A.N.
I've done a few edits since the last time. I refuse to look at the story myself to keep viewer count accurate, but I realized that I had a major plot hole to fill in (Hopefully you shouldn't notice the change at this point in the story) and noticed that I had ignored the "double spacing" rule to keep the text from bunching up. Sorry for that, and I hope it's all fixed. Special thanks to my mom for pointing these things out to me, and my sister for helping me with lore and characterization.
I have also edited the chapters a little more for cohesion. I'm not a brilliant writer, and the story will have little hiccups and updates until it's finished
Important terminology when reading stories that take place on the world of Remnant:
Dust: A special crystalline energy source mined from all over the world of Remnant. It comes in four basic elemental states, but can be combined and modified to do countless other things. It's Remnant's primary energy source, powering just about anything that needs to be powered, from transportation to entertainment to computers to weaponry.
Grimm: Dark incarnations of enmity that roam the wild world outside the kingdoms. They come in many varieties, but are consistently pitch black, with bony white masks and burning red eyes. Many of them bear resemblance to real creatures, but with twisted additions that make them more dangerous, namely size and armor, although some are completely unique in appearance. They never die of natural causes, but instead grow bigger, stronger and smarter indefinitely until they are killed by outside forces or, in extreme cases, each other.
The Kingdoms: The four major points of human civilization on Remnant. Each one is bonded by peace and is special in its own way. They use the massive Cross-Continental Transmit System in order to remain connected, for means official and casual. Whereas they each have their own independent governments, they are all regulated by the High Council, the highest authority on Remnant.
The story takes place in the southern kingdom of Vale, with its diverse culture and friendly people, but also with a dark criminal underbelly. Their national emblem is two crossed axes, to represent cooperation in chaos.
Atlas, the northern kingdom, is known for its technological might and mentally advanced population. Their emblem is a torch or spear, to represent leadership and guidance. The kingdom was originally known as Mantle, with Atlas as its Huntsman academy, but when Mantle fell during the Great War, Atlas merged with the government, creating a very controversial system.
Vacuo, being in the western desert, is known to have a population of people who are resilient, adaptable and sociable. Their symbol is three swords, used to remember the pain during the Great War that must never be repeated.
Mistral to the east is respected for its superior work ethic and emphasis on unity, even in a world that works hard to embrace those things in the first place. Their emblem is a winged shield, which represents the protection they are sworn to.
Huntsmen: Special warriors dedicated to the protection of civilization. They occasionally work within the kingdoms either as higher forms of law enforcement or justice people when things get intense. They make decisions outside the jurisdiction of most authorities and take advantage of the most powerful forms of physical, mental, spiritual and technological training to protect civilization's continued existence. Despite being involved in law enforcement, however, they are primarily warriors that fight off the Grimm that are constantly encroaching on the Kingdoms.
Faunus: A sub-species living in the world of Remnant, making up about 10% of its sentient population. For the most part, they are identical to humans, except each one is gifted with special, animal-like traits unique to themselves. This race, due to its strangeness, is subject to much discrimination and abuse by humans, who are considered "superior" and tend to be in control of things such as government, military and even schools.
The White Fang: A special group of Faunus that developed after Remnant's WWII equivalent, known as the Great War, for the sake of acting as a voice for the Faunus. They were originally formed to support civil rights and promote peace, but in the last five years, they have degraded to violence and fear-based tactics under the influence of their new leader, Adam Taurus.
"We're here." The two words rang out crisp and low in the humid June night. It was a voice that wasn't often heard unless it absolutely had to be. Though the girl it belonged to was slim and unimposing, she was considered the second most terrifying member of her race. Even the most brutish members of her organization shied away on the rare occasion that she showed her face. And now she was not only present, but active. People half her rank would never be sent into the field without at least half a dozen bodyguards, but she had only four operatives with whom to delve into the ultimate lion's den.
The walls to the immense military academy towered over the entire kingdom, a symbol of peace and unity in a world that had very little of either. Tonight, the humans inside would be taught a lesson. They had pretended to have the moral high ground for too long, and the breach tonight would show the world who the Huntsmen really were.
The largest of the four white-clad operatives, after a nervous pause, extended a set of sloth-like claws and started gingerly clambering up the wall. He disappeared over the top two minutes later.
"Throw us the rope!" One of the operatives called out, an ugly lanky thing with frizzy hair and an absolutely colossal nose. He was shushed by his associates. Stealth was integral to their success, and this man didn't seem to be capable of speaking in anything other than a nasal whine. They waited a full minute for a response, but none came. "How long does it take to throw a friggin' rope?" He asked again, this time getting a good whack in the back of the head by his leader.
"Be quiet. Something's wrong." She said. After a moment of staring at the wall, she drew her weapon and turned to face the others. "Back off. It's time for plan B!" The urgency was apparent in her voice, and she broke into a solid run away from the academy. Surprised, the remaining three men began to run after her, terrified of what was to come. They barely made it ten feet before a solid wall of glass erupted in their path, cutting them off. The one with the large nose drew his gun and shot at it, a futile attempt to escape. A purple mist oozed from the glass wall, engulfing the operatives in mere seconds. They turned to run back, but were immobilized in stride before they could take off. Paralyzed, the three of them were in the perfect position to watch helplessly as a tall figure floated down the wall over which their comrade had vanished. There was a flash of light, and the would-be criminals were gone, while their leader slipped off into the night.
Reynold Lopez was rather young when things got very exciting for him. He never asked to have any adventures, and he only wanted to do what was right. But it's surprising what can happen to people with the best intentions. At 24 years old, he had his own apartment in the main city of the kingdom of Vale, and had a stable job at a local grocery store. It was the best he could do, given the circumstances. He had wanted to study economics at the local college; but, at what would have been the time of his enrollment, a violent racial uprising meant that Faunus, like Reynold, didn't have those kinds of opportunities. A second set of huge, Leporid ears broadcast Reynold as a member of the downtrodden race.
The kingdom of Vale, while quite a nice place, was not part of a friendly world. The closest kingdom was Vacuo, the desert land on the other side of the continent, and the wilderness in between was a desolate place swarming with the demonic Grimm beasts and few habitable settlements. The seas and the sky were the only means of travel that didn't require moving through these dangerous areas. And while the kingdoms themselves were peaceful, they were surrounded by high walls and protected day and night by the Huntsmen who had dedicated their lives to the protection of humanity.
But none of that mattered to Reynold. To Reynold, his days consisted of three phases: Work, play and rest. The work phase began right as he woke up, as he threw together a quick cereal breakfast while listening to his roommate Indigo gripe about his baffling escapades with office politics and whatnot. After that, Reynold would dress up in his grey uniform and drive off to the store. There, he would stack various edibles and deal with stingy customers for eight hours before punching out and heading off to his favorite hangout place for the play portion of his day.
Reynold's play consistently started with a trip to a burger place with Indigo and Brad, a human friend from the grocery store. They occasionally would wander around the city for a few hours after finishing their meal. Afterward was the rest portion, when Reynold and Indigo went home and hung around the apartment until bedtime. The typical day was rather boring.
However, Reynold's life took a big change. It started when he arrived at work one day to find a window smashed and a half-dozen police officers taping off the area. Locating Brad among the small crowd of confused grocers, Reynold ran up to him.
"What's going on here?' He asked. His morning had already been rough. He woke up too early, there was no milk in the apartment, Indigo had made him late for work, and his side mirror had been knocked off by someone speeding around a blind turn. He wasn't ready for the stress of the store being closed.
"Apparently somebody broke in last night and made a mess." Brad said. His tone suggested this wasn't the first time he had explained the situation.
"Did they steal anything?" Reynold asked.
"Not that they're aware of, yet." Brad sighed. "They're taking inventory with the manager just to make sure."
"Could it be a hate crime?" Reynold asked.
"What would anyone have against this place?" Brad responded.
"It could have something to do with the people in it."
"Like whom?"
Reynold shrugged. He wasn't sure. There had been a few reports of vandalism in this area over the past few weeks, but they always seemed to be the kind of thing that happened to "Someone else." But according to an old saying, we're all someone else to someone else.
"Oh, look! The VNN is here." Shouted a bushy-faced cop irritably as a black news van pulled into the parking lot. Reynold pulled his hair, seeing that this would be a very hard day. Because he worked at the store, he'd have to answer questions of both the police and the reporter who was most likely coming out of that van. He would have preferred to answer those questions later, after he'd had a chance to rest.
"I think I should get out of here," Reynold whispered, hoping to make a quick escape. He was immediately intercepted by a policeman who insisted that all the grocers stay where they were.
It was a long, hot half-hour before everything settled down. There were no witnesses and the only clue that was found was a brick that had been thrown through the window to break it. Everyone was allowed to leave, and the brick was brought in for professional analysis. During the on-scene investigation, Reynold had a good chance to look around, and he noticed something strange. In the midst of babbling grocers and a growing number of pushy reporters, all governed by grouchy cops, somebody stood on the outside, calm and collected. A very tall middle aged woman with a pale braid and a black cape leaned against Reynold's car, observing with a neutral expression. She fluttered her fingers in the air when Reynold looked at her, but after the police left, she vanished without a trace.
"Was there like a detective or something over there?" Reynold asked Brad after they had been dismissed, indicating his car. The store had been closed for the day, and nobody was going to get paid for it. It was rather upsetting.
"I don't know, there were detectives everywhere." Brad answered. He was in his car, ready to drive away when Reynold met him at the window.
"No, not like the guys in uniform. A freelancer, I think. Right over there, just watching. Nobody was paying any attention to her, but I guessed she was important."
"Sorry, man. No idea."
"Do you think she could have been a Huntress?"
Brad was about to drive away when Reynold asked the question, but was cut short. He looked his friend straight in the eye and said "Unless a Beowulf snuck this far into the kingdom just to cause a bit of property damage, I seriously doubt she was anything so romantic." He started rolling up the window just to roll it back down again with an afterthought. "Speaking of romance, what made you think of it?"
"I don't know, she was wearing a cape." Reynold replied. "She may have just been cold or something."
"Have you seen what people wear on a regular basis these days?"
"Are you going to be at dinner today?"
"Of course I am. But right now, I'd like to go."
"Sure." And with that, Reynold left.
There wasn't much to do at home during his usual work hours, so Reynold decided to pay Indigo a surprise visit. Indigo worked at an obscure tailor place where he made custom-designed clothes for his clients. Indigo would walk to work, since it was quite a bit closer and he didn't have to arrive as early as Reynold.
Indigo greeted Reynold at the door and, after listening to his story, let him stay at the tailor's until work let out and they went out to dinner.
The little corner diner didn't get a lot of regular customers since a far more popular joint restaurant opened across the street nearly two years ago, which made the three young men almost part of the daily scenery there. They always sat next to the window, and were on a first-name basis with the majority of the staff. On this particular day, they talked about the incident at the grocery store.
"I still think this could be a hate crime." Reynold insisted. They had spun around theories for the past ten minutes. Failed robbery and hate crime seemed the two most probable.
"Nobody's kicking White Fang around?" Indigo asked nonchalantly. The civil rights group had been becoming more and more aggressive over the past several years, but petty crimes like this seemed less than likely.
"No!" Reynold and Brad said at the same time.
"Just wondering." Indigo muttered after a moment of silence. "Speaking of White Fang, did you hear they caught a bunch of the nasties the other day?"
"They're not really 'nasties.'" Reynold interjected.
"Yeah. I saw that." Brad said. "And they were the nasties, if that's what we're calling them, the Shadow among them. Four of the top guys, wanting to teach a lesson to Beacon."
"I haven't heard of this." Reynold wasn't great at keeping up with the news, especially the controversial subjects such as the constant struggle for equality of the species. "Did you say Shadow?" He searched his memory for the person. She was the second in command of the White Fang, subordinate only to Taurus, who practically raised her. Although there were rumors there was more to their relationship than that.
"Yeah. Number two behind bars. They've been tracking that cat for years!" Indigo seemed rather excited. The methodology of the White Fang was a constant point of contention between Indigo and Reynold. Indigo was adamantly against the increasingly extreme schemes that kept coming up, but Reynold felt that when even the Great War eighty years ago brought around no change, somebody's got to do something big. Brad had a tendency to go with the flow, and often ended up speaking for Indigo's side, as Reynold was rather uncomfortable speaking his mind.
"Was the 'cat' pun intended?" Reynold asked uncomfortably.
Ignoring him, Indigo continued. "Nobody outside the White Fang has even seen her. And even then it's usually the higher ups and for brief moments of time."
"Would she really do something that stupid? Aren't they usually more organized than all that?"
"Well, I guess she's a bit of a figurehead. Most likely a minor, pampered by Taurus as the princess of the White Fang." Indigo said. "Why do you ask?"
Reynold was quiet for a moment. "I don't know. I just always assumed… Did they really catch her?"
"I think so," Brad put in.
Taking a slight shift, Indigo said "And do you know what's funny? She isn't even in charge! If they had caught Taurus, there wouldn't be nearly as much ruckus."
"I think it's on purpose."
Indigo and Brad went into another political conversation. They didn't talk specifically about the White Fang or Faunus dynamics very often, but almost always found something to talk about. They encouraged Reynold to participate in these conversations, but he didn't understand any of it.
"I think I'm going to head home." Reynold eventually said.
"Hey, are we making you uncomfortable?" Indigo asked.
"No, I'm just ready to go home."
And with that, Reynold left. He went home to end the bad day that would eventually lead to a major change in his life.
The shop was just the beginning.
Taurus carefully slipped the emblematic mask into place. This was a big event, and everyone was expecting a show. That's what it had become about: The show. The cause had almost become secondary. The people out there wanted to feel powerful, maybe even immortal, but those feelings didn't compare to what he promised them. He instinctively looked to his right, and his protégée stood there at attention as if nothing had ever happened. The cost of her foolishness would be incalculable, and there was only one way to avoid it. She had practically fed four of their best to the enemy, and there were already rumors circulating that she may be a traitor to the White Fang. But he trusted her with his life, and knew that she would never do something so terrible. However, he sometimes forgot that she was still a child, and that confidence could easily overtake her. What was coming up wasn't going to be easy.
"Why do I have to wear this?" She asked as she held her own version of the elite mask. She was one of the very few who wasn't obligated to wear the signature white uniform and usually went about her business in a form-fitting black suit, earning herself her popular nickname of the Shadow. But today, she wore the uniform to stand alongside her leader at this particular rally.
"Because it will make them think that you are like them."
"But I'm not like them." She muttered.
Taurus turned around, staring her dead in the eye. "Why so?"
She took a breath to gather her thoughts. "Because I've seen more. I know what kind of stuff we're fighting to stop, and I'm willing to sacrifice my life for it." Another pause. "They're townspeople."
"And you're more important than them?" He interjected before her last word was finished. "They are Faunus. And they wouldn't be here if they haven't felt the pain that comes with it. Maybe you've seen it closer than most, but that only changes your perception. Not your worth."
"I understand." She said, nodding.
"Come on, let's get out there."
They stepped out onto the impromptu stage, with about two hundred white uniforms waiting uneasily. There was a loud cry as they saw their leader with the impending announcement.
"Let's keep this brief…" He said after the crowd calmed down. "Yesterday, as you may know, one of our own has failed us. And for that, she must face the consequences." A loud outburst from the crowd followed this statement. Taurus continued after calming the crowd. "So," Another uproar. "I have come to…" Once again shouting. "Quiet!"
The silence was deafening.
"I have come to," Taurus continued, "the conclusion that given the flak we're getting from both the public and the Huntsmen, this defeat can only bring them directly to us, and bring about the end of our cause." Once again the crowd got verbal, but not as much as the previous times. Now, he simply waited for them to calm down. "And because of that, she cannot remain here. She is too dangerous."
The Shadow, completely stoic until now, broke her composure, as did the entire congregation. "What?" She said.
He looked her directly where her eyes would be were it not for the mask. "You may not return until you have rectified your offence."
"That's insane." She whispered. "I can't do that." She took a step backward.
"Go." He said. He was thinking how much she must have hated him right then, but he didn't know what else to do. As she walked away, he was the only one who knew that under the mask, she was crying.
Reynold went to work the next morning as usual. There were still a couple of policemen hanging around, and there was a tarp covering the broken window. The tall woman he had seen yesterday had reappeared, and was talking in a hushed voice with one of the policemen. He never saw her leave.
At about noontime, Reynold was stacking cans in one of the front isles. He had skipped his lunch break in favor of an early relief. He had slipped off into his own thoughts when someone tapped him gently on the shoulder. It was a pale, dark-haired girl wearing an eyesore of a jacket and a baseball cap whose brim came dangerously close to his face. In each hand she held a can of beans, each of a different size. "Excuse me," She said. "I just wanted to ask a question." She held out the two cans of beans.
"What is it?"
"Is there a can between these two sizes?"
"Um… I don't think so,"
"Oh. Well… Okay." She discreetly slipped both cans under her jacket, with a sideways glance toward him.
"What are you doing?" She didn't respond and instead headed directly for the exit. "Hey!" He took a few steps toward her, and she started running. Not knowing what else to do, Reynold broke into a run and shouted, "Stop her!"
The girl gave a yelp as a police officer jumped around a corner and grabbed her by the arm. What happened next was something Reynold couldn't understand at the moment. She suddenly appeared several meters away from the officer, leaving the officer grasping the wrist of a shadowy image for half of a second before it disappeared. "She's a stepper!" He called without hesitation, and a couple other officers appeared from various angles with batons drawn. Reynold didn't know what that meant, but he saw it as strange that three men were coming to stop a single girl for a petty crime.
The girl took a quick glance in Reynold's direction, and then "stepped" toward him, and he had no time to react before she pushed him to the ground and then continued to run. Reynold grabbed her ankle as she ran past, knocking her sideways into the shelf. The troublemaker crashed to the ground, dragging a number of cans after her. Even then, Reynold held tightly to her ankle and struggled to get into a manageable position. The girl rolled onto her back with incredible speed and kicked Reynold in the face, forcing him to let go. As she jumped to her feet, the policemen came upon her. As one of them cracked down, she vanished, materializing behind him.
"Not fast enough." She muttered mockingly as she began to run toward the exit, snatching another can of tuna on the way. Unfortunately, the hesitation was just long enough for one of the policemen to press a button on his baton, releasing a blue blast from the business end, which he pointed directly toward her.
The paralysis function in the batons was nothing new in the world of law enforcement. Its power source was a very special form of the Dust energy crystals that powered most things in the world, from cars to entertainment to weapons. The particular form of Dust used in the batons combined a conductive attribute with a freezing one, causing the target's nervous system to stall while simultaneously causing an overwhelming knee-jerk reaction to contract into the fetal position, which is exactly what the girl did as soon as she was hit by the blast. Reynold thought that she seemed rather pathetic curled on the floor in that way, unable to resist as the police dragged her away.
She absolutely deserved it.
The next day, the broken window had been replaced and all the policemen were gone. The woman in the cape, however, had returned for a third time, with the shoplifter from the previous day dragged behind her. Reynold was working checkout that day, and had a clear view of the manager's desk, toward which the woman went directly. The girl wore a yellow suit that indicated that she had been brought here for community service, with the addition of a thick metal brace with a yellow glow around the edges. Her obnoxious hat was also gone, revealing a second set of Faunus ears on her head poking from her hair, now falling around her shoulders. Small, pointed things, but nonetheless very noticeable.
"Take this," The tall woman informed the manager, referring to the girl as if she was an object. Her voice was sharp enough to cut bone, and her brow scrunched with the words. The girl blurred out of focus for a moment, only to clarify with a pained look on her face, the glow on her brace intensifying momentarily. The woman wrenched her arm even harder than she already was. "And stop trying to do that! You're only wasting your energy." Reynold, thinking he had nothing better to do, stared dumbly at the exchanging of the delinquent as he mindlessly scanned his customer's items.
"Hold on. I wasn't told we were taking convicts." The manager said with a stern glare.
The woman matched the glare. "No, you weren't. This is a last minute thing." She pushed the girl toward the counter, but the manager pushed back.
"Hey." He barked. "Everything that goes in and out does so with my preordination. If the PD push some detainee on me unexpectedly, I'm not taking her."
"I'm not with the police." She said patiently, although with a distinct tone of disdain.
"Then who are you?"
Then something very odd happened. The woman made a gesture toward the desk. The manager looked at it for a moment, and then got slightly wide-eyed, while trying to not break his image of authority. Reynold couldn't tell what was so impressive, but it seemed to work. The manager immediately snapped up and called, "Lopez!"
"Can you give me a moment?" Reynold asked, gesturing toward his customer, who was startled at the sudden cry.
"Get your bagger to handle it. I want you!" He shouted back. He seemed to do a lot of shouting. Reynold took a quick glance at the bagger, who didn't hesitate to take his place.
"Yes?" Reynold asked, certain that his nervousness was reflected in his voice. On his left was the terrifying manager, a fat man with a bald head and a shaggy beard whose temper was famous to all his subordinates. On his right was the supremely intimidating stranger who was a whole head taller than a regular person, and head and shoulders above Reynold. And in front of him was the irritating shoplifter from the previous day. It was all rather emasculating.
"Take this one to the back and make her useful." The manager barked.
"And keep an eye on her." The tall woman snapped.
"I have a name." The girl hissed.
Reynold could practically see the venom dripping from each of their lips. He chose his words to ensure not stepping on any landmines. "Come with me, I have something for you to do." He figured it was the most appropriate thing to say, satisfying each of the three's intentions for him in a single phrase. It wasn't nearly as clever a tactic as it sounds.
"You hurt me yesterday," the girl said as she and Reynold headed off toward the back areas of the store, where generally only employees and schoolchildren on field trips were allowed.
"Yes I did," He responded. "And I regret it. You're a pretty girl, and it's disappointing that you had to go and do something stupid like this." He gestured toward the brace on her arm. "And that you use your magic sidestep thing to steal tuna."
"You know nothing about me. Or the powers that run this world, apparently."
"I agree with the second part, but not the first. Never understood the working behind Dust and Grimm and the sort."
The girl scoffed. "Well, you should at least know it's not magic."
"The kind of stuff Pyrrha Nikos does certainly looks like magic." The world-renowned athlete's stunts most certainly were not magic, but the comment got the satisfying reaction of an eye roll. "Ah, here we are." He said as the two of them arrived at their destination. "You get to stack cardboard." She was clearly unimpressed. "Just take the empty boxes from over there, and put them over here."
After two bad days in a row Reynold felt a kind of guilty pleasure in his excuse to sit back. While he wasn't generally prone to bossing people around, he felt somehow justified in his treatment of the girl.
His thoughts were interrupted by the girl herself. "And, since nobody asked, my name is Anna."
"Nice to meet you, Anna. Keep going."
After ten minutes of slow, monotonous work Anna asked to go to the bathroom. She had been doing well, and Reynold decided to allow her a break.
"Sure. But I'm coming with you," He said, getting an odd look. "I'll stand outside the door, I'm not that crazy."
He walked behind Anna on the way out. She moved rather slowly, taking a good look around. She seemed to linger near a large dolly where Brad was emptying boxes onto the shelves. "Come on." Reynold urged her, with a side glance toward his friend.
Anna took a very long time in the bathroom. Reynold was getting rather irritated and was ready to go in after her when he heard a cry of pain from inside. He burst in to find Anna sitting on the ground near the door, with a box cutter in her hand, blood splattered on her arm, and her brace, warped and split, lying on the ground. He experienced a split second of mixed horror, rage and guilt before Anna sprung to her feet and stepped toward him as she had done the previous day, ready to push him over. Reynold, expecting the tactic, grabbed her hair in one hand and her wrist with the box cutter in the other and tried to pull her to the ground. She didn't resist, but instead stepped out of his grasp toward the exit. Reynold, despite being aware of her mysterious ability, wasn't anticipating the strange effect of holding someone as she dematerialized, and staggered when he found his center of balance suddenly thrown, and was slightly dizzy after putting his head through the shadow that she left behind.
Anna made a truly impressive leap over a stack of watermelons, pushed past some confused customers, and pushed through the automated doors to the exit, leaving a trail of blood behind her.
Reynold regained his composure and ran toward the exit, albeit not in quite as acrobatic a fashion. He came into the parking lot in time to see Anna climbing through the smashed window of a blue car. Reynold made it to the car by the time she was in the driver seat, trying to start the ignition with the box cutter. It was her turn to have a moment of shock before he punched her in the mouth, which hurt Reynold a lot more than it hurt her. She responded by swiping at his face with the box cutter, grazing his nose. She had impressive reflexes, another item on the growing list of strange abilities that just made Reynold even more annoyed with her.
"Get out. This doesn't have to get any worse." Reynold warned her.
"It's a little late for that."
"I'm not being nice anymore." Reynold muttered. Faunus' special gifts gave them a number of interesting abilities. Reynold himself had learned of his incredible speed at an early age, and used it here to wrestle the box cutter from Anna's hands. She was stunned at the feat. "How about that for magic?"
Anna gave a sinister look. With a wince, she bashed her hand against the ignition. There was a quick flash of light, and her hair jumped several inches. The car promptly started, and Anna shifted gears and pushed her foot to the floor, with Reynold still hanging out the window.
As they drove off, Reynold heard the manager screaming after them with a loud, drawn-out "Lopez!"
Of all the ghetto places in all the kingdoms, the main city of Vale had one of the worst of them in its northern industrial district, right on the edge of the river. It was a nasty place, where the very scum of all the world resided to take pride in its wicked deeds. One particular piece of work, a man named Hei Xiong, was on a break from wicked deeds on a particularly bright June morning. He had fired three men, financially doomed two and killed another just that morning, and was now in the mood for a drink on the deck of his favorite hangout place. He figured this day would be about a seven out of ten. He was happy, and in turn, his lackeys and minions were also happy.
And then it all went away.
A blue car with a pair of legs hanging out the driver-side window came barreling down the street at an incredibly dangerous speed. It banged against a couple of the other cars in the area, and eventually veered far to the left, crashing into Hei Xiong's happy little alcove, almost killing him and several of his nearby underlings in the process.
Hei moaned to himself as he stood up, groping for his weapon. "And everything was going so well." He turned around and saw the car swallow up the fluttering legs. "Who are these troublemakers?"
None of his men had the courage to answer him.
Reynold clambered into the passenger seat, causing a great deal of discomfort for Anna. They were both exhausted after ten minutes of high-speed front-seat wrestling. Each was reluctantly impressed with the other's ability. But now, something even worse seemed to be at hand when a group of very angry-looking men with black bowler hats hovered around the car, and a bear started approaching the driver side window. No, it wasn't a bear. It was a man. A huge man, with a scruffy goatee and a smart black suit that did nothing to hide the fact that he was built like a barbarian. In one hammy hand he held a colossal metal bat.
The terrifying man stared poisonously at Anna and Reynold through the broken window. "What was all of that about?" He asked. His voice was gruff and brutish, but with an odd kind of refinement.
"Sorry, sir," Reynold hoped the nervousness didn't show too much in his voice. "My sister here just got her permit…" It was a terrible lie. The broken window, the blood, the box cutter and Anna's yellow jumpsuit all contributed to the failed deception.
"Don't lie to me." The giant man said. "And don't ever, ever wreak my stuff."
"I'm really sorry," Reynold repeated. "I'll pay for the damages…"
He interrupted again. "Get out of the car."
The two Faunus shared a nervous glance before obeying.
"Easy does it," the giant said as they climbed out of the car. "Now, inside." He pointed to the door with his bat.
Reynold spluttered, not knowing what to say.
"Do what he says, Lopez." Anna cautioned. He didn't need any further encouragement. He moved slowly, hands in the air, as he let one of the black hats take the box cutter. As he was led in, he saw that each of the men had weapons at their hips. All basic handguns, weapons far more conventional than their leader's bat.
The interior of the bar was much bigger and more modern than the worn, broken outside would have let on. It had dark, earthy lighting and nearly everything seemed to be made of dark mahogany. Everyone inside wore the same black hats as the men outside did, which was a strange happenstance that worked only to make the entire affair far more disturbing.
"Send them to the back," the giant said. "Then we'll make like nothing happened until I can think of some use for them."
Without another word, Reynold and Anna were pushed through the bar into a back hall, where one of the black hats unlocked an unmarked door. The door opened into a dark cellar, into which the two of them were pushed. They heard the door's lock click behind them a moment later.
Reynold banged on the door several times, yelling obscenities at the people outside, but to no avail.
"Stop." Anna told him. "That won't do us any good."
Reynold turned, looking at her. She was slightly blurred in the darkness, but their shared Faunus ability to see fairly well in dim light made the room more or less distinct. It wasn't very large, with a couple of empty crates and some broken glass on the floor.
"Oh, no." Reynold moaned to himself. "What did I do to deserve this?" He would have liked an answer of any sort, but he got none. "Come on, we have to get out of here."
"Yes, we do." Anna said bluntly, sliding to the floor.
"Then get up, let's go!" He touched her on the shoulder, but she pulled away.
"Wait. I want to rest." She examined the cut on her arm thoroughly. It had scabbed during the drive, but cracked when she moved her arm too much.
"Here," Reynold said, pulling a glove out of his pocket and tying it the best he could around the wound. "They give me these to deal with meat." Anna gave him a worried look. "I've never even put them on." The one glove made an awkward bandage, so he used the other one to compensate. "I think meat is gross uncooked. I've done a good job avoiding it. I didn't think it'd turn out helpful like this."
There was a click at the door, and one of the black hats came through. "Come on out." He said.
Reynold pulled Anna to her feet, and then followed the black hat. "Now would be a nice time to pull some of your moves."
"Who do you think I am, a Huntress?"
"Stop talking," The black hat said. "The boss has come up with a deal." They returned to the bar, which seemed to have become significantly less populated. Their bear-like leader, however, sat cross-legged in plain view. He stood up as Reynold and Anna were brought in, adjusting his tie.
"Hello, again." He said. "In case you didn't already know, you couple of lowlifes have really gotten yourselves into a pickle."
"Yes, we have. And we apologize profusely." Reynold blurted. "Can we go now?"
"It's not that simple," he replied. "I don't let dirty Faunus like you mess up my stuff. I could, for one, make things really, really painful…" His face contorted for a moment, completing the image of a cave man in a suit. "… But, I'm a bigger person than that." He turned to the table he was sitting at and opened a large bag that Reynold hadn't noticed before. He pulled two items out of it. White, angular arcs with red designs on them.
"Grimm masks." Anna whispered. The masks were inspired by the natural (if you could call them that) structures that formed on the faces of most Grimm beasts. The masks were famously used by the White Fang to both to hide their identities and as a symbol of their treatment by humanity as animals. How this group of humans got their hands on some was beyond anyone's knowledge at this point.
"All we want you to do, is wear these things into a special place that my boys here will bring you to. You just need to go in there and bring me a little bit of Dust."
"What?" Reynold thought aloud. He glanced to his right, and saw Anna, who showed no visible sign of emotion.
"That's all." The giant continued, unfazed. "And then, we can pretend none of this ever happened."
There was a long silence. It was eventually broken by Anna. "I guess we haven't got a choice, then."
The giant smiled to himself. "Precisely." The smile was quickly replaced with a scowl. "But you can't go out there wearing that… Lopez." Reynold looked at himself, and noticed the blue logo and nametag pasted to the red uniform that he'd been wearing since he'd left the grocery store. Anna also looked at her torn yellow suit, specifically designed to identify her as a convict. "Bring them some casual wear. There's got to be something in her size around here somewhere. But first, come here." He held his hand out, palm upward, and Anna reluctantly took a step forward. He snatched the arm wrapped in the gloves, and she tried to wrench away.
"Hey!" Reynold took a step forward, only to be barred by a black hat. The giant let go of Anna a moment later. He had removed the gloves, and left her arm without a mark showing through her sleeve. "What was that?"
Another black hat appeared, seemingly from nowhere, with two white shirts slung over one arm and two pairs of jeans and a belt over the other. "Here you go, sir." He said, approaching the giant.
"Give that to them, not to me!" The giant said, swatting the man away with a wave of a hammy hand. The man gave a quiet apology before handing Anna a shirt, jeans and the belt and Reynold the rest. "Now go put it on. Quickly." The giant urged them, throwing Anna the masks.
There was only one bathroom to change in, so they took turns standing with their faces to the wall. Anna changed first.
"You can smell the crazy on that guy," Reynold said to the green stained wallpaper.
Anna huffed sardonically. "This entire day has been crazy."
"And that's coming from the one who knows what's going on."
"I have no idea what's going on, actually."
"You don't know that that guy is planning on committing a robbery and pinning it on the White Fang?"
"Well, I know that."
"Also, did he fix your cut?"
Anna sighed. "You really don't understand the powers that run this world, do you?" Reynold remembered that she had used that same phrase just an hour ago. Had it really been an hour? "It's the physical control of natural energies that every living thing possesses. When mastered, people can use it to do a number of seemingly impossible things. Your turn."
Reynold turned around to see Anna in the new clothes, still latching on the belt. "I guess impossible things doesn't include changing shirt sizes." He said jokingly. She gave him a sour look.
"Just get dressed."
While changing, Reynold took his nametag off of his uniform and shoved it into his jeans pocket. They were expensive to replace, and he planned on getting out of this mess in time for dinner at the very latest.
The black hats jumped into action immediately after Reynold and Anna stepped out of the bathroom, pushing them through a back door in a flurry of irritable babble. In the back parking lot was a black van into which the Faunus were shoved. There was a wall separating them from the driver's seat, leaving again trapped alone in the dark.
The van wasn't nearly as sparse as the cellar was, though. There were an absurd assortment of random equipment, including a karaoke machine, a microwave, a dusty painting and a disturbingly realistic mannequin. There was a long delay, with muffled voices from several people, including the criminal leader. The two Faunus sat in silence as the car finally started up and started to move to… Somewhere.
"Come on." Reynold said eventually. "We need to get out of here."
"I agree. Let me to the door." Anna crouched in front of the latch and started fiddling with it.
"Now? On the road?"
"Because they're going to open the doors and let us walk away?"
"So you're the kind to answer a serious question with sarcasm?"
"You certainly are." She struggled with the latch a little more before giving up. "No. It's no use. It's reinforced to cancel my energy with somebody else's, most likely his."
"Whose?"
"Their leader."
"That means he's still in this vehicle, then."
"Or someone else who's strong enough to stop me."
Reynold laughed. "You say that is if it's incredible." Anna glared.
"It's incredible when you're talking about regular people. Many regular people have their aura unlocked, but to have this much control over it is rare. This isn't just some lowlife we're dealing with, he's someone very, very very…" She trailed off.
"Can I try?" Reynold asked. Anna gave him a look that suggested he had just said something very stupid, and then the van stopped. Reynold considered saying something sarcastic as the door popped open on its own. A stout man in the gang uniform appeared silhouetted as the sunlight burst in.
"We're here." He said. He led the two out of the van and indicated a small Dust shop across the street. "Get in and get out. And don't try any funny business. You won't escape the boss." Reynold's assumption that the giant was in the van was correct. He was in the passenger seat, a pair of red sunglasses making his expression unreadable.
Anna and Reynold put on the masks and ambled their way across the street and into the Dust shop. It was a quaint little place, with a lot of polished wood. But it made the shop feel warm instead of hostile, like the gang bar did. There were glass cases displaying the multicolored crystals with little stickers listing their properties and charge capacity. There was a desk facing of the door. Behind the desk was a stout elderly woman stood whose face fell at the sight of the white masks and tall ears. To the right of the door was a large window displaying the entire shop quite nicely from the outside. The shop extended backwards with three isles of shelves in the center, and taller shelves all around the perimeter. There was another door in the back labeled "Employees only" with a comical "evil" face drawn on it in bright blue marker.
"Excuse me, ma'am," Reynold avoided looking at the shopkeeper and did his best to make his voice rough. "But I'm afraid that this is a robbery."
The woman raised an eyebrow. She was stout and had very little color in her hair, skin or eyes. Still, she had an experienced, friendly look about her that made Reynold regret disturbing her. "Please. Let's not make this difficult." Her voice was like a squeaky metal door. She opened the cash register and started counting money out of it.
"No, that won't be necessary," Reynold interrupted. He noticed he sounded awfully polite, so he turned his attention to someone he didn't like. "Get the Dust!" He barked at Anna, who had already opened up one of the glass shelves and was selecting a number of purplish crystals.
"How many of these do we need?" She asked.
"I don't know, seven. Come on. Let's go!" Reynold urged her on, looking at the van outside. "We need the Dust." He ran toward Anna, and then turned unconsciously toward the window at the van parked outside. But, being behind the counter now, he could see it better. A switch on the underside was visible, a green light glowing merrily on its tip. Reynold had seen such a switch before. There was an identical one at the grocery store under each checkout counter that triggered a silent alarm. The light would blink red when active. It was strange that this woman hadn't flipped it yet. The shopkeeper turned to him, saw his gaze linger, and then smiled.
"Tell me why you're actually here." She croaked.
"Come on. Let's go." Anna echoed Reynold's previous statement before seeing the look he shared with the old woman. "What's going on?"
"You seem a decent fellow." The woman said slowly. "You, Girl, I'm not so sure about. But you are certainly not who you seem to be."
"We are here on important business," Anna cut in. "Don't make things complicated."
"Take the mask off, sweetheart," She began tapping on the counter. Then, after a moment of thought, she added "So things don't get complicated."
Reynold looked out the window again, and saw the giant emerge from the van. He held his bat in both hands and seemed to be twisting it. It had a number of moving parts that he was adjusting in a very particular fashion.
"Please, just let us have the Dust so we can go," Anna said.
"Get down!" Reynold shouted. Outside, the giant had positioned his bat over his shoulder, and the transition was clear. It was also a gun. A huge one. Reynold shouted just as he fired it, and a tenth of a second later the front windows exploded in an angry fireball. The old woman didn't flinch.
The giant strode across the street, his minion a step behind him. "I told you to get the Dust and leave!" He called to them. He stopped halfway to the sidewalk and adjusted his weapon on his shoulder. "That first one was a warning shot. The next shot will ignite all that dust, and there will be nothing left." The black hat behind him smirked. "So, to avoid that grisly event, here's what you can do: Flip that alarm, and when the police arrive, tell them that the White Fang came and trashed the place."
"What in the name of sanity is going on here!?" An irritated voice called from the back of the shop, interrupting the moment. An old man with greasy black hair and birdlike features had appeared. He had what appeared to be a tuning fork in one hand. He took a look at the situation and then did something quite unexpected. He laughed.
"Augustus, just look at this mess!" The woman scolded him. "This is nothing to laugh about." The sweet-sounding woman scolding this disconcerting new figure had an irony that Reynold would have found very amusing had his life not been threatened at the time.
"I'm about to blow you off the face of the planet!" The giant interjected, shouting through the broken window from the street. "That's nothing to laugh about."
"It's alright, Heather. Just give me a minute." The old man, who was apparently Augustus, stopped laughing and rubbed his brow. "It's just that I've heard a lot of stories like this." He lazily picked up a bright red Dust crystal and placed it between the prongs of his fork as he ambled forward to join the others at the front of the shop. "I've been retired for a long time, and people have always said 'one day adventure's going to come back to you!' And I just figured it was foolishness…"
"What are you talking about?" The giant's patience was clearly running out. His plan that he had thought to be so clever was falling apart before his eyes, and now he was being mocked for it.
"Listen, dear," The old man said, pointing his fork at the giant. "You've upset my wife, and by extension, me. That's a very bad place to stand." He flicked the fork nonchalantly, there was a slight snap and a red burst of light, and the giant fell face first into the pavement. The black hat, startled, pulled a gun, only to be flicked backward in the same manner. The fork then turned toward Reynold and Anna.
"He kidnapped us! We're tools!" Reynold blurted, flinging his mask to the ground. "See? We're regular people."
"He's telling the truth." The woman agreed. "They came in here and started trying to take things as if they were walking down the pier."
"Decked out in these things?" Augustus picked the mask up off the floor. "Very interesting."
"We don't know how he got them," Anna said. "I think he may have something to do with the robberies over these past few weeks."
"Well, I don't know about that." Augustus muttered, half to himself. "But it wouldn't be the first time someone tried to blame the White Fang for something they haven't done." He then snapped into a lively state and skipped toward the door. "Heather, bring in that weapon; its parts will make good money. You two, drag in the little guy. I have a refinement chamber that should hold him until the police arrive. I'll take Junior, here."
Reynold and Anna froze in place, startled at the order. The woman behind the counter, Heather, flipped the switch under the counter and then quickly shuffled from her position toward the door. "I hope you're wearing your good shoes, Augustus, there's glass everywhere."
"It's nothing Pete can't clean up." Augustus waved it away as he held the door open for his wife.
"You're not even wearing shoes!"
"I can see the glass. It's around the door, but not in front of it." She trundled out, followed by his long gait. With one arm, Heather picked up the bat that was no longer a bat, throwing it over one shoulder. Augustus, meanwhile, started trying to figure out how he would pick up the giant.
"Do you need help out there?" Reynold asked.
"Yes, I asked you two to pick up the little guy. Hurry up!" Augustus called, lifting the giant's shoulders off the ground.
"Mind your back!" Heather cautioned. "Here, this thing can wait, I can help you."
"No, I have it. Look, he goes on my back quite easily." The Faunus looked on the couple amusedly as they picked up the black hat's arms and legs. Reynold noted a number of bystanders across the street looking at the spectacle in confused silence.
"He's a lot bigger than you are," Reynold interjected as he grabbed hold of his luggage's arms. He started walking backwards a step after Anna started moving forwards, but by the time they reached the door they had figured out a clumsy sort of trot that allowed them to move quite nicely.
"And don't worry about dropping him on the glass," Augustus commented. His wife then gave him a solid lecture on his bad sense of humor, through which he giggled merrily as he lugged the giant into the store.
"When should the police be here?" Anna asked.
"About ten minutes. It'll be worth it." Augustus replied, slightly strained under the giant's weight.
"We should be heading off soon, Anna. That creepy detective lady is going to kill you if she finds out you ran away, and then my manager's going to kill me when he finds out I let you run away."
"What, have a couple of lower-caliber troublemakers stumbled into my shop today?"
"She's on community service." Reynold admitted casually, much to Anna's horror. "But things will be alright if we get back before 4 o' clock." Anna shook her head frantically. Heather was visibly intrigued.
They had reached the back door, and Heather pushed it open. Behind it was a thick door, presumably to the refinement chamber Augustus had mentioned. To the right was a staircase that Heather climbed, lugging the giant bat behind her. Augustus clumsily pushed the refinery door open and scooted in.
The refinement chamber was quite contrary to the rest of the shop. It was entirely blindingly white tile, and filled with shiny machines whose operation Reynold could only guess at. It was how Reynold imagined the labs in Atlas where top-grade medicines were developed. Augustus dumped the giant on the floor shortly before the Faunus lowered their load. "Okay, come on out. I'll lock the door." Augustus spoke as if to himself. "But, based upon what you just told me, young man, I'm going to have to go over a few things with you before the police arrive."
Reynold sighed heavily. "It's not as bad as it seems."
"Community service runaway? Perhaps it's not as bad for you, but you just put your friend here in very deep water." Augustus laughed.
"I am not his friend." Anna interjected.
Reynold echoed. "I'm not her friend." After a moment, he added "I'm her babysitter."
They left the refinement chamber and Augustus locked it with a code. Heather was coming down the stairs at that same moment, asking "Since you're going to be here a while, would you like to stay upstairs where it's a little more comfortable?"
Augustus didn't give them a chance to reply. "Certainly. We can talk up there." Reynold finally felt uncomfortable about being so open. In the moment, he felt a mix of relief and anger and hadn't thought about his words. But now he realized he may be in just as much trouble as Anna when the police arrive. As they ascended the stairs, Augustus murmured halfheartedly "I doubt you'll be able to explain what really important, though…"
There he was again. The flight attendant with the smooth red hair and the just-too-wide smile. Weiss couldn't remember the last time she had even seen a male flight attendant. The way he pat her head last time he came by made her want to puke her liver onto the fancy tray. She figured it'd taste better than air food, anyway. She gave a nervous glance toward her father's assistant, Gerald, who had been by her side all the way from Atlas. He didn't seem perturbed at all by anything going on, simply listening to his music through little ear buds while occasionally giving Weiss a visual check-up. Gerald had been her friend since she was a baby, and could instinctively understand even her slightest quirks.
Maybe she was just nervous about going to another kingdom. She had never before left her home in Atlas, and the world seemed so much bigger now that she was on an airship on her way to Beacon. Forty-five minutes, and her new life as a Huntress would begin. She had discovered a powerful aptitude for inorganic energy manipulation six years ago and was instantly put into training. Now she was ready to be put into the most prestigious academy the world had to offer. Secretly, she was relieved to get away from her father. He had become more hung up on running his company in the past few months, and Weiss felt she needed some breathing room.
"Another drink, ma'am?" The attendant asked for the umpteenth time, offering the same little bottle of yellow liquid.
"Were you dropped or something?" She burst. Gerald took out his earbuds and looked at the offender.
"I'm just here to make sure you're most comfortable, Miss Schnee." The attendant said with drooling civility. Admittedly, Weiss had a hungry ego, but this was insulting.
Fortunately, Gerald intervened at that moment. "Are you thirsty?" Was the first thing he said, putting his hand on Weiss's shoulder.
"NO." She said definitely.
Gerald continued without missing a beat. "Did she ask for a drink?"
"But I'm just…"
"Yes or no?"
There was a long pause. "No."
Gerald checked his music player, pressing a couple of buttons on it. "How about this? You fill her glass one last time," He nodded at the flight attendant, and then gently touched Weiss to bring her acidic gaze towards himself. "And you drink it when you feel the need?"
Weiss nodded concededly as the attendant poured her that one last glass. Gerald returned to his music, victorious. She gave the attendant one last glare as he backed away. He returned the look with one that wasn't simply irritable, but downright sinister.
The attendant walked into the back room, where an open communication line was waiting for him. He picked it up and spoke into it. "Well, Xiong, I did what you asked. I think the kid may be on to me. The disguise worked, but she's not nearly as stupid as she looks. I hope things are going well on your end, because…" He then noticed there had been no reply. "Xiong, you there?"
An unfamiliar voice responded. "Xiong's left the premises. We've hit the jackpot, here, and he's off taking advantage of it. Things will be going a lot better than planned."
The man dressed like a flight attendant laughed to himself. "I certainly hope so, because when I hired you bunch I was worried all this meticulous planning would go to waste." His silky voice broke on the last word.
"Believe me, sir." The other voice said. "It won't."
Reynold, Anna, Augustus and Heather went up into an apartment upstairs. It was a rather small place, but its décor made it some strange mix between claustrophobic and very, very cozy. Its main room was rather sparse with two loudly-decorated sofas facing each other, a bookcase filled with endless multicolor sculptures, fabrics, dolls and odd tools. There was a television set in the corner with a similarly over-adorned entertainment center. The old couple proclaimed proudly that Augustus had picked up a good collection of trinkets from all over the planet during his travels before he retired. He had been a Huntsman for most of his life, much to the awe of Reynold. Anna did not share any opinion she might have had on his occupation.
After entering, the four of them all sat down. The Faunus on one couch, and the elderly couple on the other. With some prompting, Reynold explained the entire day to them. Anna didn't say a word, but instead stared into space. She held so still Reynold occasionally tapped her arm to see if she would respond. She didn't. Augustus maintained eye contact with Reynold, a thoughtful expression on his face, broken only by his occasional questions. Heather was somewhat restless, shifting positions every few seconds. At one point she got up and did some cleaning, as futile as it seemed.
"Well… That's quite interesting." Augustus mused at the end of Reynold's speech. "It seems, though, that you've made a major breakthrough."
"What do you mean?" Reynold asked.
"You may not know it, but the man we have locked up down stairs is named Hei Xiong. He's an infamous gangster whom the authorities have been chasing around for a couple of years, now. He is adamantly against the White Fang and avoids association with Faunus. But going this far seems far too grandiose for him." Reynold raised in eyebrows. "You see, Xiong's a mean boss and an intimidating leader, but impersonating the White Fang… That's bold. Very bold. He's primarily motivated by money, guns and drink. Politics were never his thing."
"So why would he pick up on it, now?" Reynold asked. Before Augustus could answer, blue and red light poured in through the argyle curtains behind the television. The police had arrived.
"Ah, look at that." Heather said. "Everyone come on down." The men were on their feet, although Anna was a bit slower.
"Have you had a stroke or something, dear?" Augustus urged, stepping up to her. "Yes, you're most likely going back to jail. But get up and face it like a big girl."
"I'm not going back." She said definitely.
"Because you have a dark semblance?" Reynold assumed semblance referred to her "stepping." Augustus gently took her hand in his. "Dear, your powers can't solve all of your problems." He thought for a moment, before leaning in and whispering "You know, they say our abilities are determined by what's in our souls. Perhaps you're not as independent as you may want to seem."
"That's all theoretical." Anna pulled away from him. "There's no definite proof that personalities affect any of that." There was a long awkward silence. "Let's go talk to the police."
The four of them trooped downstairs to find the police already examining the shop. Augustus greeted them warmly.
"Hello, everyone!" He called, resulting in a little bit of confusion. "Tell me, who wants to meet Hei Xiong?"
"You saying he's the one that made this mess?" The nearest officer asked, looking up from the Dust crystals he was examining.
"Even better, dears. I saw him do it, knocked him out for it, and shoved him in the refinery back there."
"Impossible." The officer laughed.
"Not for Augustus King."
The officer was unfazed. "Who?"
"You know… Me." He said, disappointed. Heather was trying not to laugh. "Really, like ten years ago, I was on the news."
Blank stares.
"I singlehandedly killed a giant Deathstalker outside Mistral. Experts predicted it was at least five thousand years old!" He produced his fork and waved it in the air, pretending to fling fireballs at the imaginary monster. Reynold remembered hearing about it. He nodded, remembering hearing dimensions of the beast. Being thirteen years old at the time, he only remembered that his father had described it as being the size of the hotel building down the street from where he lived.
"I don't think I remember that."
Augustus was disgusted. "I'm a retired Huntsman. Xiong's right back there. He should regained consciousness by now, so he'll be pissed."
Half a dozen officers crammed into the back hall with Augustus, who pushed Reynold, Anna and Heather up the stairs as he handed the key to the nearest cop. Infuriated screaming and banging could be heard from inside the refinery, and every single officer drew their batons. The man with the key cautiously turned the lock and cracked the door open.
"Let me out of here!" Hei Xiong bellowed as he threw open the refinery door. Reynold nearly lost his footing at his hate-fueled speed. The group of police officers were also taken aback, and all fired their stunners simultaneously. Xiong fell forward, flailing uncontrollably as the blasts took effect and he curled into helplessness, still growling. The policemen jumped backwards to avoid him as he fell. In the chaos, nobody even noticed the lackey still in the refinery, who tried to disappear into the background inconspicuously.
One officer put handcuffs on Xiong as two others pulled him to his shaky feet and started to lead him to the car. Meanwhile, another officer noticed the black hat and arrested him with no resistance.
"Years of chasing this guy, and he went down rather unceremoniously." Augustus whispered to his wife with a smile. Heather was not as amused.
An officer pushed his way onto the first step to talk to the four people on the stairs. "I'm sorry for the mess. You can put in a report…"
"No, no. I'm coming." Augustus said. "This girl has unfinished business. And her friend has been sanctioned to stay by her side."
"I wouldn't say 'sanctioned,'" Reynold tried to say, but was interrupted halfway through.
"Shush, now. We've got something big going on, here. And you two are integral to figuring it out now that you're up to your necks in it."
Heather interjected. "I should stay here. There's a lot of cleanup to do, and that big shiny weapon upstairs to dissect."
"Are you sure, dear?" Augustus asked, taking her hand. "I would love to bring you with us."
"This is your element." Heather assured him, pushing awkwardly past Reynold and Anna to get up the stairs. "Ever since you've retired, you've been wanting some excitement. It'll be good for you."
Augustus nodded thoughtfully, and then grabbed Anna's arm and called "Come on, you two. It's time blow apart a crime ring!" as he followed the policemen out of the building.
"I don't want to do that!" Reynold whined, but followed anyway.
"Augustus, the car keys!" Heather called down after they were all half way to the door.
"I have them!" Augustus said.
"Where?"
Augustus patted down his pockets, and then did it again. He turned to see Heather standing in the back door, holding a key chain high in the air. She threw it to him, and he caught it on his fork, the Dust crystal still attached. The fork seemed to remind him of something. "Reynold, can you grab a few more crystals, about this size? They could come in useful."
Reynold looked at the shelves and grabbed three crystals after skimming a few labels. The first was a light blue crystal labeled "Cyro-Electrical", a term Reynold had remembered applied to the paralysis-function batons he had just seen in action. The blasts from the stunners was even the same color. The second was earthy green and labeled "Conductivity Retardant" which sounded useful, although Reynold couldn't quite think of how. The third was a pink one similar to the one he had bought when he and Indigo had to repair their television set. It was labeled to be a "Photo-Prismatic Amplifier", a term which somehow sounded redundant.
"Good choices." Augustus said when he was handed the crystals. He shoved them in his pocket as he hurried out the door after the police. "Now, here's what we're going to do: We're going to head over to the VDP station. I am a registered consultant, and they should let me keep you two. You two will tell them everything you just told me. Xiong is trying to upstage the White Fang, which means two things. One, he has a lot of firepower, and two, Taurus is going to notice." Anna cringed at the name. "Settle, dear, his name won't summon him." Without missing a beat, he continued. "From there, we have to sniff out what else Xiong's got going for him, and hopefully avert potential disaster."
"I'm not the kind to avert disaster." Reynold said, trotting behind Augustus to his car, which was in a small parking lot behind the building that was accessed through a narrow alleyway. "I'm a grocer. I was supposed to watch a shoplifter on community service and things got out of hand. I have to get back there before things get any worse."
Augustus, just about to climb into his car, stopped and spun to look Reynold in the eye. "It's a little late for that, dear."
