Taurus Tantrum
Vale White Fang Main Base
Adam sat lazily in his well-worn office chair, looking over reports and newspapers, taking everything in. He was a busy man, with an equally well-worn coffee mug in one hand and an old desk stacked high with papers. He sighed and took another gulp of coffee. No one ever tells you that running a resistance movement involves a lot of planning, organization, and coordination. Which involves papers and reports. However, if this is what he had to endure, then he would. Even if this part of the gig he did not like it.
Below his small command post was a multitude of screens and switchboards. Vale authorities, while not as restrictive as the likes of Atlas, were still very selective on who they gave permits to for communication equipment. Therefore, they had to improvise by ransacking old radio towers and junk yards. The old switchboards still worked, even though they required a team to work them. One of the operators saw a light flipping up and answered it.
"Channel 77, this is the operator." A short, female hawk Faunus said into her mic.
"Put me onto Adam's line dear." A feminine, commanding, yet sultry and smooth voice answered.
"Yes ma'am." The bird Faunus answered swiftly and switched the line. Knowing exactly the consequences of a lacking response.
A small communication set behind Adam, half buried in papers, files, and trash, beeped. Adam sighed, knowing who it was on that line. Only she used that line. He turned in on, to see a woman in a red dress, silken skin, black hair, and distinctive orange eyes. A small smile creased her lips as she saw the bull Faunus.
Adam visibly tensed at the sight of her, despite his best attempts to not show it. "Hello, Cinder…" He greeted her as cordially as he could.
"Good day to you, Adam. Getting on well, I hope, in the Valian climate?" Cinder answered, her voice kept a neutral, cordial tone.
"Yes. You do not need to worry. Things are progressing well." Adam replied, trying not to give away how terrible things actually were.
"Is that so? Then perhaps you can explain to me why there haven't been any Dust shipments in two weeks?" Cinder asked, raising her eyebrow at his statement.
"Oh, just a… minor snag that we have hit with one of my higher-ranking lieutenants. He has encountered a bit of a problem in his sector, but it is nothing we can't take care of." Adam replied, trying not to show how tense he was.
"Snags are why you and your organization are there Adam. To ensure they do not happen. If this snag of yours hinders us any further, then she will find out our delay." Cinder explained simply.
Adam, unbeknownst to Cinder, gripped the armrest of his chair in a combination of fear and rage. "I'll… see to it that it gets taken care of." The bull Faunus told his "superior."
"See that you do." Cinder answered, before cutting the call.
Growling in anger, Adam stood up and roared in fury as he threw his chair at the wall. This was quickly followed up by him grabbing his blade and, faster than the eye could see, drawing it and slashing down part of the wall. A lieutenant rushed up to see what was wrong, and when he arrived, he wished he had not.
"I! Hate! That! Woman!" Adam roared out as he slammed his fist down onto his desk, snapping it in half like a toothpick.
"Sir?" The lieutenant nervously asked.
Adam took a deep breath to calm and compose himself before turning to look at the lieutenant, slowly sheathing his blade. "Get the airship. We are going to see Kong." He tensely told the lower ranking officer, his fury almost palpable.
"Yes sir." The masked officer nervously said with a salute, before rushing off to fulfill the order.
Later at Roman's Warehouse
Roman sighed and fiddled with a small Dust crystal he kept as a memento. Looking out over his small little kingdom, he saw various White Fang members performing maintenance, organizing Dust stocks, and other menial tasks. Some of the higher ranked ones were playing a game of poker with Neo. Losing badly because of the cards she kept in her sleeves, but where was the fun of telling them that. Finally, Kong was doing slow push-ups, not trying to overwork his injured body, but still trying to keep in shape and recover.
"Things are surprisingly calm. I wonder when something is going to stop me from looking at all these numbers that I've been slacking on." Roman said with a sigh, about to pull out his Scroll Tablet.
The calm, however, was broken when the bay doors to the warehouse were slammed wide open. Only a single man stormed in, a man everyone knew. Adam, with gritted teeth and a wrathful pace of steps, marched his way towards Roman.
"Adam. What a pleasant surprise. For a second there, I thought I had to do actual work." Roman said, throwing the Tablet to the side as he stood up to meet him.
"Torchwick. Explain to me exactly why there haven't been any Dust shipments to Cinder in two weeks now…!" Adam ground out coldly.
"I sent you the report. It explains everything there." Roman said with a small eye roll.
"And just HOW am I supposed to believe that the supposedly most dangerous criminal in Vale, along with my strongest and most trusted lieutenant and his direct subordinates… can't handle ONE GODS DAMN LITTLE GIRL!" Adam roared out.
"She dropped a warehouse on me!" Kong yelled out.
"Silence, Kong! I will deal with you momentarily!" Adam growled at Kong with a vicious glare.
Neo got up from her game and stared at Adam. She usually tried to stay out of arguments like this, but something inside her told her to act. She then marched up towards him, hands near her weapon if necessary. However, before she could react, she found Adam in front of her, his blade drawn and at her neck to cut her down if she moved so much as a millimeter.
"Go ahead, Single Scoop. Test my patience. I dare you…" The furious bull Faunus coldly told the short girl as a bead of sweat dropped from her face down onto the flat of his blade.
"Hey, hey, hey! We are all on the same side here. There's no need for tempers to flare. All we must do is deal with one girl who can stop a Humvee in its tracks, and we are all golden." Roman said, sliding in between the two to try and calm the situation.
Taking a deep breath, Adam withdrew his blade from Neo's neck before slowly sheathing it, not taking his eyes off her. Sufficiently terrified now, Neo went to sit back down and return to her card game. Seeing the potential threat out of the way for now, Adam turned back to look at Roman.
"See that you do, Torchwick. You know as well as I do that Cinder does not tolerate failure. And, if I end up going down because of your incompetence, I'm taking you down with me." Adam told the crime lord with a tone as cold as an Atlesian glacier.
"Yeah, she does have that effect on people. Trust me, you're not the only one not exactly pleased to have her as an HR contact." Roman said with a small groan.
Adam nodded before turning to look at his top lieutenant. "And as for you, Kong…!" Adam began, his tone cutting through the air like his trusty blade through a stick of butter.
"Master, please… At least let me explain…" Kong tried to say, a vocal hint of fear leaking through his voice that surprised everyone except Adam.
'That's the first time I have ever seen that big bastard scared of anything. This should get interesting.' Roman thought as he stepped back a few steps to observe.
"I think I need to… 'reeducate' you on why I am above you in our organization's hierarchy, Kong." Adam coldly told his subordinate in a tone that made the gorilla Faunus flinch at the word "reeducate."
"You really think beating on him is a good idea? We just got his ribs back into their proper location. After a few internet tutorials and a can of oven grease." Roman asked Adam.
Taking a deep breath, Adam nodded. "Very well then. Allow me to… 'assist' you in your physical rehabilitation then, my dear subordinate." He told Kong, a cruel smirk on his face.
"I-It w-would be an honor, master." Kong said, bowing his head in a show of respect.
The two then squared up to the nearby sparring ring, Kong visibly tense with fear while Adam was barely holding back his fury. Drawing their blades, the two stood at the ready. Kong had both hands on his sword while Adam kept one hand on his own blade. Then, in a flash of movement, Kong took off at Adam with a swing of his weapon. However, with a flick of his blade, Adam easily batted away the lightning bruiser's blow and put the tip of his blade to Kong's neck.
"Slow. Try again." Adam coldly told the larger Faunus.
Gulping, Kong batted away Adam's sword and swung at him. Adam easily dodged the swing before batting away another slash. Kong, out of fear, swung with all his speed and might in an attempt to land a hit. However, Adam used his own blade to turn Kong's own momentum against him and throw him off balance from overextending himself. Kicking Kong's leg out from under him, Adam forced him to his knee and put the edge of his blade to the back of Kong's neck.
"Sloppy. Get up and try again." Adam told him in a tone that put ice in Kong's veins.
Swinging his leg out, Kong tried to sweep Adam's feet out from under him only for Adam to jump over the blow. Seeing through the feint, Adam easily deflected a stab from Kong's blade as he slashed at Kong's arm. Biting back the pain from the hit despite no blood being drawn through his Aura, Kong gripped the hilt of his weapon with both hands and swung his sword to try to slash Adam only for Adam to easily block. Unleashing a barrage of slashes, Kong tried to pick at Adam's defenses at speeds no one there, not even Roman or Neo, could track. However, Adam was much faster and effortlessly deflected Kong's blows with one hand gripping his blade.
Knocking the blade from Kong's hand, Adam slashed at Kong's knee to take him down before catching his subordinate's blade out of the air in a movement so fast none of the others could see it. Kong looked up at his superior with fear in his eyes as Adam put the two blades to Kong's neck in a scissor formation. Showing that, if he wanted to, he could easily separate the gorilla Faunus's head from his shoulders in an instant and no one would be able to stop it. Glaring coldly down at Kong through his mask, Adam watched as Kong bowed his head in submissive defeat. Adam then withdrew the blades before stabbing Kong's in the ground right next to his head.
"You disappoint me, Kong." Adam told his lieutenant as he sheathed his blade.
"I apologize for my failure, master. However, my foe…" Kong tried to say, before Adam cut him off.
"I will not tolerate excuses, Kong. You are my strongest lieutenant and greatest student. Now you will deal with this obstacle to our goal… or I will do it myself. Am. I. Clear?" Adam replied coldly, staring down his subordinate and student while speaking in a tone that showed that failure would not be tolerated.
"Completely, master." Kong answered, bowing his head in shame.
Adam nodded in response. "Good. Now, get up and get back to work. I want you to be at one hundred percent when you next face her." Adam told him in a slightly softer tone.
"I will, master. Ruby Rose will not defeat me again. She will pay for besmirching the honor of the White Fang." Kong said with determination.
Adam nodded in acknowledgement of Kong's words and gave a small smile. "I know." He replied before turning and leaving.
As Adam left, the room fell silent. Kong did not move from that spot for half an hour, and no one dared touch him or disturb him. However, he soon lifted his head, his eyes burning with determination.
"Ruby Rose. Next time, you will be crushed by my hand. And my hand alone." He growled to himself before getting up to train.