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Legion

"I can't believe you just dropped twenty thousand Lien on first-class seats," Amber said as we debarked, stretching her back until it popped before pulling my jacket back on. "Not that I'm complaining, mind you."

I shrugged. "That's only like a fifth of the bounty I got for killing Samiri, since Vi didn't want her half," I said as we disembarked, not needing to wait for luggage. "And I can't imagine Amphivena won't make up for it even if its bounty ends up getting split among the task force."

"Point. Although I'd hope your share is at least forty, so we don't end up losing money on the flight back home." She winked.

"Maybe between our shares combined?"

Amber blew a raspberry. "I'm here as a favor, right? Why would I pay for my own flight?"

"Did I just become a sugar daddy?" I wondered.

Amber giggled. "I suppose I could ask for an allowance for some more practical clothes," she teased, wrapping both her arms around mine in the stereotypical 'date' pose.

"I dunno… I think you'd look pretty fetching wearing one of my shirts," I gave her a mock leer. Being five inches shorter than me, my jacket fell to her thighs. "But you'd probably rather have something that fits better."

Stepping outside, I raised my other hand to hail a cab, opening the door for Amber before climbing in myself.

"Where to?" the cabbie asked.

"Nearest clothing store that's still open." We'd gotten on the plane in Vale a bit after 18:30; the flight took five hours, but we crossed three time zones, so it wasn't quite 21:00. Fortunately, Remnan stores tended to be open later than they would have been on Earth, and it wasn't uncommon for even civilians to be shopping until 22:00.

Sure enough, we were dropped off only a few minutes later, and stepped into a low-ceilinged room filled with clothes ranging from practical to faux-stylish. Or maybe actually stylish? I have no idea how fashion works, but I don't think you can usually get trendy stuff at a shop this big, right?

Amber picked out a set of overalls and pair of boots almost immediately, but then hemmed and hawed over the rest, picking things off the rack and then putting them back, pacing up and down three different aisles. Eventually I gave up following her and dropped into a chair beside the dressing room. She shot me an amused look before making another circuit, tossing different blouses over her arm and taking them into the fitting room in a big pile.

She came back out of the dressing room half a dozen times. While I certainly enjoyed the opportunity to look her up and down repeatedly, I was eventually forced to admit that all the modeled outfits looked the same to me — a cream-colored blouse, the overalls, and a brown half-jacket.

Amber insisted each shirt was obviously different, pointing out alleged distinctions in the cut and fit as she changed back into each one to demonstrate them again, and it took almost twenty minutes before I realized she was messing with me.

Rolling my eyes as she twirled yet again, but unable to fight a smile, I got to my feet and caught her elbow before she could step behind the changing curtain again. "You've looked good in everything I've ever seen you in," I told her, letting my eyes slide down her form again. "So as long as you think you can fight in this, I'd say you're dressed to kill, no?"

Smirking despite the slight flush in her cheeks, Amber handed over all the tags from her new outfit. She also snagged a new set of underwear — leaving me to wonder what about her current underthings was unsuitable for combat — along with a set of flannel pajamas for me to take to the register, and once I paid we were on our way.

Now that Amber was kitted out with both interim Hunting clothes and pajamas for tonight, we stepped out of the store and hailed another cab to take us to a hotel, which ended up being near the city center. The web series had never shown this place, at least before I stopped following, so unlike Vale where I could occasionally match a shot to a street, this was all new.

The ziggurat-looking building that housed Shade Academy rose above the rest of the city to our immediate east. Aside from it, most of the buildings were squat, with thick earthen walls and rounded roofs, all different heights but none stretching very tall. North of the Academy seemed to be mostly farmland, except for a few scattered hovels. Considering that part of the city would have direct sunlight all day long, I imagined it had to be the poorer district.

Bianca hadn't said where to meet her in the morning, but considering my encyclopedia claimed that Shade was the closest thing to a government in Vacuo, I was planning to try there if she didn't call me first.

"Two single rooms," I said to the hotel clerk, who shook her head immediately.

"Sorry, sugar, all I've got is a single queen," she said apologetically.

"No worries, I'll take it; we should be fine for one night."

I paid up, took the key card, and once more opened the door for Amber as we found our assigned room. Once the door was closed behind us and I could be sure we weren't being watched, I pulled her purse back out of my [Inventory].

"I don't know if I'll ever get used to that," Amber mused. "It's such an odd magic, I don't understand it."

"Me neither," I admitted. "I just do it. I've been calling it part of my Semblance."

Shrugging, Amber made a beeline for the bathroom. Yawning, since it was approaching 22:00, I set her purse on the nightstand for her and waited my turn. I kept my own shower brief, and dried off in the bathroom before switching to my Jammies armor set. Then I looked down at my bare torso and silk boxers and decided that was maybe a bit too much — or rather, too little — and equipped one of my workout A-shirts as well.

Emerging with my spare toothbrush already in my mouth, I finished cleaning up for the night and found Amber already in the queen-sized bed. "What time do you think we should get there?"

"I'm going to text Bianca in the morning to be sure, but I'm usually up by 0600," I shrugged, hoping I'd be able to use my Semblance's alarm feature while sleeping on the floor. The situation hadn't actually come up since I started training, because my sisters were understandably jumpy about me camping out while Hunting.

I reached for a pillow to throw onto the floor, but Amber grabbed my wrist and yanked me onto the bed beside her. "I'm not gonna make you sleep on the floor when we have a big battle in the morning," she said flatly, flipping the covers up over us and clicking the light off. "I've been staying in an apartment with you for a month; I think I can say I trust you. And besides, we both need a good sleep for tomorrow." She leaned up and pecked me on the cheek again. "Good night, Jaune."

I took a deep breath and rolled onto my side, facing away from her. "Sleep well and wake, Amber."

Naturally, the way we fell asleep had little bearing on how we woke up. When 0600 rolled around and my eyes popped open, I was lying on my back with my arm under Amber's neck, and she had an arm and a leg thrown over my chest and thigh. Her head was pillowed on my chest, and her hair had fallen over her face, fluttering slightly as she breathed.

Not wanting to move around and wake her immediately, I carefully brushed her loose hair behind her ear, looking down at her unguarded face in the pre-dawn light. I was on the right side of the bed, so her scars — which like mine were on the left side of her face — were visible. There was a major darkened patch under her left eye, just missing the beauty mark at the corner, and a few tendrils that stretched out from it across her nose and jaw.

On Earth, I could see someone calling it disfiguring, but Remnant didn't see it that way… and maybe I was going native, but I tended to agree. For a Hunter, scars were a sign that you survived whatever made them. While I certainly got second glances when people noticed the hypertrophy on my face, I rarely saw any looks of disgust.

People just assume that I must have been doing something impressive for these scars. At least for her it's true — these are where that Grimm parasite tried to siphon away her soul, but failed to take all her magic or kill her.

Since I already had an arm around her, and needed to get to my morning meditation anyway, I gently laid a finger on her scarred cheek and triggered [Lay On Hands]. Amber stirred, but didn't wake, pulling herself closer to me and nuzzling into my shirt, and I took another moment to enjoy the feeling before settling into [Gaia's Pulse].

Vacuo, perhaps unsurprisingly, felt different to my soul's sense than Vale. There were far fewer plants, more scrub than grass, and only a few palm and acacia trees to break up the sky. Below ground, there were many more snakes, rabbits, and foxes than were typical further east, and fewer birds. There were more plants in and on the walls of Shade itself, at least the closest one that was in my range.

The people, on the other hand, felt very much the same; this early, many of them were still in bed, or only moving around their homes, but there were a few powerful Aura signatures that were either in Shade or between it and us. Wonder if any of those is Bianca.

As my meditation wrapped up, I became aware of a pressure on my hand, and opened my eyes to find Amber's brown eyes looking up at me, the hand I had placed on her cheek being held in one of her own.

"Good morning," I murmured.

"I've had worse," she agreed with a soft smile.

I drew my fingers back from her face, finding no difference in the scarring. Makes sense. I can't heal my own scars either, once they exist. Maybe if these were from a normal source I could make a difference, but considering this damage is soul-deep…

I shifted my hand so that Amber's fingers could lace through mine, and if we laid there for a few moments longer before getting up, neither of us complained.

I texted Bianca while Amber was changing, swapping to my Combat armor set and making sure my sunglasses were firmly in place before we stepped out into the desert sun.

DM: Paladin -› Lux Aeterna | Sunday 05:48

‹Paladin› we got time for breakfast?

‹Lux Aeterna› I'll treat you. Meet me by Shade's West gate.

‹Paladin› cool

‹Paladin› we'll head out in a few

The sun was just peeking over the horizon, and was entirely behind the ziggurat, leaving us appropriately enough, still in the shade as we stepped out onto the street. Even so, the twilight was already warm, and it was clear the day would be hot before too long. Remind me not to move to Vacuo.

There weren't many people out and about yet, so I didn't need to get close enough to read the floating nametag to identify the platinum blonde waiting for us.

‹The Light Fantastic›
LV 93
Bianca Arc

My oldest sister was dressed in desert-appropriate clothing, with a long-sleeved white tunic over tan-colored trousers, a khaki vest covered in pockets and her rank insignia, and a white scarf that was wide enough I suspected she could wrap it around her head when the sun got high. A lighthouse was picked out on it in thin black thread, still identifiable where it hung down around her neck, revealing a blended crew cut.

As we drew closer, I could see she was actually a couple inches taller than me, and just as broad in the shoulder, her build more comparable to Bia than anyone else I knew. The only other sister who shared our strong build was Olivia, who didn't lean into the physical type the way Bianca clearly did. The hilt of a greatsword poked up over her shoulder, just as it had in the portrait back home, and wide sunglasses hung from the neck of her shirt.

She gave Amber a cursory glance before looking me up and down, and even in the shade her crystal blue eyes marked her as part of the family if nothing else did.

"Jaune," she greeted me, presumably taking in the changes in my appearance since the last time she saw me. Between my haircut and the muscle mass I'd put on as my STR and CON rose over the last nine months, I thought we looked remarkably alike — even more so than most of my other sisters.

"Bianca," I replied, then introduced my companion. "This is Amber. Amber, my oldest sister, Bianca."

"Ah, your girlfriend," Bianca hummed, studying Amber more closely, taking in her balanced stance and lean figure. "Indigo mentioned her."

Amber and I exchanged a glance, and she smiled encouragingly at me. Well, then.

"Only as of last night," I corrected Bianca. "We were wrapping up dinner when you called. Cut our first date short."

"Sorry, then," Bianca said. Her tone was polite but her gaze remained sharp as she looked Amber in the eye.

I was about to speak up, but Amber's lingering smile convinced me not to.

"Don't be," Amber answered without missing a beat. She met Bianca's gaze with easy confidence. "This is a good cause. We'd have both been upset if you didn't call."

After a moment, Bianca nodded approvingly. "It's nice to meet you, Amber. Good to have you along."

"I really do appreciate you calling me in on this," I added, since the tension seemed to be easing. "I get enough babying from Indigo and Violet."

"I'm not surprised," Bianca muttered. "I almost didn't call you. Still not sure it's gonna be worth the headache I'll get when the chat hears about it."

"Indigo knows," I revealed. "I borrowed her car last night, and I had to explain why I was leaving it at the airport. So I assume she's told everyone already in the private group that you think I don't know about. Regardless, she ought to know by now that she's not my mother, and neither are you. Now, breakfast?"

Bianca gave me a complicated look, but nodded and led the way to a nearby café. She ordered food for all of us, and we sat down before she finally responded. "You're welcome, I suppose. Don't make me regret it."

The food came out on a large tray; a big platter of flatbreads seasoned with a spice blend Bianca called za'atar, a sizzling skillet of fried eggs and lamb shoulder, and a half dozen smaller plates for us to share. Lebnah yogurt, a thin-sliced sheep cheese, mixed olives, hummus, fresh cream and honey, and a larger plate of watermelon, grapes, and honey.

Bianca pointed out each dish as the waiter provided us with individual plates and poured mint tea for the girls and coffee from an ornate brass percolator for me. The coffee was served black in a small cup, like espresso, but smelled like it had cardamom added and was sweetened with honey — almost the opposite of how I usually drank it, but I was interested enough to try it out, and it wasn't as bitter as I expected from black coffee.

"So, what do we need to know?" Amber asked eventually, wrapping a pita spread with lebnah around a pitted olive.

"We'll brief with the rest of the squad," Bianca waved her off. "I want to know about you. How did you meet my dear baby brother? How did he ask you out?" She shot me a look like she was expecting me to protest.

I rolled my eyes. "I've been interrogated by now to enough to accept that all of you are nosy bitches, affectionately."

"I was in a coma, and he healed me," Amber answered, reaching out and taking my hand. "They didn't expect me to ever wake up. Then he stuck up for me by pointing out it was better for me to not be locked away in case I needed more healing, gave me a place to stay, and was a perfect gentleman even past the point when I started wanting him to stop." She winked at me.

"So did he force you to ask him?" Bianca smirked.

"Nope, he worked up the nerve and did it," Amber smiled. "He brought me my favorite flower and took me to a nice dinner. We were planning to go dancing before you called."

"Attaboy, Jaune."

I rolled my eyes. "Thanks for your support. You can keep at it by continuing to treat me like an adult."

After breakfast, Bianca brought us back to Shade itself through the West gate. Though the fence itself was open to the street, the guards on either side eyed us until they recognized my sister and let us pass with snapped salutes. We entered through the side, past a clay sparring ground and bicycle parking, and began climbing the stairs.

"In a way, I'm actually glad you brought Amber, even if it means twice the paperwork to deputize you both into the Legion," Bianca told me out of nowhere. "Most of my cadets are on leave, so our squad for this is a bit underweight." Before I could ask why, she pushed open a door, revealing four other people who I presumed were the rest of our task force. "This is Xuan and Aisha, two of my cadets."

The two soldiers, a man of average height and a woman a few inches taller, saluted as Bianca walked in.

‹Fear Defeat, Not Death›
LV 63
Xuan Jin

‹A Match For Men›
LV 65
Aisha Denium

"At ease," Bianca added. "That's Starr Zanzang. She owns a dojo in the city, and she volunteered like you did."

The monkey faunus standing by the table waved.

‹Tall Mountains Have Their Passes›
LV 87
Starr Zanzang

"And this is–"

"It'll be Professor Rumpole to you brats," interrupted the last figure.

‹Little Rattle-Stilt›
LV 88
Xanthe Rumpole

She was hunched and barely four feet tall, but belied her age with an easy stance, walking with no sign of a cane. She wore a sleeveless brown longcoat with glittering flecks decorating the outside. "I'm the history teacher here, and I'll be making sure Arc's idiocy doesn't get you killed. Honestly, bringing kids like you–"

Frowning, I interrupted her right back. "If I'd heard about it before she called, I'd have been on the same flight regardless, ma'am."

Professor Rumpole paused in her examination of the map spread across the back wall and turned to face me. "And why is that?" she questioned. "You have a death wish, boy?"

"What I have is a vested interest in seeing the Named dead," I corrected.

She snorted. "You think no one else has ever thought that? Their bones are scattered through the desert; what makes you think you'll be any different?"

I raised an eyebrow, but kept my cool rather than getting defensive.Thanks, [Gamer's Mind]."For one thing, I'd imagine I have a lot more experience dealing with Named Grimm than most, considering I've killed two of them personally. For another, did any of those other teams bring along a healer who can fully recharge a Hunter's Aura in a couple minutes?" Rumpole didn't answer, so I looked around. "Where's everyone else?"

Now Rumpole cackled. "Even the rookie knows you don't have enough people!"

"This is the whole task force, Jaune," Bianca explained. "We received permission for this Hunt, meaning we won't be reprimanded for undertaking it. But it wasn't an order, and we just got back from an op yesterday, so there were only a few volunteers."

I fought to hide a grimace. "Well, at least I actually got to prepare this time instead of getting ambushed. And I already brought the biggest gun I know of," I added with a wink toward Amber. Turning back to Bianca, I added, "You should probably keep us near the back. Amber's Semblance is very powerful, but draining."

"How draining?" Bianca asked, all business.

"Enough that overuse could put her back in a coma," I said grimly. "But with my own I can keep her topped off. As for me, I'm good enough in a fight, but my best utility is healing."

"I was hoping you wouldn't raise a fuss over not being on the frontline," Bianca sighed in relief.

"I'll wade in if I have to, but I'm not a glory hound," I promised. "Is anybody else's Semblance good for artillery?"

"Just mine," Bianca answered. "But even I can't get through Amphivena's scales without time to concentrate fire. Which it won't give us, based on historical reports; it's too fast."

"You'll both have to aim for softer targets," I decided. "It's an oversized Taijitu, right? The eyes and mouth, and any scars or missing scales we spot. Are we hitting both heads at once?"

"That's what I was thinking," Bianca agreed, moving over to the wall and indicating a spot on the west edge of the desert. "Fortunately, we got confirmation this morning that it still hasn't moved from Unkatimpe Canyon since the last update. The prospective AO is a bit over 2000 kilometers away, meaning we can get there in about ninety minutes on a supersonic." She looked down at the Professor Rumpole. "Do we have a map of this local area?"

Rumpole scoffed, but went over to a filing cabinet. "Where is it?"

Bianca supplied the coordinates, and a moment later we were inspecting a closer map that Rumpole spread across the table. I leaned forward, then had to silently deny an offer from my Semblance to absorb the map and incorporate it into my [Map]. Much as I would love to have the information, I didn't know how valuable this particular map was, and I was still keeping my true Semblance need-to-know.

One of the soldiers, Aisha, tapped a spot close to her, drawing my attention back. "There's a village here, Ankakuwasawits, that we could stage out of, Commander."

"What a mouthful," Amber muttered, drawing a nod from Zanzang and another snort from Rumpole.

"That'll do." Bianca took a picture of the map with her Scroll, and I did the same. "Anything that occurs might be of help; we'll discuss it before we go. I want to hit the actual AO at noon so we don't have the sun in our eyes."

Rumpole scoffed again. "High noon in the desert. My favorite."

Bianca ignored her. "Go gear up if you haven't already; we'll meet back here before we get airborne."

I was glad to have my sunglasses as soon as the Hawkshead military transports took off from the landing pad at Shade. Amber had borrowed a headscarf — or rather Rumpole had flung the balled-up cloth at her head and barked at her to put it on — and was toying with it, trying to make sure it wouldn't slip and block her vision. Still, our flight wasn't as uncomfortable as it could have been: Bianca, Xuan, and Starr were in the other transport, and Rumpole sealed in the cockpit of our plane, leaving Aisha, Amber, and me in the back, all going over our last minute checks.

My gear was pristine as always, thanks to my Semblance, so I watched with interest as Aisha inspected her own weapon. In its melee form, it was a rather large shamshir, the hilt studded with green Dust crystals of varying shades. The blade's edge shone as expected, but the rest of the metal was a matte silver that didn't reflect the sunlight. Aisha ran a thumb along the blade carefully, checking for any burrs or dull sections, with only the slight shimmer of emerald Aura preventing it from splitting her skin. Satisfied, she then tested the mech-shift to turn it into an assault rifle, careful not to let the barrel point at either of us as she ejected the magazine and made sure it was carrying live rounds.

The hawksheads were much smaller than the bullheads Beacon used, with only eight seats, but much faster in exchange: once we reached 10km altitude, Rumpole ordered us to strap in, and a moment later we were all pressed against our restraints as the plane suddenly accelerated. The engine's hum grew to a roar, before there was a slight shudder and it abruptly dropped off again, audible more as a vibration than a sound.

"Wow," Amber said softly, eyes half-closed. "I've never gone this fast before. I can feel the wind…" she trailed off, so I asked Aisha something to distract her.

"Are you a Shade graduate? I don't actually know how Bianca's squad works."

"Most of the Legion are Shade alumni," Aisha replied. Her voice was deep for a woman, even more so than Bianca, but definitely feminine. "Xuan is from Anima, I think. And the Commander is from Vale, obviously. The rest of us are locals."

"How many people are under her? And where are they?"

Aisha sighed. "Like she said, this is a strictly voluntary assignment. But we'd follow the Commander into Hell, so we would have had more of a turnout if most of the Legion hadn't just gotten back from burning out a Crown cell. They're on mandatory downtime, because the Commander thinks one of the enemy has some kind of brainwashing Semblance."

"That's awful!" Amber exclaimed.

"It's been a real pain in the ass," Aisha agreed. "Every time we think we have them cornered, they slip away." She hesitated, then lowered her voice and added, "I probably shouldn't tell you this, but at first we actually thought they had a mole. But the Commander eventually decided that we couldn't do anything about it if they did, so we'd just have to compartmentalize information." Her voice returned to its normal pitch as she finished. "It seems to be working."

"Nasty," I mused. "What's their deal?"

"They want to restore the monarchy, apparently," Aisha shrugged.

Both Amber and I stared at her. "Uh, wasn't the monarchy abolished like eighty years ago?"

"I didn't say it made sense," said Aisha. "Anyhow, there are usually three full teams with different specializations."

"What's your specialization?" Amber asked curiously.

Aisha gave a smile that was equal parts charming and dangerous. "Heavy combat."

"What can you tell us about Amphivena?" I leaned forward. "I haven't had time to research the Named as much as I wanted; I've been busy since classes started getting in sync with my team."

"They didn't volunteer either?" Aisha asked sympathetically.

I shook my head. "I didn't have time to tell them, but I probably wouldn't have. The Named are my mission anyway."

Amber nudged me, frowning. "That sounds like you don't trust them."

"It's not that," I denied. "Blake was there when I fought Krios. She's the one who brought it down for me to finish off, even. But she also panicked upon seeing it in the first place, and I don't want to force her or any of them into that situation again. Plus… there's no way to say it without sounding arrogant, but I'm a lot stronger than they are."

"You've risen to the enemies you're fighting," Aisha said softly. "Don't they deserve the same chance?"

Not finding an immediate answer, I grimaced and changed the subject. "So, Amphivena?"

Aisha gave me a hard look, but nodded and started telling us what to expect based on the last reported encounters with the Twinsnakes. Amphivena was, as Ozpin had mentioned, over 300 meters in length from black head to white, with scales hard enough to deflect most bullets harmlessly and a shocking speed for something so large. It moved its massive coils through the erg's sands like a Sea Feilong through the ocean. The stare of its white head was said to have a paralytic effect, though a Hunter with a trained Aura could shake it off, while the black head's fangs dripped with an incredibly caustic venom. Not that any human bitten by it would have time to suffer, considering the fangs in question were close to a meter thick and would leave similarly-sized holes in those victims the massive snake didn't simply swallow whole.

Reports of weaknesses were few, aside from extrapolations of the base species that I had mentioned earlier. The most common places to strike on a normal-sized Taijitu, or even a King Taijitu, were under the chin or on the back of the neck, just behind the head. Being serpentine, it was difficult for the Grimm to do anything to unseat a Hunter who dug in at those spots, aside from crushing them against terrain.

A Taijitu's heads could act independently, and sometimes weren't fully in sync, leaving it as off-balance as a snake could be. Scales could be lifted to reveal the soft flesh beneath, but that was difficult enough when they were a few dozen meters long, much less hundreds. The center of the body, where white gave way to black, was paradoxically one of the worst places to attack despite being furthest from the heads, because the scales overlapped and made it difficult to actually damage.

Not to mention, Amphivena's scale meant its scales were bound to be huge, thick, and heavy. I may have replaced the gun Samiri broke, but neither it nor the Family Sword were big enough to make a huge difference in a single strike against something like this Named.

This could be a real pain in the ass.

A bit over an hour and a half later, another shudder ran through the plane, and the roar of the engine came back as we dropped below the speed of sound. The engine noise continued to decrease as our altitude dropped, and soon enough the ramp dropped and we stepped out to the edge of a village. We were near the foot of a mountain range that stretched North to South as far as I could see, and the peaks were high enough that I caught glimpses of snow between the clouds. A narrow stream ran down and into the town, presumably into a reservoir that allowed the village to exist at all.

Bianca and Xuan waiting by their own hawkshead, while Starr was over by a gate in the village's wall, calling out to whoever was on guard. I couldn't tell how the conversation was going, but her tail was held high, so I hoped it was well.

Breakfast had run until 07:00, and planning until 09:30 before the ninety-minute flight; it would be nearing 11:00 in Vacuo, but we had crossed two more time zones, so we had a few more hours before the op.

Aisha saluted Bianca, who waved her off. "None of that in the field, Denium."

"Yes ma'am." Aisha relaxed slightly, though she and Xuan — and Bianca for that matter — remained standing at ease in contrast to Amber and I.

"Here I always heard Vacuo was the 'undisciplined' Kingdom," Amber hummed.

Aisha snorted. "You heard right. But they get away with that because we pick up the slack."

"It takes a lot of care to look carefree." Xuan smiled.

"Part of Vacuo's charter is not having a regular military," Bianca clarified for us. "Instead it's only us Legionnaires. Every society needs someone to enforce law and order, you know? But even in the city, laws are pretty basic, and the cops handle most things while Hunters focus on Grimm. In turn, we police the cops and the Hunters, and take up special assignments like this. We're like Atlas' Specialists, except without a regular army to back us up."

"Because there hasn't been international war since the Great War," I mused.

"And because… well, who'd try to conquer this?" Bianca jerked her head away from the village, where the alluvial fan from the foothills changed into a stony desert where the mountain's shade didn't reach.

"That's a bit harsh."

Aisha shrugged. "Take it from a native: we know how it is. We just like it this way."

"Fair enough."

The conversation faded as Starr came back over with three people from the village; a woman of about fifty and two young, rough-looking men who stood like bodyguards.

"Sooo… they don't want us here," she said casually.

Bianca sighed, but inclined her head to the older woman. "Mayor?"

"I am," the woman sighed. "And it's nothing personal, but the Legion is seen as the hand of the Kingdom's laws, and, well…"

"We're not after anyone here, and we have our own supplies," Bianca assured the Mayor, who relaxed slightly.

"Then what brings you out this way?"

"Amphivena," Bianca said softly.

Now the Mayor paled. "The Twinsnakes are nearby?" Then, before Bianca could even answer, she rounded on her companions. "You will speak of this to no one!"

Both men nodded frantically, agreeing, "Not a word!"

"Our intelligence puts it at Unkatimpe Canyon," Bianca explained. "We're planning to engage it there, where it can't simply burrow away. If it flees, we'll at least drive it into the desert."

The Mayor grimaced. "I doubt I'd be able to sleep tonight, had I known a monster like that was on our doorstep. But… your group is tiny," she said bluntly. "What makes you think you even stand a chance?"

Bianca glanced at me behind her sunglasses. "Did you hear about the flight that crashed out in Mistral, and the Hunter who saved the passengers by killing Samiri the Marathonian?"

"We have," the Mayor answered, and the bodyguards both nodded.

"Well, that Hunter was my brother," she announced, clapping a hand on my shoulder. The Mayor studied me skeptically, but the bodyguards' jaws had dropped. I swallowed my annoyance and forced a smile instead as Bianca continued, "And the Legion is looking to repeat the feat."

Feeling like I had to say something, I popped [Eagle's Splendor] and half-hugged Bianca in turn. "We're Arcs," I said smoothly. "Heroism runs in the family."

Name: Jaune Arc
Level: 44 (Next: 14.85%)
Title: Academy Student
Race: Human
Age: 18
Job: Beacon Student
Class: Paladin
Semblance: The Gamer
HP: 4385/4385
MP: 2926/2926
STR: 101.5 (53)
CON: 111.8 (50)
DEX: 124.8 (53)
INT: 90.8 (50)
WIS: 98.5 (52)
CHA: 110.8 (50)
Points: 124
Money: 1,214,961L
Status: Cursed – Yellow Death [High]

A/N: So, if you're not hanging around my Discord, this chapter is about four months delayed. I planned on a small break over the new year while I was volunteering, but I got laid off at work in January and had to spend all my spoons job-hunting.

I'm still out of work, but I found the time between commission projects to clean this chapter up. I'm not 100% happy with it, but I am about 80% happy, and I'd rather publish and move forward than spend another few months polishing.

I consulted with a Syrian friend on the matter of breakfast, mixing and matching to make something multicultural but still 'ethnic'.

Bianca's crew are a mix of influences. Xuan is based on Xin Zhao from League of Legends. Aisha more broadly alludes to the concept of amazon warriors (I think – I stopped and started this chapter so many times I don't remember if I was thinking of a specific character).

Starr Sanzang (a cousin of Sun Wukong) and Professor Rumpole are Vacuan characters from expanded canon, respectively based on Tang Sanzang from Journey To the West and Rumplestiltskin.

Ankakuwasawits is a corruption of a Paiute Native American/First Nations word ('Angka-ku-wass-a-wits' meaning 'red-painted-faces'), referring to the hoodoo rock formations of Bryce Canyon, in what is now Utah, United States. The Paiute name for Bryce Canyon itself is Unka-timpe-wa-wince-pock-ich (literally, 'red rocks many standing holes'), which has been translated to 'red rocks standing like men in a bowl-shaped recess' — according to legend, the hoodoos were once people who were turned to stone by the Coyote spirit.

'Crown' and the conspiracy to restore the Vacuan monarchy comes from a tie-in novel I haven't actually read. For the moment, treat it as an easter egg rather than foreshadowing.