[#] Nothing much to say today, except that I like my job… I just hate the clients.
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COMMENTS:
[?]Gur40: Em going to be a bigger problem then Mercury because end of the day a breaking speech is going to be needed to deal with Emeralds delusion that Cinder cares about her hell i've read a pretty good one that had Emerald get told she was better off in the gutter then in the hands of a psych like Cinder
Mercury has 3 points that would shut down his side
1 is he even getting paid as a killer for hire?
2 is he like Tyrian in canon said a broken boy clinging to violence as the only thing he can seek comfort and familiarity and
3 if the apocalyptic death cult wins what happens next, outside of dying
[=]Avip: Between Mercury and Emerald, I think Mercury truly is easy to sway. Offer him a better deal, not limited to money, and he may change sides. Emerald on the other hand...
[#*#*# Chapter Start #*#*#]
[Point of View: Emerald Sustrai]
"I hate my life…" I mutter, walking under the cold drizzle.
I head back to the hideout carrying a heavy bag of groceries. Even with my hoodie shielding me, my body trembles from the icy dampness. The only reason I don't get sick is my Aura protection.
Wandering through the maze of streets in the poorest neighborhood on the far edge of Vale, I can't stop thinking about how the last four weeks have been completely insane.
Cinder's plans looked like they were running perfectly at the start of the four Huntsmen Academy school year, but everything went to shit with Lionheart's arrest. That cowardly director was one of our most important assets to keep mine, Cinder's, and Mercury's identities safe.
I figured that without him the risk of us getting exposed would skyrocket, but just like I expected, Cinder brilliantly predicted the problem was way bigger than that. Lionheart didn't just slip up and get caught, someone investigated him and blew the lid off his plan to assassinate every Huntsman and Huntress in Mistral just to suck up to Salem.
Unfortunately, even Cinder couldn't figure out who the hell was behind Lionheart's arrest. The guy has to be a real mastermind, an intellect that only shows up once every thousand years to outsmart Cinder like that.
After Lionheart got locked up, we ditched the school and went into hiding to regroup. Our whole plan relied on us posing as Haven students at Beacon so we could access the CCTS, hack the tower, and take control of Vale's communication systems.
Luckily we have Cinder as our leader. She was already planning to crash the Beacon Dance, but before she even finished mapping out that phase, we got the message that all of Arthur Watts' contacts had been arrested, every backdoor he used was sealed, and the system got upgraded with countermeasures against the Black Queen computer virus Cinder was going to use to hack the tower.
That one stung. The entire plan was already in ruins, but to make it worse, Roman Torchwick had just fucking vanished without a trace, his contacts unable to reach him, ghosting us completely.
After that, Cinder allied herself with Adam and told me and Mercury to keep our heads down… and that was already a week ago.
The second I reach the reinforced door I sigh, exhausted, shifting the grocery bags in my arms so I can free one hand to knock.
KNOCK! KNOCK!
The sound echoes off the metal for a few seconds, but nothing happens.
"That idiot," I whisper, frustrated, and knock again. "He knew I was coming."
KNOCK! KNOCK!
Seconds stretch into minutes until I finally hear locks being turned. The door swings open, revealing Mercury's dumb face.
"You came back!" he says in a fake happy tone. "And you really brought the milk."
"Fuck you," I grunt, shoving the bags into his chest. "I bought it, you put it away."
I push past him fast, heading straight for my charging Scroll. I yank the device out of the plug, feeling hopeful.
"Please, please, please," I whisper, unlocking it, but there's no new message alert. "No…" I mutter in despair.
I sit on my bed, cold, hopeless, taking hold of me.
"You should give up already!" Mercury shouts from the kitchen in our tiny apartment. "She put us on the sidelines, she probably forgot we exist."
Am I alone again? Have I been discarded like trash by the only person in the world who ever truly cared about me?
Furiously I stand opening my mouth to snap back, but nothing comes out. I close it and look down, disappointed, knowing that he is right.
I sit on the bed, hugging my knees. My chest twists with pain while I fight to hold back the tears threatening to spill.
"I finally found someone who actually cared about me," I whisper to myself. "I did everything for her… why did she abandon me?"
I drown in my own self-pity, ready to spend the rest of the day rotting in bed, when a male voice that definitely isn't Mercury calls out from the kitchen.
"Do you have strawberry milk?" asks a familiar voice. "It's my new guilty pleasure, for poor people."
"Roman?!" Mercury blurts. "You got a lot of fucking nerve showing your face here."
My eyes widen at the possibility that Roman Torchwick is actually here. Maybe he brought news or a new plan from Cinder. But if he really is a traitor, we can capture him and hand him over to her.
"I missed you too, boy," Roman laughs in his typical sarcastic tone. "Here's a present."
I get up from the bed and head to the kitchen.
"What the hell is this?" Mercury asks before I even get there.
"It's an EMP grenade, pin already pulled, of course," Roman says in his fake regal voice.
The moment I step into the kitchen I see Mercury holding the little device. It discharges energy in a small pulse around him. The magnetic wave fries our microwave, the fridge, and, most importantly, Mercury's mechanical legs. He drops like a sack of bricks.
THUMP!
"Motherfucker!" Mercury grunts, flopping on the floor. "I KILL YOU!"
I dash toward his attacker, who is casually drinking the carton of milk I just bought.
"Hey there, green!" she says with a little bow. "No strawberry milk, got any cocoa for this?"
"Traitor!" I roar, drawing my blades and leaping at him.
Halfway through the air, reality solidifies and shatters.
CRASH!
"Wha-?" I blurt, confused, as the illusion drops and reveals what was hidden under Neopolitan's Illusion Semblance.
Roman is standing farther back, near the door. Where I thought Roman was standing is actually Neo beside a tall, broad-shouldered figure completely covered in white high-tech armor with golden accents and a glowing circle of light on his chest.
"I'll take it from here," he says menacingly, stepping toward me, one arm reaching for me.
Neo purrs, grinning with pure delight, as the giant in white armor grabs me by the throat.
He seems immovable like a mountain. His grip is iron-tight. My blades clatter against his armor while I kick and struggle, but I'd have better luck flipping an Atlesian Paladin than trying to move this weirdly resilient armor.
With my blades useless against his armor, my strength meaningless I would be trembling in fear if this idiot weren't so close that my hallucination Semblance can actually work. Even sealed inside full-body power armor, he's helpless against my power.
With a flicker of my Aura I seize control of the sensory-processing part of his brain quickly manipulating what he sees.
'If Neo looks endearing to this guy, let's make him think I'm her and she's me.' I think grinning
His grip falters for a second. A victorious smile spreads across my face, but instead of letting go he pulls out a strange golden ring and slaps it onto my neck.
SLAP!
"Sucks for you that Neo gets on that shit," he grunts, dropping me to the floor.
With brute strength alone he disarms me, grabbing and tossing my knives far from me. Before I can even ask what the hell that is, a jolt from the collar shoots through every nerve ending straight to my brain. It doesn't hurt, but I feel strangely drained.
I try to influence him, but it's in vain, my Aura and Semblance don't react to me for some reason.
"Watch her, Neo," the white-armored giant orders. "I'll handle Mercury."
The mute steps closer, a mocking grin on her face.
"So that's your new owner?" I grumble, watching the armored man snap the same collar around Mercury's neck while he flails on the floor. "Didn't know your life goal was to be a trained bitch."
Neo's smile vanishes, replaced by an icy glare.
"So is he rich or-." I try to taunt, but Neo cuts me off with a swing of her umbrella, slicing my left cheek open.
SLASH!
"You psycho dwarf!" I yelp, slapping a hand to my cheek. My eyes widen when I feel something hot and wet. "Blood?" I mutter in shock. "That's impossible, my Aura wasn't even shattered. I shouldn't be bleeding… unless…"
I touch the cut. The blood on my fingers proves my Aura got shut off without being shattered, maybe that's how he disabled my Semblance too.
"Who the hell is he?" I mutter, stunned.
"My new daddy," moans a feminine voice right beside me.
I turn my head. My jaw drops when I realize it's Neopolitan, the supposedly mute assassin, who just spoke.
"You can talk?" I ask, confused.
She just giggles silently at me, not bothering to answer, and turns toward the armored man dragging Mercury by the shirt.
"I've got the cripple," he says, holding Mercury up like a prize fish he just caught.
"Hey!" Mercury snaps.
"It's a jerk move on my part, I admit," the armored man says in a carefree tone. "But you're an assassin, so shut your cripple ass!"
He tosses Mercury beside me while Roman strolls into the kitchen, swinging his cane lazily and still drinking the stolen milk.
"So what now, boss?" the ginger thief asks. "Torture? Gonna use some weird mind-altering gizmo?"
"No, Roman," the armored man says, shaking his head. "Mind control is not a shortcut I am willing to take."
He steps forward, towering over both me and Mercury, his presence overwhelming.
He kneels down, staring straight into my eyes through the visor that hides his face. "We're gonna have a sincere conversation."
…
"What?!" me, Mercury, Roman, and Neo all yell at the same time.
[Point of View: Jaune Arc]
The first part of my plan, the capture of Emerald and Mercury, is complete, just according to keikaku.
Both of them glare up at me from the floor, furious. Even with inhibitor collars locked around their necks and their hands cuffed, they still look ready to fight their way out.
Mercury was kinda easy to prepare. He got skills for sure, but no Semblance, and one EMP grenade from my COD was all it took to drop him.
Emerald, on the other hand, was a problem to plan. Her Semblance was the biggest threat to this whole operation. Lucky me Jaune Arc is still under the radar of Cinder and Salem, so my best defenses against her were my unknown identity, as she had fewer ways to manipulate my emotions with her tricks. The other is the second consciousness linked to my brain that can warn me if I'm being controlled.
"First things first, my name is..." I start to introduce myself, just to draw off as I forgot to choose a fake name before coming.
Lucky me, Church whispers the name I already used in my mind.
{{Colonel Trautman,}} he adds.
"Colonel Trautman," I say, keeping my tone steady.
The green-haired girl scowls at me. "White armor, imperialist attitude like you own the whole damn world," Emerald starts, her voice dripping with disgust. "Probably an Atlas soldier, Ironwood's trained attack dog, I bet."
"Not really an insult coming from Cinder's lap dog." I reply.
The green haired girl gasps as Mercury laughs his ass off, almost cathartically.
Emerald's cheeks flush bright red with embarrassment.
"The fuck do you want with us?" she snaps, turning her face away.
I sigh, already tired, knowing this is going to be a long conversation. "Better take a shortcut," I mutter, activating my Semblance.
A golden cloud swirls around my hand, temporarily forming the same truth ray from Kim Possible that I used on Ilia. Same limitations as before, it only works for three questions, then the target returns to normal and becomes immune for an hour. That way I don't burn through my Aura. [Avip note: chapter 27]
"What's that supposed to be?" Roman asks, one ginger eyebrow raised.
"Truth ray," I answer like it's the most normal thing in the world.
"Really?" Roman chuckles, barely holding in a laugh. "What's next, a freezing gun? How about a huuuuge stink bomb so we can conquer the world, mister cartoon evil scientist?" He can't contain it anymore and bursts out laughing, slapping his knee.
I deadpan him for half a second, then my serious face melts into an evil grin as an idea hits me.
"Thank you for volunteering yourself, Roman," I mutter, pointing the truth ray at him.
The thief throws his hands up in surrender. "Now wait just a minute-."
ZAP!
Roman clamps both hands over his mouth, eyes wide with panic.
"Now, Roman Torchwick," I say in a slow, condescending tone, "are you planning on betraying me?"
He swallows hard, then rips his hands away and starts singing like a canary.
"Betraying? No. Abandoning if I need to? Yes," Roman blurts without any filter. "Cinder's a crazy bitch, and the fact I ghosted her is already enough for her to burn me alive the second she sees me again. You, on the other hand, are way more reasonable and have a decent shot at beating her for good." His eyebrows shoot up in surprise at his own words.
Roman's shock makes sense. The truth ray doesn't just stop people from lying, it shuts down every brain inhibitor so people can't hold anything back.
I keep grinning as I lower the weapon and turn to Emerald and Mercury. "What do you think about that?" I ask, chuckling.
"That could've been rehearsed," Emerald spits, her conviction rock-solid. "Roman's not only a compulsive liar, he's a first-class drama queen actor."
"Well thank you, greenie," Roman replies sarcastically. "That was as offensive as it was flattering."
I shake my head and start thinking of the next question, but Neo beats me to it. "Did you eat my last pint of vanilla cherry Atlesian ice cream I was saving for later?"
Everyone in the room, even Mercury and Emerald, stares at Roman curiously. Even though he sounds terrified, he answers without hesitation.
"I destroyed your ice cream while I was watching my secret Vacuo trashy telenovela that I love."
Neo takes a furious step toward him, ready to attack. To stop the little psycho I summon my Semblance again.
[Multiverse Crafting System]
What would you like to make?
Magic: 92,125 Points
Aura: 75%
[Multiverse Crafting System]
With a mental command I craft a pint of dulce de leche Häagen-Dazs for 5 MP.
"Its one of my favorits, but I can make other flavor if you don't like," I say, tossing the ice cream to Neo. "Have fun."
The tiny terror catches it. Her eyes go wide as she stares at the icecream, frozen in shock.
"Next question, Roman," I say, turning back to the thief. "I know you've got escape contingencies plans to survive, and that's fine with me. But what I really want to know is, what do you truly want more than anything right now? What's your actual priority?"
Roman stares at me, confused for a few seconds while he processes the full weight of the question. Then his face clears and the truth pours out with zero filter.
"Neo's survival," he says, deadly serious, expression locked in determination. It doesn't even sound like the ray forced it, it sounds more like an oath. "Money, fancy cars, luxury dinners, mansions, penthouses, the thrill of a heist… those are some of my greatest motivators. But Neo's survival and happiness… that's my real top priority."
Neo looks up from the ice cream, staring at Roman in stunned silence. The whole room goes dead quiet. Nobody dares miss a single second of what Vale's greatest thief has been hiding inside his heart.
"I'm grateful for your help, and I even appreciate the redemption chance you're offering. But I'd cut your throat without a second thought. I'd rip your chest open and tear out your heart to hand it to that bitch Cinder if it meant saving this psychotic little gremlin."
Neo presses a hand to her lips, trying to hide her reaction, but the tears in her eyes give her away completely. Even I'd feel moved if the threat hadn't been so graphically aimed at me.
"Thank you, Roman," I say, nodding to him.
"Hmph!" the thief grunts, annoyed. "Not like I had any choice with that pretty little ray of yours."
"Still grateful," I reply, turning back to Emerald and Mercury. "Now it's your turn."
"Why are you doing this?" Emerald asks, genuinely confused. "Why don't you just arrest us or drag us to Ozpin?"
"Well." I grin, unlocking my helmet, when I finesse taking it off I answer, staring at the green haired girl. "I'm trying to force your redemption arc."
[#*#*# Chapter End #*#*#]
E ai gurizada?
[#] Jaune 'adoption' tactics more aggressively than Batman.
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Chapter 61 - A new class
Chapter 62 - Lightish Red
Chapter 63 - Date-stuff
Chapter 64 - Ego is glass jaw
Chapter 65 - Bunny VS Bronny
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