"Alright so... this was the most recent store that got hit in town. There's been a few minor ones but, according to witness reports this one was major enough to involve the top dog himself... hmmm... if I can... yes, yes this should..." Izuku was overwhelmed by the words seeping under the crack of the door to his dorm as he approached, slightly toweling off his head as he blinked at the sound of Weiss' voice making its way through the wood. He frowned slightly as he tried to listen in for some hints, but Weiss' voice dipped down now and then as she seemed to utter something mostly to herself. After a while, his curiosity managed to get the best of him as he knocked quickly on the door.
"Hey Weiss, it's me Izuku. Is it okay for me to come in?" Izuku heard a slight jump, presumably Weiss being surprised by the sound of his voice, before a slight clattering around reached his ears, presumably the young woman dropping something in her surprise.
"Shoot... yes Izuku, I'm decent. Come in." he opened the door to see... Weiss dressed up in a new outfit; one that seemed a bit more suited to the winter weather while still maintaining Weiss' usual flair for dressing well and looking the part of an Heiress to the world's largest Corporation.
"Oh, uh, hey Weiss. You going out somewhere?" Izuku managed to ask as he finished drying any remaining sweat from his jog off, Weiss just looking at him for a moment before shaking her head. She seemed to move to pocket her Scroll, presumably what she was fumbling around with before she moved to speak.
"Yes Izuku, I was just thinking about heading out to do some..." He watched as Weiss looked at Izuku for a long second, her sentence slowly dropping off as her lips turned into a small frown. He froze up a bit under her scrutiny, feeling a bit nervous as she took a moment to reach her hand up to her lips and tap them. After what felt like an agonizingly long time under Weiss' stare he watched as the Heiress sighed to herself. "Well... he already knows what I suspect so what's the harm..." Weiss whispered under her breath and managed to perk his interest before she looked him in the eye. "To do some investigating, Izuku. I was just about to head out to do some investigating." He tilted his head a bit to the side as he looked at his teammate.
"Investigating? What exactly do you have on your mind, Weiss?" The white-haired young woman pulled her Scroll back out as she started striking a few commands into it, her light blue eyes scanning the surface as she moved over to him.
"I think it's safe to assume you remember the first few rooms of our sojourn through the Tunnels, correct? What those hoodlums and terrorists were up to?" He nodded readily; how could he forget, in all honesty? The common crooks that the Monochrome League had set loose upon the Tunnels to wreck the civilian infrastructure that lay within them, bombs made up of Dust meant to blow it all to bits or otherwise poison the people of his hometown. Those kinds of memories were pretty hard to up and forget, especially within just a few weeks. "Stupid question I know but it's those incidents which I'm trying to get a handle on." Izuku blinked.
"Weiss, not for nothing, but the police and a lot of Hunters are already investigating who was behind that and what they were up to. You don't-"
"Izuku, I'm more than fine to leave that up to the officials in charge of investigating that. They'll probably do a better job than I can of figuring 'that' out." Izuku was silenced as Weiss moved to correct him, the white-haired Heiress looking up from her Scroll to look at him. "No, that's not what I'm thinking about. You remember what I said right, about the Dust they had made up for those bombs right?"
"...Right, yeah. You were surprised that a bunch of common crooks had access to such high-quality stuff, right? You even asked one of them about it to try and figure it out." A smile tugged on Weiss' lips as she nodded.
"Correct; usually in situations like that where criminals or... well, terrorists, are using Dust as part of their attacks, it's usually pretty low-grade stuff. Materials that they'd find in common goods that can easily be smuggled or taken without drawing the notice of the police or proper authorities. Lots of items these days have some kind of Dust in them or powering them so it's not hard to come by the cheap and common kinds. That's... not what these guys had though." Weiss reached an arm up to rub at the other one. "They had some good stuff. Not amazingly refined but that's so rare and barely shipped that I'd be 'really' surprised if they had access to it. It was still Dust that you wouldn't expect the kind of crooks we saw running around in there to have on them." Just by the way that Weiss was acting so uncomfortably, and the way she was acting back in the Tunnels... it gave Izuku an idea of what was on her mind.
"You think that it's somehow related to the spree of Dust Robberies that have been going on?" Weiss nodded, looking up at Izuku.
"A bit suspicious don't you think? A bunch of robberies suddenly start hitting Vale hard, with even the White Fang hitting trains delivering massive quantities of the stuff, and then all of a sudden several bombs made of high-quality Dust suddenly make their way into a bunch of crooks and criminals of a mixed background?" The humans and Faunus in the Tunnels, yeah. "I hate to look at it like this but... well, it just seems as likely to me as anything that the Dust in the Tunnels was Schnee Company Dust. Up until recently, I've been thinking along with the company that this was just typical theft; that the Dust would just wind up on the Black Market sold for profit to other companies that'd like to get their hands on it. That's how a lot of cells in the White Fang fund themselves these days, after all."
"That would be pretty scary." The idea of all that Dust that's been being stolen recently being used as a weapon against innocent people or entire cities sent a chill down his spine. "Still, I don't see why you're investigating this yourself Weiss; it's still in the hands of good investigators and Hunters, so if it is your company's Dust then they'd find out themselves and tell you, right?"
...
Weiss looked to the side for a moment as she coughed into her fist.
"... Right?"
"... Let's just say for the moment that my father's interest in keeping the Schnee Dust Company's name clear might be a problem in that regard," Weiss commented idly as she ran a hand through her white hair. "Really think about that Izuku; if my suspicions are right and this is Schnee Company Dust having been used in an attempt to destroy Mountain Glenn of all places? Gods, Izuku, the press eat at the company enough over how badly the Faunus are, supposedly, treated by the Schnee Dust Company? If word gets out that Schnee Company Dust almost led to the destruction of key infrastructure in the City of Hope then, Gods, I can scarcely imagine how much damage it'd do... and I'm not even just talking about the Company's reputation. If people thought..."
'If people thought that the largest corporation in the world which produces one of the most vital resources the entire planet needed to survive and combat the Grimm was having that resource stolen and turned toward destroying cities and crippling their infrastructure... yeah, that could cause some panic.'
'Lots of panic.'
"... But not if nobody knows there's a problem," Izuku added in as Weiss nodded.
"Exactly. I do not doubt that if this is happening that my father and the company at large will be doing everything in their power to make sure no one finds out. Heck, they might even get some help if they manage to convince enough people in power that bad news like this would cause a surge in negative emotions and draw in Grimm..." Weiss stood up straight, looking defiantly at him. "As the Heiress to the Company, however, if this is going on then... well, I'm not sure what I'd be able to do about it. After all, if this is going on and nobody's telling me, it's clear it's because they don't want me to know... but I have a responsibility to at least learn the truth. After that... well, I'll think of what comes after."
'Makes sense to me.'
"Okay so... what's the plan then?" With that Weiss brought out her Scroll and showed the screen to Izuku.
"I've been looking over some of the more major hits against Dust shops that have occurred in the city recently. There have been a bunch of smaller-scale hits lately that have been dotting most of the maps but one of the more major hits took place in a Schnee Company affiliated Dust shop. I figure I can start from there; the Dust shop will have a contract with the Schnee Dust Company so I'd have some authority to hold over his head. The police probably won't talk to us given that it's part of an ongoing investigation but the shop owner there would have some evidence and testimony himself that I might be able to wring out. After that, I figure I can try to trace a line between the goons that might've been involved to a supplier who might be able to talk on where this Dust has been going." Weiss hesitated for a moment before turning to Izuku. "Or... I guess now, 'we'. Maybe having another person at my back would help make any... 'suggestions' I make feel a bit more weighty, after all."
It sounded like as good a place as any to start to him. Still though, if that was the case...
"Well if one person being there would help with that then maybe we could get the rest of the team involved. Four people would be-" Izuku saw Weiss hesitate, then the light blue-eyed Heiress sighed as she shook her head.
"Izuku... remember, this is my family's Company we're talking about. 'Really' serious business that if it got out would do some damage to the Schnee Dust Company's reputation. Not for nothing but... I'd prefer if as few people knew about this little trip as possible. The only reason I'm telling you about this is because... well, you were there. Knowing you it wouldn't have taken long for you to put two and two together on your own... I wasn't exactly being restrained and subtle when I was asking where they got their Dust, after all." Weiss admitted, much to her chagrin, as Izuku nodded. "Pyrrha and Nora though? They don't know right now... and I'd prefer if I kept the number of people who did know down. To say nothing of the other Teams on top of that."
"Come on Weiss, you know Pyrrha. I can't imagine she'd spring a secret like this if it was this important to you." Weiss nodded slowly, but she was still pretty hesitant; even if she thought Pyrrha could be trusted with this kind of a secret, it seemed Weiss would just prefer she not be aware at all. "And Nora..." Izuku blanched slightly as Weiss just arched an eyebrow at him. "Well... she's your partner, so you're going to have to start trusting her with stuff like this eventually, right?"
"Izuku, this is serious. Nora's great at fighting the Grimm but in this kind of situation?" She left the implication open as she looked at Izuku. "This is a big secret. Even if Nora's a... friend, there are just some secrets I'd like to keep to myself. You only know because of happenstance... sorry to say it but it's true. I know that it might be a bit hard to understand if you don't have a secret like that but, trust me, this is important to me."
Izuku thought he had a slightly better idea of what Weiss meant than she was giving him credit for... but it was probably better to not admit that, lest she start asking questions.
'But… they are our teammates,' he shook his head and looked Weiss right in the eye.
"Listen, Weiss, if you're right about all this then this investigation might end up running into trouble sooner or later. I mean, this is a pretty big deal you're talking about here if true; Dust supplies going to terrorists isn't exactly something the criminals stealing the Dust are going to want people to know, especially if they're making a tidy profit off of it. I respect that you want to keep this a secret and I'm willing to keep it from the teachers and everyone else... but Weiss, come on. Surely you can see the advantage of bringing Pyrrha along? She's the best fighter in our class so she'd be able to have our back and, out of all of us, I honestly think that she'd be understanding of someone famous wanting to keep certain aspects of their life quiet, right?" Weiss frowned slightly at that as she raised a hand to her chin, stroking it ever so slightly.
"I suppose... but you and I are plenty good. We managed those creeps in the Tunnels all on our own."
"But on the other hand, we didn't come across the hand, mist or bird-brained guy down there either. Who knows what we might run into going out into Vale on our own." Thoughts of Neo briefly circled through his head as he kept a shudder down. "Besides... if you're right and your father would want to keep this quiet, any store owner that you might come across might not feel too threatened by whatever leverage you might try and use. After all, you're effectively having ranked pulled on you, right?" Though annoyed, Weiss nodded at his point. "Well... if anyone could manage to maybe dazzle someone into being a little more friendly with us..."
"... It'd probably be the Invincible Girl, right..." Weiss sighed as she ran a hand through her hair. "Okay, fine, maybe bringing Pyrrha along wouldn't be a bad idea." Izuku smiled at that, glad to have made some headway.
"Right... and you know, Nora-"
"Izuku-"
"Weiss just hear me out-"
"Izuku, there's no way-"
"Weiss, come on. She's your partner, you're going to have to learn to trust her with stuff even more important than this eventually! Think of it as giving her a chance!"
"A chance with one of the biggest secrets of one of the most important aspects of my life? Come on Izuku, be real here."
"I am, think about it; if all else fails, you have to know that Nora would be a pretty intimidating sight to behold! The girl talks about breaking people's legs and 'means it' Weiss! If being kind, gentle or persuasive falls through then it'd be good to have someone around who could give the most genuine threat of all of us." Weiss put her hands on her hips, looking at him incredulously.
"Izuku, base threats like that? Aren't we better than that?"
"Well, what were you planning on doing if this guy didn't just roll over and tell you what you wanted to know?"
"... Threaten his license with the Schnee Dust Company, effectively threatening his business model..." Weiss muttered, somewhat quietly, as Izuku just crossed his arms and raised his eyebrow. "Okay so maybe it's a bit of brute force too, but it's not literal brute force! Besides Izuku, how much do we know about Ren and Nora just because Nora 'can't' shut up?"
"I mean-"
"Literally cannot shut up, Izuku! We practically know what their bed arrangements were traveling together! Heck, even when she's trying to lie or hide a secret she's horrible at it! 'Don't want to be together-together' my... erm." Weiss coughed into her fist somewhat daintily as she regained her composure. "The only reason Ren isn't aware is because... I don't know, I guess despite being so smart he must be particularly thick or something."
"Weiss, I get it, Nora can blather on sometimes but, well, this is going to be something you're going to need to deal with for the next several years! You and Nora are going to be partners for a long time... it's time to build up a level of trust with her on stuff like this, don't you think? Besides, do you really think so little of Nora that you think she'd spill something this big on a whim?" Weiss's frown deepened, staring her leader right in the eye.
"Izuku... no. No no no no no." Weiss's look hardened and she seemed to steel her spine, "You can try to pull sympathy here all you want but I'm not going to risk this getting out just because of sentimentality! There's no way, absolutely no way, that you're going to 'guilt me' into bringing Nora along!"
xXxXxXxXxXx
"Gosh Weiss, you shouldn't have been so nervous about asking us for help! Of course, we'd be willing to give you a helping hand! We're a team after all! Now, let's go break this guy's legs!"
...
"I give it twenty-four hours before the press knows about everything."
"Weiss, come on, don't be so-"
"Don't. Touch me."
"Right, sorry..."
Izuku coughed into his fist as the four of them traveled down the roads of Vale, Pyrrha and Nora having been brought up to speed back at Beacon before they had set off to the Dust shop that Weiss had been talking about. Unsurprisingly Pyrrha and Nora had been all on board, the two young women having immediately understood the gravity of the situation and, seemingly, how important it was to Weiss. While he hadn't exactly counted on that to keep Weiss happy with bringing Nora along he had hoped that it'd be a chance for Weiss to learn that, yes, she could trust her partner.
It didn't end up taking long before the four of them were in front of the shop...
"Hmmm, wasn't another shop we went to a while back called From Dust Till Dawn?" Pyrrha asked, tilting her head curiously as Weiss just nodded.
"Yep; it's a chain of stores that specialize in selling Dust in various places around Remnant. The deal's a bit complicated; the owner of all the chains is the one who technically has the contract with the Schnee Dust Company, but the individuals who own the stores can end up negotiating on their own store's behalf... or, in other cases, if they do something that displeases the Schnee Dust Company, the parent company can cut the individual location and run to avoid the wrath of the SDC. The man who ran the other one... well, you saw how I managed to get our little discount there." They all nodded, remembering Weiss holding the guy's business practices over his head to get their Team supplied with cheaper Dust.
"So why don't we go back over there then? He got robbed too, so it'd be pretty easy to blackmail him again, wouldn't it?" Nora asked bluntly, crossing her arms as Weiss sighed.
"It wasn't 'blackmail' Nora. I was merely informing him of what he could expect if news about his less scrupulous practices got out."
"Right, but why don't we do that again?"
"Well because for one I'd rather not pull that off twice at the same location and, for another, this store is the most recent location to be hit in the chain of robberies... or at least, the most recent major one. Lots of smaller locations or Dust supplies have been hit. This was the last major robbery to be reported to the SDC so I figured what better place to start." The four of them nodded and, with little hesitation, they all sauntered on in.
Honestly, for a place that was the location of a Dust Robbery, it sure didn't look it. Containers of Dust lining the walls were at varying levels of fullness and if there had been any disorder in the shop it had either been cleaned up or had been relatively minor in the first place. As they all approached the front desk Izuku saw an old-looking man behind the counter, busily sweeping away. It seemed he was a bit lost in his own little world, either that or his hearing was so far gone that he didn't even hear them open the door, as it wasn't until the four of them walked up to the counter and rang the bell that he suddenly turned to see his team.
"Oh, uh, welcome to From Dust Till Dawn! Name's Mr. Buckland but you can call me... ah! Miss Schnee! A pleasure to, ah, have the illustrious Heir to the Schnee Dust Company gracing my humble shop!" The man rested his hands on the counter. "So what, ah, brings you and your... entourage around here, Miss Schnee?"
"... Entourage?" Nora muttered to herself, Pyrrha just whispering into her ear before the orange-haired young woman gave a quick 'oh'. Izuku and Weiss exchanged a glance, having lightly discussed their plans for how to work the man, Mr. Buckland, over before arriving.
"Greetings Mr. Buckland, a pleasure to be in a Schnee Associated Shop such as yours, especially one so well maintained!" The man puffed up his chest ever so slightly, the twinkle in his eye telling him that it's been a rare, rare, 'rare' feat for him to earn such a compliment, especially from someone so high in the chain above him. "As for how you can help us... well, we're here to ask you a few questions about the Dust Robbery that occurred in your store a few weeks ago. Given the sensitive manner relating to the Dust being stolen from a store with a formal agreement linking them to the Schnee Dust Company, we've seen it fit to head up an investigation, especially given what we might think the Dust is going to. Would you be inclined to answer a few of our questions?" Formal, polite and graceful. Sure enough, that was Weiss Schnee doing her best to be the Heiress of The Schnee Dust Company. Any sign of her more casual attitude that she'd exposed to them all and, to a lesser degree, the rest of their friends was gone and only a prim and proper lady remained. Honestly, with how she was speaking, she sounded pretty convincing to Izuku...
Up until Mr. Buckland seemed to freeze in place, a thousand-yard stare in his gaze as he seemed to look past the four of them.
"... Mr. Buckland?" Weiss inquired, sounding slightly concerned as Mr. Buckland just stood there, frozen, with that pathetic look on his face. They all glanced at each other, definitely feeling confused over the sudden development. After a moment Weiss reached forward and then snapped her fingers in Mr. Buckland's face in an attempt to snap him out of it. The man shook his head for a moment, looked at all of them, and then-
"Miss Schnee! A pleasure to, ah, have the illustrious Heir to the Schnee Dust Company gracing my humble shop!" The man rested his hands on the counter. "So what, ah, brings you and your... entourage around here, Miss Schnee?"
...
"Uh... as she said, Mr. Buckland, we're here to discuss a few questions with you relating to the robbery. We were wondering if-" Sure enough Mr. Buckland immediately froze up again, that thousand-yard stare back. Weiss, again, snapped her fingers in his face and, sure enough-
"Miss Schnee! A pleasure to, ah, have the illustrious Heir to the Schnee Dust Company gracing my humble shop!" The man rests his hands on the counter. "So what, ah, brings you-"
"MR. BUCKLAND!"
"AH!" The old man seemed to be snapped out of his fear-induced trance as he looked at the four of them, a nervous expression on his face. Sensing that Weiss might've been getting more than a little annoyed with Mr. Buckland's fearful reactions, Izuku decided to help her sell her case ever so slightly.
"Mr. Buckland, this is a pretty serious matter. We have reason to believe that Dust similar to the Dust sold in shops like this might have been used in a recent terrorist attack... or an attempted one. It's vitally important that the Schnee Dust Company knows for certain whether or not this is true so that they can try to do something about it." Buckland, sweating up a storm, looked between Izuku and Weiss, the latter having regained her composure as she coughed into her fist.
"Indeed Mr. Buckland. You're the most recent major robbery that's taken place in the last couple of months, a time frame that would've put your dust within easy reach of this incident if true. We need this information." Mr. Buckland opened and closed his mouth a couple of times... dear Lord, Izuku had sworn he could practically see his tongue drying out.
"Excuse me, Miss Schnee-" The man gasped out, reaching under his counter for a glass of water as he poured it down his throat, swallowing harshly before giving another gasp, "-b-but your father... well, we already have instructions not to talk to anyone outside of a need to know basis."
"Fair enough Mr. Buckland... but please, do you think the Heiress of The Schnee Dust Company doesn't count as a person on a need-to-know basis?" Mr. Buckland just stared back at them all, deeply nervous.
"... OH GODS, I'M GOING TO JAIL AREN'T I?!" Mr. Buckland suddenly yelled, causing all four of his guests to leap back in surprise. "Oh man, I knew it! I knew that this policy was just setting me up to be the fall guy! Oooooh! Now, who's gonna take care of my wife! My son's too much of a sad sack too and Gods I just can't handle going to jail, I just can't!" At that Mr. Buckland reached into a drawer and pulled out a whole pill bottle, pouring at least half a dozen small pills into his hand.
"MR. BUCKLAND, YOU'RE NOT GOING TO JAIL!" They all screamed at once, the nervous old man looking at them all as he continued to sweat profusely.
"I-I'm not?" He asked, Weiss just shaking her head.
"Of course not! You were robbed! We're just here to ask you questions about the thieves, that's all!"
"You are?"
"YES!" The four of them answered all at once.
"... Oh thank goodness, what a relief." They all relaxed as Mr. Buckland did, his hand dropping. Then without warning he still ended up popping all six pills into his mouth, causing them all to just stare at him. "What... it's a prescription... I'm not sure if you can tell but I have a bit of a problem with anxiety."
"... No, we... we really couldn't tell there Mr. Buckland," Nora commented idly, looking off to the side along with the rest of them as Mr. Buckland pulled up a chair from behind him and sat down.
"So... what do you four want to know exactly, then?" Mr. Buckland still seemed quite unnerved by the entire ordeal, sweating like it was no one's business, while Pyrrha and Nora looked to Izuku and Weiss. They both took a moment to consider things before Weiss stepped forward.
"Well Mr. Buckland, to start, I have to imagine that you have cameras watching over your store for security, correct? Having access to the tapes would be a great help for us to figure out who we would need to go out and look for." Buckland nodded his head, seemingly finding that sensible enough, though an apologetic look came over his face soon after.
"Well I'm sorry to say but I don't have those tapes anymore. The police took them all as part of the investigation."
"All of them?" Pyrrha asked, somewhat surprised, as Mr. Buckland nodded.
"Not a surprise given that it's evidence... and I doubt the police will hand them over to a bunch of kids like us," Izuku muttered to himself before looking back up to Mr. Buckland. "Well... how about you tell us what the criminals looked like then, Mr. Buckland? Do you think you can do that?"
"Of course! I have a pretty good memory despite my age, Mr..." Mr. Buckland's eyes went wide with panic as he looked at Izuku. "OH GODS I FORGOT THE REST OF YOUR NAMES?! IT'S FINALLY HAPPENING, I'M GOING-"
"MR. BUCKLAND THEY DIDN'T GIVE YOU THEIR NAMES CALM DOWN!" Weiss finally yelled out loud, the Heiress irritated with the man's constant nervous goings-on.
"... Oh you didn't?" The rest of them shook their heads no as Mr. Buckland again calmed down. "Right... okay, well, that's good. Uh, let's see. Well, the guy in charge was a guy with red hair." Okay, good start. "A bowler hat." A little unusual, sure, but- "A cane and a white suit." ... Well, that wasn't painting a great picture but- "And he wore eyeliner too!"
...
"Guys... I'm pretty sure he's talking about Roman Torchwick." Izuku muttered slightly, his eyes a little wide as the rest of his team nodded in agreement, equally surprised. All except for Weiss.
"Are you kidding me!" She growled to herself, more annoyed than surprised. "Great, just great! The first store in and, welp, we've found the top of the chain already! Fantastic!" Weiss rubbed at her temples as Nora just tilted her head to the side.
"I don't get it, isn't that a good thing?" Nora muttered as Pyrrha looked over.
"I think the idea was that we'd maybe find someone who wasn't quite so... out of everyone's reach. If it'd been a smaller person we might've had an idea about where to find them and maybe even have a chance at learning 'something'... but if it's Torchwick, then we're dealing with the top of the food chain right away."
"Yeah. Of course, he'd have the ability to get that Dust sent anywhere... but we'll have no idea if he did it or not because no one knows how to track him down..."
"Even if we did, of course, the police would already suspect him..." Weiss groaned as she shook her head. "Great. Of course with our luck, the robberies are being directed by the biggest fish in the pond right off the bat. Of course!" Weiss muttered as she shook her head again.
"... Well... uh, if it's any help he wasn't alone. There were some other people with him." They all nodded at that, though Weiss, in particular, seemed to not be paying much mind as Mr. Buckland licked his lips. "Well, they were all dressed in... mostly black attire. Black suits, black shoes, black pants, black ties and even black hats and gloves. They had some red on their attire too, mostly in their shades, the undershirt that went under their jackets and some other accessories they might've had on but that was mostly it. It almost seemed like a uniform of some kind..."
...
"You know... that does sound familiar," Weiss muttered as she moved her hands away from her face, a curious expression on her face.
"Yeah... almost feels like it's on the tip of my tongue," Izuku muttered, carefully tapping his chin.
"I don't know why it's so hard to think of... it feels familiar." When Pyrrha didn't speak up after Nora, they all turned their gaze over to her, the young woman's increasingly red face hidden behind her hands. "... I'm guessing Pyrrha remembers."
...
"HOW COULD I NOT?! HOW COULD YOU ALL FORGET?! I SHOT JUNIOR AT HIS CLUB WITH ALL HIS GUARDS THERE FOR US TO SEE!"
...
"OH MY GODS!" All three of them slapped their foreheads at once, memories rushing back. While Nora may have honestly forgotten, he and Weiss had done their best to just bury those memories of what happened at Junior's Club but, sure enough, Pyrrha was right. Buckland's description of the men accompanying Roman matched up with the goons that Junior had watching over his club to a T. Immediately Nora fished into her skirt to pull out her Scroll, flipping through it a bit until she reached a picture of Izuku, buried underneath the Malachite Twins after she threw them on top of him and Izuku himself passed out from embarrassment, with a member of Junior's guards hanging in the background of the shot looking on at the scene of chaos and destruction in horror.
"This wouldn't happen to be one of the guys you were talking about, right?" Mr. Buckland licked his lips as he leaned in closer to the screen to get a better look.
"... Well I'll be, that was one of them exactly! You know about them?"
"... Sadly yes..." Weiss muttered, a slight tinge of irritation in her voice as she rubbed at her temples. Mr. Buckland continued to sweat as he chuckled, looking down at the photo.
"Well, I'll be. The police have said they haven't found any trace of any of them, but you four Hunters went and found 'em all on your own! You all must be something else..." Weiss sighed as she nodded, Nora withdrawing her phone as she looked back at Mr. Buckland.
"Well, good sir, thank you for your assistance. You were a big... a big... dear lord man, how are you sweating 'this' much?" Weiss finally cracked, all of them nodding in some dazed agreement with her as they watched Mr. Buckland, his skin drenched in flop sweat as he chuckled slightly.
"Oh, this is nothing. You should see my son... he's a real sad sack. The wife and I called him 'Sweaty Teddy' growing up... honestly don't know where he got it from." At that, Mr. Buckland set his hand against the counter again... only for it to immediately slip off thanks to his sweat. Having supported himself entirely with that arm, Mr. Buckland immediately bashed his head against the table thanks to the slip and then immediately fell to the ground, dazed thanks to the smack to the noggin. They all flinched as they got ready to reach over the counter to check on him. "I'm okay..." A pained groan escapes from the other side, the man just slowly forcing himself back up to his feet, a large goose egg now on the side of his head.
"... Yeah, who could tell where he got it from..." Weiss muttered to herself.