AN

I'll probably be slowing down the updates here in a chapter or two. Been going so fact because I've been trying to make up for lost time.

Chapter 10

For the Record

Holy shit it's working!

Thank god. Gotta be honest, I was giving up hope on this working out like I'd hoped - I fried two tablets already (thank god I pried out their hard drives). Was starting to think I wasn't nearly as good an engineer as I thought I was.

It took two weeks of hard work in between paaaaaaainful training and control sessions, but I was finally able to bridge Remnant and Earth technology. I'm nowhere near getting Earth programs working on Remnant computers, but I was at least able to build something of a 'universal charger', of sorts. The only real problem there was that I had to find a way to measure amperes and voltage and match it to...

Ah, you don't care about this and I could ramble on. Point is: My shit isn't dead anymore. Yeah I'm down two tablets, but that's why I brought so many spares, and made sure to pry out the hard drives, so I lost the devices, but not the data. I'm going to have to consolidate all of that data sometime soon, actually, get a good handle on everything I have. Also, it was during this two week marathon of various builds that I realized that, once I had a way to turn these things on again - I was literally carrying around information that could break the universe, and leaving it unprotected such that anyone determined enough could crack my password and see the entire (currently released) RWBY series.

So I've started carrying that SD card on my person at all times, now. It's in a small strong box about half the size of a cigarette box - the guy who sold it to me promised it could take a bullet and still be fine, or my money back. So I called his bluff and shot it, right there. It works, and I've since discovered Remnant people can also shit their pants in fear.

I'm kidding.

But at least now the knowledge of the future won't be falling into anyone else's hands, and now I can charge my Earth tech. I've now got time to write up a program that'll give me an Earth English keyboard on a Remnant computer, and time as well to find a way to make Remnant computers understand Earth programs.

And in case it needs to be said: They finally got around to giving me a few of my own. Now I've got a Remnant phone ('Scroll'), and a Remnant tablet (Also Scroll).

Onto the real news: Mercury swung by for a day or two about a week ago. Slept one day all the way through, next day said he was 'this close' to finding Adam Taurus, and should be getting back to us in a few days, and that was a few days ago. So it won't be long, now. The good news is that I know I won't have to be fighting this go around, but the bad news is I know the Fall Maiden is coming up real fast.

Problem: I'm still nowhere even close to figuring out how to go superspeed. (Until I have a better name for TK-based super speed, I'm just going to call it Speed Force.). I'm not at all willing to try and just go hog-wild and wing it, because I may very well flatten myself against a wall if I mess up.

I mean, half of it is already done: I know I can move myself with my semblance, and that the speed at which I move is really up to me. I just envision anything from Iron Man-esque rocket boosters pushing me in the desired direction, to a big freakin' wall making the same push, but on my entire body. So that's done, I can do that. But I can't find a way to increase my reflexes to that kind of a speed. Any idea I have is either stupid (praying I'll get used to it through practice), lethal (forcing my neurons to fire faster with my semblance), or stupidly lethal (trying to gather in electrons to electrically stimulate my brain to run faster).

It was a miracle I was able to get the Power Glove - training with it is going well, by the way - but I'm starting to think that Speed Force is too far out of my reach. I may just have to try the whole 'tackle Qrow and slip him the message' idea.

Wait.

Hoooooly shit - I think I've been thinking about this all wrong.

I don't have to physically give Qrow the message - I could very well slip it to the Maiden during our fight, and so long as he gives her first aid and checks her injuries, he'd inevitably find it.

Could it be that easy?

I wouldn't even need the Speed Force, then - I'd just have to focus on bulking up my defense and offense. Let my reflexes develop naturally.

This might be worth looking into.

Anyways, aside from that, there wasn't much that's happened. It's been two weeks, and while I won't say I've mastered, and I won't say it's perfect, I will say my TK shield idea is coming along wonderfully. I'm able to keep them up and repel most of the attacks that come my way, and respond in kind. Problem is that while it certainly stops physical objects, I've noticed that air still gets displaced and will go through - so if someone hit me with a pneumatic battering ram, for instance, I'd stop the ram, but the recoil, or the shockwave, would still hit me and play hell with my organs. Smaller impacts, like bullets, or punches, those are fine - the displaced air isn't enough to damage me - but the bigger stuff is what I need to worry about. So it's not perfect, but it's a lot better than I had earlier, and who around here can punch like a battering ram?

I'm also working on a way to make my strikes hit harder, and I'm using mantis shrimp as my influence. The long and short of it is that these shrimp are able to strike their pray so hard and so fast that they boil the water around them, creating cavitation bubbles that, when they collapse, basically wreck their prey, hitting them with several hundred pounds of force. For comparison's sake, trained black belts - people who literally punch for a living - are among the only people alive who can reach that kind of striking force.

From what I understand, they do this by coiling up their muscles and then lunging forward. Obviously, I can't do this - but what I can do is use my semblance to move my body. So, I'm hoping that, whenever I hit someone, I can 'pulse' my semblance and shove my fist forward like a rocket, giving me two strikes for the price of one, and making sure the second one hits a lot harder. So, using the black belt analogy, my first impact would be the black belt punch, and the second one would be the equivalent of that same black belt strapping a rocket to their elbow and using that to increase their impact force.

Problem: I risk dislocating my shoulder doing this.

Not everything's perfect, but I'm hoping that, given the incredibly small distance my fist will be going for the second impact, a lot of the potential danger will be mitigate; and so far, I haven't had many problems with something like this, it's worked fine. A few minor accidents here and there, but nothing my Old Man Logan healing factor hasn't dealt with.

And I once again draw attention to the fact that my body is clearly changing, with this aura. The more and more I train and practice, the faster I can feel the changes coming on. Things like picking up a couple marbles and juggling them around just a few weeks ago took all of my concentration to do, let alone doing well, but now I can do it with ease. Now I'm making progress on using my semblance as a methods of maneuvering around the battlefield, using it to attack, to defend, whathaveyou. And that's ignoring the effects my aura is having on my body - I ran a mile in four minutes, and that was a week ago. I don't have access to weights, but I'm all but willing to bet I can lift more than a couple times my weight, without my semblance.

All of this in a month.

This is Goku levels of exponential growth. I've gone from scrawny Steve Rogers to supersoldier Captain America in a month, and I'm showing no signs of slowing down. Now, I know this will sound stupid, but this is starting to worry me. Seriously. Aura, and all that, it's supposed to be powered by our soul - anything with a soul, has aura.

But Earth Humans - I'll call them Terrans - and Remnant Humans - they'll stay Humans - evolved in two completely different environments. Could it therefore be possible that the 'rules', and such, of aura are also different? For instance, from that I've been able to surmise, humans can't go in the hole - they can't ever draw more than they have, and they can survive at absolute zero - that's when their shields break and they become vulnerable to injury.

But what if that rule is different for terrans? What if my soul isn't powering my aura - it is my aura? That I'm so strong because I'm drawing from my actual life energy? Same stuff that keeps me alive is what gives me these powers, so what happens if I run out? Do I die? Am I a candle that's burning twice as bright? Is all of this stuff happening to my body, all of these changes, is that me having one last big flare before I burn out? Could this explain why my shields drop when I attack, and go back up when I'm idling around?

What if I'm becoming so strong, so quickly, because I'm actively dying? That my soul has its own equivalent to a fight-or-flight reflex, and right now it's firmly on 'Fight'? That these powers and these abilities I'm being given are my soul trying to give me the chance to get away from perceived threats so I can... Well, put a cap back on it? Seal it up again?

I'm going to have to keep an eye on this. It may very well be just me being paranoid and scared of what I'm capable of. It may literally just be exactly what Cinder said - that we just build and build and build up our aura throughout our entire lives, and this is what happens when all of that buildup finally gets released. I may very well just be overthinking things and this all is a non-issue. But if I'm right... Oh man, I may be in some kind of trouble. I really hope I'm not turning out to be a blood mage. That shit's scary.

But, I won't be ending this on all doom and gloom. After I updated the clocks and calendars on the dead devices, I realized something. Unless I've messed up, my birthday's today. I'm eighteen.

Alright, show of hands: How many folks can say they celebrated their eighteenth on another fucking planet? In another universe?!

Can you imagine the street-cred I'm generating right now? Superpowers, interdimensional travel, functionally becoming Captain America through my aura... A life model after Nathan Drake's heart, and now I'm going to baptize my adulthood prooooobably by preparing to fight God! I want you all to realize that if I survive to my nineteenth birthday, the only way up is to actually make good on those Jesus jokes I made earlier. Go to a bar and grill, turn the water to wine and watch the bartenders shit themselves while I get schnockered.

'Till next time.

There were many things Aldric could probably be doing at the moment - things far more important or worthwhile than what he was doing at the moment. However, if he were to be honest with himself, considering that he likely wouldn't be celebrating birthdays in a conventional way anymore, he'd have to take what he could get, and where he could get it. So, as his birthday present to himself, Aldric was fiddling with his Power Glove, it connected wirelessly to a tablet-sized scroll he'd been given days ago, and with Johnny Cash playing in the background, providing a soundtrack of sorts to what was honestly a project pointless in everything but sentimentality.

No, he wasn't trying to sharpen hardlight blades, crack or enhance its programming, or anything of the sort. He was diving through the color settings. The Power Glove had a 'memory' option that kept a record of the various shapes it had made and how often it had made them. Appropriately, the Captain America shield was at number one, with Wolverine Claws at number two, and bullets and arrows at three and four. This all played into the memory option - he was trying to program the Cap Shield to display a certain trio of colors whenever he formed it. Beyond his own sentimentality, there really wasn't any reason for him to be swapping out the pale blue hardlight wireframe for a more opaque, metallic sheen red, white, and blue; but damn it, it tickled a certain part of him that he didn't get to indulge often outside of movie theaters and conversations with his few comic-savvy friends.

It would also probably be the closest thing to a birthday present he'd get, today.

As he whittled away the time, hammering away at the tablet-sized scroll, one of two given to him by his 'allies' of sorts, he heard someone knock on his bulkhead door. He reached over and stopped the gentle caw of music, and bade the person enter. Surprisingly enough, where he'd been expecting Cinder, continuing his and her little cat and mouse routine, he got Emerald, whose head was tilted to the side and her eyes were narrowed.

"What was that?" She asked.

"Hm?" Aldric hummed, eyes still locked to his computer. "The music?"

"Yeah." Emerald strolled inside and slid into a free chair. "Never heard anything like it."

Aldric grinned, "ah, that's 'cause that's Johnny Cash, lady." He drawled, "never a finer artist. My folks were into things like Metallica and Guns n Roses, but once I heard Cash's dulcet tones, I was hooked."

"I remind you that you're referring to things I have no basis for." Emerald deadpanned.

"And I remind you that pointing it out just encourages me to keep going." Aldric leaned back in his chair and swiveled around to face her. "Remnant doesn't have country music?" He asked.

Emerald shook her head, "nothing like that." She said, "we don't really have a country. Most crops and livestock are grown in towers."

Aldric whistled, "sometimes I forget how different your world is from mine." He said, with a light nod. "Here, expanding a mile or two is a lethal venture. Back home, there were entire epochs defined by us gobbling up new land."

Emerald grew a distant look in her eyes, "sounds nice."

I'll skip how we then proceeded to breed ourselves crazy and now we're running out of room. Aldric thought, as he swirled back to his desk. "I could play some more for you." He mentioned, typing away at his keyboard, opening up 'spectral wavelength' settings. Here we go... He frowned at the holographic screen.

"Oh - no." Emerald shook her head, getting to her feet. "I don't want to disturb -"

"Lady, you and your friends saved my life, and turned me into..." He bit back the word 'Superman', and instead went for, "well, a Huntsman." He said, with a sidewards nod of the head. "And besides, you've suffered a lot under me and Mercury's joint snide efforts. You want to listen to my awesome-ass music, it's the least I can do." He nodded back to the chair, "sit down. I'll put on the good shit." He said, swiveling around in his chair and reaching for his phone.

He heard Emerald's chair creak under her weight after a hesitative second. With a grin, he flicked on Live at Folsom Prison, and then turned back to his scroll.

"Hello, I'm Johnny Cash..." It began, as Aldric flicked through his scroll, sending a command to the Power Glove to form the shield, such that he could visually track the color changes.

Time continued on in relative silence, as the music played and his shield went from varying shades of blue to red, and temporarily to a vibrant lime-green. He continued fiddling with the settings, and as the halfway mark on the song hit, Emerald spoke up.

"Is all of your music like this?" She asked, her eyes locked onto the shield.

Aldric shook his head, "I sincerely hope the implication that you have homogeneous music in this world isn't true." He said with a wavering voice and a comical frown.

"No, no." She said, "I meant your music, specifically. Your library."

Aldric hummed, nodding his head. "No, I've got a lot... And then a lot more from what I looted from the plane." The shield turned a bright pink, briefly casting him in the powerful light. "That's not right..." He undid that selection, and it became purple. "Well... Shit." He frowned.

"What're you trying to do?" Emerald asked.

Aldric chuckled, "something really stupid." He said, "you guys have comic books, here?" He asked.

Emerald was silent a moment, "yeah." She nodded.

"Sweet." Aldric commented, "back home, there was this one comic, called Captain America. Started out primarily as a piece of pseudo-propaganda during war, but it was still pretty nice. The long and short of it was that this scrawny kid - about as thin as I was when you found me - got selected by the army to become a supersoldier... Basically a Huntsman without the aura."

"Okay."

"Dude was a paragon. Truth, Justice, Righteousness, the whole nine yards. He was an idealogue, incorruptible. His symbol..." He rapped his knuckles on the shield, the sound of pinging glass joining Johnny Cash. "Was a circular shield. Star in the center. It was indestructible, absorbed all vibrations, the works. Dude was a badass, and he beat people with a shield."

Emerald grew a revelatory look in her eyes, "he used his defense as an offense."

"You're learning." Aldric grinned. "Yeah. I took the shield idea from that story, the star spangled man with a plan." His grin turned to a frown, "ooooonly problem is..." He turned to the now bright white shield. "It's supposed to be red, white, and blue... Not..." He fiddled with a slider, and then the outer edges turned red. "Well, actually that's getting closer." He commented.

"You're doing this for a comic book?"

"Hm... Not just for one... But let me put it to you like this." He leaned back in his chair, briefly exchanging a glance with Emerald. "Sometimes, the world just needs a hero." He said. "Not a fighter, not a soldier or an icon, but a hero. A symbol, if you want to get philosophical. 'Cause, people, they live and die, yeah?" He said, locking his gunmetal gray eyes to her red orbs. "But symbols... Those live on. They're incorruptible, they're aspired to. They're immortal, in their own way. It's why you've got folks rallying around things like Beacon, or the White Fang, or Atlas. Those aren't people, because people die. But symbols, the ideal that they represent, they're something more." He explained, "and sometimes, that's all someone needs. Something to aspire to, to believe in."

Emerald frowned, "I think I understand what you're saying." She said, "you believe in what this... Captain America represents?"

Aldric chuckled, "actually I'd call myself..." A pause, before he nodded. "Yeah." He settled, deciding not to pile Superman onto this. "It's not necessarily easy to nail down exactly what he believes in and aspires towards, but it's more the generalities. Righteousness, justice, freedom, that sort of stuff. You show me an army that doesn't have a symbol that serves as a rallying cry, I'll show you one that'll fall real fast." Though it was funny, how he voiced aspiring to Marvel's boyscout when he was arguably being anything but. Ozzymandias would probably make Captain America sick to his stomach.

"So you emulate him..." She frowned, "to provide yourself a symbol? Or those we fight for?"

Aldric chuckled, "well consider we're actively fighting against the majority here, and they'll likely see this as the antithesis to everything I just laid out." He said, leaning back forward and resuming his adjustments to the Power Glove. "But I still believe in the principle of the thing. The concept of a hero. The symbol." The second ring remained white, whilst the inner ring turned a deep shade of red. "If I had to pin a specific reason on it..." Inside the inner ring, it turned a bright blue, with a star in the center remaining a stark white. He grinned, and picked up the shield, affixing it to his arm.

Affixed to his lean arm, the shield seemed to thrum, the noise of lowly ringing glass having given way to that of dull metal. "I'd say it's to remind me why I fight." He was actively planning to collude with a doomsday cult-slash-terrorist group, and was making peace with the fact that he'd have strong role in the deaths of a lot of people; he needed this single, small beam of light in that field of darkness. Some small, insignificant symbol to remind him of what he was doing, and why.

But, he couldn't leave it at that. Ignoring the levels of angst in that train of thought alone, he couldn't let them think he doubted The Cause.

So he cracked a grin, and said, "and the Cap was the definition of a badass." The shield vanished as he leaned back in his chair, depositing the small cluster of nanites back with the rest of the power glove. "What's the most powerful Grimm on Remnant?" He asked, "because there was this one story where something stronger and angrier than that was rampaging all across the world. Cap was dead at the time - that happens a lot, they die and come back to life - and folks were pretty sure he commanded enough respect that he could have stopped that thing just by standing in its way." He rubbed his hands together.

Emerald blinked, her eyes narrowing. "No." She said, "there are some terrifying Grimm on this world, Aldric. I doubt -"

"Any that can pick up and hold mountains?" He asked, "clap so hard they create shockwaves? I tell you - just one superhero from Earth would be enough to solve a damn good deal of Remnant's problems." He clasped his hands behind his head.

"You really think they're that powerful?"

"I'll put it to you like this - Captain America was just a mortal man. A supersoldier, peak human strength, yes, but a man nonetheless. He's not a Superman. Cap punches cars and he dents the door. Superman punches cars and there's no planet anymore."

Emerald gave him a incredulous look, "I... I don't know what to say to that. I can respect having symbols to live up to, and all that... But idealists hardly survive in this world, Aldric."

"Oh?" He asked, leaning back in his chair. "Do tell."

Emerald matched his posture, looking at him challengingly in the eye. "First off, the Grimm feed off of negativity. They are literally attracted to it."

"Yeah."

"So when the idealist dies, and his followers lose hope, it only helps the Grimm." She explained.

"Okay." Aldric nodded, "and that explains factions like the White Fang? Emerald I'm pretty sure religion would cease to exist if our little discussion here was as cut and dry as we make it seem. Black and white, from what I know of you so far I'd figure you know the world operates in that gray area."

She nodded, "it does, but I'm making a point. There's a reason your heroes live like they do only in picture books. Even Huntsman and Huntresses only do jobs if they get paid, and they're the closest around to heroes as you describe them."

Aldric pointed at her, "and yet do they not instill hope? Are they not a symbol?" He asked.

"You have a point, Aldric, but mine is still valid, wouldn't you agree?"

Aldric nodded, "that's why my heroes wear masks, Emerald. Why they have, and in some cases are themselves, symbols." He turned to his scroll, "here." He pulled up an image of the White Fang. "If this guy, what's his name? Taurus? If he died, another dude would just take his place. Boom. The entire faction still moves on. Why? Because they believe in the symbol, in the ideal." He said, turning it to her. "Your argument is in the Huntsman, and it's a more than valid argument... But they support the Huntsmen and Huntresses as an institution, not necessarily a person. The headmaster of Beacon dies? Next person will move up, the entire academy won't just fall apart overnight.

"A Huntsman dies, the person is dead, but the symbol, the ideal, that'll live on." Aldric pressed. "So let's say all of the Huntsman rallied around just one man, yeah? Let's say he was the face of the entire organization, and everyone joined to aspire to be him, specifically. He dies, they all grow disillusioned, and leave. But if that man preached an ideal, gave a rallying cry... When he died, they'd instead fight on, to respect his memory." He said, "to bring it all full circle, sometimes people just need a hero." He shook his head, briefly gesturing with his hands. "Simple as that."

Emerald sighed, "you really believe that?"

Aldric laughed, "lady, I'm a living example." He said, "that week I was on my own? I pretty much modeled my every action after one simple question: What would Nathan Drake do?" He said, "now, Drake wouldn't necessarily be a hero per-se, but he was still a symbol. He represented survival, that one doesn't need a best-laid plan, just a good idea and a better means of improvisation. He was a man who refused to die." He leaned back and looked up to the ceiling, his eyes clouding over with a distant look in them. "When the Beowolf first found me, I didn't think I'd live to see my next birthday." He said, leaning back forward, and then gesturing to the room around him. "Now look at me." He grinned.

Emerald blinked, "wait, it's your birthday?"

Aldric nodded, "eighteen years." The longest part ironically being the last few months.

"You've been spending your birthday arguing bullshit comic book ethics instead of going out drinking, or having bad food." Emerald deadpanned, "Aldric even when I lived on the streets I celebrated my birthday."

Aldric gave her a false frown, as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Noooow hold on there, my green-haired, red-eyed friend. Debating bullshit comic book ethics is what I like to do. You want to know what I was doing the day before the trip that brought me here?" He asked, "debating with a buddy of mine whether or not Superman could break Cap's shield. I do that for fun, thought experiments, and the like. I like to do it. Partying, drinking, all that? Never appealed to me. I'd rather get a good night's sleep." Though bringing up alcohol wasn't necessarily an unappealing option for the crash survivor-turned antihero. He would love to forget about all of this for a few hours.

Emerald shook her head, "I can't - no. Unacceptable. Come on." She waved at him, standing to her feet.

"Uh -"

"No butts, come on."

"But I didn't even -"

"Ah!" She shook her finger, and then physically hauled him to his feet. "No! Come on." She hopped out of Aldric's room. "Cinder!" He heard, as he cut the power to his phone and killed the music.

"What?" He heard a muffled voice respond, as he donned his Power Glove and grabbed his coat.

"Aldric thought he could keep his birthday a secret from us. Let's take him to Junior's and see how Earth people get drunk."

"Emerald you cannot be serious." He heard Cinder say, from within her room.

"Uh, to be fair -" Aldric voiced, his deep drawl filling the air and penetrating Cinder's room. "I seem not to have a say in this. I think that would extend to you. I've never seen Emerald get excited before." He gave her a glance, "it's kind of scary." He deadpanned.

Emerald waved him off, "bad food, good booze, and he's on Torchwick's payroll so he'll give us both without argument."

"Should I mention that, technically, since I'm on another planet we don't know how the local food and drink will -"

"You've been eating and drinking with us for weeks, shut up." Emerald voiced tersely.

"Yes ma'am."

Cinder's door then swung open, she in her customary red dress, though her heir not nearly as neatly brushed as it usually would be. "Emerald, I do not think it would be the best idea to get him drunk." She said.

Aldric blinked, "wait, I don't hear you saying no -" He pointed at her with a knife hand, "are you helping her?! Do I have no say whatsoever?" He looked between the both of them. Did they plan this? Was his birthday just a good excuse for them to get out of the ship for a few hours? He didn't like this.

"No." They each said, "we do not know how much control he may have over his semblance when inebriated." Cinder continued.

"I never pegged either of you for people to celebrate birthdays. For Chrissakes I was fine just fiddling with the Power Glove." He got Captain America's shield, the real deal - or as close to it as he could get - he was fine. He didn't need a party.

Yet somehow, within fifteen minutes, he was being dragged out of the Aviator by the two people he would have suspected the least of desiring a night on the town. He would have thought Mercury would have pushed him into this before these two. Again, he reminded himself they were human like everyone else, and not just one-dimensional characters from an anime, but still. It hadn't been a move he'd expected in the least.

As the moon drew higher in the sky, Aldric found himself being guided through Vale until they were standing in front of a several-story brick building with a sign hanging from its front that read 'JUNIOR'S'. There was a line to get in and a bouncer keeping the line from moving too fast. Aldric tried to use this as an excuse to leave - especially as he could hear the thumping beats of a nightclub echoing out from the inside, but he was soon silenced by a look from Emerald. She grinned at him, and sidled up to the bouncer.

He didn't know what she'd said, but two minutes later they were inside, and Aldric found him deafened to his very thoughts. Not, however, to the voice of a certain orange haired mob boss who happened to be looking over his shoulder as they entered. Torchwick's one visible green eye brightened with no small level of amusement, and he quickly dropped into a large, flourishing bow.

"Well my, oh, my!" He called out over the loud, booming music, as his guard circled around him. "What a pleasant surprise!" He straightened up, resting both hands on his cane. "What, may I ask, are three of my four most dangerous partners in the world doing at a place such as this?"

Aldric could hardly hear the man over the booming music, his chest vibrating to its bass. Cinder dropped the jovialty just as soon as she'd picked it up, though she had to raise her voice to match Torchwick's. "Celebrations. Same as you, I would suppose."

As they spoke, Neo slinked over to Aldric, giving him a polite smile and a nod, her hands held behind her back.

Oh yeah... I kind of cost you your umbrella. Aldric nodded, "er... Sorry about the umbrella!" He called out, the bright white lights from the densely populated club floor making their rounds over the group standing in the middle of the entrance.

Neo waved her hand side to side, indicating she thought nothing of it. Aldric fought to keep a straight face as he realized that she clearly wasn't finished with their conversation.

Fortunately, Torchwick drew his attention. "I'm afraid not, Miss Fall, as I'm here on business. Mutual business, I might add." He said, with a nod, and a brief, accompanying frown. "The owner here owes me quite a few favors, and to move the quantities you've requested of me I shall need to call some of them in." He clicked his cane on the floor, "but I can tell you're not here for that. So how about I show you three a benefit or two of acquainting yourselves with myself? Follow me, my good sir and ladies!" He rounded on his heel and marched through the looming double doors leading out to the club proper.

Before he even knew what was happening, Neo had managed to hook her arm around his and was forcibly dragging him after the Legion. They soon were in the club proper, but were orbiting the checker-tiled dance floor and the large glass pillars that shone with bright light. Instead, they were heading towards one of the club's enormous walls, itself lined fully with a ceiling-height bar.

Aldric, however, wasn't preoccupied with how the barkeeps would even remotely be able to reach the bottles at the top of the shelf. Instead he was reflecting on life - specifically, when he'd lost control of it. How had he lost control of his life? When specifically after the plane crash? He thought the whole point of the Green Hornet plan was all but specifically to keep control of it, and yet here he was - about to get drunk because other people wanted him to. So much for that peer pressure crap in elementary school. Granted, he doubted that applied when all of his peers would meet a stretched definition of gods, back home, but he felt the point still prudent. Being forcefully dragged into a nightclub by two strange, arguably sociopathic women, to meet up with another woman who'd tried to kill him, and her boss who had ordered his attempted murder, Aldric had not expected this night to go this way.

For Chrissakes, I just wanted to fix my shield, watch Superman and go to bed! I did not want to get drunk in a fucking nightclub! Aldric thought, a herculean amount of effort required for him to still have a straight face as he was dragged around the nightclub.

"Tell me, to what are we celebrating this night?" Torchwick hollered over his shoulder.

"The man that seems to have won the affection of your bodyguard. He's celebrating another year on Remnant." Emerald responded, her hands resting in the pockets of her shorts.

Wait, can we back up a second? What did you just say? Did I hear that right?! Aldric blinked, turning his wide-eyed, fear-filled gaze from the back of Emerald's head down to Neo, who simply skipped along, her arms wrapped around his and her head leaning against it. When in the flaming fu - who in - how?! Am I high?! Did I take that Oxycodone? Am I drooling in my bed right now? Jesus, take the wheel! I'll be a good boy, just stop with the madness!

Torchwick wasn't even phased by the comment, "well, celebrate indeed!" He said, with a grand wave of his hands. "To survive another year, and especially in your line of work! It calls for congratulations!" He said, as they rounded the dance floor approached the bar. "Why, what luck! Junior!" He called out, holding his hands out to his sides as he approached a heavily-built man sporting a crew-cut and a red tie.

The man somehow managed to hear his name over the music, and while Aldric was tempted to mouth 'SAVE ME' when he whipped around, he knew far better. "Eh - Roman!" He spoke with the deep tone, and the high volume of a man more than used to having to compete with his music to be heard. "I wasn't expecting you, tonight!" He said, arcing his back low and extending his hand.

Torchwick gave it a brief shake, "oh, I came for business my good sir, you know that. But I may make a brief request, see -" He nodded over his shoulder. "Some of my friends, there. They've lived..." He cast his glance over his shoulder, briefly frowning, as if in thought, before smiling and turning back to Junior. "Eighteen long years, and in perhaps some of the worst conditions and jobs imaginable. So I must insist - please, some good food and better drinks, yes?"

Junior briefly cast a glance over the rest of the Legion, his eyes narrowing as he realized none of them could be over twenty - save maybe Neo, but Aldric had no clue how old she was. He may have noticed Aldric's pallor and his strained neutral expression, but clearly his apprehension at providing people not-of-age alcohol was swiftly crushed by his clear respect - and perhaps fear - for Roman Torchwick.

He nodded deeply, "of course, sir!" He turned around and snapped his fingers at one of the bartenders, she snapped to attention at his fierce look. "Hey! Get these four -"

"Three, Junior. Much as she may be smitten I'm afraid Neopolitan is on the job."

"Yes sir - three! Get these three a booth, get them whatever they want!"

The bartender nodded and soon rounded the bar. Aldric felt actual chills go down his spine as Neo quietly ran her fingers down his arm before she disentangled herself with him, and joined Torchwick, who smiled and tipped his hat to Cinder as she, Emerald, and Aldric followed the bartender. As Torchwick rounded on Junior and began discussing whatever business the two had, Aldric once again found himself wondering just where, when, and how he'd lost control of his life.

"And what can I get you three tonight?" The thin, tattooed woman asked, a pad and paper in hand as the Legion took their seats in a corner booth, so deep in the shadows Aldric could hardly tell what color his skin was.

Aldric just barely managed to speak before the objects of his confusion for the night. "Please, dear God, something carbonated and sugary. Soda - whatever these two say do not let me get drunk." He pleaded, though a smile was finally starting to grow on his face, as the reality set in.

Fortunately, the bartender didn't hear the undertones of his plea, and instead thought it a joke. "I'll be assure to accommodate Junior's esteemed guests, sir." She said, writing something down on her pad. "And for you two?" She shouted over the music.

Emerald called out, "alcohol enough for the three of us!"

Cinder simply said, "water. A large glass, and a single shot of whisky."

Jesus Christ these two know more about booze than my Uncle! Aldric thought, as the waitress nodded and retreated. "Okay - now was it you, or you?" He pointed to Emerald, then Cinder. "Which one thinks Neo wants in my pants?"

Emerald laughed, though it went unheard over the music. "Aldric, she's been hanging off of you and pressing her face on yours ever since you broke her femur. You didn't notice?" Even Cinder agreed, with a subtle nod.

Aldric, however, shook his head, "no! Hell no! Good - no! She's mute, isn't she? I thought she was getting her point across!"

"Clearly, not well enough." Cinder deadpanned. "How do humans from Earth celebrate birthdays, Aldric?"

"You're asking me this now!" Now the smile was firmly stuck on his face, as he lightly slammed his hands on the table; not because he was angry, but to emphasize his point. "At a goddamn nightclub I didn't want to go to!" He ran his gloved hands through his thick hair. "Oh God! When did I lose control over my life?" He asked, leaning back into the booth.

The bartender chose now to make her return - a large bottle of soda and a frothy mug of some golden liquid slid in front of Aldric, a similar mug slid in front of Ember and Cinder, and then a tall pitcher of water and an accompanying glass towards Cinder, before she finished it off with a small shotglass. "I'm right over there!" She pointed to the bar, to which Aldric looked - Torchwick and Junior seemed to be in the middle of it, considering the former's animated, angry-looking expressions. "Just wave if you need me!" Aldric retreated his gaze with another shiver down his spine when he caught Neo sneaking a peak.

Seriously. How is that a thing?! He demanded of himself, as he took a large swig of the cherry-flavored soda, and slid the mug of alcohol over to Emerald. "You're not getting me drunk tonight, lady!" He pointed to Cinder, "and you encouraged her! I thought you were the brains of this operation!"

Cinder simply smiled and downed her shot, before she brushed her hair out of her face. "You've done nothing but nearly die and train since you came here, Aldric. Even I see the value in a night off."

Aldric laughed, despite himself, and ran his gloved hand through his hair again. His idea of a night off, and hers, were clearly two different things. Seriously - he would have been more than fine just fiddling with his power glove and going to bed after one or two of Christopher Reeve's Superman movies. That was his idea of a good night, alcohol and deafening techno music never factored into it.

"Oh god..." He blasphemed, letting his gaze flow over the dance floor. The main doors to the club had long since swung shut since they'd gone through it, and the floor was still as densely packed as it had been on their entry - moreso, even. He saw a DJ in a bear mask on the mix table, throwing his hand up in tune with the music. "Let me tell you two - shit food, my friends, video games, and comic book movies. That's my idea of a good birthday night."

Emerald gave him a faux frown, "oh, so we're not friends then, Aldric? Is that what I heard?"

Aldric gave Emerald a knife hand, "that is not what I said and you know it!" He laughed.

"I think we may have entertainment." Cinder intoned, attracting the attention of the other two present.

"Oh? Is Torchwick giving the boot to Junior?" Aldric cast his glance over, and saw Torchwick revolving on his heel in an angry manner, and marching away from Junior. Junior soon retreated to his bar, leaning upon it as, next to him, two women in frilly dresses, one red and one white, gave him looks of sympathy.

"No, but she's approaching the bar now."

Aldric frowned, and looked out to the side, where he saw a tall blonde approaching the bar, on the other side of Junior. Aldric was stricken with a strange sense of deja-vu. As the blonde conversed with the nightclub owner, Torchwick gave the table a brief visit, bowing to Aldric.

"I must say, Mister Aldric." He said, looming over the crash survivor. "Though it is clearly no stretch of your abilities, that you've survived another year in our world is definitely a worthy achievement, especially around those you acquaint, and for that I congratulate you." He said with a deep nod.

Aldric grinned, looking up to the orange haired mob-boss. "Yeah." He groaned, "I just wish that I'd gotten to... You know... Choose where I go." He and Torchwick shared a chuckle.

"Well, if there's anything I've learned in my years my good sir, you never refuse the directions of one beautiful woman. Let alone two." He extended his hand, "and even for its ending, it was a wonderful show you put on when last we met. My partner here wouldn't cease speaking of it for more than a week!"

Aldric blinked, as he shook Torchwick's hand. "Wait, she can talk?" He shifted his gaze to Neo, who simply smirked.

When Neo opened her mouth, however, the sound of a huge and heavy mass of glass shattering reached all of their ears, overpowering even the music. Even Torchwick jumped, as he whirled around to see Junior flying through one of the glass pillars that decorated the club. The flashing lights and music both died down as screams rose up, and many began to evacuate the club. Aldric saw more than a dozen men in dark black suits, likely security, surrounding a blonde woman on the dance floor.

""Wait, I blinked, do it again." Aldric deadpanned, his voice now more easily able to carry to other ears.

"Oh my..." Sang Torchwick, "come along, Neo. It best we retreat before the police arrive." He waved to Neo, who in turn waved to Aldric, but Aldric's eyes were glued to the dance floor, as the black suits charged the blonde.

"Uh... Should we leave?" Aldric asked his companions, as the blonde launched herself into the air and, when she fell back to the ground, slammed her fist into it - the resultant explosion sending black suits flying. "Jesus!" He jumped.

Emerald gave him a glance, "I'm surprised you're not jumping at the chance, Aldric." She said, nodding to the dance floor.

Aldric did a double-take. "Are you insane?!" He demanded, "lady, I'm not going to fight some chick whose punches -" Oh. Shit. "- Explode!" He stressed, a grin stretching across his face as he turned back to the blonde. Yup. He was starting to understand where the deja-vu was coming from.

She stood atop the DJ's platform, bodily hauling him over his table and shooting him into the air, a wide grin on her face showing she was clearly having a good time. When the DJ's body hit the ground, the two red and white dressed women from earlier began approaching.

Cinder even had a small smirk on her face, "if you do so truly feel as if this venture was a waste, Aldric, perhaps this could liven it up for you." She said, taking a sip of her water.

"Maybe we'll get you something nice if you win."

"I have to be high right now. This isn't happening." Aldric shook his head, "fuck you!" He pointed to Emerald, "f-" Cinder gave him a look of caution. "fff... I'm not happy with you either." He dropped his hand, "this isn't, I'm not - no - I'm... No." He shook his head; and as they spoke, the dance floor literally began exploding in time with the three-way battle raging upon it. "No!" Had they spiked his soda? Was he having a really vivid nightmare? Or was his luck really this bad? How in the flaming fuck was he going to get out of this? He could probably wait, but he also wouldn't put it past the universe to make the blonde notice them out of spite, and pick a fight anyways.

"Isn't our goal to stay under the radar, anyways?" Aldric pointed out.

Emerald shrugged at this, "he's got a point, there." She admitted.

Oh thank god! He breathed.

In response, Cinder turned to Emerald, a single eyebrow arced. "You forget what her semblance is." She said, turning back to Aldric.

"And now she's got a point."

Oh dear god! "Why?!" He groaned, laughing despite himself. "Why do you two want this so much?" He paused, "no - who are you two? I'm dreaming right now." He tangled his fingers in his hair. "Hoooly shit, I'm not dreaming. I return to why?!" The blonde was now down to one opponent, who she was making quick work of.

"You need to let off some steam." Cinder said. "Unwind."

"Fighting a girl whose punches fucking explode is unwinding." Aldric deadpanned. "I still fail to see a valid reason for this." He paused, "wait..." His eyes widened, and he gave the two suspicious, shocked looks. "Did you two fucking plan this?!" How on Earth could they?

The innocent grins they shared told him they had, indeed, planned this. If Aldric had to guess, possibly from the very beginning; did this explain why they were acting differently?

"How?!" This was another test! Sweet Jesus he was going to have a heart attack before he hit nineteen!

"If you win, we'll tell you."

"And if I don't?!" Aldric almost screamed. "What the fuck then?" He laughed, slightly hysterically.

"Don't." Was all Cinder said.

Aldric still couldn't reconcile this complete one-eighty, making him shake his head. "Please explain this to me." He said, as the conflict between the blonde and Junior's henchman continued to escalate. "Considering our whole goal here, I've been led to believe, is to stay under the fucking radar... How does picking a fight we literally have no stake in help us?" He asked. "Fuck - I'm willing to accept that you're asking me to fight a chick whose punches explode, despite both of you knowing that could be very lethal. Fuck it - I'll take that as it stands. But the entire time I've been here, from fleeing the forest to getting the eff out of dodge with that first encounter with Torchwick, it's all been on the basis of stealth.

"You know... Not attracting attention?" He asked, "isn't the whole point of that not picking fights when we can avoid it?" He was even willing to forgo the fact that they were asking him to fight a very high-profile target and the risks that posed to his whole Ozzymandias plan; at the moment he was just trying to figure out whether or not he was high and hallucinating, or lucid, and this all was really happening.

Cinder's false image was beginning to frown, now. "Aldric, it sounds as if you're refusing orders." She said, threateningly.

Aldric's head slumped, "oh Christ..." He groaned, running his hands through his hair. "One more try -" He looked back up, "seriously. If the whole point of this test is figuring out if I know when and when not to fight, please don't even remotely get me wrong - I know when not to." He had more than his fair share of scars to prove that he knew which battles had to be fought, which ones sat out on, and which ones to be run away from.

Cinder actually faltered at this, briefly flicking her gaze downward as if in thought, before it raised up. "I'll give you a small concession." She nodded to the blonde, as she continued to brutalize White Dress. "That woman is one of Signal Academy's top graduates. Skilled enough to receive a full scholarship to Beacon - and you know of Beacon already." She nodded. "The intention here is not to expose ourselves, but to test you." She said, "if you can defeat huntresses in training by yourself, with the three of us you will be able to defeat far more." She finally let out.

"One of these days, one of these fights, my luck is going to run out and it will be at the worst of times." Aldric deadpanned, turning his gaze to Cinder. "You and I, we're..." Aldric sighed, getting to his feet and slipping his coat off, "we're going to have to have a serious talk about these lethal tests of yours, Hot Stuff." He snatched his soda off of the table, and downed it as fast as he could.

"As we are about this display of disloyalty." Cinder intoned.

"Ah..." He shook his head, "fuck it. I'll argue the difference between that and self preservation later." He looked down to the dance floor. "Whew..." He rubbed his hands together, "this is gonna be a long night..."

Not seconds later, White Dress was sent sprawling across the ground and the lights began to brighten. Aldric saw White Dress lumbering to her feet and retreating, as the blonde was searching for her next opponent. Junior, the madman who held a rocket launcher that looked big enough to level the building, now stepped into the light, eying her angrily.

Anything he may have said, however, was prematurely cut off when the blonde's ear twitched, and she whirled around, throwing a powerful haymaker punch at the flying red, white, and blue mass hurtling towards her and filling the air with the ringing sound of a hammer striking an anvil. However, powerful as her wrist-mounted weapons were, they weren't strong enough to overcome the force behind Aldric's throw. She saw it burst forth from the clouds of smoke made by her explosive projectiles, and with a wide grin she threw both hands up, catching the shield and absorbing most of the impact. When she finished sliding across the mostly trashed dance floor, she looked up, seeing Aldric slowly walking down the steep stairs, his hands in his pockets and an exasperated frown on his face.

"Okay - dude." He looked up to Junior, "just go. This..." He cleared his throat, "this night hasn't gone like either of us could have hoped." Junior gave him a scathing glare, but soon realized he was one of the people with Torchwick's group. It appeared as if he were briefly toying the notion of looking this gift horse in the mouth, but seeing the wide grin on the blonde's face, he soon realized that this wasn't necessarily something he'd want to be present for, and turned tail, jogging away.

The blonde looked over her shoulder, frowning, as she straightened her stance and briefly toying with Aldric's shield. "Aw." She groaned, her frown turning to a smile. "I thought he looked tough." She tossed the shield up and down, like a Frisbee. She turned back to him, "hope I didn't get something in your -" She cut herself off, "wait, you don't look old enough to be drinking." She tilted her head, frowning.

Aldric let out a deep sigh, "oh, tell that to my friends, would you? Please?" He held out his hand, "shield?"

She shrugged and tossed it over to him. "Pretty light-weight. I'm surprised it hits so hard." She said, whipping the hand that had taken the brunt of impact back and forth. "I bet your friends sent you down here? We their entertainment?" She asked with a wide grin; she leaned on one foot to look over Aldric's shoulder, "hello!" She said lightly, waving her hand.

From the shadows of the corner of the club, Emerald and Cinder merely raised their glasses.

Aldric nodded, "you're probably closer to the mark than you think." He said, the shield vanishing as he affixed it back to his arm.

"Well, I think I've got the time." She shrugged, "still a little amped up from his 'henchman.'..." She said, flicking her fingers at the final word. "Probably still some time before the police show up. Waddaya say?" She asked, her smile wide and challenging.

Aldric gave a tired sigh, nodding. "Yeah, sure." He grunted, wondering if this wasn't the part of the game where Nathan Drake was supposed to get his ass kicked. He wasn't overly fond of the metaphor, he soon decided, before he dropped into a light defensive stance. "Give them their show, go home, slip into a coma, sleep the rest of my birthday away." He remarked, off-handedly.

The blonde gasped, eyes growing wide. "It's your birthday!" Oh shit, not her too. Granted, for Cinder and Emerald it had likely been more of an excuse than it was a reason, but that didn't mean hearing it was any less terrifying, considering how the night had gone thus far. What the fuck was it with these people and trying everything they could to kill eachother as a means of birthday celebrations? "Oh, we have to go, now!" Yup. That had probably been amongst the worst things he could have said, because now she looked a far different, more vibrant kind of excited.

Such a thought was only confirmed as Yang Xiao Long put up her fists, and with a wide one-sided grin, charged Aldric.