Author's Notes:

Good news and bad news.

Good news, I'm releasing this a day early as I won't have time tomorrow to release it.

Bad news, this is a shorter chapter today. The shortest in the investigation sub-arc actually. Next chapter is a bit longer and will start ramping up towards the end of this investigation.

Enjoy!

"Text/Messages"

"Speech"

Disclaimer: I do not own Fallout, RWBY, or any associated characters

Remnants of a Courier

Arc 4: Chaos Theory

Chapter 67: Small Town Hiccups

The involuntary twitch of her bow didn't arouse any suspicion from the humans around them. Making Blake's momentary stress feel rather silly, causing her bow to twitch again. It was a nervous tick that she couldn't quite get over.

She followed her partner–Yang–through the town, heading to the local bakery to ask a few questions. Apparently, Yang had talked to her and the baker seemed amenable as long as you brought Lien. As good a place as any to look.

And they needed to act fast. They had been there almost an entire week with nothing to show for it. At this rate, they would return empty-handed and whatever that monster planned would come to fruition.

Though… The thought did give her pause. That was the third time the Mimic spared her life. Once during the train, a second time at the base, and finally on the second train. They really needed to stop meeting on trains.

Yang was rambling on about some new move she was practicing so Blake felt pretty safe in zoning out for a bit. She would apologize to her partner later if she could sort out these emotions now.

She couldn't possibly be feeling sympathy for the Mimic, could she? Sure, he had spared her, but that didn't mean he was a good person. He had killed dozens of people already. But then, why did he seem so reluctant to kill them?

Her eyes narrowed as she bit the inside of her cheek and her bow began twitching wildly. Maybe he didn't really want to be involved in this plot? Maybe Roman was forcing him somehow?

The Faunus blinked and shook her head. Why was she trying to find excuses for the Mimic again? At the very best he killed dozens of people to save his own life. Then why…

Nearly going off on another mental tangent, Blake's thoughts were interrupted by Yang.

"Blake… I think we have an issue."

Turning her gaze up from the ground, Blake saw her other two teammates standing in the center of a crowd. It looked like a large group of the townspeople had gathered to harass Ruby and Weiss, but why?

Not wasting any time, Blake jogged over with Yang toward the crowd. As soon as they got close, one of the members at the edge of the crowd turned to them. His confused look turned to one of indignation as he shouted, "There's the rest of 'em!"

"Why do you have to ruin everything?!" A woman from the crowd shouted as she turned to Yang and Blake. Worry and confusion invaded the Faunus' mind as she stared at the townspeople. Before today the townspeople just treated them with disdain and not outright hostility. What caused this sort of reaction?

"Hey, we don't even know what's going on! How about explaining that first before you accuse us of anything!" Yang shouted back, the Huntress' Aura enough to placate a few of the members in the crowd.

"Someone," one of the members stepped out of the crowd towards Yang as he began talking. "Fucked with the incense wards!" As the man stepped closer, not backing down from Yang, Blake recognized him. He was the scarred store owner who tried to sell them overpriced Dust. What was his name? Tim… Tarry… Tom!

Tom shot a hand out and made to poke Yang's chest. "And I think you did it-"

Yang grabbed his arm in a vice-like grip as she growled, "Don't touch me."

A standoff ensued between Yang and the merchant. If this got out of hand, the people behind the merchant would get violent. Blake wasn't worried about winning that fight but rather winning without someone getting hurt. If even one person from Rhyt got hurt, they'd not only leave with no evidence but also be punished when they got back.

The Faunus bit her lip as she eyed the crowd, trying to think of any way out of this. Why was it always like this? Just one problem after another she couldn't solve no matter how hard she tried.

In the crowd, she noticed two other Faunus, the hunter and her sister. They were a distance away, surveying the scene with frowns on their faces. The two looked like they wanted to intervene but also knew that Dawai was an "out-of-towner" like them, and would likely face the same ridicule as her team if they stepped in.

An older face was staring at her in the crowd. Grey hair and wrinkles made him seem angrier than he really was as Blake recognized him as Carmine's father.

Blake was about to try calling out to the man when she saw Ruby and Weiss who were trying to brush past the crowd without harming them. But the townspeople wouldn't let them through.

This caused Weiss to mutter something to the people before one of her white glyphs appeared in the air. The former Heiress grasped Ruby's hand before creating more glyphs and using them to walk over the crowd. This earned a mixture of grumbles and awed looks from the regular people.

"How were the incense wards sabotaged?" Weiss asked as the two landed on the ground next to Tom.

Blake recalled incense wards were often used in remote towns. A cheaper alternative to what the capital cities utilized. The incense was made of herbs and plants found in Vale, Menagerie, and Mistral that were mixed with small amounts of Dust. This was often burned to create incense that permeated around settlements to ward off smaller groups of Grimm. While it didn't actively harm Grimm, the creatures of darkness didn't like the smell, and the incense served to mask the town's scent as well.

The man turned and glared at Weiss before scoffing. "Fine, keep pretending," the man mocked as he pointed towards the southern wall of the town. "Someone burst some of the pipes along the wall and emptied the supply of incense we were using."

Tom crossed his arms as he continued explaining, "And with what Richter said, it'll be a week or two before we can get the pipes repaired and the incense going again." His look turned sharp again as he accused them. "Probably you lot trying to extort Lien from us."

Yang opened her mouth to retort but was cut off by Weiss. "Take us there."

"No," the man replied while turning to the pale girl. "I don't know what you're planning, but I ain't gonna let ya. You've already done enough damage. Leave, now." The man's demand was met by an irate Yang who marched up to the man with red eyes.

"Woah, woah!" A new voice called out and Blake turned her attention to a new face she wasn't familiar with. Purple calculating eyes and a playful smirk analyzed the Dust merchant before saying, "I know I'm new too, but just blaming this on an outside party seems a bit hasty. Why don't we all relax and get the captain here? I'm sure she'd love to hear of any evidence you've collected."

At the mention of the captain, the merchant's face soured and his eyes narrowed. "No need," the merchant replied through gritted teeth. "You lot can walk for now."

Yang scoffed at the older man, waving him away as she turned away. "Sure, whatever asshole."

Her words seemed to spurn the merchant into speaking again, though this time his tone was quiet and contained an edge to it. "Whatever you think you're digging into. Stop. Whether you believe it or not, this was caused by you."

Turning back, Yang narrowed her eyes and replied, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Whatever you want it to," the older man warned before turning and walking away, disappearing into the mob that was slowly dispersing now that their leader was leaving.

"Weird guy," the man who bailed them out said as he turned toward team RWBY.

"Everyone," Yang began while waving an arm at the newcomer. "This is Otto. Another traveler like us. I mentioned him to you yesterday."

"Nice to see you again and meet all of you," the man greeted with a smile and a nod of his head.

"Why'd you help us?" Blake questioned, doing her best not to narrow her eyes at the man.

Blake remembered Otto quite well. Yang's story painted the man as a socially inept and nosy individual. Yet here he was, helping them out of a bind with a quick idea. Not to mention that someone had sabotaged the pipes. And given it happened while they were in Rhyt, Blake doubted the sabotage was a coincidence.

Otto's smile turned cheeky as he replied, "Well… You see I like sticking my nose where it doesn't belong, part of the reason I'm traveling. And let's just say I smell a mystery. Plus I don't think they'll take kindly to me if you're run out of town."

It made sense but something about the man just screamed untrustworthy. A life of adventure was all well and good but it was suspicious that he was in Rhyt now of all times.

"Well, thanks for your help," Ruby piped up as she extended her arm. "I'm Ruby, leader of team RWBY. Let us know if we can repay the favor!"

Otto raised a brow as he took her hand which was shaken vigorously.

"Right," the man replied with a confused smile. "You're an energetic girl aren't you?"

Their leader smiled sheepishly while letting go of his hand. "Just a little."

The silver-haired man's eyes turned upward and away from Ruby as he spotted something that caught his eye. His smile widened as he turned his gaze back to them.

"Well, don't mind me ladies, but I've got to go. Try to stay out of trouble, yeah?" As the man spoke, he passed Ruby and began walking away.

"Bye!" Ruby called out after him, and without turning around, he waved back at her.

Blake quickly scanned the people mulling about and noticed a smaller individual with red hair disappear behind a building. Was that what caught the man's attention. Why would Otto be interested in that?

Turning to her partner, the Faunus nodded her head towards the man. Yang gave her partner a conflicted look for a moment before shrugging her shoulders and shaking her head. It didn't look like Yang knew exactly what to make of the stranger either. At least Blake wasn't the only one suspicious of him.

"So… What now?" Ruby finally raised the big question that they were all thinking.

What were they to do? Blake furrowed her brow as she tried to come up with something. It was likely that none of the people in Rhyt would talk to them after that sabotage. Maybe that was why the culprit did it? To stop or stall them? There were too many unknowns to tell.

She was frustrated, unable to help people, just like always.

"There's the woods?" Yang offered which caused everyone but her to groan at the idea. They had just spent a day and a half looking to no avail. They didn't want to do that again.

"No, I refuse to trudge around in the dirt and bushes anymore." Weiss declined the idea as she glanced at the retreating crowd. She almost seemed to be looking for something.

It didn't take a genius to notice that Weiss hadn't been exactly… Enthused about the mission. It was strange. Up until recently, other than herself, Weiss had been the most motivated to find out the truth behind House and the Mimic. Especially since House practically told them so.

But something recently caused her to switch. She seemed to go along with whatever they were doing but didn't seem like she was offering ideas of her own anymore. It made Blake suspicious but she wouldn't confront the former Heiress here.

"Fair," Yang replied before putting her hands behind her head. "But what else are we supposed to do then? We've asked everyone in town and dug up every clue."

"We should find who the real bad guy is, the one who broke the pipes," Ruby offered as she gazed at the southern wall, lost in thought. "It could be completely unrelated but I feel like it isn't."

"But where do we start with that?" Weiss countered. "The people here won't let us close to it and we've got no leads to go off."

Blake's partner let out a groan and complained, "I thought this was supposed to be easy. This investigation stuff doesn't even involve fighting Grimm."

A silence descended over the quartet of students as they stared at each other, unsure of what to do. Blake agreed with Yang, this was getting too frustrating. What were they missing? Just one real trail to follow, that's all she asked for.

"Ma'am," a voice called out from behind Blake, and she turned to see the old man from before who was staring at her.

Carmine's father nodded his head at her before continuing, "I won't say anything here. But stop by for dinner at my place, all of you. I'll explain everything then."

"Why not now?" Yang pestered the man.

The older man shook his head before turning and walking away. "I said later, pretend you didn't even talk to me here."

At that statement, Blake narrowed her eyes. There was only one reason that he would say something like that. They were all being watched.

Author's Notes:

So, who do you think sabotaged the town's incense dispenser?