Chapter 29 – Mistral City: Spider and Fakes
[A/N] Get ready for another fun little action chapter, and some additional canon guest appearances!
"Selene? Can I ask you a question?" Cinder had approached her early the next morning. She looked distracted. Worried.
"Of course." Selene moved over and Cinder sat down next to her on the edge of the bed.
"I… I sent Terra a message when we got here. And she isn't answering. She hasn't talked to me since…" She fidgeted with her hands. "that night… is that bad?"
"Oh… well… I suppose she is still trying to come to terms with what happened." Selene sighed. "Cinder, I apologize. What little experience I have with violence has been associated with Huntsmen. It perhaps has given me an unrealistic view of how people respond. It is possible that some people… do not react well to seeing it, even if justified."
"So… do you think she's afraid of me?"
"I am… unsure. I had expected she would contact you by now, but perhaps I had poor expectations. Would you like me to ask Sophia to talk to her?" She rested a hand on Cinder's shoulder, and the young girl leaned against her.
"Yeah. I… I'd like that," she said quietly.
Selene considered for a few moments. "And… what of your other friends?"
She felt Cinder relax slightly. "Oh, yeah. I messaged them too. They answered right away. Sarah and Laurel asked when we were going to do another online tournament." She smiled. "Argent said that she couldn't wait for me to get back to Argus, but that her mom was acting weird about her going to the Emporium." She fretted again. "You don't think her mom will make her stop doing the tournaments do you?"
Selene kissed the top of her head, "I would not be concerned about that. We shall see when we return to Argus."
"Okay." That didn't exactly fill Cinder with confidence. She was used to Selene having solid answers for problems, not this. "I'll wait until we get back."
"Alright folks, we all ready?" Garek was bouncing around on the balls of his feet.
"Yep," Cinder said. She was more excited than anxious. She was going to have a new ID. She was going to be able to tell people that Garek and Selene were her guardians, and enroll in Sentinal Combat School, and everything!
Selene shook her head at him. "Yes, Garek. I have been ready. It is you who are nervous and delaying."
"Sheesh. Fine. I am. This is a big deal, and I'm not used to openly visiting criminals." He slumped. "Alright, fine, let's have the front desk call us a cab.
When they gave the cab driver the address, he looked at them carefully, shook his head, and headed down toward the less savory parts of the lower city.
It wasn't long before the taxi pulled up in front of a moderately large bar or tavern. The exterior was primarily brick, and a large engraving of a spider had been carved into the brickwork to the right of the door. A sign proclaimed it The Laughing Widow.
An intimidating man dressed in purple trousers, white shirt, and purple coat, lounged next to the door, scanning up and down the street. Garek could tell he had a firearm tucked in a holster under his jacket, not to mention a mace hanging from his belt. The man, a guard or bouncer, gave them a quick once-over. "Might not be your kind of bar, buddy."
"We were hoping to conduct some business, actually."
Eyebrows raised up. "Oh? What kinda business?" He looked at Selene and Cinder. Considered, then shook his head as he rejected an idea.
"The private kind that costs money?" Garek ventured. "We were told we could find a lady here who… for the right amount of lien, helps people out with small problems."
The man barked a laugh. "Oh yeah. That she does. Aright, head on in. She'll be toward the bar. Can't miss her." He grabbed Garek by the shoulder as he made to pass by. "She's in a good mood. But be polite."
"Thanks. Appreciate the heads up."
They took a moment for their eyes to adjust to the lower light as they entered.
The interior was a two-story affair. The floor was covered with large grey flagstone. To the left, a wall of kegs was stacked two high. To the right, a staircase led up to the second floor. The décor was surprisingly peppy for the lair of an organized crime lord… or lady, not that Garek had much to measure against.
The bar at the back left was massive, and over a half-dozen wooden square tables were scattered through the room, though it was mostly empty at this early hour.
And there, behind one of those tables next to the bar, sat a woman who could only be Li'l Miss Malachite, head of the Spider Gang. She wasn't much older than Selene and Garek, dressed in a white and purple dress with a corset that accentuated an ample bosom and showed off a spiderweb tattoo on her left shoulder. Her blond hair was cut in a short bob, and her fair skin was only marked by a few freckles and a beauty mark on her right eye.
She noticed them as soon as they walked in, and kept her eyes focused on them, taking a long drag of a cigarette in a holder as they slowly approached. Two more of her people flanked her, a man and a woman also dressed in shades of purple, and tensed as they approached.
"You can stop right there. More than close enough," she said when they were about two arms-length from the table. She looked them up and down, one at a time. Selene took it calmly, but Cinder found her eyes drawn to the floor under that appraising gaze. "So… I'm guessing you aren't here for a job, or a drink."
Garek cleared his throat. "No ma'am. We need some… assistance… with some paperwork."
She crooked up the corner of one mouth. "Oh? And do you have some… paper what works that you could trade for that kinda help? The kinda paper with numbers on it?" She took another drag, and blew the smoke out in a dense cloud. Cinder sneezed, and then frowned.
"That we do."
"Aright." One of the men whispered in her ear. "So… Huntsman is it? Why don't you pull up a seat, and let's chat. You other two, you can sit over there, unless you have a thing for standing around."
Selene nodded and led Cinder to a nearby table. A barmaid stepped over, and asked if they'd want anything, and Selene was surprised when informed they did indeed serve fruit juices.
Garek took the offered seat, keeping his hands in sight on the table. "Good manners too. Alright, what kind of business did you need?"
He leaned forward. "My fiancé and I encountered the young lady there," he thumbed toward Cinder, "living in some… very bad conditions. We can't get her former parents to sign her over. We're looking to get some documentation that shows us as her legal guardians, so we can enroll her in school and such."
"Hmm." Malachite tapped her cigarette on the ashtray. "How well you need it to hold up to being eyeballed?"
"We'd like it to be bulletproof. New identity and linked to us as full legal guardians until she reaches majority."
Her eyebrows went up. "That's gonna be expensive." She took another drag. "You running from the law?"
"Nope. Just don't like taking chances. She's a good kid and-"
"I ain't interested in your family history, Huntsman. If you want me to listen ta' you ramble on about some fairy tale rescue, you'll have to pay me extra."
Garek barked a laugh. "Fair enough."
"Let me make a call or two. Go yammer with your family for a bit." She waved him away.
He walked over to the table.
"How does it go?" Selene asked.
"I think she's talking to whoever it will be that does the actual work. We haven't even talked money yet." He shrugged.
One of the guards walked over, tapped him on the shoulder, and motioned him back to Malachite's 'desk'.
"All right, you got a few options. To do what you said, we gotta do some real leg-work. First there's creating the paper documents so if anyone checks those, they come up roses. That ain't cheap. Then we gotta get hardcopy and electronic records backdated and stuck in official files. Gonna take some lien right there, too." She looked him up and down again. "We can even go ahead and request a replacement ID card after the electronics are done, while you're here, since she 'lost' hers yesterday. You get me?"
"Yeah. Got it."
She tilted her head, humming to herself for a moment. "Interested in doing some work for me, to offset some of the cost?"
Garek felt himself stiffen. That was not something he would have considered, nor was he interested.
He lifted his hands, palms forward and fingers splayed as it to ward off the idea, "Uhh… I'm not really sure I'm in a position to do that."
"You're here ain't you?" She argued. "What other kind of position should you be in?" Malachite cocked an eyebrow at him.
He sighed. "Errr. Can I just get the full price?"
"More than you can afford," she barked without hesitation.
Fuck. In other words. "You need a Huntsman for something, don't you. Doesn't matter how much money I have."
She smiled with too much teeth showing. "Got it on the first try. Not often I get a Huntsman walk in the door. Oh, and I know what you're thinkin'. You're thinkin' you can go somewhere else, try to get the work done. But no one else can deliver exactly what you're askin' for. Nobody but my people." She gave a chuckle, and it made her bosom bounce.
He didn't find it attractive.
Gahhhhhh… "I guess I should suck it up and at least ask what you need, and what the price is after that?"
"Good boy. See, I've got somebody I need escorted, and I need an escort who'll make people think twice before they stop them, and won't be able to stop them if they're dumb enough to try. You get me?" Her eyes drifted up and to the right. "You do this for me, and I'll have your documentation waiting, along with a temporary ID card, by the time you get back. Your sweet little ladies can grab a taxi back to whatever posh hotel you're holed up in, or hang out here. Won't take more than a couple hours."
"And the cost after that?"
"Five thousand lien."
That sounded… cheap. And that meant the job was… expensive. His gut roiled.
This sucks.
"Oh, don't give me that look. You're a Huntsman and I ain't stupid. If I threw you into something really illegal, I'd have the lot of your friends crawling up my skirt and inspecting my nethers with a fireplace poker." Ugh. That wasn't a visual he wanted. "It's not illegal at all… it's just… important. And you just happen to be here, and I don't like taking chances."
Okay… that actually sounded like she was telling him the truth. "Say I'm tentatively willing. Tell me what you need me to do."
And it turned out to be straightforward, really. There were two ladies, along with a one of her men guarding them, stashed at a safe house on the other side of town. Things had gotten hot, and she wanted them brought back to the bar, but she had reason to believe the place was being watched. So she if she used her people they would be jumped on the way out. Some kind of gang war with some group called the Parrots.
"Now, mind you, I'm not saying we couldn't take 'em."
"But you don't want the risk of the two ladies getting hurt in the crossfire."
"Oooo, you are a sharp one. Sure you don't want a job?"
Garek laughed. "I've already got three, including saving the world. I think I'm booked up."
That got an eyebrow, then a laugh. "Huh. I like you. Bring 'em back safe, and I'll like you even more."
"I do not like this, Garek."
"It's not ideal, no. You want to go back to the Silver Boar?"
"No, if I am to wait, I will wait here until you return, with Cinder."
"Fine, let's get this over with, then." He nodded to Cinder. "There's a guy headed over here to take down some basic information from you two. I'll let you fill in the details while I go take care of this errand."
"Be safe, Garek. Please."
"I'm a Huntsman, Selene. I've been doing caravan escort contracts for years. I think I can handle this."
"I don't think I can handle this!"
The woman on the motorcycle, Cammie she had called herself, gave him a long look. "Li'l Miss said you were a Huntsman."
"I am."
"Sound more like a big baby."
Great. He appraised the young woman in front of him. She wasn't very impressive. She was a slight thing, younger than him, dressed in a skin-hugging leotard looking outfit with a leather vest over it, and a wide leather gun belt slung across her hips. Blond hair and gray eyes in a face that was only marred by a series of scars across the left side that made it flex strangely when she smiled. He sighed. "Never ridden a motorcycle before."
"Don't matter, don't care. That's why I'm driving and you're riding shotgun."
"You expect me to fight on the back of that thing?"
She scoffed. "Don't expect us to fight at all. Expect you to show up, act like a peacock of a Huntsman, wave around that sword of yours, and watch them pee themselves. We even have a car waiting there to stick the girls in. Just need to ride escort back here. Won't even take two hours."
I don't believe you. Nothing ever works that well. "Fine. Let's get this over with."
He regretted it immediately.
Cammie drove like a madwoman. It almost made him wish for Blackfeather.
That's how much he hated it.
It took less than thirty minutes to reach the block where the supposed safe house was.
Which turned out to be extremely poorly named.
There was Li'l Miss's 'getaway car', parked on the street, engine still running. The driver, dressed in purple and white, looked like he would prefer to be somewhere else. Like… maybe at his own wake. His eyes were staring straight forward, both hands gripping the steering wheel with white knuckles.
That was because the car was surrounded by six men dressed in greens and golds holding a variety of guns, ranging from pistols to some sort of sawed-off. There weren't actively pointing anything at the guy, they were just… sneering at him.
And of course, that didn't count the dozen or so more that were lounging around outside the boarded-up barber shop that was supposed to be their pickup point.
"Alright Huntsy, do your magic." Cammie said as she put the kickstand down. Several of the men loitering around stared at them. Several that didn't have guns were armed with what looked like metal-clad pool cues.
"Fuck. You know this is stupid right?" Cammie just shrugged. In for a lien, in for a thousand. Garek stood up on the motorcycle seat behind her, balancing himself carefully, and cupped his mouth for maximum projection. "All right ladies and gentlemen, party's over. Garek Grae, licensed Huntsmen. I've got it on good authority that barbershop there is just chocked full of Grimm, and I need to get in there, extract the civilians, and get them to safety."
The entire side street full of men stopped moving, starting with the ones that had been watching him already. The ones that had been watching the house then slowly turned toward him, faces radiating disbelief. Then the ones around the car. The Spiders' driver seemed to decide he might not die in the next fifteen seconds, and gave Garek such a look of plaintive relief that Garek almost felt like he knew what he was fucking doing.
Cammie just scoffed, very very quietly, "Fucking Huntsmen…"
Finally, one of the men designated himself leader or spokesman. "Tha's bullshit."
"That's my job, civilian." He tapped himself on the chest. "Huntsman." He pointed at the building. "Grimm infested." He dug a hand in his pocket and several of the men tensed, then relaxed when he pulled out his license. "Huntsman's License, registered out of Haven." A couple of the men flinched at that. "Anybody here know what that means? Anybody? Anybody?" Several of the men were looking at each other. A couple shrugged. "That MEANS," he bellowed the last bit out, "that I'm here on official Huntsman business. That MEANS, that anybody… and I mean anybody, that interferes with me going in that building, kicking Grimm ass, and extracting the civilians in there and getting them to safety… is INTERFERING with Huntsman business." He paused, and pulled out Cats Paw, and was pleased to see all of the men now looking at least wary, and a few stepping back away from him. "Now, I'm sure a bunch of fine, upstanding Mistralian citizens like yourselves—" Cammie coughed "—wouldn't dream of doing anything like that. Not when you owe the next five thousand breaths you take to the fact that me and my buddies are keeping Grimm from tearing your throat out in your sleep."
And without bothering to wait for a response, he hopped off the back of the motorcycle, rapier rested across his shoulder, and strolled nonchalantly toward the door of the barbershop.
Parrot Gang members parted before him like the sea split by the bow of a cargo freighter.
A little voice inside him said this can't possibly work. He told it shut the fuck up, I'm busy.
He made it to the door.
"I am Huntsman Garek Grae, I am coming in to deal with your Grimm infestation!" He yelled, and kicked the door open.
Crouched at the other end of the room behind some rather heavy-duty looking cast-iron sinks was a man with the most shockingly orange hair he'd ever seen, lanked over one eye, wearing a bowler hat and long white trench coat at least two sizes too large for him.
In one gloved hand, he held a cane, resting across his other forearm with the bottom pointed directly at Garek's face. The end of it was clearly a hollow tube. "You know, if you shoot me in the face with that, I can't kill the Grimm behind you," Garek complained.
"Are you INSANE?!" the red-headed man hissed.
"Do you want to LIVE?! THERE IS A FUCKING BERINGEL RIGHT BEHIND YOU!" Garek yelled, louder than necessary.
He could see the man trying to decide whether this was a trick, who the real marks were, and whether he was in on the joke. Finally he rolled his eyes, stepped back, spun the cane… and fired a blast into the sink next to him, which exploded.
"HA! Take THAT you fucking Grimm!" Garek yelled, then in a lower voice continued, "Come on, get your asses in gear, we're getting out of here."
"You're gonna get us killed, and we don't have nine lives." The man growled.
"COME! I MUST GET YOU TO SAFETY, CIVILIANS!" Garek bellowed. "Shut the fuck up and let's move before one of them manages to get a neuron working!" he hissed.
"Fuck it. Fine. "Melanie. Miltia, our coach awaits!" Suddenly two young girls, twins from the look of them, popped up from somewhere behind the man. They were both about Cinder's age, one dressed in white and one in red. "Roman, who the hell is this lunatic?" said the one in red.
"Why, Miltia, didn't you hear? That's mother loving Huntsman Garek Grae, registered out of Haven, here to whisk you off to safety." He sneered. "Or get our asses fragged."
"Stick close to me. I'm serious. If someone starts shooting, head for the car, and I'll play blocker."
"Totally gonna die," the girl in white, Melanie, said.
"Shit," Miltia added helpfully.
And then they were moving, walking briskly out the door of the barbershop. "GRIM INFESTATION HANDLED!" Garek yelled as he exited. "I will be taking these civilians to safety. Until I am done, I am still conducting Huntsman Business." He emphasized the capital letters on the last two words.
He could see Parrot Gangmen trying to process what was happening. A few hands twitched toward weapons, but that was all so far.
This is crazy this is crazy this is crazy this can't work. Is this actually working?
They made it all the way to the car, before someone got three neurons to fire in sequence.
"Oi! How do we know you really killed a Grimm in there?!" A relative genius managed.
Garek opened the rear door of the car, pushing a green and gold clad thug out of the way to do so, and herded the two girls into the back seat. "Oh, that's easy! Because I said so! And of course, you can always go and look for yourself."
A few of the men blinked at that. And three of them actually made a little head bob, and headed into the building.
Fucking hell. Everybody knows that Grimm vaporize when you kill them. Are these guys that fucking stupid?
And then Roman was in the front passenger seat of the car, and the door was closing softly behind him.
"Hey!" One of the men yelled from inside the building. Garek could see more men reaching for weapons now. "Ain't nothin' in here but a busted sink!"
"Dammit Bruce!" One of the men outside yelled back, apparently slightly smarter than the rest remaining outside, but not by much. "Grimm turn into that smoke stuff when you kill 'em. Everybody knows that!"
Andddddd the car was gently pulling away. A few of the men started to look at it again, and Garek started yelling as he moved smoothly back toward the motorcycle. Cammie was staring at him, mouth opened in awe or disbelief. "BE CAREFUL! I might not have gotten all of them! I thought I heard a Goliath in there!" He saw Cammie's mouth slam shut with a click as she shook her head, and he jumped up on the back of the motorcycle again. The car was moving smoothly down the street now, slowly picking up speed. If the driver didn't have a coronary, they might just pull this off. The men in the building suddenly exited.
And then that one guy. There's always that one freakin' guy.
"Fuck, they gettin' away!" That Guy™ yelled.
"ESCORT DUTY!" Garek screamed, and dropped down to straddle the seat. Cammie took the cue, shoved the motorcycle in gear, and twisted the throttle. It would have thrown him off the back right then and there, if he hadn't grabbed a handful of… well Cammie. Who was laughing her ass off too hard to care as she gunned the cycle to try and catch up with the getaway car, whose driver had floored it.
There were a few gunshots, but they were moving fast now, and Cammie was weaving in and out of traffic behind the getaway car as they'd pulled onto a major street.
"I can't believe that worked!" He yelled!
"What?!" Cammie yelled back. "Can't hear you over the wind!"
"Fucking hell!"
We're gonna make it. They had just pulled even with the getaway car.
And then he looked back.
Somehow, a handful of those muscle-heads had regained enough intellectual horsepower to figure out they were [A] Being fed a big fat line of bullshit and [B] If they didn't at least try to do something they were gonna get fragged by their own boss and [C] That they had a car and [D] had a gods-be-damned bazooka looking thing which one of them had stood up through the sunroof and was now aiming at the getaway car with that Roman guy and the two girls in it and Oh My Gods!
Instinct kicked in. Garek was a Huntsman. Not an exceptional one. But he had a particularly handy Semblance, with only a few drawbacks.
And he had years of instinct and training to fall back on.
He needed one thing.
Height. Advantage.
You see, Pounce was fine for getting a quick jab in. It could give him a little unnatural speed when fluidly leaping forward. Buy that was amateur hour. That wasn't how a leopard hunted, and that wasn't what his semblance really demanded.
Pounce didn't mind the horizontal jump in and out. It was… okayyyy.
What Pounce really wanted was ambush from above, and for that, he'd learned over years of use, all he had to do was make sure his hands and feet started out firmly planted on a surface above the level of his target.
He leapt to his left, landing squarely on the roof of the getaway car, almost causing Cammie to wipe out on the motorcycle. She yelled some sort of obscenity at him. He heard a scream or squeal from below him, but Roman apparently decided not to shoot up into the roof of the car. That was mighty neighborly of him. And then Garek jumped again… on top of the parked delivery truck they were just passing.
A single instant, he crouched, as hands and feet were planted.
That's all it took, and Pounce was ready to put him, instantly, anywhere he could clearly see within a hundred yards… as long as it was below where he started.
The look on bazooka man's face when he suddenly had a face full of Huntsman forehead, aura fully active, slamming into his nose at speed… well it was truly a joy to behold.
As long as you weren't the recipient beholding it.
The bazooka went flying, hit the ground, and discharged into the front tire of the gang member's own vehicle, which was just damn poetic. The guy who had just gotten head-slammed bounced back and forth, blood and snot flying, and wobbled his way to collapse down inside the car into the lap of his cohort, just in time for the car to veer hard left on its good front tire into a line of parked vehicles and some rather sturdy looking light poles.
Garek had a second to realize he was about to be in a lot of pain.
And then realized he was on top of a car. Two meters off the ground and hands and feet planted on the roof of the vehicle.
Pounce!
And then he was in the street.
He felt really good about himself.
And then another car hit him with the sound of screaming brakes and terrified honking.
FFFFFUuuuuuuuuuuuuu! Is what went through his mind as he was slammed forward, skidding across the cobblestones and literally shredding the back of his coat.
He'd really liked that coat.
Aura's great and all. But getting hit by a car still hurts, and so does litho-breaking.
He lay there in the street, groaning, and couldn't even get in a proper lie down.
Because that's when Cammie roared back up, laughing her ass off at him. She half hauled his ass back into the seat as he moaned and bitched, and then pulled a 180 and roared off again.
Garek limped back into the bar, Cammie at his side. They'd seen the getaway car parked out front, empty. A dozen heavily armed members of the Spider Gang were posted outside. More were inside. Garek guessed it was more a show of force than a necessity at this point.
Inside, he could see L'il Miss having a rather animated conversation with the guy… Roman? Yeah, that guy. He was waving his cane around, managing not to hit anyone, laughing and shaking his head. The twin girls in red and white were standing just behind and beside L'il Miss, nodding and making the odd comment. Selene was standing off to the side, listening intently with wide eyes. Cinder was grinning like a Curious Cat.
They saw Garek.
"And what do you know?! Here's the gods-be-damned lunatic himself! And all in one piece too! How many lives you burn through, round-ears? At least one from what I saw!" Roman laughed loudly. "I'm telling you, Li'l, this man could talk a Schnee into giving him a Dust Discount! You gotta hire him!" He looked at Garek, and bowed low, doffing his hat in the process, then flipping it back on, and planting his cane. He looked Garek up and down. "You might want to buy a new coat, though. That one looks a bit… tired on you…"
"Ugh…"
"Garek! Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. I just… didn't look both ways before jumping into the street."
"Garek!"
He grunted, "Seriously, I'm fine. Not a single cut. Just a little sore."
"Ahhh but my man Garek here… I saw him-"
"Roman, right? If you could… I dunno, not for a minute, I'd appreciate it."
"Hmph. Some people just don't know how to take honest praise."
Cammie laughed, eased up next to Roman, said something to him quietly, and he smirked. "Alright, I'll dial it back."
"Cammie, darlin' how did it really go?" Malachite asked, head tilted as she fanned herself.
"Smooth as butter, Li'l Miss." She gave Garek an appraising look. "He's either the most confident guy I've ever seen, or he really is crazy…"
"If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit," the crime boss said, nodding. "You'd be amazed how often that works. And Huntsmen have that special… something… that air of 'trust me, I know what I'm doing' that just digs right down in the brain and makes you want to watch to see what crazy thing they're gonna do next. I ain't wrong, am I?"
"No ma'am. That's 'xactly how it went down."
"And that's how I called it. And don't any of you forget it!" She called to the room at large. She strolled over to a courier bag sitting on the bar, opened it, and pulled out a folder of documents and a temporary ID card, handed it to Cammie, who then passed it to Selene. "And there's your documentation, just as promised. That'll be… aw hell, since I got dinner an' a movie, I'll give you the family and friends discount. Call it 3,000 lien." Money changed hands. "Besides, you're gonna need a new coat." She chuckled, then turned to Cinder. "Well then, Cinder Scoria, age 13, Birthday August 21st, born right here in Mistral City... how does it feel to be tha' official ward of this fine lady and…" she looked at Garek, "the craziest Huntsmen I've ever met?"
Cinder smiled, and took the ID, glanced at it, and smiled even broader. "Feels pretty good, ma'am."
"Good. Now, ya'll get out of my bar, you're bringing down the average life expectancy." She laughed. "Come on, daughters, let's go get something to eat."
Thank the Gods that's ove- Waitaminute….daughters?!
Holy crap…
On the taxi ride back, Garek looked at Selene and Cinder, shifted, and winced.
"How do you feel?"
"Like I got hit by a car." He grunted. "I'm really fine. Just a little sore. He looked at Cinder. "Scoria?"
"Selene looked it up for me, Garek! It's…" her eyes drifted up and she stuck out her tongue, "a pyro-something dark-colored rock that blows out of volcanoes in blobs."
"Pyroclastic," Selene supplied helpfully.
"Yeah that. We thought it kinda fit," She was poring over her temporary ID card, and bouncing a little in the seat as she swung a leg back and forth. That is one happy kid.
"Huh. It… does fit. And it sounds nice with Cinder to. Cinder Scoria. And the birthday?"
"You should recognize that day, Garek. That is the day we removed her from the Glass Unicorn. She did not know her original birthday."
"Yeah, so we picked one that I liked." Cinder smiled at him, Garek suddenly didn't feel quite so sore.
"That's awesome kiddo. How about we go back to the Silvered Boar, and I try to recover from this, and then tomorrow we buy me a new coat." He fingered the shredded cloth sadly. It a total loss, torn, smeared with oil and road grim, and had gods knew what embedded in it.
[A/N] So I hope you enjoyed this fun little side quest. I had a blast writing Garek bullshitting his way in full Huntsman Flamboyance through that getaway scene, as well as the short car chase, and of course, always look both ways before teleporting into the middle of the street!
Cinder now has a legit identity, and a new name that diverges from canon (and really, we don't know whether the name Cinder Fall was her original name, or one she adopted after she was tasked with stealing the Fall Maiden's powers, or what), and special shout out to my wife for coming up with Scoria for me, after I struggled with something that made sense as a name she would choose at this stage in her story.
And of course, we got to meet the most powerful Crime Lady of Mistral, Li'l Miss Malachite and her Spider Gang, along with her young daughters Melanie and Miltiades Malachite, and a certain Roman Torchwick and Chameleon aka "Cammie", last name unknown. This chapter takes place roughly near the end of the Spider-Parrot Gang War that is described in Roman Holiday. As you can see, Roman is working for Malachite at this point in his life. If you are wondering where Neo is, she's the imaginary friend of Trivia Vanille, who is living with her parents in Vale at the moment.
Gotta say, having this story line start eleven years before the Fall of Beacon has been a hoot. It has given me the opportunity to explore and meet canon characters in circumstances very different than Volumes 1-9, including the canon-diverging consequences.