With the new plan laid out, Cinder found herself in a place where she needed to figure out her own plans moving forward. After two days of trying to figure out the best way to do things, Cinder threw her lack of plans to the wind.

She made a point to take Emerald when she went into the city, partially because it got the two of them away from the others, partially because they were going to be on a team together. They needed to be sure that whoever they chose to fill in the rest of their team would be sufficient, or someone that they could get along with. They'd gone through the paperwork that they'd been able to, but moving forward had been made impossible.

Some things were easy to reason. The next youngest of their group was Tyrian, but he wasn't young enough that he could pass as a student. There were at least 6 years before him and Cinder. Seven between him and Emerald. It just wouldn't have worked.

That was the reason that they'd gone into the city for. Watts had handed them a convenient enough lead in the form of Mistral's criminal culture. Cinder wasn't deeply familiar with it, but she had a feeling that Emerald was to at least some degree, considering that Emerald was a true street rat.

It was why they'd decided that Emerald should take the lead, despite the fact that she'd never done so before. Cinder followed after and listened to the little voice in her head that sounded too familiar.

You need someone strong, it whispered to her. Someone that can be absolutely ruthless.

"Are you sure that you've been here before?" Cinder asked Emerald as she was led down a dark alleyway in what has to be the outskirts of the city. Emerald had been keeping to the shadows a lot, almost nervous to the point where Cinder couldn't trust that the girl's semblance hadn't been consistently in play. She supposed that unless Emerald wanted her to know that her semblance was active, Emerald wouldn't really know. "Because I'm getting the feeling that you haven't."

Emerald paused, pressing herself in against a wooden wall, holding her head up high and peering out towards the road. "I've been here before." Emerald explains, her eyes flicking down to the space by her feet. "It's just... been a long time." Her gaze reached Cinder, and then the space just beyond them. Emerald looked back down at the ground again, apparently sure that they were alone.

With every passing moment, Cinder found herself with more questions about how Emerald had come to know the alleys. She'd probably grown up there, Cinder speculated, but she couldn't be sure. Without Emerald saying, she could never really know for sure. She had a feeling that Emerald wouldn't give up that information easily anyhow.

Emerald took a deep breath. "The thing with cities, is that you need to know where the rats are." She paused. "And there are always rats."

"Like you do?"

"Like I do." Emerald repeated, finally letting herself move again. The two of them end up further in the shadows. Cinder followed after Emerald until they were at a metal door that had been all but buried into the ground. Emerald looked back at her over her shoulder and took a deep breath. "So just... let me take the lead."

Cinder nodded, but couldn't help but feel skeptical. "I just hope that we can find someone that could be useful." She watched Emerald closely. "I don't like that I've already had to find you by chance."

A look crossed Emerald's face that made it look like she'd just been slapped. Cinder felt absolutely no sympathy towards her for it, because it was true. Finding Emerald had been luck. If they needed someone that was going to be as ruthless as Cinder thought, then chance wouldn't do the trick.

"We'll find someone." Emerald said, but she didn't seem convinced. The way that her expression didn't change but her eyes flicked away from Cinder said enough. The tension in her shoulders, the frustration in her expression. "I think we will."

"Why?" Cinder interrogated. "Do you know someone?"

"No." Emerald mumbled. "It's just a—" She shook her head. "You'll... understand. Once you see."

Just like that she took a breath and knocked on the door. Cinder crossed her arms and leaned up against the building beside her, and waited.

The door opened just a crack, a man with eyes black as night and an angry face peering out towards her. "What do you want?"

Emerald put on her bravado and stood up tall just like that. "We wanted to see the fights." She said, putting on a smile of sorts. "And maybe even fight if we get the chance."

The man grunted and the door opened up just like that, Emerald and Cinder went in together. They perhaps walked a little closer to each other than they really needed to, but that didn't matter. Now that they were in, Cinder was surprised that they weren't being looked at. Nobody paid attention to them, all eyes glued onto a ring where two fighters were locked in combat.

The blood on the floor spoke for itself.

Cinder could tell that it was an intense enough place to be in. The battles seemed to match that. She looked over at Emerald, who had already wrapped her arms around herself in the hopes that she might be able to keep calm. "So what are we going to do now that we're here?"

Emerald took a breath. "We keep an open eye. If it comes down to it-" She picked her head up and focused on the current pair of fighters. "Then one of us can go in."

Cinder grimaced. "I still don't have a new weapon."

To Cinder's surprise, Emerald's main response was to give an almost nonchalant shrug. Her red eyes remained glued to the ring. "We can improvise."

Cinder watched Emerald's expression, and the rise of an eyebrow that she got in response was enough to explain. There was a blast of air behind the two of them, but neither of them paid it much attention. "Semblances are fair game, aren't they?"

"They are." Emerald blinked. "We just have to be clever if we end up doing this." She shrugged. "Or I go in and do it myself."

Cinder nodded. "If you do, don't disappoint me."

Emerald's eyes widened for just a moment before she whispered. "Yes, ma'am."

That was going to have to do for the moment, Cinder thought as she and Emerald walked up to the side of the ring. The two people in at the moment both looked too old to be able to pass as students. Of course there was the issue of whether or not they would be able to convince someone to join in their efforts.

Threats had been an option with Emerald. In a fighting pit with people trained for hand to hand battles, Cinder figured it was less likely.

One of the two fighters in the ring was knocked to the ground, flung out of the area in one easy blow. He landed not far from the two of them. Cinder stepped out of the way cleanly and when the man stood up, it was obvious he was missing a tooth.

In the far corner of the room there was the sound of some sort of small argument. Cinder glanced over her shoulder to see a boy there, with grey hair and a bruised face in the middle of an argument that she could only guess was his father. He was probably Emerald's age, Cinder thought. Perhaps a little older.

The boy was pushed towards the ring, stumbling uneasily. The man yelled something at him, but over the chaos of the room, Cinder couldn't focus on what it was. "Emerald." Cinder said quietly.

"What?" Emerald looked her in the eye. "What is it?"

"That one."

Emerald blinked, sneering a little bit like she was surprised by the suggestion. "That one?"

"Yes." Cinder replied. There was just something about it that told her that this was the right person. The age was right, at the very least. That might have been as much as they would be able to hope for. "I think so."

"But we haven't seen him fight." Emerald hissed back at her. "What if he can't?"

"It would help if he had a proper opponent." Cinder answered Emerald. She didn't think that she was going to be able to convince Emerald into the ring that easily, but she had reason to believe that her message had been sent. "We need to be patient, Emerald."

Emerald took a breath and nodded, but Cinder could see her hands balled into fists down at her sides. Something about the situation was getting to Emerald, and Cinder didn't know what. It occured to Cinder for just a moment that Emerald had been there before to fight.

Perhaps this was how she'd ended up on the streets, Cinder mused. Or perhaps she knew this boy and didn't want to say anything.

If that was the case, then things were going to be very interesting.

But sure enough another fighter fell into place across from the boy in the ring. The boy took a breath and held his head up high, putting on something that was almost confidence. Cinder couldn't possibly missed how feigned it was, with the boy's father lingering by the side of the ring and passing money off to someone else.

Either the match was being fixed, or it was a bet.

Cinder didn't quite want to know which was the case, personally.

But sure enough, the room got louder and louder as the fight finally began. The hulking man launched himself into the fight at the boy, while the boy decided to react by launching himself off to the side and out of the way. The evasiveness seemed like it would be good in close combat, but Cinder wasn't sure.

She needed to see more.

The two men stopped near the edges of the ring, both of them stopping dead in their tracks and turning back towards each other. Cinder glanced over at Emerald out of the corner of her eye, just hoping to be able to get a read.

"What do you think?" Cinder asked.

Emerald took a breath. "I think I know what we're seeing." She glanced back over at Cinder. "He's going to lose."

"That's a pity."

"No." Emerald shook her head to the negative. "It's probably a hustle." She whispered. "But..."

There was a too-loud noise, and Cinder saw the boy land in front of the two of them. He pushed himself up with his elbows, glaring across at his opponent before pushing himself back upright. Cinder could have sworn that he looked back at the two of them for just a moment, but banished the thought just as quickly as the boy launched himself at the man one last time.

He ended up with a fist in his stomach that launched him out of the ring. Cinder watched him. He pushed himself upright, shaky and uneasy on his feet before stumbling forward. The fact that a winner was already being declared didn't seem to matter to him.

Cinder furrowed her brow and leaned in towards Emerald. "It seems you were right."

Emerald nodded. "He isn't done." She said through grit teeth.

"Wait!" He shouted from the sidelines, taking his first steps back into the ring. "I know I can do better." He announced like that was all there was to it. "One more. That's all."

"You can't do it, boy." The man who had just won his match growled back. "Do you need me to teach you a lesson?"

The boy stood up tall and looked over to the side of the ring where the man that he'd come with was standing, talking to the same man that he'd been earlier.

"I guess you do." He said, staring back at the man with narrowed eyes. "Just one more fight. It won't be any skin off of your back."

The man shook his head. "The boy's an idiot!" He announced to the room and won an easy laugh out of just about everyone there. "But if he needs to be taught-"

He looked back at the boy and grinned. "Then I guess class is in session."

The boy nodded and walked to the same starting position that he'd been in for the first fight. He sank into a fighting stance while his opponent did the same on the other side. Cinder saw his eyes flicker over to the corner of the ring once more, a grimace passing over his face.

The fight began with the loud ring of the bell. The giant man charged the boy, swinging a mighty fist at his head. Instead the boy dropped down to the ground, catching himself on his hands and throwing his legs out to his sides, twisting a kick up into the man's jaw.

The man fell back a little bit, while the boy turned back upright before launching off of the ground at the man again, this time a little too hard and a little too quickly to be completely natural. Cinder could have sworn that she'd heard something, but it didn't matter because he had a foot doing directly into the larger fighter's jaw.

The man went down with a loud enough thud that it made it feel like the building had shook. The boy landed evenly and stood up tall, stretching easily. "So that was your lesson?"

The entire room went silent, and Cinder saw that there was an obvious exchange of money. Now she had an idea as to just what exactly Emerald had meant.

It was a hustle, plain and simple.

"Thank you, sir." The boy said before turning and leaving the building. Cinder watched him and waited, the man following close after him.

"I think we're done here." Cinder whispered to Emerald, giving her a nudge. Emerald looked back at the ring and sighed before following after her.

There was just a moment's hesitation before they were on their way out of the building. Cinder made sure to try and keep her and Emerald's low profile on the way out, and when the guard gave them a weird look she simply offered that this wasn't the place for them.

It wasn't wrong. They'd found exactly what they'd been looking for.

"What now?" Emerald asked her once the two of them were in a place where it was unlikely that anyone would be listening in on them. "You found the one that you think you want, but-"

"But we need to find him." Cinder finished for Emerald with a roll of her eye. "I know."

"Look-" Emerald frowned and waved her hands a little bit, like she was trying to physically gather control over the situation. "If he's part of a scheme like that regularly, then he probably isn't leaving easy. And that's assuming that he has any real control."

Cinder took a breath. "We're going to get him. I can assure you of that."

"I know that you keep saying that but-" Emerald shook her head. "I don't know." Cinder saw the way that the girl's lips pursed in frustration, and the way that Emerald hugged herself in a weak attempt to gain some comfort. "We don't know anything about that boy, and we're going to have to go to Vale."

"Which is why we need to track him down first." Cinder explained. "Now be quiet."

Emerald snapped her mouth shut and Cinder felt a sort of satisfaction over it. She waved for Emerald to follow after her, deciding that the best starting place would be with a general perimeter check. It was what Hazel would have done, at the least. Cinder felt... something over that thought, but tried her hardest not to dwell on it.

The two of them dipped around in front of the building. The streets were well-lit in the front, clearly prepared for any type of foot traffic which might have gone through the area. Cinder thought back to what they'd seen at the little underground matches. The boy had been bruised, conspicuously so.

Somehow, despite his performance, Cinder doubted that it was painted on.

The two of them strayed off onto the side roads, both of them listening in for the sounds of any voices. Off in the distance, Cinder thought she heard something and followed after it in the hopes of finding what she was looking for.

Just outside of the city limits there was the pair. Emerald and Cinder dipped out of view and waited, listening in on the discussion that was at hand. If there was anything which was immediately apparent, it was that it was rather heated.

"You know that you were supposed to throw that match." The older man growled at the boy, stepping in close and jabbing a finger in his direction. "We could have had a good thing going, Mercury."

"You got what you wanted." Mercury replied, but he sounded more than just angry when he said the words. "So I don't see the problem. Since you're not the one going into the ring."

"Don't go thinking that I didn't see what you did out there, boy." The man growled again. "I was generous to give you what I did."

"That's what we're calling it now?" Mercury bit back, only to be silenced by a too-loud and too-hard slap. He clamped his mouth shut and didn't raise his head again for the entire rest of the conversation.

"If you had been patient, you could have made me thousands of Lien. Instead I only got three hundred and fifty." The man took a step back. "So give me one good reason I shouldn't leave you in a ditch."

"I'm your son."

"Not good enough." The man replied. "You know they'd never find you."

"Like they never found— "

There was another blow, this one too hard. The boy was knocked back several feet this time, and Cinder saw the obvious flicker of his aura under the impact. Cinder took a breath and looked over at Emerald.

"Intervene."

The instruction that she gave wasn't good and she knew it. Of course, this was at least partially a test of seeing what Emerald would even do. Cinder would step in herself if she needed to, but she wasn't the one carrying a solid weapon.

Emerald took a breath and raised herself onto her feet before reaching back for her guns. She looked forward at the two men and Cinder waited.

The two of them jumped, Mercury putting more of a distance between himself and his father in the process.

"What was that?" The man growled.

"I don't know." Mercury replied, still shrinking back in his own way. "Maybe we should go."

"Bullshit." He grumbled. "Could be bandits."

"Not this close to a city— ." Mercury mumbled back. "Cops?"

"Get out of here." The man growled at Mercury, who gladly dipped out of the way. He turned to head back into the city, making a beeline for the inn that was nearest to the city gates.

Cinder got up and pat Emerald's shoulder to let the girl know that she was going. The two of them could meet back at their own room later regardless. Emerald nodded and slipped well out of view.

After a second, Cinder decided to follow after the boy. He glanced back over his shoulder for just a moment and sped up, but Cinder just did what she could to match his pace instead of let herself be left behind.

Mercury seemed to commit himself from getting away from her faster, but before he could get further, Cinder thought fast and threw herself into her semblance, bringing up a pillar of fire in front of him for just a moment. Just enough to stop him from going any further.

"Stop." Cinder commanded, making sure to hold herself tall and confidently like she would have with anyone else. "I just want to talk to you."

"Why?" Mercury snarled back. "Did you lose money because of me? Because I'm not the one to come to if that's your problem."

"No." Cinder smiled just a little bit. "But I am very interested in you."

Mercury stared back at her, with black eyes and obvious anger in his face and the way that he stood. "What do you want then?"

Cinder cocked her head to the side. "You're a strong fighter."

"So what." Mercury growled. "What are you, a huntress?"

"No." Cinder stepped in towards Mercury regardless, hopeful to try and get something from him. "I'm not. I'm not law enforcement either."

"A client then?"

Client? "No." Cinder made sure to file that bit of information away for the future. "I am just looking for someone that could help me."

Mercury stood up tall. "I don't know that you know what you're getting involved with." The way that he held himself seemed to be completely calculated. Cinder was used to people that she was supposed to be afraid of that point.

It did nothing to her.

"I think that I do." Cinder sighed. "I need someone that can come with me and can hold his own in battle. I need someone that can be strong, and powerful, and someone that is capable of doing anything." She stepped in towards Mercury one last time and offered her hand. "My name is Cinder Fall."

He narrowed his eyes at her for a moment before glancing away from Cinder. He seemed to check for any spectators before looking back at her, intense and angry. "What do you really want from me?"

Cinder took a breath. "I am working on getting a group of people to go to Vale with me." She explained calmly. "For a particular task to be done."

"What does that have to do with me?" Mercury snarled back. "Because you haven't offered many reasons to go."

"I'm offering you a chance to get out of this." Cinder said, taking a breath. It reminded her of Emerald, and what it had taken to convince her. "I saw what happened between you and that man. Is he your father?"

"It's none of your business." Mercury muttered, looking back to the road again. "And you couldn't change things for me even if you wanted to." He sounded angry and even scared, which left Cinder wondering. "What do you want anyways? You still haven't given me a real reason."

Cinder took a breath. "I am involved in something great," She explained quietly. A part of her wanted to summon up the Maiden's power, to speak for Salem, but that wasn't something that she could allow. Not with someone that didn't know. "Something that has the potential to topple kingdoms. You can choose to say no to me, but if you do-" She stretched her hand out at her side, letting a flame form in her palm. "Then I am not afraid to leave you."

Mercury held his chin up. "What would be in it for me if I decided to go with you?"

"Power. Greatness. You could be away from this place, and you could pursue opportunities unlike anything you've been able to before." Cinder smiled at him and let the flame snuff out just as quickly as it had appeared. "All that I need from you is for you to say yes, and if you do, you will be safe and cared for."

This time when Cinder moved closer, Mercury didn't react much at all. Instead, he stood rigid and strong. "How are you so sure that you can do that?"

"I am strong." Cinder said, and while those words would have sat so wrong with her before, now it did not. "In ways you could never imagine. But I need help, people that don't mind doing things that will often be unpleasant to achieve a goal. I can find you a doctor and feed you, and give you shelter. With me, you can be cared for."

She met his eyes. "You just have to say yes."

So she reached forward and offered Mercury her hand.