Chapter 29: More Than The Eye Can See
New Rushland
Cassian Quartz followed his sister and her boyfriend as they walked through the fairgrounds to enjoy the hunting convention. Jacob was wearing his usual grin and Cynthia was happy that her brother was slowly warming up to her new coworker/boyfriend. But what they were all really here for was a chance to see the high-quality dust on display and new weapons built by up-and-coming blacksmiths.
Jacob glanced at the concessions stand and elbowed his girlfriend, cheekily. "Hey, babe, watch me show off my mad sign language skills to your brother." He knelt down in front of Cassian and began to sign with a smile. {"Elephant mouthwash tries to rain nice skull…"} Jacob paused trying to remember the right signs {"... plate eat?"}
Cassian arched an eyebrow at Jacob before turning to Cynthia. {"Did you understand that?"}
"Huh…?" Jacob turned back to Cynthia. "Sorry, he did it too fast. What'd he say?"
Cynthia, having resisted the urge to laugh, managed to clear her throat. "He said he'd like some nachos."
"Comin' right up, little man!" Jacob winked with a smile and finger guns before heading towards the line for food.
Cassian shrugged as he and Cynthia continued through the convention. {"He's eager to please. I'll give him that."}
"Cut him some slack." Cynthia chuckled. "At least he's trying."
When they arrived at one booth, the blacksmith had just finished assembling what looked like a battle ax. Cassian watched with interest as the blacksmith loaded a vial of fire dust into the handle and made his way towards a mannequin for a demonstration. Suddenly, the ax's blade burst into flames as the blacksmith swung it down onto the mannequin and cut it in half. Then, he converted it into a cannon and fired a raging inferno at the remains, earning an applause from the crowd.
Cassian, however, wasn't impressed. He wandered over to another booth where he saw another blacksmith slipping on a pair of gloves with small hooks adorning the knuckles. The blacksmith pumped his fist up at the ceiling, causing the hooks to fire up into the rafters and hoist him off the ground. With the other glove, he extended two fingers and fired two shuriken at another mannequin's head. Cassian's eyes sparkled in delight at this.
The boy tugged at his sister's coat and pointed at the gloves. {"I want one like that."} He signed with a smile.
Cynthia smiled back and ruffled his hair. "Maybe someday, buddy."
"It's gone!" One blacksmith suddenly cried out in disbelief. "My latest creation's been stolen!"
Another blacksmith put down his crafting tools and took out his scroll to call the police while the rest of the crowd began to panic. During the confusion, Cassian had accidentally wandered out of Cynthia's reach and got lost in the crowd. Feeling overwhelmed, he managed to get out of the crowd and off to the side. Taking a moment to catch his breath, Cassian began scanning the crowd for either his sister or her boyfriend. Eventually, Cynthia managed to spot him and shouted for him to stay still until she reached him…only for Cassian to suddenly be knocked to the ground with a grunt by someone who had been running past him. Despite hearing fleeing footsteps, however, Cassian couldn't see anyone close enough who could have knocked him over. Cynthia immediately ran to her brother's side and helped him back to his feet.
"Cassian! Are you alright?" Cynthia gently brushed Cassian's bangs out of his face. "What happened? It looked like you just fell down. Are you okay?"
{"Yeah."} Cassian signed, still scanning the area. {"I'm not sure, but… it felt like something hit me."}
Cynthia was just as confused as her brother, as she hadn't seen anything near him when he fell. But the siblings both looked on in surprise once they noticed what looked like footprints in the dust knocked all over the ground leading away from them. "We still have that phone number Svetlana gave us after that mess with Whitley?" Cynthia couldn't help but ask.
{We do, and something tells me we'll be needing it fairly soon,"} Cassian remarked with an uneasy expression, knowing full well that Svetlana's founder would be very interested to know that there was an invisible predator of some sort roaming New Rushland's streets.
"Glad we're on the same page," Cynthia said with a nod, not wanting to take any chances, especially considering that whatever they were dealing with could potentially be a threat to her little brother.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, Jane was nervously holding onto the grab handle as she rode in the passenger seat of her squad car. Boris cautiously kept applying pressure to the gas pedal as he steered it through the traffic cones set up around the police station's parking lot. A small smile spread over his lips as he carefully maneuvered between two trash cans. "Mom, I just wanna say thanks again for helping me learn how to drive-"
"Eyes on the road!" Jane snapped.
Boris rolled his eyes. "Mom, we're going like ten miles an hour. I'm not gonna wreck-"
Suddenly, the mother and son heard a thud and felt something bump against the grill of the car. Boris put the car in park and they both jumped out to help. Boris was apologizing profusely until he and Jane noticed something a bit peculiar; a burlap sack was laying in front of the car with multiple vials of dust and custom weapons, but its owner was nowhere to be found.
"Um… did I hit someone?" Boris asked. "Because I didn't really see anyone before the thud."
Jane scanned the area for nearby pedestrians. "I… don't know."
Suddenly, her scroll got a call, and she answered. "Commissioner, this is Cash. There's been a robbery at the hunting convention and you will not believe this."
"Alright, we'll be right there."
"I'll drive!" Boris grinned.
"Don't push it." Jane replied, flatly, pushing him towards the passenger side.
Half an hour later, Jane and Boris were standing right next to Detective Cash in the fairgrounds' security building. The guards had compiled all of the footage they could find for reviewing. "Now, most of the robberies happened in blind spots, but one camera was able to pick up something strange. Watch."
The footage displayed one of the vendor's tables while the blacksmith had his back turned. Suddenly, one of the weapons appeared to lift off the table by itself and vanish into thin air.
"Well that's certainly interesting," Jane declared.
"Indeed it is," Svetlana remarked as she approached the area, having evidently seen the same footage, "especially as it relates to something I needed to speak to you about."
"What do you mean?"
"I got a call from Cynthia less than an hour ago reporting how she and her brother Cassian literally ran into a man they couldn't see around the same area that, if I'm right, these robberies were taking place," Svetlana revealed.
"Just like what happened with me and my Mom," Boris declared with a wide-eyed expression which quickly scrunched up in concern for their mutual companion. "Cassian and Cynthia are alright, right?"
"A bit shaken up, but otherwise unharmed," Svetlana said with an understanding grin. "Whoever we're dealing with didn't seem all that interested in killing off potential witnesses."
"Given that we're dealing with someone who can't be seen, I can't say that I'm too surprised," Jane remarked in a tone that was only half-joking before raising an eyebrow. "What is surprising is that they had called you instead of the cops."
"Well I do own a company on the cutting edge of technology, so they were wanting to know if I had developed a stealth suit that had been stolen or something like that," Svetlana explained with a shrug. "Upon realizing that I hadn't, I decided to come over for myself to see if I could figure out if someone else had developed anything like that as well as hopefully find you, Jane, so that I could pass along the information in question."
"That's fair," Jane said with an understanding nod.
"Not to be that guy, but are we sure that technology is to blame for this?" one of the other cops felt the need to ask.
"What do you mean?"
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't there a chameleon faunus among the troops that partook in the Menagerie Civil War? Seems to me like she might at least know something about this."
"I don't know about that," Svetlana declared in a tone that indicated that she was confident in her friend's innocence, "but I suppose it wouldn't hurt to contact Menagerie regardless: something tells me there are some old friends there who would be just as interested in this whole thing as we are."
Svetlana took out her scroll and dialed the number, listening to the dial tone for a few seconds before someone picked up. "Hello, Mrs. Belladonna." She smiled. "Yes, yes, I'm fine, thank you. Um, listen, I hate to ask, but do you know how I could get in contact with Private Amitola?"
As luck would have it, Ilia Amitola was actually visiting New Rushland to meet up with Blake Belladonna per her request. Naturally, the chameleon Faunus was happy to oblige. They intended to meet up with Svetlana, but while she was away at work, they settled for chatting with Mikhail.
"How are things back in Menagerie?" He asked as he brewed a few cups of tea.
"Pretty good so far," Blake said with a shrug, accepting her cup. "Admittedly my parents are still cleaning things up a bit due to how things played out after B.B. forced Silver - I mean, Sarah - to affect the populace, but they're hopeful they can take care of that on their own, and I don't have any reason to doubt them just yet, so I'll leave them be for the time being."
"Right, I heard what happened with that poor girl that Jaune and Pyrrha adopted, and something tells me she'd be just as relieved to hear that there wasn't any permanent damage as your parents were," Mikhail remarked with an understanding nod while silently promising retribution on the facility that had held the Princesses if he ever got his hands on them.
"Based on what I've heard from Team JNPR, you aren't wrong about that," Blake replied with a nod.
"With that being said, I'm surprised Yang didn't come here with you." Mikhail couldn't help but call out with a quirked eyebrow. "The two of you are usually tied at the hip."
Blake blushed, lightly. "Well, I kinda… didn't tell her I was coming. Ever since we started training with Ruby and Weiss again and she started spending more time with Penny… she's gotten a little baby-crazy."
"She really wants to give Holly a sibling, right?"
"Yep, only this time, she's insistent that it's my turn to carry it. So I had my parents distract her with some kids at the orphanage while I took some time off…and before you say anything, I'll admit that I feel a bit dirty lying to my wife like this, but hey: I'm sure she won't even realize I've been gone by the time I get back."
Suddenly, Mikhail's scroll vibrated in his pocket and he answered without hesitation. "Sorry, Svetlana's not here right- oh… ahem…" Mikhail handed the scroll out towards Blake. "It's for you."
Blake gulped and held it up to her ear. "... hello?"
"Exactly why is it that I'm only learning about your trip to New Rushland due to Svetlana calling your parents?"
Blake couldn't help but wince at her wife's tone. "You, uh, never asked what I was doing today?"
Yang could practically be heard blinking in response here from the other side of the scroll. "I mean, you aren't wrong…"
"...but I'm still sleeping on the couch tonight, right?" Blake called out with a sigh.
"Yep. In any case, I've been filled in on the details, so I'll be over there as soon as I can."
"Okay then. I love you."
"I love you too, though that won't get you out of being punished."
"Meh, had to try." Blake hung up the scroll and slammed her head down on the counter just as Mikhail had prepared her a stiff drink. "Thanks." She muttered.
"Don't mention it." Mikhail said with a light smile as Blake quickly downed the drink that soon turned into a curious expression. "Still I don't believe that my wife had contacted your parents without having a good reason. If you want, I could contact Svetlana for you so that we can both learn what's going on here."
"I'd like that."
But before he could do that, there was a knock at the door. Blake got up to answer, only to find two policemen. "Uh, is there a problem, officers?"
"Mrs. Belladonna, we're here to talk with Ilia Amitola regarding the recent invisible robberies." The officer explained. "Is she here?"
"... you just want to talk to her?" Blake asked, reluctantly. "Svetlana and her husband already called ahead and let me know what happened, so I'll tell you the same thing I told her: Ilia didn't have anything to do with those robberies."
"All we want is to talk, ma'am." The officer nodded, assuringly.
"Alright. Come in." Blake led the officers inside to where Ilia was resting, only to be pushed aside as they arrested the chameleon faunus. "HEY!"
"Ilia Amitola, you're under arrest for suspicion of robbery!" The officer declared.
"You lying creeps!" Blake hissed. "Y'know, this is why people like firemen better! They don't yell 'jump' to someone in a burning building then move that trampoline thing!"
"Shut up, you filthy faunus!" the officer snarled out as he reached for his weapon. "I have half a mind to…"
"Half a mind to what, exactly?"
The officer immediately froze up upon recognizing the voice he just heard, as well as realizing that the source of said voice wasn't alone. "Uh, Commissioner Maroon. Mrs. Xiao Long. I, uh, hadn't realized you'd be here."
"Which is the only reason why I haven't let our mutual companion here have a go at you," Jane - who had recently decided to check up on the visiting family for herself seeing how she had run into Yang while she was running some errands - remarked even as she kept a hand on the shoulder of Yang who was visibly shaking with rage at the man who had dared threaten her wife and harass their mutual lover. "As it is, I'll kindly ask you to meet Detective Neon outside to hand in your badge: obvious racism aside, if you can't keep your emotions in check while on the job, you don't have any business being on the force."
"Thanks for the assistance, you two," Blake replied as the corrupt now ex-officers were led away before she quirked an eyebrow in the direction of her wife. "How'd you get here so fast anyways?"
Yang merely snorted in response. "You are aware that my biological mother has a portal Semblance, right?"
This prompted a sheepish expression in return. "Right, with everything else that's been going on, I had forgotten about that."
"Wait, if that's the case, why didn't she use that Semblance to get me and our other allies back when those Princesses were running around?" Ilia couldn't help but ask.
"She wanted to, but she's limited in only being able to create portals to people she's bonded with, such as the members of my family, so she wouldn't be able to portal to, say, Mata's location even if she wanted to. Even then, she was unfortunately suffering from a rather nasty head cold at the time of the attack that screwed with her concentration, making portal travel a bust," Yang said with an expression that showed that she was grateful her Mom was feeling better now.
"That's fair."
"Well, as fascinating as that is, we need to take our prime suspect downtown for questioning." One officer remarked.
"Fair enough," Jane said with a nod. "But don't forget, we haven't confirmed that she's the one we're looking for, so if I hear any news about her being mistreated, you'll be next to lose your badge."
"Message received loud and clear, boss," the officer declared as he gently led Ilia to the squad car.
"I don't understand: why am I being taken in? Blake vouched for my innocence!" Ilia called out.
"I know she did, and odds are the real culprit does as well. Until we get this sorted out, the best place for you is here," Yang calmly explained.
"Okay," Ilia reluctantly agreed, "but when you find the real culprit, I want a piece of the action."
"That won't be a problem at all," Yang said with a grin.
Once the police were gone, Svetlana led the group down to the crime lab where she and Cyan changed into their costumes. Krasnaya and Azure got into the warthog to head to the scene of the crime while Yang and Blake stayed behind to review the footage. In the meantime, Azure contacted Magenta and caught him up to speed.
A few minutes later, Krasnaya and Azure were setting up a crime scene near the booth where the weapons had been stolen while Magenta was given access to the security room to try and find any more footage that would help. The Crimson Crusader's Huntress Eyes were scanning the floor for any footprints, fingerprints, or even a residual heat signature, but nothing was showing up. However, as she looked up to check on her protege, she noticed a large canister being lifted up behind her, seemingly on its own.
"Azure, look out!"
"Huh?" Azure barely rolled out of the way in time before the canister slammed down to the floor. She drew her escrima sticks and readied herself for another attack, only to have the wind knocked out of her by an unseen force. "Oof!"
Krasnaya acted quickly, grabbing a bucket of sweeping compound and flung its contents in front of Azure. The compound clung to the attacker, creating an outline of his body and giving the dynamic duo a clear view of him. And they could both tell that it was definitely not Illia Amota. However, before doing anything else, he fiddled with something on his wrist and the compound evaporated off of his body.
But before he became fully invisible once again, an adhesive substance struck the criminal's hand, trapping him against the wall. Magenta dropped from the skylight and reloaded the sling-shot built into his glove.
"Alright, buddy, stay right where you are!" Magenta ordered, aiming the next load where the adhesive had stuck. "I don't need to see you to hit close enough to you! These impact pellets are non-lethal, but they hurt! A lot!"
The invisible man struggled with all his might until something was torn from this suit, leaving only his hand visible as he made his escape. Magenta tried to hit him with the pellets, but couldn't get a clear target. While Azure and Magenta gave chase, Krasnaya went back to the adhesive and sprayed the neutralizing agent and discovered a glove slowly reappearing.
Minutes later, the trio arrived back at the cave. Magenta pulled his blindfold off and made his way to the computer console with his scroll to upload the security footage regarding the fight. "Well, the good news is that we now have proof that it wasn't Ilia who robbed the convention." He remarked, pausing the video once it showed the outline of the real thief.
"The bad news, then, is that we have to find another chameleon Faunus who can turn himself invisible." Azure muttered. "Or someone who has a semblance that turns him invisible."
"I don't think this has anything to do with a semblance or even a Faunus ability like what Ilia has." Krasnaya remarked as she held up the glove. "When I coated him in that compound, he appeared to use some device on his wrist to remove it. And when Magenta struck his hand, this slipped off his hand. I think he's wearing some kind of suit that turns him invisible."
"Well, how're we supposed to find an invisibility suit?" Blake asked.
"With high-speed internet." Magenta answered as he typed away at the computer. "If you look up 'invisible suit' and 'scientist', this comes up; there's a scientist named Dr. Jerome Translucent who claimed to be working on tactical camouflage suits for huntsmen and huntresses. He retired just last year, and bought a farmhouse on the edge of New Rushland."
Blake leaned in at the picture and arched an eyebrow in doubt. "He looks a little old to be going around robbing blacksmiths, doesn't he?"
"Maybe he sold it to someone." Azure shrugged.
"I suggest we go ask him." Krasnaya remarked, cracking her knuckles.
Forty-five minutes later, Jerome was tiredly returning home with a paper bag of groceries in hand. He set the bag on the kitchen counter just as his watch timer went off. With a sigh, he opened a drawer and pulled out a bottle of pills and reached for a glass as he made his way to the kitchen sink. He popped one pill in his mouth, swallowed it, and then took a few sips to help with the taste.
"Dr. Translucent?" Krasnaya spoke up as she emerged from the shadows.
The scientist gasped in shock, dropping his glass of water. Thankfully, Krasnaya caught it and placed it back on the counter. "It's alright, Dr. Translucent. We're not here to hurt you. We just want to ask a few questions."
"We?"
"We," Blake declared as she stepped into the light with a pleading look in her eyes. "Please, Doctor: someone near and dear to me has been falsely accused of committing a crime she didn't commit and you might be the only one who might be able to help prove her innocence."
The scientist slowly backed away with his hands up in a defensive manner. "L-look, I don't want any trouble. Whatever you're looking for, I can't help you-" Jerome cut himself off when he bumped into Krasnaya, who held up the bottle of pills and studied the label.
"'Magdalena.' Pseudo-medication. Made from apricot pits." The Crimson Crusader stated, glaring at the scientist. "It's illegal to possess this."
Jerome desperately reached out for the bottle, pleading with his eyes. "P-please… please, don't confiscate that. It's the only thing that works. None of the medicine my insurance covers helps. I need it."
"Then I suggest you start talking." Krasnaya remarked, holding the bottle behind her back and covering it with her cape. "Our friend was framed because the thief uses a unique fabric that turns them invisible. Our research tells us that you were developing such a fabric before your retirement. My friends and I would like to see it."
As Jerome noticed Azure and Magenta enter the room alongside them, he realized he was outnumbered and reluctantly led the group down to the basement. After flipping on the lightswitch, he revealed a large machine with a roll of white fabric next to it. Jerome put on a lead-lined suit and pointed to a yellow painted line on the floor.
"Stay behind the line, please." He instructed. With that out of the way, he stretched the fabric across the table, keeping it tied off above the surface, then maneuvered what looked like a sunlamp over the top. A few seconds after turning the machine on, the white fabric soon became transparent. Jerome shut off the machine and held his hand under the fabric and pushed up on it, showing that it was indeed still there.
"So the fabric actually has the ability to turn things invisible?" Blake asked in awe.
"Not exactly." The scientist waved his hand in a so-so motion. "It absorbs light particles from every angle, and then reflects them back to conceal whatever's wearing it. There's just one problem; the more it's used, the more radioactive the fabric becomes. That's why I never sold it to anyone."
"... does anyone else know about this fabric?" Krasnaya asked.
"Mmm… I did have an assistant who helped with my gear." Jerome commented. "But he quit shortly after I announced my retirement. He said he was pursuing new endeavors."
"Just for reference, what was the name of this assistant of yours?"
"Lester Clear. Why: do you think he's involved somehow?"
"I honestly wouldn't be surprised if that was the case." Krasnaya surmised. "Did he ever tell you where he lives?"
"Uh…" Jerome made his way to the workbench and began searching through drawers until he found a folded piece of paper. "This was his last known address… now, about my medicine?"
Krasnaya exchanged the bottle for the slip of paper and motioned for her allies to follow her out of the house.
"Just curious…" Magenta spoke up once more before following his allies. "What're those pills for?"
Jerome sighed. "Like I said; the fabric is radioactive. It gave me cancer."
The group immediately turned back around at the scientist with sympathetic expressions.
"Cancer?" Blake muttered, sadly. "What kind of cancer?"
"Well, y'know that kind of cancer you can eventually get better from?" Jerome shrugged. "That's not the kind of cancer I've got."
"Let me guess: the pills are just a way to make the pain easier to deal with." Azure asked, sympathetically.
"Something like that, yeah," Jerome said with a shrug. "With that said, I've long since accepted that I'm not long for this world, so as long as you can get back my stolen fabric, I'm content with my lot in life."
"We'll do our best," Krasnaya promised, "And once this is over, I might know someone who'd be willing to help make that cancer a bit more manageable or at least be able to give it their best shot."
"I'll be sure to keep that in mind." Jerome said with a light grin before jolting in place. "OH! Before I forget, there's one other thing you should know regarding Lester: I'm not the only one who would potentially know his whereabouts."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean he used to be married before…well let's just say his wife divorced him while claiming him to be emotionally unstable during her pregnancy a while back and leave it at that." Jerome remarked. "That's actually at least part of why I offered him the position as my assistant in the first place: I thought that some hard work might help him get his mind off whatever emotions were swirling around his brain in the aftermath of the divorce hearing."
Krasnaya and Blake shared a worried glance, both obviously thinking the same thing.
"Where's his ex-wife now?" Blake asked.
As if to answer this question, Lester's ex, Nancy, let out a sneeze while working at the register in a store not far from where Krasnaya and company were located. Once her watch went off, she closed down her cash register, notified her manager, and left for her lunch break. She made her way towards the cafe where she usually ate lunch but froze in shock once she saw who was waiting for her inside.
"Hello, Nancy."
"Lester…" She shuddered.
"It's been a long time."
"Not long enough, if you ask me." Nancy huffed and pushed her way past him, collecting her lunch and heading for the cashier.
"Here, let me."
The woman looked up to see her ex husband attempting to hand the cashier some lien before she pushed his hand away with a huff. "I got it, thanks."
"Ah come on, Nancy, it's been years since we saw one another: we really gotta do this now?" Lester asked as Nancy made her purchase and started to move towards the door.
"You know damn well why we broke up and why you aren't allowed near my son," Nancy growled out.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Lester called out. "Taking care of a kid isn't an easy task, and I can help provide for him if you let me."
"I don't need your help with anything," Nancy growled out, "and the way things played out three years ago proved that you wouldn't give that help even if I wanted it."
"I hadn't meant for things to get that bad, you know?" Lester begged. "Please Nancy, there's gotta be something I can do for you. Anything you want, I'll do it!"
Nancy just huffed here. "What I want is for you to just disappear, you got it?!"
Lester blinked as his ex angrily exited the store before giving an arrogant chuckle. "Alright, Nancy, I hear you, but just remember: be careful what you wish for."
Later that night, Nancy had put her son to bed and left to take the trash out to the side of the road. But before she could head back inside, she turned and jumped in shock to see New Rushland's famous Red Woman standing before her. "Hello, Nancy. I need to talk to you about your ex-husband."
Meanwhile, back inside the house, Tommy was awoken by the sound of his bedroom window opening up.
"Hey there Tommy."
"Lulu?" Tommy called out as she looked around the room before smiling as one of his stuffed toys was lifted off the ground by an invisible hand and made to wave at him, showing that the spirit that had been visiting him recently had indeed come back. "Where have you been? I haven't heard from you in days."
"Yeah, sorry about that: I wanted to pick out a present for you and I needed some time to make sure that I got something that you would like."
Lulu suddenly made a teddy bear appear out of thin air, making it dance for the boy before setting it on the bed. Next was a toy helicopter. Then a toy dinosaur. All of which pleased Tommy.
"Where did you get this stuff?" Tommy couldn't help but ask, awe evident in his voice as he looked upon the gifts his friend had gotten him.
The spirit merely gave an amused chuckle in response. "I have my ways. In fact, I'd like to show you something else." The spirit gently lifted the boy into the air and carried him out the window.
Meanwhile, back out front, Krasnaya was trying to explain the situation to Nancy.
"I don't care who you are: I don't want anything to do with my ex-husband."
"I understand the desire to put the past behind you, more than you could possibly know, but like it or not, lives are on the line so I need you to tell me what you know," Krasnaya called out.
"What do you mean lives are on the line?"
"Long story short, your ex-husband stole some experimental stealth technology that has allowed himself to obscure himself completely from view. Seeing how you yourself had described him as being emotionally unstable, I'm sure it won't take much imagination to envision what someone like him would be able to do with that sort of thing, so it's important that we find him before he can hurt anyone else." Krasnaya explained.
"You mean he can actually… turn himself invisible?" Nancy's eyes suddenly widened in absolute terror before bolting back into the house. "Lulu!"
"What?" Krasnaya called out before following her into the house.
"Tommy?! Tommy?!" Nancy swung her son's bedroom door open and gasped in horror upon seeing that Tommy was nowhere to be found, and the window was wide open. Nancy dropped to her knees and began sobbing. "All this time, he kept talking about Lulu! I always just assumed he was some kind of imaginary friend!"
Krasnaya activated her semblance and spotted lingering exhaust fumes from the window. "I promise you, I will find your son," the vigilante called out once she had a trail.
At that very moment, Tommy was riding alongside Lulu in his invisible car, headed towards the outskirts of New Rushland. "Where are we going, Lulu?"
"Somewhere fun." The spirit replied. "You'll see."
"But shouldn't we tell my mommy where we're going?"
The spirit drove off to the side of the road and parked the car. "I understand why you're worried. It's because you can't see me. Here, this'll help." Lester pulled off his mask, revealing his head while the rest of his body remained invisible.
Tommy gasped in shock. "You're a man? I-I gotta go. Mommy says I'm not supposed to talk to strangers."
"But I'm not a stranger, Tommy." Lester smiled, gently resting a hand on the boy's shoulder. "I'm your daddy."
"You?! Mommy told me all about you," the young boy called out in a frightened tone.
"I'm sure your Mommy told you all sorts of things, but if she ever wants to see you again, she's going to have to start listening to what I have to say from now on," Lester declared.
Suddenly, Gambol Shroud wrapped around Tommy's stomach and pulled him away from his would-be kidnapper. Before Lester could react, he was blown away by a shot of fire dust. After slamming against his car, he looked up to see Krasnaya and Blake standing above him.
"What are you doing here?!" Lester growled out.
"Among other things, dealing with someone who reminds me far too much of my own ex from way back when," Blake immediately declared.
"Except from what I recall, Adam Taurus never turned invisible or tried to kidnap someone's child for blackmail purposes," Krasnaya remarked as an aside.
"Would you really put it past him to do so if he were able to?"
"Touche."
Lester reached inside his car for a firearm and tried to shoot Blake, but Krasnaya quickly used the grappling setting of her sickle to knock the gun away.
"Blake, get Tommy to safety!" Krasnaya ordered. "We'll catch Clear!"
Blake nodded and used Gambol Shroud to carry herself and Tommy off of the invisible car.
"No!" Lester cursed before driving off.
"We can't lose him! I need to get on that car!" Krasnaya tapped a few keys on the Warthog's built-in computer, only to be greeted with a shrill beeping noise. "Damn it! The autopilot must have been damaged in the crash!"
"I'll take the wheel!" Magenta offered, earnestly.
Krasnaya arched an eyebrow at him. "You can drive?"
Magenta nodded. "I've got my learner's permit."
The Crimson Crusader sighed. "Good enough. Get me close."
Magenta nodded and slid into the driver's seat while his mentor climbed onto the hood of the warthog. However, his enthusiasm was quickly replaced with nervousness once he glanced down at the floor. "Oh, shit. There's six pedals… there is no test car that has six pedals."
Nevertheless, the teenager was able to steer the warthog close enough to the criminal's car where his mentor could jump aboard it. Krasnaya drew her sickle and stabbed it into the roof of the invisible car before Lester slammed his foot on the gas pedal, speeding away from the warthog.
Magenta yelped as he desperately tried to keep up, only to fumble with the pedals.
"What're you doing?!" Azure cried, hysterically. "He's getting away!"
"I'm trying! I'm trying!" Suddenly, the warthog crashed into a garbage bin, bringing the vehicle to a halt. Magenta pinched his brow as he felt Azure glaring at him. "Not. One. Word."
Meanwhile, Krasnaya continued to hold onto her sickle as the invisible car tore through the streets of New Rushland. When she converted her hammer into a pistol and shot through the car's roof, Lester began driving much more recklessly. He smashed into surrounding debris and garbage and drove past pedestrians at an alarming rate. He even rammed straight into a homeless camp's fire in an attempt to knock her off, but it was all in vain.
"I didn't know that Krasnaya could fly," remarked one of the homeless men who had seen the Crimson Crusader zoom past while on the roof of Lester's invisible car.
Meanwhile the Crimson Crusader herself was still desperately clinging to the car's roof even as it continued to slam through enough trash cans for the plastic to start to peel off in a desperate attempt to get her off. Seeing this however, Krasnaya was reminded of what Jerome had told her and thus hoped to reason with her current foe.
"You don't understand! You're in terrible danger!" Krasnaya tried to warn the driver. "The suit you're wearing is radioactive! It's going to kill you!"
"Don't give me that! I'm not in any pain! At least not like you're about to be!" Lester sneered as he drove the car straight through a chain-link fence before braking hard. Krasnaya managed to stab her sickle into the hood of the car, preventing her from being completely thrown off. In response, Lester angrily slammed on the gas pedal and drove towards the nearest brick wall. But the vigilante jumped clear at the last second, taking the car out of the equation.
Unfortunately Lester managed to survive the crash, as evidenced when the car door swung open with the man himself stepping out. "Alright, fine: we'll do this the hard way then," the madman sneered as he slipped the hood over his face, once more making him completely invisible.
At that very moment, Azure and Magenta had arrived on the scene to provide support. Unfortunately, Lester had snuck up behind them and slammed both of their heads together, knocking them out. Thankfully, Yang, and Ilia had also arrived and the blonde brawler fired a round at the air behind the two side-kicks, visibly striking Lester and blowing him back.
"Hey there: hope we aren't too late," Yang jokingly remarked.
"You're just in time," Krasnaya reassured with a grin.
The soot-covered criminal slowly rose to his feet and clicked his wrist-device to begin cleansing his suit again.
"Hey buddy: I hear you've been giving camouflage capable combatants like me a bad name," Ilia declared as she got into a fighting stance. "So let's see just which one of us is the better stealth operative."
"Yes, let's," Lester growled out.
Ilia rushed forward - looking as if she were to attack - only to immediately disappear.
"Where did she…?" …and that was as far as Lester got before he found himself being hit with numerous invisible punches and kicks one after the other in rapid succession.
"Not so fun being on the other side of that trick, is it?" Ilia teasingly asked as she briefly dropped her camouflaged state.
"Nice one Prism Shard," Yang declared with a grin.
"Thanks Killer Bee…or do you prefer Goldilocks?" Ilia called back.
"Ilia, you can call me whatever you like," Yang replied with a wink.
"Understood Mistress."
"What?"
"NOTHING!"
Lester took advantage of the distraction and started to run away, only for a shot from Gambol Shroud to trip him up.
"Sorry I took so long to return," a newly arrived Blake remarked as she landed on a nearby lamppost, all while showcasing a readiness to enter the fight if and when the time presented itself.
"You get Tommy to safety?"
"Yep," Blake immediately replied. "Left him with Cat Burglar with instructions to take him back to the general area of his mother's house."
"You realize that I could just retrieve him again at any point, right?" Lester's voice called out.
"You'll have to get past us first."
"That's the plan," Lester snarled out.
"Funny thing about plans: they don't always go the way you hope they will." A voice called out before Gambol Shroud wrapped around the invisible thief's waist and flung him aside. Blake jumped down from her perch on the lamppost and aimed the tip of her blade in the direction of Lester as the invisibility fabric began to short out.
Lester gasped in shock and horror even as he flickered back into the visible spectrum. "How did you…?"
"Please, I used to train on a daily basis with our mutual chameleon faunus companion," Blake remarked with a smirk, feeling all too proud at temporarily disabling Lester's suit. "And you're an easy mark compared to what I dealt with from Ilia back in the day."
Lester angrily reactivated his suit and snuck away towards a dilapidated water tower. Taking out the remaining supports, he managed to knock the tower towards the two Faunus and the blonde brawler, washing them away. But as a few droplets splashed on his invisible form, Krasnaya was able to see him just in time to swing in and kick him towards Magenta.
After throwing a few more missed punches and taking a few more direct hits, Magenta angrily somersaulted backwards, grabbed a paint can, and flung its contents forwards. Lester grunted as a large blotch of paint stained the front of his suit. Magenta quickly took advantage and fired an impact pellet from his wrist-sling, pumping his fist with pride once he heard it strike Lester's forehead.
"Not so tough when your opponents can see you coming, are you?"
"Enough of this!" Lester yelled out before pressing a button on a device on his belt. Almost immediately Blake, Ilia, and a reawakened Azure fell to the ground clutching their ears, their faces contorted in pain as a low whine was heard in the alleyway.
"Blake! Ilia! Azure!" Yang yelled out as her three companions writhed on the ground in agony, before turning to glare at the still visible Lester. "What did you do to them!?"
"Sonic pulse generator," Lester sneered as he patted the gadget on his belt he had recently activated. "Another project that the lab I was working at was developing that utilizes sound waves to debilitate enemies. It's still in the prototype phase, so you and your human allies aren't affected, but regardless, your faunus friends are experiencing a sensory overload, meaning they won't be able to help you from this point forward."
"Won't stop us from taking you down," Yang growled out as she and her human companions got into a fighting stance.
"You can try, but you'll have to catch me first," Lester teasingly declared before he managed to get his suit working again, disappearing from sight soon afterwards.
Yang threw up her fists for a fight, looking for any signs of Lester's approach. Unfortunately, the suit's capabilities proved too efficient and she never saw him coming once he stabbed her neck with a syringe full of enough tranquilizer to drop a Beowolf. At the same time, Krasnaya had been using her semblance to scan the area, but saw nothing at the same time as when her companion dropped to the ground.
"Not even my Huntress Eyes are able to spot him." Krasnaya thought to herself after watching her companions fall one-by-one. Tearing off a scrap of her cape, she tied it over eyes and drew her hammer and sickle once more. "Time to stop relying on my sight, and rely on Tuskon's training."
Now, entirely cut off from her sight, the Crimson Crusader was relying entirely on her hearing, smell, and touch. She could feel the wind shift as Lester rushed towards her, and swung her hammer in the direction, hitting him directly in the chest. Lester was knocked aside with a painful grunt, but got back up to fight. However, his heavier breathing caused the vigilante's ears to perk up. She ducked to avoid his punch and swept his feet out, tripping him up. He rolled aside to avoid her next strike, but the saltiness of his nervous sweat gave him away and her sickle sliced the fabric across his chest.
"No! My suit!" He cried.
Krasnaya grabbed him and threw against a nearby wall, punching him until he drifted to unconsciousness. She removed her blindfold and proceeded to peel off his own mask, exposing Lester's head even if the rest of him was still invisible. "Get ready for your biggest disappearing act, Lester: the one where no one sees you for at least ten years." She quipped.
Soon enough, the police arrived on the scene. After cutting off the invisibility fabric, they loaded him into the car and took him away. All while the Crimson Crusader checked on her allies.
"Nice work, Krasnaya." Yang - having recovered from Lester's attack - remarked, patting her partner on the back.
"You weren't so bad yourself, Goldilocks." Krasnaya smirked.
A few minutes later, Krasnaya rendezvoused with Cat Burglar to make sure that the child was reunited with her mother. The part-time vigilante had just dropped the boy off near the house where his mother was waiting.
"Mommy!"
"Tommy!" Nancy called out as she ran to hug her son after seeing that he made it back safely. Looking up with tears of relief in her eyes, she noticed Krasnaya standing nearby and giving a thumbs up to let her know her son wasn't in any further danger. "Thank you."
"Wha…did you say something Mommy?" Tommy called out.
Nancy looked to her son and then back to where Krasnaya was, not at all surprised to see that the Crimson Crusader was no longer there. "Nothing you need to worry about."
A little while later, Yang stopped by the Crimsonoff Farm to check on her ally. Svetlana had changed out of her costume and made her way back downstairs after putting Cyan to bed. "How are Blake and Ilia doing?" She asked.
"They'll be feeling a bit nauseous for another hour or two, as the sonic pulse Lester used caused them to experience a bad case of vertigo, but other then that, they should be fine after they've had some rest," Yang declared, not even trying to hide the sense of relief she was feeling. "I trust that 'Azure' is in the same boat."
"That she is." Svetlana nodded.
"By the way, any news on what's going to happen with Nancy and Tommy?"
"Apparently they'll be moving elsewhere after they've tied up a few loose ends," Svetlana remarked. "Said that they appreciated my offer to provide assistance if they stayed but wanted to get away from the painful memories associated with Lester."
"Can't say I blame them after everything that's happened."
"You aren't the only one."
Hours later, Yang returned home to see Blake comforting Ilia on their couch. She marched straight towards the duo and shared a hug with both of them, only for Ilia to pull them both in for a kiss.
"Not that I'm complaining, but what was that for?" Blake asked after Ilia finished kissing her and Yang.
"I was just thanking you and your wife for never losing faith in me." Ilia declared with a smile on her face. "For always making me feel seen."
"You'll never be invisible to us," Yang promised before pausing as she realized what she said, "Wait…"
"It's fine: I get what you mean," Ilia remarked.
Blake shook her head with a smirk. "I swear, Yang, you have no semblance of shame."
Yang stared wide-eyed at her wife before she hoisted her over her shoulder, grabbed Ilia by the wrist and power-walked both of them to the bedroom.
"You realize that we likely won't be able to walk straight for a bit after this right?" Ilia directed at her childhood friend.
"Are you complaining?" Blake replied with a raised eyebrow
"I never said that," Ilia said with a blush.
To Be Continued!