On the side of the street, just as the sky began to darken overhead, team MACE along with the Aquilus twins were standing with unique expressions. Cheyenne had both her hands covered over her mouth with wide eyes and brows twitching slightly as she forced herself to hold in a laugh. Meanwhile, Elise was facing the wall of the building, her forehead pressed up against it as she shook her head laughing. Eyes shut and fisting hitting the wall above her head as she did so. And Kris was laying on her back, her knees brought slightly up as she placed her hands together to cover her mouth and nose. Her not so quiet sound of laughter echoing through the air.
With her eyes clenched tight, Kagami stood leaning up against the side of the building. Her left hand raised as she pressed two fingers up against her left eyebrow as her right on twitched. Her expression was the only thing normal about the team's leader at the moment. She had on a pair of knee high boots laced up with green laces and leather straps with small metal studs and a pair of grey stockings with a few tears. Barely covering her thighs was a short black skirt with short chain on the left side. Along with a black crop top with kimono like sleeves down past her elbows. A green yin and yang symbol painted on the front and her nails painted black. And to top it all off, her long hair was braided into two thick braids on either side.
"All of you are lacking brain matter..." The jadette groaned quietly.
"Huh. I thought I did a good job? Don't you, Nihilus?" Thanaton had her arms crossed, glancing up at her older brother with raised eyebrows.
"That's... not the point here." He lowered his head, letting his bangs fall across his eyes as he shook his head. "I'm surrounded by a bunch of stupid teenage girls..." He reached up, pinching his nose.
A little under an hour beforehand, the group of six was sitting inside a small ramen shop around a table talking about the Fang Gang as an old shopkeeper started handing out bowls of fresh and steaming noodles.
"So, this Zucchini lady," Elise waved her arm a bit, quickly slurping down a scoop of noodles as Cheyenne corrected her on Sanguine's name. "She owns some shady club, right?" She waved her fork around. "What if we all just walked inside and scoped out the place?"
"Doubtful." Nihilus glanced up as he picked up his noodles with a set of chopsticks. "She has a very small and tight list. There is no way we could sneak the four of you in with us and past Tohopka. It would be way too foolish." He shook his head.
"Did you guys know they made vegetarian ramen?" Kris mumbled to herself, seemingly in her own world as she poked at the contents of her bowl.
Rolling her eyes, Cheyenne looked away and at the tins. "What about just one of us?" She grabbed some ramen with her chopsticks, slowly easing them down into a spoon with broth before swallowing. "A single infiltrator would be better than none. Even if it's just for a little."
"That might work." Thanaton glanced at her brother, picking up a few noodles with her fingers. "Especially if you take one of them in. I could easily give one of them a makeover too so they could fit in more." She began to grin. "Yeah? Yeah?" She bounced a bit.
"Perhaps. I don't understand why this is necessary but okay. I could just go in myself but whatever..." The dark haired young man let out a sigh. "So who would it be?" He picked up another bunch of noodles as he raised his eyebrows.
Feeling five pairs of eyes look at her, Kagami glanced up from the bowl she had two hands cupped around and was quietly drinking. Swallowing thickly, she set it down. "Huh?" She quietly let out.
Some time later, Nihilus was eyeing a large dark skinned man standing at the single door inside a building. "Here, wait for Tohopka to go inside. He has very specific times for when he uses the restroom." He glanced back at Kagami. "Are you sure you want to go through with this?"
"I mean, I'm already wearing this stupid outfit." She rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. "How hard can it possibly be to pass off as a criminal?"
"Considering you're a good little girl Huntress..." He whispered to himself, watching the large man glance around a few times before quietly opening the door and stepping inside. With his eyes flashing yellow, he was suddenly standing with his hand keeping the door just barely cracked, stopping it from locking. "Come on." He waved her close.
"Show off." She faintly smirked, noticing a few strands of white in his hair as she stepped past him into the club. Once inside, her shoulders rolled back as her head tilted up. "Dang..." She glanced around, staring at a bar three times normal size with three men and three women, all rather beautiful looking with well toned bodies in nothing but golden boxers and ties and golden bras and panties respectively. The entire place fully stocked with more than what all of Vale could drink.
"Don't make a scene." Nihilus hissed, nudging her to follow as he stepped over towards a seating of booths. Each seat carved in fine red leather with perfect stitching. "There is also a grill around back." He added, eyeing the dance floor as several different colored lights flickered and faded before returning. Soft and subtle yet strong hold beats coming from a large sound system and DJ table on the far end of the wall.
"She should be popping up soon." He sat down at a booth, letting Kagami sit beside him.
"Who?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Nihiluuuuus!"
Hearing his name echo throughout the large room, he slouched and leaned back. "Katie."
Stepping up towards the table they were at, a girl with wavy blonde hair and soft brown streaks had her arms crossed. She had on a large fitting white school girl uniform with the top few buttons undone and a red tie that was loosely short sleeves of the outfit trimmed in red and sewn in gold strands. Her skirt was down to her knees and black with a few golden designs sewn into it as well. She seemed cheery and not like someone you would find in a place like this. And even harder to believe she was a stone cold killer. Though, if you stared into her eyes long enough, there seemed to be an unamused glare of nothingness. That was the most offsetting and sent chills down the jadette's spine.
"So you brought a friend?" She eased her way into the other side of the booth, sitting down with her legs crossed. "You know how mommy doesn't like plus ones around here."
"Katie. Help me out here." He held his hand over his chest as he leaned forward with a smile. "I don't have nor will I ever have a plus one."
"Then who's the only girl you've ever brought inside her besides Valentine and your sister? Hmm?" The blonde tilted her head.
The two both internally cringed at the name, making Nihilus freeze up for a moment. At that, Kagami faked a smile as she scratched at her head. "Don't worry. You can have him." She leaned forward, putting a hand over her mouth as she whispered. "He ain't my type. Not that he's not cute, but he's all yours, blondie."
"W-Wait, what?" The dark haired young man glanced around some, sitting up slightly.
"Heh." Katie flashed a smile, tilting her head back with a nod before she started to wave with a pointed finger. "Professional but still know a fine ass guy when you see them. I like that. Could I get you something to drink?"
"Wh-What, no, no, stop." Nihilus waved his hands between the two. "That's enough." He let out a shaky sigh, letting his body relax some. "Thana and I both know about the trouble going on. Valentine," He seemed hesitant on the name. "Knows too. But she's been laying low after The Fall. The two of us found her roaming the streets and thought we could get some lien off her. Turns out she was going to get money off us and not to mention countless others before. She's a damn good thief, and we let her chill with us. And she's heard about what's going down and wants in."
"Hmmm." The blonde tapped her chin, narrowing her bloodthirsty red eyes at Kagami. The young Huntress calmly looking back while raising her eyebrows.
"You know, if you're going to stare at someone, you can at least buy them a drink." The jadette suddenly said, making Katie flinch a bit as she quickly sat up straight.
"B-Be quiet before I call Tohopka to kick you out!" This time, she was the one to fluster up.
Leaning forward, she let her two braids fall on either sides of her shoulders. "I don't think you will." Her eyes narrowed as she smiled. On the outside, Nihilus was staring dumbfounded at the two girls. But on the inside he was having a panic attack. His heart racing as he felt like his lungs were about to collapse. What the hell was Kagami doing?
Narrowing her eyes, Katie glared for several seconds before easing up as she leaned back with a nod. "You have guts. I'll give you that. You remind me a lot like Eri."
"Eri? As in Eri Sin?" Kagami's eyebrows rose some. This time, it was her turn to try and hide the shock of the name.
"Isn't she your mother's new buddy?" Nihilus asked with his head cocked. "The blonde girl that killed that bandit?"
"Yep." She nodded, crossing her arms. "I think mommy really likes her. She even managed to touch Tohopka. She's one of the craziest people I've ever met." She began to grin, almost satanically. "I like that."
Taking a deep breath, the jadette let out an exhale while relaxing herself. "She sounds like an useful ally if you can get her on your side." She bit her tongue.
"Oh she definitely is." The blonde softly chuckled. "But with good help there is always the bad help." She sighed some. "There's this stupid purple haired dimwit that is always trying to get in with mommy. But she shuts him down every time."
"Purple haired?" Nihilus raised an eyebrow. "You mean that criminal that's always on the news because he keeps escaping from prison? Dion I think?"
"Yep. That's him." She nodded.
"Oh man." Kagami rolled her eyes. "I would hate to be anywhere on his attention list. That guy is a weirdo."
"You've met him before?" Katie glanced at her.
"A few times." She waved her hand. "Always flirting while fighting. And wearing nothing else but his boxers because he gets too hot."
"He's such a creep." She brushed her blonde hair behind her ear. "But, he's a creep with a talent." She held out her hand on a small shrug. "He's able to copy handprints and eyes and even voices once he's heard or seen them. It's why he gets out of prison so much. You can't exactly keep someone locked up who has a key to every door in the world. Mine is still cooler though." She started to brag a bit with a proud look on her face. "Like my mommy, I can bite someone. But instead of doing her thing, I can put them to sleep for a while. But the more people I bite the shorter the time they stay asleep. Though it's a little bit hard to do sometimes."
"Really?" The jadette's brows rose. "I never would have guessed that Dion could do that." She purposely left out mentioning about Katie's semblance. That just left figuring out Tohopka's semblance. And the whole purpose for this stupid dress up scheme.
"Neither would have I." The dark haired young man ran his fingers through his shaggy hair. "Sounds pretty useful though. Yours too. Especially in a pinch if you needed to escape." He was going to question why she never told him that before but shrugged it off. It wasn't important and he honestly couldn't care less.
"Not as useful as yours, Nihil-poo." She smiled, her red eyes glimmering as she winked at him. As he rolled his eyes and looked away, Katie looked back at Kagami. "I'm sure you know what he can do, little precious boy." She giggled softly.
"Uh, yeah." She shook her head some. "He's used it to help me get out of a few situations." She added, eyeing him.
"Hmmm." Scratching her chin, she leaned forward. "So you've been chilling with him and his sister, right?"
Glancing at Katie, Kagami slowly nodded. "Um, yeah."
Grinning, she leaned closer. "So does that mean you know where his unmentionables are? His sister won't get me any."
"Okay! That's enough!" Nihilus shot to his feet, pushing Kagami out. "I just wanted to stop by and have you meet my new friend and say hi. We gotta be on our way though. Things to do, little sisters and Valentine to feed. Ya know, the usual."
"Ugh, fine. Whatever." She sighed, leaning on her hand as her elbow rested on the table. With that, she grinned softly and winked at the two as he forced the jadette out. "You two come back soon! I hate how you always make your visits so short! I hate it! Why not stay for a drink or two?"
"Because unlike you, I have to go steal all my lien! Mommy can't give it all to me!" His brow twitched slightly, a vein forming across his right temple. Groaning, he glanced over to see Kagami glaring at him. "Oh shut up. I don't steal all the lien I get." He rolled his eyes, shoving her out the door. "We're never doing this ever again."
"Hmmm." Watching the two leave carefully, Katie reached out to a waiter with a tray of small glasses. Taking on, she swirled the two ice cubes around before grinning. "I like those two." She smirked, drinking the shot with ease before setting it down on the table with a soft clink.
Later on that night, after Kagami had changed back to her normal outfit and the Aquilus twins went home, the team was walking down the streets under the starry night sky. "You know," The leader moved her hands behind her back. "It really wasn't all that bad. It was actually a little bit fun pretending to be a criminal." She chuckled some.
"Everything but that stupid getup?" Elise snickered, flashing her teeth as she reached up to rub her nose.
"Shut up." She shook her head, laughing a bit. "I'm never wearing something like that ever again. And no one is braiding my hair into pigtails again. It's literally so much more wavy than before."
"I'm pretty sure Thanaton braided your hair way too tight." Kris raised a hand and waved it. "It kept curling at the ends."
"It could have been worse, you know." Cheyenne added before smiling and rubbing her antlers as her leader glared at her.
"Don't say that. At all." She let out a quiet breath, moving her hair behind her ear. "I'm sticking with pants and actual boots I can kick people with."
"And not a shirt that shows your stomach?" Elise started to laugh again, shaking her head with a grin.
Letting out a huff of air, she rolled her pale green eyes. "Yes. That too."
"So did you learn any new information while inside that club?" Cheyenne asked, holding her hands in front of herself.
"I... got a lot more than just semblances. That's for sure." She eyed the Faunus before glancing at Kris.
The redhead blinked, tilting her head with a raised eyebrow. "Huh?"
"That woman, Eri, she's... after The Fall it seems she ran to Sanguine's club and is now working for her." She swallowed thickly, licking her lips before biting them.
There was a slight pause, the younger girl's expression fading away before she exhaled through her nostrils, a small grin forming. "That just means I get to settle the score and kick her ass."
Smiling back, Kagami gave a nod in her direction. "I also found something rather strange. I don't know if it's purposely or what, but these three women all have blonde hair and blood red eyes apparently. And each of them uses blood in their semblance: Eri can make an evil double from someone's blood, Sanguine can basically mind control someone with injecting her poison into their blood, and her daughter Katie can intoxicate someone with a bite and put them to sleep for a bit. It's really offsetting. Like the Fang Gang isn't just a coincidental name."
Feeling a shiver go down her spine, Elise moved her hands around to rub her neck. "Yeah, no. I don't like that. At all."
"That, that is really unnerving." Cheyenne gulped some, glancing down at her feet.
"Also, you guys remember Dion?" Kagami glanced around.
"You mean that perverted loser who walked around in his undies and Elise kicked him in his jewels?" Kris raised his eyebrows.
Scoffing some, she went to nodding. "Yep. That guy. He has broken out of prison, during The Fall I'm guessing, and his semblance lets him like..." She moved her hands around. "If he touches your hands, he can shift the molecules in his hand to look exactly like yours. Same with his eyes if he sees yours or if he hears you talk he can mimic your voice too. So security walls don't really work for him."
"No wonder he's always getting out of prison." Cheyenne mumbled, and like on cue, sirens sounded in the distance. The group stopped, all glancing back towards the sound before looking at each other. Giving a small sigh, the Faunus shook her head. "What if that officer is there."
"Then she yells at us for interfering again and sends us back to Elise's apartment since it's too late for children to be out." Kagami flashed a smile at her. "Besides, we're just being nosy citizens. Nothing else."
A couple blocks away, officer Keegan stepped out of her police car before slamming the door shut with a hefty bang. Looking a little less tired than the day before, she reached behind her head and began to put up her hair into a ponytail, holding the band between her teeth. "So," She took a deep breath, glancing around a bit at a taped off building and a few other officers. "What happened here?"
"There was another shootout." A blonde officer with a beard scratched at his facial hair before gesturing to several broken windows on the shop, the light flickering on and off inside. "Luckily, there was no civilian casualties this time. The people inside are pretty badly shaken up from it though." He exhaled softly before crossing his arms. "It wasn't all clean though." He jerked his head towards a few darkened stains on the ground. "Forensics took them in for an autopsy. Though, we all know who they are."
"Someone killed off more members of the Fang Gang? Oh man..." She reached up, rubbing her face. "Did the BBB leave anything behind this time?" She exhales, stepping underneath the security tape.
"Nothing." A female officer with light brown hair shook her head. "There is no way for us to track down where those bandits are hiding. Let alone try to disband an entire tribe. And we can't go after and arrest Sanguine in an attempted to stop all this violence since..." She trailed off.
"I know." Keegan reached into her pocket pulling out a tennis ball that she began to fidget with in her right hand. "As much as I'd like her behind bars, we don't need to deal with that mess again. She would be released in minutes and half of us would be out of a job."
"Man, this bites!" The male officer groaned, kicking the ground. "One group we don't even know where they are and they're basically assassins that live in the shadows who we can't catch!" He tossed his arms up. "And the second we can't even touch without getting in legal trouble ourselves!"
"We just can't bring Sanguine into all this." The second officer added. "But other than her there isn't much of anyone in the Fang Gang."
"There is Tenebris." The dog Faunus glanced up, rolling the green ball on the back of her hand. Her expression fading away into nothingness for a second.
"You know no one can even come within two meters of that brute." The female gulped some, shifting around slightly. "And Chief told you to stop researching him since your S.O. was... you know..." She trailed off again.
"I know what happened to Duane. I don't need to be reminded." The dark haired Faunus sighed, shaking her head as she spun the tennis ball around her fingers. "But he's not going to rest peacefully in his grave till someone takes that monster down. And I plan to do it, with or without support. I'm already getting closer. I think I am finally figuring out why no one can take him down."
"And why's that?" The male officer's eyebrows rose.
"That's for me to know." She slid the tennis ball back into her pocket. "No offense. A duck that can't quack, won't. It's nothing personal."
He glanced at the other officer, slowly nodding as he crossed his arms. "Fair enough, Scath."
After investigating and cleaning up yet another crime scene, the Faunus began to head back to her squad car, only to stop and glare across the street at four girls sitting on a bench. "What do you guys think you are doing?" She exhaled, glaring more as she tossed a few papers onto the passenger's seat where many more papers already were.
"We are being your average citizen." Elise smiled, holding out her arms. "We're just sitting here relaxing and enjoying the night sky." She leaned back, moving her hands behind her head. "Nothing wrong with that, right? Especially since we're just casually sitting here and it just so happens there is an investigation going on in front of us where we can watch."
Reaching up and pinching the bridge of her nose, she looked down both sides of the road before walking across. "You four really don't know when to stop, do you?"
"Not in the slightest." Kagami flashed a small smile.
Shaking her head, the dog Faunus sighed some more. "You're going to get hurt or worse doing things like this." She crossed her arms.
"Or, we could help out a lot." Kris flashed a devious smile as she watched the officer's eyebrow raise.
"We couldn't help but overhear you don't know where the Bad Blood Bandits are hiding out. Well," Cheyenne reached up, rubbing her antlers. "You see, we might know the general area. Not to mention a few details about this Fang Gang you might not know."
"There is no harm in exchanging information, right?" Kagami glanced up.
"I can have all of you arrested for withholding information from the Vale PD." Her eyes narrowed as what seemed to be a canine tooth stuck out from the corner of her mouth. The look giving her a rather growling like look.
"Or, you can have us help you. And in return you help us helpless girls." Elise narrowed her eyes back, crossing her arms. "We're all fighting the same fight here. So why don't we work together? We could accomplish so much. And put an end to both Zucchini and the BBB."
"She means Sanguine." Cheyenne quickly interjected.
Reaching up and rubbing her face, Keegan shook her head more. "Listen to yourselves. You are children. None of you should be anywhere near this kind of violence."
"Where do you think we were during The Fall?" Kris' eyes softened a bit as she looked up.
A small a hushed silence overcame the street, only the sound of wind blowing and cars driving could be heard for a few moments. After a bit, the female officer spoke up again. "This isn't your fight. You should be continuing your training right now. Not trying to fight another war you don't need to involve yourself in."
"We don't need to. We want to." Kagami stood up face to face with her. "Now I know you don't want to for whatever reason, or if it's just because you don't think we can handle ourselves because we're young, but we can help more than you can imagine. All you have to do is let us and we can stop this fight together."
Rolling her eyes, Keegan stared at her before looking away with a roll of her eyes. "If I allow you four to assist me, you have to do what I say when I say. And you cannot under any circumstance run off into the mist of danger and get yourself killed. Understand?"
"Yeah, we're not do good at rule following." Elise chuckled softly, rubbing the back of her head. "Like really really bad at it."
Exhaling, she shook her head while rubbing her palms against her eyes. "The four of you just get in the back seat of my car. I have paperwork at home that might contain useful knowledge to you. As long as you give me what you have in return." She turned around.
"Um, there is four of us and only three seats." Cheyenne raised her hand.
"I don't care." Keegan shook her head. "I have files up front. Make it work."
Stepping out of the police car, the dog Faunus waved a hand at three of four members of team MACE. "Let me go in for a second to make sure everything is in order."
As she walked off, Kagami stepped around back, popping open the hood of the trunk. "So how was your ride?" She smiled.
Growling with a glare, Kris sat up and narrowed her eyes with crossed arms. "I hope you all die in fire."
"Aw, come on. It couldn't have been that bad." Cheyenne reached in, helping her get out.
"Yeah. At least you had leg room." Elise quietly grumbled.
"Hey, did we ever think of how we're going to get back into the city?" The jadette raised an eyebrow, walking up to a quiet brown house with bright green trees all around. "Or is that a later problem?"
"Later problem for sure." Elise nodded.
"That's what I thought." Kagami nodded back, reaching for the door knob. The gears inside clicked softly as she opened the door, only to freeze with her hand still on the knob as a foam dart struck her in the middle of the forehead. "What?" She uttered, closing her eyes as another was shot and hit her forehead again. The dart bouncing off softly and landing on the floor.
Peering over her shoulder, Kris blinked as she eyed a young boy with a green shirt on and extremely dark green hair. "Huh?" Her eyebrows rose as she watched an alligator tail say back and forth and few times behind him. All she could do was flinch though as the sound of the plastic gun cocking filled her ears and a foam dart hit her in the side of the head. Her eye twitched a bit as she leaned forward. "I'm going to kill him."
"No!" Both Elise and Cheyenne grabbed her by the arms, holding her back.
Opening her eyes, Kagami blinked several times while staring at the small boy only to let out an annoyed exhale as another foam dart hit her. "Yeah, can you stop that please?" She reached up, scratching her head?"
Saying nothing, he narrowed his eyes while reloading two more darts into his toy blaster. "DINOOO!" Suddenly echoed, causing him to blink as he lowered his arms down, only to be scooped up by officer Keegan. "I thought I told you that you can't shoot everyone with this." She sighed, staring at him while taking the gun away. His expression slowly softening as he wrapped his arms around her.
"I know, I know, Dino." She moved him around a bit. "I was trying to find you to tell you that people were going to come inside. I'm sorry."
Tilting her head, Kagami crouched down to pick up the foam darts on the floor. "Is he your son?"
"Adopted." She sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "It's a long story. I rescued him while I was still under Captain Duane's eye. He was sold into some slave ring for Faunus. They muted him so he couldn't talk back. It was against protocol, but I got him out of there."
Cheyenne's face softened as she stepped inside the house, staring at the young Faunus and watching his tail move slowly around. "Seems you don't follow all the rules yourself either."
"Not the point." She sighed, carrying him over to a couch.
Looking around, Elise raised an eyebrow at the dozens upon dozens of tennis balls scattered throughout the house. Not to mention the endless amount of files on every flat surface she looked at. "And you know where everything is in here?"
"Yep. It's all organized." Keegan smiled, sitting down on the couch with Dino. "I can find any file for any person or any case I've been on in a matter of seconds." She chuckled softly, smiling as she rubbed the back of Dino's head. "Shhh, don't worry. These people won't hurt you." She nodded softly to him, eyeing the others before motioning for them to sit down.
"You really care for him, huh?" Kris blinked a few times as she sat down.
"Yeah." She gulped some. "My older sister, Auran, she found me on the streets of Mistral a long time ago one snowy night while her family was on a business trip. She talked her parents into bringing me home with them to Vacuo. She did everything for me so I could go to school and even kept all those racist bastards away." She gave a soft smile. "I'm just repaying a kindness that someone did for me. That's all."
Staring back at her for a few seconds, Kagami shook her head softly as she leaned back. "Well, we mainly have information about the Fang Gang right now. We're going to learn more about the Triple B later. Tomorrow though we're going to look around a bit more into the Sanguine. And if you want to join us I guess you could..."
"And why would I- never mind." The dog Faunus shook her head as she reached over and grabbed a tennis ball to fidget with, her canine ears twitching. She let out a small groan. "Fine. Whatever. But first, you tell me what you know? I've been following that witch for years. I'll do the same with what I know."
Whoopsies. That was a little over two weeks not a week. My bad. I got a little bit busy.