And Then There Was Trouble
Roman sighed as he sat in his chair, staring at a laptop on an acquired office desk. Taking a sip from a thermos, he wheeled around on his chair to look at an equally hastily set up infirmary. Several White Fang members had already been patched up from their most recent engagement, but their leader was a different story. Kong lay on a wheeled hospital bed, being attended by a White Fang medic.
"Well doc. How bad are we talking? It only took you several days to get him stable," Roman asked, finally lifting himself up from his chair to walk over to the hospital bed.
"I'm not going to lie; we almost lost him. That girl was vicious with how she attacked him. It looks more like some rabid beast tore into him for harming its kin…" The medic solemnly said, taking off his medical gloves.
"Honestly, knowing Red, she likely was," Roman replied as he looked over Kong's torn up body. "Any idea when he's gonna wake up?"
"It's hard to say. These wounds are deep. But he's going to need a lot of rest, even with his Aura speeding up his recovery process," The medic told Roman with a sigh.
"Do you realize that your stupid boss is gonna birth a cow at hearing that?" Roman snapped.
"Can you not insult our race at every chance you get? Please?" The medic asked in exasperation.
"I don't know. Are you going to give a reason to?" Roman replied.
"Arrrgghhh…" pierced Kong's lips as he began to stir.
"Oh good. Winderella's finally awake," Roman sighed in relief.
"Ugh… shut… up… Roman…" He groaned in sheer agony.
A vein popped on Roman's forehead upon hearing that. "Shut up? Shut up?! After how we bungled the biggest dust robbery since the Great War!? No! You shut up and listen to me!!" He snapped fiercely.
Kong merely sighed. "Fine… go ahead. It's not like you can do any worse to me than what Adam will…" He replied, resigned to his face.
"Oh, funny you should mention the masked beefador! He's coming!!" Roman snapped.
Kong's eyes widened in shock. "I… am going to die…"
This caught Roman off guard. "What? Die? From what? Doc, did he get an infection or something?" He asked.
"No… He means that Adam is going to kill him…" The medic sighed, already making plans for cleanup.
"Well, that explains how he can't keep qualified personnel. As bad as I think you bungled that, death ain't the punishment I personally had in mind for you," Roman continued, his tone shifted to a more thoughtful one.
"Julio… just put me out of my misery. Please…" Kong told the medic.
"I can't do that, sir. I may be a terrorist, but I'm still a licensed medical professional. And the Hippocratic oath says do no harm," The medic, now identified as Julio, reluctantly explained.
Before anyone else could say anything else, a door on the far end of the warehouse was forcibly flung open. Everyone turned to look to see Neo leading Adam and several lieutenants marching over towards them. Despite wearing masks, everyone could tell just where Adam's mind truly was.
"You dishonor me and the White Fang, Kong," Adam growled, a hand resting tensely on his blade's hilt.
Kong looked down, ashamed. "I offer no excuses, sir. I underestimated the girl more than I thought I had after she dropped a warehouse on me. She is a monster, one that I didn't take proper precautions to prepare for. Do with me what you will…" He simply replied.
Adam snarled at that answer and took a step forward. Yet before he could draw his own blade, Roman stepped between him and Kong. All the White Fang members, especially Kong, felt the air slip from their lungs in shock. While a rumbling growl slipped from Adam's lips, his teeth grinding in indignation.
"Stand aside, Torchwick! This doesn't involve you!" Adam snarled as he prepared to draw his blade.
To everyone's shock, a smirk stretched across Roman's face. "Oh, but as the leader of this merry little operation, it does. Or would you prefer to handle this in front of… higher management?" He asked, twirling his cane in his hand before leaning on it.
Adam gritted his teeth and slowly drew his blade. "You wouldn't dare…!" He growled out, daring Roman to try his patience further.
"Unlike you, Taurus. I don't bluff. I have big enough oysters to stand my ground where I think the shoe fits. And, if you kill me… well. I know for a fact you can't get enough Dust for what the boss needs," Roman replied.
Adam snarled before roughly sheathing his blade. The click of the hilt hitting the rifle-sheath combo echoing throughout the room before he glared at Kong. "This is your final warning, Kong. Fail again… and there will be consequences…" He coldly told his subordinate.
"I will not fail you, master. I promise you that," Kong answered. His voice was barely louder than a whisper.
"Now then. Is that all you came here for or do you wanna stay for tea or something?" Roman asked.
Adam glared at Roman. "Actually, she needs something else and sent me to deliver the message. She needs your little partner-in-crime for an important task. One essential for the plan." He spat out at Roman.
This caught everyone off guard as Roman looked at Neo. She motioned to him unsurely, before Roman gave her a nod.
"All right, Neo. Time to go work for the fire witch. Make sure you wear sunscreen," Roman ordered before turning to look at Adam.
Adam nodded. "Good. Once she's ready, we'll leave and let you get back to your role in things," he said.
"Fine by me. I don't need you losing me any more lieutenants." Roman replied snidely.
Adam snarled as Neo grabbed her things in a small duffel bag. Then the group swiftly marched out of the warehouse, Adam slamming the door behind them. Yet even then, all the White Fang members present just stared at Roman as he took another swig from his thermos. Once he was done drinking was when Roman finally noticed the attention.
"What are you mutts all staring at?" Roman asked.
"Why… Did you stand up for me…?" Kong asked, trying to sit up only for Julio to stop him.
"Us. You mean us," Julio chipped in.
"He wasn't going to do anything to any of you. Any failures committed by any of you fall on me…" Kong explained.
"And we were supposed to know that why, exactly?" Julio asked, exasperated.
"Fair enough… I need some sleep…" Kong sighed before groaning as he laid back down.
"Do you want an answer or not from me?" Roman asked.
"Yes…" Kong replied as Julio helped him settle back in comfortably.
"Just because I normally only work with trusted professionals…" Roman started, only to be cut off by Julio.
"How does a tri-colored tart count as a trusted professional?" Julio asked.
"You're lucky you're useful. I've fed people to dogs for less," Roman answered.
"... I'm a dog Faunus. Does that count as cannibalism?" Julio replied nervously.
"I was never the one for philosophical questions my dear man. Explains why I failed high school. Well, that or bushidōdo based prejudice. Hard to tell the difference in Mistral," Roman waffled out.
"… Don't you mean 'bushidō,' sir?" One of the White Fang grunts asked in confusion.
"Well, looks like we got us a Sam-ur-rai in the house!!" Roman called out.
"… I can't tell if you're doing this on purpose to fuck with us or if you're being serious," Another White Fang grunt replied in disbelief.
"It's called both to keep you off guard. Keep with the program people!" Roman snapped.
"... Where are you going with this? And am I going to need to be on drugs for this to make sense…?" Kong groaned, clearly losing what little patience he had left.
"Where I'm going with this, my overly over-tuned musclehead, is that I only work with the best. Whether beefnado over there realized it or not, he did send his best. And trust me, I've worked with some terrible quality street thugs. Junior can vouch for that," Roman explained.
"... Julio. Put me on the drugs. Now. Before I get a headache trying to make heads or tails of this madness…" Kong ordered the dog Faunus medic.
"If I have to sit through this sober, then so do you boss," Julio replied dryly.
Kong let out a deep sigh as Roman continued. "What Adam fails to realize is that he isn't getting anywhere with how he treats you all. Sure, I'll admit I'm not the best boss around, but I also never pretended to be. That's the difference. And, at the end of the day, unlike the beeficane, I don't peddle in bullshit. Because bullshit doesn't pay the bills," He hammered out, smacking his knuckles against his other palm rhythmically.
"... This is a new feeling. Pride because of a human…" Kong replied in disbelief.
Roman then turned to address the rest of the White Fang members in the warehouse, not just Kong and Julio. "I know the reason why you joined up with his little merry band of desperados. You didn't like being pushed around by humans. Feeling weak. Powerless. But here's the thing Adam never told you. Humans feel that too. Many more humans feel that way than there ever will be Faunus. And making them fear you? Well, they don't have anything left to lose, so they'll throw themselves at you so hard you'll wish they were a Grimm Horde!" He belted out, making sure to look at each of them as he did.
"What do you want from us, Roman…? What do you see in us that Adam doesn't…?" Julio asked in disbelief.
"What do I see? Aside from a bunch of kids playing dress-up terrorist, you mean? I see potential. A spark. A glimmer of something that he doesn't see, what you all don't see. Because I have already done what you all want to do. I crawled my way from the bottom, up to the top, and gained respect," Roman continued, twirling his cane dramatically.
Kong, to the surprise of the White Fang present, nodded in response to Roman's words. "We're with you on this, Roman…" He told the smooth criminal, a new fire of determination in his eyes.
"Oh, my dear man. You have no idea what I have planned. Because I know what it is like to be forgotten by society. To grow up on the streets, steal food, and be forced to work in workhouses just to survive. I was put through the wretched school system, trying to turn me into a good little cog in a greater machine. To be plugged in and forgotten. That's what Adam and Sienna want for you. They're gonna put you all as cogs in a brand-new system. One where they say you're on top. But all you're left with is eating their scraps," Roman ominously explained.
The White Fang looked at each other, whispers beginning to bubble up among them. Seeing that he had the crowd, Roman smiled and went in for the kill. "But do you really want respect, or equality? What does that do you while your families barely scrape by? Does that pay the bills? Does that get you out of the slums? No. Another day on, and deeper in debt. Me? I'm offering something that Adam and the White Fang never could. Employment." He said with a cunning grin. "Stick with me, people, and it's not just you coming with me to the top!! It's your whole damn bloodline coming with yah!!"
As soon as Roman said that the warehouse full of White Fang began to clap. Soon, the clapping became thunderous applause as everyone, even Kong himself, joined in. The sound of the applause was soon followed by cheering as the crowd began to chant "Roman! Roman! Roman! Roman!"
"As they say in New Reno people…" Roman said, hanging his voice at the end. "Adam's gonna learn the golden rule. The house always wins!"
Later that night: Vale City Express Line
Far beyond the walls and lights of the City of Vale, a great, three-track rail line ran elevated above the ground on great pillared platforms. Every so often the line sported turrets to keep Grimm away. On a rocky outcropping, a small horde of people looked down at the line, waiting like a crocodile hunting prey, for a train to pass. At the head stood Drake, his eyes looking out into the night sky, the starlight trickling into his eyes. Okurma, Chakora, Ankoku, Byaku, and several others huddled around him as their forces stood a few paces off them.
A boy similar looking to Drake, except with black hair with grey streaks, tanned skin, and amber eyes with jackal ears stood directly by his side. Behind him was a dark haired and skinned woman with wicked swords and a snake pendant stood like a statue, snake fangs barely sticking out of her lips at the ready. The last was a very feminine and voluptuous woman with a white cloak and her hood up, long white hair flowing in the breeze from just beneath the hood. She wore light but dense armor with gauntlets on her hands and greaves on her feet. From her lower bank, there sprouted a white-scaled Komodo dragon's tail. Flexing the clawed fingers of her gauntlets, the woman smirked.
"It's a shame my boys and I can't make too many big explosions. It'd be nice to see this place light up like an Aurora season tree," The monitor lizard Faunus giggled, her hand glowing as a strange, large, egg-shaped Aura construct appeared in her hand.
"I still can't believe you all somehow talked me into this," The jackal Faunus sighed.
"Because we all need each other to survive, Tabaru. Besides, we were allowed to personally pick how we recruit our subordinates," The snake-fanged woman explained, collapsing her fangs into her mouth to be better understood.
"What does it matter? We are wasting our men's time by going after some dusty old relics," Ankoku snarled.
"Aw, don't be like that, Koku-Koku. You know we can't beat that witch yet. We're just biding our time." The monitor lizard woman replied, smiling as she dissipated the egg-shaped construct with a flick of her wrist.
"You can keep your opinion to yourself, Naga! That witch will be the death of us!" Ankoku snapped.
"Peace, brother. Naga speaks the truth. We need to bide our time until we're ready to kill her and finally be free again. What do you think, Sable?" Byaku asked the snake Faunus woman.
"We cannot fight the witch. The witch also cannot lead us to my bastard of a father. Therefore, the witch does not matter. Bother me when you have something worth my time that won't easily kill me," Sable snarled.
Okurma's face snarled in annoyance before barking out his displeasure. "Can it, the lot of you! We are here because Drake got the orders to be here! And we will do what we fucking need to, and that's final!!" He roared furiously.
"It is all right, Okurma. I do not fault them for their displeasure and disunity. It is my fault we walk this accursed road. And more so than the personal hell I must walk, I will suffer further for the sins I have committed," Drake said, his eyes continuing to stare into the starry sky.
Sable nodded. "Very well then, Drake. Now then… who does the witch need us to turn our blades against tonight? I wish to get this over with and seek out a more worthy battle for my men and I." She told him, coldly looking out at the landscape before them.
"Within a few minutes, a train carrying a priceless artifact for the lady's… 'experiments…' will pass. We are to retrieve it, without any damage to it. Naga, you are strictly forbidden from using your Semblance, except on my personal order to on this mission," Drake explained.
"Aw, how boring! Fine! Boys, put away the explosives for now!" Naga groaned with a pout as her cloaked men all groaned in disappointment.
"Do you know what we are looking for?" Chakora asked.
"Fossilized bones, my love," Drake told her in response.
"... We came all this way into Vale, dangerously close to Imperial crownlands, over bones?!" Ankoku snapped in rage.
"Ancient bones! Keep up, Koku-Koku!" Naga corrected him.
"Unhand me, brother! This wench must feel my righteous wrath!!" Ankoku yelled, fighting against Byaku's grip.
However, before Ankoku could get loose, Tabaru stepped forward. Reaching under his cloak, he soon revealed his hands, now each wielding a tonfa. Dropping into a stance and spinning his tonfa, Tabaru glared at the boar Faunus.
"Try it, Bacon," Tabaru sternly told him, daring the boar man to make a move.
Ankoku narrowed his eyes at that. "You wouldn't kill me, Runt. You don't have the guts." He told the jackal Faunus.
"You're right. Doesn't mean I won't put a bitch in his place." Tabaru replied, pointing one of his tonfa to Ankoku's chest.
Growling, Ankoku reluctantly backed down and stepped back. As soon as he did, they all heard the shrill cry of an electric horn pierce the night. Drake then raised his hand, causing everyone to get into a running stance. Soon the sound of the engine and its mighty train grew closer, until finally it screamed past them. At that moment, Drake threw his hand forward and leapt, his wings unfurling to slow his fall. Everyone else made a mad dash, leaping off and landing onto various cars of the train.
"Get to the middle car!" Drake cried out, drawing his blade from its sheath.
As soon as he cried out, an alarm ran out on the train as many of the cars unfurled defensive turrets and unleashed robots of all shapes and sizes. Some skittered along the sides of the train; some stood from flatbeds and leapt at them on jump packs, and some flew on small rotors and unfurled small guns from their bodies. Tabaru let out a deep sigh at the horde of metallic defenders.
"Robots. I have to actually do my job now, don't I?" Tabaru asked with a sigh.
Drawing his sword, Drake pointed it at the mechanical enemies before them. "CHARGE!!" He roared, signaling them to attack.
With roars in kind, every mercenary in the horde charged in, going on the attack. As they did, Ankoku glowed a crimson red as he snorted like a boar before roaring as he charged forward. As he did, the robots charged him head on. When the two sides collided, Ankoku smashed through robots without stopping. Lashing out with his fists, he punched through two robots, shattering them like glass.
Lashing out with another punch, he smashed through two more. Again, he punched and attacked as he kept moving forward, breaking robots into more pieces with each hit. Each time he lashed out with a punch, every robot he hit shattered into more pieces than the one before it. Even when he got hit, it did not seem to do anything. The blows from their mechanical enemies were not even slowing him down.
To an outside observer, it would have truly been a remarkable sight. A hulking boar Faunus, plowing through enemies like a steamroller or a living tank. Shattering the mechanical menaces with each hit like they were made of glass. Like a runaway locomotive, he just kept shattering apart robots as he kept barreling forward, tearing through their mechanical foes like tissue paper.
Meanwhile, with Byaku, the white tiger Faunus' hands glowed white as large, long, wickedly sharp claws made of Aura sprouted around his hands and feet. Growling, he leapt into the fray, pouncing like the animal his Faunus traits came from. Lashing out with his Aura claws, Byaku began cutting and slashing through robots. His Aura claws cleaved and cut through two robots, slicing them into pieces with a strange mix of savagery and elegance
Much slower than his brother, he continued to advance as he cut down robots with his claws. Two, four, six, even eight in rapid succession. Not stopping for even a moment as his men advanced with him, slashing and slicing with swords and knives. Each time Byaku cut a mechanized menace down, his claws made a cleaner cut. As though each cut made were further sharpening the animalistic Aura blades.
Faster, he kept slashing and slicing with his claws. Faster, he mowed down their mechanical enemies. Slicing them apart into pieces with greater contemptuous ease, like wheat before a farmer's scythe.
Putting his hands together, Tabaru coated his hands in Aura. Throwing them outward, a wave of Aura washed over the area as five lifelike, glowing copies of himself appeared on top of the train. Reaching down to their waists, the six jackal Faunus each drew a pair of tonfa from their belts. Charging forward, the glowing duplicates rushed the robots, smashing them with ease.
Spinning their tonfa and smashing through mechanized foes, Tabaru and his copies began tearing into and demolishing their enemies. Blocking bullets and blades, they advanced as they shattered their foes apart. Dodging and flipping over the robots with surprising elegance, the five copies of the jackal Faunus took the lead in the advance. Some of them even double-teamed groups of the mechanical menaces from behind, pummeling them into scrap metal with barrages of tonfa strikes from two sides.
Lashing out with kicks and tonfa strikes, dodging with jumps and ducks, spinning to get behind their foes before breaking them into pieces, the copies of the jackal Faunus continued their steady advance as the vanguard of Tabaru and his men's advance. Any mechanical foes that got past them or were not destroyed were simply mowed down by the jackal Faunus and his subordinates. Not once did they stop their advance, leaving behind broken robots in their wake.
Meanwhile, Sable glowed with olive-green sparks of energy as she rushed from robot to robot. Drawing her kris swords, she slashed and sliced at high speed as she mowed down the mechanical foes. Her men kept pace with her speed as the speedster mercenaries charged in and took the lead in the assault. Mechanized enemies were slashed into pieces as the speedsters moved with grace and blinding swiftness to strike them down.
Dashing through and cutting down the robots with contemptuous ease, the speedster mercenaries covered a perimeter around their allies as they cut down the mechanical menaces. Three, six, nine, even twelve at a time being hacked into pieces in rapid succession. Not once did the speedsters cease their charge, leaving destruction and piles of scrap metal behind as they continued their assault.
Each time Sable cut one down, she stopped and changed direction to cut down another. Looking back, she smirked as she saw her men's progress. Spinning her blades, she rushed to the next robot and sliced it apart. Hacking and slashing through them with her blades, she led her men into the fray to battle their mechanized enemies.
Okurma wielded an enlarged version of a monk's meteor hammer as he swung it to smash through robots at breakneck pace. Swinging the ball-shaped hammer weapon around by its chord, he crushed and shattered their mechanized enemies with an elegance and grace that seemed at odds with his bulky frame. His men, composed of large bruiser-looking combatants and smaller, lightning-fast fighters, all wielded similar monk-like weapons. Hook swords, bō staffs, dao swords, naginata, sai's, and tonfa. All manner of different weapons typically used by warrior monks were being wielded by the men as they smashed, stabbed, and cut down their mechanized foes.
With elegance and grace befitting the warrior monks of old, the crowd of mercenaries tore into and mowed down their foes. Never once ceasing moving forward. The mercenaries continued their relentless assault, working in teams of two to destroy the robots as they fought back-to-back. All the while, Okurma led the charge, the first one to dive headfirst into the fray.
Swinging his meteor hammer and lashing out with punches, kicks, and various other hand-to-hand strikes, Okurma continued to crush and smash the robots before him and his men as they continued to advance forward. The mechanical enemies put up extraordinarily little challenge before the mercenaries. Before his massive, ball-shaped hammer weapon and the weapons of his men, the mechanized opponents crumbled like crackers. Smashed to pieces, crumpled, pierced, slashed, or crushed under the assault.
Chakora, on the other hand, practically glided through her and her men's foes with the grace of a dancer. With her bladed iron fans in hand, she cut and slashed through them with elemental energy coating them. Fire and lightning melted through the robots they cut while blades of wind slashed through multiple targets, tearing through the metal hides of their foes like a sword through paper.
Meanwhile, Naga roared with joyful laughter as she punched her mechanical targets with her hands glowing with Aura. Each time she made contact with one, it lit up and exploded. Giggling and laughing, she continued to punch and kick her way through the robots. Each one exploded on contact, taking out multiple of its compatriots with it.
As all of this was happening, Drake coated himself in black-colored lightning as he zipped past enemies, cutting down their mechanical forms with ease. After several minutes, he reached the train car they were looking for. Coating his blade in electricity, he slashed a large square into the train car. Soon, the area where Drake cut collapsed into the car as he jumped inside.
"Okurma! Get some of your men up here!" Drake called out, forcing his voice over the noise of the rumbling train.
"Yes, sir! Snapper Battalion, advance!" Okurma called out.
The battalion of the turtle Faunus surged forward into the car as the roar of battle swirled around them. As they filed in, they found a train car stuffed with locked boxes, cash boxes, and other valuables. Enough to make even the hardened visage of the mercenaries to get wide eyed at the sheer amount of wealth.
"Grab this one. And be careful. That crate is worth more than all our lives," Drake ordered, pointing to the center of the train car.
Everyone turned to look at where their leader was pointing. In the middle of the car was a colossal sized crate, longer and taller than a pickup truck. Okurma sighed and cracked his knuckles, before walking to the end that would be first out of the car.
"All right, you mugs! Get over here and wait for my signal to lift!" Okurma ordered.
With a nod, the battalion rushed over, and as many men as could fit grabbed hold of the box.
"One. Two. Three!!" Okurma counted, and in unison they hefted the box into the air. "I thought fragile things were light weight!"
"You all get to the end of the train! I'll cover for you!" Drake cried out, before rushing out back into the fight.
"Kaboom?" Naga asked hopefully.
"... Yes, Naga. Kaboom…" Drake groaned, already regretting what he just said.
Naga giggled happily as she formed a large, egg-shaped Aura construct in her hands. Roaring with laughter, she threw it into the car as soon as the package was clear. The "egg" beeped like a timer, flashing with red light each time it beeped with the flashes and beeps getting progressively closer together as the mercenaries took off running. Finally, with a solid flash, the "egg" exploded violently, bursting the train car and destroying it completely. The blast echoed out into the night, along with Naga's joyful laughter as the back half of the train slowly slowed down.
"Move the crate into Sector 30-25, Okurma. An airship will land there to pick up the package," Drake ordered.
Okurma saluted in response. "Yes, sir!" He replied before motioning with his head for his men to get moving with him.
As they rushed off, Chakora looked at Drake as he again stared up into the night sky. She walked over and wrapped herself around one of his muscular arms, yet it did little to faze him.
"Everything will be okay, dear," Chakora said.
"No. It won't," Drake refuted.
"Why do you continue to deny that there is any hope for us?" Chakora asked frustratedly.
"Because I have long stared into the abyss of sin, my love. And it stared back…"