The Games We Play

DISCLAIMER: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryuugi. This has been pulled from his Spacebattles publishment at threads/rwby-the-gamer-the-games-we-play-disk-five.341621/. Anyway on with the show...err read.

Forethought

"Five," Porfyro said through his scroll. I didn't need it for ranged communications, but I hadn't told him that so for now I was playing along.

Shifting my attention away from the scroll at my side, however, I waited patiently. It took a while, but as I calmly counted down in my head, I sensed five people walk past my door. Reaching across the school with my Psychokinesis, I nudged the die on the table in front of Asimi to a five.

"Two," Asimi murmured to her brother after a moment.

"Two," Porfyro relayed through the scroll. Why he hadn't just given the scroll to Asimi herself, I wasn't entirely sure.

Right now, however, I didn't really care. Needless to say, I was testing the power of my new subordinates—or, at least, Asimi's power. There were a great number of limits to her sight, ranging from how far she could see to what she could see, so it was necessary to test it now. She couldn't see people, after all, so she was often faced with events that seemingly lack a cause, which was something I was attempting to work around. It was a fairly big issue because she could only see at most a few minutes into the future, with the precise distance depending on how much Aura she used, and from what I understood, it was essentially the same as normal sight to her. She didn't get an instantaneous download of everything happening around her or anything like that, so useful information was limited to what she could comprehend in a short period of time.

Needless to say, I was doing my utmost to cheat my way around as many of these limitations as I could. While there was little I could do about the range of her sight without using something like Charitas—which would just allow her to maintain the limit of her sight for a longer period of time—comprehension was the bigger issue in my mind. With my Psychokinesis, I could write a book of details in an instant, but that'd be useless—whatever messages I might want passed on to my past self needed to be something she could quickly read and speak aloud or it was useless.

But just because something was useful information to me didn't necessarily mean it needed to mean anything to her. That is, she didn't need to know what the number on the die meant—because I knew what it meant. At the time I received it, I was counting the number of people who passed by my door, after all. Similarly, now that I had finished this test and proven to myself that the process worked, I could move onto more complicated things, with the complications being on my end. For instance, if I attached an important situation to every letter of the alphabet and she relayed a letter back to me, then I would have a heads up on what to expect in the near future. I'd start with emergency situations like an attack or a Rider outbreak and fill in the remainder with things it would simply be nice to know about beforehand, and just like that, I'd have an alarm system that went off several minutes before it was tripped.

Beyond that, I could add specifications. If, say, the letter 'A' indicated a Rider attack, then I could have 'A1,' 'A2,' 'A3,' and 'A4' indicate hypothetical attacks from Conquest, War, Famine, and Death. With an additional digit, I could add specifics, with something like 'A11' being a Conquest outbreak that's affected Haven, another digit indicating the specific area, and so on. I still needed to keep things limited to what Asimi could quickly see and recall—taking into account human error on her end—but so long as I kept the numbers relatively short and memorized what each number meant, I should be able to manage. A111, for example, was fairly simple and would inform me of a Conquest attack, in Haven, and centered upon my room. Even with just a minute's warning, something like that would be invaluable.

I needed to make sure I was on good terms with Asimi, though. While it would be fairly simple to keep an eye on her, I needed to make sure that she would speak any message I left her or this would be pointless. She seemed to be fairly loyal at present, given what I'd done for her and her brother, but it wasn't difficult to imagine her getting tired of suddenly seeing random numbers and digits and being expected to recite them at any time of the day. I'd need to give some thought to what I should tell her, to at least make sure she knew that it was important.

It was something worth thinking about. Also, I should decide on precisely how I wanted to arrange my system. Should I make the Grimm 'G' or 'B,' as the second set of events I decided up. It didn't really matter because baring an extreme emergency, I'd remember the results either way, but there was a small chance I'd need to use a middle man or need to warn someone else. Of course, in that case, I could always just say 'Grimm.' No, for my own set of codes, I'd just go for 'B.' Then 'C' would be…Cinder? I suppose that works out and she is what I'm focusing on at present. 'D' could be emergencies related to my friends, 'E' could be…

Like that, I spent a few minutes hammering out precisely what I'd want to be on the lookout for at any given time and a series of possibilities for each. It wasn't a perfect system and it wouldn't instantly tell me about all the precise details of an event, but it was far, far better than nothing. In an emergency, even just a minute's heads up could be invaluable—and in what I considered an emergency, even more so. It was currently limited by my proximity to Asimi, but I could set something up, possibly with a scroll, to help deal with that somewhat.

But for now, to test it. Taking a breath, I leaned back and waited quietly for something—anything—to happen. Thanks to Asimi's foresight, I didn't need to focus on anything in particular; so long as I detected something, I could pass a message back to myself telling me where to look. Keeping in mind how long Asimi generally looked into the future, as well as how long it would take her to read my message and relay it, I would then have somewhere between twenty and fifty second to react.

"C21," Asimi murmured and I checked to make sure. Yes, Cinder was approaching and she was alone at the moment. Given her direction, she was probably heading towards my room, something I could all but confirm given the message I'd gotten. Just to make sure—because this was a test—I waited patiently for her to knock on my door.

Thirty-two seconds later, she did.

"Cinder," I greeted with a smile, glancing over her shoulders. "Emerald and Mercury aren't with you?"

"They were hungry, so they decided to get something to eat," She replied with a small smile of her own. "Hello Jaune."

Emerald and Mercury were in the cafeteria, but then, Cinder had sent them there. Regardless…

"C211," Asimi said again, though I silenced Porfyro before his voice could come out of my scroll.

Dust, I thought as I absently changed the tiles I'd arrayed before my distant subordinate.

"Do you need something?" I asked, tilting my head.

"I was thinking we haven't had much time for sewing of late," She replied. "Are you free right now by any chance?"

"I could hardly pass up a chance to learn from a master like you, Cinder," I answered, stepping aside to let her in.

"You've been practicing, I hope," She said.

"Of course," I assured, which was true. I'd sewn Autumn several wardrobes worth of cloaks for the future, using various types of Dust. I'd made a few of my own just so I could practice using them and better teach her how. "What did you have in mind for today?"

"Why don't you show me what you've learned and we'll pick up from there?" She proposed and I gave a nod of consent. Pulling out the box of materials I'd stored beneath my bed with a thought, I opened it and began withdrawing different types of cloth and thread. After a moment's thought, I decided to make myself a shirt with blue Dust and took a seat on my bed again to do so.

Cinder was silent for a moment as she watched me before blinking slowly.

"You've improved a great deal," She praised after a moment. "Your designs are smoother than before. You have a knack for sewing, Jaune."

She wasn't talking about the physical designs, but how energy would flow through them, which was a matter of how much Dust is used, where it's placed, and how it's sewn. I knew that mainly because my designs had been perfect from the beginning.

"Thank you," I answered. "Though it's more a matter of practice. It's easy to get better at something you do over and over again."

Cinder hummed in acknowledgement, though not entirely in agreement. While she thought repetition was a key part of perfection, it didn't explain my massive growth. Nonetheless, she didn't argue.

"Have you given any thought to what direction you intend to take your work?" Cinder asked.

"Some," I admitted. "I like to be prepared, so I've woven a number for emergencies and such and I've been working on several for my minions. Beyond that, however, there are a lot of things that'll have to wait until I'm more skilled."

"Oh?"

I shrugged.

"I've thought about weaving green Dust into boots to allow a person to walk on air," I answered. "It's simple enough in its own right, but very dependent on the wearer's control. I suspect most people would end up killing themselves if they tried."

"I sure you would be more careful," Cinder said.

I gave her a half-smile.

"I don't need stuff like that to fly," I answered, making her chuckle.

"I suppose not." She mused before we lapsed back into silence.

"C3212," Asimi suddenly said and I had to work to keep from reacting as I understood it.

Cinder was leaving the school, but not immediately. Instead, it would be in a matter of days. Two days, to be precise.

What?

Even so, I didn't move. One of the most important parts of foresight was knowing things that I otherwise could not—and thus, that my enemies would not be prepared for me to know. As a result, I had to carefully regulate what I allowed to be seen, which meant an extra level of caution around someone like Cinder. If Asimi had sent this message back to me, then obviously the topic of conversation would come up soon, but…no, for now I needed to think about what this meant.

The most obvious explanation for why Cinder intended to leave school was because she wanted to meet up with 'Jian Bing.' Or rather, she had plans involving the White Fang that required something of a personal touch, which was why she couldn't just use one of her underlings for the task. That was good news for me, because it meant that my little show with Torchwick had worked as I intended and Cinder was going to move. As Cinder had spent the last several weeks here at Haven just calmly waiting, I was happy to have forced her to action.

But…could this be just that? Obviously, Cinder intended to keep her identity as secret as possible, at least until such time as her true plans came to fruition in Vale, but if she was moving then it was likely that she had something big in mind. She, who had been content to ignore Jian Bing until know, wanted to meet with him now—somehow, I doubted it was simply to deepen her cooperation with the White Fang. She wanted to test the waters and, if possible, turn things to her advantage.

At the same time, however, for something like this…as I'd hoped, if she was moving in person, then the chances were high that she would reveal something about her plans to me to get me to play along. With the power of my Pericognition and, perhaps, with the help of Asimi, I thought that I might have the advantage here, but…

First of all, I needed information. I noted with some annoyance that I hadn't thought to add a digit for 'duration of absence' to my future warning and promptly dedicated another digit to do so. While the fact that she was leaving at all told me a great deal, it was more important to know how long she would be gone. It was only going to be for an afternoon, that might mean she only planned to have the meeting and then return, but I noticed that her departure lined up with the last day of the school week. Since she could have used any day for a meeting, odds were good that she hadn't chosen that randomly; it was even possible that whatever she had planned could take the entire weekend. Cinder didn't seem like the type to risk the sanctity of her plan just for a chance to stretch her legs, so if that was true, then she would definitely have something planned. And combined with the fact that she intended to meet Jian Bing, perhaps even something involving me.

If so, I should remember to play it cool. I wanted to learn everything I could about Cinder and her schemes, but I needed to avoid arousing too much suspicion in the process. As a part of that, I couldn't afford to instantly agree with any of her plans unless I could present a front of already knowing about them and standing to profit—that is, my usual smug bastard persona. For the sake of that, I should start gathering information right now, which, knowing Asimi's power…

I glanced up at Cinder as if only now noticing her watching me and tilted my head slightly to the side. Checking her over quickly, I was relieved to find that it did seem like she wanted to say something, which gave me a just in case excuse to preserve causality. With something like precognition, however limited, I needed to keep that in mind.

"Cinder?" I mused, slowly finishing my work on the shirt and levitating it towards my waiting hands. I paused for a moment to check it over carefully—as if I wasn't sure it was perfectly fine—as it to make sure everything was as it should be. With something that could easily be used to create massive explosions, making sure you didn't somehow fuck everything up was a must; all the more so because this was a weapon that, theoretically, you'd be relying on in battle. Nodding as if satisfied, I folded it with a thought and added it to the growing pile of Dust woven garments beneath my bed, which was itself only a small fraction of what I'd actually made. As I could store everything I really needed inside of my Inventory, I didn't have much reason to leave anything lying around, but appearances must be met I supposed.

"Hm?" She replied, almost glowing eyes focusing on mine as she did.

"You didn't just want to watch me sew again, did you?" I asked.

Cinder gave a wry smile, inwardly pleased—whether because I'd noticed or asked, I wasn't sure.

"I'm sorry," She said, faking sincerity well. "But no, I did not. I'm already well aware that things such as this are child's play to you."

I smiled slightly, as if pleased by her praise, and straightened slightly in response.

"Perhaps it's simply because I had a good teacher," I replied. "If not for you, I wouldn't be anywhere near as good at this as I am now."

That much was true, in fact. If not for the potential threat she posed, I probably wouldn't have bothered practicing my Dust Weaving. The truth of the matter was that I didn't have much use for it personally and that my immediate allies would probably take a long time to master its use in battle. Really, I didn't consider myself the type who was dependent on tools and weapons anymore—or, more truthfully, I simply considered this body of mine to be my weapon. I could break it, remake it, improve it, and use it better than any sword or gun in the world.

"Flatterer," Cinder answered with a small twitch of her lips. "Someone like you would have probably been fine all on your own."

"Maybe, maybe not," I answered. "And even if I could do things that way…wouldn't you agree that it was better that I didn't have to?"

Cinder hummed for a moment at that, considering both it and me. As her eyes remained focused steadily on my face, I wondered just what she thought of me—and, more importantly, what she suspected. While most of my secrets were thankfully too wild for anyone to easily guess, she probably had suspicions of some kind regarding me.

Even so, whatever she felt, she didn't let show on her face—probably aided by the fact that she kept herself remarkably in check at all times.

"Perhaps so," She allowed after several seconds. "Regardless, there is something I wish to tell you. Though I'm rather doubtfully that it will make much difference for you, I will be unavailable this weekend."

I blinked, nodded, and shrugged. It wasn't anything noteworthy, after all, for a student to leave the school for the weekend for any number of reasons, up to and including just wanting to relax in the city. That is, if you were a normal student—which, needless to say, neither of us were. I'm sure a lot of people would be very interested in what I did while no one was looking and I was sure interested in what Cinder had planned.

But I didn't allow any of that to show on my face, illusory or otherwise.

"Okay," I answered. "Like you said, it probably won't make much difference and if something comes up, I'll just ask you when you come back. Going anywhere in particular or do you just want to get out of this place for a while."

"Both, I suppose," Cinder answered after a moment's musing. "Certainly, it's always nice to have some time away, but in this case, I simply have personal business to take care of."

"Oh?" I asked, deciding to show a bit more interest as I leaned back on my bed. "Anything important? You don't usually talk about yourself, Cinder."

"Neither do you," She reminded, too which I gestured dismissively.

"You already know who my family is," I brushed off. "Pretty much everything about me is a secret nowadays. Well, if you wanted, I could tell you the official story? Stuff like how I wasn't accepted into Signal—a combat school over in Vale—because I was incompetent."

That got a chuckle out of Cinder and I joined her after a moment, smiling. Looking back, that was where it had all began, but…it almost felt like another life now. So much had changed, so much had happened, so much had been learned…it was hard to believe what my life had been like a relatively short time ago. I couldn't say I missed those days, not really—I wasn't the type with fantasies about normalcy, much less mediocrity—but things had been simpler.

Not that it would have changed anything, truthfully. Ignorance may be bliss, but that bliss was no more than a self-deception. The terrifying things I'd learned about the world would have still been there, beyond my sight, waiting to potentially tear down my world. In that case, isn't it better to know and act then to not know and wait?

I thought so—and at least this way, I had a chance of fixing things, however small.

"I'll ask you to spare me," Cinder replied. "It's nothing particularly interesting. I have to handle several estates that were left to me by my parents. It's nothing particularly impressive, truth be told, but it's best to stop by every few months to keep things from piling up."

"Ah," I agreed—and carefully didn't remark upon the implication that her parents were dead. It was probably true, but probably wasn't as simple as she implied; either way, I'd look into it later. "Well, good luck then. If you ever need any help, just tell me. For me…"

I shrugged.

"Perhaps I'll take you up on that someday," She mused before closing her eyes and giving a sad—and entirely fake—smile. "But this is something I have to do alone, I think."

"I understand," I whispered gently, as if buying into any of this. To be honest, though, I was impressed by how far she'd go to leverage things to her advantage. "Well, I'll be looking forward to 'someday', then."

"Ah," Cinder nodded, giving me a long look. "As will I, Jaune."

And so—smiling, lying, plotting, and scheming all the while—we went our separate ways.

Drawn

"Are you certain about this, Jian?" Raven asked as I walked through the halls of the base. She wasn't beside me at the moment, wouldn't be until the meeting began, but I could hear her just fine across the building—and by avoiding being seen together, we could avoid tipping our hands ahead of schedule.

"I am," I replied, answering her question through Levant, who stood beside her with the same smile as always. Because she already knew about her, there wasn't any particular reason to hide her, after all…but I got the feeling that Raven still found it a bit off-putting to hear my voice come from another's mouth. "This is a good chance for the both of us; it'd be wasteful not to exploit it."

"Mm," Raven agreed, if a touch reluctantly. I could understand why, though; there were so many unknowns involved that in many ways, we were going in blind. It wasn't something either of us was all that pleased by.

But there was no helping it—at the end of the day, beggars can't be choosers.

It had been two days since my meeting with Cinder and I'd spent them the same way I spent most of my time as of late—in preparation. I'd continued grinding my skills as best I was able, but…sadly, it hadn't been enough to rank up the rest of the skills I'd used to create Pericognition. I'd have liked to come into this with as many observational skills as physically possible, but alas, it seemed that wasn't possible. As per usual, getting from level ninety-eight to the peak of ninety-nine was a relentless grind fest; even what had amounted to months of work hadn't been quite enough to make it. At this right, they'd level in one more day, but I'd have to go without them for this.

Oh well, I thought. I'd make do.

Yesterday, Raven had given me the time and place of the meeting and had escorted me here a short while ago. It was a White Fang facility, though obviously a new one—probably something arranged with the help of my grandmother, in fact. It was relatively close to Haven, relatively scarcely populated, and therefore, relatively unthreatening. Even so, the fact that the meeting was taking place in our territory was something of a mixed blessing; the dubious benefit was that it supposedly gave us an advantage, but truthfully, I was fairly sure that most of the people at this meeting would spontaneously evaporate if it came to a fight. Despite that, meeting us on our own ground gave Cinder an appearance of, if not trust, then of confidence. If this meeting had been limited to Raven and I, I doubt it would make much difference when it came to opposing Cinder.

Though, granted, if it had been restricted in such a way, I would have suspected a trap. I guess there's just no pleasing me.

Which wasn't to say I still didn't suspect a trap, though a thorough investigation of the premise and surrounding area had made that unlikely. I'd checked to make sure there was no one lying in wait for us and unless there was a teleporter waiting to come into play at an inconvenient time—a possibility that I sadly could not dismiss outright—then we should be in the clear. As much as we ever were, at least.

Still, I made sure to speak and move with careful confidence, as if I wasn't at all worried about what might happen or wasn't ready to drag us all into another dimension at a moment's notice. All told, we were well prepared, with Adam in the building and Gou waiting at a distance, just in case. I'd left Autumn behind for this, with the excuse of having a safe place to withdraw to in an emergency, but the bulk of our combat power was gathered here. We were ready for a fight on an epic scale, if push came to shove.

I was simply hoping they wouldn't. Partially because of the risks involved and partially because I could accomplish more by talking and paying attention at a time like this.

"Do not concern yourself with what might happen, Raven," I replied as if I wasn't concerned about it. "Should something happen, I will address it to the fullest extent of my abilities—"

Open with Naraka, whether to withdraw or remove potential casualties, and try to get into position for Lux Aeterna. Keep in mind that if she is a Rider, she likely has the ability to shatter barriers like Conquest did and thus refrain from using it immediately—instead, approach with a full speed attack and strike with all my power, activating everything that isn't already on as I go. Karna may not be effective given her own skill with fire, so use alternate means; Magic Missile first, Gungnir when potential casualties can be avoided. Use Elementals to disrupt her Dust Manipulation and put Deposition to good use now that it's been trained some. Vanish with an illusion, if it can fool her, and then press the assault with a mix of melee and ranged attacks, supplemented with Psychokinetic blades and firing spheres—

"But I will also do my utmost to ensure that nothing does," I concluded with a smile that I tried to show in my voice. "Just follow my lead."

I felt her sigh, but also nod.

"Very well," She murmured. "They're waiting for you. Shall we arrive separately or together?"

"Please, allow me to go first, so as to give you a proper introduction," I answered humbly before slipping into Naraka with a flash of Aura. The moment I did, I was moving quickly down the halls, tearing through walls when their placement inconvenienced me, before sliding to a halt in a motion that left behind a trail of shattered flooring. No more than a moment after I entered Naraka, I was inside the meeting room, standing in a place I'd made sure was uninhabited before shattering the dimensional barrier and appearing as casually as I could manage.

Said appearance was met by a sudden rush of swear words, three chairs falling over, six people jumping to their feet, and a woman focusing her gaze on me. Even Adam, who'd been leaning against the back wall, dropped his hand to the hilt of his sword—though his reaction was mostly an act.

After a moment of silent staring, Adam settled down, removing his hand from his blade.

"Bing," He said stoically. "I'm almost surprised you actually came."

"Adam," I replied, with a slow smirk and easy familiarity. "Naturally, I take my work seriously."

There was a mix of twitching lips and sneers at that—Adam had, of course, spent quite some time undercover and off the map. So had I, of course, but nobody was going to question me on it; I was well known for doing whatever the hell I wanted and was something of a boogieman besides. Adam, meanwhile, was viewed as something of a way to get at Raven without risking her shoving your head up your own ass.

Adam didn't dignify that with a response, expression cool even as I turned away from him and slide my gaze to Cinder, who'd been watching me since the moment I appeared.

"Jian Bing," She said, inkling her head. "A pleasure to meet you at last."

"Ms. Fall," I greeted as I casually pulled back a chair. "I heard you wished to speak to me but you were preoccupied the last time I came to Mistral and I didn't wish to be an inconvenience."

"It's always nice to meet a gentleman," She replied, no doubt noting the implication that I knew what she was doing but not letting it bother her overmuch. "Still, I'm glad to see you today—I believe there's quite a bit for you and I to discuss."

I smiled at her.

"Of course," I said. "But before that, we have another guest. It's rude to stare, Raven."

There was a moment of silence in the wake of my words before space tore open and swirled into a dark gateway. Raven immediately strode out of the darkness, not so much as casting a glance my way, and I felt Cinder's emotions cool even further. She wasn't afraid, precisely, but she was aware of what had been left unspoken. I knew where Cinder worked, Raven and I had both appeared out of thin air…it wasn't had to understand what was being implied.

But Cinder did nothing but incline her head in greeting before returning her attention to me. In her eyes, the two of us were both major threats, but I was the major unknown.

…Did that mean Cinder had something in mind for counteracting Raven? I couldn't rule it out, unfortunately, though another quick scan of her person didn't reveal anything that seemed particularly dangerous, beyond the usual. Even so, without being able to see her entire profile and without knowing the nature of her power…there was no way of knowing. It could be that she simply felt sure that no threat to her schemes would be coming from that corner tonight, but if not, well, I was planning to strike first anyway. I'd notify Raven of a potential threat if it came to battle.

"My apologies," She continued, her eyes focused intently on mine. "I didn't expect all of you to be able to put aside your busy schedules on such short notice; you must have gone through quite a bit of trouble for my sake."

"Nothing worth the mentioning," I dismissed easily. "We are, after all, allies. As ones who fight together in the future, it is only proper that we show you due respect, no?"

"As always, the generosity of the White Fang does it credit," She answered with a grateful smile. In case it needed to be said, the only expression in the room that was faker than hers was mine. "And yet, I find myself regretfully imposing upon your kindness."

"I would hardly call it an imposition, Ms. Fall," I replied and then tried to put what little I'd gathered to good use. "It's not an imposition to call upon a friend for aid."

Cinder didn't twitch, which rather impressed me. Not only had I cemented our respective positions in this discourse—that she was asking us for help—but I'd implied that I knew something of what she wanted.

Time to see if I could make that last bit a reality. How she answered would, hopefully, tell me more about what she had in mind.

"Then I thank you," Cinder said, inclining her head again. "Though it should be nothing but a small matter for you."

There was a weight to that last word, enough that it seemed like a test—or a reference, maybe? She meant me as in Jian Bing, which narrowed things down a great deal, but what—

Abruptly, I remembered the weapon shipment from several weeks before. A major move on Cinder's part, which had stolen an enormous amount of equipment under the guise of a terrorist attack. And while the Company itself wasn't of any particular not, the location…

Certainly, that had been the most public thing I'd done as Jian Bing, as well as the most memorable. But what did it have to do with this, unless…ah.

I considered it for a brief moment, summing up what I knew and thought I knew. This could be a trap, an attempt to make me slip up and reveal how much I didn't know—but on the other hand, this might be an opportunity to cement my impression.

Even if I was wrong, it would tell me something. Hurt my image somewhat, perhaps, but not majorly, and for this…it was worth a shot.

So I chuckled, met Cinder's eyes, and metaphorically crossed my fingers.

"It has been awhile since I've been to Atlas," I mused.

Her eyes widened.

I was right?

Even with all the confidence I had in my own abilities, I'd been worried, but everything I sensed from her now—surprise, suspicion, and even muted disbelief—said I was correct in my guess. That, more than that, I had some kind of lead to follow now, something that might lead me back to or illuminate the rest of her plans.

The thought set my mind and heart racing and I tried to puzzle out what this meant from what I already knew. Nearly a month ago, Adam and I had spotted Cinder's minions working with White Fang as part of an arms exchange—and a quick scan of the news had revealed that a company in Atlas had been targeted by a terrorist attack shortly beforehand. Observation of the merchandise in question had proven that they were linked and thus meant that Cinder had arranged the events. Perhaps more than that, it meant that she'd had the power necessary to enter Atlas without suspicion being drawn her way, prepare for a major heist, enact it, and then leave the Kingdom with a massive haul of stolen weapons. She'd then transported it all back to Mistral, smuggled it into the country unnoticed, and had been able to simply gift it to the White Fang.

Something like that would have required an enormous amount of power to do the normal way. Certainly, I could have pulled it off with relative ease through a combination of various things—my Inventory, Naraka, illusions, my Elementals, etc.—but for someone without dimensional or elemental shenanigans, it would have taken a significant amount of effort. One of the things I was eternally grateful to my power for was its ability to let me outright ignore a variety of otherwise annoying things. Pain, injury, sleep, storage, exhaustion, learning, on and on. It was useful beyond words to the point that I could barely imagine having to live without it—but I was also cognizant of the fact that most people had no choice but to.

So while I could superpower my way around various problems or, if necessary, learn or create means suited to my desired ends, most people—even those more powerful than me in whatever sense—had to work within the means they already had. Getting the equivalent of a doctorate degree in whatever field wasn't feasible in the short term and tedious in the long one; even more so when it comes to learning a new fighting style or something supernatural. Someone who could theoretically hand me my own ass with one hand didn't necessarily have the skills necessary to match the breadth of my ability and that had frequently proven to be to my advantage.

Therefore, their theft from Atlas told me a great deal about them, though some of the possibilities would need to be narrowed down. Cinder, or whoever she'd entrusted the job to, had been able to enter the country, which could be done easily but risked leaving a paper trail. At the same time, getting past the borders unnoticed presented its own difficulties; either way, she must have had some way of addressing it. Someone on the inside was possible; sadly, someone capable of long range teleportation was as well. Either could smooth along a major theft and the transportation out of Atlas, but if she couldn't teleport, she'd still have needed a major means of transportation and a way to avoid suspicion. Unfortunately, I couldn't narrow things down on that front going only by what I'd seen then.

But…there was the matter of what she did with her prizes afterwards; she'd given them away. Not for free, of course—the effective price tag had been the White Fang's good will—but it had been a very simple transaction.

Granted, it was unlikely that she would have had much use for it herself—even among Hunters, a handful of people were going to have a hard time using a thousand guns—but of all the things she could have done, she'd chosen to steal guns instead of, say, Penny or a battleship. That implied that there were limits to whatever they'd used to complete their thefts, or at least reasons to limit themselves, but at the same time, the theft they had completed made it seem like a fairly trivial effort on their part…which could have been the point.

But how did that tie into this, if at all. She wanted me to help her with something in Atlas, presumably a theft. Something guarded beyond her normal abilities, maybe? Though it was just as likely that she wished to test me by seeing how I performed under pressure—though there wasn't any particular reason why she couldn't do both. Hell, if she wanted to test me, why not do it in a way that she stood to profit from?

The question was, then, what did she want to steal?

I didn't look at Raven, didn't so much as twitch in her direction, but I whispered into her ear with a voice shaped from the air itself.

"Have there been any interesting new innovations in Atlas?" I asked and though she didn't move or show any sign of hearing it, I felt her begin to search.

"I am somewhat surprised, however," I continued aloud as if nothing had happened. "I wouldn't have thought you of all people would require assistance stealing from Atlas."

"Sadly, it seems Atlas has become more wary of intruders as of late," Cinder replied. "Though I can only imagine why."

My smile widened and I inclined my head slightly her way, the gesture acknowledging. Inside, I wondered if this was a confirmation of inability or merely an attempt to make me think she couldn't steal it. My Pericognition was telling me that Cinder was lying, but it did that pretty much every time she opened her mouth and narrowing down where and why would require more information.

Best to play along until I found some.

"I suppose I did make something of a scene," I mused. "I'd intended to move with a bit more subtlety, but alas, Ziz chose to intervene. It couldn't be helped."

There was a reaction from Cinder at the mention of Ziz, but there was one from everyone, so that told me little. In her case, it was of mixed interest and caution, as if she were observing a potentially dangerous wild beast—whether said beast was me or Ziz, I was unsure. Cinder's emotional responses tended to be muted enough to complicate matters for me.

"Naturally not," Cinder agreed. "But with everything that has occurred as of late, the fact remains that they are on their guard. Given the target I had in mind, it may complicate things."

Just then, as I was thinking of ways to use a lot of words without saying anything in the process, Raven came through. With the time I'd bought her as a distraction, she'd likely taken the opportunity to go down the list of likely places for such a thing to be held and—presumably because she'd made a point of getting familiar with such things in the past—it hadn't taken her very long to find it. From her place at the side of the room, beneath her mask, she mouthed the words 'hide me' and gave me a moment to prepare. When, a second later, a small portal appeared right before her left eye, I reached through it and hid the portal behind an illusion of normalcy, such that even a direct observe would have caught, at most, a very brief flicker. Luckily, Raven had hidden the small portal beneath a table in a nearly empty room, out of the way but still close enough to see what they were working on.

…It was a mech. A large, somewhat clunky-looking battle suit equipped with everything from rockets, to guns, to scanners. I could freely admit as a…well, I suppose my age was indeterminate now, but at least as a man, that I thought it was pretty damn cool.

As a Hunter, meanwhile, I thought it looked a bit impractical. It was a large and obvious target and while it was obviously built with durability in mind, I doubted that armor would stand up to a truly impressive creature of Grimm. The weaponry was adequate, but a lot of it would have difficulty penetrating the hide of any of the larger Grimm and its sheer mass put limits on its maneuverability. It could move fast, certainly, but I was skeptically about its ability to corner well and against enemies that could move freely on the ground, to say nothing of the air, it was difficult to imagine a Hunter getting much use out of it in a real battle.

But it wasn't meant for Hunters, I realized. It was a support unit to a greater force—most likely a robotic force, as was the way of Atlas. A way of adding a human element to the equation to help react to changing situations without leaving them exposed. For that purpose, at least, it would likely serve fairly well; powerful as we could be individually, being a badass didn't mean all Hunters were automatically master strategists, much less ones capable of commanding an army. We mainly worked in small groups, after all, but if, say, the Grimm invaded, you'd need to be able to react in a broad manner until Hunters could help with the cleanup.

It made sense from that perspective and yet…

"The Atlesian Paladin-290," I spoke, smiling again as she nearly twitched. "Yes, it's an…interesting piece of machinery, is it not? And yet, they are made of cotton. I could rip apart a hundred of them with my bare hands. What use have we for such a thing?"

"You?" She asked. "Perhaps nothing. But certainly your brothers in the White Fang would appreciate such a gift?"

"Do weapons count as gifts when you expect us to use them for your sake?" I replied, expression never drifting away from my quite smile. "We can arm our men with guns and machines, but that won't enable them to triumph over the Hunters that would be draw to such a major spectacle. At best, it will allow them to inconvenience them—and draw significant attention our way in the process. I assume someone in Atlas would not appreciate us running rampant with their new toys. Precisely what do we get from this, Ms. Fall? From our continued alliance? Thus far, between your business in Mistral and in Vale, it's begun to seem as if we are doing all the work for the sake of a nebulously defined goal. Perhaps some further elaboration is in order?"