Silver Eyes Ch. 1 (RWBY)

A/N: In which I launch a seventh Story Poll.

Summary: Cole Cobalt is just your average orphan who grew up on the streets of Vale and without any other options, eventually clawed his way into a spot in Junior's Gang. He might not have his Aura unlocked yet, but that's not going to stop him from becoming the best damn thief he possible can. Just needs to complete this milk run of a heist first...

Themes: Sex Semblance, Criminal MC, Plot

-x-X-x-

“Cole! Hey!”

He does his best not to flinch when he enters Junior’s Club, but it’s hard to refrain from reacting when he’s singled out almost immediately. And he can’t pretend like he didn’t hear either… that way just lay more pain. Lifting his head, the young man fakes a smile as Melanie Malachite all but flounces her way over to him, her twin sister Militia following along in her wake.

“Miss Malachite.”

Melanie giggles at that, ‘playfully’ swatting his arm.

“Oh stop you! Lil' Miss Malachite is our mother!”

Of course, the playfulness in her tone is belied by the glittering gleam in her eye. And the arm swat will probably bruise by morning given that the Malachite Sisters have their Aura unlocked and Cole… doesn’t. Still, Cole doesn’t grimace or give away the pain from the swat in any way. He knows better than to show weakness in a den of vipers like this one.

“Sorry but… I have to report upstairs to Junior ASAP.”

Unfortunately, that doesn’t get Melanie off his back. He’d sort of known it wouldn’t, but as she clamps down on his arm, Cole can’t help but sigh inwardly.

“Sure! We’ll escort you up there, right sis?”

“… That is what Junior asked of us, yes.”

Melanie shoots her twin a glare that Cole probably isn’t supposed to notice, but Miltia barely reacts. The twin in white is the more boisterous, loudmouthed, and altogether excitable of the two. The twin in red is the quieter one, and not so prone to making a big deal about things.

Both are still incredibly deadly in their own right though. Probably the deadliest people in Junior’s Club, at that. Learning that they have orders from Junior to escort him upstairs doesn’t really set Cole at ease to be honest. Being around either Malachite Sister is like standing next to an unknown bomb. Maybe it’s not ticking, maybe it’s not set to go off… but who can say for certain?

“Right! So Cole, how’ve you been? What’s Junior’s youngest Made Man been up to, huh?”

Cole flushes as Melanie all but drags him upstairs. He doesn’t resist in any way, that would just mean more bruising. Honestly, she might not even know she was doing it… but Cole suspected she did. Privately, he thought she probably got off on treating him like a rag doll, like her own personal plaything.

“I’m not allowed to talk about it unless Junior says I can, Melanie. You know that.”

He tries to keep the irritation and censure out of his voice. From the way Melanie squeezes down a little harder, Cole doesn’t think he’s quite managed it. As they ascend the stairs at the back of the club, Melanie all but coos in his ear.

“Aww, c’mon. You don’t have to be like that, Cole. We all work for the same boss, right? What’s a little gossip between coworkers?”

Yeah, except as she’d already mentioned… her mother was Lil’ Miss Malachite. Maybe Melanie thought Cole was young and naïve enough not to know, but he wasn’t. No, he was VERY much aware that the Malachite Twins were on loan to Junior from their mother. Technically it was fine. Lil’ Miss Malachite was a crime lord over in Mistral after all, and as far as Cole knew, her daughters represented the sum total of her investment in the Kingdom of Vale.

… But that was just as far as Cole knew. And Cole might be young. He might be wet behind the ears… but he wasn’t stupid or arrogant enough to think he knew more than he actually did. Besides, breaking Junior’s rules on operational security was a good way to get himself taken out back and shot in the back of the head.

Fortunately, they make it to the top of the stairs a moment later. Doubly fortunately, the door to Junior’s Office swings open and the man himself stands in the doorway.

“Good, you’re here. Get in here, Cobalt. Melanie, Miltia, guard the door.”

Melanie pouts mightily at that, even as Cole carefully extracts himself from her ironclad grip and starts forward.

“Aw! Can’t we listen in, boss?”

But Junior isn’t having it. Unlike Cole, the Vale Crime Boss does in fact have his Aura unlocked. And while Cole has never seen Junior actually fight, his words have never been questioned twice. Case in point…

“No. Stay outside.”

When Junior lays down the law, even the Malachite Twins listen. Cole slips into the office and catches one last glimpse of Melanie Malachite’s pouting face before the door closes behind him.

Within the office, everyone else is already waiting for him. Namely, the rest of the crew for the job they’ve been planning for the past six months. The other members of the crew, also all part of Junior’s Gang, eye Cole for a second up and down. He gets some respectful nods, which he returns. He also gets some derisive, disrespectful snorts… which he very carefully ignores.

Junior, meanwhile, heads over to the large table in the center of the office, where the plans are all laid out already.

“Get over here Cole. We’re going over the details one final time. This might seem like a milk run… and that’s because from all accounts, it SHOULD be a milk run. But that doesn’t mean any of you can take it easy, got it? Shit can always, and I mean ALWAYS go tits up. So I want you all acting like the professionals you are and taking this shit as seriously as possible. Do I make myself clear?”

Cole mumbles out ‘crystal, boss’ right alongside all of the others as he reaches the table and peers down at the plans. This was it. His big break. He clenches his hands into white knuckled fists at his sides to keep them from shaking with excitement, even as his eyes rove over the table and his ears soak in every word Junior is saying. Like the boss had said… things could always go tits up and Cole was NOT going to be the one to screw things up.

-x-X-x-

“Weirdest shit, ain’t it?”

“Can it.”

“Oh c’mon man. There ain’t nobody around. This place has been abandoned for years now. Whoever lived here is long dead by this point, and the security is subpar at best. So subpar even the newbie can get in.”

“I said shut up. Don’t care how easy it is. Boss wants us in and out without nobody knowing. The Council of Vale had this place locked up tight for the past few years, and only recently rescinded their security. Now maybe they did it because it was costing them too much taxpayer money they could be embezzling instead. Or maybe they did it because there was nothing left worth stealing. One way or another, we’re gonna find out.”

Cole tries not to let himself get distracted by the two thugs behind him. He’s focused entirely on the lock he’s currently picking. Admittedly, the one was right about subpar security. Not even digital, just a normal old padlock. Which was good, because Cole was a thief, not a hacker.

Before the first thug can respond to the second, there’s a telltale click and a small smile appears on Cole’s face as the lock pops open. Quickly, they all get the gate open, and signal for the rest of their team to approach as well.

From there, they make their way around to the backdoor, where Cole is once again working on a lock, this time with four other men on lookout. Fortunately, none of them says anything this time. And Cole has this next lock at his mercy soon enough as well.

This… this was what he was good at. It was all he’d known his entire life. Growing up an orphan on the streets of Vale didn’t leave one with many prospects. You could become some rich fuck’s kept pet, but that sort of gig had a life expectancy measured in years instead of decades.

You could also stick to begging if you wanted to keep your morals, but you would still probably be snapped up by some beggar’s ring who would expect you to follow their instructions and give them a cut of your take each day. Otherwise you were likely encroaching on their turf, and that wouldn’t end well for you.

The thing was, Cole had never had much use for ‘morals’. Frankly, he hadn’t even known what the word meant for the majority of his early life. For most of his life, Cole Cobalt knew one thing and one thing only… he wanted to survive.

That’s why, when the beggar’s ring he’d joined up with had started teaching him pickpocketing, he’d thrown himself headfirst into it. And when he’d gotten old enough that they started showing him lockpicking, he’d gotten into that as well. Cole Cobalt might not be a household name in Vale on the same level as Roman Torchwick or anything, but then, Cole preferred it that way.

No disrespect to Mister Torchwick though. The Gentleman Thief was practically Cole’s hero and inspiration. It was Roman that had made Cole realize he didn’t have to just settle for surviving. He could work towards thriving too. Because if there was one thing that Roman Torchwick did above all else, it was thrive.

After getting them into the back of the house, Cole trails along while the four thugs all fan out, looking around the place. It’s… an old house. But not decrepit or dilapidated or anything like that. In fact, it looks like it’s been pretty well taken care of.

There’s plenty of stuff to steal. Nothing that stands out as “the big score” mind you, but certainly things that Cole and the rest of the team begin filling their bags with. Cole specifically only takes what the others pass over. He’s the only one on the team without his Aura, after all. The youngest of Junior’s men. If all goes to plan, maybe this is the job that will earn him an Aura Unlock. He just needs to keep proving himself useful and-

“Oi! Newbie, get over here and open this vault!”

What? A vault in some manor house? Cole furrows his brow, assuming that the other man is talking about a safe and just mislabeling it. He hurries over all the same, because a safe might have a real score in it. Having heard the call, the other men on the team hurry to that part of the house as well. Only for them all to stop dead in their tracks when they see… the first thug was not in fact mislabeling anything.

The vault door, because that’s exactly what it is, is set into a wall of cobbled stone. And its huge, easily twice Cole’s size. Cole swallows thickly and slowly moves forward to it, eyeing the thing up and down and glancing over at the digital keypad on the wall next to it.

“… I can’t open this.”

Sure, he could have hemmed and hawed and pretended to try before making up some excuse for why it wasn’t possible. But that had the potential of backfiring on him. Better to be honest… or so Cole thinks before his world explodes in pain and stars as the thug scowls and cuffs him upside the head aggressively.

“What good are you then? Fuckin’ useless!”

“Oi! Chill, newbie doesn’t have his Aura unlocked yet, moron.”

The worst part is… just from the guilt that crosses over the first thug’s face, he really didn’t know or forgot that tidbit. Of course, the guilt lasts all of a second before he has to hide it and put on a tough expression along with a sneer.

“Fuck if I care. At this rate, he won’t ever get it unlocked. C’mon, let’s go and check upstairs and then blow this fucking joint.”

The other men murmur in agreement, even as Cole brings a hand to his head. He doesn’t come away with blood at least. Just a bit of a rattling. He’ll be fine in a minute. Except… that minute never happens.

“None of you will be going anywhere.”

Before any of them can react, those angry words, delivered by a strong, feminine voice, are followed up with action. Cole’s eyes go wide as he goes flying and so do the others. All of them are torn off the ground, thrown through the air, and plastered against the walls of the room. Cole himself is stuck against the vault door itself, given he’d been right in front of it. The blow rattles him even more, leaving him downright delirious with pain… and knocking the signature black shades that all of Junior’s Gang were expected to wear along with their suits clean off of his face.

As groaning fills the room, Cole’s vision swims but he’s still able to somewhat make out the woman who’s just handled them all like children. Tall, blonde, and looking thoroughly done with their antics on top of statuesque and beautiful. She’s also holding a riding crop of all things, and it’s glowing purple… but then so are all of them.

Semblance. Has to be. Which means this lady is probably a Huntress, because even most people who unlock their Auras don’t ever figure out what their Semblances are. Only if you go to a Huntsman Academy can you expect to receive specialized help in sussing out your Semblance by the time you graduate.

They’re so fucked. They’re so absolutely fucked. Not even the Malachite Twins could take on a full-blown Huntress, probably.

“Now then. I think you’re all going to stay right where you are while I alert the authorities and-!”

Whatever else the woman was going to say, she never says it. Cole’s head is still swimming, so he doesn’t quite understand what happens next… but he thinks something shocks the woman so much that she releases them all from her Semblance. Something… to do with him? Cole groans as he hits the floor hard, his already aching body spasming from the fresh jolt of pain.

“You… your eyes…”

The blonde takes a step further into the room… which leaves the path out clear for anyone not directly in front of her.

“SCRAM!”

Cole wishes he could say he was upset or offended that all four of his so-called team abandon him at the drop of a hat. But to be fair, he definitely would have done the exact same thing in their place, given half the chance. He’s not given half the chance though. He’s not even given a quarter of a chance.

Instead, the woman is focused on him, solely on him. As she walks up to him, Cole tries to push himself to his feet but can’t find the strength. Between the blow to the head and then the full body slam, he’s stuck on his knees just staring up at her with a dazed look as she gazes down at him in wonder.

“Impossible.”

Her hand comes down, but instead of a blow it’s a gentle touch under the chin, tilting his head back a fraction of an inch further… so she can look into his eyes all the more closely.

“Silver Eyes. I didn’t think such a thing even existed anymore after... and yet here you are. Silver Eyes.”

What? Cole blinks his very silver eyes, utterly baffled by what she’s talking about. Yes, he has silver eyes. But what does that matter? It’s not a big deal… is it?

Unfortunately, he can’t muster the strength to ask. In fact, that’s about the time that Cole’s injuries catch up with him and the adrenaline from this whole encounter finally runs out. His silver eyes roll back in his head and he passes out on the spot, falling unconscious right there next to the vault door.

So much for a fucking milk run…

-x-X-x-

A/N: Hey guys... so surprise, I'm starting a 7th Story Poll. Don't worry I'm not overloading myself. I've been working on making a proper space for a seventh story poll in my schedule for a bit now. But I didn't have an idea I wanted to put in the slot... until now. This idea came to me and I'm pretty excited for it at the moment.

This should be fun, but just in case I'm totally off-base, I need to know. So the vote is simple. Do you want more or nah?

Don't worry by the way. Cole will not stay weak and auraless for long. In fact, he's going to get a lot stronger quite fast, like most of my MCs tend to do. Also, this is an AU of RWBY. Things are definitely different here, and you'll find out just how different they are slowly over time.

Feel free to ask me any more questions you might have and I'll answer the ones that I can without giving too much of my current ideas for it away too early.

Anyways, if the answer is Yes, this will start updating every week on Tuesdays going forward alongside The Grimoire's Chosen. If the answer is No... welp, back to the drawing board!