Fandom Distorted Mirror [IC]

[MyrtenRose]

" 'scuse me....But that won't work...Not against my 'Raindrops keep Falling...' "

*VSSSSSSSHHHH*

Just like that the entire section of hallway that Satin/Radiant/Robyn/the armored one were all standing in was covered in a thick layer of steam and mist due to some of the water droplets freezing and coming together to create a wall of ice to protect against Satin's flame. It was hard to see now but he wasn't worried. Nobody was going to touch him. His semblance would make sure of that. Standing gracefully atop the same droplets that he'd been when he addressed Robyn, he tried to call out to the Happy Huntress. With the water that'd spilled onto the floor as a result of the sprinklers turning into ice with the crinkling and cracking being the three's only warning to move lest they end up frozen in place.

"....Still don't wanna hand it over....? I'll have to kill you otherwise...."

That had escalated swiftly. Flames being thrown around, then lightning sparked up with that armored person, now this ice guy. He had at least saved her, kind of, from the rampant flames(which did have thinking perhaps she had been too hasty in teaming up with literally the first person she found...) though she had been prepared to move had it proven necessary. Now in this thick obscuring mist she could only make out the rough dark shadowy forms that indicated the other combatants. No specifics on their conditions or facial expressions or even where they were looking, though as the ice man called out: "I said no, guy. What's that noise?" Robyn questioned of the crinkling.

There was a far louder cracking sound, for as soon as the armored swordsperson noticed the ice creeping up a leg, they ripped themselves free of being entrapped through brute force alone. A few moments later they floated up a couple inches off the ground to spare them from having to suffer that indignity further. "That's enough, Roy." Another voice that wasn't Satin's, or Radiant's, or Robyn's called out, and through the heavy fog she could with squinted eyes just make out the armored one's shoulders sag a bit. "This farce has gone on long enough." Another silhouette stepped into sight beside the armored person, the only thing immediately noticeable about the new arrival was that they too were a sword wielder and clearly female, going off the voice. That, and the pair were obviously partners judging from those words...as well as indicating a lack of patience? This battle had only been going on a minute or two, if that, and this new person considered it too long?

"Frigging spoilsport." The voice that came through that helmet was gruff and gravelly and distorted. The other brushed off the complaint. "Hurry up and finish them off, take their cards and let's proceed." She stated, both coldly and matter-of-factly. On that last word, the pressure of the gravity around them all suddenly intensified. So much so that Robyn, despite straining against it, soon got forced down to her knees and shortly after the gravity was so heavy she could hardly move, getting pinned completely to the ground in a prone position. Though she couldn't get up back to standing...she managed to move an arm just enough.

A crossbow bolt suddenly fired in the direction of the mystery new arrival and the armored person she now knew to be named Roy. Though the former managed to either hear the whistle of the bolt as it shot through the air and fog or got alarmed by her aura. In either case her blade swung with great speed to sever the bolt...and the moment she did? It exploded in her face, pushing the both of them back and disrupting her focus. In an instant the increased gravity pressure vanished, returning to normal and Robyn sprang up. "You want to kill me? Take your best shot!" The leader of the happy huntresses growled, delivering not only towards Radiant but to any of them. "Satin! If you have anything spectacular, now would be a good time!"

...

"AND GET RID OF THIS PESKY MIST!"​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

Emerald being a lazy efficient semblance dependent and Roman (god rest his soul) sucking (in comparison!) meant the double trouble Char faced now was arguably the slickest, most well-polished combination of all Beacon's coolest team's members from a sheer technical standpoint, the same duo that had styled all over the Vytal Tournament and boxed with a goddess well enough that she wanted to be a regular at their bar now. They might've still been young, but Beacon's talent curve was infamously high even compared to the other huntsman academies, and they had been among its very best. Neopolitan was an anomaly of a person in every sense whose soul and skills had been strengthened repeatedly by hardships and loss most people never endured in their entire lifetime, while Mercury had been chiselled out of stone into the weapon he was by one of the land's most notorious assassins, a man he eventually proved strong enough to kill even deprived of his semblance. From Tock to the Shadow Fang elites to the crazy who offed Roman herself, Mercury with all his fight analysis skills had yet to see the gladiator he wasn't confident would pay the price for taking them lightly.

Char was definitely no slouch, but the tornado of boots and parasols he ended up in honestly didn't put a foot out of place, and the end result was MTEN's former leader crashing down on him in a debilitating axe kick before he folded his form and let the midget flip over his back for the aura finishing blow she'd already earned. Merc was already dusting off his shoulders when he straightened up, his steely eyes hard as he swept his hair out of his forehead and let a confident stride over end in kicking the hitman onto his back.

"Sorry to cut the lesson short, Neo. Figured I owed one of pop's old drinking buddies the time of day before you were done schooling him."​

There were pieces of Neo that weren't obvious in their existence when you first met her that were nonetheless plain as day to people who had spent any amount of time around her. Any one of her friends, teachers, or rivals could tell you that even before she was grief struck (again) there was a deeper cut to her beneath the bright eyed, mischievous bubbliness that pervaded her outer moods. This wasn't to say that those were fake, or a mask; she really was an energetic and friendly person. Rather, that wasn't all there was to her. She was prankster and occasional thief, but she was also a monster slayer, and one of Beacon's best at that. There was some natural talent in her to be sure, but the sheer edge and grace she had sharpened that talent into was the sort that could only be borne of sheer bloody hard work, a level of effort only borne from someone who had extremely personal reasons for wanting every single one of those ashen monsters as dead as could be. She might not've touched the lofty heights of Mercury's pure technical skill, but she was very proud of what she'd accomplished with herself.

That pride was a well known quantity among those aforementioned people; some called it cockiness some called it overconfidence, and Glynda called it 'the product of one of the most arrogant little shitheads to ever walk Beacon's halls', shortly after she had to explain to Salem why she'd let 'Salem' into the records rooms shortly before a whole litany of bad grades for a certain teammate mysteriously vanished.

So it was a slightly put off pout with crossed arms that greeted Mercury as Neo landed daintily from her front flip heel kick to the back of Char's skull after she'd vaulted over her former team leader, clearly of the opinion that she had everything under control. She gave a low sigh and squatted down next to Char, letting go of the disappointment in favor of an amused smile as she returned his hair ruffle from earlier, glad that her little stunt had worked but increasingly concerned with just how many people seemed to think she was a particularly human-ish puppy.

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

That was a whole lot of guns and a whole lot of loyalty to the place. "...Whatever." She shrugged, acquiescing to the demand. "Heads up though, I'm not with the guy starting shit." She thumbed casually over at the unconscious Blanche. "He was. You're welcome."​

"Oh, don't worry ma'am, we're well aware of who's who in this whole shindig, though the why escapes us for now. You've been tawdlin' round Mistral long enough to know better than to think a spider ain't gonna know who a member of the Bound ashes is" Callie answered with faux polite friendliness past her taut frown.

It quirked into a slight grin as she continued, keeping her gun leveled at Vernal as she hopped onto a barstool, crossed one leg over the other and leaned on the counter. "Or the long lost member of the illustrious Branwen Tribe, who's got quite the bounty on her head. You're a walkin pretty penny miss Vernal. Only reason you ain't gettin a bullet in the immediate is that the bosses seemed pretty keen on you not bein' in their business earlier, and I reckon that means they know things 'bout you that I don't. So sit tight and we'll get this nice n' sorted."

She murmured to another spider nearby to let the bosses know that their belligerent guest from earlier was back, and thus did Merc and Em get the message as Neo was finishing applying the bounty cuffs to Char,.

 

[MidwayLives]

"This is the bar you spoke of?"

"Yeah? What's up?"

"...Nothing. It's just that this establishment is well known among certain circles of the Ashes. The Narcotics Team hangs around looking for potentially easy marks to go after. The Hitman Team comes down here to unwind and so forth. Never in my lifetime would I have imagined that anyone may have usurped Malachite's role. Your friends must be quite remarkable." Blanco quipped as the faunus and gangster's search for clues on the whereabouts/identity of the killer/Trifa's kidnapper lead them right back to where it'd all gone wrong. While Tyrian had been drinking his woes away on a cold hard floor with only a pillow to call his own, Trifa had been subjected to that maniac's vices and who knows what else?

The very thought got the scorpion's blood boiling.

"Let's go."

Reaching out to gently grasp the faunus's shoulder, Tyrian looked over in confusion. "What's the problem, Blanco?"

"Earlier when you and I spoke, I kept the nature of my semblance a secret from you. In hindsight I see now that was wrong of me. I claimed to trust you and yet I hid a crucial piece of information from you. In the world of gangsters, Tyrian. You either use your semblance to the fullest or you die. It's a lesson I've seen happen more times than I can possibly bare to recount." Blanco's face grew cold with determination burning in his eyes. "It's also a lesson I've bestowed upon insubordinate gangsters who believed their semblances made them better than those who share these streets with us in these trying times. It is also one I'll help you inflict upon this masked bastard once we find him. But for now, let me show you something." Blanco gently pushed Tyrian back as he took the lead towards the front entrance of the bar.

"My semblance is known as 'Construct'' for it lets me both bring together and disassemble the world around us! Watch carefully, Tyrian! A semblance is nothing more than a tool but if used right, it can do great harm or great GOOD!"

Placing his hand atop the porch where Blanche and Vernal had been fighting, a football sized rift appeared showing where drops of blood had fallen between the cracks. This also happened to include some of the bullets that Blanche had managed to fire off before running out of ammo from his gun. Reaching through the rift and grabbing the bullet, Blanco held it up to face level as Tyrian winced. It'd been a small demonstration but the idea of Blanco using that semblance on a person was gruesome enough. Tears opening across various points of your body as you're left to just fall to pieces, bit by bloody bit. It also showed that despite Blanco's willingness to do right by Mistral and it's people, he was still a member of a criminal organization and was more than willing to cross the line that divided all men if it meant protecting those he cared about or to make a point to those who actively endangered others.

"When you fought the killer, they never brandished any kind of firearm, Tyrian?"

"No. The only weapon I could tell that he had was some kind of invisible blade..."

Blanco nodded. This type of bullet wasn't uncommon around lower level members of the Ashes. Mostly those who hadn't unlocked their semblances and needed to rely on more simple measures to try and earn some kind of respect from civilians. But while Calile and the Spiders had a respectful enough relationship with Blanco and his team(he helped out wherever and whenever he could with no repayment needed on his part. Malachite and those who followed here were just as much under the banner of the Community Team's protection as anyone else.) He couldn't have imagined any member of the Ashes high-ranking or otherwise who'd deliberately pick a fight here right on the steps of the place. They'd be dealt with in minutes if not seconds. With a killer lurking around Mistral and now this, it seemed things were growing more and more bizarre by the second.

"I believe there may have already been trouble before you and I arrived here, Tyrian." Tucking the bullet away in his pocket, Blanco tapped his hand on the rift and it faded away into a small trail of purple smoke. "Whatever that 'trouble' may be, I want you to be prepared. Do you understand me?"

"Yes!"

"Then stay behind me and let's-"

Blanco pushed the doors open.

"What in the-"

"YOU!" Tyrian snarled upon seeing Vernal and if it hadn't been for Blanco holding him back, the faunus would have no doubt tried attacking her right then and there. Irregardless of the dozens of armed men and women guarding the interior of the bar. "Settle yourself at once, Tyrian!" Blanco had come here on Tyrian's advice/suggestion that his friends-if not already attacked by this killer-could no doubt render aid in the crusade to bring this killer to justice. In the short time since undertaking this task, he'd seen blood, bullets, and a member of the Hitman Team at this woman's feet bloodied and battered.

'So those were Blanche's bullets...'

"Cailie. I apologize for the intrusion. But it seems I'm not the only 'ash' to darken your door today..."

How had the Hitman Team gotten wrapped up in all this?!

More importantly(at least it was for Tyrian)what the hell was SHE doing here???​

 

[MyrtenRose]

"Oh, don't worry ma'am, we're well aware of who's who in this whole shindig, though the why escapes us for now. You've been tawdlin' round Mistral long enough to know better than to think a spider ain't gonna know who a member of the Bound ashes is" Callie answered with faux polite friendliness past her taut frown.

It quirked into a slight grin as she continued, keeping her gun leveled at Vernal as she hopped onto a barstool, crossed one leg over the other and leaned on the counter. "Or the long lost member of the illustrious Branwen Tribe, who's got quite the bounty on her head. You're a walkin pretty penny miss Vernal. Only reason you ain't gettin a bullet in the immediate is that the bosses seemed pretty keen on you not bein' in their business earlier, and I reckon that means they know things 'bout you that I don't. So sit tight and we'll get this nice n' sorted."

"Yeah, well, that's the thing. You're not really spiders anymore, are ya? Spiderlings, maybe. Baby spiders. Or maybe just babies, I don't know. What would you call someone these days who goes around taking orders from a couple of kids probably not even old enough to legally drink?" She mocked as she waited there. "You were only spiders cuz of the old boss, and your loyalty don't seem that strong anyway, so why bother to keep the old name? Ya don't really need to answer, I'm not really lookin' for an answer. Just sayin' is all." She shrugged, apathetic on the whole name in truth. If they wanted to keep calling themselves spiders...by all means. Despite her mocking words. "And right. The price on my head." She didn't know exactly how much was on it, but she figured it was enough that there'd be plenty who'd love to collect. There was part of her that didn't care and was inclined to let anybody who wanted to try for it try and take it, whether dead or alive...but that was a small part that warred with what remained of self-preservation and other parts.

Whatever. As soon as their bosses got here and she tossed them this unconscious thug and they probably threw her out again, the favor would be paid and she could go on her way...if they didn't try to collect the bounty themselves.​

"YOU!" Tyrian snarled upon seeing Vernal and if it hadn't been for Blanco holding him back, the faunus would have no doubt tried attacking her right then and there. Irregardless of the dozens of armed men and women guarding the interior of the bar. "Settle yourself at once, Tyrian!" Blanco had come here on Tyrian's advice/suggestion that his friends-if not already attacked by this killer-could no doubt render aid in the crusade to bring this killer to justice. In the short time since undertaking this task, he'd seen blood, bullets, and a member of the Hitman Team at this woman's feet bloodied and battered.

"Oh. You. Hey." She replied casually in contrast to the angry snarling and the look of hatred she saw there.​

 

[MidwayLives]

That had escalated swiftly. Flames being thrown around, then lightning sparked up with that armored person, now this ice guy. He had at least saved her, kind of, from the rampant flames(which did have thinking perhaps she had been too hasty in teaming up with literally the first person she found...) though she had been prepared to move had it proven necessary. Now in this thick obscuring mist she could only make out the rough dark shadowy forms that indicated the other combatants. No specifics on their conditions or facial expressions or even where they were looking, though as the ice man called out: "I said no, guy. What's that noise?" Robyn questioned of the crinkling.

The noise hadn't been lost on Satin either. Lighting up a flame in his free hand to try and see his way through the steam, he grumbled under his breath. "Of all the times, someone like this has to show up right now..." Ice was easy enough to handle on it's own but if this guy could manipulate water ontop of that given how he'd been standing atop the water droplets from the sprinklers, it was going to be quite the difficult battle. Something that annoyed him more than anything else was being held up. Which is exactly what the one in the armor had been doing and now this one. The solution was clear enough in Satin's mind: kill both of them. Seeing the spread of ice across the floor, Satin huffed.

Flames surged from his arms and for the briefest of moments there was a slight wince.

"Not gonna happen..." Blasting a trail of fire at the ice quickly inching it's way towards him, the flames slowed down it's ascension before it continued to inch around and spread another way that wasn't being blocked off. Hopping up to avoid the ice capturing his feet and potentially spreading up his legs, Satin watched the ice move over where he'd been standing and leered as spikes shot out in an attempt to try punishing him for that maneuver. 'Well, if I can give this guy anything, he's not stupid. Gotta be something in that mask he's wearing that's letting him see me move so fluently despite the mist the two of us kicked up when I blasted his ice wall.' A trail of embers met and melted the spikes and Satin landed upon the floor with a bit of a slip in his step. Lighting up the palm of his hand, the sight that met him wasn't a great one.

Spoiler: the floor

It wasn't lost on Satin at all that his wild use of 'Azure Nightmare' had been what set the sprinklers off. It was obvious at this point. It was difficult to make out Radiant's figure through the mist but Satin vaguely recalled seeing them loitering around before the event had started. He didn't say much or do much but he always seemed to be wandering the halls and for the life of him, Satin couldn't understand why. Was the guy simply cracked? A nut who was left to pace in circles? If that was the case maybe killing him would be something of a mercy. But that hadn't been it at all.

'He was inspecting the halls to check out the sprinklers. Guy's got an elemental semblance like me and I'm guessing the dude in armor. If I had to guess, I'm betting he can't just summon up water and ice like I can my fire. Or else he'd have just hit all of us with a torrent of water or a wall of ice and not let up. No, guy's limited to what he's got and what he's got is a semi-flooded hallway of water to use as he wants. If he shifted this ice back to water and so on...Ugh, this is gonna be annoying.' Rubbing at his arm, Satin exhaled. 'Can't let it drag on too long. If I give any of these two an inch, they'll take a mile and that'll be the end of it. I've got better control of my flames now but the heat still isn't siting well with the skin grafts...'

He had to end this quick and decisively. Get rid of one of em and move on to the next.
​

"I said no, guy.

Ho-Hum.

Some people were just inconsolably rude.
​

What's that noise?" Robyn questioned of the crinkling.

'That'd be my semblance....'Raindrops keep Falling...'.....Lets me control ice and water how I see fit..Pretty handy, huh...?"

Of course, it was difficult to use unless there was steady access to water in the area. Or else the semblance was as good as useless.

It's why instead of getting a good night's rest like the others, people like Satin saw Radiant up and about roaming the halls.

At some point laying low wasn't going to cut it. He'd have to make a decision between running or shooting one of the sprinklers and hoping it didn't attract enough 'attention' that he couldn't handle. Little did he know that he'd end up bumping into someone who'd solve that little problem for him. While Roy and Satin could use their elements at their leisure(although Satin's drawbacks were more physically related than due to the semblance itself.)Radiant always had to think ahead and improvise. He'd initially planned on simply killing Robyn and going about his way. Let these two fight it out and maybe he'd kill the other if he encountered them later. They were sure to be weakened after all.

But with Satin's semblaance unwillingly helping him out, Radiant felt a rush of confidence swelling throughout him.

'Just as God believes in all his followers, he believes in me to do what's right. To do what's righteous and noble! I will see this through to the end!'

'I will win!'

Tapping a button on the side of his mask-normally hidden away by his hood-his vision shifted. He could make out Satin, Roy, and Robyn exactly in the mist. Sometimes when people tried fighting him, they tried running and hiding. Forcing him to try and flee from whatever source of water was fueling his semblance. His mask 'Sunshine' helped alleviate that little problem. Looking over Robyn and Satin in particular, Radiant hummed out loud to himself.

'...So~rry. Maybe it's a bad assumption to make but if the woman's semblance was of any use in a fight like this, she'd have revealed it....Right? Which means all she has is that crossbow.....I'll handle that no problem....The boy's fire could be a problem.... but....I've noticed the occasional wince and flinching....Using too much fire probably irritates those gross looking skin grafts...'

His mind was made up.

'I'll kill them both now....Before they become a threat to me...!'

Floating a couple of water droplets over to his right hand, the droplets slowly began to harden and vibrate until they were bullet sized icy projectiles. Rearing his hand back, he cast it out. The ice whistled through the air towards Happy Huntress and gangster alike. Raising his left hand to meet them head on, Satin got a clue into the power behind these 'little' ice-bullets as one of them smashed straight through a icy spike that'd popped up once Radiant had finished freezing the ground over. These were going to seriously hurt if he didn't destroy them. Waving a stream of fire to try and destroy some of the ones heading him, he missed one or two.

*THUMP THUMP*

"URK!"

Satin was thrown back off his feet as one hit him in the side and another straight in the chest. His aura had thankfully blunted most of the potential for damage but it still stung. His frustration steadily growing, steam hissed off 'A Burning Wind's' blade as Satin leveled another gout of fire Radiant's way. Only this time, Radiant moved to meet it head on. Hopping from droplet to droplet as a child would playing hopscotch, a portion of the ice temporarily evaporated as Radiant closed up his umbrella and splashed it through the water before bringing it back up right as the water iced over and his feet touched the floor. Opening up his umbrella, the previously soaked object turned into an impromptu shield as fire met ice and Radiant watched as the stream of flame was diverted by the shield with inklings of the fire spreading every other way around Radiant.

"...Damn it." Satin had to let the stream die and watched as Radiant's silhouette casually brushed off his singed umbrella and held it aloft over his head again.

"...Not gonna work...Just like I said..."
​

There was a far louder cracking sound, for as soon as the armored swordsperson noticed the ice creeping up a leg, they ripped themselves free of being entrapped through brute force alone. A few moments later they floated up a couple inches off the ground to spare them from having to suffer that indignity further. "That's enough, Roy." Another voice that wasn't Satin's, or Radiant's, or Robyn's called out, and through the heavy fog she could with squinted eyes just make out the armored one's shoulders sag a bit. "This farce has gone on long enough." Another silhouette stepped into sight beside the armored person, the only thing immediately noticeable about the new arrival was that they too were a sword wielder and clearly female, going off the voice. That, and the pair were obviously partners judging from those words...as well as indicating a lack of patience? This battle had only been going on a minute or two, if that, and this new person considered it too long?

'Ooh, that one's rather strong....Maybe I should take care of them first....'

Satin could melt the ice and Robyn's bolts would be annoying to deal with in tandem.

But someone who could just brute force through his ice&water was troublesome indeed.

Before he could make a move against Roy however, a new voice entered the fray.

Satin was bemused at the revelation.

"Oh hey, more the merrier..."

Man, fighting in cramped hallways SUCKED....
​

"Frigging spoilsport." The voice that came through that helmet was gruff and gravelly and distorted. The other brushed off the complaint. "Hurry up and finish them off, take their cards and let's proceed." She stated, both coldly and matter-of-factly. On that last word, the pressure of the gravity around them all suddenly intensified. So much so that Robyn, despite straining against it, soon got forced down to her knees and shortly after the gravity was so heavy she could hardly move, getting pinned completely to the ground in a prone position. Though she couldn't get up back to standing...she managed to move an arm just enough.

"No....That's...not right....'

The ice directly underneath Radiant began to form cracks as he was forced down onto his knees.

A gravity controlling semblance...?

Not good....This new person had just established themselves as the dangerous one.

Satin couldn't exactly disagree. Facefirst against the frozen ground wasn't a good feeling by any means.

'...Damn it...'
​

A crossbow bolt suddenly fired in the direction of the mystery new arrival and the armored person she now knew to be named Roy. Though the former managed to either hear the whistle of the bolt as it shot through the air and fog or got alarmed by her aura. In either case her blade swung with great speed to sever the bolt...and the moment she did? It exploded in her face, pushing the both of them back and disrupting her focus. In an instant the increased gravity pressure vanished, returning to normal and Robyn sprang up. "You want to kill me? Take your best shot!" The leader of the happy huntresses growled, delivering not only towards Radiant but to any of them. "Satin! If you have anything spectacular, now would be a good time!"

Lifting his head up just enough to see the bolt fly through the mist, Satin smiled.

For someone who Satin had originally written off as just a whatever choice, she'd just saved them from being got right then and there.

Flipping back onto his feet, smoke ebbed from around Satin's person.

"Dunno about spectacular but since you got them off our tail, lemme return the favor..."

Fire surged from the underside of his boots, melting the ice and propelling him forward. Right on a path straight towards Radiant.

He knew the guy had been pinned down like the rest of them. Controlling ice and water wasn't gonna change that. Which meant he was probably getting back on his feet too.

Leaving himself wide open in the process. Trails of fire popped up around Satin's body before he let it all expand outwards in a heatwave. The mist subsided and the icy flooring was starting to melt here and there. Right as the fog cleared, Radiant was left face to face with Satin who reached out towards him. Intent on grabbing the masked fighter by the head and burning him from the inside out. One less problem to deal with. Rising to his feet and shaking his head from side to side, Radiant glanced over and watched as Satin's hand grew closer and closer, the embers teasing at the edges of his fingertips.



"No...NO!"

Part of the floor around Radiant reverted back to water and moved up to meet Satin's strike. Leaving little more than a trail of hissing steam in it's wake rather than the fried brain that Satin had been hoping on with the strike. The call was still close enough to spook Radiant as he hopped back allowing Satin to stand back to back with Robyn as they each stared down those who wished to kill them and claim their keycards. This wasn't going to be easy by any stretch of the imagination. As fire danced along his forearms, Satin looked over his shoulder. "Think we should focus our efforts on the gravity chick...Icy and the one in armor can wait...If she pins us down again, we'll be easy pickings..."

That said he turned and fired a stream of fire right down the path at where Robyn's explosive bolt had left Roy and his partner. If he could just immolate/kill one of them, the other would crumble and then he and Robyn could double their efforts on Icy...

​

 

[MyrtenRose]

'That'd be my semblance....'Raindrops keep Falling...'.....Lets me control ice and water how I see fit..Pretty handy, huh...?"

Suffice it to say she had not expected him to answer so forthrightly...what was it about some people and broadcasting exactly what their semblance can do and give others the opportunity to work up some strategies against it? That was ludicrously dumb, in her opinion. Though, granted, in this particular case it wasn't all that difficult to figure out what the guy's semblance was, but it was the principle of the thing.​

Floating a couple of water droplets over to his right hand, the droplets slowly began to harden and vibrate until they were bullet sized icy projectiles. Rearing his hand back, he cast it out. The ice whistled through the air towards Happy Huntress and gangster alike.

Though the mist played hell with visibility, she still had the keen eyes of somebody who's preferred combat was at range. As soon as she was able to make out the tiny fast projectiles flying her way, they were almost on top of her but she managed to shoot her arm up in reflex just in time, her weapon acting as a small shield as it blocked all the incoming projectiles.

"Oh hey, more the merrier..."

"...What's wrong with you?"​

Leaving himself wide open in the process. Trails of fire popped up around Satin's body before he let it all expand outwards in a heatwave. The mist subsided and the icy flooring was starting to melt here and there. Right as the fog cleared, Radiant was left face to face with Satin who reached out towards him. Intent on grabbing the masked fighter by the head and burning him from the inside out. One less problem to deal with. Rising to his feet and shaking his head from side to side, Radiant glanced over and watched as Satin's hand grew closer and closer, the embers teasing at the edges of his fingertips.

With the obscuring mist thankfully gone, Robyn's gaze snapped away from where Satin was going for the ice guy and instead glaring over at the other two combatants, now getting a good look at the new arrival and the armored Roy's partner. The woman was not armored at all, clad in a far less overtly intimidating outfit. It was almost business like in appearance, almost, but still carried the air of a warrior as well. That only added to the effect of the woman's serious, no nonsense demeanor.

Spoiler

Robyn loosed a few more bolts their way and Roy tensed up but none of her crossbow shots made it all the way to them before gravity brought them down, sliding harmlessly across the floor. The very last of which nudged one of the new arrival's white boots, and it lifted slightly before she brought it back down and calmly crushed the bolt underfoot with a shattering crunch. The woman said nothing, but her stern expression subtly shifted and revealed faint disappointment.​

The call was still close enough to spook Radiant as he hopped back allowing Satin to stand back to back with Robyn as they each stared down those who wished to kill them and claim their keycards. This wasn't going to be easy by any stretch of the imagination. As fire danced along his forearms, Satin looked over his shoulder. "Think we should focus our efforts on the gravity chick...Icy and the one in armor can wait...If she pins us down again, we'll be easy pickings..."

That said he turned and fired a stream of fire right down the path at where Robyn's explosive bolt had left Roy and his partner. If he could just immolate/kill one of them, the other would crumble and then he and Robyn could double their efforts on Icy...

"Can't argue with that, but I don't think they're going to make it that easy for us." Robyn pointed out, cautiously watching as Satin unleashed another stream of blue flames over that way. As before, Roy stepped up to deal with it though this time they didn't counter with crimson lightning. Instead they utilized only their blade, spinning it swiftly enough that it kept the fire largely at bay, only small amounts of flame shot past before those flames faded out and died. The moment after the stream of fire let up, the armored threat charged again, slicing away with their large blade in a wild frenzy. The other one didn't move so much as an inch, standing utterly still. Her eyes were even closed, like she didn't deem any of them worthy of actually stepping into personal combat with, not like her partner eagerly was.

Robyn dodged and weaved away from the frenzied swings that came her way before she managed to leap back, though she didn't fire any bolts at her armored foe. Even without aura, most of her bolts wouldn't do damage and would only bounce off that armor if she tried. And if that previous display was anything to go by, sending any over to towards the immobile swordswoman would be an exercise in futility. Maybe if the woman was distracted, preferably by Satin.....but to do that, they would have to be dealing with less enemies...

With a frustrated scowl she spun, dashing over towards the ice guy. But rather than attack, she held her hands gesturing for peace as she muttered hurriedly: "Hey, listen. Temporary truce, you up for that? Because frankly-" Robyn jerked her head past where Roy was throwing attack after attack at Satin and over towards the motionless woman. "-if she does that trick again, we're screwed. What do you say?"​

 

[Gus Gungus]

There were pieces of Neo that weren't obvious in their existence when you first met her that were nonetheless plain as day to people who had spent any amount of time around her. Any one of her friends, teachers, or rivals could tell you that even before she was grief struck (again) there was a deeper cut to her beneath the bright eyed, mischievous bubbliness that pervaded her outer moods. This wasn't to say that those were fake, or a mask; she really was an energetic and friendly person. Rather, that wasn't all there was to her. She was prankster and occasional thief, but she was also a monster slayer, and one of Beacon's best at that. There was some natural talent in her to be sure, but the sheer edge and grace she had sharpened that talent into was the sort that could only be borne of sheer bloody hard work, a level of effort only borne from someone who had extremely personal reasons for wanting every single one of those ashen monsters as dead as could be. She might not've touched the lofty heights of Mercury's pure technical skill, but she was very proud of what she'd accomplished with herself.

That pride was a well known quantity among those aforementioned people; some called it cockiness some called it overconfidence, and Glynda called it 'the product of one of the most arrogant little shitheads to ever walk Beacon's halls', shortly after she had to explain to Salem why she'd let 'Salem' into the records rooms shortly before a whole litany of bad grades for a certain teammate mysteriously vanished.

So it was a slightly put off pout with crossed arms that greeted Mercury as Neo landed daintily from her front flip heel kick to the back of Char's skull after she'd vaulted over her former team leader, clearly of the opinion that she had everything under control. She gave a low sigh and squatted down next to Char, letting go of the disappointment in favor of an amused smile as she returned his hair ruffle from earlier, glad that her little stunt had worked but increasingly concerned with just how many people seemed to think she was a particularly human-ish puppy.

"Ahhhh, who we kidding? That adorable little face can't stay mad at me."

Not quite how that turn of phrase was supposed to go, but he always did pride himself on blazing trails. As a key player in MTEN's eternal riffing session, Mercury also held a special place in Beacon Academy's illustrious student body: one of the only arrogant little shitheads who was enough of an arrogant shithead to regularly troll that arrogant little shithead, and as he sidled over with a pair of stomps casually ejecting the spent cartridges from his heels he gave the hair tousling a curious look before promptly imitating it. On Neo. Reminding her of her place.

"Nice going, sport," he declared, clearing his throat to affect athe deeper and more fatherly tone from all his childhood wish fulfillment fantasies while his eyes simultaneously scanned the text on his scroll. "Your ma's gotta run out for a pack of smokes, but when she gets back what say we all throw a little pigskin 'round the parking lot to make it up to ya?"

For now all he tossed was a pointed stare over to Emerald, who rolled her eyes where she was already putting her own scroll away.

"First of all, ew. Second of all, bye."

She headed to the main foyer.

"YOU!" Tyrian snarled upon seeing Vernal and if it hadn't been for Blanco holding him back, the faunus would have no doubt tried attacking her right then and there. Irregardless of the dozens of armed men and women guarding the interior of the bar. "Settle yourself at once, Tyrian!" Blanco had come here on Tyrian's advice/suggestion that his friends-if not already attacked by this killer-could no doubt render aid in the crusade to bring this killer to justice. In the short time since undertaking this task, he'd seen blood, bullets, and a member of the Hitman Team at this woman's feet bloodied and battered.

"Oh. You. Hey." She replied casually in contrast to the angry snarling and the look of hatred she saw there.

Gag. Her friends were all so aggro about this stuff.

Emerald's approach was always one that favored the deft hand, the subtle touch. In stark contrast to Tyrian's feral, vengeful snarling, the next voice to address Vernal did so casually and calmly, and the former bandit herself wasn't even sure when its owner had appeared behind her at a close enough proximity to deliver it directly into her ear.



"I know you think you're hot shit, but before you start playing the 'tough, snarky butch from the other side of the tracks who's too just like, so cool 'cause she doesn't care about anything' card with me I suggest you zip it and try listening. I know it's your favorite sport, but I'm really not interested in measuring dicks with you."

She knew that voice, knew it was one who had as much of a solid reason to hate her as anyone given its owner could still remember what lightning tasted like (and always would). If Vernal didn't turn, it continued its impassive speech after a short pause; If she did, it was to the unsettling sight of absolutely nothing and no one there in spite of the lips addressing her having definitely been positioned right next to her ear. Then the voice continued, again coming from behind her, again so close she could practically feel its breath on her skin.

"No, this is about survival. Namely yours. And I've seen up, close and personal how terrified you are of dying, so I know you'll be interested in hearing the real reason you cannot be here. It's not because we hate you. It's not 'cause we're holding a grudge. I really can't think of anyone I give less of a shit about, and if you can believe it Mercury actually feels sorry for you. You're just the whipped, vicious, obedient little stooge his dad always wanted him to be, only unlike him you never had the stones to stand up to the people who made you that way. You act tough, but it's just a cover for the fact you don't know who the hell you're supposed to be—Because all you mean, rugged, survival-of-the-fittest outlaw types grow up to be the exact same person. You know neither of us even remember your name, right? We've tried to, but it honestly just slipped our minds. Maiden or no maiden, you might as well be Generic Bandit #7 to us. Face it, hun, you're flavorless. But that's not why you can't be here."

From the perspective of Vernal's eyes, all light and sound in the room faded. It was almost as if she'd been subjected to a dose of her own semblance as the rustic interior of the bar dimmed, the merciless faces of the spiders vanishing along with it until it was just Vernal standing in a dark void. Nothing breached it for just long enough to be unsettling, until the sound of a switch being thrown shattered the silence and a spotlight shone to reveal something directly in front of her. Or more specifically, a pair of somethings.





It was the other duo in team MTEN, their features comically reduced and exaggerated into cartoonish caricatures of themselves. They pranced, frolicked, and otherwise lived their lives as they navigated their way through a host of more simple illusions resembling market stalls, a host of warm, noises and voices too indistinct to fully make out identifying the shadows around them as a community of some kind, presumably complete with friends and families.

"See the two theater kids? You remember them, right? I bet you never even bothered learning their names."

Buzzing neon signs spelling out the words NEO and ROMAN clacked on over the duo's heads, flickering and with arrows pointing to the appropriate geek.

"These losers were friends for a looooooong time. Pretty much a package deal way before Merc and I met you, or them, or even each other. See, they grew up in the same little township together; maybe you've heard of it. You know, Mountain Glenn?"

Suddenly, the scene changed. The gentle chatter of civilization was replaced by screams and shouts of panic, the stalls around them consumed by chaotic fire, the shadow people milling around falling under the pouncing silhouettes of creatures that were large and clawed. The avatars of Roman and Neo were displaced, their faces frozen in looks of horror, and there was a sound like glass breaking as tiny fractures appeared all over the surface of their forms.

"So that happened. They were two of barely anyone who made it out alive, and after that all they had was each other. Well, til they met us. We showed 'em how to not be dweebs."



Another spotlight appeared, the distant shutter of a switch being flipped heralding the beam that cut through the expansive darkness and illuminated Mercury and Emerald next to them, both already cracked and fractured in multiple places themselves. A strange warmth pervaded the scene regardless, as in each other's company the cracks on all four seemed to recede and become less pronounced.

"Course... that didn't work out so great."



The destruction of the prior scene's healing serenity was rapid as a range of things all happened at once. First a tiny representation of Vernal herself appeared, floating into view, pointing a finger at Emerald and blitzing her with so many bolts of lightning called from above it was actually kind of comical, striking the thief long past the point that she was even twitching where she was curled up limply on the floor. Mercury and Neo were understandably livid, and both practically foamed at the mouth as they focused the entirety of their attention on a Vernal who appeared content to simply bob and hover around beyond their reach, indifferent.

What happened while their backs were turned was what really mattered. The mini Roman was watching his friends with a troubled expression, and from the darkness behind him appeared a figure Vernal knew better than any of them had even really put together in their heads. Which was probably a good thing.



The golden-haired brawler's grin was vicious as she trotted right up behind Roman, spent a good three seconds rolling out her fist in a cartoonish windup for effect, and swung.

*SHATTER*

It was a louder glass break than Vernal could ever recall hearing in her life, a harsh, discordant sound that rang out all through the darkness and assailed the ears. Roman shattered into a million pieces like one of his partner's illusions as opposed to Emerald's, all that remained of the boy the bowler hat that drifted down to settle atop the broken glass, and Yang slunk back into the shadows as quickly as they'd spat her out as Mercury and Neo both turned to observe her handiwork.

*SHATTER* *SHATTER*

The next two were less loud, but still distinct from the echoing reverb of the sound Roman's destruction had produced. They were accompanied by the cracks in both Neo and Mercury deepening, the spiderweb patterns on the latter spreading out across more of his skin. It was nothing next to what happened to Neo, though. Mercury had turned immediately, howling with rage as he flung himself at Vernal and started nailing her with a barrage of kicks, only for a sudden avatar of Cinder to appear and start throttling him before she and Vernal skipped off together, arm in arm.

Neo's reaction wasn't nearly so explosive. She had just fallen. Collapsed to her knees, the look on her blanching face haunted and horrified in equal measure, gaze transfixed on the hat and Roman's broken remains beneath it. The light in her multicolored eyes had dulled, some of her skin and shade of pink in her hair were starting to peel away like ash, and the cracks in her own fragile form had grown as deep and as wide as canyons. If someone blew on her, she probably would've shattered. The screams, cries, and general atmosphere of panic that had accompanied Emerald's earlier rendition of Mountain Glenn burning had returned, only this time it was just Neo and the hat as all other figures spawned by the illusion faded, leaving only them and Vernal as their spectator.

Only apparently she wasn't just a spectator anymore. A good twenty seconds passed before the Neo illusion finally lifted its head, eyes wide open and blank. Eerier was the way they turned, breaking the fourth wall of the impromptu puppet show to instead pin Vernal with that wide and empty-eyed stare. The spotlight started to wane and flicker, like it was suffering from a faulty bulb.

And on the very last flicker before it exploded, the Neo puppet launched itself at the former maiden with an ear-grinding shriek, a look in her eye that, while understated, was somehow more lethal and terrifying than the abomination Emerald had subjected Vernal to before. The illusion vanished a split-second before it touched her, puppet and void alike giving way to the more reassuring interior of Miss Malachite's and the less comforting sight of Emerald getting in her face, eyes hard as she shoved her and jabbed a finger into her collar.



"Listen up. Maybe you just don't get how disrespectful it is of you to keep showing your face around us, or maybe you do and you don't care. I sure as HELL don't. All I know, and care about, is this: if Neo catches wind of you being here, if she sees you hovering around trying to get our attention for whatever it is you want from us, she's going to KILL YOU. And you can spare me whatever sass, roll of the eyes or clapback you might have prepped. It's not a taunt or an idle threat. I'm telling you what's gonna happen. I don't care how bad a bitch you think you are or what magic powers you may or may not have, you've never had someone hate you like this before."

Red eyes narrowed.

"She's a sweet kid. Mercury and I are trying to get her back on her feet, but we've barely made any progress as is. She almost had a full-blown freak attack earlier 'cause she thought she heard your voice for less than a second. As bad as seeing your face would be for her grief process, I'm willing to bet taking all her rage and sadness over Roman out on some irrelevant lapdog who didn't even do it would only leave an uglier scar she'd never heal from. Am I being clear enough yet? For your own good and hers, you NEED to take a hint and Fuck. Off."​

 

[MyrtenRose]

"No, this is about survival. Namely yours. And I've seen up, close and personal how terrified you are of dying, so I know you'll be interested in hearing the real reason you cannot be here. It's not because we hate you. It's not 'cause we're holding a grudge. I really can't think of anyone I give less of a shit about, and if you can believe it Mercury actually feels sorry for you. You're just the whipped, vicious, obedient little stooge his dad always wanted him to be, only unlike him you never had the stones to stand up to the people who made you that way. You act tough, but it's just a cover for the fact you don't know who the hell you're supposed to be—Because all you mean, rugged, survival-of-the-fittest outlaw types grow up to be the exact same person. You know neither of us even remember your name, right? We've tried to, but it honestly just slipped our minds. Maiden or no maiden, you might as well be Generic Bandit #7 to us. Face it, hun, you're flavorless. But that's not why you can't be here."

Not even she knew if it was just the apathetic uncaring part inside her taking dominance for a while, if it was the still lingering effect of the drinks she'd had earlier, some sense of bravery that hadn't been beaten out of her just yet or if it was simply because she was somewhat familiar with the illusion crap, but she had such a non-reaction to a voice suddenly coming out of seemingly nowhere, it wasn't initially clear if she had even heard the voice. The former maiden simply sat there with a passive expression, bordering on dull. The only sign that she had heard came when she, perhaps inexplicably, burst out in a bout of laughter that sounded both bitter yet amused, solely in response to the fact that they didn't even know her name. And then maybe even more surprisingly, she followed up with a raspy: "Good. Better for all of us that way." It was scarcely more than a whisper, and wasn't meant to interrupt anything, but she doubted anything short of the sky falling down would have given Emerald pause regardless.

There was more truth to Emerald's words than perhaps she realized.

Despite how quiet the ex-bandit's reply was, how the laughter that directly preceded it might have given the impression otherwise, she did really, genuinely agree that there was really nothing special about her. Not anymore. She was just some drunken wanderer with no home, no family, no special weapon or no unique magic or anything that separated her from the common masses. Just another face among many, something that became apparent every time she looked at the mirror in the shitty tiny place she'd been living in for a while now. She didn't recognize the face in it, and not because she was letting her hair go or because of the dirt or anything like that. The person in that mirror had been "Vernal" but that name had only been adopted because she had been the one to get the Spring Maiden powers. A name to reflect her new status. With those gone, she wasn't Vernal anymore. Not really. But there weren't many people left who knew her actual name, and so it was only by habit or convenience that she held onto the name. Besides, it had been so long since she heard her real name it didn't feel like hers anymore either.

So Vernal it was and probably always would be, at this point. But whatever. She wasn't looking for pity or anything like that, so any of the complicated thoughts that emerged remained just that: thoughts.

She simply turned and observed what the illusionist was showing her.​

It was the other duo in team MTEN, their features comically reduced and exaggerated into cartoonish caricatures of themselves. They pranced, frolicked, and otherwise lived their lives as they navigated their way through a host of more simple illusions resembling market stalls, a host of warm, noises and voices too indistinct to fully make out identifying the shadows around them as a community of some kind, presumably complete with friends and families.

"See the two theater kids? You remember them, right? I bet you never even bothered learning their names."

"Neo and Roman." She replied about a second before the tacky signs illustrated their names, but as before the response was a husky whisper, and easily able to be missed among the sounds of said signs turning on. Perhaps it would have been better or at least easier if she didn't know them, but she did. At the time back then, the soft quiet voice inside her and the impossibly infuriatingly naïve Cinder didn't let her forget any of their names, even if she wished to.​

"These losers were friends for a looooooong time. Pretty much a package deal way before Merc and I met you, or them, or even each other. See, they grew up in the same little township together; maybe you've heard of it. You know, Mountain Glenn?"

Suddenly, the scene changed. The gentle chatter of civilization was replaced by screams and shouts of panic, the stalls around them consumed by chaotic fire, the shadow people milling around falling under the pouncing silhouettes of creatures that were large and clawed. The avatars of Roman and Neo were displaced, their faces frozen in looks of horror, and there was a sound like glass breaking as tiny fractures appeared all over the surface of their forms.

"So that happened. They were two of barely anyone who made it out alive, and after that all they had was each other. Well, til they met us. We showed 'em how to not be dweebs."

She at least had the decency to look away, a troubled expression briefly flashing across her face but she didn't say a word. Anything on her part would have just seemed...forced. Insincere. Hollow...and unwanted. Especially with what followed.​

Another spotlight appeared, the distant shutter of a switch being flipped heralding the beam that cut through the expansive darkness and illuminated Mercury and Emerald next to them, both already cracked and fractured in multiple places themselves. A strange warmth pervaded the scene regardless, as in each other's company the cracks on all four seemed to recede and become less pronounced.

"Course... that didn't work out so great."

Understatement of the century. ​

The destruction of the prior scene's healing serenity was rapid as a range of things all happened at once. First a tiny representation of Vernal herself appeared, floating into view, pointing a finger at Emerald and blitzing her with so many bolts of lightning called from above it was actually kind of comical, striking the thief long past the point that she was even twitching where she was curled up limply on the floor. Mercury and Neo were understandably livid, and both practically foamed at the mouth as they focused the entirety of their attention on a Vernal who appeared content to simply bob and hover around beyond their reach, indifferent.

What happened while their backs were turned was what really mattered. The mini Roman was watching his friends with a troubled expression, and from the darkness behind him appeared a figure Vernal knew better than any of them had even really put together in their heads. Which was probably a good thing.

In comparison to her troubled look watching an illusionary summary of Mountain Glenn's demise, whatever disquiet she felt at seeing herself and what she'd done just months ago was far more subtly expressed. Only the smallest edge at the corner of her mouth, pulling it down into a frown.​

What happened while their backs were turned was what really mattered. The mini Roman was watching his friends with a troubled expression, and from the darkness behind him appeared a figure Vernal knew better than any of them had even really put together in their heads. Which was probably a good thing.

The golden-haired brawler's grin was vicious as she trotted right up behind Roman, spent a good three seconds rolling out her fist in a cartoonish windup for dramatic effect, and swung.

*SHATTER*

It was a louder glass break than Vernal could ever recall hearing in her life, a harsh, discordant sound that rang out all through the darkness and assailed the ears. Roman shattered into a million pieces like one of his partner's illusions as opposed to Emerald's, all that remained of the boy the bowler hat that drifted down to settle atop the broken glass, and Yang slunk back into the shadows as quickly as they'd spat her out as Mercury and Neo both turned to observe her handiwork.

Then whatever subtlety was lost as the frown greatly deepened, though she forced herself to watch every bit of it all the way through. She hadn't been there for the part, but familiarity still burned in her eyes as she saw who...who'd done it. It was one thing to be told about a thing, another to see it visualized, but she kept looking all the same. No matter how badly the shattering sound pained her ears, her gaze remained steady and focused as she bit down on that pain. She paid the utmost attention to every broken bit of the poor kid up until her eye was drawn away by the sudden movement of the other two illusionary people turning to look at the scene.​

*SHATTER* *SHATTER*

The next two were less loud, but still distinct from the echoing reverb of the sound Roman's destruction had produced. They were accompanied by the cracks in both Neo and Mercury deepening, the spiderweb patterns on the latter spreading out across more of his skin. It was nothing next to what happened to Neo, though. Mercury had turned immediately, howling with rage as he flung himself at Vernal and started nailing her with a barrage of kicks, only for a sudden avatar of Cinder to appear and start throttling him before she and Vernal skipped off together, arm in arm.

There was a time she might have snickered at that very last bit there, but it wasn't in her now. She opened her mouth again, and another quiet response came out. But not on her own behalf. "It...didn't happen like that, for her I mean. Your pal Cinder...how sorry she feels it had to come to that, she--no. How sorry she felt." Vernal corrected, speaking in her defense. Only for her defense. Even if it didn't matter anymore.​

Neo's reaction wasn't nearly so explosive. She had just fallen. Collapsed to her knees, the look on her blanching face haunted and horrified in equal measure, gaze transfixed on the hat and Roman's broken remains beneath it. The light in her multicolored eyes had dulled, some of her skin and shade of pink in her hair were starting to peel away like ash, and the cracks in her own fragile form had grown as deep and as wide as canyons. If someone blew on her, she probably would've shattered. The screams, cries, and general atmosphere of panic that had accompanied Emerald's earlier rendition of Mountain Glenn burning had returned, only this time it was just Neo and the hat as all other figures spawned by the illusion faded, leaving only them and Vernal as their spectator.

There was a moment in witnessing that, that she actually shut her eyes. She couldn't say she'd ever had anyone that close growing up. The environment she'd grown up in didn't exactly encourage strong attachments like that very much. Yeah, the Branwen Tribe, they were like family but only because they stuck together. The way they lived, where they called home...it was precarious at best. There was no guarantee that someone you chatted with over lunch or shared a beer with at night the previous day would still be around tomorrow. It was just for the best that nothing too strong be allowed to form. To push on, to not have grimm start honing in on their position because of any powerful feelings, and to keep moving forward. In fact the strongest relationship she'd ever seen among that group had been between the Branwen twins themselves, and...

Well, the fact that she considered the relationship between those siblings to be the strongest bond among that group said a lot, considering how fucked up and fractured it was now.

In those moments with her eyes closed, her mind raced with the thoughts of all the things she wanted to say. That she wished she could say. Whatever remained of the girl that had been the Spring Maiden before Vernal, that bit that lingered in the short haired bandit...a lot of those thoughts came from that part. But she didn't give voice to any of it. Didn't even open her mouth. The only thing that did open was her eyes, and Vernal had steeled herself the best she could.​

Only apparently she wasn't just a spectator anymore. A good twenty seconds passed before the Neo illusion finally lifted its head, eyes wide open and blank. Eerier was the way they turned, breaking the fourth wall of the impromptu puppet show to instead pin Vernal with that wide and empty-eyed stare. The spotlight started to wane and flicker, like it was suffering from a faulty bulb.

And on the very last flicker before it exploded, the Neo puppet launched itself at the former maiden with an ear-grinding shriek, a look in her eye that, while understated, was somehow more lethal and terrifying than the abomination Emerald had subjected Vernal to before. The illusion vanished a split-second before it touched her, puppet and void alike giving way to the more reassuring interior of Miss Malachite's and the less comforting sight of Emerald getting in her face, eyes hard as she shoved her and jabbed a finger into her collar.

Even well aware of the fact that these were just illusions, and with how experienced she was with burying emotion when she felt she had to do so...that stoic mask she put on still cracked, at least for a single moment. When that Neo lunged at her like a bat out of hell and she couldn't blame it for doing so. She didn't quite manage to bring back that stoic look before Emerald shoved her, and the expression on her face stayed torn between that shocked look and the cold indifference she tried to show.​

"Listen up. Maybe you just don't get how disrespectful it is of you to keep showing your face around us, or maybe you do and you don't care. I sure as HELL don't. All I know, and care about, is this: if Neo catches wind of you being here, if she sees you hovering around trying to get our attention for whatever it is you want from us, she's going to KILL YOU. And you can spare me whatever sass, roll of the eyes or clapback you might have prepped. It's not a taunt or an idle threat. I'm telling you what's gonna happen. I don't care how bad a bitch you think you are or what magic powers you may or may not have, you've never had someone hate you like this before."

Red eyes narrowed.

"She's a sweet kid. Mercury and I are trying to get her back on her feet, but we've barely made any progress as is. She almost had a full-blown freak attack earlier 'cause she thought she heard your voice for less than a second. As bad as seeing your face would be for her grief process, I'm willing to bet taking all her rage and sadness over Roman out on some irrelevant lapdog who didn't even do it would only leave an uglier scar she'd never heal from. Am I being clear enough yet? For your own good and hers, you NEED to take a hint and Fuck. Off."

It was only after she was finished speaking that she managed to settle onto that steely glare.

"I don't want anything from you, least of all attention. The only reason I even came back at all was...well, him." She pointed over at the unconscious Blanche at her feet. "I don't like owing people, and I felt that helping stop whatever the fuck this guy was planning to do to you guys cleared whatever I figured I owed to your dead friend Cinder. And the only reason I stuck around this long is because your goon squad kept me here. Believe me, after I was done with this guy?" She kicked the unconscious man. "Fucking off was always the plan." She rose up to standing, and barring any of those goons making a move or Tyrian jumping in the way, she strode right for the exit out of the bar.

She only stopped for a second by that door, and with a far less harsh voice that almost seemed like it came from another person, despite speaking in the ex-bandit's voice: "...Good luck with...things. And for whatever it's worth, if anything at all, I do hope she recovers."

And then she got the hell out.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

"I don't want anything from you, least of all attention. The only reason I even came back at all was...well, him." She pointed over at the unconscious Blanche at her feet. "I don't like owing people, and I felt that helping stop whatever the fuck this guy was planning to do to you guys cleared whatever I figured I owed to your dead friend Cinder. And the only reason I stuck around this long is because your goon squad kept me here. Believe me, after I was done with this guy?" She kicked the unconscious man. "Fucking off was always the plan." She rose up to standing, and barring any of those goons making a move or Tyrian jumping in the way, she strode right for the exit out of the bar.

"Then this is just making sure you stay gone. This is the second time you showed up here in a day, so forgive a girl for getting the wrong impression," she returned with just a hint of impassive skepticism, the faintest outline of a smirk on her lips exemplifying how ultra-confident she felt in dealing with someone who had made her her bitch/lightning rod just a few short months ago. The first time they spoke, Vernal had laughed her and Mercury off; presumed them to be a couple of snot-nosed tryhards playing tough. From her perspective as a real outlaw addressing two schoolkids, it probably wasn't the most unreasonable conclusion to draw.

But the reality was very different. Emerald and Mercury had never spared much thought for the law themselves, the side of the tracks they were raised on was just as cruel and unforgiving as the life of a nomadic bandit, and with respect to the Beacon eight and all their parallel Remnant counterparts they were the only two who had the distinction of growing up pretty much the exact same way as the Emerald and Mercury of Remnant One did. A few forks in the path and roads not taken were what defined the twists to their fates, rather than the widespread rewrites some of the other's histories had endured, and there were more similarities than differences between Beacon's coolest rebels in one world and Cinder's sinister enforcers in another.

She put a hand on her hip and watched as Vernal walked away, and just before she slipped through the door her voice reached her again, no less casual.

"Oh yeah, and Mercury already told me you think Cinder's a goner. No offense, but we agreed that if you didn't see a body we don't buy it. Too much of a stubborn brat."

She only stopped for a second by that door, and with a far less harsh voice that almost seemed like it came from another person, despite speaking in the ex-bandit's voice: "...Good luck with...things. And for whatever it's worth, if anything at all, I do hope she recovers."

"Same. No hard feelings. Well, from me anyway."​

 

[MyrtenRose]

"Oh yeah, and Mercury already told me you think Cinder's a goner. No offense, but we agreed that if you didn't see a body we don't buy it. Too much of a stubborn brat."

Vernal stole the last word rights.

"...Right, sure. She only had to deal with the Shadow Fang and that old general fucker who kicked our asses and her older bitchy magic-stealing motherfucking pain in the ass lookalike. I'm sure she managed to get away from all that just fine because she's stubborn. If you want to think that, by all means." The sarcasm in her voice was overwhelming, further revealing what she believed had happened to the kid. Though she obviously couldn't say for certain, having been unconscious for the end of that shitshow and only have woken up much later in some crappy cave far off from Argus, so maybe there was a chance. Slim as it seemed to her. And then she was super gone for reals, walking down the street. The only thing was...she wasn't sure where to go from here. But she'd figure it out, sooner or later.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

Vernal stole the last word rights.

"...Right, sure. She only had to deal with the Shadow Fang and that old general fucker who kicked our asses and her older bitchy magic-stealing motherfucking pain in the ass lookalike. I'm sure she managed to get away from all that just fine because she's stubborn. If you want to think that, by all means."

Like hell she did.



"Y'know, for two such good buddies it seems like you really didn't get to know her that well. Now were you gonna make with the getting lost, or..." :|

When she finally did, the thief turned to give Blanche a lingering stare and slowly turn to look from Callie to Tyrian to Tyrian's Jojo friend.

"Anyone know who this guy is?"​

 

[MidwayLives]

"Y'know, for two such good buddies it seems like you really didn't get to know her that well. Now were you gonna make with the getting lost, or..." :|

When she finally did, the thief turned to give Blanche a lingering stare and slowly turn to look from Callie to Tyrian to Tyrian's JoJo friend.

"Anyone know who this guy is?"

Tyrian having been properly corralled from interfering with Emerald's very poignant puppetshow huffed as Vernal left.



"I've got no idea. But if he's the one who fought with her then I say we let him go."

Blanco for his part felt somewhat uncomfortable having walked in on all that.

But a professional didn't let it show.

"Yes, I believe I can clear this up." Making his way over to Blanche's downed form, Blanco knelt down and sighed. If this was simply a good time gone wrong, bullets wouldn't have been fired. Ostracized as they'd been, the Hitman Team were far too professional to let slights like that get them to cause trouble. More so when this area was supposed to be under the Community Team's eye anyhow. "His name is Blanche Tranquile. He's a member of the Bound Ashes's Hitman Team. Can't fathom as to why he'd be down here picking fights and causing trouble." As much as Blanco wanted to punish Blanche for this blatant transgression against not only the Spiders but the Community Team's goal in keeping this place safe.

Or well as safe as anywhere in Mistral could be these days.

"I apologize, my name is Blanco Vago. I'm the leader of the Bound Ashes's 'Community Team.' Do you know if Blanche came alone at all?"

"Ugh, this isn't why we came here, Blanco! We came to ask for their help!"

"Yet we'll get nothing if we demand it. They're from a different team mind you, but this area is still my responsibility. I take full blame for whatever's transpired here, damages included."

​

 

[Gus Gungus]

"I apologize, my name is Blanco Vago. I'm the leader of the Bound Ashes's 'Community Team.' Do you know if Blanche came alone at all?"

"Ugh, this isn't why we came here, Blanco! We came to ask for their help!"

"Yet we'll get nothing if we demand it. They're from a different team mind you, but this area is still my responsibility. I take full blame for whatever's transpired here, damages included."

"Wait, so you guys are like a government where there are different branches and they're all secretly colluding against one another? That is so... stupid."

She summed up her views on the whole thing succinctly, putting aside the multitude of better ways she'd go about running a deep-rooted criminal organization and its hierarchy. For now. She sized Blanco up with a degree of suspicion as she paced around him, shooting Tyrian a confused look at the implication that they were together, and stopped in front of him after doing a full rotation with hands clasped girlishly behind her back.

"Some crusty looking dude with a sword's laid out in the back... Yeeeeaaaahhh, I think I know what probably happened. This kid with stroke-inducing pink hair came in here today and got nosy, so Mercury played it hardball with him. Said he's with the Bound Ashes. Guess whoever he told didn't appreciate the change in management."

Really though, just two guys? Hmmmmmmmmmm.

"......Callie, can you like, tell us how to approach this?" She whined, like a trainee on her first day bugging the supervisor on shift for the millionth time.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

She wasted absolutely no time in doing so, as well as shifting back into human form for two purposes. One, to grab him and pretty much throw him like a ball into the portal first, just to be sure he'd be on the safe side. Two, to have Omen at the ready to protect her own self and slice away at any of the monstrosities that were too close to either harm, preferably slay, or even simply keep them at bay just long enough for her to step backwards into the portal itself. That much worked, thankfully she alone had only needed to delay them for a very short while. Even so, the speed at which those grimm moved was nothing short of incredible and even though the portal closed off immediately, enough of one of the grimm was poking through that when Raven's portal snapped shut, one of the beasts on the other side found themselves short a limb and half a head.

That was how Qrow, Raven, a grimm arm and those creep empty soulless eyes ended up basically tossed at a familiar faunus's feet, the latter two already beginning to hiss and fade away.

What in the bloody goddamn...? She knew the most pragmatic course of action would have been to immediately go on the offensive against the two highly skilled and dangerous opponents that had just popped up before her, but she just didn't. First temporary confusion stayed her hand, then it was just plain amusement as she stared over at the two.

"This really ain't yer lucky day, eh?"

Raven didn't respond, instead moving to kick what remained of the grimm's arm into the wall out of frustration and letting Qrow take the lead with explaining this fiasco if he wished.

The huntress could tell Qrow wasn't overly happy about being yeeted, but had more pressing matters to worry about as two of the beasts launched themselves at her in tandem with the pace of a falling guillotine, blindness apparently giving them little to no regard for evading weapons they couldn't perceive. The clean slice she landed on the first sent it sailing through the portal in two pieces, while the second found itself bisected straight down the middle less cleanly by the closing doorway itself as described its remains instantly started to evaporate.



Somehow, in spite of the half-dozen feral monstrosities all pouncing, racing, or scampering for the portal, the last thing Raven saw before plunging through the red was the steady, daunting glare of the other Raven, eyes hollow and sleepless with an expression managing to channel the duality of both leisurely smile and sinister glare.



The scene she stepped through on the other side was rather different. There was no such easygoing amusement on Qrow's face as he stared the crocodile down, never having cared much for her on principle given the whole thing of mutilating his idol and spiritual predecessor back home. Completely different life or no, he didn't have to like every single face he came across here. Sue him.

"Almost never is." He answered coarsely, doing little to defuse the instant tension in the air on his end. His eyes flicked to the nearby letters stenciled into the wall identifying their floor number, one of the lower among the quarters block. "Don't know what your deal is, don't care. About a half-dozen floors up from here there's a whole pack of some of the region's deadliest Grimm being controlled by some lunatic and his semblance, so if enough of us don't get on the same page to put up some kinda resistance we can all kiss any chance of walking outta here in one piece goodbye. Or winning this stupid fighting ring," he added pointedly, aware that the threat of death wasn't exactly a compelling argument considering present company.

As if cued, a screech sounded from the corner of the hall the two wendigo halves Raven had personally separated slid to after it soared through the portal. Its legs were disintegrating as was customary with dead Grimm matter, but somehow the top half of the creature was still alive, kept mobile through sheer bloodlust and ferocity as it dug its talons into the floor and prepared to launch itself for the trio with impunity.

SHUNK



From seemingly nowhere a sword lanced straight through the wendigo's skull, pinning it to the wall like a skewer and finishing it off for good in one clean motion before he wrenched it free with one to match. Tock's silent, mercenary, mustached accomplice hadn't proven the most interesting of partners, opting not to even travel with her in favor of prowling alone through the same general vicinity, but his ruthless practicality was impossible to deny. They had run across a handful of combatants already in their scouring of the living area; the results spoke for themselves, with the swordsman having already secured his three required keycards on his own time and Tock only requiring one more to complete the set herself. Prowling forward with footfall quieter than a fresh layer of snow, he stared at her and wordlessly made his opinion of Qrow's proposal known.

With a shake of the head and a lone finger drawn across the jugular.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

Pyrrha wore a calm and patient smirk as the faunus made his declaration, her fingers lightly flexing behind her shield as he spoke.

"I do enjoy a fight, yes. But this isn't the arena that everyone watched me grow up in. I want a worthy foe-"

The balconies came flying in, and Pyrrha shot her hands in opposite directions; one thrust towards the man himself with a sweeping motion, the metal staff suddenly jerking in his grip in a gambit to make him sock himself in the face, while the other shot backwards, an invisible pull gripping the heavy duty metal walls behind her and the force pulling her towards it instead of the other way around, catching Nora around the waist to keep her leap from sending her straight into the crash zone she'd just left.

"-NOT A FAIR ONE!"

She landed with a skid of metal geaves against the metal floor and gently placed Nora down with a much quieter "hello!"

She had just been about to jump in and attempt to slam one of those balconies away with a powerful swing of her weapon, when instead the not-her Pyrrha roped her around the belt and pulled them both back out of the danger spot and when their backward momentum ceased, the tinier ginger got put down gently, like she was a delicate vase or something, instead of the badass warrior that she was. But honestly, that hardly registered or mattered right now, and Nora gulped, returning the hello with a far more uncertain and ludicrously awkward: "U-Uh...hey."

She'd known about the fact that for some strange reason, many of the people that she knew to be good and bad had changed places, but knowing that fact did not prepare her for the reality of seeing a still alive Pyrrha today. "Nice to see you?" She didn't know if it was really nice or not just yet but she didn't know what else to say.

"I'll be leaving then," the gigantic specimen they landed by rumbled, politely excusing herself once more.

She wasn't anywhere near the target of the faunus's rage by this point. He ignored her, the loathing on his face magnified tenfold after the sudden yank of his weapon and grip both threw the trajectory of one of the balconies wildly off course and really really annoyed him. Sparks flew and metal shrieked as the damaged structure went scraping across the arena floor once again for Nora and Pyrrha like a derailed freight train, only this time it was meant solely as a distraction as he came hurtling over its peak with weapon nowhere in sight. Instead he roared, rending his hands apart with telekinetic savagery to wrench the two women away from each other and bash them back together like symbols even as the two separated sabers came spinning in from behind. They struck with guided precision, intent on beginning a ceaseless onslaught on the pair of them as if wielded by barbarian ghosts, the wrathful phantom using his mind and hands to conduct a symphony.​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

When Emerald turned back to Callie, there was a look of deep confusion on her face as she was watching Vernal go, the gears in her brain slowly trying to grind out a coherent thought in regards to all the nonsense she'd just heard on multiple fronts. Being one of Miss Malachite's spiders meant more than being some threatening thug; they were information brokers, not a bunch a gangsters and hooligans, and a sharp mind was pretty much a requirement for the job.

Which meant trying to reconcile the Neo she'd just heard described with the lass who murdered the hell out of their last boss wasn't making much more than a half lick of sense. The one she'd gotten to know was far from 'a nice kid', and the way the duo that was Emerald and Neo had been acting since they're 'return' was also a whole different angle than she remembered from the earlier month. It was like they were entirely different people

Entirely different people who had the same faces, semblances, builds, hunter's weapons, and selective muteness.

She eventually accepted that for now she was only going to be able to file that one under 'what the fuck?' and rolled her eyes to rest onto Blanco, a situation that was no less bizarre but far more within her wheelhouse to handle.

"'course ma'am. We're going to approach this by asking what the hell sending the hitman team into Miss Malachite's unprompted gots to do with needin' our help, and that there best damn well be reparations for more than just a few busted walls, Blanco. Seriously, what the hell? I know The Boss is the town's big fish, but I don't recall that means he's got permission to piss in the cheerios of a longstandin' establishment that's been nothin but cooperative for years all willy nilly."

 

[MyrtenRose]

Somehow, in spite of the half-dozen feral monstrosities all pouncing, racing, or scampering for the portal, the last thing Raven saw before plunging through the red was the steady, daunting glare of the other Raven, eyes hollow and sleepless with an expression managing to channel the duality of both leisurely smile and sinister glare.

As terrifying as the swift variety of grimm that dominated that pack were, the man at the center of it was just as unsettling to look at. She felt her earlier assessment rang even more true as she caught sight of that look on the guy. She would have vehemently denied it to anyone else if they learned about it and questioned her, but to herself, she didn't deny the chill she felt running through her right then. Even so, she didn't show the slightest amount of alarm or concern, either through her face or her body language. Her expression was set in a fierce scowl, hardened by resolve. Her eyes almost seemed to burn, as if she had once been the Raven who had the maiden powers, the harsh glare returned full force. And before the portal shut and snapped out of existence, she made sure the last thing the guy saw from this end was her gloved and pale hand flipping him off.​

The scene she stepped through on the other side was rather different. There was no such easygoing amusement on Qrow's face as he stared the crocodile down, never having cared much for her on principle given the whole thing of mutilating his idol and spiritual predecessor back home. Completely different life or no, he didn't have to like every single face he came across here. Sue him.

"Almost never is." He answered coarsely, doing little to defuse the instant tension in the air on his end. His eyes flicked to the nearby letters stenciled into the wall identifying their floor number, one of the lower among the quarters block. "Don't know what your deal is, don't care. About a half-dozen floors up from here there's a whole pack of some of the region's deadliest Grimm being controlled by some lunatic and his semblance, so if enough of us don't get on the same page to put up some kinda resistance we can all kiss any chance of walking outta here in one piece goodbye. Or winning this stupid fighting ring," he added pointedly, aware that the threat of death wasn't exactly a compelling argument considering present company.

I like him. Rough, blunt, straight to the point. Sienna's voice echoed in her head, and even if the croc faunus didn't have the phantom sight of the other faunus hanging around, she would have felt the smile evident from that tone of voice. Remind you of anybody?

Tock's amused look evaporated, a sullen grimace replacing it as her eyes shot away from Qrow towards where she saw the younger Sienna standing. To everyone else she was staring at an empty space. She didn't actually talk back to the apparition or hallucination though. This was the worst possible time to deal with their shit, and after a few seconds her gaze moved back towards Qrow. Tock forced a more neutral attitude onto her face as she mulled over his words and shortly after, smirked.

But before she could open her mouth to speak...​

From seemingly nowhere a sword lanced straight through the wendigo's skull, pinning it to the wall like a skewer and finishing it off for good in one clean motion before he wrenched it free with one to match. Tock's silent, mercenary, mustached accomplice hadn't proven the most interesting of partners, opting not to even travel with her in favor of prowling alone through the same general vicinity, but his ruthless practicality was impossible to deny. They had run across a handful of combatants already in their scouring of the living area; the results spoke for themselves, with the swordsman having already secured his three required keycards on his own time and Tock only requiring one more to complete the set herself. Prowling forward with footfall quieter than a fresh layer of snow, he stared at her and wordlessly made his opinion of Qrow's proposal known.

With a shake of the head and a lone finger drawn across the jugular

Her back had been kept to the grimm half that still clung to life, her nonchalant demeanor born either from the guarantee there was nothing that beast could to her that would stick or the belief that one of the others would handle it long before it could make good on any attacks. As it turns out, her belief was justified. Quick, quiet and efficient. The man would never win any awards for being a great conversationalist but he was somehow entertaining all the same. She appreciated that ruthless nature.

Nevertheless, as her silent companion stepped up and shared his thoughts on this matter...she just shook her head right back at him and slung an arm across the guy's shoulders, completely carefree. "Oh, c'mon partner of mine. Ya already 'ave all the cards ye need. We can afford to go along with this." It did seem true, especially with this fading away corpse over there, and she made clear her intended agreement to go along with what Qrow suggested, even if Tom Selleck didn't agree.

Because, truth be told, despite the poking around in her head that Doc Merlot had done...there was a reason Raven could portal to her. They had formed a bond, and despite how confusing and complicated the mess about Salem felt to her, that bond wasn't easily severed. The faunus had brushed Ray off earlier, told her to back the fuck up in a harsh growl...but in her heart of hearts she didn't really want the little bird to die. And beyond that, she had been a huntress for decades.

Slaying grimm was what she lived for.

Raven blinked in surprise. She had been roughly 74% sure that she would have had to try to personally convince Liadan to stand with them against the dangerous threat they all faced, bring up their past in an emotional plea...but she didn't have to do any of that. The croc just agreed right off the bat. The younger Branwen peered with wary eyes towards the masked man in black, awaiting his response now that Tock was on board.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

Her back had been kept to the grimm half that still clung to life, her nonchalant demeanor born either from the guarantee there was nothing that beast could to her that would stick or the belief that one of the others would handle it long before it could make good on any attacks. As it turns out, her belief was justified. Quick, quiet and efficient. The man would never win any awards for being a great conversationalist but he was somehow entertaining all the same. She appreciated that ruthless nature.

Nevertheless, as her silent companion stepped up and shared his thoughts on this matter...she just shook her head right back at him and slung an arm across the guy's shoulders, completely carefree. "Oh, c'mon partner of mine. Ya already 'ave all the cards ye need. We can afford to go along with this." It did seem true, especially with this fading away corpse over there, and she made clear her intended agreement to go along with what Qrow suggested, even if Tom Selleck didn't agree.

Because, truth be told, despite the poking around in her head that Doc Merlot had done...there was a reason Raven could portal to her. They had formed a bond, and despite how confusing and complicated the mess about Salem felt to her, that bond wasn't easily severed. The faunus had brushed Ray off earlier, told her to back the fuck up in a harsh growl...but in her heart of hearts she didn't really want the little bird to die. And beyond that, she had been a huntress for decades.

Slaying grimm was what she lived for.

Raven blinked in surprise. She had been roughly 74% sure that she would have had to try to personally convince Liadan to stand with them against the dangerous threat they all faced, bring up their past in an emotional plea...but she didn't have to do any of that. The croc just agreed right off the bat. The younger Branwen peered with wary eyes towards the masked man in black, awaiting his response now that Tock was on board.

And thus did that response come.



Faceless goggles stared back at Tock for the entirety of the exchange, offering no enlightenment as to what the hell that meant to anybody. He slowly swiveled his gaze back to the twins, however, and the fact that he took no further action against them or their proposal appeared to indicate he didn't care enough to press the issue. Neither his body language nor the expressionless void that was his face gave anything away in terms of his actual feelings on the matter, and it was anyone's guess how they may have differed had he not already completed his keycard set. Tock had been able to determine with confidence even just from the few stolen glimpses of his fighting style that he was no huntsman; this was someone who had trained to fight and kill people.

"...Great," Qrow eventually grunted tersely, the punctuation mark on a frustrating few moments of waiting to see if the weird guy did or motioned anything else that might've constituted an actual answer. He didn't, and the huntsman wasn't keen on wasting time. "Then our only shot is to split up and find as many folks as we can willing to put a pause on the talent show. Ideally the non-crazies, which more than half the people here don't seem to be, the ones likely to group up without much fuss, and anyone with a crowd control semblance to thin out the numbers. Seeing as I was getting blitzed pretty much the whole time from when I got here to when the starting whistle blew, anyone else got any suggestions where to start?"​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

She had just been about to jump in and attempt to slam one of those balconies away with a powerful swing of her weapon, when instead the not-her Pyrrha roped her around the belt and pulled them both back out of the danger spot and when their backward momentum ceased, the tinier ginger got put down gently, like she was a delicate vase or something, instead of the badass warrior that she was. But honestly, that hardly registered or mattered right now, and Nora gulped, returning the hello with a far more uncertain and ludicrously awkward: "U-Uh...hey."

She'd known about the fact that for some strange reason, many of the people that she knew to be good and bad had changed places, but knowing that fact did not prepare her for the reality of seeing a still alive Pyrrha today. "Nice to see you?" She didn't know if it was really nice or not just yet but she didn't know what else to say.​

"You as well!" Pyrrha(??)replied, still smiling. "We should talk after-"

She wasn't anywhere near the target of the faunus's rage by this point. He ignored her, the loathing on his face magnified tenfold after the sudden yank of his weapon and grip both threw the trajectory of one of the balconies wildly off course and really really annoyed him. Sparks flew and metal shrieked as the damaged structure went scraping across the arena floor once again for Nora and Pyrrha like a derailed freight train, only this time it was meant solely as a distraction as he came hurtling over its peak with weapon nowhere in sight. Instead he roared, rending his hands apart with telekinetic savagery to wrench the two women away from each other and bash them back together like symbols even as the two separated sabers came spinning in from behind. They struck with guided precision, intent on beginning a ceaseless onslaught on the pair of them as if wielded by barbarian ghosts, the wrathful phantom using his mind and hands to conduct a symphony.

The rest of the sentence was cut off with the screech of metal and against metal as the balcony was shoved towards them once more, and Pyrrha frown and deftly leaped into the air as her spear transformed into its rifle form, only to grunt in surprise as her body decided to move on its own and sent her careening straight back into Nora. A flash of color at the side of her eyes had her twist her hand up towards the saber spinning towards her to give it a hard semblance shove in the other direction, but the one headed for Nora recieved no such defense; the girl could handle herself, she had to imagine, if she was anything like the Valkyrie she knew.

Instead, her other hand made a sweeping motion behind her, and the balcony the faunus had leaped in front of suddenly picked its momentum right back up, the derailed freight train aiming to run right over its previous conductor

 

[MyrtenRose]

And thus did that response come.

View attachment 741372

Faceless goggles stared back at Tock for the entirety of the exchange, offering no enlightenment as to what the hell that meant to anybody. He slowly swiveled his gaze back to the twins, however, and the fact that he took no further action against them or their proposal appeared to indicate he didn't care enough to press the issue. Neither his body language nor the expressionless void that was his face gave anything away in terms of his actual feelings on the matter, and it was anyone's guess how they may have differed had he not already completed his keycard set. Tock had been able to determine with confidence even just from the few stolen glimpses of his fighting style that he was no huntsman; this was someone who had trained to fight and kill people.

"...Great," Qrow eventually grunted tersely, the punctuation mark on a frustrating few moments of waiting to see if the weird guy did or motioned anything else that might've constituted an actual answer. He didn't, and the huntsman wasn't keen on wasting time. "Then our only shot is to split up and find as many folks as we can willing to put a pause on the talent show. Ideally the non-crazies, which more than half the people here don't seem to be, the ones likely to group up without much fuss, and anyone with a crowd control semblance to thin out the numbers. Seeing as I was getting blitzed pretty much the whole time from when I got here to when the starting whistle blew, anyone else got any suggestions where to start?"​

"Fantastic." Raven echoed the same sentiment as Qrow, already turning her gaze from the masked guy as Tock pulled away from him, and glancing at Qrow briefly before settling on keeping her attention on their surroundings. She didn't have any suggestions, minus the obvious ones like Winter, Robyn and the others. Didn't feel she'd need to bring them up, just figured they were naturally at the top of the list of people to find. Spy in the ranks or not, they were all stuck in this place together. That bridge could be crossed later.

"Wait, wait 'old up. Did ya just say split up? Have you never watched a 'orror movie in yer life? We're locked in an impenetrable death fortress with killers of all sorts and some freak up and befriending the grimm chosen specifically to slaughter all those murderers throughout the night...and ya want to split up. Ain't very savvy of ya." She'd survive regardless, but even so...seemed the whole point of his proposal was strength in numbers. Separating sounded dumb to her. "Splitting off or not, yeah, sure, I can at least suggest where not to start. Try not to stumble upon that cock-showin' arrogant blowhard Vacuan bandit. If he's even still alive, that is." She would have considered it a favor to the universe if he were already dead somewhere in this shitshow. "Other than that...? Nope. Just gotta pick a direction and start that way, I reckon." She'd hardly finished that statement before she turned to go do just that.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

"Fantastic." Raven echoed the same sentiment as Qrow, already turning her gaze from the masked guy as Tock pulled away from him, and glancing at Qrow briefly before settling on keeping her attention on their surroundings. She didn't have any suggestions, minus the obvious ones like Winter, Robyn and the others. Didn't feel she'd need to bring them up, just figured they were naturally at the top of the list of people to find. Spy in the ranks or not, they were all stuck in this place together. That bridge could be crossed later.

"Wait, wait 'old up. Did ya just say split up? Have you never watched a 'orror movie in yer life? We're locked in an impenetrable death fortress with killers of all sorts and some freak up and befriending the grimm chosen specifically to slaughter all those murderers throughout the night...and ya want to split up. Ain't very savvy of ya." She'd survive regardless, but even so...seemed the whole point of his proposal was strength in numbers. Separating sounded dumb to her. "Splitting off or not, yeah, sure, I can at least suggest where not to start. Try not to stumble upon that cock-showin' arrogant blowhard Vacuan bandit. If he's even still alive, that is." She would have considered it a favor to the universe if he were already dead somewhere in this shitshow. "Other than that...? Nope. Just gotta pick a direction and start that way, I reckon." She'd hardly finished that statement before she turned to go do just that.

Qrow didn't look impressed, more than a bit of attitude to the slouched posture he adopted as he tossed his cloak, slid his hands in his pockets and gave Tock a curious once-over in a different light, not at all shy about hashing this out.

"I'm a huntsman. The job's a horror movie. This is the part where we fan out to cover as much ground as possible and warn enough people that it'll actually be worth a damn when the time comes to hold the line, 'steada traipsing around aimlessly in one big group all night like Mystery Inc. There a problem with that?"

Both duos already had their assigned backup anyway. He'd done plenty of dangerous stuff before without the benefit of more than one ally, or even any at all.

"Gotta say, I didn't expect someone who can't die to be so eager on having their hand held."​

 

[MyrtenRose]

She wasn't anywhere near the target of the faunus's rage by this point. He ignored her, the loathing on his face magnified tenfold after the sudden yank of his weapon and grip both threw the trajectory of one of the balconies wildly off course and really really annoyed him. Sparks flew and metal shrieked as the damaged structure went scraping across the arena floor once again for Nora and Pyrrha like a derailed freight train, only this time it was meant solely as a distraction as he came hurtling over its peak with weapon nowhere in sight. Instead he roared, rending his hands apart with telekinetic savagery to wrench the two women away from each other and bash them back together like symbols even as the two separated sabers came spinning in from behind. They struck with guided precision, intent on beginning a ceaseless onslaught on the pair of them as if wielded by barbarian ghosts, the wrathful phantom using his mind and hands to conduct a symphony.

"You as well!" Pyrrha(??)replied, still smiling. "We should talk after-"



The rest of the sentence was cut off with the screech of metal and against metal as the balcony was shoved towards them once more, and Pyrrha frown and deftly leaped into the air as her spear transformed into its rifle form, only to grunt in surprise as her body decided to move on its own and sent her careening straight back into Nora. A flash of color at the side of her eyes had her twist her hand up towards the saber spinning towards her to give it a hard semblance shove in the other direction, but the one headed for Nora recieved no such defense; the girl could handle herself, she had to imagine, if she was anything like the Valkyrie she knew.

Instead, her other hand made a sweeping motion behind her, and the balcony the faunus had leaped in front of suddenly picked its momentum right back up, the derailed freight train aiming to run right over its previous conductor

Yeah. Talking later sounded good. And ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY because FREAKING HELL IT'S PYRRHA.

But yes, after this. There was an instant frown as she felt the weird sensation of telekinetic force pulling her away from her fellow fighter but that soon reversed course as he sought to smash them together. Nora grimaced but thought quickly, as she did her best to resist her body pulling in for a collision with Pyrrha, straining her arm to move and throwing her hammer in the opposite direction of the armored champion and using the strong pull of the gravity dust within to counter his annoying telekinetic crap. They still very nearly hit each other all the same but the resisting did give her enough time to bring her legs up and give her momentum a little more oomph by kicking off Pyrrha's shield. Her hand's grip rejoined her hammer in mid-air and she spun just in the nick of time for Magnhild to deal with the thing her aura wouldn't shut up about, the warhammer swinging into that saber's hilt to smack it away.

Her weapon shifted in a second after doing so and she unleashed a few grenades over the hateful prick's way in an attempt to explosively knock him into the balcony moving his way.​

 

[MyrtenRose]

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Qrow didn't look impressed, more than a bit of attitude to the slouched posture he adopted as he tossed his cloak, slid his hands in his pockets and gave Tock a curious once-over in a different light, not at all shy about hashing this out.

"I'm a huntsman. The job's a horror movie. This is the part where we fan out to cover as much ground as possible and warn enough people that it'll actually be worth a damn when the time comes to hold the line, 'steada traipsing around aimlessly in one big group all night like Mystery Inc. There a problem with that?"

Both duos already had their assigned backup anyway. He'd done plenty of dangerous stuff before without the benefit of more than one ally, or even any at all.

"Gotta say, I didn't expect someone who can't die to be so eager on having their hand held."​

She stopped in her walk, immediately turned around and stomped over to Qrow, halting only when she was well within his personal space. More than close enough to stab or punch if she wished, but she didn't. Her head only rose to glare dangerously at the taller huntsman. "News flash, asshole. The two of ya were the ones who came to me out of desperation. Judgin' from the grimm that managed to push through Ray's semblance, both of ya were almost monster chow. The only problem 'ere is that ya seem to think the suggestion we don't separate was for me. It wasn't. If anyone here needs their fucking 'and 'eld, it's the spiky haired twat who reeks of cheap alcohol standin' right in front of me. Y'know, the one that came to me to bail his ass out. So what's it gonna be, eh? Do ya wanna get this shit goin' and start findin' people to deal with the grimm and the asshole pullin' their strings or do ya want to just look that gift horse in the mouth and piss me off?" Tock growled. "Because, no lie, I'm not against kickin' yer ass. It ain't too late fer me to roll back on my agreeing with yer proposal. I only need one more card and then I'm free and clear. I can just go right up for the top and leave you all to deal with the monsters."

Her eyes narrowed even more. "That last card I take can be yours. So what'll it be? Ya done with your bullshit or do ya wanna press. your. fucking. luck?!"

Each of the last four words were punctuated by her jabbing a finger into his chest.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

She stopped in her walk, immediately turned around and stomped over to Qrow, halting only when she was well within his personal space. More than close enough to stab or punch if she wished, but she didn't. Her head only rose to glare dangerously at the taller huntsman. "News flash, asshole. The two of ya were the ones who came to me out of desperation. Judgin' from the grimm that managed to push through Ray's semblance, both of ya were almost monster chow. The only problem 'ere is that ya seem to think the suggestion we don't separate was for me. It wasn't. If anyone here needs their fucking 'and 'eld, it's the spiky haired twat who reeks of cheap alcohol standin' right in front of me. Y'know, the one that came to me to bail his ass out. So what's it gonna be, eh? Do ya wanna get this shit goin' and start findin' people to deal with the grimm and the asshole pullin' their strings or do ya want to just look that gift horse in the mouth and piss me off?" Tock growled. "Because, no lie, I'm not against kickin' yer ass. It ain't too late fer me to roll back on my agreeing with yer proposal. I only need one more card and then I'm free and clear. I can just go right up for the top and leave you all to deal with the monsters."

Her eyes narrowed even more. "That last card I take can be yours. So what'll it be? Ya done with your bullshit or do ya wanna press. your. fucking. luck?!"

Each of the last four words were punctuated by her jabbing a finger into his chest.

Until the fourth wasn't, and was instead punctuated by her wrist being snatched and held fast with digit scarcely a millimeter from jabbing him as he met her fierce gaze with one of his own that was as poised, cool and blase as was custom of him. His own raspy growl was entirely collected in the face of her challenging one, spiked with just the vaguest hint of the sarcasm he couldn't resist whenever loudmouthed tools got in his face.

"I wanted the news, not the weather. And you got some stuff backwards, lady. You ain't doing us a favor, and we didn't come lookin' for any. We ended up by you 'cause we needed a quick escape and apparently my sister thought your tacky ass was worth getting to know at some point. I told you the score, and you jumped at the chance to climb on board so fast it made me think maybe there's still a little huntress left in there, or at least more to you than just some sellout with a funny accent. Only you couldn't go two seconds without testing me, and now I'm questioning whether it's worth listening to you mouth off and drag your feet behind your attitude problems all night. So here's how it's gonna go. We're outta here either way. You can do one of two things: buzz off and keep wandering around aimlessly looking for a hunk of plastic until the Grimm make you their chewtoy, or do like I suggested and tell whoever's willing to play ball to group up in the arena." A deliberate choice; high ceilings and enough wide open space to disperse the grimm into something less than an unstoppable swarm. "Which means no matter how you slice it, this is where we part ways. And either you have a problem with that, or you don't."

He jerked his hand aside to throw her wrist down, and in the same movement swept his shoulder cloak aside to grip Harbinger's shaft on his hip.

"Your choice, grandma."​