Coco drove the dune buggy with Velvet in the passenger seat beside her, Ren and Nora riding in the back, Nora leaning her head on Ren's shoulder.
"Aren't we there yet?!" Nora asked. "It feels like we've been driving for hours!"
"We've only been driving for half an hour," Ren told her. "We'll be there soon enough." Coco smirked as she turned quickly, Velvet gripping her arm as the vehicle slid and Nora laughed.
"I'm just surprised at how fast airships have gotten," Coco told them. "This trip used to be way longer." Velvet smiled as she looked back at Nora and Ren.
"Have the two of you ever been to Vacuo?" Velvet asked.
"Once or twice we've been here for a mission, but we've never actually been here just to vacation. We stayed in Shade for a few days on our last assignment before we started teaching! It seemed like an okay place, the people are friendly enough to each other, but they don't care much for people who are from outside Vacuo. It's no wonder the other kingdoms are always leery of offering any sort of military help to take down threats such as Strakh," Nora told Velvet. Velvet nodded.
"Coco and I spent a few days in each of the kingdoms taking in the sights," Velvet told them. Coco smiled as she glanced back at them.
"I wanted to try out some coffee shops," Coco said chuckling.
"Where are we going now?" Nora asked.
"We're going to meet one of Coco's informants. Hopefully, he can give us more information on who hired the Stardust Gang and has insight into the possible return of the White Fang," Ren explained.
"Here!" Coco exclaimed as the buggy slid to a stop, spotting the location with one the optic filters in her sunglasses. She leapt out and unveiled a hatch hidden under the desert sand. The door was thrown open and a familiar man leapt out, though he appeared more hunched than usual and had silver strands in his long braid that dragged along the ground. The end of his tail still missing, wrapped in a fresh bandage that was slightly tethered at the end. He squinted against the sun, anger plastered on his face until recognizing the huntsmen before him and he leapt gently up and down, squealing contently.
"Why it's been so long since I've had visitors but I am not disappointed. You are perhaps my favorites, hm? Come in! I wouldn't want any of you to die of a heat stroke, what kind of host would I be?" Tyrian asked as he clapped his hands excitedly. "Come now! Inside to my humble abode!" He leapt back into the hole before Coco looked back at the others, their faces told her exactly how they felt and it was as she expected they would feel. It was why she hadn't told them in advance.
"You're crazy if you think that I'm about to climb in there with that… that…" Nora struggled to find the word.
"Lunatic?" Ren asked.
"Exactly!" Nora exclaimed. Velvet looked at Coco.
"Are you sure about this?" Velvet asked. Coco rubbed the bridge of her nose and shook her head.
"Not entirely, but he's the only lead that we have left," Coco explained to them. She looked back at Nora and Ren. "I understand if you want to wait out here." They looked at each other and shrugged, Nora chuckling nervously.
"We faced him once before," Ren told her.
"Plus there's strength in numbers, right?" Nora added. They nodded and climbed in behind Coco and Velvet. Tyrian sat on his haunches on an old tattered couch, watching them file in and bouncing up and down with glee. He spun around before lying on the couch, his head propped against his hand.
"Ohh! Ohh! Velvet! Take a picture of me so they can paint me like one of your Atlesian girls when you get back!" He exclaimed, bursting into laughter. "I've missed having people around! It's such an amazing feeling! When they aren't… You know…" He leapt to his feet as they sat. "Pissing you off!" He lunged but Coco stood between him and the others and he cackled, moving back to the couch and sitting crouched again, rocking back and forth.
"Tyrian!" Coco commanded.
"Oh, I'm sorry Mrs. Adel. I was only playing, honest," he told her, sounding like a puppy that had just been scolded. "I didn't mean any harm by it…" He looked up into her eyes and smiled wickedly. "Not like what the Rose did to my Queen."
"This isn't a social call Tyrian," she informed him. He folded his arms and looked away, pouting.
"Of course not. No one comes to just visit anymore. I mean, there's no one left to come and see me anyway, is there?" He asked peeking at her from the corner of his eye. "I wonder what happened to all of them."
"Not now Tyrian," Coco told him. He perked back up.
"No matter. What is it that you need from me?" He asked, almost seeming eager to help.
"We need any information that you might have on the White Fang or the Neo-Salem Movement," Velvet stated. Tyrian looked past Coco at the bunny before looking back at the woman and throwing his head back, losing it in a fit of unnerving laughter.
"You know as well as Coco, the Neo-Sale movement died when Salem's War ended," Tyrian stated. Ren looked up at Coco.
"Salem's War?" Ren asked. Coco gritted her teeth and moved quickly to Tyrian, grabbing his tail as he chuckled, wincing in pain between his laughter.
"May I have a word with you outside?" Coco asked him. He laughed at her question.
"Do I have a choice?" He inquired. She shoved him up the ladder, her gun in his back as she forced him out and looked back down at the others.
"We'll only be a few moments," Coco told them. She slammed him through the door and he tumbled out into the sand, grumbling as he rolled to his feet.
"Do you know the definition of profiling? Exiling me to this damned desert! You think just because I'm part scorpion I like sand?! I don't! I don't like sand!" He exclaimed.
"Exile isn't a vacation Tyrian, this was the alternative you chose over us locking you away or killing you. You aren't supposed to enjoy it. And you're well aware that talking about Salem's War in the presence of anyone who wasn't on the mission roster is in direct violation of our terms and conditions that led to the agreement of allowing you to choose this exile over the alternatives. I recommend you choose your next words carefully, otherwise, I will either be taking you back with me or removing the rest of your tail," she reminded him.
"Ask your questions and then leave," he told her. "Here I was thinking that maybe you missed me. Maybe you felt some remorse for what you did during that war…" She grappled him and threw him to the ground, grinding her boot against his chest as he struggled, his tail thrashing about. "Yes!" He cackled. "That's the look! The same look that you had in your eyes when you killed Him!" She paused for a moment before pulling her foot away and taking a few steps back. He chuckled still, leaping to his feet.
"I don't come by often, even for information, because you always remind me of my transgressions," she spoke quietly. "I had no choice but to kill him, Ozpin said that someone was going to inherit Salem's power, I couldn't let that happen, I couldn't let Her hurt the people I loved again." He stopped laughing and looked at her in deep thought for a moment. "Now when I go home from this trip, it'll haunt me for a few weeks until I can push it back down. Every time I look at my son Lamar, I'll feel this inexplicable hurt that I can't fix, because I'll look at him and see that boy, and wonder if someone would be heartless enough to do it to him. It was all instinct. It wasn't an order. I don't even know if that was the child that Ozpin spoke of."
"Don't be so dramatic, he was well aware of the reason he was there, he had every intention to kill you as well," Tyrian spat. Coco looked at him and sighed as she swallowed hard.
"Do you have any information on the White Fang?" She asked him once more. He rubbed his jaw and shrugged, licking his lips and cackling.
"Perhaps. For the right price," he told her.
"I'm not here to bargain with you," she told him as sternly as she could. He nodded and smiled.
"Good… Good!" He shouted. He moved to her quickly, his tail brushing her jawline as though he were the one who had her in his clutches. "If you can't get the information from me, then Remnant will be pushed into another war, and that's exactly what you want isn't it?" She shook her head weakly.
"No…" He slapped her face with his tail and she was dazed for a moment before slamming her purse into his crotch, sending him to the ground.
"Prove me wrong you bitch! I know your type! You're not happy… No… You can't live unless there's a war and you can justify yourself as a hero once again!" He shouted from the sand he had landed on.
"I don't want that for Velv or my son!" She screamed at him.
"Then hear my request out!" He shouted. "If you can live with causing a war, put me out of my misery!" He cackled as he rocked back and forth on the ground. She helped him up and transformed her purse back into its gun form.
"Start talking," she demanded. He raises his hands and backed away from her.
"Don't do anything rash Coco," he said holding back laughter. "All that I require is a different living arrangement, a change of scenery if you will. I want to move to Shade, I've always wondered what the city looked like. What do you say? I get to head north and you get to head home with the information that you seek." Coco shook her head.
"How about you tell me or I blow a few holes in you?" She replied. He gasped and covered his mouth, shaking his head gently.
"That simply will not do. I suppose though if you must kill me, make it quick. I shall be reunited with the Queen once again," he exclaimed dramatically, throwing his head back and placing his hand against his forehead, as though he was in the middle of his final scene in a play. "You see Mrs. Adel, there is nothing that you can do at this point that will change my mind about telling you what I know. Grant my request and I will tell you. Don't let me go and risk starting that war I keep warning you about."
"Fine," she agreed after a long moment, realizing that it was the only way she'd be able to go about getting the information out of him. He glanced at her and his mouth twisted into a sneer.
"Splendid," he replied. His tail peered at her over her shoulder, as if it had a mind of its own and he grabbed it, brushing it gently. "Now I've never dealt with them directly, but what is it that you wish to know?"
"Tell me what the White Fang is planning, or at the very least, where they're hiding," Coco instructed him. He chuckled.
"Of course!" He clapped and took a step back covering his mouth. "What do you say we have fun with it? Put on a show?!" She shook her head. She truly hated him. He threw open the door and stumbled in, crashing to the floor, groaning. "Fine! I'll give you the information, just put the gun away!" He demanded. Velvet glanced at Coco as she leapt into the hole, Nora and Ren both training their guns on him.
"Just tell me already," Coco groaned. She fired several rounds over his head and he hit the ground.
"What the hell?!" He shouted. He found his feet and raised both hands as he slowly backed up, stumbling and flopping onto the couch. "I said I'd tell you!"
"Then talk!" Coco screamed. They all looked at her for a moment and Tyrian realized that he had pushed her far enough.
"So impatient!" He answered. "Rumor has it that they are setting up in Southern Vale once again. The village that they've chosen this time is more hidden than any other location they have chosen before. So hidden in fact that I've been told anyone who comes within a quarter mile of it is immediately struck down. The attacker is so fast that no one ever sees her coming. The one person who lived to tell about it insists that the Faunus, or Grimm, protecting the village, massacred eight members of the Mistral military without ever becoming visible."
"They have the power of invisibility?" Velvet asked. Tyrian shrugged and laughed.
"Who knows?" He asked. "I'm a bit out of the loop as a whole seeing as I'm not exactly allowed to leave to go anywhere, and you're monitoring this place better than Atlas Academy."
"Who's in charge?" Ren asked. Tyrian laughed.
"Who else? A Taurus!" He blurted out. Coco lowered her gun slightly.
"What?" Coco asked.
"Rumor has it that a Taurus is still in charge," Tyrian repeated.
"But Adam is dead!" Nora exclaimed. "Yang and Blake were there. They had the Atlas military confirm it." Coco looked away, staring into the corner of the room, deep in thought.
"Perhaps it's his father," Coco offered. Tyrian rubbed his hands together.
"Perhaps, but again, my information is incomplete. The Neo-Salem Movement has been disbanded for quite a long time, so perhaps the White Fang are hiring these thieves of yours in Vale," Tyrian suggested. "Now if that's all the information that you require, I'll show you out." They left, one after the other until Coco was the last one out, thinking over the terms she had agreed to, but she was sure she had made the right decision, Tyrian was hardly a threat anymore.
"Did anyone else notice that at the end?" Nora asked as they had all climbed into the vehicle and Coco was racing back towards the coast, hoping to make the next airship.
"Notice what?" Velvet asked.
"Tyrian said that it might be the White Fang hiring Mercury in Vale, but we never mentioned anything to him about the gang," Ren said. Coco stared out as she drove. Were they right? How had she not noticed?
"The important thing now is that we get back to Beacon and report all of this to Glynda and Ruby," Coco told them.
"So what are we calling this team?" Nora asked.
"Do we really need a team name?" Ren asked.
"Oh, I know. How about Team Cavern (CVRN)?" Velvet offered with a smile.
"Or we could go with Ravenclaw (RVNC)!" Nora exclaimed. "What do you think Ren?"
"Raven's don't have claws, they have talons." Nora folded her arms and pouted.
"Killjoy."
As they raced off through the desert, Tyrian watched for a long moment as they disappeared over the dunes, removing a scroll and dialing the number he had been given.
"How did it go?" The voice asked.
"Just as planned. I've placed their focus completely on the Fang," Tyrian squealed.
"Good. See to it that you are prepared to meet me in the Spring." Tyrian grinned wickedly and pulled the hatch back open with his tail.
"Of course."
A/N: The Ravenclaw joke above is in reference to a group by the same name in our previous story, Nightshade. It wasn't until we finished the story that we came to the realization that they don't have claws, they have talons.
Coco has been informed that the White Fang are pulling Mercury's strings, but who was the man on the other end of the call? Next Week, is Neeliana on an official date?! Chapter 27: Date NITE!
A big thank you to Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
Until next week, stay classy!