Here's to another chapter! But, unfortunately I have some bad news to go along with this one.
I've been selected for Jury Duty which starts next week, which might put a pause on the uploads for this story. I'm not sure how long it will last, as this is my first time doing it. I just wanted to let you all know ahead of time.
I had a review last chapter asking if Crue had a specific voice actor or celebrity that he sounds like. And I'm not sure if I've ever actually put too much thought into it. He doesn't have a stereotypical loud mouth Irish accent, the one you would hear in a bad movie. I suppose in the end it is up to the reader's interpretation. Let me know what voice you give Crue when you're reading.
Until then, please enjoy this chapter!
"OH WOULD YOU FUCK OFF!" Crue yelled at Vine, narrowly dodging one of his extended limbs and swinging his claws up to slash at it. Something warned him to duck, and he performed a surprisingly acrobatic split as he felt something swing over his head and absolutely decimate the tree he had been next to.
Crue ignored the twinge of pain that came from the action, and was just amazed that his time with Neo had led to him able to perform such a feat. He rolled, away from whatever had tried to hit him and landed upside down on thick branch as glanced back.
The tall woman, Crue still hadn't gotten her name, lowered her weapon in annoyance. A massive hammer with two rockets on the back. "Oh, Nora would love you." Crue found himself saying, looking to the destruction the hammer caused.
She looked confused at his words, but didn't respond as she readied another attack. His ear flicked as he heard the distinct sound of something whistling towards him. He pulled himself up and onto the branch, as what looked like a throwing star whirled by just below him, before flying back round into the waiting hand of Vine.
It was only him and the big lady that had found him, Crue figured the Aesops had split up to cover more ground in order to find him. The only problem was, he didn't know if they were in pairs or had split completely.
"You know, splitting the party is never a good idea." Crue said, leaping from one branch to another as he avoided the various attacks. "How did you even find me anyway!?" He found himself able to talk with them thanks to their goals.
They didn't want to kill Crue. Only capture. So, he needed to be alive for that. Which meant that grievous injury was off the table. Or, so he hoped. "Let's just say luck was on our side." Vine stated, as he and the taller woman stood opposed to Crue.
It was clearly some kind of inside joke, if the way the taller- oh, she was actually an inch shorter than Vine- woman smiled. The punchline hit him when he felt something tug sharply at his neck, and he let out a choking gasp as he was dragged backwards.
He was pulled along the ground, before his claws shot out to dig into the dirt and slow his momentum. It worked, surprisingly well as he came to a complete stop. Then, he felt a foot rest on his right shoulder.
He looked up, seeing an amused expression and teal green eyes staring down at him. "Well, what do you know. I caught a big one. Wolf Trout, I believe." Clover's weapon hung over his shoulder, and Crue saw the fishing line leading down to the back of his head.
"Please tell me I wasn't just caught by a man who uses a fishing rod for a weapon."
"Alright, I won't tell you." Clover's smile was bright, but his eyes held a caution that betrayed his true feelings. Clover was a professional, and no amount of jokes or quips would stop that from being so.
Crue could probably get away, avoiding the three Aesops as he had done for the past two days. He still didn't know how they had happened to find him. However, as Crue concentrated on his Aura, he found it too low for his liking.
As much as he did not want to be arrested, he certainly didn't want his Aura breaking while in present company. That would lead to a whole lot more questions. And, given the insatiable lust for violence the wolf within him wanted, he'd be worried that he might actually hurt them.
Or worse.
With a frown, Crue sheathed his claws and looked up to Clover. "I'll come willingly if you promise to never mention this to Winter." He looked pleasantly surprised at Crue's acceptance.
"Why do you go along with him, but fight us?" The woman complained, shouldering her weapon and looking annoyed. Next to her, Vine placed his weapon behind his back and pressed his hands together, clearly still ready to fight should Crue change his mind.
"Cause I'm fuckin' tired, Snu-snu." Crue responded. It wasn't a lie. Running from someone for two days had a very different tole when compared to just travelling. And, if he was being honest, he was hoping Tortuga would use her Semblance on him.
"Is that a nickname? What does it mean?" She asked.
Crue opened his mouth to answer, and a strangled wheeze came out as he realised that he probably shouldn't give the exact definition. "Uh, it means a tall and muscular woman who could probably pop your head like a watermelon."
Snu-snu blinked, before thinking about the nickname and deciding she liked it. "Speaking of nicknames…" Clover said, hoisting Crue to his feet and keeping a hand gripped tight on him. "How did you know Harriet's?"
"Who?" Crue asked, blinking in confusion.
"You know Harriet's nickname, but not her actual name?" Vine questioned.
"I don't know which one Harriet is, Stringbean." Crue responded, before thinking it over. Of the three here, he knew Vine and Clover. Snu-snu probably wasn't Harriet, otherwise Clover would have asked why he knew her nickname.
He knew Winter, and Tortuga, so that left… "Oh. You mean the Hare? Wait, THAT'S HER NICKNAME?!" He exclaimed, looking to Clover in disbelief.
"Yes." He responded, clearing out his ear from Crue's yell. "You knew Tortuga's as well. How?"
"You're kidding, right?" Crue asked, his shoulders sagging. Or they tried to, the action failing thanks to Clover's grip. "You guys are literally called the fucking 'Aesops' and you're surprised when someone knows you've got the Tortoise and the Hare on your team."
His words were met with silence. "I, don't get it." Snu-snu said. "And you keep saying our name wrong. It's the Ace-Ops."
"Aesops." Crue repeated, his brow furrowing in confusion. He was certain that he was saying it right.
"You, I can tell you're saying it wrong." Her eye twitched slightly.
"Elm, I'm more worried-" "Oh, that's your name." "-about the fact he somehow gathered the names of two of our members from our team's name, rather than his pronunciation." Vine said. The three loosely surrounded Crue, as the Faunus looked between them all with confusion.
"How do you guys not know the Tortoise and the Hare? It's like, the most well-known Aesop of all time." Crue threw his arms out wide, actually managing to break out of Clover's hold through sheer disbelief.
"What on Remnant is an Aesop?" Clover asked, keeping his hands to the side and deciding that if Crue did run for it, the three could catch him once again easily enough.
Crue's eye stared at Clover like he had never seen or heard anything quite so unbelievable in his life. "You. Are literally. Called. THE AESOPS!" He punctuated each word with a gesture of his hands.
"Ace-ops." Clover corrected, and when Crue looked ready to foam at the mouth, he continued. "It's short for Ace Operatives."
Crue's teeth clicked shut, and Clover could see several thoughts running his head. "What would you guys call a fairy tale that teaches a lesson?" He asked.
The question was so out of the blue that Clover couldn't help but blink in surprise. He looked to his teammates, and they shared his confusion. "Uh, a fable, I guess." Clover answered. Crue sucked into a breath through his teeth as his eye twitched.
"One moment." He held up a single finger and shrugged off his satchel from beneath his green cloak and opened it up. The others took a cursory glance at the assortment of items. Nothing immediately stood out as dangerous to them, until Crue took out an emerald helmet.
It was the same helmet as The Wolf. They knew he was the criminal, but to see him take it out for reasons unknown had them all on edge. The Ace-Ops watched carefully as Crue, ever so slowly, put the helmet on, and stood up.
"FUUUUUUCK!" An extremely muffled curse, that lasted almost a full five seconds, sounded out, with Crue's body arching backwards in anger as his hands clenched. Clover, Vine and Elm all waited with a sense of discomfort.
The helmet came off with a 'pop' as Crue's face was revealed. He looked red in the face and took a deep breath. "I hate this place." Despite his words, and previous swear that seemed to come from somewhere deep within his soul, he looked calm.
Or, as calm as one could be surrounded by the best Atlas had to offer who had the intent to capture him.
He placed the helmet back into his bag and hoisted it back up. "Right." He looked to three. "What's your favourite fairy tale?"
"Oh, not this again." Elm groaned. "It was bad enough General Ironwood asked us that before telling us about-" "Ederne!" Clover suddenly interrupted, and Elm found herself slamming her lip closed. They looked to Crue, waiting to see what his reaction would be.
He looked confused for a second, before something clicked behind his eye. "Oh." He remembered when that phrase had been used before. "Did Ironwood tell you about Salem?"
Three sets of jaws fell open in shock. "YOU KNOW ABOUT SALEM?!" Elm reacted first, grabbing Crue by the scruff of the neck and holding him to her eye level and shaking him like a ragdoll. Crue's eye rattled in his head as he tried to nod.
"I-I-I to-oo-old Cop-Coppertr-tree." He said through the shakes. A hand rested on Elm's arm, stopping her from throttling Crue. Vine stared at Crue calculatingly. His brain was still jumbled from the sudden shaking.
"How do you know of Salem?" He asked.
Crue, still being held by Elm, didn't respond immediately as his head lolled backwards. He answered Vine as best he could. "She wanted to bang me, but I wasn't into it." Crue suddenly found himself falling, landing on his back with a dull 'ow' as he fell.
"That, that's a joke. Right?" Clover found himself saying. "You call all of us weird names, your sense of humour is just like that. Right?"
"If it will make you sleep better at night, sure." Crue replied, groaning on the ground.
The silence left in the clearing was deafening. "I need a drink." Elm sighed, pinching her brow as she seemed to collapse in on herself. There was the sound of rustling clothing, and the scrape of metal on metal.
Elm opened her eyes and found Crue holding a hipflask up to her from his prone position. She didn't even bother to think if it might be poisoned, or that the idea of taking alcohol from someone they were meant to arrest was a bad one.
Elm grabbed the flask, unscrewed it, and took a large gulp. She swallowed it, coughing slightly as he offered the flask to Vine and Clover. Neither took the kind offer. With a sigh, Elm closed the flask and handed it back with a lick of her lips.
"Cinnamon?" She asked, as Crue took the flask and slipped it into his shirt pocket. He nodded, still flat out on the ground.
"It's for irony, mostly." He explained, sitting back up. "Now, can I please explain the whole Tortoise and Hare thing so I can forget about people who I don't want to stick my dick in." He frowned, trying to ignore the shrivelling feeling from between his legs.
"Is every answer you give going to leaves us with more questions?" Clover asked, sighing as he rubbed his temple.
"That sounds about right." Crue nodded, moving to his feet, before freezing as he pressed a hand against the soft earth. It rumbled. "Hold on." He frowned, concentrating. He placed an ear against the ground, his Faunus ears flicking to and frow.
The Ace-Ops looked to each other in confusion, before they too felt a rumbling in the ground. Crue shot up, Freedom and Sorrow baring their claws as he looked into the distance, ears twitching as they picked up the snapping of wood. "INCOMING!" He exclaimed.
There was a great crash, as the trees before them parted and… More trees came rushing out? Crue had no idea what was going on, but the Ace-Ops did. "Geist!" Clover called, as Vine and Elm immediately got into battle positions.
Crue knew what a Geist was thanks to his Grimm Studies, but he had never actually fought one. A massive upside-down tree made up the main body, red lines running all over the trunk as the roots pointed towards the sky and the dead branches were being used for mobility.
Several other dead trees spun around the upper half of it, mimicking limbs. Crue jumped into action alongside the Ace-Ops, slashing at one of the thinner trees and turning it into firewood. He glanced to the others, seeing Elm's hammer transform into a massive rocket launcher that she hoisted over one shoulder.
"BACKBLAST!" He called to Clover, who was standing behind Elm and giving an order. The man looked confused for a second, before his eyes widened and he quickly ducked and covered his ears. Elm shot several rockets that blasted the various limbs.
"I thought you guys were meant to be the best!" Crue called, running over to them while Vine swung around the forest distracting the Grimm.
"We are." Clover said, and there wasn't a hint of a lie in his voice. "But we are best together. And we're split in half, thanks to you." He didn't mean it as an accusation, though it was hard for Crue not to take it that way.
"Well, lucky thing I'm here, then." Crue rolled his shoulder, staring at the Geist and trying to figure out what to do. He didn't notice Clover's deadpan expression, looking unamused at his words. "We need to stab the faceplate, that will probably kill it."
"No, we need to get it out of its possession first." Clover said. Crue looked to him with a raised eyebrow.
"Shoot the glaringly obvious weakpoint. That will kill it." Crue gestured to the bright white mask currently in the middle of the tree. "What, have you never played a video game before?"
Clover shook his head, but before he could explain how it didn't work that way, Crue was at Elm's side and asking her something. The larger woman blinked, before looking down to Crue with incredulity.
"Well, one of you took my gun so I need to get close." He said, as Elm shifted her weapon into its hammer form.
"That drink must have been stronger than I thought for me to go along with this." She shook her head, as Crue stepped onto the face of the hammer and activated his Semblance. She brought her weapon back over her head without issue, Crue still attached.
"One fastball special, coming up!" She exclaimed, as the rockets on the back of her hammer ignited and she swung. A pair of shimmering green roots grew from her feet to keep her in place as her hammer reached the apex of its swing.
Crue stopped his Semblance and leapt, flying towards the Geist as Vine led its attention towards the Faunus. "OI! TREEBEARD!" He exclaimed and saw the single yellow eye within the mask focus on the sudden noise.
Crue aimed both sets of claws directly in front of himself as he impacted the possessed tree. His claws sunk into the Grimm mask, and with a roar, Crue gave a mighty pull and ripped his claws upward.
The Geist shrieked in pain as Crue ripped his claws apart from another, tearing the mask in two as whatever ghastly remains faded away into nothingness. The tree began to collapse, the branches that it had been using for mobility cracking under the sudden weight.
Crue let out a curse, as the tree fell down. His claws were still stuck in the wood, which meant he was caught under the trunk as it fell. It threw up an explosion of dust and dirt, leaving the Ace-Ops shielding their eyes.
The dust cleared, and they were treated to the sight of a bare arm rapidly waving from beneath the fallen tree. "We should probably help him." Elm stated. Clover and Vine made noises of agreement, but neither made to move.
Elm sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fine. Leave lifting the tree to the tree, huh?" She holstered here weapon and took a step forward, when a sharp crack suddenly destroyed the silence left in the wake of killing the Grimm.
Crue's arm, which had been flailing about, had now clamped down onto tree, cracking the wood as his fingers dug into the bark. Elm saw his muscles tense, and her eyes widened as she realised what was about to happen.
"Hit the deck!" She called, slamming down onto the ground. The two behind her had a brief second to wonder why, before going through with the instruction. Just in time, as the tree that had collapsed was now hurdling towards them.
The rush of wind as it soared over their heads blew back all of their hair, save Vine, as it crashed through the forest behind them, knocking down several more trees. Elm was first to recover, having been most prepared for what she had accurately guessed was coming.
She glanced to Crue, as the Faunus let out a groan and sat up, bringing up a hand to palm his face. Elm wondered if the light was playing tricks on her, as from her point it almost looked like his eye was a different colour.
"If I died because of a fucking oak tree, that would have been too ironic for even me." He said to himself, before looking to where the Ace-Ops were lying down on the ground and staring at him. He blinked in shock, and Elm was right that the light had been tricking her, as his eye was back to normal now.
"Are you guys ok!?" He asked, standing to his feet and looking genuinely concerned. Elm glanced back to Clover and Vine. The tree had completely missed them both. How lucky. She turned back to Crue and gave a thumbs up.
He sagged in relief, before taking out his Scroll and checking his Aura. Elm couldn't see the percentage, but she could see Crue's teeth clench and suck in a breath. It must have been pretty low to warrant an expression like that.
He looked towards Elm and the Ace-Ops, before giving a groan as he pocketed his Scroll. "Right, I'll come with you. Just don't tie me up. Or hit me." He walked towards them, pausing before Elm and hesitantly extended a hand.
She blinked in surprise, before smirking slightly as she grabbed it and pulled herself up. She would have marvelled at his strength, had she not already seen him throw a fully grown tree off of him. "You're alright for a criminal."
"Oi, vigilante. There's a difference." Crue frowned good naturedly, as he walked over to the others.
"Your first act as 'The Wolf' was robbing an armoury store." Vine stated. Crue coughed awkwardly to the side.
"In my defence…" He paused, as if trying to think of one. "The owner was a racist cunt."
A wheeze escaped Elm before she could stop it, quickly slapping a hand against her mouth as Vine and Clover stared at her. "Ok, you need to stop corrupting my team." His teal eyes frowned at Crue gave a shrug that said 'what're ya gonna do'.
"Not my fault I've got good jokes, Shamrock." He smirked.
"Your nicknames also make no sense." Vine added.
Crue raised an eyebrow in contention. "You're only saying that cause you've got the most, Cue Ball." A grumble came from the lanky man, and it looked as though he frowned. It was kind of hard to tell without the eyebrows.
"Can we at least gag him?" He requested, looking to Clover almost pleadingly.
"I'm just glad you didn't say muzzle." Crue said. His words caused the Ace-Ops to still momentarily. "Wait, do you guys have to worry about PR and stuff?"
"Everyone needs to worry about public perception." Clover said. "Us, The SDC, certain criminals…" He trailed off, looking at Crue with an amused expression.
"Yeah. I guess Torchwick would've needed good PR when he was still kicking around." The Faunus nodded, misunderstanding Clover's jab at him. "Gentleman Thief needs a certain amount of good publicity I suppose."
Clover just sighed. "Alright. Keep those things sheathed, and we won't have an issue." He nodded to the gauntlets. His claws were already away, but he accepted it regardless.
"Yeah, yeah, declaw the wolf." He waved off the warning. "Though if I see a Grimm they're coming back out."
Clover shook his head and took out his Scroll, tapping it a few times before Crue saw a directional arrow pop up from the other side. "Have you guys checked that stuff for viruses?" He asked.
"These are specialty Atlesian Scrolls." Clover responded. "No Lien spared."
"Ok, but if they were designed by Watts your fucked." Crue said, as each head suddenly snapped to him.
"You mean Arthur Watts?" Elm asked. "He died. Months ago."
"He did?" Crue blinked in surprise. "Huh. Well, that's one piece down, I guess. Shame about the stache though."
"You've met Doctor Watts?" Vine might have rose an eyebrow in disbelief, but Crue couldn't tell. He looked at the pale man in confusion, before something clicked, and he let out a shocked gasp.
"OH FUCK YOU GUYS DON'T KNOW!" He looked startled, as if they were in great danger. And to Crue, they were.
"He was working for Salem!"
It was like a bomb had been dropped, as Clover suddenly hurled the Scroll away like it was a venomous snake. "He was what?! How do you know?!" He exclaimed.
"Motherfucker- I SAW HIM!" Crue yelled, gripping his hair as his one eye widened. "Wait! I can tell you shit! Important shit!" His mind suddenly began racing with information that he could share without repercussion.
"Ok, okokok." He nodded to himself, while the Ace-Ops were still reeling with the knowledge someone working so close the military was also working for the enemy. "I've got a lot to tell you, but you have to promise not to freak out or ask how I know it."
The looks the three gave suggested that there would be no such promises made. "It'll just lead to more questions that you don't want the answer for." He said.
"Fine." Clover sighed. "We 'promise' not to ask any immediate questions or freak out."
"I don't promise on the freak out one." Elm interjected, which Crue accepted with a nod.
"Alright." He rubbed his hands together while trying to think of where to start. "First, make sure there's no virus." He took out his own Scroll, and quickly found the file he was looking for. "I've got an anti-virus to the thing that infected the battleship at the Fall, it should work for yours."
"How do you-" "What did I just say?" Crue cut across Vine with a pointed look. The tall man took a deep inhale through his nose, and let it go.
"Is there a 'send to nearby Scrolls' option or do I need to get your info?" Crue muttered, checking the various options. He knew that long distance communication was down, which is why he was unable to simply send his friends a message just saying 'alive'.
And according to Roman, Neo's Scroll was destroyed along with the battleship. Which meant he'd need to get her new contact once he found her. "I think this should do." He pressed a button that said 'local'.
Three dings sounded out, and suddenly each Scroll glowed bright green for a second, before it faded. "Well, that wasn't ominous." Clover said, picking up his dropped device and eyeing it carefully.
"Yeah, well, it's only going to get worse." Crue sighed. "Let's walk and talk, cause I'll be fucked if I'm not making any progress while explaining shit." He waited for them to agree, as they pocketed their Scrolls and Clover began to lead the way.
"So," Crue began as they walked. "Watts was a member of Salem's inner circle."
"Yep. Broke the promise." Elm immediately said, pulling at her hair and twirling it repeatedly around her finger.
"Now, I know fuck all about what he did in Atlas, except that he designed the original virus, and apparently was a Scroll designer." Crue gave a wave of his hand. "That virus let Cinder Fall- wait, you guys know about her, right?"
"Yes." Vine gave a nod of his head. "General Ironwood shared the names you gave him. Cinder Fall, Mercury Black, and Emerald Sustrai."
"Oh, that's how you pronounce it." Crue muttered. "That Virus let her pick and choose the fights that went on with the Vytal festival. I didn't realise it was there, because I thought I had stopped her from uploading it in the first place."
"As the Wolf."
"Yep." Crue nodded without a care. "That was the whole point of that disguise. Stopping Salem without them knowing who I am. For all the fuckin' good it did." He gave a sigh and shook his head, before refocusing on his current task.
"But, he wasn't the only one who was working for Salem." He could remember the names easily. "There's Cinder and her lot. A woman called Solaris, a huge bloke called Hazel, and this mad bastard called Tyrian Callows."
Crue found himself bumping into Clover as he turned to stare at the Faunus with wide teal eyes. "Tyrian Callows?" He repeated. "You're certain?"
"Uh, yeah." Crue looked to Vine and Elm, and they shared Clover's expression. One of disbelieving fear. "Crazy scorpion fuck?" He described as best he could. "Why? Who is he?"
"You don't know who Tyrian- He was one of the worst known serial killers in recent time. And you're saying he's working with Salem?!" Elm's hand had worked her way up her scalp and was now in danger of ripping out all her hair.
Crue took out his flask and handed it to her without a word. Elm drank like a woman dying of thirst, before eventually the flask ran dry. "Why didn't you tell anyone Salem has a fucking serial killer working with her?!" She questioned once she had finished.
"Well, I hardly googled his fucking name." Crue replied. "I was too amazed I got out of there alive- aw fuck." His head fell as he realised what he had said.
"You- I'm- hgnh." Elm made strangling motions with her hands, and Crue took a few steps back for safety.
"You were in front of Callows?" Oh, right. 'Safety' in this case was still people who worked for Ironwood and wanted to arrest him. He turned to face Clover and sighed.
"Yeah. The lot of them. Well, ok technically I was only in front of Watts, Tyrian and Hazel. Didn't get his last name, by the way. Solaris I ran into in Vale as The Wolf. Don't know her last name either. Man, I'm bad at this."
Clover looked like he was ready to agree but held himself back. "You are." Vine did not. "You found yourself in front of three enemies and did not gather information on them that could be useful."
"Gathering information wasn't exactly high in my thought process, Stringbean." Crue frowned. "I'm pretty sure it was more like 'Ohhhhhhhhfuckfuckfuckfuck-Theseguysareevil-fuckfuckfuck-Ohthere'stheQueenofEvil-fuckfucfuck'."
"You stood before Salem?" Vine's eyes were wide.
"How else do you think I found out she wanted to fuck me?" Crue replied.
"Oh, you weren't joking about that." Elm groaned, placing both hands against her face. "Wait. You haven't actually…" Her brown eyes peaked out from between her fingers in morbid curiosity.
"No!" Crue said immediately. "No, absolutely the fuck not. I'm not in the business of banging bad guy-" He cut himself off, his one eye going skyward as he contemplated his words. "Of people who want to destroy the world."
"Ok, that pause," Clover pointed to him as he circled his finger. "Not doing wonders for you."
"But more importantly, how are we supposed to trust you when the Queen of Grimm wants you in bed."
"Because I have standards?"
"You clearly don't."
Crue frowned, but didn't rebuke. "The fact Grimm still try to kill me? The fact I am actively trying to go against her, and have been since I fucking got here?" He gave a wave to the general area. "I'm not going to run off for a quickie with the enemy. Besides, I already have a girlfriend."
"You do?" The Ace-Ops said in synchronised incredulity.
"Ok that one hurt." Crue crossed his arms in annoyance. What was so unbelievable about him being in a relationship.
"You are a criminal on the run, who was blamed for the Fall of Beacon." Oh, that's what was so unbelievable. "It is difficult to imagine you consummating a relationship." Vine continued.
"Bold words coming from a man named after something that only lasts six seconds." Crue raised an eyebrow in annoyance. The reference clearly confused the lanky man, but he gathered it was an insult.
"Ok, less talk about that. More about how you somehow met Salem and survived. How?" Clover waved a hand between Crue and Vine, staring at the Faunus.
"Same way I manage to survive you guys. Insult, distract, and leg it when you're not looking." His tried-and-true method had yet to fail him.
"You insulted-" Elm desperately tried to get an extra drop from Crue's flask, but it was drier than Vacuo. She whined as the grip on her hair tightened.
"Maybe I should stop explaining for now. For the sake of her sanity." Crue suggested, before glancing to the others. "Or for the lot of yours sanity."
"That…" Clover looked like he wanted to disagree, before sighing and rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Would be appreciated. You're still coming with us."
"No shit." Crue sighed. "Do you guys actually know what Salem looks like?"
"No. And hopefully it'll stay that way." Clover said, walking on as Crue followed. Vine and Elm walked behind him, forming a triangle with him in the centre. Probably a specific way of transporting a prisoner, Crue realised.
"Well, I hardly have a picture to share, but do you want a description? Just in case." He asked.
He could feel the indecision in the air, and he decided to break it for them. "Well, she's about six foot and looks like gone off mayonnaise."
"How do you say stuff like this so casually?!" Elm questioned. "Insult the most dangerous people you know and hope you live to tell about it?"
Crue thought over Elm's words, and then began to count on his fingers. "Salem, Cinder, Raven, Ironwood, Winter, The Author, no yeah she's right." He looked to the taller woman with a nod of his head.
"I think that could be the summary of my autobiography."
Hey, Ironman reference! But yeah, I could probably use that as the summary of this fic. "Insulting the most dangerous people on Remnant and getting away with it: A Crue Cullen Story."
I think this is the first chapter in a while with no breaks of perspective, hope it still flows well. And luckily Crue is having this talk with the three more level headed members of the Ace-Ops. Though I'd say the reason they aren't hogtying Crue and dragging him back to Atlas is simply the shock of what he's telling them.
Once it wears off, they'll probably do some very intense questioning. Provided Crue doesn't somehow escape them before then.
*wink*
Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter, let me know if you did, and as always…
Until Next Time
-Friday