Chapter three: Captains and killers
I looked at the newly named Pyrrha as I shook her hand. She had a strong grip, she was a police officer for sure. I looked down her arm, seeing small but incredibly defined muscles on them. My eyes darted back up to her face as she let go, determined green eyes meeting analytical blue ones. "Captain Nikos huh? Didn't know they were letting kids into the police force now." I said, feeling a foul taste at the back of my throat as I said it.
"Well, I was accepted earlier than most. Usually you have to go through the police academy, and even then they only let you in at 21 or so." she said, smiling slightly. She was trying to be humble, to not brag, but I could see it, the confidence in her smile, the arrogance. It was well hidden, but it was there. She didn't think of herself as better than anyone, she knew she was.
"So, Captain Nikos… what brings you to my office?" I asked. No police officer, and I mean no police officer would come into my office for a meeting or a social call. Something in the woman's smile changed for a split second. Brief and nearly unnoticeable, but it was there.
Desperation.
"Please, just call me Pyrrha. Regardless Mr. Arc, I'm not here as a police officer. I'm here as a client." she said. I gave her an odd look as I turned my gaze towards Ren. I gave him a curt nod, one he seemed to understand. He relaxed, no longer having his hand in his jacket. "You wanna talk business, fine, let's head upstairs." I said, pointing towards the door behind her. She nodded, turning around and walking over there, Velvet's watchful eyes staring at her as she walked up the steps. "I don't trust her." Velvet said.
I nodded, "Yeah, I don't either. If you hear anything unusual, send Ren up." I said, referring to her enhanced faunus senses of hearing. She nodded, and without another word I walked up the stairs, heading for my office. When I got up, I saw Pyrrha standing in the hallway, waiting just outside my door. She gestured inside, clearly asking me to go first. I complied, walking in, keeping an eye out behind me, just in case. Though, by the time I got to my desk, and her into the chair, I was fairly certain she wasn't about to attack me for some odd reason. "So, Pyrrha… what can I do for you?" I asked, giving her a small smile as I placed my hands like I normally did, steeples.
Her smile faltered for a brief second, but then went back to normal, as if catching on that I was watching. "I have a problem… isn't that why most people come to you?" she asked, giving me a somewhat cocky smirk, as if she were just having fun. I nodded, "Well, most people yes. Some though, come because I've caused a problem for them, and they wanna fix it. So… which are you?" I asked. She sighed, lightly twisting a strand of her long, crimson hair as, for the first time since I'd seen her, she relaxed a bit, her muscle seeming to loosen up. "The former I'm afraid. You see… a case of mine was dropped recently, determined cold. I just… I know I can still solve it, something's wrong." she said.
I nodded, "Blue hunch huh? Yeah, I know the feeling." I said, though, that wasn't what I called it. I'd had it many times myself, the slight itch in the back of my head, the slight sense of discomfort, the feeling of leaving… unfinished business. I called it my 'detective sense', like a spidey sense for detectives almost. It had solved me plenty of cases the police couldn't. "Exactly. It was on a thief, we'd stacked a case against him, grand larceny, theft, murder… then we just dropped it." she said.
I cocked an eyebrow, "The charges were dropped eh?" I said, reaching into my coat and grabbing my notebook, opening it to a blank page. She shook her head, her eyes hardening. "They were dropped since Torchwick was cold on the floor when we got there." she said, any trace of kindness and sincerity gone. Right now, she was all business. I nodded slowly, scribbling out the words 'Torchwick Snuffed Case' on the top of the page, the header, right next to the page that had 'Gone Blonde Case'.
"So, the man's dead… well, seems to me your job's done." I said. I'd heard of some crazy stuff in Vale after all, but no one, and I mean no one, had ever come back from the dead. She shook her head again, her mouth twisting in a bit of annoyance, "That's what the rest of the department said too. Then they started piling up…" she said, looking down, her fists clenching in her lap. I frowned, ready to write down anything useful she said. "What did Pyrrha?" I asked.
"The bodies. At first we thought it was just a murder… then we noticed the pattern. Every last one… every last one was somehow related to Torchwick. His informants, his ex-wife, even his daughter… well, one of them anyway. His dealer, his everything. All the records of him were even burned in a freak accident. On any official record… Roman Torchwick doesn't exist." she said. I nodded, scribbling what she said… at least, the gist of it, in my notebook. A man dead and suddenly everything about him starts disappearing? Yeah, that didn't sound quite right to me either.
"I see… did you get a DNA test on the body? Prove it's really Torchwick?" I asked. Sometimes criminals would leave false bodies in place of themselves, fake their own death. Maybe Torchwick was smart enough to do so? Pyrrha shook her head, "We tested the body, 100% match, down to the last chromosome. That was Roman Torchwick. The question I have is… if he's gone, who's killing all these people?" she asked. I scribbled more down in my notebook, then I shut it, laying it off to the side. I reached to the corner of my desk, grabbing one of my other notebooks. This one was black, one of the first notebooks I ever filled up. "If my I remember correctly, I had a similar case a long time ago, when I first opened the agency." I said, flipping through the pages of my old notes, the pages yellowed with age. Two years would do that to them.
"What happened during that case?" Pyrrha asked, leaning closer with inquisitive eyes. I moved my notebook back, keeping her from seeing inside it as I flipped through the pages. "Sorry Captain, this is classified material." I said, giving her a small smirk. She huffed, but I could see the ghost of a smile on her face. I turned my eyes back to the pages, my eyes scanning for one name in particular. "Found you." I muttered, laying the book down on the desk. The case itself took up two pages, one of the more intricate one's I'd done in my history as a detective. The name of the case was "Dead men walking". There was a large stamp right next to the name of the case. CASE CLOSED written in large, red letters, though now they almost looked black with the age of the entry. "There was a group of people that went around robbing banks a few years back. One guy said he took the mask off, turned out it was someone that had died three months earlier. When I started the case, I thought it was just some kind of wackos hallucination. Though, when I caught the culprit, I realized they were all too serious." I said.
Pyrrha giggled, "So what, some 'sorcerer' brought them back to life?" she asked sarcastically. The look I gave her sent her right back into that serious mode she had abandoned for a moment. "In a sense, yes. The victim's were fed a certain mixture of chemicals, formed into a powder. The only one I'm for certain of was Absinthe, the other's could be a range of different ones. Regardless, when the subject was fed the powder, their body would become completely unresponsive, their heart would stop, and even their brain activity would cease for a while. When they were pronounced dead and in a morgue, the body was recovered by the 'sorcerer', and then fed a different type of powder. This caused them to be completely subservient to their new master. They were brain-dead slaves in the most basic sense." I said.
Pyrrha's eyes were getting wider and wider as I spoke, "Who was the culprit?" she asked, her mouth slightly opening from the simple shock of this. I looked down the page, smiling when I saw the culprit. "You walked right past him earlier. Name was Lie Ren." I said. She almost flinched back, looking around, as if suddenly nervous. Though, that may have been because of the sudden thunder strike outside. "You mean to tell me you work with an ex-criminal!?" she asked, her voice betraying hints of her nervousness towards the situation. I nodded, closing the notebook and reaching into a draw, grabbing out a cigarette. Not as strong as my cigars, but they were cheaper, and it would do. I placed it in my mouth, grabbing my lighter and flicking it on, the tip glowing in the dimming light of my office.
I let out a puff of smoke towards the ceiling, smiling as I saw it dissipate against the lazily spinning fan on the ceiling. "Yep. Ren's been a criminal for a long time, longer than I've been a detective even. That was hardly the worst one he'd ever done. Still though, the police chief and I… struck a deal I guess." I said, taking the cigarette out of my mouth and puffing some smoke towards Pyrrha. She coughed, waving the smoke away, "Why would Chief Ozpin work with you so directly?" she asked. I could help smile on my face as I let out another puff of smoke, this one heading straight up. I sighed, "Why indeed? The chief's always been an… eccentric man. Course, when I showed him Ren's skills, and convinced him what I could do, it was pretty easy to get the charges dropped." I said.
She glared at me, "You're still guilty of abetting a criminal!" she said, suddenly standing up, reaching for her hip. I stood, faster than her, quickly grabbing my gun and pointing it at her head. She froze, her hand near her hip as she looked up at me. All of my laid back attitude replaced with a deadly seriousness. "You don't wanna get in a gunfight with me captain. You might be trained, but I'm the fastest quick draw this side of Vale." I said, pressing the barrel into her forehead. She glared at me, leaning back and sitting down again. I put my gun away in my coat, placing my cigarette back between my lips as I inhaled, but I didn't feel a thing. I was used to cigars afterall. "You've got a lot of nerve to pull a gun on an officer." Pyrrha said, glaring at me with that unwavering determination, or perhaps it was something else… defiance?
"You would've pulled yours on me. I'm well within my rights to defend myself if I feel my life is at risk. This is my agency after all." I said, glaring right back at her. Most people wouldn't even dream of staring down a police officers, let alone the captain herself.
Of course, I wasn't most people, now was I?
We sat like that, glaring at each other, for what must've been five, maybe ten mintues. Until eventually, she looked away, sighing. "Can you help me or not?" she asked. I could sense the hopelessness and desperation in her voice, she wasn't even trying to hide it now. I nodded, "Of course Pyrrha. That is my job after all." I said. She nodded, reaching into her pocket. I saw her pull out a few cards of lien, the same amount that Ruby had given me earlier. "Half now, half later. That's how you work isn't it?" she asked. I nodded, grabbing the lien and sticking them in my coat, right next to Ruby's. "If that's the way you wanna do it, then yes. I'll get to work on this case, but it may take some time." I said.
She nodded, "Well, don't forget, the longer you take, the more people that die." she said. I nodded, standing back up and walking towards the door. I looked back at her near the doorway, snuffing out my cigarette in the ashtray I kept next to the door. "Come on, I'll walk you out." I said simply. She looked at me, green eyes seemingly taking in my form for a few seconds before she made up her mind, standing up and walking towards me without a word. We didn't speak as we walked down the hall, past the empty rooms and down the stairs. When we got to the bottom, Ren was standing right there, looking between the two of us. Pyrrha walked up to Ren, glaring at him as she met his eyes. It would've been intimidating… if Pyrrha wasn't like three inches shorter than Ren. "I'm watching you." she said, glaring at him. Ren just smirked, his eyes narrowing a bit. One of the few expressions I'd seen him do. "Sorry, I'm spoken for." he said.
Pyrrha scoffed as she turned away, walking out the door as I walked behind her. When we walked outside, her heading for her car, I looked back at Ren's, seeing a flash of black as Blake likely dove into the floor. Pyrrha either didn't notice or didn't care, since she walked back to her police cruiser without a word. I heard it roaring to life as she sped out of the lot, back onto the main road. I turned back to Ren's car, taking two steps towards it. I pulled opened the door, Ren didn't bother locking it when he had his keys, only for Blake to tumble out. She landed on her backpack, looking up at me. I looked away, "Cover up." I said. I saw her look down out of my peripheral vision, her face turning bright red. When she fell out it seemed that her dress had wanted to stay, it slipping down and exposing her breasts. I calmly kept my eyes away from her as I heard her standing up, likely fixing her top. "Better?" I asked, not turning around.
"Better." she said. I turned, smiling slightly as I saw her fixing her hair back, her bow back in place on top of her head. She seemed to have fixed it while waiting for me to get out with Pyrrha. She walked towards the door, I simply followed, walking right next to her until she pushed open the door, walking back into the reception area. Velvet smiled at Blake, then looked at me. "Who's this Jaune?" she asked. I looked over, seeing Blake just looking around the place. She was either disgusted by how dirty it looked, or just noticing how dirty it looked. With this girl, I really couldn't tell. "This is Blake Belladonna. She'll be staying with us for awhile." I said. Ren gave me an odd look, raising an eyebrow before he pointed upstairs. "Yes, there." I said. He shrugged, leaning back against one of the filing cabinets nearby.
Blake was, surprisingly, the first one to speak up. "What do you mean there? What makes you think I'm staying?" she asked, glaring back at me. I walked over to the stairwell, standing next to the door before I pointed up. "There's a guest room nearby, it's a few doors down from my own. I think you'll stay since the White Fang have probably already ransacked your house. They know everything about you Blake, but they don't know you're here." I said. The White Fang were nothing if not thorough. They'd track down Blake, her parents, her children, hell, even her pets if it came down to it. Velvet gave Blake a cute little smile, "It would be nice to have another girl around here… and another faunus at that." she said, lightly wiggling her ears. Blake gave her a confused looked, about to speak when I heard another voice. One I hadn't expected to hear.
"Uncle Jaune!" I heard a high voice say as someone tackled my leg. I looked down, smiling down at the young girl. She had dark grey eyes, but other than that, she looked just like her mother. She had tiny little rabbit ears on her head, barely stubs at this stage, and long brown hair that stretched almost to her waist. She jumped up, clinging onto my leg almost six or seven inches off the ground. She was giving me a wide smile as she nuzzled into my knee. "Did you miss me? Did you miss me?" she asked rapidly, quickly climbing up until she was gripping at my trench coat. I reached down, holding out my left arm as she gripped onto it, swinging lightly as I felt hyer her light weight hanging off near my elbow. "Nope." I said sarcastically, rubbing between her ears. She gave a little giggle before her eyes finally met Blake's. Blake, unlike the smiles of the rest of us, had a small frown. "Why are you sad?" Ton-Ton asked, jumping off of my arm and walking towards Blake, giving her a concerned gaze.
Blake smiled down at her, but I could see the tears collecting in her eyes. "It's nothing sweetie. I'm just… not having the best day is all." she said. Ton-Ton walked towards her, but she was quickly scooped up, held like a baby in her mother's arms. "That's enough sweetie, the nice lady has been through enough for today. Now how about we go play?" she asked, smiling down at her daughter. "YAY!" Ton-Ton said, a bright smile on her face as Velvet walked back towards her desk. She was probably going to get one of those animal plushies or something like that, play with her daughter for a few hours. I would ask why she was here, but by now I just accepted that Ton-Ton could be literally anywhere when I wasn't looking directly at her.
I grabbed Blake's wrist, tearing her out of what almost seemed like a trance. "Come on, I'll show you to your room." I said, grabbing a key off the wall from behind Velvet's desk, and I just saw her pulling out a black bear plushie. Guess I was right. I started walking up the stairs, going past my office and towards the door at the end of the hallway. I turned the key in the lock, opening the door and flicking on the lights without another word. Inside was a… fairly nice room I guessed. It had a single bed, a lamp on the side, a bookshelf, Blake's eyes seemed immediately drawn to that, a dresser, and a small kitchen area. In the kitchen there was a sink, a fridge, and a few cabinets, but that was about it. There were only really maybe twenty or thirty feet to move around it comfortably, space occupied by only carpet.
Blake walked over towards the chair next to the nightstand… oh yeah, that's also there, and sat down, looking around at her new surroundings. "Why is this even here?" she asked. I smiled, shutting the door behind me and sitting down on the bed, the old springs creaking against my weight, and I wasn't that heavy to begin with! "Simple really. This place used to be an old apartment building. It went into disuse after awhile, so I bought the placed, fixed it up, and now it's my office building. Course, I never got rid of the furniture inside, never found a use for that much space." I said. She nodded, reaching over and grabbing a book from the nearby shelf, her eyes widening as she saw the title. It was an old romance novel titled 'NInjas of love Vol II'. "Course that's still up here." I muttered, looking away.
Blake gave me an odd look. "Why's this here? I've been looking everywhere for this book." she said. Now it was my turn to raise an eyebrow. Ninjas of love was recently classified under the title 'Erotic novel', despite there being no real sexual content in it. For a girl like Blake… actually it wasn't that unbelievable, nevermind. "Last one was a cliffhanger, I couldn't not read the second one. I did a case for the girl that wrote the books, she gave me a copy early on." I said. Blake's eyes widened as she almost jumped towards me, dropping the book back on the bed. "You met the author!? Who is she!?" she asked. I should've seen that coming. The author of Ninjas of love wrote the books anonymously, going by the pen name 'The Author', appropriately. Even when I met her she only had me call her Lena, which I could tell in an instant wasn't her real name.
"She called herself Lena, that's all I know. Now," I said as I grabbed her shoulders, lightly moving her out of the way of the door. "I've got a case to work on, and a blonde to find. Just come find one of us if you need anything." I said, shutting the door behind me without another word. I walked down the hall, heading for the reception area. I smiled when I got down, seeing Ren playing on the floor with Ton-Ton. He had a small smile on his face as he moved around the small, black bear plushy, giving it a goofy voice. Though, I was far enough away that I couldn't make out the words. I looked around, walking towards Velvet when I saw her. She was sitting in her familiar chair, one arm propped on the desk as she watched my partner playing with her daughter, a wistful smile on her face. "He's so good with her…" she muttered, her eyes watching Ren and Ton-Ton play along the floor of the office.
"Ahem." I said, coughing into my hand to get her attention. Velvet turned, her face slightly flushed as I knocked her out of her little daydream. She stood back up straight, smiling at me. "Sorry Jaune, did you need something?" she asked. I nodded, walking towards the phone. I picked up the receiver, placing my finger on the dial. "Did Ruby leave any information? A way to contact her or something?" I asked, as Ruby hadn't given me anything of the sort. Usually when someone did that they left their information with Velvet or something to that effect. Velvet nodded, leaning down and opening a drawer, rummaging through it for a moment until she pulled out a small slip of paper, handing it to me. "She gave me that phone number, that was it. No last name odd enough, just Ruby." she said.
"Probably couldn't be bothered to write Xiao Long after her name." I thought as I looked down, dialing the number, spinning around the wheel. I heard it ring twice before someone picked up. "Hello?" they asked. I smiled, I'd recognize the childish high voice anywhere. "Hey, Ruby, it's me, Jaune." I said. I heard a light squeak from the other end of the line, followed by a bit of rustling. "Close your eyes! I'm not decent yet!" she said. I couldn't help the smile that sprung to my face. She must've been trying to be that cute, there was no way she was like that naturally. "Ruby… we're talking over the phone. I'm not actually in the room with you." I said. I heard the noise on the other end suddenly stop, and I had to suppress a laugh at the image of Ruby, likely in her pajamas and holding the phone above her head, suddenly freezing up. "Oh… hehe, I knew that silly!" she said.
"Nevermind that now Ruby." I said. "I've got some information from… a certain someone. They told me where Yang might be." I said, remembering Blake's warning about not using her name. I heard Ruby squeal on the other end of the line. "Oh thankyouthankyouthankyou! Where was it!?" she asked. I shook my head, heaving out a sigh over the line. "Listen Ruby, I don't know where she is yet, I need you to tell me something. Does the term 'Ice Queen' ring a bell to you?" I asked. Blake never really explained what that meant. Ruby giggled on the other end of the line, her voice sounding a little distorted over the line. "Oh, that's just Weiss! Yang probably went to see one of her shows!" Ruby said. I nodded, thinking through a list of Weiss's I knew in Vale… which took like one second, there was only one Weiss I knew of.
"Weiss Schnee huh? Hadn't thought we'd get her mixed up in this." I thought, interrupting whatever Ruby had said, it sounded something like 'cookies' though. "Thanks Ruby, that's all I need. With any luck I'll get your sister back soon." I said. I heard Ruby say someone on the other end, but it was hard to make out. She said goodbye and that was it, the line clicked dead. Ren looked up at me when I put the phone down, his eyes burning with that all too familiar curiosity. I nodded, "We've got a lead." I said, walking over towards him. Ren nodded, standing up, giving Ton-Ton one last look. I smiled as I looked down at her, getting down on my knees. "Me and Uncle Ren have to go okay Ton-Ton?" I said, smiling at her. She smiled right back, running over and jumping at me, locking her arms around my neck. "Okay… bye uncle Jaune! Bye Uncle Ren!" she said, jumping off of me and rushing to Ren, who gave her a hug like I did. We both stood as I patted her on the back, urging her towards her mother. "Alright, run along now." I said, pointing towards Velvet.
When me and Ren got outside, and I lit another cigar, Ren spoke again, "What've we got?" he asked, quickly opening the door to his car. I got in the front seat this time, pulling back to top as I blew a puff of smoke in the sky. "Weiss Schnee, that's who Yang went to see according to her sister. Blake mentioned something like it." I said. Ren nodded, taking a sharp right turn, through a red-light might I add. "The Dust till Dawn I take it?" he asked. The club he was referring to this time, the Dust till Dawn, was one of the more high end clubs in town. Whereas Junior's was where you went to get drunk, stumble home and pass out. The Dust till Dawn was the place you went to brag about getting drunk on high class drinks, have someone drive you home and, well, pass out. It was basically the opposite end of the spectrum from Junior's bar.
Ren nodded, driving towards the old bar as I took the time to gather my thoughts. "Hmm, wonder what the infamous Weiss Schnee looks like?" I thought. I mean, you didn't get the title Ice Queen without being Ruthless or beautiful… or both… yeah I'll go with both. Supposedly the last known descendant of the Schnee family, she was one of the most feared women in Vale, maybe even remnant. Course I'd never met the girl, but still, it was hard not to let the rumor's paint pictures for me. In what felt like no time at all we'd arrived, right outside the large, almost mansion-like building. Ren pulled his car between two much nicer one's, almost twice the size and almost definitely more than twice the cost. Ren looked over at me. "Any advice Jaune?" he asked, gesturing to the club. I smirked,
"Pull on a coat. We are meeting the ice queen after all."