Chapter 5

As the the last of the suns rays disappeared over the horizon, the fractured moon would rise once again, though the beauty of the night sky would have drawn his direct attention almost any other time, Xavier's focus was squarely on the two teenagers that were perched on the rooftop across from him. Stakeout missions were always particularly long and boring, but he wondered what exactly they were looking out for, and so would close his eyes once more, extending his senses to a longer range than he was used to. To say that scoping out the entire warehouse was taxing would be an understatement, however, there were a pair of powerful auras that caught his attention.

The first felt like a ball of fire, moreso than the usual nature of aura, in fact it had a similar shape to Yangs... Though was different in many ways. Whereas hers felt like a comforting warmth that could grow intense, this one felt like a wildfire hungry for more fuel. The second one felt like... Rage. That was the only word that came to mind, a barely contained rage. However... Something was off, there seemed to be a void that attempted to smother both. Xavier's head started to hurt in attempting to make sense of it, so he opened his eyes once more... To find a pair of golden eyes staring right back at him.

"What. Are. You. Doing. Here." Came the harsh whisper, each word delivered with venom and intent by none other than Blake. Xavier rubbed his temples, wondering to himself how exactly she managed to sneak up on him... Nevertheless, he had a response ready.

"me?" He questioned in a likewise accusatory whisper. "neither of you are supposed to leave campus this weekend,"

"So you followed us?" She hissed under her breath. Xavier shook his head.

"don't act like you didn't sneak aboard the same bulkhead,"

"And you waited four hours to say anything!?" At this point, she was fuming, seriously attempting to not yell at him. Xavier sighed.

"first, what the hell are you doing here? second, how did you find me?" Blake's ear twitched, and she shook her head.

"I don't owe you an explanation..." She attempted to turn her back... But soon sighed and looked over her shoulder. "Faunus have excellent night vision, and you really should leave before-"

She would be cut off by the sound of a loud impact of metal on metal, followed by gunfire. Blake and Xavier both rushed towards the now open skylight that showed the main floor of the warehouse, only to find Sun inside... And fighting against what appeared to be an advanced mech suit, while being shot at by a bunch of similarly dressed goons. He would make his way to the scaffolding after acrobatically launching himself from his mechanized opponent's arm.

"Yo! A little help here?"

Xavier and Blake looked at each other briefly before Sun launched himself back downward... Only to be quite literally backhanded out of the warehouse, and through a wall as he was splayed out onto the docks. Xavier quickly grabbed hold of Blake's arm, getting to his feet and running towards the next nearest rooftop just before the gunfire started in their direction. They would both take a flying leap onto the next roof, with Blake landing gracefully and Xavier rolling back onto his feet a bit less so. He gave a small laugh before dusting himself off and quickly adjusting his clothing. "so... want that thing in tact or destroyed?"

Blake finally snapped at him. "Sun could be seriously hurt and you're joking!?"

Xavier shook his head. "wasn't a joke, so destroyed it is..." He unsheathed his knife, only to have his hand grabbed by Blake.

"Do you even have a plan!?" She asked with serious concern, he was half tempted to throw the question back in her face, though instead he would shrug it off.

"it's a giant robot, take out the pilot and you're golden, ...if you wanna grab sun i can do crowd control?" Blake... Didn't seem opposed to the idea, though would motion for him to follow before giving an answer as she ran back towards the direction Sun was flying in. They both reached the edge of the roof before leaping off towards the docks, Blake would land on the ground and rush towards Sun, who at this point was attempting to fight off the various uniformed goons that threatened to surround him. Taking the best opportunity he could for a surprise attack, Xavier launched himself off the roof after her... Attempting to drive his blade straight through the cockpit glass of the mech suit.

The cockpit bent slightly... but that was all. The glass being thick, and top notch ballistic, built like a tank... Or whatever the remnant version of a tank was, because clearly things were rougher here. And coming at it like a cannonball was eventually going to be effective, but more had to be done it seemed. The mech pulled a fist inwards to throw a punch over it's own front in the hopes of removing him, before Gambol Shroud wrapped around his midsection, a hearty pull yanking him away.

"Watch out... This thing isn't like a grimm at all..." She sounded... off. There was an underlying tone of fear, but Blake wasn't hesitating or losing her cool in the slightest. Xavier nodded before they both jumped out of the way of the mechanized fist that was headed towards them, which embedded itself for a few seconds inside of a giant shipping crate.

"no kidding!" He said through a laugh, more impressed than anything that the mech survived the impact. "everyone step back, this one's mine!" He called out to the others. Xavier would quickly jump up a few crates as the mech was trained fully onto him, after getting as high as he could, Xavier launched himself, jumping high and gathering a good bit of his energy into his left hand, which began to glow with white light, sparking with power. After a brief moment's concentration, he would launch the white-hot blast at the machine with a harsh cry...

Only for the blast to be brought to a halt by what appeared to be a shield made of light dust. Xavier's stunned expression spoke volumes before he readied himself for the inevitable counter attack... Only to be pulled away by a clone of Sun launching itself over the mech to tackle him against the crates, narrowly avoiding the impact of a robotic fist entirely. Sun would then appear beside him as the clone vanished. "No way! Who says you're gonna take this thing on your own?" While he was very obviously enjoying this, Sun jumped up, bouncing off Xavier's shoulders like Mario abandoning Yoshi, landing on top of the mech and using his semblance to get three men working on opening the top hatch.

"what the- GET OUT OF THE WAY!" That idiot, he had to hold back if... know what? Screw holding back right now. Xavier's power flared up again. "great seer bless my rng... fraymotif: song of silly summoning!" A blue light appeared from his free hand and coalesced into... A scythe with a head made of black flames. He grinned wide as he lunged towards the arm that was coming after Sun. "spectral slash!" It wasn't a clean cut, but it went deep enough that, with his momentum, the arm was torn back and would struggle to rise again.

Content to continue using him for momentum, Blake wrapped her weapon around his, using his sudden torque of a slash to launch herself back towards the action, Following up with another more targeted slash to remove the arm entirely, landing on the ground and jumping back from the Mech's feet as it stumbled, now off balance. "Go help Sun!" She pointed upwards. Teamwork was definitely a quality Xavier would need to work on, at least as far as Huntsmen went.

He wanted to immediately shout that he rather obviously had this but... The last thing he needed was for her to be mad at him too. The scythe disappeared and in its place came... A spear that crackled with electric energy. Once he hit the ground, he used the momentum to catapult himself into the air, calling for Sun to grab on as he went higher, spinning a few times before letting the spear go with the monkey man attached, right towards the cockpit.

He twirled in the air, and then, to show off a bit, let go of the spear and fell in a 'kicked back' position, with his arms behind his head and his legs crossed, holding the spear in his tail as he fell, before stepping up to stomp it down with his foot, jamming it against the lock for the hatch and electrocuting it, allowing his two clones to pop it open! Inside was a rather intimidating presence.

The spear would disappear and he would draw his knife to contend with the remaining arm attempting to hold it back long enough for Sun to grab the bastard out of the suit and go. And damn did he hope there were more to fight after this... His power was depleted but he felt like he was just getting started. But not so fast! Blake wrapped her weapon around the arm of the mech, pulling herself in to kick the cockpit's cover entirely off, before the upper part of the mech began wildly spinning, a deluge of wind dust pushing all the combatants back away!

A flurry of petals dashed from the nearest warehouse and straight towards Blake. Ruby would appear from the flurry, having caught her teammate and quickly setting Blake back on her feet before asking "What’d I miss?"

Xavier hit the ground and bounced up before he landed on his feet and threw up a quick antigrav field to catch Sun. Then dropping him somewhat unceremoniously. "giant robot, lots of goons, not sure what else," He looked back up at the mech and seemed to pull... A card, but not just any card, a card with a big 00 on the front. He grinned and it turned into a giant white sword. He then found the card for his giant black sword and rushed forward in a blur, sinking the black blade into one of the legs. "sun!" He tossed the other hard towards Sun, hoping the monkey Faunus could catch it.

"Hup!" He used his semblance to send himself up into the air, tossing the sword up with him before the two clones threw each other, then him, he then flipped, coming down with a kick onto the sword that buried itself in the mech's left foot. Nailing it to the ground.

Meanwhile, Ruby and Blake gave each other a knowing look. "Ladybug!" Ruby shouted as the faunus hooked her weapon around the spinning arm of the robot, launching herself high into the air to slam down on the sword in the Mech's right foot at the same moment as Sun did, jamming the swords deep into the pavement...

Meanwhile, Ruby flipped Crescent Rose outwards into its fully unfolded position, firing off several shots along with using her semblance... "HAAA!" She started wildly spinning, turning herself into a massive rolling blender wheel, and driving right through the center of the mech to split it in half!

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"...holy shit," And with only a second to spare as the white sword vanished out of existence. He approached to collect his other sword with genuine surprise on his face. "that went... really well, is the pilot still alive?"

"RAH!" The pilot was very much alive, sucker punching Xavier with the back of a very heavy weapon. It was a tall, strong looking man, roughly similar in build to Yatsuhashi, wielding a chainsaw which he thankfully only chose to hit Xavier with the motor end of as he landed back on the ground following his ejection from the mech.

Xavier stumbled forward a bit, but without missing a beat would turn around and rush him, cutting the chainsaw's motor side in half with his knife before lifting up the bigger man by the throat, floating upwards off the ground to compensate for the size difference. "i really don't feel like killing anyone today but you are trying my fucking patience..." Unbeknownst to Xavier in the moment, his eyes glowed bright white and his voice had changed beyond just growing in volume.

That won him probably the only thing that would've been more intimidating. Gambol Shroud's ribbon wrapped around his neck as Blake yanked him back from the other Faunus as hard as she could. "NO!"

He immediately let go as he was pulled back before he saw the look Blake was giving him, and dropped his weapon. Xavier rubbed his eyes and put his hands up, his expression and voice seemingly returning to normal. "blake, hey, ...i was going for fear, i'm not a murderer,"

Ruby and Sun had the upper hand now that the guy was disarmed though... Blake dropping to her knees and letting go of her weapon. "I... I'm sorry, I thought I saw..." She pressed her palms against her eyes, trying to clear the image from her mind as she sat on the pavement...

His eyes immediately widened and he stepped back, able to pretty much picture what she saw. "i- ...i'm sorry, i'm so, so sorry," He looked over to Ruby, seeing that she had taken to subduing the larger Faunus while Sun seemed to be attempting to chase off any remaining thugs still hanging around. He turned back to Blake, not touching her, not getting closer, but... Waiting, for a moment. "blake... i didn't mean to scare you..."

"Well this is embarrassing..." The voice came from the top of a stack of crates, and then laughed a bit. The man came into view as he hopped down from one shipping crate onto another, he dressed in what could only be described as contemporary 30's fashion, his white long coat, black slacks and wing-tipped shoes would have been enough to convince anyone of the criminal stereotype he was putting on full display, but the real kicker was, in fact, the bowler hat that rested on top of his head. The cane that he was twirling as he spoke, along with the lit cigar in his other hand, were just icing on the cake from there. Xavier was frankly stunned that anyone would leave the house looking like this. However, the mystery man before them simply stopped in place, seeming to address the larger faunus that was only barely restrained by Ruby. "I mean it was bad enough before, big guy like you can't take down a coupla kids, but... They're a bunch of crybabies too? I mean it can't be the hardest thing in the world." He closed one eye, dropping the cigar and holding his cane in both hands as he pointed the end right at Blake's head (from a distance of several dozen feet where he was standing, that is) sticking his tongue out to feign great effort, and then jerking his arms in a mock recoil. "Is that so hard?"

Xavier's eyes narrowed in an almost predatory fashion as he slowly stood up, and his expression immediately changed to a thin smile. "well well, a soulless ginger wants to preach about emotions... listen, whoever the hell you are, you look like you crawled out of a terrible gangster movie, and if you point that thing at anyone here again, i'll break it off in your ass," He kept his tone entirely even for that particular exchange, a feat considering the rage that was boiling close to the surface.

"Ooooh, that's scary!" He laughed again, spinning his cane over his shoulders and resting with it behind his head. "Listen kid, if big words worked on me I wouldn't be where I am today. Why don't you tend to your girlfriend and I'll collect my pet."

Ruby growled a little bit, holding onto the mech pilot a bit tighter... He hadn't quite been fully subdued now, so she was holding him around the neck.

"how about instead..." Xavier's eyes glowed white once more as he held his left hand forward. "we'll start with a few bones..." His fingers gently curled in a squeezing motion, which would have grasped the supposed boss of this operation in a strong gravity field all around his body, one that only would have gotten more intense. Except...

"That's better!" He smiled, sarcastically clapping once and seemingly entirely unaffected. "Once again, you don't get where I am picking fights you don't KNOW you can win... Ah, there's some rock-paper-scissors to this isn't there? Let's see... What beats Rouge of Space?" Xavier's eyes immediately returned to their normal state, widening in shock as He smirked. Within the blink of an eye, the gangster closed the gap in an instant, bashing Xavier in the chin with the top of his cane.

"Xavier!" Blake's voice called his attention immediately as he scrambled to his feet from the impact, picking up his weapon, only to see that she had been ensnared in hers. Gambol Shroud's ribbon bound her hands and body, before finally coming to rest around her neck, the gun hilt being held by a shorter woman dressed no less fancifully from her ginger counterpart. Her own hair was flowing and pink, and her heterochromia showed one eye that was a rich brown while the other matched the shade of her hair. Both, however, were fixed on Xavier, alongside a venomous smile that dared him to do anything at all.

In the span of a few seconds, the haunting silence let him think, contemplate how quickly the situation had shifted, and how much they were on the back foot now. This was bad, more than bad. "how- ...how do you know that name?" He asked through gritted teeth, carefully attempting to weigh his options, but something stood out immediately. "everyone be on your guard! he's using illusions!"

"Perceptive..." The ginger man quickly lashed out, his cane splitting apart to reveal a wire connecting the two segments, and giving him some range to attack Xavier, who received a harsh blow across the face before he could properly react. He growled under his breath as he looked squarely into the eyes of his assailant.

"if you're looking to piss me off, you've succeeded..." Xavier felt the impact, rubbing his jaw as he got a good look around, with few good options. Sun was likewise attempting to strategize from a distance, most likely concerned with Blake and not wanting to draw attention before he could attempt to rescue her. Blake herself seemed to be caught in the grip of fear, or else incapable of using her Semblance to escape, and Ruby would get hurt by her supposed captive if he didn't do something quick. He needed more time. "here's what's going to happen, you let her go, and i let you run," He knew that cane was a split second from firing something at him, dust most likely, time to see if he can absorb it... "otherwise, i'm going to show you why illusions don't work on me,"

"Illusions are so uncouth... REAL power is all I play with~" He smirked, the weapon not firing, but rather recoiling, Roman pulling himself back towards Xavier, who nearly reflexively threw a straight punch... With one punch, the ginger man shattered around his hand like so many shards of glass, and his fist that was meant for Xavier would be replaced with the tip of the pink-haired woman's umbrella, Smiling smugly at him as she tapped the button on the handle to pierce his clothes with the long metal blade hidden in the top, stinging deep into his thigh not unlike a bee. A really, really, REALLY large bee.

Xavier immediately winced in pain, his eyes opening wide before his glare finds Neo. "...i'm gonna give you one more chance, since apparently a lesson in self-control is the letter of the day," A bluff, and a fairly empty one from his position as Xavier struggled to vocalize it through gritted teeth and the pain that followed. Now he had something else to deal with: Blood loss. If he couldn't find a moment to fix his leg, on top of everything else... Regardless, his right hand threw a quick jab toward the woman. FOOMP. His hand was deflected by her simply forcing the umbrella open, as the brim was far harder than your average parasol. Pulling her blade back and doing a few backflips to create some space between them...

In the meantime, Sun had pulled back to make sure Blake was okay, attempting to undo the binding around her, though it wouldn't be easy, especially to avoid hurting her. The gangster, however, seemed more than amused by all of this, laughing hard at Xavier's wounded display of dropping to one knee. "Bravo~!" he slow clapped, Appearing again on top of the crates that they had first seen him. "You know, I don't think you'd ever really know what strength is if in the back of your mind you're always thinking about just packing it all up and leaving the world for another. Don't you hero types usually say that real strength is more than just how hard you can hit? Because that's all you seem to have going for you!" He raised his cane, popping the bottom off and firing a large, charged shot of fire dust, looking to end this with a bang. Xavier, on the other hand, saw the opportunity he had been waiting for.

He held his hand out and the shot slowed to a crawl... Before detonating. The explosion, however, had very little impact as it seemed to disappear into the palm of Xavier's hand as it went off, just as quick as the flash of light it would have been. And now, now he was something beyond pissed off. Opening his eyes and slowly rising to his feet once more, Xavier's eyes glowed bright orange as he felt renewed vigor flowing through his limbs, the order of operations now was plain as day, but it wouldn't be that easy. The moment the explosion went of, the pink-haired woman was back in his face, tracing her umbrella blade from his foot up his thigh all the way to his belt, seemingly trying to cut his pants off. Whatever her plan, Xavier wasn't having it. With a downward gesture she quickly felt the strain of several G's acting on her body, and it forced her almost to her knees. And now was the time to make a command decision... Time to fight smart, not hard. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and no doubt taking a few more cuts in the process as she fought against the gravity field. Go time. He began his maneuver by snapping his fingers, disappearing in a flash of blue light and teleporting forward to deliver a harsh blow to the struggling white fang member in Ruby's grip, a kick to the jaw that seemed to knock him out cold as his body slumped to the ground. Secondly then, he would teleport back to give the woman a harsh kick backwards, she stumbled back and out of the gravitational field. Finally, it was over to Blake, a third flash of light before he appeared in front of her, grasping Gambol Shroud and snapping his fingers once more as to turn intangible with the weapon in hand. That didn't last long, but long enough to get it off of her... With Blake having been rescued, Ruby safe and the others still in fighting shape, now he was tired, oh and losing blood pretty fast. He fell to one knee as he went to uncaptchalogue his faygo.

The gangster applauded. "Beautiful! Man, you gotta love a juggling act! How about I throw you one more ball~" His partner had fallen to the ground after being kicked that hard, but bounced back to her feet as soon as she possibly could, giving a scowl to Xavier once he'd managed to get the better of her. She decided to pay him back by going pretty low... Stealing his Faygo and lifting her foot as high as she could to deliver an axe kick between the legs... Just before Sun could get a good shot at her, the ginger fired his cane off again, wrapping around his partner's outstretched arm and dragging her back up to him... Amid the chaos of the fight, the noise of a small VTOL jet lowering itself above the two criminals wasn't exactly noticeable, and while Sun fired a few potshots at it in anger, there wasn't the time to truly act as the gangster used his cane to lift them both towards the ship and out of reach. "Unfortunately, it looks like we're all out of time! Let's pick this up later, though... I'm sure we haven't seen the last of you, yadda yadda yadda..."

Xavier immediately tried to crush the aircraft they were on with a gravity field but... Just didn't have the power for it, so instead settled on flipping the bird as they flew away... Oh, right, a lot of blood loss. The ground looks pretty nice doesn't it?