Playing For Keeps - Ch 39 (Adv.) - Complication (Patreon)

“‘S’matter?” Qrow asked.

“Got another message.” I reached into my other pocket to retrieve the second Scroll.

“So?”

“The only people with this contact are Torchwick and his partner; I gave it to them during the robbery the night I got arrested.”

Qrow glanced over. “What for?”

“I already told you I smelled a Reeper when it came to his involvement with the White Fang and Amber’s assailants. I’m pretty sure I could have turned them on the spot if Salazar hadn’t shown up. As it is, Torchwick’s partner has an illusion Semblance, so I was able to trade contacts with them even at gunpoint, and based on the old Animan handle I’m guessing it’s her texting.”

“What do they want, then?”

I made a point of visibly reading the message. “She didn’t say.”

DM: Ohm -> Ko'origashigoroshi | Saturday 18:38

‹Ohm› I’m good to talk but if you need a meeting I’ll have to delegate it on account of I’m in Mistral until further notice

‹Ko'origashigoroshi› Brilliant timing.

‹Ohm› isn’t it just? going by that name you must be from around here, yeah? any advice?

‹Ko'origashigoroshi› Watch your back, shoot straight, conserve ammo, and never, ever, cut a deal with Spider.

‹Ohm› noted. now what did you need?

The Scroll showed Neo was Typing… for a while before her message came through.

‹Ko'origashigoroshi› There’s nothing going on right now. Well, there’s plenty that a goody-goody like you would object to, but the WF decided to back off a little after the last job was interrupted. Personally, we want to meet when you’re back in town. Two on two on neutral ground — you can bring your new boss, but that’s it.

I let out a sigh of relief. “Nothing urgent, they just want to meet with us when we get back to Vale.”

“‘Us’?” I could all but hear Qrow’s raised eyebrow.

“Yeah she mentioned my ‘new boss’, which has to mean you. I’m guessing it’s supposed to be a subtle hint that they have good information sources, even if all it would take is pinging my license in the register.”

‹Ohm› fair enough. shot in the dark, do y’all know who I should talk to in Mistral city if I need to find a missing person?

There was no response for so long that I ended up putting the Scroll away, but Neo finally replied around the time Qrow and I were approaching the gate into the city.

‹Ko'origashigoroshi› Our contacts in Mistral are outdated, but we did know someone who usually had an ear to the ground. Assuming he hasn’t gotten himself caught in the Spider’s Web, see if you can turn up a Venetian Redd on the upper edge of Below. If you mention Roman, he MIGHT give you the time of day.

‹Ohm› you want I should give him your new contact?

There was another long delay as Qrow and I wended our way up the road toward the address Violet had texted me in the meantime. Fortunately, Qrow knew his way around the city, because it definitely would have taken me a while to figure out the street numbering system on my own. I wondered idly if Neo was discussing my questions with Roman or just busy eating ice cream the way most fanfics portrayed her.

‹Ko'origashigoroshi› Yes.

Hmm, bit curt there. There wasn’t much to read into, however, so I shrugged it off.

----------------------------------------

Grandma’s bolthole wasn’t much to look at; a two-bedroom apartment that had belonged to a minor retainer who passed on a few years ago. It was, according to Violet, a replacement for a previous safehouse, with the latter having gone back onto the market so that Roma contacts weren’t always seen in the same place for years on end. This apartment, too, was due to be replaced, so Grandma had no issue with us using it for the duration of our trip.

“It’ll do,” was Qrow’s only comment before he dragged me back out and we boarded a funicular up the mountain toward Haven.

“Do we know what we’re looking for?” I asked.

Qrow shrugged. “Anything would be more information than we have right now.”

“I take it we’re not walking in the front door?”

A snort. “Damn straight.” He stood up, and we got off at the stop before Haven, starting to circle the mountain by stepping down an alley. It didn’t take us long to hit a dead end, but Qrow just crouched and leapt up to grab the bottom of the fire escape, scrambling easily onto the roof.

Judging the height with a glance, I popped all my STR buffs again and jumped clear onto the roof beside him.

“Showoff.”

“Sorry, my mentor taught me that if I’ve got it, I should flaunt it,” I smirked, and he smiled reluctantly.

“Touché. Still, play it low-key from here; if anything’s wrong we’ll have the best chance at finding out if we go in quiet.”

“Got it.” I took a moment to suppress my [Aura] by actively cancelling the buff, then activated [Stealth]. My passive stats should be fine for an investigation.

Qrow then led the way across the roofs, utterly silent. I mean, I’m not making any movement noise either, but [Stealth] does that for me. He’s doing it by pure skill.

The pair of us circled slowly higher, getting closer to the school, until Qrow raised a fist to halt us. “We’re not gonna be able to get any higher, so our best way in is over this wall,” he murmured, tapping his knuckles against it gently. He didn’t whisper, as the sibilance of whispers actually carried far better than soft speech.

I scanned the walls, [Stealth] indicating out the sightlines of the two cameras I could see, and even highlighting a third. I pointed them out silently, and Qrow nodded.

“Not bad.” He pointed to another dark corner. “Did you miss that one, or is it just not in our way?”

“Missed it,” I admitted, spotting the telltale glint of the lens in the shadows.

[Stealth has increased by 1!]

Huh, I was only two-thirds of the way to a ding. Is there a bonus for having a trained instructor?

[Rational deduction caused your INT to increase by 1!]

You could still be less sarcastic about it. “So what’s our actual route?”

Qrow didn’t answer immediately, just peered around a bit longer. “I don’t see any more cameras, do you?”

“No.” I pulsed [Detect Aura]. “And there’s nobody near the other side of the wall for half a klick in either direction.”

His eyebrows rose. “I keep forgetting you can do that. Good to know. Anyway, follow me, and keep it low-key this time.”

“Got it.”

As soon as I agreed, Qrow darted toward the edge of the roof and jumped, catching the top of the wall we’d been discussing. He hauled himself up slowly, peering over it, before slipping a leg over. He waved me after him, then vanished over it.

As I started to follow him, [Parkour] guiding my approach, I debated simply vaulting the wall. There was no one there but him, after all, and he wouldn’t have crossed if it wasn’t safe. On the other hand, I didn’t know what was actually on the other side, and crashing into a bench or ruining a topiary was the opposite of low-key.

All that crossed my mind in the handful of steps I took toward the edge, jumping and planting a foot on the wall to propel myself the last handful of meters to catch the top like Qrow had. I hoisted myself just as easily and peered down, finding Qrow instantly in the shadows thanks to my Aura sense. He’d stepped to the side, and I wasted no time dropping down after him, bending my knees to absorb the shock of my landing on the grass.

“Piece of cake.” Qrow straightened up, slipping his flask away. There was a small copse screening us from view, but we reached the edge of the trees quickly. The huge flagstone quad before us housed a fountain and some benches, as well as Mistral’s CCT next to the Grand Hall, across from what were presumably the cafeteria and dorms.

Qrow scanned the square for a moment. It was mostly empty, but there were some students heading here or there, as should be expected from late afternoon on what was more or less a college campus. After some consideration, Qrow simply stepped out onto the cobblestone path that encircled the quad. “C’mon, we’ll look more out of place trying to sneak,” he added quietly.

Shrugging, I followed, and we made our way toward the large building opposite. As was typical for Mistral, the architecture looked mostly Japanese with some Western twists; in this case the irimoya hip-and-gable concealing a noyane hidden roof, but surmounted by a säteritak-looking structure with its own gabled roof.

What traditional building materials and architectural style led to this type of design, exactly?

Qrow pulled the door open and we slipped inside, shutting it behind us. Unlike the quad and the other buildings, the Grand Hall was utterly silent. The lights were even off, only the dying sunlight illuminating through the windows whose frosted glass was designed to look like shoji rice paper doors.

The two of us stood just inside for a moment, before I spoke. “…There’s no one here.” After a moment’s thought, I cycled through my other sensory skills. “No Grimm within half a klick radius, and no magic for two hundred meters. ‘Cept you, obviously.”

Qrow looked at me, confused. “Why would there be magic?”

I shrugged. “Maybe Lionheart locked himself in the Vault by accident? Just ruling out possibilities.”

He snorted. “Mistral’s Vault would take the Spring Maiden to open.”

“Then there would be magic to sense,” I pointed out. “Not to mention, the Enemy has magic, too.”

“Point.”

He set off across the gloomy hall, still walking silently, and I left [Stealth] active myself. As we crossed the room, I couldn’t help my gaze lingering on the statue of Jinn that I knew concealed the elevator down to the Vault. I wasn’t sure how deep it was, but it was clearly more than the quarter-klick I could [Detect Magic].

I wonder if I can get Ozpin to let me take a stab at the Relic? …Doesn’t seem likely, and would probably look suspicious as fuck, because he has to still be wary of me. My powers are too serendipitous; something tells me if he didn’t know what being a paladin means and how binding my oath is, he wouldn’t have told me even as much as he did. Not to mention, I don’t know how the hell we would even get into the Vault, considering who the Spring Maiden is…

Those musings carried me up the stairs and across the well-appointed sitting room. Qrow laid a hand on the knob leading to Lionheart’s office, but it was locked.

Qrow reached for his pocket, then paused. “Think you can open this?”

I looked over his shoulder at the door. “Hinges are on the inside, so no. At least not quietly. If the lock was electronic I could take a shot at it, but I don’t know how to pick physical ones. Think there’s something in that computer?” I jabbed my thumb toward the secretary’s desk.

“Could be, but let’s make a lesson of this, first.” Qrow pulled a set of lockpicks from his pocket and handed them to me. “As fast as you said you learn, it shouldn’t take you long to pick this up.”

Rolling my eyes at the pun, I took the tools and peered at them.

“To start out, you’ll generally want to identify what kind of lock you’re working with, because that’ll tell you which pick you want. Having said that, there’s a couple of even easier ways that you should usually try until you get enough experience to identify which locks they won’t work on,” Qrow began. “Assuming it’s a pin or wafer lock, which this one is — they are the most common — I’ll show you the second way first, since it looks more like what people picture when they think of lockpicking. You’ll want to use the tension wrench and this rake.”

Taking the tools he’d indicated in my left and right hands respectively, I knelt down in front of the door.

“Slip the wrench in the bottom — or the top if it’s that type — and apply a small amount of torque, as if you were turning a key. It won’t actually turn because the pins are still engaged, but it’s how you will turn it in a sec. Good. Now, slip the rake in above it — like that, yeah — and now slide it in and out a few times while pressing gently toward the pins, which in this case are up.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it,” he agreed. “Cheap locks can have their pins bounced into place by a rake, and the slight amount of torque keeps them from falling back into the locked position. If you’re turning too hard the pins can’t rise, and if you’re raking too hard they might rise too far, but that’s the second-simplest way.”

I nodded, withdrawing the rake and wrench before trying again. And again. And again. And again. And ag– I heard something catch, and the lock cylinder turned slightly. Blinking, I turned the wrench a little further, and the lock clicked open.

“There you go.”

[You have been taught the skill [Lockpicking]! Training by a skilled teacher caused [Lockpicking] to increase by 1!]

[Lockpicking (Passive) LV 2 EXP : 0.00%][For nearly as long as mortals have made locks, tools and tricks to bypass those locks have been developed. The arms race continues to this day, between those determined to increase personal security, and those equally determined to bypass it.][Passively increases DEX by 2%.][Increases lockpicking speed by 4%.][4% lower chance to break lockpicks.]

[Fine manipulation caused your DEX to increase by 1!]

“Now for the easier way.” Qrow nudged me back, locking the door again, and put the rake away. Then he turned the case over, revealing a mechanical device that looked a bit like the top of a spray bottle. He fixed a thin, flat piece into the tip of the device, then slipped it into the lock with the tension wrench already in place. “The bottom halves and top halves of the pins are actually separate pieces; they have to be for the cylinder to be able to turn. That means that with a sharp application of upward force, you can pop the bottom pins up from the top ones. That makes the top ones move while the bottom ones stay still, exactly like a cue ball stops moving when it hits another billiards ball, get me?”

“Sure, elastic collision.”

“And that’s the principal behind a ‘lockpick gun’.” Qrow squeezed the ‘trigger’, the metal piece on the tip snapped upward, and he turned the wrench immediately, unlocking the door and letting it swing open. He withdrew the ‘gun’ and pulled the trigger again, letting me see the short, sharp motion the blade made. “More expensive locks have ways to stop it, but most people are cheap, and schools are publicly-funded. Security isn’t a high budget item, at least not this kind.”

I nodded. “Fair enough. You want me to take a stab at the computer now?”

“You think you can keep it subtle?

I crushed a flicker of irritation. “I only need to be told things once, Qrow.”

He raised his hands in surrender. “All right, Punk, keep your shirt on.”

Standing up, I walked around the desk set beside the door, pulling a pair of nitrile rubber gloves from the hospital out of my [Inventory].

“I was never any good at hacking, so wow me,” Qrow said, leaning on the desk.

“By the strict definition, neither am I,” I admitted. “I can usually get through electronic locks with a bit of time, but a lot of the info I’m not supposed to have just comes from someone else’s access. Which means that while I’m accessing information I shouldn’t be able to, as far as the computer’s concerned I do have permission to do what I’m doing, which is far easier…”

As I was talking, I was pulling open drawers and flipping through stationery pads.

“What’re you looking for?”

“Eh, it’s not too uncommon for someone to have their password written down; the question is whether they remember to take it or destroy it afterward–aha.”

Sure enough, there was a stickynote on the desk under the keyboard with a string of letters and numbers on it: HuN9Ry_T193r

“You’ve gotta be shitting me.” Qrow facepalmed.

Taking a picture with my Scroll, I set the keyboard back down, then typed in the password, signing in successfully. “I shit you not.”

Shaking his head, Qrow turned away. “Well, tell me if you find anything, I’m gonna take a look in h–”

He stopped talking very abruptly, causing me to look up. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t think you’re gonna find anything in the computer,” he said softly, and my heart sank. What’s that supposed to mean? Is Lionheart…

Quickly setting my second Scroll on top of the computer and setting it to Copy, I vaulted the desk, leaving the computer unlocked, and slipped through the open door behind Qrow.

Unlike the fastidiously clean waiting room, the headmaster’s office was a mess. The desk was overturned, drawers pulled out and papers scattered everywhere. Many of the sheets as well as the remaining furniture were shredded, and there were a few scorch marks on the walls that I suspected were from Shock Dust. And beside the window, which I half-expected to be broken as well, was a dark stain that Qrow was kneeling beside.

“Blood, I take it?” I asked, tossing him a second pair of gloves.

He caught them and pulled one on before prodding at the spot. “Yeah. Completely dry, so it’s been here a little while. It’s not enough to have killed someone, but this is still way more than a papercut. Combined with everything else…” He gestured around to indicate the state of the office.

“Yeah, there was a fight,” I agreed. “And it looks like Lionheart lost.”

----------------------------------------

Name: Jaune ArcLevel: 59 (Next: 67.87%)Title: Academy StudentRace: HumanAge: 18Job: Beacon StudentClass: PaladinSemblance: The GamerHP: 7834/7834MP: 4369/4369STR: 222 (100)CON: 274 (102)DEX: 160 (54)INT: 136 (51)WIS: 110 (52)CHA: 151 (52)Points: 102Money: 951,788LStatus: Cursed – Yellow Death [High]

----------------------------------------

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

A Reeper is a Grimm R.O.U.S.; I haven’t shown them ‘on screen’ yet, but I think a lot of idioms would spring up around Grimm and Hunting.

“Watch your back, shoot straight, conserve ammo, and never, ever, cut a deal with a dragon” is from the Cyberpunk TTRPG Shadowrun.

Venetian Red is a rust-red pigment (derived from ferrous oxide, in fact) described from at least the 15th century on Earth.

A funicular is a type of cable railway that moves up and down steep grades.

Irimoya (入母屋) is the Japanese name for the archetypical East Asian hip-and-gable roof. Noyane (野屋根) is the word for the lower, shallower true roof surmounted by a steeper ‘cosmetic’ or exposed roof. A säteritak is a Swedish ‘manorial roof’, a type of monitor roof where there is effectively a second, smaller roof separated from the rest by walls. A shoji (障し) is a traditional Japanese door/window/room divider — the kind made of paper and wood lattice.

The Hungry Tiger is a close friend of the Cowardly Lion in L Frank Baum’s Oz series.