"Dammit..." With his mood staunchly soured, Junior shook his head. "Again with him?"

"Does... does this happen a lot?" And then there was her, the little girl in red, of which the troublesome man mimicked so closely. Being up close and personal now, Junior couldn't help but feel a little more than disturbed. Sure, taking inspiration from someone's style was one thing, and dressing like them was weird too, but even the face seemed a match. Part of him wanted to question whether they were related in some way; hunter's tended to get out a lot, so bastard children were less a rarity and more a guarantee.

But that was not a conversation he wanted to have, and it wouldn't help clear up the mess Jay had brought upon him again. Of all the times to be grabbed, it just had to be when he owed Malachite a visit.

"Far too much," Junior offered, feeling a tiny tingle of guilt when her eyes grew a size. She appeared the innocent sort, the kind of girl who had dreams of being a grand hero. He was like that once, wanting to save the world as a boy, but then his father led him into the family business, and Junior knew those dreams weren't meant to be. But this was a history unique to him, and there was no reason he needed to be the one to shatter the kid's harmless perspective. And so, Junior opted to soothe the blow, if only to quell any excess stress, and allow for smoother operation going forward. "But he usually comes out on top, one way or another."

"Don't get too upset." Miltia jumped in, taking the girl by the hand in a friendly gesture - she always did have that touch to her, being able to lighten even the darkest of moods. "Trust me, Jay's stronger than he looks. He can handle anything that comes his way."

"Regrettably..." Melanie mumbled under her breath, only to get an unamused glare from her sister. Spitting up a snarl, she quickly defended herself. "What? I agree with you; he's a roach nobody seems to be able to squash."

Rolling her eyes, their little showing seemed to bump Ruby's confidence up a little. Junior was also thankful for that too; Melanie, unlike her sister, lacked the softer touch and approachability, but in its place was a staunch feeling of honesty. She could certainly lie if and when she wanted, but normally she'd give off the air of brutal truth which many had a hard time doubting. Maybe it was her snark, and the brutality of her comments, but Melanie always managed to convince people of the truth, whether she knew it or not...

Even if she portrayed herself as a hard-ass because of it.

"I'm sensing conflicted feelings here." The more upstanding girl brought into his club, Weiss he believed, appeared the type to look before she leaped. Melanie put on a plain face, but nevertheless took the bait.

"Just because it's my job to keep him from killing himself, doesn't mean I have to like him personally. I'll be the first to say, I think he's scum. Self centered, stupid, cowardly, and a troublemaker; I'd dare say I hate him."

"You don't hate him," Miltia jumped in, albeit more casually. "If you did, you wouldn't even try looking for him."

"It's my job," Melanie defended, only to have that handwaved away by her sister.

"A lot of things are your job, but I've seen you take the hit before."

That was true as well: many times Melanie came to Junior feigning unintentional failure to protect or defend a client, and he could always tell when it was purposeful - kind of his semblance's thing. She knew this too, but in those cases there were legitimate reasons behind her choice, such as the client requesting protection because he'd messed with the wrong people. Even so, It took a lot of hate for Melanie to give up on a job, but it had happened before, and for less legitimate reasons than her opinions on Jay.

But that was the thing: he knew her true thoughts on the boy, and she knew his - their discussion after he passed out may not have harbored much, but it did allow them to speak frankly.

Of course, Melanie said it best herself.

"Yeah, but those guys were beyond hope, period." Crossing her arms, Melanie huffed. "As hopeless as Jay seems, he still has some redeeming qualities; his cockroach nature, for instance, can come in handy quite a bit. And besides... There are a few things about him I want to know, because according to this bozo," Melanie thumbed over to Josh, who merely blinked. "The Jay he's told us about is not the same as the fucker we've been dealing with. I want to know why; simple as that."

A walking contradiction: that's what she called him. A man who, seemingly at random, could blow up with courage whenever it was convenient, before falling back into his cowardly self. Heck, in the short time he'd spent with Jay, Junior couldn't quite get an accurate read on the kid's personality; it shifted so fast, depending on what was going on.

A coward, that's all he knew Jay to be at his base... but even that felt fleeting.

"Think it's a semblance, or something?" Josh broke from his mildly plain position as the one just listening, offering up an idea that, strangely, felt both accurate and incorrect. "Milly brought it up to me before on our way to find Coco and Ruby. Could someone have used their semblance on him without knowing... if semblances work like that?"

"Huh..." Melanie's brow line sort of perked up for a second. "That's the first time you've mentioned a decent idea." And then it fell. "Milly?"

"I'm working out the nicknames." Rubbing the back of his neck, Josh shook his head after. "But that's besides the point. Could a semblance have messed with him?"

"It's certainly possible." Melanie would have dwelled on that, but a certain somebody fell - literally - between them all. Neo straightened herself, dusting off her sleeves and wearing a serious look, only to harshly shake her head - Josh, unlike everyone else, momentarily cast his eyes to the ceiling, before dropping them back to Neo.

"W-when did you get here?!" Ruby hopped back, startled. Neo went about ignoring her, merely whipping out her scroll and typing. Melanie waited patiently, as did everyone else, until finally a robotic voice droned out - Neo's way of talking to a crowd when necessary had been the classic text-to-speech.

"No good. My semblance had no effect on him when he was taken."

"What?" Josh popped back in, only to earn another quick message.

"They don't work on you either, for some reason."

Well... that at least confirmed to Junior that his odd experience with the duo wasn't solely limited to him. These two were just, inexplicably, immune to semblances; for every answer they got, more questions piled on.

"And there goes that theory." Melanie sighed, bemoaning in a low tone, "And just when we might have been getting somewhere."

"Really?" Neo nodded, and Josh hunched over, disgruntled. "Crap. What are we supposed to do now?"

Junior wasn't sure what the kids had in mind for getting Jay back, if they had any plans at all, but he certainly had some ideas of his own.

"You said the ones who took him were a group of men going by Garanite, Fris, and Blanco, right." He got a nod from Melanie, along with Neo, and used their confirmation to continue. "I know for a fact we have a few fellows going by "Garanite" on file, but it'll take me a day or so to get that info ready. Fris, I've never heard of, so for now we can assume there may be some form of "alias" they're using, which brings down the chances of "Garanite" being the man's legitimate name."

"So the names are pointless then?" Melanie held back an angry hum. "Great."

"Now I didn't say that." Junior quickly intervened, getting a curious side-eye from her. "While Fris may be an alias - or someone of little importance - I do know a fellow going by Blanco, and only one." Bit by bit, he was earning the attention of them all. "It's not much, just a factory worker who drives some heavy equipment, but he is, in fact, real. If we can confirm that both Blanco in this situation are one and the same, then it's safe to assume Garanite may well be the true name of Jay's kidnapper; I know some folks who ignore aliases altogether, figuring everyone will assume their name an alias anyways. It won't be a solid 100% guarantee, but it's the closest lead we have until I find something on the backlog."

"How do we do that?" Josh looked to take this just as seriously as Melanie, and both had eyes on him like hawks. Kid was, at least, living up to the "best friend" moniker in this sense here. "It can't be as easy as just... looking at him, right? He was probably in disguise when taking Jay."

"Or he might use disguises when working his normal job," Melanie brought up also.

"It'll take some time." Junior would need to do a bit more digging on Blanco, but in the meantime, he'd need the kids to pitch in too. "I need to do some serious research on my end. While I do that, you'll need to keep your eyes open. If Garanite really is taking faunus kids and selling them, then he's not going to stop just because of one hiccup. Business is going to move, with or without him, and he and his posse will adapt along with it."

As much as Junior hated it, that was one facet of the underground he'd never have total access to; if he did, it would be easy to destroy and repurpose. The truth of the matter was, a lot of his contacts and those under him "liked" that product of the underground, and because of this, they'd kept it secret from him. Manipulation and torture could only go so far, and the more he pushed to unearth it, the better they'd become at hiding it. All of his contacts and men couldn't help him with this, because they were the ones orchestrating it. The best he could do was deal with it swiftly when it came out eventually, and it would come out. He just needed the one thing he'd long since mastered.

Patience.

"We can't cover an entire city." Miss Schnee brought up, unnerved even by her own admittance. "We have school to attend to, and you've no doubt got your own work to handle."

"Perhaps," Junior answered, giving her the point there at least. "But we alone won't be the only one's looking. The Vytal Festival has a very unique effect on the kingdom hosting it, and if people, even homeless ones, consistently go missing, the festival's security will notice. For the sake of keeping the peace, they'll look into it, if not for the brownie points in politics, then for their own beliefs. I'm only asking you to look where you can, and note anything of interest. I'll be doing the same while digging into Blanco. I'll have the twins contact you when I've readied a plan to bust him out of wherever he's being held, so for now, focus on what you can do."

With that, Junior took his leave; he still had other business to attend to, but afterwards, he'd be sending some of his more trusted men off to do a little spying over the coming days.

.

.

His head hurt, like, really bad.

Trying to move himself proved futile, and while that worried him, Jay wasn't feeling all that well enough to immediately panic.

What happened? Last he recalled, a little kid came running in, warning them of pursuers. He was in the... Mud Puddle, was it? There was someone else too... a woman, who was... helping him look after Melanie. Neo, Neo was there, wasn't she? Yeah, she led him to the Mud Puddle... and then...

That pain: an inconceivable burst of heat, or a memory of such, had washed over him. In a bid of panic, he twisted to see Melanie, and the adrenaline he'd been high on had him diving her way. If he felt that pain, then she had to be close enough to feel it too. But that was simply his attempt at recalling what went down; he certainly wasn't in the dingy backroom of the Mud Puddle now.

The stale white walls were new.

Before him sat a table, and he too was seated. Another chair lay empty on the opposite end, and while he tried to move his arms and maybe rest them out front, something bound his wrists. As if his current circumstances weren't bizarre enough, he was missing his jacket. None of this added up, and yet... his head felt lighter. Soon, light blinded him, and he recoiled a little, clenching his eyes.

"Hmm..." A masculine hum greeted him, both casual and... stereotypically noble? Cracking his eyelids, Jay took a tiny smear of comfort from the fact that the door ahead was shut, leaving them in the dingy light of whatever dull bulb hovered above. Footsteps drew close, and along with it... that dark feeling returned. "Hello. Am I coming through to you?"

Jay gave a couple of blinks, clearing away the blur that everything had become. His eyes adjusted again to the dim light, but as everything sharpened, he was able to spot something unsettling. His breathing hit a brick wall, unlike those around him now, and every twist of the hand carrying the bullet sent shivers along his skin. He was, as his voice teased, a dignified fellow, but his sharp eyes were locked on the sole piece of ammunition Jay always kept in his coat pocket, which he himself had robbed from the already stolen gun he shouldn't even have taken in the first place.

The gaze quickly whipped down upon him, and Jay shrunk in his seat under the stare.

"It's a bit unusual to be carrying around a single shell on your person, especially so without a firearm." Agonizingly slow, his clear captor lowered the bullet down upon the table. "You wouldn't be willing to explain that, would you?"

"I-I keep it... for luck." It took some significant effort to push out, but somehow he'd managed. Jay had a feeling lying would only make things worse, but as it so happened, this wasn't a complete lie. The bullet did act as a symbol of luck, in a sense; it was his reminder that there was always a way out should things go beyond the point of no return. One could argue it already had, but as it so happens he didn't have the gun on his person, and Remnant had, even if it tried to kill him at every turn, proven interesting enough that he wasn't quite willing to take the final plunge just yet.

Not that he hadn't come close before.

"Luck..." The man, curiously, took a seat in the chair before him, crossing his arms over the table, and resting his hands together. "So it's special to you then?"

"K-kind of... maybe." Jay didn't really know what to say - he was just filling in the silence left behind. Not wanting to admit how the bullet was his emergency suicide ticket, he opted to play it off as something of a charm, or so it was going. To tell the truth, he wasn't sure what he was spouting, but whatever it was seemed to be working, or at least abstaining any... immediately negative responses.

"Alright." The man seemed calm enough, and he took a breath before handing Jay another question. "Then, would it bother you if I asked something strange?"

"No... I-I mean it wouldn't."

"Good." He smiled, plainly and professionally. "Then allow me this, if you can: is there anything... special, about this bullet? Beyond simply being a charm, that is."

"I... uh..." Jay, again, didn't know how to respond, instead settling on a blank thought. "Excuse me?"

"Would you say there's anything abnormal about how it was made; the dust used, and other things like that?"

"I don't think so?" Jay hoped this didn't turn into any onset insanity; he'd seen enough of them in his time on Remnant already, and he wasn't ready to deal with another psycho so soon. "It's... just a bullet."

"Just a bullet." The man's eyes sharpened again, and for an instant they flickered to it, before slowly rolling back to him. "Of course."

"C-can I ask something?" Jay really, and he meant really didn't want to talk about the bullet any longer. He couldn't explain why, but just seeing it in someone else's hands upset him - for some unfathomable reason.

"Go ahead." You know, for a kidnapper, he was being awfully polite; not a great sign. Either that meant this guy was either immensely powerful in a sense that he had a lot of contacts and wealth, or he was bonafied crazy like a lot of the others.

"Why am I here?" A simple ask, really. Jay then made a point of ruffling in his chair a bit. "A-And why am I tied up?"

"Ah yes, forgive me." Raising one hand, the gentleman snapped his fingers, and Jay heard movement behind him. Someone was working at the rope around his wrists, and soon it snapped, letting him pull them around front. Jay would have looked back, but the man behind had already walked around the right and took point beside his questioner, who then waved that same hand he snapped his fingers with, shooing the guy off. "Leave us."

Responding with only a nod, the significantly more boxy man cast himself out the door, and with its echo upon being shut, the first began again.

"Better?"

"A little." Jay wasn't sure why, but his first instinct was to reach out for the bullet, but he paused; his hand hovering just above, as his eyes locked onto the guy's. His breath froze up again; reaching out could have gotten him shot, or worse, and so he asked, "C-can I take this back, please?"

"You may."

Wasting no time, Jay took the bullet. For a moment, it was like water began filling him up, dulling his senses, and soon the bullet was tucked away in its place once again. It didn't relieve the pressure completely, but in place of the strange urge sat his usual apathy. Sometimes, not feeling at all could be better than the fear and pain... but then again, he'd often switch opinions to believe in the other instead.

Now feeling... Probably better, Jay tried to relax his voice. Strangely, he didn't feel as unnerved about the guy anymore, and with this queer courage, he brought things back around on his initial query.

"You... still didn't tell me why I'm here, or why I was tied up."

"That..." The man leaned in, gaining a new and heavier aura. "Is precisely what I wish to discuss with you. You see, I found you in a place that implies a few things, and those things are very sensitive indeed. Due to this, I'm afraid I cannot let you just wander about."

"What... w-what do you mean?"

"First, allow me to introduce myself. You may call me Garanite, and I am what most would consider a Faunus Trader." The blood froze in Jay's veins, but the man continued warmly, "But, to be more specific, I work with children."

"I-I..." Jay sputtered, only for the man to raise a hand, prompting him to stop.

"Allow me to make things clear: we have... much to discuss."

Author's note

...

Well... that's an ending.

We have the main crew dealing with trying to find out where Jay was taken... and we also have Jay, who is currently dealing with Garanite personally.

I don't really have much to add this time, other than telling you that this is where things begin to pick up. I mean, we're reaching the point where events start to happen, and click together, so get excited for that I guess. I'll say this much, elements will be revealed here, and you're not really going to like them. But hey, at least we've reached the point where developments happen, so be ready for that.

--

Updated edit: fixed issue where Blake popped into existance for a scene instead of Weiss - I can't even explain how that one happened. Also removed 'minus Yang' from above, because it never really was the case.

Until next time.