PFK 32 - Vale’s Finest (Patreon)

After dragging us out of the van they took pictures and fingerprints, and confiscated Ren’s and Sun’s weapons. We were all separated into different interview rooms, naturally. After shoving me into the uncomfortable chair and securing my cuffs to the table, Flicaille herself dropped heavily into the opposite seat, flipping open a thin folder and clicking a pen officiously.

“Still feeling cocky?” she asked snidely.

Popping [Eagle’s Splendor] and leaning on my CHA, I gave her the blankest look I could and didn’t answer.

Snorting softly, she glanced down at the paper in her folder. “Name?”

“Jaune.” I spelled it. “Surname is Arc,” I added, pretending not to notice the way her eyes widened and the pen slipped.

“Date of birth?” Despite her obvious surprise, she didn’t stammer.

“27th March of NE 1997.” It was 2015 at the moment, the bimillennial of the New Era having passed when Jaune was very young.

“Address?”

I rattled off the address of the apartment. A crease appeared in the officer’s brow, but after a moment she noted it down.

“Occupation… Beacon Student,” Flicaille didn’t wait for me to answer that one. “Now, tell me what happened tonight in your own words.” She looked up expectantly.

I stared at her and said nothing.

“Jaune, I do believe you stepped in tonight because you wanted to help,” she said. “We need this information to make sure the perpetrators are put behind bars.”

Then you should’ve taken our statements on the street and let us go, you racist piece of shit, I didn’t say, having to resist the urge to roll my eyes.

Flicaille gritted her teeth for a moment before trying again. “I know your family, Jaune; I know you’re good people. I need you to work with me so I can help you out of this mess.”

Really? You’re gonna try to play the good cop yourself? You could have at least sent King in to do this bit.

“Your graduation from Beacon could be in danger if you have a criminal record,” she tried. “I doubt you’d want to see that kind of hard work and prestige thrown aside because you fell in with a bad crowd.”

I resisted the urge to drum my fingers on the table, settling for bouncing my leg impatiently.

“I’m sure you don’t want us to have to bother your parents over a misunderstanding.”

I leaned back as best I could in the plastic chair, not breaking eye contact. No no, keep trying, I’m sure you’ll hit on something I care about eventually.

After a solid minute of silence, I spotted a vein starting to throb in her temple, despite the attempt at a smile still on her face.

Wonder if they’ll blame me if she strokes out right now.

Another minute, and Flicaille suddenly slammed a fist on the table. “Say something!”

My lips twitched as I suppressed a smirk. Taking a breath, I said loudly and clearly, “I have already invoked my right to remain silent and to converse with a lawyer before answering questions. After being photographed and fingerprinted I was brought straight here; no phone call, no consult, and as soon as you heard my family name you immediately started attempting to prey on my presumed insecurities. You may as well take a walk to cool down, Officer Flicaille, because I have nothing to say to you.” Pig, I finished internally.

Flicaille stood up so quickly her chair toppled over, snatched the folder off the table, and stomped back out the door, slamming it behind her so hard the light fixture swayed. Knowing I was still being watched by the souls I could sense behind the mirrored wall, I once again had to suppress the urge to roll my eyes.

I shut them instead, reaching out to [Gaia’s Pulse] and immersing myself in the feeling of the city around me. My sensitivity had climbed a long way from the first time I tried it on Olivia’s couch, and I could easily pick out all my friends in the 30 meter passive range of [Detect Aura]. It wasn’t quite like being able to see their silhouettes through the walls, but while meditating I got a much clearer picture from my Aura sense than I did without it.

Where I could only confirm Neo’s location earlier, I could tell that Leo was shifting awkwardly in his seat in the room to my left, but I recognized the soul interviewing him as King, so I wasn’t terribly worried — she’d seemed decent enough for a cop. Sun was leaning back in his chair, staring at the ceiling of the interview room to my right and ignoring whoever was in front of him. Ren’s soul in the next room over was so faint I missed it at first, and I realized he was using his Semblance to keep himself calm. Considering Flicaille was now sitting across from him, I couldn’t say I was too surprised.

There were dozens of souls I didn’t recognize in the building, of course; sitting down or moving around through rooms I couldn’t sense with [Detect Aura] because inanimate materials didn’t register.

Three rooms over, on the other side of Ren, I recognized the ibex faunus who’d spoken to me in the van. My eyebrows contracted slightly as I realized the cop with him was on the same side of the table instead of seated across. Any doubts about what was going on in there were dispelled as the White Fang member suddenly toppled over onto the floor. Scowling, I started composing another text with my Semblance.

I was distracted from that as a soul that had been moving briskly down the hallway suddenly opened the door. “Mister Arc, I presume?”

I opened my eyes again and took in the rail-thin, middle-aged black woman who’d entered.

‹Diligence The Leading Rule›LV 10Alizarin Beauchamp

I nodded.

“Professor Ozpin asked me to provide you students with legal assistance tonight.” She lifted a briefcase onto the table, flipping it open and passing me a business card with her name and license number. Then she glanced down at the chair Flicaille had left on the floor, frowning slightly.

Before she could go on, I asked, “Just you, for the four of us?”

“That’s correct.” She raised an eyebrow.

“Are we doing this in here?” I looked pointedly at the mirrored glass to my left, roughly where I thought the face of the person behind it was.

“No, I’ll be bringing you students to a conference room where we can have some privacy.”

Thinking fast, I tugged gently on the handcuffs where they were attached to the table, then dropped my hands again, screening the view of my right hand with my left. “You’ll have to find Officer Flicaille to let me up, then. She’s a couple rooms down in that direction.”

I tilted my head to the right and held up three fingers where Beauchamp could see but the watching officers couldn’t.

Beauchamp frowned, but nodded, closing her briefcase again. “Just a moment, then.”

She marched back out, leaving the door open and turning right. She passed the room Leo and King were in, then Ren’s, and opened the third door without knocking. I could tell exactly when she did, because her shout of, “What the hell do you think you’re doing!?” rang clearly back down the hallway.

Mentally finishing the text I’d started, I added her name and asked Ozpin to confirm her identity, which he quickly did.

Glancing up, I saw Officer King rush by the open door before sensing her Aura skidding to a stop behind Beauchamp. King’s Aura flexed, but Beauchamp barked, “Stop it!” and she desisted.

“I’ll take full responsibility for my colleague, Ma’am,” King’s voice floated back down the hall. “Please step aside, my Semblance can heal him.”

“And have the evidence vanish? I think not,” Beauchamp said sharply. “Both of you, get out! I expect to have the footage from that camera in my hands within ten minutes and it had better be intact or so help me I will have every single one of your badges!”

“…It will be done.” King’s voice was subdued, but she waited until the other cop left before moving slowly back down the hall.

She looked genuinely dejected when she passed the open door, and since the person who’d been watching me from behind the glass had finally left I couldn’t help calling out, “You seem surprised, Officer King.”

‹Change Your Leaves, Keep Intact Your Roots›LV 32Percival King

She looked up at me, then glanced down at the chair on the floor. After a moment’s hesitation, she stepped in and picked it up. Retrieving a key from her pocket, she unlocked my handcuffs, then sat down. I rubbed my wrists, mostly out of habit since [Gamer’s Body] ensured I wasn’t bruised, and waited as she seemed to consider my words.

“I suppose I am surprised,” she said finally. “Criminals, however society may have failed them, do not cease to be citizens deserving of protection. I… am aware that this is not a universal sentiment among my fellow officers, but it never fails to rattle me when I encounter it.”

A glance at her status told me she was entirely sincere, so I swallowed the many snide comments that immediately jumped to mind and asked instead, “And what led you to this line of work, if I may ask? I can tell your Aura is unlocked, and it seems you’ve discovered your Semblance; healing powers are quite sought-after. I would know, they all but press-ganged me into volunteering at the hospital when they found out.”

“When I was growing up… I was taught that it is the duty and trust of an officer of the law to serve and protect the citizens of this Kingdom. There were presentations in school, signs and posters all over, procedural shows on TV…”

“Copaganda,” I nodded, and King blinked before seeming to puzzle out what I meant.

“Yes, I suppose that’s one way to look at it. A bit cynical, but…” she glanced at the wall to her left and sighed. “Still, it seems we have a few bad apples.”

“You’re forgetting the context of that idiom, Officer,” I said softly. “It goes, ‘a few bad apples spoil the barrel’. As well as mold spreading from one rotten fruit to another, overripe apples produce ethylene gas, which causes other nearby apples to rapidly spoil. At that point, you can either remove the bad ones quickly… or try to extract as many of the good ones as you can.”

King met my gaze soberly, though she seemed to be lost in thought. Beauchamp returned before she could come up with a reply, and when the lawyer entered to pick up her briefcase, King got to her feet.

“I’ll retrieve that recording for you, Ma’am,” she told Beauchamp. Pausing at the door, King glanced back at me, her blue eyes pained. “For what little it’s worth, you have my apologies for the events of this evening, Mister Arc. I still believe you did the right thing.”

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Beauchamp led us to a conference room, which she, Sun, and I all swept for bugs, finding none. Gesturing us all to sit down, she said, “As I was telling Mister Arc, Ozpin asked me to provide his students with legal assistance. Yes, that includes you, Mister Wukong,” she added, and Sun lowered the hand he’d just raised. “While I think it’s unlikely any of you will have charges actually leveled, based on what Ozpin told me of the situation, you likely will still be questioned by VPD so I will be preparing you for that.”

“While I’m aware it’s not your area of specialization, would you say we have a potential suit for wrongful arrest?” I asked her.

“Possibly. I can’t say more with any certainty.”

“And the police brutality?”

“I have advised a colleague of the situation,” Beauchamp replied, opening her briefcase again. “Whether it will come to anything is another story, and not what we’re here for tonight.”

She set a voice recorder and her Scroll on the table between us.

“With your consent, I’ll be recording this discussion for later consult.”

“I consent,” I replied, “but before that…” I lifted my shirt and retrieved my Scroll from my belt, pulling it fully open and stopping the recording in progress. “I started this just before Officers Flicaille and King arrived on the scene. It’s several hours long by this point, but it should be unbroken.”

Beauchamp raised an eyebrow. “Were you not searched when you got here?” she asked curiously.

“Concealing Legerdemain,” I lied smoothly. “Rather than hide it somewhere I hoped they wouldn’t search, I kept it on the move so it was never where they were currently looking.”

I had, naturally, just retrieved it from my [Inventory], where it recorded my immediate surroundings perfectly.

[Acting has increased by 1!]

Ugh, just prestige already!

“May I?” Beauchamp asked, and I slid the device over to her.

She hit play, and we all heard the siren approaching.

“Weapons safe, everybody,” said my own voice.

There was a screech of tires, the sound of doors opening, and Flicaille’s voice barked, “Everybody stay where you are!”

Beauchamp scrubbed forward.

“–pick up the actual criminals and let us go back to school,” came Ren’s cool voice.

There was a loud clicking of handcuffs, and my voice called out, “I am invoking my right to remain silent and to speak to a lawyer before answering any questions.”

She scrubbed forward again.

“–no phone call, no consult, and as soon as you heard my family name you immediately started attempting to prey on my presumed insecurities. You may as well take a walk to cool down, Officer Flicaille, because I have nothing to say to you.”

Nodding in satisfaction, she stopped the playback and sent the recording to herself. “Good thinking, and it will be an excellent help in your wrongful arrest suit if you decide to pursue it. I will provide you with a referral.” Beginning a new recording on her own devices, she went on, “Now, for tonight…”

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Name: Jaune ArcLevel: 58 (Next: 68.29%)Title: Academy StudentRace: HumanAge: 18Job: Beacon StudentClass: PaladinSemblance: The GamerHP: 7545/7545MP: 4177/4177STR: 213 (100)CON: 261 (101)DEX: 151 (53)INT: 130 (50)WIS: 106 (52)CHA: 144 (52)Points: 97Money: 947,788LStatus: Cursed – Yellow Death [High]

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A/N: If you’re enjoying this story, feel free to check out my discord server at https://discord.gg/H6V854Fvbg

Alizarin is a red-purple dye that has been cultivated for over 3500 years on Earth.

I’m a nerd for idioms, so:The bad apples metaphor has appeared in a few variations over the years, most popularly ‘One bad apple spoils the whole barrel’. This has a scientific basis — as well as mold spreading from one rotten fruit to another, overripe apples produce ethylene gas, which causes other nearby apples to rapidly spoil.The truncated first half of the saying began to be twisted into meaning the opposite of the original idiom (implying that ‘a few bad apples’ are not representative of a group) in the 20th century, frequently to defend police organizations in the face of allegations of misconduct or brutality.Curious, that.

Some aspect of that recording probably makes it at least partly inadmissible as legal evidence under US law, but the legality of public recording tends to vary by state. You’re gonna have to roll with me on this one.

Concealing Legerdemain is a Skill Feat from Pathfinder 2nd Edition, which lets you use your Thievery skill to Conceal a small object by keeping it on the move, exactly as Jaune implied he did with his Scroll.