Here we go.
Cover Art: Kirire
Chapter 86
Jaune was pensive all the way back to Vale, refusing to talk and lost within his own thoughts. After several tries to get some form of communication about the anomalous lawyers, she gave up and tried another angle.
"Raven's eyes glowing was a thing that caught you off-guard."
He twitched. "What?"
"Her eyes. What was that all about? Another anomaly?"
"Yes. One of four that are... difficult to track down and contain. Dangerous, too, though ironically it's probably a lot less dangerous with Raven than it would be with anyone else. At least she isn't living in a population centre."
"How does she have multiple anomalies effecting her? That and Light of the Soul. I thought they were exclusive."
"An anomaly can't effect another anomaly, which is why human-to-anomaly transformations are incompatible with Light of the Soul, but they can still share a host. If they couldn't, then I'd have to be immune to people's Semblances and I'm not. Light of the Soul exists as her aura, or in her soul, and The Four Seasons now co-exists alongside it. I guess it's like two diseases in the same body. As long as they don't compete for resources, it's fine. There's technically a third two in Ozma's influence – that ability of hers and Qrow's to turn into birds – but that's technically another thing entirely. It's hard to explain, but easiest to just think of that as an extension of Ozma's power rather than their own."
"Hmm. Are you back in the real world now?"
He chuckled. "Sorry. I've just been worrying about this new anomaly. Assuming they are anomalies at all."
"The legal team? I mean, we saw one of them kill the matchmaker anomaly in that basement. And he vanished afterwards. That seems pretty anomalous to me."
"He could just be an employee, though. The anomalies could be items or other entities that did those things."
"Isn't it the simpler conclusion to assume it was him? Occam's Razor?"
"Normally, yes, but then what's the simple solution as to how an anomaly learned about law in the first place? People have to go to school for that. It could be a lawyer who was transformed," he admitted, "but the fact they call themselves a firm suggests more than one person. That's the main thing that's bothering me."
Because one anomaly with a skill relating to law was random but could happen, whereas several with the same abilities all working together for a single firm was a little less realistic. At that point, you either had to assume they were all identical anomalies, which was a far stretch, or that they were all benefitting or under the control of one anomaly – be that an item they were abusing, or a sapient anomaly serving as their employer.
"But what's the point?" he asked out loud, leaning back with a heavy sigh. "The whole point of a firm is to make money, and it's not like many anomalies are rich. Some are, those that possess or work with humans, but they're the minority and they're already good at staying hidden. And it's not like anomalies have any rights."
"Oof."
"You know what I mean," he groaned. "There's no court of law, no right to a fair trial, no due process. ARC Corp just sweeps in and kills them. In what way would these people be representing them? Why get involved at all? If you had an anomaly that let you be perfect at law, then go into actual law with it. Go represent corrupt businessmen and celebrities and make hundreds of millions."
All good points.
"To be fair, they don't seem to be representing anomalies at all," she said. "Not in the sense of a defence lawyer. They came and mentioned a broken contract for the matchmaker and killed him, and they seemingly helped this one infiltrate the Branwen tribe. They call themselves a law firm but that seems pretty unrelated to law."
"The matchmaker I could see being contract law. Maybe they acted as the prosecution for another party. One that provided the matchmaker things and which he reneged on. But you're right that this new one makes little to no sense. Helping it sneak into a tribe where it could eat people is... It's just random. I guess you could argue they were helping it, but why? It's not really the job of a lawyer to do things like that."
They tossed around some more ideas in the back of the aircraft but were unable to come to any good conclusions. Without solid information to go on, all they knew was that there was a group making deals with anomalies, and that breaking those deals led to them being terminated for breach of contract. Beyond that, they had some strange ability to affect other anomalies. That was unheard of, and probably a point in favour of Jaune's idea that the lawyer wasn't an anomaly. Technically speaking, an anomaly could affect another if it used its own destructive effects. For instance, Jaune using his anomalous fire could burn and kill other anomalies. It was just that the aspect of his fire that infected him couldn't be passed on.
So, if the legal anomalies were using an attack to kill then that would be fine, but if it was a signed anomalous contract that killed a person who breached it, then that didn't make sense because one anomaly shouldn't be able to submit to and let another anomaly have a hold over it. That was like how Coda hadn't been able to hack into Tomorrow's News, because then it would have been a code-based anomaly existing within another anomaly's code.
But, somehow, Four Seasons could exist within Raven's body alongside Light of the Soul.
Was that a case of one residing in the soul and the other residing in the flesh?
Or was it just that the rules ARC Corp believed to be true weren't so ironclad? They were all working on assumptions based on things that seemed true in all other cases, but it was possible to be wrong even with a 99% confirmation rate.
None of that really mattered when they got back to their office and found the place covered in webbing, pizza boxes, empty cans of soda and empty packets of cookies. And Ruby, passed out on Jaune's desk under a huge spider, the two of them snoring as they slept off a sugar and insect daze respectively.
"I hope she realises she's cleaning this up," Jaune grumbled, walking over to his desk and sitting down behind it. The moment he tried to set up his laptop, Ruby rolled over and cuddled into it, stealing it like a cushion and squashing it between her chest and knees. He sighed and stood. "Wake her up and get her started. I need to make some calls to the Director. This is a problem that extends far past Vale."
/-/
After waking Ruby and confirming that yes, today was the day they were coming back and that they had in fact texted Ruby to let her know, but she's failed to check her scroll, Blake left the embarrassed girl to speed around the office with a binbag and retreated to her own apartment. Yawning, she changed out her bloody suit and set her own Slaved Anomaly – though who was the slave, she wasn't sure – down on the side. The blasted thing had obviously escaped its containment unit not thirty seconds after being placed inside, and Jaune had given up on trying to stop it.
"Sometimes it's best to let it have its way rather than fight. Or we might find that it can do a lot worse than simply teleport to you."
As if that wasn't ominous.
And speaking of ominous, it hadn't tried to communicate or make any deals with her since consuming Adam, and she couldn't tell if that was a good or a bad thing. The idea of it being sated was bad enough, but there was also the possibility it was occupied with something, and that was even worse. If it had needed Adam for some purpose, and she'd given him to it, then there was no telling what the fallout would be.
Even from her couch, she could almost feel the book's mirth. There was just as good a chance it was staying silent because it knew silence bothered her more than words. And because it was a bastard like that.
Blake fell asleep on the couch with the TV on, slumped on her side and haunted by a nightmare of her mother playing with her when she was a child, only to say she was "feeling hungry" and then devour Blake alive, peeling back skin to reveal the monster beneath and startling Blake awake at what was 2am.
"Great. And I can't even tell if that's me imagining the anomaly we dealt with killing my mom, or the anomaly that is dreams preying on my mind for some reason. Damn it all. Life was so much easier when I didn't know any of this existed."
Give her back her angst over her time with the White Fang.
It sucked, but at least she could get a full night's sleep without worrying about being eaten alive – either by an anomaly masquerading as her mother, or an anomaly infecting her mind while she slept and doing goodness knows what with her.
What if the reason people couldn't remember dreams was because the anomaly was actually making her live those experiences and then eating the whole world they were in? What if they were glimpses into alternate dimensions – which she now knew existed thanks to the abandoned house with Amber – and she was seeing the final moments of those alternate-universe versions of herself? What if—
"Gnh. Stop. Stop it." Groaning, she stood and slipped on a spare jacket, walked out into the hallway and let herself back into the office.
Yes, it was 2am, but she didn't believe for a second that Jaune was in bed.
Sure enough, he was behind his desk. "Couldn't sleep?" he asked.
"Too much on my mind," she replied. "And I slept funny on the couch. How was the call?"
"Rough, as might be imagined. ARC Corp isn't thrilled about some other organisation influencing anomalies. Doubly so if they're helping them evade us. "
"Hmm. Bad enough when it was the SDC." Blake collapsed onto the seat in his office. Her special spot. Timothy wobbled to his feet like he wanted to cuddle, then gave in to his fatigue and slumped back onto a big dog bed Ruby had bought him. "Any news on what ARC Corp's response is going to be?"
"We're starting by pitching law changes to the various councils."
"What...?"
Jaune leaned back with an ironic smile. "It's a weird idea but Saphron came up with it and we figure we might as well try. If the anomaly is working based on law then each kingdom is going to be told to add some new laws and clauses that prevent businesses working with organisations and entities deemed to be dangerous as per the analysis of an independent advisory board. That board is us in the small print. Basically, it's going to be made illegal to do business with anomalies."
Blake snorted. "Wasn't it already?"
"I mean, technically it never was. ARC Corp hunted down and killed anomalies, sure, and they were legally entitled to do so, but there was no law saying people couldn't work with them – because our goal was obviously that people should never know they exist in the first place."
"Feels like picking at straws."
"It might be, but it's worth a shot. Publicly, we're going to act like this is just targeting terrorist groups like the White Fang, but one of the groups we'll be adding is Anomalous & Sons LLP, thus – at least on a technical level – making them an illegal organisation."
"That'll only do something if they really are bound to obey laws, though. And I mean, these guys probably aren't paying their taxes either and that's against the law."
"There are ways around that," Jaune said, only half paying attention. "They might not be making a profit, or maybe they are paying their taxes but their trading name is different to their company name. They might call themselves Anomalous & Sons, but their official name might be Puppies Incorporated for all we know."
Blake sighed. "This is way too complicated."
"Welcome to the world of law. What do you think I'm reading up on?"
"You're studying law...?" Getting up, she walked around him to look at his screen, and sure enough he was reading though a hefty article on contract law. "Why?"
"Orders from the top." He yawned, showing that even he wasn't immune to exhaustion. "The Director thinks that if they can kill an anomaly for breaking the law then they might be able to do the same to us. Or they might be able to enforce us to let an anomaly go if we're somehow failing on due process. He's worried they'll use their powers to force a court case for Tomorrow's News or intervene in another mission. Every director is being forced to go through law classes just in case." He propped an elbow on the desk and his chin on one hand. His other gripped a cup of coffee like he was afraid he'd pass out if he let go. "All employees are being enrolled in less strict law courses."
"Ugh. Does that include me?"
"You are an employee. Your course starts tomorrow at ten."
"Don't you need my permission to sign me up?"
"If the training is officially required as a part of your job then your contract automatically includes an agreement to be put on any training course so long as you are paid at your normal hourly rate, and the company covers the costs of both the course and transport to and from. You can find this in section 17C of your contract, under the section headed as employee development and—" He paused, then pinched the bridge of his nose. "Sorry. The contract law is in my head now."
"I can tell..." Blake reached out and closed his laptop, ignoring the whining sound he made. "You need to sleep. This will be here in the morning, along with breakfast and more coffee. Go to bed or you'll pass out."
"Your mom will pass out," he mumbled.
"Okay. You making your mom jokes is definitely where I say sleep deprivation is getting to you." Blake dragged him out his seat and toward his bedroom.
Jaune was asleep before she even rolled the covers over him.
/-/
Law sucked.
That was the conclusion Blake came to after her first four-hour session taught by a professional solicitor being paid a ridiculous amount of money by the hour to teach her. Of course, she was being paid more by the hour to attend, but she had to fight soul-rending monsters and this guy only had to help soul-rending monsters escape justice.
There were two types of law – criminal and civil. Criminal was easy. Very easy. Civil was not. Anomalous & Sons LLP were focusing on civil war, the absolute bastards, so aside from getting a brief talk on criminal – brief enough to see how much easier it was – her tuition focused primarily on civil law and also on what law enforcement could and could not do.
Because ARC Corp was technically considered law enforcement, so their biggest worry right now was that they might be caught on some technicality for "excessive force" or something. Which was a fair accusation when Terra could literally fire stars out of a sniper rifle, and when the typical response to finding an anomaly was to kill it as quickly as possible.
Blake really didn't see how the other offices were going to get away with any of this, but that was luckily not her business. The Containments Office was the only office that did preach reasonable force, so she figured they were safer than most.
Sadly, ARC Corp figured that out too.
"We're being put solely on the case," said Jaune, looking like he wanted to just put his head between a vice and twist until he didn't have to worry about life anymore. "Yay for us."
"Fuck!" Blake swore, clasping her head with both hands. "This means even more law lessons, doesn't it?"
"Yep."
"WHY US!?"
"Because we're the only office that realistically abides to what the law has been since our inception. We're the only office that actually considers whether an anomaly is guilty or not, and the only office that offers imprisonment as a punishment option. Every other office is just murder on a stick."
"Legal murder!" Blake argued and felt very much like Adam would have raised his eyebrows at her for it. "Legally speaking, ARC Corp has a remit to hunt and kill anomalies. It's their jurisdiction."
"While that's true, there were never any laws put in place to give us that. It was always more of a secret arrangement and understanding between the various governments. Technically speaking, we've broken a lot of laws."
"Arghhh!" She could feel a headache forming. "This is just them seeing us as the most disposable office again!"
Jaune didn't even try and hide it. "Yeah. That too. We've been asked to keep recording equipment on us so that even if we fail and die, they can look over what we did right or wrong and adapt to dealing with Anomalous & Sons in the future."
"And you think they'll be cool with that? Isn't it illegal to record without consent?"
"Yes. That's why we'll be asking them if they consent to being recorded before we do." Jaune sounded as unconvinced at the success of that as she was. "We're going to..." He sighed. "We're going to tell them it's for training purposes and will be shown to new staff to train them on how to act."
Which was a very real thing other companies did.
With one exception.
"We're going to tell them we're using it to train new staff on how to outsmart and kill them. And ARC Corp thinks that they will agree...?"
"I think it's more a case of it not hurting to try. Unless we forget to bring it up and technically break a law by recording them, at which point it may very well hurt to try. It might even kill us." He smiled sarcastically. "So, yeah. We've been thrown out as the sacrificial lambs yet again."
And hobbled by extreme legal procedure.
Which, in all fairness, wasn't exactly unwarranted. ARC Corp was judge, jury and executioner to anomalies, which was why the community in Vale – those that remained, anyway – had sided with Jaune. Now she was left wondering how bad things would be if the lawyers got to them.
"How are we even meant to find them?" she asked.
Jaune held up a business card. "We call them."
Her eyes were flat. "You must be joking. Are you telling me ARC Corp didn't even try and track the number?"
"Oh, they did. They called it multiple times and tried to track it, but it was never once answered. The number obviously doesn't show anywhere either, and the digits are too short. It's a three-digit number. Even if you're calling someone in your area, it should be six. Three digits are only reserved for emergency services."
Blake took the card. "I don't even see a number."
"Exactly. But I do." Jaune took it back. "And I reported that number to the Director. Now, he thinks that the number can only be seen and called by an anomaly, which is why it was never answered when they tried."
"The line itself is anomalous?"
"Possibly. Or it might be something else. We're not sure." Jaune picked up his scroll and set it to speaker. "But they want me to call and set up a meeting like I'm a customer." He sighed. "Except that I'm not sure if lying and pretending wouldn't get me, or both of us, in trouble, so I'm just going to tell the truth."
This was ridiculous.
But it was their job.
Blake sat down and watched as Jaune dialled a number she couldn't see, and as he set his scroll to speaker mode. Technically, no company had a right to demand you not do that, and there was no rule saying otherwise. The line rang three times and then, in stark contrast to all the alleged times before, it clicked through.
"Hello and welcome to Anomalous & Sons LLP. This is $Bl^&ksk*£ speaking. How may I help you?"
Blake reeled from the sound that had hit her head like a psychic hammer, and Jaune was no better, clutching the edge of his desk so hard his fingers were white. It had sounded like static, but it felt like a cold nail being driven into her brain and twisted.
"Y—Yes. Hello. This is Jaune Arc, of ARC Corp. I would like to arrange a meeting with a representative from Anomalous & Sons to discuss your breach of international law. I have been authorised to speak on ARC Corp's behalf and mediate with your company directors to come to a conclusion on this illegal activity taken by yourselves."
"I'm afraid I cannot comment on any ongoing cases, sir, but if I can place you on hold for one moment then I can speak to a member of our team and get back to you. Is that okay?"
"Yes. That's fine."
There was a click and then the sound from the scroll was replaced with light ambient music. It was obnoxiously cheerful, like any call centre Blake had ever called and been left on hold for hours at a time at. Jaune took a deep breath and a quick drink, obviously still shaken from whatever that had been before. Was everyone working there an anomaly, or was that some defensive anomaly to protect their staff? There was no way of knowing.
"Hello sir," the woman – if it was one – reconnected. "I've spoken to one of our partners and he has agreed to meet with you at a location of your choosing, providing several conditions are met. Are you in a position to go over those conditions right now?"
"Yes."
"Very good. The first condition is a binding agreement of non-hostility for the duration of the meeting and for sixty minutes both before and after."
"Define hostility for me," said Jaune, leaning back with a frown. "I believe we're both understandably opposed to one another so I don't think it's fair to suggest we not be hostile in some way. Hostility could be defined as little more than disliking the other party. I would prefer a non-aggression clause, in which aggression is defined as actions immediately detrimental to health and physical and mental safety."
"We would be happy to accept that clause, sir. For reference, we define hostility as active and intentional – or negligent – action that leads to a risk to either party. Also, our partner will be beholden to the same contractual terms as yourself for this meeting. Just so you know."
"That's appreciated. Will the contract be signed before our meeting?"
"It will be signed before the conclusion of this call. Moving on, sir, our next condition will be that we meet only with yourself and dedicated agents of your office. We are, of course, aware that Miss Blake Belladonna is listening in on this call. We extend the meeting to include her."
Blake cursed.
Jaune scowled. "I'll agree to include her, but Blake is my employee and should not be held to the same consequences as myself. I'll guarantee she won't take any aggressive action, but I want it noted that Anomalous & Sons recognises that Blake does not make decisions for the Containments Office."
"I understand, sir. Any formal agreements and/or binding statements will only be considered valid if they come from someone with legal authority within your office. Of course, should Miss Belladonna make separate agreements with Anomalous & Sons then she would be beholden to those. The same for if she takes aggressive action against the partner meeting you. Does Miss Belladonna agree to those terms?"
Jaune glanced at her.
"I agree," she said, quietly.
"Very good." The woman heard her despite that being so very unlikely. Blake wasn't close to the scroll at all. "The final condition is that Mr Arc must attend the meeting with his suit removed and his arms unveiled."
Jaune tensed. "Why, exactly?"
"Anomalous & Sons deals solely with anomalous entities."
"You are aware of what I am."
"It is a requirement from our partner, Mr Arc. They do not wish to meet with someone who hides away what he is. You must not wear gloves, either."
"That would put the individual in danger of being burned by me."
"The non-aggression clause will be amended to remove liability in the case that either party causes injury or suffering to themselves through negligence or lack-of-forethought. In the event that our partner is wounded in interacting with you as a direct result of our clause requiring you to attend with your anomalous nature exposed, Anomalous & Sons will waive all right to claim. This will include if our partner asks to shake your hand and expires as a result but will not – for emphasis – be applicable should you intentionally seek to shake his hand, or maliciously trick him into shaking your hand, and kill him."
"To be clear, you're asking me to attend a meeting topless..."
"If your form has progressed far enough to encompass your back and chest, then yes. In exchange we will allow you to dictate the location of the meeting so long as that is within Vale, not in any dangerous area, and not within one of your new containment facilities located at the old storage unit lot within the city. It must be a neutral and safe location."
Those were a lot of demands and conditions, some stranger than others. It was obvious Jaune was frustrated, but he had his orders to make this happen and he – neither of them, really – had any freedom to refuse.
"Fine. I agree to those terms. Is verbal agreement eno—"
Jaune cursed and leapt back as a document appeared on his desk in a flash of light.
"Our contract should have arrived with you already," said the receptionist. "Please peruse it in your own time and sign it. Both you and Miss Belladonna will be required to sign. Blood is not required. You will notice in subsection 7B, that Miss Belladonna is exempted from rules rejecting the carrying of dangerous anomalies if said anomaly cannot intentionally be removed or left behind. However, Miss Belladonna will be held fully liable for any actions that anomaly causes if she is actively involved in any way, up to and including making any deals with the anomaly within the lake."
They even knew about that. Blake cursed under her breath.
"We will know once the contract is signed. Please feel free to take your time reading through it. Thank you for calling Anomalous & Sons. We look forward to serving as your legal representatives in future endeavours. Is there anything else you need of me, sir?"
"No." Jaune was already reaching for the document with the resigned air of someone who knew he'd have to go through it with a magnifying glass. "That'll do."
"Thank you, sir. In that case would you consent to a quick five-minute after-call survey to rate our service—"
Jaune hung up with a click. "No."
Blake sighed and stood. "I don't suppose we can just pay a lawyer to look through this for us, can we?"
"Not without exposing the anomalous to them."
"Maybe hire one to work for ARC Corp?"
"Would you trust a lawyer not to sell us out?"
Blake sighed even harder. "I'll go get the law textbooks, then."
I'm reminded of that billboard in the US from a lawyer saying "Even if you did it, you're not guilty" or something. Which is true, legally speaking, but also says a lot of bad things about society and the role of lawyers in it.
Next Chapter: 29th January
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