A/N: Heh, hey guys. Sorry it's been a while since last update. School related excuses and whatnot. Anyways, we're finally post-timeskip, so here's where we start getting into some of my favorite stuff. Hope you enjoy!


Of the four kingdoms, most would consider Mistral to be the most traditionally mystical. There were stories of all the sacred energies charging the air, empowering and rejuvenating those who understood them. Harnessing the very forces of nature and the spirit world to achieve ancient power. Of course, to the woman with the brown duster and a trio of golden tanks on her back, the only ancient power she could sense was that of the terrible smell emanating from the murky waters. Swamps had never been her thing; too many flammable gasses and some of the meanest variants of Grimm ever seen. Of course, it would take a little more than a few undertows and hazardous conditions to keep her from her target. She had a job to do, this moonlit evening.

Trudging alongside the muddy bayou, she mulled over the bounty she had picked up the next town over. A family of sorts, none of them were what one would call the law abiding citizen type. As the story went, a few of the young men had too much to drink one night in town and assaulted some other bar patrons. A warrant for their arrest had been put out and an officer had been dispatched to collect the boys peacefully. The same officer had returned to the local police station in a half dozen buckets. After that, law enforcement decided this task was better suited for a bounty hunter. That's where she came it.

Just as she considered the possibility she was lost, the bounty hunter caught a glimpse of warm lighting in the distance. Pressing forward, she smirked at the sight of a respectably sized shack. She could hear the ruckus going on from where she was, a good couple hundred feet away. Clearly, this was the sort of family that preferred to party into the night and sleep off those hot summer days. Not that they could be blamed. This part of Mistral got humid to the point where it was taxing to complete even the most basic tasks.

As the woman drew closer, she spotted a lone figure in a rocking chair out on the porch. It was an old man with tan, wrinkled skin and greying hair which had receded a bit past his scalp. He wore a well-worn set of blue overalls with a sleeveless shirt underneath, an appropriate choice for the heat. The elder man had spotted her just as quickly and stood from his seat to properly greet her.

"Evenin'," he welcomed when the young woman crossed into the range for conversation.

"Evening," she responded casually as she came to a stop just below the porch railing which the man was now leaning against. "The moon is pretty nice tonight, isn't it?"

"That it is," the old man confirmed with a thick accent as he glanced upwards to the aforementioned heavenly glory before turning back to his visitor. "Not often a girl so pretty shows up around here. Especially in the middle of the night. Not that I mind a pretty young thing meetin' me at my doorstep, but do you have some kinda business darlin'? That contraption on your back is especially peculiar."

Running a hand through her mercifully short and dry blonde hair, the woman met his eyes with a friendly smile. "The name's Sunny," she began as she took a flask from her coat pocket, "I travel around selling spirits. On my back is my still. I was passing through and thought you or your family might be interested in purchasing." She had used that story on a different batch of lowlifes in every kingdom. It worked every time. If there was one thing she'd learned in her years of catching bounties, it was how nobody turned down good booze if they could get it.

"Pleased to meet you, Sunny. You may call me Gris. You wouldn't happen to have a sample for an old man, would you?"

"Right here," Sunny nodded as she handed him her personal flask.

Gris looked over the container under the light of the moon. It was a pretty thing. The main body was brown leather, though wrapping around it was a golden dragon whose jaws closed firmly around the spout. Squeezing the latch so the gilded maw snapped open, the old man took a sniff and nearly recoiled at the powerful force emanating from the flask. That was a good sign when it came to shine. Taking a quick swig, he was exposed to a powerful sensation best described as a lightning bolt racing down to the base of his stomach. Upon exhaling, he noted the electricity racing through the air.

"My own recipe," Sunny stated proudly. "I mix in a little Spark Dust to give it some kick."

It took a lot of skill and experience to safely impregnate consumables with Dust. Gris couldn't even remember the last time he had moonshine this good (which was admittedly kind of the point). He handed back the flask and gestured for her to follow. "I reckon there might be one or two of the family who'd like this. Come on inside."

The interior of the shack was packed. Inside was a group eight strong, all in varying degrees of light clothing. Only certain parts of the indoor lighting were turned on, allowing for a few shadowy areas around the walls. Near the center sat a balanced trio playing an accordion, fiddle, and triangle. The song was very upbeat with a pair of dancers (a man and a woman) going at it, while the others sat and conversed or clapped along to the beat. The woman could count three of her bounties in the room. The fiddle player, the portly and bald Argente. One of the dancers, the lanky dark haired Noir. One of the sitters, the average and mossy haired Vert. That only left number four unknown, the absurdly tall a fiery Rouge. She would have to buy time and see if he showed up.

"Please, please. Make yourself comfortable and have a seat," Gris welcomed as an empty chair was presented to her. In response to their patriarch's entrance, all activity had ceased. "Everyone, this is Sunny. She sells spirits on the move. Pretty good stuff, if I do say so myself. She thought we might want to buy from her."

Sunny received a mix of hello's, how do you do's, and pleasure to meet you's from throughout the room. All sounded jovial and inviting, not what you'd expect from accessories to murder. The blonde was almost jealous of the family's ability to appear so genuinely friendly and carefree while keeping their dark sides all to themselves. It had taken her years to perfect that façade and these people were all just naturals. "Pleasure to meet you all," she responded with a polite smile as she sat forward on the chair to make room for her tanks. "I must say, I wasn't really expecting to find anyone out here, tonight. I was making my way to another village and just stumbled onto you guys. Didn't realize people could actually live out here."

"Not many can," Argente replied in a thinner accent than his father's as he took up his fiddle once more to play a much softer and slower tune. "But we've been out here for years doin' fine for ourselves."

"You're not worried about the Grimm wandering around? Seems like they'd be quite the risk."

"Naw, they're no trouble," Vert spoke up this time. "We've got a circle o' Dust surroundin' the property. They don't like crossin' it, so all we gotta do is keep from gettin' scared so they don't want to go out of their way," suddenly a mischievous grin broke out on his face. "You're not feelin' scared, are ya Miss Sunny?"

"Vert! Don't be so mean!" the girl he had his arm around chastised playfully. "Girl's been walking through the swamp all night. She doesn't need any of your grief."

"Aw, come on. I'm just playin' around. Sunny knows I don't mean anythin' by it, right?"

"Yeah, it's fine," Sunny assured as she gazed down at the rough pair of hands clasped on her lap. "Grimm don't scare me much, anymore. You live long enough and you start to realize there are a lot worse things in this world than monsters hiding in the dark."

"Ain't that the truth?" Gris reentered the conversation with a platter full of mismatched cups and glasses. "Now, while this conversation is fascinatin' and all, I was hoping we might bust out the shine and enjoy ourselves a bit. You'll drink with us, right?"

"Of course," the blonde's expression reverted to her brighter demeanor once again as she accepted the glass offered to her. "After all, business goes a lot smoother when you add the right amount of lubrication."

That got a hearty chuckle out of most of the room while the glasses were being handed out. Once Gris was down to only a cup in each hand, he turned his head to shout into another room, "Rouge, get on in here! We're enjoying a guest!"

Some grumbling could be heard through the walls, but eventually the door creaked open to reveal the girl's final target, who proceeded to shuffle over and accept his glass. This was perfect. All her ducks were in a row and ready to be cooked. All she had to do was wait for the right opening and this would go off without a hitch.

"Might I propose a toast, then?" Sunny raised her glass and paused before she had everyone's attention. "To new friends and all the exciting ways life can surprised you."

There was a collective cheer as drinks were raised to lips.

The blonde downed her glass in a single gulp. It wasn't as good as her own product, but she had definitely drank worse. With most of the party now distracted by individual conversations or pouring out more booze, now was the perfect time to strike. She took a deep breath and gathered up all her strength before moving to stand up, only to feel her legs go weak as she stumbled back onto her seat.

"Of course, out here you can't trust nobody right away. Ain't that right, Yang Xiao Long?"

As soon as her true name was spoken, Yang could feel her mind fading steadily. The glass she had been drinking from left her hands and shattered on the ground as the huntress slumped in her chair. "What did you… do to me?" she demanded as her aura struggled to compensate for the introduction of the sedative she had just ingested. The glass must have been coated before it was handed to her.

"Did you honestly believe we never saw your face before, darlin'?" Gris asked rhetorically as he slowly began to polish the knife he had just brandished. "The news liked to show it quite a bit, five years ago. Back when your little sister pulled that stunt at the Vytal Festival. Boy, do I remember how crazy things got that day… Which gets me to thinkin'. You're here for our bounty, but there's a much bigger one on your sister. All we have to do is send her a picture of you lookin' scared and hurt, then she shows up here to save you. We become rich enough to retire to Atlas."

Yang let out a harsh chuckle as she forced herself to stay conscious. Did these people really think they stood a chance against the world's biggest super weapon? "Like she'd actually come for me. What makes you think she even cares about me, anymore?"

"The same reason I chopped up that cop to protect my boys," the old man leaned in close, pressing his blade alongside her cheek as the golden aura flickered in weak defense, "You're her kin. People do anythin' for their kin."

"All right," Yang halfheartedly conceded. "How about a different question. What makes you think she's going to need to rescue me?"

The downfall of any plan can usual be attributed to an excess of a certain sin. In this case, the pride the family had in their scheme led to them not finding a way to remove the tanks from Yang's back before they started drugging her. See, it was less of a still and more a fire breathing beast-machine with Spark Dust in the smallest tank. In the time it took Gris to gloat about his plan, the blonde had mustered up enough aura to activate said tank and send a few thousand volts of electricity coursing through her body.

It hurt like hell. It always did. But pain just made Yang stronger.

In this case, that strength took the form of her accelerated metabolism doing away with the sedative making its way through her system. That Gris' knife was currently acting as a conductor to channel all that blinding electric pain through the old man's arm was only the icing on the cake. While the old timer lay twitching on the ground Yang stood tall; enveloped in a golden inferno with the occasional arc of electricity dancing across her figure. The flames scorched everything they touched. The wooden floors, the nearby furniture, even the tails of Yang's own duster were littered with black spots and tattered holes from the merciless heat.

The sound of clanging metal drowned out the indignant shouts of the family as armor crawled down the blonde's previously bare arms until she was clad in gold from shoulder to fist. Each arm had a pair of nozzles: one on the tip of the elbow and another just above the thumb on the gauntlet. The metal gave off an unearthly shine beneath the light of her power, like she was some offended deity looking to dish out some divine retribution.

Yang had enough experience dealing with people to know that there were usually only two kinds of responses her appearance invoked. Fight or flight. In this case, it was cut almost 50-50 between the two, with only the four boys she had come to bag readying whatever they could pick up for a fight. It was painfully obvious how out of their league these thugs were.

Vert was first, charging forward with a walking stick Yang vaguely remembered being propped up against one of the walls. He swung horizontal with all the force he could muster, only to look in horror as half the length vanished into ash upon making contact with her aura. In the resulting flash of motion Vert was sent flying across the room and buried halfway into the furthest wall in something visually similar to a hunting trophy.

Rouge was next, hurling a chair in Yang's direction with all his might. Practically bored with this confrontation at that point, the huntress chose to loose a burst of flame from her left hand to incinerate the object before it could even get close to her. What she hadn't been expected was for Rouge to come leaping out of that inferno with a haymaker she caught entirely on reflex. All right, looks like these boys were at least half clever.

Before Yang could deliver a crushing counter attack to the redhead in front of her, Noir had closed the distance to make a stab with his folding knife. Using her free right hand, the blonde caught the blade between two of her fingers and halted its motion entirely. Again, she readied herself to perform a counter attack before a flare in her aura alerted her to another problem.

Argente readied the old hunting rifle with shaking hands and took aim through the scope. Exhaling with a shiver, his finger squeezed the trigger. The shot never came close to hitting, though, as the moment he fired an undertow tore its way through the wall on his right. The undertow was visually reminiscent of an alligator, only scaled up to four times Yang's size and with a leathery hide that was black as pitch. The bald man screeched in terror as he stumbled backwards in a desperate attempt to get some distance between himself and the monster, only to find his back against the wall after a few steps.

Yang took this distraction as an opportunity to deal with her current assailants. In her left hand she channeled her massive strength until her grip was so tight it began crushing Rouge's fist with a sickening crunch. In her right hand she channeled her intense aura until the handle of Noir's knife was hot enough to sear his palm. Both men howled in pain and tried to pull away. Noir was silenced with a quick knee to the gut while Rouge was lifted in an arc over Yang's head and returned to the earth via pile driver. One to go.

Argente was openly sobbing as Yang caught sight of him from across the burning house. Bullet after ineffectual bullet bounced off the thick skin of the Grimm in front of him until the rifle clicked empty. The undertow reared back to open its jaws, then snapped forward to claim its meal. Before it could, gilded arms took hold of its jaws and brought it to a sudden stop. The two beasts appeared to be in a stalemate before golden flames began spewing from the nozzles on Yang's elbows. The fire only added to the already present inferno of the house as it propelled the beast into the open air. Ready to end this, the blonde slammed her right foot onto the creature's bottom jaw and used her now free left hand to unload a stream of holy blaze directly into its throat. After six seconds of uncontrollable writhing, the monster's life finally gave out with a shudder and it evaporated into cinders.

Looking back at the still burning house, the bounty hunter gave a sigh of annoyance when she remembered her targets all needed to be brought back alive.

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"Was burning down the house really necessary?"

"I dunno Scar. Was hiring a bounty hunter to take down four rank amateurs really necessary?"

Scarlet David of Mistral's "Sanitation and Area Enrichment Force" did his damnedest to keep from face-palming in front of his own cleanup crew, who were all hard at work assessing any evidence to be disposed of. The official story would be how the entire event was merely an accidental fire that left the family scattered enough to be picked up by regular law enforcement. The public would have a serious issue with Mistral's government being responsible for what looked like a home invasion. "The local police clearly thought so. Maybe they didn't realize they'd be hiring a bloody walking disaster area."

"Aw, come on. It's not that bad."

"Not that bad? You knocked down a house with a Grimm!"

"Hey, that Grimm knocked down the house on his own. Devil's in the details, Davy boy."

"And do those details make it so someone besides me has to clean this up? No? Didn't think so."

Yang made an exaggerated gasp in response, "Oh my, Scarlet. Are YOU trying to play the victim after I was drugged and almost cut up? I mean, that experience was almost emotionally… Scar-ing."

"Wha-" the redhead tensed at his friend's brand of terrible humor before sighing, "Look, just try to be more careful, next time," his hand went up to the patch covering what was left of his eye. Soon after, he noticed the dark bags forming under Yang's. Looked like she had been up a few days for this case. "You should really go get some R&R, love. Maybe take a trip up to Vale. I hear Blake's going to be there for business. You could catch up with her."

"I… I'll think about it," the blonde promised reluctantly, as though an actual vacation was some sort of punishment rather than an escape. "I gotta keep my bills paid, though. Can't afford to miss a job."

"Whatever you say. Just remember it's okay to slow down, a little. Go too fast and…"

"Yeah, I get it," Yang snapped back slightly. A second later, she went right back to carefree, stretching her arms out as she made to exit. "Anyways, I could really go for some breakfast, right now. Think I'll catch ya later. You can handle all of this, right?"

The bounty hunter started walking away before Scarlet even responded, "Yeah, that should be fi-WAIT!" he noticed she was sprinting away at this point, "You need to finish paperwork on this, Xiao Long! We need deniability!"

She either didn't hear him, or, more likely, she really didn't care. Yang Xiao Long was long gone.