Ch. 12 First Battle pt. 2

Derek sits back onto his heels as he falls forward, unable to keep himself up.

Junior drops to his knees beside Derek. He places his right arm across Derek's chest to catch him. Junior brings Derek backwards and uses his left arm as back support so Derek can lean against him without driving the katana further through his chest. "Shit… Derek… This isn't…. You weren't supposed to die so soon" A mixture of emotions boil inside Junior. His voice barely able to not waver.

Derek weakly smiles. "Oh? You… even planned out… when I die?" He weakly jokes as he coughs blood and it splatters onto Juniors face, white dress shirt, and black vest.

Junior looks down at Derek. The beaten and broken body of a strong old man. "Derek-"

"I know…" Derek takes in shallow breaths. "But as much as I want to talk about how you were like a son…. I have to tell you… two secrets of a dying… old man"

Junior wants to tell Derek to stop talking to save his energy. But it's too cliché and at this point it doesn't matter. Derek didn't have much time.

Derek's grip on the blade through his chest weakens. "It's Lavi… her father isn't Bole…"

"I know. Bole was infertile" Junior hasn't told anyone what he dug up on Earl. He had to do that research on his own. Earl Bole may have played around with young women, but he was shooting blanks. Did Derek find her real father?

"Exactly… but her father… it's me. She's from Vacuo. Her mother looked just like her… Lavi's last name…" Derek coughs blood and Junior sits him forward so he can cough it out, and there's a lot.

Junior holds his dying second-in-command in his arms. "Her full name. It's Lavi Blaize…"

Derek spits some saliva which is nearly all blood. "Yeah. I didn't know until Lavi and I… spent more time to-together. Her mother had long red hair… fox ears… a true vixen…." Derek looks at nothing as he pictures Lavi's mother. "It did break my heart. Hearing about what she was forced to resort to do… to protect Lavi… while I… I didn't even know I had a daughter"

Junior shakes his head. "Old man, you're an idiot" He doesn't understand why Derek kept this hidden, but knows it was probably to hard for the guy to just jump into Lavi's life as her father after he found it out.

"Yeah" Derek's voice is barely at a whisper now. "And the last thing…"

Junior feels the blood soaking into his pants and pooling beneath the old man.

"… Your father… secrets… even more…" Derek puts his hand on Junior's right hand. "Beneath the desk"

Derek gives a thumbs up. "Lavi should… be… soon…"

Junior figures Derek messaged her or some shit. "Thank you… for everything Derek. For everything you've done"

Derek's thumb slightly goes down with his arm. "Sorry I… couldn't help you more… Boss… Hei 'Junior' Xiong… sir"

Junior feels tears welling up and making it hard to see. Derek was more of a father than his biological father had actually ever been. Derek is the one that was there for him. Got him out of jail before he was 18 and took the body over. And young Junior talked to Derek more than his father due to Hei Xiong sr. always being busy.

Derek and Junior practically spent the past 3 years together almost every day… or something close to it. Junior remembers everything Derek did, both for him and the Xiong family.

Derek's eyes look up at the ceiling as his arm rests on his chest. "Break… one… rule" Derek drops his arm onto Netherlight.

Junior leans down to Derek's ear and faintly whispers: "My goals, plans, and everything I've done. It's all to save the world, that's the end goal I have been working towards. Your daughter will mourn your death, but will live on thanks to your training. You were a hard working, dedicated, strong, brave, and loyal man Derek Blaize. I couldn't have asked more from you. If you see the Gods, tell them I said hello again"

After saying his words Junior sits back up and looks into Derek's darkening eyes. A small smile on the old man's face as a lone tear falls down his face. The blood trickling down from his nose and mouth to his facial hair. The broken right arm and other injuries littering his body. The white tie died red.

Junior holds Derek with his right arm and takes the katana out. He then lays Derek's body down on the ground. He puts his hand over Derek's eyes and closes them.

"That was so touching!" Aragog shouts. "What did you whisper to him? That you will see him soon?"

Junior stands up and looks down at Derek's body. Derek still has his hand on Netherlight.

"One rule" Junior takes grabs the handle of Netherlight and picks it up in his right hand.

Junior has trained with Netherlight and sparred using it. But hasn't actually brought it into a real fight yet because of that stupid rule. But he has gotten used to using Bazooka and does somewhat enjoy using it. He just resents the fact that Bazooka is his father's weapon.

"Oooooh~! Taking the weapon of a fallen ally! You certainly do know how to put on a good show! But unfortunately…" Aragog narrows her eyes at Junior. "There isn't really much of a reason to keep you whole any longer. I've made you watch your dog die, now I'll be taking some limbs from you" She grins and licks her lips. "I hope you struggle until the end"

Junior looks at the katana in his left hand. It would be ironic to kill them all with it, but having it around is too much of a risk. He puts the tip of the katana into the ground and swings Netherlight at it.

"Beasts! Break Hei Xiong!" Aragog commands.

Junior isn't able to destroy the weapon on the first or second strike. The weapon was well made, but on the third it shatters into shards of metal scrap and they scatter across the dirty floor.

At this point Junior is boiling with rage. He watches as a greataxe comes towards his hips from his right side. Something inside Junior instinctively tells him to not move. Junior blocks the swing with Netherlight as if the axe had no force behind it. He throws the useless katana hilt at Denton as a minor distraction.

The hilt hits the big guy in the face, but his charge with the lance isn't stopped.

Junior holds out his left hand and grabs the tip of the lance. Denton's charge forward instantly stops. And the big guy doesn't move, more like isn't able to.

Junior glares at everyone as he begins to understand his newly awakened semblance. "You are all fucked now"

Aragog is surprised Junior stopped the charging Denton with a single hand and didn't even get pushed back an inch.

Alvaro appears next to Chris who is still using his axe to struggle against Netherlight. But as hard as Chris tries to push Netherlight back it's like he can't push the weapon at all.

Alvaro thrusts his spear at Junior between the clashing weapons.

Suddenly Junior swipes the axe back and it flies back into Alvaro's stomach in an instant without prior warning.

Netherlight barely moved yet it pushed back the greataxe with a large amount of force.

The greataxe and Alvaro are sent back some distance, Chris is dragged along by his hold on the greataxe and lands on Alvaro.

Denton grunts and struggles to move the lance but it's like Junior is an immovable object. No matter how hard he pushes Denton can't make Junior budge.

Raff comes up behind Junior and brings his daggers down towards Junior's shoulders. But suddenly he gets hit hard in the chest.

Junior simply stepped aside and pushed the lance forward. Denton suddenly was able to move again and very obviously missed Junior. He wasn't able to stop and ended up charging into Raff. But Denton moved as fast as he normally would move at his top speed and not as if he was just accelerating.

Sal runs up to Junior and punches him in the face. But all the force behind his punch instantly disappears as soon as he made contact with Junior.

"You will die first" Junior glares at Sal.

The beast ignores the words and repeatedly tries to punch Junior. But Junior simply blocks each punch with the palm of his left hand.

Alvaro and Chris rejoin the fight.

Chris aims to hack at Junior's shoulder and Alvaro aims for Junior's torso.

Junior grabs Sal's fist and ends up swinging him at the blade of the axe and blocking the spear with his sword. This was done at an almost insane speed.

After blocking the attacks Junior quickly performs a half spin. Sal isn't able to resist after taking the greataxe to the back and is swung at Alvaro who isn't able to block or catch Sal's body. And Netherlight crashes into Chris's defenseless chest.

Sal and Alvaro disappear from their spot and get sent to the opposite wall and form a crater upon impact. And Chris gets sent crashing into machinery.

Junior flexes his left hand and shakes it. Using his semblance is like second nature already, but it's still weird using it.

He runs at Denton and Raff, he looks like a blur before he stops in front of Denton.

The big brute isn't able to thrust his lance but brings his fist forward and tries to punch Junior.

But just like Sal, when he meets Junior's left hand all the force behind the punch disappears.

Junior swings Netherlight diagonally up at Denton's wide open left ribs. The sword hits its target and sends the beast crashing into Raff.

Junior turns around and looks at Aragog.

The girl shakes slightly. Then her eyes glow. "I command you to tell me how you got stronger so suddenly!!!" She shrieks.

Junior feels compelled to do so but wills himself to focus on murdering these 5 beasts. He isn't sure exactly what he is capable of but doesn't want to find his limits in the middle of this dangerous situation.

Aragog watches as Junior ignores her and she can't believe it. The first time wasn't a fluke. But she made sure to make Junior listen to her words since the beginning. She can't believe Junior is simply able to just shrugs commands off. "Enough messing around! Kill Hei Xiong!!!"

Chris comes barreling at Junior. He brings his axe around and strikes out. But he doesn't just go for the heavy swing, the beast decides to go for multiple strikes and give time for the others to surround Junior.

Netherlight meets the greataxe each time. Junior grabs Netherlight with both hands and clashes with the beast.

Each clash results in black ripples going across Netherlight, they're very subtle but Aragog notices it. But she isn't able to understand what it means.

The beast doesn't notice the ripples, but it certainly notices that each of its strikes result in its loss. Each time it hits the sword it's strength practically disappears. And it's like Junior didn't even block a heavy hit.

Junior blocks yet another attack, but this time he spots Sal running at him with Raff. After the hit he forces the greataxe up and spins on his left foot as he delivers a side kick. Chris isn't able to defend in time and gets folded as he gets lifted off his feet and kicked back.

Junior aims Netherlight at Sal and the sword shifts open and fire begins moving along the inside of the weapon. The raging fire begins swirling along with some of Juniors black aura.

*Fthwam!*

A projectile rockets out of the swordgun so fast Sal couldn't even react to it.

*Boom!*

Raff gets caught by the explosion and knocked off his feet. He goes sliding along the floor to the side.

Sal took the explosion to the chest and the next thing he knew he was in a wall.

Aragog saw an explosion and then Sal's aura shatter after she sees him embedded into a wall with his prosthetic right hand gone with the rest of his forearm up to his elbow. And the beasts left leg is bent in the opposite direction.

Junior charges at Sal. His speed didn't need to accelerate or anything, he started off at his max speed and only got faster.

Netherlight impales Sal's torso and causes the beast to cough up black blood.

Junior takes Netherlight out of Sal and peeks the body from the wall and throws it down to the floor. He swiftly cuts the head off the beast. "No use risking you coming back for a round 4"

Aragog's eyes widen. Junior just killed one of her beasts, and he's absolutely dominated the other 4. "Hei Xiong! Prepare to die!!!"

Junior turns his attention to the little girl who stands up from the throne.

Aragog grabs the sword next to the throne and points it at Junior. "If I must I will end you by my own ha-"

Junior appears in front of Aragog and grabs her by the throat with his left hand. He leans down over her and glares into her eyes through his broken sunglasses, his dull gray eyes shining as his black aura covers his body. "You can just sit your sorry ass back down and shut the fuck up. I would rip your vocal cords out but I need you to answer some questions later. So be a good little bitch and sit"

Aragog can't resist. She isn't used to fighting, and the fights she has fought were not against someone of Juniors build. He stood nearly 2 feet over her. She hadn't felt true terror like this since she watched her family die….

Junior tosses Aragog's body back into the throne roughly and takes the sword from her hand. It was just a basic longsword but he will just keep it out of Aragog's hands.

He sees the 4 other hulking beasts eminate their dark auras with their purple eyes glaring at him. They make grunts and other noises but look like they're waiting for him to make the first move.

Junior has had enough of this night, this morning, and is ready to end it. He charges down the steps and meets Denton and Chris in a clash. Black ripples go across the swords in Junior's hands as he meets the lance and greataxe.

Alvaro and Raff go behind Junior and both try to get him with their respective weapons. Alvaro uses his spear and Raff uses his daggers.

But Junior just dodges and blocks each attack. For such a big guy, Junior is flexible and able to move quickly. And because of his semblance his speed could potentially make him the fastest in Remnant.

In the center of the 4 brutes Junior is only getting faster as he blocks their attacks. He also starts to deliver his own attacks.

Aragog watches for 2 minutes. The full 2 minutes of a blurry fight she can't imagine to follow. The beasts are fast and strong, but it's like Hei Xiong is getting faster and stronger. She can't comprehend what happened to Hei Xiong, the only explanation could be a semblance. It's either that or magic and that's just a fairy tale. So that leaves a semblance, but what type of semblance allows this?

Junior slams Netherlight into the greataxe with the force of at least 3 blows in one. It completely snaps the head off the greataxe and sends it up into the ceiling. And now Chris is left with a stick.

The other basic sword blocks the daggers and spear with ease. Even if the daggers or spear would normally slide down the edge of the blade they would just stop upon contact with the sword. It made Alvaro and Raff work a lot harder in order to just try and hit Junior.

Junior couldn't deliver a blow to Chris right away due to Alvaro still attacking him. But after Junior blocks 3 attacks from Denton he pools aura around the edge of Netherlight.

And this time when he swings it he unleashes an aura arc that is much denser and faster than the others he had released in the past. It snaps the stick Chris is holding in two and Denton tries to block it but it's futile. The aura arc crashes into Denton and Chris. It shatters Chris's aura and nearly breaks Denton's aura. Both brutes slide back, Chris rolls along the floor while Denton remains standing but clearly isn't holding up too well.

Raff and Alvaro watch as Denton and Chris get blasted. They shout at the top of their lungs and both push their bodies to the limits.

Junior brings Netherlight around and begins pushing Raff and Alvaro back. He throws the basic sword across the room.

As Chris stands up he only sees a flash of a dull gray until his world starts spinning. Blood pours from his neck as his head falls to the ground. The sword Junior three continues moving end over end until it embeds itself into a wall all the way down to its hilt.

Junior blocks a pair of crossed daggers with Netherlight and grabs a spear coming for his throat. He yanks the spear past his head.

Alvaro is pulled forward and before he can try to get away Junior kicks his right kneecap back. The prosthetic can't handle the force of the kick and buckles in and shatters into pieces.

Junior continues to block Raffs strikes and twirls the spear around so the point faces Alvaro who fell to the ground. He drives the spear down onto Alvaro's back hard.

Lucky for the beast, it's aura holds up beneath the great force. But the air in its lungs rushes out and leaves it breathless.

Junior brings the spear up and forces it down twice as hard as the last time.

Alvaro's aura shatters and the spear goes into his back. It even goes through his body and the spearhead digs into the ground, pinning Alvaro to the floor as black blood leaks from his mouth and his left eye stops healing.

Denton makes it back and hits Junior in the back with his lance. Only for it to do basically nothing. It pushes Junior a foot before nothing else happened and Junior turned around and brought Netherlight crashing down atop Denton's skull. Raff took this opportunity and slashed his daggers over Junior's eyes.

Unfortunately for Raff, only one dagger hit. And it only clipped Junior's right eyebrow. It did leave a gash and Junior's aura flashed. But the aura held together and didn't break. Junior engaged Raff as Denton's body hit the ground and the dark aura shatters around him.

Junior shifts Netherlight into its square glaive form and proceeds to masterfully spin the weapon around his body as he blocks and attack simultaneously. If he blocks with the square blade he attacks with the butt of the weapon and vice-versa.

Raff wasn't the strongest or bulkiest of the bunch. He was more of the Dex build and assassin type of sorts. And having to face off against Junior 1v1 it doesn't go well. Especially with Junior's insane speed.

Junior knocks Raffs left hand away and bashes Netherlight under his left shoulder. Raff's dark aura shimmers but doesn't break. He is slightly lifted off the ground and knocked to the side.

Not wasting this chance Junior dashes to where Raff will fall and hits him back into the air. Netherlight crashing into his chest.

Junior begins understanding how to use his energy to enhance his speed and strength. He remembers how in fighting games a character can juggle the enemy in the air repeatedly. So he dashes around on the ground to where Raff will fall and hits the brute back into the air. And a single hit has the force of about 2 behind it.

When Raff finally touches the ground his body is just a pile of human meat and bone shards at that point. Junior severs the head just to be safe as well.

Junior goes over to Alvaro who isn't moving on the ground and also decapitates him just to be safe. He didn't want to risk leaving anything unfinished, and so he goes over to Denton.

The biggest idiot out of the bunch. He is still on the ground unmoving. Junior kicks the lance off to the side and flips Denton onto his back.

"All this, I want you to be awake when I kill you" Junior puts his heel on the chest of the big guy.

He gives a few stomps and eventually the brute wakes up. It instantly tries to get up and attack Junior but it's forced back to the ground.

Junior places his heel over the beasts mouth and watches as it's purple eyes widen. Junior drives his heel down and the metal teeth shatter and go down its throat and into the back of it as well. There is no emotion on Junior's face as he does this, it's just something he wanted to do. And the price was too much on this one.

The beast shouts and roars but Junior just swipes Netherlight and severs it's head. Nothing fancy, just one clean swing.

Netherlight shifts back to its greatsword form and Junior glares over at Aragog who is still on the throne. Not daring to move.

Aragog slightly shakes after seeing Junior decapitate the beasts. "I-I command you! Hei Xiong! Kill yourself!!!" She commands and her eyes glow.

Junior lets Netherlight drag along the ground as he walks over to Aragog.

The girl knows she messed up. And she can't believe that Junior is able to not listen to her now.

Junior gets to the steps leading to the throne. "Good"

Aragog doesn't know what he could mean. "W-what is good?" She tries to back away into the throne as Junior climbs the steps.

"It's good that you wanna talk so much. Because I have a lot of questions that you will answer honestly" Junior gets in front of the throne and stabs Netherlight next to the throne.

Aragog jumps to the other side of the seat from where the sword was stabbed. Shivers going down her spine. "H-how did you beat them…" Her heart shakes as she watches Juniors black aura move over his body.

Junior takes his right hand under her chin and grabs her cheeks with his thumb and other fingers. "I'll tell you only because your life is now forfeit"

Aragog's eyes widen slightly and she tries to pull her head free but Junior just grabs her face harder and lifts it up.

Junior narrows his eyes at the once high-and-mighty girl. "Cmon~ where did all that fight go? Weren't you going to kill me and avenge your family?"

Aragog's brows furrowed and she tries to punch Junior in his stupid red sunglasses. But she only ends up punching his palm and sees the black ripples again.

Junior forcefully lowers her hand back down and punches her in her stomach with his own strength plus the force of her own punch.

Her eyes widen and spittle exits her mouth as she lurches forward and brings her hands over her stomach. Her light purple aura breaks and she can barely breath. She overused her semblance when commanding the beasts and trying to stop Junior and the now dead Derek.

Junior forces her head back up and drives it back against the seat of the throne. "It's my semblance you bitch. Thanks to you I've finally awakened it. I'm not sure what to call it yet, but based on what I've done so far I'd say it's a form of Energy Manipulation. Specifically the kinetic kind. Essentially it's Kinetic Energy Manipulation"

"V-vat… eh ell is that?" Aragog struggles to speak while having Junior squeeze her cheeks together and hold her head up. Her breath finally caught after having it knocked out of her.

Junior grabs a pebble on the throne. "Basically I can decide how fast something moves. Did you not go to bitch school?"

"Y-you didn't eiver" She states back in defiance. She knows Junior didn't go to school either.

Junior can't deny that. However in his past life he graduated college and took a few advanced physics classes that he hated, but now it's likely going to save his life considering what his semblance is. "That doesn't mean I didn't study"

He flicks the pebble across the room. As soon as it left his hand an explosion occurred across the room and part of the wall collapses.

He might have put a bit too much into that one. He turns back to Aragog and she looks like she is about to turn into a ghost.

"Don't worry Aragog. I'm not going to kill you… yet" Junior picks her up by her jaw and cheeks and lifts her from the chair. "You still need to answer my questions. Don't consider yourself with Spider anymore. You only are alive because you have information I want. And if you lie to me I'm sure I can find someone else willing to talk more honestly. You are just the easiest option" Junior holds her up to his height.

Aragog uses her tiny hands to hold onto Junior's right hand. Her feet dangle and struggle from the pain. She hears his words and they crash into her mind like a tidal wave.

Junior grabs the weird three-pointed crown or tiara thing on her head and takes it off. Along with the green jewel holding her cape. He then drops Aragog to the ground and destroys the crown and cape but inspects the green jewel.

Aragog falls directly onto her ass and holds her chin and throat as she looks up at Junior whose aura goes away. She sees him crush her metal headband and toss her cape aside. She also sees him hold onto the jade gem. She tries to back away but nearly falls down the stairs.

Junior reaches down and grabs her by her hair to stop her from falling. He pulls her closer to directly in front of the throne and then let's her hair go.

Aragog didn't scream or shout. But she did wince and grunt. She tried to get Junior to let go but by the time she raised her hands to push his away she was already released.

"Now you answer my questions" Junior sits on the throne. He looks down at the platinum blond girl and takes his sunglasses off. His winds fully healed with only a slight scar on his right eyebrow.

Aragog sits up. "J-just kill me…"

Junior closes his sunglasses and puts them on his collar. "You have more value alive right now. Don't rush things" He considers how to go about this. As much as he wants to kill her to avenge Derek that is useless and stupid. Derek is already gone, plus he already killed the 5 idiot brutes.

"I'll give you 5 minutes" Junior stands up. "If you die who will be alive to remember your family. At least while you live they will be remembered and won't fully be gone. Answer my every single one of my questions truthfully and I might not kill you. But that doesn't mean I'll set you free either. Like I said, your life is forfeit. Lil' Miss Malachite won't save you. The Gods can't save you. Your life is mine to play with now" Junior walks down the steps and goes to the dead body of Sal that is closest.

Aragog is left to her thoughts. She isn't sure what to do anymore. She was ultimately defeated. Her plans crumpled in seconds. And now she… what will happen to her. She doesn't want to die. And what Junior said makes her not want to die more so she can remember her family. She sits there in front of the throne lost in her shattered, twisted, and broken mind.

Junior piles up the dead bodies of the beasts. Then he goes over to Derek's body. He takes the cigarettes and the lighter. He takes a cigarette out and smokes it and flicks the lighter closed.

He doesn't usually smoke often. It's more of a stress reliever to him, but he thinks now is a good time for one… or a few. His aura stops his longs from being damaged by the smoke anyway. Just like how alcohol doesn't hurt his liver long term either.

Junior flicks the lighter open and closed as he walks back to the throne. He gets to the top and Aragog doesn't notice him, she's still lost in her thoughts.

Netherlight is taken back from the stone and aimed at the pile of corpses. Junior makes sure to shoot the fire so it doesn't burn Derek's body.

He sets the beasts bodies ablaze and puts his sword back in the ground. Without looking at the girl he walks back down the steps and goes to find Bazooka. He hates who made it but has come to like using it somewhat. It's not a bad weapon, it's just… complicated.

2 minutes of walking at a casual pace and he finds it in some spiderwebs.

"Jesus" Junior hates spiders, and this room has cemented that fact. He takes Bazooka and goes back to the steps of the throne. He then fires rockets from Bazooka at the various black blood puddles around the room. He doesn't want whatever these guys took to get found by anyone and replicated. That's partially why he is dealing with the terrible stench of burning flesh.

The explosions snapped Aragog out of her thoughts. She turns around and looks down the steps to see that Junior is firing around the room and causing destruction for seemingly no reason. But she doesn't dare question him. The room is still stable enough to not collapse.

Junior has Bazooka in its rocket launcher form on his right shoulder and had his left hand to stabilize it. He takes his left hand off and puts it on his hip. He lifts Bazooka slightly higher and to the side as he doesn't spot any more black blood. Granted it's hard to spot to begin with. But he remembered where he killed and stabbed each of the beasts.

With that taken care of he ascends the steps yet again. He shifts Bazooka into its club form and goes to the throne. He leans Bazooka against the opposite armrest than Netherlight. He sits tall and has his legs shoulder width apart as he looks down at the girls. "Now answer my questions. What is your real name. I don't care for you Spider organization name. And I'm done calling you Aragog"

Junior just doesn't want to picture a giant Harry Potter spider anymore.

The girl sits with her legs to the side. She doesn't raise her head and keeps it lowered. "My name… it was… Pixie Wisteria… Master…"

"No" Junior shakes his head. "No on so many levels" He takes the cigarette from his lips. "You are no longer Pixie. I'll call you Rue, like recluse. At least that's more acceptable. And none of that master business. Just because I decide if you die or not doesn't make me your master or whatever"

Aragog, now called Rue, looks up at Junior with a blank expression as she accepts her fate. "I'll do whatever you want, Hei Xiong. If it means you will let me live I will do whatever you want me to do. You can use my mind and body as you please"

Junior frowns and narrows his eyes in disgust. "I do not care for such things! I hate it when people rape, sexually abuse, or sexually assault another person! I said I wanted information! Not your body! I will not use you in that way!"

Rue places a hand over her chest. "You will not be raping, abusing, or assaulting me. You are not forcing me to do anything. I am giving myself to you to do as you wish. You are a man correct? I will answer any and all your questions. However, what happens after? After I tell you all I know I will not have any use to you so you will kill me. But this way I will still be of use and won't need to kill me. I may not be experienced but I will do my best…" She is also thinking that she can start her own family. But she won't say that otherwise Hei Xiong may get angry and deny her outright.

Junior pinches the bridge of his nose in frustration. His frown still apparent on his face. "You believe you are in any position to try and get out of what you have done? You have not only killed over 50 of my men AND my second-in-command but also dozens of innocent civilians. Not to mention the damage you have done to the buildings in Vale. You think I have a use for a kids body? You make me want to laugh girl"

Rue holds her hands to her lap. She seriously looks at Junior after biting her lip. If she is to tell the truth she may as well start now. "I only regret destroying the innocent families of Vale that got mixed in. I didn't intend for them to get caught up in this-"

"INNOCENT FAMILIES?!" Junior slams the right armrest of the throne and a portion of it breaks off. "My men! The men you killed! They had families! What about them?! The guys had wives and children! And what of the women in the Xiong family that died?! They had husbands and children! They all had Mothers! Fathers! Brothers and sisters! People that cared about them! What about them?!"

Rue recoils back. "I-"

"I do not care for your excuses! This is the reason why I do not care if you live or die! Because to me you are already dead, I only need the information you poses!" Junior rests his right fist back on what is left of the armrest of the throne.

Rue droops her shoulders. "I will tell you everything I know… I was merely expressing the fact that I can still be of use after…"

Junior puts his hands on the arms rests and leans to the left. "What did you give those 5 idiots? And how much is made?"

Rue glances back at the burning pile and then turns back to Junior. "It was a solution with a special type of dust and various medicinal extracts. I don't think it had a name. No more has been made and no more can ever be made again. The dust used was found in an ancient tomb and nothing else like it has been found again. I made it when I found it in the ruins along with a book that described the materials needed. I couldn't find the correct plants so I just got what looked like the pictures…"

Junior glares at her. Rue doesn't seem to be lying. "Where is this book now?"

"I destroyed it" Rue tries to shrink away. "If anyone else got their hands on something like that…" She shakes her head. "Nobody knows about this either besides you and me. I didn't even tell Lil' Miss Malachite"

Junior leans forward. "So you knew that it would destroy their minds? And you figured your semblance would just allow you to control them? What if it didn't work?"

Rue holds her arms. "I planned on running out of the room while they dealt with you. I would have then collapsed this room and building after I left"

"Is that what these machines are? Explosive devices?" Junior looks at the machines covered in spider webs. Some are completely destroyed.

"Not exactly" Rue looks at the machines. "The machines are connected to a remote device and to the buildings supports. With the press of a button I would have made sure the idiots stayed down here"

"Why didn't you just lure me down here and then drop the building on my head? We're very deep underground right now. There's no way for me to have survived" Junior doesn't understand this whole thing.

"Because I wanted to watch you suffer a long and painful death. Just letting it end so quickly wouldn't have made me feel better" Rue closes her eyes.

Junior just decides to chalk it up to her being a psychopath. "How old were you when your parents and brother died?"

Rue opens her eyes. "I was… 8 years old. And I've spent the last 13 years trying to think of ways to get back at your father. But when I came back to Vale I found out he was already dead 3 years ago. So I changed my plan for your father to you"

"So you thought blowing up my father's favorite businesses was a good way to get him out of his office? Shit, if that would have worked I might have done that when I was 15" Junior sighs. "My father would definitely have been angry. But he would have just hired people to fix the problem and get rid of you without leaving his damned office"

"W-what?" Rue is confused. "Wouldn't he have taken his men and stormed his way down here?"

"Maybe in the past before I was born. He ran things differently as he got older. He was about… 50? When he died. He stopped going out when he 35? I rarely saw him as I was growing up. And whenever I did he would reprimand me for my actions, no matter what I did. So your plan wouldn't have worked since the beginning. And the office my father stayed in is so protected you'd have to blow up half of Vale's industrial district to MAYBE get inside" Junior catches himself monologuing about his damn father. He mentally kicks himself and gets back to the topic.

"But Lil' Miss Malachite said…" Rue grips her arms tightly.

"What DID she say?" Junior commands.

Rue quickly looks up at Junior. "She was the one that told me what buildings I should hit. She supplied me with the resources to get the explosives and manpower. She is also the one that trained me and took me in when I was younger…"

"How did you find the 5 bald idiots?" Junior is interested in this bit right here.

"I…" Rue glances at the smoldering corpses and pile of ash. "They were recommended for me to recruit. She apparently had someone train them and give them gear. Obviously she cheated out on that part…"

"And you just happened to only have 5 syringes?" Junior glares at Rue.

The girl quickly nods her head. "Yes!" She quickly defends herself. "I only had a small amount of that mixture and I evenly put it into the syringes… although one of them did have a little extra in it because I didn't want any left over to deal with afterwards"

"So you destroyed the book after reading it and making the mixture. And then you made it yourself and forced 5 buffoons to inject it into themselves without testing it prior" Junior tries to get this straight.

Rue's gaze fall to the side. "Well… I did test it out on a squirrel. I then forced the squirrel to drown itself afterwards"

Junior weirdly looks at Rue. "You gave a steroid dust healing drug to an ordinary squirrel? And then forced it to drown itself?"

"Well when you put it like that it makes it sounds almost stupid. I had to test it out and I didn't want to have a berserker human to deal with. The 5 idiots could have dealt with that squirrel if I couldn't still control it after the substance was injected" Rue defends herself like it was common sense to test it before she used it on humans.

"Whatever" Junior waves those questions away. Basically all evidence of this is basically gone. Just depends on what other info is out there floating around Remnant. "How exactly does your semblance work?"

Rue studies Netherlight with fake interest. "My semblance is 'Absolute Command'. The longer someone listens to my voice the more compelled they are to listen to what I tell them to do. That is why I am surprised you were able to resist my semblance"

"Do you know the weakness to your semblance?" Junior wonders if she will answer, and what the answer really is.

Rue sits still. "My semblance requires me to talk to the person or animal before I can activate it. And based on how long they have listened to my voice will determine how strong of a hold I have on them. And the person can ignore my commands if they are able to overcome it… but that is extremely rare and you are the first person to outright ignore one of my commands. People have resisted before, but you completely ignored me"

"When did your semblance awaken?" Junior looks towards Derek's body. He will have to end this soon.

Rue tightens her hold on her arms. "13 years ago…."

"So when your family was killed. When you were 8" Junior can't believe this girl is as old as he is.

"Yes… it is how I was able to get free. When they were about to….. I commanded them to let me go and they did. Then I used my semblance to leave and one of the people from Spider rescued me. They trained me and gave me a purpose and a promise of revenge in the future…" Rue doesn't begin crying but Junior can tell that she wants to.

"You will come back to the Xiong families base of operations. You WILL tell me all of the Spiders here in Vale. And I will pick the rest of your brain later" Junior knows the members of Spider in Vale, he just wants to make sure he gets them all when he cleans them out.

Rue looks into Junior's eyes with slight hope. "Does that mean you still have a use for me?"

Junior grabs Netherlight and stands up. He puts the blade against her chest. "For now. But as soon as I even think you are trying to harm the Xiong family in any capacity I will end you without a second thought"

Rue puts her hands on the blade and pushes it further against her chest. Her hands getting cut on the blade. "I will not do that. I am yours Hei Xiong"

Junior really wonders how this girl got such a bad case of stockholm syndrome. "At least you understand that much"

"What are you doing?" A quiet but familiar voice sounds out next to Junior.

He turns to his left where Netherlight used to be stabbed next to the throne and sees Lavi standing there in her black pants and red jacket with a long black scarf and red hat. Her weapon condensed into a backpack over her right shoulder.

"Lavi" Junior takes the blade away from Rue and shifts it into its suitcase form. He then hands it to Lavi. "I need you to take this girl to one of the extra rooms in our building and lock her inside. She is an ex-member of Spider and is only alive because she has potentially valuable information"

Lavi takes Netherlight in its suitcase form in one hand. She looks at Junior's beatup clothes and pinches her nose. "What is that terrible smell? And what happened to you? Where is Derek-"

Junior takes Lavi's hat and brings it down over her eyes. He also reaches down and forcefully makes Rue stand up. "Stop asking questions Lavi. Just take this girl back and don't let anyone talk to her. I'll be back later today hopefully. Now leave"

Lavi pouts under the hat covering her face. She puts her hand on Rue's shoulder and gets ready to use her semblance. "Yes sir"

Junior hears her pouty voice and the next second she's gone along with Rue and Netherlight. He sits back down in the chair and sets his elbows down on the armrests and interlocks his fingers. Junior looks down at the dead bodies below him and the broken machinery around the room. He wonders how there was so much spider webs. He didn't ask if Rue was a Human or a Faunus. But he really didn't care.

After a few minutes he takes his scroll out and messages for everyone to return back to Vale when they get the chance. Everyone knows Derek and he plans to have a decent funeral for the man. Junior knows Derek wouldn't want anything big and fancy. But Junior plans on having the upper family at least be there for his burial.

And after 15 minutes of him trying to write a message to everyone he feels people with aura appear above him. Due to the distance they are underground it made it difficult to sense their auras. His own slowly recovering at a decent pace.

Junior takes his sunglasses from his collar and puts them on. He's able to tell that the auras belong to A huntsman or huntress. The others are minor. Probably one or three cops that have their aura unlocked.

After 5 minutes Junior sees a woman in her early 30s walk through the entrance and exit.

The woman is blond and has green eyes that try and pierce Junior all the way across the room. Her long blond hair is tied up into a bun on the back of her head with some curls hanging down the right side of her face. She has small ocular glasses on. She is wearing a white long sleeve pleated top. A black high waisted pencil skirt covers down to her mid-thighs. Brown stockings cover her legs that aren't covered by her skirt or her black high heeled boots. She also has a cape that is black on the outside and purple on the inside, the cape is designed to end in various spots that resemble flames and arrows. Her weapon of choice is questionable since it is a riding crop that is basically a short flexible whip with some stiffness to it.

Junior sees the woman walk in and feels a mixture of emotions. He sits up tall in his seat and smiles confidently and cockily.

The woman's nose scrunches up and she looks at the pile of ashes and sees the dead body of Derek and then glares at Junior. "Why is it that I'm not surprised you are here Hei Xiong"

Junior honestly hasn't met her before and is quite shocked she knows his name just from his face. How about he gives a bit of shock back. "I don't know what you mean. But I'll say it's no surprise the Huntsmen and Vale police took their damn sweet time getting here as usual. But I'm glad you decided to finally show up, Glynda"