Author's Note: New chapter… yay!
Lionheart's office was not nearly as imposing as Ozpin's. It didn't reside in a tower overlooking the entire campus, nor did it give off the same sense of power. It was smaller, lined with bookshelves, with a large wooden desk, it was much more like what she expected the combat school Headmaster offices were like. Despite that, it was still likely the most secure place in the entire academy; yet she didn't feel safe within its walls.
As she walked through the door she was greeted by the ever grim expression of General Ironwood. Even with his disciplined control however, he still winced when her eyes met his and he caught a glimpse of the fire burning within them. Looking away, he coughed into his gloved fist in an attempt to clear his throat.
"It's good to see you, Glynda."
"James." She replied coldly.
Lionheart looked between the two awkwardly, and for once she couldn't blame the man for his uncertainty. She very much doubted he ever would have been able to deal with the situation on the verge of exploding in front of him. Especially if he didn't know what it was.
"Um, that will be all for now Professor Tawny." Lionheart dismissed his Deputy Headmistress, allowing them to speak in private. He waited several long moments after the door closed before sitting down, leaning forwards and rubbing his hands together awkwardly once more. "Now that we have a moment to ourselves, would you mind telling me what you are doing here?"
Glynda turned towards Lionehart, continuing to glare at James from the corner of her eye. "Ozpin wished us to discuss the coming school year, I wa-"
"We are alone, Glynda." James interrupted her. "We can be honest with him now." Glynda looked towards him with a mild look of confusion, uncertain what exactly the man was planning, his eyes were locked on Lionheart however.
The room was quiet for a moment, Glynda waiting to see what James would say only for him to remain silent.
"H-Honest about what?" Lionheart stuttered, it was only then that Glynda realized what James was doing. His silence and grim expression, while not uncommon for the public, usually faded away in their private meetings; being replaced by the far more charismatic man that had earned their trust. He didn't allow himself to relax however and it was clearly aimed at making Lionheart uncomfortable. Looking towards the once brave Huntsmen, she was surprised to see such a simple tactic was working.
"Qrow and one of my Specialists have gone missing." James replied, his voice clipped and cold. "Inside your Kingdom."
Glynda snapped her neck back towards James, only just managing to hold back the verbal maelstrom that she planned to save for later. The plan had been to distract the Headmaster while Pyrrha and Tai looked for Qrow and Miss Schnee, she had been prepared to lie and make up several excuses for her visit; what she hadn't been ready for was to be so direct.
"Oh." Lionheart replied simply. "That's... quite troubling." Glynda's attention was drawn back to the man behind the desk, he hid his face behind his hands as he looked down; keeping his expression hidden from them.
"We believe that the Queen has made a move against us." James continued. "Qrow was here to investigate a lead on the Spring Maiden, I lent him one of my best agents as back up."
"The Spring Maiden?" Lionheart picked his head up from his hands, looking at them with a confused expression. "I didn't… I hadn't heard any news in regards to her whereabouts."
"The news came rather suddenly, and there was no guarantee." Glynda sat back and listened to James lie, amazed at the amount of detail he was able to make up with not a hint of hesitation. "Ozpin suspected there may be a traitor somewhere in the school, someone who might be after the Spring Maiden as well, he didn't want to risk their safety by alerting you."
"He apologizes for the secrecy." Glynda added, attempting to lend some extra credibility towards James' story.
"I should have been told." Lionheart rested his head back in his hands, his voice heavy and field with regret. "If I'd known…"
"It's unlikely you would have been able to prevent their disappearance." Glynda spared a glance towards James, meeting her eyes once more. "Secrecy was of the utmost importance, but that has led us into another issue entirely."
"They didn't give much detail in their reports, only a few vague details they planned to look into." James said.
Lionheart's hands fell away from his face, once more looking up at them this time with a look of barely concealed shock. "I-I… will help in any way I can but… I'm afraid I am rather limited by my duties to the Council and the students."
"We appreciate any assistance you can offer." James smiled. "In times like these, it's important to have people you can trust."
Lionheart smiled back. "I'll do everything within my power to help you. I will need a bit of time to look into this, but if you give me a day or two, I'm sure I'll be able to find something to hint at what happened to them." His temporary confidence dissipated somewhat. "I trust that you and your men will… stay at Haven for the time being?"
"Of course." James stood from his chair, walking over to the desk and holding out his hand. "You know how to reach me, I shall be on my ship until then." Lionheart shook the General's hand.
"Don't tell me you brought a battleship, James." Glynda scowled at General Ironwood, causing one of the most powerful men in the world to blush.
"I didn't come here with the intention of starting a diplomatic incident." James rushed out. "I only brought a smaller ship and a skeleton crew to man it."
"I shall be the judge of that." Glynda stood from her chair, sparing a glance to Lionehart. "I am afraid my flight was rather long and I will need time to rest."
"Of course, of course," Lionheart stepped out from behind his desk. "I shall have a room set aside for yo-"
"That won't be necessary Leonardo." James interrupted the man. "I shall see to it."
Glynda looked towards James in confusion.
"Oh?" Lionheart sounded equally confused, looking towards James for an answer; the two men locked eyes once more, after a moment it all seemed to click in the man's head. "Oh, oh! Of course, I shall… leave it to you then."
Glynda felt her face heat up slightly, the insinuation not being missed, but found herself unable to deny it lest damage their cover. James was clearly trying to drag her off to talk alone under the guise of…
She refused to finish that thought, bowing her head slightly and turning towards the door in an attempt to hide her blush.
"That would be my queue." James said and, much to Glynda's shame, Lionheart chuckled softly. "I shall send you everything we have on Qrow and Specialist Schnee's mission"
Glynda stopped as the door closed behind them, turning halfway round to look at the man who she was quickly growing to hate. He at least had enough common sense to sweat at her glare. "So James, why don't you lead me to your ship so we can talk."
"Yes, there is… much to discuss." Ironwood stepped past her, leading her down the halls of the school with his shoulders stiff.
"You know I will have to kill you for that, right?" She asked.
"I am aware." Ironwood sighed, a sign of having accepted his fate. "But it is imperative that we speak someplace safe from prying eyes."
"And his office was not?" Glynda asked.
"His office has more surveillance equipment than Ozpin's." James replied seriously, Glynda finding herself taken back by that fact. Ozpin was many things, and paranoid was definitely one of them; he had more cameras in Beacon then Atlas likely did in its entire floating Kingdom, and while his office was not nearly so well covered, it was far from spared. "I just don't know if they're his or someone else's."
A worrying thought indeed, and one Glynda couldn't help but agree with. Despite that, she couldn't hold back her sign. "Did you have to word it as you did though?"
James looked back at her with a subtle smile. "There is nowhere I would rather you sleep than under my wat-" His words were cut off as he tripped over something and stumbled forward.
Glynda held her Crop behind her back, holding her chin up as she walked. "You should be more aware of your surroundings."
James scoffed in response. "I've missed you, Glynda."
Pyrrha followed Taiyang back out onto the muddy street. They hadn't had any luck so far, the three bars that they had already checked gave them nothing to go on, and the fourth bar hadn't been any better. They had nearly worked their way halfway across the city now, the lowest level at least, and Taiyang was pretty confident that Qrow wouldn't have risked going up unless he had to.
She followed closely behind Taiyang, making sure to stay close so as to not accidentally become separated, all the while thinking about everything she had learned about him over the last double hours of searching. Their investigation had quickly turned into a mix of questions, bribery, and thinly veiled threats that Pyrrha didn't know how to feel about. What was worse was that he seems to be especially talented at all of them.
Most of the people they had talked to were either openly hostile or unwilling to speak with them. They would take one look at the two of them and insist they were in the wrong place, the first bar they had walked into had even nearly ended in a fight. Taiyang managed to stop anything from happening by mentioning the name of some nearby bandit tribe. She couldn't say that she was familiar with said tribe, but it seemed to inspire a fair bit of fear in the group that had wanted to start trouble. They had backed off but insisted they leave after that, they hadn't even been able to get anything useful.
A few of the people they talked to mentioned that there might have been a woman fitting Miss Schnee's appearance on the lower levels, but that no one had bothered to do anything about it. People down there tended to keep their eyes on the ground, and they had been hesitant to even reveal that much. Even so, Pyrrha very much doubted that everyone had chosen to ignore such a recognizable woman simply because that's what they were used to.
"We'll try a couple more before finding a place to sleep." Taiyang looked around the street but she was unsure what he might be looking for.
"I'm not tired."
"The sun will be coming up before long, the people were looking for won't be out once it does. From what I was told, this mission was rather last minute so I doubt you planned to be awake for so long" He explained. "Rest is important."
Pyrrha didn't disagree, but she couldn't imagine taking time to rest when Qrow was still missing. She wanted more than anything to find him and put an end to the mystery. Logically, she knew that sleep deprivation would only make everything a million times worse, but that still meant she would have to find a way to fall asleep.
"We'll try this one next." Taiyang gestured towards a small sign hung out over a doorway that seemed to lead behind the buildings that lined the street. "Might have a bit more luck here."
Pyrrha looked at the sign, as well as the surrounding area, but couldn't figure out why that might be. "How is this one any different from the others?"
"It's a Huntsmen bar." He replied. Pyrrha again checked around the door but still couldn't see anything that might set it apart. Taiyang simply smiled back at her. "You'll learn what to look for in a few years."
A small staircase led them down into a dark and dank room where the wallpaper had started to peel. The chairs had already been put up, set on top of the tables to stop people from sitting down, and a single old man sat behind the bar cleaning glasses.
He looked up at them with a glare, speaking in a shrill and unwelcoming tone. "We're closed, come back later tonight."
"We just wanna ask you a few questions. Huntsmen business." Taiyang ignored the man's muttered curses, pressing forward and leaning on the bar. "I'm looking for someone." Holding out his scroll he showed the man a picture. "He might have been with a woman, white hair, 'better than you' vibe."
The man set the glass he was cleaning down, grabbing the scroll out of Taiyang's hand and looking at the screen closely. "Yeah I seen him." Pyrrha's head snapped back to the man behind the bar, expecting to see him laugh and tell them to get lost; only it never came. "Came in a while back looking to track down a Huntress friend of theirs so they could ask her some questions, I told 'em I hadn't seen her in a long while. Most of my regular clientele have stopped coming."
"Did he maybe mention where he might have been planning to go next?" Taiyang eagerly asked, Pyrrha waiting anxiously for any kind of reply.
"Not then no, but he came in a few days later alone and limping, asking where to find some…" The barkeep paused for a moment, lowering his voice to a whisper. "Under the board medical care."
"Miss Schnee wasn't with him?" Pyrrha whispered softly, looking towards Taiyang for a moment.
"What did you tell him?" Taiyang's expression had gone form hopeful to worried, him being more than able to piece together the pieces.
"I don't provide that kind of service here, but I gave him an address to a man that does." The barkeep scribbled something down on a piece of paper and handed it to Taiyang. "You won't find the address on your scroll, obviously."
Taiyang pulled some lien out of his pocket and set it on the counter. "Thanks for your help." Turning quickly he rushed towards the door, Pyrrha already there waiting for him.
"One more thing." The man behind the bar stopped them before they could leave. "Two more Huntsmen came looking for them after they first showed up. New faces I haven't seen around here before, like you, but they were… different."
Taiyang looked back at the man to see if he had anything else to add, when he didn't say anything more they went back up the stairs.
"If he didn't have Winter with him, and he was looking for a doctor, then odds are she was injured." Taiyang looked down at the note, quickly trying to gain his bearings in the maze-like streets of the lower levels. "If they were being hunted by someone then that means they probably found something worth killing over."
"Miss Schnee was-is!" Pyrrha corrected herself, refusing to believe that either of them could have died. "A trained specialist, she wouldn't have been easy to defeat."
"Which means they were either taken by surprise or the two men looking for them are more dangerous than expected." After a few more minutes of wandering, he managed to find the direction he was looking for and began a quick paced walk down its streets. "Qrow wouldn't have left her, wounded or not."
It took them longer than she would have liked to find their destination, the city streets and back alleys not having been designed with a plan in mind and thus there being no real pattern or layout to speak of. Despite that Taiyang seemed familiar enough with them, a small detail that piqued Pyrrha's curiosity but that she wasn't willing to waste time asking about.
When they did finally arrive at their destination, Pyrrha felt like yelling in anger. The exterior of the building was as run down as the rest of the undercity was, the walls covered in dirt and grime. The entrance way, which had apparently once been covered by a large metal door, had been ripped open by something. The hinges that had once been attached to the wall had been torn from their place with apparent ease.
Taiyang was the first one through the door, his movement helping to pull Pyrrha from her shock. The first thing she noticed when she walked in was the mess. What once might have been a fairly orderly room of medical supplies and equipment had been thrown into chaos. Tables had been flipped and the lights had been knocked over, causing them to cast long shadows in the otherwise dark room.
"I'm guessing that's the doctor." Taiyang sighed, stepping over to a desk where a man had been tied to a chair. The man's face was bloody and bruised, his nose broken and bent at an odd angle, and everything below his neck had been covered in blood from when his throat had been slit. Pyrrha had to fight back the urge to throw up, only managing to avoid it due to the fact she hadn't eaten any time recently; even then it was difficult.
"W-what do we do now?" Pyrrha asked desperately, doing everything in her power to keep her eyes away from the mangled corpse of a man that Taiyang was standing by.
He stood up, looking around the room slowly. "Maybe… maybe he had some kind of log, or hidden camera or something."
Pyrrha looked around the messy room. "If he did then I think those other two found it."
"This is our only lead, we have to look." Taiyang stepped away from the dead man, walking over to one of the doors on the side of the room. "I'm gonna check back here, just keep an eye out for anything suspicious."
Pyrrha would have laughed at that were it not for how sickly she felt. They were standing in a ruined house next to a dead body, it would only take one person walking in and seeing her standing next to it for them to be wanted criminals. There wasn't a single thing about them that wasn't suspicious. Despite her anxiety, Pyrrha forced herself to focus on the moment, and slowly began searching the premises.
Whoever had… killed the doctor had done an excellent job of scouring the place. The shelves that had once lined the walls were all pulled down, their contents spilled out on the floor. The tables had been flipped and every cupboard and drawer had been opened and tossed aside. She was honestly amazed that the building hadn't caught fire with the amount of destruction, considering how poorly maintained most of the buildings on the lower level were; she almost expected the added chaos to be the final straw needed to start an electrical fire.
Once you added in the very possible fact that the shelves contained some kind of flammable liquid and it was truly amazing the building was still standing. Pyrrha didn't know enough about medicine or running a black market clinic, but it made her feel uncomfortable just standing in the room.
Why would he even have cameras if the people who were going to hire him were likely criminals? Was it for protection? If so, from whom? The patient, or the people who might be after them? Once again, Pyrrha was wholly out of her depth. She had been trained to be a fighter, and she had been working towards the goal of being a Huntress, but nothing had prepared her for this. Luckily such questions needn't be answered.
Standing in the middle of the room, roughly where the operating table would have once been, Pyrrha quickly realized she wasn't going to be able to see anything given the current lighting. The few lights that hadn't been out right broken were on the floor next to the body of the doctor, a spot she was reluctant to approach again.
Pulling out her scroll, Pyrrha slowly panned it across the room uncertain of what she would be looking for. After a couple minutes of looking with only her scrolls light she sighed, stashed it away and walked over to the lights by the dead body. Careful to not disturb it, she slowly picked up one of the lights.
As she did so the light revealed a rather large area of somewhat dried blood. Once again, Pyrrha had to fight the urge to throw up. The sight of blood had never bothered her before, but there was just so much of it now, and the knowledge that it had come from a civilian wasn't making it any easier. The puddle of blood had clearly pooled directly below him initially, the wooden floorboards soaking it up somewhat but otherwise given the blood nowhere to go due to how closely they were put together.
As she stared at the ground however, she could see a small gap where the blood had started to seep through. After a moment, and finding a section of the board not covered in blood, she pushed the board and it shifted slightly. Pulling Allos from its sheath, Pyrrha pried the board up with ease, revealing a small compartment where several cords from under the floorboards met to connect to a central computer.
"Tai! I found something!"
Author's Note: So I finally got to move out of the barracks and into housing due to the base I'm stationed at having more people than space in the barracks. All in all, a nice place. Not perfect and not a place I would want to live the rest of my life, but not bad.
The only drawback is that I have no furniture or internet yet, so I have been sleeping on the floor since Monday and doing nothing but watching movies and anime after work.
Hope you enjoyed it and as always don't forget to review and let me know what you think.
Sincerely, SE