8,879I'm stuck working from home today lol. Went out to drive to work, found police clearing a car accident at the end of my road, turned around to go the other way, and there's a lorry overturned on that road.
Sheesh. Well, I can't criticise since I had my car accident two years ago. My father also lost control a few days ago and went off the road, but luckily there was no ditch for hm to crash into so he was able to reverse back out and get home safe.
Cover Art: Curbizzle
Chapter 78
Hostage negotiation felt like a hole in the curriculum that Beacon should have been filled. Maybe it was an elective for older years or maybe, just maybe, their teachers didn't expect them to end up in situations where a romantic date turned into one.
"How do we know the kid is real?" Yang demanded.
"How do you know he isn't?" Cinder asked back. "I could have Emerald slice his throat open but she could be faking the blood and dying, gurgling cry. There's no way to know for sure."
"Yang, don't." Jaune touched her arm to hold her back. "We're in the middle of the city. It'd be trivial for her to find a hostage."
"Occam's Razor. I'm surprised you know of it, Arc. Yes, the simplest explanation is that we picked up a hostage. It was certainly easy enough." There was a crash behind them, followed by roars from the restaurant. It wiped the smile from Cinder's face in an instant. "We're running out of time. Neither of us wants her to catch us."
Cinder wasn't wrong. Being captured by her was less than ideal, obviously, but it was better than being caught by Salem. Cinder would have to smuggle him out of Vale and that'd take time, time Ozpin and Qrow could use to find him. Salem could throw him on the back of a Nevermore and slaughter her way out the city.
"What kind of deal are you proposing?"
Yang hissed out, Jaune! You can't be serious!"
"You're barefoot, I'm wielding a skillet and a kitchen knife, and Qrow is risking his life back there—"
"It's just Grimm. Uncle Qrow will massacre them."
"That is not just Grimm," Cinder spat. "And she is not alone. The longer we tarry, the more danger we're in. Not to mention everyone else. Salem will continue to summon Grimm, and even if Branwen can best them, the civilians caught in the epicentre cannot."
"Then how about we take this meeting of ours someplace else," Yang suggested. "Because we're not agreeing to shit when you're rushing us."
Emerald hissed out, "You're not in any position—"
"Fine." Cinder interrupted her. "It's in all our interests to avoid her. Emerald, slice the boy's throat open if they make a move to attack." Turning her back on them, Cinder beckoned. "Come. We can discuss this away from immediate harm."
Yang shot Jaune a helpless look.
His own was much the same.
"There's nothing we can do," he whispered. "Let's hear them out."
"Jaune, she tried to murder you before."
"That was before she realised the value of my Semblance. I'm no use to her dead – and she has a point about the civilians. We can't let this fight drag on if it means more and more Grimm appearing in the city."
Yang scowled. "And who exactly is this Salem?"
"You'll have to ask the teachers for more, or your uncle. I'm not the right person to explain."
"Great. Just how many secrets are there that'll have me wanting to punch someone?"
"Quite a lot…"
/-/
Cinder didn't take them to her base – that would have been far too convenient. Or inconvenient depending on how a fight there went down. In truth, they just left the area and took a few alleyways, crossed a few streets and made distance.
The fact they did it with Yang barefoot and a boy being held at knifepoint, all without a single challenge by police or bystanders, showed how chaotic the situation was. Emergency sirens that Jaune hadn't even been aware Vale had were blaring, and automated voices called out for people to find shelter.
Vale was a big place, however, and many in the city were probably writing it off as a test or a hoax, not quite realising the danger they were in. It was only around ground zero that the streets were empty, cars abandoned in the road, some with their doors still open. Every door was closed, curtains drawn shut over windows, anything the residents could do to make it so the Grimm wouldn't see them. Many would be holed up in their basements or faraway rooms on upper floors, hiding in cupboards.
No one bothered the odd little party making their way away from danger.
Cinder brought them down into a subway tunnel that was equally abandoned, and then stopped by the ticket office. They were off the streets, about as hidden away as could be without going into a building.
"This will do," she said. "We can talk freely here."
"Yeah, sure, make it sound like this is a discussion," Yang spat. "What do you want?"
"I want many things. I want power, I want strength. What I no longer need is the destruction of Beacon. In fact, since Ozpin and Beacon are a good distraction to Salem, I rather want the academy to keep running and keep churning out huntsmen." Cinder smiled and spread her arms open. "Are we really enemies anymore…?"
Jaune couldn't believe his ears.
Nor Yang, apparently. "You… You literally have a hostage!"
"As much for my safety as anything. You were liable to attack me without one."
"D—Don't make this our fault! What the fuck! You're a wanted criminal, you planned to attack Beacon, you shot Jaune through the leg! You would have killed him if not for Blake of all people stopping you. How do you explain all that away?"
"Self-defence."
Yang threw her hands in the air. "Speak Valean!"
"It was self-defence," Cinder repeated, sticking to her bullshit. Jaune's eyes were rolling so hard it was a wonder they didn't roll out his skull and down the subway. "Lest you forget, Arc can cause physical changes on the world through dreams, and he attempted to kill me in mine. That was an attempt on my life. One I knew would continue unless I dealt with him. Thus, it was in self-defence."
"What a crock of shit…" Yang mumbled.
"Honestly, it's like I said – we're hardly enemies anymore. Our goals were once in opposition but they're not anymore. In fact, they could well be aligned."
"Oh, my good lord!" Yang groaned. "Is this a join me moment straight out the movies?"
"It's pretty tasteless if it is," Jaune added.
Cinder didn't lose her smile. "Nothing so trite, I assure you. While I hold to the fact we're no longer enemies, I accept that doesn't mean we are friends. But you do owe me, Arc. I saved you from Tyrian and Hazel. You reached out to me for aid and I answered. Ask yourself where you would be without me."
"In Beacon, safe and sound with Salem not even knowing of my Semblance."
"Well… yes…" Cinder had the grace to look mildly embarrassed. "But I meant after. What's done is done. I still saved your life. And right now, my only goals in life are to become strong and to avoid capture by Salem. I've no designs on Beacon, I've no wishes to harm the people of Vale—"
"Hostage says otherwise," Yang pointed out.
"—and I've no interest in overthrowing the world order or causing needless chaos," she continued, blocking Yang out and staring into Jaune's eyes. "My greatest enemy right now is the same one you are fighting. One might almost say that makes us allies. The enemy of my enemy, no…?"
Jaune had one word. "Amber."
Cinder's bravado faltered a little. "One woman, Arc. You'd throw away an arrangement that would ensure your safety and that of your friends – the safety of your girlfriend's uncle – because of one woman…?"
"Amber wasn't just one woman, Cinder."
Yang looked between them, confused. "Um. Context?"
"I'll explain later. Someone I held dear. Someone Cinder killed." He looked back to Cinder. "Someone who was an innocent, and who didn't deserve the hand she was dealt by you and your allies."
"Me and my allies, yes. Exactly that. Mercury and Emerald were as much a part of that as anyone else, and yet where is Mercury, hmmm? Gallivanting off with whatever gift it is you gave him. Tell me, Arc. Why grant him what he wants but withhold it from me? We were both there when Amber closed her eyes for the last time."
"Mercury wasn't the one who made the decision."
"He didn't question it," Emerald spoke out. "He didn't care. Mercury was a sociopath. He was the kind of person who would kick a dog to death just to see what it's like. You think he's a good person? He's not going to retire and live a normal life. He's going to use the freedom you gave him to go hurt people."
Cinder shrugged. "Emerald isn't wrong. If you think he was someone led astray by me, and that he just wants to live a normal life, then I'm afraid you're wrong. I kept him focused. Restrained. There's no telling what he's up to now."
It was difficult to contest the point. He'd set Mercury free to get out of his own bad position, and he'd been happy to write the guy off as corrupted by Cinder. He'd known from Mercury's dream that he hadn't willingly joined Cinder; he'd survived the burning of his family home and come out, without legs, to find Cinder and Emerald there. Mercury had made the only choice that didn't involve laying there and dying.
But that didn't guarantee he was a good person.
It didn't mean he hadn't used the legs Jaune had given him to run down an innocent woman and hurt them, all to amuse himself. The fact he hadn't considered any of that when he gave Mercury what he wanted sickened him.
"What stupid logic is this?" Yang asked, interrupting his thoughts. "Yeah, sure, maybe Jaune made a mistake and maybe Mercury is off being a scumbag right now. But doesn't that just show he should be more caution about who he gives things to? That logic isn't exactly doing a lot to show why he should help you. If anything, you're saying he should refuse to give out power on principal. Something I agree with."
Jaune took a deep breath. Yang was right. Her simplistic answer had him looking up and smiling.
Cinder frowned. "I think you're forgetting the part where Salem is in Vale looking to kill me and kidnap Arc. I'm not asking you to like me; I'm asking you to give me a fighting chance against her. If not for my sake, then for yours, because she'll come for you once I'm dead."
Yang was less than sympathetic. "Cry us a river."
"And the other part you're forgetting is the part where Emerald slits a child's throat open."
The boy whimpered at having the attention brought back to him and the blade at his throat. The fact that Emerald had held the illusion this long, to both of them, made it clear it wasn't an illusion at all. The boy was real.
"If you won't assist me because it benefits you, then assist me to save his life."
There it was. The crux of the matter.
"It's not even a difficult choice to make. I'm not holding two carriages of people over a lethal drop and telling you to choose between ten civilians and one family member. If you save him, no one else dies. No one else suffers. I benefit, yes, but there's no reason for me to come after you or your friends when I want your cooperation. Ultimately, the choice is between saving an innocent life or spiting me." Cinder planted her hands on her hips, smiling cockily. "And is spiting me really worth killing an innocent child for…?"
No.
No, it wasn't. Obviously, he didn't trust Cinder as far as he could throw her, but none of that mattered. The whole "enemy of your enemy" nonsense might have been just smoke blown in his ear, but it wasn't what mattered.
"Fine."
"Jaune!" Yang hissed.
"We don't have a choice, Yang. No one is going to find us. Let the boy go and we'll do this, Cinder."
Yang tensed beside him, but she knew they couldn't get to Emerald in time. As they were, lacking their weapons, they might not even be able to beat Cinder. The only reason Cinder hadn't used that to kill Yang and kidnap him in the first place was that she wanted his cooperation. Killing Yang and then letting him into her dream in the next moment would have a very predictable outcome. A very fatal one for Cinder.
"You must be joking," Cinder scoffed. "Let my only security measure go and then fall asleep and let you in my head? I'll thank you to not treat me like I'm an idiot. You'll kill me. No, we shall do this my way. You, Arc, shall surrender and come with me. Your girlfriend goes free and tells Beacon that Arc will be returned to them safe and sound in a matter of days."
"Awfully vague," Yang warned.
"Only because his Semblance is vague. If he can enter my dreams on the first night and give me what I want, then I'll free him immediately. But last we spoke, he told me his Semblance was still prone to random chance. Has that changed?"
"No." Jaune lied. "No, it's still random who I end up in the head of."
"There you have it. I'll keep him until he fulfils his end of the deal, then both he and the child go free."
"What stops you killing Jaune the moment he's done this? You won't need him after."
"Oh, I don't see why you'd say that." Cinder replied, with a coy, almost seductive smirk. "After all, why wouldn't I keep him around and on tap? Power isn't finite. I can keep coming back again and again to take a little more. And besides, I need to overcome someone quite a bit stronger than the average person. It's in my interests to keep him alive and safe in Beacon lest I have need of him against Salem."
Or she could kill him to close that tap so that Salem couldn't get hold of it, or so that no one else could gain the same power. Or to get rid of the one person who could take that power away from her in the future.
He couldn't trust her to let him go.
But he could absolutely trust her to kill the child, then possibly kill Yang and abduct him. Even if he refused, she'd just lose patience, kill him, then go die against Salem. He'd win on spiteful terms, but both he and Yang would be dead, and both their teams would never recover from it.
The choice isn't just the child's life. It's Yang's as well. Barefoot and without Ember Celica, there's no hope of her beating Cinder and Emerald at the same time. If I choose wrong, she dies.
Frustrated, Jaune closed his eyes. "Let's set out terms."
"Jaune!" Yang hissed. "No!"
"It's not just his life, Yang. It's yours. They'll kill you."
Cinder smirked. "It's true. I'd rather not seeing as how that'd only incentivise him to dream me having cancer, but if you're going to refuse anyway then I might as well kill you both to stop Salem and Ozpin having access to him."
"Ozpin? He's retired…" Yang noticed their flat expressions. "The fuck? What happ— No. Oswald!? You dreamed him young? That's insane! You can not only make someone powerful but reverse aging!"
"Indeed." Cinder chuckled. "You can see why it's such a ridiculous Semblance. Utterly useless in a fight, but invaluable outside it. A supporting ability, really. I'd rather have a combat Semblance myself."
So would he. Not only would it have avoided all this, but it might have helped him stand up to them. As it was, he only had his aura and a kitchen knife.
Not exactly good odds.
"So, I surrender and go with you," Jaune said. "But I want a guarantee. How about Emerald goes with Yang?"
"Out of the question. I'll be defenceless when you're in my dream. You could kill me, wake up, and walk away. Had I still Mercury, I'd have agreed because he could watch over the hostage. Without him, I have no one to do so."
"Well, we need some assurance you won't just kill Jaune!" Yang said. "Asking us to rely on your common sense or logic isn't gonna fly when we don't trust you to have any."
"You're hardly in a position to make such demands—"
"Half." Jaune spoke up, silencing them both. "Half now, half after."
Cinder frowned. "What?"
"Whatever it is you want, you get half of," Jaune explained. "And then we make an arrangement to provide you the other half once you prove you'll follow through on releasing me."
"What's to stop you refusing to give me the other half?"
"Honesty? I'm the good guy after all. Plus, you'll go after Yang or another of my friends or take a fresh hostage and kill them in a gruesome manner to punish me." Jaune shrugged. "Honestly, there are a lot of things you could do, all of which I'd regret. I'd be responsible for it all."
"Hm. Tempting."
"It's the offer on the table. Best take it before Qrow, Ozpin, Salem or literally anyone else finds us and takes it away. Besides, even if I did make the stupid choice of breaking the deal, you'd still have half of what you want. That's better than nothing."
"True. What stops you doing as expected on the first half and killing me on the second?"
"Emerald." Jaune nodded to her. "She's basically a dead man's switch for you, isn't she? If you die, she'll go on a rampage and cause so much death and destruction before she's put down that it'll not be worth it."
"Hmmmm…" Cinder's smile slowly grew, the idea appealing to her. "I can work with this."
"Jaune, no," Yang whispered. "This is a bad idea."
"It's all we have," he whispered back. "Qrow hasn't found us – that means he's struggling. And we can't beat them without our weapons."
"You couldn't best us with them," Cinder said, quite capable of hearing them. "You have a non-combat Semblance and are one of the worst fighters in your year. I, meanwhile, have the power of the fall maiden."
Yang tilted her head. "The what…?"
"Ugh." Cinder rolled her eyes. "Having a conversation with someone who doesn't know half of what's going on is a chore. Demand your answers from Ozpin – or Oswald. Whatever he's going as now. Come, Arc. Thrown down your… weapon…" She glanced to the kitchen knife. "And come here. And you, Xiao-Long, I would advise to walk away and inform Beacon. Get help for your uncle. He is not as invincible as you imagine him to be here. Spare me the need to make earning Arc's cooperation harder by killing you."
Yang scowled, and the scowl grew even more when Jaune threw his kitchen knife away.
"Trust me," he mouthed to her, and winked.
Yang managed to keep her eyes from widening, but only just. She closed her eyes. "Fine," she grumbled. "But don't think this means you're getting out of having a chat with me, mister. We still have to sort out you prancing around inside my dreams for the last few weeks."
"Yes, yes, lovely and all, but if we might hurry…?" Cinder snapped.
Jaune moved ahead of Yang and held his hands out in front of him so that Cinder could bind them. He wasn't about to fight, not when it'd get Yang and the child killed. He wasn't much good in a fight anyway. But he was strong in people's dreams, and Cinder was going to have to let him in hers to get what she wanted.
Ultimately, it was her dreams he wanted to be in.
So, this was dangerous for sure, but it'd save a lot of work in the long run. He just needed to find a way to deal with Cinder without setting Emerald off, or to deal with Emerald first without Cinder realising. He'd called for help through dreams before, and Cinder believed he still didn't have any control over where he ended up, so she'd have to accept a delay of a day or two as normal if he said it was.
Time aplenty to try and reach out to someone. Trivia, perhaps, would know where to find Cinder and how to get him out, or how to strike at Emerald while he dealt with Cinder in her dream. There were options; all of which would be unlocked by Cinder letting her guard down and letting him into her head.
"Trust," Jaune mouthed once more, to a frustrated and conflicted Yang Xiao-Long. She knew she'd have to go back and explain to everyone how she'd just let Cinder take him, and that conversation wasn't going to be easy. "Trust me."
"Tch. You fail to let him and kid go and I'll stop at nothing to hunt you down," Yang threatened. "And while you may not be afraid of me, I'll make sure this Salem person finds you as well. The enemy of my enemy, right…?" Yang took a step back. "Don't make yourself enemy number one while she's still around."
"Of course not," Cinder replied. "I'm not one to settle for half an upgrade either. He'll live, if only to provide me more."
Jaune was marched away, and Yang was forced to watch him go.
But she was not the only one.
/-/
"Interesting," said Arthur Watts, watching through a hacked CCTV camera in the corner of the subway. The scientist leaned back with a smirk on his face. "You're certainly moving up in the world, Cinder. All this silly nonsense to be gifted power by some runt with a Semblance."
It was pathetic behaviour from Cinder and Salem both. From someone like Salem, gifted with eternal life, it was especially irksome, because she should have been able to achieve so much more over her long life.
"I'm not even fifty and yet I'm invaluable to her. I can only imagine how much I could accomplish in a thousand years, and yet she's achieved nothing. Cinder is no better, seeking quick routes to power like the maidens and now this boy. Pathetic."
His scroll buzzed. The call was from Salem. It had taken him months to teach her to use a scroll and even then she'd been dismissive that it would ever be useful. What a fool to not see the value long range communication. He'd expected better of a would-be conqueror.
"Watts here."
"The huntsman has fled with his tail between his legs. Have you located the boy?"
"No." Watts casually wiped the footage. Not that Salem would know how to access it. "Not yet. I'm still searching. It might be best to hold off for now, see how this pans out."
"I'm not best pleased, Arthur."
"I appreciate that, ma'am, but I did find him for you. I can do it again."
A subtle reminder, not that it should have been necessary, that she was a helpless idiot without him. A moron bumbling uselessly around Vale in the hopes she'd stumble across Cinder or the boy. With Tyrian and Hazel gone, she had no one else to rely on.
And it had Watts realising just how much she was carried by his genius.
"Come back to base," he said, careful not to make it sound too much like an order. "I'll locate the boy and then you can go deal with him."
"And Cinder…?"
"You'll be the first to know when I find her," Watts said, casually watching through various cameras on the streets as Cinder took Jaune away. "I'll let you know if I see so much as a hair on her head. You have my word."
"Good."
Next Chapter: 28th November
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