Here we go.

Cover Art: Kirire

Chapter 59

Coda couldn't tell her as much as Blake would have liked, but she at least had some details.

"The broadcast wasn't sent from any one location to the CCT Towers on a digital basis. That means I'm limited in being able to track a connection It does, however, narrow down the method a little. The first is that she doesn't need to send the broadcast because she is already there. This could mean she has direct access to the CCT Terminals in Vale, or the broadcast station itself."

"We were there earlier," said Blake. "No one had seen her."

"That doesn't mean she was never there. Lisa wouldn't need to take over a studio and film the whole thing if she had done so prior. All she would need to do would be to slip into the building, access the computer systems, and then upload the material from a pen-drive or other device. Alternatively, she could be uploading that at any of the terminal towers. I've already hacked cameras but she would have entered late last night, and many people did – almost all with hoods or face coverings. It rained last night."

Damn. No easy answers, then. "I'll check them out. You said first so I assume there's more than one way she could be doing this?"

"Yes. The second manner would be through purely anomalous means."

"Isn't that a given?"

"Not necessarily. If Lisa's anomalous abilities allow her to predict the future then that wouldn't grant her the ability to force herself onto the televisions of people across the city. They could be related, and that could be the case, but she might also be uploading the stories through mundane methods."

Blake hummed. Anomalies weren't so limited as to fall into a rule of "one power and nothing more." There were some who had multiple abilities, or who stretched the definition of powers in different ways. On the other hand, there were plenty who didn't, and assuming Lisa had two distinct powersets this early might be a mistake. There was also still a good chance this was a Triple-A case; an abuse of an anomalous artefact, and that Lisa was still human. She certainly looked it on the screen, and other transformation cases tended to appear inhuman. Either way, Coda wasn't proving as immediately useful as Blake would have liked.

"What can you offer me?"

"Not as much as I would like. I can break into any cameras for you, trace scrolls and open systems. I've already searched for Lisa Lavender's scroll but it has been abandoned. But, given that she has precognitive abilities, she may have abandoned it because she knew of us assisting one another."

Oh, good lord, she hadn't thought of that. If Lisa's really could see the future then she'd forever be one step ahead of them. If she knew every single place Blake and Jaune would search, then it should be impossible to find her. Impossible for Blake, anyway. Jaune had the advantage there, and might be their only real hope, but if Lisa could predict the information Blake found and gave to him, then she could still avoid him. It meant that only information Jaune found on his own, and acted on alone, would have any chance of reaching her.

Unless, of course, Lisa's power wasn't complete future-reading, but something vaguer like "knowing headlines ahead of time" or something. Knowledge of events as a whole, but not the specifics. That was a big "if" to rely on.

"I will forward you the locations of towers that are closest to you. If you can insert your scroll into their systems then I can use that as a bridge to break into their servers and see any and all activity that took place at the time of the broadcasts."

"Uh. Sure. What about these guys from Atlas? Any chance you can track them?"

"There are numerous Atlas citizens in Vale for the festival. It would take time to search them all, and, knowing that I am working with you, it is almost inevitable that they will have left all electronics behind. If they are still active at all. The broadcast may have exposed them and forced the plan back. Hacking Atlas itself would be dangerous and time-consuming. They will have billions of files. My systems run faster than any humans can, but I am still limited by hardware, and I am running on gaming computers hooked together. My body is limited even if my mind is not, to put it into terms you might understand."

"All right. Please send me the locations."

Blake let the call end and teased her bottom lip between her teeth. Lisa had the edge on them, and she was the weak point, being easy to track. The best bet might be to tell Jaune and let him handle this alone, but he needed the help, and the Fist Office would be coming down if she didn't. Faunus are technically anomalies, but Jaune says it's diluted, and if we can unlock aura then we can definitely be affected by something like this. Damn it.

There was an option, however.

A dangerous option, but still one that existed. Two, actually. The Blank Slate could render her invisible to Lisa, but it would also eat away at her existence and this job wasn't going to be something fixed in a matter of minutes. Blake needed something with more permanence. The book on her hip was warm to the touch.

"Am I seriously doing this…?" No one answered. "I can at least hear the terms. There's nothing that says I have to accept them."

Blake hesitated several seconds more, running over the pros and cons in her head and finding a lot more cons. That didn't matter when the single pro of being able to stop Tomorrow's News outweighed all of them. Blake cracked open the book and felt her mind be pulled into it.

/-/

This time, she appeared by the lake itself instead of in the forest. "Appearing" might have been the wrong word, because Blake could feel that she was stood in place with rough paper between her fingers, and yet the ink playing across the pages had overtaken her mind and seemed to be all around her. It was like she'd been brought into a virtual reality world of black ink on yellowish paper, but that her mind didn't register it as wrong or unusual in any way.

The water on the lake lapped softly in inky waves on the shore, which seemed odd. The water was rippling even when it should have been still. Her attention was soon taken away by the black-inked figure sitting upon a rock, her feet submerged in the ink, and her long hair falling over her left eye.

"Thou hast returned in thine hour of need." Her voice was musical. It echoed between Blake's ears. "Hast thou come to strike a bargain?"

"Perhaps," said Blake, full of caution. "I would like to discuss the terms first."

"Naturally. Only thy impatience the prior meeting excused thee." The woman stood, swaying out over the water so that she floated not above it, but slightly submerged. The water lapped at her ankles as if the whole lake was only a few inches deep. Blake doubted that was the case. "Speak then, child of Fauna. Tell me of the boon thou desireth."

A boon. Right. A power. Blake took a deep breath and tried to be as specific as possible. "I'd be interested in bartering for a boon that would allow me to locate the source of Tomorrow's News. Do you have some kind of detection-based power you can grant me?"

"The question is not in how limited mine powers are, but how much thou would trade for them. To grant thee a boon to see the unseen? T'would be a trivial matter. However, such a boon would be granted to witness all that is unseen. Thou could, in time, narrow down the good from the bad and corner thy quarry. In doing so, thou might discover many more trinkets for thy master. A good way to impress him, yes? Thy master – mine apologies, thy partner - would be most pleased with thee."

The ability to see anomalies. "Would it be from a distance? It's not much use if I can see them ten feet in front of my face."

"A deal struck is struck with all honesty or wouldst not be a deal at all. To take from thee, I must provide. I am bound to mine rules. This boon would let thee see… bubbles, for lack of better words, in the distance. Each bubble would exist around what thee refer to as `anomalous`." The woman chuckled. It sounded like water in her ears. "Anomalous. As though thy kind have the right to determine what is normal and what is not. Thou seek to force the world to abide by thy standards, when our kind have existed long before thine."

That was an argument she didn't want to get into. The power sounded good. It would be messy, letting her see all the peaceful anomalies in Vale as well, but she could work around that by using Coda to confirm them one by one. At least the anomaly before her was honest about the weaknesses of it.

"Fine. What do you want for that boon?"

"Tis tiresome to be trapped in mine lake. Experience is… not sustenance, per se, but pleasure. To feel what thou feel as if it were mine own self." That explained her wanting Blake's happiness and pleasure for a week; she wasn't going to make that deal again. "Worry not, child of fauna. I can sense thy concern. An abject lesson, thy first contract, but thou art wiser now. If thou wisheth not to feed mine self for a time of one week, then a single action might suffice, if the experience is tempting enough."

"An experience such as…?"

"If thou wouldst take a life and dedicate it to mine self then I wouldst strike this deal."

"Absolutely not!" shouted Blake, hotly. "I'm not killing for you!"

"It need not be an innocent child filled with wonder. An old man, the homeless, a criminal the innocent would sleep safer without." The lady smiled temptingly. "I wouldst let thee choose thine quarry, child of fauna. Similarly, I wouldst make no demands on how the deed is done. Slow, quick, painlessly. The choice would be thine."

Blake shook her head. There was no way she was killing someone and feeding that sensation to an anomaly that might yet have unknown motives or rules to it. She doubted it would steal the person's soul or anything like that, but even without that, it was asking her to intentionally murder someone. Saying it could be a criminal wouldn't change the fact she was killing them when she could be disabling and arresting them.

"No deal. How about a lesser power? How about something really weak, like the ability to jump higher. I'll take that for… I don't know. A week of eating cake where you get the taste of it? That should be an experience, right? Or I can go skydiving for you."

"I could grant thee a minor boon most useless for a romantic tryst."

Blake leaned back. "E-Eh? With me!?"

"I am a book, child of fauna. The tryst would be thee with another. Again, the choice would be thine. A lover, a stranger, or one paid in coin for a night of passion. The details matter not."

"They matter to me!" cried Blake, blushing to the roots of her hair. "And how the hell is it fair asking me to do that for a boon even you call minor! The price should reflect the power!"

The lady turned to her, and Blake was struck with the sense that she was angry. Filled with rage, in fact. Her fingers grippe the pages tight and sweat ran down her face. And then, with the suddenness of a crack of thunder, it was gone. Calm returned, and the lady laughed with the sound of tinkling bells.

"Oh, poor child of fauna. Thou seeketh to trick me? Such courage is admirable, but such arrogance is not. Think thee that I would not know why a weak boon might be asked for? Thou seeketh to embrace me to render thee unseen to the seer you pursue."

Blake winced. That had been the idea. Even a useless power would, in the end, make Blake count as "anomalous" for the duration of it, and then Lisa wouldn't be able to see her. It looked like she'd been seen through.

"The value of a boon is bartered not on its strength but on how badly thou needs it. Or how valuable it might be for thee. When even the slightest boon would grant thee an edge, the price will always reflect that. To think otherwise is to insult myself to mine own face." Her eyes hardened. "I would caution thee not do that again."

"I… Yes. Okay. I'm… sorry…?"

"Thou are sorry thou were caught. Such an impudent child. Oh, Fauna. How you would laugh to see thy daughter play such games. Alas that Fauna would hath been killed by the ones you call allies, as her sister was. An innocent soul filled with wonder, bursting into flame and screaming as her petals wilt away."

Flora and Fauna. One of whom had been the anomaly to birth the faunus – one of the few Reality Class anomalies in the word. "Can I tell you what I'm willing to offer and have you tell me what it can get?"

"I do not run a bazaar, child. The terms are set. For the amusement thou have brought me, however, I shall offer a most generous exchange. A kiss. A kiss with the man thou call your partner. That is all. No torrid tumbling, no writhing gasps, but only a kiss upon the lips of another. In exchange, I will grant thee a boon to sharpen thy mind. A voice on thy shoulder, to whisper answers in thy ear. It will not tell thee where she resides, for I am bound by the same limitations as she, but it will grant thee the power to put the pieces together."

For a kiss. With Jaune. It was an embarrassing thought, but it wouldn't even be the first time they'd kissed. Maybe she could convince him it was a "heat of the moment" thing. Relief at a job well done and a quick and sudden reaction to it. She couldn't tell him it was a deal for a boon because the stupid book wouldn't let her.

"Just a kiss. Me and Jaune."

"You misunderstand. The kiss shall not be thee and he. It shall be mine lips on his."

Well, yeah, that was what she meant. The feeling of the kiss would be taken away by the anomaly, leaving her to feel… nothing, she supposed. Would that make it feel plastic, or would it actually feel bad? Even bad was an experience, so she figured it would be more like her week before – a strange nothingness that left her feeling empty. Neither good nor bad, nor anything in between. That had been the worst week of her life, but the space of a single kiss wasn't going to be as painful.

It would be embarrassing, though. Blake kind of hopes she'd take that with it and spare her the mortification, but she had a feeling she'd be experiencing that for a few days after. Still, a single kiss to shut down an anomaly so powerful it was having Atlas bring in troops against them, and which could expose ARC Corp at any moment? It was a generous deal and she knew it. Worse still, she didn't want to hesitate and have it changed to killing someone again. Or hiring a prostitute. Blake would take a kiss with someone she knew over that any day.

"Fine. I'll agree those terms – a boon for a kiss with Jaune."

"Then the deal is struck. Fret not the voice in your ear. Tis not mine self, but thy own intelligence given… sharpness and a voice. But lean not so heavily on it, for tis thy own mind in all ways. Thou can be wrong, child of fauna. Thou hath made mistakes in the past and might yet make more. Exercise thy caution to your advantage." The lady in the lake waved her hand. "Now, begone. Our deal is struck. Should thou hesitate to repay mine terms, know that greater consequences await thee."

Blake's mind was torn from the pages and thrown back into her body, making her stagger back and gasp for breath. The deal was struck, and, if it worked as it should, then she should now be invisible to Lisa. That ought to mean she could no longer report on ARC Corp affairs.

"Other offices of ARC Corp are non-anomalous," a voice seemed to whisper in her ear. "Lisa won't be able to report on OUR office but could still reveal us and break the masquerade if she were to report on the others."

She froze, stunned for a moment, before realising. This was the boon. It really had sounded like a voice in her ear, but, strangely, her own voice. That was her own voice. It was strange, but not uncomfortable. And, thinking about it, the voice – or she – was right. The Containments Office was now immune to scrying by Lisa, but the other offices wouldn't be.

"Lisa's broadcasts are, for now, limited to Vale only. That could be a limitation, but it could also be a conscious choice on her part because she is used to reporting on Vale news only. If her range really is global then she could know what the other offices are doing, but if it is limited to Vale then she shouldn't report on them until they are dispatched to pick up our mess. That should give us forty-eight hours at least to find her."

Blake nodded. She wasn't sure why, since she was agreeing with her own brain, but it felt like the right thing to do. This power was… odd, to put it lightly. It wasn't like she was pulling things out of nowhere; everything it said was based on thing she knew already.

"I could have put all these pieces together myself given time, but the boon speeds things alone. The lady referred to it as sharpening the mind and that seems accurate. It's basically like a massive increase in critical thinking."

It was nice to know her boon agreed that she was smart enough to figure this out herself. That didn't make it a wasted power, however. Even aside from now being immune to Lisa, the ability to analyse things at breakneck speed would be useful when they were on a time limit. Blake opened her scroll and checked the first CCT address Coda had given her.

"This would be the closest to Lisa's apartment which, given no one would have been looking for her initially, would surely be the one she'd most likely have gone to if Coda's theory is correct. If Lisa didn't send it from here then it's likely she didn't use these means."

This was going to take some time to get used to.

/-/

It was worse than she ever imagined.

No power came without a price seemed to be the lesson here, and while the idea of your own mind working faster shouldn't have been so bad, it certainly was. Everyone had the perception necessary to pick things up or connect the dots if they concentrated, but you didn't choose to concentrate all the time. And for good reason. There were a lot of things you just didn't care about. Blake's new boon didn't have that filter, and merrily bombarded her with information as if she'd sat down and contemplated everything.

"Your payment has gone through, ma'am. You have terminal 26. Second floor." The young man offered her the key to the private room with a typical customer-service smile. He was dressed professionally. Blake wished that was all she noticed.

"His eyes keep dipping below our neck. He's imagining us naked, undressing us with his eyes. He's hoping our fingers will brush against his when we take the key. He wants us. The slight frown when we were willing to pay for a private booth indicates he's jealous of our perceived wealth as well. He's the same age as us, but working a dead-end job, while we are clearly rich. He doesn't think we earned that legitimately. He thinks we're kept around because we sleep with our employer. He both despises us and is attracted to us, and that makes him wish he could punish us. Likely through sexual-"

"Thank you!" said Blake, loudly speaking over her new internal voice. She snatched the keys, trying not to wince when his fingers did indeed brush against hers. She snatched her card back up before he could offer it to her and try for a second time.

There were things you just didn't need to know, and what other people thought about you was one of them. Blake slid into the elevator after the woman coming down stepped out. Their eyes met briefly, and the older woman sniffed.

"Heavy use of makeup and slightly shiny face suggests an over-abundance of skincare products. She resents our youth and good looks. She does not see herself as being as attractive as she used to be. No ring; not married; believes she is running out of time. Will lower standards soon to accept anyone who will make her feel desirable."

Blake was grateful for the door closing and cutting her off, even if that only sent her brain into a quick analysis of the elevator. Apparently, it hadn't been maintained well, and needed repair. That was not something she liked knowing, but it thankfully didn't crash. Even so, she planned to use the stairs on the way back down. Blake scurried out, eyes on the floor, being fed a bunch of useless trivia about the floor tiles until she found booth 26 and let herself in.

Before her brain could even start telling her the history of the table in front of her, she shoved her scroll into the slot and let Coda take over. The terminal screen flashed green, and then began running through thousands of lines of script.

Her mind was silent on the matter.

Maybe it couldn't read her because she was an anomaly. If so, she was grateful. With any luck that would extend to Jaune as well and save her learning anything he didn't feel comfortable telling her. The last thing she waned was to accidentally pry into his secrets.

"We are lying to ourselves. We want to know more about him."

Ugh. Okay, the last thing she wanted was to feel bad about prying. This time, her mind didn't chip in t tell her she was a nosey piece of crap. Good. There were several beeps and noises from the terminal before her scroll ejected with a click. It then began speaking, Coda taking over the speakers.

"There's nothing. I was able to access the other servers and I can tell you now that the broadcast is nowhere on these."

Blake's boon spoke to her, and she relayed the exact same words. "That means the idea that she's using anomalous means to upload the broadcasts is more likely. You're not going to be able to track her that way." Her boon posed a thought. "Can you access her bank records? She has to eat if she has a body, and she'll need to draw money out or make payments."

"I can certainly try. I will alert you if there is any activity. I'm sorry I cannot do more."

"That's fine. Closing off this line of enquiry is enough. It narrows things down."

Blake moved out the building, handing the key back to the man.

"He will watch our rear end as we leave. He is thinking about-"

The sun washed over her outdoors and she sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. A vast cacophony of sound washed over her as hundreds of people milled about, and her boon-empowered mind continued to spew information left, right and centre.

"They act like they are friends but secretly hate one another."

"She is angry, and he doesn't understand why, which makes her angrier."

"Faunus is hiding his ears; fears discrimination."

"He is worried that his girlfriend is cheating on him. She deflects. Discolouration on neck. She is cheating on him."

"That one recognises you. Heavy blush indicates embarrassed recognition. Likely from Wolf Con."

Blake sped up a little, dipped down a street and checked the news online. No new mention of Tomorrow's News thankfully, but other news sites were commenting on it with confusion. They couldn't not without looking suspicious, but at least they were acting like it was an orchestrated event for something or other. The main theories right now were a hype event for a TV show being portrayed as real life to get people interested.

Thankfully, none of the violent accidents predicted had happened yet – likely because of Jaune's intervention in closing down the road, and hopefully because the police moved quicker on their mole, and to prevent that gang war. If the gangs involved hadn't pulled out themselves out of fear of the other outmanoeuvring them. People would soon catch on that this wasn't an ad campaign for a TV show if people actually started dying as Lisa predicted they would.

But for now, it was safe. Blake moved down another street, ready to call a taxi, when a hand clutched her shoulder. "Ma'am," said a male voice. "We'd like to ask you a few short questions. If you could give us a moment of your time?"

Blake's eyes snapped back.

"Casual outfit. Brand new. Never worn before. Stiff disposition. He's tense – tenser than he believes he should be. Hand gravitating toward left hip in search of weapon. No weapon. Unarmed. Isn't used to being unarmed. Normally has at least one weapon on him. Black dot in ear is earbud. Connected to small microphone on collar. Is not common criminal; likely Atlas undercover operative as per Lisa Lavender's warning."

"I believe you're interfering in things you should not be, soldier." Blake's tone made his eyes widen. There was a burst of noise from his earpiece that distracted him. Rookie mistake. Blake ducked and grabbed his wrist, twisted and yanked it down painfully to force him off balance. He cried out but came down, hitting the pavement as people around her shrieked.

"Lisa Lavender said the outcome couldn't be determined due to anomalous interference. Possibly predicted we would use the book. Indicates even greater powers than initially believed. Footsteps approaching; he had support." Blake looked up, her mind taking in everything in an instant. "Four of them. Atlas squad – likely black ops, possibly huntsman trained. Dark-skinned faunus is opening his mouth to shout – others are intentionally falling back. Possible sound-based Semblance."

Blake displaced herself with a clone and leapt back, seconds before the faunus shouted, "DOWN ON YOUR KNEES!" Immediately, her clone knelt, as did five people who had been trying to get away, but now found their knees glued to the floor. Some of them fell over, struggling to disobey the command.

"Capable of forcing instructions on people via voice. Focused and directed but limited in range. If I keep moving then he'll struggle to hit me. It's non-lethal too, so forcing him to hit more civilians will put them in a difficult spot."

Well, she didn't normally take hostages of innocent people but Atlas was forcing her hand. Blake dove into the crowds panicking around her, even as the other Atlas soldiers with the faunus tried to fight their way through. One of them, a bald man, used his Semblance to extend the length of his arms in yellow light, reaching out for her but, again, being thwarted by the mass of people.

"We were identified leaving the CCT. Likely a spotter on the buildings nearby. Escaping them will be difficult while that person remains." Blake glance around to give her mind something to work with. The boon did the rest. "Angle suggests spotter present on top of the office block to the left – either on the roof or a high floor with solid vantage point. Will be obscured if we take alleyway to right and travel through to next street."

Blake followed the instructions, hearing the shouting voices behind her. They were quick, but she'd spent years dodging Atlas soldiery with the White Fang. It was second nature to her. As she went, she drew out her scroll and pressed Jaune's number. It rung once.

"Jaune here. In a meeting. What-"

"I'm being attacked by undercover Atlas agents right now. Currently on the run."

"What-? You-" Jaune's voice became distant suddenly, as if he'd pulled the scroll away from his mouth. "Ironwood, you will remove your peoples now or I'll personally make sure the Blades Office pays your command a visit in the coming days. I don't care what you say. No. I will not believe that nonsense. These are your soldiers, not rogue elements. You don't get to pull the deniable assets bullshit on me, Ironwood. Not after you were outed by what we know is a future-reading anomaly." He returned, voice clear. "I'll deal with Ironwood here. Get away from them." He snarled. "Put them down if they try anything. They're `definitely not Ironwood's people` after all. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if rogue elements of Atlas were killed."

He ended the call. Her power provided her nothing on him, but she could figure out that he was angry and just making threats to Ironwood herself. He knew she wouldn't actually kill these people, and she wasn't about to. It wouldn't be hard to lose them. To that end, Blake sprinted from the alley onto the new street and then dashed across the busy road, dodging cars and leaping onto the hoods of others to clear the way. She heard them behind her, but they had to take more care, and some of them were much less agile than her. A huge woman with dark skin was hurriedly, but clumsily, making her way through the honking traffic.

"Refuse to lose squad cohesion. Unaware of our specific combat ability and are worried about trickling into a one-on-one fight we could win. Unlikely we could win even that, but they can't know for sure. We can use this to our advantage."

Yes, they could. Blake sprinted into the next alley, unloaded the magazine from Gambol Shroud and touched the dust within. Back in the White Fang, elemental dust had been a luxury she couldn't always afford, but ARC Corp's generous pay, and the fact this counted as office expenses, meant she could have all the dust she ever wanted. Blake activated her Semblance once for ice, once for rock, once for gravity and then another time for lightning dust. The four clones, each effectively an elemental bomb waiting to go off, split up in the alleyway to wait in ambush. Blake ran ahead, turned the corner and slowed to a jog.

Seconds later, a loud burst sounded in the alley. Almost like an explosion, and certainly startling people enough to look like one, but not quite that bad. It would be a nasty surprise for her pursuers, however. Blake quickly flagged down a taxi and climbed into the back.

"Drive," she said, pointing ahead and dropping a fat wad of lien onto the passenger seat. The faunus glanced at it, shrugged and put his foot on the pedal. That kind of money wasn't anything to scoff at. Looking back through the rear window, she saw someone limp out the alleyway and look around, but they didn't spot her as she sat back down and fastened her seatbelt.

Well, brain. Where should I go? Where next?

Her mind answered.

"Jaune is probably in Beacon talking to Ozpin and Ironwood. Might even be recruiting Ozpin to assist since he would also be immune to Lisa Lavender's foresight. It depends if Jaune can get over his dislike for the man, and if Ozpin's ends aren't somehow furthered by this. Not enough information to really say one way or the other. Coda suggested the other possibility is Lisa was accessing the broadcast station directly. We were already there, but we just looked for her, not evidence that she'd been active. She probably has her own terminal and computer there with her own accounts. There might be some details on there."

Blake nodded. It made perfect sense. "Take me to the VPN Broadcasting Station."

"You got it, ma'am."

As to how Lisa could predict "Ozpin" since he's also an anomaly, keep in mind it's the same as how she predicted Jaune. Lisa can't see Ozpin, but she can see everyone else that's in the meeting with him, know why they are there, and put two and two together.

Also, Atlas being a little naughty here.

Next Chapter: 3rd July

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