Music Choices: Mother by Danzig, Bat Country by Avenged Sevenfold, Comin' Home by Murder By Death

Author's Notes: I'm gonna update the overall spotify playlist for the series here in a few days, (it's super duper backed up lol) But! I've started putting together some team and character playlists for fun. I'll link them on my profile, but here's a few of them here below.

Also, thanks for the kind words everybody. I don't always get a chance to reply, or know what to say, but I do read your comments and they do mean a lot, so thank you. ^^

STRQ

playlist/4XjgGlkbcejl6RLYeqiWuz?si=b78c8bcb1c0b40e2

ARSN

playlist/3JzBgFP52nEW4iMZrslMks?si=e78034b5856d4998

Raven

playlist/3Wn6hBY97aFReTGBPHyeqW?si=394be823f98e4164

Verdant

playlist/7EQd6CvePff90npfRmmNXC?si=297b1f8a975f495a

Eclipse

Chapter 62

The Hunter's Moon

Part V

Smuggling has always existed in every Kingdom, in some form or another. Where there are big walls and big laws, there will always be people who circumvent those obstacles in some fashion. When they are wealthy people, it's called doing business. When they are poor, it is called organized crime; and the smugglers of Vale were incredibly organized, the little scamps!

The smugglers of Vale have a long, rich history, going back to their hay-day when a very unpopular King had made civilian use of Dust illegal, claiming that Dust use amongst the soft and untrained populace promoted violence and destruction more than it protected people; however, instead of simply regulating Dust, he banned it outright in city limits and used the ban to extend an iron grip over his populace. This same King, coincidentally, also had total control over the Hunter population and would get to witness the bloody, revolutionary birth of the Witchfingers.

Regardless, the smugglers of that time period created an elaborate underground network beneath Vale, with hidey-holes, stashes, extra tunnels crafted by Semblance and Dust use; it was nearly impossible for law enforcement or Hunters of that time to follow them through the maze they created, or to find all of their tunnels.

Which has also, unfortunately, allowed several Grimm incursions in the past to breach Vale's walls. These days, there are no unknown tunnels out of Vale, or that go beneath the below ground barricade that protects the Kingdom from Grimm infiltration. The Kingdom spent decades hunting them all down and sealing them up.

There are, however, a plethora of hidden rooms, warehouses, hideouts and secret stashes that remain beneath the Kingdom proper. Many of them have been rediscovered over the years, and used for purposes both legal and illegal; but there are many more that remain hidden still, waiting to be found once again.

One such space is attached to one of the large sewer drains, deep tunnel alpha, and has only recently been rediscovered in the past several months; and is currently being used for the containment and interrogation of a particular group of young Hunters.

Awareness crashed down on her like an avalanche. She'd never been a deep sleeper, for many reasons, and even tranquilizers struggled to keep her sedated for long. There was a brief, copper-flavored moment where Natalia thought she was back in holding in Atlas; and grimly considered suicide as a means of escape. However, as she properly registered her surroundings, she realized the décor did not match Atlassian standards.

Instead of a blank white cell, she was in what looked like something she'd seen around the mines of Mantle; an old container for shipping unrefined Dust crystals. Capable of withstanding an explosion of serious magnitude and resistant to conducting electrical current; though not able to withstand the effects of gravitational anomalies. These containers were frequently used as bomb shelters in Mantle during the war, and to hide from Atlassian drones using aural and thermal imaging. Meaning anyone looking for her and the others through conventional means would have a hell of a time of it.

Her legs and one wrist were completely restrained, attached to the container floor and bulkhead, via aura suppressing cuffs engraved with glowing, gravity Dust glyphs. State of the art stuff. Nat suspected they were not meant for her originally, but that didn't matter now. Her injured hand, however, had been wrapped and well treated, and was currently restrained to her chest via sling. She couldn't move it, but it wasn't in pain. She'd been given a modest amount of pain killer then, to compensate for her lack of aura.

If she were being held in a military black site, Nat knew things would be a bit different. There would be no details she could glean easily from her environment. No pain killer. Her injured hand would be restrained as well, and she would likely be immediately subjected to disorienting stimulus, to keep her confused and afraid until the interrogation began.

There would also not be an invisible man sitting in the corner.

She knew he was there because of the slightest shifting of light over the wall whenever he moved; there was a dim lamp above her that cast shadow, and while the Semblance glyphs he'd been utilizing seemed to bend light in some fashion, they did not necessarily eliminate his shadow.

Natalia did not deign to address the creepy man in the corner, or reveal that she knew he was there. Instead, she tried to consider her options; they weren't many, and they were not great, but as a Mantellian, if she knew it anything? It was that things could always - always - be much worse.

To start, she was alive.

This in itself was not good or bad, because she did not actually know what he planned to do with her. She could not access his emotions and feel him out, either, so she would have to profile him without the benefit of her Semblance. She could do this based on his current actions and what she knew of him from STRQ, and go from there.

He had bitten off half of her hand preemptively, and strategically tried to take her down first out of ARSN. Meaning, he knew she was probably the greatest threat to his well being on the team, and was possibly aware of her actual background considering his connections. He obviously wasn't taking any risks with her, but he had also treated her injury and she knew from experience that he could be making her situation much more uncomfortable.

Meaning, he probably wanted something from her specifically, and wanted as many cards in his deck to play against her as possible; potentially something he couldn't force out of her with his Semblance.

She did not know the status of her teammates, or if Reinhardt had escaped or got a warning out to the others. She hoped he had, but worst case scenario, he had not and was dead. If it were not for his Semblance, Natalia would suspect that Verdant would use their well being to force her into compliance; it was a common strategy, and effective.

This is a strategy he would also deploy against STRQ, without a doubt. Which also gave her a little hope, because it likely meant he would attempt to control the rest of ARSN in the same manner: by threatening the well being of their friends, without necessarily acting on it. Meaning they were possibly alive as well, and similarly contained.

She thought about what else she knew about this man, aside from the awful, violent emotions she had felt rolling off of his beastial form as he hunted them earlier. He'd created a system within the frameworks of Valish law that allowed him to capture, contain and reprogram magical 'free folk'; and it had been greatly successful up until STRQ and Joan's interference. He was doing this to supposedly combat Grimm manifestations, or reduce what he believed to be behavior and cultural patterns that led to the Grimm somehow; something Nat still didn't fully comprehend herself, but it told her a lot about his greater motivations.

He had an awful temper, and a bloodlust that gave even her chills; but he controlled it, or tried to, with the trappings of civilization. Meaning he was aware of it, and tried to channel it in a manner that he thought could be useful to society.

From what she had felt earlier, his ability to empathize had been damaged, but not completely destroyed; he struggled to sympathize, but believed he was expressing some form of compassion with his actions on top of providing a service to society. He likely believes he is preventing the creation of more suffering on a systemic scale, and is on the side of righteousness, even if he knows he is not righteous himself.

He thinks he is preserving life with his actions, and likely thought that what he was doing was good and correct, with no room for doubt.

Which made him extremely dangerous.

A gentle stirring, like someone turning the pages in a book. Or shuffling a stack of papers.

A moment later, he revealed himself, perhaps hoping to startle her; no, he knew she'd spotted him. He had perhaps wanted to see how she'd react to her environment, to know how to better proceed with his interrogation, and to learn more about her; or to be a dick. Both were just as likely.

"Krasneyk, huh?" he had a file in hand and was still leafing through it. Natalia gave it a bored look. "Ya know, I'm really not a big gambler. But I'd bet money that this little thing isn't your full record, chickadee."

Natalia glanced away, her face a brick wall. She wasn't going to offer him any real information or engagement he could actually use to his advantage; however, she also knew she might have to pretend to play a little, to keep him from using his Semblance on her for as long as possible.

He orders me to talk, there is nothing I can do. But, if I pretend to give scraps, he might hold off. For a while.

"Or even your actual record - in fact, I'm certain that this belonged to the real ' Natalia'," Verdant waved the file lazily, smirking at her a little. "And you're little cyber friends in Mantle just kinda plucked it out for you special. What happened to the real Nat, huh?"

Natalia appraised the Serviceman dryly, her tone monotone.

"Traffic accident."

That was completely true. Sprinkle in some truth, and you build a stronger lie, afterall.

Verdant grinned slyly at her response. He reminded her of a leopard seal, hunting penguins out near the ice floats.

"Ain't it always? What's your real name then, Krasneyk?"

She raised a brow.

"Does it really matter?" she droned.

Verdant appraised her for a beat, before shrugging and answering frankly.

"No. Just curious," he chuckled, stepping closer before squatting so they were at eye level. "It's funny, but Beacon? Has a looot of people just like you."

Natalia stared back into eyes like chips of dried blood, and found they did not remind her of another pair of eyes much at all. Those were paler, friendlier, and full of dry wit. These absorbed the light around them and tried to suck you in.

"Interesting. It's like it is school for Hunters," she observed facetiously, watching his reaction. "Next you will discover bakers at bakeries. And doctors in hospitals."

"Oh, she's funny? Got a little humor under that granite," Verdant grinned at her. Little leopard seal man. "No no. No. I mean ghosts, chicka. People with fake names or fake pasts or things they are runnin from - our boy Oz collects a lot of ghosts up in that academy of his. I don't think that's an accident."

Natalia did not know how to reply to this, so she said nothing. It was true, afterall. Rihanna wasn't the only person to go through the personal records of the other students; Reinhardt had accessed those files, himself.

Their classmates were interesting people, to say the least; but normal people who've led normal lives rarely if ever become Hunters.

"He knows all ya'lls little backstories. The ugly things you try to hide in duffel bags under your beds," Verdant drawled, watching her expression for something. "And he does more than just try to redeem you guys. He uses the fact that you are all desperate kids trying to change to control you. And turn you into what he wants: tools."

"Are you hoping he'll give you tips?" Natalia asked bluntly.

Verdant smiled, and she noticed his teeth had grown a little pointy at that comment. His scent even changed, growing sharper, predatory. A ghosting of black fur spreading across his cheeks before receding like wisps of black smoke.

"I don't need any tips, little girl. I'm just makin an observation about the….person, you work for," he stood up after a moment, pacing away slowly. Natalia eyed him, trying to spot vulnerabilities; old injuries, physical weaknesses, anything she could use in the future if she got out of these cuffs. "Can't say I'm a fan! Don't really like Hunters much! But I can respect his methods, I'll give him that."

He turned back towards her, cocking his head as he shook the file playfully at her.

"Got another question for you," he roved a bit, unconcerned. "I won't make you answer it, if you don't want, it's not that important. Again, I'm just curious. But why would you become a Huntress?"

He side eyed her, pausing.

"Considering they killed most your little friends up in Atlas?"

Natalia didn't flinch at this. She wasn't surprised he knew, or had guessed, who she had worked with previously.

"I don't want to be Huntress," she admitted, monotone. "I want to be Witchfinger. You have to train as Huntress first, that is law."

He nodded, grinning a little.

"You wanna go back home and fuckin kill them all , don't ya?"

She didn't reply. He chuckled darkly.

"Hey, I get it! I really do, believe me," he came back around, scratching his cheek. "Lot of Hunters think that the world owes them, ya know? That they can do, just….whatever the fuck they want."

Verdant's tone grew sullen, his voice dipping lower. Darker.

"That no one will, or can, hold them accountable."

Claws at the tips of his fingers, growing black and ragged as he crouched next to her again and tapped her in the middle of the forehead.

"And I am gonna change that shit, too," he grinned his bloodthirsty seal grin. "Oz's little pets think they can just run buck-wild and do whatever - to whoever - cuz they are the saviors of the world, here to kill the big bad Grimm! Only thing is? Hunters who forget their fuckin place cause just as much trouble as the free folk. And can create nearly as much Grimm as they eliminate. That's net zero productivity right there!"

Natalia grimaced as he ruffled her hair playfully.

"They gotta learn, that rules exist for a fuckin reason! And just cuz they think they're heroes, doesn't mean they get to break them whenever they want. Not while holdin everybody else to a different standard. That just ain't fair!" Verdant declared, rubbing his palms together.

She felt that was all a bit rich coming from a man who was definitely not playing by the rules himself; but perhaps he saw it as teaching them a lesson in some twisted way. It was hard to tell without her Semblance.

"So, Natalia!," Verdant beamed at her hungrily. "Why were you tryin to bug my apartment?"

She didn't reply. Suddenly, a sensation clamping down on her mind, like teeth grabbing the back of her neck and sinking in; she had no aura to fight back against the Semblance, and her own willpower, while very extensive, was not enough to buck free of it.

"To….access your personal devices," she grit through her teeth painfully.

Little black worms in her head, digging in, threading their way into her spine; shutting down any resistance, any part of her that could lie or fight or disobey.

"Uh huh, got that part," Verdant chuckled, observing her mockingly. "Why did ya'll need and want access to my personal devices?"

"...To learn your schedule. Your personal life. So we could..."

"Try to fuckin kill me right?" Verdant prompted knowingly.

"...Yes. To try to fucking kill you."

His smile was all teeth, and black hunger. Leopard seal, ready to clamp down on her head and swallow her whole.

"Cute. That's just fuckin grand. And whose plan was this originally? I have an idea, but let's hear it."

She tried to hold it in, she really did; but that Semblance pulled it out of her before she could steel herself.

Sorry...

"Raven's."

Rust and wry amusement.

"Yup. That fuckin tracks," the man chuckled after a moment. He didn't sound angry, shocked or disappointed. "Knew she'd try to get back at me for fuckin her leg up! What doesn't track, though, is involving the whole circus."

Natalia said nothing.

"Tell me, did she come to ya'll lookin for help? Or did you just decide to involve yourselves?"

"...We saw she needed help. We offered. Persistently. She agreed, but doesn't know we did this."

Fuck….

"Ah," Verdant tapped his chin thoughtfully, a wily look in his eye. "Well, well, well. That is interesting, Natalia, thank you. Why did you think she needed your help? What's the insight there?"

Fuck!

This was what he wanted. He wanted to use Natalia for her Semblance insights to get emotional information and feedback on her friends that he couldn't glean himself!

"...She is...struggling emotionally. Stressed. Trying to handle too much on her own. We wanted to help."

Verdant gave her a bemused look, shaking his shaggy head.

"Well you guys sure went and helped, didn't you?" he snorted in disdain, before smirking. "Welp! Little girl had to learn eventually! I should thank you, actually, you've made my job a hell of a lot easier."

He sat down next to her, pulling several aura-boosters out, counting them, and stuffing them in his shirt pocket as he smiled at her.

"Now then! I hope you're comfy - I'll check on that hand again here in a minute, don't worry. But we got a long night ahead of us! And you're gonna fill me in on team STRQ. I know a lot, but there are pieces I'm missing. Pieces I need to form a clear picture so I don't make any more mistakes goin forward. So let's get started! With Taiyang, this time. Tell me about him."

Helpless rage hammered inside her head as Verdant's interrogation started in earnest, and there was nothing the gunwoman could do to keep her friend's most vital secrets.

She'd been wrong, earlier. This whole mess wasn't Atlas all over again.

It was much worse.