Fandom Distorted Mirror [IC]

[MyrtenRose]

"...HA!"

It was Greed who guffawed first, harsh and booming. Envy reared back with a gurgled hiss, but a second later and all of them were laughing with the exception of Wrath, who sat quietly at the bar with his back to the others as he sipped a whiskey neat. Lust's own laugh was more the tinkle of a windchime than the unmitigated howls of the others, the back of her hand raised to cover it demurely as she sighed when it was true and gave Tock an affectionate, if pitying, pat on the cheek.

"Sounds like you need a therapist, dear. I'll let you figure out which sin that is."

Without further ado she stood up, breezing past Tock with movements that were as graceful as they were assured as she swept over to confer quietly with Wrath since Tock had forgotten to relay Qrow's instruction. :|

You have no idea. Even though it was her own voice echoing in her head now and not her old team or Sienna or any others, that didn’t change the validity of that statement. As for what sin that was...well, thinking hard about that could wait until a less pressing time. In the now though, as Lust walked away, the croc couldn’t help but ever so discreetly sneak a peek at how one particular part of her looked in that tight militaristic outfit.​

 

[MidwayLives]

The initial show of open hostility only seemed to make the shorter-haired Yang's features light up even more, the blonde pulling a face and giving an extremely pitched giggle as she curled a lock of hair around one finger in ditzy fashion. She flapped a hand in her sister's direction with affectionate dismissal when she drew the sword, turning to regard the nearest of the cameras that hovered around to capture the bloodshed with a coy smirk like they were on a sitcom. "Oh, Ruby! You and your classic Ruby shenanigans, just up and pulling a knife on me like that! Gotta love it!"

She beamed, scooped up a handful of her doppelganger's hair again and started forward, dragging her limp frame across the tiles and about as threatened as if it were a toddler holding the blade.

Ruby gazed up at the camera.

What was going on here??

Was she getting Punk'd
​

She beamed, scooped up a handful of her doppelganger's hair again and started forward, dragging her limp frame across the tiles and about as threatened as if it were a toddler holding the blade.

"C'mon. Five hands of Go Fish didn't put us past this whole 'kill for mother' shtick? Would it have helped if I let you win one?" Her pout seemed wholly genuine in its remorse as she stopped just a short distance away, once again tossing the beta at her feet. "Surely we can call bygones on that much on account of me turning a blind eye to your huge murder fetish, and whatnot. After all, I'm Yang! I love being alive, and I know there's good deep down in everybody if ya just take the time to dig around and look for it a lil bit! Oops! Except myself, I guess! Haha! How could anyone who screwed up having these looks deserve anything?"

The sight of Yang bound up and restrained had done something for Ruby.

Whatever 'that' was, she couldn't say but her Yang likely had a good enough idea.

Ruby hated that she hadn't completely purged those feelings. For once in her life she was happy living with Weiss.

She didn't want to throw it all away by doing something depraved...not now...

Her mechanical hand whirred as she stood her ground against the approaching Yang.
​

There were a few extra teeth to the grin she bore as she almost seemed to relish the act of stepping on the wonder bitch. She quickly dismissed it, however, hopping down the other side and started closing the last of the gap between her and Ruby in a confident strut, a bit of a sway to her hips and bounce in her step since she knew what this lunatic liked. When she was close enough, she completely ignored the smaller girl's queries in favor of lashing out quickly with both arms, ensnaring Ruby before she could do anything to stop what was about to happen.

"Sooooo hey, before I shut her up the nobody let slip about how you'd been missing for the last while. Seems... weird. That's weird, right? I mean, the hell's that all about?"

Something was almost accusatory in that tone, though it was too intangible to really put a finger on as her fist balled up Ruby's hood and her right hand emitted a low, shuddering tremor when she ran it down the back of her head.

The way she moved...It felt intentional..

...As if she knew that some part of Ruby enjoyed it.

The figurative lights flickered and Ruby took a step back.

"You!"

Fighting the other world's Yang had been something she was reluctant to do. She imagined the same could have been said for her as well.

The relationship with this Yang was a touch more complicated. Before she could run or attack however, Yang was upon her. Wrapping up her sister in a warm embrace.

Or as warm as it could be anyway.

"I...I had to get away. I didn't know what to do..."
​

Something was almost accusatory in that tone, though it was too intangible to really put a finger on as her fist balled up Ruby's hood and her right hand emitted a low, shuddering tremor when she ran it down the back of her head.

"...Just... thought you'd end up finding me by now, is all."

...

"I've been looking for you..."

It was something of a lie but after her talk with Qrow, Ruby couldn't deny it.

She'd messed up her Yang and took away the chance at a happy childhood.

She wanted to do something, anything to fix that if she could.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

...

"I've been looking for you..."

It was something of a lie but after her talk with Qrow, Ruby couldn't deny it.

She'd messed up her Yang and took away the chance at a happy childhood.

She wanted to do something, anything to fix that if she could.

Ruby may have found the hug getting real stiff real fast in light of her reactions to Yang's approach, a low, rumbling growl coming from the hand caressing the nape of her neck. It was something primal and guttural, not nearly a match for the aggressive snarl that suddenly erupted from the blonde's throat.

"Hold the fuck up, do you know?"

Strong hands snatched Ruby by the shoulders, and she was jostled like a ragdoll as they roughly separated so she was staring Yang dead in the eye.



They were eyes burning with hatred.

"...grrrrrrrrrrrrRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! THAT IS SUCH! FUCKING-!"

So livid was she that she couldn't even get the 'bullshit' out, and in its place an explosion of excess rage energy warped the steel walls and set her short curls ablaze as Ruby found a Grimm hand unwaveringly locked around her throat, until about two furious rotations later saw her slam into the closest wall hard enough to leave a her-shaped dent in it as the limb stretched and elongated before coiling back. Something, whether it was Ruby's approach or the implication that her bitchsona had better acting chops than her, had the erratic brawler going absolutely berserk, and she yanked on her hair so vigorously and uncaringly it was a testament to the sheer strength of the gold fibers that they weren't being ripped out in clumps. So worked up was she that she was practically bouncing off the walls, hopping from foot to foot like some gaslit kid as she jabbed both pointer fingers at Ruby accusingly.

"SEE THIS, THIS IS CLASSIC RUBY! YOU ACT SOOOOOOOOO FUCKIN' LOOPY AND SPACED OUT EVERY TIME YOU WANT SOMEONE TO FEEL SORRY FOR YOU, BUT IT'S ALL ONE BIG SHOW! YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT'S GOING ON AROUND YOU! You are the worst, the WORST, rrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH I HATE YOUIHATEYOU!!!!!!! DO YOU GET-"

*CLANG*

"-THE FUCKING PICTURE YET-"

*CLANG*

"-YOU DUMB-"

*CLANG*

"-WEAK-"

*CLANG*

"-WORTHLESS-"

*CLANG*

"-SLUT!"

Every clang marked another instance of her double's head being slammed hard into the alloyed tiles, what little aura had returned to her since the beating the only thing that kept her head from being bludgeoned to a fine paste at the bottom of the life-sized imprint of her face the impacts made. The more stable physically (but far less so mentally) Yang rocked back and forth, balancing on her haunches as both hands gripped her temples; one of them started to twitch and curl unnaturally to stroke her hair, those same softly guttural noises coming out muffled from under the glove.

"...Yeah, yeah, I know... Whatever."

She murmured so softly it was barely audible in contrast to the deafening roaring of before, and when she lifted her head again it was with eyes once more affixed directly on Ruby.



They were... different. Wrong. Still that same vibrant shade of crimson, but most of the vibrancy was gone; the pupils were too large, and there was a dull sheen to them as if Yang had just woken up from sedation and hadn't quite regained her senses yet. She spoke again, only the tones that addressed Ruby this time were flat, deadpan, bordering on emotionless.

"Fuck off for good this time."

She picked her duplicate up by the hair and resumed dragging her away again, intent on sparing Ruby no further thought.​

 

[MidwayLives]

There was no telling how effective that had truly been against the frozen opponent just yet, but for the moment there was no hint of movement from that area and it was quiet over there after the loud sounds and bangs of all those spikes smashing them through the wall. That seemed promising.​

"It's about damn time..."

This fight had turned into a struggle for survival.

But if one of them was taken down...

Satin made his way over to the ice spike that his jacket was hanging from. It'd erupted so suddenly the pyromaniac was surprised it'd didn't shear a chunk of flesh off in the process. Ripping his jacket free, he slung it back over his shoulders and looked at the hole one of the spikes was poking through in the wall. Right where Roy had been pinned up and frozen like an icecube.

*VSSSSSSHHH*

Plunging his left hand into one of the spikes, Satin's body twitched and shuddered as the intense cold washed over his limb. To go from one elemental extreme probably wasn't healthy but with the amount of patchwork scattered from his neck and shoulders from his arms and fingers, he hadn't been the healthiest person before even participating in all this. While Icy and his erstwhile partner dealt with the other chick, blue flames began to ebb and flow around Satin's person, a billowing flame melting the spike that he'd stuck his arm into. As water leaked down onto the floor as the flames billowed and roared, Satin pulled his arm loose.

"Better make sure."

He took a step back and looked over his shoulder at the fire raging around his body.

Even after all his training to control it, Satin had come to learn one thing.

Fire could never be controlled, only contained.

Even he, the owner of the semblance, wasn't safe from it's destructive effects.

But neither was Roy.

Fire filtered into the hole to try, melting the spike in the process and a good chunk of the surrounding ice.

As smoke began to drift out of the hole, Satin lowered his hand and let the embers in his palm flicker away.

If nothing else his flames would make short work of whatever room Roy had been smashed into. One could only hope he'd be burned along with it.

"Try dying this time, alright...?"
​

Initially she seemed unimpressed by the amount of icy shards hanging in the air, pointed her way. As the many spikes shot through the air towards her, she braced her boots against the roof below her feet...and burst in a blur of motion. She moved so swiftly it was hard to keep track of all of the slashes and slices and stabs she went for, shattering some of the shards and battering away others...but despite that speed, the unimpressed look vanished replaced by one of concern. There were too many for her, and several managed to slam into her, dark purple aura flickering with each that managed to hit her. That onslaught was joined by Robyn loosing a number of bolts among the spikes...and there was a loud BOOM as one of the explosive bolts went off right in the woman's face. The resulting smoke temporarily obscured her from sight.

Wherever he hailed from, Radiant wasn't a stranger to combat.

His semblance required proper planning to utilize it accurately. Rainy days were the best days..

For killing....

As the smoke obscured the swordswoman from view, Radiant quirked his head.

"We'll need to properly neutralize her....Quickly incase the other one wasn't....disposed of...."

He didn't know Robyn's preferences on whether or not these two dying was acceptable.

Needed casualties if nothing else.

Depraved sinners at the worst.
​

She wasn't hidden for long though. There was a loud, raging, and nearly earsplitting howl that echoed through the area, a scream that promised painful death. Hardly a moment after that, the warrior came into view. She rushed through the smoke, having pushed off the roof and came down with a ferocious swing of her blade for the ice manipulator first.

"Speaking of...."

The water that'd been freed as a result of Satin's flames going buckwild had been steadily moving across the floor to return to Radiant.

As the sword came in, the moisture/droplets on Radiant's umbrella froze and with a swift tiwl of his hand...

The umbrella was shut, the ice shielding it from harm as Radiant was still forced to take a step or two back in the ensuing clash.

His face hidden away by his mask, he raised his left hand and the water that'd been moving along the floor shot up towards the swordwielder.

If it made contact, Radiant would try to pull something of a twofer and freeze her just as he'd done to Roy.

~~~
​

"Hold the fuck up, do you know?"

Strong hands snatched Ruby by the shoulders, and she was jostled like a ragdoll as they roughly separated so she was staring Yang dead in the eye.

They were eyes burning with hatred.

"...grrrrrrrrrrrrRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! THAT IS SUCH! FUCKING-!"

Ruby froze like a deer caught in the headlights.

The sword had fallen from her grasp and she couldn't find it in her to struggle against the grip she was in.

So, that'd cinched it.

This WAS her Yang...

"...Y-Yang, I'm...I'm-"
​

So livid was she that she couldn't even get the 'bullshit' out, and in its place an explosion of excess rage energy warped the steel walls and set her short curls ablaze as Ruby found a Grimm hand unwaveringly locked around her throat, until about two furious rotations later saw her slam into the closest wall hard enough to leave a her-shaped dent in it as the limb stretched and elongated before coiling back. Something, whether it was Ruby's approach or the implication that her bitchsona had better acting chops than her, had the erratic brawler going absolutely berserk, and she yanked on her hair so vigorously and uncaringly it was a testament to the sheer strength of the gold fibers that they weren't being ripped out in clumps. So worked up was she that she was practically bouncing off the walls, hopping from foot to foot like some gaslit kid as she jabbed both pointer fingers at Ruby accusingly.

Thrown off her feet as she was, Ruby let out a shrill yelp as she smashed into the wall.

Sliding down onto her rear, her aura flickered around her.

She had a plan for if she was to encounter either Yang in the actual ring.

But running into them now?

She really didn't know what to do.
​

"SEE THIS, THIS IS CLASSIC RUBY! YOU ACT SOOOOOOOOO FUCKIN' LOOPY AND SPACED OUT EVERY TIME YOU WANT SOMEONE TO FEEL SORRY FOR YOU, BUT IT'S ALL ONE BIG SHOW! YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT'S GOING ON AROUND YOU! You are the worst, the WORST, rrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH I HATE YOUIHATEYOU!!!!!!! DO YOU GET-"

*CLANG*

"-THE FUCKING PICTURE YET-"

*CLANG*

"-YOU DUMB-"

*CLANG*

"-WEAK-"

*CLANG*

"-WORTHLESS-"

*CLANG*

It was at the first stomp she winced.

The second one she cried out.

The rest she felt useless to prevent.

But her Yang was right. It was something Qrow had pointed out as well in their talk. Everyone was expected to drop everything if Ruby 'I was Ozpin's Right Hand' Rose asked/claimed to be doing the right thing. It felt even more prudent when the end result of her actions were staring her right in the face. While stomping the foot of her counterpart underfoot.
​

"-SLUT!"

"Yang! Stop!"

She cried out grateful that the other Yang's aura still seemed to be intact.

There was a lot of things that Ruby still needed to improve on. Keeping to the whole 'I won't murder anyone anymore' vow was one of them. The urge for it never left so easily and she'd spent most of her teenage years striking out at whoever got in her way. Despite all that though, even when she was still just the 'Red Masque', the other world's Yang never looked down on her. Never so much as deemed her a lost cause. The hugs she'd given were warm and loving. It made Ruby want to squirm.

It was why she couldn't stand by and watch her get abused.

"Please..."
​

They were... different. Wrong. Still that same vibrant shade of crimson, but most of the vibrancy was gone; the pupils were too large, and there was a dull sheen to them as if Yang had just woken up from sedation and hadn't quite regained her senses yet. She spoke again, only the tones that addressed Ruby this time were flat, deadpan, bordering on emotionless.

"Fuck off for good this time."

She picked her duplicate up by the hair and resumed dragging her away again, intent on sparing Ruby no further thought.

Watching the two go as she walked over to retrieve her sword, the hate building up in her was enormous.

Not for her Yang. Even after everything the two had been through together, Ruby genuinely loved her still.

No, what she hated was that thing living inside her.

Corrupting her and making her even more of a mess than she was before.

'I can't quite understand it myself. But right now Yang had a perfectly good chance to just snap my neck, take my keycard, and be done with it. She could make up whatever excuse she wanted to Ozpin as to how I actually died. Then I'd probably be written off just like that.' It was a depressing thought but it wasn't what alarmed her. 'From the motel to her, Yang has had plenty of chances to hurt me and she always let me off easy....'

Was it a shred of love still buried deep down? Despite the abuse she'd been given over the years?

....

Perhaps that was too optimistic.

"Yang! Wait!" ​

 

[Gus Gungus]

Perhaps that was too optimistic.

"Yang! Wait!"

"Fuck me from behind and call me an ursa, you're annoying. 'Yang, Yaaaaang'! What, did puberty never hit for you or is this just you practicing the noises you'd make if you ever actually landed me in the sheets?"

Her scoff was as contemptuous as her squeaky approximation of Ruby's voice was unnervingly accurate, delivered as without the dragon's turning, releasing her counterpart or slowing her come-hither strut that promised nothing but pain for Ruby if she ever actually came hither. She kept her calm relative to the unstable outburst of a few moments ago, though, apparently placated by whatever parasite was feeding off the negative energy in her soul.

"Lemme lay it all out as clearly as I can for ya, meat. This obsession you've had with me since we were kids? It was never cute. It was never fun. Do you have any idea how skeevy something has to be for me to say that? I mean, I'd rather fuck an ursa." She paused long enough to pop a squat, releasing her painful grip on the scalp of the hogtied Yang in favor of staring down at her thoughtfully. "The only thing your creepy Barbie incest fetish ever did for me was turn me into a miserable, drugged up loser with too many hangups to look at herself naked in a mirror without feeling ashamed. Ugh! I cannot believe I actually wasted all those years calling myself 'strong' or 'Dragon' or whatever, as if I hadn't spent most of my life being your fucking pony. The audacity, right? I was as weak as weak gets. Believe it or not, this little piggy actually helped me realize that."

Her bearing was entirely casual as she ruffled her counterpart's more voluminous hair and hefted her up over her shoulder with ease, like a piece of game.

"You know, back in Mistral? Oh right, you weren't there. I kept thinking, how undercooked a Yang must I have been if I couldn't get the edge on a PG version of me without some fucking bitchboy's help? Between that, losing an arm and all her macho trash talk, it was a real wake-up call. At least I think it was. I took waaaaay too many painkillers that day to remember most of it." She shrugged. "But obviously I was doing something wrong. Grimm Bait here told me it was cuz I had no friends. Was a real bitch about it, too, but I figured 'hey, who's gonna know me better than me', right? So, I made a friend."

Assuming Ruby was still following they rounded another bend towards the elevators, and a squadron of the facility's skeletal death droids turned where they were congregating around the charred remnants of a few lesser entrants. She lashed out with her right arm without thinking, and so effortlessly did the Grimm appendage morph into a whip, coil around the robots like Remnant's longest anaconda and rend them into screeching pieces that she barely even jostled her younger self on her shoulder. Either oblivious or uncaring, she strode straight past the point Prisma's shriveled body was no longer resting, turned, and let the Grimm fist reel all the way back into her arm just in time to hammer the elevator button with it, flashing a wicked grin and using it to lean up against the wall.



"The best friend a girl could ever have. I'm not retarded; I know you all think I'm fucking possessed or whatever, but that's not it. Righty here just helped me feel good about myself for the first time in my life. She makes the pain go away when I get mad, so I don't need to pop pills to make it through the day anymore. And most importantly, she made me realize everyone's already my friend, because everyone wants me! Some of 'em just don't realize it yet. Right, hot stuff?"

Her voice was a songbird's chirp as she gave herself a sharp slap on the rear where she was draped over her shoulder, making no effort to hide the way her eyes lit up in elation at the sound. Still so cool that she could do that. She shut her eyes and substituted her devilish grin from before with a lazy, cocksure one.



"I mean, what else am I supposed to think when even my own sister's into it? Heeeeeeeeey, guess you being a twisted little perv actually did do something for me after all! Thanks, sis!" She flicked Ruby a thumbs-up positively dripping with sarcasm as the elevator arrived and she stepped in. When she turned around, though, all her casual self-possessed aplomb was gone, replaced by a simmering look of barely masked disdain. "Still hope you get cancer, though. Now seriously, crawl back to whatever hole you've been hiding in til Ozpin arrives and maybe I won't tell him you've been completely AWOL this entire time."

She made a vague shooing motion with her wrist. After all, she had shit to do.​

 

[MyrtenRose]

"We'll need to properly neutralize her....Quickly incase the other one wasn't....disposed of...."

"TELL ME SOMETHING I DON'T KNOW, GUY!!!" ​

But neither was Roy.

Fire filtered into the hole to try, melting the spike in the process and a good chunk of the surrounding ice.

As smoke began to drift out of the hole, Satin lowered his hand and let the embers in his palm flicker away.

If nothing else his flames would make short work of whatever room Roy had been smashed into. One could only hope he'd be burned along with it.

"Try dying this time, alright...?"

There was a sharp, ringing sound of ice shattering apart just before the flames seared their way in but whatever that entailed was wholly caught up in that raging inferno. The flames filled the room entirely, shooting to its farthest wall and up to touch the ceiling. There was nothing in sight but those blue flames, nothing heard apart from the sizzling hiss as the room scorched away. The heat was so extreme that even Robyn could feel herself sweating from the sheer output her crazy partner unleashed. Five seconds passed.

Ten.

Fifteen.

Before time hit twenty though, another sound joined the hiss of the flames. The slow, heavy stomps of armored boots getting closer and closer. Just after thirty seconds passed by, the sight of the armored warrior pushed out of the inferno. They slumped slightly once free and there came a few heavy coughs and shaky breaths. They had not emerged from there unscathed. Whole sections of that armor had been burned away into nothing. Much of the protective metal that had covered their right limb was gone, revealing a rather strangely slender arm, considering how heavy that armor looked. The knee and left thigh were also largely exposed, and the normally pale skin underneath was dark red, almost black. Yet at the same time, with the way it was slowly receding and losing just a bit of that color, it was obvious they still possessed at least some aura. They straightened up to stand tall, and despite all the other spots that suffered, the helmet stayed intact.

It was removed all the same.

Their armor shifted and the helmet came apart, melding so naturally with the rest of the armor it looked like it had always rested in its new spots. Messy sandy blonde hair fell free now that it was no longer cramped up and green eyes stared at Satin...but rather than seeming pissed off or frustrated, if anything they looked more excited now!

"Alright, fire guy. Warm-up's over and done with! Now the real fighting starts...try not to cry too hard, okay?" They grinned savagely and their sword raised up, crimson lightning sparking around it-- They suddenly blinked, eyes shooting off towards their partner.​

"Speaking of...."

The water that'd been freed as a result of Satin's flames going buckwild had been steadily moving across the floor to return to Radiant.

As the sword came in, the moisture/droplets on Radiant's umbrella froze and with a swift twirl of his hand...

The umbrella was shut, the ice shielding it from harm as Radiant was still forced to take a step or two back in the ensuing clash.

His face hidden away by his mask, he raised his left hand and the water that'd been moving along the floor shot up towards the swordwielder.

If it made contact, Radiant would try to pull something of a twofer and freeze her just as he'd done to Roy.

She was fast enough, both with her semblance suddenly pressing down and pushing most of the water that shot up right back down to spread across the floor again, as well as with her pulling back and dodging attempt, that she managed to avoid becoming a total frozen fighter like Roy had shortly before. Didn't manage to avoid it in full though...an annoyed glare was directed at her left arm encased in solid ice. Her aura warning of danger had her head snap up and she narrowly dodged a bolt or two from the crossbow, but a third managed to bounce off her own blade to bonk her in the skull. The annoyed expression shifted to angry, briefly aimed at Robyn before the cold chill of her left arm reminded her. That look only got more harsh and dangerous as she redirected it towards staring at Radiant directly, but she hardly managed a glance before Roy's sudden yell stole her attention.

"HEY! USE YOUR THING MORE! FILL THE WHOLE PLACE AND--"

"Right." She caught on to that train of thought and interrupted them. Her serious eyes narrowed. Her semblance manipulations pushed and pulled, the water that lined the ground spread out farther and farther along said floor they were all standing on. At the same time she rose up off the floor, gravity's effect on her reversed as she once again gravitated up towards the roof. And also simultaneously, that crimson lightning of Roy's shot forth for the middle of the pool of water, blatantly attempting to have it surge through and painfully electrocute all three of their opponents in one fell swoop.​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

Emerald listened in silence as the words kept coming and they didn't stop coming, and the conclusion she rapidly came to was that there literally wasn't a single piece of this that had anything to do with her. When all was said and done and she was left looking up at the towering muscle man rocking the lady from the Incredibles' hair, she only really had one thing to say.

"Sorry, who's 20?"

Yeah freaking right. But she didn't stop there, propping a hand on her hip with a disrespectful slant to her figure and continued in the same cutthroat Mean Girls ringleader vibes that had set many a Beacon freshman, sophomore and senior alike crying in the bathroom.

"By the way, is exposition the main good your big bad criminal syndicate deals in? God, you know there's only so long I'm willing to stand here and listen to some guy I don't know ramble on about stuff, right? Bullet points only please. And Tyrian, dude, seriously. How many times are you gonna get stabbed?"

"HOW. MANY. INDEED."

Each exclamation was punctuated by a slow, melodramatic clap, Mercury emerging from behind the curtain to the back area having heard everything and with the slow, confident bearing of somebody who had something to add. He relegated chair-and-dude dragging duties to Neo behind him, instead focusing on his entrance and all the dope expositional buildup there was to him coming in now. His gaze roved to find Callie's, floating her an electric, heart-skipping wink that felt wrong yet so right. He stopped in their midst, now finding himself in the unenviable position of having made a dope entrance when in fact he had very little to actually add.

"Sup. Mercury Black. Literally could not give less of a crap about you guys and this whole internal politics and friction deal you got going on. Stop trying to get us involved in stuff," he stated firmly, leaving very little room for argument as he glared fiercely at Blanco, Blanche, and Char in turn. "I'm better than my dad was, you guys couldn't afford me, and for what it's worth I hated the son of a bitch so much I put him in the dirt myself. So tell your boss no thanks but no thanks, if he's got a problem with that he can come see me personally, and let's draw a line under pretty much all that bullcrap."

He crossed his arms, unbending as the steel in his legs.

"Next order of business. Since Tyrian keeps getting stabbed and can't seem to go 5 minutes without doing some crazy shit, I vote we actually do let him involve us in his thing. Which I'm still confused about what that even is or whether it connects to this or the Shadow Fang or any of it, but hey. Callie, besides being really cool and hot you're basically like a rumors NPC come to life, right? What do you know?"

Callie gave Mercury a side eyed frown as she answered. "Not much past the name, though the reason is somethin in of itself; The man's a lunatic, and his prey's included some damn dangerous ladies, yet any serious investigations into 'im stall pretty quick, and bounties on 'im from people who knew his victims also vanish right quick, often along with the issuer. A few occasional prods by us spiders have also been shut down." She added, a dark turn to her gaze that was gone as fast as it came.

"Wheover he is, he's got some friend or friends in either high places, or very low ones, if you catch my drift."

"I understand."

Friends of Tyrian or not, Callie(who's less a friend and more mildly tolerant acquaintance to the faunus) made it clear that defeating serial killers just wasn't in the agenda.

"I cannot speak for Blanche or Char. Whatever becomes of them is entirely free to you."

Tyrian however was less than amused by Callie's referral of him.

"Arachnid." He grumbled.

"Uh, naw." She said bluntly to Blanco. "You ain't offloadin reparations and punishment onto us. They're your screw ups, they're your problem hun. Cuz if you leave him here, we're just puttin a bullet in 'em."

One particularly enthusiatic spider in the back that may or may not have lost a bunch of money to Char the last time he played cards here could be heard already loading his gun, at the same time Neo could be seen dragging the chair Char was tied to from the back curtain.

It took her about ten seconds after Mercury left that 1. She literally couldn't question the guy and 2. Sitting back here with him by herself was going to be incredibly awkward and she was feeling way too smug and successful in her victory to want to subject herself to that. She let the chair grind to a halt and spun it around so Char was facing the rest of the group, before using his head as a resting spot for her arms and chin as she listened.

Now that Char had been dragged in with the others and Blanche was presumably restrained as well, the two hitmen looked at eachother.

Then they looked at Mercury.

"Hey, that's fine with us."

"Yeah, your dad was a major dick so no sweat off our nose. Just trying to to earn a check."

Blanche leaned in towards Char.

"Hey....you DID get knocked out by them right?"

"Oh yeah, the one they call Neo-the kid with pink hair-and Mercury tagteamed me. Got the better of me in a heartbeat. The hell happened to you?"

"Eh, got beat up by some bum."

"Aw, c'mon Blanche..."

"Just being honest....Proud of you by the by."

Speaking of their respective fights by the way, Char looked to wherever Neo was standing.

"Guess you proved me wrong, kid. Couldn't take you down in three minutes."

She beamed and stuck her tongue out at him, not that he could see it from where he was.

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

The warrior was a whirlwind of ferocious grace and violence, but it was clear in the opening exchanges who the more technically adept of the two was. Thrashing was the correct word for it, though not in a derogatory sense as her every dodge, lean and evasion frustrated him and became fuel for an even more hateful follow-up burst, nary a flaw to be found in his own footwork even for as much as it lacked in complexity next to her own. He was a constant storm of movement, flip after flip, twirl after twirl, a more unorthodox fighting style than the widespread products of kingdom academies she was used to encountering in the arena she called home who all had somewhat of a leaning for the same conventions. They were both really into it by the time she wrenched his weapon around in his grip sharply, and such was his pure instinct that he was actually able to swing his body with the motion to avoid damage to his fingers or his own blades digging into his aura; which did nothing to prevent her from laying into him with her follow-up. Again and again she struck him, upwards of a half-dozen strikes landed without resistance, but even as his aura started to glow yellow in protest she could feel the pain from each swing start to fuel him even more potently than his fury had, giving him clarity of purpose and mind as with a snarl he thrust his hand out.

She was confident at this point that he wasn't capable of the same subtle, minute semblance adjustments in the heat of combat she was, but she felt her heels grind sparks across the flooring as she was forced back a distance of several feet and held there, finding it more difficult to resist the force pinning her limbs than Nora's mountainous brute strength had. Apparently he had no such desire to prove himself nor reservations when it came to being unsporting with his semblance. He spun the saberstaff back around in his grip and the look in his bloodshot eyes promised a vengeful continuation of their contest, which was right around the point where Nora fell on him like an act of god.

BOOOOOOM

When the dust cleared, the faunus was already extricating himself to his knees amid the pit in the arena floor the huntress had driven him into, hacking up a lung with mouth twisted in an incredulous sneer as he retained consciousness despite the ludicrous blow having audibly shattered his aura. He sighed, almost wistful.

"And so our contest is cut short. There can be no worthiness determined in the company of allies, miss Nikos. No superiority established. The only worthy ally..."

"Is fear."

In complete defiance of norms where semblances were concerned, even without aura the man's eyes started to glow, nigh-burn, and Nora started to choke and wheeze as if something was blocking her airways from the inside. The man neither lifted his arms nor took his eyes away from Nikos, seemingly awaiting what came next.

Even to the moment that that she was pinned by the man's semblance, the fiery excitement hadn't left her eyes, right up until Nora came flying in like a meteor. Pyrrha blinked a few times, an almost baffled surprise giving away to a wistful disappointment, not dissimilar to Nora's eyes than all those times the Pyrrha she knew was accidentally brushed off by Jaune. Her eyes widened again as the man's semblance proved to work past the shattering of his aura, and despite her partner's predicament, she gave a soft, satisfied smile as she shook her head.

"The words of a sore loser. I told you earlier; I don't care for fair fights. But if you really think you're better than me, if that look in your eyes is as hateful as it feels..."

The movement was so fast and precise, one could've been forgiven for thinking Pyrrha's semblance included teleportation or super speed, rather than the sheer display of physical and technical prowess it was; one moment she was across from the man, the next she was beside him, and Milo was jabbed through his chest;

Just to the left of his heart, only a lung pierced. A terrible wound, most likely lethal.

But not surely.

She leaned in close and whispered.

"Then live. And prove it."

She planted her boot against his gut and shoved him off her weapon and a quick flourish of its form send the butt of it slamming into the side of his head in a bid to knock him out. If it all bore fruit, she stared at his form for a few moments before she rushed over to Nora's side and helped her to her feet.

"Are you alright?" She asked, the concern in her voice seemingly genuine.

 

[Gus Gungus]

Mercury grinned and smashed his fists together, thrilled enough at the prospect of something to sink his teeth into that his brain effortlessly slipped back into old leadership habits despite all his manpain and repressed emotions.

"Awesome. Then as pretty much sorta the de facto leader of this whole operation-"

"Inaccurate."

"-I motion all present hereby form the most kickass serial killer strike team in Mistral's long underexplored history! I'm talkin' me, the ace! Emerald, the babe!"

"Ugh."

"Callie, the logistics! Tyrian-- Wildcard! This guy! You're huge and ripped as hell!" He flapped a hand vaguely in Blanco's direction, then cocked his head at the two restrained. "Seems to me like you two bozos owe us after the mess you just made, so help out with this and it'll be a step in the right direction. That guy we ran over, get him outta the basement too! I liked his style! And Neo!"

He spun around to face her before he could stop himself, but his excitement faltered quickly upon eye contact and he looked away with a flicker of the same guiltridden expression she caught him staring at her with sometimes.



"...Watch the bar."

His back was quickly turned.​

 

[MyrtenRose]

She planted her boot against his gut and shoved him off her weapon and a quick flourish of its form send the butt of it slamming into the side of his head in a bid to knock him out. If it all bore fruit, she stared at his form for a few moments before she rushed over to Nora's side and helped her to her feet.

"Are you alright?" She asked, the concern in her voice seemingly genuine.

Well, she had wished she could have said that went better than expected, what with her flattening that faunus dude into a pancake crater. But the whole nearly choking to death thing sorta crushed any of the normal pleasant feeling that usually came with a victory. She'd long since collapsed onto her knees and one hand pressed against the ground as the other moved around her throat, trying to somehow relieve the choking pressure, however uselessly. It was only after Pyrrha did...that, that the choking let up and Nora fell over further. Her chest was heaving hard as she took many many deep breaths, her lungs burning in relief of all that sweet sweet air coming in. Several seconds passed before she even acknowledged that question or even Pyrrha in general.

"...Been better." She eventually coughed out in a low voice, and when she could manage it, she looked over at the downed telekinetic faunus. "Did you...you kill him?" Her voice trembled with uncertainty. On the one hand, the action saved her life and this was a criminal deathmatch battle. Such a thing was to be expected. But on the other...it was hard to see Pyrrha going for that type of blow. Pyrrha had beaten a lot of people, but she never had taken it that far. Though...a Pyrrha that served alongside the master of grimm...no guessing how stained that ledger was. She could ask but...maybe that question was one she didn't really want to know the answer to. Still, she couldn't help but ask a different but sorta related question:

"Does killing give you satisfaction?" ​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

Well, she had wished she could have said that went better than expected, what with her flattening that faunus dude into a pancake crater. But the whole nearly choking to death thing sorta crushed any of the normal pleasant feeling that usually came with a victory. She'd long since collapsed onto her knees and one hand pressed against the ground as the other moved around her throat, trying to somehow relieve the choking pressure, however uselessly. It was only after Pyrrha did...that, that the choking let up and Nora fell over further. Her chest was heaving hard as she took many many deep breaths, her lungs burning in relief of all that sweet sweet air coming in. Several seconds passed before she even acknowledged that question or even Pyrrha in general.

"...Been better." She eventually coughed out in a low voice, and when she could manage it, she looked over at the downed telekinetic faunus. "Did you...you kill him?" Her voice trembled with uncertainty. On the one hand, the action saved her life and this was a criminal deathmatch battle. Such a thing was to be expected. But on the other...it was hard to see Pyrrha going for that type of blow. Pyrrha had beaten a lot of people, but she never had taken it that far. Though...a Pyrrha that served alongside the master of grimm...no guessing how stained that ledger was. She could ask but...maybe that question was one she didn't really want to know the answer to. Still, she couldn't help but ask a different but sorta related question:

"Does killing give you satisfaction?" ​

She blinked at the question, but her smile was patient as she shook her head

"Not particularly. And I certainly hope I didn't kill him anyways." She said with a sideways glance down at the man's fallen form. "But he was too dangerous to risk him getting back up in this fight in particular."

She finished helping Nora up to her feet, and couldn't help herself from dusting a bit of the dirt off of one of her fellow redhead's knees with a small look of concern. "I'd still like to have a conversation, but we need to acquire four more keys. Well..." She looked back at the man again.

"Three more now."

 

[MyrtenRose]

She blinked at the question, but her smile was patient as she shook her head

"Not particularly. And I certainly hope I didn't kill him anyways." She said with a sideways glance down at the man's fallen form. "But he was too dangerous to risk him getting back up in this fight in particular."

She finished helping Nora up to her feet, and couldn't help herself from dusting a bit of the dirt off of one of her fellow redhead's knees with a small look of concern. "I'd still like to have a conversation, but we need to acquire four more keys. Well..." She looked back at the man again.

"Three more now."

"....Right." She didn't know how to feel about that response, but didn't press further. Even if this Pyrrha didn't particularly enjoy killing, it was clear she didn't mind going for fatal blows. Though whatever scrutinizing other thoughts would have followed didn't come, her mind's attention drawn by the further act of concerned kindness from Pyrrha wiping her knees clean. That hardly seemed like the act of someone who followed the Oz of this world. None of Salem's guys that she had met seemed like that...except maybe the big one when he wasn't raging. "I'd like that too, yeah. I can walk and talk if you can." Nora replied as she briefly stepped away from Pyrrha, moving closer to the downed faunus. She knelt briefly to check for a pulse...and also to pick up that weapon again. Whether the guy was dead or just out for the time being, either way that was too cool a weapon to just leave it lying here beside him.

She was hardly trained to use it but even so--

The tiny bruiser blinked, struck by an idea and she turned back to Pyrrha. "Hey, is Sun evi--UH, does Sun work with you guys on this Remnant and if so is he...polite, like you? Like open to training a gal on how to use a staff?" ​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

View attachment 743639

Mercury grinned and smashed his fists together, thrilled enough at the prospect of something to sink his teeth into that his brain effortlessly slipped back into old leadership habits despite all his manpain and repressed emotions.

"Awesome. Then as pretty much sorta the de facto leader of this whole operation-"

"Inaccurate."

"-I motion all present hereby form the most kickass serial killer strike team in Mistral's long underexplored history! I'm talkin' me, the ace! Emerald, the babe!"

"Ugh."

"Callie, the logistics! Tyrian-- Wildcard! This guy! You're huge and ripped as hell!" He flapped a hand vaguely in Blanco's direction, then cocked his head at the two restrained. "Seems to me like you two bozos owe us after the mess you just made, so help out with this and it'll be a step in the right direction. That guy we ran over, get him outta the basement too! I liked his style! And Neo!"

He spun around to face her before he could stop himself, but his excitement faltered quickly upon eye contact and he looked away with a flicker of the same guiltridden expression she caught him staring at her with sometimes.

View attachment 743655

"...Watch the bar."

His back was quickly turned.​

Somewhere the basement, Lupin the second, tenth of his name, felt a chill go down his back.


Upstairs, Neo blinked a few times before she pushed herself upright and narrowed her eyes at Mercury, emphatically shaking her head. Callie glanced between the pair and cleared her throat.

"...So... first off, who's payin for this? And second off, if this is happening, why you want to leave miss murder behind? Seems like the best person to catch someone who's stab happy is... y'know..."

Neo looked moderately offended as she glowered at Callie and raised a finger, only to slowly point it at her, a gesture as confusing to herself as anyone else as she tried to parse how to explain to the Spider that she wasn't the same Neo, or if they even wanted to at this point.

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"....Right." She didn't know how to feel about that response, but didn't press further. Even if this Pyrrha didn't particularly enjoy killing, it was clear she didn't mind going for fatal blows. Though whatever scrutinizing other thoughts would have followed didn't come, her mind's attention drawn by the further act of concerned kindness from Pyrrha wiping her knees clean. That hardly seemed like the act of someone who followed the Oz of this world. None of Salem's guys that she had met seemed like that...except maybe the big one when he wasn't raging. "I'd like that too, yeah. I can walk and talk if you can." Nora replied as she briefly stepped away from Pyrrha, moving closer to the downed faunus. She knelt briefly to check for a pulse...and also to pick up that weapon again. Whether the guy was dead or just out for the time being, either way that was too cool a weapon to just leave it lying here beside him.

She was hardly trained to use it but even so--

The tiny bruiser blinked, struck by an idea and she turned back to Pyrrha. "Hey, is Sun evi--UH, does Sun work with you guys on this Remnant and if so is he...polite, like you? Like open to training a gal on how to use a staff?" ​

That question had Pyrrha more flummoxed and off balanced than anything else that had happened so far, and she stared at Nora for a few seconds before she answered.

"Sun? Sun Wukong? The strange little monkey faunus from the Vytal festival? That Sun?"

She slowly shook her head. "....No... no, I haven't worked with him. I'm a little surprised you know of him. Was he more important in your Remnant than ours?"

Which was meant as no diss to the staff weilding faunus, but not being besties with one of the protagonists had seriously hurt his importance cred in this timeline

 

[MyrtenRose]

That question had Pyrrha more flummoxed and off balanced than anything else that had happened so far, and she stared at Nora for a few seconds before she answered.

"Sun? Sun Wukong? The strange little monkey faunus from the Vytal festival? That Sun?"

She slowly shook her head. "....No... no, I haven't worked with him. I'm a little surprised you know of him. Was he more important in your Remnant than ours?"

Which was meant as no diss to the staff weilding faunus, but not being besties with one of the protagonists had seriously hurt his importance cred in this timeline

"Uhhhhhhhhhhh, I don't know about more important but he is a good friend back home." Nora shrugged, rising back up. "So he doesn't work with you guys. Huh. I almost imagined that he would have been attached to at least...nevermind. The important bit is, he's not around to train me. Drat." Oh well. She still could hold onto the weapon, maybe use it in some capacity. "So...what did you wanna talk about?" She asked as she started for one of the exits out of the arena.​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"Uhhhhhhhhhhh, I don't know about more important but he is a good friend back home." Nora shrugged, rising back up. "So he doesn't work with you guys. Huh. I almost imagined that he would have been attached to at least...nevermind. The important bit is, he's not around to train me. Drat." Oh well. She still could hold onto the weapon, maybe use it in some capacity. "So...what did you wanna talk about?" She asked as she started for one of the exits out of the arena.​

Pyrrha had her eyes closed as they started for the threshold, humming as she gathered her thoughts.

"...Miss Valkyrie and I were friends in this world, before she passed. I was curious if it was the same in yours. And of myself, I suppose."

 

[MyrtenRose]

Pyrrha had her eyes closed as they started for the threshold, humming as she gathered her thoughts.

"...Miss Valkyrie and I were friends in this world, before she passed. I was curious if it was the same in yours. And of myself, I suppose."

"...……………………………………………………………………………………………………."

"...I DIED???"​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"Y...yes? I'm so sorry, I thought you knew, it was... your Qrow that did it..."

 

[Gus Gungus]

Somewhere the basement, Lupin the second, tenth of his name, felt a chill go down his back.


Upstairs, Neo blinked a few times before she pushed herself upright and narrowed her eyes at Mercury, emphatically shaking her head. Callie glanced between the pair and cleared her throat.

"...So... first off, who's payin for this? And second off, if this is happening, why you want to leave miss murder behind? Seems like the best person to catch someone who's stab happy is... y'know..."

Neo looked moderately offended as she glowered at Callie and raised a finger, only to slowly point it at her, a gesture as confusing to herself as anyone else as she tried to parse how to explain to the Spider that she wasn't the same Neo, or if they even wanted to at this point.

"How the hell should I know? I put you on logistics so I don't have to think about these questions or even hear 'em, beautiful, like how all those guys in action movies pawn the responsibility of their actions off on hot female sidekicks behind desks. Besides, if these guys worked with my dad they must make good enough dough to fix a bar. We have 'em tied to chairs." He tossed back breezily, a faintly sinister twinge to his aura and the look he shot the two men again that each could place on his father whenever he dispensed the threat of violence. Mercury had been its target too many times for it not to rub off. At her second question she made a mental note that the nastier, somehow hotter version of his friend and former team mebmer had already swept through this place like a hurricane, something he pretty much already put together but it was nice to confirm.

"Secondly, we're bad enough on our own and Neo's about one lousy day away from going full psycho mode on our asses. You know I can't take a whiz in peace 'cause she keeps putting spider clowns on our bathroom ceiling, right? Girl ain't ready for something this intense yet. Maybe she never will be."

Daddy Black was also to thank for the flat, blunt finality in his tone as he let his eyes settle on Emerald to make it clear who the statement was actually intended for, having already deployed the ultimate conversation-ender with Neo by simply turning away and not looking at her anymore. The thief just whistled and really threw herself into sweeping up the bar, having absolutely no desire to be a part of this conversation.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

She knelt briefly to check for a pulse...and also to pick up that weapon again. Whether the guy was dead or just out for the time being, either way that was too cool a weapon to just leave it lying here beside him.

"You can't just... do that..."

Came a weak, raspy gurgle as the fingers clutching it refused to come away so easily when she tried, whether it was sad or terrifying that the man was not only still alive but still awake up to them to decide. Either way, he was in no shape to continue fighting or keep her from pulling the staff free if she wanted it, but something about the act just seemed cruel even for him. That was HIS weapon.​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

View attachment 743752

"How the hell should I know? I put you on logistics so I don't have to think about these questions or even hear 'em, beautiful, like how all those guys in action movies pawn the responsibility of their actions off on hot female sidekicks behind desks. Besides, if these guys worked with my dad they must make good enough dough to fix a bar. We have 'em tied to chairs." He tossed back breezily, a faintly sinister twinge to his aura and the look he shot the two men again that each could place on his father whenever he dispensed the threat of violence. Mercury had been its target too many times for it not to rub off. At her second question she made a mental note that the nastier, somehow hotter version of his friend and former team mebmer had already swept through this place like a hurricane, something he pretty much already put together but it was nice to confirm.

"Secondly, we're bad enough on our own and Neo's about one lousy day away from going full psycho mode on our asses. You know I can't take a whiz in peace 'cause she keeps putting spider clowns on our bathroom ceiling, right? Girl ain't ready for something this intense yet. Maybe she never will be."

Daddy Black was also to thank for the flat, blunt finality in his tone as he let his eyes settle on Emerald to make it clear who the statement was actually intended for, having already deployed the ultimate conversation-ender with Neo by simply turning away and not looking at her anymore. The thief just whistled and really threw herself into sweeping up the bar, having absolutely no desire to be a part of this conversation.​

There was an instant regret on Callie's face as Neo pointed her finger at her, and she cleared her throat and quickly turned to eyeball Blanco and the dynamic duo instead. "Well? You payin for this shindig then? I assume it ain't the bug boy if he was balkin at info prices yesterday."

Arachnid her ass, she knew a spider, and that boy wasn't no spider : |

Neo snarled as Mercury turned away from her, and the second he turned his back to her she pounced, leaping straight over Char to hook an arm around his neck and just sort of dangle there like a particularly color clashing cloak, wholly intent on just not letting go until they left. As a group.

 

[Gus Gungus]

Neo snarled as Mercury turned away from her, and the second he turned his back to her she pounced, leaping straight over Char to hook an arm around his neck and just sort of dangle there like a particularly color clashing cloak, wholly intent on just not letting go until they left. As a group.

The reaction was so instant it was preternatural.



"They can pay for that too."​

 

[MidwayLives]

Before time hit twenty though, another sound joined the hiss of the flames. The slow, heavy stomps of armored boots getting closer and closer. Just after thirty seconds passed by, the sight of the armored warrior pushed out of the inferno. They slumped slightly once free and there came a few heavy coughs and shaky breaths. They had not emerged from there unscathed. Whole sections of that armor had been burned away into nothing. Much of the protective metal that had covered their right limb was gone, revealing a rather strangely slender arm, considering how heavy that armor looked. The knee and left thigh were also largely exposed, and the normally pale skin underneath was dark red, almost black. Yet at the same time, with the way it was slowly receding and losing just a bit of that color, it was obvious they still possessed at least some aura. They straightened up to stand tall, and despite all the other spots that suffered, the helmet stayed intact.

It was removed all the same.

Their armor shifted and the helmet came apart, melding so naturally with the rest of the armor it looked like it had always rested in its new spots. Messy sandy blonde hair fell free now that it was no longer cramped up and green eyes stared at Satin...but rather than seeming pissed off or frustrated, if anything they looked more excited now!

"Guess 'dying' isn't exactly on your to-do list, huh?"

Satin quipped as he brushed off the water off his left arm.

Cocky as he was, he was somewhat grateful for Icy's temporary teamup. If he didn't have the ice/water to keep cooling off his arms from getting too hot, the flesh would start falling off his limbs before this fight was through at the rate they were going.
​

"Alright, fire guy. Warm-up's over and done with! Now the real fighting starts...try not to cry too hard, okay?" They grinned savagely and their sword raised up, crimson lightning sparking around it-- They suddenly blinked, eyes shooting off towards their partner.​

"Warm-up, eh? That's what you call getting tossed through a wall and smoked?"

Fire flared around Satin's person and he chuckled.

"I'll have to burn you to a crisp this time..."
​

She was fast enough, both with her semblance suddenly pressing down and pushing most of the water that shot up right back down to spread across the floor again, as well as with her pulling back and dodging attempt, that she managed to avoid becoming a total frozen fighter like Roy had shortly before. Didn't manage to avoid it in full though...an annoyed glare was directed at her left arm encased in solid ice. Her aura warning of danger had her head snap up and she narrowly dodged a bolt or two from the crossbow, but a third managed to bounce off her own blade to bonk her in the skull. The annoyed expression shifted to angry, briefly aimed at Robyn before the cold chill of her left arm reminded her. That look only got more harsh and dangerous as she redirected it towards staring at Radiant directly, but she hardly managed a glance before Roy's sudden yell stole her attention.

"Got your arm....Now-"
​

"HEY! USE YOUR THING MORE! FILL THE WHOLE PLACE AND--"

"Right." She caught on to that train of thought and interrupted them. Her serious eyes narrowed. Her semblance manipulations pushed and pulled, the water that lined the ground spread out farther and farther along said floor they were all standing on. At the same time she rose up off the floor, gravity's effect on her reversed as she once again gravitated up towards the roof. And also simultaneously, that crimson lightning of Roy's shot forth for the middle of the pool of water, blatantly attempting to have it surge through and painfully electrocute all three of their opponents in one fell swoop.

Watching the water begin to pool around his boots, Satin only had one reaction fit for the duo's plan.

"Shit."

His aura was doing alright enough. Getting shocked with a dozen volts of lightning was sure to change that.

Taking a look at his left arm, Satin frowned. The flesh still seemed more in line with beef jerky than grafted skin. On the brightside, Radiant's ice had managed to cool it off/dull the pain significantly.

'Managed to save the arm but it's done. Can't use it anymore for this fight or I'll risk losing the whole damn thing.'

If Roy and their partner were planning what he was thinking, they weren't gonna give Icy enough time to shift ALL the water to ice. Even if he managed to save himself(which Satin fully expected. It was the smart thing to do. The chick and him weren't Radiant's buddies.), Satin and his partner were gonna end up knocked on their asses if not worse.

*plip*

"Hm?"

Ah.

Some of the stitching around his face and eyes had come loose. Probably due to all the jumping around he'd been doing. The usual person who did his 'upkeep' obviously couldn't be contacted while Satin was in the middle of a deathbattle. Which meant that he had to try to DIY the whole process and it wasn't great. The heat and power of his semblance having a toil on his own body didn't exactly help matters either. As blood ran down his face, he scoffed.

'Barely know the chick. To think I'd been planning on just killing her and going about my day.'

She was an ace with those bolt shots and, heh, seeing the gravity chick get pinged in the head with one was pretty funny.

Maybe she was worth saving. Besides, what was the worse that could happen? He'd end up dead? Bring it on.

"Hey!"

He called out to Roy right as the lightning shot out. Flames coming from the soles of his feet boiled the water around him as he blasted forward. Let armor boy try to fry them, Satin was gonna close the distance between em. Sounded like a crazy idea given when the guy ate a full shot of flames to the face and walked through it. But he'd seen the damage that 'Azure Nightmare' and Icy's semblance had done to him. He wasn't invincible, far from it. No, there was only one person that Satin would bestow with that moniker and it was the same man he pledged his loyalty to. Getting in close with Roy while he wielded the lightning towards the water, Satin reached out to try and grab his bare neck.

"Here's your warm-up."

*FWOOOSH*


​

"Right." She caught on to that train of thought and interrupted them. Her serious eyes narrowed. Her semblance manipulations pushed and pulled, the water that lined the ground spread out farther and farther along said floor they were all standing on. At the same time she rose up off the floor, gravity's effect on her reversed as she once again gravitated up towards the roof. And also simultaneously, that crimson lightning of Roy's shot forth for the middle of the pool of water, blatantly attempting to have it surge through and painfully electrocute all three of their opponents in one fell swoop.

Radiant was a bit spacey.

Well, perhaps that was putting it lightly. Whoever his self-proclaimed 'God' was, the masked maestro of ice was 100% loyal.

Whatever reasons he'd decided to enter were known only to him and only he could understand them. A sinner's heart could never comprehend his crusade.

He'd speak slowly, drawing out words, and often repeat himself. All bad habits that he seemed to have no interest in trying to break or work on.

But he was no idiot.

'These two are no ametaurs. After just a short skirmish, they've understood the limits to my semblance. While it might seem instantaneous, the process to shift from water to ice and back again takes precious seconds to do. At the rate this water's moving, I'll barely be able to protect myself let alone...'

He glanced briefly at Robyn.

She'd been somewhat rude to him and he'd held no qualms about killing her if need be.

Truth be told however, Radiant had no dreams of going past this point. Or even managing to survive this portion of the event. He'd only been able to make use of his semblance through careful analysis of where each sprinkler was and what he'd have to do to set it off. If he'd encountered anyone else besides Satin and Robyn, he might have had to shoot at the sprinklers to turn them on and that'd attract who knows what? Probably not those with keycards. Keycards upon which he could give to his partner. The one who'd pick up the sword in his stead. The one he'd trust to win this competition. Radiant hadn't expected him to fully grasp every innate detail of his 'plan' but if it all worked out then he'd rest happily.

Be that as it may, he wasn't going to let challenges like this move forward to plague said partner.

" 'Scuse me....Stand as still as you can...." He whispered as a small tile of ice formed under his and Robyn's feet. Though Robyn's was small enough that it'd require a great deal of effort to keep from tumbling/stepping into the electrified waters(at least until Satin dealt with Roy).



"That was a very clever strategy. If I had been a split second slower, you'd likely have walked on with our keycards...'

He closed his right hand into a fist.

"But I wasn't....and I'll take yours...."

The ice around the gravity woman's arm rattled and shook as spikes formed in the interior of the ice to puncture and stab all across her arm.

~~~

Speaking of Radiant's partner...



As the battle raged on with Radiant/Satin/Robyn against Roy/His Partner, the ice wielder's own partner whom he trusted enough to be willing to die for was roaming the halls.

Wiping a smidge of oil off his lips, he almost pulled back one of the bandages on the side of his face. Barely hidden away by the bandage were a row of razor sharp fangs.

Behind the blonde headed figure was a hallway full of machines, their chassis looking as if something had carved right through them, claws maybe.

Radiant had gone off in search of potential prey to pocket keycards from. He hadn't clarified WHERE he was going to look. Leaving his partner to follow in the lurch.

He supposed he didn't mind too much though.

He needed the exercise.

"Wrrryyyyy....."

~~~
​

"I mean, what else am I supposed to think when even my own sister's into it? Heeeeeeeeey, guess you being a twisted little perv actually did do something for me after all! Thanks, sis!" She flicked Ruby a thumbs-up positively dripping with sarcasm as the elevator arrived and she stepped in. When she turned around, though, all her casual self-possessed aplomb was gone, replaced by a simmering look of barely masked disdain. "Still hope you get cancer, though. Now seriously, crawl back to whatever hole you've been hiding in til Ozpin arrives and maybe I won't tell him you've been completely AWOL this entire time."

She made a vague shooing motion with her wrist. After all, she had shit to do.

In stark contrast to how quick she'd been to try and defend herself back at the motel, here and now?

Ruby stood there and took the abuse hurled her way. Not unlike Yang had to go through back in their younger days.

She'd reached for the handle of Crescent Rose once or twice during the onslaught of vitorl but she never attacked.

She just couldn't bring herself to.

Fighting her wouldn't solve anything. She was the cause of this and her talk with Qrow had made that abundantly to her.

As her Yang stepped into the elevator, Ruby pulled up her hood.



"It's ok. You can tell him."

She turned her back.

"I'm done with him."

Then she was gone, a rose petal in the wind.

​

 

[Gus Gungus]

Fighting her wouldn't solve anything. She was the cause of this and her talk with Qrow had made that abundantly to her.

As her Yang stepped into the elevator, Ruby pulled up her hood.

"It's ok. You can tell him."

She turned her back.

"I'm done with him."

Then she was gone, a rose petal in the wind.

"...What the fuck are you talking abou-?"

The elevator doors closed, leaving an atypically dumbfounded Yang alone with herself. That much was typical.​

 

[MidwayLives]

Callie gave Mercury a side eyed frown as she answered. "Not much past the name, though the reason is somethin in of itself; The man's a lunatic, and his prey's included some damn dangerous ladies, yet any serious investigations into 'im stall pretty quick, and bounties on 'im from people who knew his victims also vanish right quick, often along with the issuer. A few occasional prods by us spiders have also been shut down." She added, a dark turn to her gaze that was gone as fast as it came.

"Wheover he is, he's got some friend or friends in either high places, or very low ones, if you catch my drift."

"Hey Blanche....Doesn't that sound a lot like-"

"....What happened to the detectives Abyss hired to investigate the Boss..."

Neither man was smart enough to put the pieces together(which is why the Boss didn't just outright have them murdered)but it all brought haunting memories.

Even months later the mental scars hadn't faded. The Hitman Team had seen a lot but brutality like that could only be achieved by members of the Elite Guard-same group Merc's dad belonged to. Given what the kid had said, sounded like his old man fit right in with that crowd. They never had figured out WHY the Boss lavished so much attention on him though. Maybe it was his semblance, whatever it was.



That...was mildly concerning to hear.

There was a masked murderer roaming the streets of Mistral, targeting innocents and someone higher up on the foodchain was covering for them?

"I mentioned it before but back when I agreed to aid Tyrian, Aurora was strangely insistent on keeping the Community Team out of this. It felt strange to me given that a serial killer running amok is obviously a threat to all whom live here. I had to argue before he'd agree to let me help without consequences. After hearing this, I'm not so sure that'll be the case for much longer..."
​

"Uh, naw." She said bluntly to Blanco. "You ain't offloadin reparations and punishment onto us. They're your screw ups, they're your problem hun. Cuz if you leave him here, we're just puttin a bullet in 'em."

"Well, by all means then. Char and Blanche are both gangsters just as I am. They know the risks that come with our line of work. Isn't that right boys?"

Char and Blanche were understandably concerned. Char was a touch more vocal about it.

"Hey, go fuck yourself Vago! We were just doing our job!" He turned his head and snarled at the one overeager Spider. "Hey! I beat you fair and square, you wanna do something?? Come uncuff me and we'll see what happens!" He may have lost but there was no longer a doubt in his mind. Char Iilac wasn't a coward! Blanche on the other hand was a bit more willing to grovel. Turning his head towards the counter where Caille was situated, the gangster tried his best to put on the charm. Which given his face was covered with blood was a lot harder than it looked. "Caille! Babe! You don't gotta worry! You know Char and I are good for this! We love coming here! This was just a gig, y'know how it goes! We'll fix the place up as good as new!!"

"Oh geez, Blanche..."

"What??? You'd rather she just let her crew ventilate us??"

"...Nah, but I was thinking...and I don't feel she's gonna be down after I smashed holes in her walls."

"Look I'm trying to salvage this--ok, ok. Caille, baby, if you untie me, I'll slap some lien down and get right to work!"

Whether or not it worked, Blanche turned his head towards Blanco.

"H-Hey, I know the Community Team and the Hitman Team haven't always seen eye to eye but you're not gonna REALLY let these guys pull some...what...vigilant justice on us, are you-HEY! DICK!" Blanche shouted as Blanco was already walking away from where the two of them were situated.
​

She beamed and stuck her tongue out at him, not that he could see it from where he was.

Char couldn't see it but he laughed anyhow.

Despite the beating he took, he'd meant what he'd told Neo before. None of this was personal and neither or Blanche were planning on killing anyone. (Except maybe that bum who attacked Blanche)Plus standing his ground and getting bodied helped prove to not just Blanche but to himself that he may have been a rat but he wasn't a coward.

"Hahaha! I like you, kid! You got spunk in spades!"
​

Tyrian-- Wildcard!

"Yeah!"
​

This guy! You're huge and ripped as hell!" He flapped a hand vaguely in Blanco's direction,

Bemused by the compliment of being 'ripped', Blanco struck a pose and nodded.

"I'm glad to be of service in anyway that I can."

It didn't matter who stood in their way, he'd see this murderer brought to justice for his crimes!
​

"Seems to me like you two bozos owe us after the mess you just made, so help out with this and it'll be a step in the right direction.

"Hey, uh, we didn't agree to-"

"Bring it on! I'm ready!"

"....Hunt down a serial killer...."

Ugh, Violet was never going to let them hear the end of this.

....For that matter, what was the rest of the team gonna do if they encountered this growing band of serial killer hunters?

Oh if only Malachite were still here!~
​

Upstairs, Neo blinked a few times before she pushed herself upright and narrowed her eyes at Mercury, emphatically shaking her head. Callie glanced between the pair and cleared her throat.

"...So... first off, who's payin for this? And second off, if this is happening, why you want to leave miss murder behind? Seems like the best person to catch someone who's stab happy is... y'know..."

Neo looked moderately offended as she glowered at Callie and raised a finger, only to slowly point it at her, a gesture as confusing to herself as anyone else as she tried to parse how to explain to the Spider that she wasn't the same Neo, or if they even wanted to at this point.

"...Hey, we didn't agree to that either-"

"We still got some money from our last jobs before shit went down. If need be, we'll dig into that for the damages and for this. S'no skin off my nose!" Well, Abyss would probably either kick his ass or kill him for dipping into the team's funds like that. But honestly they were gonna have to deal with the fact that the two of them were captured and soundly beaten by these guys before anything else and pissing them off wasn't really going to help their situation. Besides, in the short time fighting them, Char kinda liked these guys. Mercury at least wasn't entirely intolerable like his pops/didn't look down his nose at them for being just 'thugs' while he had the Boss's attention. Glad the fucker was dead.

"Char!"

"What? The hell you screaming for??? I'm sitting right next to you??"

"WHY do you keep agreeing to this stuff?"
​

"How the hell should I know? I put you on logistics so I don't have to think about these questions or even hear 'em, beautiful, like how all those guys in action movies pawn the responsibility of their actions off on hot female sidekicks behind desks. Besides, if these guys worked with my dad they must make good enough dough to fix a bar. We have 'em tied to chairs." He tossed back breezily, a faintly sinister twinge to his aura and the look he shot the two men again that each could place on his father whenever he dispensed the threat of violence. Mercury had been its target too many times for it not to rub off. At her second question she made a mental note that the nastier, somehow hotter version of his friend and former team mebmer had already swept through this place like a hurricane, something he pretty much already put together but it was nice to confirm.

"Fine with me."

Blanche just leaned back in defeat.

"Sure, why not, let's pay for that too."

Char wiggled over as much as he could given his restraints to kick Blanche in the ankle.

"ow!"

"I'm doing all this because they'd just kill us otherwise. Idiot."

"I had that handled-"

"With what? Planning to charm the bartender?? AFTER I wrecked the place??

"That WAS the plan from the get-go?? It's not my fault you had to go ape and-Whatever. Can I at least have a smoke while we're waiting???"
​

There was an instant regret on Callie's face as Neo pointed her finger at her, and she cleared her throat and quickly turned to eyeball Blanco and the dynamic duo instead. "Well? You payin for this shindig then? I assume it ain't the bug boy if he was balkin at info prices yesterday."

Arachnid her ass, she knew a spider, and that boy wasn't no spider : |

"I'll gladly repair the damage done to your bar free of charge. As far as cost goes..." Blanco thumbed to Blanche and Char., the former of which groaned. "I believe they'll be covering that tab. I trust there are no complaints, gentlemen?"

"None."

"One."

Blanco was sure he'd heard a gun cock somewhere in the room.

"Okay, none."

Tyrian couldn't help but be impressed.

"I think it takes a certain kind of people to intimidate gangsters..." Tyrian murmured in quiet awe only for Blanco to shrug his shoulders. "Gangsters, criminals, whatever title we wear, everyonee's equal when the auras are down and semblances are taken away. It seemed your friends proved that rather nicely today."
​

"They can pay for that too."

"Okay by me, kid."

"Ughhh!" ​