RWBY: Dual Eclipse

by Master C.V.G

Following the end of Dimensional Gate Screwover, Nelius finds himself in an all-new world, one beset on multiple sides by all sorts of troubles... but those may prove paltry to the events yet to come. Currently rated T for violence and language. (Updates will be slower due to RL events)

8. Chapter 8

RWBY: Dual Eclipse

"Speech"
'Thoughts'

Scene Break

Chapter 8: Second Strike

Vytal Festival preparations were steadily increasing all throughout Vale as the months went by. Signs were going up, balloons were weaved into arcs above the lamps, and it appeared that many local places were getting new menus and stock prepared.

Of course, students from the various other Hunter Academies had begun filtering into the kingdom over the past few weeks, and whilst some would be heading to Beacon Academy to reside in any unfilled dorm rooms, others would be taking up residence with either family already living here in Vale or staying within any local hotels on a slight discount.

'Bit of a shame they're popping in whilst all this is going on.' Raoul thought to himself as he headed along the streets, taking in the sights of what all decorations had been prepared. 'Even if the robberies have been getting more police focus...'

His actions over the past few weeks apparently lit a bit of a fire in some of the police force, as reports started coming in of how some officers had been setting up sting operations to try and catch Torchwick in the process. Looked like they were getting tired of someone showing them up.

One such Sting, Commercial District

Monday, April 18, 9:34 P.M.

Something of a small firefight had broken out, as multiple Vale Police Officers were busy trying to stymie another heist.

A plain-clothes officer had taken notice of suspicious activity around one of the Schnee Outlet Stores, and their hunch had proven correct when several Gang members were beginning to break in. One quick call later and as several Officers moved in, the Gang opened fire.

Raoul had heard the gunfire, tracing the sounds back towards the source. Several officers were pinned down as about three senior Gang members were laying down suppressing fire, to let their compatriots run off with some ill-gotten gains.

'As good a time as any to test those new features.' Flipping his Gauntlets on, Raoul took careful aim at the retreating Gang personnel with his right hand.

The gauntlet fired off a strong, icy beam that was aimed at the humans' feet, to freeze them into place. Once it hit, the ice began to spread up their bodies, disabling them from the waist down and stopping them in their tracks. Several tried using their weapons to free themselves from the sudden ice before the officers could get the jump on them.

He then turned his attention to the other Gang recruits still firing upon the Police, and used his left hand's gauntlet to fire a few shots at their guns, either to knock them out of their hands or disable the weapons entirely. This gave the officers ample time to request backup and to try subduing these ones.

Raoul was quick to make himself scarce as that requested back-up arrived, finding several humans frozen to the ground. Some emergency Fire Dust was used to thaw the gangsters out before taking them into custody.

Present Time

Saturday, May 28, 10:34 A.M.

Of course, other officers seemed to scoff at these efforts, as Torchwick had managed to elude their grasp every single time, whilst also pointing out that whomever was reclaiming his stolen goods wasn't doing a very good job of actually bringing him in. Though Torchwick proved capable of escape each and every time, many of the Dust theft operations were quickly quelled once his henchmen were subdued, leaving behind more Dust to be used for the people. Prices were still rising, though now at a much slower rate that was projected to level off within the coming month.

Searches had been going out into the Industrial District to try and locate any other hidden caches that Torchwick or the Axe Gang had stored away. While there were only a few successes, mostly small stuff that could easily be overlooked, overall some considered it a wasted effort if the mastermind couldn't be cornered and arrested.

'Given that the robberies have been all over the news, I'd bet they came prepared.' His companion noted. 'Still, once I get this potential locator application finished, we should be able to track down the crimson bitch and her toadies.'

'Excellent.'

'On that, I need to ask... you're able to sense out forms of life, just like my sensor array, correct? Why not use that to track them down?'

'To pinpoint a specific signature requires a decent amount of time and study. No two signatures are alike, after all, and if they're the type to blend into the crowd, then the signals get mixed up for a good bit. The real issue is that the crimson bitch hasn't been showing her face around here, hence why we've been on Torchwick's heels.'

'Fair enough.'

Well, not much to do now but check out the new arrangements that some of the stores were offering.

Meetup Locale, unknown time

A Consequence of Actions Taken

"Callan reporting. The information our contact provided is correct. The Schnee's shipment is due to arrive in a week or so."

Hiding at this location were several faunus, if the scant few ears and tails were an indicator. Each of them were clad in black pants, white sleeveless jackets, a sleeveless black hood underneath it and what looked like fingerless gloves. Metal foot guards and boots completed their ensemble, but what stood out the most was the white masks they were all wearing, which resembled the bone-plating that the Grimm had across their faces. Even more eyecatching was the insignia across the backs of their jackets - a blood-red wolf head, eye narrowed and teeth bared, with three slash marks.

The insignia of the White Fang.

Looking over this group was a massive male faunus, one adorned in a similar garb to the other White Fang members, but he had metal forearm guards, tattoos down his left arm, and a distinctive mask that covered the entirety of his face. At his side was a massive chainsaw, freshly refueled and its chain sharpened. His Scroll was set into its phone mode as he oversaw the training exercises of a few recruits.

"Will that thieving human be there?" His conversation partner, male if the voice was anything to go by, fired back through the Scroll.

"Willing to bet he will be, but if some random Hunter could waylay his efforts several times over, then we've nothing to fear."

"Other than that Hunter potentially calling in backup, or turning their attention towards us. Get what you can and vacate the area... we don't need any other unnecessary problems."

"Very well. Callan out." The line went dead, and Callan folded his Scroll back up.

Monday, June 27

Vale Streets, 7:49 P.M.

Exiting a local scrap electronics store with a few purchases, Raoul flipped his personal Scroll open, bringing up his notes for the proposed beacon to send out the message. Of the parts necessary for this, they had acquired some old radio pieces.

'Think we have enough parts. We ought to be able to begin in earnest with these.'

'A bit of study, and I should be able to begin replication of these parts, albeit with the modifications we need to ensure this works. That said...'

'What's on your mind?'

'This would presume our bunch managed to get off that planet, wherever it is in the cosmos...'

'Considering they have a Yoshitsuna-model ship, one that we spent a good amount of time getting fixed up, I know they made it off that planet. Mita may be crazy, but she's resourceful- don't forget, she had been making use of that vessel long before I arrived and you were brought back to consciousness.'

'Fair point. Guess my memory banks need tuning up...' Her train of thought was momentarily derailed by an overhead shadow... several, in fact, headed for the Industrial District at a fair pace. 'Uhh... do Bullheads normally have guns?'

'Not that I've seen... you think something is up?'

'Well, if by up, you mean-' The faint sound of something making a loud bang, followed by smoke rising in the distance cut her off. 'Yes. Something is indeed happening.'

That was impetus enough to go investigate. He ducked into a small alley to store his purchases into a wing before taking off down another back alley towards the action. As he drew closer to the Industrial District, he could indeed see several Bullheads up ahead by the docks, only for two of them to suddenly fall out of the sky after being severed in half by... was that an emerald-colored laser beam!?

'The hell was that?'

One of them was attempting to make off with some cargo, but it looked as though it was having trouble taking off... something had to be pulling it down - scratch that, someone pulled it down, forcing it to crash into the pavement. It looked like some redheaded girl in a gunmetal grey dress... yet something about her felt off. She was surrounded by several blades that looked to dance around her, several of those aforementioned blades dislodging themselves from the Bullhead and now being put towards smacking around several asked characters that tried attacking her.

'...hmm.. I wonder...'

Over on another Bullhead, that Torchwick character was busy boarding it as several Axe Gang members were also following close behind. However, it seems that there were other people here, some of whom were engaging the Axe Gang members and were also wearing those masks. Torchwick turned to shoot at a few of them, the bottom of his cane flipping upwards to reveal a sight as some kind of firework-esque projectile launched out at the masked beings.

It was as one of them put his back towards Raoul's direction as they engaged another Axe Gang member that it clicked.

'What are the White Fang doing here?'

Raoul cast a quick eye over the situation, and he swore he could see two other individuals among the mess of people. These two individuals were busy fending off several other Fang members - one was a dark-haired female dressed in a black and white ensemble with a black ribbon tied into a bow upon her head, whilst the other was a blonde male in blue jeans and an open white shirt. He appeared to have a tail that matched his hair color, indicating he was a Faunus. The one with the bow seemed to be dual-wielding some swords, though one looked much thicker than the other, whilst the blonde made use of a staff to knock more of the Fang members unconscious.

'Still think they'd benefit from practical armor on this world.' Even with the fact that the two of them were fighting smart, keeping their backs to each other to minimze the risk of getting sneak-attacked, they were fairly outnumbered, though if the number of unconscious Fang members were an indication, it seemed they had the situation well in-hand, especially if the redhead with the blades was lending them assistance. Come to think of it, several of the Axe Gang were already taken out...

'There some kind of gang war going on?'

'Hey, there's one of those Bullheads over to the left.' One of the Bullheads had yet to take off from the ground, its Fang-affiliated pilots keeping the side doors open for the others as the scuffle continued on. From how they were shifting around, it was a fair bet to say they were getting in touch with whomever else they were working alongside. 'Think we should take it out?'

Raoul considered this for a moment, the gears in his head quickly turning. Then the proverbial lightbulb clicked on.

'I got one better.' Knowing the Vale Police would be on their way, he darted over to the open craft, sticking to hiding among the other shipping containers to minimize detection by those still fighting. The interior was devoid of other people, leaving Raoul free and clear to head to the cockpit. This one was likely going to be a getaway vehicle.

Strolling into the pilot's chamber, Raoul grabbed the White Fang grunts at the ship's controls by the back of their necks, and delivered a knockout via forcefully making their heads collide with one another's. Tossing them out of the aerial craft, he quickly sat in the pilot's seat, looking over the controls and other instruments. The Bullhead's radio looked to be off, likely to maintain silence for this operation.

'Tell me, how is this a better idea?'

'Said it before, didn't I? The less they have to work with, the better. Think we can tap the radio for any other broadcasts or messages, figure where these guys are operating from?'

'Should be able to. Gimme a minute to figure something out.' As the radio was flipped on, his companion went right to work attempting to use the filched Scroll to tap the radio for any useful information. Raoul, in the meantime, was looking over the instruments and trying to figure out the general idea of how to fly one of these things. To aid matters, he popped his Scroll open to find any online details about Bullhead operation.

The radio came to life, picking up several different broadcasts. Raoul's friend sifted through each one, trying to find something of use.

One intercepted message caught wind of the Vale Police Department being alerted to the goings-on at the Docks, and multiple units were headed that way right now. It wouldn't be long before they got here, and found the scene of the whole deal.

'Think it's time for us to go.' With that, Raoul grasped the control stick for the craft, and carefully began to ease the craft upwards, taking quick glances at his Scroll to ensure he was doing this correctly. The few Fang members still conscious would see one of their crafts lifting off to leave them behind! Several actually began firing their guns at the Bullhead, their reasoning being that if this was the work of any traitors, their damaged craft would slow them down enough for local law enforcement to catch up with them.

'OK, if that's how they're gonna play...' Without warning, the gun placed at the Bullhead's nose wound up, and within seconds began to fire at the grunts! Now fearing for their lives, the grunts scattered, deciding it was time to get the hell out of there. Torchwick had gotten his Bullhead started up and was already fleeing the area.

With that, it was time to depart the area. Carefully, Raoul turned the Bullhead southward, and within seconds it took off. Not a moment later the Vale Police flooded into the scene, finding the remains of the Axe Gang and the White Fang... alongside several Beacon students that had gotten caught up in the crossfire.

The ramifications of this encounter would be felt for months to come...

South Residential District Border, 8:09 P.M.

The stolen Bullhead roughly touched down near the old entrance towards Mountain Glenn, and Raoul quickly climbed out. With a fair number of trees in the area, it would suffice as cover enough for the vessel. If need be, he could grab some more branches to serve as cover.

"Well, that does it."

"OK, so you stole one of these Bullheads. What now?"

"Simple enough. We get some stuff moved into here, and we've got ourselves a mobile base. The house is nice and all, but sooner or later someone's gonna get suspicious."

"No reason to completely ditch it, though. It is our main source of clean water."

"True." He inspected the vehicle from the outside, checking the gun and making certain that the Fang firing at him didn't leave any damage. There were a few small dents in the side, but nothing that couldn't be fixed.

"This is going to require some upkeep to ensure it won't break down on us."

"Ahead of you on that one." He popped his personal Scroll back open, and went right to work looking up any other details he could find on Bullheads - make, model numbers, the whole works. About seven minutes of searching revealed that this model was recently unveiled in Atlas... so if the Fang was able to get ahold of one, then someone had to have been either supplying them, or they managed to snag it beneath Atlas's noses.

"Hm... now there's a thought. Perhaps we can rewire the radio systems into a scanner, pick up on transmissions here and there."

"It'd be worth a try. We're going to need to figure these things out first, though."

"No time like the present."

White Fang Meeting Area, Unknown Time

A Consequence of Actions Taken

The Lieutenant grit his teeth as the report came in.

It wasn't even Hunters or Police that had stymied the heist - it was mere schoolchildren! And according to the reports, two of them were Faunus, to boot! Only two Bullheads had managed to escape with anything of value. According to what testimony he had been able to extract from some of the other members that had managed to escape police apprehension, one of their Bullheads had lifted off before collecting anyone, and opened fire on them. That was the last thing they needed - more dissenters in the ranks.

But the silver lining was yet to be addressed - Blake Belladonna had been found, being one of the two Faunus that had participated in giving Torchwick such a hard time. Adam would be quite pleased to hear of this... her desertation all those months ago had him feeling personally betrayed.

He picked up his Scroll, and flipped to a particular number. "Brother Taurus, I may have found something interesting."

"Then make it quick, Lieutenant Callan." From the tone of Adam's voice, he wasn't in much of a mood for a long conversation.

"Belladonna has been located. It would appear she's trying to masquerade as a Beacon student."

There was silence for a minute or two as Adam was likely processing this information.

"Continue observing when possible. I'll be bringing more members to replace those we've lost."

"That said, some of our members saw one of our Bullheads take off to the south. It had fired upon them before departing. The pilots of that craft had also been knocked out prior..."

"...another traitor? That's the last thing we need-" The sound of something else trying to interrupt the call sounded. "...and now Khan wants to know what's taking so long. Taurus out." Ending the call, Callan pocketed his Scroll before heaving a small sigh.

Torchwick's Base, 9:55 P.M.

With the Police finally off his tail, Torchwick stepped into the other warehouse that he had been using as a personal HQ. With only a small toolbox-sized case of Dust to show for his efforts at the docks, he set it down onto the table, letting loose a frustrated sigh as he did so.

Of course it had to be some nosy brats up past their bedtime that cut the operation short. And wouldn't you know it, that brat in red had to be there as well - did she lead those kids to him or something? But the real topping on this sundae was the presence of the Fang. They must've had their eyes on the Schnee shipment as well...

"How very disappointing, Roman..." And there was the woman of the hour. He turned to meet her, and joy of joys, her two sycophants were here as well.

"Well, you're all back quicker than expected."

"Speaking of expectations..."

"Hey, how was I to know the White Fang mutts would try to butt into the operation?"

"Never mind them for now, Roman. There's something more important we need to discuss."

Present Time, Interrogation Room, 11:08 A.M.

"Stealing Bullheads like that..." Ironwood knew the White Fang were resourceful, but to be able to procure so many in a short time... might there have been gaps in Atlas security? He made a personal reminder to run a personal check when he returned. "You still have the one you obtained?"

"It's down at our humble abode, but yes." Nelius confirmed. "The figuring was to deprive them of a vital resource, and if the chance arose, maybe try and tap into whatever means of communication they were using to coordinate. I mean, if you want it back to check it out, I can bring it up this way."

"I'll hold you to that statement as well."

"Continuing on..." Ozpin interjected. "What came next?"

"Mostly it had been checks around the city to see if there were more clues as to their location, basically if there was anything the police might've overlooked. That said..."

"We did stumble across what felt like an attempted murder by Cinder's two lackeys." Raoul's companion spoke up, taking over for this one.

Three Weeks Post-Docks Incident

Thursday, July 21, 8:32 A.M.

Raoul rolled out of his hammock, flipping the TV on as he got his gear ready for another excursion.

Since the big crossfire roundup at the docks all that time ago, the crime rate regarding Dust Thefts seemed to be leveling off at a slow but steady rate. In comparison to before, when multiple shops would be hit up in one night, now it seemed to be a sporadic case here and there. Dust prices were beginning to level off as well.

In that time, Raoul had kept up his usual tasks - kill some Grimm, get paid for doing so, then look up various topics, ranging from learning more about Vale to researching the parts he wanted to have made in order to transmit that message out into space.

At the same time, he was also doing the occasional night run whenever he didn't have any extermination missions to do. However, it seemed that Torchwick was getting smarter about the operations, likely going in himself instead of relying on the Axe Gang to take the fall. He had probably figured that since someone had managed to tail the Gang, they were best left suited to other unrelated tasks.

The warehouses within Vale were being slowly checked over, both by the Police and Raoul himself. While several caches of supplies were found, there were few to no clues regarding where those that had stashed the goods had hidden themselves at. To that end, his companion had taken to using the scanned biodata to try and find a trail of where Torchwick had decided to run off to, but just as a trail would reveal itself, it would halt just as suddenly. About the only conclusion to that was that Torchwick had to have a base of operations well outside of Vale, just close enough that he could escape to another kingdom via Bullhead or some other kind of aerial craft if the heat got to be too much.

On the subject of Bullheads, there was the one they acquired during the roundup to take into consideration. With so little to move around he figured that he could remain at the base until such a time was necessary for him to get things into the craft. His Scroll proved invaluable in learning more about the vessel, but most of the pages that he went to look up suggested finding the production serial of the craft before attempting repairs or alterations.

Such advice made sense. This Bullhead was much different compared to the earlier models he'd seen before, the cockpit being able to seat two at once, and having a few extra systems to pivot the tri-barrel gatling gun situated beneath its nose. Overall, it was in great condition, but he felt it better to have the know-how before something disastrous happened. If most of the information wasn't yet accessible on the CCT, then maybe either the Library or one of the local bookstores might have it.

Looked like it was time to take a stroll into the city. Aside from finding materials to keep it fixed up, why not also take a little time to ensure it would have a steady supply of Dust for both power and ammo? Anyway, the first stop would be the book store. Word had been going around of a fairly nice place within the Commercial District. If nothing was found there, then the Library would be the next stop.

As he was on his way towards the store, however, he caught wind of some kind of argument that was only barely below a full-on shouting match. A blonde-haired young woman in a brown jacket and blue jeans was giving a white-eared rabbit Faunus in pink and white some level of vitrol, and the Faunus in question was giving as good as she got.

From what details he could make of the argument, it seemed the blonde was being accused of horrendous cooking ability, and in turn the Faunus was being accused of having warped taste buds. Either way, it wasn't his business, so off he went.

'There's the place. Let's see what it has to offer.'

Tukson's Book Trade, 10:51 A.M.

"I'm sure you have some idea of who we are."As Emerald spoke to the store owner, her accomplice, Mercury, dimmed the sets of shades in the store, blocking outside view.

"Bit hard not to." Tukson, the bookstore owner whom looked to be around his mid-thirties, kept a neutral expression, even as he could feel the bloodlust in the room beginning to rise. It took a fair bit of willpower to keep himself composed.

"You know why we're here?"

"I have a guess why..." Mercury then approached, standing next to Emerald after the last set of shades were dimmed. Subtly, the store owner could see the grey-haired youth shift his feet, ready to spring forward at a moment's notice. It was a blink and you'd miss it kind of detail, but Tukson could tell that whatever stance Mercury's feet had gone to, it put far too much weight on the toes.

"So... any plans to fight back?" The question was asked in the sort of tone that hoped for an affirmative response. Emerald was looking to goad him into attacking, no doubt so they could retaliate freely.

Before Tukson could give his answer, the front door clicked open, light spilling into the store. Everyone froze upon this happening, immediately turning their attention towards whomever had just walked in.

"Hello." Walking in was a seven-foot tall man with wild brown hair, easily all muscle beneath that coat. One lone eye peeked out from beneath that hair, the other covered via eyepatch. Emerald felt her blood run cold at this sudden intrusion. Immediately her gaze went right to Mercury, whom shared a look of confusion mixed with frustration. They did their best to hide the looks, lest this unidentified element catch onto their plans.

"Welcome to Tukson's Book Trade." Just like that, the store owner dropped right into his usual persona, trying to ignore the shift in tone. "How might I be able to help you?"

"Some light in the store would help brighten the mood." As he walked up to the counter, out of the corner of his eye he could see the two other people trying to put on a neutral expression. "But, to business. I'm looking for mechanical manuals, mostly stuff related to Bullheads and repair. Friend of mine is looking to get an old scrapper fixed up on the cheap, maybe repurpose or scrap it entirely if it proves too much dead weight."

"Huh, normally I don't get too many people asking for those. Lemme check in the back." With that, Tukson went into the back of the store to check. At the same time, however...

Emerald was mortified. They were so close to taking Tukson down, and some random person off the streets just had to walk in.

"Why didn't you lock the door?!" She hissed to Mercury under her breath.

"This was supposed to be a quick side trip. By the time anyone would've caught on, we'd have been long gone." He answered back in an equally low tone, and said answer immediately got her thinking again.

She quickly gauged the new customer... she could risk using her Semblance to make him think that Tukson hadn't anything available, and goad him into leaving... no, that was a dumb idea. He could easily end up returning for something else and coming across Tukson's corpse once they were done.. that would lead to him either putting two and two in combination, or force the two of them to hide the body elsewhere. Mercury and she could decide to kill him here and now - that was an even dumber idea. The sounds of the fighting would undoubtedly get Tukson to either act or get the Police on the case even more.

About three minutes had passed, and Emerald quickly reached a verdict. This situation had gotten far too risky to even consider continuing.

"We need to go." Her compatriot looked at her as if she had grown two more heads out the sides of her neck.

"Why? We can wait-"

"Go. Now." Emerald began ushering him out. Reluctantly, the gray-haired teen was lead out by his green-haired cohort.

Raoul waited in front of the desk for Tukson to return, his left hand comfortably resting at his side.

'Hey, those two that just left-'

'I know. The bloodlust in the air was thick enough to be cut with my axe.'

'If those two are here, then the crimson bitch has to be within the area.'

'Likely meeting with Torchwick and what other help he has. They have to be up to something with all that Dust.'

Tukson eventually returned with several manuals after another three minutes. "Here's what I got currently. Any of these work for you?" He set them down on the desk, and Raoul got right to work flipping through them, looking for any matching details with what he had recorded down in his Scroll.

As Raoul looked the manuals over, Tukson took notice that Emerald and Mercury had left, and he silently let loose a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.

"I believe these three here should do the trick. How much for 'em?" Tukson mentally added up the price in his head.

"For these ones... about 200 Lien will do it."

"Done deal." Raoul slid the money over, Tukson accepting it.

"Thanks. Anything else you might be interested in?"

"Got anything related to electronic repair and assembly?"

It would be another six minutes before Tukson returned with a few manuals. Looking them over, there was one on fixing Scrolls, ranging from physical component replacement to coding.

Another 25 Lien and the manual was in his possession.

"Have a good day." With that, Raoul left the store, and as he stepped outside, he began to look around for the other two. 'Nowhere in sight. Betting they're hanging around waiting for me to go...'

Tukson waited for Raoul to leave his sight, then immediately locked the door. His heart was racing several miles a minute. He had to get this information out there before those two came back. He headed into the back room, and dug out a small box, finding his old Scroll. His old contacts were in there. He then spared another minute to acquire some footage from a security camera he had installed back when a few punks had tried stealing some comics a few years ago.

He grabbed his belongings and was out the back passage in under two minutes. Luckily he had a friend nearby.

The Base, 12:43 P.M.

Slipping into the house, Raoul headed downstairs to place his purchases down.

"You have it recorded?"

"Committed to a file, yes." The eye glowed once more, and an audio clip played of Emerald and Mercury's hushed discussion between them. "Man, they're giving us more evidence against them."

"Speaking of, if the crimson bitch is in the area, then whatever they're planning must be moving into a new stage. We'll have to try and find them before they decide to vacate Vale."

"Speaking of finding them, I remembered what you said about trying to sense out the crimson bitch, and I put my sensor arrays to use during the recording."

"Verdict?"

"I got their biodata recorded. If they end up moving around again, we should be able to track them down if we're close enough."

"Excellent."

With that, he opened the Scroll manual and began to browse through it, the two of them learning more intricate details about their device.

"Oh, no wonder I had trouble learning the code originally." His companion found herself quite enraptured by this text. "Whomever came up with this programming seemed to have made it a touch obtuse, likely on purpose."

"Either way, with this backing us up, your progress on that locator app should increase several fold."

"Yeah, this'll work. Time to get to it!"

As his companion worked on her app, Raoul flipped open the first of the manuals on Bullhead repairs and began comparing notes.

Roman's Loading Spot, 9:55 P.M.

A Consequence of Actions Taken

Emerald and Mercury slowly entered the hideout. It was far too quiet, even for this general location within Vale. A few of the Axe Gang were patrolling about, keeping tabs on the area. Though where was-

"And look here, she sent the kids again, well past their curfew!" Torchwick appeared out of seemingly nowhere, circling them to put his arm around each of their necks and draw them closer. "This really is turning out like the divorce!" The two of them quickly threw his arms off of them.

"Ugh... Spare us the thought of you procreating." Emerald really didn't want that particular image in her head right now.

"That was a joke... and this-" Torchwick held up his free left hand, revealing a slip of paper as he walked back over to one of the tables, "-should tell me why you two have been so late getting back."

With a small gasp of alarm, Emerald quickly checked her back pockets. How did he-

"You forget, you're talking to a professional. Maybe if you pay attention, you'll learn something." He opened the paper up, and read the address printed on it. Almost immediately his eyes narrowed. "Why were you at this address?" It was asked in a tone that demanded nothing short of an honest answer. After a minute of silence... "Well, we're not getting any younger. What were you two doing there?"

"Oh, nothing major, just keeping tabs on-" That was when Mercury gave the wrong answer, something Torchwick made plenty clear with his next statement.

"Tabs? You call 'walking into the establishment' keeping tabs on him?"

"What-"

To that, Torchwick flipped out his own Scroll, showing a report of Tukson's Book Trade taking a temporary closing. "The point of 'keeping tabs' on someone is to not give them the impression you're watching them."

"Like you hadn't already?"

"That was under control." Roman snapped back, but as Mercury tried to argue back, the career thief continued. "So long as he was isolated, he was quiet, he wouldn't suspect a thing, but more importantly, he wouldn't say anything. And now that he has the idea that people want him dead-"

"Roman?" Oh great, it was Cinder again. She came into view from one of the upper catwalks. "Is there an issue?" Normally Roman wouldn't try to draw her ire, but his own was simply greater at this point in time, consequences be damned.

"You bet there's an issue. Your two asskissers decided to go off and try to kill one of my marks."

"I see no issue here..." Slowly she approached, that distinct chime of glass accentuating her steps as her gaze went right to Emerald and Mercury. "Though I distinctly remember telling you two to keep your hands clean while we were in Vale."

"Oh, there's an issue here all right, when these two failed to do the job." That caught Cinder's attention, the usual smirk on her face fading fast. "And now that he's got a hint that his life's on the line it's more than likely he's decided to find a new hiding spot, which means tracking him down again will be a whole other circus act altogether." As Cinder processed this, he continued on, "...not to mention potentially pointing the Fang in our direction."

Cinder's burning gaze turned to her two disciples. Emerald tried to defuse this situation.

"W-we can still-"

"No." Cinder's tone of voice had dropped harshly. "You two will remain here. There are still enough Fang members that are more than willing to hear him out, turncoat that he might be. I need to make certain your little stunt doesn't give us a new set of enemies." Cinder shut her down promptly.

"B-but we thought-"

"Do not think. Obey." With that, she turned and left, each step echoing in their ears and reminding them of their failure.

While Mercury was scheming to find that brunette bastard and take him out in retribution for messing up their plan, Emerald had little else on her mind other than the sinking, sour realization of how badly they had messed up.

First there was losing the Fall Maiden, now this... ever since that thing imitating a Grimm showed up and handed them all their collective rears, things had been going downhill.

Present Time, Interrogation Room. 11:28 A.M.

"So what do you imagine happened to Tukson?" Ozpin put the question out in the open.

"If I had to guess, he's well outside of the Kingdom by now. Someone getting ready to kill you in your own store would be cause for alarm." Nelius replied.

"A shame. One of my students spoke highly of the place and its owner."

"All the more reason to have them brought in." Ironwood affirmed. "If they're willing to be that brazen it'd only be a matter of time before a greater incident would happen."

"Truthfully, I get the feeling that they're after something far greater than just crippling Vale's economy." About ten seconds passed before someone spoke up.

"What do you propose, then?" Ozpin responded, breaking the silence.

"We'd need to figure out how sunken in their claws are, metaphorically speaking of course. If they've been operating here in Vale for a while, I'd easily imagine they have other targets they'd want brought down."

"...Beacon..." Ozpin came to the realization. 'Seems my age really is catching up with me. The signs were there...'

"It'd make sense." Ironwood spoke up. "Not only one of the most prestigious Hunter Academies, but also the location of Vale's CCT tower. And with what you've told us of their operations.."

"People are going to be on edge due to Dust being in such short supply, which'd make Vale a giant dinner bell to the Grimm when that tension hits critical mass. And considering that Festival is to be held here in a few months..."

Glynda was unusually silent as she processed this information. Those three... she had passed by them in Beacon a number of times, even teaching them during some of her classes. She then remembered - they had stated that their fourth team-member was going to be a bit late in arriving, having need of settling a small family issue before attending the Vytal Festival. If those three were the ones behind the recent incident, then what could their fourth member be doing right now?

Chapter 8- Complete