Chapter 8
Friday. I tried to focus the best I could on class until school was over with. Meanwhile, Cinder spent her day staking out the SDC building. Using binoculars from nearby building rooftops to watch the CEO’s office for Jacques to appear.
Red S.: “He’s sure taking his sweet time.” Cinder herself up in her head.
Cinder: “He’s likely quite busy elsewhere in the building because of our commotion. Lots of problems to clean up.”
Red S.: “I guess it doesn’t matter. We’ll be ready to strike once he shows up.” Unbeknownst to her, a civilian can see her and runs off into hiding before deciding to call the police. Once school was over, the four of us met up on Weiss’ roof where I began my patrol for today.
Yang: “Okay, SIs. What’s the plan?”
Ruby: “I don’t know. There are still plenty of SDC facilities around Vale. This whole city has become a target rich environment for her. We only knew her target yesterday because of that anonymous tip.”
Blake: “And since the reports this morning have announced her as the perp, there's no doubt that she’ll be trying to lay low.”
Weiss: “Assuming the Succubus is just as levelheaded...” Then we get a signal from the police radio.
Officer: “All units, be on alert! A witness has reported seeing Cinder Fall lingering around the Schnee Dust Company. Officers dispatch!”
Yang: “The SDC? Why is she around there?”
Weiss: “It doesn't matter right now! People could be in danger!”
Ruby: “Don’t worry, I’m on my way!” As I start swinging toward the SDC main building. Back to Cinder, she sees the police have begun to mobilize around the area.
Cinder: “Damn! Someone must’ve seen us!” She looks up and sees Jacques finally at his desk.
Red S.: “It doesn’t matter though. We finally have our chance. And no way they can catch us in time to stop us!” She gets on her board and flies up to the top floor. Inside the office, Jacques is speaking with Glass.
Jacques: “This situation is seriously getting out of hand! Not only is Fall the culprit like I suspected, but now this Spider hero is getting involved! This is all becoming a major headache!”
Glass: “One thing at a time, Mr. Schnee. First, we should worry about Dr. Fall.”
Jacques: “Yes! Forget just firing her. Her ass is being sent straight to prison when I get my hands on her!” Thats when Glass sees Cinder through the window.
Glass: “Ah, Sir!” He points towards the window, Jacques turns around and sees Cinder, she uses her grenade to blow the window open... and destroy the office too. Sending Jacques and his desk across the room and Glass leaves the room before the blast could get him, but now the desk is blocking the door.
Jacques: “Argh! Damn!”
Red S.: “Well, well, well.”
Jacques: “Fall! You have some nerve showing your face here!” As he works to get up.
Red S.: “Believe me. This isn’t a social visit!” She grabs him by his collar and lifts him up. “It’s time that someone puts you in your place!” That’s when I finally make it up to the office.
Ruby: “And I’m afraid I can’t let it be you!” She turns around to see me here. “You don’t have to do this, Dr. Fall! It's not too late to do the right thing and walk away.”
Red S.: “And let myself fall to the polices hands? I’m afraid not. Besides, this has been a long time coming! She throws Jacques towards the window. I make quick work in catching him and use my webs to reach the office again after we fell a short distance. Once we’re high enough, I throw him back into the office, and Cinder charges me and we go flying. A quick at Jacques, we see he’s looking out the window when Glass and some guards finally push the door open with enough force to push the desk out of the way.
Glass: “Mr. Schnee! Are you alright?”
Jacques: “I’m fine. But she could come back. Prepare the basement bomb shelter.”
Glass: “Yes sir!” As they leave the room to head downstairs. Back to us, we struggle around as Cinder tries to keep her feet on the board as we descend towards the ground. Sometimes she tries to push me off, but I can zip right back to her with a web. At some point, I managed to snag a bomb from her pack and attached it to her board directly. When it explodes, the board starts smoking and loses all function, forcing Cinder to fall and crash into a nearby building before crashing on the street. I myself end up landing nearby and walk slowly towards her. She struggles for a minute, but eventually gets up and starts walking, albeit with a slight limp.
Red S.: “You are really starting to piss me off!” As she draws her blades.
Ruby: “And you are doing more harm than good. I can’t let this go on if people are going to keep getting hurt.”
Red S.: “Ugh. You see, it’s goody two-shoe attitudes like yours that annoy me the most. You continue to preach about making the world a better place for the sake of others, but ideals like those are always the ones that are crushed the most, because those at the top don’t give a rat's ass about doing the right thing! They only care about the profit. And a society ruled by men like those is impossible to survive in with those ideals. That's why, to me, the only thing that matters is success! And why I did everything I could to stop those who hindered my success!” Of course, my friends can still see and hear all of this.
Weiss: “Sheesh. How foolish can you be?”
Blake: “Wait a minute...”
Yang: “What's up?”
Blake: “’I did everything I could to stop those who hindered my success’... I don’t like the thought but, don’t you think that might also mean...?” Yang and Weiss immediately realize what she may be thinking... and so do I.
Weiss: “You can’t seriously be thinking that!”
Yang: “That... she may have killed Mom?” I can’t believe what I’m hearing... but it is in the realm of possibility.
Ruby: “Would those efforts have anything to do with Summer Rose too?”
Red S.: “Curious, huh? Well, I guess I’m about to kill you anyway, so I suppose I can humor you with one last confession. You see, I may not have existed as my own being until I gained this power, but Cinder has had thoughts much like mine in the past to get what she wants... Such as the day when she decided to follow Summer to her private lab, sneak in and sabotage the boiler. Triggering a timed explosion to allow her own escape and leave Summer unaware of her impending doom as she worked. Her husband dying with her was just unfortunate timing. All just to assure her position as head scientist! Ahahahahaha!!!” Hearing all of this leaves me in a state of shock. My mind rushing with unpleasant thoughts that almost make me want to cry.
Yang: “That BITCH!”
Blake: “Yang! Calm down!”
Yang: “DON’T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN! I have every right to be angry about this!”
Weiss: “Maybe so. But you can’t let your rage consume you. As despicable as she is, we can’t let ourselves succumb to hatred. Otherwise, we’ll just end up as monstrous as she is! It was her own hatred for others that led to this outcome. If we fall down the same path, we’ll only end down a path of suffering because of it!” Hearing Weiss’ words help me to calm down my own anxieties. Even if I hold hatred for her for what she did, I can’t let myself be controlled by it. Then I’d be no better than her.
Ruby: *inhale, exhale*”Your despicable. You clearly have respect as a human being. Both Cinder and the Succubus. But I’m not like you. I am more than the emotions I feel. It’s because of this that I’m able to fight to do the right thing. And it’s because of this resolve that I will be able to see this fight through and see you brought to proper justice at the hands of the law.”
Red S.: “RAAGH! SHUT UP!” She charges at me and starts swinging her blades. I continuously dodge and counterattack. She eventually gets some distance between us and threw a grenade. I manage to catch and throw it right back at her. She dodges with a sidestep, before I close the distance and give her a good kick to the face which knocked her mask off again. She continues to attack, even as I grab her left arm after I avoid an attack and break off the blade, leaving her with her right blade until I do it again. She grabs another grenade, but I swing into her with a kick that knocks her back a bit, dropping the grenade without activating it, which I grab a throw it her way. She didn’t even have time to run as it landed by her feet and launched her towards a nearby wall, the impact of which finally left her unconscious. I pin her there with a surplus a of webs before leaving when the cops finally show up. One of the cars holding Captain Tomo and Uncle Qrow.
Qrow: “Damn. Missed all the action.”
Vernal: “But hey. At least we finally have our little trigger-happy demolitions girl.”
Qrow: “Better be careful. From what I’ve seen, she’s a lot stronger than you’d expect.”
Vernal: “Then we’d better take her while she’s still out cold. As for where to hold her to prevent escape... I think I know just the place.” In the days since then, things significantly calmed down. Cinder herself confessed to everything, likely because there was no use in hiding it all anyway since she had been caught. The follow-up investigations had confirmed all of her confessions. And she was convicted, not just for her current crimes, but for the murder of Mom and Dad after confessing to that as well. And since she was superhuman, she was sent to a maximum security prison outside of the city known as the Vault. A place made in association with the Atlas military to contain the most dangerous criminals. Each of the four main cities have their own Vault outside the city limits. However, the Schnee Dust Company has remained silent since then, even after the repairs to the office was all said and done. But given the circumstances, that’s not really something we can look into at the moment. Even with Weiss to help, it’d be better safe than sorry to leave it alone for now since they’re probably gonna be on very high alert since this whole incident. But in the meantime... since the case with Cinder is now over with, Uncle Qrow was able to take time off the following weekend to take Yang and I to see that movie like he promised! And I loved every second of it. Though this would only just be a brief break from what is now my new normal in fighting crime. Meanwhile, we cut to Jacques and Glass.
Jacques: *sigh*”It’s good that Fall is now behind bars, but since she’s destroyed her work, the Atlas council has ordered that we terminate the serum project. And on top of that, the tech she stole has been confiscated for evidence and now those projects have to be terminated too.”
Glass: “At least now things can probably get back to normal.”
Jacques: “Still. This has all made a dent in the Vale branch's reputation. Hence why for the time being, I’ll be remaining here for a while to aid in PR mop up.”
Glass: “If that’s what you think is best.”
Jacques: “Now if you don’t mind, Glass. I’d like to be alone for a while to clear my thoughts.”
Glass: “Of course, sir.” We follow Glass back to a temporary office he uses whenever Jacques is occupying the CEO’s office. And it’s here when he gets a phone call from... Whitley Schnee. Jacques and Willow youngest child and Weiss’ younger brother. “Hello?”
Whitley: “Things have certainly been hectic over there in Vale, haven’t they?”
Glass: “Yes. It’s been a real headache.”
Whitley: “I hope you haven’t forgotten our arrangement. I let you have the resources to work your private projects, and you help me get rid of Weiss in the future so I can have the company.”
Glass: “I haven’t forgotten, but thanks for the reminder. You’re certainly a better fit to lead since young Weiss just wants to do things the way her foolish grandfather did.”
Whitley: “She’s a fool with bleeding heart, just like he was.”
Glass: “However, this incident with Cinder did give me an idea.”
Whitley: “And what’s that?”
Glass: “I’ve been meaning to test all of my current prototypes but there's no way I can do so without drawing attention to myself. But Cinder stealing some of the SDC’s projects gave an idea. My projects are all instruments of destruction, and who better to test them than the vile criminals lingering within this city. All I have to do and keep an eye out on the criminal population and find some perfect candidates.”
Whitley: “Whatever you do to test your trinkets is your business. Just don’t let it affect me or the company in anyway.”
Glass: “Relax. I’ve got it all under control.” He hangs up and looks out over the city out the window. “Prepare yourself, Vale. Because the Tinkerer is about to make his mark.” Meanwhile, in another office across the city in a building labeled Malachite Tower. We see a large blonde-haired woman named Mary Malachite at her desk smoking a cigarette through a cigarette holder. And in front of her are her twin daughters, Melanie and Miltiades. Both having green eyes and black hair, Melanie have long hair and wearing white and really light blue clothes, while Miltia has short hair and wear red and black clothes.
Melanie: “The Red Succubus has been convicted and sent to the Vault, Mother.”
Miltia: “But it was all because of that new Scarlet Spider character.” The two girls also sound exactly the same.
Malachite: *sigh*”Things were bad enough with the Reaper fellow getting involved in my business. But then we started getting other ‘heroes’ making trouble for our men and followers out on the streets.” Speaking in a southern accent. “You two keep yer eyes out on this little spider, and make sure to stay absolutely discreet about it. I’ll see if I can get some cooperation from our friends in the Maggia.” Her daughters just bow to her like you would a queen.
Melanie & Miltia: “Yes, Mother.”
Malachite: “Very good. You’re dismissed.” They both leave the room, and she finishes up her cigarette. “Looks like I’m gonna be a bit busy for quite a while. But no matter. After all, this city is long overdue for a bit of exterminatin’. And the Queenpin plans to deliver.” As she gives a sinister grin.