In hindsight, the fact Viper was the first to track Skull down after three months wasn't that surprising. After all, they were the only ones who knew what polyjuice was. All they had to do was track down the source of the rumors regarding Renato in an area they knew perfectly well the man wasn't in.
Viper waited for the potion to wear off...before he pinched Skull's ear.
"You're perilously close to endangering the Statute of Secrecy," said Viper with a hiss.
"Why do you care?"
"I don't, but Renato's starting to figure out which area you'll appear in next and he wants your head on a pike," said Viper. "On an unrelated note, Luce is apparently homophobic. She refuses to be in the same room alone with Renato since he made a comment about having cross dressed before."
"Knew I didn't like her," said Skull. "Why are you warning me though?"
"You left enough money for me to owe you more than a few favors. I don't like being indebted to someone and the amount of cash we were being paid would bother me until I did something to actually earn it," said Viper.
Skull could understand that.
"Besides, the fact you were so quick to pay outrageous sums, even with gold, leads me to believe you're from much older money than the others would believe without hard proof. That or new money from a recently ennobled bloodline."
"Old blood, even older money from two different families," said Skull cheerfully. "Officially anyway."
Viper snorted. With how inbred that particular society was, Skull didn't have to explain more than that.
"Any particular reason you've been going around under a polyjuice as Renato?"
Skull's expression became considerably more dark.
"Because he's a dick who deserves it, and my dad's maternal family never took the idea of someone treating their own the way he did to me laying down. Besides, I'm a second generation prankster so this was the perfect payback to honor that while staying true to my heritage. I might have done Fon by accident the first time, but he was more of an outside observer to the whole thing so I only took his form once or twice as punishment without doing anything too incriminating," said Skull flatly.
Viper thought of their mother's family and how they would have responded to the way Renato treated Skull if he was one of theirs. Permanent maiming would have been the least of it, if Skull hadn't dealt with the man personally in a way he would never live through.
"You're not inverted at all."
"I have no idea if I am or not. The only reason I didn't attack the bastard directly is because I happen to have a longer fuse than most. Renato's lucky he didn't set off any of my triggers or there wouldn't have been enough to fill a thimble, much less a matchbox...and that's if I was feeling merciful," said Skull darkly. "I was hard enough to kill in the war...I've had time and inclination to become much, much more dangerous than he could comprehend."
Viper snorted.
"If I didn't know any better I'd say you're a Black."
"Which one?" asked Skull.
Viper blinked.
"Excuse me?"
"Which Black?"
"...Sirius Black."
"He was innocent and framed by a fourth member of his little gang who betrayed the Potters to the Dark Lord. The idiots never had the brains to check for the mark before entrusting him as secret keeper," said Skull promptly. Seeing the look Viper gave them he shrugged. "Potter was pretty damn vocal about how pissed he was everyone thought his godfather was after him when he found out what really happened. He explained things and pointed out the evidence anyone with half a brain could find. Sirius Black never got a trial and when they captured him any statement he could have given was inadmissible due to the psychotic break he had."
"That...actually makes more sense than it doesn't," admitted Viper. "And to answer your question I meant any of the Blacks save for Bellatrix, who was simply a mad dog."
Skull wondered how Viper would react if they knew he was the head of the Black family.
"Why the Blacks?" asked Skull curiously.
"I refuse to answer that without enough booze to overcome even an overpowered sobriety charm," said Viper immediately.
"...Would several bottles of very high quality scotch, bourbon, and other various alcohols placed under low-level stasis charms that would fetch a serious sum on the open market if they were sold unopened to idiots who barely know how to properly savor them be enough?" asked Skull.
He had the worst feeling he was going to need a bottle himself by the end of this discussion, and that giving the bottles to Viper would lead to a massive headache being uncovered.
Good thing he didn't give two-shits about pure blood politics or rules. If Viper was family like he suspected, it was only polite to find out why they had been cast out before he decided to surprise them by bringing them back like he had Andromeda and Teddy.
Skull had no problem signing a magically binding contract to not reveal anything of what Viper was about to tell him...or handing over seven bottles of high quality alcohol, one of which the Mist opened.
"I'm technically a Black," said Viper.
"Technically?"
Viper looked very unhappy, but took a long drink. From what they had seen in Skull's mind, the Cloud was highly unlikely to give a damn about their heritage or spill the information to the wrong parties. After all, what would someone raised among muggles care about pure blood rules and politics?
"My mother was a Black...but the man who donated the other half of my genetics wasn't the man she was betrothed to. She found out immediately after having me that I wasn't the child of the man she was contracted to marry."
"Wait...so you're a bastard Black?"
"The contract from what I found out, would have had severe consequences if it got out, to say nothing of what would have happened to my mother if her aunt got wind that she had become pregnant with a half-blood's child and allowed it to come to term. She decided to follow in the footsteps of countless teenage mothers before her and dumped me onto a church orphanage. When I learned which family I belonged to, I realized discretion was a far safer alternative compared to what the family or my mother's husband would have done upon discovering my bloodline."
Skull winced.
"So which school did you attend?"
"None. I've been learning bits and pieces of magic over the years, but it's safer to remain in the underworld than gain the attention of any of the Ministries," said Viper bitterly.
"...If you had the chance to learn magic and even own a proper wand, would you take it?"
Viper gave off a bitter laugh.
"You don't get it. The only way I could claim my rightful heritage would be if the head of the family accepted me as a proper Black regardless of my origins...even then the contract between my mother and the man she married would be broken because of her infidelity."
"Which Black sister was your mother?" said Skull curiously. He took a light pull of his scotch, savoring the taste.
"Narcissa," said Viper.
They blinked at the way Skull spat out the booze in shock.
"Narcissa, as in Narcissa Malfoy?" he said in disbelief.
Viper said nothing.
"Wait, if she's your mother then who was the father?"
"From what I found out, I'm the last of the Prince line."
Skull was glad he hadn't taken another drink, because he would have started to choke at that.
Oh gods... Narcissa got pregnant with Snape's kid? In a way it made a lot of sense, but he had to wonder if the asshole ever knew about the fact he had a son before he died.
Likely not, if the bitterness in Viper's voice about having to avoid the magical side of things to avoid anyone finding out about their heritage was any indication.
"Not that it really matters. I've come to terms with the fact I would never be able to claim my full inheritance."
"What about Potter? I heard he became the head of the family and he's nowhere near as high strung as the old crowd when it comes to bloodlines," said Skull.
"He's a national hero, and his hatred of the Malfoys and my father are well known. The odds of getting close enough to be reinstated with the family without being hexed or discreetly done away with are too low to even consider," said Viper dismissively. "Besides, everyone knows he's in England, which I refuse to go near on the grounds it's filled with idiots."
"And the fact that his 'best friends' would immediately assume you're as Slytherin as the rest and be openly suspicious about your motives is just another factor," sighed Skull.
Viper said nothing.
"What are you going to do now?"
"You've already paid me more than enough to keep the others off your tail. If you agree to quit ruining Sinclair's reputation you might be able to throw him off enough that he won't be able to track you down and end you as messily as possible."
Skull looked at Viper seriously.
"Please for the love of all things sane and holy don't tell me you plan to continue with that ridiculous group."
"The pay is rather good," said Viper.
"Luce is like a mafia version of Dumbledore! Except instead of the bullshit 'grandfather' card she keeps trying to play the 'maternal' image! She's clearly setting everyone up for a plot that would screw everyone over and none of you are seeing it!"
Viper paused.
"What."
"Luce is like an active, maternal version of Albus bloody Dumbledore, complete with greater good bullshit. I could see it in her eyes...there's something she's not telling us about this whole strongest seven crap and I know it's going to screw us over long term."
Viper paused to consider this. Luce had been adamant that Skull was 'necessary' for their group, to the point she refused to find a replacement.
Skull was right...something about the whole thing seemed highly suspicious, such as the fact Luce didn't tell them exactly what she had 'seen', just hints. And really, the whole offer was rather odd considering the fact that their 'client' could have gotten most of what they wanted done with half the people he gathered considering the competence of Renato and Fon.
"You may be right."
"You mean it doesn't seem weird that this Checkerface guy gathered the seven strongest flames in our generation? Seven is a magically important number and this entire thing feels fishy to me," said Skull.
Viper felt a chill go down their spine at that. They hadn't considered the implications of someone gathering seven of the strongest soul fire users, or that there was one of each type.
Suddenly Luce's deflections in regards to why they were actually hired had a far more sinister meaning.
When Viper went back to the small manor that they were forced to share with everyone else, they considered the implications of what Skull said.
Clearly the Cloud had picked up on something was horribly wrong with this situation...which, when coupled with the way Renato had treated him and the fact no one other than Viper had bothered to help Skull in any way, meant that he had ample reason to leave and never return.
Viper considered the pros and cons of sticking around.
Renato had become increasingly irate after he realized someone was deliberately destroying his reputation. And to be honest, while the money was good it wasn't that good when all signs pointed to the fact that Luce wasn't their Sky.
Compared to Skull, who was almost painfully naive and had shown a rather lax attitude when it came to money, and their mystery client who might be setting them up Viper didn't have to think overly hard about their decision.
Checkerface could go hang. They refused to be lead like a lamb to the slaughter.
Viper discreetly removed all their things and waited for the opportune time to leave. Out of the group, only Fon picked up on what they were doing but withheld his silence.
At least he did when he cornered Viper to find out why the Mist was planning to follow Skull's example and ditch the group.
"Something seems suspicious about this 'strongest seven' nonsense. And I for one refuse to be turned into a sacrifice by a possible divine or demonic entity for their sick and twisted amusement."
Fon blinked.
"Divine or demonic entity?"
"Think about it. How did Checkerface find out so much about us without any of our usual warnings being tipped off? Why is Luce being so secretive about why we were really gathered? What possible purpose could be had gathering the seven strongest Elements in our generation when only a handful would have been suspicious for these so-called missions to be completed successfully?"
Fon blinked, before his eyes hardened at the implications. Viper's words did not paint a pleasant picture and a lot of little clues were starting to add up into something he didn't particularly like.
The Mist was right... Checkerface's identity didn't add up and there were countless stories over the course of history about what happened when one humored the whims of a divine or demonic entity in regards to minor adventures.
Never mind Luce's own behavior... her dismissal of Renato's treatment to the Cloud was not proper Sky behavior, especially when they were supposed to keep the group together. It was as if she was merely putting on the motions of trying to gather them as her Guardians so that they would be too blinded by the possibility of a Harmony bond to see the blow from behind coming.
"...Do you know where he is?"
"I refuse to comment," said Viper.
Which was as good as a yes. If the Mist didn't know, then Fon would have gotten a straight answer from them.
"Do you think he would be willing to accept one more? I do not particularly appreciate the idea of being hung out to dry for some convoluted plot," said Fon.
"I can see if he would agree to it. If nothing else we can set you up with a temporary identity until we determine what the hell is really going on," said Viper. "For a fee of course."
Fon inclined his head. He did not want to be caught off guard.