AN: Chapter number 100 Finished!
Shadow of the Past
A few days have passed since the gang had brought their findings to Mòrag. During those few days, Roc had come to Alba Cavanich with Herald. The avian Blade wasn't happy about hearing the cancellation on searching for the babypon's parents, but when Herald had arrived at Garfront with the news they did send the word to the search parties post-haste. As for why Herald didn't return immediately, Roc didn't want to risk going to Alba Cavanich by himself and find out that team JNPR had moved out. So, when Garfront finally tracked down Gavyth, Roc flew with Herald to where Oscar was, and by extension the rest of the gang. Although Roc was surprised to find that Rex was with them too.
This led to Team JNPR and Oscar having to go after Gavyth. But they first made a quick stop to inform Mòrag about this new development. To their surprise, Mòrag decided to go with them. With the Emperor's permission of course.
This left Ruby, Blake, & Yang to stay in Alba Cavanich. They were promised that someone from the palace would inform them about the attackers as soon as they have a lead.
But, when Blake decided to go and check on the slums in the evening, she was surprised to see a woman being surrounded by three men. And their body language was very threatening.
"I-I'm sorry, but I need another day or two." Blake heard the woman say in a terrified voice.
"Getting awfully tired of hearing that line." one of the thugs, a scraggly man said impatiently. "How long are you gonna keep us waiting?"
"B-but I don't have the money... Please, just give me time." the woman pleaded.
"No. Your time is up." A burly Gormotti man said with his arms crossed.
Another scraggly man shrugged his shoulders, "If she can't pay, she can't pay." Then he had an evil smile, "Hey, I got an idea..."
Blake scowled at the look the man had. She had heard stories about what some shady loan sharks do to people who can't pay. Especially women. Blake analyzed the situation. Three men, two scraggly, one burly. They were Alrestians so they probably don't have Aura. The three men didn't seem to carry any weapons, while she was armed. Lastly, she had Perceval and Nox with her. Although that last point was just adding insult to injury.
But before Blake could act, Perceval casually strolled towards the thugs. "Whuh? Hey!" Blake yelled out at the assassin who grabbed one scraggly thug behind the woman and shoved him away roughly.
"What in Alrest?!" the other two's attention was caught as Perceval strolled between the two other thugs and the woman.
"Hey! Shove off!" the other scraggly man yelled at Perceval threateningly.
Perceval didn't look impressed as he glanced at each of the two men while the one he shoved was getting back up. "...You should leave," Perceval said simply.
The large Gormotti snarled at Perceval, "I do as I please, gutter trash!" And then he threw a punch at the Blade. Perceval ducked under the punch before driving his own fist into the man's gut with all the strength of a Blade.
"Ghuh!" The large Gormotti let out before crumpling to a heap. Perceval straightened himself and crossed his arms, giving a pointed look to the scraggly man in front of him.
"H-he's strong alright." Said the scraggly man behind Perceval and the woman.
"I say again: leave. I won't repeat myself further." Perceval said more firmly.
"Tch. Tarsus, give me a hand." the scraggly man said as he moved to pick up the now unconscious Gormotti.
The other scraggly man apparently named Tarsus moved to help his partner pick up their fallen comrade. "We will meet again." the scraggly man said as he and Tarsus hauled their big lug out of the alley, past Blake and Nox who didn't try to stop them.
As the two men left, Blake had an apprehensive look, "Nox, follow them. I want to know who those guys are and who they might work for."
"My lady, what about you?" Nox showed on his scroll.
"I'm going to check if she's alright with Perceval," Blake said before jogging to Perceval and the woman without checking that Nox obeyed. "Hey, are you okay?" Blake asked, causing the woman to jump a little. "It's okay, I'm his Driver." Blake quickly said while pointing at Perceval.
The woman looked at Perceval, then at Blake. "Y-yes...I... I mean... I'm fine." the woman said, visibly calming down. "Thank you ever so much for helping."
"Who were those people?" Blake then asked.
"They...uh...wanted to collect a loan." the woman looked down in shame. "One day at work I accidentally caused a wealthy patron to be injured. They made me cover the medical fees, which put me in significant debt... The person I borrowed from was not a nice man and the interest kept mounting up. I gave them everything I earned, but the debt kept increasing."
Blake let out a sigh. "It sounds to me like you were scammed. If this keeps up, then you won't be able to live."
"Exactly!" Blake almost jumped out of her skin at the woman's exclamation. "I'm not even sure what point is there in living."
"Don't say that!" Now it was the woman who looked like she wanted to jump out of her skin. "Sorry, it's just... A friend of mine had similar thoughts." Blake said before taking a deep breath, "Look as long as there's life, there's hope."
The woman didn't look convinced.
"How about this, I'll see what I can do about this debt." Blake then offered.
The woman looked surprised, "You would help me?"
"Of course." Blake said with a reassuring look, "Oh, I forgot. I'm Blake, and this is Perceval."
"My name is Ellenora." Ellenora introduced herself in turn, "How can I repay this?"
"Oh no. I'm just doing what's right. But you should probably go home now, you look shaken." Blake said to Ellenora who did look shaken. From a non-combatant woman, that's to be expected.
"Yes... thank you. I live on the lower level of the slums." Ellenora said, "Be well friends." With that, Ellenora moved to the other end of the alley that would lead to the slums.
As soon as the woman was away from eyesight and earshot, Blake facepalmed. "What have I gotten myself into." the Faunus complained. In the moment, she couldn't just not help an innocent civilian. But considering that she didn't have actual proof of anything illegal, only a hunch, she wasn't sure if she could actually do anything.
"...Where is Nox?" Perceval asked, noting the ninja Blade's absence.
"If he followed my orders, then he's probably following those thugs to their base of operation." Blake said already feeling slightly better, "With luck, he will track them all the way to their boss. In the meantime, we should probably ask around about this loan shark."
"You are correct." Perceval said, "Can I be part of this investigation?"
"Can you?" Blake had an incredulous look, "Perceval you practically dragged me into this. I would be yelling at you if you said this wasn't your concern." Not like Blake wouldn't have interfered regardless, but that wasn't the point.
Perceval looked offended at the very notion, "Then I'm glad to be of assistance because my intuition is telling me that this case is more than a civil dispute."
"How do you figure that?" Blake asked, now wondering if Perceval had some kind of conspiracy theory.
"I have no doubt that we will find out as we investigate," Perceval said while crossing his arms across his chest.
Blake let out a weary sigh, "We will, but tomorrow. I want my friends to help with this."
"There's no need to involve them," Perceval said.
"No. If your intuition is right, then we will need extra help. Which wouldn't hurt even if we didn't need it." Blake said firmly.
"...If you say so." Perceval relented.
"I do, now come on. We should get to the Inn." Blake said and began to move back. Her ears twitched at the light steps Perceval was making behind her. Signaling that he was following her.
When Blake got to the inn, she was treated to the sight of Yang and Dragunov laughing their heads off. With Ruby, Qrow, Rex, and their Blades listening with great intent.
"Wish I had seen that." Qrow commented with an amused look before giving Dragunov a mock accusing look, "You really need to be more careful."
"Hey, it's not my fault the guy couldn't see my tail," Dragunov said, swishing his tail for emphasis. Mythra snorted at the demonstration but otherwise tried to stay quiet. She didn't want to give Dragunov the satisfaction. "Though I didn't expect him to flip in midair before flopping on his face." Dragunov laughed more.
"So, then what happened?" Ruby asked, looking eager.
Yang took over telling whatever story they were telling, "The guy gets new drinks with Dragunov watching him thinking I didn't see what he did or why. Then he brings them over and then I have Draggie turn away while I do the same."
"And I didn't realize what she was doing." Dragunov chuckled, "So when I turned back, I instantly got on the guy's case. But Yangie told me to back off with her eyes."
"Couldn't let you ruin my plan," Yang said with a smirk before returning to the story. "Anyway, I turned on the charm, no doubt giving the guy ideas, and while he was distracted, I switched the drinks."
"I thought Yang was going to collapse when they sipped, but to my surprise, it was the guy who started nodding off," Dragunov said.
"Which proved me right about him having more weird stuff, and with that, we handed him over to the authorities." Yang crossed her arms smugly.
"Personally, I would've liked to burn off his face, but when they found even more drugs on him it proved his intent," Dragunov added in.
"So, he's in jail now?" Mythra butted in, "Good riddance."
"Right!" Yang laughed with an evil smile, "My plan worked like a charm." Yang then winked.
"That's my Driver for you." Dragunov laughed proudly, though it wasn't clear what he was proud of.
"Yang, your plan was brilliant, but it was also very reckless. If something had gone wrong-" "I had a superheated rock-solid backup plan for that." Yang interrupted Qrow while patting Dragunov on the shoulder. The fiery Blade and Driver laughed at the pun while the others groaned.
Although in Pyra's and Blake's cases, their cheeks tried to imitate the red Aegis' hair color.
"What?" Ruby asked, noticing the reaction on Pyra. Roze also looked confused, until he figured it out with a facepalm. "What?!" Now Ruby demanded.
"Yang, do you realize what you said?" Roze said, looking at Yang like he was ashamed of her.
"What, isn't Draggie super-hot and rock solid?" Yang asked jokingly while knocking on Dragunov's stone scales.
Dragunov also stared at the blushing Pyra like she was crazy before his attention was caught by Mythra who looked shocked as her own cheeks gained color. And then it clicked for him. "Not in that way, you perverts." Dragunov laughed.
"Sh-shut up!" Mythra snapped.
"Perverts?" Ruby asked, now having a sense of dread.
Which was followed by Yang realizing how her phrasing could be taken, "...Kill me now.". Yang felt so ashamed of using an innuendo in Ruby's presence. More importantly, she used one in reference to Dragunov, and that felt wrong.
"No need to be dramatic." Dragunov said while patting Yang on the head lightly.
At the same time, Roze was forced to hug Ruby who buried her face into Roze's shoulder while mumbling something about weapons, cookies, and Blake was pretty sure she heard 'kittens'. "There, there." Roze said like he was consoling a child while patting Ruby's head gently. Then everyone heard the unmistakable click of a Scroll taking a picture.
Everyone turned to Qrow who had his Scroll pointed at Ruby and Yang. "I got half a mind to send this to Tai when I get the chance." Qrow teased his nieces.
"Don't you dare!" the huntress sisters cried out.
"Umm... Guys..." Blake decided to make her presence finally known.
"Oh, hi Blake. Where have you been?" Yang asked, happy for the change of subject.
"Well..." Blake trailed off before telling them about her encounter with the thugs and Perceval saving their victim. And of course, about her promising to help the woman out of her debt.
"We need to bring those scammers to justice!" Ruby immediately said.
"Hold your horses, kid." Qrow butted in, "It's a good thing you want to help and all, but right now we don't have any evidence that this loan shark is actually running a scam."
"But Uncle Qrow, debt piling up like that can't be right." Ruby argued.
"I didn't say it is, but if we want the authorities on this, we need proof." Qrow said simply, "That being said, my money is on this being a scam."
"So tomorrow we go out and ask people if they have heard anything and see if we can prove it." Roze summarized.
"It's a start." Qrow replied with a shrug before turning to Blake, "Also, if that ninja of yours manages to hear anything useful while tailing those guys then it could help."
"I have faith in Nox." Blake said with a determined look. "But let's do that tomorrow when we're rested and ready." Ruby and Yang shared a look between themselves before giving Blake a proud look. "What?" Blake asked, getting a little self-conscious.
"Just now realizing how much you have grown too." Yang said with a smile.
Roze and Dragunov looked as confused as Blake did at Yang's comment. "Ah!" the two male Blades then let out as it hit them. For Blake, it took about 10 more seconds for her to realize what the sisters were talking about.
And then the Faunus Driver's ears drooped as she looked like she was ashamed of something.
"...Is there something I should know?" Perceval asked.
"No!" Blake let out loudly before giving her teammates a look that said, "If you say something wrong, I will murder you in your sleep."
"Blake, it was a compliment." Yang said, totally unaffected.
"Just shut up, please." Blake said in tone that was a strange mixture of anger and pleading.
"I think we should go to our rooms now." Pyra said, unknowingly giving Blake an urge to hug the fire Aegis.
"We do?" Rex asked, earning a not so gentle nudge from Mythra. "I mean yeah, we should."
With that, everyone who wasn't Ruby, Blake, or Yang left for their own rooms. But Blake soon learned that her friends weren't done with her.
"Blake, you know we meant how far you have come since Beacon." Ruby tried.
"I know, but looking back, I just feel so ashamed of the things I did." Blake sighed as she flopped down to her bed and pulled the covers on herself.
"You mean like not eating or sleeping properly?" Yang asked with a small chuckle.
"Among other things." Blake admitted, "I almost... never mind." Blake then turned on her bed, signaling that this conversation was over.
Dragunov had sat down against a wall and shook his head. He shared a look with Roze who shook his head at the silent question. Dragunov shrugged before leaning fully against the wall and prepared to sleep.
"What was that about?" Ruby asked, having noticed the exchange.
"Nothing that I have any right to talk about." Roze said before going to his own bed next to Ruby's and undid the ether bindings that make up his clothes down to his black shirt and pants before getting in.
Ruby let out a sigh before getting down on her own bed. "Good night, everyone." Ruby wished.
"Good night." Came out of Yang, Roze, and Dragunov as they all went to sleep. Blake and Perceval stayed quiet. Qrow and Kasandra had their own room while Rex, Pyra, Mythra, Wulfric, and Roc had their own.
The following morning, Blake woke up with a long stretch before scanning the room. Sure enough, on the floor next to her bed was Nox fast asleep. Blake wasn't sure if she should be worried that her Blade getting inside a locked room has stopped disturbing her a long time ago. She still remembers how sometimes she had wondered if he had entered bathrooms to guard her. The girl chuckled at the thought because whenever she exited a bathroom, she always found Nox at the front guarding the door. Overprotective? Sometimes, but Nox at least tries to be like Blake's shadow, always there, but not important enough to warrant notice unless staring you in the face.
"Nox, wake up." Blake commanded softly. The dark Blade's lone eye opened instantly at the command, and he stood up. It was amazing how he wakes up on command. "How long have you slept?"
Nox took out his scroll. "Long enough, my lady."
Blake shook her head. Sometimes she wasn't sure if Nox actually needed sleep. All the other Blades get tired and need sleep, but Nox always got up so easily that sometimes it feels like he only pretends to sleep for her own comfort. Still, that information fell under the category of "I'm not sure if I want to know". So instead, "What did you find out?".
Nox began to reroll his scroll, "I followed the idiots to a shady office where the fools complained about Perceval. After that, one of them ran to their boss who is called Arreth, the loan shark. They talked about the incident, but the boss claimed it to be alright. Afterwards, I overheard him arranging a meeting for this evening. Where this meeting is to take place or with whom, I was unable to find out."
Blake couldn't help smiling at Nox's accomplishments, "This is plenty already. We planned to ask the locals if they knew anything today."
"It is a long shot, but we might find out a clue about where the meeting is to take place, my lady." Nox agreed before looking down, "I apologize for not being able to do more."
"Don't apologize," Blake said almost scoldingly, "If we can get the location confirmed, then we should be able to hopefully get the necessary evidence."
"Sounds nice." Blake nearly jumped at hearing Yang's voice from behind.
"Yang! When did you wake up?" Blake demanded.
"While you were reading the scroll." Yang said with a smirk, before looking at Nox, "I'm surprised you didn't try to cut me again." Yang stroked the front bangs of her hair tenderly at the memory. Fortunately, she didn't hold a grudge for it, but she did learn to never try and spook the ninja who reacts to surprises by attacking.
Nox showed his scroll to Yang. "I saw you coming, and you are no threat to my lady."
"Thanks," Yang said dryly as Ruby woke up, looking a little bleary-eyed. But Yang was more focused on Dragunov who was still snoring. Yang glared at her Blade in suspicion. "Draggie, if you're wearing earplugs again, I'm gonna get another bucket to wake you up." Yang said loudly.
Dragunov's eyes snapped open, pupils shrunk into tiny vertical slits, "If you do that, I will give you a barbeque-spanking."
"A what?" Blake let out in confusion. Not sure if she heard right.
"Don't ask." Yang said quickly as she instinctively brought one hand over her rear protectively at the thought. Then the blonde girl quickly changed the subject, "How long have you been awake?"
"About two seconds before you made that threat." Dragunov said before getting up off his spot, "Anyway, who's hungry?"
At the mention of food, Blake's stomach rumbled more than she felt appropriate. "L-let's get breakfast." Blake stammered in embarrassment.
"Yeah!" Ruby let out, now fully awake at the mention of food.
After the gang had breakfast, they split up to ask around about the loan shark. As it turned out it sounded like Arreth indeed had a scam going on with a doctor called Celian. The doctor was a quack that apparently charged outrageous medical fees from all the patients. Patients that set themselves up to be "hurt" by whoever their target happens to be. Ellenora was the latest. Then once Celian gave the bill he would recommend the victim to get a loan from Arreth, which could never be paid off with the interest that kept piling up.
Fortunately, Ruby and Roze ran into a kid who mentioned Arreth coming out of the Old Town called Teddim late at night. Which was odd because that place was abandoned a long time ago. Or at least, that's what Rex had heard when he visited Mor Ardain before he and the others were pulled to Remnant.
Now the gang had moved to the lower part of the slums where Ellenora lived. It took some searching, since Blake forgot to ask where exactly the woman lived, but they did find her apartment.
"Okay then," Blake said as she knocked on the metal door.
"Who's there?" came the voice of Ellenora.
"It's Blake." Blake replied back, "I got news on your debt."
The door then opened, revealing Ellenora who looked relieved to see Blake. But then her eyes fell on the rest of the gang. "Who are they?"
"We're Blake's friends, miss." Ruby started, "And we just discovered that you were being scammed."
"Ruby." Qrow said with a sigh, "What we found out is fishy, but not quite enough to convict anyone."
"What do you mean?" Ellenora asked, now looking hopeful.
"We know that the doctor and Arreth are working together." Yang began, "They have people pretending to be injured."
"We also heard rumors that the medical fees he charges are astronomical," Rex added in.
"Furthermore, the doctor and the money-lender meet in the old city of Teddim at night." Perceval also added in.
"It sure sounds like I've been had." Ellenora looked down in shame.
"Hey, we're gonna get some conclusive evidence and then put them behind bars," Blake said encouragingly. This earned a weird look from Yang, but the blonde didn't say anything at that moment.
"Thank you..." Ellenora said, "I... I don't know how to thank you enough."
"Save your thanks until after the job's done." Qrow waved the woman off with a charming smile. Something that made Yang and Ruby stare at him. "What?"
Yang and Ruby kept staring at their uncle with suspicious looks. Qrow then gave a look at the girls that said, "Really?".
"Regardless, we know our next course of action." Perceval said, "We shall visit the old town tonight and witness them in the act, that should prove sufficient."
"Recording their talking wouldn't hurt either," Dragunov added in with a smirk.
"Will it really be that easy?" Mythra asked, looking skeptical.
"We could argue here until the Armu come home and we'll make no progress," Rex replied. "We should do as Perceval says, let's visit the old town of Teddim tonight."
Nox then rolled out his scroll, "If I may suggest, I know where Arreth stays right now. So, if one of you lends me their Scrolls, I might be able to inform you when he moves."
"Which would tell us when to go after him," Perceval muttered in thought.
"Are you sure, Nox?" Blake asked, "It could take a while before the man makes his move."
"That is irrelevant, my lady. I can wait for days if I must." Nox looked proud at the text he was showing.
Blake shook her head before taking out her own Scroll, "Here. I'll stick with the others in the meantime."
Nox had an apprehensive look in his eye. "Are you sure about this, my lady? I would not want you to-" "Nox, I'm lending my Scroll to you because I trust you." Blake said before taking her ninja's unoccupied hand and placing her Scroll on it and forcing his fingers around the device. With that, Nox pocketed the Scroll and put his paper scroll away before giving a nod of acknowledgment and taking off.
"Wait, does he know your passcode?" Yang asked a sudden question.
"He does." Blake said with a small smile, "And he's too afraid of disappointing me to snoop around my things without permission."
"Why? You got something interesting there?" Yang teased.
Blake chose to ignore Yang and turned to face Ellenora again, "Hey. I doubt anything will happen anymore. But just in case, you should stay home until we come back."
"Yes, I will. thank you." Ellenora said before returning to her apartment and closing the door.
"Well, I guess all we have to do is kill time," Qrow said as he looked to the Sun that was still high up in the sky.
"...I could have gone with him," Perceval muttered as the gang started moving up the stairs that led here.
"Nox will be fine by himself." Blake said confidently, "Besides, if there's one thing I'm sure about him, it's that he knows how to stay out of sight."
"I believe you." Perceval said, "Still... I feel like I'm shifting my responsibilities to him."
"What are you talking about?" Rex asked, "We're all in this now."
Perceval didn't look convinced, but didn't say anything.
"So, what do we do now?" Ruby asked first.
Yang's face brightened up, "Why don't we ask if we can have some Ardainian military to make the arrest when we get enough evidence."
"Yang, I'm not sure if the military is going to send anyone in without the evidence," Qrow said simply.
"But it wouldn't hurt to ask." Dragunov countered, "Besides, it might help us kill time."
Qrow shrugged, "Do as you please."
Then Kasandra suddenly grabbed Qrow's arm. "In the meantime, Qrow and I are checking out a lucky charm shop that I heard about."
"Wait, what?" was the only thing Qrow got to say before Kasandra dragged him off.
Ruby meanwhile gave Roze a dreamy look. "What?" Roze asked, getting a little worried.
"Let's go look at Core Chips!" Ruby chirped before following Kasandra's example and dragged Roze away by his arm.
Blake, Yang, and Mythra shook their heads at this. "Sooo what do you guys wanna do?" Yang asked unsurely.
"I guess we'll just... look around?" Mythra said unsurely.
"Sure, it's not like we have anything better to do until Nox reports in," Blake said with a small smile.
"But first to the palace." Yang said, "I still wanna try to ask if they have anyone available."
"It's worth a try if nothing else." Perceval agreed, with that the rest of them moved on.
As it turned out, the Ardainian military had one person to spare. But to the surprise of the gang, it was Pierce and Praxis.
"Finally!" Let out Pierce once they exited Hardhaigh Palace, "I've wanted to get investigating this thing for days."
"Wait, you know about the loan shark?" Yang said looking surprised.
"Does the Ardainian Military know?" Blake asked next, looking a little angry.
"Yes and no." Pierce replied, "I've heard rumors, but no one has actually made a report so there's no real crime, according to the big wigs anyway."
"Haven't you tried requesting to investigate yourself?" Perceval asked, earning a stare from Pierce. "...I take it your request was denied." It wasn't a question but a statement.
"Got it in one." Praxis said, "They said they weren't going to waste manpower to investigate mere rumors."
"By the way, like the outfit," Yang said to Pierce.
Instead of his military uniform, Pierce was wearing a white shirt with a dark brown leather jacket. His legs have brown jean-like pants with a belt that had multiple pouches, and a strap for Praxis' currently compact Megalance. He also had brown boots on his feet. Around his neck was a pair of goggles for sandstorms that sometimes appeared on Mor Ardain. Though since the Joining, Mor Ardain's climate has cooled down and sandstorms haven't appeared for a while.
"Oh, this? I thought it would be better to blend in this time." Pierce said with a smile that soon faded, "By the way, I heard about a blonde woman with a huge Blade that caught a predator, was that you?"
"Yup." Yang said with a proud look, "Still don't understand how he thought his plan was gonna work with this guy around." Yang pat Dragunov's back for emphasis.
"Even if Yang wasn't smarter than him, which apparently didn't take much," Dragunov said with a smirk.
"...I'm not sure if I should be flattered or insulted," Yang said with a genuinely unsure look.
"Take your pick." Dragunov shrugged.
"So anyway, thanks again for stopping those war machines." Pierce then said.
"It was nothing," Mythra said haughtily, earning a disapproving look from Pyra and Rex. "What?" Mythra didn't like the stares.
"What does Mor Ardain plan to do with them?" Rex then asked, seeing as they knew that Mor Ardain had moved the Artifices that were in the city out of the way.
"Well, I can't say much, but I heard that the scientists are trying to figure out how they work and possibly see if we could replicate them," Pierce said with a shrug.
"Good luck with that," Yang said, not believing Mor Ardain could figure out how those war machines work. Besides, those things stopped when Klaus perished, so there was probably no way to get them back on.
"Gyro said the same thing." Pierce said, earning surprised looks, "Oh, he's been apprenticing with military engineers since last week. He thinks that he'll be an old man before we even figure out any of the principles."
"What if those things cause a war big enough to destroy the world again?" Blake asked with an apprehensive look.
"Oh, Gyro was also worried what would happen if those things were used by two sides." Pierce said reassuringly, "And the scientists, Grand Marshal, even the Emperor agreed. So, they've been focusing on more economical gains these things could bring. Don't ask me how, it got too complicated for me from there."
Praxis looked a little annoyed at this, "You know, if you want to keep climbing ranks, you will have to expand your area of expertise."
"I'll get to it when I get to it." Pierce said placatingly, "You've been talking with Theory again, haven't you?"
"Lady Brighid, actually." Praxis corrected with a smile, "According to her, a high-ranking officer needs to have some knowledge of politics too."
"As I said, I'll get to it when I get to it." Pierce said again, "I'm already going through officer training."
"And how has that worked for you?" Rex asked out of curiosity.
"Well, Sergeant is a low rank in the long run, but one of the first things they teach is not to abuse one's rank." Pierce said before having a faraway look, "I'm starting to understand why Azure was called a genius back in the day for climbing the ranks so fast."
"You're not doing so bad yourself," Praxis said before patting Pierce on the back.
"Thanks." Pierce thanked his Blade.
"Maybe him having two Blades also helped." Dragunov pointed out, since being a Driver in the Ardainian military was a pretty big deal.
"How'd you know Azure had two Blades?" Pierce asked.
"Wait, Gyro didn't tell you?" Pyra then said.
"Tell me what?" Pierce asked, now confused.
"We haven't spoken with Gyro and Theory in days." Praxis also said.
Now they all looked uncertain. Until Rex spoke up, "Well... I was attacked by Ryuko."
"What did you say?" Pierce looked baffled.
"We were attacked by Ryuko." Mythra repeated, "Dark hair, red streak, had weapons that looked like halves of a scissor-" "Where?! When?!" Pierce demanded as he grabbed Mythra's shoulders and started shaking her. It didn't take long before Mythra punched the young Sergeant in the face.
"Get off me!" Mythra yelled angrily as she backed away while Praxis moved to check if Pierce was alright.
"I'm okay," Pierce said as he stopped holding his nose, which miraculously wasn't broken or even bleeding. "Look, I'm sorry, but I have to know. Where's aun-Ryuko." Pierce's cheeks flushed as he said the last part.
"We don't know. We only know that she claimed to be from Mor Ardain." Pyra said quickly.
"From Mor Ardain?" Pierce asked, looking very conflicted, "You mean she was here this whole time?"
"Well... there is that possibility of her lying." Yang said unsurely. She was surprised that Gyro hadn't tried telling his brother all this. How could Gyro keep his brother, much less his twin in the dark like this?
As if in response to her thoughts, Pierce's eyes darkened a little, "And Gyro knew about this already?"
"Yes," Pyra said looking a little worried.
"He's getting the noogie-special next time I see him," Pierce said darkly, no doubt already picturing subjecting Gyro to whatever horrible variation of noogie he had in mind. What Pierce didn't know though, was that around this time the subject of his evil thoughts felt a sudden chill creep up his spine. Lucky for Gyro today was the day he was working with the engineers, so Pierce won't find him until after his workday is complete.
"So, wanna hang out until Nox notifies us?" Yang said with a grin.
Pierce was taken out of his dark thoughts and faced Yang, "Sure, maybe at the end of the day I can forgive Gyro for keeping a secret like this."
With a sigh of relief from Praxis, the four Drivers and their Blades hung out until Yang's Scroll got the fated message, "Shark is moving."
With that, the entire gang soon met up outside of Teddim, which wasn't too far from the capital. Still, when they got to the entrance, Qrow decided to ask about the place.
"Well, it used to be a mining town, but then the deposits dried up and it was abandoned." Pierce explained, "I heard monsters started to move in afterward."
"Does Arreth fight monsters off every time he gets here?" Ruby then asked.
"Could be." Pierce shrugged, "Or maybe the monsters have migrated to the new world. I've heard reports about some monsters doing that."
But then Praxis realized a little detail that Pierce had somehow overlooked, "Why did we stop?"
"We're waiting for Nox to come find us so he can guide us to our target," Perceval replied.
"And how long will that be?" Pierce then asked.
"As long as it takes," Perceval said though he did seem a little anxious.
"I hope he gets here soon," Ruby muttered, tapping her foot a little. She wanted to catch bad guys.
"Like now?" The monstrous voice made Ruby shriek and jump into Roze's arms as everyone else turned in shock and in combat stance to see Nox who had snuck up on them.
Blake was the first to lower her guard with an exasperated look that was tinged with amusement. "Really, Nox?"
Nox then rolled out his scroll, "My apologies, my lady. I could not resist."
But Perceval was less amused, "I take it you know where the target is."
"Naturally. Follow me." Nox showed on his scroll before taking point and led the gang into the abandoned town. After Ruby was lowered back to her feet by Roze, of course.
Pierce then looked to the rest of the gang, "Does he always do that?"
"If by 'that' you mean he appears out of nowhere, then yes," Blake said, resisting a smile. "But this was the first time he announced his presence with his voice."
"Why does he use that scroll if he can talk?" Praxis then asked.
"Using his real voice is painful," Blake said, now less amused. Though she wasn't very sure to what extent, but apparently Nox thought that this time, everyone getting surprised was worth the pain.
"I can see why," Pierce said, trying to imagine how it must feel in your throat to speak with a voice like that.
"Hey, Nox. How exactly does your voice hurt?" Blake decided to ask as Nox led them down a set of metal stairs.
"Imagine someone clawing your throat whenever you try to speak and you have a good idea of how it is for me, my lady." Nox showed on his scroll behind him.
The mental image Blake got from that was not a pleasant one.
Qrow then looked around the large metal hallway that Nox had led them to. When speaking of a town, the image that pops into Qrow's mind is a cluster of buildings in close proximity. This place was more like a large facility with metal floors, walls, even the ceiling. "I have to ask, how is this place a town? It's more like some kind of base.
"This place was built to withstand monster attacks from outside. But since it was abandoned and unmaintained, monsters came in." Pierce explained, "But I guess they've moved out." This was said because they hadn't seen a single monster just yet.
"Maybe that's how this place became the meeting point," Pyra said just before Nox stopped and raised his hand.
The ninja Blade turned to everyone and placed a finger over his face mask. They had to be close if Nox was telling them to be quiet. With that, everyone started to move as quietly as they could on the hallway Nox stopped them at. Then they stopped at a particular metal door. Nox tried the door carefully. It wouldn't budge. The dark Blade then used his claws to pick the lock quickly before slowly pulling on the sliding door. Behind the door was a large Gormotti man with greasy hair and an older balding Ardainian in the middle of talking. They weren't facing the door, so they didn't notice they had an audience.
"Is that them?" Pierce whispered. Nox answered with a nod.
"A doctor is supposed to help people, not add to their problems," Ruby whispered angrily.
Yang had already taken out her scroll and was recording the conversation the two had.
"What about the woman? Were you able to collect?" Cilean asked from the loan shark.
"Oh, there were complications, but we reached an agreement. It'll be over soon." Arreth replied soothingly.
"I should say it will." Said Perceval who seemed to appear right in front of the two. While everyone else looked in shock. Blake was the first to confirm that Perceval had indeed moved from where he last was.
"Perceval!" Blake cried out, just before the assassin beat the two up until they collapsed.
Everyone then filed in.
"Did you kill them?" Pyra was the first to ask in worry.
"No. Simply knocked out." Perceval said simply before crossing his arms.
"What did you jump in like that for?" Pierce demanded, "There was no other exit, and we had them where we wanted them."
"Exactly!" Blake let out angrily, "And what if there had been other people Nox didn't know about?".
"It was the right moment." Perceval said without flinching at Blake's anger, "I exercised my judgment. Besides, unless Nox was able to check this room, then we wouldn't know for sure if there was another exit. So, if we had wasted time, then they could have gotten away which would, in turn, lead to the suffering of many more innocents."
"Well, yes. But if you just... Urgh!" Blake screamed in frustration, earning worried looks from her friends. Blake took a calming breath before giving Perceval a hard look, "Perceval, why are you so obsessed with this?"
Perceval crossed his arms, "There is evil in this world that the law is not equipped to deal with. Many shed tears and even blood suffering in its shadow. When I was granted this life, I felt it was my duty to use my power to uplift the downtrodden. It feels as if it was my mission: to punish all evil that lurks within this world."
"Punish all evil..." Pierce muttered with an uncertain look, "It does sound good and all, but if you become obsessed with it, you might become what you're trying to fight."
"He's right." Blake said, now sounding a little fearful, "You can't be consumed by this."
Perceval looked at Blake like she was going crazy, "Consumed? I'm not sure I understand. Is it not a huntress' duty to help the downtrodden too?"
"Don't turn this on me!" Blake yelled, making everyone look at her in worry. To them, Blake's reaction seemed a little extreme.
"Okay, okay," Praxis said before getting between the two. "The important thing is that the case is closed, right."
"I wish." Pierce muttered, "But this still isn't enough, to actually convict these two."
"What? But-" "It's enough to at least start a full-on investigation on these guys." Pierce then finished, interrupting Ruby's outrage.
"Ah. But it isn't over yet." Perceval then said, earning strange looks.
"Say what?" Qrow said with a quirked eyebrow.
"We may have felled the doctor and the moneylender, but many evildoers involved in this case are still at large," Perceval said.
"He's not wrong." Pierce agreed, "But if we get the investigation going, we can bring all those involved to justice."
"Then I guess we gotta get to it sharpish." Rex agreed.
"No need." Perceval's comment surprised everyone.
"Huh?" Came out of Blake, Ruby, and Rex.
"Why's that?" Mythra asked, crossing her arms.
"This is my job," Perceval said as he started walking out. "It doesn't seem fair to trouble any of you any further. Leave this to me."
"Perceval, stop!" Blake commanded, but the assassin didn't seem to acknowledge her. "...Perceval." It sounded like Blake was resisting a choke.
"Okay, Blake. What's wrong?" Mythra finally asked.
"What?"
"You heard me. The way you overreacted to Perceval's stunt." Mythra clarified.
"I'm not overreacting." Blake defended herself.
"You kind of were," Ruby added in.
"Yup." Yang agreed.
"Double yup." Dragunov quipped.
"My lady, is there something about Perceval's behavior that disturbs you?" Nox showed on his scroll.
Blake opened her mouth to answer, but then looked worried. Blake's ears had also folded.
"Blake?" Rex then said, "If there's something wrong then you can tell us, right?"
"Yes, we're all your friends." Pyra encouraged the Faunus Driver.
"You better know it." Yang added in as she moved in and wrapped an arm around Blake. Ruby also gave a hug.
"Thanks guys, but the thing is... I don't even know why I reacted that way." Blake said looking ashamed.
"What do you mean you don't know?" Kasandra asked in worry.
"...I just... The way Perceval is so obsessed gives me a bad feeling." Blake tried explaining.
"He didn't seem too obsessed to me." Qrow shrugged, "But he could have waited a little longer for Yang to record more. Speaking of which, did you even get anything?"
"Yeah, but the audio isn't very good," Yang said as she got off of Blake and replayed what little they had. The voices were a little muffled by the distance they had, but it wasn't unintelligible. And the footage was clear enough to tell who was talking.
"That should actually help," Pierce said as he put Arreth and Celian into the cuffs he had brought with him. "If you guys could help me bring these guys in, then we could get to putting them behind bars."
"Sure thing." Yang said before turning to Dragunov, "Draggie, would you be so nice as to carry these two?"
"What am I, a pack Armu?" Dragunov crossed his arms in mock annoyance.
Yang then glanced at Mythra before she formulated a plan, "I could make it worth your while later."
Dragunov quirked an eyebrow at this. "Worth it how?"
"It's a surprise." Yang said in a sing song voice.
"Fine, but Wulfric takes one of them." Dragunov said as he moved in and hoisted Arreth over his shoulder.
"Sure thing." Wulfric finally spoke up before picking up the doctor and slung him over like a sack.
As the gang returned to the capital, Mythra felt a little wary of Yang who was looking at her like a megalomaniacal villain whose evil plans were coming together.
But Blake was still worried about Perceval. Something about his behavior made her very fearful. She wasn't quite sure what it was exactly. Was it some remnant of what Adam was? No, it didn't feel right. Or at least, Blake hadn't immediately associated Perceval's behavior with Adam. Even if it was a slightly diluted version of what the now dead terrorist had. And less twisted.
"Don't think too much." Roc finally spoke up, earning surprised looks from everyone, especially Blake. "I doubt Perceval's actions are meant to harm you."
"I am still planning on punishing him for causing my lady distress." Nox showed on his scroll.
"Save it until after I talk to him again when he gets back," Blake said, surprised at herself at how sure she sounded about Perceval coming back.
AN: There we go. Those who have played Perceval's Blade quest most likely know what will happen next. Or at least where the quest went. As for team JNPR's quest...I'll get right on it.
And yes, Gyro didn't have time to tell his brother about the gang's discoveries. Or it slipped his mind. Take your pick on why Pierce wasn't informed yet XD.
In other news, I'm addicted to getting my ass handed to me in Elden Ring. I'm surprised I was able to get this done as fast as I did.
