"It's not how things work around here," was Ray's rebuttal. "I won't accept work that I know cannot be finished."
"And now you're sure it can?" Vivian was very skeptical about the entire endeavor. Finding missing people when no one could do so for weeks didn't sound 'doable' to her.
Raymond just smirked, "With you onboard, I believe so." He gave her a look that she didn't saw in a long time. The look of trust that she forgot he had.
After the Academy, when the rest of the gang went their separate ways, she and Ray worked together. It wasn't for long as they argued more than many would consider natural. At one point however, she thought there could be something between them, but Ray was too stubborn to ever acknowledge that there might be a spark there. Or maybe she was just fooling herself that he was capable of feelings like that? Either way, that look was disarming.
With an involuntary smile, she continued the dialog, "Ok, hot-shot. You're the leader on this one. Let's see where the rabbit hole goes."
The team ventured deeper into the Kuchinashi underbelly. Most of the criminal activity was centered in the Lower Valley. However, they moved past the Central Strip – an area where all trade was focused – to the Upper Cliff's residential area. They all followed Ray's lead as it seemed he knew the way around the place far better than any of them.
"That's the place," the one-eyed man informed when they got to a decently sized, wooden house. It didn't look in any way suspicious to any of them, just another Mistral-type living quarters.
"Are you sure this is the place?" Gran was first to question him. "It doesn't look like a mob boss home to me."
"Of course it doesn't," Ray just chuckled. "In this line of work, it's better not to attract unwanted attention."
"What's even the name of the guy?" Vivian was curious.
"Ash Hunter," he quickly answered.
The moment they got closer to the door, a man with a muscular physique and a gun at his side slid open the wooden panel door. "What?" He greeted them abrasively.
"Your time to shine, pretty boy," Ray looked towards Neil.
"What the hell are you talking about?" The redhead was confused but understood his friend's intentions when he gave him a look that screamed 'we talked about this.'
With a short sight, he stepped closer to the guard with more gusto than was necessary, and with a gentle smile, said: "Lead us to Ash Hunter."
The muscular guy blinked a few times, almost surprised at how he reacted to those words. "Right this way," he said and walked towards the stairs in the main hall.
The group followed the man to a room situated in the furthest parts of the house. The corridor was empty and not very long. The guard opened the door. "Through here."
The moment they started stepping into the room, an angry voice boomed from inside.
"Who the hell are you? What are you doing here?" It was the voice of a somewhat corpulent, older man with darker hair. He was dressed in a dark green suit and a gray shirt. He stood up from his desk and noticed his guard standing there, doing nothing. "Why did you brought them here, Bob?"
The man looked befuddled and tried to think of a reason. "I… Don't know…" He started to sweat.
Neil got closer to him and grabbed his chin in his hand. "You can go back to your post."
"Yes," the guard nodded and returned to his duty at the entrance.
Three more men came in from a door inside the room where the man in the suit was sitting.
"What's the matter, bo-oh my god…" A shady-looking guy at the front stopped when he noticed Gran. All three of the men were the same guys that bothered him at the pub earlier.
"Get rid of those people," the older man demanded, but his henchmen didn't move a muscle. "Why do I even pay you," he added, noticing the fright in his men's eyes. The boss stood up and walked in front of his desk.
"We're not here to cause any problems," Raymond stepped in to talk to the man. "I just heard that your son is missing, and we're here to propose a deal to find him."
At the mention of the man's son, his eyes widened in rage. He grabbed a gun from under his desk. "You know where my son is, you son of a…"
Before he could finish the thought, Ray disarmed him with a quick move and forced the man on his knees. Vivian noticed rage on the one-eyed man's face, but it quickly subsided.
"I don't like repeating myself, but we're not here to cause any problems." He let go of the man before continuing. "To address your question: No, we don't know where your son is. However, we're willing to search for him. For the right price."
The boss, holding his hurting hand, looked at his henchmen, who still stood in fear. "Realy? Nothing?"
Gran stood in front of them, cracking his knuckles. The trio run back to the room where they originally came from.
"Remind me to fire them," Hunter said and sat behind his desk with his hands out of view. "There's always a catch. I've been doing this since you all were shitting your diapers. I know how this goes. You're from the Black Sheep? Wave?"
"We're Huntsmen," Ray answered. "We're looking for work in these parts, and the word on the streets is that your son got missing. We might be able to get him back."
"And you want me to believe you don't want any money upfront?"
"I never said that," Ray smiled. "It's gonna be a difficult job to find the missing people. Some funds would be necessary to kickstart the investigation."
Nina started to hear something behind the door they came in. Her body tensed, but she could not avert her eyes from Ray and the man in the suit. Ash began to think with his eyes narrowing at the group. They somehow barged into his sanctum without much of a problem. They had muscle, skill, and they had smarts. "Fine, we can arrange something," He wrote a sum on a sticky note paper and slid it closer to Ray. "This much upfront, three times this after the job is done. Is that acceptable?"
Merlot looked at the piece of paper and smiled, "this should suffice." He hid the note in one of the pockets of his armor.
More noise behind the group. It was just a slight swish that usually no one would take an interest in. Still, it was very unsettling in the current situation. Nina looked at the rest of the group, and it seemed like only she heard it.
Hunter stood up from his desk and took a suitcase that was ready beside the desk. He then moved towards a small painting just behind him. With a gentle push, the picture opened up, revealing a safe. Another slight rustle, this time Vivian hear it as well and tensed up the same as Nina. Their sense of dread slowly spread to other members of the group. The boss filled the suitcase and gave it to the one-eyes Huntsman.
"Pleasure doing business with you," Ray smiled.
"Sorry, I can't say the same," Ash said without enthusiasm. "Just bring back my son."
They both nodded, and Ray slowly pushed the group towards the door.
"You can let them pass," Hunter said when the doors opened. When they stepped from the room, there was a mass of suited men with guns waiting. However, few of them listened to intercoms they had in their ears and let them pass through.
"Not as fast of a response I expected," Ray stated when they moved through an almost sea of armed henchmen.
Nina was shaking, seeing so many thugs looking at them. Gran felt her discomfort and embraced her with one hand. They slowly moved towards the exit, anxiously observing the armed men. Only when they left the possession, they relaxed.
"What was that, Ray?" Vivian was furious.
"Hey, I'm not a charity." Ray rebuked.
"I just can't with you," The girl was pacing from side to side. "What did you pull as into?"
"A normal Kuchinashi job."
Everyone looked around to measure the feelings of others. Nina looked scared, while the rest just unsure of what to feel. No one suspected that the situation would turn out like that. The final outcome felt much different than they all expected, even if it was successful.
"You all coming? We have a job to do…" Ray said, sounding confident.
Vivian shook her head. "This feels nothing like a normal Huntsmen job. So now what? We're going to other crime syndicates for info?"
"And to ask the Faunus population about their disappearances." Merlot answered without hesitation.
"What if they wouldn't let us go?" Neil suddenly asked. "There's no way I could manipulate all of them."
Ray's answer was short. "Nina's semblance."
The girl in question squirmed. "And what if I froze? What if I didn't activate my semblance in time? What then?"
"Seeing you hurt, Gran would go berserk and tear all those suckers limb by limb. Or turned them inside out. I got to say you can get really creative with your semblance." He turned to the Faunus man when saying that.
"You're dealing with fire, man," Gran answered.
"Just relax, everyone," Amethyst stepped in to calm the situation. "Even if the situation wasn't as clean as we initially thought, Ray's still right. Let's just keep our wits about this and just find whoever is responsible for the kidnappings. We're here to help people."
"Listen to the beast girl. She has the right idea." Raymond concluded.
Vivian let out a long sight. "I can't believe I'm saying that… So what's first?"
"Three of us can check the Wave and the Black Sheep gangs, while the rest checks if any of Faunus riffraff has any info."
Black put her hands on her hips with her head down, deep in thought. Even if one of the criminal organizations is responsible for the abductions, there was no sure way of extorting the information they needed. Even considering Neil's semblance, there might be many hoops to jump before getting everything they need. Not to mention that continually using his ability would drain him of his aura very fast. She had an idea that could speed up the entire process, but it was risky. However, it could be a great ace in the hole while the rest would focus on the other options.
"I think I might have a better plan," Vivian said, looking at the rest of the group. "We still go for the info from both the crime syndicates and the Faunus. But one of us plays the bait for the kidnappers and tries to get caught."
"Are you serious?" Nina was abhorred by the idea.
"Cocky," Ray looked at her, impressed. "I like the way you think."
"I don't think it's a good idea," Nina disagreed with the plan. "Who would even go for something like that?"
Vivian was thinking for a bit. "Well… Me. It would be much easier to get targeted without a weapon, and if things go south, I always have my semblance to fall back on." She manifested her aura in physical form, creating a set of shadowy tentacles, her unique ability.
Amethyst summarised the idea. "So you get caught, Ray and Neil follow up on the gangs while Nina, Gran, and I ask the local Faunus population about the vanishings."
"No, I need someone to keep an eye on me. If I get abducted and won't have the possibility of getting out, it would be wise to have someone follow me to the point of interest. To the place, where the kidnapees are taken to." She corrected the plan.
"So, how do we split?" Neil asked.
"I think you and Ray should tackle the Black Sheep and the Wave," Vivian started, after a while of contemplation. "With your semblance and his street smarts, you can achieve the most out of any other combination we have available. Amethyst and Gran will ask around the local Faunus, while Nina will be my wing-woman."
"Can't Amethyst watch your back?" Granola asked, hoping to get teamed up with Nina.
"She's far too conspicuous for the job. Sorry," she added, not to offend the woman.
Tautara just smiled, "No need to apologize. Who could resist looking at those muscles." She flexed and kissed one of her biceps.
"So we have the plan," Ray concluded. "Let's get going."
"Shouldn't we rest a bit before doing all that?" Nina proposed. "We all are after a whole day on our feet, and who knows how long we won't have any shut-eye."
"And not to mention we all should get our cut," Vivian looked at Ray, who was still holding the suitcase.
"Yeah, sure," the man finally cracked. "We can get some rooms from the Vagabond and start investigating tomorrow."
"And while we're at it," the black-haired woman continued. "You clearly know a lot more about the ins and outs of the city than we do. Might share a bit so we won't go running like chickens with our heads cut off?"
On their way to the pub, which apparently also doubled as a cheap hotel, Ray explained the city's fundamentals. Kuchinashi was mostly divided between three major crime organizations. The first one is Hana, whose boss the gang just met, specializing in narcotics and smuggling. Many of the members would say that a man called Vermillion Raddock is 'the guy' of the organization, but it's Hunter who's the whole family's actual brains. Next is the Wave that mainly deals with stolen goods, where you could find the best thieves in the business. The organization was led by a woman named Lemon. Not much is actually know about her as she tends to keep herself on a down low. Everything that anyone who dealt with her could say to you is that she is ruthless. And finally, the Black Sheep cartel that produces and sells weapons. Apart from having the best equipment in the city, they also have many retired Huntsmen that could beat practically anyone in a fight. Having highly demandable merchandise requires the best of the best to protect it. All Ray could say about the leader was that he goes by Cerulean.
The city itself has three main areas: the Central Strip, where most of the public business is conducted. Most of the site is just a glorified marketplace, with some other minor companies trying their luck. There was also a combat school in this area, but now abandoned is a place for troubled youth gatherings. An excellent place to recruit new members for the crime families, as Ray added from himself. Stretching higher were the Upper Cliffs, the residential area. This is where the majority of the people live, especially the wealthier and mightier people. The higher you venture, the harder the conditions are. The higher you built your home, the tougher you seem in the hierarchy of the town. That's why most of the Black Sheep members live in the highest parts of the area. Lastly: the Lower Valley. Mostly known for the warehouses and front companies for the crime families. Not much to talk about this part of the city as most of what is happening there is kept in the dark. Apart from the fact that this is the first thing new arrivals see, as the train station is situated here, there is no need to go there unless you're looking for trouble.
"And that's all there is to the city," Ray concluded his lengthy exposition.
"Is there some police force here? Or anything that keeps the houses in check?" Nina asked.
"Not really," Ray answered, thinking about it. "There are some self-proclaimed sheriffs and such. Can't say they're doing much. What a few men of conviction do to a city rotter to the core?"
They paid for the rooms with the many they 'extorted' from Hunter and prepared for the night. Gran and Nina took one room while everyone else had their own.
Granola entered their room and threw his coat on the chair that stood lonely nearby the only window. He started to take off his armor when Nina stepped in.
"Let me help you with that."
"You know you don't have to," he looked at her with a gentle smile.
She smiled back with a warmth that took all his problems away. "But I want to."
With his gear off, his rugged body was on full display. A body so scarred that anyone seeing it would gasp in disbelief. He's seen much in his life and suffered through many things people wouldn't believe. Yet, through all of this, he was able to survive.
The small hand of the Faunus girl slid across the man's chest. The uneven surface of roughened skin, full of old wounds.
"What are you thinking about?" She asked, looking at her partner's expression.
"I'm pissed at Ray…"
"I know that he pulled us in some dangerous territory," she looked aside, thinking what to say. "But he's our friend."
"What kind of friend calls you after years of silence and then does something like that?" He stood up and went to the window. The only thing in there was a brick wall of the neighboring building.
"Back in the day, we went through a lot together," she calmed him down by putting her hand on his shoulder. "Yes, he's cold and inconsiderate at times… But the bonds we share aren't so easily broken. I think you can show a little trust in him."
He scoffed. "Trust… I don't think I know the man anymore…"
"Gran." She pulled his shoulder to make him face her. Her expression was fierce. It was a rare sight, but the man knew she was serious. "I choose to trust him because he showed me what it means to be a Huntress. He taught me that in this line of work, it's kill or be killed. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be standing here. You may think you don't know the man but under that cold exterior is a heart that wants the best for others. Not only for himself."
Seeing her all riled up made his heart beat faster. He had only one thing on his mind. Gran grabbed her by the waist and started kissing her neck.
"What? Now?" She was surprised, but with a playful chuckle, she played along. "Ok."
He threw her on the bed and jumped on her like a hungry beast on prey.