"So..." Cocking her gauntlets - something Josh sure as hell had never seen before. "You gonna put him down gently? Or do I need to teach you why I'm considered the tigress of every party I crash?"

"What is this world coming to?" Jay's captor muttered, shaking his head before sending them a blank look. "Kids, please, you're probably feeling pretty heroic right now, but I guarantee you this isn't as bad as it looks."

"Hmm." Yang leaned back into a battle stance, cracking her knuckles as she did so and bending her legs, ready to dash. "No, I'm pretty sure I know exactly what's going down with you two. Your buddy isn't exactly inconspicuous, if you catch my drift?"

Shifting into a disgruntled scowl, the man pulled up a brow before fixing the upper collar of his shirt.

"You're one of those trigger-happy types, aren't you?"

"Wanna find out?" Yang challenged, only for a glint to spark to life in his eyes.

"I just so happen to, yes."

Like lightning he flung his arm out, and Josh only got to see the shift of whatever was thrown before Yang put her quick-draw skills to the test, firing off immediately. Josh expected to see the thing, whatever she shot, fly off with a smoking hole through it, but the blinding white light to spring up stung his eyes fiercely. Rubbing them, he worked on clearing his vision, only to hear the guy ahead shout, voice clearly filled with disappointment.

"Impossible!" He took a step back, and Josh put up his fists as if he really stood a chance. Come on, this was one of those old school gangster types by the looks of it; guy had to be carrying a strap on him somewhere. At least Yang was with him... right? Peering around, Josh fell hard upon the distinct lack of busty blondes, and got snapped from his state of bewilderment when their enemy spat, "You too?"

"Huh?" Disappointment flared to life in the man, who flicked his eyes between Jay and him; words tumbling out and frosted with strained fury.

"This can't be a mere coincidence… What sort of joke is this?"

"I'll say." Pulling up his trousers, Josh took a go at the whole 'intimidation' factor. "You've got my bro's prime ass right there, and I haven't even heard one slap."

Note to self: get a better grip on your lines when scared shitless. Questionably gay comment aside, he found the act of 'talking' as opposed to 'fighting' to be pulling some serious weight. He'd half expected the kidnapper to run off - especially now that Yang had vanished into thin air, a problem he'd solve in a bit - but nope, he was standing there, swapping between a set of perpendicular emotional masks, and almost looking to be at his wits end.

Considering Jay and him were still breathing, Josh counted it a partial victory at the very least.

"Hey," the man called out, nodding him over. Only an idiot would fall for such an obvious bait... which was precisely why Josh paid it no mind and did as told. Most would call him stupid for doing so, but when the man leading your stand-off pulls a glock from his suit and makes commands, you'd better believe an unarmed Josh is following his word to the letter. "Get in that car over there."

On the inside, he noticed the guy put his gun back in that suit jacket somewhere, whipping out one of those scrolls everyone uses in place of cell phones, and got to chatting with someone. Grimacing, he appeared to hang up, and soon approached. Having the door ripped open on him was frightening enough, but Josh kept up his killer poker face, until Jay was flung in with him.

"I'll say this once, and only once: try to run or dip during the drive and I execute you both, along with your little blonde friend - understand?"

"Are you saying you saw her go?" Josh managed to get out with minimal terror showing, and he was rewarded with a nod.

"She made a big mistake with shooting, and now she's with us. Let that be a lesson on watching what you aim at." Slamming the door, mister triple-trouble-kidnapper took to driving, leaving Josh just barely able to figure out what he meant due by mentioning dust.

"Was that Wrapping Dust back there?" Oh hey, would you look at that? He managed to get a word off normally.

"Smart kid. Exactly, so knowing what it is, you're probably aware what's up with your gal pal."

That he was... that... that he was. Dipping his head low, Josh came to the startling realization of just how boned things had become.

We're so screwed, aren't we?

.

.

"Well well well." Whistling, Mercury begrudgingly offered due credit as they began their chase. "Turns out stalking pays. Who'd have guessed?"

"You can thank Cinder when we get back."

Their first attempt at tracking Jay down had led them to a bit of a bust; the car was dropped off in parking and abandoned near the edge of town. Honestly, they'd expected that to an extent, but the real plan had been to search the dud afterwards for anything conclusive in the way of identifying evidence. Garanite, on the other hand, was a clean-cut bastard, leaving not even a scrap of hair or fabric behind - heck, they didn't even nab a fingerprint. In short, getting solid proof of his identity tossed up little more than stones, but they weren't out for the count.

Not when Junior's posse were dead-set on finding the now apparent trio; just had to stick around the sidelines until the unknowing pawns eventually got their breakthrough.

"Think they'll ditch their ride at least once?" Merc threw her way, careful to stay far enough from the edge that he could still see, while also remaining mostly obscured.

"With an active hostage? Not a chance." And all it took was scattered hours of creeping above and a lack of hygiene care and sleep; a necessary sacrifice to carry out Cinder's orders.

Goal was simple this time: rescue their soon to be companion… and convince him he was one of them - shouldn't be too hard.

Although, with that other fellow having shown the unique trait of ignoring the effects of dust - similar to Jay, according to Cinder herself - Emerald had a feeling they might want to nab him too. Josh: the second of the duo with no history across the entirety of Remnant. Mercury usually whined about Cinder being too into the details, going farther than necessary, but without that drive to have everything and anything within reach under her control, then they wouldn't have gotten half as far as they did.

Emerald made a point to find the time to rub it in his face.

.

.

Her body ached, not so much filled with pain as it was the cramped position she'd been lying in; kind of like when your legs fall asleep, but for the entire body, which from the feeling was all over the place and tangled at weird angles - beginner's yoga this was not.

"Cheap shot," Yang mumbled, pulling herself up off the floor.

"Pardon?"

"Hmm?" That wasn't a voice she recognised, and after flipping around, Yang near immediately got a hold of herself and sprung back, recalling exactly what she'd been doing prior. Whipping out her fists, she prepared a dashing swipe, only to see some lady standing across from her, clearly a little lost on what was going on.

"Dear, you can relax," she muttered, sighing and leaning back against the wall. "There's nobody here other than us."

"I..." Blinking, Yang shook her stupor away and asked, "Who are you?"

"It's a bit rude to demand names when you haven't even introduced yourself. But I suppose I can't blame you. I doubt you came here of your own volition." Pushing away from the wall, the woman dusted off her dress. "I am Raspberry Starlight. And you?"

"Umm..." This woman didn't seem dangerous, and while looks can be deceiving, Yang's name was already known throughout most of Vale anyway due to her status as a student of Beacon. It probably wouldn't hurt to clarify. "Yang Xiao Long."

A small twitch of understanding crooked Miss Starlight's cheeks.

"Oh. I believe I've heard of you. You're one of the new students studying in Beacon Academy, yes?"

"Yeah, that's right." Yang said, her stance now totally dropped in favor of a more relaxed posture - although her expression was anything but. Glancing around the barren gray room, whose cement walls were free of all cracks and the tiled floor echoed with each step, she wandered over to the only door she could see and tried it, getting nothing; it was locked.

"Don't expect to get out any time soon." Yang turned around, noting the annoyance across her apparent cellmate's face. "Considering who caught us, we'll be lucky if we even get out at all."

"Oh really?" Yang rolled her wrist, cocking Ember Celica and confirming she still had some rounds at the ready. "Well then, why don't we test that?"

Taking aim, Yang was about to fire at the door when a click echoed out. Slowly but surely, the door creaked open, and she came face to face before some guy with slicked back hair. He outright ignored her confused and suspicious gaze and ran his sight between the two of them. Stepping in, he shut the door behind himself, and they heard it click locked again.

"Ah... I... Huh?" Yang didn't know what was going on, but at least Raspberry had something to say, mildly perplexed as she sounded.

"Did you just lock yourself in here with us?"

"I did," he confirmed, completely nonchalant. "I cannot risk you making a mess of things, so our chat will commence here."

"Huh," Yang muttered, flexing her fingers into fists. "Pretty brave locking yourself in with us while completely unarmed. Unless, of course," Yang dipped low, ready to brawl. "You've got something stored away in that nice getup of yours?"

"Not at all." The apparent big bad stepped up, seemingly unfazed by her threat. "Yang Xiao Long, correct?"

"What of it?"

"Your younger sister is the head of Beacon's newest batch of aspiring hunters, no?"

"Again, what about it?" If this prick was about to suggest anything in the way of hurting her team, then he was about to learn just how little effort her shots took to cleave through someone's aura. 'Balls to the wall' was about to take on a whole new meaning.

"I do believe our new companion, Jay, holds a somewhat weary relationship with her, and the rest of you as well, of course." This guy wasn't making a whole lot of sense here, but that was fine; she'd beat it out of him if she had to.

"Are you going to answer my question or what?"

Because she'd reached her limit.

"Very well," he sighed, rolling his eyes back up. "I'm simply curious about whether you and your team know of his unique relationship with dust."

"What?" Squirreling a lost twitch across her lips, Yang pressed on. "What does that have to do with us? And what are you on about with dust?"

"Jay Williams has become a... complicated figure in our eyes, and I'd be willing to hold a better discussion later, but only if you'd be willing to help me in questioning Miss Starlight here."

"Excuse me?" The aforementioned sparked, and Yang followed her sentiment with some befuddlement of her own.

"And what makes you think I'll want any part in that?"

"Don't you?" He filtered his attention through curiosity, before dropping his focus back down onto Raspberry. "Seeing as Miss Starlight here is trading faunus children underneath her orphanage, I figured that as a huntress you'd be interested in intervening."

"YOU WHAT!"

That had not been part of their talk. Rounding right on Raspberry, Yang immediately saw the sprinkling of regret and guilt along the woman's features, proving their captor's claim in broad daylight. Yeah, she had some choice words for their kidnappers after, but this… this was news she needed answers on.

Sighing, Raspberry glanced up to meet their collective scorn.

"You don't know what's going on."

And thus, the guy now sharing their prison stepped forth, his face stony cold, but calm as he addressed her.

"Then explain it to us, before Miss Xiao Long loses her temper completely. We've got all day to hear you out."

.

.

"So..." Tulip stood above the near-whimpering boy, who did his best to look brave. "How shall we start?"

In the background, Neo had taken to making spooky faces and hand motions, many of which signified various overt and covert methods of execution, only some of which the kid picked up on. Scaring him shitless, while a little mean, was necessary if they were going to get him talking. Neo most of the time didn't care what the kids were up to, but when they got in the way, that's when she took it upon herself to punish them.

Besides, fear was a totally ethical and genuinely allowed - within a certain limit - way to coerce a confession from children. Besides, this tyke would probably be back to normal a little later anyway, even if they had to banish him to the timeout corner.

Nothing but a little 'meep' snuck from his throat as Tulip took a hard step forward. They had the little wolf pup tied in his seat, a rather soft comforter, and surrounded by only Tulip and her. The other kids were outside the room, maybe trying to listen in, but otherwise away, giving at least the partial illusion that he was alone. With their game in full swing, Neo settled a devious grin across her face as Tulip began.

"Look, I really, and I mean really don't want to punish you; I get what it's like being forced to do things against your will. But if you don't start talking, I'm going to assume you've sold out everyone here. I've told the others, you included, that I would do everything in my power to protect you, and if you've become my enemy, then you know what that means, don't you?"

"..."

"Still nothing, huh?" Reaching down, she ran her nail along his throat, voice harsher. The kid recoiled slightly, but otherwise stayed quiet. Pulling back with a sigh, she muttered to herself. "Dammit..."

Neo chose to grab her attention, making a slitting motion over her throat with her hands and puffing up her shoulders to mock-march in place.

"I know." Somewhere along the way during their constant business interactions - especially over these past few days - Tulip had come to pick up on a lot of Neo's silent chatter. Sure, Roman's partner in crime often communicated via text for more detailed explanations, but certain things were simply done through her favored charades; usually smaller things like threats and joking around. "Trust me, I'll be the first in line to gut the bastard when we find him."

"Please don't."

In a flash both women had their eyes set back on the kid, who himself had shoveled deeper into his seat. Cautiously, Tulip approached again, her face a tangle of confusion.

"What was that?"

"..."

Oh no, she wasn't letting this slide apparently. Roughly, she pulled his distant face towards hers head on, voice even but heavy with underlying gravel.

"What was that?" He didn't speak again, and while Neo was in the mood to hop in and maybe toss some mercy her way in the form of "help," Tulip had other plans. "Tell me why you care? He's trading others like us, like you, so why are you worried about him?"

"H... He's not bad." Finally, some progress; albeit sheepish and lacking common sense.

"Not bad?" Muttering in disbelief, Tulip - ignoring the obvious fact of Faunus Trading - went on to point out the clear negative. "He left you bleeding and running for your life."

"That wasn't his fault..."

"What?"

"I said that wasn't his fault." A little forceful - this kid had lungs. His spout of bravery instantly dried up though, and he was quickly back to being afraid. Tulip, in an odd show of softness, tackled that display with a soothing level of care.

"Okay, then tell us why, and how. If he isn't that bad, then why were you running, and why were you bleeding."

"I... I can't." And all their progress was lost... Or, maybe not? "I can't help everyone if I tell you, I promised."

"Why can't you?"

"Because you'll tell everyone else, and then all their work will be wasted." Work? As in, trading faunus kids? No, that couldn't be the full story. Far from a stranger to the darker side of life and the rough patches cracked all across the streets, Neo honed her ears as mister big bad wolf was slowly tamed.

"I won't tell anyone, I promise," Tulip reassured, nodding over to her. "And Neo won't either, although that's more because she can't."

Well fuck you too~ Snickering soundlessly, Neo planted a cat-like grin over her pretty face, not really upset at all but wanting so badly to retort and join in the fun. Popping her brows a couple of times just to shake things up, she'd coveted the dismissive eye-roll she so desperately sought, and Tulip went on.

"We can't put our trust in you, or him, if you don't give us a reason to."

"You're... willing to trust him?" Not at all, but that wasn't the right thing to say, and Neo simply went along with Tulips claims, nodding whenever necessary.

"If he's truly not bad, then yes. But we can't do that unless you speak up." Gently, Tulip untied the kid's arms from the comforter, instead taking him by the hands. "So please, give us a reason: one that only us three will know."

Tulip took a heavy gamble here, but Neo couldn't help but love every second of it. Risk was her favorite addiction - right behind frigid dairy treats - and the prospect of having the kid attempt to book it while they hunted him down just scratched a particular itch. Sure, she couldn't kill or maim him, but scaring some sense into the just-above toddler satisfied her craving for action.

Stuck between the obvious attempt at escaping and the woman supposedly willing to hear him out, the little pup made the obvious - although boring - decision.

"We... we were almost caught in a raw deal." Immediately, Tulip had eyes like a hawk, and Neo simply prepared herself for the long haul. Granted, this was sure to be an interesting tale to some extent - you don't speak friendship towards the guy who clocked your noggin without some seriously wacky context. "The ones selling were suspicious, so Big B didn't have a choice, so I volunteered to run." Gently, he touched his little head, leaving Tulip's grip behind. "It didn't hurt as bad as it looked, but it looked bad enough that the sellers didn't know better. With Oni's death, everyone started blaming everyone else for the leaks, so proving they were not the leakers was their only hope."

And like that, as the kid - Beige, apparently - began his little story, the chase they'd become a part of soon found itself flipped upside down, and all of a sudden it seemed more plausible that Jay hadn't simply been working against his will, but perhaps some of it was genuine assistance under the guise of coercion.

"But it's okay now. Big B and the others got them and the deal went through. They have the others now."

Garanite was playing a dangerous game, potentially making enemies of all sides, and once he was caught it wouldn't matter if his ambitions were noble, because Neo knew for sure the Big Four wouldn't figure out the truth before the ass-hats his gang were dealing with did. And neither Tulip nor her were going to tell them either, because even the slightest let-up in pursuit from the big-wigs would have that particular strand of the underworld immediately suspicious again; their caution was a necessity to the survival of their trade, and a well-earned one at that, despite how unbearably annoying and gross it was.

Garanite made himself an enemy to his friends, and friend to his enemies, and both of them knew it needed to stay that way for his little operation to remain intact.

Getting Jay back had just become a whole lot more irritating.

Author's note

...

Okay, so the Yang fight was a dud - I knew some of you were wanting a battle, but that's not how this goes; we'll get some real fights later, I promise. On the other hand, just how much money did Fris waste using two blasts of Wrapping Dust in one go? Whatever he had planned for the second one is now a dud, but seeing as they left the kids behind, we can assume it wasn't for them. Must have been desperate to do all that in public too, and seems he'll pay for it too, even if he couldn't help it with Yang ready to battle.

Yang was a fun enough time, and keen readers - anyone paying attention - may recognise Raspberry, and the implications it brings for other minor points. You-know-who gets to show, but was locking himself in the room really necessary? Guess you'll have to wait and see.

Neo and Tulip get to do their little interrogation thing, which leads to some implied, but not quite spoken, changes. Yeah, we're skipping most of Beige's story, because the clear cut answer will be coming up soon. On the bright side, Neo and Tulip know for sure, so that's something.

No reviews of note this time. But on the sidelines, I'm close to finishing one of my original novels. I'll post news in my bio if anybody's interested, but only when it's fully done and available - on a side note, it's a lot safer with its characters, as in they're not super hateable like several in this story are; that's a turn-off for most publishers. Shameless plug complete.

That's all for now.

Until next time.