As Ruby watched the scene unfold, a surge of conflicting emotions ran through her. Part of her wanted to cheer Shizuo on as he toyed with Roman's life—after all, the man had caused so much chaos and suffering. But another part of her knew things weren't that simple. Watching Shizuo toy with Roman, she found herself smiling, a mixture of relief and satisfaction creeping over her.
"This really does put a smile on my face."
Ruby muttered to herself, a little surprised by her own words.
Tsune, standing beside her, glanced at Ruby.
"Is he going to be fine down there by himself?"
Ruby didn't even flinch, her eyes still glued to Shizuo.
"He'll be fine. I'm more interested in how Roman still acts all high and mighty, even with our man holding him by the throat."
Down below, Shizuo whispered something to Roman, too quietly for Ruby or anyone else to hear. Roman glanced at his wristwatch and scanned the area. His minions were gone, the cargo had been secured, and the White Fang had taken the brunt of the losses.
"That's a yes on my part, boss."
Roman whispered back, his usual smugness returning.
Shizuo nodded slightly.
"Good. I'll make a scene, and Neo will handle your escape. Got that, Torchwick?"
"Crystal clear, boss."
Roman whispered.
Then, Shizuo turned his attention to the White Fang members surrounding them. His eyes narrowed in disdain as he addressed them.
"You know, I'm kind of disappointed. The White Fang used to stand for something. But now? You're nothing but 'rabid animals' working with human criminals. How far you've fallen."
One of the faunus, clearly agitated, stepped forward.
"Who the hell are you to call us 'rabid animals'? We earn respect through strength!"
Roman, barely able to suppress a laugh, muttered.
"This guy's going to get himself killed talking about strength to him."
Shizuo smirked, releasing his hold on Roman.
"Stay here, Roman. I think it's time to remind the White Fang of the pecking order around here."
Before Roman could protest, Shizuo moved like a blur, appearing before the faunus. The faunus swung a powerful strike with his machete toward Shizuo, but Shizuo dodged easily, his movements fluid and precise. Without hesitation, the lion faunus retaliated with a devastating blow, obliterating the faunus's upper body in a single strike. The man hadn't even had an aura to protect him.
As chaos erupted, the remaining White Fang members scattered in panic, firing at anything and everything in their desperation to escape. Roman, still smirking, tipped his hat toward Shizuo as he made his exit, his form was a double now under Neo's illusion.
Tsune, meanwhile, had jumped into the fray, her chainsaw roaring to life as she gleefully tore through the White Fang forces. Ruby, from her vantage point, grimaced as she watched the carnage unfold. Tsune was… intense, to say the least.
Penny, however, was fascinated.
"Friend Ruby, is this how you capture opponents in Vale? It's very different from Atlas."
Ruby's eyes widened in panic.
"No, Penny! No! This is not how we capture people in Vale!"
Amid the chaos, Kate appeared, attempting to land a killing blow on Roman—only for her weapon to pass harmlessly through him, shattering like glass as the illusion that Neo had left behind. Kate's eyes filled with rage as she turned to Shizuo.
"You let him go, didn't you?!"
Shizuo's face was unreadable as he met her gaze.
"Not everything's as simple as you think. Roman's not the real threat here. Though you seemed more interested in fighting our own kind, anyway."
Kate blinked, looking down at herself. Her weapon and armor were splattered with blood. Unlike the others, who had shown some restraint, she had been fighting with deadly force. The realization hit her hard—she had been too focused on vengeance, too blind to the consequences.
Shizuo didn't give her time to dwell on it.
"We're done here. Let's go."
As they walked away from the chaotic scene, the tension between Shizuo, Kate, and the rest of the group was palpable. The police were finally arriving, but Shizuo seemed unconcerned, knowing that his blank check from the Vale Council would keep them out of trouble.
Sun, still buzzing with adrenaline, was the first to break the silence.
"Man, that was intense! But I gotta ask—why did you let Roman go like that, bro?"
Shizuo remained quiet for a moment, then finally spoke.
"It's not as simple as taking him down. Roman's not the one pulling the strings. If we take him out now, we lose our chance to stop something much worse."
Kate, her eyes narrowing, stepped closer.
"You've been working with him this whole time, haven't you? Keeping us in the dark? What else aren't you telling us, Shizuo?"
Shizuo sighed, his voice calm but firm.
"I can't tell you everything. Not yet. But trust me—there are bigger fish at play here. Powerful people that want to destroy Vale, if we're not careful."
Kate crossed her arms, clearly skeptical.
"Trust you? After you've been making deals with criminals behind our backs?"
Sun, trying to defuse the situation, raised his hands.
"Hey, hey, let's not start fighting each other. If Shizuo says there's a bigger plan, maybe we should give him a chance to explain."
Shizuo nodded, grateful for Sun's intervention.
"I'm not asking you to like it. But I'm asking you to trust me, just a little longer."
Kate glared at him, her suspicion still clear.
"Fine. But this isn't over."
As they left the docks, Sun, always the optimist, grinned.
"Well, at least we made it out alive! Now, how about we grab some food? I'm starving after all that."
Shizuo chuckled softly.
"You're always hungry, Sun."
Kate, despite herself, smiled just a little.
"Alright. But don't think this conversation is over, Shizuo."
With that, they headed into the city, the weight of unspoken questions still lingering between them. Shizuo knew the hardest part was still ahead, and soon, they would all have to face the truth of what was coming.
As the group wrapped up their reports to the police, the scene at the dockyard was a mix of chaos and quiet. The flashing red and blue lights reflected off the scattered shipping containers bearing the SDC logo, and the unconscious bodies of White Fang members were being tended to or carted off by the authorities.
The air was thick with tension and the faint scent of dust from the upturned containers. The police moved quickly, sealing off the area, while a few bullheads—carrying what remained of the stolen cargo—disappeared into the night sky, a grim reminder that the White Fang had succeeded in their robbery, at least in part.
The group—Shizuo, Ruby, Kate, Tsune (Beacon's sadistic school nurse), Sun, and Penny—stood at the edge of the dock, giving their final statements to the police. Shizuo, as calm as ever, casually handed over a signed document from the Vale Council that essentially granted him immunity in situations like this.
The police, used to seeing the special clearance of Shizuo, took it without question, and the team was swiftly cleared to leave. Despite the intensity of the night's events, the group looked relatively unscathed, save for some minor bruises and the tension that still lingered between them.
Ruby, standing with Penny, looked relieved but a little distracted. The sight of the SDC logo on the containers bothered her more than she wanted to admit. Weiss was her friend, and the idea of the White Fang targeting the Schnee Dust Company—even if it wasn't exactly surprising—was still unsettling. She shot a glance at Shizuo, who was watching the scene with an unreadable expression.
Kate, meanwhile, was still stewing over the earlier events, her arms crossed tightly as she eyed Shizuo. She couldn't shake the feeling that he was keeping too many secrets, and his decision to let Roman go gnawed at her. Tsune, on the other hand, seemed to be in high spirits, almost humming to herself as she cleaned her chainsaw weapon, drawing odd looks from the police nearby.
"Shizuo, can we talk?"
Kate finally broke the silence as the last police officer nodded them off.
Shizuo raised an eyebrow but didn't seem surprised. He motioned for the group to head toward the street, away from the sealed-off dockyard. Sun, as usual, had a carefree smile on his face, seemingly oblivious to the tension that still hung between them.
Ruby joined the conversation, her voice low.
"I mean, you kinda did let Roman go. What's the plan now?"
Shizuo sighed, running a hand through his messy blonde hair.
"Look, Roman's not the real threat here. He's a pawn. A distraction. If we took him down tonight, we would've lost our chance to track down the bigger players—the ones that actually matter."
Kate narrowed her eyes.
"And who exactly are those 'bigger players'? You keep talking in circles, Shizuo, but you're not giving us any real answers."
Before Shizuo could respond, Penny interjected with her usual cheerful innocence.
"Friend Shizuo is trying to protect us! I believe he has a good reason for everything. Right, Friend Shizuo?"
Shizuo gave a small, appreciative nod but didn't respond directly. Instead, he focused on Kate.
"All I can tell you right now is that there are bigger threats looming over Vale. Roman's escape is a calculated risk. But if you trust me, I'll make sure we're ready for what's coming."
Kate let out a frustrated sigh but didn't push further. Ruby seemed torn between her loyalty to her friends and her growing unease with the secrets swirling around them.
"Well."
Sun said, trying to lighten the mood.
"Whatever happens, I say we did good tonight. White Fang got a good beating, and we stopped them from getting everything they wanted."
"Yeah, but at what cost?"
Ruby murmured, glancing again at the SDC logo on the containers. The White Fang was still out there, and Roman was free. It didn't feel like a win—not yet.
As they walked away from the scene, the city lights of Vale glowing in the distance, one thing was clear—this wasn't over. Not by a long shot.
And while the docks were quiet now, the real storm was still brewing on the horizon.
Shizuo couldn't help but reflect on the precarious balance he was maintaining. The weight of the secrets he carried felt heavier with each step, but he knew that revealing too much too soon would only complicate things further. Roman's escape was part of a much larger game, and while Kate and Sun were loyal, the truth was, that they didn't fully understand the storm that was coming.
"One step at a time."
Shizuo muttered under his breath, glancing at his companions.
Sun's carefree energy was almost infectious, and it provided a strange comfort amidst the tension. Kate, on the other hand, remained ever vigilant, her distrust simmering just beneath the surface. Shizuo couldn't blame her—after all, secrets could break even the strongest of teams.
As they approached a diner that was still open, the familiar buzz of late-night patrons greeted them. Sun's eyes lit up, already scanning the menu from outside the window.
"Finally! Let's eat!"
Sun cheered, pushing open the door eagerly.
Kate shot Shizuo a glance, her expression saying what words hadn't.
This wasn't over, and she wasn't going to let him off the hook that easily.
But for now, they could enjoy a temporary reprieve from the chaos of the docks, a chance to breathe before diving back into the madness that lay ahead.
"Trust, huh?"
Shizuo thought to himself. It was fragile, especially when it came to the dangerous path he was on. For now, it was just enough to keep his team together—but how long would that last?
As they sat down to eat, the air between them lightened with casual conversation, but the looming tension remained. It wouldn't be long before the next battle. And when it came, they'd need each other more than ever.
Shizuo woke up the next morning with a dull ache in his head, from all the liquor they drank, and felt the weight of multiple bodies pressed against him. His mind was foggy, trying to piece together the events of the previous night. The warm tangle of limbs around him didn't immediately make sense, but as he shifted, he recognized the familiar naked bodies of Ruby, Kate, Penny, Tsune, and—surprisingly—Neo, all nestled beside him. The memories were slow to come back, but they hit him like a freight train once they did.
He remembered leaving Sun behind to go back to Beacon with Penny as a plus one, only for Neo. Of course, showing up out of nowhere, revealing herself as a long-time member of his harem, something he had somehow overlooked in the chaos of his life. After the fight at the docks and Roman's escape, things had taken an unexpected turn.
Neo had dragged him and the others—Kate, Ruby, Tsune, and Penny—to one of Roman's hidden hideouts. What started as a simple regrouping had spiraled into something much more intense, much more physical.
Shizuo rubbed his temples, trying to make sense of it all. He remembered drunk Kate resisting at first, her sharp tongue and fiery attitude coming through in full force. But their tension had boiled over, and what followed had been a mixture of anger and lust.
He had broken through her defenses, and in the heat of the moment, her true nature had shown itself—she was a classic tsundere, conflicted between her hostility and undeniable attraction to him. The passion between them had been electric, and though Kate had fought him every step of the way, by the end, she had submitted to the intensity of the night.
Then there was Penny, the quirky and innocent girl who had always been a mystery to him. Her body—though cybernetic—was built to be indistinguishable from a real human's, and he found out just how true that was.
She had been surprisingly eager, her curiosity and desire matching his own, and by the time they were done, he had done more than just claim her physically—he had impregnated her, a reality that still seemed surreal. To his shock, the act had triggered something incredible.
Penny, who had been a sentient machine, was now in possession of a real, flesh-and-blood body, albeit with some of her cybernetic enhancements still intact. The transformation hadn't seemed to bother her; in fact, she had embraced it fully, overjoyed at the idea of carrying his child.
This happened because he didn't pay much attention as he used the reward he received from impregnation Kate. The reward ability Pinocchio; granted Penny a real body since she was a sentient living item.
The strange reward that came with it still puzzled him from knocking up Penny. Machine Whisperer—a new ability that allowed him to communicate with machines and instinctively understand how to repair them. He hadn't had time to fully process it, but the potential was immense.
His thoughts drifted to the others—Ruby, was pregnant again since he didn't claim her pregnancy bonus, and was now tangled in another pregnancy as well. He wasn't sure how she felt about it now, but last night, she had been just as eager as the others. And then there was Tsune, the school nurse with a dangerous streak. She had always been unpredictable, but her participation had been no surprise. He dreaded to know how she'll react to her being pregnant again.
Neo had orchestrated the entire night, it seemed. She was a wild card, always had been. The memories of her mischievous grin flashed through his mind as he recalled how she had directed the night's events, ensuring that nothing was off-limits.
Now, in the quiet aftermath, Shizuo couldn't help but wonder what the implications of last night would be. He had always kept a distance between his personal life and the chaos of his powers, but now things had irrevocably changed. Kate was pregnant with his child, Penny had been transformed into a fully human mother-to-be, and he had a new ability that connected him to the machines of the world in ways he couldn't have imagined.
As he lay there, still surrounded by the women who had shared the night with him, Shizuo felt a weight settle on his chest. Things had become more complicated than ever, and while part of him welcomed the chaos, another part of him wondered just how deep he was sinking into the mess his life had become.
The world outside Roman's hideout was moving on, unaware of the events that had unfolded behind closed doors. But for Shizuo, nothing would ever be the same again.
RACE: Lion Faunus
NAME: Shizuo Heiwajima
Semblance: Energy Absorption
LEVEL: A Rank
Aura: A- Rank
Vitality: A- Rank
Endurance: A- Rank
Strength: S- Rank
Dexterity: A- Rank
Perception: A- Rank
Skill: A- Rank
Charisma: A- Rank
Libido: A+ Rank
Virility: B Rank