Avriel – Sorry about this taking so long to get out, I took a vacation up to England to watch my sister graduate from Uni and didn't do much writing during that time.
The sun had begun to set over the city of Vale, the noise of an eventful day growing softer as lights began to appear across the darkening cityscape.
Deep within one of the many rundown residential districts, situated at the great walls edge, the sounds of movement could be heard from within the confines of an old abandoned apartment building.
"Thatcher, get those windows barricaded, I don't want us waking up to any nasty surprises." Rahul ordered.
The four had chosen this place as their temporary HQ, as while its windows were broken and its floor dirty, it was much safer than the exposed streets.
This wasn't their first rodeo, far from it, in fact. At this point, setting up a FOB*1 was as natural as making breakfast in the morning.
As such, the group had transformed the place in record time; Old furniture and debris had been brought out to form something of a living space, windows and breaches were barricaded to stop intruders, and necessities like food and water were prepared for consumption.
"Huh, shacking up in an abandoned building with a gun under my pillow. Feels like home, doesn't it?" Ocelot remarked.
"Ya," Thatcher grunted out, forcing a rotted bookshelf into place over a window, "Only real difference is that now we're worried about void deamons and not Tree monsters... not too sure which I liked better."
"Meh, I liked the Root more, felt a lot less edgy."
The Berserker stopped for a moment, turning to the soldier.
"...Blood red cloak, rebreather, knife obsession-"
A clang sounded throughout the building as an empty food can collided with the warrior's helmet, the sound quickly drowned out by his laughter.
"Oh, shut up you jackass, you know damn well what I mean!"
"Do I?" He said with a grin, "Do I really?"
"Thats enough, you can bully Ocelot's choice in... ascetics, later." Rahul cut in, grabbing everyone's attention, Otto finally digging his head out of the bag of sweets he had...appropriated, on the way to their base. "For now, we need to get down to our actual purpose here."
"Say hello-" Rahul stepped to the side, revealing a large strip of parchment hastily tacked on to the wall, "-To Operation: Kill the Guardian, Part 2!"
"Operation: Kill the Guardian 2; electric boogaloo"
Objective – Kill the Guardian of this planet and bring its heart to the Undying King so he can fully resurrect Rhom into a paradise world, in return, the people of earth can migrate to the revitalized planet and live in peace.
Guardian location – Unknown
Planetary culture – Unknown
Main enemies – Weird black monster things, I guess? Didn't have much information past "Grimm monsters of darkness who feed on negative emotions"
Possible Strategy's – None
Known allies – None
Literally any information at all – None
The plans reveal was met with silence.
"... So, we have absolutely nothing?" Otto asked.
"That is correct." Came Rahul's reply
More silence followed before the bandit spoke up again.
"The plan is just to Bumblefuck around until we luck our way into its lair from pure chance, isn't it?"
"Pretty much."
This would be a long one. No insectoid queen to point them the right way, no giant monolith that basically screamed 'Loot me!', and no ominous light house... they were going to be here for a-
"Ah shit, we're ganna have to get actual jobs, aren't we."
This revelation was met by groans from the others.
"By the All Fathers raggedy-ass beard, why didn't we ask for more information before coming here?!" Thatcher wailed, choosing to slam down onto his back, "That Undying Bastard has to have had more information about this place!"
"To our credit," Otto remarked, "That guy is confusing at the best of times. Anything he told us would probably be wrapped up in vague riddles and totally-not-made-up prophecies."
"So we just...settle down? This doesn't sound like it's going to be as fast as the Corsus Op was." Ocelot Mused.
Rahul could do nothing but grimace at his companions' reactions. They weren't wholly unexpected, but it reinforced the team's lack of enthusiasm for their newest mission.
"Listen, this may be a bit of a schlog-"
"You can say that again." Otto interrupted.
"BUT, -" Rahul continued, "- for once we have actual sentient people to talk too! Not some genocide surviving elf, or some desert mutant, or a goat lady captain Ford fucked, but actual humans! We can have social lives!"
His final statement was met with a brief silence before Otto spoke up.
"Oh wow, we really are fucked."
In the past years they had only truly interacted with two other humans, both of which were now far away in a trans-dimensional terminus. Now they had to actually...talk to people?! Go to social gatherings?! Make friends!?
The idea was far more daunting than possibly fighting a god-adjacent planetary guardian. As it turns out, social interactions are much easier when the only action is 'Shoot the fucker'.
"For the sake of ignoring our impending doom via social-humiliation-" Thatcher began, rising into a sitting position, "Can we please actual think of something to do? While Otto may not have been entirely wrong, I don't think wandering around blindly will pull up many results."
"Thank you for the convenient segway, Thatcher." Rahul began, clearing his throat while rifling through more papers he had taken out before the presentation. "I do actually happen to have a set of jobs for us to work on in the immediate future."
Rahul picked up a large stack of files, selecting a few before handing them out to the different troupe members.
"To start with, we have little to no information on this world's culture or history, I will be the one seeking to remedy this thanks to the small fact that I'm somehow the only person here who knows how to talk to people without-"
He looks to Otto, "Trying to steal from them."
To Ocelot, "Trying to interrogate them."
To thatcher, "Or trying to duel them."
The others looked around sheepishly, embarrassed but denying nothing.
"At the same time, I'll be checking for 'holy' sites and the lot, it's our best chance of locating the guardian early."
"Next, while I would love nothing more than to stay on the right side of the law, it is plain to see this will not be possible. We lack documentation, money, or any history on this world. If I'm not mistaken, Otto, your new friend, Roman, should be able to help us in those regards."
"On it, shouldn't be too hard to track down Junior's and see about getting some documents, Ill also try to get us some work that won't land us on the local authority's shit list."
"That's all I can ask of you." Rahul responded with a nod before continuing.
"I certainly trust we can all make it back here after we leave, but it would still be beneficial if we had an actual map, or at the very least, an idea of the area. I, personally, would also love to have a base of operations that wasn't a dingy abandoned apartment building. Ocelot, I assume you know whose job this will be."
A grunt of affirmation was all he received from the Soldier.
"Finally, Thatcher. We already know about these 'Grimm' abominations, we were told at least that much before we arrived. Thanks to your expertise in everything violence, I want you to find out how they tick, or rather, how to make them stop ticking. Durability, weaknesses, variations, the whole lot. Feel free to inspect the local's weaponry while you're at it."
"Understood, if they've lasted this long with such lackluster defenses, they have to have something up their sleeves." The Warrior was obviously still thinking about how easy it had been to slip through the city's walls.
With one last look at his team, Rahul bowed and began out the door, the four fighters going to complete their given objectives.
Luckily for the cultist, it seems a city like Vale never truly slept. The many public libraries and archives that dotted the concrete jungle were open all hours of the day to everyone, no matter their station, such apparently having been mandated by its founder.
He had already been perusing his current haunt for two hours, jotting down notes on everything, from the city's history to its religion, even down to the small happening's others would call insignificant. It was always those tiny little details that told you what truly made a place.
It had been...shocking, to walk up to the South Vale library to find that there was no need of ID or currency, to just be admitted without caution. A place like this was a masterful wealth of knowledge and literature, why would they be so poor in defending it?
Even getting there had been odd. He was so used to dodging through cover, always keeping an eye out for Root or bandits, or some other force of harm, that it was difficult to simply...not. To stay out in the open and simply greet people as they walked past on the lamplit streets.
The danger was still there, it always would be; He could see less than savory individuals hiding in dark ally's, waiting for some poor unfortunate to walk just a little too close.
He had made of game of baiting them out. It was always fun to break a person like that. In life there was only one fate for sinners such as them. The dark alleyways made for perfect cover.
Not that he feared reprisal from the locals. The Roots were hungry. They'd never find the bodies.
He smiled at the thought, letting out a light groan as he stretched, sitting up in the chair he had claimed deep within the library. This had been nice, really. Just being able to sit and read for an extended period of time without distraction.
No guard duty constantly tearing at his attention.
No impending assault to get his blood pumping.
Just a relaxing, quiet, break...
Ok, yeah, he was bored as sin.
Apparently, a lot of the pleasure in a break was the knowledge that it was merely the calm before the storm, your last chance to get some pleasure in before the fighting started. This was more like the calm before the more-calm. Nothing was going to attack him out of the blue, or bring any excitement into his-
"Hey Vel! Look at this porno mag I found!"
'Oh, thank god.'
Rahul looked over to his god-sent disturbance, seeing two girls hanging on to a book. The one who had shouted appeared to be what he could only describe as upper class; Expensive looking clothes, obviously over designed, A finely detailed set of sunglasses, and a berate atop her head. The other was more modestly dressed, wearing a simple pair of jeans and a hoody, her...rabbit...ears... 'Oh boy, that's new.'
"Coco! That's a biology book! And keep quiet, we don't want to disturb anyone!" The rabbit eared girl said, face bursting into a brilliant red.
"A bit late for that, I'm afraid." Both women looked over to him as he spoke up, watching as he stood from his seat and closed his book
'Might as well have a bit of fun before the night ends'
"S-sorry sir! My f-friend was just-"
"Having fun, I'm aware." He cut off her stuttering as he walked over waving his hand, "Its fine by me, I have no issue with others having a bit of fun, but I do worry you may be removed if you don't quiet down a bit."
The meek girl nodded her head, while the other gave him an odd look from behind her glasses. "So, mister cultist," Ah, she had noticed the tattoos and symbols, it was always more fun when they did, "What brings you to the library so late at night?"
"The same question could be asked of you, but I digress." He raised his book, 'History of Vale Volume 3', and continued, "I am merely a foreigner trying to learn more about where I am to live for the foreseeable future. I only arrived here a few hours ago, so let's say my opportunity to do so has been...limited." He grinned as he drew out the final word, "Now, mind answering in kind? It doesn't take a genius to know that such late-night visits aren't all too common."
The girl, Coco if he heard right, looked him up and down, "Well, I have a few-"
Before she could get any further, the rabbit eared girl clamped a hand over her mouth and gave him a dead stare full of fatigue.
"We're studying. Beacon starts up again in a few months, and I want to get our summer work done now rather than last minute." She turns a sour look to Coco, "And I really don't want a repeat of last year's four all-nighters in a row."
Beacon, the school of aspiring warriors; he had seen it mentioned a few times while reading the city's history. While the books commonly referred to it as a combat school, it seemed to teach far more than how to fight, given its extensive courses on history, math's, and the sciences.
"Hmm, Beacon then? The two of you must be quite bright if you're going there."
"Oh, thank you! It was super hard to get in initially-"
The rabbit eared girl petered off into a rant, seeming to be lost in her own head having completely missed the true meaning of his statement. The other girl though... she hadn't, and if the manic grin told him anything, then he was going to be having fun.
"Ya," Coco began, "It's been pretty illuminating studying there."
"Huh?" The rabbit was catching on now, how long till she figured it out? "I thought you hated studying; you always complain about it."
"Really? You'd think your friend would make light of such an important activity?"
"What?"
"Ya Vel, I'm a glowing student, why wouldn't I love studying?"
"Uh."
"Truly, your friend here is incandescent in her devotion to her work, so much so its nearly blinding.
"Wait-" The rabbit girl stops for a second and sags. "-Oh god not another one!" She shouts, a look of utter terror on her face.
He really should get back to work.
Buuuuuuuuut this was a lot more entertaining.
So.
He was lost.
Like, really lost.
Like, actively doesn't even know what direction their current base happened to be in kinda lost.
Otto speed-walked down another street, eyes darting in every direction hoping to see anything he could count as a landmark to no avail. 'Why does a city need 87 fucking pawn shops?!'
This city had to be fucking with him, right? He spent YEARS exploring the urban sprawls of countless words! And hell, those were worse, at least this one was alive rather than being a concrete maze of destroyed buildings.
How the hell had he found his way around before-
Shit.
He, uh, did admittedly just follow everyone else around, didn't he?
Ya, that's right; Ocelot was the main path finder, and when he couldn't find their way Rahul just used the plants to get a general idea of the area. Even Thatcher had a history of finding his way around places like this as a clanner.
Wait, how did he do this before joining the troupe? It's not like he just bumblefucked around until-
"I fucking hate my life."
He had never actually been alone, had he?
Before the troupe he ran around with captain Ford pointing him where to go. Before Ford he had whatever scavengers and wanderers he could latch onto. Before the scavengers he had the Bandit clan.
Otto could loot a place in seconds, he could sneak circles around people-save Ocelot, he could make any number of gadgets and tools, he could put so much lead down range that the enemy drowned in a hail-fire of death.
But for all the good that did him, he couldn't find his way around to save his goddamn life.
Okay, new plan!
And by new, he means literally the oldest plan in the book: Find someone else to solve his problems for him.
"What's a cute girlie like you doin' on this side of town?" The words came from the mouth of some greasy looking man leaning out of a nearby ally, trying to shove his way into some blonds personal space.
"I don't think that's any of your business, creep."
Oh look, a volunteer.
"Sorry to butt in-" Otto began walking towards the two, pulling the Chicago Typewriter out from his jacket. "- But, how do you normally handle this sort of thing around here? Where I'm from, we have a habit of just shooting the fucker, but I've been told that's...rude in modern society." He had, in fact, not been told that, but he didn't think turning a man into mulch would be all too acceptable to the local law enforcement-
The girl smirked at him before slamming one of her fists into the man's stomach, launching him away with a loud bang as the gold bracer on her wrist ejected a set of shotgun shells.
-Or maybe he should have just opened with gunfire. Apparently, it WAS acceptable.
"Hey man," The blond starts, "Thanks for distracting him long enough for me to get a hit in. Probably coulda dealt with him myself, but it's always good to have witnesses to help testify in case the cops come knocking. Names Yang, what's yours?"
The bandit shoved his tommy gun back into his jacket as he let out a chuckle, "Otto, good to meet ya. Nice swing by the way, wouldn't mind getting my hands on those bracers to see how they tick."
Yangs smirk grew as she inspected her bracers, "'Fraid they're not for sale, but I'll take that as a compliment to my craftmanship."
A pity, but it's not like he couldn't figure them out with a bit of tinkering later; The basic idea seemed to be a set of shotgun barrels on top, fed by a revolving cylinder around the wrist. Complicated, low on ammo, and most likely prone to jamming with prolonged use. Not a bad weapon per say, but one designed for surprise and quick bursts of combat rather than a full-blown fire fight. He could bring it up with Thatcher later and go over some notes, the big guy was a bit better when it came to straight up weapons like these, rather than Ottos preferred gadgets and bombs.
"Anyway," Yang starts again, cutting off Ottos muttering, "Anything ya need, or shall we go our separate ways?"
Oh, right, his original reason for doing all of this.
"Actually, ya. Wouldn't happen to know of a place called juniors, would ya? A friend referred me there, and I'm having some trouble finding it. New in town, ya get it?"
"Well well well, isn't that a coincidence." Yangs smile takes a more relaxed form as she stretched out one of her arms overhead. "I was just heading there when this piece of work decided he wanted a new hole in his stomach, you can follow me, I owe ya a drink anyways."
With that, the Blond led him... 2 blocks down the street to a large building that had "Juniors" written on top in bright neon letters.
Reality was mocking him again, great.
Yang let out a grunt as they looked at the line to get in, the wretched thing spanning the block and then some.
"Let me handle the bouncer, I think I know how we can skip the line." She said, adding a sway to her hips as she approached the mountain of a man standing in front of the door.
Huh, he hadn't taken her for the seductre- ok fuck, she was threatening him.
Otto let out a sigh as he walked over and grabbed her by the back of the neck, pulling her away as he took out the piece of paper Roman had given him.
"We have a referral, let us in."
The bouncer brushed off his shirt as he looked the paper over, before giving a nod as he opened the door, letting the two in.
The second they were inside Yang made to smack him on the back of the head, narrowly missing as he leaned forward to dodge the, frankly, predictable action.
"The hell was that about, I had him!"
"If by 'Had him' you mean, 'Was about to get us thrown away and banned, then sure, you had him."
He stuck the girl with what he hoped was a vague approximation of one of Ocelots disappointed glares- Made a moot point thanks to the ever-present gasmask- Before laying into the girl.
"Do you think you can just brute force this shit? I know damn well neither of us are here for legal reasons, so why the hell are you stomping around like you're the boss? Have you ever done something like this before?!"
"What the hell do you mean by both of us?!"
Was this girl really that new to this or was she just extraordinarily dumb?
"First of all; you have shotguns strapped to your wrists, so you're obviously expecting a fight.
Second; you were more than willing to attack the bouncer just to avoid a line, showing you don't give a damn about hurting random people for the sake of convenience.
And third; You aren't nearly as good at hiding the fucking manilla folder you have, oh sorry, HAD in your back pocket."
As he said the last sentence, he held up the folder he had swiped from her while pulling her away from the bouncer.
Without bothering to look at her reaction he popped the folder open and speed read through the first page.
"Summer Rose, huh? You're after someone then, and from the looks of things, you want it off the books." He looked up into her shocked face, her mouth hanging open, "With that in mind, who are you working around? If this were a criminal hunt, you could use the normal channels, no, this is someone the big guys don't want you looking for."
Otto chuckled to himself as he went over more of the file, it was actually kind of funny how cliché it was; Seemingly well-known and respected figure disappears out of nowhere, just for the people up top to do the bare minimum to investigate.
A ruthless bandit rises through the ranks a little too quickly for the chief's liking.
A well-known vigilante starts to shake up the status quo.
A famed huntress digs a little too deep in the wrong places.
It didn't really matter where you were, as long as there was some form of hierarchy, there would always be stories just like this.
Known family:
Tai Yang Xaio Long (Spouse)
Rose Xaio Long (Daughter)
Yang Xaio Long (Daughter)
And just like the bandit's follower and the vigilante's protegee, the Huntress' daughter was searching for answers.
By all rights he really should let her do her own thing, eventually 'disappearing' like her mother, he did have better things to be doing right now...
A bandit he may be, a thief, a trickster, a loud and proud criminal... but he still had his morals.
"Ok, listen here," he started snapping Yang out of her surprise, "we both know damn well you haven't got a clue what you're doing, and while your incompetence in everything illegal offends me, I still can't stand by and watch you cause a scene cause you decided to threaten the goddamn info broker-" He snapped his fingers in her face to stop her rebuttal, "-none of that shit, we both know it was your plan. Consider this your first lesson; Don't lie."
"Wait what?! But isn't that literally just what you're supposed to do?"
"NO-" Dear god, what did she think this was, a damn movie? "Any criminal worth their salt knows a liar when they see one; in this kind of setting you don't lie, you tell half-truths or say nothing at all," he chided her, leading her through a small hallway connecting the front door and the main room.
As they entered, Otto looked over the, frankly, massive dance floor; Neon lights covered almost every object in the room, throwing odd colors onto every surface. there was a massive crowd of people milling about, likely a mix of criminals, employees, and general party goers if this place was more than just a front for the broker.
Speaking of which- It was disgustingly obvious who their 'Host' was, sitting behind the bar was a large man wearing a suit leagues better than any other employee.
Yang tried to go towards him before Otto pulled her to a dark corner of the room.
"Not so fast friend, we need to talk about how we're doing this, how do you plan to get what you want?"
"Um, well," Yang scratched the back of her hand while she took a wallet from her pocket, "I just planned on asking if he had any info on my mom and was ganna pay for it with, well, cash."
…
'Paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiin'
Otto rubbed the lenses of his gasmask as he desperately tried to sooth the pain in his sinuses, letting out a distressed sigh, "What- you were- WHAT- NO?!"
"Holy shit, you really haven't got a damn clue how any of this works! Ok, times for lessons 2, 3, and 4!"
By the Eyes, he wished he had some of Rahul's markers and a conveniently placed white board.
"Lesson 2; Never start with your actually target. Don't assume the big wigs don't know places like this exist, they absolutely do, in fact, they probably make more use of it than just about anyone else! Because of this, your betters are constantly combing these places for people looking into their business, and to be blunt, you are a walking vault of red flags.
The key is to start vague and work your way towards your target. Instead of 'I'm looking for Summer Rose', try 'I'm looking into Hunters who have gone missing', while it forces you to manually sift through a larger sum of info, you're much less likely to get flagged, not to mention, you can find information you would miss otherwise.
Lesson 3; Never state your relationship with your target. Simply put, this gives the broker a nice bit of intel on you, intel they could probably sell to someone else...like the people you are working around.
Simply put, don't give any information that can link you to what you're searching for.
Lesson 4; Money alone won't cut it. Remember, this guy is an INFO broker, and while money can definitely grease the wheels, bringing your own information to the table will always be worth more.
Try to think of anything he isn't likely to already know; personal details of people of interest, cases of corruption, basically anything that a man can sell.
Ok, that should do it for now, really didn't think I was giving a goddamn seminar on criminal activity today." Otto said, taking a deep breath after his tangent.
Clapping could be heard over the blaring music, both Otto and Yang turning to the noise.
Standing a bare few feet away from the two was Roman Torchwick, a coy smile on his face.
"I knew I had made a good catch when we met on that train, but I had assumed it was a lump gold, not a diamond. Brilliantly put, friend of mine."
"Who the hell are you?" Yang bit out, giving the man a supposedly threatening stare.
"No one of importance to you, I'm sure. I'm just here to pick up an acquaintance."
Otto nudged the girl towards the bar, giving her a nod. "Keep what I said in mind, and try not to get yourself killed."
He turned back to Torchwick as Yang walked away.
"So, shall we chat?"
"I think we shall."
Roman led him to one of the private booths, hidden from sight. Neo was already there, sipping out of some fruity looking cocktail- no, wait, that was an ice cream sundae... huh, he wondered if it would seem rude if he ordered one of those rather than alcohol.
Roman grunt as he unceremoniously dropped into the booth, a pained look taking over his face as he tried to get comfortable. Noticing Ottos interest, the thief gave a dismissive wave.
"Had some nasty luck when making our escape; group a huntsmen showed up and attacked us before realizing we weren't fang. Didn't stop them from getting a lucky shot into the cockpit." Roman took a sip out of a nearby bottle of... Cherry cola? Before getting to the point.
"Listen, while I'd love to do the normal run around with any new prospective business partner, my ass is on fire and I'm tired as hell, so I'll give you the abridged version; What do you want, what are you willing to do, and what do you bring to the table?"
"General supplies, money, documents, and a base of operation.
Anything not too noticeable; we aren't afraid to get out hands dirty but pissing off the authorities first thing isn't really on our to-do list.
A trained surgeon and botanist, a skilled scout, a thief with more than a little engineering under his belt, and a weapons and armor manufacturer... all of which are more than skilled enough to hold their own in a fight."
Roman seemed to think for a moment before speaking again.
"So, a nice little strike force willing to do anything as long as there aren't any cameras... I can work with that."
The master thief took a small tablet from his pocket, scrolling through some holographic screen.
"Ok, documents and supplies won't be too hard; hell, I technically still owe you for the help on the train, so consider it on the house. A base and money though? That will take a bit more work...How does this sound; I've got a nice little apartment in the warehouse district I can shack you guys up in, it aint too nice but it's got the necessities, after that, I'll pay you guys on commission. We'll start small though, don't want to throw you into the deep end just yet, so before I send you on your way, here." Roman handed him a set of files he was keeping in his jacket. "I need someone to scope out a couple of Dust stores by next Tuesday, get it done and you'll have your first 'care package' within the week. The address for the apartment is in the files, now get out of my sight, I have a bed to collapse into."
Otto took the files as he walked away, leaving the night club and making his way towards the current FOB...he hoped...
Nah, he was ganna get lost again.
Might as well wait for Ocelot to come find him.
Speaking of the soldier, he wondered what the others were up to.
Rafaelrizo98: Avriel – Yes! Both Xalius and I have beaten Remnant: From the ashes on both normal and Perma-death! It was surprisingly fun, despite the pain. Admittedly, this fic does take a few creative liberties with both source materials, but well be sticking to canon world systems for the most part...for now.
Alrighty, that's CH2 done! Next up we have the adventures of Ocelot and Thatcher as they dick around in Vale, followed by their first few weeks in the city; See you lot next time
1* FOB = Forward Operating Base