Chapter 130: Masked

Chapter 130: Masked

DISCLAIMER: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryuugi. This has been pulled from his Spacebattle publishment. Anyway on with the show...errr read.

Masked

My grandmother lifted her eyes from her work to quirk an eyebrow at me.

"And who is this?" She asked, flicking a glance at the man standing stock still behind my chair.

"My new bodyguard," I nodded back at him, smiling widely.

"Your bodyguard," She repeated, eyebrow climbing higher as she watched Adam for a long moment. "Mm"

I chuckled slightly as her skepticism.

"You gave me one last time," I reminded, smiling slightly. "Grigio?"

"I recall," She gestured dismissively, returning her gaze to me. "Of course, last time you were my youngest grandchild, who I'd seen only a handful of timesand in all of those occasions, you were struggling in your effort to become a Hunter. When I saw you again, I knew things had changed, but I had no idea how much until you told me. Grigio was there to insure nothing got out of hand if the other Families chose to test you and to see that none of my enemies made any choices they'd regret. Now, thoughwell, I think we all know you don't need someone to protect you, which makes me wonder who he really is."

Through it all, she didn't so much as glance back at Adam, her expression blank. Her words were directed solely at me and we all knew it, which was why Adam stayed professionally silent, hidden within my Glamour.

"His name is Adam," I answered. "You've heard of him, I'm suremy right hand man."

"Adam," She repeated, pausing to squint at the man. "Adam Taurus of the White Fang?"

Adam inclined his head silently.

"You look different," She noted dryly, returning her gaze to me even as she spoke to him. "I didn't recognize you."

I spread my hands and smiled even wider.

"Hence the disguise," I answered brightly. "We can hardly have a wanted criminal walking around in broad daylight, can we?"

She hummed in acknowledgement.

"Since he is here and you are yourself," She said by way of answer. "I assume he knows the truth?"

"He does," I confirmed. "He was my assistant during the White Whale incident and has helped me out a number of times since. I consider him a close friend and trust him completely."

"Is that wise?" She asked.

I leaned forward slightly to rest my elbows on my knees.

"I'd know if it wasn't," I answered, smile unchanging. "Like I said, he's helped me many times and has never betrayed me, despite having a number of chances to do so."

"How can you be sure?" She challenged, to which I met her eyes and slowly raised an eyebrow. She glanced at the ceiling and shook her head before nodding at me once. "Of course. Then I welcome you into my home, Adam Taurus."

"A pleasure," He answered, bowing his head even deeper before falling silent again. My grandmother returned the gesture a touch less deeply and made several motions on her computer.

"I take it you'd like this bodyguard business to be official?" My grandmother asked me, tone a touch tired but accepting. "And I assume he'll need paperwork supporting his new identity?"

"Yes," I answered. "We'll be working together for some time, you see."

"Mm," She answered, making notes. "To what end, might I ask?"

"Adam's the White Fang's official representative to our mysterious third party," I explained. "He'll be helping me in that regard as well."

My grandmother paused in her typing, a frown of consideration touching her lips.

"I see," She whispered, nodding slowly. "Interesting. And what do you know of these friends of ours, Adam Taurus?"

"Annoyingly little," He answered rigidly, containing a disgusted snort. "They're good at staying out of sight, I must admit. I've never even seen the woman in charge personally."

"A woman," She mused. "Do you know her name?"

"No," I answered in his place, holding out a hand. Images formed above my fingers, taking the shapes I remembered. "But look into Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black. They're associates of hersand they were the ones responsible for transporting a shipment of weapons. Weapons they stole in the recent bombing in Atlas. Do you mind looking into a few things for me?"

Her frown deepened as the image changed from a picture of the pair to those of the weapons I'd seen and then settled on the symbol that tied them to Atlas.

"I heard you were in a bar last night," She replied after a minute. "I can't say I actually believed that you were simply enjoying yourself."

"Learning's fun," I said, denying her claim. "And I learned a great deal."

"So I see," Grandmother chuckled. "Very well, I shall see what I can find. Their leader wasn't there, however?"

I sighed and shook my head.

"That's why I don't know her name," I shrugged.

"I suppose it would be unrealistic to expect things to be that simple," She mused. "Do you know where she is?"

"In Vale, last I heard," Adam rumbled as I glanced at him.

"In Vale?" Grandmother repeated, sounding annoyed. "All this time?"

"Doubtful," I shook my head. "But the White Fang only became aware of her absence recently. She has an illusionist on her side, it seems."

My grandmother swore under her breath.

"That would explain a few things," She muttered darkly. "We'll have to take measures. Have you checked the house?"

"Of course," I answered, almost offended by the question.

"Good," She nodded, frowning. "If she's in Vale, however, learning about her might be a bitcomplicated."

I could tell Raven understood the true intentions beneath my words from the way her Aura flickered, how her heartbeat rose, and from how her emotions flared, but none of it showed in any more obvious manner and Adam didn't react. I felt her gaze settle more fully on me, but I didn't react either.

"You'll have to tell me about it sometime," She said at last. "But as you said, yes. We're being lied to."

"I trust you examined the location I sent you?"

"Of course," She stated. "It's Kijani."

By my side, Adam took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly, so I nodded as if the name meant something to me.

"You don't seem very surprised," I noted.

"The method itself was surprising," She denied. "But the fact that he attempted something was not. I suspected he would do something for quite some time."

I nodded.

"Then would you like to take the lead on this?" I offered. "I would be happy to bow to your experience on this matter."

"I'll handle it myself," She shook her head. "It's not a problem as of yet, especially with what we now know. And it's always possible that he knows something of value."

"A pleasure to be of service," I inclined my head. "I shall leave this to you, then."

"But that's not all you wish to discuss, is it?" She pressed. "You've found something?"

"Indeed," I answered before gesturing to the empty sky around, drawing us silently into Naraka. "I learnt of Kijani's actions while pursuing a different endthis friend of ours. I learnt a great deal in the process and if you have the time, perhaps we could discuss them somewhere that'snot an empty rooftop, perhaps?"

She looked at me, silent and expressionless, emotions caught between confusion and disbelief. I chuckled slightly and glanced towards Adam, drawing his Glamour back around him, making Raven's eyes widen slightly.

"In response to our newest problem, I thought it best todust off my own skill with illusions," I explained. "As I made something of a breakthrough, I thought we might meet somewhere more comfortable for oncethough naturally, the choice of location is up to you. May I?"

I held out a hand to her expectantly, fairly sure I knew what was to come. She looked at the hand for a moment, settling her own on the hilt of her bladeand a fraction of a second later, I felt my arm come off. I closed my eyes for a moment, exhaled slowly as I healed the damage, and continued to hold out my hand to her as she sheathed her blade, apparently satisfied but unsure of what to make of my offer.

"In the past, you and Adam have haddifficulties moving in broad daylight," I continued as if nothing had happened. "A side effect of being officially deceased and a wanted terrorist, I assume. It occurred to me, however, that under the circumstances, it might be better if you were able to move a bit more freely. Don't you agree?"

She hummed slowly but placed a hand in my own. At once, her appearance shifted, details changing as they went. As she changed, however, I drew a mirror from my Inventory and offered it to her.

"I thought of making you blonde, at first," I stated. "But I feared it would make you look too much like your daughter. Instead, I tried to match your appearance more closely to your son'sor, at least, to how he seems to appear. Should you have any different preferences, however, I would be happy to oblige you however I may."

She took off her mask and looked at her new reflection for a few seconds, lifting a hand to her face once and nodding before handing me the mirror back.

"It's fine," She answered, glancing at her son. "And I know a place, as it happens."

She paused to look down at herself. I'd turned her dress pure black for the sake of simplicity, but left the mask and her weapon be because there were only so many ways to adjust the appearance of either without turning them invisible or making them even more attention drawing.

"I'll hide them if you wish," I said after a moment, returning the mirror to my Inventory. "Or hold onto them if you desire."

Slowly, she extended the mask, a silent gesture of trust in my ability to hide her, but kept her sword as I'd expected her to. Smiling, I stored the mask as well.

"Where do you put them?" She asked after a minute. "The things you make disappear?"

I paused for a moment to consider how to explain that.

"In a" I bobbed my head from side to side. "I suppose the easiest way to describe it would be as a dimensional vault I keep attached to my person. Beyond that, details get complex, but it's very useful. It allows me to carry everything I might need with meand hide things I don't want people to see."

She nodded slowly, staring at the air her mask had vanished into for a moment before snapping a finger and turning on her heels, shoulders tense as she walked through the portal she'd pulled together. She wasn't used to the idea of showing her facebut then, that was part of the point of all this. Getting my friends used to the possibilities my Glamour created.

I followed her in, Adam a step behind me, and we found ourselves striding quickly down an alleyway. I shattered Naraka and we returned to reality, the noise of city life returning abruptly, and Raven guided us to a restaurant I didn't recognize. A glance at the sky told me we were still in Mistral, however.

"Adam, why don't you go get a drink?" Raven stated as we enter. "Jian and I need to speak in private for a moment."

"It's pretty early in the day," Adam noted before pausing to think, probably about going to school. "Though it's never too early to drink, really. In fact, I'm going to get into a drinking contest with myself now. If I should start dying of alcohol poisoning, don't bother saving meit's how I'd want to go."

Raven's eyebrows furrowed in abrupt concern as she watched Adam beeline for the bar. She turned to glance at me questioningly.

"Bad news," I explained. "I'll keep an eye on him."

"Did you bring him into this?" She asked, keeping her eyes trained on mine.

"If by this you mean our issue with the Riders, then no," I replied, making sure not to react. "Although this illusionist gave me the opportunity to begin preparing him. I trust his judgement."

"As do I," She whispered with a sigh before nodding decisively. "And I trust yours. So I'll leave that choice to you. He really has gotten stronger, hasn't he? In just a few days?"

"Best to be prepared," I answered, smiling. "And with time of the essence, it's best to prepare quickly. He will be assisting me for a time, so I felt it best to make sure he was ready."

"For her?" She asked.

I looked at her for a moment, shaking my head minutely.

"I think it best to handle that myself," I said. "But she is gathering friends around her; best to do the same."

"Friends?"

"I assume you know of Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai?" I arched an eyebrow her way. "A boy with silver hair and a girl with green?"

"I've seen them." She confirmed.

"They will be entering Haven shortly," I stated. "Presumably to aid their Mistress's plans, whatever they may be. And shehas begun to move."

Raven took a breath, held it for a moment, and exhaled slowly, looking around.

"Perhaps we should find a seat," She suggested. "I assume you have something in mind. It's driven Adam to self-opposed drinking contests, a few chairs may be warranted."

"I pride myself on being able to make people feel that way," I smiled. "And though his reaction is for personal reasons, I do have several things to discuss with you."