Light washed over Lago as the sun rose, the lake sparkling under the bright light.
Like a flowing river, beams flooded into Argilla's bedroom. He blinked awake, rising slowly as he took a look at the clock by his bedside. Six in the morning, he ought to get up. Argilla stood, his feet stepping out onto the cold wood floor as he began to walk toward the kitchen.
He found himself brewing a mug of coffee as the radio next to him crackled to life. "The recent spike in Grimm attacks have begun to die down, as huntsman and huntresses, local and foreign, have worked together to protect the walls of Lago from any outside invasion. Some huntsman have even begun surveying Lake Lazuro, attempting to suppress the rise of any aquatic Grimm. Some believe that this recent rise in Grimm activity has been due to a string of gang violence in Lago, and as things stand, it seems to be the most likely cause."
Argilla listened for a few more minutes, gulping down the rest of his coffee. He turned off the radio as the report came to an end, placing his mug in the sink. Argilla spent exactly five minutes in the shower, and a similar amount of time brushing his teeth and combing his hair back. He had just finished dressing up when his scroll rang.
Argilla recognized the voice as he answered it, another Classic Chamber Operative. "I need a little help opening this jar, think you could come and loosen it for me?"
"Yes," Argilla said, and that was all the conversation was. Argilla had hung up before anything else could be spoken. He was quickly out the door and into the cloudy streets of Lago, walking briskly to Classic Chamber's base of operations. Opening the lift, Argilla entered in the calm of the morning. He descended down a flight of stairs into the lower depths of the compound, finding the operative whom he had talked to on the scroll earlier.
"I apologize to call you here this early, Mr. Aubade, but no matter what I do, this fella' in here won't crack!" The operative pointed behind herself into a dimly lit room. Meeting Argilla's cold gaze was a young man, beaten and bruised. Just another member of the Loch Mafia that thought it could pick on the big dog. Argilla cast a shadow on the man, blocking the light as he approached him.
"I was hoping you could, y'know, rough 'em up a bit like you usually do, Mr. Aubade! I'm just trying to get some of the locations of [insert other gang bosses here]" The Operative said.
Argilla nodded, "Of course, you may leave this to me," He turned around, facing the operative. "Please, close the door. Things may get a bit loud in here." She nodded, slamming the door shut and leaving the man at Argilla's disposal.
Argilla kneeled before the prisoner in front of him, as the prisoner avoided eye contact with Argilla. Argilla finally broke the silence. "You have presented with two options. Either you will reveal to me the locations of your leaders and/or bases of operation, or I will break you, and I will break you to the point where you won't know what's real anymore."
The prisoner laughed at Argilla. "After what I've been through, do you think I'll talk so easily?! Give me your worst!" The prisoner taunted, a wide smirk on his face. He spat at Argilla's shoes, looking up to see the reaction of his torturer. Much to his surprise, Argilla's face remained unchanged. He watched as Argilla slowly began to remove his gloves, exposing his bare hands to the cold air in the room.
"I see you have elected the latter option. Very well, don't try to make too much noise. Nobody will hear you anyways." Argilla stated, reaching out with his left palm towards the prisoner's head. Before the prisoner could speak, Argilla's hand had latched onto his forehead. Nothing happened for the first few seconds, as Argilla sat completely motionless. The prisoner began to doubt Argilla's methods for a brief moment before his mind had suddenly become assaulted by various images.
The room he had known began to fall away around him. Even Argilla, who had been right in front of him, had vanished from his view. Instead, the prisoner found himself at the bottom of a body of water, feeling a desperate need for air. He began swimming to the surface, his lungs screaming for air. He was only a few inches from the surface now, beginning to feel his muscles fail him as he neared the top, but that didn't matter. He was about to be free and fill his lungs with air.
Right before he could reach the surface, he felt something grab a hold of his feet. It began to pull him back down, deeper into the water. The man tried his best to fight back against it, but his muscles had long since stopped obeying him. He cried out, expending the last of the air in his lungs, as his vision began to darken and the world faded away.
Argilla released his hold on the prisoner as he sputtered awake in agony, clutching at his chest. The man on the ground before him had become even more of a mess than before, now only a pile of sweat, sputtering for air, shaking incessantly. Argilla stood up, looking down upon the man, before he finally spoke. "Now then, you have been presented with two options."
Marrubi had sat, waiting for Argilla to finish with the prisoner. She heard the door slam shut as he began to climb the stairs again. She watched as he spoke with the operative, giving her all the information he had drawn from the prisoner downstairs. Her voice filled the room as Argilla finished. "Argilla Aubade, are you ready to begin our session?"
Argilla nodded, standing at attention, "Yes ma'am. I am ready to begin."
Marrubi strode past him, placing her hand on his shoulder, "You may relax Argilla, this isn't anything formal." She lead him into a large room, drawing a sword from her belt. "Well? Draw your sword." Argilla nodded, removing one of the revolvers from his holsters and flipping it into its machete form.
He lunged toward Marrubi, making quick, succinct strikes, but finding Marrubi blocking or avoiding each one. Marrubi moved gracefully around him, easily anticipating his every move. Marrubi didn't make a single attempt to fight back, remaining on the defensive, in a similar way to Argilla the previous night. Argilla swung again for her, attempting to disarm her, but Marrubi, with one quick strike, easily parried him. She then proceeded to make two well placed strokes, knocking him down to the ground.
"You're too readable, Argilla. You always try to disarm your opponent before moving in for the kill." She grinned down at him, offering her hand to help him up. He rose on his own, ignoring her hand. Marrubi sighed, "You'll finish your training soon, Argilla. No worries, I'll make a great fighter out of you yet."
Argilla met her eyes, "Of course, I would expect nothing less from a former huntress."
Marrubi smiled warmly at him, "Thank you, Argilla. Now then, shall we continue?" And for the next few hours, they did just that.