It was sudden, and extremely violent. Jake was punched, at least, that's what Amon Chrollo thought. He had been given an easy assignment by his father. A chance to get some form of recognition in their merc group. Kidnapping a kid and a woman was easy. Nothing he hadn't done before. Even if one of the targets was a huntress, it was no problem.
...Usually.
*CRAAAACK!*
The sound was a result of Jake hitting a tree, the weight and force of his body slamming into it made it snap like a twig. He had aura, so that hit didn't outright kill him.
Amon carefully reassessed the threat in front of him and eyes his squad. Jake landed behind him, but he felt like turning his back to the woman in front of them would be a grave mistake. The danger he felt wasn't only from the fact that Jake had been smacked through a tree. For some reason, the woman in question looked different than the image he had received for reference.
He was sure she had fewer Faunus features. She was guessed to be some sort of black mamba snake Faunus. So why did she have horns? Why did she have wings? These questions felt heavier than they should have.
"Winchester! Suppress her! Hawk! Look for an opportunity." Amon ordered, ignoring the rising feeling of unease within.
"Hah! Mulch, comin' right up." Robin Winchester, the heavy, aimed his machinegun and began a full auto ammo dump, straight at the calmly aporoaching Yin.
"Keep an eye on her aura reading at all times, I wanna know how much she can really...." Amon felt his throat dry as he watched Robin unload his gun into Yin.
She hadn't bothered to move. Not even speeding up her walking pace. She walked straight through the machine gun fire and approached Robin. Her hand grabbed the glowing heatshield on the weapon and bent it backwards, successfully destroying half of his weapon.
"Still in the green.." Hawk stated gravely.
"How..? He uses top quality fire dust.. Fuck! Jake, get up!" Amon ordered, picking Blake up on his shoulder and running over to Jake, who was currently coughing and wheezing, with his arm covering his right ribs.
"LT.. I'm out of aura.." *COUGH*
Amon's eyes widened incredulously. He knew the hit was hard. One that would eat up a significant amount of aura. But to completely deplete it?
"Tch.. Fucking useless. Haw-" *CRUNCH!*
The visceral sound of Robin's right kneecap shattering, along with his aura stopped his next question from coming out.
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!! LT!! HELP! MY FUCKING KNEE!!" Robin screamed in agony, holding his right leg, which had been ruthlessly and brutally stomped on by Yin. The knee cap had been pulverized, along with the muscles surrounding it.
"LT..!" Ignoring Robin's weeping and cries for help, Amon realized.
The almost bored look on her face, the casual brutality she was displaying as she rotated her heel into Robin's severely damaged leg. Then there was the ease at which she had dispatched Huntsmen level fighters. Amon couldn't suppress his shaking. While Hawk had been looking at him with what must have been pleading eyes.
"H-Hold her back.. We'll come back for you." Amon ordered Jake and Robin, who looked at him as if he'd just given them a death sentence.
"N-No.. LT!" Jake staggered to his feet as Hawk and Amon began running through the dark forest, away from Yin.
"It'll take about three hours to get to shore at that pace. Unless they have a speed semblance. Do they?" Yin casually asked Jake, unbothered by the fact that Robin had separated his weapon into a revolver and aimed at her in desperation.
*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*
The third shot was caught in Yin's sharp teeth, the fire dust fizzling out slowly as the light began to dim. Yin batted away his revolver and grabbed onto Robin's lower face, picking him up in one hand. After a good look at him, she immediately recognized his features.
"Winchester huh? I thought a rich family could afford better quality fire dust but I guess not. It tasted awful." Yin spat out the fizzling bullet as complete darkness overtook them.
"Speaking of taste though.. Wanna know what death tastes like?" Robin heard her ask quietly before his mouth was pried open and a searing agony overtook him.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"
From his tongue, to his stomach, he felt an extreme heat burn him from the inside. The scorching heat left no part of him untouched, even climbing into his head and popping his eyes from within their sockets. His fingers uselessly clawing at his darkening flesh as he was incinerated from within, then dropped to the ground as a burnt husk. His empty sockets carrying still burning blue embers within.
Yin turned to where Jake had been. Only, he had immediately started running as soon as Yin held up their three-hundred pound member with one hand.
"Ah if only they all attacked at once.." Yin huffed in a mix of amusement and annoyance.
*Huff*
Amon was sprinting through the forest, using Hawk to lead the way. He cursed under his breath, wishing to go back in time and take Blake quicker. Fortunately for him, she wasn't really squirming or making things difficult. All she was doing was... staring behind him..
"LT! Wa-Wait..!" Jake cried out from behind.
"I TOLD YOU TO HOLD HER OFF!!" Amon screamed furiously, almost stopping right there to go discipline his subordinate.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"
But the terrifying scream immediately erased that desire.
"Shit.. Shit! SHIT! HAWK! Can you set a trap!?" Amon asked, avoiding stray branches as he sprinted.
"I have proximity mines and grenades!" Hawk shouted back.
"Fucking plant them! Raze this fucking forest to the ground!" Amon orderered aggressively.
"But I'm leading us out! She's going to catch up if I stop and plant them!" Hawk retorted.
Amon looked to Jake, who became increasingly pale.
"Give the charges to Jake! Plant them all or I swear to fuck.. I'll shoot you right here." Amon ordered with a snarl.
"Ah.." Blake gasped, earning the attention of Amon.
Looking back, he immediately knew why. There, above the treeline, framed by the broken moon and night sky, was Yin. She was very quickly descending upon them. But for a brief moment, they both thought the same thing.
'Beautiful..'
*CRASH!*
Until she landed a few meters behind them, her glowing serpentine eyes fixated on them all, like a predator locking onto prey. Hawk immediately threw the bag into Jake's hands and continued to run much faster.
Jake caught the bag, immediately fumbling with the locks as his run slowed to a jog. His sweaty fingers failing to unlatch the bag only added to the terror he was feeling.
"With skills like those I can tell. You're used to disappointing women, aren't you?" Mockery was the last thing he heard before his face was smashed into the floor, then dragged along the dirt, stones and brush until the front of his body was shredded away. Like he had been the victim of a giant cheese grater.
Jake stumbled and gurgled a bit before collapsing from shock and trauma. Yin then picked up the bag with a wicked smile and started to sprint.
"....I don't hear an explosion." Hawk muttered, almost sounding on the verge of tears.
"He bought us time.. How long do we have until we get to the boat?" Amon asked gravely.
"Two and a half hours.." Hawk replied, hearing Amon stop.
"Then it's useless. She's going to pick us off one by one. We'll hold this one hostage until she arrives.." Amon set Blake down, feeling a light gust of wind fly past them as he set her against a tree.
"She has to possess a speed Semblance.. There's no way she could catch up otherwise. Not this easily. Read her aura level out loud to me as soon as she appears." Amon ordered, mechashifting his weapon into its Guandao form.
"....? HAWK! Respond!" Amon turned to Hawk, who was just standing there, staring in his direction with a blank expression.
Then, his body began to fall to pieces. Like perfectly cut meat, his limbs and torso separated, as if cut by an extremely sharp knife. Amon stared in abject terror as his last subordinate met a gruesome end. His legs shakily stepped back as he observed the quiet forest. Then he remembered his one saving grace, Blake. But as soon as he turned to grab her, she was already gone.
*Pat~*
He felt his shoulder gently pat from behind. His throat seized, his eyes watered and body froze as he stared at the ground.
"I'll ask. You answer with a yes or no. Understood?" The oddly casual voice of Yin rung right beside his ear.
"...Yes."
"Good. Chrollo?" Yin asked.
"..Yes."
"Hired by whom? SDC?"
"Yes.."
"Good boy. Last words?" Amon immediately began to run, ignoring how wet his pants suddely became. Leaving behind his weapon. He ran as fast as he could, to flee the monster that so easily broke him and his entire squad in less than an hour.
A quick, heavy force slammed into his back. Just like Jake, she punched him. Only, it wasn't just once. She had been so fast, three punches seemed like one. Amon's body flew through the rainforest, his aura only breaking as his body tumbled through bushes and branches. Still, he got up and continued to flee.
Panting, he tried his hardest to run anywhere Yin wasn't.
*BOOOM*
A small blue explosion shattered his teeth and scorched his tongue as Yin's hand grabbed his face, forcing a small amount of fire magic into his open mouth. Nearly unconscious, she dragged half of his face through the ground and tossed him against a tree.
With half of his face scratched off, his mouth suffering from the explosion and intense burns, Amon fell to his knees.
"Last.. words?" Yin asked once more, to a now more broken man.
"My... fabily... wond led.. you... go..! Sh..tronger... dhan.. I" Amon angrily spat.
"Good. Because if this was all they'd offer me? I'd be bored to death." Yin replied before cutting him to pieces with 'Mana Claws' as she did with Hawk.
"Man.. That other guy's aura must have been rank C or below.." Yin huffed, returning to Blake.
She assumed she would be more terrified, or disgusted. But when she returned, Blake hugged her tight. Her face squished into her chest as she took in deep breaths.
"Thank you... Thank you.." Yin heard Blake mutter, her grip tightening.
"Well.. I suppose this isn't bad either." Yin mused, petting the top of her head, as she often did to Shia.
"I'm sorry... I was scared for stupid reasons. I should have known better. It's not what you are that matters. It's the content of your character." Blake looked up, wiping away her tears.
"I have a lot to learn. But I'll get strong too. So that... something like this never happens again. I'll stand beside you, one day." Blake declared, with a determined fire in her eyes.
Yin simply stared down at her. Blake's fearless eyes and will gave her a new, undeniable attractiveness. She liked this kind of development. She started to consider something she hadn't before.
Bestowing someone else with her blood. The blood of dragons turned mere mortals into legendary heroes. In all likeliness, hers could do the same. But that was a decision she still had time to make.
"I'd be happy if you did. For now, let's get back. The meeting's been disrupted thanks to this." Yin pet Blake's ears this time, leading her away from the carnage she had inflicted.
"...Oh! Sorry.. This will probably be an issue when really establishing Menagerie, right?" Blake asked, worriedly.
"If it gets out, yes. But I doubt Chrollo and SDC want to reveal this. It could lead us into future conflict with Atlas, sure.. But they'd definitely be investigated for even coming here." Yin smirked.
"Now's the time to officially begin unifying. Then, we can talk about my needs." Yin added, confusing Blake.
"What.. would you need after that?" Blake tentatively asked.
"Recognizing the Branwen as a clan. Mistral would never, given our history. Atlas wants us dead. Vale would be.. difficult. And Vacuo is a damn near free-for-all. This way is way more beneficial for both the Branwen and Menagerie. I have big plans, Blake." Yin declared, cheerfully.
"Ah, but you should focus on your earlier pledge. To get strong enough. Train, and when you turn seventeen..? Go to Beacon. Trust me." Blake nodded, feeling a budding inner warmth as a result from her words.
"Things will start to come together there, Blakey. And I'll reunite with my better half too.." Yin muttered the last part.
But Blake's thoughts practically crashed into a wall.
'BETTER HALF!!? SHE HAS A LOVER!?'
[AN: Rey drew this lineart of her Dragon form. Pretty sick ngl]