Fandom Distorted Mirror [IC]

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

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The only thing that could really be said about the looks on their faces was that it was very, very hard to tell if they were genuine. A subtle squint in Merc's eyes signaled Emerald to take the lead since cons were kind of her thing, and a subtle squint back told Mercury to go screw himself in case this guy was telling the truth. Regardless, they fell into an effortless routine a second later.

"...No, that's okay."

"Yeah, that's good enough for us, man. See, my partner and I came up with a proposition we thought a low-rent thug with his foot caught in a bear trap, namely you, might be interested in. A lot's changed in the one day since we hauled you in here. Almost feels like it's been months. We walked into this bar a couple of bounty hunters; Now? We pretty much call the shots around here."

"Yeah. And being the ones calling the shots makes us a lot like... magicians. You know?"

"You like magic, guy?"

"And being magicians means we can make stuff like that bounty on your head... Disappear."

She waggled her fingers, and the bars on Lupin's cell all vanished right before his eyes. If he tried to walk out he still found himself getting a faceful of very real, very solid metal, though.

"Here's the rub of it, though. A little something's come up and we're looking for able hands. You were almost able to get away from us, sorta, not really."

"Yeah, not really."

"But, I dunno, we like you. You're pretty funny. And you seem like you know your way around these streets, which might be useful for what we have in mind. So here's the offer: that bounty of yours does a vanishing act, you get to walk outta here a free man, and all you have to do in exchange..."

They both leaned forward at once, arms crossed and sinister gleams in their eye.

"...Is help us hunt... the Mistral Murderer."

"Whoa, is that what they call him? Cool. Alliterative."​

"...The who???"

He immediately cleared his throat and crossed his arms, a sly smirk slowly forming across his face before he spoke.

"...I see. It seems you've finally realized just how valuable the treasure you've hunted down really is. No measly bounty could equal the value of my skill, intellect, and terrible strength. I'm loathe to be used as such, but you get used to it when you've grown up with such awesome power such as mine." He rubbed his chin and sighed.

"Very well then, very well; if the price of my freedom is blood on my hands, then it will not be the first time I have paid it. I accept!"

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

There was a point in their lives when the exuberant yell and the out of nowhere sudden appearance of Penny would have had both the red-clad, dark haired huntresses jump up in shocked surprise but both were familiar enough with the super friendly robot that now it didn't faze either of them as much. Not nearly as much as it would have in the past. Their hearts were still racing some, mind, but outwardly they hardly conveyed that. "Weeeeeeeeeeeeell, we were kind of doing something serious--"

"Semi-serious."

Cinder ignored that and continued on as if it hadn't been said. "--and she was helping me make these arrows--"

"Left out the "really cool" part that shoulda gone between these and arrows."

"--but when I went to test one out, it blew up in my hands, which was totally rude by the way--"

"It was completely hilarious and she knows it. She wouldn't have been nearly as angry if she'd done it to me."

"-so I was gonna grab her and I dunno, shake her a little? Would that be appropiate? Whatever--"

"Except she's too slow to catch anything but air."

"--and then she went on about her best idea for an arrow yet--"

"Oh yeah wait for this, it's so genius it hurts."

"--a boxing glove arrow. I agreed, reluctantly--"

"Wholeheartedly."

"--And we were about to go start trying to make one."

"So, you in on us goofing off some with that? Unless you have a better idea."​

Penny’s brow creased thoughtfully as she looked upwards with a fist against the bottom of her mouth

“Ooooh… I don’t get it. Wouldn’t that merely dull the effect of the projectile against an enemy combatant’s aura?”

Despite her mild critique, she’d always found Ruby’s fascination with weapons, well, fascinating. Penny herself was, in many ways, a manufactured weapon. While she didn’t think there was a one to one correlation between Penny Polendina and Crescent Rose, they were both created with power tools, blueprints, and a passion from someone who’d came to love the end product, and both creations turned towards the grimm and other terrors to protect humanity. Yet while she’d seen her father move one and work on other designs, she’d never actually gotten the chance to see Ruby indulge in this side of her, outside of some very impressive fangirling over Penny’s own specs and other people’s weapons.

“Did I say that? I meant *Hic* it seems like a great idea *Hic*! I would love to observe the creative process.”

 

[Gus Gungus]

"...The who???"

He immediately cleared his throat and crossed his arms, a sly smirk slowly forming across his face before he spoke.

"...I see. It seems you've finally realized just how valuable the treasure you've hunted down really is. No measly bounty could equal the value of my skill, intellect, and terrible strength. I'm loathe to be used as such, but you get used to it when you've grown up with such awesome power such as mine." He rubbed his chin and sighed.

"Very well then, very well; if the price of my freedom is blood on my hands, then it will not be the first time I have paid it. I accept!"

"...So... if you can't show us your semblance can you do something cool? You know, so we know it's actually worth the risk of you just punking out and running away. You bigged yourself up more than we really needed and now it feels like you're just lying."

"Also, how the hell are you the sixth person in your family named Lupin? When the Great War happened and Mantle said 'no individuality for anyone' did your entire bloodline agree?" Emerald criticized scathingly, looking him up and down like he was a fresh-faced, happy Beacon student who had no idea she was about to make him go cry in the bathroom all day.

"Also what's with your mustache?"​

 

[MyrtenRose]

Penny’s brow creased thoughtfully as she looked upwards with a fist against the bottom of her mouth

“Ooooh… I don’t get it. Wouldn’t that merely dull the effect of the projectile against an enemy combatant’s aura?”

"Hahahahaha, nah! Just think of the potential of punching someone from across the room or even farther away, Penny! Yeah, okay, maaaaaaaaaaaybe it wouldn't be as good against somebody who still has their aura up but picture this. It's been a crazy and intense fight with a tough opponent. Breaths are heavy, arms are weak, legs trembling but you manage to get the upper hand against 'em and you get your skilled enemy's aura to shatter. Knowing they are defeated, they try to make a run for it...but up you stand and you draw your bow and nock this arrow and just let the beaut fly. Their head turns to face it and KA-POW! Karmic justice straight to the face at many many miles per hour! The ultimate in humiliating knock out blow!"​

“Did I say that? I meant *Hic* it seems like a great idea *Hic*! I would love to observe the creative process.”

"Yeah, see, that's the spirit!"

"Erm...wait, isn't the cute hiccupping thing what happens when she li--" Ruby's finger was pressed against the young maiden's lips before she could even blink, cutting off the rest of what she was going to say. "Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh." The silver eyed huntress shook her head faintly. "You're not going to ruin this for me." The finger got smacked away but Cinder relented, not saying any more. "Alright, fine yeah, full speed ahead on the boxing glove arrow." She cleared her throat before leaning over to Penny and speaking far more quietly. "Yeah, kind of silly I'll admit but she seems real into it, and I did go to her for help sooooo..." Cinder almost imperceptibly shrugged. "That said, if you have any cooler ideas, please do hit me with them. Would love to hear!" : )​

 

[MyrtenRose]

She didn’t get too far down the way she was going before the feeling of guilt got to her and she sighed once more, but Robyn did turn on her heel to go to follow in the way the crying barmaid had went and attempted to find the woman. At the very least, an apology on her part was in order.​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

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"...So... if you can't show us your semblance can you do something cool? You know, so we know it's actually worth the risk of you just punking out and running away. You bigged yourself up more than we really needed and now it feels like you're just lying."

"Also, how the hell are you the sixth person in your family named Lupin? When the Great War happened and Mantle said 'no individuality for anyone' did your entire bloodline agree?" Emerald criticized scathingly, looking him up and down like he was a fresh-faced, happy Beacon student who had no idea she was about to make him go cry in the bathroom all day.

"Also what's with your mustache?"​

Unfortunately(?) for Emerald, Lupin was no mere beacon freshman, and he gave the staredown a knowing look before adjusting his posture slightly to how her his good side.

"Hmmhmmhmmhmmmm.... all questions that will be answered in due time. Just because I am but one in a long line of noble thieves does not mean I haven't left my own, very individual mark on the family history. Your little Mistral Murderer, whoever the hell that is, won't know what him him until he's already....deeeeeeaaad? Or alive. Almost forgot you two were bounty hunters."

That was a lie. He was still very, very keenly aware of that fact.

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"Hahahahaha, nah! Just think of the potential of punching someone from across the room or even farther away, Penny! Yeah, okay, maaaaaaaaaaaybe it wouldn't be as good against somebody who still has their aura up but picture this. It's been a crazy and intense fight with a tough opponent. Breaths are heavy, arms are weak, legs trembling but you manage to get the upper hand against 'em and you get your skilled enemy's aura to shatter. Knowing they are defeated, they try to make a run for it...but up you stand and you draw your bow and nock this arrow and just let the beaut fly. Their head turns to face it and KA-POW! Karmic justice straight to the face at many many miles per hour! The ultimate in humiliating knock out blow!"​

Penny met Ruby's enthusiasm a placid look and hands politely clasped, not because she wasn't able to match it, but because she was exercising every iota of self control she had
"That absolutely makes perfect sense!"

...

...

...

"*Hic* Oh darnit I-I mean come, let us away to the lab!"

"Yeah, kind of silly I'll admit but she seems real into it, and I did go to her for help sooooo..."

Penny glanced over to CInder before she closed her eyes with a confident beaming smile as she raised a finger "I have not the slightest clue what you're talking about dear Cinder. As I said, it is very sensible. *Hiccup*"

 

[MyrtenRose]

Penny met Ruby's enthusiasm a placid look and hands politely clasped, not because she wasn't able to match it, but because she was exercising every iota of self control she had
"That absolutely makes perfect sense!"

...

...

...

"*Hic* Oh darnit I-I mean come, let us away to the lab!"

"Yeah!"

She completely ignored the hiccups in favor of keeping up her high spirits as high as possible. That and no way was that not a sensible idea. Who the heck wouldn't want to be able to punch certain people from a distance???​

Penny glanced over to CInder before she closed her eyes with a confident beaming smile as she raised a finger "I have not the slightest clue what you're talking about dear Cinder. As I said, it is very sensible. *Hiccup*"

"Uh-huh, yeah." It was very much not the case and Cinder's face expressed such, but she was going along with it not because it was sensible but because it seemed like a fun way to pass the time. There hadn't been much time as of late for her to just sit back, relax and enjoy life so for sure was she going to take every minute she could get for that. The maiden took a step away, paused and then turned back. "Hey, we should race to the lab! The three of us! Jet flight vs maiden flight vs superspeed! Maybe even throw some lien down on it!" ​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"Yeah!"

She completely ignored the hiccups in favor of keeping up her high spirits as high as possible. That and no way was that not a sensible idea. Who the heck wouldn't want to be able to punch certain people from a distance???

"Uh-huh, yeah." It was very much not the case and Cinder's face expressed such, but she was going along with it not because it was sensible but because it seemed like a fun way to pass the time. There hadn't been much time as of late for her to just sit back, relax and enjoy life so for sure was she going to take every minute she could get for that. The maiden took a step away, paused and then turned back. "Hey, we should race to the lab! The three of us! Jet flight vs maiden flight vs superspeed! Maybe even throw some lien down on it!" ​

"I do not have any lien!" Penny informed them cheerfully

Penny had made many great strides in showcasing the maturity in her soul and interacting with normal humans, but having to deal with the headaches of a paycheck and managing one hadn't been added to her list of responsibilities just yet, if it was ever going to be. Half of Ciel's purpose during the Vytal festival, outside of helping Penny meet the basic requirements to compete in the first place (I.E. A team), was to ensure she didn't have to deal with just that should the rare situation of Penny needing to pay for anything crop up, and all of her needs were watched over here in Atlas by the general and her father.

 

[MyrtenRose]

"I do not have any lien!" Penny informed them cheerfully

Penny had made many great strides in showcasing the maturity in her soul and interacting with normal humans, but having to deal with the headaches of a paycheck and managing one hadn't been added to her list of responsibilities just yet, if it was ever going to be. Half of Ciel's purpose during the Vytal festival, outside of helping Penny meet the basic requirements to compete in the first place (I.E. A team), was to ensure she didn't have to deal with just that should the rare situation of Penny needing to pay for anything crop up, and all of her needs were watched over here in Atlas by the general and her father.

"Ohh."

One of Cinder's hands slipped into a pocket, the opposite hand reached out to lightly grab hold of Penny's wrist and lifted the robot's hand up just in time for her pocket-fishing hand to slap a couple lien down into her friend's metal palm. "Now you do! Problem solved. Now we can race and bet, yeah?" : D

"Sure, I'm down."​

 

[Gus Gungus]

The academy tower was so large it took a few hours of searching for Raven to be absolutely positive her brother was mysteriously absent from the building, none of the private guards she saw infesting the place sympathetic enough to give her any more than a stare if she asked. A few hours after that the door to her dull-toned quarters slid open, revealing the councilwoman standing there and motioning her hand in a gesture that was both invitation and the wordless, prompt expectation that the invitation was to be accepted.

"Well? Do you want your meeting or not?"

Weiss looked annoyed, an expression that was far from uncommon to Atlas's revered darling behind closed doors. Something had her features drawn a bit more tightly than usual, though, whether it was having to spend more time with yet another of these coarse, scowling Branwen women or some other unspoken slight anyone's guess.

"I advise you don't waste my time. My schedule is far more important than yours."​

 

[MidwayLives]

Talks were had, plans were hashed out, and the goal was clear:

Bring the 'Mistral Murderer' to justice once and for all.

Having finished using his semblance 'Construct' to repair the damage Char had done to the bar, Blanco stood by the two indisposed members of the Hitman Team.

Neither Char or Blanche were excited about their newest mission. As noted earlier the money being used to pay for the Spider's aid in this crusade was straight out of Blanche's pocket. Which meant no vacations or relaxing for a looooong time if at all. Given that the alternative option to lending their aid was being gunned down like dogs, the two supposed they'd just have to suck it up. "Am I to believe that the two of you will aid in this mission without question?" Blanco asked, his arms folded across his chest. The Community Team and Hitman Team never had the greatest of relationships but Blanco saw himself as something of a fair man. If the two assassins agreed to aid without complaint or leave any hints of betrayal then all was well.

But....

If they stepped out of line even once, he'd kill the two of them on the spot.

Char rolled his eyes and Blanche shook his head. "We're already giving you all the money we got. If that's not a sign of trust, I dunno what is! Besides, s'not like we got anywhere else to be. If Abyss finds out we let ourselves get beaten up by a bunch of kids, well, I can't imagine she'll be too happy..." Blanche murmured thoughtfully before Char decided to rectify that statement a bit. "Well, actually I got beat up by the kids, you got beat up by some bum." "Look, she wasn't JUST a bum, alright? I couldn't see a thing! Her semblance made me blind!" "For the whole fight?" "...No, but it's a large part of why I struggled-"

"Char! Blanche!"

"We'll help!" The two shouted back.

"Though, if I'm being honest the places fixed up, we lost, and we're the ones tied to chairs while that bozo with the mustache gets a nice comfy cell..." Blanche grumbled.

Blanco turned and sat down on a chair across from Blanche, propping his elbows on the back of the chair, he smiled.

"Well Blanche, if you'd like, I'm sure a situation can be arranged where you can find yourself in a cell just as comfortable."

"W-What?? Like turning me over to the cops?? You know it'd never stick! The Ashes got too much influence here!"

"Oh of course but it'd give you time to pray to whatever god you believe in....Before you're killed."

Blanche shuddered and his bottom lip trembled.

"This day keeps getting worse all the time!"

His threat and willingness to follow through on it made, Blanco turned towards the quickly growing party.

Team MTEN(whom Blanco hadn't seen in action but both Tyrian/Char spoke VERY highly of them, especially the one with pink hair who seemed to have vanished), Callie, Char&Blanche(Char-willingly/Blanche-not so willingly)and....



Well, never judge a book by their cover.

Together, they'd stop this evil permeating their home and rescue Tyrian's friend!

~~~

For what it was worth, Aurora didn't like getting rough with people.

It just wasn't like him. Sure, he was easy to anger when his buttons were pushed and maybe he'd lost his temper back there with Abyss. But in his defense she'd not only struck him with a gun but she'd pointed it at him too! If she'd succeeded and gravelly injured him, who'd be there to spy on the goings-ons at the bar where Char and Blanche had gone off to? Having done his best to stay hidden throughout the length of the following brawl that ensued(which wasn't easy while Blanche's semblance was active let me say that much.), the underboss of the Ashes wasn't too impressed by what he'd seen. Not only had Blanche been soundly defeated-it was by that same woman that Aurora had offered a warm bed and a home!-and here she was interfering in their business!

He didn't know what became of Char until the 'Serial Killer Hunting' group finally left the premises of the bar.

Aurora was a bit aghast to say the least.

'This is absolutely horrible! Blanco trying to hunt down Jack is one thing but now he's got Black's son and his friends involved as well?? Not to mention the Spiders from the looks of it. Crushing organizations is one thing. You step out of line, you pay the price. But the Spiders have always paid the proper dues to the Boss. The only way they'd get mixed up in looking for a serial killer is if they were offered serious bank and....' From his hiding spot, Aurora noticed Blanche and Char stepping in line with the group, Blanche clearly not happy about being there. 'Traitors! The whole damned lot of the Hitman Team is rotten! The Boss gives them a chance to redeem themselves and they align themselves with these punks instead?!' It was the only solution that made sense to Aurora given what he had to work with. Blanco wouldn't have paid the Spiders for their aid, if they'd said no initially he'd have let them be. Which could have only meant that Blanche and Char were footing this expedition.

'Grrr, that's the money they earned back before they tried snooping on the Boss! It has to be! Those low-life rotten pieces of shit! Bastardos!' Outraged as he was however, Aurora knew he couldn't blow his cover and risk causing a scene right here and now. One he was outnumbered and two who knows what Blanco may or may not have told them? They could very well try taking him hostage or something! Oh, he was freaking out! What should he do?! What COULD he do-

Uh oh!

Receding further into the crowd until he backed safely into an alleyway, Aurora grabbed a nearby scroll and held it to his ear.

"Hello hello, it's Aurora!"

A dreadful silence filled the dead air.

"Aurora."

"B-Boss! I've got really bad news! T-The Hitman Team! Two of them are helping Blanco-"

"What is the status of Black's son?"

"...Boss?"

"I asked you a question, Aurora. I don't expect to have to repeat myself."

"H-He's alive by the looks of it, Boss. But now he and his friends are helping Blanco and Callows look for Jack!"

"....I see. You mentioned the Hitman Team. Char and Blanche were not killed?"

"No, sir. I have a strong suspicion they're funding the entire operation! Blanco wouldn't spend a dime of the Team's money on a venture like this! It's just not like him! It's gotta be part of a ploy to try and find more dirt on you! What's more they got the Spiders helping them too!"

The silence reappeared and Aurora felt a wave of terror rush over him.

"The Spiders, eh? They've been a helpful band of rogues haven't they? I've never had a problem with them before. Even as the Ashes were freshly forming, I didn't make a move against them. But now my dear sweet Aurora? I regret that impetuous lack of foresight." The Boss snarled with the tone that suggested a feral animal lay hidden beneath the veneer of a calculated mob boss. "If Malachite hadn't been killed, I'd have likely done it myself. If they're truly aiding in the search for Jack then there's no other option available I'm afraid. Everyone in the group will need to die. If by the end of it the Spiders still decide interfering in matters such as this is a risk they're willing to take? Then I'll tear down the entire group from this miserable world. A footnote in the tumultuous history of Mistral is all they'll be."

"O-Of course, Boss! But...How will we go about it?"

"The members of the Hitman Team are tno threat to me, except for one of them in particular. If Char is truly aligned with this effort then it's a high priority that he be killed first. Unruly as the team may be, his semblance could prove to be quite the....hindrance...if not dealt with in a timely manner. Contact the remainder of the Hitman Team and inform them that plans have changed. They're no longer to simply 'test' out Black's capabilities. I want this entire farce shut down before it becomes something of an open sore."

"Understood! I'll inform Abyss, Vanille, and Violet right away Boss!"

"One last thing, Aurora."

"Yes, Boss?"

"Contact the Elite Guard. This is an important matter and I'd rather not entrust the sanctity of my ties to this filth to that band of disloyal assassins. One of them will do just fine. Contact them before anyone else, Aurora." Once the Boss had finished speaking, Aurora gulped. The Elite Guards were some of the most skilled fighters in the Boss's employ but they were also...a bit too happy to murder. "I'll do as you command, Boss. They won't get away with this."

"I know they won't, Aurora. In the years it's taken me to bring Mistral under my thumb, I'll not have my reign threatened by a band of foolish children and traitors!"

*click*

The end of the call was intense and Aurora was left slightly trembling. If anyone found out about the Boss's connections to Jack, things would blow up! As much as Aurora hated talking to these people, he knew it was for the greater good: to keep the Boss's everlastin apex unchallenged-Hey....Where did this broken bottle come from and why was he holding it...?

Meeting the Elite Guard was never a fun task. Mostly because all of them had their own reasons for remaining loyal to the Boss, everything else was secondary. For some it was simply money, others craved the freedom that came with having a figure like the Boss watching over you, and for the rest it was cold hard loyalty. Looking at his list, Aurora immediately checked some names off it. Marcus was obvious because he was dead, had been for quite some time if Aurora had to hazard a guess. Satin was in Atlas so he was a no-go which left...

"Ugh...."

The worst of the bunch....

Spoiler: MOVINGG THE PLOT

Emeraude and her daughter Sanguina were members of the Guard and truthfully, the Boss found both of them utterly disgusting. Given that 'Jack' was simply a split personality of the man known only as the 'Boss' that was saying something. Thankfully unless they were called up for a task they tended not to terrorize Mistral's people for the most part. In fact the mother and daughter duo lived out in a rather ramshackle looking home with boarded up windows and a door hanging loosely off the hinges. Style wasn't much of a trait that either woman particularly cared for. Neglecting to actually bother knocking on the door, Aurora let himself in and looked around.

Test tubes filled with god knows what liquids and concoctions of varying colors littered the shelves. Alongside them were jars filled with what appeared to be preserved organs, nerves, bones, and somethings that were simply too grotesque for Aurora to want to remember detailing. "I always hate HATE coming here..." He grumbled only to hear a woman's voice close enough to sound as though she were speaking right into his ear-which she very much was~-

"Aw, and here I like to see myself as quite the hospitable homeowner. Surely I must be if the underboss has decided to grace my home with his presence.~" The woman who was known to lower members of the gang as 'Monsterhoods', mewled as she gently ran a hand through Aurora's hair and turned him to face her. "It's not often you stop by to visit, Aurora. Has the Boss need of my expertise once more or is this a personal visit?~" She teased, her smirk only seeming to grow in the depravity it radiated. Aurora for his part tried and failed to keep up a brave front. Wasn't the easiest thing to do when he knew the woman standing before him was the one who'd butchered the detectives the Hitman Team had hired to investigate the Boss. Chopped up and preserved in formaldehyde and then shipped to the Hitman Team's apartment, piece by bloody piece....

"No...No, nothing like that." Aurora shook his head and shuddered in disgust at the idea of having come here to willingly spend time with Emeraude. "Something's come up and the Boss needs you to take care of a couple of people...Among them are Blanco and Char/Blanche from the Community and Hitman Teams..."

That earned a raised eyebrow.

"Oh?~ Perhaps it's because I don't get out as much as I'd like these days-research and science doesn't happen on it's own of course-but I'd believed Blanco to be something of the Community Team's golden child. Him going against the family isn't too surprising in the grand scheme of things I suppose but the two drones from the Hitman Team?" She huffed and pulled up her hood. "Perhaps I should have paid them a house visit instead.~"

"I can't exactly get into too much detail but needless to say, Blanco's got himself mixed up in a case that could really damage things for the gang if he isn't stopped. The Boss knows there'll be a lot of blowback if he's killed but he thinks it'll make a statement to everyone else. Satin's not here and well..." He left it unsaid that Marcus was still p dead/missing.

"So, you came to me. I'm flattered to have the prestigious honor of murdering the Community Team's leader.~"

"It's too bad I'll have to decline."

"D-Decline?! What the hell do you mean-Urk!"

What appeared to be little more than tattoos along Emeraude's arm spiraled down and suddenly Aurora had a pitch black arrow-shaped vector pointed right at his throat.

"I respect your role, Aurora, I do. But I'm simply far too busy to indulge myself in killing Blanco and company. I trust the Boss will understand."

The vector retreated and Emeraude turned to head towards a door leading to what was apparently the basement of this place.

"Emeraude, wait! You can't just walk away! This is a direct order from the Boss!"

"I'm plenty of things-crazy if you'll believe the rumors-but deaf isn't one of them, Aurora. I heard what you said and my stance remains the same. I disposed of the private investigators who attempted peeking behind the curtain to find out more on the Boss. My loyalty hasn't wavered in the slightest but I'm a woman who has things to do. If I spent every waking moment hunting down and murderering others in the gang, how am I to get anything done? Besides, if the Boss were to dislike my answer then that's all well and good. I suppose I can simply fail to intercept anyone else who may be looking into his identity-whatever it may be I don't care much myself. Now, if that's all you came to discuss then I believe we're well and truly done here, Aurora."

Aurora hated that by all means Emeraude was right. If the Boss decided to excommunicate her/Sanguina, then he'd basically be giving the two free reign to terrorize/run amok Mistral rather than the relative isolation they kept to in return for the resources he afforded them. "....Alright." He finally admitted lamely. Heading back towards the door, Emeraude called out to him.

"Oh! Aurora!"

"DO keep me informed on this case, won't you? I may not be willing to participate myself but I find myself....interested all the same.~"

Ugh, this woman gave him the creeps.

"...Yeah." With that he was gone and even as he left he could still feel Emeraude's wicked stare gazing into his back.

Satin was out, Emeraude/Sanguina were out which left...



Ghaslty Ebony was an orphan who was slowly initiated in the Bound Ashes over the course of his life. While others-mostly those in the Narcotics Team-attempted to keep some kind of side hustle going along with their usual career, Ghastly's true passion was as such: to make people smile. A noble endeavor if nothing else but given the line of work he found himself in, such a task was easier said than done. Often hiding his face away behind his different clown-esque masks and makeup, Ghastly happily accepted the role of Elite Guard after building himself up little by little among the gang's ranks. Sure, most people tended to view his jester like antics with a bit of a side-eye and sour disposition but that was okay!~

Whenever somebody stepped out of line or 'examples' needed to be made, he was more of tne than not the one called to handle such tasks. Due to his semblance a lot incidents that would otherwise look like outright murder turned into suicides. Such was the power of 'The Show Must Go On', if Ghastly was to make contact with anybody, any damage inflicted upon himself would instead transfer to them. Even giving himself something as small as a papercut to as dangerous as lowering his aura and playing with a loaded gun. The best part about it was that he was usually completely blood free by the end of the process! Helped save on dry cleaning bills for sure! Unfortunately, this also had the negative side effect of often leaving Ghastly in his own little world-the jester/clown act never really stopped. It was him 24/7.

Which is why when Aurora walked in on the studio that Ghastly had been living in/storing his 'props' inside, he found the jester with a tied up man in a chair. Someone like Callie would have recognized the man as belonging to the Spiders. While he was out and about, Ghastly saw the man and attempted to approach and put on a little act. Soon enough said act turned violent and the man was abducted. Now here he sat with a gag in his mouth and his arms and legs tied to the chair. Standing before him in a gaudy outfit that was practically screaming it was so bright, Ghastly turned and gave quite the enthusiastic wave!

"...Hey Ghastly. How's it going...?"

Ghastly lowered his hand and gave the lightest shrug of the shoulders. Pointing to Aurora and then to the bound man, he then pointed to himself. Placing his hands on his hips, he struck a dramatic pose and 'hmphed!' rather proudly. It seemed as though he was rather proud of the fact that he'd managed to capture the Spider. Things hadn't been easy due to the loss of scroll communication which left Spiders far more at risk of being spotted by wandering psychos like Ghastly. The man looked towards Aurora and frantically tried murmuring something but Ghastly placed a delicate finger to the man's upper lip and shook his head from side to side.

"So you went and caught this guy, huh? What did you catch him doing...?" Aurora asked and Ghastly was happy to oblige. Pantomiming the act of writing, he glanced around to 'see' if anybody was looking and then tried to leave said 'note' hew'd written laying around. Aurora looked to the captured Spider. Even without scrolls these people never stopped finding ways to stay informed. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise that the Hitman Team hadn't gone to Malachite instead of regular detectives..."Well, funny condience Ghastly. You see I was just looking for someone who might be able to help me with something..."

Ghastly raised his left hand and frantically waved it from side to side.

"You wanna help me? That's great! You see, Ghastly...That man you captured? The people he's working with, they're bad people. They're helping Blanco and his friends try to hurt the Boss. It's why he sent me over here to find you. He thinks you're up to the task." Ghastly listened and mimed holding a scroll up to his ear to persuade Aurora to continue.

"He wants-no, needs you to find Blanco and kill him and those with him. Do you think you're up to it, Ghastly...?"

The jester nodded but held up a hand and reached into his back pocket. Pulling out what appeared to be some kind of heavyduty revolver, he loaded and turned towards the man he'd been working on before Aurora walked in. The man's hands were bloody with holes on the back of his hand signaling that something had been driven through them like a pin or a needle. Gently gripping the man's chin and turning it so he was looking at Ghastly's smiling mask, the man pleaded and cried, muffled as it was for some kind of mercy.

But there wasn't any to be found.

*BANG*

The gun went off right at the side of Ghastly's head. instead of his own brains being blown out though, a blue glow covered the area where he was supposed to have been shot and the bullet fell to the floor. The bound man wasn't so lucky with the damage that Ghastly was supposed to have received tearing the side of his head apart. Watching the smoke trail flow out the end of the gun barrel, Ghastly lifted up his mask just enough to blow it away before lowering it and with a fancy twirl he holstered the revolver and hopped to his feet, ready to perform the role of a lifetime!

Executioner!

~~~~

The necessary contacts were made but Aurora didn't feel relieved in the slightest.

He didn't really think he would until everyone in that group was dead.

As he kept an eye out for any potential Spiders dealing in information they shouldn't be looking for, one thought kept permeating at the back of Aurora's mind.

'If Jack hadn't captured that faunus girl, none of this would be happening...The Boss's reputation would be safe and I wouldn't be a worried wreck...'

Perhaps for better or for worse, Aurora noted a man he recognized as having hung around Malachite's bar: no doubt in his mind that was a Spider.

Glancing around, up-down-left-right, good.

No room for witnesses. Aurora started to approach and the Spider may have been relieved to see just Aurora. As far as anyone knew the kid didn't even have his semblance unlocked.

....Then Aurora's musculature started to shift and he stood up straight, his hands balled up into fists and the air around the 'boy' completely changed.

A hand reached out and scooped the Spider up by the neck, smashing him into the wall and allowing him a good look at the one behind the Bound Ashes.

The Boss.

"Perhaps I've been too lenient with your kind. At the end of the day...." His grip tightened. "The only good spider..." The man sputtered for air.

*SQULECH*

The Boss pulled his bloodsoaked fist back.

"Is a dead one."

The winds roared and he was gone.....

~~~

"Hey...."


Appreciative of the support he'd gotten, Tyrian couldn't have been more grateful. Snake and now this guy, he kept running into people he just couldn't beat by himself in Mistral.

As he walked with the group searching for Jack, he found his sense of curiosity winning out and he finally popped the question.

"Not that I mind you coming with us but if we get into a fight...What's your semblance?" He asked of Callie the bartender.

He hoped it was something cool for all the times she'd threatened to kick him out of the bar....

​

 

[MyrtenRose]

The academy tower was so large it took a few hours of searching for Raven to be absolutely positive her brother was mysteriously absent from the building, none of the private guards she saw infesting the place sympathetic enough to give her any more than a stare if she asked. A few hours after that the door to her dull-toned quarters slid open, revealing the councilwoman standing there and motioning her hand in a gesture that was both invitation and the wordless, prompt expectation that the invitation was to be accepted.

"Well? Do you want your meeting or not?"

Weiss looked annoyed, an expression that was far from uncommon to Atlas's revered darling behind closed doors. Something had her features drawn a bit more tightly than usual, though, whether it was having to spend more time with yet another of these coarse, scowling Branwen women or some other unspoken slight anyone's guess.

"I advise you don't waste my time. My schedule is far more important than yours."​

"Oh, most esteemed councilwoman Schnee, there's plenty of things I want. Out of these cuffs, the whereabouts of my wayward brother from that other world, a nice shower and some warm food, among other things. But something tells me you aren't in a giving, generous mood. I suppose I shouldn't expect such from the daughter of Jacques Schnee. Shame. I thought you'd be better than that, but I guess life is just full of unpleasant surprises." She freely commented, rising up to stand and briefly cracking her neck. "Hold on, let me get my things--oh wait, that's right! I have nothing to get, and oh! Oh! Oh oh oh ha ha." Raven dropped into a mocking bow for a moment. "How gracious of you, to shove how superior you are right in my face. Even your schedule is so much more important than ours, the mere mortals. It's a wonder Yang sees anything in you worth the benefit of the doubt. I suppose she sees something I don't see. Jury's still out if whatever she saw is actually there." Raven huffed with contempt but stepped forward all the same.

"Whatever. Let's just get this over with." ​

 

[Gus Gungus]

"Oh, most esteemed councilwoman Schnee, there's plenty of things I want. Out of these cuffs, the whereabouts of my wayward brother from that other world, a nice shower and some warm food, among other things. But something tells me you aren't in a giving, generous mood. I suppose I shouldn't expect such from the daughter of Jacques Schnee. Shame. I thought you'd be better than that, but I guess life is just full of unpleasant surprises." She freely commented, rising up to stand and briefly cracking her neck. "Hold on, let me get my things--oh wait, that's right! I have nothing to get, and oh! Oh! Oh oh oh ha ha." Raven dropped into a mocking bow for a moment. "How gracious of you, to shove how superior you are right in my face. Even your schedule is so much more important than ours, the mere mortals. It's a wonder Yang sees anything in you worth the benefit of the doubt. I suppose she sees something I don't see. Jury's still out if whatever she saw is actually there." Raven huffed with contempt but stepped forward all the same.

"Whatever. Let's just get this over with." ​

"Oh for the love of Dust, are you done?"

Came her terse, biting hiss as soon as Raven was through with her little set, having limited herself to crossing her arms and tapping her foot in sync with a finger against her elbow as she heard that nonsense out with icy sourness.

"You know you should really save some material for later, rather than unleash the entire stockpile of low-hanging fruit—Sorry, insults—you've obviously spent the last several hours thinking up at me all at once. Sorry no one likes you enough to help with your cuff problem. I can't imagine why. Maybe because it's not the only issue you have with restraint?"

She smirked to herself, but it was curdled by the knowledge that just about the only person in Atlas whose opinion she actually cared about and would've appreciated that wordplay was apparently avoiding her. So she just huffed and walked away, disregarding the huntress's mention of Qrow and without so much as a glance spared behind her to ensure she was following as she stalked for the elevator.

Once both were inside the cylindrical pod and the doors slid shut to bathe them both in Atlas's dull blue lighting, Weiss selected the sublevels from the console and stepped back with hands clasped behind her back priggishly. She broke her silence about halfway through what was otherwise an awkwardly silent elevator ride, glancing over at Raven and leveling her with another dour, sullen glare hardened by the edge of paranoid scrutiny it carried.



"Fine, I'll bite. I'll admit, I expected Yang to have something to say to me by now. What, one tiny little tracking device in her thigh is all it took for her to finally join this merry witch hunt against me? Seriously? I don't deserve so much as a word of thanks for saving her life?" She rolled her eyes so hard she could've bowled a strike. "Hmph. Whatever. This is clearly just some stupid, petty, childish attempt to teach me a lesson of some kind, but you can inform your daughter it is not going to work. Does she take me for some sort of misbehaving infant? The only person she's going to end up hurting with this cold shoulder stunt is herself, so tell her to stop wasting everybody's time and come see me. There are things I need to discuss with her."

The vaguely bitter undercurrent and note of brattiness in her voice gave Raven a strange, momentary feeling, as if after all these years she was finally getting the chance to be involved in her daughter's petty drama. However peripherally.​

 

[MyrtenRose]

"You know you should really save some material for later, rather than unleash the entire stockpile of low-hanging fruit—Sorry, insults—you've obviously spent the last several hours thinking up at me all at once. Sorry no one likes you enough to help with your cuff problem. I can't imagine why. Maybe because it's not the only issue you have with restraint?"

She smirked to herself, but it was curdled by the knowledge that just about the only person in Atlas whose opinion she actually cared about and would've appreciated that wordplay was apparently avoiding her. So she just huffed and walked away, disregarding the huntress's mention of Qrow and without so much as a glance spared behind her to ensure she was following as she stalked for the elevator.

She just smirked right back, not in the least bit fazed by any of that.​

"Fine, I'll bite. I'll admit, I expected Yang to have something to say to me by now. What, one tiny little tracking device in her thigh is all it took for her to finally join this merry witch hunt against me? Seriously? I don't deserve so much as a word of thanks for saving her life?" She rolled her eyes so hard she could've bowled a strike. "Hmph. Whatever. This is clearly just some stupid, petty, childish attempt to teach me a lesson of some kind, but you can inform your daughter it is not going to work. Does she take me for some sort of misbehaving infant? The only person she's going to end up hurting with this cold shoulder stunt is herself, so tell her to stop wasting everybody's time and come see me. There are things I need to discuss with her."

The vaguely bitter undercurrent and note of brattiness in her voice gave Raven a strange, momentary feeling, as if after all these years she was finally getting the chance to be involved in her daughter's petty drama. However peripherally.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that too much, Weiss. See, you know what all that is? It's just, well...it's the same sort of thing you got wrong about me right now. Just as I don't want to waste hours thinking about you and your high and mighty insufferable condescending ways(even if it is to insult you), Yang's come to reach the same conclusion all the rest of us have. You don't deserve even the slightest amount of attention. You're not worthy of it, or thanks, or even a single moment of eye contact." Raven replied. In truth, she didn't know why Yang hadn't reached out but given recent events, Raven wasn't going to miss the chance to make her own feelings about the councilwoman clearly known. "There are very, few few people in Remnant who I believe deserve nothing at all, and you're one of them. You're nothing but a cold liar with delusions of grandeur. Just a smug little bitch who came to Vale after tragedy, tossing around empty words of sympathy and support when all you really wanted was to take custody of some the terrorists responsible for the attack...so you could set them free and let them continue spreading terror. All because he asked you to, and you complied, because you care only about yourself, and don't think that turning on him now means anything with me. It doesn't mean jackshit."

Raven shook her head. "You're not in this for the people, or the kingdom, or whatever bullshit you're trying to sell. If you cared about the people or the kingdoms, you wouldn't have taken advantage of the tragedy that plagued Vale and freed some of those responsible. Like Blake Belladonna, you know, the same Blake Belladonna who had a hand in taking down Haven's tower? Where was this faux compassion of yours then, huh? Never there, right? And now you want to pretend you give a damn about anyone other than yourself? Oh fuck right off, you absolute bitch. The sheer damn nerve. You're only it in for the power, like the strength of the maidens you stole, or the feeling it gave you when you scrambled the mind of a friend of mine so she'd play servant to you. That, and you want your name to be remembered. To be known as the person who changed the world and made it better...it's all about you in the end. You are not motivated even the tiniest bit by the goodness of your heart, if there's any of that even in there. Oh, and hint, just because you didn't throw us in actual jail? It doesn't mean there's goodness there. Not in the fucking slightest." She glared at Weiss, and if she wasn't cuffed there was a good chance she might have slugged that pale face.

"You're just a narcissistic, traitorous, sociopathic bitch with family issues and a hero complex, and the only thing you deserve is to be locked away for the rest of your life. I imagine that is how long it would take you to come to terms with how vile you really are. But sadly that's not up to me, especially right now, both with these-" She raised the cuffs. "-and with the situation that's approaching. Some think it is better to work with you in such times, and I honestly can't fault them for that because there are valid points there. But know this: the last thing I would ever tell any daughter of mine is to go privately meet with somebody as despicable and rotten as you. You don't deserve to even breathe the same air as her, so take whatever you want to say to her and shove it where the sun doesn't shine." ​

 

[Gus Gungus]

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that too much, Weiss. See, you know what all that is? It's just, well...it's the same sort of thing you got wrong about me right now. Just as I don't want to waste hours thinking about you and your high and mighty insufferable condescending ways(even if it is to insult you), Yang's come to reach the same conclusion all the rest of us have. You don't deserve even the slightest amount of attention. You're not worthy of it, or thanks, or even a single moment of eye contact." Raven replied. In truth, she didn't know why Yang hadn't reached out but given recent events, Raven wasn't going to miss the chance to make her own feelings about the councilwoman clearly known. "There are very, few few people in Remnant who I believe deserve nothing at all, and you're one of them. You're nothing but a cold liar with delusions of grandeur. Just a smug little bitch who came to Vale after tragedy, tossing around empty words of sympathy and support when all you really wanted was to take custody of some the terrorists responsible for the attack...so you could set them free and let them continue spreading terror. All because he asked you to, and you complied, because you care only about yourself, and don't think that turning on him now means anything with me. It doesn't mean jackshit."

Raven shook her head. "You're not in this for the people, or the kingdom, or whatever bullshit you're trying to sell. If you cared about the people or the kingdoms, you wouldn't have taken advantage of the tragedy that plagued Vale and freed some of those responsible. Like Blake Belladonna, you know, the same Blake Belladonna who had a hand in taking down Haven's tower? Where was this faux compassion of yours then, huh? Never there, right? And now you want to pretend you give a damn about anyone other than yourself? Oh fuck right off, you absolute bitch. The sheer damn nerve. You're only it in for the power, like the strength of the maidens you stole, or the feeling it gave you when you scrambled the mind of a friend of mine so she'd play servant to you. That, and you want your name to be remembered. To be known as the person who changed the world and made it better...it's all about you in the end. You are not motivated even the tiniest bit by the goodness of your heart, if there's any of that even in there. Oh, and hint, just because you didn't throw us in actual jail? It doesn't mean there's goodness there. Not in the fucking slightest." She glared at Weiss, and if she wasn't cuffed there was a good chance she might have slugged that pale face.

"You're just a narcissistic, traitorous, sociopathic bitch with family issues and a hero complex, and the only thing you deserve is to be locked away for the rest of your life. I imagine that is how long it would take you to come to terms with how vile you really are. But sadly that's not up to me, especially right now, both with these-" She raised the cuffs. "-and with the situation that's approaching. Some think it is better to work with you in such times, and I honestly can't fault them for that because there are valid points there. But know this: the last thing I would ever tell any daughter of mine is to go privately meet with somebody as despicable and rotten as you. You don't deserve to even breathe the same air as her, so take whatever you want to say to her and shove it where the sun doesn't shine."

Rarely even in her confrontational lifetime had Raven seen a glare as defiant and filled to the brim with cold disdain as the one Weiss met her with when she began to talk. But as the tirade wore on and the heiress's hands started to loosen where they had clenched into fists to keep from shaking, something about the conflation of all the different factors at play had Weiss's glower shift into one of a more glum, insulted nature, quietly studying eyes of the same stark crimson shade one of hers now bore. Irrepressible thoughts of Yang, the litany of sleepless nights she'd had as she made ready the kingdom for Ozpin, the harsh, critical tone of the words and the bizarre connection she had to the face delivering them. The mother, in a roundabout way, to someone she had been foolish enough to implicitly begin to consider a friend prior to hearing all this, even if she never acknowledged it aloud or treated her with the respect a friend might be owed. The abrupt departure of her own mother from her life, an occurrence striving to ignite the long-buried sparks of feeling in her heart relating to the departure of Winter when she was younger.

The sparks didn't quite catch fire, and there was no remorse or regret on the offended frown she wore by the end. There just wasn't any bite either. Her posture seemed to highlight how petite her stature really was where it usually projected it to double its size, and the stern, commanding aura of the Atlesian councilwoman and dust tycoon now looked more akin to the misbehaving infant she mentioned earlier, on the tail end of an especially unrelenting scolding.

Still, she began to speak her defense, and whatever feeling if any had prompted such a look was concealed behind the calm, noncommittal clarity in her voice. The true voice of a politician.

"...I'd kill you for even a half of what you just said to me if it didn't play into your pathetic, vulgar attempt at character assassination. You don't know the first thing about me. You've never so much as attempted to hold a conversation with me before today. No, your mode of engagement is to mindlessly hack and slash at every problem placed in front of you. It echoes Salem's failure to properly relate the threat Ozpin poses that you obviously have no idea what kind of enemy he is."

Uncaring of Raven's proximity to her habit, she produced a cigarette from a tray and produced a flash of maiden magic to light it, any competent businesswoman's go-to for steadying her nerves. She blew the resulting cloud towards Raven's face.

"I don't expect you to wrap your violent, uneducated brain around the fact that you've wasted your entire life in her service, but Salem has failed. Do you know what struck me most when I first encountered Ozpin? The things I saw that day? That he was going to win. The more I gained his trust and the more things he showed me, the more I was sure. Salem's⁠—and your— efforts to brace Remnant for the coming storm were inadequate. In case you hadn't noticed with your head so far up your boss's backside, the world stands on the brink of total disaster; All because you and the rest of her little cabal chose to keep the most imminent threat to mankind's survival hidden in the shadows for years. Salem's immortality has made her complacent, and you're nothing more than her ineffectual, impotent little pawn so blindly loyal to the woman who blessed you with a fraction of her magic that you abandoned your own baby to a tribe of savages. You might be interested to know I ran into her last night, by the way. I have to ask, who exactly are you to judge my methods when you couldn't stop Ozpin from turning your own daughter into a monster?"

She hummed to herself, eyes long having settled back into their cool, dispassionate calm and moved away from Raven to fix sharply on the elevator doors as it descended.

"Your inability to save her reflects your inability to save the kingdoms. Salem, her methods, they had their chance. If the best she could come up with after the Vytal festival was sending out a troupe of schoolchildren to shoulder her burden for the umpteenth time, then I feel more than validated in my decision to take Remnant's protection into the hands of someone competent; and that necessitated deceit. It's the founding principle of any good faith arrangement, dear. Once I'd seen Ozpin's magic, I knew I needed to build enough trust to be considered worthy of receiving the power I needed to kill him—And I built that trust. I'm going to kill him. Save your moral judgments until I've finished solving the problem your people created. If it hadn't been Belladonna who struck Mistral it would've just been somebody else, anyway."

The cigarette hadn't done much to settle her nerves. She'd been smoking so many lately they were starting to lose effect. The downright neurotic way they grated on her had her scowl back over at Raven even after she made the point she wanted to make, channeling that same insulted, almost hurt look.



"And also, I know Yang doesn't feel that way. She's just being stubborn, like usual. She would never have said some of the things she said to me if she didn't care. You know, having met both variants of you by now? I honestly can't even fathom how she could ever have come from such a poisonous, unbearable woman."​

 

[MyrtenRose]

Her expression throughout almost all of that was as uncaring as could be, hardly any indication that she was paying any attention to the councilwoman. Whatever anger or passion had been there just evaporated hearing Schnee run her mouth. Even the smoke that wafted into her face hardly seemed to bother her. Her voice reflected that, sounding like her mind was a thousand miles away from this current location. Which it was, deep in thought about something in particular. "You can spend years talking as much as you like to try to justify and excuse your actions. Mail me a million essays and theses, surround yourself with a billion yes-men and brainwashed sycophants singing your praises. None of that would fool me in the slightest. I know exactly the kind of person you are, and I don't need a dozen dinnerside chats to know. You don't grow up as I did, go in the line of work I did, and get entangled in the shadowy behind the scenes stuff I did, without learning how to read a person. You want to pretend you're something you're not, fine. I suppose lying to yourself is your right. I don't care. I'll always know who you are, and teaming up with you against somebody worse isn't going to change that. If we team up, that is."

Her outward stony uncaring façade hadn't broken, and by now she wasn't even doing the courtesy of looking over at Weiss, but beyond that demeanor it was fair to say some of those words had gotten to her. Namely, being called out on the biggest mistake and regret of her life. There was no justifying that. No excusing it. And worst of all, from what she already knew and from what she'd heard...there was likely no fixing that either. Her actual daughter was broken. It was a terrible thing to admit, to own up to, but it seemed inevitable that...

Well, a long time ago she had relinquished responsibility out of fear that she alone wasn't parent material. Now it seemed unavoidable that she would have to take that responsibility back and...do something no parent should ever have to do, even if they don't deserve the title of parent.​

"And also, I know Yang doesn't feel that way. She's just being stubborn, like usual. She would never have said some of the things she said to me if she didn't care. You know, having met both variants of you by now? I honestly can't even fathom how she could ever have come from such a poisonous, unbearable woman."

...The best parts of her came from her dad. Raven thought to herself, a pang of sorrow and brief desperate wishing that messy-haired blond idiot, her idiot, was still around, it shot through her as she finally glanced back at Weiss.

"Whatever you say. Believe what you want." She left it at that before turning away again, thoroughly done with this whole conversation. If she wasn't going to remove these damn things or discuss whatever she'd done to Qrow, then Raven saw no point in continuing to waste words with the councilwoman.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

"You can spend years talking as much as you like to try to justify and excuse your actions. Mail me a million essays and theses, surround yourself with a billion yes-men and brainwashed sycophants singing your praises. None of that would fool me in the slightest."

"I know exactly the kind of person you are, and I don't need a dozen dinnerside chats to know. You don't grow up as I did, go in the line of work I did, and get entangled in the shadowy behind the scenes stuff I did, without learning how to read a person."

"You want to pretend you're something you're not, fine. I suppose lying to yourself is your right. I don't care. I'll always know who you are, and teaming up with you against somebody worse isn't going to-"

"SHUT UP, YOU UNGRATEFUL BITCH! I'M NOTHING LIKE HIM!"

The elevator doors opened, and Raven was cut off with the swift and jarring sensation of a single large glyph appearing at her back and propelling her out into the hallway to impact painfully against the far wall, a frustrated scream and more violent gesture and usual from Weiss accompanying the technique. The mounting pressure of defending Atlas, the vitriol of Raven's words, how they mingled unpleasantly in her mind with this latest string in a long line of rejections from the few people she was weak and lonely enough to find herself growing attached to, time after time. She heard not only Raven's voice, but Yang's. Her mother's. Even Winter's. All judging her, all sharply chiding everything she'd worked towards. All of it had the repressed, neglected flickers of emotion deep in her core explode with the force of a sun, a surge of feeling that flooded her veins with fire and cracked the glacial visage of emotionless impassivity she strove to maintain at all times.

The Weiss who was left standing in the wake of the attack looked... confused. Conflicted.



She hadn't had an emotional outburst in years. A proclivity to snappish fits of condescension, yes, but never a fit of pique on the level of what had just transpired. It was essentially a tantrum. She was supposed to be finished with all that, to have weeded out all the fury and fragility that made her father the pathetic wretch that he was, that had polluted the lives of everyone around him. She... she had.

So it bothered her immensely that the echoes of her own screeched retaliation didn't register in her own voice. They didn't sound like her words.

They sounded like his.

"...You know what? Go have your pointless meeting. Set one foot out of place and Maria will dispose of you like the worthless, insignificant trash you really are. Let me make one thing perfectly clear: I don't care what Salem's tramp thinks of me. But if Yang wants to be like all the rest, now, after EVERYTHING she said?! Fine. That's just fine. Disingenuous and hurtful, were I given to that sort of juvenile thinking, but absolutely FINE."

Her teeth ground together so loudly Raven could hear it even from where she'd landed on the floor, and Weiss started hammering the console with rapid keystrokes. She was so articulate that it wasn't entirely clear whether her speech was meant for Raven or just obsessive muttering to herself at this point.

"I'll simply take pleasure in proving you both wrong. I'm already cleaning up the mess you helped leave Remnant in, but perhaps I've been too negligent of Yang's feelings if this is the treatment she feels it warrants. Hmph. As if I could've been any kinder given the circumstances. But like I said, it's fine; it's fine. I'll simply do what I've done for every single person who's ever doubted me, time and time again, no matter how many obstacles they place before me."

They didn't sound like the words of someone who was fine. They were breathless, panicked, skirting dangerously close to unhinged or at least someone who was very, very distressed as she chewed on her thumbnail, foot tapping a more urgent and frenetic rhythm while she planned her next move. Her eyes were flared wide and sharp with thought, but they were a long way away from looking back at Raven even as the doors closed on her pale features and she left the huntress with a final sentence that sounded strangely ominous for what it was.

"I'll sort out her mess, too."​

 

[MyrtenRose]

"SHUT UP, YOU UNGRATEFUL BITCH! I'M NOTHING LIKE HIM!"

The elevator doors opened, and Raven was cut off with the swift and jarring sensation of a single large glyph appearing at her back and propelling her out into the hallway to impact painfully against the far wall, a frustrated scream and more violent gesture and usual from Weiss accompanying the technique. The mounting pressure of defending Atlas, the vitriol of Raven's words, how they mingled unpleasantly in her mind with this latest string in a long line of rejections from the few people she was weak and lonely enough to find herself growing attached to, time after time. She heard not only Raven's voice, but Yang's. Her mother's. Even Winter's. All judging her, all sharply chiding everything she'd worked towards. All of it had the repressed, neglected flickers of emotion deep in her core explode with the force of a sun, a surge of feeling that flooded her veins with fire and cracked the glacial visage of emotionless impassivity she strove to maintain at all times.

It all happened so fast, so suddenly, that there wasn't even time for her face to register surprise. One second she was speaking and the next...

Raven let out a groan of pain, raising both her cuffed hands to slide across her forehead. She could definitely feel the makings of a bruise forming there, and she scowled heavily but said nothing about the injury. Her gaze wordlessly shifted over to Weiss and she simply listened. Didn't try to counter being called worthless trash or a tramp, didn't comment on how despite saying that she was fine or that everything was fine, her tone and body language all but screamed otherwise. Didn't again point out that it was the councilwoman who set free the terrorist responsible for the destruction of Haven and thus she had a direct hand in making Remnant even more of a mess, rather than cleaning it up. She didn't even refute the ridiculous notion that any of this had been Weiss being as kind as possible in these circumstances. She only stared, crimson eyes glaring up at Weiss right up until the very moment the doors between them shut. Only then did her mouth open.

"Tch." She grunted dismissively as she pushed herself up to standing and moved on to go find the doc.​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

Yang sucked.

There was no way to talk herself around it this time. The evidence had been stacking up for months now, but there was always something she could point towards to tell herself that she wasn’t losing her edge. She almost lost against Eve, sure, but she couldn’t say for sure she was gonna lose before Qrow intervened. She lost against her worse half back in Mistral, but it was a fight she was winning until the mysterious 3 minute smoke cloud paralyzed her and let Jaune do his work. Weiss and Carnelian completely dropped her, but she was still recovering from her last loss when that happened.

But this time?

This time was all her. It was her idea to pretend to be the Dragon, and she made every decision that led up to her being stuck in a hallway with two murderous psychopaths before her double had gotten involved. She was still Yang Xiao Long; she was pretty confident that either of them on her own she could’ve handled, close as it might’ve been. But together was another story, and that wasn’t even including…

An involuntary shiver coursed down her spine from where she was sprawled across some bed, all nice and bandaged up by some academy doc who was probably way outta his depth in this mess and then shoo’d off by the colonel, who asked if Yang needed anything and got a blatant lie in response before he was shoo’d off in turn, with enough force if necessary that he would’ve had to reconcile not following Miss Schnee’s orders with brawling with a bandaged up VIP.

So there she lay, staring up at the bunk above her in whatever academy dorm she’d ended up in, trying everything in her power to not let last night feel like that Night of all nights all over again, and trying not to think about who should’ve been in that bunk above her.

Neither was working out.

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"Ohh."

One of Cinder's hands slipped into a pocket, the opposite hand reached out to lightly grab hold of Penny's wrist and lifted the robot's hand up just in time for her pocket-fishing hand to slap a couple lien down into her friend's metal palm. "Now you do! Problem solved. Now we can race and bet, yeah?" : D

"Sure, I'm down."​

Penny stared down at the lien with a small sense of confused wonder, her programming racing to come to terms with what she could do with the responsibility and power of not just 3 lien, but nine lien. She clasped it tightly in her palm and looked up with a seriousness that absolutely was not appropriate for the stakes at play here.

"...Very well. I accept your challenges, Ruby Rose and Cinder Fall. Readysetgo."

That was all the warning they got before the only evidence of Penny ever even existing in this hallway was a the sound echoing from another hallway down the bend and the billowing wind from the shockwave she'd left in her wake.

 

[MyrtenRose]

Penny stared down at the lien with a small sense of confused wonder, her programming racing to come to terms with what she could do with the responsibility and power of not just 3 lien, but nine lien. She clasped it tightly in her palm and looked up with a seriousness that absolutely was not appropriate for the stakes at play here.

"...Very well. I accept your challenges, Ruby Rose and Cinder Fall. Readysetgo."

That was all the warning they got before the only evidence of Penny ever even existing in this hallway was a the sound echoing from another hallway down the bend and the billowing wind from the shockwave she'd left in her wake.

“...HEY!” Cinder blurted out in pure indignation, but that was all she managed to force out before both she and Ruby immediately burst into motion themselves, trails of smoke and rose petals hanging in the cold Solitas air as they rushed to not only catch up but do their utmost to surpass Penny. I was supposed to be the one who gave the start signal...it was my idea—

“Eat my dust, the cooler Cinder!”

“...In your dreams!” The maiden snarled, but it was more playful than legit malicious or serious. The jets of flame swelled in size as she forced herself to go faster. She wanted to be first, could settle for second, but she refused to settle for last.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

"Tch." She grunted dismissively as she pushed herself up to standing and moved on to go find the doc.

A few more sliding doors leading through a few more hallways and there he was, standing amid a haphazard laboratory with multiple Grimm specimens held in stasis as he turned the gauge on the microscope he peered through, observing the interaction of a green liquid and the squirming, wriggling tentacle he had strapped down on the dissection tray in front of him. He didn't look up when she entered, nor seem to care much one way or another to let her disrupt his focus on his work beyond a short and uninterested sentence.

"Miss Branwen, I presume."

---

Weiss wasn't exactly an uncommunicative person. Manipulative tendencies aside, when someone slighted her or a server forgot she asked for no pickles she was liable to cut to the chaff, address it swiftly and directly with the frosty bluntness of a blizzard during a Solitas winter.

The problem was she didn't really have any friends. No one in the cultivated, morally sterile vacuum of an environment that was Atlas had ever made her feel as appreciated as Yang did for those few weeks, weeks where the heart of stone in her chest was as cracked and exposed as it had ever been in the wake of her mother's twist of the knife. It was easy to cast stones of judgment down on the supposed foibles of the emotional spectrum from the lofty, unfeeling pedestal she claimed to sit astride when all you had was experience with its negative end. Loneliness, sadness, fear; these were the drawbacks Weiss had successfully numbed herself to over the long, harsh years of exposure to their bitter winds.

Things like a sincere, personal attachment to someone? Someone who had showered her with affection and kind words and now appeared to be ghosting her without so much as a word in explanation? Warmth and companionship were things she had intentionally deprived herself of, not numbed herself to. When it came to feelings of abandonment and betrayal brought on by the unexpected deprivation of that warmth, she was about as emotionally complex and poised as your average sheltered 17-year-old.

If her treatment of Winter wasn't proof enough of that, then the fact that she glared at Yang's door for a solid half-minute before thinking better of whatever she had planned, turning her nose up and striding back the way she came clinched it. Why should she have to be one who went crawling to her like some sort of reprimanded child? If that rude, uncultured, inconsiderate brute wanted to be that way then she could make her bed and lay in it. It was her loss. Rather than waste any more of her mental faculties seething over this nonsense, the councilwoman decided she was going to treat herself before she went about fixing Yang's life for her along with the world's many other problems; alleviate some of her stress by having the drink she'd been denying herself of late. She stomped all the way back up to the headmaster's office, produced the bottle of expensive aged cabernet she'd been saving along with a glass from one of the desk drawers, and proceeded to pour herself about half the bottle in one cup.

So there she lay, staring up at the bunk above her in whatever academy dorm she’d ended up in, trying everything in her power to not let last night feel like that Night of all nights all over again, and trying not to think about who should’ve been in that bunk above her.

Neither was working out.

No less than fifteen minutes later did Yang find her quiet solitude assailed, in much the same way someone's door was being assailed by a medley of slaps, knuckles and yelling in the immediate vicinity surrounding hers. Not her door, mind you. In the midst of whatever haze the former contents of the near-empty glass she gripped had put her in, the heiress had—Elegantly—In heels—staggered up to the entirely wrong dormitory and started venting her discontentment on it instead, finishing up with a swift kick to the metallic door that was deceptively graceful for how close she came to falling over while delivering it. And how much it hurt her toes.



"HEY! Whatever it is you think you're accomplishing, I hope you realize that I'm not affected in the slightest! I warned you against trying to play mind games with me, Yang Xiao Long! I told you it wasn't going to work! So here it is, NOT WORKING! Do you hear me?! Honestly, what is the matter with you?! Are you completely tone deaf?! I haven't been under enough stress lately without you and your deadbeat mom needlessly trying to compound it?" She lashed out with another petulant, agonizing kick, this time only saved from overbalancing by the glyph she had the good sense to conjure to root her in place. "Here are the facts: Was I looking forward to speaking again? Yes! Will I be just fine if we don't?! Also yes! Is Ozpin arriving soon and are you going to feel stupid when I slay him, lead Remnant to prosperity and figure out how to send you and your dumb family packing back to your world so you're all out of my hair FOREVER? ALSO ALSO YES! So you just do whatever you want, Yang! Be like everyone else and leave everything to Weiss, I'm used to it! I'll take care of ALL YOUR PROBLEMS while you sit in your room ignoring me like some sort of disapproving parent! YOU'RE the one who's gonna regret not appreciating me when I'm gone, you miserable BRAT! Care for a preview? Look, I'm walking away right NOW! Here I go! You better be paying close attention!"

Despite the drunken fervor of the words and the final, emphatic slap she gave the door to accompany them, it was going to take at least a full minute without any signs of life for her to make good on that stakeless threat after she finished speaking. If such was what she received, she vented her remaining angst in the form of a terse huff and turned to stomp off, doing an impeccable job of retaining her dignity in spite of the unsteady lurch trying to take hold of her step. In her opinion.​

 

[MyrtenRose]

No less than fifteen minutes later did Yang find her quiet solitude assailed, in much the same way someone's door was being assailed by a medley of slaps, knuckles and yelling in the immediate vicinity surrounding hers. Not her door, mind you. In the midst of whatever haze the former contents of the near-empty glass she gripped had put her in, the heiress had—Elegantly—In heels—staggered up to the entirely wrong dormitory and started venting her discontentment on it instead, finishing up with a swift kick to the metallic door that was deceptively graceful for how close she came to falling over while delivering it. And how much it hurt her toes.

"HEY! Whatever it is you think you're accomplishing, I hope you realize that I'm not affected in the slightest! I warned you against trying to play mind games with me, Yang Xiao Long! I told you it wasn't going to work! So here it is, NOT WORKING! Do you hear me?! Honestly, what is the matter with you?! Are you completely tone deaf?! I haven't been under enough stress lately without you and your deadbeat mom needlessly trying to compound it?" She lashed out with another petulant, agonizing kick, this time only saved from overbalancing by the glyph she had the good sense to conjure to root her in place. "Here are the facts: Was I looking forward to speaking again? Yes! Will I be just fine if we don't?! Also yes! Is Ozpin arriving soon and are you going to feel stupid when I slay him, lead Remnant to prosperity and figure out how to send you and your dumb family packing back to your world so you're all out of my hair FOREVER? ALSO ALSO YES! So you just do whatever you want, Yang! Be like everyone else and leave everything to Weiss, I'm used to it! I'll take care of ALL YOUR PROBLEMS while you sit in your room ignoring me like some sort of disapproving parent! YOU'RE the one who's gonna regret not appreciating me when I'm gone, you miserable BRAT! Care for a preview? Look, I'm walking away right NOW! Here I go! You better be paying close attention!"

Despite the drunken fervor of the words and the final, emphatic slap she gave the door to accompany them, it was going to take at least a full minute without any signs of life for her to make good on that stakeless threat after she finished speaking. If such was what she received, she vented her remaining angst in the form of a terse huff and turned to stomp off, doing an impeccable job of retaining her dignity in spite of the unsteady lurch trying to take hold of her step. In her opinion.​

The door did swing open after all of those wild slaps, kicks, and knuckle raps coming together in an ungodly assault on the ears, but when it did open up, it was immediately and obviously clear that the person on the other side of that door was decidedly not Yang. In perhaps a weird reflection of their days at Beacon, the dorm just opposite the one that Yang had chosen was occupied by the smaller ginger bruiser, though she had no team to share it with. The now cuffless Valkyrie(apparently she had found somebody willing to help to remove the damn things from her wrists) glared at Weiss with annoyance that she didn't even bother to hide. "What is your freaking DEAL, seriously?!"

"You arrest me, chew me out, refuse to uncuff me and now this?! What even is this??? Hello!? Remember what you said to me earlier? Wait, don't tell me, I'll repeat it myself!" Nora's voice shifted into a more deathly solemn and cold approximation of Weiss's own as she put on her best ULTRA SERIOUS lecturing face that channeled the spirits, the pure essences of Weiss, Winter and even Glynda to some degree and Nora stared steadily at the more drunk Weiss the whole time.​

"I'm well aware I'm only a handful of years older than you. Word to the wise for your twenties: little girls who make noise, stamp their feet and hit things they don't like rarely find their opinions being afforded a great deal of consideration or respect."

No sooner than she had finished did her voice immediately return to her normal. "So what, you want to add ultimate hypocrite to your list of nicknames??? I didn't ask for that, or for the kicking, or slapping, or knuckle rapping, or any of your confused bratty childish yelling, so can you QUIT IT???" ​

 

[MyrtenRose]

A few more sliding doors leading through a few more hallways and there he was, standing amid a haphazard laboratory with multiple Grimm specimens held in stasis as he turned the gauge on the microscope he peered through, observing the interaction of a green liquid and the squirming, wriggling tentacle he had strapped down on the dissection tray in front of him. He didn't look up when she entered, nor seem to care much one way or another to let her disrupt his focus on his work beyond a short and uninterested sentence.

"Miss Branwen, I presume."

There was something so uncomforting and eerie about seeing grimm displayed in such a manner that for a short while even the experienced huntress was stunned into silence. Her eyes drifted about the room, taking it all in and also discreetly trying to scan for where Maria could be in this room before her gaze settled on the old creepy man. "Doctor Merlot. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that I was expected. I'll get right to it then. I want to know everything you did, in complete detail. Nothing left out."​