A bit sicky this morning. Ugh. Mondays.

Cover Art: Kirire

Chapter 46

The hotel was a gargantuan thing that stood apart from the rest of Vale by virtue of how tall it was. Glass-fronted, with a curved architecture and a massive gold logo above its front entrance, the thing looked like it had been designed by someone compensating for something. Every single aspect of it had to be "more" than everything around it. More glass, more gold, more floors, more car parking spots, more staff. And, of course, more cost. For something with well over a thousand rooms Blake was amazed at the prices she found online. There was no way any more than ten rooms at a time got booked.

"Wouldn't they make even more from filling every room for less…?"

"You're forgetting the variables," mumbled Jaune. "More guests means more staff, food, sheets, cleaning supplies. I'll give you that having so many floors is pointless, though. The guy who made it had a thing for big buildings I hear." He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked to the two hooded individuals in the alleyway. Cobalt and Gem. "Works in our favour since there'll be a whole lot less people running around in a blind panic."

That was true. At least he wanted to avoid unnecessary casualties. Blake watched the two anomalies as they talked into a scroll. From here, she could just make out the angular edges of the statue Gem was possessing under his coat and cloak, and if she looked really closely then she could discern a lack of fingers holding the scroll Cobalt was talking into. It was hard, though. The average person walking by minding their own business probably wouldn't have noticed.

"Is it really safe for them to be out like this?"

"I trust them," said Jaune. "They're a lot more professional than they let on."

"You said you've used them before. Why? Was it before me?"

"Before and once or twice during. It's not anything against us, Blake. Sometimes there are jobs we can't really pull off. Or ones they're better for. You haven't missed out on much. It's mostly asking them to search areas, or talk to other anomalies less willing to talk to us."

"Like this Coda person?"

"Like them," he agreed. "Though calling them a person isn't wholly accurate."

"Who – or what – is Coda, then?"

"Code. The clue's in the name."

"It's code for something…?"

"No. It – or she, as Coda prefers – is a sapient piece of code. As in programming code."

Blake tried to wrap her head around that and failed. "How?"

"Your guess is as good as mine and all of ARC Corp's. I did some checking up of her creator and she wasn't even an artificial intelligence or a learning algorithm. Not even a chatbot. At least those would make some sci-fi sense. No, she was some a hack for a video game. Let the guy get headshots reliably and was able to look through walls."

More anomalous nonsense, then. In truth all code ought to be the same, AI or not, but she could have at least accepted an AI "learning" from interaction and somehow becoming an anomaly. What could an aimbot have achieved to gain sapience? Why that, or her, over something a thousand times more advanced? Then again, why one specific necklace in Gem's case, and why one specific camera for the anomaly in the office? Cobalt waved them over and Jaune approached, followed by Blake. The anomaly held up its tentacle to talk for him, the thing hovering at about head height.

"Coda has agreed to work on contract for another hundred grand, but she won't answer to you or engage any electronics you have."

"It's not like I can capture her by turning off my wi-fi," said Jaune.

"Even so, she won't take the risk your sister has cooked up something for her. Take it or leave it."

Jaune sighed. "We'll take it but she's going to have to find another way of keeping an eye on us if she can't or won't take instructions through a scroll."

"That won't be an issue. Coda says she'll be following you on the hotel's cameras and will be in their systems. If you pick up any hotel phone, she'll be the one who answers. The same for any intercoms in the building. For now, you can relay your instructions to me and I'll pass them on."

"Fine. The money will be wired to you and you can work it out to her. What I need her to do is several things. To start, I need confirmation Winter Schnee is in the building."

"Already confirmed," said Cobalt. He held the scroll out to show a picture of Winter Schnee in a corridor outside an elevator. "Coda has already scanned the records. Your girl booked the penthouse and the elevator hasn't been used since. Lights are on, cameras detect movement, and she ordered dinner in the form of room service one hour ago. The televisions have been activated and channels are changing right now, but there's obviously no cameras inside there."

"Could it be a trap?" asked Blake.

"Could be," said the anomaly, shrugging. "No real guarantee. But Coda says she's also hacked all the air traffic control records and can't see any flights to Atlas that Winter was on. They're all commercial liners and she checked every flight record and also ran through the cameras in the airports. Every passenger on every aircraft has been positively ID'd and none were Winter Schnee."

The code could discern all of that in so short an amount of time…? It was no wonder Jaune wanted her on board for this, and no wonder she wanted to stay hidden. Science fiction had always painted artificial intelligence as a dangerous thing, usually an antagonist in books and movies, and Blake could just imagine the fallout of people finding out she existed. If they were bad with faunus then they'd be much worse with something they'd argue didn't deserve basic human rights. To say nothing of how much of a walking violation of privacy she was in today's well-connected world. Governments and businesses would want her, too. Either to study her, use her, or destroy her so that no one else could.

On the other hand, she probably had an easier time of staying hidden than most other anomalies. If she worked online as some "ethical hacker" then everyone would just think her a hopeless shut-in, though Blake had to wonder if firewalls, antivirus and just plain old power cuts weren't a deadly threat to her.

"Coda is already in the hotel's systems, then?" asked Jaune.

"Yep. Our girl must have figured out what you're after."

"That's good. I need her to go through every booking and every room and catalogue where any guests and staff are. Then, when I give the signal, she needs to start fire alarms in all of those specific floors to get them out the building. But I don't want the penthouse or the floors below that activating if we can help it."

Blake breathed a sigh of relief. Jaune was going to evacuate the whole building before they got to Winter. The fact was enough to have her feeling much more positively about all this.

"Coda says she can do that but the sound will still be heard outside. She also says she can cut off the automatic signal to the fire departments and scramble some calls through herself, then redirect them. That'll keep the authorities showing up too quickly. Even when they get started, she can play with traffic lights and create some traffic to hold them back."

"Is the whole city her playground?" asked Blake. "Is there anything she can't do?"

"Reach out and punch someone," said Gem.

"Or have a drink," added Cobalt.

Okay, fair, but having access to every piece of electronics with an internet access somewhere in its system was still insane. Nowadays, almost everything had one. About the only things she couldn't reach were simple things run by batteries. "What does she even need the money for?"

"Hardware," said Cobalt. "It's her body of sorts. I help build it for her and she orders the parts – but don't worry, you won't have some killer robot walking around. It's mostly just gaming pc's, processors, and a whole lot of cooling systems and fans."

"Enough chatter for now," said Jaune, not nastily but with nervous haste. "I don't want to give Winter chance to realise this is a bad idea. Cobalt and Gem, I'll need you to hold the perimeter and be ready to cut her off if she tries to run. We'll go in and Coda can trip the alarm when she sees us getting close. If she can help in any other way, then tell her to do as she sees fit. I'll throw in a bonus for you all if this goes well."

"Give her hell, boss," said the necklace around the statue's neck. "Show them why they shouldn't come and mess with us living peacefully in Vale."

/-/

Of all the ways they could have snuck into the hotel, receiving a ping on their scrolls detailing their "reservation" and then walking in the front doors to be told a room had been cleared out for them on the 75th floor, as per their request, was by far the simplest. The penthouse was on floor 81, or, well, the roof – but it counted as the 81st floor for elevator purposes. Unfortunately, the main elevators didn't go so far as the penthouse. That would have been too easy.

"We'll have to take the stairs the rest of the way when the alarms hit," said Jaune as the two of them rode up the central elevator slowly. It didn't stop at any other floors, but 75 levels still took a long time. "The elevators will be disabled for safety purposes. That works in our favour. Unless Winter has a parachute in her room. I'm going to assume aura doesn't let you survive this great a drop."

"Not a chance." His lack of aura meant he'd never had to get used to how far, or how fast, you had to drop before it stopped being able to save you. "The exact amounts differ from person to person but the general rule of thumb is that aura alone won't save you from terminal velocity. Though if she parachuted out and took the last few floors in free-fall then she'd survive. I guess that's what Cobalt and Gem are for?"

"You'd be surprised how steady a sniper a literal statue can be. Or unsurprised. Even if Winter has aura, he can disable any vehicle she takes to – and Coda can do a whole lot more than that." He leaned on the carriage wall. "When she's willing to work with us."

"Is there a reason for her bad blood? I know you're an Arc, but you seem to get alone well enough with most sapient anomalies who aren't violent."

Jaune grimaced. "I do but… it's easier to see certain things as truly being sapient. Alistair and Cobalt are at least humanoid in shape, and when Gem possesses someone, well, it implies he has a spirit or a soul. Coda…" He averted his eyes. "Let's just say I was a bit heavy-handed with her. Let those stupid sci-fi stories get to my head and bought into the evil AI schtick."

"You went after her, didn't you?"

"Oh yes. Didn't so much burn my bridges as bathe them in lava. When I couldn't find her, I went after her creator, which is how I know how she was made. I needed an excuse, though. So, I looked into his past and found some low-key hacking he'd done and got him arrested on charges so I could interrogate him. He went to prison – only for eighteen months, but that was enough to piss Coda off. Turns out even if she was just an aimbot, she had a soft spot for him. It was all-out war for a while. Coda almost shut down any hope of ARC Corp operating in Vale. It was so bad I thought I'd have to bring the whole family in to deal with her."

That obviously hadn't happened if the city was still standing. "What happened?"

"Another violent anomaly intervened and kidnapped a child off the streets. Coda saw it but couldn't act and lifted her attack to alert me to it – even helped me get there. I killed the anomaly, saved the kid, and I guess that set a truce between us. Coda realised the good I can do, and I realised she isn't an unfeeling machine." He sighed. "Doesn't mean our trust ever recovered, though. We just agreed to disagree and stay out of one another's way."

The elevator pinged and they stepped out onto the 75th floor. They found their room without trouble, unlocked the door and stepped inside to wait for everything to kick off. Jaune headed to the restroom as Blake stepped out onto the balcony and looked out over Vale. It wasn't peaceful. A fire burned in the distance where the theatre had gone up in flames from Jaune's anomalous power, and blue and red lights blinked among the buildings as fire crews did their best to put it out.

We caused that but it was the Schnee's fault. Blake pondered that for a moment, and decided it wasn't just her bias talking for her this time. The Schnee had come here to cause chaos, and chaos they had caused. If ARC Corp hadn't intervened then there still would have been a riot between anomalies fighting for the cure. It would have spilled out into the streets with impossible creatures fighting and killing one another.

ARC Corp had to intervene and stop that, and if the cost was a single building then that would have to be accepted. The alternative was anarchy.

And we can stop Winter tonight.

It was so ironic. Less than a year ago she'd have easily seen herself infiltrating a hotel with Adam to assassinate a Schnee, and now here she was infiltrating a hotel to assassinate a Schnee. No Adam, but no less of a murder at the end of the evening. Blake drew a deep breath and let it go.

"Having second thoughts?" asked Jaune.

"No. Just coming to terms with what we're going to do."

"I know I make it look easy but the truth is I don't like this either. If this were the Fist Office then they'd blow the entire hotel up, people and all. Even setting off the fire alarm like we're going to gives Winter a chance to prepare."

"But we're still doing it, right?"

"We are. Everyone innocent will be out the building when we begin." A pregnant pause hung in the air between them. "You're welcome to take a backseat if you want. Just focus on the anomaly and leave me to deal with Winter."

"No." Blake turned to face him. He looked worried for her, and she flashed him a grateful smile. He was nothing like Adam, and this situation was nothing like her time in the White Fang. "We've got to put a stop to her before she comes back a third time. And she will, won't she? This is her second attempt at cracking Vale open. Why? Why Vale? Why us?"

"I don't know. The reason they avoid Atlas is clear, but I'm not sure why Mistral and Vacuo get a pass. It might be because we're the weakest office. It might be because of what I am, and my arms. It might be something about Vale in particular. I guess we'll have to ask her."

The lights in their room turned off with an electronic clash.

The room was shrouded in darkness, though the night sky was bright enough to see by even when you weren't a faunus. Blake looked down the outside of the building as lights all the way down to the bottom floor shuttered off.

A moment later, a horribly high-pitched ringing began to sound out.

"That's our cue," said Jaune. "Let's go."

The corridor was pitch black but they raced down it to the staircase all the same, crashed through the door and took the steps three at a time. Floor 76, floor 77, floor 78, floor 79. There, at the end of it, Blake spotted a familiar figure alone in the corridor and hissed out a warning. It wasn't Winter Schnee, but it also wasn't human – despite looking it. The anomaly had that clear-faced unnatural complexion, and a wide smile that didn't fit the situation. It was like how a child would draw a person, always with an unevenly curling smile and big bright eyes. Even when it spotted them, its eyes piercing the dark as easily as a faunus, and it raised a gun, it didn't drop its smile for a moment.

Blake shouldered Jaune out the way as light flashed down the corridor from the muzzle. It didn't even hesitate to open fire! The round impacted the wall and bit through it, and Gambol Shroud rose to fire three back. Two missed, Blake's body in motion, but the third struck centre chest and punched through its body and out its back.

An anomaly can't have aura – but my rounds shouldn't have enough penetration to go through a human body from this range either.

Its body wasn't as dense as a human's. It also wasn't as integral, obviously, because while the thing did stumble back, it remained on its feet and adjusted its aim again. Blake raced forward, ducked low and whipped Gambol Shroud out with her right hand, all the while drawing on the ribbon with her left. The weapon swung from down to up, slashing through the thing's wrist and sending the still-firing gun shooting into the ceiling. Rushing in, she twisted and slammed a foot into the guy's chest to well and truly throw him off his feet, then yanked her weapon back into her hands and rushed forward to finish him off with a quick cut to the throat.

The thing smiled up at her, gripped her right hand with its good one, and pushed the stump of its left into her face. Little wriggling masses like worms brushed over her skin, and she watched in grim horror as the hand slowly reformed, building itself from seemingly nothing and reaching for her neck. A polished show slammed down on the wrist and pinned it. Jaune had caught up and stood over her and the thing.

"What is it?"

"Not human!" said Blake, rattling off all she knew as quickly as she could. "And there's more than one – I'm not sure how many. I'm sure they're a hive-mind or a shared consciousness, too. Winter used them before."

"Then she knows we're coming by now." Jaune drew Crocea Mors and stabbed down into its clavicle. Blake had to avert her eyes so as not to be blinded, but even so close to the damn sword she felt it burn her skin until it started to peel. The thing beneath her twitched, convulsed, and died.

It was still smiling even then, and even as its body disintegrated into fine white powder, almost like a Grimm but not disappearing. The powder remained on the floor in a messy pile still resembling the shadow of a human body.

"Crocea Mors can deal with them," said Jaune. "Not sure what your option is."

"I don't have any elemental dust. I'll have to make do."

She was going to put some serious thought into procuring a Slaved Anomaly like so many other members of ARC Corp did later. It was beginning to be clear her beloved Gambol Shroud couldn't solve every problem. Dispersing the powder on the floor, and with a quick look back to make sure it wasn't reforming, the two of them took to the steps once more, up onto the 80th floor, and then down the corridor to the final step of stairs onto the roof.

No one challenged them on the way. Blake stepped out first in case of gunfire, and found herself on a rooftop that was far more fancy than the name suggested. There were potted plants and planting boxes arranged in ways as to simulate a garden, and raised railings with glass panels prevented anyone stumbling off the edge to their death. There was a swimming pool off to the left with deck chairs around it.

And in front of them lay what would tentatively be called a fashionable bungalow, if you could call a building's 81st floor a bungalow, with a white frame, huge glass windows expansively covering the sides, and plenty of wood added for good measure. Inside, she could see a billiards table, a living area with couches and a huge TV taking up a whole wall. There was a kitchen as well, though the bedroom was hidden deeper inside for privacy's sake.

The lights in the penthouse flickered on once more. Coda's work no doubt, and probably to give Jaune a fair shot of fighting this as someone without night vision. The anomaly certainly had it, and they had numbers too. Blake counted six inside the building, three by the pool, two to the opposite side and at least four more by the deckchairs. They were identical from head to toe, and all smiling that overly curly smile without teeth.

"Well, well, well." The sound of clapping hand reached their ears from above. Winter Schnee emerged on the sloped roof of her penthouse apartment, standing with two more of the anomaly on either side of her. Far from frightened, there was a giddiness to her that put Blake on edge. The woman was visibly excited. "You really came all this way just to see me? I'm touched, though I was polite enough to send you a letter first. You could have done the same."

Jaune stared back as Blake calculated the odds of shooting her. It wouldn't be a difficult shot, but it would be easy for Winter to dodge out the way, and there was still her aura to think about. Opening fire now wouldn't do much.

"No letters," said Jaune. "No more of your silly games either. You have caused numerous deaths in Vale and you will be held responsible for them."

"Have I? I think you'll find those people I killed did not truly exist in any database, therefore I have legally killed no one. Besides, you should thank me. ARC Corp is family after all, and I stepped in to help my distant cousin kill all those anomalies." Winter spread her arms. "Aren't you happy, cousin? I'm doing the right thing as you would say it. I'm killing all those naughty, naughty anomalies for you. I'm being a good little member of ARC Co-"

"Winter!" shouted Jaune, interrupting her. "I said no more games. These are people's lives, anomalous or otherwise, and they're not your playthings. ARC Corp allows the Schnee and the SDC to live because dealing with the fallout of your deaths would be too much work. Your actions today have changed that. It'll be easier to deal with your death then let you live."

Despite the threat, Winter's smile was hungry. "Is that so? I'm shaking. Can you see?"

"You're still treating this like a damned game," snarled Jaune.

"Come on then!" shouted Winter, overcome with laughter. "Come and kill me. I'm sure you can do it. Kill my loyal bodyguards, rip me down from this roof and cut my body to pieces. Come on. Come on! Hurry!" Her smile was manic. "Look, I'll even help you!"

Without warning, she brought out her fencing sabre and split a dagger off from the hilt. Winter then took that and ran it down the inside of her left arm. It didn't cut flesh, though she could have let her aura go to allow it to. Instead, she bled off a visible chunk of aura, showering little sparkles of it away as she cut into it. There was no knowing how much without seeing her aura readings on a scroll, but such a visible display of wasting some was unsettling.

"Jaune, there's something wrong here…"

"I know," he whispered, as the woman cackled. "But we can't let her go now so we'll just need to face down whatever is happening. I'm not playing any more games with her. I refuse. People have died tonight, Blake."

"No more," she agreed, tightening her hold of her weapons. "I can't do much to the anomalies and you're not going to be able to fight a huntress in melee. Leave Winter to me and keep the rest off me."

He nodded. Even if he was technically her boss, he respected her enough to follow what was the only real plan. "I'll do my best."

"And Jaune."

"Yes?"

"Don't let it overcome you. Please. That might be exactly what she wants."

Jaune snorted and smiled faintly. "Yeah, I figured that one out myself. Don't worry. I may have to use my arms but I can hold myself back. Killing loyal Schnee dogs isn't going to stress me out nearly as much as being made to kill anomalies I knew on a personal level."

"Come on! Come on! Come on!" roared Winter. "Hurry! Or are you two playing games of your own!?"

Blake clicked her tongue and darted forward. Creepily smiling men rushed to dogpile her but flinched back when Jaune drew Crocea Mors and swung it toward them. Blake felt the heat on her back as she vaulted onto the shoulder of one, kicked off past his grasping hands, caught the lip of the roof and hauled herself up. Immediately, one of the two defending Winter rushed her, but Blake slid aside and tripped it, kicking it in its back to send it off the penthouse roof and onto the wider roof below. The small fall wouldn't kill it, but nothing she had would, and at least this way it would be out her way.

The second came and she engaged it in melee, disarming it and looping her ribbon around its neck, then using that to lead it to the edge where she was able to flip it off. Jaune was among them below, swinging his sword in two hands. For some reason, they weren't shooting him. They rushed him in melee. Blake heard a step behind her and rounded just in time to parry a devastating thrust. Winter Schnee's sabre locked with her blade and the momentum and weight of the taller woman drove Blake back until she almost went over the edge.

Winter was snarling. "Not you! It's supposed to be him!"

Struggling under the bigger woman's strength, Blake dropped to one knee and let the lock go, then rolled away when the woman's foot lashed out to kick her off the edge. Blake skirted the roof's edge and jogged to the middle, where she could give ground without fear. "Sorry to break it to you, Schnee, but you're mine tonight. Blake Belladonna. Former White Fang and current ARC Corp agent. That means I've got twice the reason to want you dead."

"I care not for your reasons," hissed Winter, suddenly all business and no fun. The woman aimed her weapon at Blake and several glyphs appeared behind her. "If he will not come and face me for taunts then perhaps he will come when I threaten to cut off your head."

"What do you want with Jaune?"

"Why should I explain my reasons to the hired help?"

"I won't let you get to Jaune."

"Oh?" Winter chuckled, and white figures formed around her. Blake swallowed, suddenly remembering that moonlighting as a saleswoman of dangerous creatures and artefacts aside, Winter Schnee was still an accomplished huntress. One with much more experience than Blake. "I'm not sure you will have much of a choice. Do be sure to scream when I send you falling from this tower. I'm sure that will get him all kinds of worked up."

Next Chapter: 27th March

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