Dragon archipelago 11:52pm*
An encampment laid to waste, people slaughtered and Grimm feasting on the dead or dying, but Adam ignored it nonetheless since he was more than numb to it all at this point.
Deeply sighing, Adam sauntered tiredly into a bar and made himself comfortable. Before he could start, however, a scraping sounded behind him. Gripping blush tight, ready to fire, but stopped himself.
"You shouldn't be here, wolf" Adam glared at the silhouette in the entrance of a rundown apartment, looking not-so-happily at the bullheaded fool.
He calmly stalked forward and unlatched his swords from his back and hung them on the hook at the entrance. "Maybe one day you'll accept that I'm not an enemy to you and those you are affiliated with, Adam Taurus." He glared as he sheathed his steel sword.
Looking around he grunted and walked forward, "I think ill get to the point, reaper took someone, and it's been all hands on deck for weeks since; ciri is on the way to mistral for information while ironwood and qrow went for vacuo. We both know that Glynda stayed in vale just in case...well, anyway. I have news on your chameleon and a few new players on the field"
Adam's eyes lost all their bloody glow and nodded to the Witcher as he put blush and wilt on the floor and kicked it under the twin swords silently.
Geralt smiled at this and produced a bottle of vodka from his world, and two cups were placed on the bar counter thanks to Adam's deft hands. "Any information you have will go a long way, wolf" he said curtly.
"Warmer than I expected, but it's all I'm getting for now?" He smirked dryly.
"Just get to it, I'm in a hurry"
"Terrible liar aside, there's more, and I'm afraid you won't like it...well provided you stay calm" he poured the drink and dropped four olives in both cups as he said this. "You were familiar with Ezra the silver bandit?"
Adam grabbed the cup in front of him and downed it in one go along with the olives, "I am, she was my mother, so I'd be an idiot not to; the best fang general the south of vale's cell ops had been blessed with"
"Well, she was Cole's adoptive mother and I doubt there's a coincidence that you of all people felt the connection"
Adam poured himself a bit more than his last cup and replied, "old news gramps, she's been dead for a long time; reaper is all I care about"
Geralt dropped a file on the counter between them and countered, "Well, if she's dead, then who's this woman?"
Adam cocked an eyebrow, dragging the manila folder over to him and pulled out a page with a picture taped to it but froze from the shock of what he saw.
Name: Lilac.
Age: N/A.
Height: 6'2.
Hair color: auburn.
Eye color: N/A.
Aura: Silver.
Semblance: blip/blink.
Description: two fox ears, twin tails and wears military armor under a tattered black cloak. Missing entire right arm, no replacement made.
Flipping the page he found two more pages on two more people and neither were familiar.
Name: baron castus
Alias: red baron
Age: 38
Height: 5'10
Hair color: crimson red
Eye color: brown
Aura: blue
Semblance: dominate/ imposing will
Description: wears type 4 mistralian military uniform, scars over arms and shoulders.
Name: Reaper
Age: N/A
Height: 5'8
Hair color: white with black highlights
Eye color: left green, right blue
Aura: N/A
Semblance: lightning lash
Description: hooded cloak, tattered or scorched stolen Atlesian power armor, uses dust to amplify semblance, left arm replaced with prosthetic equipped with 6 to 9 inch needle blade and short sword.
"What the hell is this wolf!?" He glared heatedly, bearing down on him in his eyes with a blazing red flame ebbing off his physique.
"We think Ezra survived, or she had a twin sister we knew nothing of-"
"No, she had no siblings in blood, my father died in a mining incident...and now I find out she's still alive" panting at his rant, geralt put a hand on his shoulder and Spoke calm and instructively "you're upset about this news but that chameleon friend you have was seen with a mutual friend"
Adam turned to him with conviction in his eyes, geralt admired in anyone who was strong for others instead of for selfish purposes. "Cole Valentine was sighted with her and a woman under the guise of Rachael...but unfortunately this was two weeks after the collapse and no one is sure who really did it, but I believe that it was to mask the reason he's walking amongst the living again"
"What of reaper and his little play toy?" He asked, firmly grasping the cup and gulping it down like water.
"Weiss Schnee, former heiress to the SDC company; abducted from Cole's old room and blew up half of beacon academy to take her... current whereabouts are unknown"
"I see...well, this is complicated"
"Any questions you have on the other two?"
Adam smiled at geralt and scoffed, "not in the slightest; those two have been on the white fang's neck for months...we give them support and supplies, and they help us hit human run slave trade routines"
Digesting this, geralt gulped more vodka down and asked, "what will you do going forward?"
He gave no answer beyond a huff; he needed to process the mountain of news he'd been hit with so, without another word, he left the bar, collected his things and said standing at the doorway "if you are right about this tell your allies the fang stands and will fight alongside your circle; ill head to atlas with my brothers and sisters" with that Adam took off and geralt reported to glynda his findings but needed more on this ilia and who she is.
Geralt with all his apprehension strolled out where the grimm continued a feast of their lives but oddly enough most if not all 'mindless beasts' ignored him as he walked on rooftops to avoid fighting.
Observe and wait was all he wanted to do right now and his luck had not run out yet, so it was looking good until a chill ran down his back to his right arm.
Like a spell had placed itself on his mind, he saw it, a figure walking towards him in black robes walking right by grimm like it was nothing, 'was it a wraith, Geist maybe, no it was corporal and even brushed fingers as white as fresh snow through the darkness that made up a sabre grimm's fur. Before he could ask the question he'd already been two feet from the figure and down the hood came to reveal a quite gorgeous face, but as Beautiful as she was the black and red glowing eyes, veins decorating her face and the fanged canines did not help in the slightest.
"Why do you not flee, little wolf?" She asked, sitting on a beowolf while it still feasted on the pile of corpses. "You are human, are you not?"
"Diplomatic appears to be something that ozpin forgot to mention in your file" he responded sheathing a blade he thought he had already sheathed. "and for the record, I'm a Witcher, not a human"
"Ozpin was a good husband and a strong man, shame that he's dead, any leads to sniff out on him?" She asked, reaching out caressing his beard and picking out dirt and debris. "and for your concerns, I'll assume 'Witcher' is a different type of species that I wasn't knowledgeable to"
Geralt could not will himself to react to a dangerous situation like this, so he simply nodded, looked into her eyes and stood still.
"Don't worry wolf, you aren't in any kind of danger here, I simply wish to know who killed him and where they continue to breathe" her claws dug in the beard and pulled out a dead fly and dropped it on the corpse.
"I suspect that you will just kill me either way if I told you his killer" he replied, feeling like a weight was pulled off his shoulders, or so he thought.
"I promise on your best friend that neither I nor my grimm will kill you here if you tell me" she stepped away from geralt and smiled.
He knew many men, women, and the creatures capable of intelligence, so he had been confident how little he trusted the fate of his life to be held by those who could level worlds with little effort.
"Well, he wasn't my friend, but I valued his life all the same-" he realized what she said and switched his mind to the liquor cause this was different from what he'd know of this woman. "In that case may I ask if you would like a drink first" he immediately regretted this, but it flew from his mouth.
She giggled and held out her hand, silently asking for his bottle tucked away in his travel bag, pulling out vacuian bourbon and Atlesian vodka.
"Which do you prefer"
"I'm immune to your alcohol, so I'll have that brown one" she said grabbing the bourbon with her delicate hands and flicked the neck of the bottle and drank half the bottle.
Geralt chuckled and downed the half of vodka he still had and smiled at the demoness "my late wife drank as you do...just never could hold her liquor for longer than a few hours"
She looked at his eyes and immediately saw just the kind of man he was really. His very being was mutated, but his heart was full of life that he hid behind stoicism and melancholy, so she stood up walked to him and with absolutely zero warning placed a hand on his shoulder, smiled and whispered "when the heart freezes and your soul fades you are dead, but your life will be remembered by many as you are, not what you once were" then kissed his cheek.
"More seductive women have tried, but I won't be swayed ma'am, enemies we aren't but if you desire remnant's destruction I promise you'll die" he grunted as he stood up and walked over to a stump, called ciri and disappeared into a green fog.
"Handsome father and has the steel to talk like that...white wolf of remnant you intrigued me more and more" she said slinking away through the shadows like water swallowed her whole, except the shadows didn't shimmer or ripple in any way.
As he stepped out from the green fog, geralt sent glynda a message
[Taurus joins us with his WF brothers and sisters]
[Good work, what of ozpin's murders?]
[Nothing concrete, we have Salem queen of the grimm on our side helping until they are dealt with]
[I understand, who do you suspect]
[Reaper and baron castus, those two were the only lead I followed that got results, investigating that thread more]
[Good work, go rest in the meantime and clean yourself up, in a month you'll need everything to present a case to the council for me; kill them and get miss schnee in one go]
[Thank you headmistress, I'll need three weeks, the fourth I'll use to get cleaned up and repair and restock equipment]
With that said and done he sent the findings on Weiss too, but it wasn't much as to why but lots on how he got people and resources to pull it off.