Shade's New Blood - Chapter 18
Snow slowly drifted their way down onto the streets. In the capital city of technology, every breeze, no matter how small, left the air frigid and chilling to the bone. It was a wonder why anyone would choose to live in such an inhospitable environment, but for the young team 'Amethyst' and their older counterparts, the cold was not much of an issue thanks to their respective Auras. However, no matter how well it protected them against the elements, it would not last forever…
A pair of red eyes followed a stray snowflake on its journey from the darkened night sky. Up there should have hung the crescent moon, but in its place was a technical marvel created by man: Atlas. The floating city, capital of the kingdom that bore its name, had taken the moon's place, as if having declared that its tender light was nothing compared to the monument of Atlas's dominance over the continent.
Suddenly, Toma had called for Maron attention, "Hey, Maron!" She shouted from some paces up ahead, "You comin' along or what? The others aren't gonna' wait for us!" Her cheery smirk was brought down when another gentle breeze passed by again and gave her a quick shiver before her Aura adjusted, but it would come back soon after.
"Yeah," Maron returned clearly, "I'm going! Much to cold to stay out here anyways," she then muttered.
Maron remembered a little of her lessons from Shade that touched upon the old city. However, Mantle had seen better days. The air was foul with industry and above was a grey smog that wove into a thin blanket over the sky. As she rejoined the rest of her team, she couldn't help but look around the sick city. Whatever tale she may have heard about the Kingdom of Atlas crumbled apart just like the pavement and towering buildings. However, in spite of the gloomy appearance, the dust, and plenty of litter, the worst was the snow. Whether through being under powered or sheer negligence, Mantle's faulty heating grid could barely keep itself running against the weight of the cold.
Mantle's skyline and streets radiated with warm hues, dominated by orange light as if it could somehow made up for the pitiful heating. Much like Tourmaline, the billboards here too tried to make themselves stand out with brighter lights or eye-catching visuals a sign that life still clung to the unforgiving city, but, in the end, they all just merged in a sea of orange and smog. Coming from Tourmaline and seeing what may have been in its past, Mantle was now but a shadow of its glory days.
The eight-person group talked through the sparsely populated streets until they arrived at a large security station heavily guarded by Atlas troops. Along the way, they earned themselves a few scowls by the soldiery and citizens alike for one unknown reason or another, but the older team paid them no attention. After being granted entrance, the eight were brought inside.
The military-police building was crowded with office personnel rushing to finish their papers, documents, and other files before starting new cases. Lightly armed soldiers either prepped or stood down from their respective patrols. Florescent light and the scent of 'late-night coffee' were among the most prominent features of the interior, but Amethyst and Frostbite only ever received the passing or curious glance from a handful of the busy and overworked officers.
The group were eventually led to the front door of an enclosed office with its blinds pulled down to keep eyes from prying inside. However, the shouting from inside told them that whoever was inside was not in the brightest of moods. The soldier that escorted them gave the door a short knock before opening the door for the Huntsmen to be let in.
"Yes, I'm fully aware of the situation over there," An older man spoke to a display of a blank silhouette and his Scroll up to his ear. "We are stretched thin as it is! There isn't—I don't care who gave the order, deploying over half our fleet to Vale is a grave misuse of the kingdom's resources! We have more important problems than playing 'strongman' over in Vale!" He paused his rant and listened to the caller on the other end, "Then let Vale handle its own problems! We're barely holding it together over here. There's a string of unsolved murders of our men and women down here with dissent growing by the day! If you don't send me extra hands, Mantle will tear itself apart before your precious Vytal is even over! So, get the damn request in or Mantle will be your problem!" The man slammed his fist on the desk and cut the call with a furious scream of aggravation.
"Um, sir," Started the soldier accompanying Amethyst and Frostbite, "The Huntsmen requested by the brass are here."
The uniformed man hung his head low, took a deep breath, and recomposed himself, "As if we need…" He shook his head, sitting up straight to greet the Huntsmen in his office. "Right," He adjusted his collar of his snow-white officer's uniform, "You'll have to forgive such an unsightly display," he told them in a slightly hoarse voice. A result of constant vocal fighting as it would seem. "You must be the Huntsmen produced by the higher ups for this operation."
Flaye rested a hand on her hip, "Difficult to solve problems when there's roadblocks at every turn, isn't it?"
The man narrowed his eyes at the woman and grumbled. He looked over to the younger of the two teams and gave them a puzzled look, "I wasn't expecting eight of you," he said.
Flaye too looked over the four students of hers. "They're here to 'shadow' us for the mission. Hopefully they'll learn a thing or two out about being Huntresses, or even themselves." She turned to the older man again, "Consider them and extra set of hands for now. I doubt there will be any complaints."
Her explanation didn't quell the man's curiosity, but he nonetheless accepted it, "Very well," he started, "In any case, you may call me Captain Cye, I'm the one currently in charge of maintaining civil order in Mantle—for as long as that lasts…" He angrily muttered.
"Funny how it's Atlas of all the Kingdoms that needs help," sneered Blizz with a smirk half-hidden behind her hand.
Captain Cye's eye twitched in irritation as he directed a scowl to the woman, "Watch yourself, Huntress," Greene warned. Seeking to remain professional, he opted to ignore her quick jab to address the group on the situation, "Things are rough at the moment, yes. As much as it pains me to admit it, Atlas's security division doesn't have a tight hold on the city anymore. Honestly, I'm amazed it hasn't already fallen apart by now." The man took a seat back in his leather office chair and leaned back. He gave his weary cyan eyes a rest. Once he had collected his thoughts, he fixed his posture, knowing that now wasn't the time for him to rest. "As you no doubt overheard, our personnel have become victims themselves in this forsaken city. So, I'm updating your 'agreement' to include an investigation into these incidents and, before you ask, yes, you will receive an increase in pay upon completion." He tapped a few keys on the old-fashioned keyboard sitting on his desk and, once again, a holographic screen popped up with rows of faces and names. For a second, the man seemed to forget where he was as he read each name on the list as the screen continued to scroll. With a heavy sigh, he continued, "I can't even send out patrols anymore because of this." Cye tapped a key to shut off the screen; he had had enough, "That is where you come in, Huntsmen. Find this murderer. It may be a longshot, but I have a suspicion that the two culprits behind the raids on our facilities and the murders may have a link—or even may be working together. Bring them in, alive."
"Very well—" Started Flaye
"We'll get it done, Captain!" Toma quickly declared after her.
The aging officer's lips twitched at the comment but rested at a frown again, "Thank you, young Huntress, but please, do not take this mission lightly. I've already lost too many who went in and underestimated these fiends."
A disapproving Shae gave Toma's side a small jab with her elbow.
"Unfortunately, I won't be able to assist as directly as I'd like. We already have our hands full holding Mantle, Atlas, and all the other settlements under our jurisdiction. That should be all, I'll have someone bring you what little our previous investigations and investigators could gather before we had to shelve it entirely. Hopefully they can be of use to you," he told the group. "If you have any questions or need further info or permissions, don't hesitate to contact me or ask someone out in the main room for help. Get this done, I want the bloodshed to end quickly. Please, a number of families would like to see justice." He finished.
Captain Cye spun his chair around to look out the window as the two Vacuo teams filtered out of the room. Through it, Atlas hung over the city while the moon's light behind it gave a silhouette appearance. Maron lingered a second longer to watch but was pushed out by Flaye who guided her out the office.
Both teams were led to an empty meeting room currently being used to store spare tables and furniture. One of the soldiers who escorted them carried with them a single box and set it on a clear table in the center of the room before they left the Huntsmen to continue their own work. Amethyst, at Flaye's discretion, opened up the evidence box and slowly emptied it of its content.
"Steele, Blizz, Tania," Flaye called her teammates, "Sit this part out, I want these four to piece together this information on their own."
"Gladly!" Blizz remarked with happy stretch of her arms. Steele accepted the instruction with a short 'got it' while Tania let out a yawn.
Among the contents of the now emptied box was mostly paper reports and organized folders, but, though there weren't many, there were a few odd items here and there.
"So much for a 'fieldtrip'," Shae remarked as she started reading through the files, "And here I thought our biggest problem would be dealing with Grimm."
"Yes, it's ironic, isn't it?" Flaye raised the question to the girl, "Huntsmen spend years training to kill monsters—yet half the time they end up having to fight other people."
Shae sighed, "Well, they sometimes have Huntsmen training themselves," Shae replied, "Then it becomes a serious problem."
"Indeed. Makes one wonder what choices led them astray."
"Nothing good, that's for sure…" Maron muttered under her breath.
Toma cut herself into the conversation, "With the eight of us here, we can handle—"
From the organized pile of physical evidence, Flaye had plucked out a cracked Scroll. The four girls watched It power on with the touch of her finger. It flickered, struggled to come to life with but its first image left the four in awe. "Hmm, 'Huntsman's License'," Flaye stated, her tone reflecting her not giving it much thought outside of another piece of evidence. "Young one too, few years fresh from the Academy by the looks of it," she said. The woman proceeded to go through the device as if it were her own.
"H-H-Huntsman?" Trya stuttered while a hint of fear struck her, "T-They…"
"Looks that way," Maron chimed in. "Question is: Is this a separate incident—"
"—or are we not the first to attempt this?" Shae finished for Maron and shared a glance with her.
"Who would attack a Huntsman?" asked Toma.
"Someone with a grudge no doubt," answered Shae.
"Doesn't explain the Atlas personnel who were targeted though," Maron added.
With a small approving look, Flaye let the four ponder on the question while she dug through the late Huntsman's history—or what was left available on their Scroll. Most of the photos she scrolled past were just shots taken from their time at Atlas Academy with classmates and friends, nothing out of the ordinary. However. She stopped on one photo that contained the Huntsman and three others whom she presumed to be a part of his team. She went back and forth between it and a few papers regarding the Huntsman's history at the academy to check if her assumption was correct.
"M-Miss, there's some photos in here too," Trya waved a few of them to Flaye. Copies, of course, to be used as physical backups to whatever they must have had on record. Each photo had the face of a different individual. Some looked to from official IDs, others submitted by family or a friend with a clear shot of their face, and a few that might have been taken without their explicit knowledge, perhaps by the previous investigators who came before them. Curiously, out of the stack available, they were all marked with a red 'X' across their faces—except for three.
"Trya," Flaye called on the wolf Faunus.
"Y-Yes?" She yelped.
"Be a dear and find the people in this picture," the woman handed Trya the cracked Scroll with the photo of the quartet, "If they have reports about them, get them too," Flaye requested kindly. "Shae, Toma, Maron, update." She demanded.
"There doesn't seem to be any clear pattern," Shae answered, "You would think there'd be something in common with the victims but from the looks of it, it's at random."
"How so?" Flaye questioned.
"Aside from the obvious, there's a few who had a minor criminal history, but other than that, it's people at random it seems. Shop owners, factory and office workers, visitors and tourists from outside the kingdom… then it goes up to Atlas too! Corporate business types, a few officials, Atlas nobility, and a—" Toma red through another file, "—A professor at Atlas Academy?" She reread the file again to double check herself.
Trya called for Flaye's attention which happened to catch the rest of her team's as well, "M-Miss Flaye!" She held up four photos and their corresponding reports. "The ones in the photo, they, um…" She couldn't seem to get herself to say the words and instead spread the papers over the table for the others to see. Each of them was indeed a member of the same team, they had graduated Atlas Academy with average scores, succeeded and filed a handful of missions, but then that all suddenly stopped some years ago. Two were listed to have died during their last mission, one of whom was hospitalized before succumbing to their injuries. However, the third appeared to have been found murdered on the floor of a packing facility. Meanwhile, the fourth was a woman who had since ceased work as a Huntress.
Flaye took the photo and report on the surviving ex-Huntress. "Maron, Steele, I'd like you two to go check in on this girl," She handed Steele the file to handle, "Go confirm her story, then return. Shae, you'll come with me to investigate the Academy." She then grabbed the two remaining unmarked photos, "The rest of you, find more on these two from the record systems here, then split up to search for them. The rest of Flaye's team stirred to action. The woman ran her eye over the other marked photos scattered over the now cluttered table, "I have a feeling that our target won't intend to leave these three alone for one reason or another, so, let's get to them first."
A.N.: Updated summary.