Chapter 15

Dark, dingy and damp alleyways filled with seldom-collected trash. It was the place where no self-respecting Valean local would venture at night, lest they meet some unsavoury folk. For Qrow however, such a sight was normal, comforting even. Spend enough time in some of them, however, and any place, no matter how undesirable at first glance could feel familiar. It was similar to how he originally felt about the Branwen camps, roaming from place to place like nomads. Only that they weren't just nomads similar to how some Vacuoan tribes and clans acted, roaming warlords was probably a more accurate description.

Even so, while he felt at ease in them, his unwanted companion, however, did not.

"Disgusting…"

Winter, based on the few glances he gave her, did her best to prevent her uniform from smudging on the soot and grime-covered brick walls, which were probably over a century old by now. He did warn her before leaving that she should have worn something else, darker, less bright and most importantly, not attention-grabbing. Going to the crime-ridden part of Vale in an Atlesian uniform? That was basically asking to get thrown into the sea with a cinder block attached to their ankles, but the bullheaded-

"What are we even waiting for? If that criminal has information we need, then we should-"

"Shush. The expert is working right now, try not to disturb him, alright?"

"You-"

Ignoring whatever outburst she was about to have, Qrow noticed a black car pull up behind the main entrance, entering its alleyway. Their target was here, and by the looks of it, not too protected today. Good, if things went poorly they could always just fight their way out, though he was relying on Junior to make good on his promise.

"C'mon, he's here." Getting up from leaning on the wall, Winter looked at him with confusion.

"Are we not calling for reinforcements? You make it sound like we are just going to waltz in."

"That's exactly what we're gonna do Ice Queen, don't know what you were thinking when I called you out here. Dunno if you've noticed, but that shining robot army of yours isn't exactly in Vale, we're doing this quietly."

With the council wanting to keep this whole cooperation aspect out of the public eye for now, at least until the Vytal festival was just around the corner, this meant that their little 'investigation' had to be kept off the books, so to speak. To him, it felt more like a full-on manhunt, he still didn't know why Ozpin decided now was a good time to bring in Jimmy, what unsettled him even more however was how quickly he managed to bring together a task force from Atlas. It was no secret among officials that the various branches of Atlas's armed forces did not get along, having to balance a mixture of government funding, politics and financial incentives turned out to not be a great idea for having a unified military as it turned out.

Ruby, Yang and Tai probably got sick of hearing him ramble on about it at the dinner table by now, but it was a problem. One that threatened to blow up in the face of the four kingdoms, as the economies of all four were inextricably linked together in some way. Atlas imported food from Mistral primarily, Vacuo bought Atlesian heavy industry equipment, Vale exported luxury goods and so on. Of course, Vale being the financial hub of Remnant was also not great for the kingdom as a whole, if one crisis goes on, then they were probably going to be the first to be crushed under that system.

And yet, Ozpin refused to do anything about it, citing its necessity for the continued stability and growth of the four kingdoms to combat the Grimm. Humanity was at its highest peak in Remnant's history, but the question in his mind was for how long.

"I do not think that is wise, Qrow."

He shrugged, to her it probably wasn't. "Heard that one before, it worked out fine the last time."

Ignoring her further protests, he ventured out from the alleyway and into the dimly lit streets. Junior's club had suffered a lot of damage recently, some prospective huntress trashed the place thus leading to its closure while repairs were underway. This was good for him, that meant he didn't have to worry about any civilians getting caught in the crossfire.

Walking up to the main door, instead of the usual guards outside, there was only one bouncer guarding it. He noticed him and Winter, and Qrow knew who he was as well.

"Evenin' Jimmy. Working late?" The middle-aged bouncer did not look at him, but instead at the specialist behind him.

"Qrow, haven't seen ya in a while. Will your guest be making a scene inside?"

Winter scoffed, Qrow quickly spoke up before she could make a scene. "She'll behave, my word."

Though he was still given a suspicious look, the bouncer stepped aside and unlocked the door for them to enter. Qrow felt an elbow dig into his sides soon after going in, his aura failing to react in time to take the hit.

"I am not so crass as to not behave myself you drunkard. I would be more concerned about how you intend to acquire what we need from this…Hei Xiong."

"Trust me, I got this. No matter what he says, do not draw your sword." Though it has been half a decade since they last met, Qrow was hoping that the man would be a bit more receptive to his request. The only thing he was concerned about was Winter, Hei Xiong probably was not going to like her very much, with the whole crusade Jimmy went on about organized crime in Atlas a few years back. However, he was unfortunately forced to bring her along by threat of Glynda's riding crop. Though the feelings were mutual, Winter was unable to swallow her pride and just wait for him to bring back the info-

"He's there. Listen, he's going to try and rile you up, I'll do the talking while you just…I dunno, stand back there or something."

Atlas had a problem of having too many hammers. And when all they had were hammers, then everything appeared to be a nail, needing to be hammered down. Regardless if the nail was on top of porcelain or not. Going up to the bar, they found Junior talking with one of his goons before their loud footsteps alerted him of their presence.

"Well, shit, if it ain't fuckin' Qrow of all people. I'd almost tell you to get lost, but I see you have a special guest with you today, and that tells me you have something you need from me."

Twins, in white and dark red, appeared from behind Junior, flanking his sides as he stared Qrow down. For some reason, he felt like they were Ruby's friends that she described to him a while ago, but that couldn't be them, they were part of Junior's goons here.

"Junior, nice to see you again. How's the business?" Qrow tried the nicer method first, the expression on Junior's face did not mean he liked them in his club right now.

"Could be better, especially when a huntsman and huntress are standing in front of where I do conduct it. Better yet, why is Winter Schnee of all people here? I know she's a specialist and all the fancy crap that comes with it, but you wouldn't be bringing her here unless you needed something for me. I'm not feeling very generous with my time, so I'd appreciate it if you hurried the fuck up."

"Okay, okay, no need for guns to get drawn, we're all friends here…" Aside from Winter of course. Leaning in, the Atlesian specialist placed a hand on the hilt of her sabre before giving him a warning.

"Qrow…" The two of them were being increasingly surrounded by goons from all sides, he needed to get to the point.

"I'm calling in that favour Junior, c'mon, you know it had to come someday."

Junior relaxed his stance, before sighing with his head down. "Crap. I guess I do owe ya for Luciano, huh?"

"I'm remembering a lot more than just Luciano but sure, let's say I'm calling that in." Those were from his Team STRQ days, back when things seemed a hell of a lot simpler than they currently are. Junior wasn't the top dog of his territory back then, his and Raven's contributions to that rise were not minuscule either.

"Fine, you get one piece of info. I get to decide how much you get."

It was better than nothing, and at this point, he wasn't sure if Glynda was going to approve of giving him more money to eavesdrop at fishermen's bars.

"Hutten, she one of yours?"

Though Junior did not react, the twins and goons around them shifted slightly. He leaned in close to Winter this time.

"See? What did I say?"

"Ugh…"

"Before we continue." Junior began talking slowly. "What do you want with her?"

"Easy, just wanted to talk. You know, get to know each other, like how you tried to with the Yamaguchi in Mistral. We're not aiming to bring her in, just get to an understanding, you get me?"

Unlike Winter or Jimmy, he had no desire to immediately make Hutten an enemy. Ozpin had the right idea and thus gave him very specific instructions to not antagonise her at all. With the chessboard being as fragile as it was, it seemed they needed all the pieces they could potentially muster. Battleship or not, someone operating such a thing under their radar for years, if not decades? That was something that Ozpin knew he needed on his side, and Qrow couldn't exactly disagree.

"...no. Your favour's still there, I don't sell out one of my own." Junior firmly declared, much to Winter's annoyance.

"You do not have the right-"

"Easy. Can I get a reason why? You wouldn't do it unless you owed her something."

Junior was the type of person who wouldn't give things out for free, especially information about associates. But even with the favour Qrow was calling in, he still did not budge from revealing anything about her. This meant a few things, but the most important of which was that Hutten was either important to his business, or like him, he owed a favour to her as well.

"I have my reasons. Anything else is fair game. Don't you want to know what Torchwick is doing nowadays? I heard he was supposed to have a minor scuffle with that Beacon administrator you know."

Qrow waved him off, they had a good idea of what Torchwick was doing, but Hutten was the immediate priority right now. "Nah, at least send a message or something, can't really go back empty tonight."

Junior muttered something under his breath, pacing around behind his bar before turning back to face them. "Fine. Anything specific?"

"Just…a concerned citizen wants to meet with her, at the top of Beacon's clock tower."

"Damn, that high?" Qrow could understand Junior's surprise, it was rare for Ozpin to act, much less in such a direct manner. Though their inner circle did lack underworld contacts for most of Remnant's kingdoms, the thing that really mattered was knowing those in councils who did. It was a weakness that he complained all the time about in their secret meetings, they were too high up in their towers to realize what the hell was actually going on.

"No guarantees she'll take it. I don't own her, she's as freelance as they get. Now, get the fuck out of my club."

Doing as instructed, he had to nudge Winter a bit more before she too relented, the entire time she spent before glaring at Junior. Before they were halfway through however, he said one more thing at them, or rather, to him specifically.

"Wait. Had someone ask for a certain Branwen in my club some time ago, blondie, probably going to Beacon."

Qrow immediately realised what he meant, he debated between telling Tai about it immediately but ended up pushing it aside for later.

"Thanks."

"Consider it a professional courtesy." Junior replied.

Once they were out of the doors and back onto the streets, Qrow could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

"I still fail to see how this will help us. There is no guarantee Hutten will take the very obvious bait, you do realize that, yes?"

Qrow shrugged and took out his flask for a quick top-up. "Ah. Much better. I dunno about that, seems to me she's gonna take it. Anyways, your boots are untied."

"Wha-" Winter looked down for a split second, coming to the quick conclusion that they were, in fact, tied up together nicely. "No, they're not-DAMNIT!"

By the time she looked up, Qrow was nowhere to be seen. Perched up on top of a nearby tree, was a crow looking down at Winter's truly impressive swearing. Shame, she would have been more likeable if she wasn't trying to maintain an image all the time. That was not why he transformed, however, Qrow flew back to Junior's club, perching on top of a nearby window.

With a little bit of patience, he got a lead. The two twins from earlier, the ones dressed in white and red came outside to the alleyway beside Junior's club. Perched above them silently, he hoped that his semblance was going to do all the hard work now.

"Ugh, they're smoking inside again, didn't we tell Junior that we hate that?"

"Fuck knows, Junior hired like, the cheapest guys to repair his club since that blondie wrecked it."

He was probably going to have to talk to Yang soon, wasn't he?

"The hell did that old guy want with her? Damn weirdo."

"Don't you know? That's Qrow fucking Branwen, he's like, Ozpin's personal huntsman or something I dunno. Dude gives me bad vibes, don't think we can take him or anything."

"Fuck. Did you see how that Schnee bitch acted though? The fuck were they trying to do, good cop bad cop? Yikes. Are we still meeting her for that thing tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow? Wasn't it like, two days from now? Torchwick was giving up that bullhead for her or something, she said we could go on a spin on it with her."

Torchwick? Bullhead?

"Oh yeah, didn't know she could fly one of those things. Serves him right though, I sure as shit ain't crying for him about that. He dug his hole when he tried to force Ru-"

BANG

A nearby fuse box literally exploded by him, causing the red one to cut off. Damn semblance, it caused as much misfortune to him as it did to them at times.

"Oum knows that thing was about to blow. Anyways, what was I saying? Oh yeah, Torchwick deserved it, he tried to force her into fighting Glynda Goodwitch of all people? Shit, I'd hold a grudge too."

"Hey, if it gets us a free bullhead joyride I'm game. Fuck me it's cold, let's get back in there, I'd rather smell cig smoke than be out here."

With the twins moving back in, there wasn't anything else for Qrow to eavesdrop on. Flying up into the air, he saw Winter still at the exact same spot he left her in, furiously talking into her scroll. He assumed it was definitely about him, and thus decided to just leave her. What? She was one of those new-fangled Atlesian specialists, what kinda specialist would she be if she couldn't find her way back downtown? Satisfied, he turned around back east, in the direction of Patch for a well-deserved rest. The report could wait until tomorrow.

Mantellian University of Arts - Archival Vault

Mantle

Solitas

"By Oum Barty, the kinda crap you ask me for isn't easy…"

Archival work was something that Tatyana normally did not do. This kind of thing were best left to the archivists, but considering that the Mantellian University of Arts was increasingly being underfunded, most trained archivists had already moved to Atlas or abroad to other universities. Despite being an associate professor, she was one of the last few still standing in the historical records department. That said, she was there not for her own research, but for her colleague in Vale instead.

"Von Rosen…Von Rosen…nope, this doesn't have any mention of them." Closing another document folder; the records of Imperial banquet guests did not have the things she was looking for.

She questioned his desire to find details about the Von Rosen family, but his insistence was enough for her to help him with it. He too helped Tatyana with a similar research project before, so it was only right for her to help him now. The old Mantellian Imperial families weren't even a popular research topic in Solitas itself, so why was he so insistent on it? She didn't know, but whatever he was planning on doing, she hoped it was something important.

"Ugh, guess heating isn't in the budget for this term, huh?" Wrapping a scarf tighter around her neck, she brushed aside her silver hair and began checking another document. Noticing that the file was in worse shape than the others, she gingerly opened the cover, only to find that the contents inside seemed to have been water-damaged quite extensively.

"What even is this…?" The few things she could make it, which seemed to be schematics and technical data from some Imperial science ministry did not make sense to her. Why was something like this bundled up with their archival collection of noble families? She did notice a recurring name within most of these pages however, between the scribblings that were long since faded, she could barely make out some words.

"Doctor Anzeel? Cube…compatability? More testing needed…?"

Flipping past pages she couldn't make out, she reached a part which was printed in big, bold letters. Squinting her eyes, those words made no sense at all to her, and yet, she could not pry her eyes from the stamp that it had. Among the old Imperial nobility, family stamps were an important part of how official documents were signed, and in this regard, it was no different. At the bottom was a near-perfect stamp of the Von Rosen ducal family, meaning that it was officially approved and sanctioned using their name.

Checking the page it was used on again, she read aloud what she assumed was the project title.

"Antiochus?"

AN:

I am somewhat disappointed that more Azur Lane fics don't include the actual lore behind the Wisdom Cubes and Sirens. Perhaps it's because most of the popular fics come from a time before it was revealed, so I hope more of that gets included in newer fics.

Got Guam with like 50 pulls, and also got Laffey II without too much grinding, I'm happy. I really like Guam's design, as is the same with all of Dishwasher's art. Interestingly enough I see some people complaining about ship riggings no longer resembling 'riggings' anymore and that is inherently bad. It's a gacha game about sentient warships, complaining about historical authenticity because the rigging is a mecha doesn't make a lot of sense. That reminded me why I switched to Pixiv for viewing art, don't go on the subreddit for anything other than guides, it's not worth it.

Be civil in the comments below and have a happy new year.