F3: Hello my fellow readers and welcome back to chapter 6 of Ionas story. We last left off where their has been not one but two murders now on the ferry. Are they related in some way? RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum. Also Senka Linwood is owned by MountainKing312. With all that out of the way... Let's Roll Out!
Volume 4-6 Purple: Red Lake (Part 2)
Mordecai was not please at what he had heard from Iona and Zane as he tapped his foot on the wooden floor his arms crossed in a very uptight manner as he took another puff of his cigar.
"So let me get this straight so that I can understand. Their is now not one body but two and they were both murdered by someone that we have yet to find. Am I missing anything?" Mordecai asked not very happy about the situation.
"No you didn't. While we were examining the body on the lower level we heard a scream coming from the upper levels. We ran to take a look who screamed and saw the housekeeper on the ground shaking like a leaf. That was when we saw the body of Alfred Berch. From the looks of it someone snapped his neck rather cleanly. Barely felt a thing." Zane replied.
Laural sighed at this "This only makes this even more difficult to track down the murderer. Whoever is doing this must be very clever not to get caught." She replied.
"So what do you want us to do captain?" Iona asked.
The captain only hummed for a minute before coming to a decision.
"Have figured out the idenity of the first body? Maybe that could be useful." Mordecai mentioned.
"Actually we have." Iona said bringing out the wallet and handed it to the captain.
"Johnathan Apricot. Apparently he came from Atlas." Iona said as the captain took hold of the wallet as he looked at the ID.
"Hm... that name rings a bell but from where." Mordecai said but Laural immediately noticed the name.
"Hold on did you say Apricot?" Laural questioned.
"Um... yeah. Why? Do you know him?" Zane asked.
"Know him. More like I've read about him in the news reports. He's a scientist that was working to create dust from scratch and that this dust was to be much more efficient than the regular dust. This efficient dust is made to power more than one machine at a time. With the science that he could do it would be revolutionary to dust productivity." Laural replied.
"Hm... you don't think he was killed because of that." Mordecai replied.
"Maybe but then their's Alfred... what does he play in all this?" Iona asked.
Laurals eyes went wide "Wait Alfred too. He was Johnathans partner in creating the dust. Maybe they were on a business trip together?" Laural said.
"So the two of them are business partners working on the same thing. Not much to go on." Iona said before turning to the captain.
"Do you have a list of all the passengers that are on board and where they are staying at?" Iona asked.
"Of course." Mordecai said before going to his desk and grabbed a piece of paper.
"Here. You can keep that one. I've got copies." He said before handing Iona the piece of paper containing everyone that was on board the ferry when they departed.
"Looks like everyone is on here. Including Zane, Nicole, myself and the others." She thought as she scanned the list of names before coming across a particular name on the list.
"Linda Apricot... must be the wife. Maybe I could speak with her." Iona thought as she remember the room where she was.
"Thank you captain. We'll take our leave and get to the bottom at who was doing this." Zane replied.
"Please do cause I fear that the passengers might get worried." Mordecai said as they left the captains office.
=RWBY=
As the two left the office they stopped to brainstorm on what to do next.
"So what are you going to do next Mr. Iason?" Iona asked.
"Hm... prehaps I'll head back to Nicole see how she's taking all of this. She tends to get rather lonely at times when I'm not around. So it would be nice to comfort her." He said.
"And you? What will you do Miss. Basil?" He asked.
"I'm going to visit our first victims wife. See how she's taking all of this." Iona replied.
"Of course. When you see her please give her my condolenses." Zane requested.
"Will do. Later." She said and with that Zane left Iona to her own thoughts.
"Something doesn't feel right about this. He didn't even notice the ribbon tied around Alfreds neck. Sure while it does look like his neck was snapped but could he also have been strangled from the ribbon. It would take quite some strength to do that. I better-" She thought but her thoughts were broken by the tap on her shoulder.
"Hey girl." Senka replied making Iona jump as she shouted a little.
"Don't do that! You trying to give me a heart attack!" Iona shouted trying to calm her beating heart.
"Sorry it's just that you haven't come back to the room in quite some time and Blake was starting to worry. What is going on?" She asked.
Iona sighed before she spoke "Alright I'll give the details." Iona said as she went into explaining what has been happening on the ferry including that there are now two bodies and explained that they were business partners.
"Okay so this Apricot guy and Berch were partners in developing new forms dust from scratch that is more efficient than regular dust. Though who would want to kill them over this?" Senka asked.
"I'm not sure but I'm going to head over and talk with Apricots wife... if she'll be willing to talk that is." Iona said.
"Need me to come along?" Senka asked. However that was when Iona got an idea.
"Actually I need you for something else. You can hide yourself in the shadows because of your semblance correct." Iona said as Senka nodded.
"I need you to follow a man named Zane Iason. He wears a lab coat so he's not hard to miss. He headed back to his room in the lower level, room 10." Iona replied.
"Room 10. Lower level. Got it. What do you want me to find out?" Senka asked.
"Listen in for anything that sounds suspicious and keep me posted." Iona ordered.
"Understood." She said and she was off looking for Zane. Meanwhile Iona only gulped as she now had a hard task to complete. Talking with the wife of the victim.
=RWBY=
After about a ten minute walk she was back in the upper level as she looked at the paper she was given by the captain.
"Says here that she's in room 35. Two doors away from Alfreds room. This will not go well I can already tell." Iona groaned internally as she walked to her destination.
She found the room that had she seeked as a big gold 35 number was imprinted on the door. Iona took in a breath and gave a solid knock on the door.
The door knob turned as the door then opened revealing the women inside the door. The women looked to be in her late thirties with snow white skin along with charcoal colored hair and violet colored eyes with a rather curvious figure despite her age. She wears a purple and dark blue dress that reaches down to her ankles. She is currently not wearing any shoes but she is wearing blue colored stockings.
The womens eyes narrow into a glare as she remembers seeing Iona.
"And what do you want?" She growled angerly at Iona as the purple haired girl gulped nervous.
"Yep she is definately ticked. Stay cool Iona." She thought nervously before she spoke up.
"Are you Linda Apricot?" Iona asked.
The women then crossed her arms under her bust still holding her glare.
"And what if I am? Do you have something to say brat?" She asked rather rudely.
Iona took in a breath to calm herself before she spoke up again.
"I'm here to solve the murder of your husband and I would like your help in this ma'am." Iona said.
"Oh I thought that was taken care of. You know that girl and all. Isn't she the murderer." She replied again.
"No. Because their has been a second murder. Does the name Alfred Berch ring a bell?" Iona questioned. Almost as quick as lightning her glare suddenly disappeared replaced with a look of shock.
The woman didn't say anything before moving away from the door heading back into the room not before gesturing Iona inside.
"Please come in." She said kindly as Iona came inside.
It was a small room that could hold two to maybe three people at a time. It has a small dinner table along with a large bed. On the left side of the room their is an open closet containing most likely their clothing that they hung up for the trip. Iona decided to sit at the table while Linda sat on the bed.
"It must be hard for you to take all of this in at one time. Though if it helps I'm greatly sorry for you loss ma'am." Iona replied.
"I appreciate that young lady. Though I suppose it does help lessen the blow a little bit even if it really does not." Linda said somberly.
"I know what you mean." Iona said as she thought of Pyrrha for a moment before refocusing on her task.
"I do apologize but I have to ask you something if that's alright." Iona said as Linda nodded in agreement.
"Of course. Please ask me anything that might help find the real killer." She replied.
Iona thought of a question as she then asked it.
"How does your husband and Mr. Berch know each other? Are they friends?" Iona asked.
Linda thought a moment before as if thinking about what to say. A minute passed before she finally answered.
"Well... Johnathan and Alfred have been partners since they were young since they went to Atlas academy. Though they'd also have this competitive streak with them. The two of them became nearly inseparable." Linda replied.
"That's nice to have a friendship way back then. They sounded pretty tight." Iona said.
Linda nodded "Of course they were. Though they didn't start out that way." Linda added.
"What happened?" Iona asked.
"Well... things is the two of them came from different social classes. Alfred was raised in the higher classes in Atlas while Johnathan came from the lower ranks in Mantle. Believe me when I say that coming from Mantle and attending Atlas academy didn't look good in front of the others. Alfred at first was nothing more than a cocky stuck up kid who's skills were bought." Linda replied.
"Sounds like a jerk to me." Iona added.
"Oh more than a jerk. Then when the teams were formed Johnathan was made leader of the team in which Alfred threw quite the fit about saying that because of his training and skills that he should've been made the leader and not some second rate kid from the lower class. However our headmaster didn't see it that way and ignored his request to be made leader. After that Alfred has tried several times to try and ruin Johnathans image as a leader." Linda began.
"Okay but what happened that made him change?" Iona asked.
"It was after our first mission and... I got severly injured from a dust blast that Alfred cost. The headmaster was furious at this and wanted to expelled Alfred for his behaviour but Johnathan intervened saying that he would take the responibility for Alfreds behaviour. From what I heard the headmaster only gave the two of them four weeks of detention and for some reason the two of them started to connect and became quite the duo." Linda replied.
"That was quite the story. Though something is still bothering me. From probably guessing the two of them became scientist after retiring as huntsmen. Did they ever have any... enemies of some sort?" Iona asked.
"Oh dear no. At least from what I know of they don't." Linda answered.
"Hm... that does make things more difficult." Ionat thought but suddenly she heard a pair of small feet coming toward the door. The door opened revealing two kids that are between the ages of seven and eight.
They were a boy and girl with the girl only a slight taller than the boy. They each had short brown hair and light brown eyes. The boy wore a light blue shirt and black shorts while the girl wore a light pink dress but their was one thing that was very distinctive about both of them they both have faunus ears of a deer.
"David, Emma. Now where have you two been?" Linda asked crossing her arms.
"Sorry momma." They both said.
However the two of the kids looked at Iona before running behind their mother.
"Momma who is this?" The girl named Emma asked.
"Oh um... this is..." Linda tried to say something but nothing came out. Luckily Iona had something that could answer the kids.
"I'm a huntress actually. I help take care of those bad people and monsters you see." Iona said dramatically. The two kids looked at her with an awe inspired look.
"Wow really!" The boy known as David said gleefully.
"Uh huh little guy. Though it does take hard work and it's never easy." Iona replied.
"Does this mean you find daddy?" The girl questioned. The question almost threw her off guard but she remained her composure.
"Yeah... I'll find your daddy. Though even an experianced huntress like me needs a little bit of help once in a while. Maybe you two could help me?" Iona said.
The two little kids gasped as they had a chance to help an actual huntress as they turned to their mother.
"Can we momma? Can we help?" They asked her.
"I don't see why not." Linda said happily as they turned back to the huntress.
"Alright. You two must hear pretty well with those cute little ears right." Iona said as they both nodded.
"Okay now did you two hear anything that sounded strange to you two?" Iona asked as the kids began to wrack their brains to try to figure out what they heard.
That was when the girl spoke up as she remembered something "Their was this weird scratching sound that came from the wall over their." The girl said pointing toward the back wall.
"This wall?" Iona asked.
The girl nodded "Uh huh. It sounded big." She added.
Iona came over to the kid and petted her head "Thanks that's a big help." Iona said.
"Alright you two. Get to bed the huntress has to get back to work now." Linda said as the children headed to get changed.
"They don't know their father isn't coming back. I really don't want to tell them about what happened." Linda said holding her left arm.
Iona then turned to her before she spoke "Ma'am I suggest that you do tell them what happened. I can tell that you adopted them despite you two being human. Please they need to know what happened but I'll let you know this. I'm going to find out who did this so that you can finally have peace. And I make good on my word." Iona said.
Linda was rather hesitant at first as she looked away from Iona but she then looked back to her with a confident look.
"Alright... they deserve to know. You find out who did this...please." Linda pleaded.
"Consider it done." Iona replied as she turned and headed toward the door.
"The little girl said that their was a noise coming from behind the wall. But what could their be behind it." Iona thought as she decided to check out the room where Alfred's body was. Luckily the door was closed as Iona opened it and noticed that his body was still their. Their was a smell that was coming from him.
She quickly closed the door so that no one would come in "He's already starting to smell. Great. Better make this quick and look around." Iona said to herself. She noticed a briefcase nearby and it was opened as their was nothing in it but a spare pair of clothing. Though she noticed a compartment was also opened with an empty tan file.
"Now what were you doing with an empty file Berch?" Iona asked herself as she took a picture of it with her scroll. Iona continued to look around as she noticed something nearby. It was a vent that blew air into the room though Iona noticed something about the vent. The vent was missing three of the four bolts as it seemed to be opened.
"Huh? Now why are you open?" She asked herself as she investigated the vent. She noticed something that their was something on the metal that was red. She looked closer and it was blood and it looked fresh still.
"Blood. And it's fresh. That must mean that whoever was here was just here recently." Iona said.
"So someone must've injured themselves when they were trying to escape and used the vent to do it. And if I'm right these vents are interconnected." Iona thought as she took a picture of the vent.
"Though why would someone target Alfred? Did it have to do with the efficient dust that Linda talked about." Iona thought as she went back to the body and noticed the blue ribbon around the guys neck.
"Then this... looks familiar. Maybe could pay Nicole a visit." She thought as she left the room. Though the moment that she left her scroll rang as Senka was calling her.
"Hey girl. Hear anything good?" Iona asked.
"Well you told me to shadow the doctor right. It looks like he entered his room and it sounded like a women greeted him. After he closed the door I couldn't hear a thing like the room was drastically muffled. Then when he came out he had this smug look on his face." Senka replied.
"Now why would Zane do that? Something isn't right." Iona pondered.
"Well I'm not sure but he had some kind of brown file on him when he went inside." Senka said.
That caught Ionas attention "Hold on. Brown file. When I was looking in the room that Alfred was in he had an empty case with something missing in it. You think it was the same file that the doctor has." Iona said.
"He is a doctor maybe its just medical files." Senka added.
"I don't know... head back to Blake and Nyx. I'm going to pay someone a visit." Iona said as she hung up and decided to pay the room where Senka was at a visit considering she had a feeling who was their.
=RWBY=
It didn't take her long to get to the room where Senka was at last. Iona knocked on the door a few times but nobody responded so she knocked again.
"Mrs. Lambert are you in their?!" She called out as she decided to test the door nob and luckily it turned when she turned it.
"I'm coming in!" She called out again as she entered the room. The room look prestine and... clean almost too clean from just by looking at it. The bed looks made up without a single crease in it. Several items aligned the room that ranged from picture frames to smaller items. However the picture frames didn't have pictures of herself but pictures of other people. Iona examined it as she held the picture frame in her hands. It was the picture of a man and women with a five year old boy in the picture.
She heard the sound of a door opening as steam came out from the back then came footsteps as the sound got closer. She turned and noticed that it was Nicole wrapped in a white towel that only reached the bottom of her hips. Their eyes connected and almost immediately Nicole screamed as she held her towel close.
"What are you doing in here!?" Nicole shouted.
"I'm sorry! I knocked and no one answered so I sort of let myself in!" Iona replied raising her hands in defense.
Nicole then noticed what Iona was holding and glared at her "And put that down!" She shouted as Iona put the picture frame down as Nicole grabbed something nearby that looked like a cleaning cloth.
"Don't need your germs getting all over it." She said as she then throuhly wiped the picture frame Iona touched.
"Oh sorry about that." Iona said as Nicole then put the picture frame down exactly where it came from.
"There we go. Now you want to explain yourself why you came into my room while I was in the shower?" Nicole asked.
"I didn't think that you were in the shower. But their was something that I found strange while I was investigating Alfreds room that I came across that I thought you might take a look at." Iona said as she brought up the picture of Alfreds body.
"Okay why would you want me to look at that? Should I know this person?" Nicole asked crossing her arms making her bust bounce a little.
"Not the body but whats around the neck." She said as she zoomed in on the ribbon.
"Does this blue ribbon look familiar to you?" Iona asked in which Nicole flinched at just looking at it.
"B-But how did that get their into that room. I-I was nowhere near their." Nicole said rather nervously.
Iona looked at her strangely "Oh really then explain to me how it got around the guys neck. It looks like the guys neck was snapped but I believe the guy was strangled first before being snapped." Iona replied.
That was when Nicole realized what Iona was saying "Wait are you saying that... I'm a suspect in this murder." Nicole replied.
"Well... it is your ribbon around his neck. And that their was fresh blood found on a vent hinting that someone used the ventilation system to sneak into the room and kill him." Iona said.
"Okay. Then ask yourself this. What reason would I have to kill Mr. Berch and why would I use the ventilation. Those vents are filled to the brim with dust and bugs." She said as she shivered.
"Consider I like to keep things prestine and clean I wouldn't use them." She added.
"Why not?" Iona questioned.
"I'm a germaphobe. Which means I don't like getting germs all over my body or on anything else. Not exactly my cup of tea." Nicole said.
"Hm... she does have a point considering how stupidly clean the room is." Iona thought.
"Now if you're done accusing me of murder I suggest that you leave now." Nicole said placing her hands on her bare hips.
Though that was when Iona noticed a mark on her left hip that looks like it was still healing as it slightly bled.
"Alright... my apologies. I'll take my leave." Iona said as she turned to leave though she gave a quick glance over her shoulder and noticed that Nicoles back was turned as Iona whipped out her scroll and quickly took a from behind picture of the wound that Nicole had recieved before quickly pocketing it and left Nicoles room.
Though what Iona didn't know was the look of annoyance on Nicoles face as she grabbed her own scroll nearby as she began dialing a number.
"Sir we might have an issue. Someone is catching on to us. What do you want me to do?" Nicole asked before a moment later she gave a solid nod.
"Very well. Consider her eliminated." Nicole said before hanging up. She set her scroll down before going toward her drawer and pulled it open revealing several tools that were made for assassinations.
"So sorry Miss Basil but I'm afraid that you are getting too close and must be eliminated... permanently." She smirked as she prepared to take out Iona from the picture as she has this evil smirk on her face.
F3: Things looks like they've picked up and might be getting worse from their. Iona might be getting on to something but with how things are going she better figure it out fast. Like me know in the comments below of how this story is doing. Also don't forget to follow this story for future updates. With that said this is Fireuser3 and I'm out.