The Safehouse
- - -
Cinder found herself pacing in the living room of the safehouse. Clenching and unclenching her fists and jaw. Her heart beat loudly in her ears. She tried anything to maintain her calm, but it all just seemed to burn away in the fires of her fear and anxieties.
Neo and Mercury watched from nearby, sitting on a couch. Neo was eating ice cream, as she almost always did. Mercury was fidgeting, trying to look like he was just reading his Scroll but it was clear his mind was elsewhere.
Probably the same places mine is, Cinder thought ruefully.
That the sociopath was considering things like defection...
She shook her head.
No. No, you can't think about that, she thought, you need to focus. Focus... You must have all your wits about you.
Salem had told her that her 'backup' had been nearby doing another job for her. That she would arrive soon. That more were coming to support her and the operation.
And more than likely would try to take all the power for themselves.
There was a knock at the door to the safehouse. Cinder steeled herself. She walked up to the door and checked the security camera screen. She rolled her eyes and opened it up. A shaken Roman Torchwick hurried in, looking flummoxed.
"You rang, your highness?" Roman asked dryly. Cinder scowled.
"Where have you been?!"
"Getting things set of course! You have any idea how much Dust we still have to move out to Mount Glenn?" Roman demanded. He lit up a cigar and took a long drag to calm himself, before shaking his head. "And it don't help the White Fang's all worked up! Screeching and baying like something happened! I-" He frowned and scanned the room carefully. He then looked over at Cinder with a raised eyebrow.
"Your Girl Friday's missing," he said.
"Yes, well..." Cinder clenched her fists, "She decided to betray us. She joined Ozpin."
"She WHAT?!" Roman yelped. He looked over at Neo. "What the hell happened?!"
"Time travel," Mercury deadpanned. Roman's jaw continued to hang open. He theatrically reached up and stuck his pinkie into his ear to clear it.
"I'm... Sorry, time travel?"
"Emerald and Cinder's future kids with this guy came back in time by accident," Mercury stated, as Neo licked her spoon clean. The assassin shrugged. "And so she changed sides. Our operation is totally compromised."
Roman's jaw went up and down a few times. He then looked over at Neo for confirmation. The pint-sized enforcer nodded with an excited smile. Roman again opened his mouth... But nothing came out. He sighed and walked over to the kitchen, all wooden boards and cheap linoleum. He opened a cabinet, pulled out some whiskey, yanked the cork out and began to down it almost feverishly.
Cinder and Mercury stared as Roman proceeded to guzzle the hard booze down. As one, they glanced at Neo. The shortstack shrugged.
Roman finally finished the bottle, and broke contact with a gasp. He set the bottle down, and looked intently at his boss, his subordinate/adopted daughter, and Mercury.
"Okay... Maybe you should take it from the top," Roman said.
"Hold that thought~!" A bright, chipper voice called out. Every weapon in the room was pointed at the entrance. Cinder's arrows appeared, and her flames ignited around her.
Standing in the doorway was a dark skinned girl with pure white hair that went down to the small of her back. She wore a purple pinstripe suit, neatly tailored, with a short skirt. Her dazzling aquamarine eyes gleamed with delight as she beheld the scene before her. She then bowed, showing off her substantial cleavage.
"Oh, my apologies, Lady Cinder! I should have identified myself!" She cheerfully walked over, heedless of the weapons pointed at her head, and held out a card. Cinder scowled, but very gingerly reached out to take it. She held it up to her Scroll and scanned it. The Scroll beeped, and Cinder slowly nodded.
"She's our backup," Cinder said quietly. Roman lowered Melodic Cudgel. Neo scowled, lowering her umbrella but very slowly. Mercury sat back down, but kept his feet up on the coffee table as he assessed the newcomer.
"I'm Iridescent! Call me Iri!" The girl gushed. "I'm ever so glad to make your acquaintance at last, Lady Cinder! I've heard so much about you!" She beamed. "Isn't it amazing to work for Queen Salem? I'm looking forward to this operation ever so much!"
Cinder's eyebrow twitched very minutely. The girl's enthusiasm and simpering already reminded her of Emerald... But where there was desperation in Emerald's eyes, she only saw predatory hunger in Iridescent's eyes. Like a big cat sizing up a potential threat, probing for weaknesses.
"I'm sure," Cinder stated flatly. "The current operation is known to our enemies, but it's too far along to stop. So we're going to accelerate our plans. We will also need to weaken the enemy forces significantly."
Iridescent beamed and nodded.
"I've looked over the tactical and strategic situation," she said brightly. She walked to the coffee table and set down a holo projector. She brought up her Scroll and the projector activated, already showing off images of the various Hunters and Hunters-in-Training at Beacon. "I've been doing my research based on their forces and ours. I have a few possible counters, if you would like to listen?"
Cinder very slowly nodded. She put on a winning smile.
"Of course. I'm certain we'll salvage this mess and still win our prize."
"Oh, and of course," Iri said brightly, "Getting the power of time travel! It's so incredible! I know what I'd like to change if I had that ability, don't you?"
The faces of Ash, Ashley, and Jaune jumped to the front of her mind. Cinder clenched her fists but her smile remained.
"Of course. Let's start from the beginning. Roman?"
Roman sighed. He pulled out another hidden bottle of whiskey... And a second. And a third. He then headed over to the nearest chair and collapsed in it. He nodded and waved his hand.
"Of course. Proceed," he sighed. He then paused. "Neo, you're not the mother of one of those kids from the future, right?"
Neo shook her head. She looked... Almost disappointed. Something that raised Cinder's hackles internally.
Why?! She demanded of herself. Why do you care?! STOP CARING!
Roman nodded.
"Good," He stated, "Otherwise we'd include a shotgun wedding in the plan. Before the shotgun."
Neo pouted. Cinder glared.
"I believe we have more important things to discuss," she stated coldly.
"Yes Lady Cinder! Right on!" Iri cheered.
Cinder sucked in a breath. This was getting even more dangerous. Usually the thrill of such games excited her. The look on the faces of those she outwitted and defeated just before she killed them was am ambrosia.
Not this time. Maybe not ever again.
Now? All she could do was what she had always done:
Survive.
- - -
The secret White Fang base in the Forever Fall Forest was bare bones and simple. An old base from when Vale had a much larger, more powerful military. The barracks and headquarters were still serviceable, and they were deep enough in the wild that they attracted little attention.
Adam Taurus was meditating in the old headquarters atrium. Here, plants were growing free and unrestrained, and light shone through the still intact windows overhead. It was almost peaceful... Yet he needed this solitude to focus his rage, not to gain peace.
Blake...
To think she had betrayed them, betrayed him. Ran off in the face of the grim necessity of their work.
His Aura flared like a bonfire before he brought it back down. His rage was only useful if it was focused, concentrated, and honed: Like a fine blade.
He envisioned that blade... How he would use it on Blake. Pinned down, tied up, helpless before him... She had enjoyed such things in the past. It was how he would break her.
How he would save her.
Yes... He would even take inspiration from her erotic novels. She'd love that-
His Scroll rang. He growled in irritation. He pulled it out and opened it up.
"This had better be-"
"It is," his agent spoke. Adam glared.
"You're not supposed to call me directly from Beacon. The risk is too high-"
"We have enough encryption anyone watching won't know anything. Long enough for this," The Faunus spy stated. "I thought it worth breaking radio silence."
Adam paused, weighed the situation, then slowly nodded.
"What is it?" He demanded.
The agent then told him... The impossible. Time traveling children from the future? It didn't make any sense...
But the urgency in the agent's tone and face made clear this was no deception.
After all the Semblances he had seen... Well... Time travel was hardly impossible, now was it?
"They are all children of Jaune Arc..." An image of a fairly unremarkable looking blond human boy with blue eyes, smiling awkwardly for the camera, appeared, "And at least eleven other women."
Adam's eyes narrowed a bit.
"Blake Belladonna included."
Adam's grip on his Scroll tightened.
"What," he hissed, his rage threatening to erupt.
"I got several pictures during the ruckus and an event after," the spy stated. These pictures appeared on the screen—each one of a trio or pair of teenagers.
All from a distance, but enhanced enough that features could be made out.
The one that caught his interest the most was that of Blake. She was standing in one of Beacon's many gardens, smiling softly at two blond cat Faunus. Both were around Blake's age. The shapes of their faces betrayed their relationship to Blake: Both every inch Menagerian aristocrat. Yet there was a bit of the human in their noses, eyes, chins, and of course, hair.
Her children with... Her children with...!
"He is dead," Adam stated, hard as steel.
"Ilia has also been captured," the agent went on, "It is possible the entire operation has been compromised, my Lord.
Adam glared hatefully at the image of Jaune Arc... Yet slowly nodded.
"All right. Keep me apprised. The plan continues. Do nothing to compromise your position."
"Of course, My Lord," the agent spoke, before the communications link went silent.
Adam stared at the images of the children, Blake... And Arc.
Time travel is real, he thought, Blake mated with... With this... Human... In the future... Had children...
He felt... A rush. As though he was standing at the threshold of the gods. Indeed, it was. To have such power... It was terrifying. Unbelievable.
Yet multiple children from multiple timelines meant... That the future was not set in stone.
Adam Taurus sucked in a deep breath. He focused his rage.
Blake... You fell for this... Interloper in the future. I won't let that happen. And in the end...
He envisioned his blade going through Jaune Arc... Those blond children becoming redheads...
He smiled darkly.
You will be mine.
- - -
A revised bit for how Adam learned of the situation. He'll have a chat with Cinder about it later but it felt better to focus on his character here. As well as establish a spy in Beacon.