Normal voice

Personal in-mind voice

DISCLAIMER! All MARVEL things belong to MARVEL, all RWBY things belong to RT and Monty Oum, and all DW things belong to the BBC, and all other refrences to other things belong to their rightful owners. I cite the "Fair Use Copyright Law," allowing me to use intellectual property, to a limited extent, without getting prior permission, and without me making ANY money from it. Enjoy!

Chapter 11: Arc 2, mystery

A street in Vale, outside a book shop, 0900 hours

I wandered into the shop. It was a cozy little place, very quaint. I especially loved the smell of the books. Someone I had gotten to know a little, Tukson, owned the place. He was a faunis, but I couldn't place it... Puma maybe?

"Hello Tukson! I was wondering if you had any sci-fi books around that might appeal to me?" He was my go to for new books.

"Yeah, quite a few actually! Let me go to the back and take a look." I nodded, and he went into the back, humming a tune. Deciding to entertain myself some, I went to some of the shelves on the far wall. And then THEY walked in.

Emerald and Mercury wandered into the store, and I hid. Luckily, I had my new cloak, so I put it on. I decided not to engage yet, seeings as they might not be here to try anything. Emerald walked up to the desk and rung the bell. "Be right there!" Tukson called from the back, carrying a stack of books in both arms. "Tukson's book trade, home to every book under the sun! How may I..." He took a double take. "How may I help you?"

"Just browsing!" Came Mercury's reply. He stood off next to one of the shelves.

"Actually, I was wondering, do you have any copies of the thief and the butcher?" Emerald asked.

"Yes we do."

"That's great!"

"Would you... Like a copy?"

"No, just wondering." Merc slammed a book shut.

"OH! What about, Violet's garden, in paperback?"

"He's got it. Hardback, too." Merc interrupted and slammed another book closed.

"Ooh, options are nice."

"Meh, no pictures. Hey, have you got any comics?"

"Near the front." I could see Tukson tense. He knew these people, so I quickly realized that Em and Merc weren't just wilderness raiders. They were street thugs.

"Ooh! No wait, what about Third Crusade?"

"Uhm... I... Don't believe I carry that one."

"Oh?" Merc seemed unusually quiet.

"What was this place called again?"

"Tukson's book trade."

"And your Tukson?"

"That's right."

"So I take it, You're the one who came up with the catch phrase?"

"Yes."

"And what was it again?"

Tukson sighed. "Tukson's book trade, home to every book under the sun."

"Except, the third crusade."

"Its just a catchphrase."

"It's false advertising!" Merc was getting intense.

"You shouldn't make a promise you can't keep, Tukson." Merc started dimming the windows. "I hear, you're planning on leaving. Moving all the way to Vacuo. Your brothers in the White Fang wouldn't be happy to hear that, and neither are we."

I stepped out. "Well, mates, I'm not happy to hear about someone consorting with ner-dowells like they. You got yerself me to handle now. Captain Bart, at your service." they both tensed and looked at me, and I nodded to Tukson ever so discreetly. "Hello mates, Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black. How is Cinder Fall? Ooh, and Roman Torchwick? I haven't had a chance to meet him since that day at the docks." I maintained a pirate voice. Obviously, they didn't take well to it, and Merc launched an attack at me.

I pulled out my knife and blocked the shot from his boot, and vaulted myself at him. He tried to get the upper hand with his kicking style, but I continued to block, much to his frustration. Keeping my hood over my face, I grabbed one of his legs. This caught him off guard, allowing me to twist under his leg and slam my foot right into his balls. Everyone looked with pained expressions, even myself, as we all heard the crunch. Merc collapsed.

"Merc, let's go." Emerald ran over and carried him out of the door.

"Good children. Run along!" I made a shooing motion, and they ran. Once they were gone, I turned to Tukson, lowering my hood. "If I were you, I'd high-tail it out of here, Freund. Best of luck." I left without getting the books I came for.

Beacon food halls, 0945 hours

"WHAT THE HELL?" I yelled as I walked into the (Destroyed) Food court. I was starving after the bout earlier today. Tables and benches were strewn about, food everywhere, a hole in the ceiling, and team JNPR splattered on one of the walls.

Ruby looked at me, and pointed a finger of doom my way. "SWEAR!" I had walked into this mess, right behind Sun and some other guy who was covered in food.

"How am I supposed to get food now!" Glynda marched in behind us, and fixed up the mess.

"Children, PLEASE, do not mess with your food!" Yang fell through the ceiling, as if to spite her. "Mister Burgundy, Ozpin would like to discuss something with you."

"Oh alright, I'll head there... Oh, hello!" Ozpin had walked in behind me. The troll is strong with this one, I thought.

"Hello Mister Burgundy. The matter will be discussed privately. Glynda,..." I drowned out the rest of his conversation with Glynda, following him to his office when he was done.

Once in the office, I waited until he gestured for me to sit. I felt some presences in the back of the room, in the shadows, but I figured it was something that could wait. "Is something the matter, Professor?"

"That depends. Before we get too deep into this, I should let you know that I told your teammates about everything. What has... Transpired required me to do so." The presences, now known to be CFVY, walked out of the shadows. They looked unusually calm.

"Whelp, shi...Take mushrooms."* I didn't like the mood of the atmosphere. "Well, what happened?"

Ozpin pulled out a device, something that looked to be a transponder, if I knew anything about SHIELD. "Would you happen to know what this is?" It was about fist size.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say Fitz finished engineering a prototypical sub-space interplanetary transponder. Guessing from the design, it's supposed to act as a beacon. One way, at that. So that means one, I didn't travel in time (yay!) and two, they are finding a way to extract me. Not that I plan on returning." I saw Velvet relax ever so subtly from the corner of my eye. "How did it get here, though?"

"We were hoping you would know. There was a massive spike of energy in team RWBY's dorm, which was formerly yours last year. It also came with this." Ozpin handed me a small card, it looked like a data card. It wouldn't fit to the scrolls, but I did have my old phone on me, not to mention I had found a way to keep it charged. I needed my music, okay!

"Ooh, I'd need my phone, it's in the dorm room. That is a data card, no doubt has information that I need, like an activation code or something, so they know they aren't coming through into stone or space, or an uninhabitable planet. We already had a problem like that once, hidden away in the level-8 files. They obviously don't want to loose another top-level agent to an accident like that."

"By top level, how good are they? What do you mean?"

"Best trained. Though to be honest, Agent May was the best fighter and she can't hold a candle to an entry-level student at Signal. Earth's combat abilities are... Reduced, largely do to differences you all no doubt know about."

"Yes, lack of aura, semblances, older technology, lack of grimm, et cetera, all reduce the combat prowess. Even if Earth humans have gone to space and mastered certain weapons that will never be discussed, they won't do well here."

"Of course, I will inform them, if they come here, that they will not be welcome here as combatants, but rather tourists, if anything. Though I might ask- What if we needed assistance from them?"

"Its a possibility. But I wouldn't suggest it yet."

Abandoned warehouse, 1100 hours

Merc and Emerald walked by all the White Fang who were unloading crates and boxes. They walked up to Roman. Well, Merc sort of limped with an ice pack on his junk.

"Oh look, she sent the kids again..." Roman spoke with forced enthusiasm, draping his arms around the two. "It's turning out just like the divorce..." he walked back to his desk.

"Spare us the thought of you procreating."

"That was a joke and THIS just might tell me where you've been all day." Roman held up a piece of paper.

"What?"

"I'm a professional sweetheart, pay attention, maybe you'll learn something." He paused, demeanor getting stern. "Why do you have this address?" he giggled. "Don't tell me, it has to do with your... problem?" he pointed his cane at Merc.

"What problem?" Cinder spoke from a stack of crates.

"Looks like Merc here got a painful blow to the family jewels." Roman was trying not to laugh, and cinder was approaching.

"There was some pirate, he beat me at combat with a low blow. We were trying to clean up his mess" Merc winced at the memory.

"Red cloak?" Roman piped in again?

"Yeah, piratey voice and all." Cinder frowned at this new information.

"It looks as if this 'Pirate' of ours needs to be... Neutralized. I expect you to find him and terminate him, Mercury. Even though I EXPLICITLY told you to keep your hands clean while in vale."

That so begins the first chapter of Arc 2! Yay!

*For those of you who know the movie this comes from. I AM UNASHAMED!

Tra!