Chapter 21
"Are you sure you don't know anything about these people?" Ren asked the baker in front of him, who nodded.
"Aye, I'm sure. Now were you going to buy something or not?" The man spoke with a gruff voice. Ren sighed and handed over some Lien. The man happily gave Ren a loaf of warm fresh bread.
Ren left the bakery and continued down the road. The baker was registered as living in one of the houses the disappearances had been happening in. However, it didn't seem like he was going to be a target. He didn't have a family, at least not yet. He was due to be married in the spring however, which might change that.
Although the killer would likely wait until he has children. Almost all those who vanished had kids. Ren clenched his fists. He hated that. A killer targeting people with children. They're a sick monster. He didn't usually let his emotions get the better of him, but how often did you encounter such a monster?
Grimm were so much easier. In some ways they were less of a monster than this killer. They didn't make a choice when they're attacked. They just acted on instinct. Human opponents however…
Ren met up with Nora soon after. She shrugged and shook her head. No luck there. They still had a couple more people they wanted to try talking to first however.
As they walked down the road Ren felt something brush against his senses. Like a soft hand slowly trailing down his arm. He shivered involuntarily. He looked around but didn't see anything. What was that? If he couldn't see it…
Ren focused and pulsed his Aura, using it like echolocation. There, hiding in a nearby alleyway was a man in a cloak. As soon as Ren felt the man's presence the feeling returned. Like it was trying to call to him. Tell him that yes, this was who had tried to get his attention.
Ren turned and walked right into the alleyway, hands close to Stormflower. Nora followed, likely wondering what he had found.
The man waited in the semi-dark of the alley, black cloak covering his form. The man seemed to chuckle as Ren drew near.
"Now now, boy. No need to be ready for a fight. I know you'd win quite easily." The man spoke with a raspy voice, like he had swallowed gravel and needed a drink to wash it down.
"What do you want?" Ren didn't take his hands away from his weapons.
"I've heard all about you kids investigating. I want to help." The man replied.
"Why?" Ren asked. The man thought for a moment and stepped more into the light. Ren could see the lower half of the man's face. The man's scowl was marred sinister by the myriad of scars adorning his face.
"Because that killer almost got me once. Because he took my wife and children." Ren could feel the man staring into his soul.
"Do you know who it is?"
"No. I didn't see the face but I know three things. First, the killer is a man. Second, he is strong and quick. And lastly, there are two of them."
Ren's eyes widened. They had thought it a possibility, but if this man could be trusted then they had confirmation. "Is that all?" Ren asked with a gulp.
"Well, I do know that there one who does the capturing prefers the adults. The other is more like support and likes the kids." The man shrugged.
This complicates things. It widens the number of suspects. They're working together so they would pool information. It could be any one of well over two dozen suspects. Still, it's likely to be two of the main four. But if it isn't one of them I don't know if we'll have the time to find the real killers. Ren sighed. "So tell me, how are you alive if they caught you?"
The man chuckled. "I'm a smuggler. I learned long ago how to escape people and cells. It didn't take me long. Though I was unable to save my family."
Ren nodded solemnly. "Thank you, sir. This will help."
The man smiled. "Good. Good. Kill them, kid. Save the town." The man laughed.
"Any idea who it could be?" Ren ignored the man's almost frantic laugh.
"Well, I imagine you've been looking into the most likely suspects. I can tell you my thoughts, but don't put much faith in them." He laughed again. "The least likely would be the man from the SDC. He's a businessman obsessed with money. He has little reason to kill people from the town he is earning from. The most likely would have to be the mine chief. He's always been suspicious and has the build for it!"
Ren nodded and wrote down the man's words in his scroll. Nora poked his elbow. "Hey Ren, didn't Jaune and Pyrrha decide to talk to the chief first?" Ren's eyes went wide. If he was the killer…
"Thank you. We'll remember what you said and take care of the killer and their accomplice." Ren gave the man a nod and rushed off with Nora. He hoped they wouldn't be too late.
It was a simple task for Ruby to pass by the guards. Who would have ever suspected a cloud of rose petals? Well if they saw the cloud flying around probably everyone, but that required them to see it.
And Ruby was far too high up for them to realistically see her. Ever since her Semblance had begun to evolve she had seen the potential. She could fly now, if only for a short period. She was harder to hit and had far more control than before. She was a little slower but as far as she was concerned it was a pretty good trade.
Once she was directly over the manor she dropped her Semblance and went into a free fall, hurtling down towards the roof of the beautiful manor house. Just before impact, she used her Semblance once more. A cloud of petals landed softly on the roof, spreading out over the surface.
Soon enough it crawled along and floated into the chimney. Down and down she went before she came to rest amongst burnt and charred wood. The remains of a fire from the night before. Ruby looked around, which was strange when she was just petals, and confirmed that the coast was clear.
She floated out and reverted to her normal self. She took deep breaths. She'd used a lot of Aura getting in here. Ruby hoped she wouldn't need to use much more while inside.
She snuck through the living room she found herself in and out into the halls. The area seemed empty so she walked as fast as she could while keeping quiet.
The whole house so far reminded her of Weiss. Lots and lots of white. It made sense. This was the house of the SDC representative. He'd probably want to make things look as close to home as possible and white and grey were the colours of Atlas. It did make her stand out a bit more, dressed in black and red as she was.
Maybe Weiss' jacket will help hide me? Nah, not with my cloak wrapped over the top. Maybe if I had mum's cape instead… she shook her head and cleared her thoughts. Now wasn't the time to get lost in thought.
She crept through the quiet house. She passed through a large foyer with a large, opulent staircase. She was on the second floor so passed through as quickly as she could. She started checking the rooms.
A spare bedroom here and there, a dance studio, what looked like a personal theater, a games room with arcade machines and finally a study. That was what she was after. Sneaking in proved simple enough with it unlocked and nobody inside.
Ruby walked over to the desk and started searching. Her first pass had her finding an invitation to lunch with some shop owners, likely where the SDC representative was now. Her second pass found a letter to the mayor, detailing how the deaths in the mine were a tragedy but they needed to get back on track. On her third pass, she found a letter being written to Jacques Schnee.
Ruby grabbed the letter. It was still being written, but it seemed the rep was conveying their sadness at not being able to personally head to Atlas for the funeral. The funeral? Weiss… it must be…
Ruby wondered for a moment if the funeral had been what Weiss would have wanted. Winter had said it was a big event in Atlas, but that didn't seem like something she would have wanted. She almost scrunched up the letter but took a deep breath and put it back. She went back to looking.
Ruby saw all manner of documents, from other letters and receipts to dockets and orders. They were split into two piles, one regarding the SDC and it's work while the other was for the houses the rep owned. They seemed to be running things quite well and paying attention to, and fixing, the complaints of the residents.
I'm getting the feeling this person probably isn't into killing people for fun. Plus it all looks like someone who has dedicated their life to business. There's no indication of medical expertise either. Ruby gave one last look over everything before putting it back where it had been.
It was time to leave. She hadn't found anything incriminating.
Next up, the mayor.
Jaune sighed as he fell into the seat. The wait was killing him. They'd shown up to talk to the chief and been told he was busy so they had to wait. And waiting they were.
For an hour now. At least. Jaune wasn't exactly sure on how much time had passed actually. He might have been losing it. The room they were sat in was bland and grey and boring. There wasn't even a plant or picture or magazines to look at!
Jaune Arc was bored.
Thankfully it only took another half hour (did he say thankfully? He meant annoyingly) before they were called in to meet the chief. The man was tough, they could tell that from his appearance and the way he held himself. Short, scraggly black hair and a big bushy beard. Dark brown eyes that looked all together bored and tired and dirty grey overalls over a lighter grey shirt. He leaned back in his chair and took a long drag from a cigar before putting it out in an ashtray on his desk.
The man didn't look happy to see them. "Right. What do ye want?" The chief spoke with an annoyed tone.
"We wanted to talk to you a bit. Mostly about the mines and the deaths a few days ago." Jaune answered. The chief grumbled but motioned for them to sit in the chairs across from him.
"Ye are the Huntsmen who killed the Grimm, ain't ya? Ye probably know as much as me."
Jaune and Pyrrha shared a look. "Well, we just wanted to hear your side of the events. We've only heard what the mayor said so-" Jaune stopped when the chief held up a hand.
"I know ye've been talkin' to people all over town, sonny. Ye want to know 'bout that room an' whoever owns it. Well, I don't know, alright? I didn't know it was there."
Jaune nodded and lent back in his chair. "If I recall we never mentioned a room. Not to the mayor, and not to the people in town." The chief nodded.
"Aye, but it's my mine. O'course I went looking. Wanted to see if I could recover me men. Instead I found a room of 'orrors. I came back to grab some of my trusted men to investigate but when we got back down there the whole thing was sealed up tight."
Jaune leaned forward again. "What do you mean sealed?"
"The 'ole 'ad been fixed. Like someone had used Rock Dust to create a wall but without the sharp edges. The skill required is more than you could find in any normal folk."
"So either a Huntsman skilled in Dust or a Semblance…"
"Aye. We tried to break through again but the stone was 'arder than any other. We 'ad to give up." The chief shrugged. "Yer killer knows yer after 'im. I'd be careful."
Jaune nodded and opened his mouth but before he could speak someone knocked loudly on the door. The three turned to face it as it burst open.
Ren and Nora pointed their weapons at the chief, who roared and flipped the desk over, forcing Jaune and Pyrrha to jump to the sides. The chief drew his weapon from underneath where the desk had been. A great metal staff with the head of a great hammer combined with a pickaxe.
The chief roared again and rushed them.
It had been easy to escape the manor house. The few guards didn't notice anything. It wasn't hard for her to then jump from rooftop to rooftop. It bought back memories of her experience on the train. Though there were far less explosions and general danger.
The mayor's house was right next to the town hall. All the easier for him to get back there if an emergency came up. There weren't any guards, but there were more people in the area. It was a busy part of town after all.
She slipped in through the chimney once more. Thankfully he didn't seem to be home as the fireplace wasn't alight. She passed through the living room, which was strangely spartan, and out into the hallway. The building was quiet. She made her way through, again looking through each room.
Each was spartan, lacking most of the furnishings she expected from a mayor. Was he just one of those people who didn't like having much? Did he spend too much time working to feel like furnishing?
The one room that seemed to have anything more than the essentials was his first-floor study, with several cabinets, a beautiful mahogany desk and a nice dark red and gold rug. Ruby zipped over to the desk and started rummaging around.
There wasn't all that much there. A few personal letters. Correspondence with the mine chief, the militia captain and the SDC representative as well as a couple of the wealthy citizens of Kiku. She couldn't see anything that seemed suspicious, aside from the lack of anything really important.
His conversations through the letters were bland and boring, not something she expected from a private correspondence. It felt like she was missing something, but couldn't place what. Could the man really be this boring? He didn't have anything in his house and his personal letters were boring. It just didn't sit right with her. It was all too boring
But she didn't find anything and was about to leave when she heard the front door opening. She didn't know if it was him or not, but she needed to leave, ASAP. As she dashed to the door however she tripped on the rug and tumbled to the ground with a loud bang.
She jumped back to her feet and saw something she should have thought about. Under the rug was a trapdoor. She couldn't hear footsteps but it was unlikely they hadn't heard the crash. Ruby glanced between the door and the trapdoor and made up her mind.
A cloud of rose petals forced itself between the cracks in the floorboards. Ruby landed in a small chamber beneath the floor. All that was here was a small ladder to the trapdoor and a stairway leading down into the dark.
She didn't have much of a choice and so rushed down the stairs. She couldn't hear anything above her. It wasn't encouraging.
The stairs went on for what felt like around ten minutes. It could have been shorter or longer for all she knew. Eventually, however she came to what felt like some kind of fantasy dungeon. Cobblestone walls and floor, several cells and what appeared to be torture devices of all kinds. From an iron maiden to the big stretcher one. She wasn't sure on all of their names.
She heard someone whimper. Ruby walked into the block of cells and looked around. It was pretty disgusting. Several had bones in them and what little furniture they had been given, a straw bed and a desk and chair, were old and falling apart. In one of them cells sat a young boy, likely in his early teens. He whimpered as she approached.
Ruby was angry. She tried to open the cell but jumped back when it shocked her. Cells with electricity running through the bars. He's a monster!
Ruby took a few steps back, drawing her scythe, switched the Dust to fire and unleashed a wave of it at the bars. Then another and another. She kept going until the bars melted and fell away creating an opening. A quick application of Ice Dust cooled it enough for her to jump through.
She reached the boy and started to shush him, hoping he would keep quiet. The boy's dark brown eyes watched her from behind his black hair. Eventually, he grew quiet and reached out for her. She smiled and pulled him to his feet.
Only for her to cry out in pain as he shocked her. She crumpled to the floor as his electrocution Semblance burned through her body. When it finally stopped she pulled back, trying to regain control of her body. But it was difficult, like he had targeted her nervous system.
She registered the sound of clapping and she pulled herself together. There at the cell's entrance was the mayor, looking pleased.
"A good show my boy. And a good show from you, my dear." He said, stepping through the opening and kneeling next to her. He grabbed her chin and forced her to look up at him. "You made it very far. I'm surprised. You must have found his little playroom. A pity. Interesting that you managed to avoid the effects of my Semblance, however." He smiled. It sent shivers down her spine. "But that can be rectified. I would very much like your abilities my dear."
She was regaining control! She pushed his hand away and stumbled to her feet. He sighed. "Oh, my dear you aren't in any position to fight me." His condescending tone angered her more. She was a Huntress! She'd lost too much to be looked down upon by the likes of him! My body isn't responding though. How can I escape?
She tried to think of her options, however the boy grabbed her hand. She understood the threat. He could shock her at any moment. The mayor laughed and stepped forward, pulling her chin up so she was looking at him. "My dear, you have nothing to fear. After a nice rest you'll be fine. You'll be more than fine."
He drew out a syringe and leaned in and whispered into her ear. "When you wake up you'll be all mine." And he plunged the syringe into her, releasing its contents. She immediately felt sluggish and sleepy. As the world began to fade to black she cursed.
She'd walked right into a trap.
A/N: Definitely not creepy. Nope. Not at all. So yeah, I realised I made some mistakes with this arc. I should have had RNNJR meet each of the suspects before the whole mystery came in. But hey, improving is one of the reasons I write here. So instead of trying to drag out the mystery, I went with something I feel I'm a bit better at, a more climactic fight type of thing.
I hope you all enjoyed and I'll see you next time!