Yikes. I woke up last night with crippling back pain and it's continued into the day. Never felt anything quite like it. I'm hoping it's not sciatica (and the common pain relief exercises for sciatica don't help at all, so maybe it isn't), but it's a fresh kind of pain I've never felt before.

Could be a disc issue since I was knocked off my feet by a horse yesterday helping around my mother's stud, but I'm hoping it isn't. I'll go see a doctor if it continues. Doesn't cost me anything but time to have it checked out. Literally came into her house covered in mud clutching my ribs and tell my mother her new colt kicked me.

"Oh, you must have done something wrong. He's so sweet."

Right. Yes. Of course. My fault, lol.

Cover Art: Kirire

Chapter 133

The man they'd arrested had yet to crack under pressure from Vale's police, but that didn't matter once Coda cracked his scroll. He and his friend – who they only had a penname for – had decided to lie low in a commercial property they'd used online funds to rent, dodging a lot of the police's efforts to track them down. The VPD wanted to get more information from the suspect before moving in. Blake suspected the real reason was that Mira Ash didn't want any of her people coming into contact with the anomalous dagger.

"Just the two of us, then," Blake said. "As usual."

"It's better this way. There's less risk."

Jaune was inspecting a handgun in the driver's seat of a rented car. Their pimped-up ghost hunting van was a little too conspicuous for this. It was comical how unused to a gun he was, turning it over and familiarising himself with the safety. It was obvious he hadn't used one many times before.

"I'd have thought ARC Corp would have a train people in all weapons mentality," she teased. "Do I have to worry about you accidentally shooting me?"

"I'm not that bad. And I have been to shooting ranges with my family as part of training. It's just not something I'm used to. Guns are my biggest weakness given my lack of aura, and anomalies don't normally have them – and they're normally not much use against them. Going in with a gun just gives my opponent a weapon if I lose hold of it."

Blake hummed. The fact that guns weren't much use didn't stop Terra using one. Once again, she couldn't help but think it was some unsubtle attempt at getting him killed. Though in this case it might have been Jaune himself who was taking unnecessary risks out of guilt.

"Let me go ahead today, Jaune. He's probably armed." It was illegal to sell to non-huntsmen unless they had a license, but getting a gun on the black market wasn't difficult. "This isn't some crazy monster; it's a man with a knife and probably a gun. Honestly, you could probably stay in the car and let me handle it."

"You know I can't do that, Blake."

"I know. That's why I'm telling you to use me as a human shield. I'll try not to dodge around too much. I can take a few hits and this guy doesn't even have aura from what we know. Stand behind me, let him show himself, and then we'll put him down and grab the anomaly."

Jaune mock saluted. "Sure thing, boss."

Blake scoffed and playfully slapped his arm. He was her superior when it came to anomalies but it may actually have been reversed with human opponents. Her time in the White Fang had taught her a lot about fighting people. All she had to do was picture this building as an Atlas arms warehouse and she could already imagine Adam's plan.

The building was an old cold storage facility for pharmaceutical products, but it had been empty for a few years because it was too outdated in its cooling systems for anyone to want to use, but the owners – a pension fund – weren't paying to modernise them. They'd made numerous planning applications to turn it into an office block but all had been rejected by the city. It looked like they were holding onto it out of spite, leaving it empty on the assumption Vale would cave and let them turn it into valuable office space in a few years. It probably came as a surprise someone wanted to rent it, but they'd have shrugged their shoulders and allowed it without much care. It was free money as far as they were concerned.

"One floor, main loading entrance at the back." Blake read off the floorplan. "Each section of the building is sealed to prevent temperature changes due to airflow. That'll mean a lot of sharp corners and small chambers where our man might be holed up." She set the plan aside. "But he's still just a man at this point."

"Don't let the anomaly near you. It might not have to cut through aura to take effect."

Blake raised Gambol Shroud. "He won't get within stabbing distance."

/-/

Blake stepped in through the heavy door, and it swung shut behind her. Everything was designed to close on its own so that the warmer air outside wouldn't affect that inside. However, the temperature wasn't too different from one to the other due to the broken-down machinery, and the fact that the owners weren't going to waste money by leaving it on. The temperature inside was maybe two or three degrees lower than outside due to the thick walls, but it wasn't cold enough to chill meat, let alone valuable medicines.

The loading bay area was a wide-open area with several doors large enough for forklifts leading off it, designed so that a lorry could reverse up and seal itself to the main warehouse door, and then people inside could shift product from it into various storage rooms. There were wide ramps marked with yellow paint leading from the ground floor to the main section of the warehouse, all big enough for forklifts and other machinery to be driven up.

Moving slowly, she checked every corner as far as she could see. It was barren, everything that had once been inside taken and sold by the owners. The building was an empty shell now, which made it much harder for someone inside to stay hidden.

"It's clear," she whispered.

Jaune slid through the door, closing it quietly behind him. He looked a little more comfortable with his gun but still stepped behind her. It was good to see he was taking her suggestion seriously.

"Wrapper," he whispered, and nodded. There was a chocolate bar wrapper discarded at the foot of one of the ramps, which had either been tossed there or had rolled down on its own. "Could have been squatters before our man. Could still be squatters. We can't afford to shoot without asking questions."

"It's fine. I have aura, so I can afford to let them shoot first. And you said the knife was distinctive enough."

"It is. Curved unusually. It's definitely not something someone would take from a kitchen or use for self-defence. If it looks unusual, shoot. If they come at you with a broken bottle or some rusty pipe, let's try and talk them down first."

"I'll do my best." Blake nodded to the two doors leading off from the loading bay. "Those should go in a circle around all the storage rooms and loop back here. We absolutely should not split up, but how worried are we of him running and escaping?"

"A little," he admitted. "How confident are you that you can run him down if he does?"

"Absolutely. But if he gets a hostage outside before I catch him…"

In the end, the answer was simple. Jaune went back outside and slowly drove the car up to block the entrance they'd come through. The loading bays themselves were shut, and the machinery to open them was broken. The parked car wouldn't block the door, but it'd slow the person down as they scrambled to climb over. Good enough to buy her the precious seconds she'd need to catch up and take a shot. With that done, Blake chose a path at random, leading them to the right. At least then, if she had to hold a corner, she could do it with her dominant hand. It was little things like that which Adam had drilled into her.

There was another corridor beyond the sealed door. It ran in a rectangular shape through the building and back to the other side of the loading bay, with individual storage rooms branching off all along it. In a sense, it was yet another decontamination chamber designed to prevent heat loss when doors were opened. Cooling rooms cost money, so every bit of heat they could keep out would save them lien. Pacing to the corner, Blake peeked around, aura up, and swore.

"Body!" she hissed. Jaune moved to break the corner but she pushed him back. "Let me. Stay here and cover me in case it's a trap."

The chances of a real trap were low, given this was some random guy and not a retired vet, but there was no need to take risks. He could very well have found information online on how to set up an IED, and he had to know they were coming since his friend had failed to show up. Coda had promised to respond to messages and chat with this man emulating the other's speech patterns as best she could, but the wielder of the anomaly would be paranoid right now. There was no telling what he'd do. The dead body showed it.

Blake knelt and touched two fingers to the man's neck and thankfully found no pulse. Given the way the man's body was contorted, arms and legs clinging his own body so hard they looked to have broken, she wouldn't have wished them to still be alive. Their eyes were wide open, mouth the same, yellow teeth grisly in the dim light. They'd died in agony.

Blake touched her earpiece. "This might be one of our squatters. Clothing is tattered and they were in poor health before death. I can see a small stab wound in the shoulder, but it wouldn't have been fatal on its own. Jaune, the man died screaming. He died howling and trying to rip his own body apart. How did no one report this?"

"Homeless people slip through the cracks. No one sees them and no one notices when they go missing."

"He would have been shouting for help!"

"Walls thick enough to prevent heat seeping out would mute a lot of noise, and a place like this is probably known locally as a haunt for squatters and homeless people. Good folk will avoid coming anywhere near it." The way Jaune said good folk made his thoughts on that clear. "He must have challenged our man. Or maybe just approached him. No telling how jumpy the guy we're after is."

"At least we know he's here. It's clear to approach."

Jaune came around the corner and stopped by the man, giving him a cursory look over. He peeled back the old and tattered jacket around the cut. "It's so shallow. Even the smallest cut looks like it's enough for the anomaly to take hold. We really have to be careful."

"He didn't die from blood loss."

"No. Hopefully he had a heart attack and died quickly. If not, he might have strangled himself with how tightly he was holding onto his own body. I can't tell if that was because of physical pain or some psychological fear. Either way, it isn't a pretty way for someone to go."

Blake wanted to say there was no such thing as a good way to be killed, but witnessing this had her thinking there was. A bullet to the back of the head killing you before you were aware of it, for one. It was as they knelt by the man in silence that they heard a noise from within one of the once-cooled chambers ahead of them. It was quiet, intentionally so, but Blake's ears picked out the sound of something metal falling to the floor. A quiet tinkle of metal on concrete. Jaune heard it too. He held a finger over his mouth and pointed to a door maybe two rooms ahead of them.

Blake shook her head. "If we could hear a coin being dropped, he's heard us talking."

There was a sudden crunch and a scuffle, followed by a steel ringing out. As she'd predicted, the man had absolutely heard them and had been trying to stay quiet hoping they would go by. With her calling him out as she had, he gave up all pretences.

"Fuck off!" he yelled. "I'll do you like I did him!"

Jaune cocked an eyebrow.

"Thinks we're other squatters," she whispered. "Play along."

He nodded back, then called out. "Come on, man. We just wanted to see if you had some food. We've got some beer if you wanna share."

"No! Go away! I'll kill you if you come in!"

Jaune moved to the doorhandle and held onto it, then nodded for her to get into position to storm the room once he drew it open. "Come on, man. People like us have to stick together. We're all in the same boat. No need for threats."

"I have a knife! I… I'm not afraid to use it!"

Only a knife, then. He'd have said gun if he had one. And, come to think of it, the man outside would have been shot if this guy was carrying. Blake held Gambol Shroud in a two handed-grip, ready to bring it up and take aim, and nodded once to Jaune. He returned it, then dragged the roller door open with sudden speed. Blake stormed the breach, shoulder first and aura up. Her eyes scanned the room, quickly spotting camera equipment stocked on its side for transport.

Nothing else.

"Rarghhh!"

The battle cry came from behind, warning her in enough time to spin and catch the wrist of the man who had been hiding to the side of the door on her own weapon. Gambol Shroud's blade tore into flesh and lodged in bone. She hadn't swung it, and it was his own force that caused the wound. Had she been swinging, she might have cut his arm clean off, but it was really more of a parry. One he didn't expect and didn't compensate for.

It made him drop the wickedly curved knife either way.

"Arghhhhhhhh!" he screamed. The man, covered in a hoodie and wearing a scarf over his nose and mouth, fell to his knees, cradling a wrist only half-connected to his arm. Blake slashed the sword back to clear blood and took a step away, turning the gun on him.

"I've got him, Jaune. It's clear."

Her partner came in and quickly jogged over to kick the discarded knife away. He was careful to only do so by touching its handle. They'd have to sweep the thing into a box so as not to touch it, and it may very well be too dangerous to leave alone. It might also be dangerous to try and destroy it, but that could come later.

"No hostages." Jaune said. "Good."

Blake licked her lips and nodded to her gun. "Do I…?"

Kill him. He was wounded anyway and knew about anomalies. It was safer to silence him now before he made the news and started ranting about his knife. Most people wouldn't believe him but it'd only take a few who did to try and win the dagger back.

"Not yet." Jaune moved toward the man. "As much as I'm loathe to, he has potentially valuable information on what it does." He knelt and grasped the man's hood. "Listen to me, brat," he hissed. "You're in a world of trouble as it is. You're going to tell me where you found that knife and what you've been doing with it—"

The wounded man spat on Jaune's face. "Fuck off. I didn't do nothing."

"You admitted to killing that man outside."

"You can't prove I did, though! And you cut my hand off! I'm going to sue you into the ground!"

Blake was stunned. Did he really think he could lie his way out of this? Was his grasp on reality that weak? He seemed to think them police, and that he'd be treated with respect and dignity. Blake was tempted to shoot him. He was responsible for the abduction and murder of a whole host of women, and here he was acting like they'd believe this a case of mistaken identity.

"I don't think you understand your situation," Jaune said. "You're going to tell me what I want to know, and then I'll get you medical attention. Not before. Bes be quick or you might bleed out from a wound like that."

"You can't…" he rasped. "I have rights."

"And I work for a company that regularly ignores them. Sorry to say, but the world is just as corrupt as everyone thinks it is. Anything that happens to you here will be swept under the rug. I am, for all intents and purposes, above the law."

Not entirely true. ARC Corp operated outside it but weren't above it. They could break laws when it mattered for a case, but if she or Jaune murdered someone then they absolutely would face jail time. Assuming it was an innocent they killed. This man was an active part of a case involving an anomalous item. No one would comment if they killed him, other than to complain they could no longer make an example out of him.

"Cooperate and we'll see you survive this," Jaune promised. "Let's start nice and easy. Where did you find that dagger? Did someone give it to you?"

Blake's eyes widened at the question, because it suggested an avenue of thought she hadn't considered. A very frightening one. Hopefully, he'd just stumbled upon it or it had appeared to him one day.

"What dagger?"

Jaune cuffed his head, knocking the man down, then grabbed his hoodie and dragged the stunned man back up. "Enough games! We're not messing around here. We don't need evidence, we don't need to prove you're guilty. Answer my question: where did you find it? Did someone give it to you?"

"Didn't do nothing. Can't prove shit."

Jaune shook with rage, then turned to look at her. "Don't judge me," he whispered, before he bit into his finger and pulled his head back. His glove slid off, caught between his teeth, and he bared his molten and smouldering hand to the man. "See this? Answer my question or I'll touch you with it."

"Pretty gay, bro— Aiiiiieeeeeeeeeee!"

Blake winced at the horrific sound and turned her head away. She wouldn't judge him, as he'd asked, but even if she were to do so she wouldn't say Jaune was alike to Adam. Adam had hurt people to satisfy himself, whereas Jaune was doing this with a purpose. If someone was mimicking the Schnee family and giving out items, they needed to know. They also needed to know what the dagger did and how it worked. All things this man knew and was keeping from them. It was torture, pure and simple, and while she wanted to say torture was never justified… well…

Life was cruel.

Jaune removed his hand and Blake winced at the man's other arm, now smoking with his hoodie melting into his skin. The man was in shock, visibly shaking as Jaune pulled back. "Ready to take us seriously now? Where did you find the dagger?"

"F—Found it in a shop," the man whimpered. "No one gave it to me. I bought it."

Well, look at that. He was cooperative all of a sudden.

"What shop?"

"I don't remember." Jaune's hand moved. "I don't! I swear! Just some random place – a supermarket or something, I dunno. Nothing fancy. It was in the kitchen appliances aisle. I was looking for a knife and saw this one. It… It looked cool."

Jaune frowned. "A supermarket? Not an antique store or mysterious shop?"

"No… No, nothing like that. Just on a shelf along with other knives."

It must have manifested there on its own then. Or maybe an existing knife had become anomalous and changed form. They still didn't really understand how anomalies appeared or why, so a knife might have become anomalous. That was better than someone offering this man the weapon.

"Right. Good." Jaune nodded. "Next question. What made you decide to kidnap…" He trailed off. "No. Did you first kill a woman with this knife, or were you making these kinds of videos before you found it?"

"Didn't make—"

Jaune grabbed the man's knee.

His jeans burned.

"Arghhhh! Before! Before! We did it before!" He wept as Jaune removed his hand. "We made them before, but not many, and different. We would use drugs. Overdoses. Make it look like an accident. O—One time we drowned a bitch in a tub but it wasn't as popular. The knife was a new idea, b—but the videos sold well. Best ones we ever made."

Meaning the anomaly hadn't pushed them to do anything they hadn't already been doing. That was gruesome news, but better in a way. No signs of mental coercion or influence from the anomaly itself.

"Why?" Blake asked. She couldn't help herself. "Why do all this?"

"Because everything is unfair!" the man spat back at her. "I work my life away and for what, barely enough money to make ends meet. Meanwhile, women can just lounge around online in a hot tub and people throw money at them. It's not fair. So… So, I made it fair." He smiled madly. "If they want to show off online, I'll help them show off – and the money will go to someone who actually deserves it. Not some attention-seeking whore."

"Ugh. I regret asking. Let me guess, just one more idiot who didn't pay attention in school, never applied themselves, and now acts like it's everyone else's fault they don't have any prospects."

"Like you'd understand! You were born talented!"

No one had ever accused her of that, mostly because she had no real talent beyond making poor life decisions and running away from them. It was hard to take him seriously when he was holding her up as an example of a successful person.

But he didn't stop.

"Always getting your way, always having things easy, just another piece of trash born to rich parents who doesn't have to put any work into life. Unfair. Unfair. iT's UnFaIr!"

The man's face bulged and expanded, morphing and spilling out between scarf and hoodie. His entire form trembled and spilled out of itself, like he was made of water and only now had realised his skin was no barrier.

Jaune stumbled back. "He's transforming!" he yelled. "Anomalous transformation!"

Blake raised her gun.

"No, wait!" Jaune almost got in front of her. She managed to hold off at the last second. "ARC Corp has never witnessed a human-to-anomaly transformation. We have no idea how it happens."

"We know it's dangerous. We should kill him – it – before it finishes!"

But Jaune already had his scroll out recording it, and the man was already finishing. His now-watery form swelled up like a ball, like an egg. It sealed up and around him in a skin-like ball that reminded Blake uncomfortably of a single, hairless testicle. It was an ugly thought for an ugly sight, especially how lumpy and uneven the flesh-egg was.

More of a cocoon than an egg. Still looks like someone's ball sack.

"An egg," Jaune said. "Do you think that happened to me as well when I was first taken?"

"It happened to you when you almost went further," Blake said. "When Winter tried to push you into it. You formed a fiery cocoon." She holstered her weapon, since all had gone quiet and calm. "What are we meant to do with this now? We can't transport it to the facility without your family finding out, and we can't leave it here if we don't know what it might do to people when it hatches.

"We do call my family." Jaune said. He took off his suit jacket and bundled it up, then used it to pick up the knife without touching any part of it. He'd already slipped his glove back on. "But we tell them the man transformed before we could stop him. That we found him like this and thought it an opportunity. They may even help us take him to the containment facility."

"This is a bad idea, Jaune."

"I know. But we need to know what triggers this and why. I need to know, Blake. I'm like him."

"You're nothing like this creep was."

"Not that way." Jaune shuddered. "I meant physiologically. If we can study him, if we can figure out how this all works, then the results might work for me as well. Who knows, there could be a cure for all this. Some way to make the anomaly leave my body and let me go back to normal."

That felt like such a long shot, such an unlikely result of all this, but Blake couldn't bring herself to say it to him. Not when he looked, for once, like he had some hope.

"Fine. Let's see where this leads."

Okay, still got a normal amount done but man does this hurt. On painkillers for now.

Next Chapter: 17th February

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