on her.
Oops.
But the fact remains: I did win, just not... Conventionally? Yeah, I'll go with that.
Though, that is how Iron Man beat the Hulk, in Age of Ultron. So if it's good enough for Tony Stark, damn it, it's good enough for me.
Jesus I do communicate primarily in references, don't I?
I mean I won't stop - not a day went by that my parents didn't quote Kevin Smith - but still, I never really noticed until now.
Aaaaaanyways. Now Mercury's out looking for Adam Taurus of the White Fang. The good news is that I know things will go mostly nonviolent there, but the bad news? The Fall Maiden fight is drawing rapidly close. I think I might still have a month or two, maybe three if I'm lucky, but that still means I'm working on a really limited time table.
So, bar none, I need to get two skills mastered, preferably three.
First: I need to perfect my whole 'Best Defense is a good Offense' thing. I took a damn few good hits during my fight with Neo - got a whole slew of new scars to accompany them. I think I have an idea as to how to do this though, I just need a fork from the dining room.
Second: I need to ramp up my speed and reaction time. I'm thinking the only way I can contact Qrow Branwen is if I find a way to slip him a note when he swoops in and grabs the Maiden. The problem is, if I tried conventionally, I'd be made before I could blink.
So I'm thinking I have two options. One: Find a way to use my semblance to force my reaction time to amp up to Superman levels, such that I can then use it to move my body at far, far higher speeds than I could do on my own, and still be able to move and react at fast enough speeds. I think of it like shutting off all of the game's settings on a weak PC, so you can get a halfway decent framerate. If I can do this, I'll be able to speed up past everyone else's reaction times, slip a note or something in Qrow's pocket, and then be back in my first position before anyone else can blink. He would find it - I doubt a huntsman survives as long as him without becoming real sensitive to that kind of stuff.
Two: I pray I'll be fast enough to get one clean hit in on him, and somehow manage to reverse-pickpocket the note onto him, using the attack to mask it.
Finally, while this isn't a priority, it is something I'd really like to get done: I want to figure out how to create plasma.
I bought a heavy-duty pair of sunglasses that essentially function as welder's goggles, during our little shopping trip a while back, explicitly for this purpose. Mercury gave me some flak for it, hardly able to see a few feet in front of his face when he tried 'em on, but I managed to get out of it without revealing what I want to do.
I know the general how of doing it - heat is just atoms bouncing around real fast. I get them bouncing around fast enough, I can boil the oxygen and turn it into plasma. Then it's just a matter of shooting someone with it. I'm hoping that I'll be able to use this as a means of instantly cleaving through someone's aura shields - as I have yet to see anything in Canon remotely resembling getting shot with something of the heat and luminosity of the sun.
This will give me a veritable nuclear deterrent: If I can master this, and it works as I intend for it, I'd be able to one-shot anyone. May even be able to fight Fall Maiden Cinder, with it.
Fortunately, I do have an out: My Power Glove. I'm going to spend some time cracking into the nanites' programming (never been so glad to get an instruction manual), and see if there isn't a way to control the heat of the projected light. If there is, I may be able to skip a lot of the process, create a small 'orb' of hardlight that just grows and grows and grows in intensity until its heat is so much that just a little additive would incite plasma.
But I run a heavy risk either way: If I create plasma, I have to deal with that heat.
This'll take some thinking.
Oh, and a pipe dream: If I could figure out how to fly, it would serve little to no practical purpose... But it'd be cool as shit.
I'd probably be able to go back to the crash sight and get my magic chair back.
Yup, new priority: Learn to fly.
Fortunately, I've got time for that: While Mercury's gone, pretty much all of my training will be learning how to focus and control my powers. I'll spar nightly with Emerald - I'm noticing Cinder is staying out of the proceedings - and use the rest of the time to get control of my semblance, learn Remnant English, and set up some kind of bridge between Earth tech and Remnant tech.
So, now I've got a plan.
It's a shitty plan, but a plan nonetheless.
'Till next time.