49

To Roman Torchwick coming to Vale might have been the best decision he'd ever made.

The cops sucked at their job. Deal with a crime organization? Sure they knew how to handle that balance. Track one guy?

Ha. Funny joke.

It helped too that criminal influence was also constantly just volatile enough that there was always a bigger fish to fry from both the law and from the Underground. Specifically the fish in question was a little Huntress in training girl calling herself The Green Hornet (often just The Hornet for short) who were accompanied by her older sisters (though at some point one of them got wacked off, it seemed) that fucked with the gangs of Vale on Friday nights.

The hilariousness was that while the wannabe hero stung at The King's profits on occasion, she was actually doing a better job of clearing out the upstart gangbangers that wanted a piece of the Xiong Clan's pie, as they tended to be more easily discovered.

That and the fact she operated only once a week and that the general populous of Vale seemed to like the little green and black runt was the only reason she and her remaining sister's bodies hadn't ended up floating in the Valean Bay.

Weirdly, she was honestly worth more alive to Hei Xiong than dead.

It would be funny if it wasn't so damn pathetic. The King of Vale's underground had been letting this all go on for half a decade now. What a joke! Honestly it was enough that Roman found it pretty difficult to take any threats from the man seriously a few months back when he'd brought Roman in for questioning, even if he knew that Hei Xiong was dangerous.

But the man seeing his former Spider tattoo, now a grinning evil pumpkin, had made things a bit easy for him for a bit afterwards so eh.

Like convincing Miss Malachite away from muscling into Vale kind of dangerous. Well. Frankly it was that or the fact that unlike Vale Mistral had multiple criminal syndicates in the Crime Families for her to expand her reach into Vale proper.

And Miss Malachite, the whale, was a hard woman to say no to in any way but in the bedroom.

Still thinking of his meeting with Hei Xiong made the pumpkin tattoo on the inside of his wrist itch. Proof that his past still technically existed below the surface. Its mark still existing in essence.

"Now this is a real steak." Roman complimented, his knife cutting through it easily. "In Mistral they make it smell right, but it's not made tender like this."

Honey Wine just gave a demure giggle from her side of the table as she tucked her strawberry blonde hair behind an ear.

"It's always harder to find a real chef nowadays rather than just a line cook. I was fortunate to discover mine. He's only good for meat dishes, though. I need a different chef just for everything else."

"Still he's a fine addition to this swanky new club of yours." Roman gave a confidant smirk. "You're doing well for yourself in Vale as well, eh?"

"Quite, Roman, quite well. Still it was sweet of you to come by, mister gentleman thief." She vaguely gestured outwards, at the people watching their dinner. "When this all hits the tabloids in the morning, I expect business will get even better."

She gave him a rare, honest smile.

"You didn't have to do that."

Roman just flashed her a grin.

"I probably owed you that anyways, Honey."

Honey Wine, a fellow former Spider associate of Lil Miss Malachite, tapped knowingly at her chin in a friendly way.

"You definitely do plenty."

Roman had been the one to 'smooth talk' his way into becoming the collecting agent from the Luck of the Mountain where Honey used to sing in Mistral. Well him and his old partner Chameleon, anyways.

But he'd gotten to know Honey then. She had been fascinating to talk to, and not just because of the famous sound of her pretty voice.

To make long things short, he wasn't surprised at all that she'd managed to silver tongue her way out of the lower levels of Mistral to start a new life in Vale. With her own fancy ass club to boot.

Honey leaned in, her light skin sparkled crimson. Glinting. She sparkled with red Burn Dust. It was a statement of both her wealth (cosmetic 'safe' grade Dust was not cheap, nor was it commonly available) and her daredevil nature.

"You ever think back about the old days?"

Cosmetic grade type Dust or not, a stray spark too strong could ruin her, light her up and the whole club with her. But it was a rather striking fashion statement. One that looked pretty good on her.

"Too often." Roman admitted, his gaze descending down her slim neck and back up to her eyes.

"I find myself much the same." Honey sighed.

"What? This is your club, Honey. Don't tell me you don't even get up on stage anymore." He laughed. Honey Wine's Semblance was a lightly hypnotic one that made people more susceptible to her influence after she sang to them. "That'd be ridiculous."

But Honey just shook her head.

"I don't do that anymore." She sipped at her glass of water, "I am trying to keep a low profile in Vale. Something I'm sure you know nothing about."

Roman grinned. He'd certainly held the spotlight for a few months now.

He'd been making headlines for weeks on end, starting with that first (slightly botched, if he was being honest, but he didn't account for how stupid Vale's civilian populus could be) bank heist where he'd gotten those two Huntsmen (Kandi Floss and… Roche Salt? Salz? Fuck it, Roman didn't have the brainspace to memorize a man's name if they weren't important) humiliated to the point they had to be called out on the VNN.

Roman was set. For safety and glory.

As long as he avoided Friday nights he didn't need to fear that dumb vigilante girl (even if she'd apparently been getting more brutal in recent years, some cowards even calling her a Babayaga, like as if she was a threat). Roman had no goons and men to betray him to the cops in the day. No turf he had to hold on all the other nights. He had nothing to lose and everything to gain. That was why he'd started the flashiest crime spree in Valean history.

All while avoiding The King's turf for additional security.

Hells, there were even civilian fans of his daredevil bank robbing now! Honestly he was kind of getting sick of bank robberies, wanting to involve himself in other things as well, but wasn't interested in bringing the whole of the Xiong Clan down on him right now.

Shame. Imagine the attention he could garner.

"But really. What's even your plan, Roman dear? You've got every cop in Vale looking for you and you're making headlines. People know your face, and it isn't like you haven't made enough enemies in the past."

Roman gave her a shrug. Cocksure, as if to say who do you think you're talking to?

"The plan, Honey, is simple. Which is what makes it good. It takes years to be a crime boss. So I'm just taking a shortcut."

Honey laughed.

"Fake it 'til you make it?"

Roman grinned.

"Alright, alright. That really is quite your style, I suppose. But you best not be trying to rope me into one of your little schemes, Roman darling. Like I said, I'm out of that game. And I aim to keep- oh my."

Roman didn't like that.

He turned around, seeing Brat #1 and Brat #2.

The Malachite twins.

Fucking hell, hadn't Lil Miss Malachite sent those two off to a boarding schoo-

Wait. Use that beautiful brain of yours Roman.

He knew Lil Miss would send a reckoning sooner or later. But the Brat Twins had been sent off before he himself had left the Spiders behind.

But they were in Vale right now somehow.

If so, the Brats were here from the beginning.

He'd met Xiong when he'd sent some crooked cops to pick him up for a talk. The man wasn't much of a fighter, let his men handle that. But he was a thinker.

He thought Roman wasn't his own man, but a piece of a puzzle. What had he said? A museum here, a shipping company there… who was to say perhaps even a school was on her books. This was too convenient.

Something stunk.

And the Brat Twins were headed straight for him.

Someone tipped them off, somehow.

Roman rose as he turned to the girls, who were dressed in a neat solid white and solid red dinner dress.

"Been a whi-"

Red Brat (Miltia) punched him in the nose.

"Ok, so you're here for him." Honey stood up quickly, "Then I suppose I'll get back to work. You pay for anything you break, and I know where to send the bills. Good to see you, Roman and good luck. Ta ta."

She bustled off and Roman narrowed his eyes as he wiped at his nose, still in pain despite his Aura.

She was just covering her own ass. That was business. But it didn't change the fact that now she was a suspect too. Great. One less face he could semi-trust.

"You shouldn't have done that." He warned, his hand reaching for Melodic Cudgel which had been leaned up against his side of the small table for two.

"He's right, Mil." White Brat (Melanie) smiled, kicking over his table at him. "Should have done it like this."

Roman sighed with a lazy backstep and ducked as the table passed over his head.

His steak landed at his feet.

"Now that's a waste of a perfectly good Prime Rib."

Beacon was crazy at times.

Maybe not as crazy as Trivia or Neo would likeas insane as the hijinks and shenanigans of her Friday nights, but it often got close.

"Wooooo!" Her teammate Xayah cheered as her Semblance Echo replicated copies of the disks of squished sliders she flung at Team IRNN (Iron) "Down with the MAN!"

"Love? I don't know if I can keep blocking all four of them." Her boyfriend Rakan held up a serving tray as he smoothly kept food from splattering onto his girlfriend's uniform, even if it meant getting his own splattered. "Maybe we could stand a chance if our dear Leader and her Partner could help?"

He flashed a friendly smile their way as Neo stared at the chaos through her Scroll, a single wireless earbud in one of her ears.

"I fail to see how this is my problem." She heard Cinder's voice, sounding tired. It was the curse of being forced to be the team mom, after all. "I told you to stop messing with the dumb racist fucks."

"Well-" Rakan blocked a pair of milk cartons tied with oily butchers twine from a rotisserie chicken like a bola, the milk splashing against him in white and chocolate brown as he prevented splashing against his Xayah. Honestly his puppish loyalty reminded her of Jaune and was the only reason she gave him less shit. Xayah was still free game. "They're too scared of you two to do anything if you both joined in? Please?"

There was the sound of a snapping book, making Trivia wince at the loud SNAP in her eardrum.

"Fine. Xayah has to be the one to wash my uniform if it gets dirty. Neo's too, though I doubt anyone will hit her." Cinder stood up, entering Trivia's field of vision. "Let's go save the idiots from themselves, Neo."

Trivia smiled, snapping her fingers as she stared at her Scroll's screen, releasing the illusion she'd left over a roughly Neo sized rag doll of herself with a little camera built in the head. It was good practice for her nighttime fun with Jaune. A camera or tracer in a bag went a long way.

Xayah actually had a stitching and knitting hobby and had been forcing it on Trivia herself who'd rolled with it enough to make something and passed it to Jaune. He'd loved it, so she kept humoring the Faunus girl.

Regardless, with the stitchings in the ragdoll Neo's chest stated: L +Didn't Ask +Ditching Evening Training Today followed by a little lipstick kiss mark. Trivia had just finished this 'body double' last week and had carried it around invisibly in a duffle bag today to use it as a practical joke as she ditched her teammates to get dinner in Vale.

Jaune had saved a random street vendor from a mugging about half a year or so back and then given him some grilling tips. Then they ended up saving him again last month from the Xiong Clan hounding him about his employment under someone from Mistral and he'd given them vouchers for a club he'd begun working at now as their grillmaster.

Which was good because Trivia and Neo loved a tender, rare steak, so she'd be testing the waters to see if she would take Jaune for a little date this Friday before they busted some skulls.

Cinder's angry growl was always funny to Neo for some reason, and even though Trivia had begun to appreciate the taller girl for what she was, that didn't change the fact that she still held the cardinal right to give her Partner shit when she felt like it.

She pressed her fingers against her Scroll to call a number to the pieces of a burner Scroll inside the doll, causing it to begin to burn into flames from the Burn Dust she'd lined it with. It was good practice for setting up distractions as well as breach charges, after all.

"NEAPOLITAN, YOU HALF-PINT BRAT!"

As the feed began to cut out from the burning heat, Trivia and Neo let out a silent laugh together as she saw their teammates stop being pelted with food as Team IRNN began to back away slowly with fear in their eyes. Good. She knew they'd take that as a promise that she'd fuck with them later too. This wasn't the first time she'd burned something in front of the annoying team of boys to send a message, even if this time it was just to fuck with Cinder.

"See? Who in their right mind wants to fuck with THAT?" Rakan couldn't be seen from behind Cinder, but his laugh was still audible. "Reminds me of when she burned all your uniforms, eh, Team IRNN? I didn't even help with that, but I got group detention for it. It was well worth it!"

"Woooooo! Neo set things on fire again, lets gooooo!" And Xayah was still a moron.

Fun though, Neo grinned. That makes her mostly bearable.

"Anarchy FOREVAHHH!" Yeah she was bearable.

"GEYSER!"

The feed cut out making Trivia roll her eyes invisibly.

Then she heard glass shatter.

She turned in the direction of the sound, seeing a red haired man in an expensive looking off-gray overcoat crashing out from the window of The Honeybee, the jazz club (apparently for enjoying songs and ambiance which was the sort of cute stuff that her Jaune adored) and landing in the streets out front.

A car honked as it swerved, almost hitting a car going the opposite direction as it pulled itself back into its own lane.

Well this is interesting. Neo laughed, although there was a promise of pain that Trivia was on board with. This is going to make dinner complicated, isn't it?

Trivia watched as he pulled himself up with his black cane. The handle was white and the bottom of it had a little bit of decorative metal that looked like a laughing red flame. Aura awakened, if not a Huntsman outright.

He didn't look very Huntsman-like though. A criminal.

Trivia felt her bloodlust rise alongside Neo as he hooked a plain black bowler hat with the handle of his cane and flicked it up as he shook the glass from his hair. He grabbed the hat, gave it a tap to shake off debris, and put it back on his head.

His long metrosexual-ass hair is hiding an entire eye. What the hell is wrong with him? Neo laughed, He's trying too hard.

It did look kind of dumb, Trivia agreed. Sure he had good facial features, but as a criminal of some sort he was wearing darker colors and it made his hair clash instead. The inside lining of his coat had red, but it still lacked something in the way of color balance. And what did that matter when he wore all black beneath that with the coat open?

He began to back away, his eyes flicking to the street to see there were no additional cars coming as two girls roughly Trivia's own age (maybe a year or two older, actually, considering they had Mistralian baby faces) began to walk out from the broken window. They were dressed fancily enough, but their dresses still allowed them full range of motion. And they had weapons on their person. Twins.

The one in white heels with what looked like an extending blade that would rise like little wings against the back of her ankles and the red one had small fingerless gauntlets with a long single red-black claw attached to each.

Ugh, why isn't this FRIDAY. Neo whined. We could have kettle corn if Jaune was here. And then kick all THREE of their asses.

Trivia decided she wanted to see Jaune in something a bit fancier like what the two twins were wearing next time. Neo quickly agreed. Jaune had nice legs.

"You're coming on a little strong, girls." Metrosexual Cane laughed with an easy grin. "If you wanted a dance after all this time all you had to do was ask. But please, learn to take turns? You know I've never liked to share."

The twins moved up to flank him, and Trivia unfurled Whisper, getting just enough magic out to not be noticeable while letting an updraft lift her via parasol to the top of the nearest lamppost. She wanted a bird's eye view. And her control had gotten much better after a year of training under Jaune's Uncle Qrow.

Even if he himself had no noticeable magic, the man had insane luck from Jaune's intervention and just threw ideas at her that usually tended to work.

White Twin held a hand down to her skirt, looking annoyed as she spoke up in response as Trivia floated up.

"What we're here to find out is what you think you're doing here, Roman."

Roman. Roman. Hmmmm. Trivia felt like she'd heard that name before. Eh. She couldn't remember. She'd message Jaune later asking if he knew anything about a Roman.

"I was just checking in with an old friend, is that so wrong?" Metrosexual Roman shrugged, "But you two were the last people I expected to run into here. Past your bedtime, isn't it?"

White Twin smiled sweetly.

"We can sleep once you're dead." She sang.

"Well I'm more surprised your dear mother let you come to Vale all by yourselves. So do tell her hello for me!" He gave a jaunty wave and then BOOKED IT.

Pft. Lame. Funny though. It was like watching an overdressed clown that took his fashion too seriously. It was funny.

"Tell her yourself!" White Twin cartwheeled, the blades clicking as they slid up and out from her shoes as Trivia expected, her descending axe kick was blocked by Metrosexual Roman's cane and the blade inched towards his throat.

The cane twisted, hooking around her ankle, as Metrosexual Roman spun a full 360 and released White Twin, sending her tumbling towards Red Twin as she flipped over White Twin towards him, her feet landing in his chest (Why not just use the claws? Neo sighed in disappointment, That's the cool weapon, just fucking use it!) as she knocked him back, twisting in the air and landing easily on her feet.

"Cute." Metrosexual Roman spat.

"Flattery won't work on me anymore." Red Twin smirked.

"Talking about your moves, not you." Metrosexual Roman dropped to his knees, his hat flying off as White Twin dashed to his left and performed a handstand tornado kick, blades flashing.

White lace with garterbelt. Neo noted. Fighting like that with a skirt on is just giving a free show.

The bottom of the cane flipped a little piece of the tip up, looking vaguely like a reticle at the distance that Trivia was watching from. Clearly the cane was also a gun.

But unmarked cars began to scream down the street from both sides, Metrosexual Roman flinching as it looked like one might hit him, but it turned at the last moment and stopped. Which was silly.

You clearly wanted him dead just run his ass over. Stupid gangsters and their dumbass showmanship. WHY?! Nobody is WATCHING- well she was watching, but that was besides the point!

Clearly realizing that he was now trapped in three directions, the two cars to his sides pouring out goons (with mostly Mistralian features despite the smattering of different hair colors and large mirror shades and black jumpsuits) and from his front were the Twins.

Metrosexual Roman's eyes narrowed, clearly knowing who they were. But Trivia nor Neo recognized any of them. They were a new faction that Trivia had never seen before in Vale. She smiled. This was exciting, FUN. Jaune would want to know about this all too. He always gave her big hugs whenever he thought she took initiative.

She began formulating a plan to maximize her own personal enjoyment and benefit. Jaune would be so proud of her~

Yeah ok. This was actually kind of bad.

"So!" He smiled, trying to look more confident than he sounded, "Lil Miss is moving in on Vale then for real? Huh, I suppose that's the real reason she wants to shut me down."

White Brat Melanie laughed at him.

"Get over yourself. You're not a threat at all, but you are a distraction. That Hornet girl had been making things nice and easy, but because of YOU the heat's turning up and jeopardizing her operation."

"And what would that be? I could adjust so I don't step on your toes like I am with Xiong."

"Nice try. Not." Melanie scoffed, "It might be hard for you to believe, you narcissistic twit, but it doesn't concern you. You should be happy though."

She smiled victoriously, teeth flashing as it promised pain.

"You're going home."

Roman shook his head, preparing himself.

"Nah. Not happening. You'll have to kill me here, because ain't no way I'm going back to Mistral."

"I don't think Mother specified dead or alive, did she Mel?" Miltia's fingers twitched as her Claw Blades glimmered under Vale's nightlights.

"Exellent point, Mil. She didn't."

Roman wasn't listening, his gaze looking barely past them as in a small sparkling of pink a girl dressed like a Huntress (flashy gold bomber jacket and black-orange pants) with blonde hair waved, no gestured, in a friendly manner for him to come over to her by the entrance of an alleyway.

Ah a dumb brat thinking she's playing HERO. Nice. Roman needed a distraction and this was perfect.

He immediately brought his attention back to the Twin Brats, hoping he hadn't tipped them off about the girl behind them. None of the other Spider goons (he didn't need to see their ink to know they were Spiders with the way they held themselves) seemed to see her due to their positioning. Plus the fact that like most of the Lil Miss's lowbie thugs they were prone to hyperfocusing, currently on him.

And a plan using an alleyway? The gods existed and they were still with him.

Roman loved alleyways. They were pretty much in his blood, but the only issue was that unlike Mistral which was almost carved into the mountains that made up the city and had channels to let wind flow everywhere using said alleyways (sometimes it made the whole city sing and it was the only thing he missed about that shithole) most of the ones in Vale were dead ends.

And in the worst case scenario he'd use the dumb blonde Huntress in training (if it was a REAL Huntress she'd probably thrown herself into the throng and been cracking skulls already) as a distraction and figure… something out. He wasn't exactly flush up on options here.

He didn't need to trust anyone. He just needed an out and needed to go all in if he wanted a chance to live the night.

Roman dashed towards the twins, firing a flare from Melodic Cudgel straight into the ground, acting both as a flashbang and a thrusting force that knocked the girls back, blinded the goons (hopefully; they were still wearing shades at night, the morons), and propelled him upwards, landing him right in front of the alley on his feet.

He ran inside, seeing the girl, a pretty young thing, her eyes flashing like lilacs. Short too. Tiny actually. He'd be surprised if she was much taller than a hundred and fifty centimeters.

She smirked, turned and guided him down the alley where they came to a wall.

"Oh for fuck's sake. Great. A dead end. How was this supposed to help?!"

Blondie turned with a smirk, snapping her fingers as he felt some sort of weird heaviness in the air, his body falling forwards and rolling into the dead end, landing awkwardly head over heels as his back flattened against the alleyway walls. And a brick wall appeared where he was moments ago.

"Wha?"

Roman quickly scrambled to his feet as he brushed himself off.

His gloved hand reached out to feel the stonework. It felt just as real as the brickwork he'd just tumbled into seconds ago.

He heard muffled shouts from the other side.

"Where the fuck is he? Where'd he go?"

"Ain't no WAY that rat got past us!" Somebody angrily kicked at the wall, making Roman sweat for a moment, but it held.

"Did he teleport? Fly? Fuck man. Didn't know Torchwick had a Semblance."

"Would be just like the slippery shit to keep that under his hat."

Ah. Fuck. His hat. He liked that hat.

Roman thoughtlessly lifted a hand at the top of his head, realizing he had forgotten to get his hat back after Melanie tried to knock his block off.

He turned to see the blonde Huntress in training looking bored as she tapped on her Scroll. A message app. His blood went cold for a moment, thinking she might have been working for someone else or even calling for pigs, but there was a disgustingly cutesy set of heart emoji wrapped around the name she was messaging.

Must have been her boyfriend. That was less worrying.

Still they couldn't sit here forev-

"There he is! Stop that rat! He's getting away!"

What?

Roman turned back to the wall, it seemed to go translucent just for him as his hand still pressed against the stone.

He saw a copy of himself cheekily waving from the top of the building, turning and walking away lazily as the Spider goons began trying to climb up the side of the building, two of them managing to get all the way to the top as the rest of them poured out of the alleyway, likely to attempt to cut off his doppleganger's escape.

Well wasn't THIS special? Roman had always looked down on Semblances. Usually they all lined up for combat and were pretty useless outside of it. THIS? He wanted this.

Some kids had all the luck. Maybe he should work on trying to unlock his own in some downtime and see if he'd get half as lucky.

The wall now disappeared completely, his hand passed through as if it had never been there at all.

"After him!" He heard Melanie shriek as tires SQUEALED, the Spider vans racing away in the distance.

Roman finally peeked out into the alleyway, seeing nothing remaining but broken glass from the jazz club's window and his hat. Oh his poor hat - crushed in a tire track.

They'll pay for that.

He stepped out further, seeing gunshots from the van as they fired shots at a copy of him running away on the rooftops, dashing and handsome, dressed like him right down to his cane.

"Well. Thank you for-"

Steel wire wrapped around his neck, a heavy bloodlust in the air warning him just enough to throw up his Aura as the tip of a barbed blade flickered in the air in front of his face. It hovered by his left eye like a Vacuoan cobra about to strike. His silverish orange Aura flashed as the sharp steel threads cut at his neck as it slowly dragged him back into the alleyway.

Of fucking course.

The blonde bimbo Huntress in training was gone, replaced by a black haired girl with neon green and pitch black heterochromic eyes, a green and black ensemble under a black pea coat. The wire rose out from the tip of a green and black umbrella. A domino mask on her face.

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. It was The Hornet's older sibling. She didn't have any moniker's people called her by specifically, but sometimes she was called The Sting, The Wasp, or even Queensguard.

And she'd become something criminals feared not long after she lost her twin. Someone in Vale's Underworld must have either killed or crippled her because she'd never been seen again and The Hornet and her remaining sister had become stronger afterwards, according to the rumor mill. More violent, at times.

"I-" His captor loosened the wire generously as she realized he wanted to say something, "I thought you lot only worked Friday nights? It's a Wednesday, good lady. Think you could let an innocent man go?"

Her right hand held the umbrella calmly, the way her fingers gripped the handle promising him a quick death if he tried anything funny. Officially The Hornet and her sister didn't kill.

Unofficially?

According to the rumors their few, rare victims were never found and heard from again. As in nobody ever found their bodies. Not even at the bottom of the bay. If people had only been run out of town someone would have seen them again. This wasn't Vacuo or Mistral, people didn't just disappear in Vale like that. Not usually anyhow.

There was a reason he worked mostly in the day, despite how he mocked them, and rested on Fridays. People called them the Babayaga but he'd thought it a bluff. Something overblown like how things were back in Mistral but he'd taken precautions anyways.

Roman wasn't sure if it was overblown anymore as he stared into her eyes.

Her left hand tapped at her Scroll and flashed him a message.

It seemed you had some out of town friends today. If you're a good boy and tell me what I want to know, I'll let you live. You're funnier alive.

"Hah. I'm glad to be of some entertainment. I do aim to please, after all. Think you might call off your little metal snake trick?"

No, I think your collar stays on. Her Scroll read. You and I are going into that jazz club, having dinner, and you're going to spill everything I want to hear.

"I don't think they're going to be amenable to-"

A cold ripple, the sensation of dangerously sharp glass edged over his skin, the girl's Aura smelling of strawberries and cream, tasted of vanilla and chocolate that felt like ash on his tongue.

There. You're disguised, just like me. Behave. Or I'll hunt one of your friends down instead of you.

Her form rippled in pink shards again as she returned to the appearance of her blonde bimbo Huntress in training disguise.

He looked down, unable to see the steel wire around his neck, nor the snake head of a blade, even though he could feel it loosened around his neck, ready to strangle him at a moment's notice. Something invisible tickled his cheek with a sharp edge. Great.

Could he go back and take the Spiders and Twins on again instead? Fucking hell.

"Can I at least not look like a random Mistral kid?" He complained with a defeated sigh, gesturing to how he looked like a black haired (he could see it in the corner of his vision) Mistralian teen Huntsman in training with a green tunic with pink trimmings and white pants. "Anything but Mistral at this point."

Nope~ Her Scroll said.

Fucking hell. He liked Vale, but this town might have been more that he could chew after all.