Big Band was sitting by a manhole waiting for Peacock to get them out of the sewer. He took what he knew of the Magnum opus of The ASGL to guess which cover she would exit from. Surly enough he sat there watching the cars move by on the street waiting for the cover to twitch. This kind of job could get boring especially since this could be regarded as a steak out for less impressive terms. Another truck moved through the fog blanketed street. It was not expected but this autumn fog was not the friendliest to travel in. Never know what freaks were in this city's rotten underbelly. One night it may be just some beatnik the next a close encounter with the Skullgirl.
The manhole rattled catching Big Band's attention. He approached cautiously as is wind-piped respirator took in a heavy breath. "(Well let's see who it is.)" The Manhole rattled more violently something was trying to come out of it. Soon it was shot into the air by what looked to be a spring-loaded boxing glove. Big Bang took a step back in shock as the glove came out. It eventually began to retract into the hole as a familiar brown top hat began to surface.
Peacock poked her head out as Avery comedically made a periscope come from the top of her hat as he began to eye around. She herself looked into the air to track the manhole cover. She spotted it as it was close to the ground. Luckily a giant orange hand caught it as a brown skinned woman dressed as a clown came out dropping the cover off on the side of the manhole. She looked down at the hole suggesting there were more. "Coast is clear you guys." She yelled down. She turned noticing Big Band. "Oh crap, False alarm Fuzz is here." Her voice had panic.
Peacock looked at her. "Easy Acrobat, Big Band ain't with the force anymore." Cerebella as Big Band recognized her saw that she was panicked but she seemed to settle down.
"What Vaudeville here said is true. But if you're achin' for a fight I am still young enough to knock you down a few pegs." He responded to Peacock as the two eyed him eagerly. Big band noticed Ms. Fortune come from the sewers which is ironic since She often stayed away from underground areas. "So that's why Peacock asked about you. He said as she looked at him."
Ms. Fortune looked at him perplexed by the person in front of him. He looked familiar but why was the question. "Yeah it has been a while. How goes the case." She asked cautiously.
Big Band rolled his eyes. "Nadia, about two weeks before you left you began to work with a detective in the NMPD. He used to be my old partner. You tried to throw me in the water." He recited the last time they meant. Which Made her look in the air trying to recall said event.
"No, I recall attacking a Medici grunt. A dumb one at that." She lied trying to make the walking trench coat not arrest her. Carol came out of the manhole lifting her hand down to pull the next one up.
The next one was a black-haired female in a New Meridian High school uniform. Just a look at her eyes could tell Big Band that she was infected. She looked left and right as her hair moved in the small breeze. It looked as though she was trying to get her bearings of the area. She froze up the moment she saw Big band however recognizing him. That was when her hair began to move taking a combat pose angry with him for no reason. The aggression was cut short when a grunt came from the hole.
She turned around to help the person up. It was a kid younger than her. She wore a black dress and a red cloak. She had a weird device on her back. She stood up looked left and right giving Big Band a good view of the flower buckle on her belt. The Short haired girl looked back at the student. "Wow this place is huge. Where are we going first?" She asked extremely hyperactive. The girl that helped her out calmed her down as Her parasitic hair reached into the sewer as a girl in White got wrapped in its tentacle like appendages.
"Finally," She said relieved after looking over her fencing dress. She noticed Big Band and froze completely in fear. "What is that?" She asked staring at Big Bands massive size. Simply put he looked like a giant music instrument in a trench coat. He looked at her though because of the pale grayed eyes. They looked tired but still willing to fight. He didn't give a very friendly vibe.
Peacock looked at her. "Well Snow White, this here is Big Band. Best detective of the ASGL though a lot call him Detective Sax. Often to his dismay." She spoke with a very devilish grin on her face. Her bear trapped teeth were not helping either.
Another black-haired girl looked came poking her head out curious to see the towering skyscrapers. She took a minute to take it all in Her bow twitched however as a train moved by causing her to look in the direction of the locomotive. Big Band noticed the bow twitch however. "A feral, huh?" She looked at him seemingly in surprise like it was the first time being called that.
Peacock tugged on his trench coat "They prefer to be called Faunas." She whispered in his ear as he bent down as much as his robotic body would allow.
He stood back up nodding and gesturing a form of apology as a Blonde female came poking her head out grinning as big as Peacock. She was a lot more built in comparison to her other cohorts. She seemed just happy to be here from what she can tell. She looked directly upward getting a good look at the moon. "Aw" She groaned with disappointment "No fair your moon's not broken." She spoke jealously as she continued to eye the giant yellow object in the sky.
She was pushed out of the way when an orange haired teenager pushed her to the side camera in hand as she began taking a handful of pictures of the area Yelling "What's this over here? No, that over there?" It seemed the infected parasite one sighed a little making him guess she had a long history with her. A calm and collect male came out in a green combat robes looking around as he exited. He seemed to notice her and almost instinctively went to calm her down.
A Red-Haired Girl dressed as an ancient gladiator was next. She looked to be the most combat adapt of all the ones he had seen so far. She looked at Big Band slightly curious before speaking. "Greetings." She spoke in a very clavier manner "My name is Pyrrha Nikos." She bowed politely "We welcome you from the world of Remnant. Are you by chance Peacock's contact?" She asked curiously.
"It is smooth to meet you Ms. Nikos. Name's Big Band. Detective of the Anti Skullgirl Laboratories, Lab 8 division." He returned an interesting form of greetings as he turned to look back at the sewer. Pyrrha turned around remembering something reaching in and pulling out a scrawny Blonde haired boy in a breast plate and a sweater. "An acquaintance I presume." Big Band asked looking at him. The kid looked at him terrified
"This is Jaune Arc, leader of team Jnpr." She responded still smiling.
Jaune approached cautiously "Um, hi nice to meet you." He spoke now realizing how big Big Band was. He easily towered most of the people there. Jaune did stick his hand out to shake but He didn't budge.
"I would if I still had them." He spoke calmly. "But they got replaced by military grade hydraulics. Even on lowest setting they could crush your entire hand easily." Jaune quickly withdrew his hand finding that the facts he just heard. Peacock was laughing hysterically as he slowly began to hide behind Wiess. "I'm not your enemy if that's the groove you're getting." His voice may be speaking the truth but his presence was a different story.
As the entire ordeal with Jaune happened a Silver-haired man with tinted spectacles approaching middle age was standing calmly with his cane in hand. Beside him was a skinny man in full moon glasses writing franticly in a journal it looked like he was about half way through it and his bag looked loaded with many more. The other side of him was a large chested person with Black hair though it was whitening near the edges. He looked as if he was in a military uniform of sorts. He could tell what he was, military.
The man in the middle approached calmly. "Greetings, I'm professor Ozpin." He stopped when he saw Big Band take a defensive combat pose. His eyes narrowed on the sudden hostilities. "I have brought with me two teams from my school Beacon Academy." He gestured at teams Jnpr and Rwby before continuing. Behind me is General James IronWood of the Atlas military and Professor Bartholomew Oobleck, a teacher from my school." Big Band's stance dropped a little though he clearly had his guard up. "We have come to try to talk peacefully between the Ruler of the Canopy Kingdom as Ambassadors of the world of Remnant."
Big Band stayed quite before dropping his guard to normal levels for a seasoned detective. "Alright. Please follow me and theatre short over there." He ordered as he turned around.
"Hey!" Peacock yelled "Who you calling Short Windbag?"
"You if you don't get moving the rest of you are not going to fit at ASGL headquarters so go about your business." Big Band walked off cautiously looking at the streets. The four people in tow behind them. He stopped turned around noticing Carol still with the other group. "You coming Painwheel?' She shook her head. He nodded as he turned around leading Ozpin and the small party behind him.
Ms. Fortune turned to look at their small party. "Now that we lost the grownups What should we do now?" She asked slightly curious
Cerebella quickly glared at her before changing tones "Can't I have some people to meet with." She spoke quickly. "I'm still helping with Eliza so I'll find you when ready." She yelled that as she ran off toward what looked to be the tallest tower in New Meridian.
The entire party heard a low toned gurgle. Filia began to turn red embarrassed. "Excuse me." She apologized while the others all looked at each other.
"Hey team." Ruby spoke up. "I think it's best we get some food." Her though was unanimous with the rest of the party as they all nodded their heads in agreement. "Filia you're our expert here. where do you recommend?"
Filia froze up as she turned a lighter shade of red. Samson who would normally back her pretended to fall asleep to her annoyance. Nadia however realized her problem. As she was famous for, the homeless amnesiac. She sighed a little as she stepped in. "I got a place." She spoke up trying to come off as friendly "Trust me, they owe me quite a bit." The two teams looked at her as she gestured to follow.
Ruby however sensed something was wrong. She walked up toward Ms. Fortune who seemed to be on a one-track mind toward where ever she planned. "Hey Ms. Fortune" she whispered as she continued forward. "Why did you butt in?" She asked before turning to see if the others could hear her she was certain they were out of ear shot range.
She looked back at Filia who was not seeming to pay attention. "She must have told you very little about her life here." She said looking back forward. "You know she has no memory of who she is right?" Ruby nodded. "And I'm guessing when you first met her she was wearing something to hide that parasite." Another head nod. "Well hiding the fact your infected is not an uncommon practice. When I saw her several months after she said she was infected she was homeless. No orphanage does to her age would take her in and the parasite was a disadvantage of ever finding work. For her it is worst, Samson as he is named has a long history of public disturbance."
Ruby's eyes widened "You mean?" Nadia tilted her head up and down as she gestured for them to turn right. The road went from refined concrete to brick. "Filia is homeless?" Ms. Fortune nodded her head. Ruby looked back at her. She seemed preoccupied with Samson at the moment. She could only feel sorry for her as her actual mystery grew. "No memories, no home, her only were the clothes on her back." She muttered.
Nadia looked around. Noticing the area begin turn into a more harbor based area. "We are close to the aqua slums." She said smiling. "The placed I had in mind is a few blocks ahead."
The group walked for another thirty minutes looking at the interesting spires that came out from the waterways. The place looked like a china town due to the hanging lanterns several walkways strung above them as the navigated the consulted mess of wooden walkways. Blake looked down to see a few small boats that had the words taxi on them. "Water taxis?" She asked confused at the multiple yellow boats traversing the waterways below.
"Yeah there are more during the tourist season." Filia responded as the two suddenly noticed a train move by in the distance. Even farther behind the train bridge was what looked like a heavy build dike. "The walls there fill up with salt water at night due to the tide they have been working on that for a few years now but they have got a lot of resistance." She explained noticing Ms. Fortune had turned to go down a flight of stairs.
Yang looked around curious at the strange sights until they began crossing another bridge. She noticed that the water was close to the bridge which was actually populated. They must have crossed onto a main road. She looked around noticing the people in the area. A lot of them looked like aquatic faunas from their world except more animalistic. Even more so than the most fauna like feral she meant Ms. Fortune. She noticed a good portion of the people here also seemed to have either a more amphibious or reptilian form to them.
"Over there that's where we'll eat." Ms. Fortune shouted looking at a medium sized spiral that had restraint on the same level as them. "Come on this way." She waved her hand toward them as she began to run down the wooden dock like road.
Filia sighed catching Wiess' attention. "Leave it to a cat to pick a restraint in Little Innsmouth." She said looking at Wiess. "We need to hurry." She said as she began to chase after them. Wiess on the other hand turned and looked at the shop. "(We are completely defenseless without aura and we lack an edge if we get into a fight and they want to think about food.)" crossed her mind annoyed at her team's lack of concern.
Nadia stopped the group before entering the shop. "Okay first let me talk it out with them. I'll let you know when it is okay." She said very sternly. Turning and looking at the shop entrance. She began to walk in.
Dak'kull Dubu
Most of today for Minette has been the usual. Few customers, tide comes in bringing Dragonians for lunch then dies down after the dinner rush. She decided to begin cleaning the tables when the door rung signaling a new customer. She looked toward the clock realizing that the shop was closing in about three minutes. She sighed not wanting to deal with the pleading but since Ms. Fortune disappeared Yu-Wan had been closing the shop early so she could leave without dealing with Medici grunts that have been bothering her.
"Sorry, we will be closing soon." She spoke up continuing her polishing of the table.
"Aw, that's a shame." The voice called out. Minette's eyes widened in shock recognizing the voice. She turned around to see a cat feral in a blue short shirt and Shorter shorts. "Cause I have one heck of a story to tell."
"NADIA!" She shouted excitedly as Yu poked his head as well as most of his body from the kitchen. He let out a welcoming smile as Minette pulled a chair for her which she quickly sat in. "Where did you go?" She asked excitedly.
Ms. Fortune snickered a little. "Let's just say even I can't believe it. I can tell you all about over dinner." Her stomach growled. "I'm getting a little hungry."
Yu seemed to be happy to see her again but a bunch of peering eyes through one of the shop windows caught his attention. "You know the humans out there?" He asked looking at them still when all of them except a black-haired girl with a bow and a blonde boy with a look of pure shock on his face.
Ms. Fortune tilted her head back realizing who they were. "Oh, right those people are proof of the traveling I did. They are new in town but they can vouch for a lot." Yu was nodding his head in full focus as she spoke. "You may know one of them. Parasite infected, she comes around here every so often looking for food or work."
"You mean the beggar?" Yu clarified.
"I wouldn't call her that." Nadia spoke up as she looked back at them "A more accurate description is she was the one who funded the end ever."
Yu looked at Minette who seemed to be willing to work over time since a friend had returned. "I guess I still owe you that meal." He sighed as he looked at them. "Minette get a few tables ready." She nodded as she got to work. Nadia turned to leave the place getting their attention.
When she reentered, she was followed by a girl in what looked like roman infantry. An orange haired woman in a biker jacket followed by a student in a green martial art uniform Yu did not recognize. The last one in was a blonde kid that had knights armor on as well as a black hoodie underneath.
Behind him was another team. A blonde girl that looked as though she wanted to go sightseeing. A well-dressed girl that was clearly from an aristocratic branch of life. A black-haired girl that was wearing a bow in her hair. Her eyes widened when she saw Minette and Yu. The last two in was a girl in a red hood and the homeless parasite infected individual. He stepped back into the kitchen as Minette took their orders.
Blake looked at Minette intensely as she went into the back of the kitchen. She looked at Filia who was toying with Samson in her fingers. His eyes looked as if he was falling asleep from it. "Hey what is she?" She had to asked realizing she was different from Ms. Fortune.
"She's a Dragonian." Samson spoke up. "Some kind of half marine creature most of Little Innsmouth is populated by them." The two watch her come out and approach them. Blake got a good look at her noticing the leaf like structure that was being held like a pony tail. She was decorated in sea shells. Her skin was a light shade of blue with darker blue hair that turned into an orange fin. Blake couldn't tell if her arms were covered in clothes or a heavier set of gills.
"Um, Can I take your order?" She asked cautious noticing Samson.
Ruby looked at the menu curious. "Uh what do you recommend?" She asked realizing she had no idea what any of this was.
"The tofu bowl is good." Ms. Fortune shouted from the other table which Minette shook her head in agreement.
"Okay I'll try that." Ruby's voice was a little worried since she wasn't sure how to talk to the waitress without staring.
"I'll have what she's having." Yang blurted out as Minette was writing Ruby's order.
Minette went to asked Blake but she was cut short when she pointed to the tofu sushi. Minette seemed to chuckle nervously as she wrote it down.
Minette turned toward the woman in the White dress as Yu came out with some of the food ready. "What can I get you." Wiess looked at her rolled her eyes and pointed toward Ruby and Yang. "Not much of a talker?" She mumbled as she turned to give the orders to the cook.
Filia looked at Wiess. "Something wrong?" she asked seeing her continue with the same rich kid act she gave Ruby on occasion when disapproving of a childish action.
"Oh nothing." Wiess started sarcastically. "It's just we are tracking down a dangerous killer without access to aura or semblance." Filia tilted her head confused as Yu looked at her observing the meltdown. "How are we supposed to fight if our two biggest assets are not working?"
Yu looked at her interested. "I don't know what you're talking about Miss but you could rely on the crowd to build hype." Wiess looked at the Stout dragon fish person with confusion. "Nadia what did you girls call them again?"
She poked her head up interested. "You mean blockbusters?" She asked curious. Yu snapped his fingers as he looked back at Wiess.
"You mean that thing that Filia did in the cafeteria?" Yang spoke up looking at Filia who turned a little red. "If that is something from your world how the hell did you pull it off?" She asked looking at her.
"We didn't." Samson growled realizing he needed to get defensive. Filia nodded as he spoke.
"There was no way that was a blockbuster attack." She spoke "I was almost killed pulling that off." All of the Remnant travelers looked at her interested. "Blockbusters may make you exhausted but never like that. What you say was a caught up in the moment between me and him. Samson has a tremendous stockpile of food stored in himself to use in the day and for when he needs to find a new host." She took a deep breath as she closed her eyes. "Samson wasted his stockpile in that fight when we did that. I," She paused thinking of how to explain it. "Almost had my own energy siphoned that day."
Many of the table looked in shock. Wiess turned and looked at Yu "So how do these block buster's work?"
Minette looked at them overhearing them as Ms. Fortune was recounting her time at Beacon. "Maybe they should show you." She suggested looking at them. Both Nadia and Filia spat their drinks out.
"WHAT?!" The two yelled in unison.