Chapter twenty-four: Capture and Recovery… maybe not in that order
(a/n- Looking at a few reviews that caught my eye. "Why would his face go bright red from a simple kiss on the cheek, when he is literally having sex with Blake." The answer is simple, because it isn't Blake. If it was Blake, he wouldn't be embarrassed at all, but since it's Pyrrha, someone he's literally only spoken to three times before last chapter, he's caught off guard.
Second one: "I swear Jaune's character is based off of Valentine from Fallout." If you mean Nick Valentine, then you are CORRECT sir! Though it was probably rather obvious since, in Chapter two, I stated that the original name for this series was "Jaune Valentine: Vale Detective. So yeah, that's what his character is based on.
Last one: "... Needs work. Kinda dumb to be honest." Okay… how? I mean… if you don't like my work, that's your opinion, fine. Just saying it 'needs work'... what kind of work are you talking about? I'm not a mindreader here. Though I have to say I'm really surprised this is the first negative review of JALR agency I've seen so far, given that it's now Chapter twenty-four and has been up for… over ten months? Man… figured I'd have realized it was that old at this point.
Anyway, enough of the author's note. I mostly did this since the first two were guest reviews that I felt I needed to respond to but, since they're listed as guests, I can't just private message them to confirm them. The last one… well, I went back and tried figuring out what was 'dumb' about my work. There could be a lot of things (like the shit grammar in some of the earlier chapters) but, just telling me it's dumb… I can't fix that. That and, I felt the need to respond since I realized it was the first negative review I've gotten for JALR agency (not on this site mind you… Rubicus and Beacon Pet Center have a few of those… the former very justifiably, I won't lie (it was terrible, not gonna lie)). Aaaaanyway, enough rambling. Let's get to what you came for.
Ps. I'm fine with criticism, most of it is rightly justified, but just telling me my work 'needs work'… at least tell me why it's bad so I can make it better. I hate having to clarify this.)
"Where is he!? I want to see him!"
"Ma'am, please, calm down."
"Where's my Jaune!?"
"Blake?" I asked, looking off to the right. I was still dressed the same, the doctors only needed to dress my wounds and I would be good to go… if a little sore for a week or two. I saw the door fly open before my little kitty dashed in, her eyes puffy and filled with tears as she wrapped her arms around my chest, sobbing before she reached up, crying as she kissed my neck, cheeks, lips, I wasn't even sure she was trying to aim at this stage. I just held her close, shutting my eyes as I heard her sobbing, telling me how glad she was I wasn't dead, how angry she was that I got hurt. All kinds of things really.
After a few minutes I felt her stop, resorting to just a few sniffles and whimpers here and there. I opened my eyes, smiling at her as I placed my hands on either side of her face, wiping away at her tears with my thumbs. "It's good to see you too kitty cat." "I… you fiend…" she muttered, leaning against my chest as I felt her jump up, laying next to me as she rubbed her head against my shoulder. I smiled at her as I reached up, gently petting her ears. "Odd, where's her… oh, right." I thought as I saw the same, black ribbon that served as her bow still tied to my upper arm. I heard her purring as I leaned over, kissing her cheek. "Glad you two are having fun." I heard a familiar voice say.
I looked up, smiling when I saw Ren walking over to me, though… I was slightly off put by his smile. I didn't even know his mouth could extend that wide. "What happened with you?" "You tell me." he said, laying his hands down to his sides as he stood. I looked over him, trying to figure out what was either wrong with him, or incredibly right with him. It was kind of hard to tell which one it would be to be honest. "Hmm… no marks on his neck. No rope burns on his wrists, his hands? Wait… HOLY HELL!" I thought as my eyes widened, meeting his eyes. The thing that caught my attention? Well, that was rather simple.
The ring on his left ring finger.
"You're getting married?" "And you're becoming a godfather." he said, smirking slightly as I felt my eyes widen even more. Blake was catching on at this stage, looking over at him. It took her a minute to notice the wedding ring, likely even more to process the godfather comment. "How's Nora-" "Hellooo~" "Taking… it." I finished, smiling slightly as I saw Nora walk in the room. Her eyes were starry and nearly closed, a smile on her face as she hummed slightly. I looked down and, sure enough, there was a ring on her finger, one that had two blue diamonds on the front. "Ren spared no expense on you did he? Then again… it IS Nora." I thought, watching as Nora pat her (still the same size) belly. She was dressed in what looked to be a black t-shirt and jeans, something more normal than what she usually had on. She was leaned against Ren, who was dressed as always, and smiling at me. Something she never did.
"When did you find out?" "Just the other night. Oh! What do you think we should name it!?" Nora asked, looking at me. I raised an eyebrow… she was asking me what to name her baby? There was no specter in the room behind me. I turned and, sure enough, it was just me, Ren, Nora, Blake, and the baby in Nora's belly that was still just barely there. "Me?" "Well, you are it's godfather and my best man, seems like you should have some input." he said, smiling down at me. I returned the smile… Ren had actually discussed this with me once, so when he told me I would be his best man, I wasn't all that surprised. I looked down, frowning as I tried to think of a name… a combination of genes from the Crazy drug dealer and the ex-professional poisoner? There were a lot of things to choose from.
"How about Lapis?" (a/n- look at a color wheel and you might get the joke.)
"Hmm… not bad." "I like it!" Nora said, smiling at me. Ren looked at her, raising an eyebrow. I did the same, it was very odd for Nora to agree with anything I said, even if it meant she couldn't be right about it. So her instantly liking my name choice? Very unsettling. Then again, she was the one that would be carrying around the baby for the next nine months so, fitting enough she would have final say on the name. "Lapis Ren… or should it be Lapis Valkyrie? Lie Lapis? What are you going with?" Blake asked, deciding to jump in the conversation. Nora looked at Ren, who only shrugged. Nora just smiled, shrugging and giving a look that said 'We'll figure it out later'.
"So… what about you two?" "What?" me and Blake asked Nora in unison. What about us? I mean, I had a pretty good guess as to what she was going to say, but at the same time, you could never be sure with Nora. "I mean when are you two taking the leap?" "Oh! Uh… well…" I said, looking away from everyone. I saw Blake's face burn slightly as she looked away from me. I mean… it wasn't as if I was opposed to it but… at the same time… "Well Nora… me and Blake haven't been dating near as long as you and Ren. I mean… it's not even been a month yet. Give it time and… someday we will." I said, smiling at Blake. She looked back at me, her face burning bright red at that statement. The most likely reason? I'd said someday we will, not someday we might.
And if an Arc is able, he never goes back on his word.
…
"Mrs. Rose?"
I looked up, frowning as I saw Clyde walking towards me, his hands behind his back. I floated back away from June, letting my hands slip off her hips as I approached the edge of the pool, hoisting myself out of the water as I looked up at Clyde. "This better be good." I said, hoping it wasn't something trivial. If he'd gotten me out of the water, away from June, to tell me anything less than the house was being stormed by the VCPD, I was going to kill him… scratch that, I'd let Ruby do it. He held out an envelope, lowering his voice as he leaned down. "It concerns Mr. Arc. Our people in the papers have intercepted a story about an attack, one he was apart of. They are wondering if they have your approval to place his name or picture in the papers." "Hmm… thank you for bringing this to my attention. Contact our people and tell them to remove any mention of Jaune Arc in the papers, we can't have this kind of exposure." I said.
I walked over to the side of the pool, wiping my hands off on my towel before I took the envelope from Clive, him returning inside to relay my instructions to the papers. I sat down, opening the envelope and pulling out a few photographs, as well as an attached letter. The photographs were in black and white, as all photographs were, but even then I could recognize the handsome man in the picture, even with his injuries. In the next picture there was Pyrrha Nikos, badly burned on her right side, her left side still as striking as ever. I flipped it over, my eyes widening as I saw none other than Mercury Black. Most wouldn't recognize him, but the gray hair and the black cloak were enough for me to tell.
I looked at the letter, reading what had happened. "So the Fallen has fallen… fitting enough. Glad I hadn't gotten around to hiring her yet." I muttered, closing the letter and setting it on the table. I grabbed my wine glass next to it, sipping at the familiar red liquor as I saw June getting out the pool, the water slowly slipping off her thin frame, her cold, dead eyes gazing at me with that familiar intensity of hers. She always did have that, even when we were kids. Even before she became the monster she is now… or maybe, she had always been a monster, and was only now not trying to hide it. "What's that about?" "Nothing much, a few idiots botched a job." I explained. I wasn't lying, there was another part in that letter, about how a gang known as the 'Sugar sloths' had destroyed one of our cargo ships. It would set us back almost a month, but at the same time, it also gave me an excuse to finally get rid of them.
"Hmm… about your party-" "It's been postponed." I said. June raised an eyebrow, but wisely decided against questioning me. We talked about nothing major for several minutes, June asking about business and blatantly ignoring the elephant in the room. The reason the party was postponed. Eventually she lost interest, turning around and walking back towards the pool, diving in next to her daughters, who were busy playing Marco Polo with Ruby. I smiled, it was hard to believe that the three of them were the most dangerous killers in remnant, watching them play around like the children they were. It was almost endearing… almost. "Oh Summer~" "Yes Tai?" I asked, smiling as I turned around.
The blond hair, familiar voice, and the cigar in his mouth were all I needed to see to know my husband. Of course, the brilliant lilac eyes were another hint of it. He was clad in, oddly, a three-piece suit. I mean, I was just in a bikini after a swim. What was he doing? He walked over, kissing me as I kissed back, wrapping my arms around him. "Eww! Mom! Gross!" I heard Ruby say as the other children were laughing, June giving a subtle glare towards my husband. We parted, smiling slightly at Ruby. Sure she was subservient to me and me alone… but that didn't mean I couldn't let her have a little fun did it? "Why the get up Tai? Going somewhere?" "We're going somewhere actually. Come on." he said, grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the house. I pulled back slightly, at the very least I needed to put some real clothes on.
"Tai wait! I need to get dressed first!" "No need, just trust me." he said, smirking slightly as I felt my cheeks tinge pink. Something was up, it always was when he gave me that cocky little smile. Rather than walk over to the limo, he walked over to one of his own cars, a simple thing really. Expensive sure, but not overly so. Tai nearly shoved me in the back before he got into the front, slowly pulling out of the driveway. He never did get used to being chauffeured around, always liked to drive himself. "Tai! I'm wearing something that equates to underwear! Where are we going!?" "We're going to pick up your dress from the dry-cleaners. You'll get changed and we'll head out to dinner alright? I booked us a reservation at our old place, remember?" he said, smiling over at me.
I sighed, slowly nodding. He was referring to the old Vacuo place, a high end restaurant that the two of us frequented when we first started dating. It was a modest place among high end restaurants honestly, but they still had remarkably good food. I just sat towards the middle, slightly scrunched in on myself as I hoped no one saw me riding in the back of the car in just a bikini. Wouldn't be the most embarrassing thing the press had on me, but still, it was up there. At least I was wearing something this time around. He pulled into a parking garage near the restaurant before he got out, leaning back and kissing me before he did so. I just sat there, waiting… and waiting… and waiting.
"What's taking him so long?" I thought as I looked out the back window. Something was off… he never took that long to pick up a dress. Something must've been keeping him. I looked around, my eyes widening when I realized something. Four cars were parked in the same level as I was, that level being the fourth one. All of them looked the same, black sedan's with tinted windows. I saw the doors open, men in white and red masks stepping out. "White Fang? What're they doing here?" I thought as I saw another sedan pull up, right next to mine. This one was different, I could tell immediately. For starters, it had the markings on the bottom of the windows, bullet-proof. Just like the windows in this car. The other thing was that they weren't tinted at all. I could see plainly the woman inside.
Sienna Khan herself.
She stepped out of the car, dressed in a black tux with a red tie, smiling as she opened the door; Tai never locked it. "Get out of the car. We need to talk." she said, keeping that smile on her face as another two men stepped out of her car. One of them was her Black Hand, Adam Taurus. He held a red katana in one hand, a sawed-off double-barrel shotgun in the other, aimed right at me. The other man was just a grunt, holding a tommy gun in his hands, aimed at me. The other men started walking over, surrounding the car, securing the entrances to the building. I slowly gulped as I started moving out of the car, making it clear I had no weapon on me. I stepped out of the car, one of the other trucks moving over as Adam walked to it, opening the trunk. Sienna produced a pen as the other grunt handed her a notepad. "Strip down, leave the bikini." "Fine." I said, sliding out of the lower half before unclipping the bra, tossing them both in the car.
Sienna looked down, "Double D?" "Just one D actually." I said, not bothering to cover up or blush. If she knew I was embarrassed, she could exploit it. I knew how she worked well enough. At least, if rumor was to be believed. She nodded, motioning towards Adam. Adam walked over, carrying a set of handcuffs. I felt myself pinned against the trunk of Tai's car, the handcuffs slapped on behind me before he moved down. Someone must've been handing him things, since the next thing I knew I felt rope binding my legs together, tying my arms to them as I felt myself forced to bend slightly backwards. "Is this really necessary?" "You're a trained killer, of course it is." Sienna said, walking over. I fought back a gasp as she slipped her hand into my cleavage, feeling around and pulling out a small knife, one I always carried with me just in case. She set it in her own, slightly smaller, cleavage before she did the same with my rear, but finding nothing this time.
I felt myself lifted as Adam carried me to the van with the open trunk. I raised an eyebrow when I saw someone else in there, this one in a similar situation to me. Although, for some reason, they'd let her keep her purple underwear. She had long blonde hair, defiant green eyes glaring at Adam as she started shouting through her tape gag, struggling against her bonds. She, unlike me, had her hands bound to a ring on the cars roof. Her legs were folded beneath her, she was facing the side of the car, and her rear was jutted out. If I had to guess, they hadn't been as gentle with her, given the bright red state of her large behind. Adam shut the door a second later, leaving me and the much more bound woman in the car. I felt us start moving as I moved back, reaching my less restrained feet towards the woman.
I moved my toes around, years of experience in kidnapping situations having made me rather adept at using things other than my hands for situations just like this. I pulled the tape off with my feet, the woman gasping for a second before shouting obscenities at the drivers, how the animals should let her go. That is, before I stuck my feet in her mouth. "Stop shouting, or they'll come back here and gag you more thoroughly, got it? Shout again and I'll just gag you with my feet." I said before pulling back, wiping my feet on the sides of the seat. Man she had a lot of saliva. The woman nodded a few times, trying her best to move, but only succeeding in making her rear and chest jump like crazy against their bonds.
"Who are you?" "I'm Glynda Goodwitch, deputy chief of the Vale Police Department. These animals have us captives! How are you so calm!?" she whisper yelled, taking my threat about using my feet to gag her seriously. I was more than willing to do it, this bitch sounded incredibly irritating. I didn't particularly care about the faunus vs. humans. I was a businesswoman, they were customers. Capitalism is blind and all that. "Because if they wanted us dead, they wouldn't have gone through the effort to strip us and tie us up. They'd have gunned us down on the spot. Did they say why they wanted you?" "No! They just took me from my home, that red haired one beat me with a paddle until I stopped talking… I won't even tell you what the tiger did to me." she said, a shiver running up her spine. I wasn't surprised, Sienna Khan was nothing if not aggressive. And if this woman was as racist at work as she was now? Oh Sienna would've had plenty of anger to work out.
"What about you?" "They want to talk business. They stripped me because they were afraid I had a weapon on me." I explained, moving around my legs behind my back, using my hands to work with the ropes. Glynda sat in silence, watching me move around until I dropped the ropes, my legs freed. The handcuffs though? Without a bobby pin or a key of some kind, there wasn't a chance was getting out of them. Not that it mattered, they wouldn't hurt a hair on my head if they knew what was good for them. "You're loose? Perfect! Quick! Get me out and I can he-MMPH!" "What did I say?" I said, staring her down as I shoved my right foot in her mouth. For good measure I kicked her ass with the other one, causing her to let out a grunt of displeasure. "Since you're so inept at this, let me be clear. Shut the fuck up, or I'll garrote you with this handcuff chain, understand?" I said, moving around and showing her the cuffs.
She nodded fiercely as I moved my foot, the woman coughing to try and get the taste out. I just moved back, trying to settle into a comfortable position until we reached our destination, wherever that may have been. Eventually, with Glynda finally deciding to be quiet, I managed to lull myself into a state of mind. Not quite awake, not quite asleep. Later I wouldn't remember a thing, just the drive itself, the vibrations of the car lulling me there. They were smart too, the tinted windows and high back walls, making me unable to even see where the sun was. There was no way to tell where we were going, no way for me to track them. When I felt the car stop, I had no clue where we were at, not that it really mattered. When Sienna opened the back, the only thing I could see were the other cars. She smirked,
"Summer Rose. We have a lot to talk about."
…
"Commissioner Ironwood?"
I said, raising an eyebrow as I saw the man walking past me. He had the same graying hair, bags under his eyes and five o'clock shadow as usual. Recent events must've been taking a toll on him. He was clad in a white suit, his pistol stowed in his jacket and two police deputy's accompanying him. He didn't acknowledge me, brushing past as he hurriedly walked towards the entrance to the building. I raised an eyebrow, a few red flags going up as I walked in the room, looking towards Pyrrha. I saw her left eye look towards, me, her mouth still frowning as I saw tears slipping from it. I walked over, pulling up a chair next to her as I tried to ignore the amount of bandages on her other side. She looked up at the ceiling, and she started talking to me. She sounded just the same, despite what had happened. "I've been in the force since I was fifteen Jaune, did you know that? It was five years just last month." "You hardly even look seventeen honestly." I said, giving her a brief smile.
She didn't seem to appreciate the attempt at lightening the mood, only glaring at me for a second before she looked back up, more tears falling. "Ironwood walked in. Didn't give me a card. No 'get well soon'. Nothing. He put that letter," she pointed half-heartedly to a letter on the nightstand, "and told me: 'Miss Nikos. I must inform you that you are official relieved of duty by reason of being unfit to work.'... then he left. He left Jaune… they left me…" she said, tears falling from her eye as she sobbed, looking up at the ceiling. She reached over, my eyes widening as I saw her take a nearby vase of flowers, one with the familiar logo of the VCPD on it, and threw it at the wall with a loud CRASH! Water and flowers falling to the floor.
"FIVE DAMN YEARS! FIVE YEARS AND THE BEST THEY CAN DO! THE BEST THEY CAN DO IS FIRE ME!?" she shouted, grunting in pain as she gestured. I held out my hand, making her lay back down. She was in no condition to be moving around like that. She reached up, pulling my hand over her cheek as she nearly nuzzled into it, sobbing into it as every wall of strength I'd ever seen her put up came tumbling down. I saw for the first time what Pyrrha really was. A girl. A scared, human girl that had the pressure of the world on her shoulders. And all that pressure had finally caused her to shatter. So I stood there, using my other hand to try and comfort her as I tried to help channel the floodwaters, give her someplace to relieve herself. Eventually those sobs turned into sniffles, and those sniffles turned into dead silence.
I pulled away, moving my chair closer as I saw her look up at the ceiling. "Ozpin showed up… said he was sorry… he didn't have the heart to tell me why… why he was so sorry for me." she said, her eyes blank now, the sadness buried within with the force of habit. The habit of hiding away. I didn't bother to comfort her with "It's okay" or "It'll get better". I didn't sugarcoat things… and right now, I knew Pyrrha was hurt. I knew it hurt her to even speak, but it hurt her so much more to stay silent. She looked up, holding up her hand and gently flexing her finger down. I leaned in, thinking she was going to whisper. Only instead… I felt her peck me on the cheek. I felt my face flush slightly as I leaned back, rubbing my cheek.
She smiled, "I wish I'd met you six months ago… before you ever had Blake. I wish I'd met you earlier even, wish we'd grown up together. I wish I'd had someone like you in my life before all this… before I joined the force… before I was kicked out. You're… you're too good for this world Jaune… you really are." "No… you're too good for it. I'm exactly where I need to be. Someone has to make it good enough for people like you right?" I said, smiling down at her as she reached over, taking my hand. She chuckled slightly, cringing a bit. I had no doubt the action caused her a lot of pain. Her eye finally focused on me again, and I saw for the first time a sort of warmth in her gaze, something I hadn't seen before. "I've never had a real friend before… I wish I'd had one like you when I was little." "Well… you aren't exactly little anymore but… if you want a friend like me… you've got one." I said, patting her hand.
She sighed, lightly kissing my hand. "Thanks Jaune… but do me a favor. Don't tell Blake I kissed you?" "I won't… this world is bad sometimes but I uh, rather like living in it." I said, getting a slight chuckle out of the injured girl before she sighed, leaning into her pillow slightly as she shut her eye. "When I'm cleared out of here… you mind helping me figure things out? What comes next?" "Pyrrha… you don't even have to ask." I said, smiling at her as I stood. I could tell she was getting tired, even before she said it a second later. I turned, walking out the door as I saw her sleeping, one of the nurses walking past me. I turned out into the hallway, smiling as I saw the two familiar figures running towards me.
I leaned down, embracing the rabbit faunus and black haired girl I knew to be Neo in the disguise Pyrrha made for her. I spun them around, lightly kissing Ton-Ton's cheek before I did the same to Neo's forehead. "Let me go! Where's my daughter!?" I heard the familiar voice say. I looked up, my eyes widening as I saw a tall man shove Velvet into the nearby wall, pulling her hands behind her back as I saw him going for his handcuffs. "HEY! What's going on!?" I shouted, walking towards the officer, glaring at him. He looked over, raising an eyebrow towards me. "This is a human only facility, her kind aren't welcome here without due cause." "She's visiting me, that's considered due cause under act 7 of the Vale Municipal Structure Guidelines." I said, giving a slight glare to the man. Being a detective, I had to know the law I was sometimes required to enforce/waive.
The man glared at me, "Are you back-talking an officer?" "It's of no relevance to the issue, nor is it a crime to state the facts. You're arresting an innocent woman officer… Winchester, is it? So unless you plan to have a Class 3 action suit against you for wrongful arrest, or a Class 6 action suit for assaulting an innocent, or even a Class 7 suit against you for domestic violence, I suggest you let her go." I said. The man's face paled slightly as he stepped back, walking away from Velvet as I glared at him, motioning him away from Velvet as I reached over, gently taking her wrists. "Are you okay?" I asked once the man was gone. Velvet looked over at me, her eyes still wide and spooked, her heart no doubt still pounding. She nodded her head regardless, smiling slightly as I sensed some of the tension leaving her shoulders. "Yeah… thanks to you." "Listen, while you're in here -and this goes for you two too-" I said, pointing at Neo and Ton-Ton "Don't get too far away from me, otherwise they'll try and slap you with trespassing charges. Just say you're visiting Jaune Arc if they try." I explained.
Velvet pulled me aside, holding up her hand as if to shield Ton-Ton and Neo from her words. "They… they won't really arrest little Ton-Ton will they? I mean… she's child." "They will, they'll either charge her with trespassing as a juvenile and send her to a detention center, or they'll charge you with child neglect and try to get you locked up in a penitentiary, send her to an orphanage where no one will bother looking after her just because she's a faunus." I said, Velvet's eyes getting wider and wider as I spoke. It may not have even been the words, but rather just how matter-of-factly I said them. Velvet walked over, wrapping her arms around her daughter and hoisting her up, letting the little girl rest on one arm as she placed the other on her back. "How do you know so much about this Jaune?" "Discrimination pays your salary Velvet." I said, sighing slightly as I leaned back against the wall. Wished I could smoke right now, but we're still in a hospital. "Most of the police don't help the faunus, so people like us do. We tell ourselves we're doing it for their good but really… it's not that. Not only that."
"We're just maggots, feeding off their sores."
