3 Chapter 3

Many days came and went, and in those new days came challenges that pushed Aaron to his limits. Aaron quickly came to the conclusion that the past eight months was literal hell on earth.

The White Fang were no joke, taking their training incredibly seriously, even to hilarious degrees. The uncomfortable pulsing of his muscles was what greeted Aaron after a day's session, and it would only get worse as the training grew in difficulty. However despite it being horrible, it did pay off. His high adaptability set him apart from the other new recruits, and after impressing the higher-ups with his improved marksmanship he was quickly given a veteran member to shadow. He'd be paired with them for an undisclosed time, until he was ready to take up missions on his own of course.

Aaron didn't meet his partner until five days leading up to his first mission, something that incredibly bugged him, since no one gave him the full detail considering it. All Aaron knew were the bare bones, something about a corporate executive of the Schnee Dust Company hiding information. As Aaron laid waste to the targets in one of the many training rooms, he began to contemplate on how exactly the mission would go and what his partner was like.

Aaron hardened his grasp around the augmented bow in his left hand, chest rising and falling as the damaged targets were quickly replaced with new ones. He waited in the silence of the empty room with only his heartbeat to fill the void. In a flash wooden targets rose up from the ground, sending Aaron in action. His large and muscular body dove and dashed, showing a surprising amount of agility for someone of his caliber. Aaron couldn't count how many times people have asked him how he moved the way he did. Some people just couldn't comprehend that a tall and intimidating figure could hold much grace. To be honest Aaron didn't either, but that didn't deter him in the slightest. He had the affinity for attacking from afar, close combat was messy, and while he had been in a few fights he never enjoyed it. So as he dealt with the wooden targets with his bow, he lost himself in it. It was the only other thing he had left from home, and he wouldn't let the skill go to waste.

The last arrow from his quiver ran true, hitting its mark on another arrow, before running right through.

Bullseye.

Aaron smiled to himself, appreciating his work for a few seconds, before heading over to retrieve his arrows. As he neared the first target he stopped, hand frozen in the air. His ears perked up sharply. Someone was in the room with him.

Aaron didn't hesitate as he turned, instincts on high alert, when his eyes laid on a figure leaning lazily on the doorway. It was a man at least a few inches taller than he was, with straight fiery red hair and a cut lip. The one thing that stood out from his appearance was his striking green eye, the other one was covered up underneath a grey eyepatch. His clothes, although trendy in appearance, looked as if he'd just thrown them on. A long tail, as equally as red as his hair, swished slowly side to side, with it's long straight hair dangerously close to the floor. The two of them stared at each other for what seemed like a while before the taller one made his move. He stepped off from the doorway and raised his tattooed hand. With a tinge of laziness he traced intricate symbols in the air, tapping his fingers to the side of his head before he stopped, waiting for a response. It took the man a few more tries before Aaron fully understood what he meant.

This man couldn't hear, he's deaf!

Aaron could feel his face heat up in embarrassment, which only incited a wild smirk from the man before him. To try to make up for his obliviousness, Aaron did his best attempt at signing back to him, even though he sucked at it. He'd learned it from his mother, after seeing her talk with an elderly neighbor on one occasion. He'd thought it looked cool and basically begged her to teach it to him. Too bad his seven year old self didn't have the patience for it. It was a funny moment for Aaron as the two of them communicated, with each mess up on Aaron's part generating an amused snort from his newly acquainted friend. Surprisingly or unsurprisingly, that new friend of his turned out to be his partner. His name was Jackson Markey, a 25 year old huntsman gone rogue, and strangely enough he was a horse faunus.

The rest of those days before the mission was the two of them getting to know each other, along with Jackson doing the best he could to explain the situation to Aaron. The Schnee Dust Company was no stranger to corrupt executives, many of them were the heads of their own factories, lying about in their piles of Lien as their workers worked themselves to death. Apparently The White Fang got ahold of information from an unspecified source about an executive, by the name of Huan Porras, with alleged links to a number of faunus trafficking rings. The allegations are serious, as much as the horrible details, and if they were exposed to be true then The Schnee Dust Company could get major backlash against them. Aaron and Jackson were tasked with infiltrating Porra's headquarters to try and find any incriminating evidence, and report back. But if by chance Porra's happened to be there, the higher ups were eager to turn a blind eye if anything were to happen to the man. Jackson seemed eager at the idea, while Aaron remained unsure.

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On the evening of the mission, Aaron spent what was left of his time staring at a black suitcase on his bed. Shortly after he joined The White Fang he was gifted a small apartment for him and his sister, all equipped with running water, electricity and heat. Though he was extremely grateful for what the organization had done for him, he knew that this meant he was in debt to them. The only way that he could keep this apartment was to do missions, he knew this, so why was he still having doubts? Aaron stared at the open suitcase, eyes gazing over the dark uniform inside it. It wasn't your standard White Fang uniform, instead it was handcrafted for stealth. Aaron lifted the black mask with his hands, gingerly thumbing the faint red grim design. It certainly was more intimidating than the regular half masks the other soldiers wore,and hugged his face snugly.

"Brother?" Emilia's voice called from behind his bedroom door. Aaron quickly deposited the mask into the suitcase before walking towards the door, opening it to see his sister staring impatiently at him.

"What's wrong?" He asked. Emilia grabbed Aaron's free arm by the wrist, jerking it in the direction of their small kitchen.

"Food. Now!" She demanded, enunciating each word with vigor. Aaron felt as if someone had punched him in the gut. How in the world could he have forgotten to feed his sister?! Aaron was quick to apologize, rushing over to the kitchen to prepare whatever leftovers they had from last night. After a short while dinner was finally ready, and the two of them quickly sat to eat around the small dinner table. Aaron watched his sister fork down her food with a bemused smile, even as the thought of the mission lingered behind in his head. The moment was severed when the small scroll in his pocket rumbled.

"What now?" He grumbled, opening it to see fully. There was a message from Jackson that read:

// Rendezvous at the meeting spot in fifty minutes //

Aaron's eyes widened. "Fifty minutes?!" He breathed. Aaron looked up to see Emilia still focused on her food. He'd really hate to leave the girl behind, but what choice did he have? He couldn't bring her with him!

Aaron sighed, pushing the chair he sat on away from the table before standing. He took his empty plate into the kitchen to clean before trudging back out. Emilia stared at him with confused eyes, sauce splattered all over her cheeks. He cleaned her face with a napkin before breaking the news to her. Of course Emilia was upset, afraid to be left alone by herself, however Aaron reassured her. He pulled her into a tight hug, ruffling the hair on top of her head, before giving her his winning smile.

"I promise I'll make it up to you," He began. "How we go on an ice cream adventure tomorrow?"

"Ice cream adventure?!" Emilia beamed, eyes sparkling. Aaron nodded, extending a pinky finger for Emilia to shake. She looked at his pinky for what seemed like an eternity, before linking her small one with his.

"Deal? " She asked.

"Deal." Aaron confirmed, shaking their pinkied in one motion. Their deal was sealed.

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Aaron got dressed and ready in record time, leaving the house with thirty minutes to spare. By the time he met up with Jackson the day was leaning heavily on twilight, which made perfect conditions for them to slip by undetected The Vale headquarters for the Shinra Dust Company was big, but not as big as some other buildings in Vale. However, what made up for its size was it's security.

Aaron and Jackson crouched from their vantage point, on top of a tall building right across the empty street. Guards were posted in front of the gates, in the front courtyard, and others high above ground in watch towers. Jackson analized the area with his binoculars before passing it over to Aaron. He signed to Aaron that there were at least thirty guards posted, who knew how many there were inside. Jackson stood to his full height, rolling his shoulders as he brandished his weapons. They were dual black batons shaped as tonfa, Aaron noted how similar they looked to the type the police used. Jackson signed to him, telling him to disable the watchtower guards by any means necessary.

"Got it." Aaron mumbled to himself as he pulled out his trusty bow. He could feel Jackson's confused eyes on him. Aaron shrugged playfully at the other. What could he say? Guns weren't just as fun as bows. Jackson rolled his eye before leaving Aaron to his own devices, scaling down the side of the building into darkness. Aaron focused onto his bow as he took a deep breath to calm his nerves. His eyes caught his partner's figure as he darted across the street. The man was fast, probably as fast as himself if he wasn't careful. Though Jackson's whole body had more meat than his, his legs were another story. They looked like they were built to take heavy damage and deal it back to anyone unfortunate enough to be in their path. I guess being a horse faunus gave some sense to it.

Jackson didn't bother focusing on the guards watching the gate, instead hopping over the fence in one jump. Aaron was surprised he didn't make any noise, but when he vanished out of sight Aaron knew he had to focus. Jackson could deal with the guards on the ground with no problem, the only problem for him would be the ones stationed high in those watchtowers. Aaron pulled an arrow out from his quiver. It wasn't the ones that he used regularly, instead it was one with a small compartment of dust installed inside of it. He had many of these custom made for any situation. These ones in particular were shock arrows, introducing a healthy amount of electricity to its victim to knock them out.

He sighed as he pulled back the bowstring, arrow balancing in his pointer finger. The bow's scope came to life, locking onto its first target in it's night vision. Aaron never needed it, as he could see fine at night without it, but he never complained. It only helped more than it hurt. Aaron waited three beats before he made his move, letting go of the arrow to watch it fly. It sped through the at a high velocity, catching it's starget by surprise. The arrowhead opened up into a three fingered claw, latching onto the guards armour, as it delivered the electric shock. Even from his position Aaron saw the guard go down and not get back up.

"One down, five to go." He smirked. Aaron made quick work with the other guards, and before he knew it, the whole courtyard was silent. Aaron waited a few seconds, before determining that it was safe to cross. He fired a grappling arrow at the nearest structure, before sliding down the line using his bow as a handle. He dropped to the ground once he was close, rolling to a stop before taking a look around. Jackson stood in front of the front entrance with the security cameras on each side destroyed. He held up a stolen key card to the card reader by the side of the door, smiling as the reader gave him the green light. The automatic doors opened revealing three sets of shocked guards as Jackson rushed in. Aaron cursed as caught up running through the doors to see the chaos inside. It was clear that the guards were no match, missing each swing of their weapons to a that was way to fast for them to keep up. Jackson delivered a brutal sequence of hits to one, sending the poor soul flying into one of his friends. Jackson's baton cracked against the head of another and then another, before all of the guards laid unconscious.

Aaron couldn't help but stare in shock at the sight, the guy was just too good! If he could just give Aaron a few pointers Aaron was sure he'd be better than how is was then. The boy walked over to the other, as jackson typed away at his scroll. Aaron tapped him twice on the shoulder to signify his presence, and Jackson gave the other a brief glance before signaling for Aaron to follow him. As the two approached the elevator, Jackson pulled out the building layout on his scroll. Porra's main office was on the sixth floor and was likely to be guarded by betterly trained soldiers. On the floor right above it was the housed the surveillance room. One of them had to go in and take care of the security cams to make sure no one would see them. Jackson advised that he'd be the one to go and take out the security, which left for Aaron to deal with the guards on the sixth floor. Unsurprisingly Aaron was horrified at the idea, but Jackson reminded him with a heated glare that he was more than capable of handling them. It was what Aaron signed up for after all, and if it came down to killing then so be it. Even as the doors to the sixth floor opened, Aaron still wasn't sure if he could do it.

The elevator chime brought the attention to one guard stationed down the hallway. As the man made his way over to the disturbance, he was quickly greeted with a muscled arm wrapped around his neck. Aaron pulled the other close, powering through the panicked gasps and punches until the guard fell silent. Once the coast was clear he carefully laid the guard down, checking his pulse at the slim chance he might've killed him. Aaron was relieved when he felt it. He made sure to hide the man's body in the janitor's closet before sneaking down further into the darkness. It took him a few minutes to find where he was going, but even so he made sure to make his movements as quiet as possible. Not too long after that Aaron reached a turn, and after poking his head around to peek, he saw his future destination. The executive's office was dead center in the hallway, with two gigantic guards posted on either side. It was no secret that they were robots, but by their new and sleek design he suspected that they'd might be a prototype of some sort. In fact he had seen that design before, in a news report about Atlas' military.

Aaron quickly went for one of his arrows as he got into position. There were only two options that he could think of for this situation. One would be to go in guns blazing, but Aaron didn't feel like getting his ass kicked in. So instead of that he opted with shooting one of them with his shock arrows. Even though it was inevitable that they'd find out about him, at least he had one less enemy to worry about.

"Here goes nothing!" He chirped, releasing the arrow into the air. It hit the nearest on the side of its head. The sudden electrical burst fried its circuits, allowing the hulking mass of metal to collapse to the floor in a heap. The second guard went into action, brandishing it's arms into dual revolving guns. It's all black body hid in the shadows except for the red highlights on it's face and chestplate.

< INTRUDER REVEAL YOURSELF OR FACE TERMINATION >

It's robotic voice echoed against the hall's walls, causing a bead of sweat to fall down Aaron's cheek. Gun fire wasn't the easiest thing to avoid, one minor slip up could devolve into a world of hurt. Aaron didn't want that, but as he pressed himself against the wall, he knew that he had to move.

Aaron practically threw himself out into the open, jumping onto the side of the wall as bullets sped past him in waves. The robot tried to angle it's aim, only catching the after image of Aaron, before it was met with a boot to the face. The metal caved in under the foots pressure, nearly ripping the head out from its place. Aaron landed in a crouch, only standing after the robot's body fell with a loud clunk.

"Glad that's over-ack!" Aaron hissed, taking a look down at his left calf. Under the blue light of the moon was a bullet wound that cleaved right through his pant leg and flesh. His blood was flowing freely, creating a small stream down the rest of his leg and to the floor. Aaron ignored the pain as much as he could, approaching the double doors to the executive's office. His gloved hands carefully tried the door handles, but they refused, obviously.

"Wonderful." Aaron growled. Seeing that there was no other way in than force he slammed his shoulder against the wooden door, hard. With a woosh of air the doors opened, slamming against the inner walls at the force of Aaron's action.

The room was as anyone would expect a Shnee executives room to be, big, lavish, and with an oversaturation of blue and white. Aaron took a brief look around the room, noting a door to the right that seemed to lead to a private bathroom.

"That's excessive." Aaron snorted as he made his way to an expertly crafted executive desk. Laid out on the top were neatly stacked papers and magazines, standing in the middle was a rather large desktop computer. Aaron wasn't the brightest around technology, but luckily he had the exact tool for this situation, or at least that's what he thought. Aaron rummaged through his utility belt again, feeling his heart starting to sink as his fingers didn't find what he wanted. His teeth worried at his lip as his eyes scoured the room in no particular direction.

The USB Port! WHERE WAS IT?!

Jackson had gave him a usb stick to stick into the computer. The technical gargan mostly went over Aaron's head, but he was glad that he had something that would make his job easier. Now he lost it, and with each second he dreaded the appearance of his partner. Unluckily for him, Jackson waltzed right in at that moment. Aaron jumped up, hands behind his back, trying extremely hard to not appear anxious. But by the look on Jackson's face, he knew that he was failing. It took Aaron all of his strength to sign to Jackson his mistake, and as he waited for the other's response he was surprised to see Jackson's eye to roll in annoyance. Aaron almost took a step. Jackson wasn't mad?

Though the other's body language spoke total nonchalance, his eyes were another story. Aaron could clearly tell that Jackson was angry, but when Jackson revealed the USB port in his hand, Aaron realized that it was just a look of disappointment. It was Jackson's way for telling Aaron to not screw up again, and Aaron understood that. As Jackson walked up to the computer, he pointed Aaron in the direction of the open doors. He wanted Aaron to keep watch.

"Yessir!" Aaron chirked, mocking a salute as he began his walk over, nearly stumbling from the sudden pain in his left calf. It seemed that he forgot all about his little injury. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Jackson analyzing his bullet wound with a mix of curiosity and frustration. Even with the limited emotion the other showed on his vace it was clear that Aaron was going to get reprimanded once the mission was over. For what? Aaron didn't know. So he leaned against one of the opened doors just out of the doorway, watching Jackson work from afar. Aaron's tail swished to the side as his eyes fixated on the way Jackson's face scrunches up in front of the computer screen. Even from the short time he knew the man, it was weird seeing his bored face scrunch up with emotion. Aaron smiled to himself, in some ways he saw his father in the man, although he would never admit that.

However the simple moment was interrupted by something only Aaron's ear could detect, footsteps. They were small, hesitant, but determined, and that caused him to stiffen. Jackson must have noticed that something was up, because he ducked out of sight. The footsteps were too close for Aaron to move and not alert his presence so he settled to stay were he was, clutching the bow in his hand like a club as he raised it up high. His eyes locked onto the open doorway, contrilling his breath as a shadow of a person caught against the moon's light. It was another guard, much younger than the ones Aaron and Jackson took down, and completely oblivious to what was going to happen next.

Aaron took the chance as soon as the other was within striking distance, chopping down with a force aimed not to kill, but to incapacitate. However the guard faster, faster than Aaron had expected. The bullet rang out from the guards gun, grazing Aaron's cheek as he dodged in the nick of time. The whole room slowed down, with the guards face frozen in shock and Aaron's face stiffening with relief. However he couldn't celebrate yet, because his mask clattered to the floor, and because the guard's eyes caught his face. Aaron quickly tackled the guard to the floor, pressing his face into the floor, but the damage was done. The mission was already tricky as it was, he didn't want for it to escalate as it was.

The two of them watched as Jackson rose up from behind the desk, apprehension on Aaron's part and fear in the others. In the back of Aaron's mind he already made the conclusion on how this was going to end, but he didn't want to acknowledge it. So keeping the rest of his weight on the guard below him, Aaron signed at Jackson, asking what he should do. Jackson's eyes never left Aaron as he pulled the USB out of the computer slot, he didn't have tell the other anything for him to get the message. Even so, Aaron was less than pleased. The guard was getting restless from underneath him, trying desperately to shove the faunus off. Aaron ignored the stream of curses from the guard's mouth as he looked into his eyes. The conversation he had back with the White Fang recruiter came back into his head. Her message was clear as day, echoing throughout Aaron's mind. Even though his heart told him not to, it was for the greater good. He had his sister to take care of, and if it meant killing for her then so be it. Aaron took one last look at the guard from underneath him as his hands found his neck.

"S-Sorry about this." Aaron muttered. The guards hands clawed against his murderer in desperation, his pleas for mercy transforming into incoherent gurgles. With a tight squeeze his screams went as quickly as they came, and Aaron watched the other's hands fell limply to his sides. The guards neck tilted upward at an awkward angle, staring into Aaron's eyes in frozen horror. Aaron released the body from his hands like it was hot lava, grimacing slightly as the head cracked against the floor.

The pregnant pause left Aaron stunned.The human's neck had crumbled easily underneath his grip, and for some reason it felt...good. Aaron wanted to throw up at the sudden thought, what was he thinking?! Finding any sort of joy from an action like that crossed so many lines that-that it made his skin crawl. Aaron's hands gripped his arms tightly, going white knuckled as he tried to get the thoughts from out of his head. He wasn't a bad person, he couldn't have been! It was just an unfortunate event and nothing more! Hot tears escaped his eyelids, trailing down his chin to drip onto the body below him.

"I-It's not my fault.." He gasped. "It's not..."

Even as Jackson forced him to his feet, it was still hard to move. It took Jackson three good pulls for it to work. Only after they cleaned up what was left of the crime scene did they leave, letting the guards body waist away on the cold unforgiving floor.

Jackson made no attempt at conversation during the travel home, Aaron was grateful for that. Emilia was sound asleep by the time Aaron returned, which gave him the perfect opportunity to shed the clothing that suddenly felt so disgusting to wear. Aaron stood under the hot shower for a while, not caring that his calf ached, or that the hot water left red splotches on his skin. Even after he addressed his gunshot wound and put on his night clothes, the blank eyes of that guard came back to him. Aaron laid on top of the covers of his bed, pulling his knees to his chest. He stayed like that for the rest of the night.

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