With the events of that night still fresh on their minds, the girls went back to the station in order to regroup and for their "leader" to fill them in. Pyrrha scanned the card over and over again, thought the card never changed in any way, much to her dismay. During the car ride back to the station, she started to lose herself in her own thoughts.
'What is his game? He wants the gems, but at the same time, he wants to protect them from anyone else? Now he wants to steal the Fall Maiden from Ms. Sustrai and return it to Beacon himself, only to fight us again to steal it? None of this makes any sense… then again, never did he.'
Upon arriving, it didn't take long for the girls to start questioning her. All of them sat around Pyrrha's desk, Ruby pulling up a chair, Weiss and Blake were standing and Yang was set pacing around the desk. All of them in the middle of the room yet felt oddly isolated with everyone else gone for the night. The only person in the department that wasn't patrolling was Alexander Nikos.
"What happened out there? There was no Crescent, but apparently, you spotted him?" questioned Blake.
Weiss continued, "What's with the card you have there?"
Yang picked it out of Pyrrha's fingers, not getting any resistance from her.
"Looks like one of Crescent's, but it has directions?" the blond asked.
Pyrrha simply shook her head, "I don't get that man sometimes, but long story short, he wants our help to steal the Fall Maiden from this Sustrai person and help deliver it to Beacon so then he can try and steal it from us."
Ruby perked up from her seat, "We're not going to do that right?"
A gruff voice called out to them from the station, "I sure hope not! Crescent is as cunning as he is show-boaty. Don't let that face distract you."
All of them turned to see the man that had just walked in. Taller than Yang and essentially towering over Weiss, the man's crimson eyes scanned the whole team as he shuffled his way inside, taking a small drink from his hidden flask.
Ruby and Yang almost tackled the man as he strolled into the office.
"Uncle Qrow!" they both cried out.
He braced himself for the incoming hugs and held each girl differently. Qrow's arm wrapped around all of Ruby's body, the smaller of the two girls hugging his chest entirely while hugging Yang from the side.
"How are my favorite nieces?" he asked.
Ruby piped up, "We're working on the Crescent case!"
The man simply laughed, removing his hand from Ruby's back and ruffling her hair with it, "I said how are you doing, not what."
Yang smiled as Ruby flipped her hair back, "So far so good Uncle Qrow. I thought you were out on your special assignments?"
Qrow shrugged, letting the two girls go, "I was, but a certain someone told me that my nieces were taking on the Phantom Thief himself. Figured you would need some help."
Ruby pouted, "It wasn't mom, was it? She knew about this since before we left for Menagerie."
Qrow shook his head, "No, not Summer. Why you haven't asked her to help is beyond me, but it wasn't her that brought me in. In fact, it wasn't someone's mother that asked me to help."
Both girls slapped the faces with their hands, "Dad?!"
Qrow laughed, removing their hands from faces, "No, not Taiyang, he wouldn't even know how to help. Poor man's dealing with his other students in classes."
It was then that Alexander's voice bellowed out from his office's direction.
"Qrow! So good of you to come!"
"Kind of hard to not come back when someone mentions my nieces needing me Alex."
Pyrrha's head snapped back to see Alexander, "Father, you called him to help?"
"Crescent has been pulling the wool over your eyes several times, I figured it would greatly help to have at least two of the four veteran team to help you against him."
"Veteran team?" Ruby asked.
"Kali Belladonna, Summer Rose-" Blake began.
"Alexander Nikos and Qrow Branwen" continued Pyrrha.
"The original team to be chasing Crescent" finished Qrow. "The best too, after all, we slapped the cuffs on him several times." His face appeared lost as he kept speaking, "Could never figure out how he managed to escape out of a police car that one time."
Yang raised an eyebrow, "Oh yeah, well apparently he wants to work with us to steal the Fall Maiden. How would you guys go about taking care of that?"
Qrow took another drink from his flask, "I know Summer would tell you to do so, because that way you could find out more about him and how he works, but the man's not exactly hiding his methods. The only thing he seems to hide is his "magic", and even that can be figured out if you know what to look for. That's the harder part."
Weiss crossed her arms, chiming into the conversation, "Okay then, how would you suggest we proceed?"
Qrow lazily glanced at Weiss, putting away the flask, "Simple, we do it old school and hunt him down ourselves."
"We'll be interfering with another person's protection services though," Blake butted in.
"Leave that to dear old Uncle Qrow," pointing a finger at himself as he spoke. "I'll get us on that ship."
That was how the girls and Qrow managed to get onto the airfield of the "Horizons" alongside the other members of the security team. Emerald looked over a list of guests that were boarding the ship for a flight to Vale. Every single person that was coming in had to be thoroughly checked in order to make sure that Crescent wasn't hiding as one of them.
It was because of this set up that the Vale team had to answer to her when they asked for entrance onto her ship. All of the girls were stopped by Emerald herself, taking a quick glance at the team after hearing their request.
"Yeah, no. I'm sorry, but I'm not letting any of you onboard. The fewer variables I have on my ship the better chance we have against Crescent." She noted.
Ruby stared at her, "But we're the Crescent experts! We know all of his moves one way or another."
Emerald shook her head, a small sigh coming from her lips, "And what exactly do you have to prove that? He's no closer to being captured than he was when you all started this crusade against him. If I didn't know any better, I would probably say one of you is Crescent dressing up to help the others possibly avoid working on other jobs!"
Blake retorted, "That's not even close to fair, by that logic, anyone who stood by and let him steal is also Crescent."
"In any case," Emerald continued. "I'm not planning on risking anyone else coming aboard and possibly ruining our chances. Crescent said he was coming for the gem and I would rather it turn up at Beacon, safe and sound no offense to you all."
Qrow took a deep breath and nodded, "Fine… Would you let us fly around you in case he tries an aerial entry?"
Emerald thought about it, putting a finger under her chin as she mulled it over in her head. When her finger distanced itself from her chin, a small smile appeared on her face.
"Of course, I don't see anything wrong with sticking around the blimp, so long as all of you stay around the ship."
With that, the team managed to climb into their helicopter, while they watched the blimp slowly ascend into the air with them. Qrow sat next to the open door, not taking his eyes off the blimp.
Yang was the first to raise a concern as she watched Qrow, "Uncle Qrow, what are you doing?"
"Seeing if Crescent makes a last-minute dash for the blimp now that everyone is taking off. Sometimes his magic is more right place, right time than actual magic."
Pyrrha nodded along with the statement, her mind thinking back to their first meeting, "He had mentioned something like that. Anything can be a distraction."
"That's a fact of the trade for magicians, once you look where you're "supposed" to, the trick has already been sprung." Qrow continued. "Trust me, you fight Crescent for a while and you pick up a few of his tricks.
The team watched the blimp like Qrow had been doing, only for them to find nothing out of the ordinary. The blimp took off as planned and with it came at least three of the VPD helicopters. The girls, being in the front of the formation kept a look at the other copters, ensuring that Crescent didn't try to hide by one.
That was until they heard the audible gasp of their leader and the clicking of seatbelts.
Most of the team immediately turned to see Qrow with his arm around Pyrrha's waist, holding her as close as he could. Before any of them could react, Qrow threw himself and by extension, Pyrrha out of the helicopter.
Pyrrha screamed at Qrow, "Are you crazy?!"
She was answered by a familiar smirk, one that she could place no matter the face. Upon realizing who her "captor" was, she rolled her eyes and let him hold onto her.
As they passed through a cloud, Crescent got rid of his disguise and let it fall, his paraglider immediately unfolding from his cape, giving their fall a more elegant glide. In no time, the blimp was visible from their fall, and it was more apparent to Pyrrha how Crescent planned to get inside. On top of the blimp, she could see a small hatch that could be used to enter the blimp.
Both of them landed on the blimp, Crescent's grappling gun being fired onto the hatch, latching onto the door, and acting as an anchor when they passed the hatch by the speed of the wind pushing them. The hatch door opened with this action, making her doubt Crescent's plan immediately. Thankfully, the grapple gun held strong, the wire keeping the door open for them as both him and Pyrrha made their way into the hatch.
As Crescent closed the hatch, Pyrrha turned to ask him something, his hand flew, catching her mouth. He pinned her to a wall and quickly raised what seemed to be a blanket over them. That's when she heard the footsteps of people coming.
She could hear one of the men ask another, "You hear that?"
The other man answered shortly, "Yeah, it sounded like someone opened the hatch. But that would be crazy, there's nothing out there."
One of them used a flashlight to look at the ladder leading up to the outside, finding nothing unusual. "Huh, I guess we're being paranoid. There's nothing around here, and surely we would have seen something having been so close to the ladder."
The duo left the hatch room and continued back to their tasks, leaving Pyrrha and Crescent alone once more. Only once they were sure of their solitude, did Crescent's hand come back down. He seemed different now, more determined.
"Okay Pyrrha quick brief, now that we're on board we have to make no sound or even leave a clue that we were here. The greatest magic you could ever pull out of a hat is the perfect entrance or exit. If you can do both, then you'll leave everyone amazed."
Pyrrha raised an eyebrow as she took account of Crescent, his attire clearly his, but still wearing the Qrow mask as his head was still of the police veteran.
"Is that why you're so good at this part of the job?"
Crescent flashed her a smug smile, clearly joking around with her, "Glad you noticed. I put in so much work into my shows for you girls."
His face then immediately went serious again, "But real talk, we just need to find out where the Fall Maiden is and steal it. Fortunately for you, there's good news and bad news."
Pyrrha's eyebrow remained raised as she waited for Crescent to finish the rest of the info dump he was giving her.
"Bad news, if my information was right, then the gem should be at the front of the blimp, while we're at the back. Good news? You have a change of clothes."
He reached behind him and pulled out a small package, it was a white suit wrapped with plastic. Seeing the diner details she could notice red was an accent color in those which Crescent would be sporting yellow."
"You made a suit for me? Aren't you afraidI'll steal it and manage to work out your secrets?"
Crescent nearly doubled over in laughter, his smile being hidden by the plastic-wrapped package.
"It's a tuxedo-like mine, that's it. Don't go thinking you're my partner in this. We can talk about that when the job is done, however."
Pyrrha rolled her eyes, exhaling loudly enough for him to hear it, "Forgive me if I don't want to start stealing gems in the night with you."
Crescent didn't seem phased, getting extremely close to the officer and raising her chin up so their eyes can meet, "Maybe I don't want you stealing gems with me. Maybe I want to keep a certain gem in my jewelry box."
Pyrrha's eyes widened, slowly taking in the information, until she felt a cloth wrap around her. It soon enveloped her in a cozy prison, that she was let out of quickly. When her world wasn't just white cloth, she immediately looked at her surroundings, noting emerald green eyes that she was staring into.
He had copied her appearance down to a tee.
Under her watch, Crescent started to put his long red hair into a ponytail. Drawing her eyes back to herself, she was wearing the suit that Crescent had shown her, complete with the red accents.
"All that to distract me?"
Crescent smirked, her own face staring back smugly at her. "What would you have said if I was serious?"
"No."
"There you go Pyrrha then."
Pyrrha looked outside of the room to see nothing but scaffolding like bridges and sometimes a guard here and there.
Crescent on the other hand, stepped forward without fear and only a cocky smile in hand. "Pyrrha, I'm going to sound the alarm, make it more like a game of ours. This time you're on my team. Remember this one rule: Never forget your poker face. No matter what happens, never show anything but arrogance. If you believe your own lie so well, others will follow suit."
Suddenly, everything seemed to click in her head about their past encounters. All the times that Crescent had smirked or showed that smug smirk of his. She couldn't remember a time where he never had it.
"Anytime anyone sees you, make your way out of sight, and lose them. If we do this right, they'll be freaked out. Even though this is a blimp, there's still a vent system here. Feel free to use it."
With that, Crescent went his separate way, leaving Pyrrha to move on ahead by herself. While the objective was simple, it became much harder when she realized how much security there was in the aircraft.
Managing to make it a few feet, Pyrrha heard someone coming and quickly dove behind a small crate. Keeping herself hidden, she watched as the pair was getting closer and closer to her. Ideas ran through her head, none of them getting her out of the situation without blowing her cover. That was until one thought came up.
"I'm supposed to be Crescent right? Why not act like him?"
Pyrrha stood up to her full length and smiled widely, the action seeming counterproductive to what she wanted.
Crescent never makes any sense anyway, so I have to do the same!"
She stepped out from cover and presented herself to the pair that was coming.
"How would you two like to see a magic trick?"
Two sets of eyes widened as far as they could go, Both of them reached for their guns until Pyrrha employed a tactic that Crescent had against Ruby. She threw her cape over both of them, obstructing their vision. Without missing a beat, she moved them both around and bumped them into one another before pulling the cape back, sending them both crashing into several boxes.
Quickly attaching her cape back onto herself she looked at her handiwork, both of the guards knocked out,' That counts right?'
Before she could leave them, Pyrrha noticed one of the headsets that happened to fly off one of their heads and put it on herself. Not wasting any time, Pyrrha made her way heading towards the front once more.
Much like Crescent had mentioned there were guards all over the place. In her head, the same thought kept appearing. What would Crescent do?
With the first set, she sped past them, raising their concern and investigating, but leaving before she could be spotted. If Crescent or Qrow or whoever gave her the advice was right, then having them search a dead-end would only occupy their time needlessly. And anyone not actually finding her was a step in the right direction.
As she advanced, she could sometimes see the actual Crescent slip past the same guards she had to hide from. Sometimes it was as simple as walking up to someone, tapping their shoulder to make them turn, and moving forward.
Other actions included tapping a door or metal object loudly to have someone check the sound, and just slip by like he was taking a stroll in the park. A bright white tuxedo kept slipping through the ins and outs of the guards easily.
How does this man make it all look easy?
As she continued, there was a card with Crescent's arcs on it that caught her eye. Moving silently towards it, she managed to read the words on the card, the words giving her a mental image of the magician's smug grin.
Remember to use the vents! - Love, Crescent.
Pyrrha groaned as she crumpled up the card, moving the apparently already unbolted grate that covered the vent. She started to crawl through the vents, giving her an easier time moving as she grumbled to herself.
"I swear I want to choke that man out, the only thing stopping me is the fact that he would probably have it be some sort of illusion."
'What about murdering people is bad?' her mind supplied.
She decided to ignore that tidbit while she could see the end of the vent, leading her to the front of the blimp, where she could see Emerald standing, watching the clouds go by. That's when it happened.
Crescent walked into the room like he owned the place, tossing his hat out to catch everyone's attention. Emerald and her team looked at the hat, then back to its owner when it returned, Crescent leaning on the display case in the middle of the room.
"Crescent!" roared Emerald. "How did you manage to get on board? We searched everyone."
Crescent simply walked around the case, his hands gliding over the case as he spoke, much in the same smug tone he would with the Vale team.
"Now, now, a magician can't be sharing all his secrets, wouldn't you agree?"
Crescent's smirk remained plastered on his face, even with the whole room of security detail pointing guns at him. His only reaction was to place his hands up, showing them empty.
Emerald stared at him, a small smile coming across her face, "I knew I was right. You're from that Vale team. The leader of them, Pyrrha right? I knew you were in on this. After all, you can't capture a thief the whole team is chasing if he's under your nose right?"
Crescent applauded her, "Wow, and I thought I could get some air on my jumps. Haven't you heard? I'm a master of disguise, Ms. Nikos' face was convenient for sure, but no I'm not her."
With a slight wink he continued, "After all, if I can convince you I am Ms. Nikos, then that leaves just one question, who am I?"
Emerald snarled as she watched the magician basically laugh at her, "Everyone get him, he won't be laughing when he gets captured."
Crescent raised an eyebrow and smiled as everyone came close, everyone's visual being completely taken by the smokescreen that consumed them all. Emerald, alongside the other members of her team, scrambled to try and find him, pushing and bumping into each other as they went looking.
Crescent's voice could be heard throughout the main room of the blimp, his words slathered with faux concern and actual smugness, "Now now, Ms. Sustrai, eagerness will only get you so far. Next time you want to try to capture the Phantom Thief, maybe bring someone with experience. Such a shame you refused to let those with experience onboard. Thank you for that by the way."
Emerald activated the vents system, airing out the room and revealing the missing magician and an empty case. She quickly pointed at the door of the room and ushered everyone out. "After him! He has the Fall Maiden! We can't let him escape with it!"
Once everyone was moved out, Emerald smiled muttering to herself, "That stupid thief, you managed to steal the Fall Maiden as you said. Now the only thing we need is to make sure we finish this job." She pulled out a handgun from her belt and stormed out into the rest of the ship, her hand touching the headset she had everyone wear.
"Anyone find that creep?" Emerald asked over the headset.
"Yeah, in the visitor's section, I see a red-haired woman calmly sipping tea with a group of people."
Unfortunately, another member of the security team spoke up, "I see a red-haired woman too! Crescent is running towards the hatch room!"
To make matters even worse, another member chimed in, "There's a white glider already leaving the blimp's airspace! The Vale Police are separating to capture Crescent."
Emerald thought to herself, "Three Crescents? He's either got decoys or he has a team… But which one is it? Ignoring the one already outside, there's only two left!"
Emerald went to the visitor's section and glanced at the people around, none of them nervous. A few even shook her hand and thanked her for her service in protecting the Fall Maiden. Nothing but suits and cocktail dresses filled her view, the only thing coming into focus was the head of red hair. As she got closer, she recognized the woman, Octavia Ember, someone she remembered seeing coming onboard. The pop star essentially snuck in, coming in early enough to avoid any detection from anyone.
That's when she heard a commotion from her headset as her team seemed to be struggling, "She went left! She can't be allowed to leave! Ms. Sustrai, we got Crescent trapped in the hatch room! Crescent won't be able to leave!"
"Checkmate Crescent." She thought to herself.
Taking her leave of the visitor's section, she hurried to the hatch room where sure enough, all of her team had Crescent pinned against the ladder. She looked at the ladder, ensuring that there weren't any sort of tricks to it. Following the same vein of precautions, she looked up at the door that would lead anyone outside. A wicked smile came across her face as she saw it closed, leaving the poor Magician trapped with her.
"Well, well, well Crescent, it seems like you had everything planned out. Too bad that your exit wasn't as wondrous as everyone assumed. The famed magician caught." Emerald explained.
Crescent merely shrugged, "Hey, everyone has off days right? It's not like we have an extra us to make the job easy huh?"
Emerald's eyes seemed to light up, "So that Crescent that flew outside of the blimp? That wasn't your assistant Mr. Magician?"
Despite having several guns pointed at him, he laughed, "If you're willing to work with me, I'll consider it, little gem."
Emerald's smile dropped immediately, "I wouldn't be caught dead working with you."
"But you will steal gems for profit?"
She scowled, "I don't know what you're talking about."
Crescent pulled out a gem, golden in color with a small swirl of red inside. "So after today, I won't see this anywhere but at Beacon?"
"Of course, I finish-" Emerald responded.
"Even on the black market?" Crescent continued.
"What are you even implying?!" she almost screamed.
Crescent wore his smirk proudly on his face, "I have seen all your contracts somehow arrive at their destination yet also being sold under the table."
He attempted to walk closer to Emerald, only for her team to stop him. All the guns around him clicked, a not so silent threat of their guns no longer having the safety on.
"Oof, tough crowd. Seeing how my job here is done, I must bid you adieu."
Emerald shook her head, "You're not going anywhere Crescent!"
Crescent chuckled as his hands came into clear view, "You may say that, but the wind is so fickle you know?"
With a snap of his fingers, the hatch of the blimp flew open, causing everyone to flinch at the sudden intake of wind. Suddenly it closed, leaving the hatch room void of the one magician. Only a card stood in his place.
Emerald picked it up and her eyes widened as she read it.
Good luck with finishing your job. Might want to make sure your pack has the real gem, so you can't show up to Beacon with the fake one like you did at Shade.
Her hand immediately flew towards her side pack on her hips, her hand digging into it to find a white gem, complete with a small drawing of Crescent sticking his tongue out at her.
Emerald snarled, "Damn that man.."
Meanwhile, the Vale team was right next to the skyward bound Crescent after he had made his way out of the blimp. Surprisingly, Crescent got close to the helicopter, actually grabbing onto it as the glider disassembled back into a cape.
Yang was the one to pull "Crescent" into the helicopter, only to find their leader's face staring at them.
"Pyrrha?!" squealed Ruby.
Yang pinched her cheeks and pulled hard.
"Ouch! Yang! Why?" complained Pyrrha.
Yang's eyes widened as she realized her face wasn't a mask. "Sorry, thought you were Crescent disguised as you."
"It's good to check, but next time don't pull so hard please," Pyrrha mentioned as her hand rubbed her cheek, trying to get some feeling back into it.
"What happened? Crescent kidnapped you and dressed you like him?" asked Blake.
"Kinda, I saw him steal the Fall Maiden from the Sustrai team."
Pyrrha nearly jumped as the whole team shouted, "WHAT?!"
Weiss looked back at the blimp, just in time to see another glider flying away from the Blimp. "Look there he is! Let's get him and retrieve the Fall Maiden!"
Pyrrha shook her head, opening the suit and digging into the inside pockets. Pulling out two gems, both of them golden with a reddish swirl inside.
"The Fall Maiden? There's two of them!" exclaimed Blake.
"Crescent gave me what he claims is the fake one Emerald would have given Beacon and the actual one."
Weiss scoffed, quickly taking them both off her hands, "I'll be the judge of that." In her own toolbelt, she took out a jeweler's kit and raised the gem, staring into it. She noticed that one of them had a piece of tape with a big "X" marked on it.
Weiss rolled her eyes and handed it back after taking her own look. "That's a fake."
Then turning the other gem over, she noticed the same tape with an "O" in the tape. Upon further inspection, she couldn't believe that thief.
"He gave us the real Maiden…" she muttered.
Blake raised an eyebrow, "You mean the actual Fall Maiden? Why? He gains nothing from leaving it with us."
Pyrrha shook her head, "He gets his game… He doesn't trust Sustrai to take it to Beacon…"
That night, Pyrrha and the team had to ensure what seemed like countless meetings pertaining to the gem's protection. No one believed that Crescent would help the police. Even though Pyrrha swore multiple times about the events of the night, she was constantly pestered about all the security measures that the Sustrai team had. Worst of it all was the new Head of Security, Cinder Fall.
Finally making it out, she took out the second of Crescent's card that had been stashed in her suit. No one had seen the card, she was thankful for that. It was because of that card that she found herself on the roof of Beacon University, waiting for eight o'clock.
Almost like clockwork, he showed up. She could feel someone on the roof with her and sure enough, as she turned around she saw him.
He spoke softly, his smirk appearing on his face once more, "Well Hello there, Ms. Nikos. What a coincidence, running into you."
As Pyrrha turned to look at the man, he held his hat forward as he bowed for her. His voice still carried his smarminess. "As promised, I will take the Fall Maiden from you girls, but I expect-"
Pyrrha cut him off, "Why are you even trying to steal these gems? You don't keep any of them! Why bother to steal them?"
Crescent stood back up and turned his back to her, his confidence unwavering, "Who can tell the motivation of a Phantom Thief Ms. Nikos?"
"You're looking for a specific one aren't you?"
Crescent didn't respond.
"Please, tell me what you need and I'll try to help you get what you need to stop this seemingly endless game of cat and mouse."
"As I told you before Ms. Nikos, I may be persuaded to stop my thefts, if a certain gem comes with me."
Pyrrha groaned aloud, "I told you I wasn't interested!"
Crescent stood there with his natural smirk. With a simple touch of a button, his cape became a glider once more. "When did I say it was you who was the gem?"
Pyrrha watched with embarrassment as the thief once more got away. This time, without any tricks.
Thank you for once again tuning back in to read this! I'm so happy I can write this crazy story out for you guys. Go ahead and leave a review, it would be much appreciated!