Also someone pointed out something about Amber being young and inexperienced. It's true that Qrow called her inexperienced, but there has never been anything alluding to or concluding her age. Considering that EVERY character's 3D model is pretty babyface (even Qrow's younger photo and his current self looks nearly indistinguishable) I'd argue Aura has an airbrush/deaging effect physically.
I believe it is ENTIRELY possible for Amber to be experienced enough as a Huntress, but dislike delving too deeply into her maiden powers, making her inexperienced at utilizing it to its fullest. Or also possibly simply not very talented at it.
Canon Qrow, when first introduced, talked down and undermined everyone, even his own nieces, though they were treated a bit more kindly. His calling her 'inexperienced' could easily be his bias as well.
Especially since I don't think Amber liked using her power much from a logical perspective.
Being a Maiden must have been a shackle that limited the freedom that she also so clearly desired. Otherwise why would Ozpin let her roam so free? If she's 'inexperienced' like Qrow said? That makes ZERO sense. So rather that inexperience has to refer to her usage of magic.
My interpretation of Amber is a woman that doesn't care for the power she'd been given, only using it when there was no other option left or when she realizes her life is TRULY on the line. We literally have so little about her that I want to make her interesting somehow rather than "Dead Gorl, Take Aura, Become Maiden, Save Da Worl".
It's what made her understand and relate to Cinder. Who she saw was a girl just like her that craved freedom, but had suffered powerlessness and regret. Someone that would better appreciate the gift/curse of being a Maiden, driven to do good to earn penance for her crimes. A better version of herself that Amber could not be.
Thanks to: Andrea Shultz, Shukuen, and Terran for their support!
"Young mister Arc is correct." The Atlasean investigator sighed as the yellow chemical strips turned crimson. "This IV bag was indeed tampered with."
"I- we- Argus Medical has nothing to do with this! We would never!"
Jaune let a Shadow slip from his own shadow, under the patient bed, and into Gaius Nikkos's own shadow, deciding that he couldn't be too careful.
His Big Brother Juniper knew something. Knew something but wasn't telling him. Why? Did he need to figure it out himself? Jaune wasn't sure. He'd grown up enough to know that unlike when he was a kid (well he was still a kid, probably) not everything his brother did or said had meaning. Living like that was exhausting, doubly so when everyone thought everything you did had meaning.
It was why he had only been vaguely friends with upperclassman Kamina who'd gotten into Haven this year.
But Juniper had smiled when he let a Shadow loose to keep an eye on Pyrrha's dad. Like he was proud of Jaune and that was enough for him.
While it wasn't like everything was a lesson, his brother always having obviously been much more a fighter and Hero rather than a teacher, Big Brother Juniper had always been willing to let Jaune live his own life. Make mistakes, big or small, that he could learn from. To let his own life be his teacher.
To let Jaune truly have something that was his own, rather than from the Gacha.
It was scary, sometimes, but the personal guidance of his number one hero made him feel important. Good. Even if it wasn't always the safe path.
And thanks to his small, subtle warning about being attentive and leaving nothing to chance had helped save Gaius Nikkos's life. While none of the symptoms that Pyrrha's dad had shown had been immediately concerning, all of them at once had been a sign that something was indeed wrong.
Still he held his hands above his head as he knelt in a seiza as Big Sis Noire continued to lecture him.
"-good that you caught that, Jaune, but there's still an order to these things. At least an explanation of what you're doing or feeding a patient is important. You gave young miss Pyrrha a fright-"
Jaune winced as Pyrrha blubbered a bit that it was ok from Nora's chest, Emerald just rubbing soothing circles quietly into her back.
"In hindsight it probably was slow-acting, probably would degrade in the human body afterwards to prevent it from being found. Nobody would want him to suddenly and suspiciously die out of nowhere if they wanted Mr. Nikkos dead. Having him pass in his sleep and letting the hospital take the blame would probably been easiest."
Pyrrha whimpered into Nora's chest, making him wince again as Ren, Bis Sis Noire, and Big Brother Juniper all facepalmed in sync. Yeah that wasn't something that his friend would have wanted to hear right now.
"Just… y'know… pointing it out…" Jaune shrank down on himself weakly. "I… it's important to look at things objectively." He mumbled. "The facts… sorry."
"...Let little Jaune be." Gaius Nikkos rasped a bit from his bed, his wife holding onto his left hand at his bedside with tears in her eyes. "He still saved my life, after all. Aha cough kak."
He let out a few pained coughs, hacking up a bit of hair that he grimaced at, pulling it away with his fingers. With a confused countenance he awkwardly let it fall to the side onto the floor.
"Well… I suppose I know know a cat Faunus's plight. Hairballs." He joked, though while his wife gave him a bit of a giggle, it fell a bit flat to Jaune and Big Sis Noire who were Faunus, and to all his friends (sans Pyrrha) who were friends with Blake.
An actual Cat Faunus.
"Yeah, sorry. It's sort of a good general cure-all for poisons, but uh. It's kind of gross."
"I'll say." Mrs. Nikkos tried to also lighten the atmosphere. "My husband's breath smells like he tried to tongue kiss a goat."
Jaune found himself quietly looking away. Everyone suddenly turned their attention to him, Pyrrha's puffy eyes included, at his sudden silence.
"Jaune?" Her voice was weak from crying but clearly questioning his sudden silence and avoidance of eye contact. "Why are you looking away?"
"...the antidote was, uh. Well it involved the stomach of a goat? So that was just so weirdly on the nose I don't know how to react."
"Jauney, that's gross." Nora bluntly broke the following silence.
"I mean… it worked though, right?"
"Jauney, you make Ren's health drinks sound almost appealing."
"Ouch, harsh." He and Ren both spoke in sync before turning to each other. "She meant you."
Both brothers blinked.
"It's obviously your thing!" The brothers argued, still in sync, getting a laugh from the rest of the room.
Marcus Black looked over the morning news from his Scroll, consuming his second plateful of a simple continental breakfast at the Argus branch of the Hillock Hotel chain.
"...Odd. He's alive." He frowned, pulling out a flask from inside his well cared for, but slightly ragged coat. He took a swig of moonshine as he reached over for a bottle of tabasco. The spiced vinegar dripped over his hashed potatoes. "I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised if he got lucky with that Faunus rat being nearby. If only my brat son was half as smart."
At least his Semblance, Quicksilver, had been worth something, even if Marcus himself had a low compatibility with it and cost more Aura than expected. Still it was further proof that his son was useless and would never measure up to himself.
Better in his hands than his useless son's anyways.
"I suppose this will force a more personal touch." He snorted, his fork shoveling the complimentary meal down his gullet. "Using poison to kill a man never sat right with me. Nothing better than ending a life with my own two hands, after all."
He grinned as he stared at the small picture of a still alive Gaius Nikkos in his hospital bed, his pretty wife and daughter in the frame, smiling happily at him as they clearly seemed not aware of the camera taking their photo.
Mistral had no laws against using photos in the media without the subject's permission.
And in the corner of the photo, almost cropped out of the image was the head of Jaune Arc. The annoying child that had apparently saved the eyesore he had been hired to kill.
"Hmmmm." He hummed, swallowing carbs and protein. "I could take it slow. Look into hunting a rabbit, too."
He'd heard rumors that the boy had some sort of Item Displacement type of Semblance.
Marcus had already stolen one called Bag of Tricks from a traveling street magician that let him hold about three or so hundred kilograms worth of objects. And once he'd understood and resonated with the man's soul enough he'd taken it for himself, killing him on the road to cover up his tracks after.
It had been easy. Just one hand was needed to choke him until the life left his eyes, the whole time glaring at him with fear and betrayal. As if it was Marcus that could be the one to blame for being a bad judge of character, the fool.
So in truth, it wasn't necessary to hunt for a new one, especially when there was guarantee that the boy's wasn't better than his own. Or when he wasn't sure what would happen to the ill gotten goods in his current stolen Semblance if he replaced it with the boy's.
It wasn't as if he could hold an infinite number of Semblances, otherwise he would have been invincible. Ah. What a shame that was. It was better for him to keep ones that had a broad scope of uses. It kept him flexible and unpredictable, which was good when all you ever needed was to fight an enemy one single time.
"Eh. I don't feel like letting this drag out over the next few weeks to understand his mentality enough for that." He sighed as he got up and swapped his Semblance from Notice Me Not over to Bag of Tricks so that he could pull out a pack of cigarettes.
Notice Me Not had belonged to a serial killer down in Mantle. Markus hadn't needed more than a few words of conversation for him to steal from the man with near maximum compatability, as they were both killers. Warriors that craved blood, though Marcus had no care for honor, and the murderer only enjoyed harming the weak.
It was lucky that Marcus even got his hands on it as Victory Wing descended upon them shortly after he got his hands on Notice Me Not.
Notice Me Not almost hadn't been enough when they deployed Iron Wall Mercedes's Semblance, the very concrete below forming massive walls to box everything in. Escaping that had only been possible because he had multiple Semblances and they'd managed to nab the original owner of Notice Me Not.
Bag of Tricks swapped out for Pyromania as a flicker of Aura turned to flame and ignited the tobacco. Sweet, fragrant smoke filled his lungs as he walked out of the hotel.
Marcus ignored someone shouting at him that he couldn't smoke within forty feet of the hotel, blowing smoke in their face.
"Just need to wait for nightfall, then. Mmmm. I should see how many bordellos I can make my way through before then." Marcus's lips began to turn up hungrily. "Nothing like a warm body to have my way with."
"Ok. We have to put this back as fast as possible." His new 'captain' sighed, pushing the box back into her partner's hands. "It shouldn't have any trackers in it, but it has a tiny camera and mic and can broadcast it back to a central server. It's off at the moment, but I assume it can be activated remotely."
Roman just shrugged off how the little girl was able to figure that out all by making it disappear and reappear in her hands, but it wasn't worth questioning right now.
He only barely had gotten out of his weird ass situation alive, and wouldn't stay alive rocking the boat. Nope. Roman wasn't stupid. Especially when he now had so much to gain from it.
Just smile and nod, Roman. Smile and nod.
Mint, the Horne- actually she didn't like being called that. Better to really try not to slip into that.
Mint, his Captain's partner in crime (literally), though Roman was sure that was also just a codename as they didn't trust him fully despite their contract, took the oakwood box with a nod, having a complicated expression on her face as she did so.
Roman didn't need to see anything else to understand that this belonged to someone close to her.
Which would theoretically make the girl some rich kid that normally would be in way over her head if it wasn't obvious that she was completely willing to kill him. Honestly, she was terrifyingly well suited for the more clandestine sides of criminal lifestyles.
Man, if he'd stumbled across her abilities first… eh. Why cry over spilled milk? She'd clearly lived in Vale for years and he had been a Mistralian street rat. It was never going to just so neatly come together like that, not without some convolutedly convenient twist of fate.
Also the tiny girl was a killer, through and through. With her around Roman would have to worry about body counts that he didn't care for, though somehow his little Captain seemed to be able to reign it in.
Though only because of Mint's clear infatuation of the younger girl.
Fuck this was weird.
"Well, I did say that Lady Browning's was probably going to show up as some kind of weird Spider front. The only question is what the heck Lil Miss Malachite wants with a girls academy, which the pin shows is probably as an unknowing spy network." Roman grinned, feeling vindicated. "Peek into all the dealings of high society and sell the info or secretly train a few to be spies themselves!"
"Any spies would have to be willing." Captain shook her head. "The camera and mic might be some sort of reverse-engineered Atlas tech, but there's a thin, tiny tube of powdered and refined Lightning Dust in it. It needs to be refueled by hand. Speaking of."
A messenger bag appeared from a swirl of shadow, which was flashier than what his Captain's Semblance usually was about items. Odd.
She pulled out a small reinforced case, popping it open to reveal a large tube of yellow refined Lightning Dust.
"Gotta refill this or things will be suspicious." Captain whipped out a little needle, popping open a small opening in the side and carefully filled the pin back up with Dust.
Mint quietly took the pin and placed it back in the box it had come from, her knuckles gripping white.
She reached out to hold Mint's hand, the slightly shorter, but older girl, bringing it up to have Captain caress her cheek with it, leaning into the palm.
Young love. Eugh.
"We'll get to the bottom of this." His Captain's voice (at least she didn't insist on him calling her Boss, finding it distasteful, which suited Roman fine as he didn't want a boss hovering over him anyways) was worried and gentle. "I promise."
Roman's eyes drifted over to what she was calling Operation: Clean Slate with objectives and plans in a suspiciously Atlas-military-feeling way. The map of Vale they were using had been replaced with a new one, this one being more cleanly labeled than the one they'd used to piece together the initial plan.
Over the bay itself there were a few sheets of printer paper with mugshots and pictures taken from a distance of various criminals. Mostly Xiong family, though a lot of Spiders had begun to take up space as well.
He'd seen Captain mark a few of the photos and mugshots with an 'S' as if that meant something. Probably the weird Huntress voodoo shit she had going on. Speaking of.
"Altsus." Roman muttered under his breath, getting a lot better at his biological clock feeling out two minute intervals. Just to be safe. A somewhat familiar heaviness rested over his body before seeping under his skin, though it didn't hamper his movements at all.
A coolness smoothed over his body, feeling even a bit physically stronger than his baseline, though it was becoming his new baseline pretty easily. If he became small he became more nimble instead and honestly, the thought of evading a pursuer by rounding a corner and watching them run by a dumb kid that was him in a disguise was hilarious.
Meanwhile, Roman's new 'normal' was a cat Faunus with retractable claws.
Having enhanced climbing and night vision was insanely good in his line of business. No wonder Mistral wanted to drag down the Faunus so much. Aside from his newfound craving for seafood, being a Faunus was the tits for a thief like him. If anything, being a Faunus physically was just way better than being a human.
The problem was all the baggage it came with.
A thin, nearly invisible clear headband hid just under his bangs as a nice bowler hat rested utop his head. Some tests had shown that if what the little Captain called the Greater Hat of Disguise was removed from his skull, any disguise would fall apart and Roman would be back to normal. But the damned thing seemed to recognize any headwear as being enough of a hat, so the bowler became purely cosmetic while the headband was the real deal.
Nothing prevented Roman from wearing two 'hats'. Hell he could wear a tower of them if he damn well pleased.
"Well…" Roman drawled. "What's the plan for Lady Browning's then, good fearless Captain of ours? I can't do it because I don't have the ability to act like a little girl nor the desire to do so, but we still have no idea what exactly the Spiders have in mind for everything. If this is a spy network, they'll have intel we want. You can clean house all you want, but if you can't figure out what the rats want, they'll just keep getting back inside the house."
"You'd know all about rats, I suppose." His Captain sighed, though there wasn't much heat in her words, as they had a deal. She'd be on his side as long as he could prove himself useful and unlike him she had no interest in money or fame. "I'll go in a bit later tonight with Mint and see what I can't-"
His little Captain suddenly flinched, pulling out of Mint's grip.
"Shit." She swore, her green eyes glowing with Aura. "I'll be right back."
A midnight black spear with a golden blade appeared in her hands, her body erupting into black shadow as Mint immediately reached out to grab onto her little lover, unable to grab her in time.
Roman began to sweat as for a brief moment he could have sworn he saw pink and brown fire erupt from Mint's eye sockets, taking a breathless step backwards as Mint fumed inside the warehouse, the place owned under one of his pseudonyms.
Her cane blade whipped out in silvery steel and punched holes into a leather wrapped training dummy that had been set up in a corner.
Again. And again. And again.
The air felt so heavy that Roman knew at this point that neither girls were normal. He'd fought Huntsmen and Huntresses before and got away numerous times. But he was sure if he ever double-crossed these two either they would have to die or he would.
"At least be glad your devils aren't ugly." Roman muttered to himself as he backed further away from the older vigilante. "Even if you're not crazy enough to ever touch them, at least when they're older they'll be easy on the eyes."
Better than being ordered around by some hair fat fuck anyday. Roman had enough of that with Lil Miss Malachite.
Marcus pulled his arm back, sensing danger as a golden blade erupted from shadows, a powerful thrust cutting through the leather of his duster's sleeve.
He narrowed his eyes.
He'd fix it later. It was the last thing he had of her. He held onto a Semblance called Mend just for restoring this thing, despite his limit in the amount of Semblances he could steal.
And he'd beat his attacker to death so they'd never have the ability to do so again. His Aura expanded to include his clothing proper.
Still.
His gaze fell on a black haired girl wrapped in a black pea coat, flashes of green in her hair, eyes, and her clothes beneath.
She'd somehow noticed him despite his Notice Me Not. Nor had he noticed her. Her Semblance? Or just genuine skill at hiding out of sight? She was small enough that Marcus could accept he'd overlooked her on accident.
Her eyes flickered like neon streaks as she gazed left and right, her spear held at the ready.
She didn't know where he was.
So she'd reacted purely to the killing intent he must have put out when he'd reached out for Gaius Nikkos's neck.
Markus grinned.
She was a killer like him. Born and bred for such. She must have been some left-over subservient clan that the Nikkos had raised before they lost their status, though honor bound to still protect their line.
Must have been the last of her line as well, otherwise the not even hundred sixty centimeter girl would not have been allowed to guard the head of the family.
He frowned when she closed her eyes, her breathing calming.
She was still trying to sen-
Markus grit his teeth, twisting as the girl's golden blade thrust at his heart, leaning back and to the side as he saw the blade thrust and twist.
Crazy little bitch went straight for the kill with zero hesitation.
His feet flew in a series of steps as he twisted away from the girl who slashed her long bladed spear sideways in the direction he stepped away to as if she knew where he was moving, but couldn't pin-point his exact location. His gaze narrowed hatefully at her, trying to determine how to best deal with the pest.
The shaft of her spear rose to meet his line of sight.
She sensed his intent and raised her weapon to block an attack, her face twisting in confusion as nothing came, stepping sideways to try to better cover her master from where she thought he was.
Still the young brat was proud, not screaming for attention or help. Likely she wished to prove herself so much that she'd forgotten the number one rule of being a blade. That the survival of the master supersedes any notion of pride.
That was good. She was young and manipulatable, no matter how much skill and talent she had.
Hmmm.
He stepped side to side, seeing the blade sway and point in his general direction as he did so.
She was good. Her instincts were better than his trash son's. The boy was too soft, all his killer's instinct had to be beaten and trained into the boy, forced to kill, rather than seeing it as an instinctive first response to a threat. He had talent, but he still dreamed.
Perhaps it was time to give up on the boy's training after all.
The boy could have his Semblance back once he got home. Have his crutch. He was allowed to be weak if that's what he wanted.
Markus would kick him out and be done with Mercury. He had too much of her in him. Always had. He'd tried to get the boy to kill Markus himself multiple times, drove him to the brink again and again but it was clear that the boy lacked the guts and understanding to kill Markus, like Markus had killed his own father Mars. Maybe he never would.
It seems Mars had been right after all. Love wasn't enough. Not in this world. Not on Remnant. Not if he truly wished to ensure that the Black name would last through history.
But at least a piece of her would still remain. Markus would have to be happy with that.
He was still young enough to sire a new heir. And he'd found a girl of good stock, warrior's blood, a killer's instincts. He'd simply try again, this time the way Mars had insisted, with stronger blood, rather than a soft heart.
Markus wanted to spit at the memory of his own father. Especially now that he was older and could see that the man was right in his own, twisted way.
He'd have to incapacitate her quickly so that he could take care of Gaius and leave. As long as he pulled her out in a minute or two, the girl could survive being inside his Bag of Tricks. And she was strong, so she might even live a bit longer. He had the leeway he needed.
He flickered into view as Notice Me Not became Void, deflecting a blow to his side with a hunting knife pulled from his waist, the golden spear blade cutting deep into his coat.
He'd beat her half to death as punishment before he forced himself on her for cutting through HER coat a second time!
His left hand swiped at the air, grasping at and pulling at the atmosphere itself as he tore the air out of the girl's throat.
She clutched one hand at her throat as she gasped breathlessly, her spear still twisting to block his sparta kick at her chest as she skid back. Good. She was good. Even on such a backfoot, she maintained- wait.
She cut through his coat.
He'd covered it in Aura, but she'd cut through it again.
Markus couldn't mask the toothy grin that splayed over his face.
Well now. Wasn't this interesting.
Her Semblance let her bypass Aura.
He was right.
She really WAS a killer through and through.
And now it would be his.
The less he understood his target, the more difficult to handle the stolen Semblance would be, the more Aura it would cost him. However he could already feel enough of a connection from the girl's killer nature that he could use her Semblance just fine. After all, it could buck like a bronco under his hand all it wanted, but it wouldn't matter when now his assassination technique could be simplified to a knife in the throat even with Aura.
Even costing half his total Aura for a single blow could be acceptable under the right conditions.
And he'd have plenty of time to get to know the girl better, inside and out. To improve with his handling of it.
His Aura reached out as he began to tear the Semblance from her body.
His eyes widened. His pulse quickened.
Take-everything-every-Semblance-kill-everything-drink-and-drink-fuck-and-kill-and-Imissyou-
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"