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24.71% Multiverse: War Thunder System / Chapter 22: Roman's Desertion

Chương 22: Roman's Desertion

In a dark room, lit only by a singular bulb overhead were 4 figures standing opposite to each other. A woman clad in red and another with neapolitan styled clothing stood across each other.

A young man and woman flank each side of the woman in red as she opens her mouth in frustration.

"What?!"

Words laced with poison left her mouth, and disbelief engrains itself over her features before being replaced with fury. Her palms started sparking and a flurry of flame conjured itself at her hands. The scroll under her hold begins to flash its display before crumbling under her grasp and falling to the concrete floor.

"Why. Did. He. Leave?"

She spoke slowly, calm to others who do not frequent her presence but to many under her command, her words were filled with scorn.

The person she questioned nods. Her heterochromatic eyes blinked in disregard for the rage of the woman standing opposite to her. Twirling her open umbrella and twisted it under the gentle caress of her fingers. Almost to signify her nonchalant attitude that the threat Cinder presented.

"You!"

The sound of glass shattering enters the ears of those present in the room. The dimly lit building offers a stark contrast to the wave of heat brought forth by Cinder. The table that sat in the middle was now crackling as embers left its top before splitting from the intense heat that had been introduced to it by Cinder.

"Ma'am"

Cinder snaps her head back to the subordinate that spoke. The green-haired woman wavers at the brightly burning background that Cinder stood in front of. The flames gently remind her that what she says could be her last.

"We could always coerce the other crime families to pick up where Roman left off?"

Emerald grit her teeth in fear, would Cinder think it was a foolish plan? Was she going to die for her incompetence? These thoughts ran in the mind of the subservient green-haired woman.

"Hmm, who would you propose could fit in our plans, dear Emerald?"

Emerald let her stiff body slacken from relief, she could still help Cinder. Her answer came at a perfect time. Emerald had seen the criminal networks in Vale before and she was confident one man could take the now missing top dog of the underworld's place as the new henchmen of Cinder.

"Hei Xiong, ma'am."

Cinder recognizes the name, one of the old bosses that ruled in the city before being eclipsed by the more popular and skilled Roman Torchwick. Cinder extinguishes the flames on her hands. Emerald relaxes as she now sees that her boss acknowledges her recommendation as something worthwhile to consider.

"I'll pay him a visit at Junior's, you two will stay low. I do not need any more setbacks, understand?"

"Yes!"

Cinder walks away, the clack of her glass heels only being the reminder of her presence in the room. As the door shut with an audible click, the young man settled on the wall behind him and released a breath he was unaware of holding.

"Didn't realize you had it in you Em."

The gray-haired young man jokingly states with a carefree attitude. Emerald lowered her head before responding to her partner.

"Mercury can you not?"

Mercury smirks before straightening himself and closing his fist and bringing it up towards his chin. Looking straight at the table that once stood before burning in Cinder's rage.

"What made Torchwick run? I thought he was supposed to be scared of Cinder."

The questioning tone had set a mood for the pair. Cinder was strong, and that was a given since she had received half the maiden's power. Cinder had Torchwick under her thumb yet for only a short time his fear of her waned and eventually died out.

"Don't ask me, I would like to know too." Emerald agreed, begrudgingly so.

Mercury releases his hand from his chin and walks in towards Emerald before swinging his hands outwards seemingly gesturing at the plan of action he had in mind.

"Well the answers are not going to come out of nowhere, now is it? I say we find out for ourselves."

Emerald crossed her brown arms in a questioning manner at the ridiculous idea Mercury had.

"Are you crazy?! Cinder just asked us to stay low."

Mercury held his hand up in the air to show surrender at Emerald's response. He slowly took steps around the room before elaborating further.

"Relax, we're not going to do anything too eye-catching. Just a few questions and who knows maybe Cinder would appreciate our thoughtfulness."

Mercury's plan was brilliant, he might as well be awarded with a certificate saying how much genius he radiated. Emerald could only say one thing as a response to the totally remarkable suggestion Mercury had.

"You are an idiot."

Mercury put his hand on his chest in a feint being sincere at her words.

"Thanks for the compliment Em. I knew that you appreciated my company all this time.

Emerald only rolled her dark red eyes in annoyance at the obvious sarcasm that Mercury always did whenever they conversed without Cinder being around.

"Shut it."

Though his suggestion did have some merit despite being an obviously bad idea. If they could keep their identities low they could possibly piece together who scared Torchwick away or at least what motivation he suddenly gained to do so.

Cinder knew that Torchwick ran since he did send his psychopathic little assassin instead of showing up personally, which they often did at meetings. The person that had Torchwick spooked could also go against Cinder, knowing who this person was could greatly benefit their plans.

"Alright but nothing too drastic."

Mercury mocks a salute at Emerald after her acceptance of his plan of action.

"You got it, boss"

"So where do we start?"

Mercury places his hand in his front right pocket and opens his scroll as its display beams into life. He fiddles with it before placing it in Emerald's outreached hand. Emerald looks at the image shown

"We can start with this."

Emerald looks at the image and understands what Mercury was insinuating.

"Wasn't this-

"The first instance of Torchwick getting his supply stolen or destroyed by someone." Mercury cuts her question off.

"So it would seem."

The image shown was the aftermath of a dust explosion that happened more than a week ago in the industrial district. It was the scene where Blake and Hanns had sent the dust round Ruby had made for them to steal Torchwick's dust.

In an unknown hideout…

Torchwick fills his time by pacing around the room with a worried look on his face. The constant and repeated rhythm of his expensive-looking shoes stomping on the ground was silenced when a shorter woman with pink and brown hair suddenly appeared at the entrance, smirking at her boss' anxious look.

"Don't look at me like that Neo, you know how much she's capable of."

The young woman only responds by placing a finger on the edges of her smile. Roman sighs out and turns to face his companion.

"Yeah, yeah, I can't help it okay? Good to see you safe, Neo."

Neo prances around towards the kitchen where a minute later she comes back to sit on the couch Torchwick had placed in the middle of the room.

She takes out a comically large spoon and cheerfully digs into her favorite choice of a frozen treat, her namesake of Neapolitan ice cream. While she gleefully takes bite after bite of the delicious treat she retrieved from the fridge.

Roman, now free of his anxiousness, takes out his cigar from his back pocket and lights it up using his lighter before placing it in between his mouth. With a huff, he lets out a smoke before talking to Neo.

"When will you be ready to go?"

Neo pouts at the interruption of her enjoying her dessert. Her lips were lined with the various flavors that made up Neapolitan ice cream. While her comically large spoon was still digging out more of the ice cream.

"Oh come on, you can't just use that as an excuse," Torchick says while rolling his eyes.

Neo nudges her head in an accusatory way before Torchwick taps his cane in annoyance and raises his voice in acceptance.

"Fine! We can stay here for a while, it'll take that flame bitch a long time to find this place."

Torchwick had multiple bases around Vale. The majority were taken out of commission when the cops started policing the industrial district. He couldn't use them since the heat that the dust bomb incident drew too much attention.

Neo responds by lifting up her right arm, comically large spoon in hand, and twirls it around as if to make Torchwick elaborate on his drastic change in plan.

"That little kitty is making things hard for me, but it wasn't her, Neo. It's the thing that made that gigantic explosion in the middle of town."

Neo nodded in understanding, noticing the look of seriousness on Roman's face. It was a pretty large explosion, it practically sounded throughout the entirety of Vale.

"Do you realize how much time it took for me to heal the wounds that came from those bits of metal made? A whole day! Not only that, if you didn't notice...It flattened the whole block!"

Roman showed his point by flaring his arms out and making an explosion noise at the end of his explanation. Neo tilts her head and places a finger on her cheek at Roman's show.

"It's why we're moving, kitty cat has been accosting me constantly and everytime she does she leaves the place in an inferno!"

He had experience a total of three separate incidents where a bomb has blown up more of his base of operations. It was getting harder for Roman to actually do what he was being threatened for. It all started with her and that machine she brought with her.

Neo gestures with a knife cutting her throat.

"No, I don't know who she is. I can't just take her out, although the thing said its name. Blaire? Blane? Blade? Brake? Yes, Brake was it but I've dug through dozens of paperwork just to see who she is but I couldn't find her in Vale's registry."

Roman vaguely remembers the name that the machine called out, though he was too busy being awestruck and horrified at the massive gun barrel that stared at his face while the perpetrator shot at him while he desperately tried to block it in seconds.

Neo responds by pointing her finger at her head.

"Well, I've seen much weirder names out there Neo."

Neo stretched her arms out before placing her spoon and emptying bucket of ice cream on the table that was present in front of the couch. She got up with a hop and walked over to the window and gestured her hands to Roman and pointed to the outside.

"Anywhere but here Neo. We can always build up another criminal empire. For now I can't do that in the other kingdoms since I'm sure Cinder's got a vendetta against me now. Though I'd prefer facing off against her than fighting that car that nearly vaporized me."

Neo then puts her hands in a triangle before making claws with her hands and trying to menacingly growl but couldn't since she's mute.

"Are you crazy?! Well you are but do you really think we could lose heat there of all places?"

Neo simply nods at Romans questioning. Roman thought of it for a moment before sighing deeply and puffing out smoke.

"And they tell me that you're the crazy one. It's a good place to lose them for now."

Neo goes back to her seat and scoops up more ice cream before giggling at the taste. Roman looks at the nearby map and closes his eyes, thinking of the idea before snuffing out his cigar on an ashtray and fixing his clothes.

"Let's just hope I don't die to a griffon or something on the way there."


Chương 23: Numbers

Tank treads met the old pavement below, and the pebbles that lined the street violently shook from the motion of steel plates meeting the stone below. Gears interlocked and let out a droning noise before stopping as the turret of a tank is left to see what remains of an old and decrepit building.

'Here it is, Merlot's Lab'

Hanns made his way up the wrecked entrance of the building; where once there were pristine glass and steel designs, now being left to the destruction that it received from the fall of the city.

His treads made contact with the stairs as he made his way up to the research lab that housed Merlot's ambitions. The weight of his Tiger H1 left trails of chipped stone as he arrived at a hallway where the light showed its company through cracks on the wall and holes in the ceiling.

Hanns shut off his engine, ending its constant machinations from within. The surrounding air only let out distant growls and movements of the mutated grimm that escaped their prison.

'There.'

From the walls further away, a dusty and worn-out symbol could be seen among the stripping layers of paint and crumbling metal. Right below it is a map, customary for the future workers and the potential guests that Merlot entertains.

Hanns turned his engine back on and trudged through the fallen debris that littered the hall. Every time the tank screeched from the jagged edges of the torn-out supports that dotted throughout the facility.

'Now where would I keep dozens of test subjects hidden?'

The map has reserved its more dubious practices for only those who were supposed to see it. Keeping it from the public eye was an important step for Merlot to continue his experiments. Hanns would need to kill every single one to ensure his relative safety in the confines of Mountain Glenn.

'This one looks a bit suspicious.'

A large area of the map was missing, and hallways ended where hallways shouldn't, almost as if an entire room was removed leaving the connected pieces out of place or incomplete.

Hanns took in the basic outline of what the map had. Hanns needed to remember the route he would need to take, the last thing he wanted to happen was for a mishap to occur and not be able to know what direction to the nearest exit.

Hanns progressed further into the lab as the multitude of ruined screens and furniture was scattered among the already destroyed rooms that he went past during his travel time.

Mutant creeps were roaming around the halls as they heard something approaching them, they cautiously peered into the preceding hall before getting shot through with a machine gun that flashed its muzzle in the darkened building.

Hanns raced to the corner where he was greeted by even more mutant grimm who was now growling at their perceived threat. He retreats back into position and readies an APCBC round to fire at the mutant beowolves that were going around the corner.

He camped in the corner until the time was right, the beowolves dug their claws on the floor as they were engulfed in a frenzy to destroy the machine. Hanns let out a single shell before suppressing the others.

A beowolves sends out its green glowing spike towards the front of the tank but is shattered on impact as the steel that made up the body of Hanns effortlessly halts the projectile. He finishes a reload and dispatches the others in quick succession.

He repeated this over and over, killing the mutated grimm that stood in his way to gain more RP and SL as he went further and further down where he assumed was their habitat.

SL = 1,112,365 → 1,162,865 SL

VEHICLE RP = 185,438 → 212,328 RP

CONVERTIBLE RP = 260,489 → 298,153 RP

'Only been here for a few minutes and I've gained this much RP. Not so much SL though."

One final pained screech was heard before Hanns ran down the mutated beowolf, using the weight and speed of the tank to crush its body. The body decays moments later as Hanns went around to stare in surprise at what came into his view moments later

'The lights are on in this place?'

It was a curious development, the rest of the facility had been submerged in darkness with lights from the surface illuminating it barely above being able to see. Based on the map he had memorized he knows this is where the suspicious spot on the map should be.

He eyed the wall that the hallway led to, thinking there was some secret and special way to enter. He tried to deduce what it would be; before he ignored that thought and decided to shoot an APCBC straight through the wall.

A sizable hole was made, with the metal jutting inwards before flaring out the end of the impact. Hanns used his various viewports to look at where he had just shot into.

It was the remaining lab still operating underground despite being abandoned for a long time. Hanns couldn't see much more than the machinery in the place so he decides to do something reckless.

Hanns goes as far back as he can before loading more APCBC rounds through the wall until a dotted pattern is made. He prepared his engine as he felt his sprockets pulling the treads of his tank faster and faster.

The entire structurally weakened wall burst as Hanns ran his 54-ton vehicle into the wall as the wall bent with an ear-piercing noise emanating and the entire building shook from its foundations.

Hanns could now fully take in the entered laboratory that was still standing. It was massive, rooms were filled with broken chambers, and holding cages were broken open, presumably when the staff and Merlot needed to evacuate or even died.

'So that's how they got out.'

A massive opening was seen through the middle half of the wall being split open. Large enough for mutant grimm to escape but small enough for very large grimm from exiting.

'How'd that deathstalker escape though?'

Hanns drove throughout the lab and saw every holding pod being either broken into or still intact with nothing in them. He finally saw the holograms that were still displaying text on them.

It was just numbers, numbers that Hanns didn't know what they meant. A series of numbers that were arranged with 3 digits followed by another one with 2 digits and the last one with 3 digits.

'I don't know what these are used for and I don't even have access to a scroll or something. Unless…'

Hanns had an idea.

"Hey, Blake? I've got no time to explain but you've gotta take this down. 124, 75, 256"

He would repeat the numbers through his one-way telepathic communication given to him. Hanns would forget this information quickly so he kept telling the numbers to Blake who he hoped would take it down for him.

'Well, that was interesting. I should head back to kill the mutants, eliminate the things that could actually stand a chance against me rather than delay it till later.'

Hanns had a simple plan of action, clear the majority of the mutant grimm, head back to the surface and kill even more grimm until he would empty out the upper layer of Mountain Glenn before heading to the underground part of Mountain Glenn and clearing everything there too.

Back at Beacon Academy…

"Blake? Blake? BLAKE!"

Yang's voice rang out from the room. Blake glanced upwards, her amber eyes locking with the lilac eyes of her teammate and partner.

"Huh?" Blake snapped out from her daze, she shook her head from the sudden calling of her name.

"You've been staring at that piece of paper for a long time now." Yang points at the piece of paper where numbers were scrawled on it.

Blake had struck another base the White Fang had who were colluding with Torchwick to steal dust. She had spent the majority of her time researching their whereabouts and stalking the streets for info.

Hanns' sudden telepathic communication made her scramble for a paper and write down what he was saying before cutting off an hour later.

Her sleep schedule had improved but her quality of rest wasn't increasing so there were times when Blake acted odd and one of those days happened to be today.

"I was?"

Yang crossed her arms at the comment. She had noticed her partner's slowly degrading mood over the weeks that they were in Beacon. So Yang decided to press on for more information.

"You didn't even notice?"

Weiss suddenly interjects her own observations on the seemingly nervous Blake who has now shuffled her fingers around at her teammates' attention to her.

"Now that I think about it, haven't you been acting like this more lately?"

Yang connected some dots on her head, another of their friends at the table had been acting the same way she did. Blake showed an awkwardness, but an awkwardness to what? Yang feared the worst.

"No, are you getting bullied too?

"What no! I'm not!" Blake immediately rejects the idea. She was a faunus, she knew how to fight back and she was never going to allow herself to get bullied.

Weiss had to agree with Yang, she joined Yang at her side and put her hands on her hips in an attempt to interrogate the increasingly jumpy Blake.

"You are undoubtedly acting suspicious right now."

"Jaune is already getting harassed by Cardin, we don't need another of our friends being all weird and such." Yang adds.

"So tell us Blake Belladonna, what's on your mind?" Weiss made a point by climbing on to a chair and balancing it majestically while pointing at the surprised Blake. Weiss returns the chair to its place before rejoining Yang at her side.

"It's nothing." Blake said, waving her hands in denial.

"That's what Jaune tells everyone too." Weiss points out.

Not confident she could try and get out of being interrogated, Blake once again races for the window to jump out off, same way like before. She rushes past in a blur before feeling a bear hug created by Yang.

"Nuh-uh Blakey you ain't getting out of this one." The squirming Blake was now tightly under the hold of Yang who had to fight hard to keep their gloomy teammate from getting away.

"Woah what's that?!" As a last attempt to escape, Blake had pointed to the door behind Yang. Nothing was there of course, Weiss had seen through her attempt of deception.

"Do you honestly think that we-"

Yang didn't think the same way.

"What where?!" Yang loosens her grip which Blake uses to escape her hold and leap out of the window. Weiss turns to Yang who had just realized she was bamboozled.

"You can't be serious." Weiss said in disappointment.

"Uhhh, What now?" Yang looked around the room as she asked Weiss how to deal with the runaway teammate. Noticing the lack of her sister in the room.

"Hey, have you seen Ruby anywhere?"

Weiss took a look around the room. She'd notice her team leader's lacking presence but she was good at remembering what they usually do after classes.

"Well, no doesn't she usually go to the workshop with Blake…"

She put her pale hand towards her equally marble-like chin. Thinking hard on a way to deal with Blake, she was hiding something. Weiss was sure she needed to figure it out or else their team might fall apart.

"Do you think Ruby's part of it too?"

Yang's lilac eyes turned red as heat started leaking from her golden locks as she put together her open palm to a fist.

"Nobody better be bullying my sister!"

"Relax Yang, I'm just saying that we could find Ruby to find out what Blake is up to." Weiss tried to calm down her teammates' sudden spark of anger. Yang blinks a few times before relaxing at Weiss' suggestion.

"Alright Ice Queen, we look for lil sis and see where Blakey went to."

"Could you stop calling me that?" Weiss' annoyed tone leaked through the air.

"Nope." Yang playfully answers.

"C'mon let's go, we still got time to burn." Yang gestures to Weiss. Weiss follows Yang to walk towards the workshop where Ruby should be.


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