Recently, Weiss had developed an entirely new jealousy of people with seemingly endless patience.
Pacing back and forth in her sizable room, from large bed to intricate dresser to the massive windows, where she'd stare out through them over the manor grounds, watching the lights of Atlas flicker and move like thousands of individual fireflies.
She'd read all the books she owned, expended her willingness to sit in front of her fireplace, and even attempting to train just made her feel frustrated. There wasn't much good in training if she could barely focus.
Whitley did nothing but provide ample hindrance when it came to maintaining her focus, too. It was a tough time not breaking down and snapping at her younger brother, and it was only the knowledge that it was his intent for that to happen that prevented her from verbally throttling the brat.
Though if Naruto and Blake took any longer, she was liable to skip straight past verbal throttling and go straight to the more typical physical throttling. Actually, throttling Whitley wouldn't be anywhere near as satisfying as straight up laying him out with a swift punch. Yang had been an excellent example of what to do when somebody took their words too far, and despite their differences, it was at least something they could agree on.
She'd never admit that, of course. She needed to maintain a certain aloofness towards physical altercations with non-enemies. Yang, of course, delighted in smacking wrongdoers upside the head, and Weiss would never bring herself down to that level of barbarism, but with every word that left Whitley's smug mouth, it was getting hard to continue thinking that way.
Blake would have some kind of biting wit, a remark to shut down Whitley before he could even get started, knowing her. On the opposite hand, Naruto would most likely be too foolish to even realize he was being ridiculed, at least, that would have been the case before he'd been subjected to both her and Blake. A constant exposure to dry sarcasm had at least given him an understanding that people weren't always being completely earnest.
She'd almost grown up with that knowledge ingrained into her very psyche. Constant vigilance, a permanent awareness that not every honeyed word held true behind closed doors. Rarely it ever held true behind open doors, either, especially in this house.
She took a seat on the edge of her bed, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. How long was she going to have to wait?
It wasn't an easy ask of her team, she knew that. Surely if there was anyone who could pull it off it was AWBN, but that didn't mean it would happen in a matter of days. Still, a couple of days felt like years when she was sat waiting, effectively sealed in this damned room.
She knew that Naruto and Blake were keeping her in the dark to assist in their own cover, and to make her reactions all the more legitimate, but she was a more than decent actor, she could convince people what she was pretending to feel was indeed real.
It was, as it had been, a waiting game. All she had to do was wait. She just wished it wasn't such a pain in the rear.
She took another of the countless looks at her door, laid back in her bed with a sigh, and closed her eyes.
Surely what Naruto and Blake were doing was important, right?
Naruto looked at the length of fabric wrapped around the cardboard rod, before looking back to the shelf he'd withdrawn it from, cocking an eyebrow.
Naruto was not an expert in fabrics. He could barely tell the difference between most of the fabrics on display, at least, the differences that were deeper than surface level.
It didn't exactly help that his semblance was identifying all the different kinds as 'fabric', possibly the most generic term he could think of.
He shrugged, turning to the store attendant. "Can I get, oh, I don't know, like 10 bolts of this?"
The attendant glanced at what Naruto was holding. "That'll run you about six thousand Lien, if that's alright. I'll grab them for you, would you like a bag?"
Naruto reached into his pocket physically, and into his inventory also physically, but on a more metaphysical level, and pulled out the required Lien. "No thanks, I'll be fine."
The attendant frowned for a moment, but the trained action of taking the Lien still played out without hesitation, and Naruto found himself six grand down, but ten bolts of fabric up as the attendant effectively piled them into his open arms.
He departed the store just as quickly as he'd entered it, quickly ducking into a nearby alley and dropping the fabric into his inventory, stepping back out onto the street a moment later without so much as a glance.
He put one hand up to his ear, pressing down gently on his new earpiece he'd acquired just before entering the crafts store. "Alright, I'm headed over. Anything new happen while I was out?"
Blake's voice sounded out from the earpiece, quality crystal clear. "He just woke up, and he's still a little out of it. I'm sure the reality of his situation will sink in soon enough. You'd better hurry up, though, I'm not sure how much longer I'm willing to stay here. His mercenaries are scouring the town."
Naruto frowned, increasing his pace. "Can you-"
"Yes, we'll be fine. I said they were searching, not that they'd find us easily. Just get back here so we can leave."
Naruto nodded, promptly realized that Blake couldn't see his nod, seeing as they were conversing digitally, and replied vocally. "I'll be quick. One last stop on my way, five minutes at most."
He concluded the call, again picking up his speed.
Grabbing Zaffre had been almost too easy. Ilia had drawn his attention, Blake had covered his exit, and Naruto had dropped in from above, hit the man with Stasis, and promptly picked him up and carried him away.
It had been almost comical, considering that the man had absolutely no resistance to Stasis whatsoever.
He'd also definitely gotten a few strange looks as he hauled the man on his shoulder like a large plank of wood, but that was sort of expected.
He was snapped out of his momentary reminiscing as he pushed open a door, stepping through into the much warmer interior of the store, the door closing itself behind him as he stepped up to the counter.
"What can I getcha, Hunter?" The apron-bound woman behind the register asked him, one hand on her hip. "You lookin' for some rounds?"
Naruto shook his head. "Not at the moment. Do you have some Dust Powder in stock?"
The woman glanced at the rear wall. "Depends on what kinda Dust you're after, hun. I've got some Water, some Earth, and a little bit of Fire left over. Most everything else is out until the next shipment in two days."
"I'll take a couple vials of Earth Dust, if that's alright," Naruto replied, already reaching for his Lien.
The woman ducked back, hooking the Dust vials up to the tubing and filling them carefully, delicately capping the end when it was full and moving onto the next one.
When she returned and tallied up his total, Naruto handed over the Lien, thankful for his Semblance giving him a discount, no matter just how unfeasible that actually seemed. Well, not just solely the default discount. He might've activated his Allure buff for a moment, but no one needed to know that.
It cost him 1,552 Lien, but considering it should've cost two grand, Naruto was more than sated with the price. He nodded a thanks to the woman, deftly pocketing the powder vials into his inventory and stepped out of the store back into the chill air, redoubling his speed to get back to Blake, Ilia and Penny.
Now he just had to hope that none of Zaffre's hired mercenaries had actually had enough intelligence to ask around to figure out what happened to the man, because he wasn't exactly hiding.
Then again, that was only if they posed enough of a threat to him. Now that he thought about it, he was more than sure he could take them all on without too much trouble. They weren't Hunters, and they certainly weren't running around on Zaffre's payroll because they were stronger than the criminal.
Naruto was in a rush, but Naruto wasn't in a rush. He had a destination, and as much time as he was willing to spend, with the knowledge that the longer he took, the grumpier Blake was going to get.
He was willing to risk it.
He shouldn't have risked it.
"They won't find us, he says, it'll be fine, he says!" Ilia shouted from the rear of the Bullhead, over the engines and the wind, peering out the open doors. "There's three of them, and they're gaining!"
Blake corrected her. "There's a fourth!"
Naruto grumbled to himself under his breath, over-throttling the aircraft as he pushed it to its brink, engines putting out as much thrust as they could.
The newer, sleeker Bullheads were still gaining, and Zaffre's laughter wasn't helping Naruto's rapidly worsening mood.
"Either you shut up, or I put you under again. Your choice."
Wisely, the man shut his mouth. That left Naruto with one less problem to deal with.
Unfortunately, the amount of problems still numbered above zero, and he was already pushing the craft to its limits.
His number of problems increased as a round cascaded of the Bullhead's armor plating, shaking the aircraft from the impact. More followed, and Naruto could tell from his HUD that the rounds were pockmarking the armor, chipping away at the vehicle HP.
Naruto really needed to get around to purchasing some aft-mounted weaponry, that would certainly have made this a much less worrisome situation.
Actually, any weaponry would have been preferable to no weaponry.
He swore silently as he felt a chunk of armor splinter off the Bullhead, gripping the controls even harder. "Hold on, I'm gonna push this hard!"
Blake, Ilia and Penny wisely grabbed onto whatever they could as Naruto pushed the Bullhead into a steep dive, engines whining in complaint as he kept the throttle maxed, wind and snow rushing past as the frozen ground grew closer and closer with every passing moment.
"Naruto!" Ilia shouted in a panic, but Naruto knew he had to hold it for just a moment longer-
If any passenger had thought the Bullhead had been complaining before, now it was far beyond complaint, into actual pain as the engines cried out in mechanical agony, flaps barely staying in one piece as Naruto pulled up so sharply that he could feel the G-force pull him far enough into his seat that he'd most likely leave an indent.
He'd cut it ridiculously close, any longer in the dive and he'd have used the aircraft like a sled along the cold surface of Solitas, and most likely ruined what chance they had of a safe, non-lethal escape.
He looked over to the side of his console, checking the scanner. "Well, two of them pulled back. A fifty-percent success rate isn't too bad."
"You gods-damned psychopath!" Zaffre shouted at him, pale as a ghost. "You could've killed us all!"
Naruto, deciding he didn't want to bother with a debate with the actual criminal and psychopath, hit the tied-up man with another Stasis, before turning to Blake. "Take the helm, I need to get outside. I gotta shoot at least one of these down, otherwise they aren't going to take the hint."
For the short amount of time she'd had in control of a military-grade aircraft, or any aircraft for that matter, Blake's confidence in her flying ability had increased dramatically. At least, as long as she didn't have to take off or land the craft. "Be careful out there, those guns pack a punch."
Naruto nodded as she took the controls, stepping through the doorway and out onto the lip of one of the aircraft's side doors, covering the side of his face with one hand to limit the effect the buffeting wind had on his visibility.
"Electrus, I'm gonna need some firepower!" He shouted, and the Lightning Elemental formed, coalescing lightning conjuring her feminine form from whatever beyond she resided in, thankfully equipped with her new outfit.
She wasted no time in taking Naruto's outstretched hand and unflinchingly stepped out into the open air with him as he activated Surface Walk to keep himself affixed to the pockmarked plating of the aircraft, straining hard to keep Electrus held tight.
For her part, she kept herself braced against the Bullhead and his hand, leverage keeping the yellowish humanoid in place as she raised her other arm, hair like her namesake crackling and flaring outwards as she channeled energy through her very veins.
The Stormbolt tore through the sky with impossible speed, the smell of burning ozone rapidly vanishing into the wind, leaving only a wispy trail.
Naruto heaved, pulling Electrus back into their own Bullhead, but even then his attention was fixated on the one that had been struck as it plunged towards the ground, belching smoke and flame from its engines as it listed to one side, beginning to spiral on its descent.
The other craft rapidly decelerated, and despite the fact that Naruto wasn't sure if it was to help the first or simply just getting away as fast as possible, he wasn't complaining.
When he shut the doors behind him, he knew he had Ilia, Blake and even Penny's eyes switching from him to Electrus, but that would have to wait. Right now, he took back the pilot's seat from a stunned Blake, eased back on the throttle to a more manageable, fuel-efficient speed, and let out a breath he hadn't realized he was even holding.
Well, he couldn't say his time in Atlas was boring.
"Alpha Romeo Charlie Seven Seven, this is Atlas Airspace Control, welcome back. Pad four is waiting and ready."
Naruto toggled the comm unit. "Thanks, control. We're bringing in a prisoner, gonna need someone to pick him up."
There was a moment of silence before Atlas Airspace Control replied. "Affirmative. Bounty code or target name?"
Naruto only had the latter. "Target's name is Harley Zaffre, picked up from Frostwreath."
There was a longer moment of silence, as the airspace control officer searched through some kind of database, or so Naruto presumed. "Understood, ARC77. We'll have a squad standing by on the platform to receive the target."
There was a click as the communications unit disconnected, and Naruto began the landing sequence that was so intrinsic in his mind now, hours of gained experience in the Piloting skill having etched it so deeply and clearly that he could probably do it with one hand tied behind his back.
Not that he wanted to try that, of course. Just because he could, didn't mean he had to. Or would. Or that it would even be a smooth landing.
He kept his attention on landing even as he thought quickly, speaking quicker. "Blake, Ilia, stay hidden. For all intents and purposes the two of you are hunting Grimm at World's Peak. Sound good?"
"You've got a plan?" Blake asked, leaning back in her seat. Naruto nodded in response, slowing the Bullhead.
"I'll fill you in on the details when I've figured them out, just stay on comms. I'll keep in touch."
The landing gear gave a shuddering groan as the weight of the aircraft placed itself down atop them, and Naruto winced. Basic tier armor offered little in the way of protection, it seemed, and as he shut down the craft's systems and hopped out to take a closer look at the damage he'd sustained, he couldn't help but frown.
What was left of the external armor plating, whilst still a fair amount, was covered in rips, tears and rents from the various high-caliber rounds that had punctured through, and where the bullets had skipped off and ricocheted were dents of multiple sizes. One engine was sparking, darker-than-usual smoke wafting from the exhaust port, and one of the hydraulic landing gears was dripping with orange hydraulic fluid.
He let out a disappointed sigh. This was not going to be cheap to fix, and yet it was crucial to get it repaired. He wasn't even getting any Lien from turning over Zaffre, at least, not directly.
Speaking of, the man was still inside the Bullhead, so Naruto quickly hopped up into the hold of the aircraft, grabbed the man by his collar and heaved, tossing him out onto the landing pad, into the arms of one of the few soldiers that had arrived.
"Harley Zaffre, you are hereby under arrest and being detained for multiple counts of criminal action, which will be further detailed to you at length once you arrive at the brig," The soldier began, as Zaffre writhed, trying to free his hands from the cuffs. The soldier grabbed his shoulder hard, squeezing. "Cease your resistance, criminal."
The other soldier stepped closer to Naruto, eyeing his aircraft. "He did all that?"
Naruto shook his head. "Not directly. He'd hired a bunch of mercs as bodyguards, and they were pretty persistent. You've got my pay?"
The MP handed Naruto a small case with the three Sonic Dust crystals. "As agreed. The Kingdom of Atlas appreciates your service."
"Does the Kingdom of Atlas appreciate our service enough to cover repairs?"
The soldier looked at Naruto, looked back to the Bullhead, and then back to Naruto. "No."
Naruto shrugged as the soldier walked off. "Worth a shot." He turned back, stepping over to the landing pad terminal, which he was very aware was only visible to him, scrolling through a few options.
One such option was the repair option, and he tapped on it quickly, expecting an overwhelming price tag of some sort.
Shock and relief graced his expression, replacing the concern and anxiety that had sat there moments before as he read the repair cost. "Twenty-five Iron Ingots. That's…" He paused, no longer thinking aloud.
It was, according to the math he'd just done in his head, roughly one ingot per two-hundred-fifty HP restored.
Considering the Bullhead was sitting at a miserable 6,432 HP, at least, and unlike him, had no natural recovery. It wasn't going to repair itself, but at least it wasn't a Lien-based cost to repair.
Combining that with the fact that, for some ungodly reason, he had over twelve-hundred Iron Ingots in his inventory, this, as it turned out, had become a non-issue.
He simply hit the repair button without a second-thought, promptly panicked because he'd forgotten that Penny, Blake and Ilia were still in the Bullhead, looked up at the now fixed aircraft, and let out a sigh of relief that nothing seemed to have gone wrong.
The terminal had automatically withdrawn the ingots from his inventory, as expected, seeing as it had already repaired the aircraft, so that was a lot easier than he'd hoped. Now if only everything else that he had planned would work as smoothly.
He swung himself back into his Bullhead, checking briefly to make sure the coast was clear before opening the cockpit door. "Alright, I'm headed out. Time for an impromptu meeting with Jacques Schnee, I can't wait."
Blake's eyes widened. "We're doing it already? Do you even have an actual plan?"
Naruto waved his hand back and forth. "Of course. And by 'of course' I mean I've got a part of an actual plan, and the rest I'll work out from there. It involves Electrus, and probably a couple more summons. I'll have your disguises delivered to the Bullhead, so just sit tight. I shouldn't be more than a few hours. Just be ready to act."
He paused, turning to Penny. "I wish you could help, Penny, or that we could even tell you what we're doing, but we can't. I'm sorry. Promise me no matter what happens, you'll keep this to yourself?"
Penny took one last look at Blake and Ilia before she gave Naruto a resolute nod. "Anything for my friends."
He smiled at that. "I promise, when I find Ruby, I'll bring her next time we're headed here. I'll tell her you said hi."
Penny's eyes lit up, and she grabbed Naruto into a tight hug, before releasing him and half-stepping out the Bullhead, the thrusters in her legs igniting before she even touched the landing platform. "Good luck Naruto!"
Naruto waved as she flew off into the snowy sky, a morose sigh leaving his lips. Penny would have eliminated a lot of the problems of his plan, but she was far, far too recognizable for it to work. Not that he was any less recognizable, but it was as it was. At least he'd be feigning ignorance, or at least near-complete shock.
All he needed, all they needed, rather, was plausible deniability. He had enough hidden tricks up his sleeve to be able to pull that off, so it was all now a matter of achieving it without messing up. Easier said than done.
He turned back to Blake and Ilia once more, reiterating himself from before. "Stay on comms, and I'll let you know what needs to happen, and when. When you get your disguises, head straight for the underground access, and I'll meet you there with Weiss. No matter what happens, we need to maintain deniability, so no matter how alone you think we are, or how much you want to greet Weiss, remember, when you put those outfits on, you are no longer Blake and Ilia. You're just two people with a kidnapped heiress, looking to make a lot of money. Got it?"
Blake nodded, and Ilia did the same, replying. "Go then, Uzumaki, you're wasting time. But you better know what you're doing."
"I do. I've got a feeling," Naruto answered.
Blake caught herself before she could sigh. "A good feeling?"
He thought for a moment, before seeming to connect some dots. "A real feeling. Something's telling me something, and I think I already know how the plan is going to play out. Semblance thing, I think?"
"Good luck out there, Naruto," Blake said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Don't mess up."
He grinned. "When have I ever?"