Blake's eyes coasted through the restraint as her Cerebella and Nadia sat patiently for food. She was not fully sure what to expect from this meeting Nadia asked them to meet over. As far as she had gathered based on the two's body language the two completely hate each other. She took another sip of her water as she glanced again Cerebella in the middle of sketching something in a notepad while Nadia would clearly prefer to be at another booth. She shook her head at the tense atmosphere, bringer back to the days she worked with Adam in the White Fang. The darker moments, when his tactics slowly became much more extreme to the point, she did not recognize the group her own father founded.
She sighed a little seeing that like with her team she would have to act as the group's mediator much like when Ruby's Idealism got the best of her and Weiss' arrogant cynicism began to over bear the argument. "So, what is this about?" She finally bulked up the courage to try and break the high-strung air between the two.
"Well Circus act over there wants to break into her boss' penthouse." Nadia opened one of her eyes and glanced over at her rival. "I'd wager we're in over our heads."
"What plan would you propose?" Cerebella dropped the cheerful act glaring at the feral. She looked ready to get into a fight in the middle of this place without waiting to take it outside.
"Don't." The feral responded looking at Cerebella before leaning back in the booth. "The last time I hit the place, that psychopathic war machine of a bodyguard chased us down annihilated everyone I cared about, and the only cool thing about it was this." She proceeded to grab her left arm and yanked it with enough force to break the stitching severing the arm from her body.
"I don't mind testing how far it goes, Lorenzo has a pretty price on your head." Cerebella's voice was showing the same kind of eagerness that Samson showed during intimidation talks.
"Why would you want to break into your boss' home." Blake spoke up hoping to distract the two long enough to diffuse the situation.
"Oh right!" Cerebella alerted to the realization "you don't know why we're doing this." She paused again to look at the feral and gave an embarrassed grin. "and that goes double for you." Nadia responded by leaning back again one of her ears twitching showing her alertness to the situation.
The acrobat placed down the notebook to show a very crude layout of one of the office floors. "Blake, I don't expect you to know this, but the Medici family have a missing family member."
"You mean the girl that disappeared about a year back. Child to Lucas or something?" Nadia spoke up catching a surprised look from Cerebella.
"Marcus, but close." She corrected Nadia as she went back to her story. "Word is shortly before He betrayed the family somehow in cahoots with the Skullgirl so they sacked him."
Blake raised an eyebrow confused. "What does this have to do with the penthouse?"
Cerebella grinned a little. "The two leg breakers sent to his home said they killed three bodies and a dog." Blake seemed concerned at her enthusiasm at this detail. "But look at what I dug up thanks to my connections." She pulled out what looked to be a police case report.
Nadia looked at it just as confused. "So what?"
The Acrobat placed the evidence on the table "Why does the police report only say two bodies?"
Blake perked up hearing this and opened the report to read the case while Nadia again rolled her eyes. "No offense but run of the mill Medici goons are not exactly prime material." Her mind began to recall the borderline uncountable times that she had outwitted many of their general leg workers.
Blake looked through the crime scene report. She started to read the overall crime scene synopsis aloud for the two to hear. "Number of bodies found at the scene of the crime, three. Two humans the husband known for former ties to the Medici crime family though never acted upon them. A hairless dog believed to be a warning sign for traitors in the family. It is unknown if they were targeted by the Skullgirl at the time." Nadia looked at Blake before turning back to her rival still unchanged. "Strangely there was a sign of a third body bleeding out at the crime scene but was missing upon local law enforcement arrival. Veterinarians confirmed that the dog was infected with a parasite of some form."
Nadia finally perked up hearing this. "So, you think you know who the missing person is?" She stated looking at Cerebella.
"No, but her portrait hangs in the office and Lorenzo keeps the house under constant watch with the keys being in his office." Cerebella responded only to get a deadpan look from Nadia.
"Wouldn't it be easier to break into the victim's house?" Cerebella seemed taken back by the revelation
Blake looked at Cerebella in agreement. "It seems more practical, most the tech in this world is nowhere close to even some of the more rural parts of Remnant. I doubt we'd get more opposition."
Cerebella looked at Nadia nodding in agreement. "True, but they have close to six fail safes there. Knock out the lookout, sixty seconds on the lock, a good solid thirty minutes into the investigation and we'd have Black Dahlia on our rear. Break the door, foyer is set to explode with several boxes' worth of dynamite. It is safer to get the key then lie to the henchmen, so they think nothing special is going on."
Nadia still looked at the muscle head dumbfounded by the stupidity of her logic. "Alright fine you're the mastermind of this caper so what do you propose."
Blake looked at the Acrobat curious herself to see the plan. Cerebella grinned maliciously, a grin she only got before a fight. "Simple, we strike while everyone is busy." The two looked at her dumbfounded.
"You do not have a lot of experience at this, do you?" Blake spoke up after silently recomposing her mind.
"Hear me out, okay." She responded as she handed the two the flyer. It was one for the New Meridian Order. "We use this as our cover, we got two teams to add to the tournament."
"So, we strike after throwing our fights?" Blake concluded getting an excited thumbs up toward the plan. "Wouldn't this be a day they would double security?" Blake remarked looking over the date of the poster.
"Another string I had to pull." Cerebella remarked, she shivered in annoyance at the task she was going to have to do at a much later date. "Friend I made on the security team is able to get close enough to the schedule plan. Make him slip in the fake patrol routes and we have less to worry about." Nadia's ear twitched in slight contemplation. The feral leaned into the table looking over the details Cerebella proposed. It seemed despite the odds; Cerebella had cajoled her to the plan.
Blake however remained skeptical of the plan. "Nadia, you said you once breeched the place?" she spoke up seeing the thief seemingly overly focused on the idea that was brewing in this mission.
"Once." She remarked her claw carving a light etching of the penthouse floor plan into the table. "We broke in purrtending to be part of the carpet cleaners." She slowly smiled purring seemingly in anticipation of this job. "But with this job we have control of the protection detail." She tilted her head toward Blake. "We could easily lessen the guard by changing the route and they would be none the wiser."
Blake ran the plan in her head. It seemed to be a tricky plan. Too many variables beyond their control. Cerebella ran the risk that this insider was going to betray them, one of the higher security team members could spot the obvious changes, Nadia could get greedy, Cerebella could be setting up a trap for her. "I don't know about this, there are too many issues."
"Blake, I get it, I'm guessing you use to do things like this in your past." Nadia spoke up.
"Worse actually. Back when I was worked with Adam, we would steal a lot of things for our cause." She cut herself off there. "We got a lot of times were one of our moles decided to suddenly betray us or deliver details that were actually dummy info for a trap to capture us."
Nadia looked at her in shock "Wait, you worked with Adam. As in Adam the terrorist? You were part of the White Fang?" She asked in slight surprise.
"The who?" Cerebella asked confused.
"The White Fang" Nadia spoke up, "They were a group of activists turned terrorists. They have a slightly high presence in Vale actually." She remarked her experience on Remnant. "Had a few that tried to recruit me when we split up, the other half berated me, something about developing a stereotype due to having more animalistic traits." She shrugged in slight dis interests "They seemed like they have good intentions but shortsighted."
Blake clenched her fist a little hearing that remark. "They didn't used to be like that." She responded. "Least not when I joined." She looked down at her glass embarrassed how much the leadership of her father's organization has dropped for even an off-world person to be concerned with their methods.
Nadia tapped her on the shoulder. "Her cheer up, there is one thing I learned being here in New Merdnyan is people only want instant results, sometimes you have to play the long game, but no one has patience for that." She looked over at Cerebella who seemed still confused. "Take the Medici's for example, they wanted revenge on those who stole one of their strongest artifacts. Instead of waiting, they sent Their toughest killer at me. Before they knew it, one of their muscles was nearly killed and the Anti-Skullgirl Lab experiment saved me and ended up building this crazy adventure."
Blake thought on it, Nadia was right most of this mess could be pointed toward the fact they called upon Eliza to fill in some old favor she had. Now the existence of a new world became known to most of both sides and now trying to stop a very dangerous evil from falling into another person's hands. She nodded for a second before looking at the table where the feral had carved something into the table.
"Nadia, you're not suppose to do that." Minette blurted out as she moved toward the table. Eyeing the acrobat hesitantly she placed her tray down grabbed her notepad. Her stern eyed glare turned to the calming smile as she looked over the table "Have you decided on what you would like?" she asked glancing at her notepad before waiting for an answer.
"My usual." Nadia responded hastily as she began to claw at something else. Minette shot her a second glance before the feral grinned and retracted her claws. "Alright Minette, I'll stop." Was her only response.
"Dagonian Empire stir-fry" Cerebella blurted out quickly "Extra alcohol in the pan please." Minette looked at her in slight surprise.
"Uh, I am required by law to ask you to sign a waiver." She spoke up with concern. Cerebella looked at the Dagonian waitress with a very confused look. "We use Dagonian chilies in the recipe. They can be very volatile; we once had a parasite blast out a heavy gasp of fire."
Cerebella looked at her in surprise "Um, my gut healed up from something more violent recently, do you have a tamer version."
"Without chilies then got it." The waitress remarked. "and for you Ms. Blake?"
"The Seafood platter." She remarked quick.
"Alright then I'll see to it that it gets taken care of." Minette concluded walking to the kitchen. As she made her way, she heard the front door open. "Have a Seat anywhere open I'll be with you in a moment." She yelled turning to see the familiar looks of the green hair girl that helped her earlier. "Oh, It's you again!" She spoke up surprised.
"Yeah, found time to slip out for a bit." Emerald's confirmation seemed genuine to her as she made her way to the bar counter.
"You know, I don't think I ever got a name." The dagonian started to contemplate out loud handing her a menu.
"You never did ask." Emerald rebutted a mischievous grin spanned her face as she began to look over the menu. "You can just call me Eme for now."
Minette looked at her slightly confused but shook it off "Short for Emma?" Emerald only graced her with a headshake. "Well, Eme, to be honest I did not expect you to take me up on that offer."
"Neither did I." She remarked quickly as she took another glance at the menu. "What would you recommend?"
Minette froze in spot as she thought on it. "Most of the ramen and udon bowls tend to be good for first timers." She spoke up holding a glass of water on a tray.
"Then I'll just do one of the house specials of that." Filling out her order probably one of the fastest first timers in Minette's book.
The waitress nodded before shouting back into the kitchen "Hey, Yu-Wan. Restaurant special six and take it from my paycheck."
"Order six understood, Table eight's order is good to go." He declared a new tray slide into the window which Minette grabbed quickly and walked over to the three heisters in planning. A detail Emerald made note of the Faunace that was amongst the group. She returned toward Emerald simply grabbing a few washcloths getting ready to clean the unattended tables.
"Hey, you think when my food is done you can stick around for a few?" Emerald asked as she began to adjust her positioning a little.
"Uh, of course." Minette answered it looked as though the dinning hall was mostly empty aside from two tables: one a drunk dagonian laid undisturbed while the other seemed to have all their focus on the project they were planning. "Yu, I'll be taking my last twenty-minute break after the next order."
Emeralds meal came out quickly though seemed to have a second bowl on it as well. "Looks like Yu saw his storage was about to spoil" she sighed disappointed as she grabbed the tray and moved the food to the off worlder. "As promised, it's on the house." Minette confirmed standing across from her dipping into her own bowl with a pair of chopsticks.
"Thank you" Emerald remarked breaking a pair of chopsticks herself and slowly dipped into the heavy bowl. "Mind if I ask you something?" Minette looked at her intently with her mouth full of food, it was obvious the answer was yes. "It's about our conversation earlier."
Minette swallowed as she looked at the customer. "I can't say that I'll have the best answer for it." She admitted.
"That's okay. What do you know about absolute evil?" She seemed to be mulling over the question as she asked.
"Absolute evil?" Emerald nodded as Minette thought on it. "Well, to say it doesn't exist is a naïve notion. Look at the Skullgirl for example, it controls the dead and seeks the destruction of every living thing on this planet." Emerald seemed to be displeased with her thoughts "Yet I find it paradoxical to say that the Skullgirl is not truly evil. One of the most dangerous ones we had required the kingdoms to team up to stop her." Emerald listened in complete shock at this entity's strength. Something like this would have given the fabled four maidens a run for their money and Cinder was only able to capture part of one's power. "But I'd say that the Skullgirl herself is never truly evil, just corrupted. That same Skullgirl wished for the kingdoms to unite to ensure peace for her daughter's rule after her tyrannical dad would die. She became a monster for the sake of good in the end."
"My Canopy history is a little hazy." Emerald spoke up in curiosity. "Which Skullgirl was this again?"
Minette took another dip into her soup grabbing a piece of tofu and diving it into her mouth quickly swallowing. "That Skullgirl was her royal majesty Queen Nancy."