(Keep playing Life Will Change until we shift to Joker's Perspective. I put it in the thumbnail for you.)
Atrax's POV:
I can barely believe my eyes.
Those aren't Shadows...
Those are actual PEOPLE!
The men in black don't seem to be very surprised by the Shadows around them. The fact that we are currently in a massive Casino where the Courthouse used to stand doesn't faze them either. I wonder how they'll act when they see our outfits, especially mine.
They must be some of HIS lackeys. It disgusts me that the bringers of the law would be so easily bought out, but I wasn't much different than them until recently. However, I wasn't bought with money, nor blackmail.
I was bought with threats. Threats that I could not ignore. Threats on HER life.
But these people have no remorse. I can see it in their faces, despite the cat that jet black sunglasses cover their eyes. They were bought with money.
That was one good thing that came out of my time under HIS control. It taught me to read faces without looking at their eyes. Python, one of the other Thieves in our group, is able to read faces to detect lies. Reading faces is one thing that we have bonded over, and it has led to us becoming friends as well as rivals.
But anyways, back to the topic at hand.
Escaping.
Our leader has bought us time to escape by distracting the men in black. His appearance on top of the chandelier hanging over the crowd was quite stylish, if I do say so myself. I may be able to pull off flashy moves with my four clawed mechanical arms as well as the retractable claws on my gloves and boots, but Joker has a natural talent in flair.
And it's an IMPRESSIVE talent.
I'm so distracted in my thoughts that I don't even realize that we've run directly into a Shadow. If it weren't for Crow's quick movements, we would have been ambushed. Instead, he jumps behind the Shadow and tears its mask off, revealing its true form. The waiter-like form of the shadow quickly melts into a dark puddle of red and black liquid before it divides into four monsters. Two of them are fairy-like creatures known as Queen Mab, and the other two are humanoids wielding two swords with leopard faces and fur, known as Ose.
Oracle: "Four shadows! They're super weak. Take em' out quickly and let's get going!"
Queen: "Ose is weak to Blessed attacks and Queen Mab is weak to Wind attacks! Do not use Fire, Electric or Cursed magic on them, though!"
Crow: "Noted. Mona has Wind attacks, but we need him for healing. Atrax! With me!"
I run up with him. He puts one hand on his bright red mask which is adorned with the long pointed nose of a bird. He tears it off as it shatters to pieces.
The mighty form of his Persona appears behind him. The lights around the Casino reflect off of the Persona's White armor. His light blue chestplate is held out proudly with the initials R.H. written onto it. His blue cape flies freely in the wind as he tilts his head adorned with a red helmet and golden wings upwards. He holds onto his feathered bow and arrow in one hand while the other rests behind him nobly.
Crow: "Persona! Take them down, Robin Hood! Mahamaon!"
Robin Hood takes his arrow of light in one hand and fires it into the crowd of enemies. midway through its path, the arrow splits into four shards that hit the ground near the Shadows. The fragments on the ground suddenly spawn several glowing cards that circle around the enemies. Suddenly, the cards stop moving, before they close in on the enemies. The Queen Mabs are completely unaffected by the attack, but the Oses vanish within an instant.
Oracle: "Nice, Crow! Nice job getting their weakness!"
Me: "I'll follow up!"
I run up behind him as he suspends his hand for me. I reach out and I tap it as the power he gained from exploiting the weaknesses of the opponents transfers to me.
Oracle: "Super move! ULTRA CHARGE!"
Inside her UFO-like Persona, Necronomicon, she presses a few buttons on the walls. A blue and pink light descends from her Persona and falls onto me. As soon as the light touches the top of my head, I can feel myself charge for a powerful attack.
I put my navy blue glove on top of my mask. A black mask with fangs and eight blue eyes, two of which serve as goggles that increase my vision, aim, and they even help me to evade some enemy attacks. By tearing off my mask, I relinquish all of these abilities for a short period of time. However, in the absence of those powers, I can feel another power grow inside me. It burns with a determination to rebel against all of the lies and injustices that once plagued me. It's the true form of my personality, my feelings my soul. It's my Persona, one that has taken the form of the last good Detective in a police force filled with corruption.
Fitting.
I tear my spider-like mask off of my face, as blood pours from where I ripped it off. Slowly, the blood explodes into blue flames along with my mask. The flames reach ahead of me, not burning my face or my deep-blue hair. I ready myself physically to unleash a powerful attack.
Me: "Shoot for the truth, Bannion! Four Truth Volley!"
I watch as the flames manifest into a humanoid with spider-like appendages that stands on two legs. Pistols are attached to four of its other appendages, two blades are attached to its last appendages. It wears a dark blue cloak. The pistols and blades all have the kanji for 'Truth' on them. He holds the pistols out, and unleashes a volley of bullets that all create the truth kanji in midair upon impact. Bannion shoots sixteen bullets towards each Queen Mab, and they explode into the same dark liquid within seconds.
My Persona, Bannion, turns to me. He has a large cigar in his mouth. His face is hidden beneath the cloak, but from beneath the cloak I can see eight fiery blue eyes. Two fangs hang out from under the hood, dripping with blue liquid. I cannot see its chest because it is covered by the cloak, but a black necktie dangles down in front of the cloak. On the front of the cloak lay two badges. On the left side is the school logo of Shujin Academy, the highschool I, and most of these Thieves, attend. On the other side is the badge of a Tokyo detective. A third badge lays on the black necktie. It's a gold pin with the symbol of a bass clef on it. One that matches the pin I own in real life. A pin that matches that of a friend who just so happens to be a Phantom Thief herself. The Persona is shorter than me and it's arms are thin. However, its small size complements its extreme speed extremely well. I outspeed almost every opponent I come across.
My Persona transforms back into my mask and it flies back onto my face.
Crow: "An impressive result, Atrax. I guess we make a spectacular team in both Detective work and Thievery!"
Maestro: "He's miles ahead of you, Crow."
Crow scoffs as Maestro runs up to me and uses a healing spell. Using Four Truth Volley is physically draining. I normally don't like to use it unless it's an emergency. Right now just so happens to be an emergency.
Maestro grabs my hand and starts leading me onwards.
Maestro: "You were amazing out there."
Me: "I-I was?"
She giggles and gives me a small kiss on the cheek. Thank God for my mask to hide my embarrassment.
As we progress, we run into a branching path. We also happen to stumble upon our leader.
His codename: Joker.
Me: "Joker! How are things on your end?"
Joker: "I have them on my tail. They're quite behind, though. I suggest you go to the right, and I'll stay back to make sure they follow me to the left."
Crow: "Sounds risky. You sure you're fine with it?"
Joker puts on an obviously fake look of disappointment. It's so obvious that it must be intentional.
Joker: "Aw, you don't trust in me? You hurt my feelings, Crow..."
Crow rolls his eyes at Joker's... joking.
Clover: "Alright! I wish you luck, Joker!"
Seven: "I would wish you luck as well, but my luck cycle is currently on "bad luck." So therefore, I wish you bad luck in Hopes for an inverse outcome. This challenge is a mere stepping stone in your path to greatness as the Ultimate Thief!"
Blank: "Alright, Seven. Now's not the time for one of your crazy speeches about Hope."
Joker: "I appreciate it, Clover and Seven."
Ace: "We're running out of time. We should be moving now."
Skull: "Ugh, why can't we just have Mona turn into a car so that we can book it out of here?"
Panther: "Um, do you want to get caught?"
Queen: "Not a good idea, Skull."
Fox: "Indeed. That would be reckless and foolish."
Mona: "Plus, these hallways are so tight! Do you want to scratch the paint job?"
Skull: "Geez, I effin' get it! You don't have to keep yellin'..."
Mona: "Look who's talking..."
Skull: "What was that, cat?"
Mona: "I'M. NOT. A. CAT!"
Ace: "Enough of this nonsense. We need to move, NOW. We don't have time for your pointless bickering!"
None of them listen to Ace, who is disgusted by their vulgarity.
Me: "GUYS! GET MOVING ALREADY!"
Everyone instantly snaps to attention. They all start running down the hall. Ace gives me a subtle nod of approval before he leaves as well. I sigh and start to move after them.
Joker: "Hey, good luck with them. I know being a leader can be a handful, but you'll have to step up in my absence."
Me: "Thanks. I'm praying that this all goes according to plan."
Joker: "Me too, Atrax. Now, get going!"
Me: "Right. See you!"
I run after the rest of them. When I catch up, I see them all standing out on a balcony. We look out from the balcony to see the area that we entered the Casino from. I look down, and there's nowhere to jump to.
Me: "I guess this is where I come in. Oracle, Program, you fly down there with your Personas. I'll carry the rest of them in trips."
After Oracle and Program fly down from the balcony, I grab a hold of Crow and Queen. We need some strong fighters down there just in case a Shadow attacks. After I grab onto them, I jump off of the balcony. As we fall, Queen clutches tighter to me as Crow laughs with glee. I move closer to the wall, and my mechanical arms activate from behind my cloak. The claws extend from them, and they dig into the wall. They start to move, slowly climbing down the wall as I hold Crow and Queen safely in my arms. Being a spider really is useful.
After I get everyone down, we run to the entrance.
That's when I see it.
Joker's POV:
It doesn't take long for the men in black to catch up to me after Atrax and the others left. The men storm into the room and look around. It's a pretty big room, and I'm pretty far away from them. I hold my pistol upwards and fire a warning shot. Upon hearing the gunfire, they turn to face me with massive scowls.
They're no fun...
I smirk as I get up and run into the next room. They follow behind me, but they're still at a distance.
I make sure they can see me before I open a can of soda and chug it while running. I toss the can backwards when I finish as I look back to see their baffled expressions.
I don't know how much longer this can last, so I want to enjoy every second of it by messing with these clowns as much as possible. As I run, I take out a magazine called "Tokyo Shrines." I read it all the way through, and one called Meiji Shrine looks nice. I should visit it sometime soon. I put the magazine away, and I turn to look at my chasers. They look shocked and annoyed. I come to a room with a large staircase. I quickly skip some flights by jumping up and pulling myself up the railings. When they enter the room, I'm already at the top of the stairs. They look around, confused as to where I went.
I take out another soda.
I crack it open...
And I watch as it splashes down on top of the men in black. They look up, confused, until they finally see me.
Meathead Man: "What? How did he get up there already?"
I can't help but chuckle at how useless these buffoons are.
Annoying Man: "You're fucking mocking us?"
Me: "So what if I am? How do you plan to stop me?"
Loud Man: "DON'T JUST STAND THERE, YOU MORONS! GET 'IM!"
I laugh again as I continue moving.
Me: "Idiots. All of them."
I turn a corner and I show up in a room of the Casino with a giant stained glass window. There'a a balcony here where I can look down at the floor below. There's also some walkways that likely exist so that people can get to the window to clean it.
Oracle: "The exit should be just up ahead."
Program: "Hnng? Uh, but isn't the floor shut down because of the chaos?"
Oracle: "Oh yeah, she's right... think you can handle this, Joker?"
Me: "'Think' doesn't even begin to describe my confidence."
I jump onto the walkway and I walk towards the opposite side of the room, the side with the stained glass window. I patiently wait for my pursuers to catch up to me. After almost two whole minutes, (God, these guys are slow!) they enter the room with tired expressions.
Annoying Man: "There's the little shit!"
Meathead Man: "How do we get to him?"
Loud Man: "USE THE FUCKIN' WALKWAY, DUMBASS!"
Me: "So you think I'll just let you catch me?"
Annoying Man: "Where the fuck else will ya' go?"
I stand up with a smirk on my face.
Me: "Well, it's been fun to screw with you clowns, but I've got places to be."
I turn towards the window.
Me: "Seeya!"
And I dive out of the window.
The glass around me glistens in the moonlight as I twirl in midair.
Maestro's communications network comes back on. I expect both scolding and praise from the others.
Program: "...Showoff..."
Oracle: "That was pretty reckless, man."
Atrax: "I saw it all. That was impressive!"
Crow: "You're putting me to shame, Joker!"
I was right. I chuckle to myself. I'm lucky that I know all of them so well.
Me: "That's the idea. Now get out of here! I'll follow!"
Crow sighs as I tumble to the ground. I roll on the ground to break my fall. I get up and dust myself off, but then I'm blinded by a light.
No, not one light.
Hundreds of lights.
All blinking blue and red.
I look out in awe at the sea of Special Ops officers in front of me.
Oracle: "THESE READINGS! NO WAY! IT CAN'T BE!"
Atrax: "Joker! Get out of there!"
Me: "I'm fine! Just go!"
And with that, I start running. I'm not giving in so easily.
I run until I come across a ladder leading upwards onto a balcony.
I leap up onto the ladder and I start climbing. As I make my way to the top, I look up.
A horde of Spec Ops soldiers were waiting for me at the top.
I yell out in shock and pain as one hits me with the back of their gun. I tumble to the ground, quickly washed over and drowning in the sea of cops.
When they finally get off of me, I'm on the ground, in handcuffs.
Gruff Man: "You know, you have your teammate to thank for this. You were sold out."
I feel my head hit the hard concrete. I look over, and I see Atrax at the edge of the palace, looking at me with a face of concern. I turn on communications one last time.
Me: "All... according... to plan..."
I see him smirk in the distance.
Atrax: "Yeah. Good luck, Joker. I'll take care of things on my end. Trust me."
Me: "I do."
Gruff Man: "Hey! He's still communicating with the other Thieves! Knock him out and find them!"
Creepy Man: "There's one over there... he looks like a spider..."
Gruff Man: "HEY! HE'S GETTING AWAY!"
Surely enough, Atrax and the others had escaped.
Gruff Man: "...dammit... and we had a chance to get them all. Now we'll never find him! He could be anyone!"
He sighs.
Gruff Man: "Whatever. We got their leader. Now all that's left is for the rest to fall apart without him."
He leans down to face me.
Gruff Man: "So you used yourself as bait so the others could get away, huh? You're a pretty selfless leader. If only that selflessness was used somewhere other than crime."
He stands up, and kicks me in the chest.
I black out.
____________________________________________________________
This was really fun to write. I love thinking about how the new Thieves like Atrax, Maestro and Ace will interact with the originals like Joker, Skull and Crow. It was also fun to design Atrax's Persona design and abilities. I'm pretty proud of it, and I think that mechanical arms to climb with suit him pretty well.
I also really like what I did with Joker. To his allies, he's a kind, understanding and smart leader who has a good sense of humor to keep the mood light. To his foes, he's manipulative, cocky, and he loves to mess with them in hopes of a good reaction. This also infuriates his enemies, making them more reckless. I think that giving him this personality fits more in a story as having him be a blank slate, like in the games, isn't very good for a non-interactive story. I think that this is one of the many things wrong with Persona 5 the Animation. I really hope to make Joker at least slightly interesting, which is more than that show can say. (They somehow made Joker even more of a blank state than in the games.) I hope that you agree with my decisions.
This story will shift between Joker and Atrax regularly as they are the two main protagonists of this story. There will be other POV's, but Joker and Atrax will be the most common ones.
Lastly, I want to see you all guess who each new Thief is in the comments. A few of them have not yet been mentioned yet, but with the ones I've shown now, go ahead and try to guess!
Anyways, with all of that out of the way, thank you so much for reading! I'll try to post a new chapter as soon as possible!