Take Over (2)
"Agh!" Having armoured Military Vehicles with mounted weapons made a difference. Although The Madfalls had a home-field advantage, they were outgunned and outnumbered. L2 gave precise orders as he spoke through a scroll to the White Fang. "Ignore dealing with the center of the Manor, don't try and push through. Focus on the right and left-wing and break through their ranks."
With the two of them handling things outside, the White Fang was slowly making progress. While inside the Manor, Shen was creating a vicious cyclone of red. His practice with Neo paired with the Quirk he had originally thought was useless was showing. His movements almost seemed unreal as he was able to attack and defend at the same time.
"Gah!" Piercing through the heads of two guards at once, Shen pulled it back as he spun it around his waist. "Die!" Charging towards Shen from behind the Dust blade that gave off a cold chill. "Heh." Catching Gae Bolg that had spun around his waist, Shen didn't bother turning his head as he used the back end to pierce behind him.
The guard was run through without the chance to even get close as Shen pulled Gae Bolg from his stomach and spun it to get rid of the blood. Turning around, he saw Neo finishing off her last enemy as well. He didn't have a chance to fight back as she disarmed him with a single kick and then hooked his clothes with her umbrella.
"Agh!" Before he knew what was happening, he lifted off his feet and threw out of a nearby window. There was a slight smile on her face as she saw him fall. They were on the second floor of the Manor, making their way to the third, so there was no way he would survive without Aura. 'Seems like Neo is quite the sadist.'
Pulling out his scroll, he contacted L1 and L2 outside of the manor. "Sir?" They immediately answered as he gave them orders. "These guys aren't worth anything, so don't bother sparing anyone. The only ones that need to be left alive are those who seem to be in charge," Hearing Shen, they responded. "Understood."
Closing the scroll, Shen held Gae Bolg over his shoulders as he continued to make his way down the hall with Neo following behind him. As the two made their way towards the stairs leading to the third and final floor, there were over twenty guards at the ready. "This hallway is the only way they can get to the boss. Just hold here and fire when you spot them."
One of them, who was clearly in charge gave out orders before turning around and entering the room they were guarding. Inside, a man was sitting at his desk with his hands pressed together and his head down. "Boss, at this rate, the men are going to get slaughtered. They are already pushing towards the east and west wing of the Manor, and apparently, two are inside heading this way."
The Leader of The Madfalls didn't respond as hands tightened around one another. "Boss, maybe we should just surr-" Before he could finish speaking, he heard a heavy slam. "No! Do you have any idea how long it took me to reach this point! Our very foundation is built on the dust in the basement under us! If we lose, that we're done for!"
He was breathing heavily as he fell back in his seat. "All we have to do is hold out for a bit longer. I've already called for assistance from a few of our allies. We've done good business with them in the past so they should help us. If we can just last a bit longer, then we can deal with the White Fang and the Purple Lotus."
Outside of the room's doors, the twenty guards with their guns ready suddenly heard footsteps. But they were frantic and rapid. Running into the hallway, two of their own were stumbling over their own feet. They looked as if they were scared beyond belief. "They're coming! They're right around the corner!"
As the two ran behind the group as the guards who were already there prepared to open fire. They were so focused In fact, they didn't notice the two 'Terrified Guards' slowly had their appearances change and unfold. "Your semblance really is too useful." Shen smiled as all of the guards they were behind heard their voices.
But by then, it was too late. Inside the room, both the boss and the person who was in charge of security suddenly heard screams and brief gunshots before silence. "What was that?" The boss of The Madfalls looked at the double doors as they slowly opened. Both of them saw all twenty of the guards they had outside dead lying on the ground staining everything with blood.
"Finally got here. You sure do hide behind a lot of security." Shen spoke casually as the man in charge of security grit his teeth. "Dam, you!" Raising his fist, he charged at Shen. Neo's eyes glanced over him as a hint of annoyance appeared on her face. Stepping forward, she spun around and kicked the man in the face with the back of her heel.
His nose was completely broken as he fell to the ground. Shen continued to look at the Madfalls boss as he took a step forward, placing his foot onto the man's chest. His chest immediately began to give as his ribs cracked, and he clawed at Shen's leg. "Stop it-" The boss of the Madfalls tried to say something, but it was too late.
A crack echoed through the room as he stopped moving, and his body went limp. "Damn you! Why are you attacking us! We had a fairly good relationship with the Purple Lotus! Taupher should have told you we would gladly work with the White Fang!" He yelled at both of them as Neo's gaze turned dark.
She reached to take the blade out of her umbrella but was stopped when Shen put his hand in front of her. "Why would I bother bargaining with you when I can just take what I want?" Hearing that, the boss of the Madfalls couldn't truly argue. "Listen, I'll surrender alright we can end casualties on both sides, and we can work together."
Shen gave a playful smile as he walked up to the boss of the Madfalls. In response, the boss immediately jumped from his chair and took steps back before hitting the wall. "Oh, but I'm not interested in your business. And besides, your offer doesn't hold merit. Your much more useful to me dead." Hearing that, suddenly, a look of fear appeared on the boss's face.
"But first, I want to experiment a bit." Shen's words sounded icy as he turned to look at Neo. "I need to borrow your illusions for a moment." Neo looked confused as she walked up to Shen. He began whispering something to her as her eyes widened a bit and looked at Shen. He nodded, causing her to look back at the boss of the Madfalls.
"What are you-" He couldn't say a word as Shen suddenly grabbed him by the throat and lifted him slightly. A purple aura began coating Shen's hand as he spoke. "Don't worry. This should only take a minute. Neo if you would." Surprisingly enough, Neo had a smile on her face, the same one she had when she threw that guard out the window.
Using her semblance, her appearance began to change. The boss of the Madfalls had fear welling up in his eyes as he let out a choked scream. Only five minutes after that, both L1 and L2 received a message from Shen. "Their boss has been taken care of. Begin wrapping things up." At this point, the White Fang had already invaded deep into the Manor.
Even as the remaining few tried to surrender, they were mowed down by the White Fang due to Shen's orders. In the end, there were slight casualties on the White Fang's side but nothing too notable. After another ten minutes, the fighting was officially over. Heading upstairs to the third floor, both L1 and L2 walked into the room down the main hall.
Shen sat in the chair behind the desk while Neo was in the corner. Right next to Shen was a body; however, it was hard to tell who it was. Clearly, it had been subjugated to torture, although what kind was undefinable. And even more surprisingly, the person was still alive but seemed unable to move. 'Seems like breaking a person's spirit does count as defeat in the eyes of the System. Good to know.'
Once L1 and L2 arrived in front of the desk, Shen stood up from the chair. "I want all the Dust they have carried out and loaded into the trucks. Bring it back to the Purple Lotus and distribute it as 75%, 25%. The latter will be moved into the Cargo Trucks we have stationed outside the city."
They didn't question why but immediately began to act on Shen's orders, transferring them down the chain of command. Throughout the Manor, members of the White Fang where talking amongst one another. "Is it just me, or was this really easy? I don't remember the last time a Raid went so well." Another one nodded in agreement.
"Your right apparently, High Officer Shen and that weird girl took care of most of the guards in the Manor alone."
"Really? That's incredible…"
"Hey, you two, did you see all that Dust in the basement? Apparently, we're taking all of it, so get moving." Under the Manor, cases upon cases of Dust were stacked on top of one another or loaded in crates. "Woah, I can't believe we got this much in a single day. High Officer Shen is really amazing. At this rate, we may actually take over Kuchinashi."
"Definitely no wonder the Branch Leader sent him here and trusted him so much." Slowly but surely, Shen's impression amongst the White Fang was improving immensely. In the end, results spoke louder than words, and Shen planned on utilizing that. When everything was fully loaded into the trucks, Shen told them to burn down the Manor before leaving.
Once more, news began to spread about the White Fang in Kuchinashi City. In the time frame of less than a week, they had taken down two fairly large Criminal Organizations. One had completely submitted, and the other was raided and burned to the ground. At this point, no one could ignore the fact the White Fang had just taken a fairly large monopoly of Dust and Military Vehicles in the city.
Sitting down on the couch in that meeting room within the Purple Lotus's HQ, Shen relaxed. 'This should be a good enough start. All I have to do now is wait for her response.' On the table in front of him was Shen's scroll. It has just sent a message to White Fang Branch Leader in Mistral, Sienna.
Meanwhile, in the city itself, Torchwick was talking to someone within The Hedges. He was keeping his part of the bargain up, searching for information when it came to Cinder. "Oh, Neo, your back. News has already spread about what he did to the Madfalls." Ending his conversation with the vendor, Neo handed him a piece of paper.
"Hmm, this is all you were able to gather? Hmm, usually, you're a little more proficient. But I suppose he was probably careful around you." The paper contained a list of things Neo had learned about Shen and potential weaknesses. However, the list is fairly short, and one thing, in particular, caught Torchwick's eyes.
Actually, it wasn't one thing in particular but in total. He knew Neo's personality and also was used to how concise she was. However, there was a hint of something within Neo's writing. 'Respect?' He had never met someone Neo respected, not even a little aside from himself. So he was surprised when he found hints of it in her writing.
'Maybe lending Neo to him wasn't a good idea after all.'