"They're moving, ma'am."
"Good." The voice came through the scroll slowly, a hushed scatter of sound obscured by the shadows surrounding the figure perched near the corner of the offshoot on the side of the road. From within this alleyway, none may see, and with no one watching, a scheme could take place. "Corner them, but do not be seen. My daughter, despite her appearance, is no less deadly than I. I'm sending someone out regardless, so keep on your toes."
"Understood." Cutting the call, the thug was about to move on. Shame then, that they had other plans. Getting the gag around his mouth was easy, and even dragging him back came without issue, but having to rough handle someone so directly... well...
That irked Roman just a tiny bit.
"Shadow them." Neo grinned, seemingly overjoyed by his order, vanishing whole and leaving behind a kitten who stared for a second before dashing out to stalk the duo. With the jewel of his eye now suitably taken watch over, he returned his attention to the unfortunate fool who attempted to stalk his prize.
The man tried to move, but Neo had wrapped him up pretty good. Roman supposed that was the benefit of her efficiency: she had the bugger under lock and chain before he'd even gotten a chance to gag him - granted, it was probably cheating that she'd used her semblance to hide her setup beforehand. Fortunately for both of them, Roman needed the little robin alive to question, meaning murder was, thankfully for his pristine and newly cleaned suit, off the table. The gag itself was a simple cloth, tied around his head and so easy to remove.
"Hello there, my little peeping tom. You really shouldn't have your volume so high." Roman leaned on his cane, cheerily tilting his head as he prepared to perform his not at all, but pretty darn close to, least favorite part of the job: interrogation. "Right then," he walked calmly around, opening up the door this poor sod was standing near, and hauled him in like a briefcase. "Why don't we have a chat about what our fair Little Missy wants with Junior's new boy?"
.
.
"Huh..."
"Is something wrong?" Ruby wasn't quite sure what else to ask. They'd just gotten to the library, but the guy looked almost confused, and she didn't know what could be bothering him.
"Nothing. It's just..." He took another glance around, eyes wandering up and over the various shelves of the mostly vacant library. There were others still studying and reading, but they were on the other side. Thankfully, this particular corner of which they huddled was split off, providing enough of a gap from the others that only faunus would have a chance at overhearing; both subtle and safe. "I didn't expect it to look so... normal."
"Is that a bad thing?" Personally, she liked to think normal was good, but maybe not everyone else did.
"I mean, not necessarily." He nearly stuttered, appearing a little sheepish. "With how it looked outside, I guess I thought it would be similar here."
"Beacon favors efficiency." Weiss cut in, now less annoyed and more... defensive? Ruby hadn't seen her like that before. "It flaunts its style and prestige to outsiders, but within it sits comforting, focused spaces, designed to relieve stress and provide a stable learning environment."
"So... it's comfy to help people work better." Ruby smiled as he answered, glad that at least someone could simplify whatever Weiss was on about. Truthfully, it wasn't that hard to do, but Weiss had a way of overcomplicating things, just a little.
It was difficult to notice, but a slight flush spread over her nose.
"In basic principle, yes." At least she hadn't stuttered in admitting that. Miltia ahead merely smiled, clearly amused, but not enough to break into laughter.
"Don't mind Josh." She stated, giving him a gentle pat on the arm. "He's just looking for a rise." Ruby returned a knowing, casual grin, and then the woman hit them with a less carefree look. "Actually, we've come to ask about something a bit less... fun. Ruby, you were with Jay earlier today, weren't you?"
"Uh... yeah." She wasn't all that certain with what was about to be asked; the tone switched between both calm and concerning seamlessly. "What about it?"
"Well." Miltia settled her hands, considerate of what she said next. "Earlier, when he got back, we decided to have a bit of fun; you know how clubs are."
"Yeah, I do." Yang's near nightly romps some years ago had told her exactly just how wild they could be. Although she'd certainly slowed down over the years before graduating, it never surprised Ruby to know her sister still frequented them from time to time, normally coming back and blabbing, half drunk, about what she'd been up to.
"Good, then you know how excited people can get. So we were all having a good time, until suddenly, Jay just… collapsed." Ruby kind of wanted to shout 'what' like in all the comics she read when shocking news was delivered, but hearing that Jay was possibly hurt infected her with a... different emotion. Abnormality was all she could make out when trying to put it to words, and while Weiss might smirk from knowing she used something other than 'weird' as a term, that didn't help things much.
Good people felt concern for others when in danger or hurt, but Ruby had to fake that emotion even now as she spoke up.
"W-what happened?" On the inside she cringed; that didn't sound nearly as natural as she would have hoped. Luckily for her, nobody was in the mood to question it, and Miltia carried on with her breakdown.
"We don't know." Well, that didn't help things. "At first, we thought it might have been drugs, but that's impossible with how we handled our liquor. Next we considered a medical condition, but Josh on the way here mentioned nothing of the sort."
The guy nodded. "Look, I've spent a lot, and I mean a lot of time with Jay, and I can guarantee he's never done something like this before."
Miltia apparently agreed. "So, with nothing on our end, we figured something might have happened on his trip with you."
"Excuse me." Weiss barged in, strangely serious and with a bitingly narrowed glare. "You wouldn't happen to be accusing my team leader of having something to do with this, would you?"
"Not at all." Josh hopped in, somehow completely unaffected by Weiss's icy gaze. His posture settled, and he almost leaned back as he spoke; voice smooth like fresh butter. "We only want to know if she saw something off about him." He turned his eyes to her, filled with friendly warmth as if greeting the welcoming sunrise. "From the sounds of it, he had a great time - although you wouldn't be able to tell." Shaking his head, his voice reached out to her. "Was he acting weird or anything, like he had a crick in his neck or wobble in his boots?"
"No, nothing." Josh made speaking to him so easy, and Ruby was grateful he wasn't blaming her for whatever happened, because honestly, she didn't know. However, there was something she did know, and while it was a low chance, it was still a chance. Steadying herself, she tried not to look intimidated or guilty. "But, I might have an idea."
"Shoot." He said, somehow keeping his jovial voice.
"When we exited Coco's, I... may have rushed off and left him." This got her a few curious eyes. Still, despite the newly dampened positivity, she kept going. "He might have assumed I actually didn't want to see him, and had changed my mind. Maybe that did something to him?"
Cracking an eye open, she saw Josh's smile still shining bright, and Miltia wore a caring grin. Weiss, in contrast, was sighing and shaking her head, pinching her nose for a second before throwing her head back and breathing out.
"Blissfully ignorant, as always; I guess I should be glad my leader's at least compassionate."
"Huh?" Ruby found that... She didn't know what to think of it. Was it an insult? A compliment? There was just no telling.
"Don't worry about it." Josh winked next, crossing his arms and speaking through a toothy grin. "Trust me, he was probably happier that way. He's not a fan of crowds, and even friends make him a bit angsty. But~" He leaned in a bit, face touched up by mischief. "If you wanna know a secret: he thinks you're cool."
"H-he does?" Okay, now the stutter this time was real.
"He wouldn't wear your hair otherwise." Josh leaned back content, until puzzlement broke across his expression. "Or he just digs your style." He reached up, rubbing the back of his neck. "I might be reading him wrong."
Weiss challenged the man. "I thought you knew him well?"
"Eh heh heh… I do, it's just that sometimes he can be a bit difficult to read; a lot of strange words in his book." Raising a hand, his pitiful face seemed itching for a bone. "On the bright side, I'm pretty sure I'm right."
.
.
Stalking thugs and targets of all varieties usually went by swimmingly, and to an extent it seemed no different here.
With her semblance being so versatile, what with controlling the seen and unseen, Neo often spent time just goofing off while tailing her prey. Normally, she'd be on her scroll, looking up the latest in daytime drama, if only to occupy what often became several hours of casual walking. Although this time, she couldn't quite do that. She'd expected her first time putting effort into stealth to be against someone of suitable renown, but nope, she was following a jumpy little scamp and his short-fused lady friend to who knows where.
You see, he had a friend with this irksome little skill which put most of her hide and seek cheats back into the closet, forcing her to genuinely put effort into staying out of sight. After that scare, and taking into account other factors of the guy... Let's just say, she wasn't taking any chances. Neo hid herself by sticking to the roofs and upper walkways littered between the alleyways of Vale. It wasn't hard to do, really, but any sudden bangs or other loud noises might startle the boy into actually looking up; she wouldn't put it past him, based on how quickly he washed away his mental woes last time.
Oh sure, nobody else could see her; that, at least, had remained the same. But considering her target for some reason maintained a habit of drawing in dangerous people... Well, Neo wasn't entirely amused.
Not that she was angry with him; far from it in fact. She found it thrilling that the only counter to her semblance and resources was a seemingly powerless bitch boy and his teddy bear friend. People potentially - and in one case confirmed - capable of seeing through the illusions who'd become many others' last sights on Remnant, and one of 'em could barely handle himself when faced with the harsh truth of the world.
It'd be laughably pitiful if that's all there was.
But no, it didn't stop there. While his ability to see through illusions may have been dangerously up in the air, she had confirmed, for a fact, his touch disabled dust - the dwindling power source of the world. On its own it seemed impossibly useful, and that was doubled when taking various things into account. Imagine reaching for a battery, and being able to depower whatever was hooked up to it by just a finger gracing its casing.
But seeing as their getaway ride had no issues before, there had to be a limit; perhaps density or distance? Maybe layers could counteract the effect?
It didn't really matter right now, as Neo was content just looking after the kids.
Strangely, they turned, heading into a building. It looked like some sort of salon, but not one she'd frequented; there were, like, ten of the things scattered across the city, so she'd be forgiven for not testing out every single one. They weren't in there long, and after a couple of minutes they were out and hailing a cab.
Great. She whined internally, sighing and preparing to leap down. I get the upper seat, again.
While preparing herself for the swept up storm her hair was about to face in the wake of riding the roof of the cab, she stopped. All cabs in Vale had a particular quirk that went along with them: the company who ran the service always bore similar license plates, to identify their guys. From the design of the car, she was looking at a Ginger Bro's taxi, and their plates all began with GB.
This became a problem when the car she was looking at right now lacked those initials.
Suddenly, Neo abandoned the idea of stealth temporarily and leapt down to the street. Hoping the goober hadn't started staring out the window, she quickly mounted the pretender like a horse, only she situated both legs atop the ride. Holding on to the glowing 'TAXI' sign, she paid extra attention to the route being taken, opening up her scroll and enabling the routing feature of her navigation app, allowing her to track the exact trail she took over the day so long as she retained a connection.
With that done, all that was left was to slip her scroll back into her jacket and sit tight for the ride.
Just as she thought, these bozos were in the midst of being kidnapped; trouble really couldn't look the other way with her, could it? Or, Neo supposed it really couldn't ignore the two in the seats either. Bad luck all around, really.
.
.
"Hey... hey!" Melanie already wasn't in a good mood, but this idiot driver was quickly testing what little patience remained.
"Hmm?"
"Don't 'hmm' me! You took the wrong turn!"
"No I didn't." His response tumbled out, as if the man were as drunk as the prick next to her probably wishes he was. Well, this asshole was about to find out why most sensible people never pushed her on a bad day, and if it wasn't obvious enough already: today was already a very, very bad day.
"We're headed for Beacon, jerk. You're taking us away from it."
"Nah, I'm not." Every word was almost slurred, saved only by the bullet stops and breaks after each breath. "We's just taking a shortcut."
"Shortcut my ass." Enough of this! With her rage building up, Melanie made a promise to herself to send a vivid, and rather direct, complaint to the company of this particular cab; being fired might just wake him up enough to hear when customers are speaking.
Three jiggles, followed up by swats and even some tackles of the door had a darker thought coming to mind. Gritting her teeth, she stared at the driver through the mirror, seeing a thin line in place across his mug.
"Sorry little lady, but I can't let you do that." It was here she heard the hissing, and all of a sudden her head began to float. Blinking, her eyes spied him again through the mirror, but this time a mask was in place.
"Y-you- '' She never got to finish before the darkness overcame her, but she'd been afforded a final realization as the lights went out. She could taste the remnants of dust in the fumes, meaning that not only was he knocking her unconscious, but he was using the mix often associated with kidnappings.
The very same method they used for capturing those they needed to interrogate was now filling her lungs, and it was brutally effective.
.
.
"Hey." Jay felt the woman slump hard on his side, and it was then that panic slipped its way in his head. Giving her a few pushes and prods proved futile as no response was gotten. "Mel-"
He stopped himself there, eyeing the man ahead as he focused on driving, only to see the guy's eyes bend. Regardless of whether this person knew Melanie's name or not, it was probably best not to shout it out period. There could be cameras or microphones strewn throughout the cab, and giving away any info was a bad idea when being abducted. Jay figured it shouldn't have been a surprise by this point, but the rate at which Vale proved ridiculously dangerous startled him.
The show really didn't explain just how extensive crime in the city really was; then again, the story focused on Beacon and the girls, so it made at least some sense how little of the outside problems were brought up. Okay, there was Mountain Glenn, but that was an 'after the fact' scenario. This here was an 'in the now' type of thing, and Jay didn't know what to do. And so, he did the only thing he could when faced with someone trying to kidnap them: the stupid thing.
He shot forward and started pulling the mask off of their driver.
"What the shit?!" The man screamed, keeping one hand on the wheel as the other fought to keep his mask on. Frantically, his voice shouted, both bewildered and accusatory. "What are you doing?! How are you still awake?!"
Each swerve violently retched the vehicle around the city streets, pulling them deeper into less populated territory. Some people lingered on, however, and it became a rush of the driver trying not to mow down the few civilians jumping desperately to safety from the rampaging yellow bull. Jay found his moment when a finger slipped just beneath the edge, breaking the airtight seal and making room for more. Their driver's shock and terror came out in full force here.
"Stop it, kid! You'll make us crash!"
But by the time it came out, Jay had already gotten a grip and clawed the mask free. The brakes were crushed under heel and the cab spun a disorienting show of swirls out the windows. The shakes had Jay gripping the seat in an attempt to remain upright, and once the ride did finally conclude, their assailant desperately threw open the door. He didn't get far though, finally succumbing to the effects of the gas and plopping out onto the road.
Wriggling and working with the seatbelt, he got Melanie free before tossing them both out of the car. He hit the ground first, followed by the motionless body of his would-be guard. Before he could even get to his feet, he spied a figure landing ahead of him, checking the blood flow of the man with twin fingers under his neck.
Neo turned back, and her eyes widened slightly as he stared.
She seemed conflicted, annoyed, and ultimately not all that surprised; such a quick swapping of emotions threw him for a bit of a loop. Regardless, and upon shaking her head, Neo strolled over. A quick nod told him she wanted them off the street and presumably a good distance from the crash. Their stop wasn't all that violent, telling nothing beyond a simple and sudden swerve, so it could be reasonably assumed the cops wouldn't immediately begin hunting for others; at least, not until the gas was identified.
Neo wasn't one to trifle with, and seeing as she, Roman, and Junior must have had a somewhat working relationship - presumed by his inclusion in the White Fang job, Jay put his shaky trust in her hands.
Picking up Melanie, who was lighter than he expected, the pair stalked away from the open and were consumed in the shadows of the crooked hideaway.
.
.
"Didn't I tell you?"
Miss Fall spoke with far more savvy than a woman in her position really ought to. But true to her word, this... 'Jay' character, of which Junior neglected to bring to their gathering based on a flimsy excuse that she hadn't the energy to fight, did appear unusual.
"Any young trot can hold their breath." Fall's evidence too was flimsy, but Lil'Miss herself couldn't argue the glassy strength of her own proposed presumption. He'd very clearly been huffing and heaving based on his chest's rhythmic drumming, and they both knew her spout was nothing more than an attempt to rationalize away what very obviously showed itself as a problem.
"Oh, honey dearest~" The cobra drew in close again, voice dusted with promises tainted in romantic venom. "We both know that isn't the case~"
Damn you. When Cinder Fall first approached, the head of the Spiders expected a simple deal involving either information on dust shipments or White Fang movements. With the constant, and not to mention brazenly frequent robberies being conducted by the group, many desperate had seen fit to take advantage of her reputation.
She often worked outside of Vale in her designated home territory, but the Vytal Festival Gambling Palooza usually meant that all four of the greats were gathered in one place. As per decree by the treaty of the event, every group was allowed to work a small subset of their business in the hosting family's turf. Granted, it was to a limited extent, but it had its benefits.
For any clientele, it meant not tossing your debts in with the hosting family; not that it was much better for debtors, who'd later learn that even at a distance payments would still be honored: with either money, or blood.
Cinder Fall was an oddball in this case, as rather than seeking information or even dust and weapons like so many others, she simply inquired to pay for information on a certain individual: a young man who even Lil'Miss herself had wanted to meet. So, she'd thought to herself, what better to do than rush that meeting ahead a little?
The job should have been simple: wait for him to wander down the streets, and risk sending one of her agents in disguise as a cabbie.
Sure, there was a chance he never waved it down, but in that case her spy could just tail after the boy. Interestingly, her spy confirmed not only the presence of the boy, but also one of her dear daughters; in her eyes, a double win. It had been so long since she'd seen her little girl, and knowing for a fact her twins would scarcely ever tire their tootsies out with walking anything but the shortest of distances, she risked sending a cab anyway. It worked, and not only had she got them in, but she also had live camera feed from inside.
But then came the trouble after when Mister Jay showed himself immune to the gas.
Huffing to herself and pulling a tad away from Miss Fall's presence, Lil'Miss hummed, observing the woman's every twisted twitch.
"I presume his apparent immunity to this particular mix will serve as a sufficient chunk of the information you desire?"
Cinder Fall had the audacity to hum a pretty tune. "I'd rather more, but I'm also aware how busy of a woman you are." Picking herself up, the vixen smirked, starting her trek towards the exit shortly across from them. "I'll return later on with more lien, but for now I must bid you a fine farewell~"
"To you as well." Lil'Miss offered, getting nothing but a giggle swallowed in a swirl of fictitious care.
Now left alone in the blackness of the viewing room, She cut the video feed of the image projecting itself on the wall, only to rewind and play it out again and again. No matter how she looked at it, she couldn't merely claim it a lucky break for the boy; something about the ease of which he acted, even if immune, felt offputtingly inexperienced.
Junior never really let her little girls hang around the common chops, unless they were ordering said payrollers around. This boy looked different, as in she seemed to visibly dislike him, but she never quite distanced herself. This left Lil'Miss wondering about what made him so special? Why was he allowed to be in their presence? What importance did he hold enough of for Melanie to suck up her emotions and tolerate him?
What are you hiding from me, Junior?
Author's note
…
Okay, that's another one down.
We've got the short meeting between Josh, Miltia, Weiss, and Ruby up here playing out like a sitcom. Ruby, of course, has to muck it up near the end, but not in a really negative light.
But really, the highlight of this chapter was the whole adventure with Melanie and Jay. Roman's questioning of the goon and the answers earned can wait, but Neo's on the prowl. Jay's interaction with dust comes in handy, as in, it has no effect on him. However, this time it has even less of an effect than before. And the cherry on top would have to go to Cinder's involvement. Her absence does not imply stagnancy; she'd been up to her share of things, and this sudden crossing of Lil'Miss is just a part of it.
While our gang may be riding things slower, that doesn't mean the rest of the world follows suit.
We have one review this time, but I'm hesitant to call it genuine because it starts with the most blatant and bad faith statement I've ever seen. Claiming the MC has no reason to exist, in any story, does nothing more than tell everyone you didn't like them; simple as that. Considering how I'm going about him, hating him is fine.
From what I can see, this seems to be the main issue, as the idea that all the "drabbles" are unconnected from the main plot makes little sense when all of them directly lead into one another, shape characters, and draw attention to the 'mains' and the questions I want people to consider. So far, everything has been altered by the presence of Jay and Josh in one way or another; all the big players we've seen are making direct decisions in regards to them by now. While not all events directly relate on a physical level, each one carries with it critical information for things to come.
In regards to the idea that this is a retelling of canon: it's not. However, seeing as this is basically an isekai, canon is still going to move forward in the background until outside elements make critical alterations; as in, Cinder isn't just going to halt her whole operation just because she's curious about a lad or two.
Despite it being in the synopsis, I'll give a basic telling of the plot outline just so everyone's clear on the premise: Jay tries to discover both how he ended up in Remnant and why, all the while facing the aspects of the world neglected by the show itself. There, now everyone should at least be on a similar page.
This is a heavily mystery driven story, so I can't reveal everything here.
Really, I expected more critiques of my pacing, but so far a chunk of people are hung up on Jay. Granted, I knew the downsides of an unlikable MC from the beginning; people would rather follow a MC who's flaws are mostly simple and understandable. Most expect the MC to at least be generally tolerable, something Jay is not. Still, y'all have Josh, so I'm pretty sure you can tide yourselves over for now.
By the way; no attacking each other in the reviews section; it hasn't happened yet, but I'll still put the warning here. I won't do anything other than scold if you do, but if things get super heated I might have to take further actions. Hating me is fine though, just not each other.
Anyway, that's it for now.
Until later.
Edit:
Removed one scene mentioning Blake during the chat with Josh. Was meant to call back on Blake coming back with Yang after the whole "I'm mad with Ruby's choice" debacle, but it sounded too much like a reference to canon Blake and RWBY's falling out. Besides, Blake and Yang were the ones to return themselves; no looking was actually done.