Slipping a new shotgun shell into the tube, Naruto looked up at Blake from where he was sat, balanced precariously against a railing, nothing behind him but the long drop to Mantle. "I know you said you were going to take a bounty so we had some cover, but don't you think three was a bit much?"
Blake shook her head, as she methodically placed one round after another into one of Gambol Shroud's magazines. "Well, I chose a few that I thought we could get done on the way to the first one."
Naruto didn't believe that for a second. "You chose three at random, Blake, don't give me that."
She paused for a single moment, as Ilia burst into laughter, her question ringing out into the frigid air. "Really, Blake? What, did you get self-conscious about choosing?"
"There was a lot to pick from, alright? I chose a few easy ones, it's not like we're pressed for Lien! I didn't really look into them all too much!"
Naruto shrugged. "Well, it's not like we can't get around easily. I've still got a bit of fuel in my inventory, so we're set for at least a day or so of flight. Did you at least get a map?"
"Oh, the great and almighty Naruto Uzumaki doesn't have a map that comes with every other thing his semblance can do?" Blake fired back.
"It does. I just don't have any points of interest on it, because I haven't got a map."
Blake rolled her eyes. "Did you ever consider that you have one in your pocket? It's called a Scroll."
"Ah. Right. Fair play."
He set Terminator back onto the mag-plate on his right shoulder, withdrawing his Scroll from his pocket, quickly downloading the most recently updated map of the whole of Solitas he could find. "Right, so, Frostwreath is about an hour's flight north-east, should be quick to get to."
He screwed his lips up in thought, scrawling through. "Gods, and then World's Peak is quite literally the most northern point in Solitas. Good choice, Blake, the cold shouldn't be too bad up there, especially not for two tropical-natives."
"If and when I die of frostbite I'm holding you accountable," Ilia remarked to Blake.
"We'll be in the Bullhead the entire time, we'll be fine," Blake replied. "We'll just send Naruto out to handle anything that needs to be handled."
Naruto looked up from his Scroll. "Well, if and when I die to some kind of gigantic icicle Grimm, I'll haunt the two of you. Would rotating weeks work, or does one of you want weekends? I'd say holidays are negotiable."
Blake cut the back-and-forth off, frowning as she looked at her own Scroll. "Well, before we can leave, we have to meet with the person who issued the bounty for World's Peak, find out what the item we're looking for is."
"What about the criminal who's hiding in Frostwreath?" Naruto asked, checking his Bounty Log. "Are we supposed to just find any old criminal? I don't really have any details here."
Blake extended her Scroll out. "Here, we're looking for a Harley Zaffre, male, mid-forties, wanted for blackmail, extortion, racketeering and manslaughter, apparently. Nice guy."
Naruto looked at the picture, taking in the mugshot and committing it to memory. "Looks like a blue-haired Cardin, to be honest, if Cardin had a few more scars."
Blake hummed in agreement. "As far as Atlas authorities are aware, he has an active Aura, and, and this isn't even paraphrased, 'if he engages, eliminate with impunity'. Nice place, Atlas."
Ilia shook her head. "Normally I'd be all for tearing Atlas a new one, but this is pretty standard practice in most kingdoms. Pretty sure I've got that same warning on my bounties."
Naruto cocked his head. "How many bounties do you have?"
Ilia counted on her fingers for a moment. "Uh, two, last I heard. One in Mistral, one here. Though my one here is just for assault, so maybe mine's not so bad."
Naruto decided it was safer if he just moved on from that topic. "What about the World's Peak bounty? Who's our contact?"
Blake kept scrolling, reading quickly. "Woman by the name of Shae Black, a doctor. The item's unlisted, I don't know why, but she works for the Atlas Archaeological Museum. Not too far from here, actually."
"Museum? What kind of delivery could a museum be needing? Especially one that needs to be recovered by a Hunter team?" Naruto asked, checking to see if Predator was loaded. "What, are we going to grab an old skeleton or an ancient vase?"
Blake didn't know. "If we go ask, maybe we'll find out, you know, like we're supposed to?"
Ilia was already moving. "It's this way, by the way. You know, if you want to actually do this and not just sit around."
"Jealous you don't have a gun, huh?" Naruto teased.
"I do have a gun, idiot. Stand still, I'll prove it."
The Atlas Archaeological Museum was a raised building of white-rendered concrete and silvered steel beams, protecting large panes of what appeared to be bullet-proof glass, behind which Naruto could make out various displays of relics, artifacts and other archaeological setpieces.
He led the way up the stairs, Blake and Ilia behind him, noticing that two of the armed security were already headed their way. He nodded towards them, realizing that he had sort of walked up to a rather well-guarded location wearing a full team's worth of weapons.
The closest security guard held up his hand, and Naruto stopped. "What are you here for? Museum's closed."
"Here to see Dr Shae Black about a bounty," Naruto replied. "We've picked up the contract."
The armored security guard put a hand up to his helmet, talking to someone on the other end, before turning back to Naruto and co. "Go on through, take the right-side stairs to the second floor, first door on the right is the staff offices. She's waiting for you."
Naruto nodded in gratitude to the guard, stepping through the revolving door and following the directions they'd been given, Blake and Ilia right behind him as he opened the door.
The offices were mostly open cubicles that lined a long hallway, and as Naruto moved down them, a woman stepped out from one. "Ah, you must be the Hunters I commissioned. A little young, but I assume you are competent?"
Naruto nodded. "Yes, ma'am. I'm-"
The doctor interrupted him. "I don't have the time nor the care to hear your life story. A team of my archaeologists had to depart their dig before the elapsed time, and in their rush it would seem that one of them left behind some rather important records. Records that could prove incredibly unfortunate were they to fall into the hands of those less respecting of ancient societies."
Her terse tone conveyed nothing but pure professionalism, and Naruto nodded. "We'll retrieve the records, ma'am. What do the records look like, and do you have a specific location?"
The woman frowned for a second. "Well, we had a camp set up, but whether or not it's still standing is another question. As for the records, they were in a sealed file, black, if I remember correctly, labeled 'ASR83'. Think you can handle that?"
Naruto nodded. "We'll handle it. If that's all?"
It was, apparently, because he was already being dismissed, there was no mistaking the doctor's gesture for anything else.
He turned with a shrug. "Let's get to it?"
Ilia peered past his shoulder at the woman, who had already turned to berate an employee. "She seemed nice."
Blake was already heading down the stairs. "I'd rather we just get to work. We've got a long day ahead of us."
Naruto knew that wasn't even the half of it. "Wanna get some lunch before we leave? Or should we just pick something up to eat on the way?"
Blake pointed across the road. "There's a Mistralian place right there. Ilia and I will grab something to go and meet you at one of the landing pads."
Naruto nodded, but paused for a moment. "Uh, don't get me a fortune cookie. They don't like me much."
Ilia cocked an eyebrow, and Blake just shook her head, muttering. "I don't even want to know what that means."
Naruto offered no explanation, instead giving the two a wave as he redirected his path towards the landing pads, bringing up one of his menus to consult with his map.
They had a plan, well, they had a timetable. Not as much of a plan as it could have been, but it was better than nothing. According to his map, World's Peak would be about a four hour flight, and then it would be another four hours to Frostwreath, where they'd spend the night.
And, hopefully, use that time there to figure out where their target was, sleep, then capture the target and bring him back to Atlas.
The third bounty, the Extermination contract, was a little less specific, and a lot less scheduled, considering they'd have to kill a particular Grimm, a Nanuk, whatever that was, and there wasn't any kind of guarantee that there would be any around where they were searching.
Not that Naruto couldn't just venture out into the snow until it was done. He was practically immune to the cold anyway, thanks to his Bearskin perk from Callisto.
Then again, the description did say 'anything but extreme cold', so maybe it would actually feel like more than just a slight chill for a change.
He shrugged. That would matter when it came up. He could always warm himself up one way or another.
Another problem, and one that would most likely end up being far more pressing, was fuel. Namely that he was sure he didn't have enough in the Bullhead for the lengthy trip that lay ahead.
Then again, as he checked his inventory, he did have quite a few tanks of Basic Dust Fuel sitting there, so maybe it wasn't such a problem.
He wasn't used to being overprepared, if he was being honest. He'd spent so long winging it that he'd forgotten that there was another option.
So, fuel was good. He still had quite a bit of ammo, and with Blake and Ilia getting food, there wasn't too much for Naruto to actually worry about.
The landing pads were as busy as the time they'd landed, if not more so, soldiers moving about in formation as various engineers set about moving crates from one spot to another.
Naruto watched as a woman in the typical white-and-grey armor of the Atlesian Military, albeit flecked with orange markings, directed a group of similarly dressed men and women around one of the pads.
"Put it there! No, not there! Over there! Actually, no, put it over there!"
Naruto stepped up to her, noting the golden insignia on her pauldron. "You in charge here?"
The woman turned to him, and Naruto presumed she was looking at him. It was kinda hard to tell with these helmets. "Yeah, why? You need something?"
Naruto nodded. "Yeah, I need a pad to depart from."
The soldier did a double take. "You… need a pad. Right. Uh. Do you have an aircraft?"
"Yeah?"
"What's wrong with the pad it's on?" She asked, confused.
Naruto sighed. "Look, I'm not here to talk semantics. I just need to know where I can find a free pad. That's all."
The woman began grumbling under her breath, consulting her Scroll with what Naruto could only presume was a frown underneath the metal faceplate. "Pad thirteen is free at the moment, just head left."
Naruto nodded. "Thanks for the help."
The soldier had already turned away. "No, dumbasses, just- ugh, forget it! Just put it back where you found it!"
Naruto couldn't help but chuckle in a mix of pity and amusement as the armored soldiers groaned.
Shaking his head, he moved away, heading for pad thirteen. Which, as it turned out, was remarkably similar to pad twelve, which, in turn, was very similar to pad eleven, and so on and so forth.
He stepped up to the pad, bringing up his Garage menu, only to bump into something he could've sworn wasn't there a moment before.
He rubbed his forehead. "Ow."
A moment ago, there hadn't been a terminal right in front of him. He was certain of that. "Where the-"
His musings as to where the terminal came from were promptly interrupted by a notification that didn't appear in the usual place, instead appearing on the display of the small terminal.
That was a new one.
He peered at it, reading the displayed notification.
[This is a landing pad terminal! You can use landing pad terminals to purchase new Garage slots, adjust and customize owned vehicles, add upgrades and armaments to owned vehicles, and claim or purchase new vehicles!]
[Please deploy your vehicle of choice to begin customization!]
Naruto did as instructed, picking his Bullhead Mark II from his depressingly short list of vehicles, watching as it materialized on the pad, the slight rush of displaced air washing over him.
[Please pick what you would like to customize, and hit confirm to exit out of the landing pad terminal menu!]
There were a number of different tabs, and Naruto scanned over the selection, murmuring to himself. "Armor Improvements, Additional Upgrades, Armaments, and Paintjobs?"
He tapped Paintjobs, curiosity overcoming him. Anything would have to be better than what he had at the moment.
Which, according to the terminal, had an actual name, and even a category. "Worn Paint - Gunmetal Grey, huh?" He spoke the name aloud, looking through the list.
Quite a few of the paintjobs were locked, though some did still show the name and the requirement to unlock them, whereas others were completely greyed out, with only question marks where the others had their requirements.
He did have a selection available, though. A lot of which were worn paint, but he shrugged. "Olive Drab, Night Black, Frosty White, some cleaner Gunmetal Grey and what looks like some kind of grey camouflage?"
Each option had a preview button next to it, and he hit the preview for the Grey Digital paintjob, looking up in awe.
No matter how many times he thought he was used to his semblance, it always found a way to surprise him.
His Bullhead sat where it had been sat since he'd brought it out of the garage, but instead of the old, weather-worn grey paint, it was now coated in a flawless coat of paint, a mish-mash of varying shades of grey in squares. The only part that wasn't any shade of grey was the golden lettering that ran up the side of the front left, just beneath the cockpit windows, copied over on the tail.
It currently read 'ARC77', but he could see an option to change that in the terminal.
"Woah," Naruto let out, taking in the Bullhead's appearance. It was an older craft, sure, but he'd be lying if he said he wasn't proud of what it looked like, with the camo paint on it.
He hit the confirmation, unconcerned about the price. He could look at the rest of the tabs in more detail another time, when he wasn't under a time crunch.
The terminal window disappeared, and Naruto stepped past the small protrusion where it had been projecting from, hitting the outside release for the side door, one hand grabbing onto one of the fabric slings and pulling himself up into the aircraft.
He sat himself comfortably on the side of the Bullhead despite the chill breeze, deftly flicking a lien card back and forth in his hands, if only to occupy the time.
Time that seemed to be stretching a little longer than anticipated.
It was supposed to be a simple run into a restaurant to pick up some takeaway. Fifteen minutes tops.
Naruto had now resorted to listening to a random radio station through his Bullhead's radio, bobbing his head up and down to the beat of the song as he tapped that same rhythm against the cold metal frame of the aircraft.
It'd been nearly forty minutes now, and despite his best efforts, both Blake and Ilia were still yet to reply to any of the messages he'd sent to them.
Granted, he suspected Ilia wasn't responding because he'd sent those messages to the salvaged parts of the burner Scroll that they'd hotwired to the underground terminal, but still!
He adjusted his position, sliding off the Bullhead and stretching his somewhat tense muscles, the frown not leaving his face.
Surely there wasn't anything so significant that could have held Blake up for this long. Maybe she or Ilia had been accidentally outed as faunus, and the restaurant didn't serve faunus?
Or someone had been listening in on their plans, and waited until they were separated to make their move?
Naruto cocked an eyebrow as he looked towards the walkway that led to the landing pads. "Or they picked up Penny on the way, and that somehow took up over twenty minutes."
His statement was, of course, rhetorical, as he could see the ginger-haired girl happily walking along with a perpetually-sarcastic black haired faunus, and her effortlessly-confused chameleon faunus friend.
He gave the three a wave, helping to direct them in his direction, and promptly braced as Penny rocketed forward with a grin at Ruby-speeds, hitting him with far more mass than Ruby had ever managed to possess. Probably had to do with the fact that Penny was mostly made of metal and other synthetic materials.
"Oof, Penny, careful…" He managed to groan out as Penny bowled him over.
"Friend Naruto, it is good to see you again! How are you this beautiful day?" Penny asked, still crushing him.
"Apart from my spleen becoming very acquainted with my spine, I'm doing alright," Naruto remarked, despite the fact that air was very quickly becoming something that he was desperately in need of. "Mind getting off me?"
It seemed to occur to Penny that she was currently turning Naruto into some kind of off-brand Naruto paste, and she bolted upright, somehow completely unfazed by the turn of events.
Ilia offered Naruto a hand, which he gratefully took, finding himself hauled to his feet. "Restaurant must've been busy, huh?"
Blake sighed. "Penny didn't know what she wanted to try."
"I wasn't aware you were interested in food, Penny," Naruto threw out, watching the ginger with a new interest.
"Mmhmm! Father made some upgrades whilst I was unavailable, and I have taste receptors now! I can also process food completely!"
Naruto eyed the rather large bag of food in Blake's hand. "So it seems."
"Penny's tagging along, if you don't mind," Blake remarked offhandedly, reaching into the bag to pull out a polystyrene container. "Here's your stir-fry, no fortune cookie, as requested."
Naruto took it gratefully, taking a deep whiff. "Mmm."
Ilia had already hauled herself into the Bullhead, taking one of the slings. "C'mon, it's freezing. Let's get out of here already."
Penny hopped up into the Bullhead as well, sitting in the other sling. "Wow, Friend Naruto! I wasn't aware you had a Bullhead to yourself! It's quite cosy!"
Naruto found his hand straying towards the back of his head and physically fought back the urge. "Thanks Penny, but it's got a long way to go before it's up to snuff. You didn't see it earlier."
Blake took in the external appearance. "I have to assume your semblance is responsible for the new paint-job?"
"And then some," Naruto replied. "See that terminal there?"
He pointed towards the small terminal to assist Blake.
"No?"
"Yeah, it's- wait, whaddaya mean no?"
His stunned expression seemed to almost mirror Blake's expression of concern and confusion. "I don't know what to tell you, Naruto. I don't see a terminal."
"Stupid semblance shenanigans," Naruto muttered under his breath. "Anyway, I can see a terminal there, and it gave me a bunch of options for vehicle upgrades, armor, armaments and customization. I could probably stick some guns on this thing if I wanted."
To accentuate his point, he tapped the mounting points on the side of the door. "But I figured it was a bit early to start spending lots of Lien we don't really have to stick stuff on here. We're not even going to be able to use it for the, uh, Weiss situation."
Blake seemed concerned as she took her seat in the co-pilot's chair, head tilted back to watch Naruto shut the door behind him. "We're not low on Lien, are we?"
Naruto shook his head. "For the day to day, we've got plenty. But I doubt the weapons are cheap. I've only got just over three-hundred-thousand at the moment. And that's not even taking ammunition into consideration."
He took his seat behind the helm and fired up the engines, slowly throttling up as he began take off.
"Well, we're in for a bit of a flight. Get some rest while you can."
Even through the warmth of the aircraft, and his own innate resistance to the cold, he could still feel the rapidly dropping temperatures the closer they got to the most northern part of Remnant.
Even with the extra layers that Blake and Ilia were both wearing, he could tell it was starting to get to them. He cranked up the heating, unconcerned about fuel consumption.
"We're almost there. We should make this quick, there's no telling how long we have before it gets even colder."
Blake nodded in agreement, though it was a shaky nod in place of her more typical firm nod, as expected. "The sooner we get away from here the better. Ilia and I aren't exactly built for this weather."
An idea sprung unbidden into Naruto's mind. "Do you think you can keep the Bullhead flying around while I take a look? It'll be easier than going out into the snow."
A moment of concern flashed over Blake's expression before it resumed its typical form. "I can try?"
Naruto couldn't help the wry grin that spread across his face. "Better do a bit more than try, Blake, it's pretty binary. Either you keep it in the air, or you don't, and I know which I'd prefer-"
He found his attention disrupted, and he was no longer paying attention to whatever presumably witty comeback Blake had in store as he found his eyes drawn towards something incredibly tall jutting out of the land on the distant coastline. "What the-"
He throttled up a little more, pushing the engines to their limit, his curiosity taking over his common sense.
Blake saw it too, amber eyes widening. "Is that a lighthouse?"
"Looks like it…" Naruto replied, still in a bit of awe. "What's it doing up here? I doubt there were many ships sailing this coast."
Blake shook her head slowly. "World's Peak is supposed to be unsettled. Whatever that place is, nobody knows who built it. It's ancient."
Naruto throttled back to safe speeds, but didn't take his attention from the massive tower. "Well, I guess we know why there were so many archaeological digs out here. Probably trying to figure out where it came from. You think the sealed file is in there?"
"Check there last. We're closing in on the camp now, just down there."
Naruto followed her pointed finger with his gaze, noting the snow-covered grey and black domes that appeared to be made out of interlocking hexagonal panels.
"The lights are still on, so it's still got power. I'll check it out, take the helm."
Blake took the co-pilot's controls, and Naruto switched manual control over to her side, standing up with a stretch, barely managing to avoid knocking over his empty lunch container.
Blake seemed confident enough behind the helm for him not to worry, and so he left her too it, ducking through the dividing doorframe between the cockpit and the rest of the Bullhead to where Penny and Ilia were sat.
"I'm heading down, I'll check the place out," He said to the two, and Penny stood up from her seat in the sling.
"I'll join you, Friend Naruto! The cold isn't a problem for me!"
Well, far be it from him to dismiss assistance. "You got a way down, or do you want a helping hand?"
Penny shook her head. "I'm combat ready, as always!"
Naruto grinned at that. "Ilia, you might want to get in the cockpit and seal the door. It's about to get really cold here."
He'd never seen Ilia move so fast, and as the dividing door clanked shut, Naruto hauled open the side door, the sudden blast of cold air overwhelming even his own resistance. "Brrr…"
"Do not worry, Friend Naruto! I can generate heat if it is necessary!" Penny chirped, but Naruto shook off the offer.
"I'll be fine, don't worry. Just gotta get used to it."
He opened his Scroll, sending a call through to Blake, who picked it up.
"I guess we should invest in some comms equipment, huh?" Naruto remarked over the wind, into his Scroll.
On the other side of the door, Blake agreed. "When we get to Frostwreath we should pick some up. They should sell it there, apparently it's a decent sized settlement."
Naruto gestured for Penny to jump, moments away from following her. "We're jumping. See you soon."
He hung up as he leapt from the aircraft, the sudden sensation of free-falling into the biting cold overcoming all other thoughts as he plummeted through the sky.
He could see a trail of green light from Penny ahead of him, and cursed her ability to literally fly at a moments notice. He could, too, but it required a little bit more preparation, and a lot more summoning.
Honestly, it felt like he'd been doing quite a bit of free-falling lately. With his plethora of landing strategies, it wasn't so much a problem as it was another day at the proverbial office, but still, he could definitely understand why so many people found Hunters to be such a strange breed.
Speaking of numerous landing strategies, Naruto wanted another one. The little nuggets of information that constituted a barely-conceived plan in his mind did include some kind of long fall, though that was one of a number of potential options that relied on a lot of additional variables.
He stopped thinking about potential plans whilst plummeting towards the ground and instead rotated until he was half-gliding, arms and legs spread to maximise his air resistance, concentrating.
If he looked for it, he could always feel his Mana pulsing through his body like it was an additional set of veins, channelling whatever arcane energy it was through from his extremities to his core. He focused on that sensation, feeding it through those arcane veins faster and faster, pushing it to do what he wanted.
He was trying to change the very nature of the Mana, trying to create some kind of resistance. He was almost on the ground when he realized he might not succeed.
He curled up in a ball in a moment of panic, pushing harder and harder until-
A plume of hard snow and soft ice was sent into the air as he hit, hard, the sensation of cold redoubling as he hit.
He opened his eyes, noting that he couldn't actually feel anything other than the cold. He blinked back powdered white snow, shaking his head to clear it from his hair.
The notification sat comfortably within his view, only just obscured by the snowdrift he'd landed in.
[Skill Created!]
[Featherfall (Active): Thanks to the System, you can temporarily nullify any damage taken from falling whilst concentrating, at the cost of Mana. Level 1; XP 1/12.]
A sudden rush of warmth hit him alongside a bright green light, and he looked up to see Penny hovering above him. "Are you alright, Naruto?"
Well, his name didn't have the 'friend' prefix, so they were making progress. He scratched the back of his head nervously. "Uh, yeah, I'm fine. Got distracted."
Penny cocked her head in surprise. "You got distracted while falling? Is that a thing people do?"
Naruto took her proffered hand and felt himself effortlessly lifted out of the snowdrift. "Thanks. Also, it's not normal for anyone but me, I guess, I think I've gotten desensitized."
Penny placed him on more hard-packed snow, and landed herself, the green light fading. "It's a good thing you seem unharmed!"
"Yeah…" Naruto murmured, checking himself over. He'd gotten lucky yet again, but he'd also gotten complacent. It couldn't happen again, there was only so many times he could pull through in a situation like that. "C'mon, let's check this place out and find the file. I don't want to spend any more time out here than necessary."
Penny seemed to agree, even her near-eternal optimism seemed to be dampened by the freezing cold.
Naruto paused, halfway to the camp. "Penny, did something just move in front of us?"
Penny's eyes glowed a bright green for a moment. "I'm not detecting anything moving currently, but-"
Penny was promptly interrupted as Naruto's senses flared to life, and he drew Predator in a single swift motion to point it at a pile of snow.
"I could've sworn-" He began, only to stop as he turned back to Penny, who was on full alert, weapons deployed.
"Friend Naruto, we've definitely got company!" She called out even as she drifted into the air, and Naruto spun again.
"Penny, I'm not seeing them!" Naruto exclaimed, checking every direction his senses were indicating.
Penny hadn't opened fire either, which meant that she didn't know where they were either, and that definitely didn't bode well.
That changed when the clump of ice and snow behind Naruto moved, and a large claw struck him in the side, an echoing snarl being chorused across the cold white terrain.